News of Lian Po's victory in Shangjun was soon passed back to Handan.

Zhao He was also very happy about this. With a stroke of his pen, he made a lot of contributions to Lian Po, Zhao She and others, and divided the newly occupied Henan land into three parts. The largest part was named Beidi County, while the other two parts were merged into Jiuyuan County and Shang County of Zhao State respectively.

In this way, although the State of Zhao only added one county in number, it actually increased the territory of two counties and completely controlled Henan (that is, the Hetao area mentioned in later generations).

Although Henan is only a border area, for Zhao State, this victory actually provided considerable benefits for Zhao State to conquer the world.

It can be seen from the map that after completely obtaining Henan, the territory of the three northwest counties of Zhao State was condescending, forming a great deterrence to the Guanzhong Basin Plain of Qin State.

Considering the fact that Zhao State's cavalry is the best in the world, once a war begins between Zhao and Qin, Zhao He can mobilize elite troops of the border cavalry army to roar south from three counties in Henan to attack Qin State, and in a few days it can reach the outside of Xianyang City.

This is equivalent to putting troops at the doorstep of the Qin people. Once the Zhao and Qin start war, Qin must be heavily guarded Xianyang at any time to prevent the Zhao cavalry from stealing their homes, which is extremely passive.

On the other hand, if Qin wants to reach Handan of Zhao, he has to pass through Shangdang County, the southern Taihang River, which is steep and ridges. It is not known how difficult it is.

It can be said that with Henan, Zhao State had extremely obvious geographical and psychological advantages in the process of confronting Qin State.

Although the Qin King was willing to stop Zhao's annexation of Henan territory, the Qin State, which had just been defeated in Lianggou, was no longer able to organize a large army to go north to confront Zhao State in a short time.

And there is another imminent matter that needs to be dealt with by the King of Qin, that is, the Koreans, who stabbed Qin back in the Battle of Lianggou, have sent troops to attack Qin, and successfully captured the eight cities east of Hangu Pass that Qin was originally captured by the Qin State from Han, and began to surround and besiege the most important city east of Hangu Pass, Yiyang.

Therefore, since the Zhao State organized the Four-Nation Alliance to launch a crusade against Qi State last spring, the war that lasted nearly two years between Zhao State and the other countries came to an end.

Over the past year, Zhao led the princes to win key battles such as the Battle of Taoyi, the Battle of Gaotang, the Battle of Linzi and the Battle of Jimo, defeated the Qi and Yan coalition and annexed most of the land of Qi. Together with Qin, Wei, Chu and other countries, Qi, which was the strongest overlord in China before the war, captured the Qi king's field.

Subsequently, King Zhao He led the Zhao army to rule and defeated the Chu and Qi coalition forces in the Battle of Jucheng. Not only did he capture the second Qi king Tian Fazhang, but he also severely damaged the Chu army and occupied the Huaibei area that Chu had just recaptured from Qi.

After the Battle of Jucheng, Zhao He led the main force of the Zhao army to advance westward, and led the Zhao-Wei coalition forces to defeat Qin in the Battle of Lianggou, allowing Han to return to the Three Jin alliance, and forced Yan to withdraw troops from Zhao and then ced the territory for peace.

Then this great victory in Shangjun brought a perfect end to the more than a year of southern and northern battles throughout Zhao State.

During these more than 500 days, the State of Zhao mobilized all the forces of the entire country, fought thousands of miles, wiped out more than 400,000 enemy troops, occupied about 300,000 square kilometers of land, and obtained more than 4 million new population. The overall area, population and military strength were the highest among the princes. It is the most worthy of the world's number one overlord power, and it is also the strongest kingdom that has appeared in China for more than two thousand years since Yanhuang!

Some people attributed the greatest contribution of Zhao's rise to Zhao's father, believing that it was Zhao's father's decisive military reform of Hu's uniform and cavalry that allowed Zhao to grow rapidly from a second-rate weak country to a hegemony and powerful country in less than twenty years.

Another group of people believe that the greatest contribution to the rise of Zhao State was actually the young King He of Zhao. Although Zhao's father led the two battles of destroying Lou Fan and Lin Hu and destroying Zhongshan, the battle to destroy Qi, defeat Chu and defeat Qin, which really brought Zhao State to the top was planned and guided by the young King of Zhao.

But no matter what, no matter how great the credit is whether it is Zhao Zhufu or Zhao He, the monarchs of other countries can only sigh enviously when they think about this matter. There is nothing else to do.

In addition to South Korea's attack on Qin, two other wars continue.

In the south of Zhao State, after the Wei general Mangmao won the Battle of Lianggou, he took advantage of the situation and headed south toward Chu State. The Chu State's Grand Marshal Qu Yuan led his army to resist. The two sides confronted each other for several days on the front line of Chencheng, and it was difficult to separate.

In the north of Zhao, another war that attracted more attention from Zhao began to become more intense.

Almost at the same time as Lian Po defeated Yiqu, the Yan general Qin Kai led 60,000 Yan troops back to the Yan country's land because Yan State chose to seek peace from Zhao State.

