After a while, Mencius invited Hui Ang and Meng Zhong to the main house, leaving only Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou, the two most proud disciples.

At this time, Hui Ang apologized to Mencius on behalf of Meng Zhong and said: "Master, my brother is young and vigorous, and I ask Master not to blame him." ”

Mencius smiled when he heard this: "What Brother Ling said is reasonable, how can you blame it?" ”

Hearing this, Hui Ang blinked his eyes and smiled: "Xiumu is in front, why doesn't the master argue with this son?" Everyone in the world knows that the Master is good at eloquence and likes eloquence, which ordinary people cannot match. ”

Mencius laughed when he heard this, waved his hand and said, "Forget it, the old man likes to debate, but he has to do it as a last resort." If it were thirty years ago, the old man might have tried to argue with this son, but the old man is now a lot older, and if he wins, he will not win, and if he loses, then my Confucian face will be lost...... How could an old man do such a stupid thing? ”

As he spoke, he looked at Meng Zhong with a smile and no annoyance in his expression.

Seeing Mencius's amiable attitude, Meng Zhong was not only surprised in his heart, but also had a good impression, so he followed Hui An's hint and apologized to Mencius, Wan Zhang, and Gongsun Chou.

In this regard, Mencius was naturally kind and relieved.

Mencius actually had no ill feelings towards Meng Zhong, because the former had guessed the fact that Meng Zhong was "or a disciple of Zhuangzi" from Meng Zhong's "clever and hypocritical" words and Meng Zhong's actions in defending Zhuangzi at the beginning.

And it turned out that this disciple of Zhuangzi was even better than he imagined, so that none of these proud disciples under his seat could argue with him, which surprised Mencius and was also a little disappointed in his disciple.

may have noticed that the teacher's gaze inadvertently glanced at the two of them, and Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou felt a little ashamed.

But they had to admit that they really couldn't argue with Meng Zhong, a Taoist disciple who was the head of the Taoist and famous academic schools, to be precise, in the half-hour debate, the two of them and the other senior brothers did not have the upper hand in front of Meng Zhong once, although their questioning was actually quite sharp, but the other party could always dissolve it lightly.

This kind of eloquence is really rare in the world.

"That's a pity." Hui Ang said with a smile.

He was more inclined to see Mencius personally come forward to have a debate with his brother-in-law Meng Zhong.

After they had sat down in the room, Mencius kindly asked Meng Zhongdao, "Little fellow, have you read those books by Master Zhuang's side?" ”

Meng Zhong replied respectfully: "In addition to my Taoist classics, the younger generations have also read the "Book of Law", "Taigong Bingshu", "Jianbai Treatise", "Contract Theory", "Sun Tzu", "Wu Zi" ......"

Hearing these titles, Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou's eyes widened in surprise, and they realized at this time that the young man in front of them was not limited to the academics of the Taoist and famous families, but also involved the Legalists and the Soldiers.

In this regard, Mencius also nodded approvingly, and then asked: "The old man seems to know my Confucianism very well after listening to your debate with the princes, have you also read my Confucian books?" ”

Meng Zhong replied: "The enlightenment book of the younger generations is the Analects taught by the elders in the clan studies. ”

Hearing this, Mencius raised his eyebrows, and the smile on his face became even worse, and he nodded again and again: "The Analects are good, the Analects are good." ”

As he spoke, he threw out a few questions from the Analects and asked Meng Zhong, but Meng Zhong was able to answer them fluently.

Wan Zhang and Gongsun Chou were slightly stunned, and then the hostility in their eyes when they looked at Meng Zhong also subsided a little again.

Because after putting aside the view of the door, Meng Zhong is no different from a Confucian disciple, after all, this son knows the Analects too well.

This also made Mencius feel very relieved, and he asked Hui Ang with a little surprise: "Do all the Song people read the Analects?" ”

When Hui Ang heard this, he explained: "This son is a descendant of the Jing Bo Meng clan, and the family of the Song Kingdom generally uses the Analects as the enlightenment of the clan. ”

"Okay." Mencius nodded with both relief and delight.

I have to say that in the era when Yang Zhu thought and Mohist thought were full of thought, the families in the Song State could still use the Analects as an enlightenment reading for the children of the clan, which was enough to improve Mencius's impression of the Song State a little.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, this is not surprising, after all, the influence of Confucianism is mainly reflected in the countries of Lu, Song, and Qi, but since the birth of the Jixia School Palace in Qi, Confucianism's influence on Qi has gradually decreased.

From the current secular point of view, Yang Zhu's thought was mainly spread in Qin, Wei, Zhao, and Han countries; Mohist thought, on the other hand, was mainly spread in the countries of Qi, Chu, and Qin; As for the Song Kingdom, it is mainly based on Taoism and Confucianism - the Taoism mentioned here refers to the Taoist thought represented by Laozi, Liezi and Song Zhuangzi, although Mengzhong's mentor Zhuangzi is known as the Taoist successor after Laozi, Liezi and Song Zhuangzi, but the world does not accept Zhuangzi's ideas very much, and even Zhuangzi's close friend Huizi once joked that it was "useless academics".

chatting and chatting, the topic gradually turned to Hui An's intention.

Mencius saw very clearly the intention of Hui An, it was nothing more than that a while ago, his son "Meng Zhong" and Sun Zhi "Meng Di" also followed the Confucian disciples to Pengcheng to dissuade the Song king, which made Song Wang Yan and Hui Ang and others feel a little crisis, so Hui Ang specially came to explain to him.

"Does the King of Song want to be kingly?" Mencius asked Hui Ang in a somewhat serious tone.

