Since the storm kite personally ran to Fangcheng to find him to eat and drink, Meng Zhong naturally didn't dare to slack off, so he immediately set off for Fangcheng.

After all, he felt that as the majestic Korean Grand Sima, it was really impossible to come to him idle, and there must be something important to discuss with him.

It is worth mentioning that this time he went to Fangcheng, Qu Yuan also went with him, because he told Meng Zhong very sincerely: "I am also quite confused about the violent kite going to this area in person. ”

Meng Zhong guessed that this doctor Qu was somewhat worried that Wei and Han were plotting against the Chu State, so in order to show favor to this great sage, he agreed without hesitation - after all, this was just Qu Yuan's speculation out of thin air.

Since Qu Yuan could not ride a horse, Meng Zhong found a carriage from Yeyi and instructed one of his guards to drive for this Qu doctor, after which the group set off for Fangcheng.

On the way, it was inevitable that Qu Yuan would ask about the cavalry, and Meng Zhong answered them one by one.

Fangcheng is not far from Yeyiben, even if the ice and snow seal the road in this season, it will only take about half a day to come and go.

Around noon on the right day, Meng Zhong and Qu Yuan arrived in Fangcheng.

In Fangcheng, there are many generals under the command of Meng Zhong, such as Meng Sui, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu, all of whom are in this city, responsible for patrolling the surrounding area, training new soldiers, replanning the location of the army's tuntian, and so on.

Next year, after the 5,000 war horses promised by Duan Gan to Meng Zhong arrived, Meng Zhong also planned to build a pasture near this area, so as to facilitate the storage of some more fertile birds, such as chickens and rabbits, as a source of meat for the Fang Cheng army in the future.

It's a pity that all war horses must be castrated and lose their ability to reproduce, otherwise, they can also bring seriously injured war horses here in the future to breed some foals or something.

I remember that on the way to Fangcheng, Meng Zhong also told Qu Yuan about the local terrain from time to time, saying that this place is suitable for building a military camp and there is suitable for building a sentry post, although Qu Yuan is not very interested in these soldiers, but he did not show a lack of interest, after all, he also understands that the reason why Meng Zhong told him this is that he hopes that the two sides can trust each other more.

When he came to Fangcheng, Meng Zhong's brother Meng Min was already waiting outside the empty city gate, he didn't care about gossiping with Meng Zhong, and immediately said: "The great Sima of Korea has come to our Fangcheng, and Ah Sui has invited him to the county capital in the city." ”

"Good! There is a brother of the Lao people. ”

A moment later, the city gate opened, and Meng Zhong took Qu Yuan straight into Fang City.

I remember that a while ago, Qu Yuan passed through Fangcheng, due to the obstruction of the patrol guards, so that he did not see the changes in Fangcheng with his own eyes, and only today did he see the changes in Fangcheng City: I saw that in the city, sometimes I could meet Wei soldiers in armor, but ordinary people, but none of them could be seen, this Fangcheng was like a huge military camp.

Probably noticing that Qu Yuan was looking at the city, Meng Zhong said with a smile: "It looks a little deserted now, but when the army is formed in the future, it will be lively here." ”

Boisterous?

Isn't it, according to Meng Zhong's concept, Fangcheng should be stationed at least 30,000 soldiers, not including the soldiers who are responsible for doing chores, if these soldiers are allowed to bring their families to live in the city, Fangcheng will probably exceed 100,000 in the future.

A city with a population of 100,000, although there is still a gap compared to large cities with a population of tens of thousands of households like Linzi and Handan, but it is also quite a remarkable thing, after all, in the world, not every city can support an army of 30,000 or 50,000.

Looking at the Hedong (county) of the Wei State, dozens of cities, large and small, can only feed 100,000 Hedong troops, which shows that the consumption is huge.

Walking along the street to the county capital in the city, Meng Zhong turned over and dismounted, took Qu Yuan and a group of guards, and strode into the mansion.

