After meeting Wei Jun, the king of Wei, Duan Ganyin, Tian Di, and Gongyang Ping returned to Duan Gan's mansion.

That night, Tian Di said to Meng Zhong at the banquet in the Duan Gan clan's mansion: "The king is still hesitant to send troops to help Korea. ”

Meng Zhong felt very incredible when he heard this, and asked puzzledly: "I heard that this time the Qin State sent troops to attack Korea, which caused huge losses to Korea, why is the King of Wei still hesitant to help Korea?" ”

According to Meng Zhong learned from Song Lei a few days ago that "Qin General Bai Qi conquered South Korea's new city", it seems as if South Korea just lost a city, and it is not a big deal, but in fact, the new city is extremely important to South Korea.

This new city, as the name suggests, is a newly built city in Korea over the years, it is located on the west side of Yishui, it is a military fortress built to protect Yique, it is no exaggeration to say that this city was built to defend against the invasion of the Qin army.

But no one thought that this new city, which was built with countless manpower and material resources, was so easily conquered by Bai Qi, an unknown general who appeared out of nowhere, so that the new city has now become a bridgehead for Qin to attack South Korea.

However, in this case, Wei Wangjun was still hesitant to send troops to aid South Korea? What about the alliance between Wei and Han against Qin?

Seeing Meng Zhong's face full of puzzlement, Tian Dian said the reason, it turned out that last year, the general of the Qin State "Sima Cuo" attacked the "氾 (fán, Xiangcheng) City" of the Wei State, when the Wei State asked for help from South Korea, the South Korea did not send troops to rescue, so that the Wei State did not have time to rescue the city, resulting in the latter being captured by Sima Coo.

Because of this, when Korea asked Wei for help, Wei Wangfu was a little hesitant, not knowing whether he should cause Wei to suffer losses for the sake of Korea.

After all, fighting a war is bound to kill people, and it is bound to consume a lot of grain, grass and pensions.

"Lips and teeth are cold, doesn't King Wei understand this truth?" Meng Zhong said with a frown.

Tian Dian smiled and reassured him when he heard this: "Ah Zhong, it's just enough to say this in front of us, don't talk nonsense outside." As he spoke, he stroked his beard and said with a smile: "You don't have to worry, although the king is still hesitating, but there is no shortage of people in my Wei State who have a long-term vision, and most of the courtiers advocate rescuing Korea, including Tian Wen." …… Today, I went to see the king with Brother Duan Gan and Uncle Ram, and on the way back, I met Xiwu entering the palace, oh, you may not know Xiwu, this person is Gongsun Xi, the younger brother of Gongsun Yan, the head of the rhino, and now he is the general of my Wei State. …… The king summoned Xiwu, presumably to inquire about the rescue of Korea, so you don't have to worry. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong relieved himself and nodded slightly.

Immediately, he asked Tian Dian and the others and said: "Uncle Shi, when I was in the Song Kingdom, I heard that Wei and Han had always advanced and retreated together, but now as far as I can see, it seems that the relationship between the two countries is not close......"

"You're right." Duan Ganyin nodded beside him, and immediately said the reason.

It turned out that Meng Zhong's reference to the simultaneous advance and retreat of Wei and Han refers to the reign of the two old monarchs of the two countries, namely Wei Hei, King of Wei Xiang and Han Cang, King of Han Xiang.

Wei Xiangwang Wei Hei, and his father Wei Hui Wang Wei Gang, don't evaluate whether he is a famous monarch, but in the face of Qin, both father and son are quite backbone, so even if Zhang Yi relied on the prestige of Qin to repeatedly persecute Wei, Wei Hui had to depose Aixiang Huishi and appoint Zhang Yi as Wei Xiang, but it is undeniable that Wei Hui Wang has always refused to sincerely submit to Qin, once he saw that there was hope of defeating Qin, he immediately expelled Zhang Yi and appointed Gongsun Yan as Wei Xiang.

And his son Wei Xiang, the king of Wei, is the same.

