"PS: It's late for the code word today, because the author chopped off a hand......

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From Song to Zhao, it is inevitable to pass through Wei or Wei, and the same is true from Jingbo.

Wei and Song are still in a state of hostility, so Li Shi, the envoy of the Song State, took Meng Zhong and others to walk through the road of Weiguo, that is, the route of "Jingbo - Cao County - Dingtao - Heze - Puyang - Yangjin".

In fact, the relationship between Wei Guo and Song State is not very good, because in the "private alliance" between Song Wangyan and Zhao Wangyong, Wei Guo is a country that Zhao Wang Yongmo allowed to be captured by Song State, but because the threat of Qi State is too great, Song Wangyan temporarily shelved the matter of "attacking Wei Guo" - since the Song Wei War has not yet started, the relationship between Wei Guo and Song State is not extremely bad.

Around May, Meng Zhong and others escorted the scholar Li Shi to the "Yangjin (Yi)" of the Wei Kingdom, which belonged to the Yi city of the Wei State, but bordered the two countries of Zhao and Wei - Wei to the west, and Zhao to the northeast.

From the Yangjin to the northeast, not far away is the border fortress of the Zhao State "Gangping City", which was built by the former monarch of the Zhao State "Zhao Jinghou Zhao Zhang" in order to attack the defense of the country, and shortly thereafter, the Wei and Qi countries declared war on the Zhao State because of the "Zhao State Expedition Defense", and the Gangping City was also captured by the Qi and Wei coalition forces.

But two years later, when Qi attacked Yan, Zhao Jinghou united Wei and Han to crusade against Qi, and a year later, he defeated Wei and Wei, and another year later, he fought Qi again, gradually consolidating the status of "Handan", the new capital of Zhao at that time.

People in the world say that Zhao Jinghou does not cultivate virtue, enjoys himself, has no moderation in daily life and diet, and has no standard for punishment and killing, but in the more than ten years of Zhao Jinghou's reign, Zhao Jinghou's army has won many victories and defeats, and there is no danger of invasion by neighboring countries outside, and there is no worry about chaos among ministers inside, all because Zhao Jinghou knows how to use people well.

On the ninth day of the fifth month, Li Shi arrived in Gangping, held the runes of the Song Kingdom, and took Meng Zhong and others through Gangping City smoothly, and then continued to the north, crossed the big river (Yellow River) at the ferry north of Gangping City, and arrived at the land of Hebei.

After that, he turned around and traveled to the northwest, and spent nearly 20 days across Huanshui and Zhangshui, and finally arrived at Handan, the capital of Zhao State.

There have always been many theories about the naming of Handan, among which there is one of the most imposing - that is, the place where the sun rises and sets.

It is not difficult to guess that when Zhao Jinghou moved the capital of Zhao to Handan, he had the ambition to dominate the Central Plains in his heart, but unfortunately this ambition was finally blocked by Zhongshan - Zhongshan, a country embedded in the territory of Zhao, has largely become a roadblock to the realization of hegemony by successive Zhao monarchs, and it is no wonder that all Zhao monarchs have regarded Zhongshan as an object that must be eliminated, even if it is the current Zhao monarch Zhao Yong.

On May 30, escorted by a team of Zhao pawns, Li Shi led Meng Zhong and others into Handanyi.

I have to say that Meng Zhong has also seen "Taoyi", "Shangqiu", "Pengcheng" and other big cities of the Song Kingdom before, but these cities cannot be compared with Handan, the scale of Handan Yi seems to be as big as two Shangqiu, even if it is Taoyi and Pengcheng, it is not as good.

"Are there tens of thousands of families living here?"

After learning the scale of Handan, Meng Hu exclaimed in surprise.

In fact, Handan has far more than tens of thousands of residents, but tens of thousands of households, because it is the two largest capitals in the Central Plains in the world today and "Linzi", the capital of Qi State.

I remember that when the famous minister of Qi "Yan Zi (Yan Ying)" went to Chu State, he was laughed by the King of Chu and said a few words to describe Linzi, such as "Zhang Yuan Cheng Yin", "Sweat into rain", "Shoulder to shoulder" and so on.

