Five days later, that is, on the third day of the first month of November, Meng Zhong and his party, who bid farewell to Song Lei, finally arrived at Daliang, the royal capital of Wei in the snowstorm and severe cold.

Looking at the majestic city in front of him, Meng Zhong's mind remembered what Song Lei had told him a few days ago, about the history of the Wei Kingdom.

If Qin and Zhao are countries with the potential to dominate, then Wei is a country that has truly achieved hegemony over the Central Plains and a period of hegemony for a hundred years.

Wei State, born in the Jin State, after the decline of the Jin State that year, the three families of Wei, Zhao, and Han defeated the rest of the Jin families and joined forces to carve up the territory of the old overlord Jin State.

At the beginning of the division of the three families, the strength of Wei, Zhao, and Han was basically the same as the territory, but why it was Wei who later dominated the Central Plains, instead of Zhao and Han, can only be said to be due to luck.

First of all, the "Three Families Divided into Jin" was a period of nearly 50 years of civil strife in the Jin Dynasty, and the cause of this incident was because the most powerful family in the Jin Kingdom at that time, the "Zhi Clan", and its head "Zhi Boyao" relied on the strength of his own family to ask the rest of the Jin Shiqing family to cede land to his Zhi Clan.

For this kind of blackmail, both Wei and Han chose to give in, but the head of the Zhao family, "Zhao Xiangzi Zhao Wuxian", thought that it was a family business handed down from his ancestors, so how could it be handed over to the Zhi family? Therefore, they refused to cede the land.

Zhi Boyao was furious, so he pulled the Wei and Han families to attack the Zhao family, and the three coalition forces once captured almost all of the Zhao family's territory, until they reached the last city of the Zhao family, "Jinyang (Taiyuan)".

However, just when Zhi Boyao was about to fall the Zhao family, the then heads of the Wei and Han families, "Wei Huanzi Wei Ju" and "Han Kangzi Han Hu", were afraid that the Zhi family would turn around and annex the two of them after the fall of the Zhao family, so they united with Zhao Xiangzi and joined forces to defeat the Zhi army, and then took the opportunity to counterattack the territory of the Zhi family, killing all the more than 200 members of Zhi Boyao's family, and the three parties joined forces to divide the territory of the Zhi family.

After learning of this, the then monarch of the Jin State, Jin Zhugong, was furious and borrowed troops from Qi and Lu to crusade against Wei, Zhao, and Han.

As the saying goes, there is no turning back when the bow is opened, and since they have committed the act of deceiving the king, the three families of Wei, Zhao, and Han simply completely lost their identity as courtiers of the Jin State and united to attack the rest of the Jin families.

In a period of decades, Wei Ju, Zhao Wuxian, Han Hu three old, the head of the family passed on to their children and grandchildren, after several generations of efforts, finally completely defeated the rest of the Shiqing family, completely carved up the Jin State, the strength of the Zhou royal family did not dare to ignore, can only canonize the three heads of the three families at that time, Wei Si, Zhao Ji, Han Qian three three princes, so that Wei, Zhao, Han three families officially become vassal states.

As for why Wei was able to conquer the dust in the early days of the founding of the country, leaving behind Zhao and Han to become the hegemon of the world in one fell swoop, there are several main reasons.

Let's talk about the reason for the Zhao family first, civil strife broke out during this period: Zhao Wuxian wanted to pass on the throne to his brother Zhao Bolu's grandson Zhao Huan, which caused the dissatisfaction of his son Zhao Jia, causing Zhao Jia to rebel.

This civil strife greatly damaged the vitality of the Zhao family, so that Zhongshan Guo took the opportunity to get rid of the control of the Wei and Zhao families. [PS: These Zhao Guo chapters are available, so I won't explain them here. 】

Speaking of South Korea, the biggest problem in South Korea is that it is too close to the Qin State in the west, and it was okay when the three generations of monarchs of Qin Jiangong, Qin Huigong, and Qin Chugong were okay, until Qin Xiangong succeeded to the throne, Qin began to march to the Central Plains, and the first to bear the brunt was Wei and Han - what's more, Qin Xiangong was supported by Wei to sit in the position of the monarch of Qin, so the main target of Qin's attack became South Korea.