As well as Han Weihou Han Kang and Han Xiang King Han Cang of Korea, a total of four kings in the Wei and Han dynasties, even in the face of the powerful Qin State, they were always unwilling to surrender.

However, a few years ago, when Tian Zhang, a famous general of Qi, led the armies of Qi, Wei and Han to attack Qin, King Wei Xiang and King Han Xiang both passed away.

Han Cang, the king of Han Xiang, had three sons, the eldest son was named Baby, that is, the crown prince's baby, the second son was named Llice, and the youngest son was Han Qi. [PS: Han Fei, that is, the son of Gongzi lice. 】

But a few years ago, the crown prince died tragically, considering that the prince was born to a concubine, that is, a concubine, and this prince was a proton in Chu at that time, the Korean minister Gong Zhongxuan (Han Luxury) supported Han Ji as the king, that is, the current king of Han.

Under the arrangement of the fathers of both sides, Wei Yun, the king of Wei, had a good relationship with Han Ying, the prince of Han, and had a good relationship, but Wei Wei did not know much about Han Ying, and he was quite suspicious of the violent death of Han Ying, the prince of Han, and suspected that Han Ying secretly murdered his brother, so the relationship between Wei and Han gradually cooled down.

So much so that the armies of Wei and Han often acted together on the border of Qin, in order to show Qin the determination of Wei and Han to resolutely resist Qin, but after Wei Wangjun and Han Wangji succeeded to the throne, the armies of Wei and Han hardly acted together.

"It turned out to be another thing like this."

Meng Zhong suddenly realized.

In the end, just as Tian Di and Duan Ganyin predicted, Wei Yun, the king of Wei, finally decided to send troops to aid Korea, after all, he was not a faint monarch who didn't know the truth of cold lips and teeth, not to mention that most of the ministers in the Wei dynasty supported the rescue of South Korea, so the rescue of South Korea and the crusade against Qin have become a sure thing.

A few days later, Wei Wangfu appointed Xiwu, or Gongsun Xi, as the general to rescue Korea and crusade against Qin, and ordered the latter to prepare immediately and lead his army to Korea at the beginning of spring after the new year.

During this period, Duan Ganyin and Tian Huang also took Meng Zhong to invite Wei Wei, the king of Wei.

For Meng Zhong, Wei Wangjun was still a little surprised, after all, Duan Ganyin and Tian Huang had mentioned to him before, this Meng Zhong had served as Zhao's father's guard Sima when he was in Zhao, and later assisted Zhao Gongzizhang to attack the royal family, although he was defeated, but he could serve as Zhao's father's guard Sima, Wei Wangjun also felt that this Meng Zhong must have something extraordinary.

The only problem is that this son has offended Tian Wen, the minister of state.

Yes, Xue Gongtian Wen is a man of the moment in the world, especially after Tian Wen promoted the "Three Kingdoms of Qi, Wei and Han to crusade against Qin" and sent Tian Zhang to break through Qin's Hangu Pass in one fell swoop, the Central Plains countries paid no less attention to him than they did to Zhang Yi back then.

In this case, Xue Gongtianwen's envoy to Zhao suffered humiliation, and the accompanying 500 swordsmen were killed by a Sima led by Zhao's father, and this matter had already spread to the Wei State and to the ears of Wei Wangyun.

And this is also one of the main reasons why Tian Wen hates Meng Zhong deeply, because too many people know about it.

In all fairness, Wei Wangjun did not have any ill feelings towards Meng Zhong, even if Meng Zhong had helped the "traitor" prince Zhao Zhang to attack the royal family when he was in Zhao State, after all, the so-called Dune Palace Change in Zhao State, discerning people actually understand what was going on - it was not so much that the son Zhao Zhang rebelled, but that Lord Zhao acquiesced to him doing so.

Therefore, strictly speaking, Meng Zhong was not rebellious, he only obeyed the orders of Master Zhao at most.

