Lian Po thought that he would never lead an army again in his lifetime. He did not expect that his decision would be broken so soon.
He couldn't just abandon these Zhao people who had left their homeland.
Lian Po was very proud of his noble birth, his talent in leading troops in battle, and his achievements in conquering cities and lands. He knew that many people said that he was arrogant and looked down on the Zhao royal family who had no achievements and only relied on their birth to show off. He was also very proud of the fact that others said he was arrogant.
Lian Po, whom even Lin Xiangru once looked down upon, naturally would not bow his head to look down on the common people.
Zhu Xiang was treated as his own son by Lin Xiangru for many years, and Lian Po often looked down on Zhu Xiang because of his background and cowardice in not wanting to go to the battlefield.
This is the case in this era. Scholars serve the monarch and fight for the monarch.
Even when the Zhou Dynasty, which was considered a sage dynasty by Confucianists, attacked the Shang Dynasty, they announced the crimes of the Shang king. The life and death of the "people" who were of a higher status than the common people today were secondary. The most important thing was that the Shang king did not value sacrifices, did not respect gods, despised the nobles, and employed slaves.
This is not hypocrisy of the Zhou Dynasty, but in this era, these are the most important things.
If the Zhou Dynasty had raised the banner of "the King of Shang harmed the people" and attacked the King of Shang, it would have been the King of Zhou who was attacked.
The idea of loving the people was gradually established during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Only after accepting the concept of "loving the people" did the later generations accuse the kings of the pre-Qin dynasty of abusing the people.
Before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the monarchs only cared about the lives of their people, and their people were the "scholars" during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Lian Po was originally such a typical nobleman.
He looked at the Zhao people who were organized into an army in front of him and sighed.
Li Mu asked, "Mr. Lian, are you worried about their situation?"
Lian Po said, "I'm not worried."
Li Mu: “…” Then why are you sighing, Lord Lian
He wanted to continue asking questions, but seeing Lian Po's irritable face, he tactfully swallowed the questions.
Due to the previous attacks by the Qin State, there were many uninhabited areas where the Three Jins met, which became a buffer zone for the powers of several countries.
They finally arrived at this buffer zone and no longer had to worry about being intercepted by the Zhao army.
Lian Po and Li Mu counted the number of people and found that there were as many as 30,000 Zhao people who defected to them, including more than 1,000 Zhao soldiers who were originally monitoring them.
This number may not seem like a large number, but considering the population of Zhao State reduced due to wars in recent years, the speed of news dissemination, and the distance the villagers live from them, 30,000 people is already a very large number.
According to common sense, the villagers had almost no way to learn about Handan. Maybe Lian Po and Li Mu had left Zhao for several years, and the common people in the rural villages might not know about this.
This is not an exaggeration. Many farmers just paid taxes blindly, and even after several dynasties changed, their descendants still thought they were in the previous dynasty.
Lian Po and Li Mu were very confused as to why so many people knew that they had left Zhao.
The truth was, of course, that Cai Ze led his men to tell them. But the people of Zhao had no idea that someone would use a divisive tactic against them, a group of civilians, and they thought they were telling the truth: "Of course we knew, because we have always been worried about Lord Lian and Lord Li who saved us."
Actually, this was not a lie. Even if they were isolated from the news, they knew about the affairs of Yan State and Xiongnu because they needed to recruit soldiers. So they did ask people around them and traveling merchants about the news of Lian Po and Li Mu.
They cared about Lian Po and Li Mu from the bottom of their hearts. Cai Ze just told them the news they were concerned about.
After hearing their answer, Lian Po and Li Mu did not sleep well for several nights.
When they opened their eyes the next day, they quietly hurried on their journey while training their troops with all their might in order to deal with the pursuing Zhao army.
Fortunately for them, even though they passed by the Zhao army's camp, the Zhao army seemed not to notice that there were many commoners among this group of Qin people and let them pass.
