The falcon flapped its wings desperately, as if it was about to fly away from the sea of suffering, and it flew higher and higher, and flew higher and higher, but finally it could not fly, after all, the old wound was too serious. Its wings contracted weakly, and it fell vertically like a falling meteor towards the turquoise earth through which Yingshui flowed, and landed in the courtyard of Chen Hou's palace, and its legs twitched a few times before dying.

When the people in Chen's palace heard the news, they found an arrow stuck in the Hayabusa's body, a very strange arrow: the arrow was made of stone, and the arrow was one foot eight inches long, and it seemed that it had been a long time since it had been pierced into the Hayabusa's body. For a time, this matter was rumored to be a strange thing in Chen Du Wanqiu, and even reached Chen Houyue's ears.

According to the palace people, the bird flew slowly in the air and chirped sadly. Fly slowly because of the pain of sores; Its song is also sad, because it has been separated from the birds for a long time, and flew all the way to Chen Guo with this arrow, so the sores have not stopped, no wonder it will fall, but this arrow that we have never seen before, where did it come from? The widow was deeply puzzled. ”

Chen Houyue is the son of Chen Huaigong, he has inherited the position of Chen Hou for seven years, his face is fair, Chen Guo is sandwiched between Chu and Wu, but he is carefree, and he does not like military politics, and he is only interested in some strange things all day long. As soon as he asked a question in the palace of Chen Guo, Chen Guo's ministers and doctors all looked at each other, and no one could answer.

Finally, at the back of the hall, a deep voice rang out.

"Your Majesty, Confucius who lives in the minister's house is a well-known person in the Lu country, and he may be able to tell the truth." It is Chen Guo's Sicheng Sadako, who is ranked as the doctor.

So Chen Hou met Kong Qiu, who had been in Chen for nearly half a month, for the first time, and sat opposite him in the pavilion, not asking about the national politics of the people, only asking about anecdotes.

"This should be the ...... of the arrow" Confucius lived in the house of Sadako Sicheng, and after resting for a few days, the fatigue from Zheng Guo had been swept away, and after taking the arrow, he looked at it for a while, and then gave the answer.

"Azaleki Ishiya? Where did it come from? ”

Confucius said: "The place where the falcon flew is far away, called Sushen, thousands of miles away in the country of Yan and the north of the lonely bamboo, this is the arrow of the Sushen tribe. In the past, King Wu of Zhou defeated Dayi Shang and sent Zhaogong to the Northern Expedition to open up the road with various barbarian tribes in the north, so that they were afraid of the Zhou Dynasty, so they each sent local specialties there to pay tribute. The Sushen tribe paid tribute to the arrows made of arrows, arrows made of arrows, and arrows made of stone, which were one foot eight inches long, and these things were recorded in the classics. Later, in order to show the virtues of Yu Shun, King Wu gave the arrows of Su Shen's tribute to the eldest daughter Daji, and gave Daji Xu to Hu Gongman, a descendant of Yu Shun, and sealed Hu Gong in Wanqiu to establish the Chen State. If Chen Jun sent someone to the treasury to search according to the directory, he might be able to find old things. ”

Chen Hou tried to send people to the old warehouse to look for it, and if he really got this kind of arrow, it was exactly the same as what Confucius said, and for a time Chen Hou was overjoyed, surprised that Confucius was a celestial, and began to invite him into the palace from time to time to talk.

After gradually getting acquainted with Chen Hou, Kong Qiu took the opportunity to say to him: "Back then, King Wu of Zhou rewarded the treasures and treasures to the princes with the same surname, in order to promote and deepen the relationship between relatives; Tributes from afar were distributed to princes with different surnames, so that they would not forget their obligations. If today's son is forced by Jin Qing and needs the support of the princes, after Chen Nai's second king, he was also a big country in the Central Plains, why don't you send someone to meet the Son of Heaven? Reinstatement? ”

Speaking of this, the atmosphere suddenly cooled down, and Chen Hou looked at Confucius as if he was looking at dementia.

Wanqiu is the capital of the ancient Ku sacrificial clan, and it is said to be the ruins of Dahao. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, after sealing Shun, Hu Gongman was full of this, as Chen Guo. In the early years of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Chen Guoyuan and, Cai, and Zheng were the middle states of Yuzhou, and they were the right-hand men of Zhou Tianzi, and later because of the rise of Chu, Qi, Jin, and Qin, they fought in the Central Plains, and Chen lived in the region of the four wars, and was in the atmosphere of war every day, and the country was weakening day by day. In addition, the monarchs and ministers of Chen State were extravagant, and there were two civil strife and murders for the throne one after another, and the country collapsed and gradually became a vassal of Chu State.

The state of Chu is different from Zhuxia, it has its own set of feudal system, and vassals such as Chen, Cai, Xu, and Sui have been included in it, which is equivalent to the county princes of Chu, who have to send troops to serve and fight for the state of Chu, and often worship, but they are more independent.

