"It's confirmed, it's true that I haven't entered the palace for more than two months."

"Oh......"

The expedition was imminent, in order to judge his guess, Lu Zhe went to his father-in-law Zhao Gao, and asked Yan Bi to arrange a spy in Xianyang, and came up with a very interesting two-sided information.

Zhao Gao, who was the commander of the CRRC Prefecture, could see each other every once in a while even when the first emperor was seriously ill, but from two and a half months ago, his position in the CRRC Prefecture was suddenly dismissed, and he was awarded the title of the chief of the eldest concubine second only to the Marquis of Guannei, and then he has been idle at home. During this period, Zhao Gao never entered the palace again, let alone met the First Emperor once.

What is puzzling is that except for Zhao Gao and some people who clearly expressed their pro-Han lineage, several ministers such as Wang Juan, the prime minister of Zuo, often went in and out of the palace, and could often hear remarks about the illness of the first emperor from their mouths.

In the letter, Zhao Gao vaguely mentioned the disappearance of the commanders (guards) who had been acquainted in the palace before, and some temple people (eunuchs) also disappeared from the world, and all kinds of signs seemed to be someone deliberately covering up something.

The answer is about to come out, Zhao Gao has been serving Yingzheng since he was a teenager, even when he was distrusted, he did not lose the official position of the CRRC government order, at most, the six seals of the Son of Heaven in charge were withdrawn, and he was suddenly dismissed and lost the qualification to walk in the palace, and many familiar faces also disappeared, which can only be that the first emperor has died.

Lu Zhe can understand why Fusu and the rest of the ministers of the Qin State chose to keep it secret, when the First Emperor was there, the Qin State could still ensure unity in difficult times, and the countries would be afraid even if they attacked Qin, and more importantly, the clans of the Qin State would not jump around. If the First Emperor is gone, the Qin State will definitely suffer some internal turmoil, and then the Qin State will probably be the last straw that breaks the camel's back when the external threat is approaching.

When the speculation became a reality, although he knew that there would be such a day, Lu Zhe couldn't help but feel a sigh.

This prince who suffered a lot of ups and downs in the Zhao State in his childhood, returned to the Qin State and suffered many disasters. After solving the dictatorship of Lü Buwei and dealing with the Qin Wangzheng who only took over the power - although he was able to dominate the world with the management of several generations of Qin and the help of a group of capable ministers and strategists, he was able to complete such a great cause in his hands, and he definitely deserved to be called "an emperor through the ages".

For some reason, Lu Zhe did not tell the fact that the First Emperor might have died, and he also strictly ordered those who knew the truth to keep their mouths shut.

The king needs to worship heaven and earth when he goes on an expedition, and Lu Zhe, as the king of the Han Kingdom, naturally has to carry out a set of related sacrifices according to customs.

The person who presided over the expedition was Shusun Tong, who once presided over the founding ceremony of the Han Kingdom, and could be regarded as having confirmed the title of the ceremonial official of the Han Kingdom. He was keenly aware of Han Wangzhe's somewhat absent-mindedness in a set of rituals, and reminded him several times that sacrifice was a very sacred thing. As a king, he should respect heaven and earth and ghosts, Lu Zhe said a few "um" words in his mouth, but he was still absent-minded.

A heavy horn sounded, and Lu Zhe woke up from that half-lost state, he looked at his uncle and nodded.

Although he participated in the formulation of the Han law, and agreed with a group of friends and people with lofty ideals to agree on a set of things similar to the official code of the Han State, but it was not as prosperous as imagined, and there was no shadow of carrying forward Confucianism.

A "knock knock knock" war drum sounded. His own attendants will carry a plate to deliver the sacrificial text that needs to be read, Lu Zhe picked up the sacrificial text and looked around the scene, there will be no civilians in the expedition ceremony, some will only be soldiers and civil and military officials waiting to go out.

Lu Zhe recited the sacrificial text on the altar. The civil and military officers and soldiers in the audience all looked up from afar, and the people who got closer were naturally the people with knighthoods, and then the civil and military with higher official positions.

The expedition was to use 100,000 forbidden troops to the north to reinforce the second and third armies that were fighting with the coalition forces on the Jishui line, and the battle line was more than 430 miles away from the Han mainland. If you really count those winding roads, the actual distance should be more than 600 miles.

After the Han army occupied the northern part of Surabaya County and Donghai County, according to the control of the ruling government, the Han State implemented the cash-for-work model for the Qianshou in the occupied areas. The road from Surabaya to Xue has been under construction for almost five months.

The manipulation in the recruitment mode is naturally to let the Qiantou in the territory laid down by the Han army have something to eat and not become outcasts such as bandits, which can be very effective in controlling more occupied areas, and has been proven to be an effective means to maintain stability in the occupied areas.