Hearing this, Hui Ang also replied solemnly: "Yes, the king of Song wants to do royal government. ”

The royal government mentioned here has nothing to do with the "royal way" advocated by Mencius, but only that the king of Song should exercise his rights and responsibilities as a monarch, and to put it bluntly, he wants to conquer other countries, make the Song state stronger, and even challenge the status of the state of Qi and Chu.

Listening to Hui An's words, Mencius frowned and said: "In recent years, there are often disciples who ask the old man about the state of Teng, the late monarch of the state of Teng, Teng Yuangong, who has known the old man for decades, and in today's world, Teng Yuangong is the only monarch who follows benevolent government......"

Speaking of this, Mencius couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Like Confucius, who traveled around the world, Mencius also traveled around the world to expound his ideas to the monarchs of various countries, among which Qi was the country he most hoped for.

When Mencius was about forty-five years old, Mencius traveled to the state of Qi with his students and retinue, hoping to persuade the king of Qi to carry out the benevolent government he advocated—the ruler of Qi at that time was "King Qi Wei (Tian Yinqi)."

At that time, it was during the period of the "Xuzhou Xiangwang" of Wei and Qi - that is, under the proposition of Wei and Qi ministers, Wei and Qi recognized each other's thrones, and in this way, they promoted the "Qi-Wei Alliance" to jointly fight against Qin.

In other words, the state of Qi was in the limelight at that time, and it was during this period that Mencius brought his students to the state of Qi.

It is worth mentioning that Mencius went to the state of Qi at the invitation of his student "Kuang Zhang".

Kuang Zhang is a famous man of the Qi State, this person is both civil and military, as the general of the Qi State, although the commander's battles are not many, but they are all wars that are enough to change the pattern of the Central Plains.

For example, the "Battle of Sanqiu", the Qin State after the Shang Dynasty changed the law, and the Qi State after the Zou Ji Reform, the two countries were divided into eastern and western powers for the first time to start a military conflict, Kuang Zhang was the commander of the Qi army, in this war, he made the Qin State bow down to the vassal - the monarch of the Qin State, King Huiwen, sent an envoy to the Qi State to ask for peace, and surrendered his identity, calling the Qin State the "Minister of the Western Domain" of the Qi State.

After that, Qin and Qi did not go to war directly for 20 years.

Another example is the "Battle to Destroy Yan", Kuang Zhang led the Qi army and captured the entire territory of Yan in just 50 days, if it were not for Zhao Yong, the monarch of Zhao State, invited the armies of all countries to jointly crusade against Qi State, forcing King Qi Wei to ask Kuang Zhang to lead the Qi army to withdraw from the territory of Yan State, there is no Yan State in this world.

Another example is the "Battle of Chuisha", Kuang Zhang led the allied forces of Qi, Wei, and Han to attack the Chu State, broke the Chu army, and killed the Chu State's Ling Yin Tangwu, so that a large part of the territory of the Chu State was captured by the coalition army.

For example, at present, the three kingdoms of Qi, Wei, and Han are attacking Hangu Pass in Qin, and the commander of their coalition forces is also Kuang Zhang.

It is no exaggeration to say that Kuang Zhang is a famous general of Qi State.

However, when Mencius went to Qi, Kuang Zhang did not have the status and reputation he has now, and even had a bad reputation for unfilial piety.

The reason for this "unfilial piety" notoriety is that Kuang Zhang's mother had offended Kuang Zhang's father before his death, so he was buried under the horse shed by Kuang's father after his death, and later Kuang's father passed away, Kuang Zhang did not rebury his mother, on the reason, Kuang Zhang explained: "I did not get my father's permission, if I changed the burial of my deceased mother without authorization, wouldn't I have betrayed my father?" ”

But the Qi people accused Kuang Zhang of being unfilial.

In this regard, Meng Zhong's mentor Zhuangzi also blamed Kuang Zhang, but Mencius thought that Kuang Zhang did the right thing, so he did not blame Kuang Zhang, which led to Mencius being disgusted and excluded by the Qi people, and finally, hastily ended the first journey to lobby the Qi State.

When Mencius visited Qi for the second time, it was on the eve of the "Battle of Yan".

At that time, Kuang Zhang had already proven his talent in the "Battle of Sancho" and had been recognized by the Qi people, so Kuang Zhang once again invited his teacher Mencius to the Qi Kingdom.

At that time, King Qi Wei was dead, and the monarch of Qi was "King Qi Xuan (Tian Pijiang)", and King Qi Xuan did not care about Mencius's "benevolent government" proposition, but only regarded Mencius as a golden signboard.

For example, before the "Battle of Yan Eradication", King Xuan of Qi asked Mencius if he should take this opportunity to annex Yan.

Mencius tactfully persuaded him: If the Yan people all support it, then you can annex the Yan Kingdom; If Yanren doesn't support it, you might as well give up.

However, King Xuan of Qi did not heed Mencius's advice and ordered Kuang Zhang to lead an army to attack Yan, and as a result, not only did the people of Yan unite to resist Qi, but even Zhao Yong, the monarch of Zhao, gathered the armies of various countries and threatened Qi to retreat.

Seeing this, Mencius gave up the idea of developing his ambitions in the state of Qi, because he had realized that King Xuan of Qi was only using him as a signboard to "attract talents to Qi", just as King Xuan of Qi said to Mencius: I am willing to build you a palace and help you recruit thousands of disciples.

As a result, Mencius finally gave up the high-ranking official Houlu and returned to the place where he was born, the state of Zou, with his disciples.