Lian Po and Li Mu originally thought that they were afraid of the Qin people, but later when someone secretly gave them food and half-broken weapons, they understood something.
When they first understood, they couldn't help but feel angry.
What the Zhao army did was not only dereliction of duty, but could even be said to be collusion with the enemy.
But after being angry, they found that they had no reason to be angry, because these common people followed them and left.
Lou Huan said to himself: "Is this what the Confucianists said, people's hearts are scattered?"
Lian Po was so angry that he raised his fist to hit Lou Huan.
Although Lou Huan's legs were not very convenient, he ran away quickly. As he ran away, he muttered: "Why can't you listen to the truth? Why don't you go beat up the culprit, the King of Zhao?"
Lian Po was so angry that he ate three more bowls of rice than usual.
Lou Huan was very surprised by Lian Po's appetite. He suspected that he had made a mistake in his judgment, and that Lian Po might not be too old and could still fight for the King of Qin.
Ah, after doing this and fulfilling his wish, he should not call himself the King of Qin in private, but the Lord.
Lou Huan was very fortunate to have a monarch like the King of Qin. He thought that he could have a good end in Qin.
It was only after they arrived at the no-man's land that the Qin delegation encountered an attack.
Although countries do not care about these wildernesses, there are many bandits lurking there.
Originally, the bandits did not have the courage to rob the Qin delegation's carriage, but when they saw that there were many old, weak, women and children and common people in the Qin delegation, they thought they could rob these common people's things and the Qin soldiers might be too busy to take care of themselves.
As long as they robbed the things and fled into the mountains and forests, even the notoriously vicious Qin army would be unable to do anything to them.
They never expected that in this mediocre Qin delegation, there were two of Zhao's most powerful generals.
Even after less than a month, Lian Po and Li Mu had trained a group of soldiers who could fight. These new soldiers could easily defeat the bandits even with sticks tied with stones, not to mention that they also had semi-abandoned weapons secretly given to them by the Zhao army.
Lian Po and Li Mu marched towards Changping, fighting off the bandits. When they arrived at Changping, their soldiers were already quite vigorous, which frightened the Qin army on the border.
"Greetings to General Lian, and General Li." Bo Fu, the garrison commander of Changping, clasped his fists and said, "Hey, they're bringing the Zhao army here?!"
Lian Po was puzzled: "Who are you?"
Boeuf: “…” General, you have seen me more than once!
"Ahem..." Li Mu laughed, "I remember you. You often played with Zheng'er. Why are you here?"
Bofu said: "I was once a member of the Zhao army in Changping led by General Lian, and later..."
Lian Po was suspicious: "Did you kill Zhao Kuo? Didn't he die in battle?"
Bofu said, "I killed him."
Lian Po stroked his beard and looked Bofu up and down.
Bofu knelt down. He knew that as a soldier of the State of Zhao, killing a general of the State of Zhao would be a serious crime. General Lian would definitely blame him.
"So, it is true that Zhao Kuo caused a mutiny in the Zhao army?" Lian Po asked.
Boeuf said, “It’s true.”
Lian Po asked, "He said that if he could return to Zhao, he would kill Zhu Xiang. Is that true?"
Even now, when talking about this matter, Bofu couldn't hide his anger on his face: "It's true!"
Lian Po nodded slightly: "He deserves to die."
When Zhu Xiang returned to Handan, he gave Zhao Kuo enough face, saying that Zhao Kuo died in battle. However, later on, there were rumors that Zhao Kuo was actually killed by Zhu Xiang or the Zhao army. Zhu Xiang was imprisoned for this.
Boeuf looked up in surprise.
Lian Po frowned: "You are now a Qin general, why are you kneeling to me? Stand up."
Lou Huan interrupted: "Lian Po, you are also a Qin general now, and you will be his superior in the future. What's wrong with him kneeling to you? There is nothing wrong with kneeling."
Lian Po: “…”
He drew his sword.
