PS:。 I took my daughter-in-law and children to the amusement park this afternoon, and I sent it in advance.

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When communicating with Gongsun Chou, Le Zheng and other senior brothers, these senior brothers mentioned to Meng Zhong the correspondence between Mencius and Zhuangzi over the years, saying that Zhuangzi's letters were the best medicine to "cure" Mencius's poor spirit.

I have to say that this matter is really a bit laughable and crying, whether it is for Meng Zhong, or for Gongsun Chou, Le Zheng and others.

After so many years, Zhuangzi and Mencius did not know the contents of the letters written to each other, in fact, they also secretly read them out of curiosity, but when they saw that the content of the letters was not very harmonious, such as 'stealing ke' and 'Zhuang Shu', which could be seen at a glance as synonyms for nicknames, they were so frightened that they did not dare to peek at the letters of these two sages again.

Of course, the two sages of Taoism and Confucianism did not just write letters and scold each other, but more often they talked about scholarship and worldly truth in the form of debates, and those indecent nicknames were more often only used for the ridicule of the 'winner' against the 'loser'.

For example, Mencius and Zhuangzi had a debate on the word "walking along with the sky" for more than a year, and Mencius believed that the "heaven" in the word refers to the general trend, and the "potential" is caused by man, so human behavior and human will are the most important reasons for the change of the world; However, Zhuangzi believes that the word "heaven" refers to "heaven and earth nature", and he believes that human will and human behavior must conform to the evolution of "heaven and earth nature".

Another example is spring cultivation and winter harvesting, which all prove that people must conform to the time and principles of heaven.

But Mencius believed that man could overcome the heavens.

In short, the difference in their own views and different views on things made it difficult for Zhuangzi and Mencius to agree on a certain matter, and both of them were 'argumentative' and 'competitive', and neither of them was willing to force themselves to accept the other's point of view, so they started a debate that lasted for more than ten years, and until now there is no winner or loser.

The matter of the two elders, as juniors, naturally dare not say anything, and what is more interesting is that this kind of 'bickering' makes the two old men energetic, just like Fang Cai, Mencius was about to fall asleep, but as soon as he heard the name of Zhuangzi, this Confucian sage was immediately energetic, the pen can hold the ground, and the food can be eaten underground, which looks no different from when he is healthy.

Of course, after all, Mencius was too old, and even if there was a 'stimulus' from Master Zhuang, Confucian disciples such as Gongsun Chou and Le Zheng did not think that Mencius would be able to support him for a few more years, but they were very fortunate that in the last years of Mencius's life, he was accompanied by another respected master—after all, with Mencius's status, there were very few debaters who could make him refresh.

"When you visit Master Zhuang in the future, please convey your gratitude to Master Zhuang on our behalf."

On this matter, Gongsun Chou, Le Zheng and others said to Meng Zhong very solemnly.

Meng Zhong nodded and agreed, he knew that in fact, his two teachers were almost the same - Mencius was energetic because of the debate with Zhuangzi, and Zhuangzi over there was also in high spirits because of this, with these two seventy or eighty years old, they can maintain their current physical condition, I have to say that the post guards of Zou and Song are really indispensable.

While talking and laughing, Meng Zhong also asked about Tian Zhang, and he said to Gongsun Chou and others: "A while ago, I met Tian Tai, the second son of Brother Tian Zhang, ......in Pengcheng."

As he spoke, he told Gongsun Chou and others about the conversation with Tian Tai.

After listening to Meng Zhong's narration, Gongsun Chou and the others nodded slightly.

In their opinion, Meng Zhong, as the great Sima of the Song Kingdom, can mention a few words about Tian Tai in terms of affection, which is already very valuable, and even Meng Zhong has violated the principle in this matter, but Confucianism, what is important is affection, Meng Zhong can mention Tian Tai a few words in Tian Zhang's face, which is of course very correct in the eyes of Gongsun Chou and others.

In addition to praising Meng Zhong, Gongsun Chou said wistfully: "Tian Zhang's junior brother's condition is worse than that of the master, a few days ago, his eldest son Tian Ru sent someone over, saying that his father may not be able to support it for long, I asked Wanzhang and Gongdu to visit, and after the two came back, they did not dare to tell the master, lest the master ......" said, he said to Meng Zhong again: "Out of friendship with the same family, you should go and visit Tian Zhang, by the way, if you can take care of it, try not to let Kuangyi be harassed by the Yan army." ”

Meng Zhong nodded and said: "Senior brother can rest assured, Le Yi knows the relationship between me and Brother Tian Zhang, not to mention that Brother Tian Zhang has enjoyed prestige for a long time, Le Yi will naturally restrain the Yan army under his command so that it will not intrude on Kuangyi and disturb Tian Zhang's purity." ”

"That's good." Gongsun Chou nodded, and then sighed: "Actually, what I'm most worried about at this time is Tian Zhang, my junior brother has fought for the Qi State all his life, and he is loyal to the Qi State, but now the Qi State is in pieces, and I am worried that Tian Zhang will not be able to accept it." ”

Indeed, for the Qi State, in fact, the Confucian disciples did not have much good feelings, after all, when Mencius went to Qi and wanted to spread his ideas and ideas, the progress was not smooth, and the Qi State only regarded Mencius as a signboard to attract talents from all over the world, which was not only disgusted by Mencius, but also by the Confucian disciples.