And there is no problem with these words to describe Handan, because the scale of Handan is like the Linzi of Qi State.

When Meng Zhong, Meng Hu and others first entered Handan City, they saw that the streets were crowded with people and people coming and going, which was simply a place where no one could stand.

Not to mention the juniors of Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, and Meng Sui, even the young sect leader of the Meng clan, Meng Hu, couldn't help but feel a little nervous—as if he had come to a place outside the world.

Fortunately, the group held the banner of the Song Kingdom, and there was an escort Zhao pawn to open the way for them, so the group successfully came to the post house in the city.

The post chief of the post house was an old man in his fifties, and it is said that he also took Zhao as his surname, and this Zhao post chief came forward to receive Li Shi and settled him and Meng Zhong and other guards in the post house.

During this period, Li Shi said to this Zhao Yichang: "Please respect the driver as the upper gift, in the lower Li Shi, on the order of my Song monarch, please see King Zhao." ”

"King Zhao?" The Zhao Yi Chang said with a smile: "There is no 'King Zhao' in my country, only Zhao Jun and the 'master father', I don't know who you want to see?" ”

Yes, although Song Wangyan and Hui An, including Qiu He, who entered the Song Kingdom, all called "King Zhao" one after another, but in fact, Zhao was the only powerful country in the world that had not yet been crowned king.

The reason is that when Sun Yan, the prime minister of Wei, promoted the "Five Kingdoms Prime Minister", although Zhao and its monarch Zhao Yong were invited by Wei, Zhao Yong himself said that Zhao was not qualified to be king, and even instead of being king, he demoted himself by one level and called himself "Zhao Jun", and at the same time ordered the people to call him "Junshang" - although countries like Wei, Qin, and Qi all called him "King Zhao", in fact, Zhao Yong called himself Jun.

"This monarch of Zhao seems to be extremely ambitious......

After hearing the conversation between Zhao Yichang and Li Shi, Meng Zhong thought secretly in his heart.

Build high walls, accumulate grain, and slow to be the king, this is the original words that Meng Zhong once wanted to persuade Song Wangyan, but because Song Wangyan had already claimed to be the king at that time, he saved the sentence "slow to call the king", but he did not expect that the national strength is far stronger than the Song State of Zhao, but its monarch Zhao Yong can resist the desire to "call the king" and face the countries with a humble attitude, which shows that this Zhao King may have great ambitions.

But what's going on with that "master father"?

Meng Zhong listened to the explanation of the Zhao post chief in puzzlement, and after the latter's explanation, he learned that the original "master father" was Zhao Wangyong; And "Zhao Jun" is Zhao He, the new monarch of Zhao Yong.

Probably three or four years ago, Zhao Yong had passed the position of the monarch to the crown prince Zhao He, that is, the current Zhao Jun of the Zhao State.

And Zhao Yong himself, who calls himself the "master father", is currently in the "Dune Palace", commanding the army on the front line to conquer the Zhongshan Kingdom.

"Please honor the driver on your behalf, and the Song envoy will please see Zhao Jun."

Li Shi said rudely.

In fact, what Li Shi actually wanted to see was only Zhao Yong, not Zhao He, the current monarch of Zhao State, but considering that Zhao State would eventually be governed by Zhao He in the future, of course Li Shi couldn't ignore the existence of this person and went straight to the Dune Palace to see Zhao Yong, otherwise wouldn't he offend the new monarch of Zhao State for no reason?

"Please take a break in the inn, and the contemptible people will immediately report the matter."

Zhao Yichang politely said goodbye to Li Shi and the others.

Before the Zhao post chief took his leave, Meng Zhong asked him, "Post chief, is there a Song man named "Tian Bu 禋 (yīn)" in Handan City?" ”

Li Shi glanced at Meng Zhong in surprise when he heard this, and immediately seemed to think of something, so he didn't interject.

"Tian Buyu?"

Chief Zhao was surprised that Meng Zhong, the "Song envoy's guard", would ask without authorization, but seeing that the Song envoy Li Shi did not say anything, he also understood something in his heart, and after thinking carefully for a moment, he replied: "Could it be the retainer next to Gongzi Zhang?" ”

The son-in-law Zhang in his mouth, that is, Zhao Yong's eldest son "Zhao Zhang", today's Zhao Jun Zhao He, is Zhao Yong's second son.