After the death of Qin Xiangong and the succession of Qin Xiaogong, a man named Wei Ying traveled from Wei to Qin, where he implemented the Shang Dynasty Reform, which made Qin stronger and stronger, and thus strengthened its attack on the Central Plains.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the early Warring States period, it was Korea that blocked the Qin State that was bent on expanding to the Central Plains for the Central Plains countries, and because of this, its vitality was greatly damaged, so that Korea, which was originally on a par with Wei and Zhao, weakened to the point of almost being on an equal footing with the Song State in the Song Dynasty in less than a hundred years, and deserved the title of "one of the three Jin Dynasty".

Of course, the above is only the hidden danger of Zhao and Han themselves, but the reason why Wei was able to dominate the Central Plains in the early stage was not because of the weakness of Zhao and Han, but because of its own changes to become stronger.

In the early days of the establishment of the Three Jin Dynasty, the Zhao clan became weakened due to civil strife, but Korea had not yet weakened - the Qin State was not strong at this time, and the Three Jin Dynasty at that time were still quite united, and they jointly expanded externally several times, such as attacking the Zheng State.

However, these few joint troops, because Zhao was located in Hebei, there was almost no benefit - even if the land was allocated, it was only an enclave, which was useless at all, so several times, Zhao not only did not reap any benefits, but became weaker because of it, and soon parted ways with Wei and Han, and went to attack Zhongshan State, Daidi, and Linhu on his own.

However, Wei and Han quickly increased their strength because of these foreign expansions, and during this period, Wei Wenhou, the contemporary monarch of Wei, reused Ximen Leopard, Zixia, Zhai Huang, Wei Cheng, Li Kui, Wu Qi, Le Yang and others, enriched the country and strengthened the army, opened up the territory, and captured the Hexi of the Qin State to the west, and the Zhao State of Yue to the north overthrew the Zhongshan State (Zhongshan was destroyed for the first time), defeated the Qi State to the east, and defeated the South State, and became the most powerful country at that time.

Subsequently, Wei Wenhou passed away, and his son "Wei Wuhou Wei Zhen" succeeded to the throne, once again pushing the strength of Wei to a new height, and during his reign, he attacked Qin, Chu, Zhao, and Qi, almost beating the kingdoms.

Until the death of Marquis Wu of Wei, his two sons Wei Gongzi and Wei Gongzi slowly fought for the throne and a civil war broke out, Wei State from prosperity to decline, and gradually weakened, although later because of the appearance of the famous general Pang Juan, so that Wei once again appeared short-term prosperity, but did not expect to be defeated twice by Tian Ji and Sun Bin of Qi State, resulting in the rapid weakening of Wei's strength, so that now, Wei State, which has dominated the Central Plains for a hundred years, has been inferior to Qin, Qi, and Zhao Kingdoms, and can only be humiliated in fourth place.

What was the reason for the decline of the Wei State?

I remember that on the way to Daliang, Meng Zhong was also thinking about this problem.

After careful consideration, Meng Zhong believed that there were two reasons for the weakening of the Wei state:

The first is that there are too many enemies and the military is scattered.

I remember that when the Sanjin group was first held, Wei did not take care of Zhao Guo's emotions, which led to Zhao Guo's secession due to the uneven distribution of interests.

Of course, this is okay, after all, at that time, Wei and Han alone could defeat the rest of the world's powers, but the problem is that Wei relied on the strength of the national strength at that time, and offended all the countries in the Central Plains, and even later turned against Zhao and centrifuged with Korea, so that in the end, Wei almost suppressed Qin, Qi, Chu and other powerful countries with the strength of one country, and even sometimes had to go to war with Yan and Zhao.

