"The so-called money bags and soldiers' oil, maybe you know. But you may not know this big board. Zhao Cheng said with a smile.

"I hope Sikong will give me some advice." Li Dui said sincerely.

"The so-called big board is the law." Zhao Cheng was speechless and continued: "Although the king is young, there is a hermit like Crane Guanzi to guide him, and there is also a Fei Yi as his master in the court and the field. Although these two are not among the Legalists, they are quite familiar with the stories of various countries. In particular, the strength of the Qin State is even more insightful. Talking to the king all day long, it is inevitable that the king will read the laws of the Qin State very deeply. ”

Li Dui couldn't hear the resentment in Zhao Cheng's words, but his views on the law were similar to Zhao Yong's. So he just echoed it casually and said: "Your Excellency has some opinions, even if it is a fat master, I am afraid it will be difficult to change his heart." If Sikong advises the king, he still has to find out the king's attitude. ”

Although Zhao Cheng blamed Li Dui for not supporting him in his heart, he had to admit that what Li Dui said was indeed reasonable, and he also felt that although Zhao Yong entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, the concepts of the two people were fundamentally different, and sooner or later there would be contradictions. However, Zhao Yong didn't want to be ridiculed by other countries for not recognizing his six relatives.

"Alas, it seems that I am really old, Zhao Guo, Zhao Guo, who has become the king's Zhao Guo."

If others said it, Li Dui would definitely laugh at him for saying big things, but this, he didn't dare to say that, he just smiled and said: "Sikong said that it was funny, the king gave you the position of Sikong, I originally hoped that you could assist him, you are still a pillar of the sky for Zhao Guo, and you are a pillar of the sea!" ”

"Old." Zhao Cheng smiled and said, "Do you know why I want to talk about this matter today?" ”

"Presumably the king." Li Dui speculated, in fact, he knew that Zhao Cheng had just come back from the royal city, and it must have been some arrangements from Zhao Yong's side that made him so emotional.

"yes. Our lord, the wedding is approaching, and I don't think about beauties, but about revisions, as well as the Northern Expedition. Isn't it strange, you say? ”

"This just shows that the king has already decided to carry out the Northern Expedition this year." After Li Dui thought about it, he solved it for Zhao. "Before, the king discussed the Northern Expedition with Siqing, but Siqing politely refused in too haste. Last year, the monarch personally led the troops north to Daijun, which seemed to strengthen the confidence of the Northern Expedition to Zhongshan. ”

"Even so, I still think that the king is too risky, and the trouble in Zhongshan has been for decades, how can he succeed in a battle with only two years?"

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it may not take a year to complete the work." In the royal city, Li Zhuo took Le Yi to meet Zhao Yong. Zhao Yong heard that it was Le Yi who came, and hurried out of the royal city to greet him.

Seeing Zhao Yong, Le Yi was still worried that Zhao Yong would be sarcastic to himself, but he didn't expect Zhao Yong not only to go out of the hall to greet him, but even to enter the White Tiger Hall with his arm. In this place, even Li Zhuo is not qualified to enter. And he had just arrived, and he had not yet settled down and had no position, so he was invited in. The evaluation of Zhao Yong in his heart suddenly rose a lot. Maybe Gongsun Yan is right, Zhao Yong is indeed a monarch worthy of loyalty. When Zhao Yong said his strategy of preparing for the Northern Expedition to Zhongshan, Le Yi pondered for a long time and said to Zhao Yong.

"Please."

"First, we must make good relations between the two countries of Yanqi. With the strength of the Yan State and the soldiers of our Daijun County, we put pressure on the Zhongshan State from the north; With the heavy troops of the Qi State, they gathered near Gaotang and entered the Zhongshan border from the eastern region. Although our interests in doing so will be relatively small, they are already insignificant compared to most of the territory of Zhongshan Kingdom. ”

"Well, move on."

"Second, if it is possible, Zhao State should gradually encroach on Zhongshan in four steps, rather than relying solely on force."

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. ”

"First of all, the Hutuo River is an important natural hazard, and the Zhongshan people rely on this place as a barrier to build the Great Wall. However, as long as this place falls, Zhongshan will no longer be able to defend it. Therefore, the first step in this attack on Zhongshan is to open this barrier in Zhongshan. ”

Zhao Yong nodded and did not speak.

Le Yi saw that Zhao Yong did not object, so he continued. "Secondly, the second phase should occupy Ningjia. This place is the springboard of Lingshou, and it is possible to cross the river to attack Lingshou according to this place. If there is no place, whether it is from Shiyi or other places to cross the river, it is a little roundabout, like a bowstring launch, and by Lingshou, the power has been offset by half. The gains outweigh the losses. The battle of Yiningjia will be very fierce. ”

"If the first two attacks go well, then the third step can enter Lingshou and go straight to the tiger's den. To the north of Lingshou, there is the siege of Yan Kingdom. In the east of Lingshou, there is the obstruction of the Qi country, and the monarch of Zhongshan must move the capital, and the best place to go is near Hengshui in the east of Zhongshan. Our fourth step is to sweep away all the forces in Zhongshan before we can complete this business. ”

Zhao Yong watched Le Yi constantly pointing at the map, and kept calculating the changes in his heart. To be honest, the map of the entire Zhongshan Kingdom was rotten in his stomach, so wherever Le Yi said, he could number them one by one and never miss them.

