While the two brothers were talking, Ah Shande had already slipped out onto the street with his entourage.

It was the first time he had seen such a prosperous city, and he felt that there were novelties everywhere, silk, paper, lacquerware, and glass that were difficult to see in the Mauryan Dynasty...... The streets of Handan are full of shops for sale, which makes Ah Shande a little dizzy.

"These, these, and these, I want them all, pack them for me, and send them to your Zhao State's Taichang Office." Ashande waved his hand and said in a very chic manner.

The staff next to him hurriedly gave the shopkeeper a translator.

The Mauryan Dynasty had a hot and rainy climate, and the winter was also very warm, so they did not need thick cotton clothes, they preferred silk, a soft and smooth material, which was very comfortable to wear.

In addition to their own use, they will also sell to the more distant west, whether it is the Seleucid Empire or some countries further afield, they are very fond of these silks.

As soon as they sell it, they can make double or even more money.

The shopkeeper packed Ashande very calmly, and was not surprised, it was not the first time he had seen a large amount of money from a foreign country, and one of the things that everyone had to do after coming to Handan was to sweep the goods.

Whatever he saw, he bought them all, never bargained, and sometimes tipped.

Every time I meet such a guest, it is the happiest time for Handan businessmen.

In comparison, Ashande's goods are relatively small.

"What is this bottle made of?" Asander said, pointing to a sleek bottle on the shelf.

"It's porcelain." The shopkeeper said.

"How much?"

"Five thousand!" The shopkeeper didn't blink a single eye.

"It's so expensive!" Ah Shande said loudly, if it was in the Peacock Dynasty, he would not hesitate to buy it, such a beautiful bottle is definitely worth this price, but in Zhao Kingdom, this price is enough for him to buy a lot of silk.

He was different from Zhao Mu, when Zhao Mu went to the Peacock Dynasty, he went with a whole caravan, and he was not short of money. Ah Shande did not understand business, so the envoy to Zhao did not carry any goods, and the money he brought was also limited, and he was not allowed to buy without scruples.

"Maybe I can ask Zhao Guo to send me some porcelain." Ah Shande thought in his heart that he could take it out and sell it, which showed that even if it was less, it would not be much less, and with the face of the Peacock Dynasty, it should be no problem for Zhao Guo to send him a few.

Besides, he also brought gifts to Zhao Guo.

But Ah Shande is a little reluctant to see this in front of him, don't look at the shopkeeper selling it very expensive, he dares to guarantee that if he takes it to the Peacock Dynasty and sells it, it will definitely be several times the profit.

You won't lose anything.

"Porcelain is the result of the efforts of countless craftsmen in my Zhao country, and it represents the highest craftsmanship in my Zhao country, and the price will certainly not be cheap. If the guest officer wants to buy it, it is better to take it. In the entire Zhao Kingdom, only my shop has porcelain for sale, and there is no other semicolon. After a while, someone else might buy it." The shopkeeper said very stiffly.

Almost all of Zhao's high-end goods were monopolized by the imperial court, and those who monopolized business were not hard-hearted.

"Bought it." Ashande gritted his teeth and said.

"Here's what we're going to pack up for the guests." The shopkeeper said with a smile, quickly put the porcelain in place, handed it to the servant behind Ah Shande, and looked at Ah Shande with a smile, "What else do the guests need?"

Ah Shande shook his head reluctantly, he still has to stay in Handan for a while, he has to save some money, even if he wants to buy it, he can buy it when he returns to China soon.

"Zhao is really full of wealth." Ah Shande looked at the shops on the street, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion, in the Peacock Dynasty, he had never felt such prosperity.

He saw some country farmers setting up roadside stalls selling small piles of agricultural products, which even the nobles had to pay for for them.

Although Zhao could not make everyone equal, it was completely different from the caste system of the Mauryan Dynasty.

All the people in Zhao speak the same language, use the same language, have the same civilization inheritance, and even feel that they have a common ancestor.

This kind of cohesion is what the Mauryan Dynasty dreamed of, but it couldn't do anyway.

In the Zhao Kingdom, Ashande did not see any hidden dangers as obvious as those of the Mauryan Empire.

"What a blessed country." Ashande thought to himself.

He attributed the situation of the Zhao State to being blessed, and he didn't know what kind of efforts the sages of the Central Plains Dynasty had made for all this, even the Zhao State was still trying.

"I heard that there are other countries in the Central Plains, and Zhao should be the most powerful one." Ashander asked, if Zhao was not the most powerful, he could no longer imagine what the other countries would look like.

