"It is precisely because of the heroic battles of the soldiers that our Zhao Kingdom can win one war after another, defeat one enemy after another, and become stronger and stronger. Without the dedication of the soldiers, there would be no Zhao country today. Now, on behalf of the Zhao people, thank you for your efforts, thank you for the peace you bring, and thank you for bringing a better life."

It wasn't until the evening that all the merit medals of the soldiers were awarded, and Zhao Kuo walked back to the platform, faced Zhao Jun, and bowed.

"Long live Zhao Jun!"

"Long live Zhao Jun!"

"Long live Zhao Jun!"

Earth-shattering shouts sounded from all around, and everyone stood for a day, not only did not get tired at all, but was full of strength, waving their fists, and shouting frantically.

The soldiers looked at Zhao Kuo with fiery eyes, and there were countless things they wanted to say in their hearts, but they didn't know how to say them.

Since ancient times, some people have praised kings, some people have praised generals, some people have praised Wenchen, and no one has ever remembered them as the most ordinary soldiers.

They are the people who have given the most in the whole country and the whole nation, and no emperor has paid more than them, but because they have no power, they are at the bottom, so no one has ever looked at them, and no one remembers them.

But now, one of them saw them.

The wind and clouds surged in the sky, and the war clouds quickly condensed, like a stormy wave constantly lapping towards the ground. Even if it wasn't wartime, there were still many soldiers who had the light of the military soul distorted from their bodies!

"We have won in the past, we have won now, and we have always won!" Zhao Kuo finally said.

"We've been winning!" All Zhao Jun shouted loudly.

In the end, it became all the Zhao people shouting in unison.

"At this time, I'm afraid that even if there is a million troops in front of us, as long as the king gives an order, our army can tear it apart in an instant." Yu Xin looked at the shocking scene in front of him and muttered.

He even saw the soldiers who used to be Hezong, Lou Nuren, Huns, and Yan people shouting frantically, and he was sure that if he asked these soldiers who they were now, they would definitely answer Zhao people without hesitation.

The next day, Zhao Kuo held a sacrificial ceremony outside the city, not sacrificing the sky, not sacrificing the earth, only sacrificing the soldiers who died in battle.

After the sacrifice, Zhao Kuo led the soldiers to send the ashes of all the sacrificed soldiers to Valhalla and engrave their names. And the ashes of the soldiers who have reached the age of sacrifice are invited out and sent back to their hometowns for local sacrifices.

After the sacrifice was over, except for a few legions who stayed on duty, all the other soldiers could go home with their rewards.

Wealth does not return to their hometown, such as brocade clothes at night, whenever the war is over, it is the happiest time for the soldiers.

In fact, Zhao Guo can send the reward to the local area, so that the soldiers can collect it locally, so as to avoid the inconvenience of the soldiers on the road.

However, most of the soldiers rejected the court's kindness and chose to go home with the reward on their own. For them, these rewards are not just about possessions, but more about honor and pride.

Pick it up from the local area, how can you carry it all the way home and be happy.

Especially those soldiers who were awarded medals, when they went home, they specially took out the meritorious medals and hung them in the most conspicuous position on their chests, eager for everyone to see.

Some soldiers even won two meritorious medals, one individual and one group, and other soldiers could only look at it with envy.

For those soldiers selected from the Hu captives, Zhao did not forget, allocated them land and mansions, and also distributed subordinate concubines to them as wives, so that they could marry wives and have children.

If they want to graze, they can also apply to exchange their homes and land for pastures and cattle and sheep.

At the same time, the disabled soldiers of Han Weiqi and the Three Kingdoms were also sent to Handan one after another.

The Three Kingdoms did not embarrass Zhao in this regard, for them, the disabled soldiers were just a burden, and Zhao sent these soldiers over, although they won a good reputation, but also reduced the burden for them, and even they were able to free up land to share with others.

It's a win-win thing.

What makes countries angry is Zhao

The country has exempted the people from giving them a verbal endowment, and they can also send people to spread it everywhere, causing the hearts of the people in all countries to fluctuate and increase their resentment.

In the past, all countries were generally dark, everyone lived a very hard life, and there was no feeling at the bottom.

But now everyone finds that other countries are still as black as in the past, but Zhao seems to have turned white, and even the mouth is exempted. Everyone began to be unhappy.

Zhao Guo can't look down on this kind of money, it doesn't mean that other countries can't look down on it.

In particular, the Qin State, after losing the Hexi Corridor, all the merchants and goods coming and going were detained by the Zhao State, and the commercial tax was directly reduced by half, and now the caravan is re-dispatched, and it will take more than a year to return at the earliest, and it will in turn pay a huge amount of commercial tax to the Zhao State.

