Then, He Yu recounted their experiences in Yuenu Mountain, and finally he sighed and said, "Hey, since that day, Frost Di hasn't said a word, Xiao Shi said that she suffered from aphasia because of high tension and lack of air, and her mind was damaged. It's all my fault! I should have gotten out of there sooner with Frosty! ”

Frost looked at Heyu and shook her head with a smile.

Ji Zheng asked, "Can Xiao Shi cure this disease?" ”

"Xiao Shi said that this disease needs to be slowly recuperated, and he prescribed some prescriptions for his sister, but said that these medicines may be helpful to the condition, and as for whether Shuang Di can finally finish speaking, it depends on her creation."

"Hmm......" Ji Zheng nodded distressedly, "I'll find some famous doctors to take a look at Frost, as long as I have a chance to cure Frost, it doesn't matter what the cost." ”

"Thank you, Brother Ji Zheng."

"Hey, thank you, Shuangdi is your sister and my sister, and I feel as distressed as you now." Ji Zheng said, picked up a bamboo slip written by frost from his side, read a few paragraphs hastily, and couldn't help but admire: "The content in this volume is indeed very valuable. ”

"Frost has almost sorted it out, she wrote to me before that she can only restore a quarter, and for this, my sister is very distressed and blames herself."

Ji Zheng waved his hand and said: "Don't blame yourself, it's already very powerful to be able to restore a quarter, and Frost's memory is really amazing." ”

Frost had an embarrassed expression on her face, and she couldn't help but lower her head.

He Yu continued: "The wisdom of the Yue Nu clan contains four parts, 'Li', 'Bing', 'Strategy', and 'Technique', Frost Di didn't have time to look at the 'Technique' at that time, so this part of the knowledge about divination and astrology was completely lost, and when she remembered 'Bing' and 'Strategy', the fire was already very big, and now Frost Tuo can only barely remember some of these fragments, but it can't even be written down into chapters, it has no meaning, and it is equivalent to being lost. Fortunately, in the 'reason' part, Frost was the earliest, and now it can basically be restored. ”

Ji Zheng quickly flipped through a few more volumes, and found that these scrolls restored by frost contained a lot of content about natural knowledge.

"I will definitely like this knowledge very much, but the price is too great." Ji Zheng looked at Shuang Di and sighed distressedly.

"Brother Ji Zheng, is there any news about Brother Xiao Xun?"

"No, I only know that you escaped from Gusu, and I don't know anything about what happened after that."

"I don't know what happened to Brother Xiaoxun, I hope he is safe."

"Don't worry, with Brother Gonghui here, he will be fine."

Hearing this, Shuangdi stopped the pen in her hand, she stared at the bamboo slip intently, and after a while, she put down the pen again.

At this time, outside the prison in Gusu City, Qi Luo was leading a few jailers, dragging the scarred Zhang Xun to the prison.

Before entering the prison, he smiled slightly: "Zhang Xun, tell me about you, you are really stupid." If you don't do it with a good general, you have to follow Wu Zixu and Su Ming to rebel, hehe, stupid, really stupid. ”

Zhang Xun raised his head, narrowed his swollen eyes, looked at Qi Luo and smiled, and said, "Yes, I also feel stupid to the point of home." When he fled, it happened suddenly, otherwise there could have been a better way to deal with it. However, if you want to say that I am treasonous, I will not admit it under any circumstances. As I said at today's interrogation, I never thought about rebellion. ”

"Hehe, don't admit it? That seems to be a light fight! ”

"Haha! Could someone as smart as Childe only torture to extract confessions? ”

"Hmph, Zhang Xun! Don't talk about it! I'm telling you, you've already been convicted of this crime! It's just that if you are an accomplice, the crime can be light or serious. Hmph, you're smart and know what to do. ”

"Childe, I understand what you mean, it's just ...... I am now so depressed, I have long been penniless, and my brother is a clean and honest official, and he has no savings. Childe, it's better to do this, you help me get a light sentence first, and then I'll find a way to raise some money, and then give it to Childe. ”

"Humph! Don't talk nonsense, since you don't have money, just wait for death honestly! Ignoring Zhang Xun, he shouted to the jailer, "Take it in!" ”

"Whoa!"

The jailer dragged Zhang Xun into the prison and then threw him into a cell. Zhang Xun lay on the dirty ground, and the wounds on his body were painful.

