After hearing the middle-aged man's words, Zhao Kuo was amused and crying. After all, in Zhao Kuo's opinion, for any village, 200 sheep should not be said in such an understatement.

The middle-aged man obviously noticed Zhao Kuo's expression and said calmly: "Actually, you may not know that we were professionally raising sheep in the mountains before, so after moving outside the mountains, we can still raise a large number of 200 sheep here. This is indeed a big number for our village, but it is not as bad as it is."

Zhao Kuo's heart moved slightly and said to the middle-aged man in front of him: "Can sheep be raised in mountains like this? I thought sheep can only be raised in the grassland."

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "You don't know this anymore. Although I have never been to what you said, it is a grassland, but unlike us sheep, they can all grow on the mountain, so we call it goats."

When Zhao Kuo heard this, he couldn't help but slapped his thighs and said with a smile: "It's indeed a goat. What you said is nothing wrong, it's me who neglected it.

Let's do this. After a few days, the merchants who threw their goats should also find it.

I will continue walking south first, waiting for me to come back. If the matter is resolved, we will continue to chat. What do you think?"

The middle-aged man said with a calm expression, but after hearing Zhao Kuo's words, he also showed a look of hope and said to Zhao Kuo: "Of course there is no problem. If you can really help us get the sheep back, I will let you taste our little lambs at that time, which will be very delicious."

Zhao Kuo smiled and said to the middle-aged man in front of him: "Then we will make up for it."

After saying this, Zhao Kuo smiled and waved goodbye to the villagers around him, then left the village with several ministers and guards, and returned to the carriage on the road.

After returning to the main road, Zhao Kuo's expression became serious and said to Mao Sui in front of him: "You can find out these cheating merchants as soon as possible. I want to see who is so bold. In our great Han country, even the people of our great Han country dare to cheat."

Zhao Kuo was indeed quite angry at this time. For him, the entire Han Dynasty was a commercial society. What was the most important thing in the commercial society? Of course, it was to keep the contract.

If every businessman is like these guys, he will cheat and not keep the contract, then the commercial activities of the Han Dynasty will be greatly disturbed and even be seriously unable to continue to operate.

Zhao Kuo absolutely did not allow such things to happen, especially those who were deceived, as well as those who had just left the mountains and came to the plain to surrender to the Han Dynasty.

Just imagine, there are still many natives living in the mountains. If they all heard about the experiences of these guys and felt that they would only be deceived after moving out, then who would be willing to continue to surrender to the Han Dynasty?

This is even a matter of credit for a country.

That's why Zhao Kuo spoke in such a stern tone and used orders to demand that Mao Sui must find these scammers as soon as possible.

After hearing Zhao Kuo's words, Mao Sui naturally immediately gave an order to ensure that these scammers should be caught as quickly as possible.

Mao Sui was still very confident because 200 sheep were a considerable number. No matter who could take 200 sheep to the market, it would definitely leave a deep impression on the locals passing by.

Since you can leave an impression, it is very easy to investigate. What's more, the Intelligence Department is originally very good at chasing clues in secret market intelligence, which can be said to be very professional and counterpart.

Zhao Kuo was sitting in the carriage and soon returned to the large army.

But it is obvious that after this episode, Zhao Kuo was not in a good mood. He was posing with thoughtful expressions all the way, and he didn't know what he was thinking about.

Yiqiuwei soon discovered Zhao Kuo's unhappiness. As a straightforward concubine, her reaction was also very direct, that was, she threw herself into Zhao Kuo's arms.

"Why is Your Majesty so unhappy?"

Facing Yiqiuwei's inquiry, Zhao Kuo smiled and then gave the answer.

"I am actually thinking about what happened just now. How many people in this land of the Han Kingdom have been deceived by these hateful guys?"

After listening to the story told by Zhao Kuo, Yiqiuwei was also very angry.

"These people are so hateful. They don't want to make money well in business, but they always want to cheat and cheat.

Your Majesty must punish them well, otherwise if others follow suit, would that be more than good?"

For Yiquwei, the Yiqu Kingdom where she lives was actually a very easy country to suffer back then.

After all, Yiqiu Kingdom is not considered a member of the Chinese civilization. Therefore, when the vassal states of China trade with Yiqiu Kingdom, they will not be so fair and upright in accordance with their own transactions within China.

Since Yiqiuwei encountered this kind of thing, of course it would not be indifferent. It can even be said that if Yiqiuwei was asked to handle this matter, the methods might be more severe.

Zhao Kuo smiled and nodded and said, "Don't worry, I have already explained this matter, and there will be a satisfactory answer there soon."

After hearing these words, Yiqiuwei felt relieved and continued to lie obediently in Zhao Kuo's arms.

Zhao Kuo suddenly felt a little hot in his body. He felt the delicate body of the beauty in his arms, and after thinking about it, he pressed it up without hesitation.

Although he was still on the way, Zhao Kuo felt that the sound of the rolling wheels of the carriage, the sound of horse hooves of the nearby guards and the sound of soldiers walking should be able to drown everything.

…………………………………… Generally speaking, Zhao Kuo was still quite happy after inspecting the entire Hunan area.

The Chu State actually controlled the plains in northern Hunan, and only had nominal control over the mountainous areas in southern Hunan and western China.

But the situation is completely different for the Han Dynasty, because the soldiers and horses of the Han Dynasty did not only come here, but went to the northern Guangdong-Guangdong-Guangzhou area, which is the Lingnan area, so this place has become the rear of the Han Dynasty.

