"My Zhao Guo is now a big family, I can't worry too much about temporary gains and losses, I should take a long-term view, and the one who can laugh to the end is the winner." Zhao Kuo said with a smile, in fact, he had already scolded in his heart.

If it weren't for Ding Ling being too far away from Zhao Guo, he would have ordered Ding Ling to be hacked to death with a knife in the spring of the next year.

For so many years, when did he suffer from this anger, even Qin Guo didn't get any benefits from him, and Ding Ling dared to take advantage of him, I really don't know how the dead word is written.

Zhao Kuo glanced at Liu Ping, and Liu Ping nodded slightly.

has been by Zhao Kuo's side for so many years, even if Zhao Kuo didn't say it explicitly, Liu Ping also understood what Zhao Kuo meant: send someone to find out the details of Ding Ling, and the widow will destroy it.

"What the king said is right, as long as we don't make mistakes ourselves, whether it is the Qin State and the Chu State, or the Qiang people Donghu, they will gradually die out with the strength of my Zhao State." Lin Xiangru had a kind smile on his face, and his gray beard trembled slightly.

Unlike Wei Wuji, Han Fei and others who both wanted to see the rise of Zhao and were worried about the rise of Zhao State, Lin Xiangru saw that Zhao State was strong day by day without worrying at all, and some were just happy. Wei and Korea destroyed him, and he couldn't wait for it.

To put it mildly, now Zhao's strength has already surpassed the other five countries, if it weren't for the sake of internal stability and temporarily give up expansion and turn to deal with internal affairs, even if the remaining five countries are united, they are not Zhao's opponents.

What Zhao Guo is waiting for now is just a time to stabilize the interior.

Chu State has always been complacent about recovering his homeland, feeling that Chu State and Zhao State are the two overlords of the south and the north, and they can compete with Zhao State, but they don't know that they have long been left behind by Zhao State.

Han and Wei, on the other hand, were lucky, as long as Zhao did not attack them, they would not dare to make a move against Zhao.

In fact, because these two countries have always been in an alliance with Zhao, they are also the most deeply affected by Zhao, and they have even been tied up by Zhao's economy.

Not to mention the state of Qi.

The only Qin State that had a deep feeling for the strength of the Zhao State was still in a half-dead state.

In fact, after the defeat of the Qin state, the Zhao state already had no enemies in the Central Plains.

Although the state of Chu is strong, it is only strong, and it is far worse than the state of Qin.

"Yandi's situation has not been stable lately." Yu Xin said.

"Isn't this something that has been expected for a long time, with Wu Anjun's ability to deal with it, let's not worry." Lin Xiangru said.

Although Yan Guo has lost the hearts of the people, there are still three catties of nails in the broken ship, not to mention a country that has been inherited for 800 years, it is inevitable that some people support Yan Guo and oppose Zhao Guo, and it is strange that no one opposes it.

Moreover, the annexation of the Yan State by the Zhao State will inevitably cause some people to lose their interests, especially some deep-rooted nobles.

They usually hide in the shadows to fight against Zhao Guo, it is difficult for Zhao Guo to find them out, Li Mu left Yan Country a few months ago, just to let these people jump out, and after they go back, they can clean up one by one.

"Come, let's go, when you are in the army, you can't drink like this, you have to drink enough when you go back to Handan." Le Yi raised his glass and said.

"Although high-strength alcohol is good, it has a drawback, it is addictive. Now go back and drink the old wine, it's no different from horse urine." Yan Zhou stared at the smooth cup, "This cup is good, where is it produced?"

"The porcelain produced by the official kiln, this is the second batch and the latest batch, and the ones that were fired before were not up to standard and were destroyed." Zhao Kuo said.

"The second batch? And what about the first batch?" Yan Zhou asked casually, and then found that what he asked seemed to be a little inappropriate, but at this time, the words had already been spoken, and he couldn't take it back.

"All handed over to the caravan and sent to the Western Regions." Zhao Kuo said, nothing is important to make money, even if you don't use it, you can't delay making money.

"......" Yan Zhou, this is really the character of our king!

Those scholars were not as open as Yan Zhou, they only dared to talk in a whisper, looking in the direction of Zhao Kuo from time to time, for fear of missing something, but except for the three glasses of wine at the beginning, until the end of the banquet, Zhao Kuo did not get up and say again

One time.

Early the next morning, Zhao Kuo led all the scholars to Valhalla, poured incense on the dead soldiers, and then personally sent them out of Handan.

"Let's go, take a look around the neighborhood." Zhao Kuo said.