At this time, a familiar voice came from the opposite cell, "General Zhang? ”

Zhang Xun got up and looked at the fence of the cell, and only then could he see clearly the person who spoke through a little moonlight, and that person was none other than Wu Zixu.

"Wu Xiangguo!" Zhang Xun hurriedly saluted through the fence.

Wu Zixu also returned the salute and said: "General Zhang has suffered. ”

"I'm fine, it's just that Wu Xiangguo is old, and it's really heart-wrenching to be blamed like this!"

Wu Zixu smiled and waved his hand, and said, "No hindrance, no hindrance, it's just a doomed disaster." ”

Subsequently, Zhang Xun told Wu Zixu about his experience in Yuenu Mountain since he fled, and Wu Zixu also told Zhang Xun about the news of Wu's campaign against Qiguo.

It turned out that two days after all the Wu naval troops sank in Chaiwan, the Qi reinforcements arrived in Chaikou Town, which was already smelly one mile away, and the tragic situation in the city was even more shocking. There was not a single living person in the entire Chaikou Town, and the wreckage of the warship was floating on the sea. It took two days for Qi reinforcements to clean up the corpses and then regain control of Chaikou Town.

After another seven days, the Wu army and the combined forces of Chen and Lu arrived near Chaikou Town, but because they had not received a notification from the naval army for a long time, the allied army had to camp twenty miles outside Chaikou Town. After some inquiry, the army learned that the navy had been completely wiped out, and the coalition forces could not contact the Vietnamese army, and it seemed that the Vietnamese army had also been completely destroyed.

Next, the army could only bypass Chai Bay and go deep into the hinterland of Qi alone, but without the side of the naval army, the army's next offensive was very unfavorable. In a siege, the coalition lost a large number of troops, but was still unable to take the city. The commander-in-chief of the coalition army ordered a retreat, and on the way to retreat, he was ambushed, not only losing most of his troops, but even the commander-in-chief was cut down.

The coalition army lost its armor and fought hard several times before it escaped from the Qi country, and the Chen and Lu coalition armies were also scattered. At present, the army of Wu, which consisted of 30,000 infantry, 5,000 sailors and 50 warships, is only 3,000 remnants of the army, and it is expected that it will return to Wu next month.

Hearing the battle situation, Zhang Xun shook his head and sighed: "Hey, I really pity these tens of thousands of soldiers, I hope that after this battle, the king will no longer be reckless." ”

"Huh." Wu Zixu shook his head and smiled: "You don't know the king, I have assisted him for ten years, and I know his temperament best, although this battle was lost, it was mainly because of the defeat in the naval battle." The first few battles of the army were very brilliant, so the king must reorganize his army and try to go north again. ”

"Hey, what Wu Xiangguo said is also right, I'm afraid the king won't give up, his heart for hegemony is too heavy." Zhang Xun paused and thought for a moment, then continued: "If the next battle has to be fought, I hope it will be three years later, so that not only will the chances of victory be greater, but it will not hurt the national strength. If it starts in two years, it will cause great damage to the country. If the war starts next year, even if the war is won, it will be a sign of the country's ruin! ”

"Haha! What a sign of the death of the country! Wu Zixu stroked his beard and laughed, "You're right, but the king will definitely go north next year, he wants to dominate too much." ”

"But...... Now that the country has been defeated, the country's vitality has been greatly damaged, and there will be another big war ......"

Before Zhang Xun finished speaking, at this time, the door of the prison opened. A familiar figure appeared outside the prison, the man was Gong Yanran, he gave the head of the cell a small piece of silver, and then carried a bamboo basket into the prison.

"Brother Gonghui!" Zhang Xun shouted excitedly.

Gong Wanran waved his hand and signaled Zhang Xun to be quiet, and then he walked in front of the two and saluted Wu Zixu. Then, he handed the bamboo basket to Zhang Xun, Zhang Xun took the bamboo basket, opened it and saw that it was rich food, Zhang Xun was very happy, grabbed the food and feasted on it.

"Brother Gonghui...... You're right, and you really asked me for a bribe! ”

Gong Huiran took a kettle from the cell boss, poured a bowl of water for Zhang Xun, handed it over and said, "Well, I know, I've been thinking of a way, and Yu Xianyao is also helping me prepare for money." ”

Zhang Xun stretched out his arm full of scars and said, "Look, the ruler beat me." ”

Gong Wanran caressed the scars on Zhang Xun's arm, and was speechless in distress.

"Hehe, fortunately, I'm rough and thick-skinned, but it's fine, I know that there is a brother-in-law, and I won't have anything serious."