With so many countries at war in one go, it is not difficult to guess how huge the losses of Wei were at that time.

If Wei had not dispersed its forces at that time and aimed at one country to fight to the death, I am afraid that one of the three powerful countries of Qin, Qi, and Chu would have already been annexed by Wei.

Second, the brain drain is too severe.

The Shang monarch Wei Ying, who sublimated the national strength of the Qin State, was originally a courtier of the Wei State Prime Minister's uncle.

Legend has it that Uncle Acne said to Wei Hui, the king of Wei Hui, on his deathbed: Either reuse Wei Ying as Wei Xiang, or kill Wei Ying.

As a result, King Wei Hui didn't listen to a single suggestion, so Wei Ying ran to Qin after his uncle's death and helped Qin Xiaogong implement the Shang Yang Reform, making Qin then a nightmare for the Central Plains countries.

The famous "big husband" Zhang Yi, a native of Wei, returned to Wei after completing his studies, he wanted to show his ambitions, but he had no way, as long as he defected to his senior brother Su Qin in Zhao at that time, he was provoked by his senior brother Su Qin to Qin and became Qin Xiang, and only one person made the princes of the world fearful.

The famous general of the Qin State "Wei Zhang", a native of the Wei State, defected to the Qin State because he could not be reused in the Wei State, and became friends with Zhang Yi, and then Zhang Yi was the Qin Xiang, and Wei Zhang was the Qin general, one inside and one outside.

Subsequently, Wei Zhang defeated the Chu State in the "Battle of Qin, Chu Danyang, and Lantian Battle" together with another famous general of the Qin State, and then moved to Pushang with the Qin Li Ji, defeating the Qi army, resulting in the defeat of the Qi general Tian Zhang, which became the only defeat of Tian Zhang's life.

Wu Qi, a famous general of Wei in the era of Wei Wenhou, trained by Wei Wushu to fight invincible opponents all over the world, but during the period of Wei Wuhou, he was forced to defect to Chu because of the failure to compete for the phase with his uncle, and finally died in the civil strife that broke out in Chu State.

Sun Bin, the brother of Pang Juan, a famous general of Wei, defected to Wei first after completing his studies, but King Wei Hui failed to see Sun Bin's talent, and never paid attention to Sun Bin from beginning to end, resulting in Sun Bin being persecuted by his brother Pang Juan, and was rescued by Tian Ji, the envoy of Qi State, and then, Sun Bin helped Tian Ji defeat Pang Juan twice, cutting off the short-term prosperity of Wei in one fell swoop, and completely promoting the decline of Wei State.

Yes, just counting these people who have had a huge impact on the pattern of the Central Plains, the talents that Wei State missed include Wei Ying, Zhang Yi, Wei Zhang, Wu Qi, Sun Bin and others, not to mention those who are relatively famous.

Compared with the above two reasons, such as "located in the Central Plains of the four wars", this is just a trivial hidden danger for the Wei State.

After all, when Wei was strong, Qin and Qi had not yet risen, it was enough to beat the rest of the Central Plains countries, if it weren't for the Wei State to fight everywhere and disperse its forces, so that its own vitality during the period of external expansion was greatly damaged, and Qin and Qi took this opportunity to rise strongly, how would Wei fall to this point today?

It can only be said that the Wei State during the period of Marquis Wu of Wei, relying on the strength of its own national strength, erected too many enemies and did not seize the opportunity.

With such emotion, Meng Zhong took Meng Hu and Meng Sui and his party into the capital of Wei and rested at the post house in the city.

After arriving at the post house in the city, Meng Zhong immediately inquired about his envoy Li Shi of the Song State, after all, according to his Hui An, Li Shi was currently in the post house in Daliang City, responsible for persuading the King of Wei to form an alliance with the Song State.

