Back to the Warring States Period as Zhao Kuo

In the current Dahan Kingdom, it is common for one mu of land to produce one and a half stones of grain. In this era, if compared horizontally with other Asian and European countries, it is already at a very good level.

Just when Lu Buwei began to consider whether to kneel down to plead guilty, Zhao Kuo had already closed the memorial, and smiled at Lu Buwei and Deputy Minister Xu Xing: "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you two did not do well. It has been done very well, but the types of food in our Han Kingdom really should be updated."

For Zhao Kuo, such a small amount of food production is indeed far from enough, because the population in Zhao Kuo's mind starts at [-] million. With so many mouths, don't they need more food?

After hearing this, Lu Buwei breathed a sigh of relief, but Xu Xing, the deputy minister of agriculture, was somewhat unconvinced.

Who is this Xu Xing?

He actually belongs to that kind of "technical" official, and before taking up this position, he was a master of the "farm family" among the many schools in the academy.

Farmhouse, as the name suggests, is a school related to agriculture. As the master of farmhouse, Xu Xing has been immersed in agriculture for decades, and he thinks he is the person who is most familiar with agriculture in the world.

So Xu Xing couldn't help but said: "To tell you the truth, the old minister has really tried his best. Does Your Majesty have any more effective ways to increase production?"

Xu Xing was not convinced, so his tone was not very good when he spoke.

For these professionals, His Majesty certainly needs to respect them, but their confidence in their own profession cannot be questioned by others, not even His Majesty.

Zhao Kuo looked at Xu Xing with a displeased face, but didn't care.

As a technical expert, it's normal to have a big temper.

Moreover, Zhao Kuo also knew that Xu Xing was a true technical madman. He spent at least 360 days out of 360 five days a year in the fields. He could be said to be a super model worker.

If all the officials of the Great Han Kingdom were as hardworking as Xu Xing, then the Great Han Kingdom would have taken off long ago.

Zhao Kuo just chuckled, and patiently explained to Xu Xing: "Xu Xing loves you, when I was on the Southern Expedition, I heard from the barbarians in the south of Chu State that there is something called rice in Baiyue in the south, and the yield is higher than that of rice. From now on, the grains we grow are all higher.

I have already asked people to try to see if they can get rice. After the rice is obtained, we will continue to spread it. There should be no problem with the yield. "

Rice was introduced to China in history, and it was not until the Northern Song Dynasty that the population of the Northern Song Dynasty increased rapidly from 980 million in the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo (3710) to 1124 million in the sixth year of Xuanhe (1) due to the promotion of Champa rice.

You must know that the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty in its heyday was only 350 million square kilometers, and most of the time the territory was only 280 million square kilometers, which is not even half of the current territory of the Han Dynasty. This is enough to prove how powerful the rice production is. up.

After Xu Xing heard Zhao Kuo's words, he was stunned for a moment, and then he said disapprovingly: "Your Majesty doesn't know something. These barbarians from Chu have always liked to brag. This time, Your Majesty must have been misled by them."

For Xu Xing, he felt that all the good things in the world should be on the land of China. What good things could grow on the land of the foreign races in the south?

Zhao Kuo smiled, and did not object to Xu Xing, but said, "How effective is the manure that you were asked to promote?"

As soon as Xu Xing heard this, his eyes lit up immediately, and he hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the manure method you mentioned is really useful. After the experimental planting in our Ministry of Agriculture's experimental field, this year's output is much higher than last year's." More than [-]% more.

The old minister has already discussed with Minister Lu that the manure method will be promoted in the whole country of Dahan this year, which will definitely bring the grain production of Dahan to a higher level next year! "

In this era, people have actually realized the importance of land fertility, and have begun to try to use the corpses of various animals and plants to make fertilizers.

However, due to the backwardness of the times and technology, the fertilizer at this time is actually quite useless.

And feces, especially human feces, don't mean that you can use them as fertilizer if you pour them directly into the field. In that case, it will just kill all the crops directly.

Manure requires a "retting" process, and then after some simple treatment, it can be turned into fertilizer and put into the field to increase the fertility of the land and thus increase the grain output.

As a time traveler, Zhao Kuo brought manure retting method, although it is very simple, but it is actually the experience that Chinese people have slowly gained in thousands of years of civilization. Experience is much stronger.

Zhao Kuo nodded in satisfaction when he heard this, and said: "Although our Han Kingdom attaches great importance to business and economic development, as the saying goes, food is the most important thing for the people, and agriculture is the industry that can truly support the foundation of the entire country.