After only a dozen steps after entering the door, Meng Zhong heard the laughter of a violent kite coming from the main hall of the county government's main house.

He quickened his pace and walked in, just in time to see the storm kite and Meng Sui talking happily.

It is worth mentioning that this time there was not only one person who came to Fangcheng, but also two other people, one of whom Meng Zhong knew, who was known to Gong Zhong when he was in South Korea some time ago, and the other person was a general in armor, who was over thirty years old, and Meng Zhong did not recognize it.

"Tyrant, Mr. Gongzhong."

After entering the door, Meng Zhong smiled and bowed to the two, after all, these two can also be called his old acquaintances in Korea.

"Haha, my brother is here."

Turning his head to see Meng Zhong, the violent kite immediately stood up from the banquet, clasped his fists and saluted back: "Brother, the foolish brother has come to find the elder brother to eat wine." ”

From the side, Gong Zhongxuan also got up and said with a smile: "Master Meng, don't come to harm." ”

As soon as the words fell, the violent kite corrected beside him: "What is Master Meng, now the elder brother should be called Fang Cheng Ling......" As he spoke, he smacked his lips, I am afraid that he does not think that Fang Cheng Ling is a big official.

At least in the eyes of the storm kite, Meng Zhong's appointment as Fang Chengling belonged to Qu Cai.

At the same time that the two of them returned the salute to Meng Zhong, the general, who was in his thirties, also got up and saluted Meng Zhong and introduced himself: "In Xia Han Xiao, Ren Wan City Guard." ”

It turned out that this person was the Wancheng guard who Meng Zhong decided to visit in the spring of the New Year some time ago.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong immediately replied: "In Xia Mengzhong, when passing through Wancheng a while ago, I had the intention to visit the city guard, but I had important things to do at that time, so I couldn't meet him in person to forgive my sins. ”

Han Xiao, the guard of Wancheng, smiled slightly.

Of course he knew what Meng Zhong was busy with some time ago, after all, thousands of Chu people had migrated from Chu to Yeyi, and the Han army generals in Wancheng were not blind, how could they not see it? It's just that this is the matter of Ye Yi of Wei State, and they didn't interfere.

As for Han Xiao himself, he didn't have any special opinion on Meng Zhong, and he didn't actually want to come over to meet this young Fang Cheng Ling before, but the two of them came to Wancheng and came to Fang Cheng to meet Meng Zhong, so Han Xiao came with them.

That's all.

Just as Meng Zhong and Han Xiao greeted each other, Qu Yuan, who was one step behind Meng Zhong, just walked into the house.

Hearing the movement, Gong Zhongxuan turned his head to look at it, and was stunned for a moment.

You must know that since Gong Zhongxuan was removed from the position of state minister, he has served as an envoy and guest of his brother Gong Zhongmin, and sometimes sent envoys to Qin and Korea on behalf of his brother, so of course he recognized Qu Yuan, a former leftist who failed to preside over the reform in Chu State.

"Doctor Qu?"

With an exclamation, Gong Zhongxuan hurriedly stepped forward to salute Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan also recognized Gong Zhong's extravagance, and when he heard this, he bowed his hand and saluted back: "Mr. Gong Zhong." ”

After saluting, Gong Zhong asked curiously, "Why is Dr. Qu here?" ”

"Just because of a misunderstanding."

Qu Yuan did not hide it, and quietly invaded the Chu realm with Meng Zhong and led his troops to abduct the Chu people, so that he was wary of the other city and came to investigate, and everyone present couldn't help but laugh.

Thinking about it, isn't it funny that the dignified city order, the banner of the army was secretly snuck to the state of Chu, and the people of Chu were abducted with Tian Li, sneaking like a thief?

However, when they heard that Qu Yuan was exiled by the Chu State for the second time, everyone present still felt embarrassed.

Especially the public extravagance.

