After the domestic war was basically over, Qingji did not end the pace of Wu's foreign expansion.

Qing Ji ordered the great Sima Sun to be the main general, secretly dispatched troops, and transported a large amount of grain and baggage to Luzi to hide people's eyes and ears and surprise Chu.

At the same time, Qingji took Sun Wu as the general, led 8,000 soldiers, mixed with folk husbands and healthy women, falsely claimed 30,000 soldiers and horses, and made a big fanfare, and went south to conquer Yue, aiming to recover the lost territory of Wuyuan, Li, Yu'er, and Shanzhi!

This overt and covert military action made it impossible to discern Qingji's true intentions.

Qingji also released a rumor that he would soon drive the royal conquest and crusade against the Yue Kingdom!

This time, it made everyone think that Qingji was determined to win the lost territory in the south of Wu State, otherwise how could he personally go south?

……

Zide Temple.

Qingji is meeting Fan Li.

At this time, Fan Li was still a young man who was only twenty-four years old, heroic and majestic, although he was dressed plainly, but between his gestures, he could not hide the kind of elegance that came from within!

Qingji quite appreciates such a Fan Li.

After all, Fan Li is a rare all-round talent in history.

He was a ruler, military strategist, strategist, economist and Taoist scholar in the late Spring and Autumn Period.

The title of "home" can be crowned as a generation of people, that is, talents who are proficient in a certain field, and Fan Li's series of titles shows how versatile he is.

It is worth mentioning that Fan Li is also an early business theorist in China, one of the pioneers of Chu Studies, and is respected by later generations as the "Shang Sheng" and one of the Five Sages of Nanyang!

Qingji vaguely remembered that Fan Li in history was dissatisfied with the darkness of Chu State politics at that time, and non-nobles were not allowed to enter the country, and defected to the Yue Kingdom with the literary species, and then was worshiped as a doctor and Xiangguo, and assisted the Yue King Goujian.

He helped Gou Jian to rejuvenate the Yue Kingdom, destroy the Wu Kingdom, be ashamed of the snow, achieve hegemony, and was named a general!

After becoming famous, Fan Li retreated bravely, assumed the name of Ouyi Zipi, and traveled between the seventy-two peaks.

During this period, Fan Li became a huge fortune in business three times, scattered his family wealth, and then settled in Taoqiu of the Song Kingdom, calling himself "Tao Zhu Gong".

In later generations, Fan Li also deserved to enjoy the Tang Dynasty's Wucheng Temple, and was posthumously awarded one of the sixty-four generals in ancient and modern times (Wucheng Wang Temple Sixty-four Generals), and during the Song Dynasty, Fan Li also deserved to enjoy the Wumiao!

Such a talent has been very rare throughout the ages, how can Qingji not be entrusted with a heavy responsibility?

"Sir, if the widow wants to enrich the country and strengthen the army, why does the widow teach the widow?"

After a period of greetings, Qingji asked Fan Li straight to the point, wanting to test the depth of the latter.

Qingji knows that Fan Li is a famous talent in history, with a talent that has endured the heavens and latitudes, but how can he know how much Fan Li's talent is now?

Knowledge will always increase with the increase of experience, and Fan Li, who is still young, must not have reached that height.

But Qingji doesn't dislike it, he just wants to test Fan Li's talents!

"Since the king said that the country is rich and the army is strong, then the minister tried to say, the country is not rich, how can the army be strong?"

Fan Li replied neither humbly nor arrogantly: "If you talk about the sharpness of the armor soldiers, look at the countries under the sky, don't say that no country can compete with the Wu country, but Wu Ge is really the world's first-class, and small countries dare not follow." ”

"Only in terms of national strength, Wu is far inferior to Jin, Qi, and Chu, and is even slightly inferior to Song, Wei, and Lu."

Fan Li told a fact!

A very brutal truth!

In terms of national strength, Wu is indeed not up to the sequence of first-class countries, but it is definitely a military power!

