Chapter 13: Forming Alliances
Looking from the city, I saw that Ji Ban seemed to bow his head and ponder for a moment, and everyone only felt that they had waited for a long time before Ji Ban raised his head and shouted, "My father is worried about the safety of the king, can I let my father enter the city to worship?" ”
This time, there was no need for Zhou Bian to shout, the young master replied first, "The king is very well, but you brought such soldiers, I'm afraid it will disturb the king, if you really want to enter the city to pay homage to the king, let them retreat five miles, you go into the city alone to meet the king, the royal family will be warmly welcomed!" ”
Ji Ban thought for a moment, and finally made up his mind, "My father came this time just to pay homage to the king, and seeing that the king was safe, my father was very at peace, so he took his leave." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 With that, he ordered the coachman to return with his horse, and more than 2,000 Eastern Zhou soldiers also turned eastward, and disappeared from everyone's sight in a short time at a faster speed than when they came.
The city was suddenly full of joy, and only a loud boo was heard, and everyone breathed at the same time, and when they came together, the sound was so loud that everyone looked at each other and smiled in their ears, and they were all extremely relaxed. Many soldiers don't care about the future development of the royal family, as long as the enemy soldiers retreat in front of them, they don't have to go to war to die, who wants to go to the enemy, so they all look at Zhou Bian with admiration, the king can retreat two thousand Eastern Zhou soldiers in a few words, and it is really the king. Then someone began to shout, "Long live the king!" Soon hundreds of people shouted, and the sound shook the sky, and the city and the city were jubilant.
It took a while to calm down, and there were spies in the city to report, and the Eastern Zhou soldiers really retreated directly, and Zhou Bian completely relieved himself, and asked the young master to arrange to withdraw the defense, and he took his own guards back to the palace.
Halfway down the road, he saw a guard hurrying to the west, and when he saw Zhou Bian, he shouted, "King, there are soldiers from the west." Zhou Bian was taken aback, could it be that this Ji Ban went around in a circle and came from the west again? He ordered the people to hasten their pace and hurried to the west gate. After a while, another guard came to report, "The king, the small one is under the command of Dr. Wang Sun Man, and the man doctor ordered the small one to report to the king first, the Duke of Western Zhou has sent two thousand troops to Cheng Zhou, and now it is only ten miles away from Cheng Zhou, please rest assured, the Duke of Western Zhou has promised to lead troops to help the royal family repel the Eastern Zhou soldiers of the Duke of Eastern Zhou." ”
Why does this last sentence sound so awkward, it's really hard for this guard. Zhou Bian relieved himself and said with a smile, "Is Doctor Man also in the team?" ”
"Doctor Man is coming to Chengzhou with the Western Zhou army, and the Duke of the Western Zhou is also in the team."
"Oh, then you run back and tell Doctor Man, the Eastern Zhou soldiers have been retreated by this king with a clever plan, please don't worry, let the Western Zhou soldiers camp outside the West Gate, and the Duke of Western Zhou will enter the palace with Doctor Man to pay homage to this king." With a wave of his hand, he made the guard turn and run.
After informing the young master and others, Zhou Bian himself led the guards back to the palace.
After a while, the Taishi and the young master arrived, pulling Zhou Bian from the palace to the ancestral temple, Zhou Bian suddenly realized that he was negligent, the first brother died, and the Duke of Western Zhou had not come to worship, so he should naturally go to the ancestral temple first.
Sure enough, after waiting for a while, he heard the noise at the door, Wang Sunman took a step first, stood at the door and gave way, Zhou Bian saw Ji Chao, who had not seen him for many days, with a big belly and walked in. Ji Chao is also sensible, first worshiped the first king in a proper manner, and then bowed to Zhou Bian.
After the two greeted each other, Zhou Bian and others took Ji Chao into the palace to meet the Queen Mother.
As soon as the Queen Mother saw Zhou Bian, she looked very happy, and pulled Ji Chao to her side to ask for warmth, like her own son and nephew, this talking kung fu made Zhou Bian very impressed.
After a while, everyone got to the point, but saw Ji Chao blushing slightly and said, "Queen Mother, King, I have a reluctant request, I hope the royal family can consider one or two." ”
Zhou Bian hurriedly signaled to Ji Chao to just say, to be honest, there are too few things that my royal family can satisfy him, and the royal family has been relying on the Luoyang Zhou Gong to help him.
"My lord, my unfilial brother and I are both self-appointed dukes of Zhou, and we didn't come to make the princes laugh. I also hope that the royal family can give me an official title, and according to the east and west, I will be named the Duke of the Western Zhou Dynasty. ”
Zhou Bian nodded when he heard this, this matter is too easy, "Seal, of course you have to seal!" But suddenly heard the Queen Mother cough lightly and interrupted, and looked at the Queen Mother suspiciously, but saw that the Queen Mother made a color, Zhou Bian suddenly understood in his heart, and then said loudly, "But how can it be the Duke of Western Zhou!" Everyone was stunned, only to hear Zhou Bian pause and say, "That must be the Duke of Zhou, my Da Zhou has never said that the two Zhou Dukes of the East and the West, Ji Ban Na, Fang Cai also led the troops to show off his might under the city of Chengzhou, it is really too much to deceive my royal family, and my royal family has never recognized the Duke of Eastern Zhou." In the past, Zhao and Han participated in the two countries, each of them was called the Duke of the East and West Zhou, which was really aggrieved.
The newly sealed Zhou Gong hurriedly knelt down to thank him, and at this time he could call Zhou Gong Chao again. Taishi and the others reacted at this time, and they all laughed lightly.
