"It's finally over." Zhao Kuo stretched, got up and walked outside.

As a monarch, this is good, you can get off work whenever you want, and no one can control it.

In the past, the ministers would give a few words of advice when they saw Zhao Kuo wandering around all day, but then they directly ignored it.

No way, Zhao Kuo said, "I've dealt with it all, and the rest is your business." Just block them all back!

Although the so-called handling is to divide things to others, but then again, don't you courtiers just keep them to work? Could it be that the monarch should do everything alone, and the ministers would keep it for their enjoyment?

Zhao Kuo heard that those diligent sons of heaven in history all got up before dawn to work, and worked until the second half of the night, getting up earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs.

Qin Shi Huang even had to pull a few carriages to play the folds, review on the road, without any time to rest, and finally died of exhaustion.

Anyway, Zhao Kuo won't do this!

"Since ancient times, it is not unreasonable that there are many faint monarchs, and this Ming monarch is not a human thing!" A smile appeared on the corner of Zhao Kuo's mouth and walked out of the study.

The guards next to him hurriedly took off the robe made of bear skin from the shelf and put it on for Zhao Kuo.

Just after noon, the sun hung high in the sky, but it did not bring the slightest temperature, and the cold wind blew, bringing the cordial greetings of the Siberian savages.

This year's winter is colder than ever!

The river has begun to freeze, and in about half a month, the river may be closed. At that time, the fish and meat from the port can only be transported to Handan by land.

Fortunately, the road from the port to Handan has been paved on one side, and it is not a problem to open to traffic, but the cost of land transportation will be very large.

The Shaofu and coal merchants, who were in charge of mining and selling coal, were happy, and it was only early November, and the turnover of coal had already surpassed that of salt and copper and iron, and became the first pillar of Zhao's economy.

Wait until the coldest month of December, and that's it!

Gander and Shi Shen sent someone to report to Zhao Kuo that there was likely to be a nationwide heavy snowfall at the end of the year, and the chestnut belly also sent a letter over, saying that since September, Zhao Guo has not rained a single drop, and the sun has been shining recently, and there is no sign of snow, and the rain and snow are likely to be concentrated in December.

Zhao Kuo has strictly forbidden the price of coal to rise everywhere, prepared for heavy snowfall, and transported large quantities of coal to various places, so that people can obtain coal through work.

Although what Gander and Chestnut belly and others said may not be accurate, it is better to believe this kind of thing than not to believe it, and it is better to be prepared early than not to be prepared.

"Go to Handan Academy." Zhao Kuo said to Ben.

In addition to the royal palace, the military camp and the academy are the two places that Zhao Kuo goes to the most, because one represents military power and the other represents the future. These two things, as well as the power of rewards and punishments, must be firmly in his own hands.

Soon, Ben had the carriage ready.

"Winter clothes are all sent to the northern frontier, and the soldiers of the widow can't be allowed to freeze and defend the border." On the carriage, Zhao Kuo asked.

"The king, it has been sent." Liu Ping said with his fists clenched.

In the past, Zhao Guo brought his own winter clothes for the border soldiers, and this was the first time that winter clothes were distributed to everyone. ….

However, it is not that Zhao is stingy, but every country is the same, in the Spring and Autumn Period, even weapons and armor had to be prepared, how many families produced a chariot and so on.

Only when the war spans too long, from summer to winter, can the state prepare winter clothes for soldiers who cannot afford to buy winter clothes.

Why do you say that it is possible, because under the long years of war, it is difficult for the country to support the winter clothes of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and in the end, many times it is gone.

Just like in the Battle of Changping, the Qin State sent winter clothes to the Qin army, and the Zhao State sent nothing, until the siege of Shangdang was lifted, and Zhao Kuo got winter clothes from Wei and Korea.

Otherwise, although it will not be said that most people will freeze to death, there will definitely be no fewer people who will freeze their toes or fingers.

"Well, if only there was cotton." Zhao Kuo sighed quietly.

He didn't know cotton

When was the flower introduced to China, but it is certain that no trace of cotton has been found in Zhao now.

In this era, the cold could only rely on silk cotton, animal skins, and kapok, and the poor stuffed some reeds or feathers of birds and beasts in their kudzu clothes.

"Twenty-four Filial Piety" records that Confucius's disciple Min Ziqian, his biological mother died early, his father married a stepwife, and gave birth to two sons. The stepmother often abused him. In winter, his two younger brothers wore winter coats made of cotton, but they gave him "cotton clothes" made of reeds.

However, the cotton here is kapok, before cotton was introduced to China, it was one of the main cold protection items of the people of the Central Plains, mainly produced in the south, and there were few in the north, so it could only be purchased from the south.

Zhao Kuo has already asked people to find a way to make woolen sweaters and down jackets, and the smell on the wool is easy to remove, but the degreasing technology has not yet been completed.

Of course, it is okay not to skim it, it is nothing more than some shortcomings, and it can be slowly improved in the future.

But even so, it can't be mass-produced, because the output of wool and down is a big problem, not to mention that Zhao Guo's wool and down are for the people, even the soldiers can't afford to use them.

Even if the Hetao is taken down, it will take a few years before the wool industry can be developed.

"Doesn't my Zhao Kingdom have cotton?" Liu Ping asked curiously.

Zhao Kuo raised his forehead, he forgot that the current cotton refers to kapok, "I'm talking about another kind of cotton, huh...... It's similar to cotton, but it's more yielding, it's easier to pick, and if you can grow it widely, it's enough to keep people all over the world cold."

"Keep the world warm!" Liu Ping clasped his hands into fists and said solemnly, "Dare to ask the king, where is this thing? No matter how difficult it is, the minister will find it."

"Now...... I'm not sure, but the Central Plains definitely don't, maybe the Western Regions do, if the Western Regions don't have it, then it's further west......" Zhao Kuo said uncertainly, he had forgotten where the cotton originated.

"The Western Regions?" Liu Ping was a little suspicious, where is the Western Regions? The land to the west?

"It's the land of the extreme west, and it's also in the west of the Qin country." Zhao Kuo said.

"The minister heard that the Qin State has recently gathered merchants and wants to go to the Far West to find the Queen Mother of the West." Liu Ping suddenly thought of something.

"Looking for the Queen Mother of the West!" Zhao Kuo was suddenly happy, King Qin was almost seventy years old, wouldn't he still think about something to happen to the Queen Mother of the West! "The nobles of the Qin State didn't stop it?"

"Nope." Liu Ping shook his head, "King Qin only ordered the merchants to travel west, and did not send the nobles."

Generally, this kind of thing that does not involve their own interests, the nobles will not only not stop it, but will also send some money and food, meaning, to show that they support all the decisions made by the king.

Of course, if your own interests are involved, that's a different story.

"Pick a few merchants and mix them in." Zhao Kuo thought for a while and said.

He didn't believe in the Queen Mother of the West or the Queen Mother of the West, but the road to the west of the Qin State was the Silk Road opened up by Zhang Qian later.

It is needless to say how important this path is.

If the Qin State really opened up the Silk Road, it would be equivalent to an additional blood transfusion artery, and the Western money was continuously sent to the Qin State through the Silk Road, which was a great threat to the Zhao State.

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It's too hard to write an online article