In order to bring Gongsun Xi's remains back to Wei for burial as soon as possible, Meng Zhong and the others only stayed in Xincheng for three days, and then immediately embarked on a journey back to Wei.

But even so, Korea still left a very good impression on the generals of the Wei army, even for Meng Zhong and others.

During this journey to assist Korea in fighting against the Qin State, Meng Zhong not only made unparalleled feats in the Wei and Han coalition forces, but also got acquainted with South Korea's Gong Zhong Min, Gong Zhong Luxury, Storm Kite and others, which can be said to have developed his connections to South Korea.

In this regard, Le Jin said with a smile that even if Meng Zhong can't get along in Wei in the future, he can also defect to South Korea, and I believe that Han Wangjiao and Storm Kite and others hope that he will be successful in South Korea.

Hearing this, Meng Zhong smiled slightly, but in his heart he remembered what Gongsun Zhi said to him that day.

Just like Gongsun Jian said, South Korea is too weak, in the current Central Plains pattern, the country's strength is gradually marginalized, even the Song State will gradually catch up with South Korea, otherwise, it is indeed a very good choice.

In today's world, it is still the four countries of Qin, Qi, Zhao, and Wei that have the greatest potential to dominate the Central Plains, and it is also the best choice for talented people in the world to rush to.

The rest of the countries are inevitably much inferior to these four countries.

On July 28, after the Han Prime Minister Gong Zhongmin, as well as the Storm Kite, Gong Zhong Hao and others, Gongsun Zhu, Meng Zhong and others returned to the army from Zhengcheng, and then returned to Wei together.

I remember that some time ago, due to the defeat of the soldiers from the battle of Yique fled back to China, and brought back the bad news of "the defeat of the army of our country" back to China, which led to the danger of everyone in Wei State, after which Wei Wang Wei immediately sent people to appease the people, and spread the good news that "the national army has defeated the Qin army" throughout the domestic cities, which made Gongsun Zhu, Meng Zhong and others lead the army back to Wei, on the way there are Wei people vying to watch this Wei army.

Indeed, when the 180,000 army was defeated by the Qin army overnight, it was still able to turn around and defeat the Qin army, which is really an amazing thing, and it can be called the most incredible war in recent decades.

Of course, this matter has nothing to do with Gongsun Zhu, Meng Zhong, Dou Xing, Wei Qing and others, and their top priority is to lead the army back to Daliang as soon as possible and surrender to the King of Wei.

On the second day of the eighth month, after five consecutive days' journey, the Wei army arrived at Daliang from Zhengcheng.

Slightly different from the situation in Korea, Wei Wangfu did not come forward in person, but sent Tian Wen, who was the minister of state, to come forward, which shows that in this era, it is indeed a very rare thing to make a monarch of a country personally go out of the city to greet him.

"General Gongsun."

"Xue Gong."

Outside Daliang City, Tian Wen finally met with Gongsun Jian and others with a welcoming team.

And when Tian Wen and Gongsun Zhi exchanged pleasantries, Duan Ganyin, Duan Ganchong, Tian Di, and Gongyang Ping also found Meng Zhong in the ranks of the Wei army, and everyone had a smile on their faces.

Especially Duan Ganyin and Tian Di, the two "uncles" of Meng Zhong's generation, they are very satisfied with the exploits made by Meng Zhong on this expedition.

And Duan Ganchong, who was a contemporane of Meng Zhong, pestered Meng Zhong and others with great interest, hoping that Meng Zhong and others would tell him about the second half of the "Battle of Yique".

As for Ram Ping, Meng Zhong's "uncle" in the Confucian ranks, he was the calmest among these people, he just asked whether Meng Zhong still insisted on studying during the war, and when he learned that Meng Zhong was still holding the scroll even during the war with the Qin army, when he read the "Spring and Autumn Ram Biography" he presented, this old Confucian scholar with the highest rank in Confucianism today, nodded with satisfaction and praised the sentence "The child can be taught".