"Of course." The translator said proudly.

"Is there a country with the same strength as Zhao?" Asander asked.

"The Chu State in the south can compete with my Zhao State, and the Qin State used to be stronger than my Zhao State, but last year it was defeated by my Zhao State and the four countries of Han Wei Qi, and it is no longer able to compete with my Zhao State." The translator said.

Ah Shande silently wrote down, there are a total of seven countries in the Central Plains, Zhao is the strongest, Chu is only slightly weaker than Zhao, and the rest of the countries are weaker than Zhao, but they will not be too weak, otherwise they would have been annexed by Zhao a long time ago.

Among them, Qin's previous strength was even stronger than Zhao's, and Zhao united with the other three kingdoms to defeat Qin.

In the end, Ashande came to the conclusion that if the countries of the Central Plains were unified, their strength would be at least four to five times that of the Mauryan Empire!

I have to say that the information that Ashande learned was correct, and there was no problem with his reasoning, but the conclusions he reached were 108,000 miles away from the correct ones.

Aside from the factor of Zhao Kuo's opening, although the Central Plains countries can be stronger than the Mauryan Empire after unification, it is only because there are obvious hidden dangers like the Peacock Empire.

In other respects, the two countries are half-hearted.

"What are you doing here?" Ah Shande pointed to the crowded restaurant not far away.

"This is where our Zhao people eat." The accompanying interpreter explained.

"Let's go in and see." Ashander said.

The translation did not stop it, Zhao Guo had already stipulated that if a foreign envoy lived in the official office, the daily expenses would be borne by the imperial court, but eating out and buying things would not be under the control of the imperial court, and all the envoys themselves would be responsible.

This is also to prevent foreign envoys from taking advantage, after all, the Mauryan Dynasty is a big country, and it can't do this kind of thing, but those small countries can't say it.

There was once an envoy sent by a small country in Yingzhou, after coming to Zhao, he ate and drank here for nothing, saying that he was unwilling to go back, and finally Lu Zhonglian ordered him to be thrown into the coal mine to dig coal, so he reluctantly returned to Yingzhou.

Towards the end of the evening, there were many customers in the restaurant, chatting while eating.

Ah Shande chose a position near the window and sat down, listening to the conversation of everyone, he was not very familiar with Zhao Guohua, he could only understand a small part, and asked the translator if he didn't understand.

"How many cities like Handan do you have in Zhao Kingdom?" Asander asked.

"Handan is the capital of my Zhao country, and it is also the largest city in my Zhao country. There is no city bigger than Handan, but there are many cities that are slightly smaller than Handan." The translator said.

"What do they mean by Confucianism?" Ashande asked, pointing to a few scholars not far away.

"Great Confucianism is a kind of honorific title for Confucian celebrities."

"Confucian?"

"Confucianism is a school of my Zhao Kingdom, similar to the Huang Lao School, the Yang Zhu School, the Mohist School, the Legalist School, the Soldier School, the Doctor and so on." The translator explained.

"With so many schools, won't there be contradictions between them?" Ah Shande asked curiously, the Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism of the Mauryan Dynasty are about to fight each other, and there are so many schools in the Zhao Kingdom, isn't it even more chaotic.

"How can there be no contradictions, various schools of thought quarrel together every day, and sometimes fight. The older generation is finished, the younger generation is compared, the younger generation is finished, and the apprentice generation is even better. They have been fighting together since hundreds of years ago, and they are still fighting. If the messenger is interested, he can come and see it in two days." The translator said nonchalantly, he had gone to see a few shows before, and it was quite interesting at first, but then it became more and more boring.

Who else said

I can't convince anyone, and I can't fight for a result in the end.

Their only goal now is to obtain fiefdoms, so that those who bark every day can see what is the way of governing the country and what is the power of Anbang.

However, at present, except for the Mo family, the medical family, and the peasant family, no school has obtained a fief.

"Can outsiders see it?" Ashande said in surprise.

"Of course, even old farmers can go and see it." The translator said that Zhao Guo has never had restrictions on identity, only on money, and some debates require spending money to buy votes.

"If you have the chance, you must check it out." Ashander said.

Soon, plates of delicious food were served.

Looking at the fragrant dishes, Ah Shande's appetite suddenly increased.

"You Zhao Kingdom actually have so many delicacies!" Ah Shande couldn't help but sigh while eating, this meal in Zhao Guo, he felt that he had lived in vain in the first half of his life!

