After a long conversation with candles, Hui Ang and Meng Zhong became quite familiar and close to each other, and gradually adapted to the titles of "Brother" and "Brother".

Although Hui Ang is nearly thirty years older than Meng Zhong, in terms of seniority, the former is Huizi's nephew, while the latter is Zhuangzi's disciple, and they do belong to the same generation, so it is not unreasonable to call them brothers.

After getting acquainted with it, Meng Zhong felt that Hui Ang was a cold-faced and warm-hearted person, and remembered that when he first saw Hui Ang outside the mansion gate yesterday, he saw that the important minister next to Song Wangyan had a cold face, and he was quite imposing, and he was a little less friendly.

But after getting acquainted with each other and being honest with each other, Meng Zhong felt that Hui Ang was actually a very good person.

Of course, this is because of the close relationship between each other, if it were someone else, I believe Hui Ang would not be so confident.

According to their exchanges, Meng Zhong felt that Hui An's studies were very miscellaneous, as if they involved the scholarship of Taoism, Ming, Fa, Confucianism, and Moism, but the purest was not Taoism or a famous scholar, but Confucianism and Legalism.

I have to say that this made Meng Zhong feel very surprised.

After all, from the perspective of intimacy, Hui Ang should also gather the ideas of Taoism and Mingming, not Confucianism or Legalism.

In this regard, Hui Ang explained: "Taoism governs the country, governing a peaceful and prosperous world, and Taoism is first and foremost about 'governing oneself', and you are also a Taoist disciple, so you must be able to understand the meaning of the foolish brother." ”

Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

Of course, he understands that the Taoist idea of governing the country, that is, "doing nothing, doing nothing", which is based on "governing people", that is, requiring the monarch and the courtiers to have a certain moral code, the morality of the monarch and the subjects is never higher, the more Taoist governance can be reflected, but on the contrary, the Taoist idea of governing the country is difficult to achieve, such as the current troubled times, frequent wars between countries for the annexation of land, in this case, the Taoist idea is difficult to be accepted by the monarch, Even if it is accepted, it is hardly accepted as a strategy for governing the country.

To put it bluntly, Taoism is not suitable for use as a tool for royal power to rule over its subjects.

And suitable as a tool of rule, that is, Confucianism and Legalism.

Confucius's Confucianism, which originated from the Zhou rites, itself was for the nobles to rule the common people, but it advocated "benevolence and righteousness", advocating that the superior should treat the inferior well, and the inferior must cater to and support the superior, and its essence is still for the monarchy to rule.

"Punishment is not inferior to the doctor, and courtesy is not inferior to the common people", this sentence has fully expounded the essence of Confucian governance thought.

As for the Legalists, although the Legalists once advocated that "the prince should break the law and be guilty of the same crime as the common people", its essence was to maintain the rule of the monarchy.

And the Legalist must have the support of the monarch in order to carry out his ambitions to govern the country.

Once, the prince of Qin (Yingsi) committed a crime, Shang Jun Wei Ying said that "the law does not work, the top is guilty", decided to severely punish the prince to show the majesty of the law, although later after the persuasion of others to punish the prince's teacher "Gongzi Qian", but as a result, the prince, that is, the king of Qin Huiwen, who later succeeded to the throne, the first thing he did after succeeding to the throne was to kill Wei Ying, so that Wei Ying, an important minister who had ruled the Qin State, fled in panic, but no Qin people dared to take him in.

This is the end of the Legalist disciples who lose the support of the monarch.

However, in comparison, Legalism still has a specific and feasible theory of governing the country, unlike Confucianism, from the Confucius period to the Mencius period, except for the normative slogans of "benevolence and righteousness" and "etiquette", there is basically no strategy for governing the country - Mencius is also, the Central Plains countries have begun to implement the "Mingtian system", and Confucianism is still advocating the "Jingtian system" that has been outdated for hundreds of years, which is seriously out of touch with social needs.

Therefore, Hui An's proposition is to "rule the country by law and govern the people with Confucianism", and in general, it is more inclined to a moderate strategy of governing the country.

The rest of the ideas of Taoism, Moism, and Mingjia, Hui Ang thought that it was not suitable for use in the current world, so he gave it up, after all, the ideas of Taoism and Moism are too idealistic, and the ideas of famous masters are like imagination, most of them can only be used to increase knowledge and knowledge, but they cannot make the country strong.

After exchanging academics, Meng Zhong also asked Hui Ang about the doubts in his heart: "Brother, I dare to ask, is the king's crusade against Teng State to put pressure on Qi State?" ”

Hui Ang was a little surprised when he heard this, but he didn't hide it, nodded and said, "The king does have this plan. ”

Meng Zhong was relieved when he heard this, and asked again: "In this case, the Song State, the Zhao State, and the Qin State must have an alliance in private?" ”

Hui Ang was stunned when he heard this, looked at Meng Zhong and asked curiously, "Did the master tell you?" ”

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "The master didn't tell me, it's just my personal speculation. ”

Hearing this, Hui Ang felt even more surprised, so he asked, "How did you guess?" ”

Meng Zhong explained: "The country of Qi is a strong country, and my Song country is a medium country. Among the countries today, only Qin and Qi are the strongest, since my Song State wants to offend Qi State, I must have gotten some promise from Qin State, otherwise, this move is not in the interests of my Song State. As for the Zhao State, if the Three Jin Dynasty are united, even if the Qin State makes a promise to our Song State, the King of Song will not dare to offend the Qin State rashly, obviously one of the Three Jin Dynasty has a private agreement with Qin and our Song State......"