Taibo, the ancestor of Wu State, ran to the land of Jing Barbarian, cut through thorns and thorns, rice and soup fish, so far it has been 600 years, although after the vigorous development of the kings of Wu in successive dynasties, Wu has gradually prospered, and there is a lot of fertile land.

However, in terms of national strength, Wu is not as good as some Central Plains countries!

For example, the territory of the Song State is not as large as one-third of that of the Wu State, but it is better because of the rich land, large population, and developed commerce!

If we talk about the foundation of hegemony, the Song State is better than the Wu State.

Fan Li changed his words and said: "Therefore, the king wants to enrich the country and strengthen the army, dominate the world, and think that the king should stop foreign wars as soon as possible, recuperate with the people, persuade farmers to sang, and accumulate national strength." ”

"What should a widow be?"

"The king should know a truth, if the price of grain is too low, it will damage the interests of the peasants, and if the peasants are damaged, if they do not produce well, the fields will be wasted!"

Fan Li said slowly: "And the price of grain is too high, it will damage the profits of the merchants, and if the merchants are damaged, the grain will have difficulty turnover, and no one will do business, where will the country's money and taxes come from?" ”

"In the case of Wu, if the price of grain is as low as 20, it will hurt the peasants, and if the price of grain is as high as 90, it will hurt the merchants. And if the price of grain is limited to no less than 30 and no more than 80, it will be beneficial to both farmers and merchants! ”

"If you can be so even-headed, wouldn't it be beneficial to the country?"

"Good!"

Hearing Fan Li's good policy of governing the country, Qingji couldn't help but bow his head slightly, quite agreeing.

The valley is cheap and hurts the people, and the valley is expensive and hurts the end, Fan Li's policy of governing the country is to benefit both the end of the farm!

That is, by adjusting the price to a certain range, the end of the farm will be profitable.

This will not only promote the development of agriculture, but also be conducive to the development of industry and commerce, so that all fields of the economy of Wu can develop in a coordinated manner.

Secondly, Fan Li clearly put forward the role of commodity prices on production and circulation, especially the role of properly handling the relationship between grain prices and other commodity prices on production and circulation.

He tried to promote production and circulation by adjusting prices, all by economic means and not by executive order!

This is also to be recognized.

"Why is it flat?"

Qingji asked.

"King, this needs to be in the year of the harvest, the government will buy and store the grain, and when there is a shortage of grain in the bad harvest year, the government will sell the grain at the same price, so as to calm the grain and other prices, this so-called peace and everything is also good."

Fan Li replied with a straight answer, which made Qingji's heart impressed.

He suddenly remembered that during the Warring States Period, Li Kui implemented the Pingguang Law and the Changping set up in the Han Dynasty, which seemed to be emulating Fan Li!

The importance of everything is self-evident.

It is expensive in the mean, not angry, but it is indeed beneficial to the people and the country, and such a national policy will not offend the interests of the nobles too much, and it can greatly strengthen the credit of the national government, so that the national strength of Wu will rise unconsciously!

Qingji has seen this.

Subsequently, Qingji and Fan Li talked about it for a day and a night in the Zide Palace.

Basically, they are discussing how to govern the state of Wu after the war.

Fan Li can always introduce new laws of governance, which is convincing!

But Qingji did not intend to immediately entrust Fan Li with a heavy responsibility.

"Sir, the widow wants to worship you as a sacrifice for the middle doctor and the military advisor, and lead the army to attack Chu with the big Sima, are you willing?"

"Minister, obey the king's orders!"

Fan Li immediately knelt down, without the slightest displeasure on his face.

After all, Fan Li could see that Qingji was indeed a thirsty and eloquent monarch!

Qingji asked Fan Li to go to Chu with Sun Ping, just to add to Fan Li's personal merits, so that he could better entrust him with important tasks, that's all.

I saw Qingji smile and said: "Fan Li, you should encourage him." If you can make meritorious contributions in this battle of Chu, the widow should be crowned with the position of Jiuqing! ”

"Thank you, King!"