"No." Ben said, because Zhao Kuo didn't say a specific direction, Ben chose the opposite direction to most of the scholars, turned around and headed east.

After driving for a distance, a row of low earthen houses comes into view, in front of which is a small vegetable garden, a few mulberry trees stand majestically, scattered withered yellow leaves swaying in the treetops, and from time to time there are a few roosters and dogs barking.

Every family can afford to raise chickens and dogs, which means that the family conditions of the whole village are not bad, and only the villages around Handan can see this kind of prosperity, which is not possible in most places.

Handan is surrounded by almost all the important industries of Zhao State, paper mills, distilleries, cement factories, ceramic factories, textile factories, breeding farms, etc., it is not difficult to find a job here and feed a family.

Several women squatted on the shore, talking while cleaning the wead, there is a saying that 'early spring early leech, late autumn late woad," that is, early spring leeks and late autumn weads are the most tender and delicious, and they are the best among vegetables.

Woad is the cabbage of later generations, but it is not so big, and it is one of the very few vegetables that can be eaten in winter.

However, from the sound of their conversation, it is clear that they do not intend to keep the swon for themselves, but to clean it and sell it in the market.

Not far away, is the largest pickle processing factory in Zhao State, mainly processing pickled radish, soybeans, woad, etc., which are basically supplied to the army and sold to other factories and workshops, as a side dish for lunch, not retail.

On the one hand, few people in retail will buy, they can't make much money, and they waste labor.

In the era of agriculture, farmers scavenged from the field, paying attention to self-sufficiency, and spent less money to buy things, and even if they spent money, they bought some necessities, not this kind of self-cooking.

On the other hand, some peasants would sell their pickled vegetables at the market for a small amount of money, and the court could not squeeze out their small income.

Zhao Guo mainly sells salt, iron, and coal, and recently developed cotton clothes, woolen clothes, ceramics, etc., which make more money, and will not affect the livelihood of the bottom.

"Uncle, let's come in and beg for a drink." Zhao Kuo saw that the door of a house was open, so he stepped forward and knocked on it.

"Come in." An old voice came from the back room, and soon a lame old man came out, still holding a boy of three or four years old in his right hand.

The old man glanced at Zhao Kuo scrutinically, and then at Ben and Gai Nie behind Zhao Kuo, but still let the three of them into the house.

"Excuse me." Zhao Kuo nodded and entered the room with Ben and Gai Nie.

The room was not big, and with so many people entering at once, it suddenly seemed a little crowded, and the old man and the child stood next to him and gave the bench to Zhao Kuo.

"Sit, sit, sit." Zhao Kuo handed the bench to the old man, looked at the half-gnawed millet on the table, judging from the color, it was obvious that it had been sinking for several days, and there was no trace of heat, it was cold.

Civilians have experienced starvation and cold, and they are the most economical in food, and it is impossible to deliberately make so many millet balls at one time, and keep them for food and waste.

Before Zhao Kuo entered the house, he noticed that the vegetable garden in the yard and in front of the house was well maintained, and the house was very clean, and it was impossible to be lazy.

The only explanation is that in order to save firewood.

On the table, in addition to two wooden bowls and two half-gnawed millet balls, there was also half a plate of pickles, like pickled beans.

"Here, nobleman." The old man took a bowl of water and handed it to Zhao Kuo, Ben took a step forward, blocking in front of him, the water served by the old man did not have a trace of heat, it was obviously cold, combined with the food they ate, this water had not been boiled, and even the river water was possible.

"You ......," the old man looked at Ben in horror.

"Ben, stand in the back." Zhao Kuo said in a deep voice.

Ben hurriedly returned to Zhao Kuo's back.

Zhao Kuo took the water, took a sip and put it on the table, and asked, "The old man and the child are at home

Two of them?"

"Husband, I also have a son and daughter-in-law." The old man gave Ben a frightened look and replied.

"Why didn't you see you at home?" Zhao Kuo asked.

"Work in the fields, and you won't come back until the evening." The old man said.

"I think the conditions in our family seem to be very difficult, is it that the government pays a lot of taxes?" Zhao Kuo asked.

"Taxes are still heavy? Young man, you really don't know how to be blessed, in the past, the imperial court could pay taxes four or five times a year, and that was called heavy, and my eldest brother starved to death like this. Some time ago, my Zhao State has been at war with the Qin State, and the imperial court has not apportioned taxes." The old man said that the fact that the imperial court did not pay taxes at war with other countries still makes him feel incredible.

"Then why ......," Zhao Kuo looked at the table.