With the help of Wei pawns in the post house, Meng Zhong soon found the Song envoy Li Shi, the old envoy who took him to Zhao back then.

After seeing Meng Zhong, Li Shi was quite surprised, after all, Meng Zhong was only fifteen years old when he followed him to Zhao State, and he looked quite immature, and now, Meng Zhong is eighteen years old, and he has been honing in Zhao State for two years, experienced the dune palace change of Zhao State, and then returned to Song State and experienced the war with his brother-in-law Tian Zhang, and has gradually sharpened a style of general, which makes Li Shi no longer dare to despise Meng Zhong.

After greeting each other, Li Shi said to Meng Zhong with a smile: "A few days ago, the old man received a letter from Hui Xiang, saying that someone would send a 'canonization certificate' in the past few days. …… I've watched the wind and snow outside in the past few days, it's really hard little brother. ”

"Dr. Li is serious." Meng Zhong smiled and shook his head.

"Little brother, I don't know ...... of that 'canonization'"

"Here."

Meng Zhong then took out a bamboo tube from his arms and handed it to Li Shi.

I saw Li Shi take the bamboo tube, open the lid on it, take out a piece of cloth from it, spread it out with both hands, and saw a few lines written on it, it was Song Wangyan who gave Xue Yi to Tian Wen as the official canonization order of the fiefdom, and the cloth was also stamped with the seal of Song Wangyan.

"Hmm, hmm."

After looking at it for a while, Li Shi refolded the cloth and put it back in the bamboo tube, and then returned the bamboo tube to Meng Zhong, and said: "A while ago, the old man received a letter from Hui Xiang, saying that he wanted to use Xue Yi as a lure to make Tian Wen help me in the Song Kingdom...... Later, the little brother and the old man will go to see Tian Wen and present this thing, I think Tian Wen will definitely promise to help my Song Kingdom. ”

Meng Zhong smiled and nodded, looking at the bamboo tube in his hand, and secretly sighed in his heart that his righteous brother Hui Ang took care of him.

Yes, the reason why Meng Zhong had to rush to Wei before the year, and did not hesitate to brave the wind and snow, was to hand over this canonization order of Song Wangyan to Tian Wen as soon as possible, so that Tian Wen would no longer be in the way of the alliance between Song and Wei.

As for why Hui Ang handed over this important canonization order to Meng Zhong, it was nothing more than taking care of Meng Zhong - as long as Meng Zhong went to see Xue Gong Tianwen with this generous gift, even if Tian Wen had a deep hatred with Meng Zhong before, this time he had to look at the face of this generous gift, and he would be reluctant to entertain Meng Zhong.

Isn't this a good start to settle grievances with Tian Culture?

I have to say that Hui Ang is also well-intentioned.

"Are you going to see Tian Wen?" After retracting the bamboo tube, Meng Zhong asked Li Shidao.

Hearing this, Li Shi glanced at Meng Zhong, who was a little tired, and said hesitantly: "The old man thinks that the sooner this matter is, the better, but ......"

Before Li Shi finished speaking, he saw Meng Zhong smile and said, "Since this is the case, please change your clothes first, and then go with Doctor Li to see Tian Wen." ”

Li Shi immediately nodded: "Okay, good." ”

After a while, after Meng Zhong changed into a new set of clothes, Li Shi took him, as well as Meng Sui, Le Yi, and Rong Wei, to Tian Wen's mansion together.

He deliberately didn't bring Menghu with him, because he learned that when Tian Wen saw him, the enemy who had caused him to lose face in Zhao State, he might say something ugly, and if Menghu was around, he might be able to compete with Tian Wen and make the atmosphere worse, which was not conducive to his Song State's purpose of trying to win over Tian Wen now.

Riding in the carriage, Li Shi, Meng Zhong and his party soon arrived at Tian Wen's mansion, a mansion that looked quite large.