After a while, the generals of the Wei army were divided into two groups, Tian Wen warmly invited Gongsun Zhu, Dou Xing, Wei Qing and other generals to his mansion for a banquet, while Meng Zhong's group was invited by Duan Ganyin, as if each other's well water did not interfere with the river water.

Gongsun Zhu hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed, after all, Tian Wen values face the most, and refusing his invitation in public is tantamount to turning against him, which is unnecessary.

However, in his heart, he has decided to gradually draw a line with Tian Wen, after all, he is clear about the grievances between Tian Wen and Meng Zhong, since he has decided to help Meng Zhong become Hedong Shou, it is naturally not good to get close to Tian Wen - although Meng Zhong doesn't care about this.

After all, a private relationship is a private relationship, and a business is a public matter, and now Meng Zhong also wants to be friends with Tian Wen's enemies, but he offended Tian Wen to death at the beginning, to the extent that Tian Wen has a good face, unless it reaches the point where he must be soft, otherwise it is impossible for this noble son of Qi to release kindness to those who have offended him - the world-famous Xue Gong Tianwen is actually far from being as generous as the world mistakenly thinks.

Following Gongsun Zhi, Tian Wen also invited Dou Xing, Wei Qing, Fei Hui, Liang Xi, Tang Zhi, Jiao Ge, Zheng Zheng, Cai Wu and other military commanders one by one, as if they invited all the heroes in this battle, but only Meng Zhong's group of people was left behind.

Realizing this, although Dou Xing, Wei Qing and other military simas accepted Tian Wen's expression, their expressions were inevitably a little strange.

"It seems that Xue Gong doesn't want to reconcile with Meng Zhong, how will we deal with ourselves?"

On the way into the city, Wei Qing asked Gongsun Zhi privately.

Gongsun Zhu said lightly: "You can make your own choice, but you must know that in the future, there will be no more Xiwu in Hedong, and the Qin State will definitely take advantage of the weakness. ”

Hearing this, Dou Xing, Wei Qing, Liang Xi, Fei Hui and other generals immediately woke up.

In all fairness, as Xi Wu's former favorite generals, Dou Xing, Wei Qing and the others didn't think that one of them would take over Xi Wu's position, but now they have dispelled this idea, because they know that there is a more suitable candidate.

Although they were a little unwilling in their hearts, they had to admit that the young man was the most suitable person.

As for Xue Gongtianwen's side, try not to offend as much as possible, if you really can't hide, then there is no way.

Anyway, that's what Gongsun Ji thinks.

In the Wei State, his voice was far inferior to Gongsun Xi, who was known as Xiwu, so he wanted to help the young Meng Zhong to the position of Hedong Shou, Gongsun Zhu thought that he needed to get Tian Wen's approval - at least not to let Tian Wen speak out.

Otherwise, it's hard to say.

At this time, in the team returning to the city, Duan Ganyin also asked Meng Zhong in private, asking Meng Zhong Gongsun Zhu's attitude towards him, after all, according to him, after Gongsun Xi's death, Gongsun Ji had faintly become the leader of the Hedong Army.

In this regard, Meng Zhong replied with a smile: "General Gongsun Jun takes care of him very much, and he is a respectable and generous elder. ”

Hearing this, Duan Ganyin immediately understood, and glanced at Gongsun Zhu in the distance with a slightly surprised gaze, but considering that there were many people around him, he was not asking in detail.

It wasn't until everyone returned to Duan Gan's mansion in Daliang that Duan Ganyin asked again.

Meng Zhong did not hide it, and said truthfully: "General Gongsun Jun hopes to recommend him to serve as the Hedong Shou in the future. ”

These words surprised Duan Ganyin, Tian Di, and Duan Ganchong, and even Ram Ping, who had never cared about these things, couldn't help but turn his head at this moment.

