The Han army was defeated by the Qin State at the hands of Xiuyu, and the Han and Wei countries lost about 80,000 people.

As soon as the battle report came out, the countries were shocked, which not only made everyone realize the strength of the Qin State, but also made the countries have relatives, and began to doubt Gongsun Yan's conspiracy. At the same time, the ministers of various countries who advocated fighting against Qin also encountered a crisis of confidence, and the wind began to turn in favor of Qin again.

However, many people are also aware of a problem, as an active participant in this joint event, Zhao State quietly annexed the land of Sanhu in northern Xinjiang, and became a powerful country, and its land area has expanded more than ten times! More importantly, Zhao began to recruit the tribes of the Hu people to fight for themselves, and immediately expanded his cavalry troops a lot, and had faintly become the fourth power comparable to Qin, Qi, and even Chu.

Looking back carefully at the situation last year and this year, in addition to the fact that Qi and Song did not participate in the war, Qin fell into a fierce battle with the alliance of the five countries, although it achieved a temporary victory, but also paid a large price. At the same time, Zhao took the opportunity to seize the land north of the Great River, which directly threatened the security of Qin's Shangjun and exposed Qin's left wing to Zhao's edge. However, the five-nation alliance in which Zhao participated did not suffer much losses, but was more on the sidelines. In this way, the biggest beneficiary turned out to be not the Qin State, but the Zhao State, which made a fortune in a muffled voice. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the formation of this situation made those who hated the Qin State see the hope of resisting Qin.

However, Zhao Yong deeply knows that the current problems of Zhao State are far less than those of Qin State.

Zhao Guo, Handan.

Outside Feiyi's mansion, a light car stopped. A man on horseback next to the carriage turned over and dismounted, his skills were vigorous, not like ordinary people. He staggered a few steps to the front of the house and patted the door. After a while, the small door beside the gate opened, and an old servant came out and asked, "What is the matter with the gentleman?" ”

The man bowed and said, "The servant is visiting a friend, dare to ask if Lord Si Kou is in the house?" ”

The old servant's expression was grim, and he replied: "My lord is unwell, and he has not gone out for many days, nor has he visited friends and entertainers, so please come back another day." Without further ado, he turned around and closed the door. The man wanted to hold him and ask him to understand, but he didn't dare to make a mistake, so he could only return to the front of the car and said to the people in the car: "The last general is not doing well, and please punish the king." ”

"How?"

"According to the servant, Lord Sikou has not visited a friend for many days. The last general didn't dare to make a mistake, so he had to come back and tell the king. ”

There was silence in the car for a while, and he leaned slightly, and said: "I will write a word, and you will let the servants send it into the house, see it or not, and then talk about it." ”

"Whoa."

After a while, a bamboo slip was handed out in the car, "Remember, only say that students visit the teacher, and I hope to see you." ”

The man nodded, not daring to look at it, walked to the door with his hands raised and knocked again. The servant opened the door to see that it was still him, and was about to send him away, when the man said, "Please take this thing and give it to your master, and say bluntly that the student is visiting the teacher, and I hope you will see him." When the time comes, we will decide whether to see or not. Seeing that he was a little mysterious, the servant didn't dare to procrastinate, so he hurriedly ran to the inner hall with the bamboo slip.

Above the inner hall, since Zhao Yong's return, Fei Yi, who has been saying that he is sick and refuses to see Zhao Yong, is looking at the sin sent by Si Koufu in the past few days. According to the "Law of Zhao", because the life and death of a person are from above, the hanging must be approved and outlined by the king of Zhao before it can be executed; Punishments other than hanging can be decided by the priest and recorded in the case for fifteen years. Although Fei Yi said that he was sick and had never been to the court during this period of time, the old man was stubborn by nature, and he did not dare to slack off on this matter related to the life and death of others, and always asked his subordinates to hand over the crime to him for review.

"Master, there's a visitor outside the gate."

