Gongsun Qiang's thought gradually formed a unique set of political theories of governance. When he thought that his research had achieved a small success, he left Chu to go to Wu to do the same work, but his rhetoric of relying on "hard qigong" to sweep the world was disgusted by both Wu Zixu and Bo Yao, so he was not comfortable in Wu.

A few years later, Gongsun Qiang heard that the state of Cao was undergoing great changes under the leadership of Xinjun; He reviewed the "precious" theoretical achievements that he had spent more than ten years summarizing, and decided to help Cao Boyang, and finally came to Cao Guo.

After Cao Boyang returned to the palace, he summoned Gongsun Xiong and Meng Wu and asked them to share Gongsun Qiang's theory of governing the country with him.

The two soon entered the palace. When Meng Wu heard the words "Gongsun Qiang", he immediately stood on the ground dumbfounded, as if he had seen a ghost alive; Gongsun Xiong didn't know why, patted him and behaved very enthusiastically.

After a few people sat down, Cao Boyang began to ask about the way to strengthen the country. Gongsun Qiang said: "There are two ways to strengthen the country: one is the way to Jin Guo; The second is the way of the Chu State. The way of the Jin State is strong, and the way of the Chu State is strong. I don't know which way Jun Bo wants to go? ”

Cao Boyang said: "Chu State." ”

Gongsun Qiang continued: "There are also two fundamental differences between the governments of Chu and Jin: first, the title system is different; Second, the land system is different. The system adopted by the Jin State was the same as that of the Zhou royal family, which belonged to the hereditary system of titles and the system of land division; This is not the case in the state of Chu, where titles cannot be hereditary, and the land implements a county system. Since the king of Chu Zhuang, the king of Chu has the absolute power to appoint ministers and give them to the estates, and the estates given to the ministers will be returned to the royal family after three generations, and the king of Chu will decide whether to give them to others according to the specific situation.

"The philosophy of the people of Chu is that the fundamental factor that determines the strength of the country is people, and people must live on the land. Therefore, the king of Chu controlled the population by controlling the land, and after the king of Chu Zhuang destroyed the Ruo Ao clan, there was no clan in the state of Chu that was strong enough to confront the king. ”

Cao Boyang said: "Wonderful, can Cao State follow the example of Chu State to implement the county system? ”

Gongsun Qiang replied: "Of course! However, although the state of Chu was strong, it was beaten by the emerging state of Wu, and this matter must not be investigated. ”

Cao Boyang asked: "Everyone in the world knows about this, but does the master know any unknown inside story?" ”

Gongsun Qiang replied: "The defeat of the Chu State seems to be due to the incompetence of Nangwa on the surface; However, from a deep analysis, it is still because the monarch is weak and the minister is strong, so the county system still has shortcomings. And the advantages of the autocracy of the king of Wu are undoubtedly obvious. ”

Cao Boyang asked: "What are the advantages?" ”

Gongsun Qiang replied: "Although the fiefs of the doctors of the Wu State are large, they only enjoy the right to benefit from the output, but do not have the right to manage the fiefs. The royal family directly managed the government affairs and the population of each place, so even when it arrived in Wu, it would not be able to cover the sky with one hand - unless the king of Wu was mediocre. ”

Cao Boyang asked: "Then the widow should implement the way of King Wu?" ”

Gongsun Qiang replied: "Not necessarily, the national conditions of different countries are different, and it is best to tailor it." The acceptable part, the improved part, and the re-innovation part. ”

Cao Boyang asked, "Master must already have an idea in his heart?" ”

Gongsun Qiang replied: "Of course there is." When Chu and Wu arose, they were surrounded by non-stateless tribal barbarians, so they were prone to expansion. Cao Guoxiao, sandwiched between Lu and Song, of course, can't copy the way of Chu and Wu in its entirety, but ......"

