The closer he got to Handan, the more silent Ge became.

In front of the township in every place, there are standing, or there are many people sitting, the old people sit on the side of the road, looking blankly into the distance, waiting for their children, the women coax the children in their arms, wiping their tears, everyone stares at the carriage that came from afar, without saying a word, the deathly silence, the old man stood up tremblingly, stood up respectfully on the side of the road, Zhao Kuo hurriedly got out of the carriage.

"I wonder if you have any news of Changping? My son hasn't sent me a letter for two months...", the old man cried as he spoke, he said: "His mother died, I wrote to tell him, he didn't reply...", looking at the old man sobbing in front of him, Zhao Kuo was silent for a moment, and then asked, "What is your son calling?" ”

"His name is Heron."

"You're the father of the heron?" , Zhao Kuo said: "I just came from Changping, I know your son, because the Qin people attacked the road, so there is no way to reply here in Changping at present, don't worry, I will go back to Changping soon, when the time comes, I will let him come back." The old man looked at him with teary eyes and asked, "You didn't deceive me, did you?" ”

"No, please mourn and wait for the heron to come back."

"Well... Good. The old man said in a trance.

Zhao Kuo took some fruit from the car, walked to the children's side with a smile, and distributed the fruit to the children, the children happily picked up the fruit and shouted, a child who was only three or four years old, looked at Zhao Kuo blankly, and shouted: "Father! Zhao Kuo was stunned, her mother slapped him hard, and shouted, "Don't talk nonsense!" ”

The child began to cry, and suddenly the rest of the children began to cry and cry out for their father.

Zhao Kuo got into the carriage and fled from here.

On the side of the road, there were many people kneeling, they stretched out their hands and begged for pedestrians, but when they saw Zhao Kuo, many people still covered their faces, shed tears in pain, and did not want Zhao Kuo to see their faces. ”

"There is no one to buy their goods, there are wars everywhere, and they do not have the manpower to escort the goods out of the country for sale .... And now you can't buy food for a few thousand dollars, and money is not wealth anymore.."

When the carriage arrived near Mafu Township, Ge asked, "Do you want to go to see the mistress and then go to Handan?" ”

Zhao Kuo was silent for a moment, and then said, "Let's go to Handan first, and when the things there are done, I will come back to see my mother." Every time he came to Handan, Zhao Kuo could always clearly see the changes here, there were fewer and fewer people on the road, the people were getting thinner and thinner, and the simple sentence "the people have vegetables" in the history books was so cruel in reality.

Zhao Kuo saw that his stomach was shriveled to the point that the old man was a little terrifying, and the old man went down directly from his chest, and he could clearly see the ribs that were about to be exposed, which was extremely terrifying. Zhao Kuo couldn't bear to continue looking, at the gate of Handan City, it was still the old pawn he saw last time, he still couldn't recognize Zhao Kuo, interrogated once, and let Zhao Kuo enter the city, Ge took Zhao Kuo and rushed in the direction of the palace.

Handan Palace, is the largest building in Handan City, is to add up all the dwellings in Handan East City, probably not such a scale, in front of the vermilion gate of the palace, there are two tall warriors, vigilantly looking around, when the carriage came to the palace door, these two walked up, Zhao Kuo got off the carriage, Ge said loudly: "Ma Fuzi came to meet the king!" ”

The two high-spirited warriors were shocked, and hurriedly put on a respectful appearance, and met Zhao Kuo, who returned the salute with them, and then said: "I am tired of telling me, and I said that Ma Fuzi has something important to see the king." Zhao Kuo waited in front of the palace gate, and after waiting for a long time, the warrior came out, and said with some embarrassment: "Shangjun has a distinguished guest coming to the door today, it is inconvenient to meet you, Shangjun said, please come back in a few days." ”