I hope that you two can make persistent efforts to help the agriculture of our Dahan Kingdom to a higher level. "

After hearing Zhao Kuo's encouragement, Lu Buwei and Xu Xing were naturally overjoyed, and they would continue to work hard even as ministers.

The agricultural matter is settled, and the next step is business.

As for the commercial part, Zhao Kuo didn't really worry too much.

This is because the former Zhao State itself was a country with a very strong commercial atmosphere. Today’s Imperial Capital City was one of the best commercial cities in the world when it was called Taoyi. Many things in this area are actually traceable. You just need to make a reasonable policy.

Moreover, Zhao Kuo's Great Han Kingdom was originally born out of the previous Zhao Kingdom, and most of the officials of the Great Han Kingdom were also officials of the Han Kingdom before. They have very rich experience in business, so naturally there is no need to worry.

One difference between Dahan Kingdom and later generations is that its economy is closed, and there is no large-scale commercial communication with any outside country at all, so you only need to manage the affairs of Dahan Kingdom, and other things are basically It was solved.

When it comes to communication with the outside world, Zhao Kuo inevitably asked about the navy.

The navy of the Han Dynasty is currently mainly based on the previous navy teams from various countries.

Don’t look at the coastlines among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, Yan, Qi, and Chu. In history, the Zhao Kingdom only had coastlines in the late Warring States period. In addition to four countries, due to the convenience of the water network in the Central Plains, South Korea and Wei also have a large inland water army.

What Zhao Kuo asked people to do now is to use all the ships in the five countries as a team to unify their orders and organizational systems, and then set up the Beihai and Donghai navies in the two counties of Jiaodong and Kuaiji. The base is intensively organizing craftsmen to build new ocean-going warships on the basis of the previous ones.

Some people are about to ask, it is obvious that you can go to Europe by land, why do you have to go by sea?

This question is actually very interesting. In history, there was indeed a very powerful empire that fought all the way from East Asia to Eastern Europe and Africa through land, and that was the Mongol Empire.

The Mongol Empire relied on powerful cavalry, which happens to be available in the Han Dynasty as well.

So why didn't the Han Dynasty do this?

The answer is: Zhao Kuo is not not doing this, but to add a double insurance.

To put it simply, the Army Zhao Kuo also wants it, and the Navy Zhao Kuo also wants it.

Both hands must be grasped, both hands must be hard!It’s like the South Asian subcontinent where the Three Kingdoms are located. Since the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a relatively difficult road, the general route is to start from the Central Plains, pass through the Hexi Corridor, Western Central Asia, and circle around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau before reaching the South Asian subcontinent. of the north.

But if you go by land and sea, you only need to take a boat from Lingnan, bypass the Straits of Malacca and go north. It is much easier in terms of distance, time, and difficulty of arrival.

Simply put, there are benefits to both land and sea conquest.

What Zhao Kuo has to do is to develop both the army and the navy well. If it is suitable for land conquest, go to the army, if it is suitable for sea conquest, go to the navy.In addition to the navy, the army is actually undergoing a large-scale reorganization.

In today's Han Dynasty, the standing army alone exceeds 60 people. Considering that the Han Dynasty only has a population of more than 3000 million, this is actually not a small burden.

Therefore, there are only two choices before Zhao Kuo. The first is to continue to wage wars while the treasury is still full, and go to other countries to obtain more wealth and population to support the army. The second choice is disarmament.

disarmament?

Zhao Kuo gave up this choice without even thinking about it. The Han Kingdom has not yet reached the time when Kuma, the Daoguifu, releases Nanshan.

Therefore, continuing to wage war has become the only option.

This is actually the situation faced by Qin Shihuang in history, and Qin Shihuang also chose to launch wars to support wars. Unfortunately, Qin Shihuang did not know the whole world, so although he conquered Lingnan Baiyue, he did not start from Baiyue. What benefits did those backward savages gain?

If the Qin Shihuang in history did not choose to go south, but chose to go west to defeat the Yuezhi to conquer the Western Regions, then the situation would be completely different.

The reason why the Xiongnu in history was able to expand rapidly and become strong during the era of Maodun Shanyu was, on the one hand, because the civil war in the Central Plains at the end of the Qin Dynasty had no time to take care of the north. Conquering the countries of the Western Regions including Wusun State, and thus obtaining a large amount of weapons, soldiers and wealth, this made the Xiongnu a powerful country capable of suppressing the new Western Han Dynasty in one fell swoop.

Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty directly sent troops to the Western Regions, and Huo Qubing seized the Hexi Corridor, a crucial connection point with the Western Regions. The Xiongnu could no longer obtain various resources from the Western Regions stably, and fell into decline and collapse ever since.