For Zhao Yong, the father of Zhao, Wei Wangjun still respects Zhao Yong, because he knows that his grandfather, Wei Huiwang Wei Fu, because of the relationship between Zhao Suhou Zhao Yu, the father of Zhao's father, has been targeting Zhao for the rest of his life, including Wei Wangyun's father, Wei Xiangwang Wei Si, who also targeted Zhao because he was afraid of Zhao.

However, Zhao still resisted the pressure and replaced Wei as the most powerful state in the Three Jin Dynasty, although the later favor of Wu Wa, the deposition of the crown prince Zhao Zhang, and the final Dune Palace Rebellion made Wei Wangfu realize that even a male lord like Zhao's father was confused, but this did not prevent Wei Wangfu from respecting Zhao's father.

And this young man named Meng Zhong was able to be favored by Master Zhao and become the guard Sima next to Master Zhao, which made Wei Wang Yun also have some curiosity and expectation about Meng Zhong.

The question is how to arrange this teenager?

Yes, Meng Zhong wanted to be an official in his Wei state, and Wei Wangjun naturally agreed, the question was what kind of official position should be awarded to this young man, so as not to arouse the disgust of State Minister Tian Wen.

In this regard, Wei Wangqi really had a headache.

If the position is high, the Minister of State Tian Wen may be dissatisfied, after all, except for the Qin State, Meng Zhong is the person who has offended Tian Wen the most so far; But if the position is low, Wei Wangjun believes that Duan Ganyin, Tian Huang, and Ram Ping will be dissatisfied - regardless of whether Meng Zhong will be dissatisfied, Duan Ganyin, Tian Di, and Gong Yang Ping are precisely the teachers who once taught him Wei Wei's studies, and they are also the great sages of Wei State, and Wei Wangjun must of course take care of the emotions of these virtuous ministers.

Eventually, upon learning of Meng Zhong's intention to participate in his Wei war to rescue Korea, Wei Wangjun appointed Meng Zhong as the middle doctor and sent the latter to Gongsun Xi's army, apparently preparing to throw this problem to Gongsun Xi.

It is worth mentioning that the middle doctor is an official position, not a military position, and under normal circumstances, if it is changed to a military position year-on-year, it is probably between "Zuo (Jun) Sima" and "Shi Shuai", the former is the deputy general of the military Sima, and the latter, that is, the officer in charge of 2,500 soldiers, the subordinate generals of the military Sima and Zuo Sima. [PS: In history, there were also middle doctors or lower doctors who were in charge of tens of thousands of troops, but they were rare. 】

Duan Ganyin and Tian Huang are still quite satisfied with the canonization given to Meng Zhong by Wei Wangyun, after all, the middle doctor is already the apex of normal doctor-level officials, and the top is the lower secretary, considering that Meng Zhong is only eighteen years old now, and he has not yet been weakly crowned, Duan Ganyin and Tian Yang are quite satisfied with this.

As for Meng Zhong himself, he didn't have too many thoughts about the official position of Zhong Dafu, after all, it was just an empty title, and there was no fiefdom, in comparison, he was more concerned about what kind of military position Gongsun Xi would give him and how many soldiers he would give him.

Within two days of returning to Duan Gan's mansion, Meng Zhong learned one thing from Duan Ganchong's mouth, that is, Tian Wen invited Gongsun Xi to his mansion for a banquet.

In this regard, Meng Zhong couldn't help but have some concerns, and asked Duan Ganyin: "Uncle Shi, does Tian Wen have a good relationship with Xiwu?" ”

As if seeing through Meng Zhong's thoughts, Duan Ganyin smiled and said with relief: "Are you worried that Tian Wen will use rhino martial arts to suppress you?" Hehe, you can rest assured in this matter, although Gongsun Xi is close to Tian Wen, he never has the courage to suppress you, just because you have my Duan Gan clan behind you, and the entire Xihe Confucianism! ”

Immediately, Duan Ganyin sent his son Duan Ganchong to invite Gongsun Xi to come to the mansion for a banquet, so as to recommend Meng Zhong to Gongsun Xi.

Sure enough, don't look at Duan Gan's family in Wei State, but even if it is a general of Wei State such as Gongsun Xi, he does not dare not give Duan Gan's face, and after receiving the invitation, he came to Duan Gan's mansion the next day as promised.

