In addition to the war between Qi and Yan, Shang Jia Song Lei also told Meng Zhong some things about Zhao.

For example, the body of Zhao's father was not sent back to Handan, but was buried on the hill where Zhao's father's father died, and for example, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng has become the minister of Zhao, etc., these are all news that Song Lei heard on the way to Zhao.

What surprised Meng Zhong was that he thought that they, the neighbors around Zhao's master's father, would be wanted by Zhao Guo on the charge of "traitor to the prince Zhang Tongdang", but he didn't expect that Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Fengyangjun Li Dui were not wanted by Zhao Guo, and even Pang Xuan, Ju Xin, and Zhao Hao were not wanted by Zhao Guo, and even the Crane Guanzi, who had previously fallen into the hands of Zhao Cheng and Li Dui, was also released by Zhao Guo, but they were also expelled by Zhao Guo.

Thinking about it carefully, when he was in Lingqiu that day, Fengyang Jun Li Dui did not send troops to continue to pursue them.

At that time, because Lord Zhao's father died in Lingqiu, although Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others obeyed the last wish of Lord Zhao's father before his death and never took away the body of Lord Zhao's father, they were not at ease to give it up, so as not to be eaten by jackals, tigers and leopards in the mountains.

They originally thought that Li Dui would send troops to pursue them, after all, no matter what they said, Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others had almost forced Wang Shi to a dead end, and Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Fengyang Jun Li Dui didn't look like magnanimous people, but unexpectedly, until Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others crossed the river, Li Dui did not send troops to pursue them.

Meng Zhong also speculated privately about this, thinking that this matter may be because of Zhao Wanghe's secret instructions, or it may be that Li Dui took Kuang Zhang's attitude into account, so he turned a blind eye and let him Meng Zhong and the others escape, as for whether it was because of Zhao Wanghe or Kuang Zhang, or both, Meng Zhong did not know.

After chatting with Song Lei for a full hour, Meng Zhong said goodbye to the former, and returned to the mansion of his brother-in-law Hui Ang with Le Yi and Meng Hu, and went to Hui An's study to meet this brother-in-law.

At that time, Hui Ang was reviewing government affairs in the study, but when he learned that his righteous brother Meng Zhong was coming, he immediately put down the affairs at hand and received Meng Zhong in person.

In the study, Meng Zhong told Hui Ang what he had heard from Shang Jia Song Lei, only to hear Hui Ang's frown.

You must know that it is only the middle of March, and the earliest time for Qi to use troops against Yan is only in early February, counting the time when Song Lei arrived in Pengcheng from Yan State, which means that Qi State has defeated Yan State in the middle of February and at the latest in late February, what does this mean?

This means that it only took the Qi State half a month to defeat the Yan State, is this possible?

"If what the merchant named Song Lei said is true, it means that the Qi State was ready to crusade against the Yan State at the beginning of this year......" Hui Ang sighed wistfully.

Like Meng Zhong, Hui Ang also thought of the follow-up to the "Qi-Yan War", that is, after the Qi State defeated the Yan State, it would inevitably immediately use troops against the Song State, forcing the Song State to submit, and even ceding land to sue for peace.

It may be that seeing that Meng Zhong was also full of worry, Hui Ang said with relief: "Brother Xian, don't worry too much, since the king learned from you about the drastic changes in the Zhao State yesterday, he has sent someone to Xue Yi to send an order, so that Xue Yi can strengthen his precautions and be vigilant against Qi sending troops to attack ......"

Xue Yi is the land that the Song State seized from the Qi State in the first two years, and now it has become the border between the Qi and Song countries, if the Qi State really wants to use troops against the Song State, then the possibility of attacking Xue Yi must account for at least ninety percent, after all, Xue Yi is a land with a population of up to tens of thousands of households, and its richness and prosperity are not inferior to the Tao Yi of the Song State, if the Qi State really wants to tear up the previous armistice agreement with the Song State, then it is bound to take the lead in recapturing this land.

In the next few days, the Song State always paid attention to the every move of the Qi State, and Meng Zhong also paid attention to the situation between the Qi and Song countries through his righteous brother Hui An, because he knew that there would be a war between the Qi and Song countries in the near future, and this was an inevitable war.

At the beginning of April, the fine work sent by the Song State to the Qi State finally sent back the news of the Qi State.

Sure enough, after the beginning of the year, the Qi State frequently escorted grain and grass to "Xuzhou (Tancheng)", and in late March, at least three armies were stationed in Xuzhou with unknown intentions.

