After some conversations, Meng Zhong learned of the intention of Que Guanzi, that is, he hoped to discuss some scholarship with him, a disciple of Zhuangzi.

The scholarship mentioned here is, of course, not the statecraft that Que Guanzi said to Master Zhao, but Taoist thought.

The first thing the two talked about was Lao Tzu's concept of "Tao Qi".

The ancients had already touched on "qi", but what is "qi"? The world may not be able to answer.

Lao Tzu defined "qi" as "vitality", that is, vitality, only when there is vitality, the human body will not decay, and the plants and trees will not wither.

The circulation of "qi" in the human body is strong and weak, and this process of repetition, strengthening, or weakening is the "Tao" of the human body.

On the basis of Lao Tzu's "Tao Qi", Que Guanzi put forward the "Yuan Qi Theory", which means "Yuan" is the beginning and the beginning, that is, the (Yuan) Qi is the root of all things.

If Lao Tzu's "Tao Qi" refers to the existence of Qi in all things (internal), then the "Yuan Qi" theory proposed by Gu Guanzi inherits and expands Lao Tzu's "Tao Qi Theory", and uses the movement and change of Yuan Qi to interpret the generation, development, change, and disappearance of all things.

I have to say that this is very similar to the "essence theory" studied by Meng Zhong's teacher Zhuangzi, and it can almost be said that there is only a difference in title.

Therefore, Meng Zhong told Zhuangzi's "essence theory" to Que Guanzi, and was also affirmed by the latter.

Immediately Que Guanzi said with a smile: "Zhuangzi must have read the "Heart Qi Theory" written by Song Jun and Yin Wen. ”

"Heart-spirited?" Meng Zhong didn't understand this.

Seeing this, Que Guanzi explained the "Heart Qi Theory".

Song Jun and Yin Wen believe that the human heart is the most important part of the human body, so there must be a special qi in it that allows people to walk and think. [PS: The ancients originally believed that the heart was the organ of "thinking", so they left the words "mind" and "thought". 】

For this special qi, Song Jun and Yin Wen called it "Qi (qì)", which is taken from the phrase "five Tibetan give birth to five qi" contained in Lao Tzu, which means that there are five different special qi in the five internal organs.

The "heart qi" mentioned by Song Jun and Yin Wen refers to the special qi hidden in the heart, and they believe that "heart qi" is the key to making people live and make people think, so they jointly wrote "Xin Qi Theory".

It was on the basis of Lao Tzu's "Dao Qi" and the "Heart Qi" mentioned by Song Jun and Yin Wen that he put forward the illusion of "Yuan Qi".

Before Song Jun and Yin Wen, "Guan Yinzi" had already put forward the idea of "one Qi transforms all things", and after that, Taoist disciples such as "Guan Zi (Guan Zhong)", "Liezi (Liekou)", "Song Rongzi (Song Jun)", and "Yin Zi (Yin Wen)" gradually perfected the hypothesis of "qi", until Taoist disciples such as Zhuangzi and Que Guanzi further refined the hypothesis of "qi", which finally formed the ideological proposition that "qi derives all things" and "circulates between heaven and earth".

Although Meng Zhong was a little unwilling in his heart, he had to admit that the "Yuan Qi Theory" of Que Guanzi was more complete than the "Jing Qi Theory" of his teacher Zhuangzi, and he had put forward such a "circulation" as "one-qi-meaning-picture-name-shape-matter-covenant-time-matter". [PS: That is, the generation mode of the universe.] 】

Subsequently, Meng Zhong and Que Guanzi talked about "astronomy" again.

The so-called astronomy refers to the knowledge of celestial bodies, and when Meng Zhong was studying by Zhuangzi's side, he also observed the celestial phenomena at night.

The Taoist night view of celestial phenomena is of course not the kind of fortune and misfortune, but to explore the laws of the operation of celestial bodies and summarize the influence of the movement of celestial bodies on the world.

It is worth mentioning that during this period, Crane Guanzi also told that he could judge the four seasons by pointing to the bucket handle, which made Meng Zhong amazed. [PS: The author didn't understand this paragraph, so I won't mess with popular science, and interested book friends can check it out by themselves.] 】

I have to say that although Meng Zhong is also a Taoist disciple, he can't help but feel a little ashamed in front of Que Guanzi.

Perhaps sensing Meng Zhong's mood, Que Guanzi asked curiously: "Xiaoyou is a disciple of Zhuangzi, hasn't Zhuangzi taught this?" ”

Meng Zhong replied honestly: "The younger generation has studied with Master Zhuang for four years, and has only learned some scratches. ”

"Then why did you go to Zhao to become a leader?" Crane asked puzzled.

Meng Zhong hesitated for a moment, and finally did not explain.

Because he felt that if he said in front of Que Guanzi "for the sake of the stability of diplomatic relations between Zhao and Song", it would be too arrogant.

Seeing that Meng Zhong was silent, Que Guanzi also guessed that there must be some reason for this, so he stroked his beard and said regretfully: "It's a pity, according to me, Xiao Youshi shouldn't leave a great sage like Zhuangzi......"

His words surprised Meng Zhong very much.

You must know that in Meng Zhong's opinion, the Crane Guanzi in front of him, his thoughts are indistinguishable from Zhuangzi, but for some reason, Crane Guanzi has great respect for Zhuangzi.

So Meng Zhong asked curiously: "Crane Guanzi, do you ...... to Master Zhuang?"

