The drizzle is like silk, scattered in the lotus pond, beating the budding flowers, showing its power unscrupulously. Even the thatch on the lotus pond was almost blown away by them. It can be seen that the power of the sky is beyond the reach of human beings.

Sima Cheng sighed at the power of heaven and earth, but his mood was like scattered rain, unpredictable.

In the dense rain behind him, a rush of footsteps sounded, breaking Sima Xun's train of thought, and before he could look back, he heard someone say to himself: "Keqing Zhang Deng, meet Xiangbang." ”

Sima Xun turned around and saw Zhang Deng wearing a wide robe with big sleeves, plus stepping on clogs, because the rain was too urgent, his hair had been wet, and he looked no image at all. He apparently came alone, the rain was still floating on the umbrella, and he was reluctant to leave. At this time, he was held in his hand by Zhang Deng, but he didn't dare to raise his head because he didn't hear his reply.

"Excuse me, I should know why I summoned you here, right?" Sima Cheng has always spoken straightforwardly, especially when facing his subordinates, he does not pretend, and often goes straight to the point.

"Yes, it must be for the border of Qi and Chen." Zhang Deng is well-informed about this kind of thing, after all, as a diplomat, if he can't even figure out the relationship between countries, I'm afraid he won't be able to do this position.

"Yes, I have already made it clear to the king that if you go to the Qi country, you must save the two countries from fighting each other, so as to give Yan Zhao a good opportunity to invade our country." After Sima Cheng returned to the capital from Juancheng, he entered the royal city overnight and discussed with Chenggong. It was unanimously agreed that it would be unwise to fight with the kingdom of Qi because of the matter of claiming the king, and that if it could avoid the flames of war, it would surely benefit the people of the two countries.

Sima Cheng still remembers that Cheng Gong, who had already had some difficulty speaking, barely supported his body, pulled Sima Cheng's hands, with starlight in his eyes, and said with his greatest strength: "Ancestor... Although it was destroyed at the hands of Wei, but... Relying on God's bounty, we can... Reinstatement. I Zhongshan.... Although he is a descendant of Xianbei, if he can be called king.... The Central Plains, Fang lives up to the ancestors... Laborious. Lonely will entrust Zhongshan to Xiangbang, if something can be done, then Xiangbang will be the pillar of the sky of my Zhongshan, if you can't do anything..."Cheng Gong's face darkened, and he said resolutely: "Then Xiangbang can lead the people of Zhongshan to hide in the mountains, and may not be able to recover the feat of recovering the country." ”

"Xiangbang... Xiangbang..."Zhang Deng looked at Sima Cheng in a daze, not knowing what he said just now, which sentence made him fall into deep thought, so he had to call him lightly many times.

"Well... What did you just say? Sima Cheng came back to his senses and looked at Zhang Deng with a puzzled look.

Zhang Deng was quite embarrassed, thinking that he had just said so much, but the uncle didn't hear a word, so he had to say again: "I said, the Qi State Chen soldiers and my realm are nothing more than for the matter of our country being the king." With all due respect, this matter is quite debatable. If the king is called Zhao, Yan, and Han, there is naturally nothing to say, but my Zhongshan is nothing more than a country of a thousand times, and it is really too small for the other three kingdoms. ”

Zhang Deng seems that for Zhongshan Kingdom, the size is too small, and if you want to dominate the Central Plains, the qualifications are still too small. After all, if there is not enough land, there is not enough capital, and there are also not enough soldiers, and with the size of Zhongshan, once he becomes king, he will definitely be disdained by other countries.

In addition, after all, Zhongshan is a foreigner, not a member of the Central Plains, such an identity, if he is called the king, it is even more of a show off, and it will also make other vassal states red, which will definitely cause a new round of suppression of Zhongshan.

From Zhang Deng's point of view, Zhongshan's best decision was to declare that he would never be king, and to pledge allegiance to Zhou Tianzi, to win the respect of other countries, and then talk about being king.

"Although I am a country of a thousand times in Zhongshan, but for many years, the country of Yan in the north has been rejected in the west, and the country of Zhao in the west, and even the country of Wei, which once destroyed my sacrifice, is now looking sideways at me. How powerful is the cause of martial arts, so why is it not qualified to be the king? Sima Cheng said lightly.

In fact, Sima Xun is not a person from Zhongshan, but also came to Zhongshan with others, was appreciated by Cheng Gong, and was promoted to Xiangbang, for several years, he dedicated all his talents and ambitions to this small country, so that under his prime minister, Zhongshan has become so powerful, so he is the most qualified person to talk about these merits.