After entertaining Gongsun Xi, Duan Ganyin and Tian Dian personally came forward and introduced Meng Zhong to Gongsun Xi.

At that time, Duan Ganyin pointed at Meng Zhong and said to Gongsun Xi with a smile: "This son's name is Meng Zhong, he is a disciple of Mencius, Zhuangzi, and Huizi. ”

Compared with foreign forces like Xue Gongtian Wen, the Duan Gan clan and even the Xihe Confucianists were the local forces of the Wei State, how could Gongsun Xi dare to refuse?

Immediately swore an oath.

However, don't look at his promise simply, but in fact, he also feels a headache in his heart.

Because after he went to Tian Wen's mansion for a banquet before, he had heard Tian Wen pretend not to care about mentioning Meng Zhong, mentioning that this young man who had offended him in Zhao now wanted to be in his Wei country.

Gongsun Xi is not stupid, don't look at Tian Wen from beginning to end without asking him to do anything, but Tian Wen mentioned Meng Zhong, a young man who offended him, for no reason, how could he not guess the reason?

But just as Wei Wangyun also felt a headache, although Xue Gongtian Wengong Sun Xi couldn't afford to offend, but Meng Zhong, the young man's backstage Duan Gan clan and the entire Xihe Confucian, he couldn't afford to offend either.

After Gongsun Xi said goodbye and left, Meng Zhong frowned and said to Duan Ganyin and Tian Di, "Tian Wen seems to have mentioned me to Xiwu. ”

Duan Ganyin and Tian Yin were very surprised when they heard this, and asked puzzledly, "How can you see it?" ”

I saw Meng Zhong frowning and said: "Xiwu is the younger brother of the rhino head Gongsun Yan, according to my teacher Zhuang Fuzi, his brother Gongsun Yan and Huizi had a very close relationship back then, but today, Xiwu heard that I was accepted by Zhuang Fuzi as a disciple of Huizi, and I have a close relationship with Huizi's nephew Hui'anyi, but he didn't mention Huizi's friendship with his brother Sun Yan, which shows that he doesn't want to have too deep contact with me." …… In the case of the two uncles recommending him, Xi Wu still behaved like this, which shows that he knows the grievances between Tian Wen and me, and even, it is very likely that Tian Wen has hinted at it in front of him. ”

Hearing this, Duan Ganyin and Tian Di glanced at each other, secretly surprised by Meng Zhong's keenness.

"It doesn't matter."

Duan Ganyin stroked his beard and said with relief: "Even so, he will never dare to deliberately target you." ”

Meng Zhong nodded when he heard this, after learning about the influence of the Duan Gan clan and even the entire Xihe Confucianism in the Wei State, he was not worried that Gongsun Xi would think that Xue Gongtian Wen's relationship was aimed at him.

But on the other hand, it has become unlikely that he wants to get closer to Gongsun Xi.

It can be seen from Gongsun Xi's attitude today that this person does not want to have anything to do with him Meng Zhong.

"Let's take one step at a time."

Meng Zhong thought secretly.

After that, Meng Zhong still lived in Duan Gan's mansion, waiting for Gongsun Xi to send someone to deliver the news.

During this period, in addition to writing letters to his family and two teachers, Zhuangzi and Mencius, and practicing martial arts with Meng Hu, Le Yi and others, the rest was to talk about academics with Tian Dian and other great sages of Xihe Confucianism.

It has to be said that Meng Zhong's understanding of Confucian scholarship is actually limited to the Analects and Mencius's ideological ideas, but the ideological scholarship of Xihe Confucianism is mainly derived from Zixia and Tian Zifang's teacher Zigong, two Confucian sages, so in front of Duan Ganyin, Tian Dian and others, Meng Zhong is not only quite familiar with Confucianism, but rather ignorant.

