Lin Zhi brought a lot of family belongings and letters with him, so his return journey was much slower. Zhu Xiang finally had a chance to observe the situation along the way.
The last time he entered Qin, he was protected by the Qin army and had no chance to observe the scenery and people along the way.
Because of his memory, Zhu Xiang was able to learn languages very quickly. When he was in Handan, he learned the elegant language and the language of the Seven Kingdoms. Even if he couldn't understand the dialect, he could still chat with the farmers by gestures.
Every time he took a break, Zhu Xiang would chat with people around him. Within a few days, he had mastered the situation of Zhao State.
Meng Wu secretly glanced at the expressions of Prince Zichu and Lin Zhi, and sighed in his heart in a pretentious manner.
He finally discovered that both Prince Zichu and Lin Zhi were protecting Lord Changping as if he were a child. However, Lord Changping was not only not a child, but also had outstanding abilities. How could they possibly hide this from Lord Changping
You see, after Changping Jun learned the truth, he made the two of them eat dry food for three days. The food quality suddenly dropped, and Prince Zichu and Lin Zhi's faces turned pale.
In fact, Zhu Xiang did not mean to trouble his friend. He just didn't have the mood to cook and just ate dry food.
Seeing Zhu Xiang eating dry food, Zichu and Lin Zhi didn't know why they didn't dare to light a fire and cook, and they ate the dry food together. It seemed as if they were punished by Zhu Xiang.
"Stupid King Zhao." Zhu Xiang cursed while eating dry food.
Zichu and Lin Zhi chewed their dry food with difficulty and nodded in agreement.
In the past few days, they have realized the richness of Zhu Xiang's language. The two noble children have never known that there are so many ways to curse people.
Zhu Xiang was tired of scolding today and summed it up with the word "idiot".
"If Lord Lian sent troops to Yan, he might steal Yan's food and transfer Zhao's famine to Yan." Zhu Xiang finally woke up from his anger and thought about other things. "If Lord Lin and I were in Zhao, we could alleviate the famine without sending troops. Alas."
Zichu was curious: "The fields in Zhao State have all failed to produce any crops in the first half of this year. The first batch of grain can only be harvested in late autumn or early winter. According to the grain storage of the common people, they will be out of food for at least three months. Can you solve this problem?"
Lin Zhi joked, "I didn't expect that a noble son of the Qin State would know all this. Xia Tong, congratulations on your graduation. I, your uncle, am very pleased."
Zichu rolled his eyes at Lin Zhi and ignored him. The more he paid attention to Lin Zhi, the crazier he became.
He really didn't pay attention to it before. But no matter who becomes friends with Zhu Xiang, their eyes will unconsciously turn to the fields and common people that they originally didn't pay attention to, and Zhu Xiang habitually calculates the grain output and consumption in their minds.
"With me here, abandoned fields can be replanted as soon as possible, shortening the harvest time and reducing the time of food shortage." Zhu Xiang said, "With Lord Lin here, he can find a way to persuade the nobles to donate food to help the victims, and he can also successfully receive food from other countries. In fact, the famine in Zhao is not serious from the perspective of the entire country, and the fields that have no harvest account for less than 50% of the country."
Zichu and Lin Zhi asked in unison: "How did you calculate it?"
Zhu Xiang was speechless: "Hey, hey, why would you two ask such a question? You should have known it immediately."
Zichu was a little ashamed, but Lin Zhi said without any shame: "I am only now preparing to be a virtuous person, I have never thought about it before."
Zichu: “…” He looked at Lin Zhi’s face and learned a lot. He was the loser!
Zhu Xiang also looked at Lin Zhi's face and refreshed his understanding of Lin Zhi.
"The King of Zhao would allow common people to grow novel foods like potatoes, but he would never allow nobles to grow them," Zhu Xiang said. "If it were you, would you rashly switch to something you've never eaten before if you have other foods you're used to eating?"
Zichu and Lin Zhi pondered for a while, their eyes widened slightly, and they suddenly realized.
Lin Zhi sneered: "The King of Zhao learned about the potato production in Changping and wanted to quickly fill the granary, so he ordered the common people to plant potatoes. But he has no right to ask the nobles to plant potatoes on their land, and the nobles will not plant potatoes on their own fields!"
