In the middle of October of the 35th year of the reign of King Yan of the Song Dynasty, three days after his brother Hui'an left Mengyi for the second time, Meng Zhong drove a chariot to Zhuangziju alone and told his teacher Zhuangzi what he had in mind.

"Do you want to go to Wei?"

After learning his disciple's intentions, Zhuangzi didn't have any other reaction, he just asked Meng Zhongdao, "Why?" Could it be that you want to promote the "Wei and Song Alliance" on your behalf? ”

The teacher laughed.

Meng Zhong seemed to understand the meaning of Zhuangzi's words, and said with a smile when he heard the words: "The disciple is not as weak as the crown now, how can He De lead the major affairs of diplomatic relations between the countries?" The disciple just wanted to increase his knowledge in the Wei Kingdom. ”

"Hmm......"

Zhuangzi was very satisfied with Meng Zhong's answer, and what he was most worried about was that Meng Zhong still blamed himself for his affairs in Zhao, blamed himself for the death of Zhao's master's father, and blamed himself for failing to protect the alliance between Zhao and Song, but in Zhuangzi's view, none of this should be held responsible by his disciple - of course, in fact, whether it was Song Wangyan or Prince Dai Wu, no one in the Song Kingdom blamed Meng Zhong, but Meng Zhong himself felt guilty.

After all, in Meng Zhong's view, it was precisely because he failed to protect Zhao's father and failed to protect the Zhao and Song alliances that a war broke out between Qi and Song last year, resulting in tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Song soldiers and civilians killed in this war; On the contrary, if the Zhao-Song alliance was still there, how could the Qi State dare to easily invade the Song State?

After pondering for a while, Zhuangzi said with a bit of melancholy: "When your Huishi was still alive, the old man also went to Wei many times, and he was a little thin with Gongsun Yan, Gongshu (cuó) and others at that time, but now in the blink of an eye, the old people of Wei are no longer there, and you have offended Tian Wen, the current minister of Wei......"

Speaking of this, Zhuangzi let out a long sigh.

The Wei State in his memory is the Wei State in the era of Wei Huiwang Wei Fu, but the current monarch of Wei is Wei Fu's grandson Wei 遫 (chì), where is still the Wei State in Zhuangzi's memory.

In addition, the old friends he met back then also died of old age one by one, so that at this moment, Zhuangzi couldn't think of any old friends in Wei who could protect his disciples from being ostracized by Xue Gongtianwen.

I have to say that this is actually one of the reasons why Zhuangzi acquiesced to Mencius's acceptance of Meng Zhong as a disciple: if his Zhuangzi's name is not enough to make Xue Gongtian Wen jealous, then simply add the name of Meng Ke's old thing, and Xue Gongtian Wen should not want to offend the two great sages at the same time.

Not to mention that Confucianism still has a certain prestige in Wei: first, he was the founding monarch of Wei, Wei Wenhou Weisi, who once worshipped Confucius's disciple Zixia (Bu Shang) as his teacher; Second, after the death of Confucius, Zixia moved to live in the Xihe area of the Wei State, where he once taught disciples and spread Confucianism.

I have to say that in view of the fact that the disciple was preparing to go to Wei this time, Zhuangzi was really worried in his heart.

However, he was worried, but he didn't want to stop this disciple - different from the mentality when Meng Zhong rushed to the battlefield of Teng State, Zhuangzi at that time only hoped that Meng Zhong's disciple could stay by his side honestly and inherit his Taoist thoughts in the same vein as Lao Zhuang, but in recent years, watching the big things that this disciple has done one after another, Zhuangzi suddenly realized that his disciple is not the kind of person who is willing to live in seclusion in the mountains and forests.

Therefore, Zhuangzi decided to let this disciple go out, and he also saw how far he, the best disciple, could go in the end.

Hearing the look of worry from the teacher's words, Meng Zhong smiled and said with relief: "Teacher, rest assured, according to Brother Hui Anyi, Tian Wen has turned against Qi State, this time my Song State sent Xue Yi this generous gift, even if he looks at Song Guo's face, he will not persecute his disciple......"

"I hope so."

Zhuangzi nodded slightly.

To be honest, considering that the Song State was ready to use Xue Yi to improve relations with Xue Gong Tianwen, and considering the names of his two old things, Zhuang Zhou and Meng Ke, Zhuangzi was not worried that Tian Wen would persecute his disciple Meng Zhong, he was just worried that this disciple would run into a wall in the Wei State.