If the Great Qin Dynasty in history marched westward, it could also easily obtain a large amount of wealth and population in the Western Regions by virtue of the force of the Great Qin Dynasty. Perhaps the Great Qin Dynasty in history would not collapse so quickly.

Although there are no ifs in history, as a traverser, Zhao Kuo has learned the lessons of the Great Qin Dynasty, so it is naturally impossible to repeat the same mistakes.

Since the northern desert has been conquered, Zhao Kuo's integration and reorganization of the army now mainly focuses on three directions.

The first one is the Western Regions. This part is dominated by cavalry. It basically gathers all the cavalry troops of the Han Dynasty. It is called the First Corps. It is mainly organized by Prime Minister You and Li Mu.

The second is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. This part belongs to the traditional mixed infantry and cavalry. It is called the Second Corps, and the chief of staff Sima Shang is mainly responsible for the integration.

The third is the Wuling area in the south. This part of the area is mountainous and densely forested. It is not suitable for cavalry combat at all, so it is pure infantry.

The chief of the general staff Xiang Yan is mainly responsible for the integration. Considering that Xiang Yan's prestige is still somewhat insufficient, the prime minister Xu Li was specially sent to provide help with "special guidance".

After more than half a year of integration, according to the memorials of the three and what Zhao Kuo learned, basically the three corps have taken shape.

After things got so busy here, Zhao Kuo felt that it was time.

So, on the first day of December, Zhao Kuo convened a military meeting of the Han Dynasty.

The unification of the world is the end of the old and the beginning of a new one.

From this meeting, all Huaxia people will no longer fight civil wars, but will unite under the command of Zhao Kuo to start the conquest of other nations!

Chapter 1118 The New Strategy of Han Kingdom

For this meeting, Zhao Kuo mainly convened several prime ministers, Minister of Finance Guo Zong, Minister of Intelligence Mao Sui, as well as ministers and generals from the General Staff Department.

The prime ministers are the real core of the Han Kingdom, and the generals of the General Staff Department are the people who are most proficient in the study of military strategy in the Han Kingdom.

Why are you looking for them?

Of course, it is necessary to discuss the expansion direction of the Great Han Kingdom.

This is also Zhao Kuo's new adjustment in the future. As the core figures, the prime ministers should have the power to ask and understand all political, military, and economic aspects of the Han Dynasty, but if the positions of other important ministers do not involve this aspect, then they will not Need to attend this meeting.

In this way, it can be guaranteed that at any time, the circle of decision-making belongs to the minority.

A small number is very important. Just look at the Council of Elders, the predecessor of the parliament, founded by Western Greece and Rome. Hundreds of senators in the Senate can quarrel over any matter, any bill or country. The implementation of the big policy will not pass without arguing for a few months, and the efficiency is too low.

And since each prime minister has a term limit, there is no need to worry about which prime minister can control the country's affairs for a long time. Only the emperor is the one who really affects and decides everything from beginning to end.

The meeting started.

Chief of Staff Xiang Yan stood in the palace, twisting his body somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Although the Xiang family of Chu State is not comparable to the three major families of Zhaojingqu, they are also big families with heads and faces. Of course, Xiang Yan is not someone who has never seen the world, but today's meeting is of great significance. Let the young Xiang Yan also couldn't calm down.

Zhao Kuo nodded to Xiang Yan with a smile, and said, "Let's talk."

Strange to say, Xiang Yan was quite nervous at first, but after Zhao Kuo smiled, he immediately felt calmer.

So Xiang Yan picked up the baton in her hand, landed it on the map in front of her, and spoke.

"At present, according to His Majesty's instructions, the reorganization of the three major corps has been completed.

Then starting from next year, the attack operations of the three major corps will be carried out.

But there are priorities. If our Great Han country conducts operations in three directions at the same time, it will undoubtedly be a huge burden on the treasury.

Therefore, after multiple analyzes and judgments by the staff, it is believed that the first and third corps can firstly carry out conquest operations in the Western Regions and Lingnan respectively, and the second corps will still maintain the current policy of the southwestern round of war and slowly advance towards the southwest mountainous area. , and seek to get through the opening to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. "

After Xiang Yan finished speaking, Prime Minister Xu Li said, "Why the Western Regions and South of the Five Ridges?"

As the prime minister, Xu Li's weight in Zhao's political arena is undoubtedly very important. His question immediately cheered Xiang Yan up and answered cautiously.