"Kawasaki Mamoru ? Virtuous nephew, are you sure it's Hedong Shou? Tian Di asked Meng Zhong in surprise.

It is no wonder, after all, in the Wei State, the "Hedong Shou" and the "Yecheng Order" are the two most special positions, the former is to govern Hedong for the King of Wei and guard against the invasion of the Qin State, and the latter is to govern Hebei for the King of Wei, and be wary of the Zhao State being unfavorable to the Wei State.

Throughout the entire Wei State, there is no more special position than Hedong Shou and Yecheng Ling.

"Sure." Meng Zhong nodded and said, "If the Gongsun Army had not deceived him." ”

"That's a ......"

Glancing at Duan Ganyin, Tian Dian said in amazement: "I thought that after the death of Xiwu, Gongsun Zhu would take the post of Hedong Shou himself, but I didn't expect ......"

Indeed, neither Duan Ganyin nor Tian Di thought that Gongsun Jian would intentionally recommend Meng Zhong to serve as the Hedong Shou, after all, Meng Zhong was too young, even if they wanted to pave the way for Meng Zhong in their hearts, they didn't dare to recommend it in front of King Wei, so as not to cause gossip.

Brushing his beard, Duan Ganyin said with surprise on his face: "Originally, the old man planned to recommend you as the Xiangcheng Commander in front of the king, but for now...... Well, it's better to wait and see for a while. ”

Xiangcheng Order, as the name suggests, is the county order to govern Xiangcheng, this time after Qin and Wei made peace, Qin returned the Xiangcheng they had captured to Wei, so the Wei court was still discussing who should serve as the county commander of the city, so Duan Ganyin and Tian Yang were interested in preparing to recommend Meng Zhong, and they felt that with Meng Zhong's merits, it was more than enough to serve as Xiangcheng Order.

Unexpectedly, Gongsun Zhu was ready to recommend Meng Zhong as Hedong Shou - compared to the position of Hedong Shou, Xiangcheng Ling was simply not worth mentioning.

After thinking about it, Tian Dian and Duan Ganyin discussed: "If you send someone to invite Gongsun Zhi to his brother's mansion for a banquet, if Gongsun Jian really has this idea, he will definitely go to the appointment...... In this way, we should also make some preparations in advance. ”

"Hmm......"

Duan Ganyin pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Right now, Gongsun Zhi has been invited to his mansion by Tian Wen, if you and I send someone to invite Gongsun Zhu, Tian Wen will definitely know about it, and I am afraid that there will be complications...... In this way, when the king will hold a celebration banquet in the palace today and tomorrow, I will take the opportunity to make contact with Gongsun Zhu to test and see what he has planned. ”

"That's safe." Tian Di nodded when he heard this.

After the two discussed, Meng Zhong was spared, so that Meng Zhong finally had time to bathe, change clothes and rest.

At noon that day, Duan Ganyin held a banquet in the mansion, and the right to be Meng Zhong and others took over.

During the feast, Meng Hu boasted about his contribution to the battle, but what made him most complacent was his bravery in Xinzheng - according to him, the two Korean women praised him for his bravery that night.

In this regard, Meng Zhong, Meng Sui, Le Yi and others all felt a little embarrassed, but Duan Ganchong, the eldest son of the Duan Gan clan, was quite fascinated by what Meng Hu said.

Of course, it doesn't refer to the second daughter of Menghu Yeyu, Duan Ganchong, as the eldest son of Duan Gan's family, there is no shortage of women around him, what he yearns for is Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu each led more than 300 cavalry, and drove the Qin general Bai to flee to Wuguan with more than 10,000 troops.

There were only 1,000 cavalrymen, and they were so frightened that the Qin army fled in panic, and even the three elders Duan Ganyin, Tian Di, and Ram Ping felt very incredible.