After all, as far as he knew, Xue Gong Tianwen was still quite powerful in Wei now, and the courtiers and nobles of Wei might not dare to risk offending Tian Wen to befriend Meng Zhong, let alone help Meng Zhong.

But after thinking about it, Zhuangzi was relieved: let's just take it as a tempering of this son.

After chatting with Zhuangzi for a long time, Meng Zhong returned to Mengyi in his chariot, and told his mother Ge Shi, his sister Meng Yan, and his new wife Le Yan of his intention to go to Wei—of course, in front of these family members, he did not dare to reveal that he had offended Tian Wen, the minister of Wei, so as not to worry them.

In fact, Ge Shi and Meng Yan have already speculated about this.

After all, before Meng Zhong went to Zhao State, it also happened after his brother Hui Ang came to Mengyi in person, so when they saw Hui Ang coming to Mengyi again a few days ago, Ge and Meng Yan guessed that Meng Zhong was likely to go away again, so they were not surprised.

As for Le Yan, although she was a little surprised, considering that Meng Zhong had told him about it before she got married, she was not unacceptable.

She was just a little reluctant, after all, she had only been married to Meng Zhong for less than four months, and her husband was going to Wei State, and she didn't know how long it would take to come back - the last time she went back to Zhao State, it was nearly three years in a flash, so what about this time?

Later, Meng Zhong told his guard Rong Yan and his forty-nine Song soldiers about this, and asked if they would like to accompany him to Wei.

Rong Yan gladly accepted, but most of the forty-nine Song soldiers under his command showed hesitation, obviously unwilling to go to Wei.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong did not force these soldiers, took out some Song knife coins from their homes and sent them to them, and asked them to return to their hometowns, or return to Tancheng to repay the crown prince Dai Wu.

Only Rong Yi and the remaining twenty Song soldiers were left, willing to follow Meng Zhong to Wei.

Afterwards, Meng Zhong came to the home of the new patriarch of his Meng clan, Meng Yu, and after explaining the situation, he asked this uncle, who had been close to him, to take care of his family more on weekdays.

In this regard, Meng Yu agreed, but after agreeing, he also made a plea, that is, he hoped that when Meng Zhong went to Wei this time, he would take his son Meng Ao, and let this boy go to Wei to see the world, increase his knowledge, and sharpen it, so that he could become a man who could take on heavy responsibilities and no longer be naughty in the past.

Of course, this is not a big deal, and Meng Zhong immediately agreed.

Then two days passed, and on October 19, Wu Ying, Hua Hu, Xiang Yi, Mu Wu, Le Yi, Le Jin, Le Xu and others gathered in Mengyi with their bags and packages.

Before leaving for Wei, Meng Hu took Meng Qi, Meng Jian, Meng Yan and other elders, led Ge, Meng Yan, Le Yan and a group of Meng's children to see off Meng Zhong and others at the intersection of the township.

Seeing that Wu Ying, Hua Hu, Xiang Yi, Le Yi, Rong Yi and others, as well as those Song soldiers, had all ridden their respective chariots, Meng Zhong whispered to Ge Shi, who was still holding his hand tightly: "Mother, just send it here, everyone else is watching, it's embarrassing......"

However, Ge Shi didn't let go, and still advised: "Zhong'er, when you go to Wei, you must take care of yourself, and remember to write letters to your family from time to time......

"Good, good."

Meng Zhong made a promise, which made Ge let go.

Immediately, Meng Zhong turned his head to look at Le Yan, took the latter's hand, and squeezed it gently.

It may be that in front of the public, Le Yan's cheeks suddenly turned crimson, but she still endured her shyness and said softly: "Husband, don't worry, the concubine will definitely take good care of her mother-in-law and Xiao Yan'er, and take care of the affairs of the family." ”

"Please!"

Squeezed Le Yan's hand with a little heavier force, Meng Zhong let it go, turned his head to look at Meng Yan, and saw the latter biting his lip and looking at him, he said with a smile: "Xiao Yan, don't you say goodbye to your brother?" ”

Hearing this, Meng Yan's face showed a little hesitation, seeing this, Le Yan whispered a few words to her in her ear, and then gently pushed Meng Yan's back.

Immediately, I saw Meng Yan step forward and hug her brother and bury her head in Meng Zhong's chest.

Meng Zhong was really stunned for a moment.