"Returning to Prime Minister Xu, this is because there are no interests that are particularly important to our Great Han Kingdom in the southwest."

Guo Zong coughed and said, "The Bo slave trade is very popular in the Han country now. I heard that there are several top-quality Bo slaves in the mansion of Chief of Staff Xiang Yan. Isn't this the benefit of our Han country?"

Xiang Yan's face turned red when she heard this, and it took several seconds before she said: "Boren slaves are indeed a relatively prosperous new southwest trade, but that's all.

The southwestern mountainous area and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are remote, and the population inside is not too large, and the resources are quite barren and difficult to develop, so it is the best policy to plan slowly. "

This is why the Central Plains dynasty in history has always adopted the Jimi system for the Yunnan-Guizhou area, mainly letting the local chieftains govern the area. It is certainly not impossible to invest a lot of resources to completely turn this place into a Chinese territory, but the problem lies in investment and production. It is not directly proportional to the output, and it is a loss-making business in the true sense.

This policy lasted for nearly 2000 years from the Great Qin Dynasty in history, until the Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He presided over a large-scale reform of the land and returned it to the local people. Basically, all the chieftains in Yunnan and Guizhou were abolished, and they were ruled by officials sent by the central government.

If it was done from generation to generation, there may still be the limitations of this dynasty, but every generation of the Central Plains dynasty did this, which is enough to prove how strenuous it is to govern this area in the southwest mountainous area.

Zhao Kuo coughed and said slowly: "Of course what you said, Xiang Yan, is not unreasonable, but we must also see that conquering the southwest mountainous area can create enough buffer for our Central Plains Huaxia region.

If any enemy invades from the south to the north in the future, then we can easily block them from the Central Plains by controlling the southwest mountainous area. "

Although Zhao Kuo said this to Xiang Yan, it was actually an explanation to Guo Zong.

Money is what is fought in wars. As the Minister of Finance of the Great Han Kingdom, although Guo Zong is not one of the prime ministers, to be honest, his status is not much different.

Guo Zong nodded and said: "Your Majesty's words are absolutely true.

Then I would like to ask Chief of Staff Xiang Yan, what benefits does it have for us big men to capture Lingnan and the Western Regions? "

After Xiang Yan received Zhao Kuo's support, she relaxed a lot and was not as nervous as before. Hearing this, she said, "The theory of Lingnan is actually the same as that of the Southwest Mountains, and it can create a buffer zone.

But Lingnan has a bigger advantage compared to Lingnan, that is, the mountains in Lingnan are not as steep as the southwest mountains, and there is also a plain in Lingnan, which is the Pearl River Delta Plain here. "

Xiang Yan pointed her baton at the plain of the Pearl River Delta, and continued to talk eloquently: "If we can control this place, then the food output here will be enough to maintain a garrison in the south of Lingnan, and continue to radiate south to the Red River Delta.

In addition, we can also build a port in Lingnan as a marine base for the navy to continue going south in the future.

In addition, this large island in the South China Sea to the south of the Lingnan is an important position to contain the South China Sea. As long as this place is controlled, then further southward attacks will be no problem in the future. "

When Xiang Yan said this, many people present nodded secretly.

These ministers all knew very well that Zhao Kuo came to them to start a war, so the question now is not whether to fight or not, but where is more cost-effective to fight.

Judging from the current situation introduced by Xiang Yan, it is indeed easier and more cost-effective to attack Lingnan than to attack the Southwest.

This scene undoubtedly gave Xiang Yan a lot of encouragement, so Xiang Yan moved his baton to the north and moved to the Hexi Corridor: "This is the territory of the Yuezhi people, and its eastern part has also been occupied by our Great Han Kingdom.

But if we continue along the north side of the Kunlun Mountains in the Hexi Corridor, we will find that there are still a large number of small countries on the north side of the Kunlun Mountains and on the north and south sides of the Tianshan Mountains.

According to the intelligence obtained by Nightingale's spies in disguise, some of these small countries are similar to nomads, and the other part is influenced by a descendant of a great empire from the west, which seems to be called the Alexander Empire. Belongs to a race similar to that of Zhongshan.

These small countries are different from the Yidi in the south. They already have a preliminary national system and army, which means that their financial capacity is also quite healthy.

As long as these countries can be destroyed, then we can use their wealth to enrich the treasury of our Han country, use their population to cultivate the land of our Han country, and more importantly, we can also open up our passage to Central Asia. It laid a good foundation for continuing to attack other countries that were split from the Alexander Empire. "

Guo Zong finally smiled when he heard this, and said, "Very well, I think attacking the Western Regions should be a very good choice."