I thought that I was summoned to the house by Zhuangzi or had the opportunity to become a disciple of the former, but I didn't expect Zhuangzi to kill this opportunity at the beginning, even if it was Meng Zhong, he would inevitably feel disappointed.

It took more than a dozen breaths for Meng Zhong to recover from the blow, take a deep breath, and begin to think about the reason why Zhuangzi refused to accept him as a disciple—this is also the question that Zhuangzi was asking him rhetorically, or rather testing him.

Is it because he just contradicted Zhuangzi and was hated by Zhuangzi?

This speculation only flashed in Meng Zhong's heart for a moment, and it was rejected by him.

After all, Zhuangzi is a Taoist sage and open-minded, if it weren't for Meng Zhongfang adding the words "Taoism is dying", if he just said "Zhuang Zhou is not a tree", it may not make Zhuangzi stop and wait for him to explain.

As for holding grudges, it is even more nonsense, what qualifications does Meng Zhong have to be hated by Zhuangzi at the moment?

After excluding this one, the answer is already obvious.

So Meng Zhong replied in a low voice: "It may be that the master thinks that the kid is too utilitarian. ”

Hearing this, Zhuangzi nodded slightly.

In fact, for now, Zhuang Zhou has a good impression of the kid named Meng Zhong in front of him, and he is also quite interested, but there are a few points about Meng Zhong that he doesn't like.

First, Meng Zhong is young and too scheming.

The so-called scheming, that is, the state of mind that people covet things they should not get and try their best to calculate, because they are driven by desire, often cause harm to others and themselves.

For example, today's incident, Meng Zhong prepared for three months in advance in order to challenge Zhuang Zhou today, this scheming, this patience is really uncommon among juniors.

Therefore, Zhuang Zhou felt that if he fulfilled Meng Zhong's wish today and accepted him as a disciple, it would be equivalent to boosting Meng Zhong's scheming and watching him go astray.

Since he has decided to 'teach', then of course Zhuang Zhou will start from the most fundamental heart.

Second, Meng Zhong's utilitarianism is too strong.

The so-called utilitarianism is, to put it more seriously, the degree of "unscrupulous means to achieve the end".

For example, in order to become his disciple, Meng Zhong did not hesitate to calculate his elders, and this kind of behavior of calculating others in order to achieve his goals was very disgusting to Zhuangzi.

However, to Zhuangzi's slight surprise, this son was not only smart, but also self-aware, and could understand the reasons why he refused to accept him as a disciple, and in this case, he might as well 'save' it.

But before that, Zhuangzi first had to figure out one thing, that is, why did Meng Zhong insist on becoming his disciple for the sake of fame? For profit? Or for something else.

So, he wrote this question on another bamboo plaque: Do you want to become my disciple for fame and fortune?

Meng Zhong thought for a moment and replied, "The kid wants to become a disciple of the master, not entirely for fame and fortune. …… The kid also knows that once a person becomes famous, there will be many rights and wrongs, and when the time comes, some people will be sycophants, some people will attack and destroy, or they may be troubled by rumors all day long. After the death of King Wu of Zhou in the past, when Duke Zhou (Ji Dan) assisted the young monarch, even if he was a virtuous person like Duke Zhou, he would inevitably be troubled by rumors, let alone others? …… It's not for profit, either. Status, wealth, but things outside the body, no matter how high the status is, people are still just people, and a hundred years later they are just a handful of loess; Although the wealth is beautiful, the surplus can only be piled up at home......"

Zhuangzi stroked his beard, and a few hints of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He didn't expect Meng Zhong to have such a sense of thought at such a young age.

Why is that?

Zhuangzi asked Meng Zhong with his eyes.

At this time, Meng Zhong raised his hands, clenched them into fists, looked at Zhuangzi and said, "Master, I have two hands, and my left hand can hold a shield to protect my cherished relatives; With a sword in his right hand, he can kill enemies who try to encroach on my loved ones. However, I only have two hands, and when there are too many enemies trying to inflict on my loved ones, I can no longer protect them. …… I want to be a disciple of the Master because I want to be taken seriously and not sacrificed casually. …… In the past, when the Song State and the Wei State were fighting, there was a Song soldier who lost his halberd and captured a Ge from the enemy. The little official shook his head and said that he couldn't, saying that since he had lost the halberd, he had to use the halberd to resist it. After hearing this, the Song pawn returned to the battlefield again with the handle in hand, and on the way he encountered a war between the Song and Wei armies, and he unfortunately died. Afterwards, when the little official learned of this, he said to the left and right, "This man died because of me, how can I turn a blind eye?" So he also held weapons and participated in the war between the Song and Wei armies, and finally died in battle. …… The boy thought that the pawn and the servant were both loyal and righteous people, but unfortunately they were all sacrificed, and the reason for this was that they did not get a higher status and could not decide their own fate. ”

After listening to Meng Zhong's words quietly, Zhuangzi was moved.

If Meng Zhong's words of fame and fortune only surprised him a little, then Meng Zhong's honest and simple words later really moved him.

In order to better protect his relatives, he didn't want to be consumed in this troubled world like a pawn, so he wanted to use his Zhuangzi's reputation to get the world's attention, even if Zhuangzi 'played' the role of being used in this matter, he couldn't blame Meng Zhong for anything.

On the contrary, he admired Meng Zhong very much in his heart.

Of course, praise is appreciation, and he also has some dissatisfaction with Meng Zhong's words, for example, Meng Zhong bluntly said, "Kill the enemy who tries to infringe on my relatives", after all, Zhuangzi is disgusted with and resists war and killing.

