On that day, although Master Zhao's father did not let go, even Meng Zhong could see that his heart had been shaken, especially when Tian Zhang said that he would retreat to Jishui.

Retreat to Jishui, to be honest, this is the only way for Qi to retreat now, after all, the great river has been lost, and Qi can only resist the armies of Zhao and Yan through Jishui.

But Tian Zhang deliberately said it in a tone that seemed to be broken, which made Master Zhao a little jealous.

What is Master Zhao worried about?

He was just worrying about whether the Qi State would still be able to serve as the first imaginary enemy of the Qin State when it lost all the land north of Jishui in one go.

Tian Zhang is right, the relationship between Qin and Zhao is different from that between Zhao and Song.

The Song State is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, surrounded by enemies on three sides, there are no famous generals in the country, the national strength in all aspects is not strong, and the depth of the land is not strong, so in the Central Plains pattern in recent decades, the Song State does not have the qualifications to hegemon, at best, it is like the Song State when the Jin State was assisted to dominate, assisting a certain power to become the current hegemon, so as to gradually make the country strong - and the Zhao State is the object of assistance chosen by Song Wangyan.

Master Zhao's father has always said that he trusts the Song State, which is actually the most important reason: there is no conflict between the Song State and the Zhao State on the matter of "dominating the Central Plains".

But the Qin State is different, the Qin State has grown by leaps and bounds since the Shang Dynasty changed the law and Zhang Yi became the prime minister, and it is fully qualified to dominate the Central Plains, which means that the most fundamental contradiction between it and the Zhao State is actually difficult to reconcile - once the Qi State falls, the Qin and Zhao countries will inevitably turn against each other.

However, as Tian Zhang said, Zhao is not yet ready to compete with Qin, because Zhao has many territories that have just been conquered in recent decades that have not yet been stabilized, such as Zhongshan conquered last year, and the Hetao region captured a few years ago.

But not now, if there is a dispute between Qin and Zhao, the Hetao area will not be able to be defended in the first place, that is, the Shangjun and Yuzhong areas.

The Hetao area is one of the most important horse grazing grounds of Zhao's father, and once this place is captured by Qin, Zhao's war horse grain production will be greatly reduced.

Then, after the Qin State captured the Hetao, it was able to further threaten the "Jinyang (Taiyuan County)" of the Zhao State.

Jinyang is the place where Zhao made his fortune, before the three families were divided into Jin, the predecessor of Zhao State, the Zhao family, was in Jinyang to resist the attack of the "Zhi Clan", if it were not for Zhi Boyao's decision to dig up the Jin water to flood Jinyang, this move aroused the vigilance of Han Kangzi and Wei Huanzi - at that time, Han's fiefdom "Pingyang (Linfen)", and Wei's fiefdom "Anyi", each with a river next to the city - so that in the end, Wei and Han defected and united with Zhao, and the three defeated the most powerful "Zhi" at that time, so that there was later Wei, Han, The three Zhao families were divided.

Later, although Zhao moved its capital to Handan, Jinyang was still the top priority of Zhao, for example, in the plan in the heart of Zhao's father, he intended to send Meng Zhong to Jinyang in about ten years, so that he could supervise Shangjun, Yanmen, and Jinyang, and build the local front line of the Qin and Zhao battlefields, so as to prepare for the future Qin and Zhao hegemony - it can be seen that in the heart of Zhao's father, Qin is not an opponent that can be defeated through a few wars, and the competition between Qin and Zhao is likely to be like the two countries of Jin and Chu back then, which will be carried out for decades. Or even centuries of war.

But for now......

Now is not the time to tear up the skin with the Qin State, because the Zhao State still has a lot of problems.

For example, Meng Zhong is still too young, and although this son has proved his talent by leading 500 soldiers to attack the camp at night, this does not mean that this son can shoulder the responsibilities of Shangjun, Yanmen, and Jinyang—he will be different from Shuai.

Secondly, Zhao Wang He has a cowardly personality, Zhao Zhu's father does not think that this son has the ambition to compete with Qin, in comparison, he is now more optimistic about Anyang Jun Zhao Zhang, because Zhao Zhang's personality is very similar to him - Zhao's father believes that if he Zhao wants to compete with Qin in the future, as the monarch of Zhao, he should first have courage and have the courage to face Qin.

For example, after the death of his father Zhao Suhou, he Zhao Yong, under the pressure of Qin, Wei, Yan, Chu, and Qi, united Korea and Song, and did not hesitate to fight a war with the countries that affected the entire Central Plains, and finally shocked the five kingdoms and made them give up the intention of carving up the Zhao State - this is the act of a courageous monarch.

And Zhao Wang He ......

Too cowardly!

In the eyes of Zhao's father, this son is at most just a monarch who keeps it, and if Zhao wants to compete with Qin, what he needs is not a monarch who is shoucheng at all, but a monarch who is as bold as him Zhao Yong and Zhao Zhang, the monarch of Anyang.

"Let's settle domestic affairs first......

After thinking about it repeatedly, Master Zhao's father ended the conversation with Tian Zhang that day.

When the two sides said goodbye to each other, Tian Zhang once again invited Meng Zhong to Linzi of Qi as a guest.

This time it was not to counter Master Zhao's father, but Tian Zhang's heartfelt thoughts.

The reason is very simple, first of all, Meng Zhong is Tian Zhang's teacher Mencius is a young man, although Meng Zhong himself does not recognize the identity of a "Confucian disciple", but Tian Zhang recognizes this "little junior brother";

Secondly, a few days ago, Meng Zhong had attacked the camp of tens of thousands of Qi troops at night with 500 Xinwei troops, which made Tian Zhang probably realize the talent of this "little junior brother", and he hoped to abduct this little junior brother to the Qi country.