After all, what he is wearing at the moment is not hard armor, but ordinary clothes, and the sister in front of him is no longer a little girl who was seven or eight years old, eight or nine years old, and has reached the age of twenty-eight and slim, so he will inevitably feel some of Meng Yan's hug.

For example, the former little girl has indeed grown up to become a big girl.

"Brother, please be sure to return safely...... "Meng Yan, who hugged him tightly in his arms, said softly.

Hearing this, Meng Zhong smiled with relief, reached out and touched Meng Yan's head as he did at the beginning, and said with a smile: "Of course! ”

After the good-natured laughter of the spectators, Meng Yan let go of the hands holding Meng Zhong with a red face, hid behind her sister-in-law Le Yan with a shy face, and secretly aimed at her brother from Le Yan's shoulder.

At this time, Meng Zhong took a deep look at the relatives who saw them off, and then suddenly turned around, turned over and jumped onto the chariot driven by Rong Yan.

Seeing this, Menghu, Mengsui, and Mengao also said goodbye to their families one after another, and boarded their respective chariots one after another.

"Gone!"

With Meng Zhong's order, a group of nearly ten chariots slowly set off towards the west.

Wei borders on Song and is just west of Song, so there are many paths from Song to Wei, but unlike the last time when they went to Zhao, when they went to Zhao last time, Meng Zhong and others had Li Shi, the envoy of Song, who had been to Zhao several times, and how could they not recognize the way to Zhao? But now, none of the people of Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Le Yi, and Rong Yi have ever been to the Wei State, and in this case, they have chosen the most convenient way.

That is, first go west to the "Sui River", and then follow the river upstream, you can go directly to the royal capital of Wei "Daliang", and you will not get lost because of the wrong direction.

This is also Zhuangzi's suggestion, thinking that when he went to Zhao to visit Hui Shi, he often took a small boat and went up the Sui River to Daliang, which was very convenient.

Two days later, Meng Zhong and his entourage traveled upstream along the Sui River to the north of the Sui River, where their hometown was located.

This city is the closest city to the western border of the Song Kingdom, and after passing this city, you will enter the territory of the Wei State if you go west.

No, it didn't take long for Meng Zhong and the others to encounter a pass built between the hills and the Sui River, and what was erected on the pass was the banner of the Wei State.

This is the first time Meng Zhong has seen the flag of Wei, only to see that the flag of Wei is all red, surrounded by a little black as the border of the flag, only the central position is written in black with a huge "Wei" character, so that when there are many flags, it looks like a raging fire cloud from a distance.

"Stop!"

Before they came to the pass, Meng Zhong and his party were unexpectedly stopped by the Wei guards on duty.

It's no wonder, after all, Meng Zhong and his entourage of more than 40 people, each wearing a sharp sword, and there are a full ten chariots to travel and carry coils and clothes, so you can see that they are not ordinary people at a glance.

"Who is your master?"

A Wei pawn who looked to be in his forties and the rest of the Wei pawns came up and asked with a little vigilance.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong turned over and got off the chariot, took the initiative to greet him with a fist: "In Xia Mengzhong, on the order of the monarch of my Song Kingdom, I specially went to Daliang to meet Wei Xiangxue Gong, and please be accommodating." …… This is a symbol. ”

As he spoke, Meng Zhong took out the talisman that Hui Ang had given him earlier from his bosom and handed it to the Wei pawn, only to see that the talisman was indeed written on the talisman with the words "Song and King Thirty-five Autumn, Fate Meng Zhong's Wei" and so on.

However, the Wei pawn seemed to be illiterate, and after looking at it for a while, he frowned and said, "Wait, let me report." ”

With that, he turned around and walked to the gatehouse above the pass, and told the guards of the place about it.

Immediately, the guards here personally came forward to interrogate Meng Zhong, and saw that Meng Zhong answered fluently, and held the order of the King of Song, so he let Meng Zhong and his party enter the customs.

Of course, before letting Meng Zhong and the others enter the customs, the guard general still did not forget to warn him routinely: "This is the Wei State, don't cause trouble, otherwise, the guards of my Wei State will arrest you immediately." ”

"Nature."

Meng Zhong smiled faintly, neither humble nor arrogant.

After passing through this pass, they had already entered the territory of Wei, and after only half a day's journey, Meng Zhong and his party encountered the first city of Wei, "Ningyi".