"Hey, in the end, it depends on what the king means, but fortunately, Bo Yao has agreed to help, and his life is at least saved."

"Hmph, how much did he charge Brother Gonghui?!"

Gong Wanran shook his head and motioned to Zhang Xun not to ask, and then he handed Wu Zixu a bowl of water, and took out a book from his arms, "Wu Xiangguo, this book is a strange book that a friend found from Qin State, it is very interesting, I think Xiangguo should like it, but the glyphs of many words are quite different, and it may be a little difficult to read." ”

"Oh?" Wu Zixu hurriedly took the scroll, picked up the candlestick and took a look, only to see that there were three words "Classic of Mountains and Seas" on the scroll, but the glyphs of these three words are somewhat different from the glyphs of Wu Guo, although they can be recognized, they are not very convenient. Wu Zixu opened the scroll, flipped through it hastily, and then said with a smile: "I have read this book, but I read the official version of Zhou Guo. ”

Zhang Xun asked curiously, "The official version?" Does it make any difference? ”

"There is no difference in the content, but the glyphs in it are very different."

Zhang Xun nodded, "The Qin State is located in a remote area, and the difference in glyphs is really normal, as long as you can barely understand it." ”

Wu Zixu shook his head and said, "Can you barely understand it now, what about another ten years?" What about another 100 years? What about another thousand years? Can you still read it? ”

"This ......" Zhang Xun didn't know how to answer, he thought for a moment and said: "In a thousand years, we will be long gone, and whether we understand it or not is a matter for future generations." ”

"No, the business of future generations is our business."

"Life is only a hundred years, how can you manage future generations?"

"Hehe, Zhang Xun, do you remember the question I asked you?"

"I remember, at that time, Xiangguo asked me what the world was."

"Okay, now I'll ask you two more questions."

"Xiangguo, may I ask."

"When a person dies, what is left behind? When a country perishes, what is left behind? ”

"The one that was left behind?"

"Hehe, you have to think carefully, I don't have much time, but you have just set off."

Wu Zixu took advantage of the dim candle flame to open the book of mountains and seas, and read it with great interest, he said while reading: "The king will definitely go on an expedition next year, and I ...... Hehe, he will definitely die before the expedition. ”

"Wu Xiangguo, we will definitely find a way to save you!"

Wu Zixu smiled and waved his hand, "Don't worry about me, I've already lived enough in my life." In addition, now that there is a new defeat and a scarcity of generals, the king is in a hurry to go to war, and when it is time to employ people, he will definitely reactivate you. In the future, you must remember the three questions I asked you, and I hope you can accomplish what we have not done. ”

Zhang Xun looked at Wu Zixu, didn't know what to say for a while, and fell into deep thoughts.

What is the world?

When a person dies, what is ultimately left behind?

When a country perishes, what is left behind?

Zhang Xun can't give the answer yet, but these three questions have planted seeds in his heart, and he tries to explore the answer to the question and try to understand the truth behind it.

People, the country, the world.

The world, the country, the people.

What is the profound truth in this?

Two months later, the matter of Wu Zixu's party rebellion was concluded. Wu Zixu was convicted as the first offender, removed from his official position, and continued to be imprisoned in the prison for future disposal.

In order to exonerate Zhang Xun, Gong Huiran not only met Bo Yao's conditions, but also handed over the formula of snake thorn incense to the ruler. Bo Ya's father and son were very satisfied, not only helped Zhang Xun intercede, but also used three heads to hand over the errand, claiming that Juan Suming and his children had been punished on the spot because they resisted arrest. Zhang Xun had to tacitly agree to the safety of Heyu and Shuangdi, and the caliber was consistent with the ruler.

In the end, many officials in the DPRK and China were implicated, and no less than 100 people lost their positions and dismissed their titles. Zhang Xun was given a lenient punishment, and the official was demoted to three levels and fined for one year. However, the state of Wu fought for many years, the troops were greatly damaged, and there were few generals left who could fight.

On the day he was released from prison, Gong Wanran accompanied Zhang Xun back to the confiscated General's Mansion, which still remained the same as on the day of the wedding, but the decorations were covered with a thick layer of dust. In front of the imposing gate, a spider is lying on a huge web, motionless.

Zhang Xun pushed open the door, looked at the mess in the courtyard, and couldn't help but sigh.

The ups and downs of life are like the waves of the sea, sometimes high and sometimes low, how can it not be emotional?