I have to say that Gong Zhong Extravagant and Qu Yuan are very similar, both have the talent to be the prime minister of a country, the difference is only that Gong Zhong extravagant is unwilling to be used by the king of Han, and Qu Yuan wants to contribute to the country but is not used by the king of Chu Xiong Heng, so that the two are obviously talented wise men, but now one is white, and the other is guilty, which is really suffocating.

At this time, Meng Sui interjected on the side: "Everyone, I have ordered the soldiers to prepare wine and food, why don't I wait and chat while drinking?" Ah Chung. ”

Meng Zhong nodded, and immediately ordered the soldiers to serve wine and food.

After the wine and food were served, Meng Zhong, Meng Sui, Qu Yuan, Storm Kite, Gong Zhong Luxury, and Han Xiao sat opposite each other in the hall, drinking while continuing the previous topic.

At the beginning, the topic was relatively relaxed, mainly about Qu Yuan's exile from the Chu State.

Gong Zhongxuan was dissatisfied with the king of Han, and Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, was by no means a Ming monarch, so he stood on Qu Yuan's side from the beginning, scolding Xiong Heng for being mediocre and unable to distinguish the pearl with his eyes, which led to Zhongliang being exiled.

Subsequently, the violent kite began to take the opportunity to dig people: "Doctor Qu is unconscious, but he was exiled, instead of being exiled to Jiangnan, it is better to defect to my South Korea, and my South Korea will definitely treat Dr. Qu as a guest." ”

As soon as he heard this, Meng Zhong was not happy, he said in his heart I finally persuaded Qu Yuan to stay in my Yeyi, you keep calling me brother, but you are poaching people in front of me, what is the matter?

So he quipped: "Tyrannical handsome, your habit of poaching people everywhere is to be changed......"

Hearing this, the violent kite didn't react for a while, until Qu Yuan politely rejected him: "I was treated favorably by Fang Cheng's order and decided to stay in Yeyi temporarily, and Da Sima's kindness can only be lived up to in Xia." ”

Only then did the violent kite understand that he had dug up his brother emotionally.

He hurriedly confessed to Meng Zhong: "Brother, forgive your sins, forgive your sins." …… The foolish brother is punished for drinking, and he is punished for drinking. ”

I have to say, in fact, I don't blame the tyrannical kite, after all, who would have thought that the small temple of Meng Zhong would leave a god like Qu Yuan?

No, when Gong Zhongxuan heard Qu Yuan's words, his face also showed a surprised expression, and he immediately thought about it.

Seeing that the violent kite punished the wine and apologized, Meng Zhong naturally would not hold on to it anymore, after all, he also understood the suffering of the violent kite: South Korea is now too weak and has no appearance of a king, so that today's sages have gathered in the three kingdoms of Qin, Zhao, and Wei, and rarely defected to South Korea.

Even if a wise man defects to South Korea, South Korea may not be able to keep it.

is like the rhino head Gongsun Yan back then, he was framed by Tian Xu, an important minister of Wei, and fled to South Korea to serve as the minister of Han, but not long after, Gongsun Yan wanted to return to Wei.

Is South Korea treating Gongsun Yan badly?

Of course not!

In the final analysis, it was because South Korea was too weak to realize Gongsun Yan's ambitions and let him show his skills.

In this case, as the big Sima of South Korea and the important minister of the decision-making level, Storm Kite is naturally trying to recruit more talents for South Korea, from the day of the envelopment of Meng Zhong to the invitation of Qu Yuan today.

After three rounds of drinking, the topic of small talk among everyone gradually shifted from Qu Yuan to Meng Zhong.

Of course, it was inevitable that the violent kite would take the opportunity to bury the Wei State, accusing the Wei State of condescending to Meng Zhong, and actually sent the biggest hero of the Battle of Yique to the area of Fangcheng.

In this regard, Meng Zhongfu laughed.