Considering that it was close to November at this time, and the weather was gradually getting colder, Meng Zhong and the others did not stop in Ningyi and continued to move forward.

About a day later, Meng Zhong and others arrived at the "Xiangling", which is the mausoleum of Song Xianggong, the first monarch of the Song Dynasty.

In other words, the area around here, including Ningyi, used to belong to the land of the Song State, but it was later taken away by the Wei State.

After traveling west from Xiangling for about a day, Meng Zhong and the others arrived at "Qixian (Yongqiu)".

Qixian is the capital of the ancient Qi Kingdom, and now it is a small city in the territory of the Wei State, although the scale and prosperity of the city are not as good as Shangqiu, Taoyi, Pengcheng and other most prosperous cities in the Song Kingdom, but it is indeed more lively and prosperous than Mengcheng.

Considering that it was quite hard to eat and sleep in the open along the way, Meng Zhong and the others decided to rest for a night in Qixian County and have a good meal at the wine shops and post houses in the city.

However, to Meng Zhong's surprise, in the post house in Qixian County, he happened to meet a Song businessman, Song Lei, who had a relationship.

"Brother Xian is also in Qi County?"

When he met Song Lei, Meng Zhong was still very happy.

Don't look at him, he and Song Lei have only met once, but at the beginning, Song Lei told him a lot of things about Zhao Guo, and Song Lei is also bold and likes to make friends, so Meng Zhong and him hit it off at first sight.

"Brother Mengxian? Hahaha, sit sit sit. ”

After seeing Meng Zhong, Song Lei immediately invited Meng Zhong to the table where he was, and immediately asked with a smile: "I heard that the virtuous brother just got married in mid-June this year, why is he in the Wei Kingdom?" ”

At this time, Meng Zhong had already instructed Meng Hu, Le Yi, Rong Yi and others to buy wine and food from Wei Shu in the post house, and after listening to Song Lei's words, he was very surprised and said: "Brother Xian also learned that the younger brother is married? ”

Song Lei nodded with a smile, and then said with a little apology: "I'm sorry, Brother Xian, when Brother Yu learned about this, it was late June...... I happened to meet a virtuous brother today, a little courtesy, not a respect. As he spoke, he took out a small cloth bag from his bosom and handed it to Meng Zhong.

Where was Meng Zhong willing to accept it, and refused several times, which made Song Lei take back the cloth bag.

Later, the two of them drank and ate food at the same time, talking and laughing, and then mentioned the matter of Fang Cai.

"Why is Brother Xian in the Wei Kingdom?"

Meng Zhong did not hide it, and said truthfully: "Thanks to the blessing of one of my righteous brothers, I will take advantage of the king's order to go to the Great Liang of Wei to increase my knowledge. ”

Song Lei suddenly realized, and immediately shook his head and said: "Forgive Brother Fool for being blunt, Brother Xian, it is not a wise decision to come to Wei State at this moment. ”

"Why is that?" Meng Zhong was puzzled.

Seeing this, Song Lei explained: "Brother Xian, you don't know, this year there was a war between Qin and Korea, and the Qin soldiers went out in two ways, all the way to attack Hebei, all the way to Henan, and the Qin army in Hebei was led by the Qin general "Xiang Shou" and conquered "Wushi" in one fell swoop; The Qin army in Henan was commanded by a young general named "Bai Qi", who was said to have conquered the "new city" some time ago, and it was difficult for Korea to take care of the ...... when the Qin army attacked by these two routes."

"Xiang Shou? White? ”

Meng Zhong muttered the names of these two unfamiliar people, and asked curiously, "Is it a well-known Qin State general?" How does it compare? ”

Because of the relationship between his righteous brother Tian Zhang, the only famous general of Qin that Meng Zhong knew was only the disease of the Qin State, that is, the disease.

"Sickness? This ......"

Song Lei pondered for a moment and said: "Xiang Shou, who was born in Chu, is said to be a relative of the mother of Qin Wang Yingji, Empress Dowager Xuan's mother's family. ”

"I see."

Meng Zhong nodded suddenly, and said secretly in his heart: No wonder I have never heard Brother Tian Zhangyi mention this general called Xiang Shou.

"And what about the general named Bai Qi?" Meng Zhong asked again.

"It's hard to say." Song Lei touched his beard and said, "Brother Fool has never heard of this person's name before......"