It was only because Tian Zhang was an official in the Qi State that the Confucian disciples loved Wu and Wu, and were much more friendly to the Qi State—just like the attitude of these Confucian disciples towards the Song State, on the one hand, they resisted the brutality of Song Wangyan, but on the other hand, because Hui Ang tried his best to promote Mencius's benevolent government in the Song State, so they were full of favor for the Song State.

A few days later, Meng Zhong received a letter from Yancheng, which was signed by Sima Leyi of Yan Guoda, and it was thought that Le Yi's letter was sent to Yancheng, and then Dai Busheng sent someone to transfer it to Zou Guo.

In this letter, Le Yi told two things,

The first thing was naturally the happy event that he was crowned the king of Changguo, and when he saw this, Meng Zhong smiled and was sincerely happy for this brother.

As for the second matter, it is Le Yi's complaint to Meng Zhong.

According to Le Yi's account, he originally decided to occupy Beihai and Donglai Counties, and cede the entire Langxi County and Taishan County to the Song State, but he did not expect that the Song State would stop at Jucheng, so Le Yi urged Meng Zhong to continue the Northern Expedition in the letter.

Given that the crown prince Dai Wu was also beside him at this time, Meng Zhong smiled and said to Dai Wu: "Le Yi urges my Song State to continue the Northern Expedition, saying that if I don't take the Song Kingdom, he will take the Yan Kingdom." ”

Dai Wu disagreed after hearing this, he trusted Meng Zhong very much, since Meng Zhong said that it would be more beneficial for the Song State to stop in Jucheng, then he naturally would not covet additional Qi land.

It's just that Le Yi specially wrote this letter for what he did?

After thinking about it, he asked Meng Zhongdao, "Isn't it because the Yan Kingdom can't swallow so much Qi land?" ”

"Of course." Meng Zhong said calmly.

You must know that this time, the Yan Kingdom almost swallowed the land of the Qi State, which was nearly twice the territory of its own, how could it be digested in a short period of time? This is like a little snake trying to swallow a goose egg, swallowing it can't swallow, spit it out and reluctant to spit it out, so now this goose egg is stuck in the throat of this little snake, up and down, although it looks funny, but in fact it is very thrilling.

He said to Dai Wu: "Yan Wangzhi and Le Yi seem to be ready to gamble with the national fortune of Yan State, betting that he Yan State can completely annex three-fifths of the land of Qi State, if this matter goes well, Yan State can become a powerful country comparable to Qin and Wei; But if it fails......"

He shook his head and continued: "I'm afraid that Yan Guo has to come from and where to go back. ”

"The purpose of Na Leyi's writing of this letter ......"

"He's probably hoping I'll help him. …… If the Song State can annex the entire Langxi County, then the pressure on the Yan State will be less, but this matter is not beneficial to my Song State, and I am afraid that I will not be able to help him. Meng Zhong shook his head and said.

Dai Wu felt Meng Zhong's sense of responsibility to the Song Kingdom, and nodded when he heard this, but then asked again: "That Chang Guojun won't be angry because of this, right?" ”

"Hey."

Meng Zhong smiled and said: "In order to rob Linzi's wealth, after the Battle of Jixi, he sent all the ** teams back, and even the army of Wei was returned, he was embarrassed to be angry with me?" Speaking of this, he paused, and said with emotion: "Brothers for many years, of course, I want to help if I can, but in the end, at the moment, each is its own master, and it involves the interests of each country, so we can only seek mutual understanding." ”

Dai Wu nodded, not knowing what to say to persuade Meng Zhong.

In the next year, that is, in the ninth year of the reign of King Wei of Wei, in the first month, in view of Tian Zhang's poor physical condition, Meng Zhong bid farewell to Mencius and the Confucian disciples, bid farewell to the crown prince Dai Wu, and went to Tian Zhang's fiefdom, Kuangyi.

Considering that Meng Zhong had never been to Kuangyi and did not know the direction, Gongsun Chou and Wan Zhang asked their junior brother Gongdu to serve as guides.