Duan Ganyin immediately asked Meng Zhongdao: "The virtuous nephew followed the example of Zhao Guo and formed a cavalry?" ”

Meng Zhong nodded and explained: "On that day, the Qin general Bai Qi attacked the city everywhere in Korea, and avoided the Wei army under my leadership, intending to make our army run back and forth and consume physical strength in vain, so I formed a cavalry ......"

After listening to Meng Zhong's explanation, Duan Ganyin said in surprise: "I thought that the cavalry of the Zhao State was weak, but I didn't expect it to be so powerful...... Are the cavalry really so powerful? Can the enemy beat the chariot? ”

"Well...... this" Meng Zhong thought for a moment and explained: "If the two armies put on a posture and go head-to-head, the cavalry will definitely not be the opponent of the chariot, but if it is a different occasion, a thousand cavalry can easily defeat the thousand chariots with a small loss. As Ah Hu just said, when it comes to wandering and sneak attacks, chariots are no match for cavalry at all, and most of them are played with by the latter. ”

"......I see," Duan Ganyin nodded suddenly.

I have to say that the people who knew that the cavalry was powerful, except for some Zhao people, I am afraid that there were only people like Meng Zhong and others who had traveled in Zhao State.

Oh, and Bai Qi of the Qin State, who had suffered a great loss at the hands of the cavalry under Meng Zhong, had also persuaded the Marquis Wei Ran to agree to him to form a cavalry.

Suddenly, Tian Di interjected with a smile on the side: "If the cavalry is really so powerful, why not expand?" Your Uncle Duan Gan can help you. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong turned his head to look at Duan Gan's clan, and after being stunned for a moment, he understood.

You must know that in the Wei State, the Duan Gan clan is a big family in animal husbandry, and nearly half of the war horses and ploughing cattle in the Wei State are from the hands of the Duan Gan clan.

It's a pity that since Wei lost the Xihe (county), Duan Gan's pasture has also shrunk a lot, but even so, Duan Gan's clan still has a large number of high-quality war horses in his hands, as long as the King of Wei does not object to this, Duan Gan's clan is enough to fund Meng Zhong to form a cavalry of at least a few thousand people.

Seeing Meng Zhong turn his head to look at him, Duan Ganyin said with a smile: "This is not in a hurry, if the virtuous nephew can really sit in the position of Hedong Guard, even if the old man can give away ten thousand war horses for nothing, what does it matter?" ”

Tian Di smiled when he heard this: "Haha, Brother Duan is still so arrogant, not inferior to Ling Zu." ”

Duan Ganyin stroked his beard with a smile.

Loyalty and righteousness, that is, the family motto that the Duan Gan clan has been handed down since the ancestor "Duan Ganmu", which is also the reason why the children of the Duan Gan clan in the past dynasties are almost very proud and righteous.

The next day, that is, on the third day of the eighth month, the king of Wei set up a banquet in the palace of the Great Liang Dynasty to celebrate the heroes who assisted Korea in the expedition and defeated the Qin army, and Meng Zhong, as the "first hero", was naturally invited.

But in terms of the number of seats in the hall, Meng Zhong is still inferior to Gongsun Jian - this is also helpless, after all, Meng Zhong is too young, and it is not reasonable for him to sit in the chief.

Of course, Meng Zhong didn't care about this, firstly, Gongsun Zhi is now quite close to him, considering that Gongsun Zhu is much older than him, he should sit in the chief, and secondly, even if it is the second seat, this seat is already higher than Dou Xing, Wei Qing, Fei Hui, Tang Zhi and other military Simas, which is already a very remarkable thing.

It is worth mentioning that in this palace banquet, Meng Zhong was finally fortunate to meet Wei Yu, the crown prince of Wei, and his younger brother, Wei Gongzi Wuji.

The crown prince Wei Yu's age seems to be similar to Meng Zhong, and at first glance he is a taciturn person, but he is sitting in the hall at the moment, and he doesn't speak much.

