"I didn't think there was such a secret in this."

After listening to Gongzizhang and Tian Buyu's story, even if it was Meng Zhong, he didn't know what to say.

He finally understood why Zhao Zhang, the son of Fang Cai, was so resentful of Zhao He's mother Wu Wa, and in fact, it was indeed worth resentment.

After all, Wu Wa relied on Zhao's father's favor for her, not only taking away the throne of the Han family, but also taking away the crown prince of Zhao Zhang.

If the prince Zhao Zhang is ignorant and has no talent, this is fine, but Zhao Zhang is similar to Zhao's father, is a quite brave heir, but because of the instigation of the harem woman, he has been reduced from a hot prince to a waste prince who no one cares about, even if it is Meng Zhong, he can't help but feel worthless for him.

The three of them chatted for a long time, until the prince Zhao Zhang was drunk because of the indignation of this matter, and Meng Zhong took his leave and returned to the palace in the city.

When he returned to the palace, Master Zhao had already sobered up, and when he saw him returning, he asked him with a smile: "Boy, as my guard, how can you leave your post without permission?" …… Where have you been? ”

Looking at Master Zhao's appearance, Meng Zhong guessed that he was very likely to have learned what was going on, so he simply said truthfully: "The kid just went to visit Gongzi Zhang and Tian Buyu Tian. …… When I came to Zhao this time, my brother Hui Ang gave me a letter and asked me to take it to visit Dr. Tian. ”

"Oh......"

Probably didn't expect Meng Zhong to be so honest, and a few traces of surprise and approval flashed in Master Zhao's eyes.

After thinking for a while, he said with a smile: "You are a disciple of Zhuangzi, a righteous brother of Hui'an, if you want to come to Ah Zhang and Tian Buyu, you will definitely be regarded as a close faction...... Have they ever spoken ill of me to you? ”

"Why does Master Zhao think that Gongzi Zhang and Doctor Tian will speak ill of you?" Of course, Meng Zhong knew that Master Zhao was manipulating his words, and asked calmly when he heard this.

Master Zhao's father was silent for a long time when he heard this, and then he sighed and said: "Han, Zhao Zhang's mother and son, I owe them too much, and Zhao Zhang hates me, which is also a matter of course......"

Meng Zhong thought about it, but still didn't interject.

Seeing this, Master Zhao glanced up at Meng Zhong, nodded and said, "It seems that you have learned some secrets. ”

Of course, Meng Zhong would not be stupid to deny it, and arched his hand and said, "The kid will be tight-lipped as a bottle." ”

"Not necessarily."

Master Zhao shook his head, immediately stood up and walked to the window, and said lightly: "When I abolished the queen and the prince, the ministers of the country all spoke out against it, and Feiyi also said to me at that time, "The queen and the prince are not immoral, and they should not be abolished lightly", I insisted on going my own way, and finally abolished the Han family, abolished Zhao Zhang, and established Wu Wa as the queen, and Zhao He was the prince......

As he spoke, he turned around and asked Meng Zhong, "Meng Zhong, you say, did I do something wrong?" ”

Meng Zhong pondered for a moment, and finally said: "Lord Feiyi is right, you should not easily abolish the queen and the crown prince, this will cause turmoil in the country. ”

Hearing Meng Zhong's blunt words, Master Zhao did not have the slightest anger, but sighed: "Yes, soon after the abolition of the Han clan, the king of Han sent an envoy to condemn me, and soon after, the diplomatic relations between Zhao and Han broke down, and Korea once again formed an alliance with Wei...... It's just because of the favor of a woman that my Zhao State has lost an ally. ”

『……』

Meng Zhong looked at Master Zhao with some surprise, because he found that when Master Zhao mentioned this matter, his tone was very calm, as if he was telling about other people's past.

"Is it ......?"

Meng Zhong secretly guessed in his heart.

At this time, Master Zhao turned his head to look at Meng Zhong and said with a smile: "I remember that on the day I first met, that kid from Meng Hu muttered in a low voice, wondering why the widow passed the throne to Zhao He when he was in good health...... Now you get the idea, right? ”

Seeing Lord Zhao looking at him intently, Meng Zhong thought for a moment, nodded and said, "It was Lord Zhao who fulfilled Queen Wu's dying wish......"

"It's just one of them."

Master Zhao shook his head, and then said to Meng Zhong: "As for the second, it was the fourth time that my Zhao Kingdom had crusaded against the Zhongshan Kingdom......

According to the account of Zhao's father, at that time, Zhao was in the fourth attack on Zhongshan Kingdom, when the Zhao army invaded Lingshou, the capital of Zhongshan Kingdom, and forced the King of Zhongshan to flee to Qi State, so that Zhongshan Kingdom was leaderless and a melee.

On this occasion, Zhao's father had the idea of annexing Zhongshan in one breath, but considering that this move might anger Qi and cause war between Zhao and Qi.

Due to this crusade against Zhongshan, Zhao also consumed a lot of national strength, so even Zhao's master father was not very sure that he could resist the attack of Qi, so he agreed to Wu Wa's plea and passed the throne to the crown prince Zhao He.

Since then, Zhao State has been "separated from military and government", and the new monarch Zhao He and the minister of the state Feiyi are in Handan and are responsible for governing the country; The father of Zhao, on the other hand, claimed to be the master father, sat in Xindu, commanded the army with strong troops and horses, and concentrated on annexing Zhongshan and facing the threat from Qi.