In the first two months, almost 450,000 people were employed by the Han State, until the battle line was advanced to Xue County and Langxie County, and the Qianshou hired by the Han State formed an explosive growth, directly breaking through to 700,000.

700,000 was not the final figure, but later after the ruling government realized that the logistics line was not well prepared, it improved it, and used vehicles pulled by private conscription and livestock and mobilized merchants to transport grain to the north, and with sufficient food, the limit on employment in the Han State was lowered, and the number of registered employees in the occupied areas has exceeded 1.5 million so far.

Learning from the "old wisdom" of the Second World War, Lu Zhe later ordered the recruitment of a group of law and order personnel in the occupied areas, and prescribed how much the ordinary co-service soldiers would be paid every month, and used this means to obtain the most well-equipped 50,000 people in the occupied areas, and distributed them scattered to various villages or cities to suppress some restless people.

Don't think crookedly, it's not a mocking way to make up some "Imperial Allied Army", Lu Zhegan is more inclined to Nazi Germany's practices in the occupied areas, but he doesn't want to commit any genocide in the Central Plains, which is more similar to the "supernumerary SS" that can be co-opted.

Facts have also proved that it is far better to rely on that group of personnel to suppress it than for the Han army to suppress it in person, at least a large part of the hatred is attracted by that group of people who "act for the tiger".

When Lu Zhe finished reading the sacrificial text, he looked down, what did he see? What I saw was the two-year-old Lu Yi lying on the side of the steps and not knowing what to play, while the three-year-old Lu Qi was standing aside and watching.

This time he went north to conquer in person, Lu Zhe will not only bring 100,000 forbidden troops and nearly 500,000 auxiliary soldiers and people, but also the core officials of the ruling system will also go with him, and then Lu Qi and Lu Yi, who can already walk, will also be brought, and the royal family members who stayed in Nanling In addition to those concubines and princesses, it is two male babies who are just seven months old and another four months old. July is greatly out of the yangzi, and April is out of the bear girl.

In addition, the kings of Wei and Han and relevant important royal family members were also summoned by Lu Zhe, and the result of their summons was that they had to go if they wanted to go, and they had to go if they didn't want to, and they didn't have to discuss it at all.

Lu Zhe, who stepped off the altar, picked up Lu Yi casually, and then beckoned to Lu Qi who was standing aside, and after holding one in one hand, he glanced around with a stern look, but found that several attendants who were arranged to take care of the prince were trembling and kneeling on the ground trembling.

The position of the crown prince has not been determined, and many people just like to do something to attract Lu Zhe's attention, hoping that he can tilt his mind to a certain prince. He had already encountered it a few times before, and the squires who had been killed and exiled were not in batches or two, but he didn't expect this kind of thing to happen on such a strict occasion, and it seemed that the backyard, which rarely appeared, was not so peaceful.

"Sacrifice the flag!"

The armor soldier dragged the attendant who did not even dare to beg for mercy.

………………………………………………………………………………

When the rumors became a reality, and the news that Han Wang Zhe personally led his army north was confirmed by the other countries, the Zhao side immediately reacted, and their reaction was to announce that they would break away from the alliance side, accept the invitation from the Han State, form an alliance with the Han State, and send Sima Ang to lead the army towards Julu at the first time.

The Qin side also reacted later, and Wang Ben retreated from the front line, but instead of retreating to the direction of Sanchuan according to the order of the Xianyang Center, he found a reason to turn to Yanmen.

For the side of the alliance such as Qi, Yan, and others, there were two voices when Lu Zhe personally led the army north, one was wailing, and the other was excitement.

Far away in Linzi, the capital of Qi State, if there is no error in the intelligence, the total number of troops here has swelled to 350,000.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there are 350,000 soldiers and horses in a city covering an area of about 40 li, but it is not an exaggeration that the city itself has nearly 400,000 or so citizens, so it has become a status quo that the city has become crowded.

The city always needs to take into account water when building, and the first thing to consider at the beginning of the construction of Nanling City is the water source, which Linzi City will not get any changes, but because of the systematic knowledge, Linzi City is destined to not have the basic rationality of Nanling City.

The successive kings of the Qi State continued to rebuild the city of Linzi, and many times it was because the city's population increased and the water source became insufficient. Why talk about this? The army and population together have increased to more than 700,000 in Linzi, and the direct effect of the sudden increase in the city's population is the shortage of water sources.

The ancients did not understand that the relevant distance from groundwater is not that the more wells there are, the more water will be, and the excessive use of groundwater will cause a more severe consumption phenomenon, and the excessive use of groundwater will also cause ground subsidence.

The frequent subsidence incidents in Linzi City have produced a kind of speech, especially when Lu Zhe personally led the army north to gradually approach, and a grotesque theory that the sky is going to die is becoming more and more marketable...... (To be continued......)