"Nope." Fei Yi said without raising his head.

"But this guest he seems... It seems to be different. The old servant said in a slurch.

"What's the difference?"

"He said he was a student of his master, please give him his sight."

Fei Yi raised his head and said suspiciously: "A certain student? There was once a name. ”

"I didn't ask in detail. Only one bamboo slip arrived. As he spoke, he presented the bamboo slip to Fei Yi with both hands, and Fei Yi took it and saw that there was only one "Yong" on it, and he was suddenly startled and stood up. He sat down again and waved, "No! ”

The servant knew this, and just walked out of the door, but he heard Fei Yi behind him say, "Wait." He said, "What kind of honor is the person who comes?" ”

"I haven't seen a guard of honor, but it's just a car and a ride."

Fei Yi muttered twice, the bamboo slip in his hand was clutched in his hand, and his changing palm seemed to be able to read his contradictions, "That's it." Open the middle door and welcome guests. ”

When Zhao Yong entered the mansion and arrived at the inner hall, he found that Fei Yi was still sitting on the top, and he was not afraid at all because he saw him. He also knew it in his heart, walked into the hall respectfully, and said, "Student Yong, please meet Mr." ”

"Hmm." Fei Yi was not rude at all, and said, "Sit." ”

Zhao Yong thanked him, and he didn't feel strange, and sat down. "I heard that Mr. is not feeling well today and is not a member of the council. The student felt deeply guilty and came to the house to meet his husband. One is to greet Mr., and the other is to try to see if I can solve the depression in Mr. 's heart. ”

"Huh. The old man is old and frail, and he is no longer able to take on a big responsibility. If it weren't for the generous gift of the first king, how could he have reached this high position. Now that the king is sacred, he is quite arbitrary, and I am an idle person, and I can't contribute to the king. It is the time to retreat, otherwise there will be no good death in the future. ”

Zhao Yong saw that Feiyi pointed at the monk and scolded the bald man, and he was sarcastic to himself, but he was not annoyed. Wen Yan said with a smile: "Mr. is at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period, so why worry about illness and weakness." What's more, now that Zhao Guo is on the verge of crisis, if Mr. leaves at this moment, wouldn't he have failed the grace of the previous king? ”

"However, the king is unconscious, and the old minister can't persuade him back, so he can only do this." Speaking of this, I was a little stunned.

"I wonder what kind of stupid behavior the king has made Mr. so desperate?"

"How to be unconscious? Hum! Fei Yi picked up the criminal strategies on several cases and slammed them in front of Zhao Yong: "This is the statistics of the criminal strategies in the three months of this year, of which three or four are the lawbreakers of the clan, and less than one or two are the last to be executed." ”

"Back then, I swore that I told the old man that the so-called change of the law must be legislated first. The old man read the previous law, painstakingly and lonely, and planned to make a part of "Zhao Law", hoping to use this law to help the king reform and maladministration. However, a few years have passed, and although most of the laws have been enforced, there are always things that cannot be carried out when it comes to the clan. In this way, which is the law of Zhao State, I'm afraid it is the law of the clan, right? And what is the use of this change? ”

Zhao Yong brushed over one book of criminal strategies and opened one at will, all of which involved the case files of the clan, many of which were cases that he personally interrogated. Many hangings were denied exile, and some were punished by exile. Zhao Yongping read it calmly and sighed: "What Mr. said, the evening drum and morning bell are deafening." Students have nothing to say. ”

Fei Yi looked at Zhao Yong's dejected look, and a sense of pity rose in his heart, and he couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, do you really want to see the foundation of Zhao State destroyed in the hands of a rat-eye clan?" ”

The air was terrifyingly quiet, only the fat Yi with an excited face, and the calm and warm Zhao Yong.