"The nobles look like they are big families, it's good for people like us to have these things to eat, we can still eat enough now, add a winter coat to the child during the New Year, a few years ago I didn't even have food, you nobles won't understand." The old man waved his hand, looking disgusted, and didn't want to talk to Zhao Kuo.

At first glance, they are people who have never suffered, thinking that no matter how hard they are civilians, they will not be unable to eat and wear clothes, but they don't know that there are many such people.

However, Zhao Kuo did not leave because of this, but continued to talk with the old man for a while, and even said a few words to the child before leaving.

"Do you think it is more important to have a strong country or a prosperous people?" Zhao Kuo looked at Ben and Gai Nie on the left and right.

"Let the country be strong." Ben said.

"I think so, too." Gagne said.

"If the people are not rich, what is the use of the country no matter how strong it is?" Zhao Kuo asked rhetorically.

"But...... If the people are rich but the country is not strong, other countries can come at any time and rob the people of their wealth." Ben said hummingly.

"Hahaha, what you said makes sense, so the country must be strong, and the people must be rich." Zhao Kuo laughed.

"King, shall we go back?" Ben asked.

"Keep walking, and look at the widow." Zhao Kuo said that he came out to walk around, not on a whim, but to determine the details of Zhao Guo's next development, and only after a real in-depth understanding can he make the right choice.

It's a pity that Zhao's population density and productivity level have always constrained him, leaving him with a lot of things that he can't come up with.

Zhao Guo is agriculture-oriented, and some factories or workshops will have holidays during agricultural hours, so that everyone can go back to harvest the crops, and after planting, they will come back to work. The remaining part is a temporary worker who is directly recruited, and you will be paid one day a day when you come, and you will be paid if you don't come.

Therefore, the scope of work that everyone can do is limited to this county, and coupled with the population density of Zhao State, many factories will lose money when they are built.

Zhao Kuo can accept that if he doesn't make money, he should improve the living standards of the people, but he can't accept losing money, which is against the rules of the economy and cannot be supported for a long time.

Zhao Guo also did not have so much money to support.

It wasn't until the evening that Zhao Kuo turned around all the surroundings before returning to the palace.

"Dad, can I not study in the future?" When Xiao Ponu saw Zhao Kuo, he hurriedly pounced and hugged Zhao Kuo's thigh.

During this time, the study tasks increased a lot, which made him miserable.

"Want to be beaten again?" Zhao Kuo's face turned pale and said in a deep voice.

Xiao Ponu's face suddenly drooped and he hung his head.

"What's the matter with the wound on your forehead?" Zhao Kuo noticed that Xiao Ponu had a little bruise on his forehead.

"Meng Tian beats." Xiao Ponu said in a low voice, he was one year older than Meng Tian, but he couldn't beat Meng Tian.

"In the future, I will add half an hour to the martial arts training time, and I will fight back next time." Zhao Kuo said.

"Brother Bin has already helped me call back." Xiao Ponu hurriedly said.

"Can Bin'er call back the same as you call back? Men have to fight back on their own." Zhao Kuo glared, then looked at Bin, "Meng Tian is five or six years older than you, aren't you?"

"He bullied the third brother first, and I gave it to him

One punch, seeing that he was crying, he didn't continue to beat." Bin said with a raised face.

"He is so many years younger than you, he will definitely cry when you beat him, and he is not allowed to bully Meng Tian in the future." Zhao Kuo said angrily, Meng Fu and Meng Wu's father and son are both out of town, leaving a child to study in the academy, and there is a little bit of proton meaning in it, although he doesn't care at all.

If Meng Tian was bullied in the academy for three days, he would not have the face to see Meng Tian's father and son in the future.

"Got it." Bin said with a pout.

"Let's go, let's go to dinner, what are we going to eat today?" Zhao Kuo said.

"Dumplings." Bin said happily that he especially likes to eat dumplings.

When the dumplings came out for the first time, Zhao Kuo also specially sent one to all the officials in the capital, and after everyone learned it, Zhao Kuo didn't send it.

"I don't know how the people of Yandi are doing?" While eating, Zhao's mother sighed.

"Mother, don't worry, whether it is Yandi or Zhaodi, they are all the people of my Zhao country, and the widows will treat them equally, and with Li Mu here, he will definitely manage Yandi well." Zhao Kuo assured.

"I, the ordinary people of Zhao Kingdom, can I eat dumplings once a year?" Mother Zhao asked.

"......" Zhao Kuo didn't answer, let alone eating dumplings once a year, it's good to be able to eat the fine noodles of dumplings......

"If Mother wanted to, she could still do it." Zhao Kuo thought for a moment and nodded solemnly.