Kuangyi, located in the southeast of Taishan County, was the land of Lu in the early years, but when the civil strife broke out in Sanhuan in Lu that year, Qi took the opportunity to annex it, and later rewarded it to Tian Zhang, the scale is not large, at best it is the extent of Mengcheng, far less than Yeyi, Yuncheng, not to mention Linzi, Jimo, Handan, Daliang and other big cities.

After arriving at Kuangyi, Meng Zhong saw that the walls of this city were covered with banners that read 'Kuangzhang Zhiyi'.

I don't know if these flags have played a role, the Yan army has not launched an attack on this small city so far, and even a group of Yan troops around it cannot be seen.

When he came to the city gate, Gongdu called out the soldiers who received the city: "Please inform Zhangzi, Confucian disciples Gongdu and Mengzhong, come to visit." ”

The soldiers guarding the city gate did not dare to slack off, and immediately entered the city to report, and about half an hour later, they saw Tian Zhang's second son Tian Tai hurrying in a carriage, and when he saw Gongdu and Meng Zhong - especially when he saw Meng Zhong, Tian Tai's face showed a little surprise.

"Tian Tai has met two uncles."

Stepping out of the carriage, Tian Tai hurriedly bowed and saluted.

Watching Tian Tai, who was in his thirties, saluting Meng Zhong, who was only in his twenties, Gongdu also felt a little funny, and he couldn't help but smile and said, "Well, this ...... The virtuous nephew must have also seen it, and he is also your father's junior brother, the Marquis of Wei, the current Grand Sima of the Song State, Meng Zhong, he came to visit Ling Zun on this trip. ”

As soon as he heard this, Tian Tai's face suddenly showed sadness, and he choked up and said, "Two uncles, my father passed away in November last year. ”

“……”

Meng Zhong and Gongdu looked at each other and immediately asked Tian Tai to take them there.

A moment later, Tian Tai came to the mansion with Gongdu and Meng Zhong, summoned his brother Tian Ru to salute the two respectively, and immediately led the two to visit Tian Zhang's body.

When he saw Tian Zhang lying on the couch with his eyes closed and moving, and his limbs were cold, Meng Zhong let out a long sigh.

"When did Brother Tian Zhang pass away?" He asked.

Hearing this, Tian Zhang's eldest son Tian Ru and second son Tian Tai glanced at each other, and immediately, the former whispered: "Yes...... In November last year, when a Yan army passed through Kuangyi, the city guards hurriedly reported to me, and was accidentally heard by my father who was sick on the bed, and my father questioned me, I saw that I could not hide it, so I had to tell the truth about the current situation, telling my father that Dazi had died in battle, and that the son was missing, and that the king fled to Linzi, and my father was indignant after hearing it, so he ......"

Hearing this, the public capital asked in shock, "Why don't we know about this?" ”

As he spoke, he seemed to realize something, turned his head to look around, frowned and asked, "Since someone has passed away, why don't you handle the funeral?" ”

The two brothers glanced at each other, and then Tian Tai explained in a low voice: "My brother is afraid that the news of his father's death will provoke the Yan army to attack, so he doesn't dare to mourn ......."

"Huh, nonsense!"

Gongdu was furious when he heard this, and then he seemed to think of something, and turned his head to look at Meng Zhong.

Of course, Meng Zhong understood what Gongdu meant, and said with a frown: "Mourn immediately, if Yan Jun hears the news, I will come forward and try to make it retreat." ”

Of course, the two brothers Tian Ru and Tian Tai knew that Meng Zhong had only promised to respond when they heard the words, and immediately sent a funeral to the public, announcing the news of the death of their father Tian Zhang, and then stepped up the funeral.

I have to say that Tian Zhang does have an unparalleled prestige in the Qi country, especially in Kuangyi, when the news of Tian Zhang's death spread, Kuangyi City was in turmoil, and the people in the city were very afraid that the Yan army would take the opportunity to attack.

The brothers Tian Ru and Tian Tai could not appease the people in the city, so they could only use Meng Zhong's prestige, relying on Meng Zhong's status as the canonization of the Marquis of Yun in the Wei State and the temporary position of the Great Sima in the Song State, and finally appeased the people of Kuangyi.

Especially later, when Yan Jun learned of this, and Changguo Jun Le Yi of Yan State personally came to Kuangyi to mourn Tian Zhang, the people of Kuangyi were completely relieved.

Under the mediation of Meng Zhong, Le Yi pushed the boat down the river and allowed Tian Ru to inherit his father's fiefdom, so as to win the hearts of Qi people.

Tian Ru, on the other hand, also expressed his willingness to return to the Yan State in exchange for the Yan army's promise not to make any invasion of Kuangyi.

Both parties were satisfied in the end.