Of course, this intention is unknown, it is only aimed at ordinary civilians, but anyone with a little vision can easily guess the intentions of Qi - after all, Qi is stationed in Xuzhou, and there are only two goals, either to attack Chu or Song.

Thinking about it carefully, how could the State of Qi attack the State of Chu at this time?

You must know that the state of Chu is currently in a situation of internal and external troubles, the Qin state in the west frequently encroaches on the territory of the state of Chu, and there is the king of Chu inside, which causes the state of Chu to become weaker and weaker, if the state of Qi takes the opportunity to attack the state of Chu at this time, wouldn't this indirectly help the state of Qin to annex the state of Chu?

And Qin is the most vigilant enemy of Qi at present, in order to jointly deal with Qin, Qi is trying every means to pull Zhao up, which means that Qi is currently a little apprehensive about resisting Qin alone, how can he do something to indirectly help Qin annex Chu?

Therefore, it is impossible for the Qi State to attack the Chu State, and its target can only be the Song State.

On the evening of the second day of the fourth lunar month, when Hui Ang was having dinner with Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, and Le Yi, he mentioned something to Meng Zhong: "Ah Zhong, tomorrow my brother is going to the prince's mansion for a banquet, you can go with me, and I will introduce you to the prince during the banquet, which will also be of great benefit to you in the Song Kingdom in the future." ”

"Prince?" Meng Zhong was stunned and asked in surprise, "Brother refers to Prince Daiwu?" ”

Hui Ang laughed when he heard this: "How many princes does my Song Kingdom have?" ”

Meng Zhong also smiled, and then asked curiously, "Why did the prince suddenly set up a banquet?" ”

"That's right." Brushing his beard, Hui Ang explained: "In recent days, didn't you find out that Qi is stationed in Xuzhou, and there is a faint posture of using troops against me Xue Yi?" So Dr. Xue asked the king and suggested that the prince go to Xue Yi to sit down, so as to show the Qi State the determination of our Song State to resist the invasion of the Qi State. The king agreed to this, so the ministers of the court originally planned to set up a banquet for the prince, but when the prince learned of this, he decided to set up a banquet in his palace instead, and the banquet was held for the ministers......"

"I see."

Meng Zhong nodded in sudden realization, and then asked curiously: "Brother, what you are talking about is Doctor Xue, is it referring to the prince's teacher, Doctor Xue Juzhou?" He is also surnamed Xue, what does it have to do with Xue Yi? ”

"Not bad!"

Hui Ang explained to Meng Zhong with a smile.

According to his explanation, Dr. Xue, that is, Xue Juzhou, the teacher who taught the prince Dai Wu's studies, is said to be a descendant of the nobles of the ancient Xue Kingdom, and his ancestor is the twelfth grandson of the Yellow Emperor's youngest son "Yuyang" "Xi Zhong", who was once named "Xue Hou" by Dayu, and is the earliest owner of the land in Xueyi, and it is also the oldest origin of the surname Xue.

Decades ago, because of dissatisfaction with King Qi Wei's reward of the ancient Xue City "Jingguo" to his young son Tian Ying, who is the biological father of today's Xue Gongtian Wen, some descendants of the Xue Kingdom moved south from Xue Yi to the Song State and lived in the Pengcheng area of the Song Kingdom.

And Xue Juzhou is a member of this part of the Xue people.

After explaining this, Hui Ang told Meng Zhongdao: "There is no need to be suspicious, Doctor Xue has good morals, is simple and benevolent, and is a rare gentleman in the world, otherwise Brother Fool would not have begged him to assist and teach the prince." ”

Meng Zhong nodded repeatedly.

So the next day, Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu followed Hui Ang to the palace of Prince Dai Wu.

I have to say that Meng Zhong has been to Pengcheng several times so far, and he has heard of the crown prince Dai Wu for a long time, and knows that it is a prince who is said to have a very upright character, but unfortunately he has never met before, so he has a little curiosity and expectation about that prince, after all, the other party is the prince of his Song country, and he is the future king of his Song country.

Around dusk the next day, with the relationship of his righteous brother Hui An, Meng Zhong took Le Yi and Meng Hu to the prince's mansion with Le Yi and Meng Hu.

This was his first visit to the mansion of the crown prince of a country, so he inevitably compared this mansion with the mansion of Zhao Zhang, the king of Anyang.