Lou Huan moved behind Li Mu very skillfully and said, "Mr. Lian asked you to stand up, didn't you hear?"
Li Mu: “…” He was really worried that Lou Huan would be killed by Duke Lian before entering Xianyang.
Boeuf didn't dare get up.
"Get up!" Lian Po gave Bofu a light kick. "I remember now. Did you go back to Handan for Zhu Xiang and say that you killed Zhao Kuo?"
Bofu stood up and clasped his fists: "Yes."
Lian Po said: "You are quite affectionate and righteous. Tell me about Changping."
Boeuf's voice became louder: "Yes!"
He was very excited. Besides Duke Zhu Xiang, the people he admired most were Duke Lin and Duke Lian. He didn't expect that Duke Lian would also enter Qin!
Bai Qi admired Bo Fu very much, and not only gave him credit for killing Zhao Kuo, but also reported his merits for saving Zhu Xiang in Handan. And because Bo Fu had been a garrison commander in Changping and was very familiar with the area, the King of Qin appointed him as the garrison commander of Changping.
Although Zhu Xiang did not come to his fiefdom, the King of Qin intended to test Zhu Xiang's governance ability, so the annual policy guidelines of Changping were based on Zhu Xiang's opinions.
In addition, Zhu Xiang returned almost all of his share of the taxes collected from Changping to Changping, which greatly improved Changping's infrastructure and water conservancy facilities. In just one year, Changping had recovered.
When Lian Po heard what Zhu Xiang had done, he couldn't help but hold his forehead.
Although he had been enthroned as a lord for only a short time, he had already obtained fiefdoms early on, so he was very familiar with the taxation of the fiefdoms.
The taxation system of the fiefdom is what later generations called the "tax farming system". The monarch set a tax amount, and the owner of the fiefdom only needed to pay the full tax amount. The excess amount was the owner's own money.
The King of Qin was very generous to Zhu Xiang and promised not to collect taxes from Changping for five years. All the taxes collected from Changping came from Zhu Xiang's money.
Zhu Xiang did collect taxes, and then transferred all the taxes to Changping, all of which were used to restore Changping's productivity.
Perhaps no other county had so much disposable funds, which made the officials in Changping both excited and frightened.
Lian Po was puzzled and asked, "How can Zhu Xiang support Zheng'er if he doesn't take money from Changping?"
Bofu shook his head: "I don't know about that." How would he know about what happened in Xianyang
Lian Po looked at Lou Huan.
Lou Huan said: "I don't know much about Xianyang either."
Lian Po was suspicious: "You don't know about Xianyang?"
Lou Huan smiled: "I know more about Zhao State."
Damn it! Lian Po drew his sword again.
Li Mu quickly stood in front of Lou Huan and said, "Perhaps the King of Qin gave Zhu Xiang many extra things, and Zhu Xiang may think that the money is enough for him to support his family."
Lian Po scolded him, "It's no problem to support him, but does he think Zheng'er is still a hostage like he was in Handan? Zheng'er is a prince of Qin, how can he travel in such a shabby way?"
Li Mu: "... Maybe Zheng'er doesn't need too much money?"
Lian Po: "You farted!"
Li Mu: “…” Lord Lian really seems like an unreasonable old man who dotes on his grandson too much.
"Lord Lian, don't worry. Xia Tong will take care of Zheng'er's food, clothing and travel." Cai Ze walked out of the crowd, "Lord Lian, Li Mu, long time no see."
Lian Po frowned: "You didn't go back to Qin?"
Cai Ze smiled and said, "This is Qin. I just received an imperial edict from the King of Qin appointing me as the governor of Changping County. Please go to Xianyang without worry, Lord Lian."
Lian Po and Li Mu suddenly felt a little upset.
Although they encountered several waves of bandits and wasted time, how could Cai Ze become the governor of Changping County so quickly? Could it be that the King of Qin really had foresight
(End of this chapter)