Meng Wu couldn't listen to it anymore at this time, his blood was gushing up, his eyes were red, and he slapped the case with a "bang", and roared angrily: "Strong! You're a clown! Cao Da is not too strong, he is not stronger than Ju, and he is in the hinterland of the Central Plains, surrounded by strong neighbors, and the situation is already very dangerous, but you instigate the widow to claim the king and hegemony? ! Song Guo is worried that he has no chance to attack our country, but he wants to send Cao Guo into the tiger's mouth! Uncle Jun must not listen to this madman's nonsense, he is trying to push the Cao Kingdom to destruction! ”

Cao Boyang listened with great interest, but was unexpectedly interrupted by Meng Wu, and immediately showed displeasure, and reproached: "Even if you oppose Gongsun's opinion, you have to wait for him to finish speaking, right?" ”

Meng Wu had to tell Cao Boyang the content of the demon dream that his father had, and then said: "Before my father died, he warned me: 'Once Gongsun Qiang appears, you will leave Cao Kingdom immediately, lest the family be buried for the office. This day has come at last, and if you don't expel him, I will follow my father's will to go to another country!" ”

Cao Boyang saw Meng Wu opening his mouth to "die in the country" and closing his mouth to "accompany the funeral", and said more and more annoyed: "Don't go on!" What Uncle Cao Zhenduo said can also be interpreted as 'When Gongsun Qiang appears, the Cao State will become strong, and the enemy will not be able to destroy Cao', otherwise how could Uncle Cao help others destroy their own country? ”

Gongsun Xiong also advised Meng Wu not to get excited, and immediately apologized to Cao Boyang and admitted his mistake.

But Meng Wu was so angry that he directly took off the crown, put it on the desk, and walked out of the palace gate without looking back.

Cao Boyang didn't mean to keep him, said a few threatening words, and then continued to discuss the problem with Gongsun Qiang. However, Gongsun Qiang was afraid that if he continued to talk, he would provoke Gongsun Xiong (because many of his tactics were based on harming the interests of the powerful), so he began to speak in a slurred and vague manner.

Cao Boyang sensed his scruples, so he announced the dissolution of the meeting; But half an hour later, he secretly summoned Gongsun Qiang back to continue the discussion. Since that time, Cao Boyang has shielded all the doctors from the decision-making level, and all important orders have been made secretly by the two of them.

Later that day, Meng Wu left Taoqiu with his family and went to the Qi Kingdom.

A few days later, Cao Boyang appointed Gongsun Qiang as the Great Sicheng and ranked as a secretary. Soon after, Cao Boyang issued an order announcing the transformation of the army into a professional one; Professional sergeants will be recruited on the basis of merit from among the able-bodied countrymen; The sergeant's usual task is to train, and he does not have to work hard for his livelihood or pay taxes; The office guarantees the living conditions of the sergeants, and the salaries and allowances will be shared between the office and the doctors.

As soon as this order came out, the whole country rejoiced, and the sign-ups flocked to the country; Seeing that their children no longer had to go to war, the doctors enthusiastically supported the monarch's decision. As everyone knows, this is Cao Boyang's first step to achieve dictatorship.

Cao Boyang summoned two soldiers of the new army and handed over the command of the army to Gongsun Xiong. It only took Gongsun Xiong half a year to train Cao Jun into a brave and warlike tiger and wolf army that was absolutely loyal to Cao Boyang.

After Cao Boyang turned Cao's army into his own private army, he began to ask the doctors to give part of the land and distribute it to the soldiers along with the tenant farmers on the ground.

He explained: "The state cannot conscript slaves into the army because slaves cannot be expected to fight for free men. In the same way, neither can the widows force the soldiers who have no property to fight for the defense of those who have them. Therefore you should make the defenders of the state people who have an estate, and although you have suffered a temporary loss, the loss can be made up for by expanding your territory. So it's good for everyone. ”

Although the doctors were dissatisfied, they did not argue in the face of high-sounding arguments. As a result, the doctors lost a lot of land, and their interests were greatly damaged. The land was nominally distributed to the soldiers, but in fact it became Cao Boyang's personal property.