"But the matter of becoming king will surely be the target of all men. Moreover, the state of Qi opposed Zhongshan to claim the king, so there is today's crisis. If our country withdraws the heart of kingship, it will definitely regain the support of Qi to ensure the comfort of our southeast country. Zhang Deng is not a crazy person, and to this day, he still does not support Zhongshan as king.

"Zhongshan was first destroyed, and then he made great efforts to re-establish the country. is now powerful, and it is not a superficial article, how can it be called a king? In addition, if the Qi State really insisted on going its own way, and even invited the Yan State and the Zhao State to attack Zhongshan together, it would be nothing more than a plan to flee into the mountains and then try to restore the country. Saying this, Sima Zhen's eyes immediately became a little manic, so frightened that Zhang Deng took a few steps back and almost fell to the ground.

"There are some things, you can just prepare according to what I say, if there is any problem, I will be responsible!"

Zhang Deng saw that he was angry and knew the spirit of the high-level, so he didn't bother to talk about Sima Cheng's request, and said yes again and again. Sima Cheng was not stingy, and promised a lot of gold and silver treasures, so that Zhang Deng must see Qi Guo and think about Tian Ying and ease the relationship between the two countries.

"So, you can go down." Sima Xun glanced at Zhang Deng and said slowly, Zhang Deng was used to it, saluted, and disappeared into the heavy rain.

Looking at the back of him leaving, Sima Xun sighed secretly, not knowing what he was thinking.

The sound of the rain is getting louder and louder, as if it has returned to the era of the flood and the sky cracked, and the heavy rain is getting heavier and heavier, and it does not stop at all. Sima Xun seemed to be a little distracted, and he didn't even realize that the rain had swept under his feet, wetting his shoes.

Suddenly, the sky seemed to be obscured, and the rain formed a curtain of beads in front of me. Sima Xun's eyes lit up, his brows furrowed, and when he turned around, he saw a young man standing behind him with an umbrella. Seeing Sima Cheng turn around, he was a little embarrassed, immediately put away the umbrella, tied his hands and saluted Sima Xun: "Father! “

"Well, why haven't you rested yet?" Sima Cheng raised his face and said with some seriousness to his favorite son.

"Originally, I was going to rest, but I saw that my father was still sheltering from the rain in the pavilion, presumably because he didn't have an umbrella, so I took a paper umbrella and held it for my father for a while." He said respectfully.

"Well, in that case, you can go back first, and let someone bring an umbrella." Sima Xun said, turned around again, and looked back at the lotus pond.

The boy's face was flushed, his fair face was marked with a bloody shyness, and his fingers were clenched as if he were about to press his nails into the flesh. He breathed heavily a few times, then released his palm and asked in a low voice, "Father is sighing for the affairs of Qi Kingdom?" ”

"Huh?" Sima Xun turned around and looked at this child who had been submissive in front of him, but he didn't expect why, he would suddenly ask himself.

"When the child heard that Chen Bing of Qi was on the border between Zhongshan and Qi, he speculated without permission." Seeing Sima Xun looking at him with an unhappy face, he quickly lowered his head and said resignedly.

After a short silence, Sima Xun looked at this son who had always behaved cowardly, he hadn't looked at him carefully for a long time, and he seemed to have become a little stronger. However, it still hasn't changed the weak appearance of Wenwen, and it doesn't look like longevity at first glance. But, after all, it was his own son, and the softness in his heart suddenly rose, and he nodded slowly, looked at him, and said lightly: "Yes." The family and country are restless, and as a minister, it is indeed difficult to be a father, and it is not enough to talk to outsiders. ”

"The child boldly guessed, I'm afraid that the king wants to be the king of the Central Plains, and he wants to persuade the Qi country to withdraw from the army." The young man was encouraged and continued to ask.

"Not bad. Since Gongsun Yan hopes to be the king of Zhongshan, although the king is old, the ambition is still aroused. Sima Cheng sighed imperceptibly. In fact, whether it is Zhang Deng or himself, he is very cautious about the matter of being the king, if it is not for Cheng Gong's strong request, he is absolutely against it. Not for anything else, because Zhongshan has a special identity. It is not the same as the Central Plains, once it is king, it is natural that other countries will be uncomfortable. This has invisibly created a lot of enemies.