Seeing this, Meng Sui said lightly: "It seems that this Tianwen, even though he has been hated by the King of Qi, is still doing well in the Wei State." ”

Hearing this, Le Yi also showed a faint sneer on his face.

It can be seen that Meng Sui and Le Yi do not have a good impression of Tian Wen, obviously because Tian Wen was too aggressive in Zhao State.

"Ah Sui, Ah Yi." Meng Zhong shook his head as a reminder.

Li Shi, an old man who has lived for most of his life, saw at a glance the hostility towards Tian Wen in the hearts of Meng Sui and Le Yi, so he explained: "After all, he is a figure who has served as the minister of state of Qi, Qin, and Wei, not to mention the current King of Wei, who also has a lot of trust in Tian Wen. If my Song State wants to form an alliance with Wei State, it is bound to rely on Tian Wen's strength. ”

Obviously, he was also reminding Meng Zhong and the others: although he didn't know what grievances Meng Zhong and the others had with Tian Wen, he hoped that Meng Zhong and the others would not show their hostility towards Tian Wen later, so as not to stiffen the atmosphere and hinder his negotiations with Tian Wen.

Comprehending the deep meaning of Li Shi's words, Meng Zhong said with a smile: "Doctor Li, don't worry, you will never talk nonsense when you are in the inferior." ”

『…… These boys, what grievances do they really have with Tian Wen?"

Li Shi took a deep look at Meng Zhong, and was secretly surprised in his heart.

It's no wonder, after all, at the beginning of Zhao Guo and his party, Li Shi returned to Song soon after seeing Zhao's father, while Meng Zhong and others stayed with Zhao's father, so he didn't have a grudge between Meng Zhong and Tian Wen at first.

After a while, after the guards at the gate of the mansion entered the mansion to report the news of Li Shi and the others coming to visit Tian Wenyu, they were immediately received by Tian Wen.

Of course, it was not Tian Wen himself who came forward to meet him, but his staff and courtiers, Feng Chen.

"I didn't know that Dr. Li came, but he didn't come far to greet him, forgive his sins." With a hearty laugh, Feng Tan walked out of the mansion and bowed to Li Shi with a smile.

"Sir, you're serious." Li Shi hurriedly returned the salute.

Suddenly, Feng Tan saw Meng Zhong standing beside Li Shi, and the smile on his face couldn't help but stiffen, only to see him squint his eyes and look at Meng Zhong, and asked with a little inexplicable smile on his face: "Isn't this Meng Zhong and Meng Sima of the Xinwei Army...... Don't come unharmed. ”

As he spoke, he arched his hand towards Meng Zhong, which surprised Li Shi beside him.

"Mr. Feng still remembers?"

Meng Zhong also bowed his hand in return, and casually followed Feng Chen's words.

"Hahaha."

Feng Tan laughed, then looked at Meng Zhong and said meaningfully: "Back then, Zhao Guo and his party, what impressed Feng the most was Meng Sima, you and the Xinwei Army under your command, after all, it was exchanged for the lives of five hundred chivalrous soldiers...... Impressions! ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong smiled and said, "So, will Mr. Feng block the door from the door?" In the next time, he was ordered by the king to give gifts to Xue Gong. As he spoke, he took out the bamboo tube from his arms and shook it in front of Feng Chen.

Feng Tan glanced at the bamboo tube, and suddenly guessed a few points in his heart, only to see him take a deep look at Meng Zhong, and said with an unchanged smile: "Meng Sima said that he laughed, everyone who came was a guest, how could he turn Meng Sima away?" Please! ”

The last word "please" was actually said in front of Meng Zhong and the others, which made Li Shi even more surprised.

Of course, Li Shi didn't dare to complain about this, after all, Meng Zhong was Hui An's brother-in-law, and Hui Ang was the current minister of his Song Kingdom, and he couldn't afford to offend.

At most, he felt a little embarrassed, after all, he was the envoy sent by the Song State to negotiate with Xue Gongtianwen.