It's no wonder, after all, when Meng Zhong arrived in Zhao State, Zhao Wang He was already the new monarch of Zhao State, and lived in the palace in Handan on weekdays, so Meng Zhong did not have the opportunity to visit the residence of Prince Zhao He during the period, as for his younger brother Zhao Bao and Zhao Sheng, Meng Zhong had no friendship with the two Zhao princes, so naturally he would not be invited by them.

Compared with Gongzizhang's mansion, the mansion of Dai Wu, the prince of the Song Kingdom, is relatively inferior, and even in Meng Zhong's observation, there are many old buildings in the mansion, and even faintly showing signs of aging, but somehow it has not been renovated.

But seeing this, Meng Zhong not only did not feel disappointed, but had an inexplicable expectation.

Because this means that the crown prince Dai Wu is not a person who pays too much attention to luxury - in fact, neither is the Song Wangyan, and during the reign of the Song Wangyan, the Song State has hardly done anything to build up the earth.

To be precise, since the Song Dynasty's faint monarch Song Pigong to the next two generations of monarchs, that is, the two brothers Song Quecheng Jun and Song Wangyan, have never built a lot of wood and earth during the period of ruling the country, the difference is that Song Quecheng Jun put the saved manpower and material resources into the domestic infrastructure of the Song State, while Song Wangyan put these financial resources and manpower into the army, so at that time, the Song State was able to defeat the Qi State, Chu State, Wei State and other powerful countries before and after with a small country.

Although the years of war also put a great burden on the people of the Song Kingdom, and Song Wangyan was also labeled as a tyrant who was "reincarnated", strictly speaking, Song Wangyan was really not an ignorant monarch.

Looking at the state of Chu in the south, the country was made a mess by their current monarch Xiong Heng in order to satisfy his personal desires, and the Song state should be glad that they have met two generations of wise monarchs since Song Pigong.

It is these two who have fished the Song State out of the quagmire of a weak country, without these two, the Song State is now at best a weak country that has no impact on the situation in the entire Central Plains like Wei Guo and Lu State, and it is impossible to be like today, even if Qi State intends to attack Song State, it must be carefully weighed and planned in advance.

"Dr. Hui."

"Prince."

Just when Meng Zhong was still looking at the buildings in the mansion, Hui An, who was walking in front, had already spoken to the crown prince Dai Wu.

"I was bothered that the prince personally came out to greet him, and the ministers were terrified."

"What are you talking about, Doctor Hui? Doctor Hui has been loyal to my Song Kingdom for more than 20 years, and he has been very respectful of Dr. Hui for more than 20 years, whether it is Dai Wu or the ministers in the court, they all have great respect for Dr. Hui......"

While the crown prince Dai Wu was talking to Hui An, the rest of the courtiers who followed the prince out of the main hall to greet Hui Ang also greeted Hui Ang with a smile.

During this period, Meng Zhong watched from the sidelines, and was very surprised in his heart.

Although he had long known that his brother Hui Ang had a very high status in the Song Dynasty, but he was also very popular, but because he had not seen it with his own eyes before, he did not have much concept in his heart, until he saw the crown prince Dai Wu leading a group of ministers to greet him in person, and then he realized that Hui Ang's connections and popularity in the Song Dynasty - almost all the guests and all the Song courtiers present followed the prince Dai Wu to greet Hui An.

This scene reminded Meng Zhong of a person, that is, the Minister of Zhao Guoguo, whom he respected quite well, Feiyi.

He felt that, to a certain extent, Fei Yi and Hui Ang were really similar, not in terms of appearance or status, but in terms of their character and respect.

"These ......"

Just when Meng Zhong was secretly comparing Hui Ang and Fei Yi, the crown prince Dai Wu also noticed Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu following Hui An, and looked at Hui Ang with a trace of confusion on his face.

Seeing this, Hui Ang introduced Meng Zhong to the three people: "This son is called Meng Zhong, he is the righteous brother of the minister, the disciple of Master Zhuang, these two are the companions of my righteous brother, Meng Hu and Le Yi, both are very outstanding young people. As he spoke, he motioned with his eyes to Meng Zhong and the others to salute the crown prince Dai Wu and the ministers here.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong and several people immediately bowed: "In Xia Mengzhong (Menghu, Le Yi), I have seen the prince." ”

Somewhat unexpectedly to Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, and Le Yi, the crown prince Dai Wu actually bowed to them in return.