Since it is already the rear, of course we have to enjoy the treatment of the rear, which is why it is relatively peaceful here, because after the army passed by this place, all tribes that dared to resist had been completely wiped out.

Zhao Kuo looked at the lush forests on both sides of the road and couldn't help but sigh.

"These places are good places. We must control them firmly. We must never let any alien race occupy this place and continue to threaten the Central Plains of our great Han Kingdom."

For any country, the larger the territory, the better. One of the biggest benefits of a vast territory is that it can provide the country with depth, just like the mountains and hills in front of you. It is difficult for the enemy army to travel long distances to pass through these places.

Even if we take a step back, future generations will be useless in the future and we have to ced the territory like in the Qing Dynasty. Then the Han Dynasty, which owns a large amount of territory, can at least cut more, so we can survive for a longer period of time.

This is like Poland in history. Since it was just a small country, it was divided up and destroyed in minutes. It was not until after the World War that Britain and France forced Poland to restore its country again in order to forcibly establish an enemy for Germany.

The Qing Dynasty was different. Because the territory of the Qing Dynasty was too vast, no one of the imperialist powers could swallow such a large area of ​​territory alone. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty was able to survive after signing a large number of treaties that were ceasing power and humiliating in the country, until it was overthrown by the Xinhai Revolution.

What Zhao Kuo has to do now is to expand and extend the territory of the Han Kingdom infinitely, and provide infinite possibilities for future descendants. No matter whether this possibility is success or failure, at least the stage has been built for them.

As time passed, the weather began to get hotter.

The endless hills and forests on the roadside have replaced the plains and become the latest thing in sight.

By this time everyone knew that the Five Ridge Hills had arrived.

The reason why people are accustomed to calling Guangdong and Guangxi Lingnan is because of the numerous mountains and hills in front of them.

The hilly terrain here spreads from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the west to the east, and goes to Fujian and Zhejiang to the east. It can be said that it is the most common terrain in the south of the Han Dynasty.

This is why Chinese civilization originated in the Yellow River Basin, because there are a large number of flat plains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River basin, which has the conditions for a civilization to gather.

The Wuling places are full of mountains and ridges, lacking arable land, and the steep mountains make people's populations relatively scattered. They do not have the conditions to gather together to form civilization, and can only slowly accept the radiation of civilization.

But Zhao Kuo even knew that as long as the ocean rose, Lingnan would be completely different.

This place has unique marine conditions and is the most convenient portal for Chinese civilization to face the South China Sea. Therefore, when Chinese civilization and other national civilizations are connected through the ocean, Lingnan will become the most convenient place.

History tells Zhao Kuo that as long as he says that there are convenient sea transportation, he will eventually develop, so why Lingnan became the South China Sea fleet? This is the base area, because Zhao Kuo needs to control this area and the sea area as quickly as possible.

When Zhao Kuo thought of this, looking at the overlapping hills and forests in front of him, he suddenly felt that this place was indeed quite good.

However, Yiqiuwei didn't have such an idea. She looked at the hill in front of her and yawned a little bored, and said to Zhao Kuo: "Why are we coming to such a boring place?

Your Majesty, I think it’s not as interesting as the last time I went to Jiangnan.”

After hearing this, Zhao Kuo couldn't help laughing and said to Yiqiuwei very affirmatively: "You don't think it's interesting now, but don't worry, when you go to Lingnan, there should be something that will interest you."

As the army walked south, the climate became more and more hot. Some soldiers began to get sick if they couldn't stand the climate here.

But for Zhao Kuo, he is not bad. After all, these places have not been here in his previous life. Hainan Island can withstand it is so hot. Not to mention that it has not yet entered the real hot places in Guangdong, which is really hot.

After half a month of journey, Zhao Kuo finally crossed the mountains and entered the impact plain at the estuary of the Pearl River.

Here, a new city called Guangzhou is already listed.

At this time, Guangzhou was just an insignificant small city in the Han Dynasty. However, it had already had the prototype of a city, and this one was developing rapidly at a speed that everyone unexpectedly had.

What can help this city develop is of course not the steam engine that has not been fully laid out in the Central Plains yet, but the South China Sea Fleet of the Great Han Kingdom that set up its base here.

Then the question is, how did the Han Kingdom and the South China Sea Fleet help this city develop?

The answer is even simpler, that is, the harvest from the fleet and at sea.

Since I had already learned about Zhao Kuo's arrival, the South China Sea Fleet did not go out to sea, but all the ships were waiting for Zhao Kuo's arrival.

After Zhao Kuo entered Guangzhou City, the first thing he discovered was that there were a large number of slaves in this city. Most of these slaves were dark-skinned and thin. However, they seemed to be very endurance and agile when working. At first glance, they were not from the Han people, nor even from the Baiyue people in Guangzhou.

"Are these people the slaves you caught in Nanyang?"

Zhao Kuo asked Xu Ping, commander of the South China Sea Fleet of the Great Han Kingdom in front of him.

Xu Ping replied respectfully: "That's exactly what Your Majesty said. After years of development, our South China Sea Fleet has obtained a large area of ​​overseas territory in Vietnam, and these slaves are obtained from Vietnam's overseas territory."

Zhao Kuo nodded and said to Xu Ping: "I have heard that your Han Dynasty South China Sea Fleet has been continuously expanding its territory in recent years. Now I am here in person, just to ask you to give a good introduction to what extent our development of the South Southeast Asian Peninsula has reached."

As for Zhao Kuo himself, he has special feelings for this south, after all, this is a crucial node for the southern ocean of China.

Zhao Kuo must take charge of the situation himself to ensure that this place is controlled by China.
Chapter completed!