Zichu rubbed his head and said, "How could I not have thought of this? Most of the Qin State has been changed into counties, and all places obey the orders of the King of Qin. But Zhao State is different. Most of the land is in the hands of the nobles."
At this time, China was similar to the Middle Ages in Western Europe. In the nobles' fiefdoms, the monarchs implemented a tax farming system. That is, the monarchs asked the nobles for taxes, and as long as the nobles could pay enough money and grain, the nobles had the final say in the affairs of the territory.
If the nobles are kind, they may pay taxes out of their own pockets and reduce or exempt taxes for the common people in the territory; if the nobles want to live a luxurious life, they will levy more taxes, and the excess after paying the taxes will fall into their own hands.
The same applies to conscription. The monarch of a commoner lord is not the master of the commoners. If the monarch wants to send troops, he has to ask the nobles for troops and men.
This can be proved by looking at the several wars fought by the Zhou Dynasty during the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Zhou emperor issued an edict and the various vassal states took their troops to fight.
In order to avoid being controlled by others, in fact, in addition to Qin, other places also implemented the county system to expand the influence of the monarch. However, although the administrative and military powers were basically in the hands of the monarch, the economic power was not.
Apart from the feudal lords who could make decisions on the fields in their own territories, the nobles could plant whatever they wanted on their private estates and would not pay attention to the orders of the monarch.
Therefore, the famine in Zhao State was only a disaster for the common people, and the nobles could rest easy and even be very happy, because the common people could only borrow food from them after the famine, and they could get more land at a low price or even for free.
Because of the Battle of Changping and Zhu Xiang's departure, Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang were also alienated by the King of Zhao. Otherwise, if Duke Lin, Lord Pingyuan, and Lord Pingyang joined forces, and with the pressure from veterans such as Lian Po, they would be able to suppress the selfish nobles of Zhao and make them give up their own interests for Zhao.
Unfortunately, in order to avoid civil strife in Zhao, Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang took the initiative to take the blame for the king's mistakes and returned to their own fiefdoms, and could no longer interfere in Zhao's political affairs. The royal family and high officials of Zhao who were now participating in the government of Zhao were obviously more willing to use the hands of the king to make money for themselves.
"It's clearly written in the potato planting tips I gave you. Even if it wasn't written, anyone with a little common sense would know that no crops can be planted in the snow." Zhu Xiang said, "When they ordered the farmers to switch to planting potatoes, they were aiming to make the farmers lose their harvest."
Lin Zhi was dazed.
He looked at Zhu Xiang, his voice half laughing and half crying: "Really? Even my father has never thought of this. He just thinks that those nobles who unanimously agreed to switch to planting potatoes are just stupid."
In fact, it was because of the high-level perspective of later political textbooks that he was able to see the key at a glance.
It is clearly stated in the textbooks that the feudal era was the era of landlords and peasants. All interests revolved around land, and history was an endless cycle of land annexation, peasant uprisings, reshuffle and equalization, and then land annexation.
Just as it is the nature of capitalists to pursue profits, it is also the nature of landlords to annex land. Even if the King of Zhao lives in the palace and does not understand the affairs of the fields, most of the nobles support the counterintuitive and stupid act of winter sowing, which must have a conspiracy. What else could this conspiracy be other than the farmers' fields
Just like during the Qin Shi Huang period, the group of ministers who controlled the court of Qi State watched happily as Qin State waged wars in the south and the north without taking any action, just to collect more money from Qin State's envoys, which eventually led to the demise of Qi State. Similarly, the group of newly appointed ministers in the court of Zhao State were also only thinking about making as much money as possible and did not care about the interests of Zhao State at all.
Zhu Xiang took a sip of the water in the bamboo tube and swallowed the dry food in his mouth. "King Huiwen of Zhao is a wise king. He basically recruited talents. Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang also have the ability to identify people, and they are on good terms with most of the old ministers. Zhao is so small and has so many talents. After those who are on good terms with Lord Pingyuan and Lord Pingyang are marginalized, King Zhao has no one to use even if he wants to make a comeback. Now the court of Zhao is full of stupid and selfish people. This is the drawback of the recommendation system."