Suddenly, Zhuangzi's heart moved.

Because he felt that the kid in front of him was a little too mature, and his vision was also very long-term, and he was already a little prepared for danger in times of peace.

The average ten-year-old child is still in the stage of mental enlightenment, and should not have such a mature mind.

"Could it be that something happened to his family?"

Zhuang Zhou thought secretly.

Of course, this kind of thing is not good to ask, he will ask Zhuang Bo to inquire afterwards, what he wants to know at the moment is what caused Meng Zhong to be in danger in peace, and he has been planning for the future early.

After a while, when he saw the words written by Zhuangzi on the bamboo plaque, Meng Zhong replied truthfully: "Because of the Song Kingdom." ”

Zhuangzi was stunned when he heard this, his left hand stroked his gray beard, and his right hand spread his hand to Meng Zhong, making a gesture of "detailing" - he also wanted to hear what unique views Meng Zhong, a ten-year-old boy, had on his Song Kingdom.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong said after thinking for a moment: "As we all know, after the Song State is the Yin people, the rest of the countries, except for the Qi State, where the "Tian family generation Jiang" happened, the rest of the countries, if not after the surname Ji, that is, the descendants of the ministers surnamed Ji. The Zhou Dynasty was established after overthrowing the Yin Shang, and the Zhou people were already wary of the Yin people, not to mention that more than ten years ago, the Song Jun was called the king, and in the following years, he successively defeated the three kingdoms of Qi, Chu and Wei, so that the world was side-eyed, and he did not dare to underestimate my Song State from now on. …… But the kid thinks that this is not a blessing, after all, although my Song country is not a weak country, but it is not a strong country, called the king to overpower, and is hostile to Qi, Chu, and Wei, although it can be protected for a while now, but I am afraid of disaster in the future. ”

Zhuangzi nodded slightly, agreeing with Meng Zhong's opinion in his heart.

Since his best friend Hui Shi's clansman "Hui An" was an important ruler under the Song Dynasty's curtain at this time, he naturally knew more about the situation in the Song State than Meng Zhong - even if he didn't care much about it before.

Zhuangzi knew that the reason why Song Jun Dai Yan dared to claim the title of king was because "Gongsun Yan", who was the minister of state in Wei at that time, was organizing the "Seven Kingdoms Expedition to Qin" of Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, Chu, Qi, and Yiqu, a total of seven participating countries, and the focus of the Central Plains at that time was on this major event, so the matter of Song Jun Dai Yan becoming king did not cause much shock in the world.

However, due to the selfishness of all countries, the "Seven Kingdoms Expedition against Qin" was defeated by Qin, and then the world presented a situation of confrontation between "Qin and Qi Chu".

Since then, the three parties of Qin, Qi, and Chu have all wrestled with each other on the matter of combining vertical and horizontal, competing for the position of overlord, and of course they can't take care of the Song State.

A few years later, when there was civil strife during the "Seven Kingdoms Expedition to Qin", Qi took the opportunity to send troops to attack Yan, which led to the killing of Yan Wang, and the Yan State Minister "Zizhi" fled, and was caught and cut into meat sauce by the Qi people - it was this war that laid the root of the future Qi State, and later Yan Wang's son "Yan Zhao Wang" worked hard to reuse "Le Yi" to lead the army to attack Qi as a retaliation, and successively occupied more than 70 cities in Qi State, so that Qi State was left with only two cities of "Ju" and "Jimo", and almost destroyed the country. After that, the state of Qi rapidly declined.

As for the state of Chu, he was deceived by the minister of Qin "Zhang Yi" a few years later - at that time, Zhang Yi deceived the king of Chu Huai, and used the Qin state to cede 600 li of land in Shang Yu as a condition, in exchange for the dissolution of the alliance between Chu and Qi, and the king of Chu Huai planned to break off diplomatic relations with Qi, but Zhang Yi said that he was talking about "six miles of land" at that time.

So King Chu Huai was furious and raised his troops to attack Qin, but was defeated by Qin.

Afterwards, Han and Wei took the opportunity to seize the territory of Chu in the Central Plains, and the Chu state also declined.

All in all, the powerful countries of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Qin at that time were all flawless, and the three countries of Qi, Chu, and Wei, which were at war with the Song State, the focus of the Qi State at that time was on the two things of "cutting down Qin" and "annexing the Yan State"; The state of Chu was the chief of the seven kingdoms at that time, and was busy crusading against the state of Qin; As for the Wei State, the Wei State at this time was already full of holes, and the east was beaten by the Qi State - the 100,000 troops of the Wei State were wiped out in the first battle of Maling, and the west was attacked by the Qin State.

In this case, where can the states of Qi, Chu, and Wei take care of the war with the Song state?

I have to say that if it weren't for Song Wangyan seeing the right time, then God would have blessed the Song Kingdom.

Otherwise, if he worships the heavens and claims the throne like Song Wangyan, he will definitely be attacked by the surrounding neighbors, and it is a justifiable crusade.

Today, however, the situation is different between the countries.

But Zhuangzi didn't plan to tell Meng Zhong about these things for the time being, after all, even if Meng Zhong knew, what could he do?

It's just adding to the troubles.

At present, Zhuangzi's expectation for Meng Zhong is that the latter can realize the truth of "quiet and non-action" without scheming and utilitarianism.

As long as Meng Zhong can make these changes, Zhuang Zhou will not mind accepting the former as a disciple, and use his reputation to protect Meng Zhong and his relatives from the harm of war in this troubled world.