After Zhou Bian helped Zhou Gongchao up, he continued, "The one who is still in Gongyi, everyone will not be called the Duke of Eastern Zhou in the future, and we must unify the external name of my royal family, which is also the attitude of my royal family, but I can't be sloppy." ”
When Zhou Gongchao heard this, he was immediately grateful, and what he hoped for in the past was not the attitude of the royal family, but at this time, he was settled, and his heart was settled, so he exclaimed, "This duke is willing to learn from my father to assist my king, I heard that my king has newly established the Imperial Forest Army, and my duke is willing to send five hundred strong warriors to fill the command of the king to serve my king, and also prevent that Ji Ban child from disturbing the king again." ”
Zhou Bian smiled and said, "Luoyang's troops are also limited, this king can't bear to draw troops from you, can this king recruit troops from the farmers around Luoyang?" "In the Western Zhou Dynasty and even in the early Spring and Autumn Period, the source of soldiers in various countries was hereditary, that is, the son of a soldier was also a soldier, and if you want to be a soldier, you must have a father who is a soldier, and the soldier represents this class, which is higher than the civilian, so whether it is a warrior or a soldier, there is a soldier character. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the hereditary system of samurai began to deteriorate, and in order to maintain the combat effectiveness of the army, the vassal states began to implement the recruitment system, that is, no matter what you used to do, you can now become a soldier. On the other hand, on the side of the Zhou royal family, although the hereditary system of samurai has also been defeated, there are still a large number of noble children in the army, which is also the reason why Zhou Bian actually commanded the immovable escort and the division of Cheng Zhou. It was only because of the poor quality of these children and the fact that there were not many of them, so the royal family recruited some homeless and homeless people to join the army to enrich the army. Ordinary people have land to plant, and they all say that good iron is not nailed, and good men are not soldiers, who wants to be soldiers. So when Zhou Bian proposed it, including the Queen Mother and the Grand Master, they were all taken aback, how could they think about recruiting people by themselves if they didn't want to be good active soldiers?
Zhou Gongchao was also taken aback, and couldn't think of the stakes for a while, so he didn't think much about it, saying that it was really distressing to have five hundred people by himself, so he hurriedly nodded and agreed while the Taishi and the others hadn't spoken. In fact, Taishi and the others were about to have blind trust in Zhou Bian, so they didn't open their mouths when they were puzzled.
And Zhou Bian naturally has his own set in his heart, what can he do with the existing troops, and the strong generals of which dynasty and generation are not all from the grassland, as long as he can give enough benefits, he is naturally not afraid that no one will come to join the army to serve. Besides, Zhou Gong's own soldiers are all broken, and no matter how much he practices, he can't connect them, and he still can't like it. For now, it only needs Zhou Gongchao to agree, and if he still admits it in the future, he will naturally not stop it.
Zhou Bian continued, "Since I have reconciled with Duke Zhou today, whether to solve the matter of Gongyi together in the future, if this matter is not resolved, I can't live a quiet life if I want to live a quiet life." ”
"That's natural, even if there is no king's words, my father will teach this unfilial brother a lesson for his father." Zhou Gongchao nodded hurriedly.
"Then if Gongyi is recovered in the future, how will it be divided?" This is what Zhou Bian cares about, and Taishi and the others also pricked up their ears to listen to what the Zhou Dynasty said.
Zhou Gongchao was funny, he just opened his mouth, but he forcibly held back, and after thinking about it, he said, "It's still according to the king." ”
"That Gongyi and Mengjin are still owned by the royal family, and these two places were not included in the fiefdom when the king was first crowned Duke of Zhou. However, my royal family will not treat the Duke of Zhou badly, after the city is broken, the treasures and grain in these two places are owned by the Duke of Zhou, as a reward for the army, what does the Duke of Zhou think? ”
Zhou Gongchao agreed after a little thought, he had no lofty ambitions, he just wanted to succeed his father-in-law, serve as the Duke of Zhou, and get the official canonization of the royal family today, and his wish was fulfilled. Besides, the conditions given by this king are also extremely superior, that is, without the help of the royal family, he will also have to find trouble with the son's class.
All that remains is a congratulatory message from both sides, going to the banquet together, and having a good time. Although the royal family is poor, there are still a few dancers, this is also the first time Zhou Bian saw the dance of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, but unfortunately there are fewer movements, the clothes are simple, and they are not very eye-catching, so they didn't look at it again after a few glances, but ate by themselves.
After the banquet was dispersed, Zhou Gongchao took the book and left, and led a large team of people to Luoyang to rush back. After the Duke of Zhou left, Wang Sunman bowed to Zhou Bian and said, "I hope that the king will be punished, and he is not doing his job effectively, and he only moved to Luoyang today to rescue the troops, which caused my king to almost fall into danger, and this crime is also full." ”
Zhou Bian hurriedly helped Wang Sunman up, "Aiqing thinks about it a lot, Aiqing can say that Ji Dynasty has returned to the royal family, this is a great achievement, and this king will remember it." ”
"The king, in fact, the king doesn't know the situation, the Ji Dynasty is not very comfortable in Luoyang, several old ministers under the Duke of Zhou are not very supportive of the Ji Dynasty, so today the king canonized him as the Duke of Zhou, he is carried away, if the king can take the opportunity to ask for more benefits, he will agree. This is another sin, and I failed to inform my king in advance. ”
Hearing this, Zhou Bian also reacted, and his heart was also depressed, but the water that was spilled out of the words was spilled, and he felt that it was not a big deal if he thought about it, so he stretched out his hands to help Wang Sunman up, and comforted him in a loud voice.