As if he had guessed Meng Zhong's thoughts, Que Guanzi stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I have read several books written by Zhuangzi, and Zhuangzi's sentence "The world of Tao loss" has won my heart. ”

As he spoke, Que Guanzi began to criticize the present world, and when it came to the excitement, he stared, stared, and patted the case, and Fang Cai's "master image" who told Meng Zhong about the idea of "Yuanqi Theory" was simply like two people.

Meng Zhong immediately understood: this Guanzi and Zhuangzi are the same kind of people, the same cynical.

However, Zhuangzi's cynicism has reached the extreme, he has almost completely disillusioned with the world, and Que Guanzi, who still has a little hope for the world, brought his disciple Pang Xuan to Zhao State, hoping to realize his ambition in Zhao State.

In the original words of the Crane Guanzi, that is, "the world is innocent, the world is customary, the less is the same help, the long is the same friend, the same product is the same product, the sacrifice is the same blessing, the death and life are the same love, the disaster is the same sorrow, the dwelling is happy, the action is the same, the congratulatory is the same, the crying is the same, the joy is enough to help each other, and the strange spy is enough to stop each other", that is, there is no intrigue between people, the same breath, the same fate, mutual assistance and mutual love.

As for why Que Guanzi chose Zhao to realize his ambitions, it was because Que Guanzi thought that Qin's system was too harsh, and Qi State, since the birth of Jixia Academy, all kinds of ideas converged in Qi State, which was too chaotic and repeated, but Zhao State under the rule of Zhao's father was rising, and after Qin and Qi, it may become the third foot in the world, with the potential to help the world.

On that day, Meng Zhong and Que Guanzi chatted for a long time, and they chatted until late at night, but Meng Zhong still felt a little unfinished.

After three days, the crane returned to Handan.

I have to say that this Taoist sage from the Chu State gave Meng Zhong a deeper understanding of Taoist thought.

But there was no way, and at this time there was some trouble in Xinwei's training.

This trouble is actually that the 500 soldiers are tired of running outside the camp with logs day after day, so that the morale of the army is a little fluctuating.

It is no wonder that, although the physical training is indeed so boring, the five hundred soldiers cannot accept this explanation.

In the words of the soldiers, it was so stupid to run outside the camp carrying logs like recently on their shoulders, and would the enemy be afraid because they were running fast?

Fortunately, the food in the barracks was not bad, and there was meat at every meal, otherwise the five hundred soldiers would have rioted long ago.

In view of the complaints of the soldiers, Meng Zhong summoned Le Yi and Meng Sui to the Shuai tent to discuss with them the method of training.

But no matter how it is discussed, it is necessary to strengthen physical training, after all, Xinwei's goal is to emulate Wei Wushu of Wei, and Wei Wushu is a terrifying heavy infantry that can be called a terrifying heavy infantry with a weight of tens or hundreds of catties on his body, but can still march a hundred miles in half a day!

Without enough physical strength, the weight on the body alone is enough to drag down the soldiers.

How to let these soldiers train their physical fitness obediently has become a test left by Meng Zhong to the five captains of Wuying, Menghu, Huahu, Mu Wu, and Lejin.

As for Meng Zhong himself, he has a solution: as long as he invites Master Zhao to take a chariot around the barracks, appease and motivate him, and keep those soldiers to immediately throw away their complaints, and train more diligently than anyone else.

But Meng Zhong didn't plan to use this method immediately, he hoped that Wu Ying, Meng Hu and others could solve it by themselves.

Not to mention, under Meng Zhong's "laissez-faire", Wu Ying, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, and Le Jin really came up with a solution by themselves, that is, to train with the soldiers under their leadership.

After seeing with their own eyes that these teenage captains were able to grit their teeth and complete the harsh training amount specified by Le Yi, those soldiers were naturally embarrassed to complain again.

"It's not enough."

Le Yi privately made a suggestion to Meng Zhong.

This suggestion is very simple, that is, he Leyi will pretend to be a villain, so that Wu Ying, Meng Hu and others can integrate into those soldiers as soon as possible.

As a result, there was soon a scene outside the camp: Sima Leyi, the Zuo army, stood next to the soldiers who were running with heavy loads, and used vicious and humiliating words to motivate those soldiers.

For example, "waste", "coward", "incompetent" and so on, those soldiers were eager to hack Le Yi to death with knives, and they were afraid that Le Yi was the assistant army Sima appointed by Meng Zhong, and Meng Zhong was the person valued by Lord Zhao's father, so they didn't dare to make a mistake, but only dared to scold Le Yi behind his back.

And Wu Ying, Meng Hu and others, because they "shared weal and woe" with the soldiers, also joined the ranks of the soldiers to "denounce" Le Yi, which made the support of these people among the soldiers increase day by day.

After about half a month of hard training, the physical fitness of these soldiers has improved unconsciously, so Le Yi, who was hated by all the soldiers, raised the requirements again, requiring all the soldiers to run around the camp with logs while wearing triple armor.

At first, those soldiers were a little uncomfortable, and even tired to the ground again, but under the stimulation of Le Yi's words, those soldiers scolded Le Yi bitterly, and insisted on carrying a log to continue training while wearing triple armor, just to make Le Yi "impressed" with them, so that Le Yi personally admitted that he looked away.

Unconsciously, these soldiers were wearing triple armor, and they were already able to carry logs and walk like flying.

And the price is that Le Yi was scolded by these soldiers to the point where he had no words to use.

In this case, Meng Zhong thought that he should invite Master Zhao's father to inspect and give these soldiers some positive encouragement.