Meng Zhong was stunned when he heard this, and asked with a frown: "A person who has never had any reputation has suddenly become the chief general of tens of thousands of Qin troops?" ”

"I don't know the specifics." Song Lei shook his head and said, "I only heard that this Bai Qi is a military general personally recommended by Wei Ran, the minister of the Qin State. ”

"Prime Minister of Qin?"

Meng Zhong was stunned again when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask: "The minister of the Qin State, isn't it Lou Yan?" ”

"Not anymore." Song Lei said with a smile: "After the death of Zhao's Zhao master's father, the Qin State immediately deposed Lou Zhuan's phase, and replaced him with Wei Ran, the younger brother of the Empress Dowager Xuan, the mother of King Yingji of Qin...... This is a ruthless person, after King Qin Wu died for the crown, in order to support Yingji, this person killed the two princes of Qin, Huiwenhou, Gongzi Zhuang and Gongzi Yong, who were born in Wei, and expelled Queen Qin Wu, who was also born in Wei, to Wei, and controlled the national politics of Qin with Empress Dowager Xuan. ”

"What about Lou Yan?"

Meng Zhong was not in the mood to listen to the news about Marquis Wei Ran, and couldn't help but ask when he heard the words.

"I don't know."

Song Lei shook his head and said: "Since he was deposed by the Qin State, Lou Yan has disappeared, or some people say that he was killed by the Qin people, or some people say that he returned to the north of the Zhao State, who knows." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong couldn't help but sigh secretly.

Some time ago, he had heard that after Qiu He returned to Zhao, he was unable to promote the Zhao-Song alliance again, so he lost his news, Meng Zhong guessed that he was afraid that he left Zhao because he was disheartened, and he may have returned to the north, after all, Qiu He was originally from the Xiongnu in the north of Zhao.

And now, after Qiu He, another important minister of Lord Zhao's father, Lou Xuan, was also removed from the position by the Qin State and retired gloomily.

What does it mean that Qiu He and Lou Chuan were ousted one after another?

It means that the once solid "Qin-Zhao-Song Alliance" has been completely broken so far.

At the same time, it means that the Song State has lost the ally of the Zhao State, it means that the Zhao State has missed the best opportunity to rise, it means that the Qin State has since gotten rid of the clamp of the Zhao lord's father on them, and it means that the pattern of the entire Central Plains has been completely disrupted and lost the original balance.

Of course, despite the loss of Zhao as an ally, the interests and interests between Song and Qin were quite identical: after all, the main enemy of Song was Qi, and the main enemy of Qin was also Qi.

But the problem is that the Song state needs to enlist the Wei state to fight against the threat from the current "Qi, Zhao, and Yan Triple Alliance", but the Wei state is about to go to war with the Qin state.

Yes, with the relationship between Wei and South Korea, South Korea will inevitably ask Wei for help if it loses to Qin this time, and Wei will inevitably send troops to support South Korea and send heavy troops to help South Korea defeat Qin.

Then the question arises, between Qin and Wei, which side should Song stand on?

And what kind of position should he take to look at this war between Qin and Wei and Han that is about to begin?

Or to put it more simply, which side of this war will win more favorable to his Song state?

"Wei Guo!"

After a few moments, Meng Zhong had the answer in his heart.

After all, in his opinion, the alliance between Qin and Song was just hoping to let Song contain Qi, and once Qin defeated Wei, and even severely damaged Wei and even annexed Wei, the Qin State at that time would not need Song to contain Qi, because it already had enough strength to defeat Qi.

But Wei is different, although the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and Wei and Han have not won battles during the period of resisting Qin, but in general, Wei is still more difficult to face Qin alone, so it is necessary to unite with Korea.

Since they united with Korea, they naturally would not refuse to unite with Song, at least until Wei had enough strength to defeat Qin, and the alliance between Song and Wei should still be relatively strong.

Subsequently, when talking about the Wei State, Song Lei said to Meng Zhong with a smile: "Although the virtuous brother went to Daliang on the order of the king this time, the foolish brother Guan Xiandi seems to know nothing about the Wei state, are you interested in listening to the foolish brother tell about the past of the Wei state?" ”

Meng Zhongzheng was suffering from ignorance of the Wei State, and when he heard this, he hurriedly said, "There is Brother Lao Xian." ”

"Where, where."

Song Lei smiled and waved his hand, and told Meng Zhong everything he knew about the Wei State, which made Meng Zhong finally have a preliminary understanding of the Wei State.