I have to say that so far Meng Zhong has seen a lot of people with noble status, although most of them are also polite to them, but with a proper attitude to return the salute, this prince of the Song Kingdom is really the first one, basically nodding in response.

This made Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu a little stunned.

What surprised Meng Zhong even more was that the act of Prince Dai Wu returning the salute to them did not seem deliberate, as if it had become a habit, which made Meng Zhong couldn't help but secretly praise the etiquette of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

In addition to complimenting, Meng Zhong secretly looked at the Royal Highness of the Crown Prince in front of him, and saw that the other party was about thirty years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a resolute face, and a small beard on his chin, which looked quite dignified, but because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a thick smile on his face, it gave people a sense of affinity like a spring breeze.

Meng Zhong secretly compared this crown prince with Gongzi Zhang, and with Zhao Wang He, compared with Gongzi Zhang, who was too strict with people who were not close to him, Prince Dai Wu was a little less stern and a little more lenient, and compared with Zhao Wang He, Prince Dai Wu did not look cowardly and introverted like Zhao Wang He - of course, Meng Zhong knew in his heart that Zhao Wang He was actually not cowardly, and the person who could sit back and watch ruthlessly, and even hint that his courtiers had driven his biological father to a dead end, would he be a truly cowardly monarch?

All in all, compared with Gongzi Zhang and Zhao Wanghe, the crown prince Dai Wu's majesty and affinity coexist, just like Meng Zhong's Zhao master's father when he first met, at least in Meng Zhong's personal feelings, his first impression of the crown prince Dai Wu was much better than that of Song Wangyan.

Of course, the reason why he had an extremely bad first impression of Song Wangyan was mainly because his brother died in the war of the Song State against the Teng State, otherwise Meng Zhong actually had no ill feelings towards Song Wangyan.

"It turns out that the little brother is the virtuous brother Meng Zhong who has been on the lips of Dr. Hui for the past two years......"

Just when Meng Zhong secretly looked at the crown prince Dai Wu, Dai Wu took the initiative to talk to him, although he had the intention of expressing closeness, but there was no trace of deliberate wooing, and his words and deeds were quite decent, which made people feel very comfortable.

After a while, Hui Ang took Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu to sit in the house, and saw that the crown prince Dai Wu was taking a group of ministers to greet the other guests, Hui Ang turned his head and asked Meng Zhong with a smile, "How do you feel?" ”

Of course, Meng Zhong knew what Hui Ang was asking, and after carefully recalling the process of Fang Cai's contact with the crown prince Dai Wu, he said sincerely: "Since I walked out of Mengyi, it is the first time I have seen someone wait for me to return the salute. ”

Hearing this, Hui Ang smiled slightly, lowered his voice and said: "Don't think that the prince is saluting you in the face of you being my righteous brother or you being a disciple of Master Zhuang, even if it is an ordinary commoner, the prince will return the salute." ”

"Really?"

Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu all looked at Hui Ang with incredible expressions.

After all, in this era, how many children of the royal family with the status of Prince Dai Wu can be a corporal of Lixian? Not to mention the civilians of courtesy.

"It's true."

Seeing that Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu all showed shocked expressions, Hui Ang seemed a little proud, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "This is all the credit of that Doctor Xue!" This is also the reason why Brother Yu respects Dr. Xue so much. ”

After saying that, he turned his head to look at the crown prince Dai Wu, who was greeting the guests outside the house, and said sincerely: "The future of my Song Kingdom is entrusted to this prince. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu also turned their heads to look at the crown prince Dai Wu.

They must admit that although they have not yet felt the personal charm of this prince, at least they are not averse to serving such a monarch, after all, the crown prince Dai Wu has done his best to treat them with respect and courtesy—although corporal courtesy is a virtue that a superior should have, but in all fairness, not everyone can do it, let alone make it a habit.

As for the civilians of Lixian, it is even rarer.

For example, Xue Gongtian Wen, although he is respected for raising 3,000 guests, this person is not exactly like a scholar to civilians.

After thinking about it, Meng Zhong said in a low voice: "If the prince can really be a courteous and virtuous commoner, then he will definitely be able to win the hearts and minds of the people......"

"Yes!"

Hui Ang smiled and nodded, and then looked at the prince not far away with expectant eyes again.

In all fairness, although Hui Ang assisted Song Wangyan, and the two monarchs and ministers also complemented each other, Hui Ang was still dissatisfied with some of Song Wangyan's sometimes practices.

For example, when Song Wangyan hated the Teng people for assisting Teng Hu to resist his Song army, so after breaking through Teng City, he once decided to slaughter the Teng people in the city.

