The spring of the twenty-seventh year of the Great Qin Empire.

February.

The snow has melted in the far south, but most of the empire is still bitterly cold. In Xianyang Palace, the steep spring cold has not dissipated for a long time.

In the depths of the palace, the smell of pine resin overflowing from the charcoal burned by a large amount of pine wood makes people feel refreshed. The pine scent is also mixed with some sandalwood. Sandalwood charcoal is extremely valuable, and only the emperor and the concubines and princes of high status can use it. However, the fragrance in it can permeate the entire palace.

After the early dynasty retreated, the emperor left the prime minister Li Si and the high-ranking ministers such as CRRC Ling Zhao and other high-ranking ministers, and summoned everyone to the study for a small court discussion. The small court meeting is a small discussion and resolution of the emperor's ministers after the big court meeting of the day, and the policies decided here will be announced to the world through Prime Minister Li Si.

The study room is not small, but it is full of all kinds of books, and the place that can accommodate people is not spacious. On several huge bookshelves, rolls of bamboo slips were piled up, as vast as a hill, and everywhere in the study room was also full of concerts sent from all over the country. The emperor is still as diligent as before, and every day he asks Zhao Gao to weigh a hundred catties of bamboo slips, and the emperor will not rest if he does not finish reading these books. It is true that the emperor cannot deal with all government affairs in a timely manner, there are dozens of counties in the country, thousands of counties, and any trends in these counties will be reported to the emperor as soon as possible.

In the study, the emperor's demeanor was very easy-going, lying on a soft couch at will, and there were couches on both sides of the emperor, but the ministers on the couch did not dare to be so casual as the emperor, all of them sat upright, waiting for the emperor to speak.

After a pause, the emperor asked, "Prime Minister, how did you do with the matter of migrating the rich to Xianyang?" "The emperor generally makes decisions, and how to implement them is a matter between the Prime Minister's Mansion and the deployment of other imperial courts.

On the left side of the emperor, a black and thin old man sitting precariously, wearing a black official uniform and a purple ribbon and gold seal, he looked calm, and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, this matter has been settled, and the Prime Minister's Mansion is sorting out the household registration of the people who have migrated to Xianyang from all over the country, and it will be presented to the treasury in the near future." ”

The Emperor nodded, expressing his satisfaction with the Prime Minister's resolute handling of the matter. If you change someone else, you may have to toss for years to be able to accomplish such a thing.

"Your Majesty, Meng Tian from the north came to play a chapter, saying that the Hu people in the grassland and the Huns had moved, and it seems that they have the intention of going south, how should this matter be handled?" Taiwei Wang Ben said in a hoarse voice. Wang Ben is the son of Wang Qian, the god of war, in the war of annihilation, his military exploits are no less than his father, leading the army to destroy Yan and Wei to destroy Qi, and his military achievements are outstanding, so he ranks among the three dukes. However, after many years of riding horses, Wang Ben has suffered a lot of injuries and diseases, and his body is quite weak, he is about the same age as the emperor, and he is only forty years old this year, but he looks like a man in his fifties.

The emperor smiled indifferently and said, "I'm afraid that Meng Tian's kid is itchy and wants to go north and fight the Hu people, right?" "The emperor and Meng Tian have a brotherhood, although Meng Tian did not participate in any of the empire's annihilation wars, but the emperor's favor for him is not weaker than Wang Jian and Wang Ben's father and son. When the emperor attacked the Six Kingdoms with the strength of the whole country, it was Meng Tian who guarded the northern frontier for him, and with a very small number of troops, he forcibly stopped the grassland jackals who came and went freely and fluctuated in the grassland. Meng Tian's merits and hard work are also clear to everyone.

Listening to the emperor's tone of praise for Meng Tian, Prime Minister Li Si suddenly said: "Your Majesty, it is still not appropriate to use troops against the grassland, at the end of the year, we have already planned a campaign against the South China Sea, the South China Sea is thousands of miles wide, and it will take a lot of time and troops, and the grain and grass reserves must also take care of the southern expedition first." ”

Hearing this, the emperor nodded yes. The emperor also wanted to start a two-front war, including the grasslands in the north and the land of Baiyue in the south. It's not just that the emperor likes war, it's also a strategic need.

The Hu people on the grassland, only a few hundred miles away from Xianyang, can reach the outside of Xianyang City in two days by fast horses, which is enough to threaten the safety of the empire, and has to be removed. And the South China Sea is even more in the heart of the empire, and it is a big trouble for the empire. I think that the state of Chu was born from the land of Baiyue a vassal state, originally did not belong to the princes of the Zhou royal family, but such a country, but in the end it became one of the seven major warring states, when the state of Chu was destroyed, Wang Jian did his best to defeat it, which made the emperor very impressed. The land of the South China Sea is not included in the territory of the empire, and the emperor is also worried that the barbarians in the south will form an army like the Chu State hundreds of years ago, and wave their troops to the north, and the empire will have to deal with it seriously.

Although the emperor was ambitious, the reality could not meet the emperor's needs. After years of war, the treasury of the empire that had accumulated for a hundred years had been almost consumed, and the treasures of the major warring states were plundered and invested in the construction of Xianyang City. The royal families of the major destroyed countries need to be placed and monitored, which is a huge amount of expenses!

"The plan to conquer the Hu people can be eased a bit, but I'm afraid that Meng Tian's kid will have some opinions, so I can pick a time to go to Longxi and the north, and talk to those generals in the north, so that they can calm down for a while, and if they want to fight, there are still a lot of opportunities." The Emperor smiled kindly.

Ministers have been mixed. But everyone could understand the Emperor's thoughts. The generals guarding the frontier in the north are all capable of recruiting and fighting well, and their ideas and opinions must be taken seriously by the emperor. In this way, in just a few words, the destination of the emperor's first grand hunting tour was finalized.

After discussing a few more issues, the small court discussion came to an end, and the emperor suddenly picked up a bamboo slip placed beside him and said, "This is a letter from Master Wei Yi to me last year. I had only hurriedly flipped through it before, and learned that the master had taken in two students in Chenjun. I was negligent for a moment, and I didn't even notice that there were three volumes of this book, and I only read the first volume. Last night, I accidentally found two other volumes, which contained some answers between masters and his students, and I felt that it was quite interesting, and you Aiqing also read it. After speaking, he motioned to Zhao Gao, who was standing on the side, to present the three volumes of the book to the nearby ministers.