Now, although the state of Chu was broken by the state of Wu and once declined, with the assistance of Ling Yin Zixi, Sima Ziqi, Ye Gong and other virtuous ministers, the state of Chu began to revive day by day. They began to take revenge on their old grievances from the Battle of Poying ten years earlier, the year before which they had defeated the state of Dun, which had tried to take refuge with the Wu people, and the previous year the state of Hu, which had annexed the territory of the state of Chu. Because Chen Guo was closer to Chu State, and the previous generation of Chen Huaigong was summoned to Gusu by King Wu and died there, Chen Guo was afraid of Wu State's barbarism and wanted to continue to stay under the wing of Chu State.

Therefore, Chen Guojun often went to Chu, and respectfully called Chu Jun "King of Chu" in Yingdu, and in order to please Chu State, Yin and Sima did everything they could, for fear that like King Chu Ling, Chen Guoyi would be a county if he disagreed.

In short, since falling under the control of the Chu State a hundred years ago, the Chen State has never seen Zhou Tianzi even once, and the time when the King of Chu Zhuang won the crown, he followed him to the side of the Zhou royal family as a royal man......

At this juncture, Kong Qiu came to suggest that Chen Guo go to see Zhou Tianzi? Chen Houyue only felt that he was afraid that he wanted to restore the Zhou ceremony, and the king of Zhou wanted to go crazy.

Chen Hou was also a frivolous person, so he told his courtiers about this as a joke, and Sun Tuo, the ruling prince of Chen State, scoffed at this and said: "Since King Ping moved eastward, Lu State has paid tribute to Zhou Tianzi 7 times, of which 3 times the King of Lu State went in person. At the same time, the State of Lu has been the Marquis of Qi 11 times, and the Hou of Jin and Jin 20 times, and even the hometown of Kong Qiu, the State of Lu, has behaved like this, why should he say that the State of Chen is not? Such a pedantic person, his words are not enough for the king to hear. ”

Confucius, seeing that his ideas were useless, could only sigh and say, "It's better to leave...... and in March, they packed their bags and set out on the road again, ready to go to Cai in the south.

……

After King Wu of Zhou Keshang built Zhou, he was named with his maternal brother Yu Cai, called Cai Shudu, King Wu died early, and after the regency of Zhou Gong, Uncle Cai and Uncle Guan participated in the Wu Geng rebellion and were exterminated. Uncle Guan was killed, Uncle Cai was exiled, because Uncle Cai's son was of good character, so the Duke of Zhou persuaded King Zhou Cheng to restore the state of Cai, and his capital was moved to Shangcai, if not counting the state of Wu, it is the southernmost point of Zhuji.

In the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period, Cai Guo was still strong, and he and Lu and Song sent troops to attack Zheng. It was not until King Wen of Chu took advantage of the contradiction between Cai and Xi that he sent troops to capture Cai Aihou and bring Cai into the control of Chu. (531 BC) King Chu Ling once destroyed Cai, three years later Cai Pinghou restored the country, and moved the capital to Luting, called "Xin Cai".

More than ten years ago, because of the greed of Yin Zichang of the Chu State, he imprisoned Cai Hou, which led to the release of Cai Hou Shen Meiyu in Hanshui, vowing to take revenge on Chu State! So he rebelled against Chu with Tang State, lured Wu Shi to attack Yingdu, and almost overthrew Chu State.

Now the state of Cai is between the revived state of Chu and the powerful state of Wu, and the situation is quite sensitive. Seeing the gradual revival of the Chu State, he successively subdued the Chen State, destroyed the Don and Hu Erguos, cut off the road from Cai to the Wu State, and surrounded the Cai State. Cai Houshen immediately panicked, and was worried that the Chu army would retaliate all day long, but now he has a big grudge against Chu and can't turn back, so he sent labor to garrison the border, and the control of the border is very strict.

Confucius chose to go south to Cai at this time, which really can't be called wise, but he looked at the world and had no place to stay:

Lu Guo's hometown can't go back, because it was usurped by Zhao Wuxian, and now a son is installed as a general; Wei Guo couldn't go, and his old friends Kong Yu, Yan Boyu, etc. either did things for the Zhao family, or went directly to be Zhao Wuxian's guests in Yecheng; Qi Guo...... In the eyes of Confucius, the actions of Chen and Bao Er, and Zhao Wuxian's actions to blackmail the Marquis of Jin cannot be found; In the Song Kingdom, the great Wu Nanzi, who held the theory of ghosts and gods, did not welcome Confucius; Cao State Taoqiu, also known as the "Republic", has become a country without a king and a father, Confucius was also a little disappointed in Zigong, and only pointed at him and denounced "If you are not a disciple, the boy can beat the drum to attack it".

For a while, Kong Qiu could only sigh in his heart, "No country in the world can pass through Zhao". In addition, Zheng and Chen didn't want to see him, needless to say, so Confucius looked for it, but only Qin, Chu and a few other places could go.

But what he wanted to go to more was Yanling in Wu State. Yanling Jizi is long-lived, this octogenarian is in the chaotic barbaric Wu country, but he lives a quiet life of literary and polite manners, Confucius yearns for it, and has always wanted to visit, but to Yanling, Cai Guo is the only way......