This reform, the initial results are very great, get rid of state affairs, and finally be able to concentrate on the conquest of Zhao's father, in the following year in one breath captured almost the entire territory of Zhongshan State, and even, even Qi State did not dare to face such a Zhao State, sent an envoy to say Xiang, hoping that Zhao State would retain Zhongshan State - I think this is the last bottom line of Qi State.

Considering that Zhao was not capable of completely annexing the entire Zhongshan for the time being, and considering the bottom line of Qi, Zhao's master finally agreed, allowed Zhongshan to still exist, and supported a Zhongshan prince heir named "Shang" as a puppet.

So the war between Zhao and Qi did not start in the end.

"At that time, I thought that Zhao He was still young, and he could be assisted by Fei Yi to participate in state affairs as soon as possible and share my hardships, while I could concentrate on opening up the territory for my Zhao State......," Zhao's father explained his decision to pass on the idea of Zhao He.

"I see."

Meng Zhong suddenly realized when he heard this.

However, there was one thing that Master Zhao didn't tell Meng Zhong, that is, he regretted it.

Yes, I regret that I canonized Zhao He as the crown prince, and I regret passing the throne to Zhao He.

There are many reasons for this.

One is the guilt of Han and Zhao Zhang's mother and son.

Second, as Zhao Zhang grew up, he became more and more robust and brave, whether it was his appearance, demeanor or personality, he was similar to Zhao's father when he was young, on the other hand, the new monarch Zhao He was thin and weak, and his personality was also cowardly.

As a result, Zhao's father gradually liked Zhao Zhang again, but did not like his second son Zhao He.

As for the third point, it is the position of the domestic courtiers.

Once upon a time, the state of Zhao was completely around Zhao Yong, and all the nobles and courtiers in the country obeyed Zhao Yong's orders, but when the new monarch succeeded to the throne, Zhao Yong became the father of Zhao, and the loyalty or support of the people to this Zhao master father gradually weakened - a large part of the people began to revolve around the new monarch Zhao He.

Including Lord Zhao's father's most trusted minister of state, Feiyi.

If Zhao Yong is already old at this time and no longer has the ambition of the past, then it will be fine, but this Zhao master father is still strong, and even has the ambition to make Zhao dominate the Central Plains in his heart, in this case, how can he accept that he is gradually losing his authority?

For example, when he was in the Dune Palace a while ago, when Zhao General Xu Jun talked about Meng Zhong and others, he subconsciously said: "Especially Meng Zhong who you value, he is the same age as the king, and he may become an important minister to assist the king in the future." ”

Isn't this an example of Lord Zhao's father gradually losing his authority?

Although Master Zhao's father smiled and didn't say anything at that time, he felt very uncomfortable in his heart.

Two days later, Zhao's father took Meng Zhong and others to tour the whole territory of Zhongshan Kingdom, and every time he arrived, he asked people to set up Bangwen in the city, announcing that this land would be owned by Zhao in the future, and the Zhongshan people inside and outside the city would become Zhao people.

Just like when the Song State attacked the Teng State, the Zhao State attacked the Zhongshan State, in fact, many Zhongshan people regarded the Zhao people as enemies, but the difference between the two is that the Zhao State is "famous", and in order to appease the people of the Zhongshan State, Zhao State has introduced a lot of policies that are beneficial to the Zhongshan Di people, such as the preferential treatment of Tianyi tax exemption.

In addition, the minister of Zhao Feiyi itself is from Bai Di, and he is the same ancestor as the Di people of Zhongshan, so in combination with this species, the resistance of the Di people of Zhongshan to the Zhao State is gradually fading.

During this period, he witnessed Zhao pacify Meng Zhong of the Zhongshan people, recorded this incident on three bamboo slips, and entrusted them to Zhuangzi, Mencius and his brother Hui'an.

It was only after about four months that he received successive letters from Zhuangzi, Mencius, and his brother-in-law Hui'an.

Zhuangzi's reply is the most concise and to the point, with only one sentence: this is the way of the "inner sage and outer king"!

Mencius, on the other hand, replied in a more numerical letter, saying that Zhao's move to "enforce the royal way externally and benevolent government internally" was the way to make the state strong.

In summary, Zhuangzi and Mencius's evaluations of Zhao's attack on Zhongshan and the pacification of Zhongshan were so close that Meng Zhong wondered if the two sages had communicated in private.

Not to mention, when Meng Zhong was not in the Song Kingdom, Zhuangzi and Mencius really communicated a lot, and the two of them exchanged letters with each other, so that Jing Bo of the Song State and Zou Guo specially sent these two additional messengers to facilitate the "exchange of academics" between the two of them.

As for his brother Hui'an's reply, he said that Meng Zhong's letter was timely, and that he had taken advantage of Zhao's efforts to persuade Song Wangyan to exercise benevolent governance against Teng, which should now be called Tengyi, regardless of whether the Song or Teng people were treated equally.

It is worth mentioning that during Meng Zhong's tour of Zhongshan with Zhao's father, he also met a Zhongshan native who was willing to join Zhao and become a Zhao person.

Unlike other Zhongshan people whose ancestors were born in Rongdi, this young man of the same age as Meng Zhong is said to have been the general of the Wei State, "Le Yang".

Well, this young man is called "Le Yi".