Of course, he understands that Storm Kite has not given up his intention to encircle him in South Korea.

Moreover, although the area around Fangcheng was poor and backward, there were almost no strong local nobles to hinder him, and the King of Wei allowed him to have an army of 50,000, so Meng Zhong felt that he could make a lot of achievements in Fangcheng, so he naturally ignored the discord of the tyrant.

And the violent kite was testing Meng Zhong's attitude, and felt that Meng Zhong was quite satisfied with the current situation, so he also gave up the idea of continuing to separate Meng Zhong and Wei State.

As a result, the topic of the banquet gradually shifted to the current common threat of the two countries, namely the Qin state.

Storm Kite told Meng Zhong: "There is news from the Qin State that the Qin State has begun to raise grain and grass and gather troops in early October, and I don't know what action will be taken. ”

Although he didn't say it explicitly, in fact, almost everyone present could guess that the Qin State was probably raising grain and grass and gathering troops to attack the Chu State.

After all, in recent years, the Qin State has taken turns attacking the three kingdoms of Wei, Han and Chu - until one country succumbs and cedes land for peace, it will continue to attack with another country, and then change the target of the attack after a year or two.

It has to be said that after the self-defense martingale implemented the "military merit system" in the Qin State, the Qin State became extremely aggressive, attacking the three kingdoms of Wei, Han and Chu repeatedly, and there was almost no pause.

Such an intensive conquest shocked all the countries of the Central Plains: wouldn't such a dense battle make the Qin army's army rise up to resist?

But the fact is that the army of the Qin State still maintains a high level of morale and combat effectiveness, which is daunting.

At this time, the storm kite also said his intention, he wanted to know what Meng Zhong thought about the "Qin State's attack on the Chu State".

Although Qu Yuan was next to him, when it came to matters of principle, Meng Zhong naturally would not waste his personal interests for public purposes, he shook his head and said: "Unless the King of Wei has an order, otherwise, our city will not interfere in this matter." …… I am now a general of Wei after all, and I should consider the interests of Wei. ”

This last sentence was clearly for Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan sighed secretly when he heard this, but it was not easy to say anything, after all, Meng Zhong was right, even if the positions of the two were reversed, he Qu Yuan would not intervene in the war of another country for no reason without the king's order.

But Storm Kite didn't seem to be satisfied with Meng Zhong's answer, shook his head and said, "Brother, the foolish brother is asking what you think in your heart, not how you will treat it. …… You and I both know that the battle of Yique made the Qin State a little awe-inspiring to me, Han and Wei, so I offered my land to sue for peace, temporarily resolved the conflict with our Han and Wei, and turned to attack the Chu State. Chu State ......"

He glanced at Qu Yuan apologetically, and then continued: "The Chu State can't stop the Qin State. As far as the foolish brother knows, although the king of Chu collects heavy taxes in the country, he uses them for the pleasures of the royal family and the construction of temples and pavilions, and refuses to spend money on the country and the army, so that in the past few years, the strength of the state of Chu has not improved, but has become weaker and weaker......"

Hearing these words, Qu Yuan also closed his eyes in pain, after all, what the violent kite said was an indisputable fact.

In this regard, Meng Zhong was silent, and he asked the tyrant kite: "Your country intends to intervene in the war of the Qin State against the Chu State?" ”

"No!" Storm Kite shook his head and explained, "Our country does not intend to record the war between Qin and Chu, and my king is just worried about this. The state of Chu can't stop the state of Qin, but on the other hand, it is difficult for the state of Qin to annex the state of Chu in one go, after all, the state of Qin has just annexed Bashu a few years ago, and it is difficult for the state of Qin to annex the state of Chu in terms of both the army and the generals of the garrison, so the final outcome of this battle is nothing more than that the state of Chu once again cedes the land and sues for peace and submits to the state of Qin. And this is exactly what my king is worried about. If the state of Chu submits to the state of Qin, it will inevitably boost the ambition of the state of Qin, and make it think of me, Han and Wei again. ”

After a pause, he continued: "For this matter, the Minister of State personally went to Daliang a while ago to discuss this matter with King Wei and Tian Wen, hoping that Wei and Han can jointly come forward to mediate this battle. ”

The so-called mediation refers to forcing one or both parties to stop annexing each other through diplomatic relations, which is also a trick used by the great powers of the past to prevent the rise of small countries.

