The time entered the thirtieth year of King Qingji of Wu, that is, in 484 BC, the ninth lunar month.

After the Battle of Huanshui, the Wu army made a posture of marching eastward, which frightened the governments and oppositions of Qi, Song, Lu, and Wei, and was terrified.

However, in the end, Qingji did not give the order for further eastward crusades.

Qingji sent envoys to the four kingdoms of Qi, Song, Lu, and Wei, and forced their monarchs and doctors to cede the land of the city and compensate Wu for all the losses in the war.

The captured kings of the Song, Lu, and Wei kingdoms and their ministers were forced to hemorrhage profusely and paid a huge ransom before they could return to their homeland.

Forced by the tense situation of the Wu army, the Qi State was forced to cede fifteen cities west of Jishui, including Chongqiu, Yiyi, Huang, Liao, Tang, and Qing.

The state of Lu was forced to cede seven cities, including Suju, Xianqiu, and Momogaoka, from the vicinity of Onozawa to the area around Jishui.

Wei Guo was forced to cede seven cities including Chaoge, Wulu, Tong, and Maoqiu in the area from Dahe to Jishui, and its capital Diqiu was directly surrounded by Wu on three sides.

The worst was the Song State, including the important commercial town of Pengcheng, Xiao, Lü, Youqiu, and the ten cities of Chen County and Ku County, which were annexed by the Song State before, all of which were ceded to the Wu State.

As a result, the four kingdoms of Qi, Song, Lu, and Wei were all weakened to varying degrees.

Not only was it as simple as ceding the land of the city, but the four countries were also extorted by the state of Wu for gold ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 yi, which can be described as a difficult brother.

As for the Yan State, because it was beyond the reach of the whip, it did not border the Wu State, but it was not blackmailed by the Wu State.

In this year, except for Han and Wei, who were not attacked by the soldiers of Wu, the rest of the countries were all pressed to the ground by Wu and basically disabled.

If it weren't for the fact that the national strength was not good, and the loss of Wu itself was also serious, it might be that Qingji would have to consider taking advantage of this opportunity to launch a great unification war in one go.

……

The western capital of Wu State, Xianyang.

Returning to the capital, Qingji, according to the usual practice, held a great court meeting as soon as possible, and all the ministers with an official rank of more than 600 stone in the court must go to the Chongzheng Hall to participate in the discussion of the country.

At the court meeting, Qingji discussed with the ministers and rewarded the meritorious ministers, and the rest of the soldiers were rewarded and compensated, which would be slightly delayed, but after all, it had to be discussed first.

"Second and third sons, this Central Plains War has opened up thousands of miles of territory for my Great Wu."

Qingji said loudly: "The intention of the widow is to set up counties to govern." ”

"In the land of the old Zhao, three counties of Hebei were added, namely: Taiyuan County, Hengshan County, and Qinghe County."

"Ji Ran."

"The minister is here!"

"You are responsible for selecting and dispatching capable officials to the three counties of Hebei to take office. After the arrival of officials, it is imperative that the people's livelihood be restored as soon as possible without delay. ”

"No!"

Ji Ran immediately agreed.

"King, the minister has a sentence, I don't know if I should say it or not?"

"But it doesn't hurt to say it."

Ji Ran frowned, and said slowly: "The battle to destroy Zhao has sharply reduced the number of young people in Zhao Guo, and almost half of the young people have been lost. In all the major battles this year, our army has captured as many as 360,000 enemy soldiers, and so far they have not been properly settled. ”

"The minister thinks that these hundreds of thousands of soldiers can be placed in the three counties of Hebei, as well as Shangjun and Longxi County, in the hope that they will reclaim the border, restore the people's livelihood at the same time, and after marrying the local lonely and widowed women, they will reproduce and settle down."

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

Ji Ran's proposal won the unanimous approval of Kong Qiu, Zeng Dian, Yan Hui and other ministers, and they came forward to second.

There's nothing wrong with that.

After all, there is no shortage of labor in Wu at present, especially free labor.

With 360,000 soldiers, Qingji can be used to reclaim the border and restore the population.

In the previous wars, not only the elite divisions of the Wu Kingdom, but also the Tianxia Kingdom were basically lost, and even the number of men was sharply reduced.

It will take a long time to recover the population and wait for them to become adults.

And if Qingji ignores this and insists on distributing hundreds of thousands of pawns to the frontier, not including the distribution of daughters-in-law and children, it may cause some chaos, and it is not in line with the national policy that Wu has always encouraged childbearing.

The three counties of Hebei are now regarded as the "hinterland" of Wu State.

Because, the monarchs and ministers of Wu did not think that the nomads in the north or the Zhongshan people could threaten the safety of the three counties in Hebei.

Moreover, so many men are people who have gone through bloody battles, and they can be armed to defend their families and countries at any time.

"The widow is right."

Qingji bowed slightly.

"200,000 soldiers are placed in the three counties of Hebei, and the remaining 160,000 soldiers are placed in Longxi County and Shang County, and they must be reclaimed and garrisoned, and everyone must be guaranteed to marry a woman, whether it is a widow or an unmarried girl of Yunying."

"Married by the local government. The age of marriage is lowered again, and all women over the age of thirteen can marry, and if a woman is not married after the age of fifteen, the taxes of the whole family will be doubled, and her parents will be guilty. ”

"King Shengming!"

Qunchen Mountain shouted.

In matters related to population reproduction, Wu has always had clear rewards and punishments.

Before the age of seventeen, the woman was fined for not getting married, and her parents were guilty.

Now the threshold is lowered by two years.

If it is a rich and wealthy family, you don't have to care too much.

Parents are guilty, and this "crime" can only be converted into a fine of cloth, food, or hard labor.

In order for ordinary families to avoid punishment, they need to give their daughters a marriage match at the age specified by them.

Such a policy may cause dissatisfaction among some ordinary people.

However, Qingji can't really do things that are beneficial to everyone.

What he has to consider now is how to restore Wu's national strength as soon as possible and develop people's livelihood.

At this time, Cheng Bo Yu stood up in the imperial history, bowed to Qingji and said: "King, the minister thinks that the three counties of Taiyuan, Qinghe, and Hengshan in Hebei are the border defense areas of my Great Wu, and they should not be lost. ”

"If possible, the king should also send troops to seize the land of Dai, or destroy the Zhongshan Kingdom, so as to prevent future troubles!"

"Now, my Wu State should garrison heavy troops in the three counties of Hebei, and at the same time select people with both civil and military skills to sit in the town."

"Good."

Qingji paused for a moment, and then said: "Let Wu Xi be reappointed as the county guard of Qinghe County, increase the rank of governor, command 50,000 troops, and sit in Handan." ”

"Order, Wu Zhang served as the county guard of Taiyuan County, increased the rank of governor, commanded 50,000 troops, and sat in Jinyang."

"The county guards of the three counties of Taiyuan, Qinghe, and Hengshan are responsible for the placement of the soldiers."

The king is wise! ”

All the ministers bowed to him.

The geographical location of the three counties of Hebei is now very crucial, and it has become the outpost of Wu's Eastern Expedition, and it is also an important frontier defense place for Wu to resist the invasion of foreign countries.

Qingji sent two capable sons and 100,000 soldiers and horses to sit in the three counties of Hebei in case of accidents, which is also right.

(End of chapter)