As for Wei Gongzi Wuji, he looked about the same age as Meng Zhong's brother Meng Ao, and his personality was not as calm as his brother, sitting in the middle of the table at the moment, sometimes looking around, sometimes talking in a low voice with his side.

The two brothers are sitting in the second seat on the east side at the moment, under Tian Wen, the chief minister of state, and behind the two brothers, there are Duan Ganyin, Duan Ganchong and his son, as well as Tian Di and Ram Pingren.

In addition, there are a few other people, presumably all of whom are from the prince's line.

It is worth mentioning that the people of the prince's family and the people of the national minister Tian Wen's family have almost never communicated throughout the whole process, but Wei Gongzi Wuji has said a few words with Tian Wen.

In this regard, Le Yi, who was sitting next to Meng Zhong, also noticed it, and said to Meng Zhong in a low voice: "It is rumored that the prince and Tian Wen are not on good terms, it seems that it is not a lie, but this is a ......."

"Hmm." Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

He doesn't know what the crown prince Wei Yu thinks of Tian Wen, but judging from the situation between Wei Gongzi Wuji and Tian Wen, the so-called prince and Tian Wen are not on good terms with each other, in fact, they are just rumors.

If you look at the seat opposite, you can know that the crown prince Wei Yu is the prince of Wei, but his seat is under Tian Wen, although this must be a means for Wei Wangyu to entrap Tian Wen, but from this it can also be seen that Wei Wangwei attaches great importance to Tian Wen.

Glancing at the still healthy Wei Wang on the throne, Meng Zhong secretly exhaled slowly.

Tian Wen is destined to not be able to endure in the Wei State for a long time, this is inevitable, once the Wei Wang is old and weak, the Wei State will definitely suppress Tian Wen and pave the way for the succession of the crown prince Wei Yu, so the last laugh must still be the Duan Gan clan, Xihe Confucianism and other forces close to the prince.

But at the moment, Wei Wangyun's body is still healthy, and with him supporting Tian Wen behind his back, it is almost impossible to bring down Tian Wen - this is also the reason why Meng Zhong hopes to reconcile with Tian Wen.

As if noticing Meng Zhong's gaze, Tian Wen turned his head to look at Meng Zhong opposite, his gaze only stayed on Meng Zhong for a moment, and before Meng Zhong nodded to show kindness, this guy immediately turned his head.

『…… Trouble.'"

Meng Zhong shook his head secretly.

He didn't expect Duan Gan to persuade the crown prince Wei Yu to come forward to confront Tian Wen, after all, firstly, the crown prince Wei Wei had no conflict of interest with Tian Wen at present, and moreover, as far as the current situation was concerned, the crown prince Wei Wei might not be able to fight Tian Wen.

The process of the palace banquet is still the same old-fashioned, first the king of Wei held the wine bottle in public, and loudly explained his victory that Wei defeated the Qin state, so that all the ministers in the palace shouted long live in unison.

Immediately, many beautiful women entered the palace to dance, and the palace feast officially began.

At this time, while these dancing girls were covering their sight, Gongsun Zhuan, who was sitting on the head of Meng Zhong, came over and said to Meng Zhong: "Last night, Dou Xing and Wei Qing and I have moved out of Tian Wen's mansion and live in a post house in the city. ”

Meng Zhong was stunned and asked, "What happened?" ”

Gongsun Jian explained: "Tian Wen wanted to recommend the old man to the king as Hedong Shou, and the old man recommended you, which made Tian Wen very unhappy. ”

"No wonder he looked annoyed when he looked at me......

Suddenly realized, Meng Zhong asked Gongsun Zhu in a low voice: "This ...... Will it be detrimental to the generals? ”

Gongsun Zhu chuckled when he heard this: "Although Xiwu is gone, his connections are still there, besides, under Tian Wen's hands, except for a Xiahou Zhang who knows a little about military affairs, who else can he recommend?" Speaking of this, he stroked his beard and said in a low voice: "Right now, I'm not worried about anything else, just Zhai Zhang...... The relationship between him and Xiwu was not so harmonious in the past, if Tian Wen deliberately obstructed you and me and made Zhai Zhang serve as the Hedong Shou, it would be troublesome......"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong also frowned.