"The king's heart to be the king has long been there, and when he encounters such an opportunity, he will definitely not let it go, so he is not surprised by his father. The plan now lies in how to persuade the Qi State to withdraw its troops, and to prevent the two countries of Yan and Zhao from taking the opportunity to seize our land. The boy said.

Sima Cheng's eyes lit up, he didn't expect that this son was not obvious on weekdays, and he also had some vision in grasping the situation, as if to consider him, he paused and said: "How to prevent Yan Zhao's plot?" ”

"The child thinks that the two countries of Yan and Zhao should be divided." He seemed to be encouraged, his expression was much more relaxed, and then he said: "Yan Guo has less contact with the Central Plains, and as far as I said, there is little contact, because he is arrogant in character and noble in blood. This kind of person, when he is mainly praised, at the critical moment, hit him hard to let him know that it hurts, and naturally there is nothing to worry about. ”

"Hmm." Sima Xun nodded, "Go on." ”

"Yes." The young man was overjoyed and continued to say what he thought in his heart, "For Zhao Guo, you have to have a good relationship. The Zhao people are many brave warriors, and they have fought with me for many years, and there have been countless battles of all sizes, but they never give up. And the child heard that the new monarch of Zhao Guo is brave and strategic, uninhibited, and pays attention to the general trend, so that he can make peace with Zhao Guo temporarily. ”

"Peace?" Sima Cheng muttered, in its opinion, the current Zhao State is not a strong country, and it has been repeatedly defeated by Zhongshan before, if it is peaceful, it will also lose its identity a little.

"For now." The young man said, lest what he said just now would anger Sima Yun, "What's more, we are making peace with Zhao Guoyan, but we don't have to let him stop." The son also has a plan, maybe he can keep Zhao Guo busy. ”

"Will the plan be released?"

"The child heard that now Yan Guo has just become king, and King Yan Yi himself is also a person who is very happy. If he can be persuaded to go to war against Zhao and promise to send troops to help, not only can he lead the disaster to the east, but also destroy the alliance between Yan and Zhao, why not? ”

Sima Yan frowned, thinking carefully about the young man's words, and felt that there was a lot to be done, but he thought of a question, so he said: "I'm afraid that Gongsun Yan will persuade the two countries not to use force, after all, Gongsun Yan's heart is already very clear, that is, to use the power of the six countries to resist Qin in the west, and at the same time unite Qi Chu to help." If there is no alliance yet, there will be infighting first, and Gongsun Yan will definitely resolve it easily. This is not a good plan. He shook his head and said.

"Father thinks highly of Gongsun Yan. He is just a pawn for the Wei State to achieve self-deterrence, and he is nothing more than that, after all, he is not what he was when he was in the Qin State. The child thought that in addition to having a few more kings, the child would inevitably fail. The young man said firmly.

Sima Xun stopped talking, but in fact, his thoughts kept turning. It's just that to become a Xiangbang, this kind of city still needs to be had.

"In that case, it seems that I have to go to Handan in person." Sima Cheng said.

"Father is wise." The boy said.

"Hmm." Sima Cheng said, took the umbrella from the young man's hand, opened it and was about to enter the rain, suddenly, he turned around, looked at the young man in the pavilion, and said through the noisy rain: "Zhongshan can wait?" ”

The young man was about to say goodbye to Sima Cheng, but he heard Sima Cheng ask such an ambiguous sentence. With a shock in his heart, he immediately returned to his previous focus application, and after a little hesitation, he said: "Erchen reads "Zuo Chuan", and there is one article that is still fresh in his memory, or it can be said that it is with his father. ”

"Oh?" Sima Cheng didn't know what medicine he was selling in his gourd, so he had to listen to him continue.

It is said that Confucius asked Confucius about attacking Uncle Tai, but Confucius refuted it. After Confucius left, Confucius immediately asked the students to pack their bags and prepare to leave. The apprentices were puzzled, so they asked Confucius, and Confucius replied. The young man looked at Sima Xun and said word by word: "Birds choose wood, how can wood choose birds?"

Sima Xun was slightly stunned, nodded, and turned to leave. He already understood what he meant.

Seeing his father leaving, the young man put his hands behind his back and looked at the heavy rain in front of him leisurely, as if he was presumptuous, in his eyes, it was just a passing cloud. An era that belongs to him is about to enter the historical stage of Zhongshan Kingdom. It was an era called Sima Xi.

History is never lonely.