In the matter of teaching the prince Dai Wu, Hui Ang, Xue Juzhou and others are just like Fei Yi, the teacher of Zhao Guo who is responsible for teaching Zhao Wanghe, not only does not dare to slack off, but also does not allow anyone with ill intentions to teach the prince badly, which can be said to be sparing no effort.

With the joint efforts of Hui An, Xue Juzhou and others, they finally taught a prince who made them feel very satisfied, and even this prince, even the Confucian sage Mencius had great expectations for him, looking forward to Dai Wu becoming the monarch of the Song Dynasty in the future, and implementing the benevolent government advocated by Meng Ke.

And now, the Zhao State has undergone drastic changes, and the Song State is about to face a huge threat from the Qi State, considering that the Song Dynasty is already old, and his energy may not be able to keep up, so Xue Juzhou is ready to officially push the crown prince Dai Wu to the front of the stage after consulting with Hui An, so that His Royal Highness the crown prince will try to shoulder the burden of the entire country.

And the war that the Song State was about to start with the Qi State was regarded by Hui An, Xue Juzhou and others as a whetstone to sharpen His Royal Highness the Prince, only to win, not to lose!

The next day, that is, on the fourth day of the fourth month of April, the crown prince Dai Wu led 5,000 Song soldiers to Xueyi.

During the same period, Song Wangyan also ordered the three military commanders in China, Jing Hui, Dai Busheng, and Dai Yingzhi, to each lead an army to Xueyi, plus the army led by the crown prince Dai Wu, a total of about 35,000 troops.

It is undeniable that with only 35,000 troops, it is quite reluctant to resist the invasion of the Qi army, but it doesn't matter, after all, the Song State has not yet recruited the clan soldiers of the domestic family for the time being, once the Qi State officially uses troops against Xue Yi, the Song State will order the conscription of the clan soldiers of the various families in the country as soon as possible, and it is no problem to make do with 20,000 or 30,000.

But then again, even if you add 20,000 or 30,000 clan soldiers from various families, a total of about 60,000 or 70,000 troops, is this enough to resist the attack of the Qi State?

To be honest, Meng Zhong had no way to judge this, after all, it was not clear the scale of Qi's use of troops against the Song State.

But considering that the 100,000 army of Yan State was easily overturned by Qi State's army, Meng Zhong guessed that the number of troops sent by Qi State should be around 100,000.

However, it turned out that Meng Zhong still underestimated the revenge of the Qi king's field and his determination to recover Xue Yi.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, the State of Qi sent troops to attack the Song State on two routes, one of which set out from "Xuzhou", with about 50,000 soldiers; On the other hand, it crossed Feiyi from the Qi country to the Lu country, with about 100,000 soldiers.

The two armies had a total strength of 150,000, pretending to be 300,000, and they came towards Xue Yi of the Song Kingdom.

When they learned that the Qi State had raised 300,000 troops to attack, the Song State was greatly shocked, although Song Wangyan and Hui Ang and other Song monarchs and ministers knew that the 300,000 troops of the Qi State must be exaggerated, but when they saw that the information sent by Xizuo wrote words such as "covering the sky and covering the sun", "all over the mountains and fields", and "boundless", their hearts became more and more nervous.

To make matters worse, the crown prince Dai Wu lacked the experience of commanding the army, even though he had several experienced military horses such as Jing Wei, Dai Busheng, and Dai Yingzhi to assist, it was difficult to avoid suffering losses in the hands of the Qi army in the first battle, and within a few days he lost half of Xue Yi and could only retreat to the city of "Jingguo".

There is no way, because it is different from the situation when the Song State defeated the Qi State - the reason why the Song State was able to defeat the Qi State and capture the five cities of the Qi State was because Tian Zhangtong, the famous general of the Qi State at that time, led nearly 100,000 Qi troops to leave the territory of the Qi State, and the armies of Wei and Han were attacking the Hangu Pass of the Qin State, and they were not in the country at all.

However, among the troops of Qi attacking Song this time, there was the famous general Tian Zhang and the strong army under his command that defeated Qin.

I have to say that it is really not an easy task to resist the attack of Qi State.

On April 26, upon learning of the defeat of the crown prince Dai Wu at the front, Meng Zhong persuaded his brother Hui An, and on the latter's recommendation, Song Wang Yan allowed him to go to the battlefield to assist the crown prince Dai Wu.