In this regard, Duan Ganyin and Tian Di were not surprised, after all, Meng Zhong's Confucian scholarship belonged to the Meng Confucian faction, and its source was the Confucian orthodoxy represented by Zeng Zi, and it did not have much contact with the Xihezi Xia Zhiru faction for a long time, and each other belonged to the well water and did not interfere with the river water, so it was not surprising that Meng Zhong did not know the thoughts of Zi Xia Zhiru.

So, Duan Ganyin and Tian Dian communicated with Meng Zhong, so that Meng Zhong had a comprehensive understanding of Zixia Zhiru.

The most distinctive thing about Confucianism in Zixia is that it pays attention to "economic and practical use", that is, serving the king, advancing with the times, and comprehensively cultivating talents useful to the country, which is inconsistent with the orthodox proposition of Confucianism at that time. [PS: At that time, Confucianism still hoped that the king would cater to them, so Mencius saw that King Qi Xuan was just using him as a golden sign to attract talents, and resolutely abandoned the high-ranking officials and returned to Zou to teach his disciples, refusing to wronged himself; And Zixia Zhiru chose to cater to the king and serve the king, which is also the reason why Zixia Zhiru gradually evolved into Confucian orthodoxy later. 】

Serving the king, in fact, is not bad, at least compared to the orthodox Confucian Mencius, Zixia Zhiru contributed a lot to the century-old hegemony of Wei, if it were not for the Confucianism of Xihe to cultivate many talents for Wei, Wei may not be able to dominate for a hundred years.

By the way, precisely because it was to serve the king, Xihe Confucianism rarely recruited civilian disciples, because Wei Wenhou was worried that the talents cultivated by Xihe Confucianism would eventually become disciples of Wei instead of being used by Wei, so since Duan Ganmu, a disciple of Zixia, Wei Wenhou asked Duan Ganmu to mainly teach the nobles of Wei, which is also the reason why Duan Gan's later dynasties could teach the disciples of Wei.

When it comes to Zixia Confucianism's "economic and practical use", it has to be said that this Confucian thought is very miscellaneous, as if all useful scholarship will be absorbed, so that some people later said that Zixia Confucianism is close to Legalism. [PS: Xunzi's "learning to apply" is actually Zixia's Confucianism's ideological proposition, and Xunzi himself is Zixia's second disciple, and he himself also taught Li Si and Han Fei, two Legalist disciples, so it is actually not wrong to say that Zixia's Confucianism's thoughts are close to Legalism. 】

It is worth mentioning that Zixia's Confucianism is different from Confucian orthodoxy, and it also lies in the "king's use of power" proposed by Zixia when he taught Wei Wenhou, advocating that as a king, he should know how to use power and learn lessons from history, which is quite close to the Legalists' observation and use of power, and it is also the reason why Confucian orthodoxy at that time believed that Zixia's Confucianism was a "heresy".

However, Meng Zhong, who is also a scholar of Taoism, Confucianism, and fame, did not look down on Zixia Zhiru who bent his waist for the king like orthodox Confucian disciples, and during his stay in Duan Gan's mansion, he often talked with Duan Ganyin and Tian Di's two uncles about scriptures and Taoism, and Duan Ganyin, Tian Huang and others also hoped to use the bond of Meng Zhong to improve the relationship with the Confucian orthodox "Meng Confucian" in the world, so Zi Xia's ideas and ideas were taught to Meng Zhong.

Even, Ram Ping also wrote down the "Spring and Autumn Period" silently for this reason, gave it to Meng Zhong, and named it "The Legend of the Spring and Autumn Ram".

I have to say that this is Confucius passed on to his disciple Zi Xia, Zi Xia passed on to his disciple Ram Gao, and Ram Gao passed on to his son Ram Ping, the history of Lu passed down orally for several generations is simply a lonely book in the world, except for the royal family of Wei State, which is used to teach the king and the crown prince, it will never be passed on.

And now the ram Pingmo wrote it down and gave it to Meng Zhong, which shows the importance he attaches to Meng Zhong.

Of course, when teaching this book, Ram Ping did not forget to tell Meng Zhong to only allow him to read it alone, and not to pass it on.