"Exactly."

Meng Zhong nodded.

Zhao Yichang nodded, and immediately told Meng Zhongdao: "Whether this person is in the city or not, this contemptible person really doesn't know." However, as far as I know, Gongzizhang is currently in the Dune Palace, and he is working with his master father to conquer the Zhongshan Kingdom, and the Tian Buyu you are looking for is probably also in the Dune Palace at this moment......"

"That's right, thank you Zhao Yichang."

Meng Zhong was a little disappointed.

It turned out that before they set off from Jing Bo to come to Zhao, Hui Ang had secretly stuffed a letter to Meng Zhong and instructed him: "When you arrive in Zhao, you will take your brother's letter and visit a man named Tian Bu (yīn)." This person is also a Song person, when Qiu He entered the Song Kingdom, as an exchange for going to Zhao State to go out of the Shi doctor, it is said that now in Zhao Wangyong's eldest son "Gongzi Zhang" by the side, this person and Brother Wei have a little affection, you take this letter to go, he will treat you well. ”

Therefore, after arriving in Handan, Meng Zhong wanted to visit that Tian Buyu as soon as possible, after all, this person had been in Zhao for several years, and if his Meng clan wanted to settle down in Zhao State, he would inevitably need this person's help.

Unexpectedly, this person was not in Handan.

Subsequently, because he was idle, and because Meng Hu was so interested in visiting Handan, Meng Zhong consulted the scholar Li Shi and begged the latter to allow them to walk around the streets.

According to common sense, of course, Li Shi couldn't allow his "guards" to leave him behind and go to the city to hang out, but considering that Meng Zhong was Hui An's brother-in-law and had a special status, of course he would not refuse, and in the end he just told Meng Zhong and the others to be careful, after all, this is in the territory of Zhao State, don't cause anything, and it will not end well at that time.

After getting Li Shi's permission, Meng Zhong took Meng Hu, Meng Sui, Wu Ying, Xiang Yu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu and other friends from Zhuangziju to the street to appreciate the prosperity of Handan, the capital of Zhao Guoguo.

I have to say that Handan is indeed prosperous and lively, the streets, houses are scattered, all kinds of shops are readily available, the things of the Song State can be found here, and the things that the Song Kingdom does not have can also be found here.

For example, in a shop that seemed to sell clothes, Meng Hu found a kind of clothing that he didn't have in the Song Kingdom - it looked like a pair of pants.

In fact, this is called "silk", also known as "shin clothes", which is the clothes introduced by Zhao Yong from the Hu people after the implementation of the "Hu Fu Riding and Shooting" reform.

At this time, in the Central Plains, there was actually no concept of "pants", and the styles of clothes were basically robes with hems, so that all men were empty and cold underneath.

According to the guys in the shop, this kind of "hufu" is easy to move, whether it is a soldier on the march or a farmer working in the field, it is very fond of this kind of hufu.

Meng Zhong and his friends felt very novel, not only did they each buy one, but Meng Hu also brought one to the young sect master Meng Hu.

When paying, although Meng Zhong and the others did not have the coins of the Zhao State, because the two countries of Zhao and Song had been allied for a long time, the shop was also willing to accept the "cloth coins" of the Song State.

As soon as the sky was getting dark, and the coins in the bag were almost spent, Meng Zhong and his friends returned to the post house with the Handan specialties they bought.

During this period, Meng Hu smiled and gave a shin coat to Meng Hu, which made the latter quite puzzled, until Meng Hu explained the purpose of this object, and Meng Hu suddenly realized.

After joking, Meng Yu whispered to Meng Zhong: "Just now, there is a Zhao Chen named "Feiyi" who came to the post house, it seems that this person's status in Zhao State is not low, and he is chatting with Doctor Li in the hall at the moment. ”

Of course, Meng Zhong understood what Meng Yu meant, and after changing his clothes, he walked towards the house that Meng Hu was referring to.