"Ah?" Zhu Xiang suddenly changed the subject, and Zichu and Lin Zhi's minds were almost confused.
Zhu Xiang said: "The recommendation system is naturally based on the recommender. When the recommender leaves or disagrees with the monarch, the monarch may not trust them because they cannot betray the recommender. Even if the recommender is loyal to the monarch, it will be difficult for him to continue to serve the monarch."
Zichu immediately sat up straight: "What kind of talent selection system can avoid this drawback?"
Zhu Xiang said: "It's an examination, with selection at each level. The last examination is presided over by the monarch, and all the officials are the emperor's disciples."
Zichu's eyes lit up: "Zhu Xiang!"
Zhu Xiang chuckled and said, "Don't hand over the documents to the Lord now. This system is to dig up the roots of the traditional aristocracy. Whoever mentions it will die. If you want to do it, you must do it slowly."
"Why..." Zichu frowned as soon as he asked, "I see, that's right."
Lin Zhi stroked his unshaved beard because of mourning and said, "Other countries can't do this, but Qin can. Most of the senior officials in Qin are from other countries. In order to select foreign talents, the king can imitate Qi to build the Jixia Academy and Yan to cast the Golden Terrace. He can just build a building and then test the talents from the six countries who come to seek official positions in that building. Isn't that the way to open the way to recruit scholars through examinations?"
Lin Zhi was free, and he immediately came up with a heretical way to deceive the nobles of the world.
Zichu looked at Lin Zhi and his eyes lit up again.
Then Lin Zhi looked back at Zichu and acted shyly towards him.
Zichu's eyes and the joy on his face immediately dimmed, and he turned his eyes away from Lin Zhi.
Lin Zhi was so amused by Zichu's reaction that he clapped his legs and laughed.
Zhu Xiang gave Lin Zhi a thumbs up and said, "Great! If you write this matter down and present it together with the cotton, the emperor will definitely appoint you as the prime minister."
Lin Zhi said proudly: "Why don't you make me a king?"
Zichu said unhappily, "You are still far from it. How about I give you the title of Lord of Handan? I will give it to you after we conquer Handan."
Lin Zhi said happily: "That's so embarrassing. I'd better give the title of Lord Handan to you or Zheng'er to commemorate your and Zheng'er's life as hostages."
Zichu: “…” He cursed in his heart and his fists itched.
The three of them ate dry food and drank cold water, and suddenly they discussed a major national plan.
Meng Wu broke out in a cold sweat. He felt that he shouldn't be sitting here.
He has a strong sense of responsibility. After the three men dismissed the guards, Meng Wu thought that he was in a position to listen to their gossip, so he came up to eat dry food together, not just to listen to gossip and have fun. Since the three men didn't let him leave, Meng Wu thought he could listen. Who knew that the three men would say such terrible things while talking!
"General Meng, you won't tell on anyone, will you?" Lin Zhi did not let go of the chief guard who was silently eating dry food on the side, and winked at him.
Meng Wu shook his head vigorously: "I don't understand Zhao language!"
Zichu: "... General Meng, Lin Li also said this in Zhao dialect."
Meng Wu groaned and hugged his head.
Lin Zhi laughed loudly and held Meng Wu's shoulders: "General Meng, you have boarded a pirate ship by mistake and you can't get off. Zichu, get ready and let General Meng worship you as his lord."
Zichu cursed, "I don't want to be imprisoned by the Lord! Get out!"
Lin Zhi almost choked from laughing.
Meng Wu continued to hold his head, looking extremely painful.
He traveled with Duke Xiang of Zhu and Prince Zichu and enjoyed the fun for several months, but how come the fun came back to him
Zhu Xiang also laughed and teased Meng Wu, telling him to stop struggling.
He laughed and continued to think about Lian Gong.
Lin Zhi and Zichu both discovered it, but they deliberately changed the subject and did not continue talking about the affairs of Zhao State.
At least 50% of Zhao's land was not completely harvested, but Duke Lian was isolated and helpless, and could only bear the bad reputation for saving the people and the State of Zhao.
(End of this chapter)