The Qin state also lost large areas of grain-producing land and population east of Nanjun and Jingshui, and agricultural taxes and oral taxes were also greatly reduced. At the same time, because of the defeat of the Qin army, almost everyone in every family was captured by the Zhao State, and the people dared not speak out against the government.

It stands to reason that the Qin State should reduce taxes at this time, let the bottom take a breath of relief, and win the little remaining people's hearts.

Qin Wangzhu also knew this truth, but he couldn't do it, and Qin had to compensate Zhao and Qi every year with two million stone grain and 20,000 Shu brocade.

The granary of the Qin State has long been emptied, and even Xianyang has fallen into the hands of the Zhao State, and if the tax is reduced, the Qin State will not be able to repay the grain of the Zhao State and the Qi State.

Before the Qin State did not have enough strength, Qin Wangzhu did not dare to turn against the Zhao State, even if he cut down on food and clothing and squeezed all the people in the country dry, he could only repay the grain.

But when the first batch of grain was delivered, Qin Wangzhu almost vomited blood in anger.

Zhao used the grain sent by Qin to attract Qin people on the west bank of Jingshui and the south bank of Weishui to join Zhao, and promised that as long as the Qin people came, Zhao would give them houses and land, and exempt them from agricultural taxes for three years.

Zhao Guo not only has low taxes, has no oral endowment, but also has no harsh criminal law, will not raise taxes at every turn, and help the government build roads and work and get money.

Zhao also told the people east of Jingshui that as long as they could bring a family of Qin people from Qin to join Zhao, they would release their captives, and if there were no captives in the family, they would be exempted from agricultural taxes for one year, with no upper limit.

One household is exempted for one year, and ten households are exempted for ten years.

Whether it is east of Jingshui or west of Jingshui, south of Weishui or north of Weishui, in the past, it was one place at all, regardless of each other, who did not have a few relatives and friends on the other side?

So a large number of people poured into the other side of Jingshui and Weishui to persuade their relatives to join the Zhao state.

In order to get the captive family members back as soon as possible, some even promised heavy profits.

At this time, the prestige of the Qin court was greatly reduced, and all parts of the country were almost in a state of semi-paralysis, and it was completely too late to deal with this situation, and in just half a month, tens of thousands of people were abducted by Zhao State.

The State of Qin sent envoys to hold accountable, but the official palace of the State of Zhao was directly closed.

However, the Qin State was not a person to be bullied, and the Zhao State was able to abduct the population from them, and they could also create some chaos against the Zhao State east of Jingshui.

After all, it was the homeland of the Qin State that had taken root for decades or even hundreds of years, and I don't know how many people had intricate connections with the Qin State, and the Qin State could easily find a large number of people to work for the Qin State.

Then there was the burning down of Zhao's warehouse, the destruction of the road that had just been built, the inexplicable loss of tools, and so on.

Feng Quji, Huang Shigong, and Han Fei immediately united, blockaded Guanzhong, and led the team to arrest the rioters together with the county lieutenant, and by mid-September, the three counties had caught a total of hundreds of thugs, together with their three clans, all of whom were sent to Liaodong to shine for the construction of the Liaohe Plain.

However, neither Zhao nor Qin have picked the contradictions on the surface.

It doesn't matter what you do in secret, but if you pick it on the bright side, you will have to meet in the end.

Neither Zhao nor Qin wanted to start a war at this time.

In addition to Zhao, the Qiang people also went to Yongcheng every day to ask for 50,000 troops from Qin, but the 50,000 Qiang people had already been defeated by King Zhaoxiang of Qin, and most of them were reclaimed in Zhao.

If it had been before, the Qin State had not taken the Qiang people seriously at all, and even the King of Qin Zhaoxiang had returned

I plan to play hooligans and leave 50,000 Qiang troops in the Qin State, but now that Qin is worried about internal and external troubles, and I can't even pull out an elite, where can I dare to turn against the Qiang people, I can only continue to appease the Qiang people, and tell them that this matter is the fault of my Qin State, and if you want, we can compensate you in other aspects.

But we really don't have people, if you have to go back to the army, you can only go to Zhao Guo.

……

In late September, officials from all over the country gradually rushed to Handan to prepare for the next official examination.

In the past, if they wanted to be promoted, they could only wait until one day luck suddenly landed on their heads and was valued by nobles. Or give up everything, be a guest of a nobleman, and wait for a chance to be recommended.

This opportunity may or may not be encountered in a lifetime.

Like Zhao Guo, giving everyone a fair chance, regardless of their background, their past, and only their talents, is unprecedented.

The officials are all gearing up, fully prepared, and determined to take this opportunity to fight for a bright future.

