"Trouble?" Zhao Dan couldn't help but feel puzzled after hearing Zhao Sheng's words: "Where is the trouble?"

But to be honest, Zhao Dan also heard something else from Zhao Sheng's words.

Zhao Sheng said that it was troublesome, but he did not say that it could not be solved.

So this matter seems...can be solved?

Zhao Dan looked at Zhao Sheng with anticipation, hoping to hear a solution from Zhao Sheng's mouth.

Zhao Sheng sighed and said, "Your Majesty, I'm not to hide it. In addition to the official warehouses in the city, many large families also have a lot of stored grains, but... it's not an easy task to get these large families to take out the grain."

After listening to Zhao Sheng's explanation, Zhao Dan quickly understood.

Nowadays, the importance of food is unquestionable. Even wealthy families will store a large amount of food in their own warehouses.

For example, these aristocratic families in Handan City usually own a large amount of land near Handan City, and their food is far better than that of ordinary families.

It seems that Handan has been besieged for two months now, but the great nobles and their servants have never received the official rations issued by Zhao State because their own food tastes and quality are better than the official ones.

When Zhao Sheng said this, he smiled at Zhao Dan with some embarrassment and said, "The king... in fact, the same is true for my family."

Zhao Dan nodded in a clear way, but said nothing about it.

After all, it is not illegal for aristocrats like Zhao Sheng to do this at all. Who doesn’t store grain these days?

Moreover, these nobles took on food consumption by themselves in the Battle of Handan, which reduced some of the burden on Zhao Dan.

Zhao Dan said: "So what Pingyuan Jun meant is that I wanted me to borrow food from these great nobles?"

Zhao Sheng smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid they won't lend it to you, the king."

Zhao Dan snorted, feeling that this matter was a bit tricky.

It is definitely not possible to force the collection of grain. These nobles are the people of Zhao State, just like civilians, and many nobles hold offices of all sizes in Zhao State. If Zhao Dan really orders the army to forcefully take food from the nobles' homes, Zhao State will be in a bad mood.

It's like you work in a company, but when the company is in trouble, the boss directly sends someone to snatch your bank card, and then transfers the money from the bank card to the company to fill in the bill... If you don't rebel, you will be a ghost.

Zhao Dan thought for a while and said a little annoyed: "Then I can buy it with money, right?"

Zhao Sheng smiled bitterly and said, "King, now that the city is besieged for two months, the price of food is more expensive than gold... And even if you have money, no one will sell food."

Although many nobles may have confidence in the final victory of Zhao State, after all, I don’t know when the defense battle of Handan will be carried out. If the food is donated, the end will be sieged for too long and I will not have to eat it. Wouldn’t that be foolish?

Zhao Dan was speechless: "This is not OK, that is not OK, what should I do?"

Zhao Sheng hurriedly said, "King, I still have some food in my family. I will go back and order someone to count it and transport the food stored in my family to the official warehouse."

When Zhao Dan heard this, he finally had a smile on his lips, but the smile did not last too long.

Although Zhao Sheng is a big family and a big business, the food stored at home must be very considerable, but the problem is that even if it is considerable, it is just a family that has stored grain. There are hundreds of thousands of mouths in and outside the city, so the family may not be able to eat enough food in a day.

The room fell into silence for a moment.

Zhao Dan quickly turned his mind and thought about what method he wanted to do it.

It’s not okay to grab it or buy it. What should I do?

Perhaps because he was too immersed in this problem, Zhao Dan did not notice that Zhao Sheng was secretly looking at him.

The expression on Zhao Guoxiangbang's face changed and he seemed quite hesitant.

After a while, Zhao Sheng finally made up his mind and spoke: "King, actually... I have a way."

Zhao Dan's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly said, "Your Majesty Pingyuan isn't here to tell me!"

Zhao Shengdao: "Actually... if the king is willing, he can exchange land for food."

"Land?" Zhao Dan was stunned for a moment, and a strange expression flashed in his eyes: "What land?"

Zhao Sheng had obviously decided to go to the dark, and immediately said, "King, I have sorted out the files these days and found that there are still large areas of land in Hedong, Hetao and Shuofang counties that have not been reclaimed. Especially Hetao, Shuofang counties are close to the northern Xiongnu and Yuezhi activity areas, and are in the northwest, and there are almost no one to care about except prisoners. If these lands can be exchanged for food with noble families and nobles, it may be a good idea."

After hearing this, Zhao Dan pondered silently and did not speak for a while.

This is the problem that Zhao State is facing now.

There are many lands and few people.

The population of Zhao State is too small.

According to the population statistics last year, except for the five northern counties, Zhao State had a total of about 600,000 households.

Since Zhao and Wei belong to the Three Jins, the rules and regulations of Zhao were inevitably affected by Wei.

Except for the five northern counties, other parts of Zhao State were basically made according to the template of the Li Ju reform of Wei State.

Li Kui was a virtuous prime minister of Wei in the early years of the Warring States Period. It was precisely because of Li Kui's reform that Wei was able to rise rapidly and become the first hegemonic country in the Warring States Period.

Li Kui has a very famous concept, which is "one man holds five mouths to cure hundreds of fields."

From this theory, the Zhao family usually has five to six people, so the total number is about 3.5 million. If you add the five northern counties, it will be about 380 to 4 million.

This number has increased very limitedly compared to before the Battle of Changping.

Although Zhao State has successively won Shangdang, Hedong and Hetao in recent years, Shangdang County is located in the mountainous area and the population is not large. The Qin people in Hedong County have basically been driven back to Guanzhong by Zhao State or sent to blast furnace iron smelting plants to be coolies. The Hetao area, which was originally a nomadic place in the Linhu tribe, is even more in a vast wilderness. Walking in a few days, I can't see a sheep, so I can't mention the population.

If you compare it with a number, the total population of Shanxi Province in later generations was 36.82 million, and now the area of ​​Zhao State is almost twice that of Shanxi Province, but the population is only slightly more than one-tenth of Shanxi Province.

It is absolutely vast and sparsely populated.

Hedong County is actually better. After all, a large number of soldiers who have obtained military merits have moved with their families. Although they still cannot reach the level that Qin State occupied Hedong, at least they have a lot of popularity.

However, the population gap between Hetao and Shuofang counties is very serious.

If no one lives in it, wouldn’t the land that has been built with great difficulty be wasted?

If the prisoners are relying solely on filling the gap, then I don’t know that it will be the year of the Monkey and Horse Month. After all, all the prisoners in Zhao have been immigrated, and there are basically no prisoners in the prisons of each county and county...

So Zhao Dan thought about it and thought... if these aristocratic families could be moved there, it seemed like a very good way.

Zhao Dan was still thinking, while Zhao Sheng looked at Zhao Dan, whose expression was stagnant because of the deep thought, but his mood became more and more uneasy: "It's over, it's over, the king seems to be very dissatisfied with my idea. Should I admit my mistake earlier so as not to be scolded?"

The reason why Zhao Sheng hesitated for so long was that he knew very well that since the founding of Zhao State, the kings of all dynasties had learned the experience of dividing Jin by the three families. They were actually very stingy with the land, for fear that the nobles and officials would become big and undermine the king and eventually replace Zhao State.

Therefore, even Zhao Sheng, the prince’s fiefdom, was actually quite limited.

Now Zhao Sheng’s idea of ​​using land for food may have touched Zhao Dan’s reverse scale.

Time passed by minute by minute. Just as Zhao Sheng was already a little nervous and began to admit his mistake to Zhao Dan, Zhao Dan suddenly stretched out his right hand and slapped the table hard.
Chapter completed!