Fortunately, Meng Zhong can be a man, so he turned around and said to Li Shi: "Doctor Li, the master is invited, why don't I wait for the first mansion." ”

This move gave Li Shi enough face, and Li Shi nodded with satisfaction.

Seeing this scene, Feng Tan smiled slightly, didn't explain anything to Li Shi, and took Li Shi, Meng Zhong and others into the mansion.

Maybe in Feng Chen's opinion, Li Shi doesn't have much ability, but Meng Zhong is different, this young man is a ruthless character.

Feng Tan will not forget that in the eastern suburbs of Handan, Zhao State, Meng Zhong sat on the chariot and looked coldly at the five hundred Xinwei soldiers under his command, almost killing the five hundred chivalrous warriors around Tian Wen who were fighting with him.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if he offends ten Li Shi, Feng Chen will not be willing to offend a single Meng Zhong, even if he knows very well that Meng Zhong, as a Song person, actually came here this time, after all, on that day, the young man Meng Zhong really left a deep impression on him.

After a while, Feng Tan took Li Shi, Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Sui to Tian Wen's study in the house.

At this time, Tian Wen was sitting in the study, holding a bamboo slip in his hand, as if he was reading a book.

But in fact, his move was just a pretentious gesture, because he wanted to show a calm appearance in front of Li Shi, even if he was actually eager to get Xue Yi again, but he didn't want people to think that he was too anxious, so as not to be swayed by Li Shi.

Because of this, until Feng Tan led Li Shi and the others into the house, even if he had caught a glimpse of someone coming in out of the corner of his eye, he didn't look up, pretending to still look at the bamboo book in his hand.

Seeing this, Feng Tan reminded: "Gong Xue, Dr. Li Shi Li has arrived. ”

"Oh."

Hearing this, Tian Wen put down his right hand holding the bamboo slip, raised his head to look at Li Shi, and immediately, I saw him put down the book, got up and walked a few steps forward to greet him: "Doctor Li, Tian Mou ......"

As soon as he said half a sentence, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Meng Zhong and the others who were following Li Shi, his expression suddenly changed, he changed his usual gentle appearance, stared at Meng Zhong with hatred, and gritted his teeth and burst out of his mouth: "Meng-Zhong!" ”

Seeing this, Meng Zhong arched his hand and said indifferently: "Xue Gong, don't come unharmed." ”

“…… Sure enough, it's you. ”

Looking at Meng Zhong for a while, Tian Wen sneered and said: "I heard that two years ago, you helped Gongzi Zhang to rebel in Zhao State, but in the end it was defeated, and was besieged in the Dune Palace by the army of Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others...... However, you still dare to appear in front of Tian today? Hum! Just asked Tian to avenge the grudge of the year! …… Come! ”

As soon as the words fell, several guards poured in outside the house, and before Li Shi and Feng Tan could react, they saw Tian Wen pointing at Meng Zhong and shouting: "Kill them!" ”

Hearing this, the guards immediately drew their swords and slashed at Meng Zhong and the others.

"Alas!"

Shaking his head secretly, Meng Zhong suddenly pulled out the sharp sword given by Song Wangyan at his waist, and cut off the blade of a sharp sword that was slashed at him with a single sword, shocking the guards who were stunned on the spot, looking incredulous.

『…… Good sword!'

Even Meng Zhong was a little surprised, glanced at the sword in his hand, and secretly praised it in his heart, it was worthy of being a sword built by the craftsmen of King Song.

In addition to secretly admiring, he glanced at Tian Wen, who was also shocked, and slowly pointed the sword in his hand at Tian Wen.

"I advise Xue Gong not to be impulsive, if you are impulsive, there will inevitably be ...... Casualties. ”

“……”

Looking at Meng Zhong, who was only a few steps away, and seeing his eyes gradually become cold, Tian Wen's face changed slightly, and he unconsciously took half a step back.