"How many people will take the test this time?" Zhao Kuo asked.

The assessment of officials is divided into two times, the first is local, and the assessment method is also the responsibility of each local county guard, and only those who pass the assessment can continue to serve as officials.

The second time was held in Handan, and only after passing the local assessment could they participate, and as for the content of the exam, no one knows what it is.

"More than 6,000 people, almost half of the officials participated, especially in Hebei, Taiyuan, Hetao, and most of the officials have signed up." Xunzi said.

Officials in Zhao's hometown received the news earlier, were better prepared, and had a more accurate grasp of the direction of the wind, and to some extent, they had a more obvious advantage over other regions.

However, Zhao Kuo didn't plan to do anything to divide the exam by region.

Zhao's hometown has made greater contributions to Zhao, and it is natural to enjoy some benefits, and there is no real fairness in the world.

"I hope I can find some good seedlings." Zhao Kuo said that there are still more than 300 vacancies in Zhao State, and even in some counties, there is only one person above the three official positions of county guard, county lieutenant, and county cheng, and many counties are also like this.

There will be no problems in a short period of time, but it will inevitably affect local administration after a long time.

"The examination venue, pen, ink, paper, inkstone, test papers, tables and chairs, etc. must be arranged, and at the same time, it is necessary to prevent anyone from cheating, this is my first official exam in Zhao Guo, and there must be no problems." Zhao Kuo admonished again.

"The ministers have already discussed, the exam venue is directly in the barracks, the place is spacious, and the soldiers will invigilate the exam, and absolutely no one dares to cheat." Xunzi said with a smile.

In order to determine the location of the exam, they also discussed for a long time, because Zhao Guo did not have a hall that could accommodate more than 6,000 people, and if it was divided into different halls, it would be a little bad, and in the end, Le Yi made a decision and placed it directly in the barracks.

Anyway, most of the soldiers went home on vacation, and they won't come back until the New Year, and the barracks were empty, just for the officials to take the exam, and the problem of who would invigilate the exam was solved.

These soldiers have experienced a hundred battles, and any small movement of the candidates cannot escape the eyes of the soldiers, and at the same time, they can also test the psychological pressure of these officers.

"When the time comes, the widow will personally proctor." Zhao Kuo said.

"The officials must be honored." Xunzi said with a smile.

"King, Zhangye County has come to report that the Qiang people are asking for Qiang people from my Zhao State." At this time, Lin Xiangru walked in briskly from outside and handed a letter to Zhao Kuo.

"Asking for a Qiang? What Qiang?" Zhao Kuo said suspiciously.

"It's the 40,000 Qiang people captured by my Zhao State." Lin Xiangru said.

"Tell the Qiang people, no, look for Qin to go. I lent my troops to the Qin State to attack my Zhao State, and after I was captured, I still want to go back, how can there be such a good thing in the world?" Zhao Kuo was almost angry.

"What if the Qiang people raise an army against my Zhao Kingdom?" Lin Xiangru asked.

"Then let there be no more Qiang people in the world." Zhao Kuo said in a deep voice.

"The minister will reply to the Zhangye County Shoumeng." With Zhao Kuo's

replied, Lin Xiangru suddenly had confidence.

"Great King, the Qiang people live in high mountains, and the terrain is complex, easy to defend and difficult to attack." Xunzi reminded.

"What Xunzi means is that the Qiang people have no advantage except for geographical advantages." Zhao Kuo said with a smile.

「…… The same can be said." Xunzi was stunned for a moment and nodded.

In addition to the excellent geographical advantages, the Qiang people really have no way to compare with the Zhao State.

"That's fine, if the Qiang people are honest, the widows don't have the heart to deal with them, but if the Qiang people have to bump into them themselves. Then there is no need for the widow to be polite." Zhao Kuo said.

The surrounding barbarians all have a characteristic, they are afraid of power but not virtue, bully the weak and fear the hard, and do not hurt the Qiang people, and the Qiang people will not have a sense of awe.

Zhao Guo can also take advantage of this to make the Qiang people suffer a big loss.

The Qiang and the Zhao State do not border, and they have never been at war in the past, even if the Qiang know from the Qin State that the Zhao State is very strong, as long as the knife has not been cut on their body, they will not take it too seriously, this is the weakness of human nature.

As for the plateau or something, if the Qiang people can stay on it, the Zhao people will naturally be able to kill it.

Historically, including the Qiang people, the reason why all the surrounding barbarians have not been wiped out by the Central Plains is that what really protects them is not the favorable terrain such as plateaus or deep mountains, but poverty.

was so poor that the Central Plains Dynasty occupied this place not only did not get any benefits, but also had to put money into it.