For example, the Jin State, the Qi State, and even the Song State during the time of Song Xianggong often intervened in the wars of other countries, trying to make the two sides of the war stop the war.

By the way, it seems that some countries will buy this kind of mediation in the wars of other countries, and some countries will not, such as Song Xianggong at the beginning, and Chu State did not buy it, because the strength of Chu State at that time was stronger than the alliance of small countries led by Song State.

And now, the storm kite said that he wanted to mediate the war between the Qin State and the Chu State, could this really be done?

You must know that the Qin State did not have the strength to fight with Wei and Han, and the Qin State had ceded land to the two countries and sued for peace, just wanting to end the war as soon as possible, and did not want to lose more troops.

If it really angered the Qin State and made the Qin State devote all its troops to crusade against Wei and Han, to be honest, the chances of victory between Wei and Han were only sixty percent at most, and they could not be more.

Perhaps noticing Meng Zhong's strange expression, Storm Kite smiled and explained, "Mediation, whether it succeeds or not, what's the harm in trying?" ”

Even if Qin did not agree to the mediation between Wei and Han, it would not be able to grasp any tricks to immediately start a war against Wei and Han, not to mention that Qin lost the battle of Yique, and now it still has some scruples about Wei and Han.

And this is also the only way for Wei and Han to peacefully intervene in the Qin-Chu War.

"As for privately......

Storm Kite smiled, and after turning his head to look at Han Xiao, he continued to say to Meng Zhong: "Brother Yu brought Han Xiao here today, just in the hope that the elder brother and him can get acquainted with him, and when the Qin army invades this area in the future, the two armies of Han and Wei can join forces to give the Qin army some obstacles, and delay the Qin army's attack on Chu as much as possible...... Brother and think about it, although this is against the king's order, but it is beneficial to our Han and Wei countries, the Chu State is defeated by the Qin army one day later, and the Qin State will surrender to the Qin State one day later, and the Qin State will use troops against the Han and Wei countries one day later. ”

Meng Zhong was thoughtful.

On the same day, after talking about business, Meng Zhong accompanied the violent kite to get drunk, and it was not until near evening that the violent kite was helped up by the carriage of Han Xiao, the guard of Wancheng, and returned to Wancheng.

But Gong Zhongxuan stayed in Fangcheng.

It can be seen that Gong Zhongxuan's decision to stay in Fangcheng for the time being is also a temporary intention, no, when he brought up this matter, Wancheng Guard Han Xiao was stunned, obviously Gong Zhongxuan had not mentioned it to them in advance.

In the evening, while waiting for dinner, Meng Zhong asked Gong Zhong about this matter.

Gong Zhongxuan replied very frankly: "Similar to Dr. Qu, he is also at odds with King Han in Xia, and if he stays in the country, it is better to stay here in Fang Chengling." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong naturally didn't ask anything more, but Gong Zhong Xuan took the initiative to say the reason for his disagreement with Han Wang, that is, he supported Gongzi Lice back then, thinking that Gongzi Lice was more talented than Gongzi - that is, Han Wang, but unfortunately in the end it was Gongzi Hao who inherited the throne, so Gong Zhong Xuan lost his position and was replaced by Gongzi Shu, a heavy minister who supported Gongzi Xu.