Originally, the King of Yan secretly ordered Qin Kai to go north to fight the Donghu and the Korean coalition, caught him off guard, but the Donghu and the Korean coalition got the news from somewhere and retreated two days before Qin Kaixing night was about to arrive in Jidu.

King Yan was furious and immediately ordered Ju Xin, who was commanding the guardian forces of Jidu, to lead 40,000 troops to pursue him.

Ju Xin chased after him all the way, and when he arrived fifty miles outside the Lingzhi Front, he was suddenly shot and ambushed by Donghu and the Korean coalition. The Yan army, caught off guard, was immediately defeated, and more than 20,000 Yan army soldiers were either killed or captured.

When the King of Yan learned about it, he was furious and immediately removed Ju Xin's position as Yaqing and the chief general, and ordered Qin Kai to lead all other troops to continue advancing eastward.

After Qin Kai was appointed, he did not dare to neglect and reorganized 80,000 Yan troops to go east, steadily recovered Youbeiping County, and then entered the Liaoxi County occupied by the Donghu people.

The Donghu people were originally nomadic peoples and did not have much interest in territory. After confirming the arrival of the Yan army, they quickly gave up western Liaoning and retreated north from the Yan Great Wall. The western Liaoning County was restored.

Immediately afterwards, Qin Kai led the Yan army to continue advancing and attacked the Liaodong County occupied by Jizi North Korea.

Jizi Korea was also a Chinese princes recognized by the Zhou emperor. His obsession with cities and land was much higher than that of the Donghu. Therefore, when Qin Kai attacked Liaodong, it was not as smooth as in western Liaoning. It took more than two months to finally conquer Xiangping and recover most of the Liaodong area.

Subsequently, the winter in Liaodong region for more than four months came. The main force of the Yan army led by Qin Kai had to choose to temporarily turn to Jidu to end the war under the two major crises of winter snowfall and the cut-off of logistics supplies.

Although Yan State successfully regained most of the land occupied by Donghu and Jizi Korea, the burning, killing, looting and looting of the three counties and many cities near Jidu during the invasion of the Donghu and the Koreans still caused heavy damage to Yan State. Coupled with the losses in the Battle of Gaotang two years ago and the large number of casualties suffered during the attack on Zhao State, Yan State's national strength, which had been hard-working for many years since the King of Yan opened the Golden Terrace to recruit wise men, was almost exhausted, which was not as good as before.

I have to say that Su Qin is indeed a talent, because all this was spoiled by him to Zhao He a few months ago.

But at this time, Zhao He had no intention of celebrating the first step in his plan to destroy Yan, which achieved great success because another thing happened.

After several years of illness, Empress Dowager Zhao, Wu Mengyao, finally failed to resist the invasion of the disease. He died in late autumn of this year, at the age of 42.

This put Zhao He in great grief.

This empress dowager can be said to be Zhao He's closest relative after traveling through time. It was with her firm support that Zhao He overcomes the initial difficulties and was able to eliminate Anyang Jun Zhao Zhang, Zuo Shi Zhao Cheng and others and hold firmly on the throne.

Putting aside these political factors, the queen also cared for Zhao He in her life, which made Zhao He feel deeply maternal love.

The death of the empress dowager made Zhao He lose a spiritual pillar, but the one who was most sad was not Zhao He, but his father Zhao Yong.

Unlike other kings, Zhao Yong was a man who was determined to kill but also valued love.

The king has no friends, so Wu Mengyao, the only close lover, is the person he cherishes most in his heart. After losing the queen mother, the master father, who grew old all night, then fell seriously ill.

Winter is coming.

In front of Xingong, Zhao He walked out of the carriage and hugged Xiao Zhaoqian and climbed up the steps along the steps. Floating snowflakes fell from the sky and landed on his thick white fur robe. The leather boots printed bright footprints on the steps, and then slowly covered by snowflakes.

In the Xin Palace bedroom where the stove was burning extremely vigorously, Zhao He met his master father who was sitting quietly in the hall.

It has been more than two months since the empress dowager passed away, and the master's father's condition has improved. After all, he has always liked Nanzheng and North Zhan, in good health, and he is only sick because of a heart disease.

However, as the saying goes, heart disease is difficult to cure. Although the master's father's health has improved, he is in a very depressed mood. He has not taken a step forward in the palace since the Queen Mother's funeral. In addition to meeting Fei Yi once, he has rejected all the ministers' requests.

"Big Father!" Zhao Qian had just been put on the ground by Zhao He, and rushed towards the Lord's Father and rushed into the arms of the Lord's Father.

"Master Father." Zhao He saluted to Master Father.

The master father hugged Zhao Qian and gently bounced the snowflakes stained on his grandson's cheeks. He finally had a little anger on his face, which had become much thinner, and nodded at Zhao He.

Next, Zhao He sat quietly on the side and looked at the interaction between Xiao Zhao Qian and his master father with a smile.

As the saying goes, a relative is a different generation, and only when Zhao Qian, the eldest grandson, appears, can there be a few smiles on the face of the master father. As for Zhao He's son, it's not bad whether he has it or not.

After playing for a while, Xiao Zhaoqian obviously looked tired and began to yawn constantly, which was a signal of preparing for a nap.

