Chapter 543: To conquer the north from the south, let’s start with me!

Chapter 543: To conquer the north from the south, let’s start with me!

However, if there was not even enough food to fill their stomachs, how could they expect all the soldiers to willingly suffer from hunger and cold? As a result, except for a small number of soldiers who still held on with firm beliefs, most of them went their separate ways.

Among them, Xiang Yu took advantage of the situation to annex a part of the northern army, which numbered about 10,000 people. The remaining nearly 50,000 soldiers were taken into the pocket of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan. As for the other soldiers scattered everywhere, some tried every means to embark on the road home, eager to reunite with their families as soon as possible; some wandered around like headless flies, and some were unlucky and were taken over by other weak princes.

However, no matter where they eventually go, after experiencing such a change, these scattered soldiers will probably never be able to stir up any waves again.

These are the princes with the most powerful military strength in the world! As for the princes in other places, their strength is relatively weak.

Their existence is as insignificant as an ant to Gao Yao today, and he cannot even take them seriously. Whether it is in terms of military strength, resources, or strategic layout, the forces controlled by Gao Yao are in a state of total crushing.

Because of this, Gao Yao secretly made a plan in his mind. He saw the right opportunity and decided to take the lead in taking action while these powerful princes were still busy dealing with the complicated affairs in front of them, concentrating their forces to completely take over the entire southern region in one fell swoop.

After all, only by consolidating the vast territory in the south can he truly gain a foothold and further expand his influence and rule.

Gao Yao was also very clear in his mind that if this action plan could be implemented smoothly and succeeded, then the direction of the situation would probably become extremely subtle and full of variables.

There is no doubt that the confrontation between the north and the south will inevitably form, and he himself is very likely to become the target of the other princes to unite and deal with. To some extent, this situation is quite similar to the famous Cao Cao in history.

It’s just that Cao Cao back then was dominating the northern land with great majesty; but Gao Yao at this moment was just the opposite. He chose to build the foundation of his own hegemony in the south.

After the dust settled on the expedition, Gao Yao began a two-day rest period. During this period, he focused almost all his energy on two things: one was to sleep soundly and enjoy himself, and the other was to take out precious time to accompany his children wholeheartedly.

For Gao Yao, the hardships he had to endure on the battlefield could not be easily offset by just a good night's sleep. Therefore, relaxing his body and mind became one of his most important tasks at the moment. At the same time, the warmth and happiness brought by spending time with the children made him feel deeply satisfied.

However, after such companionship, Gao Yao could not help but deeply understand why the family affection in the ancient palace was so indifferent. Although he had not yet unified the country, every expedition meant a separation of at least half a year or even longer. Even when he was in the mansion, most of his time was occupied by busy official duties, and there were very few moments left for the company of his children.

Especially for this long sea voyage, the long journey is accompanied by the sea breeze and the scorching sun, and the return date is unpredictable. Some children even feel unfamiliar with Gaoyao because they have not seen their father for a long time, so they can't recognize each other when they meet in person.

Facing this situation, Gao Yao could not help but feel a surge of sadness in his heart. Even he himself felt a little dizzy when he saw the huge changes in the children's rapid growth. In just one year, the children's appearance had changed greatly, and even such a situation of mistaking one for another had occurred.

In the Qin Dynasty, there was a huge difference between men and women. The men in the palace were highly valued and cultivated from birth. When they were five years old, they had to start systematically learning all kinds of cultural knowledge, including reading classic ancient books, practicing calligraphy and painting, etc.

All of this was implemented by Gao Yao himself. If it weren't for such strict requirements, according to the customs of the Qin Dynasty, these children would have been sent to academies to receive enlightenment education when they were only three years old.

In sharp contrast, the education treatment of several young ladies in the mansion was obviously much more relaxed. They also started formal learning at the age of five, but the difficulty of the content they learned was completely different from that of boys.

In short, Gao Yao was not very concerned about how much knowledge his daughters could learn, but rather focused on teaching them to achieve higher attainments in the arts such as music, chess, calligraphy and painting. However, it was this differential treatment that made Gao Yao quite dissatisfied.

After all, he had long been accustomed to the relatively equal worldview of later generations, and this concept had taken root in his heart since he was a child. But now in ancient society, the huge gap in the status of men and women is still difficult to shake.

Although Gaoyao has been doing its utmost to improve women's rights and status and trying to break the shackles of traditional concepts, people's deep-rooted ideological cognition cannot be completely changed overnight.

At this time, Gao Yao felt that he urgently needed to find a suitable candidate, a person who could serve as a role model and leader to promote the further development of this reform. To put it bluntly, it was to further liberate the labor force. It was a bit false to say that it was for gender equality. In fact, most women in this era stayed at home, doing laundry, cooking, taking care of children and the elderly.

Gao Yao did not think that this was meaningless, but it was a fact that a lot of labor was wasted. Although the law did not restrict women's work, and even Gao Yao's factory recruited many women to do some delicate work, the effect was very general. Once they got married and had children, they basically would not leave the house, for the so-called women's virtue.

Lu Zhi can actually be singled out as a role model, but her identity is too special. She is Gao Yao's woman. As long as she has this identity, no matter how much Lu Zhi does, it is all related to Gao Yao. There is no comparison, so naturally no one will try to imitate her.

Gao Yao has counted the number of similar idle women in the entire southern region at as many as 800,000, most of whom are unmarried women and widows.