While talking about scriptures and Taoism with Duan Ganyin, Tian Dian and others, while reading the "Legend of the Spring and Autumn Ram" given by Gong Yang Ping, Meng Zhong finally ushered in his first New Year in Wei.

After the New Year, he was nineteen years old, one year closer to the age of twenty.

In the middle of the first month, he received a message from Gongsun Xi sent his guards, ordering him to report to the garrison outside Daliang City.

After learning of this, Meng Zhong said goodbye to Duan Ganyin, Duan Ganchong and his son, said goodbye to Ram Ping and Tian Di, and took Meng Sui, Meng Hu, Meng Ao, Le Yi, Rong Yi and others and twenty Song soldiers to the Wei army camp in the western suburbs of Daliang City.

This Wei camp was newly built to temporarily garrison troops drawn from all over the Wei state.

Outside the barracks, Meng Zhong and others, led by several Wei soldiers, went to the commander's tent in the army to meet Gongsun Xi, the chief general who rescued South Korea.

On the way to Shuai's tent, Meng Zhong carefully looked at the Wei soldiers walking around the camp.

He was surprised to find that the equipment and quality of these Wei pawns looked uneven, some of them were fully clothed and armored, and their image was quite similar to the rumored Wei Wu pawns, while some seemed to be just ordinary Wei pawns, although they did not lack armor and weapons, but they really didn't see any bravery.

In addition, the number of these Wei pawns is not large, according to Meng Zhong's inquiry, it seems that there are only tens of thousands.

"With these tens of thousands of remnants of the Wei army alone, go to the rescue of South Korea?"

Meng Zhong was very confused.

A moment later, Meng Zhong invited Gongsun Xi alone.

Just as he had guessed, Gongsun Xi did not like or dislike him when he saw him, and said very calmly: "Since the king has given you the position of the middle doctor, I will grant you the position of commander and give you 2,500 soldiers, are you satisfied?" ”

As soon as he heard this, Meng Zhong's heart suddenly sank.

This war between Wei and Han and Qin must have cost hundreds of thousands of troops, but Gongsun Xi only gave him a mere 2,500 soldiers - this little force is of any use?

"It seems that between the Confucian Sect of Xihe and Tian Wen, this Gongsun Xi is still slightly biased towards Tian Wen in the end...... According to this trend, the next step is probably to allocate me 2,500 weak soldiers, and then send me to an inconspicuous place at will?"

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong immediately preemptively said: "It is said that the 'warriors' of the Wei State are the number one warriors in the world, and the rhino martial arts are allocated to the two thousand five hundred Wei warriors, how can they be dissatisfied?" ”

"Uh......"

Hearing this, Gongsun Xi was speechless.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong pretended to be surprised and asked, "Huh?" Isn't it a military pawn? ”

"This kid ......"

Gongsun Xi took a deep look at Meng Zhong and immediately realized the difficulty of this son.

As Meng Zhong guessed, Gongsun Xi originally planned to allocate a little force to Meng Zhong casually, and after arriving at the battlefield, he would casually send Meng Zhong to a safe place to garrison, neither let Meng Zhong encounter danger, nor let him have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and then give the credit to Meng Zhong after the battle, so that Duan Gan and Tian Wen would not be offended.

I didn't expect this kid to be so keen, and he would ask for 2,500 Wei Wushu with one mouth, which made Gongsun Xi a little embarrassed.

Considering that behind this son was the Duan Gan clan, Gongsun Xi didn't dare to offend, and said with a smile: "Of course it's a martial artist!" …… The little brother is a person recommended by the Duan Gan clan, and he is a battle-hardened general, how can I be slack? ”

As he spoke, he ordered Meng Zhong to allocate 2,500 Wei soldiers and ordered Meng Zhong to immediately go and take over the army.

『…… It seems that I want to make meritorious contributions in this battle, and it is not easy."

When leaving Gongsun Xi's handsome tent, Meng Zhong looked back at Gongsun Xi in the tent and thought to himself.

But no matter what, he finally won over 2,500 Wei warriors.