Listening to Meng Zhong's explanation, Hui Ang stroked his beard and was secretly surprised.

He believed in Meng Zhong's character as a disciple of Zhuangzi, and since this son said that he guessed it, it was his own guess, and there would be no falsehood.

A fourteen-year-old boy, who was in Jingbo, but could guess the private covenant of Qin, Zhao, and Song, this intelligence made Hui Ang feel quite surprised, and couldn't help but secretly praise him: He is worthy of being a disciple of Zhuangzi!

After thinking about it, Hui Ang Zhengse told Meng Zhongdao: "These words, out of my mouth and into your ears, should not be revealed to others." After that, he saw Meng Zhong nodding, so he continued: "The alliance between the Zhao State and my Song State has been formed a long time ago, not the present. …… In the third year of Wang's expulsion of Huangxi (Song Dynasty Chengjun), the monarch of Zhao State, "Zhao Yu", died, which is known to the world as "Marquis of Zhao Su". After his death, the monarch of Wei "Wei Fu" united with the four kingdoms of Chu, Qin, Yan and Qi to try to destroy Zhao. At that time, the new monarch of Zhao State, "Zhao Yong", succeeded to the throne at the beginning and sent envoys to negotiate with the king, resulting in the "Zhao Song Alliance". During this period, Zhao Yong sent people to persuade Yue to attack Chu, bribed Lou Fu to attack Yan and Zhongshan, and co-opted Korea, so that the three kingdoms of "Zhao, Han and Song" faced the enemy "Wei, Qin, and Qi", and finally won the victory, thwarting Wei's plot to unite the four countries to crusade against Zhao. …… Therefore, the alliance between Zhao and Song has been formed early. ”

"South Korea?" Meng Zhong looked surprised and couldn't help asking, "How could South Korea form an alliance with Zhao and Song?" Isn't South Korea from the Qi side? ”

"You only know one thing, but you don't know the other." Rubbing his beard, Hui Ang explained: "At that time, my clan uncle Huizi was in the position of the Wei State, and he facilitated the "Qi and Wei Mutual Kings", and the two countries formed an alliance and jointly defeated the Zhao State, and Korea, fearing that it would be annexed by the Wei State, formed an alliance with the Zhao State to resist the Qi Wei State. At that time, the monarch of our Song State was Huangxi, who was attached to the Qi State, so he was attacked by Zhao and Han. …… Later, the Qin state attacked the Wei state with great momentum, and the Wei state reconciled with Korea and united the Qi state to resist the Qin state. ”

"I see."

Meng Zhong suddenly realized, and then he asked again: "When did the Qin State form an alliance with Zhao and Song?" ”

Hui Ang shook his head and explained: "The Qin State has an alliance with the Zhao State, but there is no alliance with my Song State, but the three parties have some tacit understanding in private. …… The goal of Qin was to bring Wei and Han to their knees, and the purpose of Zhao was to bring Qi and Qin into conflict, while the intention of our Song State, or the Great King, was to take the opportunity to annex Wei and part of Qi territory. Speaking of this, he saw the confused look on Meng Zhong's face, so he enlightened: "Ah Zhong, the so-called covenant between countries is just a simple piece that can be torn apart at any time, and the only thing that can really promote the alliance is interests. Qin doesn't want Qi to compete with him, Zhao wants Qin and Qi to hold each other, and our monarch wants to encroach on Qi, in other words, Qin, Zhao, and Song are all privately targeting 'Qi State', and it doesn't matter whether there is an alliance or not. ”

After a pause, Hui Ang said again: "Two years ago, my Song State attacked Teng State, and it was indeed as you said, it was to put pressure on Qi State, but in fact, it was Zhao State who wanted us to do this, because Zhao State was ready to eradicate Zhongshan. ”

"Nakayama? Zhongshan country? Meng Zhong asked curiously.

"Yes!" Hui Ang nodded and said: "Zhongshan Kingdom is located in the hinterland of Zhao State, and in the past, it was frequently instructed by Qi State to attack Zhao State, so Zhao Wang Yong wanted to eradicate Zhongshan State in one fell swoop, so as not to be constrained by Qi State again. In order to prevent Qi from interfering with this matter, Zhao asked our Song State to put pressure on Qi State, so our Song State sent troops to attack Teng State and put on a posture of coercing Qi State. ”

"This ......" Meng Zhong frowned and said, "Isn't this being used by Zhao Guo?" ”

"yes." Hui Ang sighed melancholy, and immediately enlightened Meng Zhong and said: "But everything can't just focus on the present, Zhao Guo wants to attack Zhongshan, and wants my Song State to contain Qi State, it seems as if my Song State is being used by it, but you think, after Zhao State eradicates Zhongshan, Zhao and Song can form a pincer attack on Qi State, and when the time comes, my Song State will attack Qi State with Zhao State, and I can also profit from it." …… There is also the Yan State, the Qi State slaughtered and looted in the territory of the Yan State back then, and the King of Yan hated it, and when the Zhao, Song, and Yan countries joined forces to attack the Qi State, even if the Qi State was a strong country, how could it withstand the attack of the Zhao, Song, and Yan Kingdoms? …… At that time, the State of Qi could only ask for help from the State of Chu, or from the two countries of Han and Wei, but whether it was the State of Chu or the State of Han and Wei, the State of Qin was restrained for us, because the State of Qin did not want the State of Qi to stand with him on both feet. ”

Hearing Hui An's words, Meng Zhong was shocked in his heart.

He never thought that there was such a secret hidden behind the matter of "Song Guovateng".