"I really have something very important to say to Shangjun...", Zhao Kuo said a little eagerly, the warriors shook their heads, and said helplessly: "Ma Fuzi, please don't embarrass us, we can't help it." Zhao Kuo sighed, and Ge on the side suddenly laughed, almost laughing out of tears, he said: "Shaojun! Don't be in a hurry!! When the Qin people put the sword on his neck and he comes to you, you can just ask him to wait a few more days!" ”

The two warriors were shocked, holding the hilt of their swords, but they looked at Zhao Kuo in front of them, but they didn't dare to draw their swords. Zhao Kuo didn't say anything, and said to Ge: "Let's go to Duke Lin's mansion to rest for a day, and come back tomorrow." ”

I haven't seen him for a long time, Lin Xiangru looks a lot older, and his cough is getting more and more serious, but he is very happy, seeing Zhao Kuo, he held Zhao Kuo's hand tightly, and said: "I heard that you sent hundreds of thousands of stone grain to Changping, which is something that many rich and noble people in Handan have never done, my family is poor, and I can't help you, please forgive me." ”

"Please don't say that, what I have done is only a trivial matter for the war." , Zhao Kuo said, his face became more and more lonely. Lin Xiangru saw his uneasiness and frustration, and asked, "What are you so eager to return to Handan for?" ”

"I want the Emperor to appoint the Plains King to go to various countries for help, but the Lord hasn't seen me, I don't know why."

Lin Xiangru coughed again, and he said: "Please don't worry, a few days ago, a guest came from the Chu State to meet the king, the king is busy with hospitality, probably no free time, wait a few days, he will definitely see you." ”

"In your opinion, will this work out?" , Zhao Kuo hurriedly asked, this look, like those who asked him about the war, Lin Xiangru was like Zhao Kuo, silent for a moment, before he smiled and said: "It will definitely be successful, in such a dangerous time, Shangjun will not refuse your proposal, Pingyuan Jun has many friends, Xinling Jun of Wei State, and his brother-in-law, he personally went to various countries, and he will definitely be able to solve the crisis of Zhao State." ”

"Well... Okay...", Zhao Kuo said in a trance.

In the next few days, Zhao Kuo lived in Lin Xiangru's mansion, he would go to the palace every day, but the two warriors would always shake their heads helplessly, Zhao Kuo went to the palace more and more often, and even went to the palace six or seven times a day, even those palace warriors were ashamed and did not dare to raise their heads to meet Zhao Kuo, so it was a full five days, when Zhao Kuo rushed to the gate of the palace again, the warriors were already watching, seeing Zhao Kuo, they shouted, the king wanted to see him!

Zhao Kuo smiled, followed the warriors, walked into the palace, just walked into the palace, smelled a strong smell of meat, and the smell of wine, the warrior told Zhao Kuo, King Zhao has been holding banquets for several days in a row to entertain the distinguished guests from the Chu State, so there will be such a smell here, the scale of the palace is also very large, there are crystal clear pools, the roads are paved with gravel, there are all kinds of trees on both sides, and several exquisite pavilions can be faintly seen in the distance, which can be described as Lang Yuan.

Following the warriors, Zhao Kuo finally met King Zhao.

King Zhao is not very old, thick eyebrows and big eyes, there is still a smell of wine all over his body, around him, there are a lot of ministers sitting, there are tripods in front of everyone, there are seven tripods in front of King Zhao, there is meat in the tripod is rolling, exuding a strong fragrance, on the left side of everyone, there is only a vacant seat, which is reserved for Zhao Kuo, there are five tripods in front, there are three bowls, the bowls are full of meat pieces, and the bowls are full of wine.

King Zhao hurriedly walked down and walked in front of Zhao Kuo, Zhao Kuo was about to salute, but he quickly helped Zhao Kuo up, and said: "These days, I didn't let you in, please don't blame me, it's just that I have too many distinguished guests here, not enough tripods, if you use three tripods, and I'm afraid it is disrespectful to you, you see, these five tripods are specially sent by me, and no one has used them." ”

Hearing this ridiculous but true excuse, Zhao Kuo suddenly laughed.

Like Ge, laughed out of tears.