"Sir, when the students returned from Jiumen, they felt that Zhao Guo was in a worrying situation, with constant internal party strife, external princes peeping, internal and external difficulties, and worrying. It was the decision to reform Zhao's internal affairs that made Zhao reject Zhongshan and settle Sanhu, and now it has been seven years. ”

"Within seven years, Gu promoted the compilation of the people, confiscated the hidden fields, implemented military cantonments, rewarded farming and warfare, restrained merchants, and all kinds of measures, so that the number of domestic households continued to grow, and the grain output increased year by year. The students were both happy and sad. ”

"The happy one is the importance of Zhao's status now, comparable to Qin Qi; You are worried, but as Mr. said, the chronic disease of the clan has been suffering for a long time, and it cannot be left quickly, because there is a lot of favoritism for the clan. In this Jinyang incident, Mr. was annoyed that I couldn't kill all the participants at once, but I just found a scapegoat. Only then did he close the door and thank the guests, not asking about the government. ”

However, this is not what the students want. The disease of the Zhao family is not weaker than Chu, nor is it less than Qi. The kid didn't have the decisiveness of King Qin. As Mr. said, the biggest patron of the Zhao family is not my uncle Zhao Cheng, but me, the king! ”

"Your Majesty!" Fei Yi looked at Zhao Yong's self-blame and was finally relieved. He did have a grudge against Zhao Yong because of the Jinyang incident, not only because of Jia Cha's death, but also because of a conspiracy matter, Zhao Yong's understatement made Feiyi dissatisfied. He had already done everything to kill Zhao Ran and the other three family members, but Zhao Yong waved his pen and let them go. This made Fei Yi feel angry, and he had the act of calling him sick.

"The students came this time, firstly, because they wanted to visit, hoping that Mr. would forgive the students; Second," Zhao Yong said, "as I told you at the beginning, it has been seven years since the reform, but the princes have changed even faster. Zhao Guo was weak and no one cared about before, and now his strength will definitely be coveted by others. Moreover, Zhongshan and Yan have abnormal movements, and they are afraid of great changes, so they have to make plans in advance. The student once said that Zhao Guo's policy has not changed for ten years. Now that there are three years left, Lone hopes to plan for the next step of the law change. And for this, the students need a lot of support from their husbands. ”

"Your Majesty, if the law cannot be enforced, how can the reform be effective?"

"Don't worry, sir. Although this time may not be satisfying, but let them converge, Lone is still very confident. ”

Coming out of the Feiyi Mansion, Zhao Yong's gloomy face turned even blue. It's not because of Feiyi, but after he returned from the Northern Expedition, he found that the dispute between the four ministers and the parties led by them was intensifying, although now Zhao Yong is in power, and the Jinyang Rebellion has made other clans dare not take more than half a step, but the previous political situation of the mountains has endangered the interests of Zhao in the upcoming reshuffle of the princes of the Warring States. When he had just succeeded to the throne, he needed this kind of mountain situation to check and balance each other, but now, he was convinced that he had enough ability to control this Zhao State, and he was about to start correcting and repairing these mountains. The result of the trimming is to make everyone obey only themselves. Let all those factions obey themselves unconditionally, so that Zhao Guo can be more efficient and more executive. Therefore, he wants to let Fei Yi and others know their thoughts, so that they will not make mistakes in the next reform.

At this time, the battle of Hangu Pass was at this time, and both sides probably had no idea of continuing to fight, Qin hoped to gain greater benefits through this battle, and in the face of Qin's aggressiveness, Han Wei could only step backwards, and how could Zhao strengthen the confidence of the allies?

Zhongshan and Yan Guo have abnormal movements, the seeds that they buried in the Yan people a few years ago are finally about to bear a greedy flower, how should Zhao Guo deal with himself?

And Zhao Cheng, his plan will definitely damage Zhao Cheng's interests, will this uncle agree to his request? Will he be the next Zhao Xian?

The vehicle creaked and creaked on the bluestone-paved road, seemingly answering Zhao Yong's question.

(End of chapter)