Ten years may be one-tenth of a hundred-year-old life for a person, and for a state, it is nothing more than a moment in the continuation of its society. If this state can rule for thousands of years, those ten years will be a drop in the ocean, and there is no memorable significance.

However, the tenth year of Zhao Wangyong is a day that Zhao people have to commemorate. In the previous decade, the changes promoted by Zhao Yong completely changed the face of the Zhao state.

First of all, the territory of Zhao expanded for thousands of miles, encompassing most of the land of the enemy Zhongshan, intersecting with Yan, and annexing the land of Linhu and Loufu to the west, reaching the foothills of Yinshan Mountain, and becoming neighbors with the Xiongnu. The land area crossed the Qin and Qi states and became the existence second only to the Chu state. However, after last year's meeting of Michi, the king of Qin and the king of Zhao made an alliance, and the king of Qin promised not to attack Korea for the time being, but to attack the land of Bashu in the south, and now the war situation is very smooth, and it is only a matter of time before Bashu is swallowed. Once Bashu is owned by the Qin State, then the land area will be equal to that of the Zhao State.

Secondly, the number of households in Zhao has doubled. With the support of Zhao's encouragement of farming, suppression of commerce, and continuous opening of wasteland to the ownership of the displaced people, Zhao's population surpassed the number of people owned by previous Zhao marquis in one fell swoop, nearly three million, which was the heyday of the Central Plains countries.

Third, population growth is accompanied by an increase in food production. In particular, Zhao Yong's newly established five northern counties, Hejian County and Handan County between Zhao and Qi and Zhongshan all set up a military cantonment system, and the relocation of prisoners who committed the most heinous crimes to these border areas to open up wasteland, resulting in Zhao's grain production also reaching a new peak.

Zhao Yong once discussed with Que Guanzi that Zhao's new policy would be gradually promoted in a ten-year period. Now that the decade has passed, further reforms in Zhao are in full swing.

First of all, Zhao Yong ordered that the previous rough military merit system be reformed again. Redefine the hierarchy of the knighthood system, and establish a four-level system of "monarch (candidate), secretary, doctor, and scholar", in which the monarch and the marquis are juxtaposed, the difference is that the monarch belongs to the knight, and the candidate belongs to the reward, which is used to reward the meritorious service. The secretary is divided into Shangqing (guest secretary), Yaqing, Shaoqing and other three classes, Shangqing and Keqing are juxtaposed, but Shangqing belongs to the knight, and the guest secretary belongs to the reward, which is used to reward outstanding talents from other countries to Zhao State; Doctors and scholars have their own ranks.

Second, the reform of the military merit system also promoted the re-establishment of the official system of the Zhao State. Establish a five-secretary system centered on the White Tiger Palace, with "Situ, Sikong, Sima, Sikou, and Imperial History" as the core, responsible for the deliberation and formulation of specific national policies.

Set up Taichang, Lieutenant, Shaofu, Zongzheng, Tingwei, Guowei six positions and six temples, with Shangqing (Keqing) and Yaqing as the chief officer, and Yaqing and Shaoqing as deputy or subordinates. Thereinto:

Taichang is in charge of the etiquette of the state, and all those who belong to the internal and external etiquette system are all responsible for Taichang;

The lieutenant is in charge of the selection and appointment of officials, and all matters related to the selection, promotion, demotion and dismissal of internal and external officials shall be under his control;

The affairs of the Shaofu in charge of household registration, servitude, payment of money and grain, and taxation, all matters that belong to land tax and servitude shall be under the control;

Zongzheng is in charge of the affairs of the clan, and all the affairs of one of the clans are under the jurisdiction of Zongzheng;

The court lieutenant was in charge of the affairs of the prison and was in charge of all the laws, the names of the sentences, the trials, and the executions.

The lieutenant is in charge of the affairs of the army and horses, and all the affairs of the army's ordnance and military orders are under the control of the army;

The new official system of Zhao Guo broke the practice that the four secretaries were responsible for special affairs, but became the core of Zhao State's management as an honorary position, and divided the affairs of the four secretaries into six positions and six temples, and the four secretaries were only responsible for participating in the formulation and deliberation of national policies. For the first time, he made the position of imperial history a full-time official, participating in political affairs and supervising officials. For the first time, the post of Zongzheng was also established, specifically responsible for the affairs of the Zhao clan, although Zhao Cheng was still the patriarch of the Zhao clan, but the specific affairs were entrusted to Zongzheng.

Third, the post of imperial envoy was established to supervise the dereliction of duty and illegal acts of the imperial court and princes, and was also responsible for the custody of the imperial court's archives and documents. The Imperial Historian is a chamberlain, and two or three people selected by the monarch as the chief doctor are appointed to fill the position and record important documents. All national policies and regulations must come from the White Tiger Palace, and the regulations formulated by the White Tiger Palace cannot be written without the signature of the imperial history, and cannot be written without the seal of King Zhao. There is no tiger talisman in the White Tiger Palace, and the mobilization of troops and horses cannot be controlled.

Fourth, in terms of the local system, we will continue to deepen the parallel system of counties and counties. Counties were established in the border areas of the Zhao State and counties in the inland areas. The county has a county warden, a county lieutenant, and a county supervisor, and has a varying number of counties under its jurisdiction. The county governor is the governor of a county, who is responsible for the administrative affairs of the county, the county lieutenant is responsible for the military arrangements of the county, and the county supervisor is responsible for supervising the work of all subordinate officials under the county. All three were appointed and dismissed by King Zhao, and His Royal Highness Baihu ordered them to serve.