However, what the master and apprentice did not expect was that when they were just approaching a field on the border of Chen Cai, they met more than a thousand Cai soldiers rushing up without saying hello!

……

"We are Nalu country travelers, passing through your country, and there is no other intention!"

The lacquer carving's neighing appeal didn't seem to have had an effect, and the soldiers of Cai Guoren didn't say a word, and surrounded Kong Qiu and his disciples, and their spears and arrows were aimed at them, as if they were going to kill them all!

Kong Qiu asked his disciples to be behind the car, and he stepped forward like a female beast guarding the chicks, and raised his coat to report to his family: "Lu people Kong Qiu is here, and I also invite your doctor to come and talk." ”

I don't know if Cai Ren is located in the south and can't understand Kongqiu's slightly Ludi accent, so he continued to move forward after exchanging ears.

"Master, if you can't talk about it, rush out!" Zilu shouted loudly.

Kong Qiu was worried, looking at Cai Ren who didn't listen to his explanation, and didn't know why he wanted to be embarrassed by himself, so he could only nod and instruct: "Hugh has to kill." ”

"When I was killed by my master in Kuangdi, I was surrounded by Kuang people, and now I am killed here, is it fate to be like this? In order not to let the master die, the good man would rather fight and die! In the face of such a crisis, the brave Zilu and Gongliang drew their swords in their hands from left to right, and they fought very bravely.

Cai's army was known for being fragile and uncombative, so the two warriors, Zilu and Gongliangru, were able to make them dare not approach. Confucius and the others fought and retreated, retreating to the bottom of a small hill. At this time, it was already dark, and Cai Ren did not catch up, but watched from a distance nearby, and seemed to be a little undecided.

Confucius asked his disciple Yan Hui and others to negotiate with him, and at this time, a person from Cai Guo who could speak stood up and said to them coldly from afar: "A few days ago, someone came to report to the doctor stationed in Shen Yi that a team of more than 100 people would pass through Cai State, and there were spies sent by Chu State and Chen State in it, planning to cooperate with the outside world and attack Cai State!" Dr. Shen Yi sent us to intercept him. ”

Confucius's master and apprentice were in an uproar, Confucius also looked left and right, raised his defenseless arms, and said to the Cai people with a smile: "The gentleman has nothing to fight, but the matter of the bean is heard of, and the military affairs have not been learned, let alone intervening in the affairs of the countries to fight, presumably your country has misunderstood." ”

But Cai Yan couldn't make the decision, he said impatiently: "Misunderstanding is not misunderstanding, there is a decision between the doctor and the monarch, everyone is waiting here, waiting for us to report to the doctor, and the doctor will report to the king, before we can decide whether you are captured or released!" ”

They didn't say anything more, and firmly guarded the road near the hill, apparently intending to trap Confucius and his party of more than 100 people here before the order of their superiors was issued again.

……

It's March, spring in the south, and in a sea of green grass, the hill looks like an island.

Confucius and his entourage have been trapped in the gap between Chen and Cai for seven days!

The Cai people blocked the road around the hill and made it impassable, and by the third day, Confucius had run out of dry food and cut off food. The disciples who followed were so exhausted that they couldn't stand up with hunger.

It was a barren hillock, and unless they were willing to chew grass roots like cattle, they could hardly find any food. They tried to eat ants, but these small, yellow things were so small that they were not nutritious and made people's mouths sour.

Some disciples found a bush with crooked branches covered with green hard fruits. Min Zhen and the others looked at them hesitantly, but in the end, they couldn't help it, plucked one from one of the branches, and bit it. The flesh is sour and chewy, and then there is a familiar bitterness, which is not delicious. But just chewing it would make their stomachs start to growl, and then a large number of disciples rushed to hear the news, plucked the berries with both hands, and stuffed them into their mouths.

However, after nightfall, their stomachs began to twitch, the pain made it impossible to sleep, and many of the disciples kept retching and diarrhea.

"It would be nice if Zi was late......"

Everyone couldn't help but miss Fan Xulai, who could easily identify all kinds of wild plants and plants.

The next day, they excreted a brown liquid, and it smelled so bad that the disciples of Confucius squatted everywhere in the field, wailing all over the ground, the stench was stinking, and the elegance of the "gentleman" disappeared completely.

The more they pulled, the more thirsty they felt, but luckily there was nothing wrong with drinking, and there was a murky stream in the besieged place, although the water also made the stomach cramp. Their bellies seemed to be crawling with poisonous snakes, twisting and biting their stomachs, but it was much easier to endure than thirst, and they had nothing to drink but to suck the morning dew that shimmered on the tall grass.

In this time of distress, a thought crossed the minds of the disciples who regarded the Master as a role model for the first time: "Is there anything wrong with the Master's teachings?" Otherwise, why would we be reduced to this!? ”

But even in this situation, Confucius still practiced recitation, played and sang, and taught poetry, books, rituals, and music without interruption.

In the midst of everyone's weak response, a disciple finally rose up indignantly and raised questioning questions.

"Isn't the Master going to teach us the way of a gentleman? Do gentlemen have such times of misfortune and bad luck? (To be continued.) )