After all, he Tian Zhang is more than fifty-five years old, just like Tian Zhu, the famous general of Qi who recommended him back then, Tian Zhang also hopes that before he dies, he will find a young man who can inherit his mantle for Qi State, after all, there is no shortage of scribes in today's Qi State, what is lacking is a general who can lead troops to fight.

As for the current generals of the Qi State besides him, Nuo, who commanded tens of thousands of soldiers, but was defeated by Meng Zhong in a night attack with only 500 men, was one of the best.

How can Tian Zhang, who is fifty-five years old, rest assured?

Given that Master Zhao's father was by his side, although Meng Zhong was a little flattered by Tian Zhang's attitude towards him, he was not good at showing it, and answered Tian Zhang with a perfunctory answer like "Hmm".

Tian Zhang glanced at Master Zhao, who was not very good-looking beside him, chuckled, and left like this.

On the way back to Zhu Ke Zhaoying, Meng Zhong was still recalling the experience of getting along with Tian Zhang, and I have to say that he was quite surprised to get to know Tian Zhang today.

To be sure, when Meng Zhong visited Mencius last year, he had already learned that Kuang Zhang, a famous general of Qi, was a disciple of Mencius, but that didn't mean that he would have a relationship with Kuang Zhangpan – his character couldn't do that.

Unexpectedly, on the return trip, Tian Zhang, who went to Mencius's residence, actually knew him, and mistook him for a "little junior brother", I have to say that this is something he never expected.

Of course, this is not a bad thing, after all, with Tian Zhang's status in the Qi State, Meng Zhong can make friends with him, which is beneficial and harmless for him and for the Meng clan.

After returning to the Zhao camp that day, Master Zhao retired from the generals and sat in the tent thinking about Tian Zhang's words today.

At this time, Meng Zhong stood aside with his sword, and Master Zhao asked Meng Zhong, "For what Kuang Zhang said today...... What do you think? ”

Meng Zhong thought for a moment and replied, "Zhang Zi took retreat as advance, forcing Master Zhao to agree to Qi's request for peace...... This man is eloquent and quite powerful. ”

"Yes, after all, he is a disciple of Mencius."

Master Zhao said teasingly, then looked at Meng Zhong and said, "By the way, you were actually accepted as a disciple by Mencius?" How come I've never heard you mention it? ”

"It's just a rumor, and it's a misunderstanding to think about Zhangzi." Meng Zhong hurriedly explained: "At the beginning, I followed my righteous brother Hui Ang to visit Mencius......

As he spoke, he briefly recounted the experience of visiting Mencius that day, but omitted the matter of his heated debate on Confucian disciples, after all, Mencius, Tian Zhang, Wan Zhang, Gongsun Chou and others treated him well, and he did not want Confucianism to lose face.

Maybe seeing that Meng Zhong looked a little nervous, Master Zhao smiled and said with relief: "Don't be restrained, I'm just asking casually." …… I wish you were really a disciple of Mencius, so ......"

Speaking of this, he stopped abruptly, obviously the next words, he didn't think he could tell Meng Zhong for the time being.

After a pause, Master Zhao diverted the question and asked, "Meng Zhong, then do you think I should agree to Qi Guo's request for peace?" ”

Meng Zhong nodded.

Seeing this, Master Zhao said with a mocking face: "It won't be deliberately to help your 'senior brother' speak, right?" ”

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "Master Zhao, first of all, I am not a Confucian disciple, and Zhang Zi is not my senior brother, but there are some misunderstandings; Secondly, the reason why I say this is from the position of Zhao State......" After a pause, he said with a slightly complicated expression: "If I am a Song person, of course I am inclined to the fall of Zhao State, so that Song State can carve up Qi State with Zhao State, and at least one-third of Qi State's territory can be obtained, and then Song State can use Qi Yi as the foundation to seek Chu State...... But in this case, Zhao would face the danger of becoming an enemy of Qin. ”

"Hmm......"

Seeing that Meng Zhong said so sincerely, Master Zhao restrained the smile on his face and nodded slightly.

As Meng Zhong said, the destruction of Qi will do more harm than good to Zhao State, and the most beneficial are Song and Yan, Meng Zhong, as a native of Song State, can point out this point, which is commendable.

"Another ......"

Secretly glancing at Master Zhao's expression, Meng Zhong lowered his voice and said: "In the next personal guess, even if the Qi State is not destroyed, if the Qi State can be subjugated, Master Zhao's purpose can actually be regarded as achieved......

"Oh?"

Master Zhao raised his eyebrows when he heard this, looked at Meng Zhong with interest, and asked with a smile, "Purpose?" What is my purpose? ”

Meng Zhong didn't answer, because some words were really hard to say too bluntly.

Just like this time Master Zhao's crusade against the Qi State, Meng Zhong thought that Master Zhao was ready to unite Yan and Song to destroy the Qi State, but after listening to Tian Zhang's words, Meng Zhong realized that it was impossible for the current Zhao State to sit back and watch the fall of the Qi State.

What Tian Zhang wanted, couldn't a male lord like Lord Zhao think of it?

And under this premise, Master Zhao still wants to crusade against the Qi State, so let's ask, what is the purpose of Master Zhao Father?

Obviously, it was to increase or maintain his own prestige in the Zhao State and to prepare for the recapture of royal power.

In other words, the real purpose of Lord Zhao's father Vaqi is likely to be to abolish Zhao Wang He!