The county is responsible for the county magistrate, the county magistrate and the county lieutenant, the county magistrate is responsible for specific government affairs, the county magistrate is in charge of the legal affairs of the county, and the county lieutenant is responsible for the management of public security.

Zhao Yong's four reform decrees no longer revised the economic policies of the previous Zhao state, but adjusted and deepened the official system before the Zhao state. First of all, the functions of the White Tiger Palace, which had gradually become a staff organization, were clarified for the first time, defined as a formulation and deliberation body, and the decrees of the White Tiger Hall had no legal effect, but were withdrawn into the hands of King Zhao. At the same time, he joined the post of imperial history, and introduced the supervision system into the bureaucratic system of Zhao for the first time, which can be said to be the first time in the Seven Kingdoms.

The weakening of the status of the White Tiger Hall was followed by the strengthening of the rights of the functional departments, and the six major functional departments got rid of the constraints of the four secretaries, and could operate through their respective functions, and their work efficiency was improved. Of course, the six departments and the White Tiger Hall were also restrained by each other before, and they couldn't do whatever they wanted, and the White Tiger Hall was restrained because of the supervision of the imperial history and the decision-making of King Zhao, and such a set of bureaucratic systems that controlled each other was the core of Zhao's new official position.

Changes in the central government have also prompted changes in the localities. If the central government is doing addition, then the local government is doing subtraction. Zhao Yong no longer insisted on setting up a complex system of mutual supervision at the local level, because Zhao was now unable to support an increasingly large contingent of officials, so the number of main officials at the county and county levels was reduced from the previous five to three. The local bureaucratic system of Zhao State was greatly streamlined, and these extra officials, according to the evaluation and approval of all officials by the lieutenant and supervisor, degraded and exiled a number of officials who were not good at the ability to evaluate the style, and transferred the remaining officials.

The reason why Zhao Yong had the courage to carry out such a large-scale reform, especially the change that almost shook the foundation of Zhao State, is, of course, that the current situation has entered a period of relative stability. After the meeting between Qin and Zhao, Korea agreed that Zhao would garrison troops in Yewang and Wenyi to assist Korea in resisting Qin, and became more dependent on Zhao; The king of Qin agreed to Sima Cuo's proposal and went south to attack Bashu, temporarily shelving the contradiction with Korea and Chu, and even through the alliance, he did not have to worry about Shangjun being attacked by Zhao for the time being; Chu also agreed to Zhao's proposal to marry Zhao Yong as a concubine, and Zhao Chu temporarily concluded an alliance and joined the Zhao, Chu, and Song alliances led by Zhao; The rift between Qi and Song was getting bigger and bigger, especially Su Qin, the new secretary of Qi, while encouraging Qi to strengthen its alliance with Wei and Qin, while trying to make Qi and Song go to war and expand their territory; Zhongshan and Yan, on the other hand, have their own problems that need to be solved. It can be said that the situation of the Seven Heroes competing for hegemony is about to enter a reshuffle period, and if Zhao Guo can't grasp this short calm before the shuffle period, then Zhao Guo will not be so smooth if he wants to carry out such a large-scale reform.

Of course, the price of doing this is to sit back and watch Qin annex Bashu, which is also a helpless thing, and it can't let Qin State stop fighting against Korea while not letting him vent his anger. At least that's what Zhao Guo can't do now. And Zhao Yong's series of behaviors made Wei smell danger, and the heir of Wei kept asking Qin to strengthen the restraint on Zhao, and even did not hesitate to give Quwo to Qin, so that the Qin army could directly face the Wenyi and Yewang defended by Zhao through Yiguan. And the king of Qin also receives the land, but he did not send troops to restrain the Zhao state. Because Zhao State obtained the two bridgeheads of Wenyi and Yewang, it is equivalent to one more route to send troops, and if Chu State also attacks Wuguan at this moment, it will be very unfavorable for Qin State, which is annexing Bashu. Qin Guo is not stupid at all.

Seeing that Qin received things and still didn't help, the prince of Wei really jumped to his feet and scolded, not only put Tian Xu in prison, but also further strengthened the connection with Qi through Tian Wen, and instigated Qi to send troops to Zhao. And the King of Qi, who had already been moved by Gongsun Yan's words, was about to send troops to Gaomi, when the news of Yan Wang Chan's concession came from Yan Kingdom. So he immediately pressed down on his horses and horses, ready to observe for a while before making calculations.

The ever-changing situation of the Warring States is about to burst out with the most blazing sparks, and Zhao, which has already gone to the front of all countries, is also facing a new choice.

Handan, Longtai.

On the solemn dragon platform, whether it is a palace person or a eunuch, they walk very quietly and carefully, lest they disturb the masters in the major halls. Especially when he walked to the Hanyuan Palace, no one dared to speak loudly, and they were all submissive. Because this is the place where Zhao Yong and the ministers discussed national affairs.

At this time, no one paid attention, a small figure appeared on the steps of Longtai Gundam, he was wearing expensive clothes, with a jade pendant pinned to his waist, and although his little face was immature, he was quite heroic. The soldiers on the steps were surprised to see such a villain, but they did not dare to scold. After all, this is Longtai, and most of the people who dare to play in this place are the sons of Xungui, and if they accidentally offend the only son of any family, the gains outweigh the losses. It's all to turn a blind eye and let him play around.

And the child saw that no one cared, more and more bold, he slowly climbed along the steps to the Hanyuan Palace, although he was very tired, but he persevered, when he walked to the Hanyuan Palace, he often took a breath, raised his head, saw the figures in the hall, a little scared, quickly ran to the side of the hall, but his head stretched out, looking at the ministers in the hall, supporting his ears. I heard someone say: "King, the matter of Yan Kingdom still needs to be discussed in detail!" ”

(End of chapter)