So Zhao He stood up and prepared to take Zhao Qian back to the queen.

But at this moment, Zhao He was stopped by his master's father.

"Let the people below take Qian'er back. The widow has something to say to you."

Zhao He was stunned at first, then winked at the side of Wangxian. Wangxian immediately came up to take Zhao Qian away with a clue. Only the master father and Zhao He and his son were left in the hall.

The Lord Father was silent for a while, then sighed and spoke slowly.

"You also know that when the widowed father just ascended the throne, he inherited a crisis-ridden Zhao State. At that time, the widowed father was young and energetic, and made up his mind to lead the Great Zhao to rise up and become the overlord of the world."

"It has been more than thirty years since then. Today, the State of Zhao has indeed become extremely powerful as the widowed father thought at the time. Even if the widowed father goes with your mother now, he can give an explanation when he sees the ancestors of the Zhao family."

When Zhao He heard this, he couldn't help but speak, "Master, father, mother, have gone, but the dead are gone, and the living still need to continue moving forward."

The master father waved his hand and signaled Zhao He not to interrupt: "These days, the widowed father has been sitting in this hall, thinking about the voice, appearance and smile of your mother when she was alive. At that time, she was still vivid in her mind when she rode a horse and hunted with me. The time she raised you and Sheng'er was still yesterday, but...ah!"

"You said, this man always ignores the closest people around him in order to pursue something illusory, such as hegemony, reputation, etc. The widowed father often wonders, is it really right to do this?"

"If the widow's father could focus less on handling state affairs and lead less troops to fight, then would he have more time to spend with your mother, and would he have less regrets now?"

Zhao He was silent for a long time and said, "The master's father is well-known to the achievements of Zhao State, and his mother was very happy when she was alive."

The master father nodded and said, "Of course this widow's father understands. Your mother and queen have always strongly supported her widow's father, and you go to fight for Zhao and contribute to Zhao. But she rarely asks for anything from your widow's father or your close relatives. Ordinary couples can live together until old age, but the widow's father cannot even accompany her for more time. The widow's father believes that he deserves the ancestors of Zhao and the people of Zhao in this life, but the only one who is sorry is your mother!"

Speaking of this, even though Master Zhao's father was so determined, his eyes could not help but turn red.

Zhao He was speechless, only sighed.

Perhaps Zhao He did a good job in other aspects, but Zhao He is really not good at comforting people.

There was silence in the hall.

After a long time, the master father spoke again: "The widow's father has made up his mind to hide in the Palace of Xin from now on. This Zhao State... will be handed over to you in the future."

Unprepared Zhao He was shocked when he heard this: "Master Father, how... how to do this?"

Although he was very strange about the strange phenomenon of the second state ruler of Zhao State when traveling through time, Zhao He had actually adapted to this over the past few years, and sometimes even felt that... it was not bad.

In recent years, Zhao He's reforms to Zhao's military system, political system, official positions, etc., which involve many core interests of many people and families have been successfully implemented without encountering too many difficulties, and is closely related to the Lord's father's full support for Zhao He.

It is precisely because of the existence of the master's father that Zhao He did not need to be afraid of old ministers such as Fei Yi Niu Jian, who had high power and prestige, and did not have to rush to replace these old ministers of the previous dynasty. This allowed a group of Zhao He's confidants such as Le Yi, Lin Xiangru, Lian Po to slowly "level up" and accumulate merit and experience through promotion step by step, becoming more mature and capable. Thus, slowly, the blood exchange of the core senior officials of Zhao State was achieved, and the possibility of conflicts and even civil strife was reduced to the lowest point.

From a personal perspective, although Zhao He is a time traveler, it is the first time to be the king of a country. The existence of the master father is equivalent to a teacher who can give him a call without reservation and let him enter the role as quickly as possible.

Don’t forget that the Lord Father is a well-deserved wise ruler, with extremely rich and successful experience in governing. This kind of true and famous teacher teaches is something that many time travelers can never get if they dream of.

Finally, if the Lord’s father had not guarded Handan, how could Zhao He dare to lead his army to the expedition with confidence and actually live the reluctance of the imperial army to personally lead the expedition?

Therefore, when the master father said he had retired, Zhao He was not overjoyed, but instead dissuaded him immediately.

Then he was rejected by the Lord's Father.

"Wang'er, you don't have to say anything more. The widow's intention has been decided. Over the past few years, the widow's mind has been put on Zhao State. Now, let the widow's rest and accompany your mother well."

The Lord Father's eyes fell on a newly placed tablet in the hall, and the expression on his face gradually became gentle.

The words "The Dead Wife Wu Mengyao's Position" are engraved in the center of the wooden sign, and the lower right corner is engraved in the "Husband Zhao Yong".

Zhao He looked at this scene and sighed in his heart. He knew that his master's intention could no longer be reversed, so he had to stand up and salute and leave.

Outside the palace gate, the snow became heavier and heavier.

Zhao He walked down the steps step by step, feeling the slight coldness of the snowflakes pressing against his cheeks, and the sense of responsibility in his heart became heavier.
Chapter completed!