"Then do you think it will take a few years for Gu to completely sweep away Zhongshan."

Le Yi thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, Zhongshan is not a weak country, and Zhao is not too strong, so it is difficult to determine the disparity. However, I have two strategies that I can learn from you. ”

"What's the strategy?"

"The first strategy is to sort out the military forage step by step, and take the four steps just mentioned to achieve the strategic intention step by step. This strategy is evenly matched, and the odds of winning are around the eighth floor, so there is no problem at all. ”

"What about the second policy?"

"The second strategy is to eliminate the ** force of Zhongshan as the goal, not to capture how many cities as the purpose, but to eliminate the soldiers of Zhongshan as much as possible. In order to weaken Zhongshan's national strength. Although this strategy is effective, it is indispensable because of the need for the right time, place and people. It is a low degree of success, and there are about three layers of chance. ”

"Three floors? So low? Zhao Yong said with a frown. He was very interested in the second strategy that Le Yi said.

"Zhongshan is not a stupid country, although intrigues and tricks are useful, but in the face of strength, there are still some deficiencies."

Zhao Yong nodded, this sentence was often conveyed by all Zhongshan generals before, and today, Le Yi took out this sentence to advise Zhao Yong. It can be seen that the truth in the world is exactly the same.

"In this way, you have to rely on the help of Yan and Qi?" Qi Guohao said that Zhao Yong promised the land of the Tang Dynasty, but not one of them was given to him, and Qi Guo has been making it more or less in the past two years. But Zhao Yong pretended to be deaf and dumb, didn't say to give, didn't say no, and always hung Qi Guo. Now that he needs some blood, it is unreasonable for Gao Tang not to give it to him this time.

But Yan Guo ....

"To tell you the truth, according to Gu's reliable intelligence, Zhongshan wants to unite with the Yan State and attack our Dai County. In order to contain the troops of Daijun, Zhongshan vainly tried to take advantage of this time to go south and seize the house city. Therefore, it is debatable that he can cooperate successfully with Yan Guo. ”

Le Yi was taken aback when he heard it, but soon, he began to think about it again, and then as if he had decided, he said categorically: "We will strike first and drive Yan Guo out of the main battlefield, and it is best to use both soft and hard measures to make him dare not look west." But first of all, we still have to win, and if we can't win on the battlefield, we can't talk about it. ”

"Do you want to start a war with Yan Guo first?" Zhao Yong is not a warmonger, he is very rational. With the family money he has saved in the past two years, he can support one war with Zhongshan Kingdom, but he may not be able to win two. In particular, Daijun is in the middle of the Yan Kingdom and the Hu people, and the geographical location is too sensitive.

"Isn't it too risky?" Zhao Yong still asked calmly.

"I have a plan for your reference."

Three days later, he left Handan on a fast horse and embarked on a gallop to Daijun. Few people know about this mission, but the documents he brought with him are absolutely the best of the best.

However, in the eyes of all the people, this is a small thing, and it is too insignificant compared to another big thing.

At the court meeting, Zhao Yong announced the arrangements for his crown ceremony and wedding. However, everyone knows that the wedding is the most important thing compared to the crown ceremony.

In fact, before the Warring States period, the crown ceremony was a very important thing for a person. He even ranked first among the Eight Platforms and Six Rites, so much so that for a long time, it was the most important etiquette in a person's life.

However, at the beginning of the Warring States Period, the etiquette collapsed, and the Shiqing Shilu system was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so that the status of the crown ceremony was relatively weak, and the reason was roughly because before the crown ceremony, no one could be powerful, and relative to the monarch, it was not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Therefore, according to Zhou Li, Zhao Yong's handling of state affairs in recent years can be said to be impolite. However, the princes of the world, all of them are here, and the crown ceremony is no longer an important ceremony in the princely states of the Warring States Period, so many historical materials have very few records of the crown ceremony of the princes in the Warring States Period.

However, history is so ironic, in the Central Plains where Zhou rites prevailed, when the crown ceremony was no longer important, the Qin and Chu states, which were denounced as barbarian states, still strictly retained the crown ceremony system. So much so that when Qin Wangzheng was in power, he was still strictly following the crown ceremony process. This has to be said to be a resounding slap in the face of the Central Plains countries.

It's not very important, but it's still going to happen. Especially before the wedding, get this done. So, Zhao Cheng and Zhao Bao acted separately, one was responsible for organizing the crown ceremony, and the other was responsible for organizing the wedding.

It's just that our old Mr. Zhao Cheng, because of his special status, still has to preside over the crown ceremony on behalf of Zhao Yong's father at Zhao Yong's crown ceremony, and the guest who performed the crown ceremony happened to fall on Feiyi's head. Of course, this was not assigned by Zhao Yong, but the result of divination. It can be seen that in the dark, the two are entangled.