In all fairness, in terms of Gongsun Zhu's prestige and status, few people dared to compete with him for the position of Hedong Shou, so as long as Gongsun Zhu recommended Meng Zhong in front of King Wei, even if Wei Wang Ji thought that he was too young, he would reluctantly agree out of trust in Gongsun Zhu.

But if Zhai Zhang intervenes, the situation will be very different.

Zhai Zhang is the descendant of Zhai Huang, the famous minister of Wei, and Gongsun Xi is known as the only two generals in Wei who are good at fighting, and he has been sitting in Yecheng before, guarding against the threat from Zhao's side, he is fully qualified and capable of snatching this position in Hedong with Gongsun Zhu, especially when Tian Wen comes out to recommend to King Wei, Wang Wei will definitely favor Zhai Zhang.

By the way, now that Gongsun Xi is dead, I am afraid that his position as the Great Sima will also fall into the hands of Zhai Zhang, which is really not a good thing for the Wei army in Hedong, after all, this means that Wei's military spending may be biased towards the Yecheng army in Hebei, just like Gongsun Xi once favored his Hedong army.

"Is Zhai Zhang here today?" Meng Zhong looked around.

Gongsun shook his head and said in a low voice, "According to Tian Wen, Zhai Zhang should arrive at Daliang in a few days. ”

"How many days?"

"Hmm. …… That old guy was very arrogant, this time it wasn't for him who commanded the Wei army to defeat the Qin State, so he naturally wouldn't attend the celebration banquet. …… In the past, when the king celebrated his achievements, Xi Wutuo could not get sick; A few days ago, when the rhino army broke through Hangu Pass, Zhai Zhang also lied in Yecheng that the old disease had recurred, and refused to come to Daliang to celebrate the banquet. …… He and Xi Wu have always been like this. ”

"Hey, hey, didn't you say that Gongsun Xi was just not close to Zhai Zhang? But in this case, it's obvious that the two of them don't like each other, right?"

Looking at Gongsun Zhu, Meng Zhong didn't know what to say.

However, Gongsun Zhu seemed to be mistaken, stroked his beard and chuckled: "But you don't have to worry too much, Zhai Zhang is already very old, maybe he will die after a while......"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong didn't know how to answer, so he simply laughed a few times awkwardly and politely.

After a while, after the beautiful dancers finished dancing, Wei Wangfu began to discuss the rewards for meritorious deeds.

This time the meritorious deeds are rewarded, divided into one, two, and three, a total of three grades.

Let's talk about the third level of merit first, Meng Zhong's side was rewarded with five people: Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Le Yi, and Meng Sui, and the rest were five people, three of whom were Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui's subordinates, and two were Tang Zhi and Jiao Ge's subordinates.

A total of ten people were all rewarded by the king of Wei with the title of the doctor, as well as some wealth.

The second-class merits, namely Dou Xing, Wei Qing, Liang Xi, Fei Hui, Tang Zhi, Jiao Ge, Zheng Zheng, and Cai Wu, were each promoted to a first-class title by Wei Wangyun, all of whom were Zhongqing, and in addition to this, they were all granted a number of land as food estates.

In the end, that is a first-class meritorious service, a total of two, namely Gongsun Zhu and Meng Zhong.

But listening to the sound of King Wei's "two come forward", Gongsun Zhu and Meng Zhong got up and left the table, and under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes in the hall, they walked quickly to the center of the hall and bowed to King Wei.

"I wonder what kind of reward King Wei will give me?"

Even though Meng Zhong has always been calm, he can't help but feel a little excited at this moment.