"Our king likes to study delicious food, and many delicacies in Handan flow from the palace." The translator said with a smile.

"Your king studies cooking, don't the ministers advise?" Ashande asked curiously.

"Why admonish? Isn't it normal for the monarch to have some hobbies of his own? Our king has not wasted the government." The translator said as a matter of course.

Ashande felt that the translation made sense.

The next day, the envoys of the Mauryan Dynasty came to the palace with gifts and waited for the summons of King Zhao.

In the past, the envoys of the Mauryan Empire went to other countries, and they always met the other monarch whenever they wanted, and they did so with equal courtesy.

It was the first time that he stood outside the hall and waited for the other monarch to summon him.

But Zhao is completely different from those small countries that the Mauryan Dynasty can wipe out, in Ah Shande's view, Zhao is a country as powerful as the Mauryan Dynasty, and even surpasses the Mauryan Dynasty in some places.

Standing outside the hall and waiting is the least respect for Zhao Guo, and Ah Shande has no dissatisfaction.

Zhao Guo also knew the strength of the Mauryan Empire, so he was also fully prepared in terms of etiquette and gave the most warm welcome to the envoys of the Peacock Dynasty.

"Your Highness, the Praetorian Guard of the Zhao State is definitely an epic legion at the same level as our Central Legion." The captain of the guard looked at the Praetorian Guards lined up to greet them on either side, and whispered to Asander.

In the Peacock Empire, the Army Soul Legion is known as the Epic Legion.

"It seems that Zhao's military strength is not as weak as imagined." Asander thought to himself.

When Ah Shande walked into the hall, the first thing he saw was Zhao Kuo sitting on the throne, with a faint smile and deep eyes, which looked very kind, but it was a little unpredictable.

This was the first time Ah Shande had seen Zhao Kuo, but he had heard all the way to the legend of the monarch of Zhao State.

According to the etiquette given by Taichang, Ah Shande walked to the center of the hall and met Zhao Kuo.

Zhao Kuo smiled and asked them to get up, as his name suggests, Ashande people look very kind, giving people a feeling of bathing in the spring breeze, but Zhao Kuo did not relax his vigilance at all.

Ashoka's ability to send Ashande as an envoy to Zhao is enough to illustrate Ashande's ability.

Just now Xunzi told him that Ah Shande is also a top wise man with talent, but he doesn't know what talent is.

But as long as there is a talent, there is no simple person.

"The envoy has worked hard all the way to the country of Zhao." Zhao Kuo motioned for the guards to give the envoy a seat.

The Minister of Civil and Military Affairs of Zhao State lined up on both sides, carefully examining Ah Shande and the other envoys.

To be honest, this is the first time they have really seen gentiles from other civilization circles, although there are also many gentiles who have come to Zhao and want to be close to Zhao, but they either belong to the Central Plains civilization circle, or they can't even be called civilizations, and they don't even have their own writing.

The Mauryan Empire was the only country that was not inferior to Zhao in all respects and had its own independent civilization system.

In the past, the people of the Central Plains were proud, they thought that the place where they lived was the center of heaven and earth, and they were naturally superior

The south is called barbarian, the east is called Yi, the north is called Di, and the west is called Rong.

After the opening of the Silk Road, the Central Plains knew the vastness of the world and gradually changed the concept of the past, but even so, it still did not change the pride of the Central Plains people.

Although the heavens and the earth are very large, and although there are many countries, they are all barbarian countries, and they are weak and weak. Compared with the Central Plains Dynasty, it is like a firefly compared to the bright moon, and a lake is compared to the ocean.

But the Mauryan Empire was completely different from those barbarians.

There is only one way for the people of the Central Plains to maintain their pride all along: defeat the Peacock Dynasty and prove that they are the most powerful.

Thinking of this, the eyes of the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs gradually became sharp.

Ashande suddenly felt a pressure coming over him, and at least ten of the top wise men were watching him.

"The right side of the main hall is full of transcendent realm powerhouses, and Zhao Guojun is also a transcendent realm powerhouse." The chief of the guard whispered to Asander, his whole body tense.

As a transcendent realm general, he felt more pressure than Ah Shande, because the military general of Zhao Guo had already locked his aura on him, and once he dared to make any abnormal moves, he would be chopped into pulp in an instant.

"When you go back, you must report to Brother Wang. If you don't want to start a war with Zhao, you should try not to go to war with Zhao." Asander thought to himself.