Although many years have passed, considering that Gongzi lice is still in Chu as a proton, and it is difficult to return to the country, Gong Zhongxuan can't bear it, and tries every means to help Gongzi lice return to South Korea, but Han Wang is worried that Gongzi lice will return to Korea and compete for the throne with him, and he has rejected Gong Zhongxuan's pleas several times, which has caused Gong Zhongxuan to become more and more dissatisfied with Han Wangjiao.

Gong Zhongxuan didn't plan to reveal this secret to Meng Zhong, after all, Meng Zhong couldn't help him - maybe Meng Zhong could in the future, but now he can't help.

Unexpectedly, when he came to Fangcheng this time, he met Qu Yuan, a former important minister of the Chu State, which made his heart move slightly: Maybe he could seek the help of this Qu doctor?

In the face of Gongzhong's extravagant plea, Qu Yuan hesitated for a moment and said: "Gongzi lice are indeed in Chu Ying, and Zhao Sui can take care of them in the future, but Mr. Gongzhong wants to welcome Gongzi lice back to Korea, but not only has to get the permission of the king of Chu, but also has to get the approval of the king of Han, so there is nothing he can do about it......"

"It doesn't matter." Gong Zhong said gratefully: "As long as Doctor Qu is willing to introduce him so that he can meet Zhao Sui in Xia, the rest of the things will be considered by Xia." ”

Looking at Gongzhong's extravagant appearance, Qu Yuan couldn't help but wonder a little.

You must know that now Gongzi lice stay in Chu State, not because Chu State forced him, but because Han Wangjiao did not allow his brother to return to Korea, so even if Xiong Heng, the king of Chu, allowed Gongzi Lice to leave Chu State, the latter could not return to Korea.

Let's ask, how does the public Zhongxuan place the child's lice?

After thinking about it again, Qu Yuan suddenly understood: Gong Zhong was probably preparing to welcome Gongzi lice to Yeyi.

Of course, this matter is not harmful to Meng Zhong, or to him Qu Yuan, or to the Chu State, and Qu Yuan is also happy to sell Gongzhong to extravagant favors.

After all, after Meng Zhong's guidance, Qu Yuan had already woken up and would no longer want to protect Chu by influencing Xiong Heng, the king of Chu—since the road of Chu is impassable, then take the road of "befriending important ministers of other countries".

Together!

Qu Yuan's heart suddenly appeared a word that was quite hot in the past few years.

Hui An, Su Qin, and Gongsun Yan can join forces to resist Qin, and he Qu Yuan is not unable to unite the dignitaries of various countries, accept the big people who can be trusted, form an alliance with each other, and adopt a concerted strategy in a personal way to achieve the ultimate goal of protecting his country and resisting Qin.

And Meng Zhong of Wei and Gong Zhong of South Korea, these two are undoubtedly good partners.

As long as the three of them can reach an agreement, slowly develop, and recruit alliance members, they may also be a big force in the future.

Thinking of this, Qu Yuan couldn't help but say to Meng Zhong and Gong Zhong: "Fang Cheng Ling, Mr. Gong Zhong, if the two of you don't object, the three of us might as well make an alliance in private......

"The Covenant?"

Glancing at Gong Zhong, Meng Zhong's heart flashed with all kinds of thoughts.

I'm afraid Qu Yuan never thought of it, in fact, he and Meng Zhong thought of one thing, but Meng Zhong felt that the time was not right now, so he didn't think about it carefully.

However, what he didn't expect was that Qu Yuan took the initiative to mention it.

But there's no denying that it's a good thing.

If Gong Zhong and Qu Yuan can return to their own country in the future to serve as the minister of state, Ling Yin and other important positions, this will undoubtedly greatly enhance his influence in Mengzhong, and there will be no more things like Tian Wen deliberately targeting him before, and even affect the three countries of Wei, Han, and Chu; And if Gong Zhongxuan and Qu Yuan don't have the opportunity to return to their homeland to take up important positions in the end, most of these two talents will also choose to stay in Yeyi and help him deal with affairs because they are idle.

In any case, he will not suffer.

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