At 6 o'clock, Zhao Jie came to the Han Palace as promised, and Zhang Ping personally greeted him. "Please come with me." Zhang Ping said respectfully.

Seeing Zhang Ping's meticulous etiquette, Zhao Jie also became cautious and cautiously followed him up the stairs.

"Childe, when will the covenant officially take effect?" Zhang Ping said suddenly.

"As soon as my father ascends the throne, Korea will immediately send a secret envoy to Zhao to discuss the implementation of the secret treaty." Zhao Jie replied quietly.

"Childe, rest assured, I, South Korea, will fully support Childe's father as king." Zhang Ping said sincerely

"When you enter the main hall later, it is best for the prince to look depressed, if someone asks you how the covenant is going, you better tell him that the talks failed, in case the pro-Qin faction in the court returns to the Qin State, and then the Qin State comes forward to obstruct it." Zhang Kai reminded.

"I hope this trick can buy us enough time." Zhao Jie sighed and replied quietly.

"This is the sorrow of a weak country!" Zhao Jie thought to himself.

After entering the main hall and saluting King Han, Zhao Jie sat down. At ten o'clock, King Han announced the start of the banquet, and Zhao Jie sat in his position and carefully observed the Korean ministers.

Zhao Jie found that about half of the courtiers were drinking alcohol, such people were headed by Zhang Ping, and about half of the courtiers were toasting around, and this kind of people were headed by the deputy prime minister, Shangqing Song Wu. "Half pro-Qin faction, half anti-Qin faction, King Han's imperial mind is really handy!" Zhao Jie thought secretly.

The banquet lasted until dark, during which Zhao Jie was repeatedly asked about the talks, and Zhao Jie pretended to be drunk and told the person who asked about the fake news.

At that time, Zhao Jie and Li Min returned to the inn. On this night, the homes of several ministers in Xinzheng City were brightly lit. In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Jie and Li Min quietly left Korea and rode towards Wei.

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After the Battle of Jinyang, the Jin Kingdom was divided by the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei, and it existed in name only. When Zhao was still licking the wounds caused by the war, and when Korea was still enduring the continuous aggression of Chu and Zheng, Wei took the lead in riding the spring breeze of reform and became rich and strong. Wei Wenhou appointed the legalist Li Kui to preside over the reform of the law of the Wei State, reform politics, reward farming and warfare, and build water conservancy; Wei Wenhou worshipped the Confucian scholar Zixia as his teacher, established the Xihe School Palace, collected the hearts of the world's corporans, and promoted the emergence of the Xihe School; Wei Wenhou activated Wu Qi, a native of Lu, adopted a military system, selected soldiers for training, and established a professional army, destroying Zhongshan in the north and Xihe in the west.

During the reign of King Hui of Wei, Wei galloped through the Central Plains, fought in the south and in the north, conquered Handan, the capital of Zhao, united with Korea to defeat Qi, Qi Chu sued for peace, counterattacked Qin, surrounded Qin Xiaogong Yu Dingyang, Qin was defeated and begged for peace, and Wei became a new generation of overlords. Since ancient times, the state of Wei has become a thorn in the side of all countries and a thorn in the flesh. After the defeat in the Battle of Maling, the strength of Wei was seriously weakened, and various countries took advantage of the fire to loot. Although the Wei State later made many reparation measures, such as Gongsun Yan's "Five Kingdoms Prime Minister" and "Hezhong", and Zhang Yi's "Lianheng" policy, the Wei State irreversibly declined.

In the twenty-second year of King Zhou, Bai Qi, the general of Qin, led the Qin army to annihilate the combined forces of Korea, Wei and Eastern Zhou in Yique. In this campaign, Bai Qi completely annihilated 240,000 troops of the Han and Wei coalitions, captured Yique, and captured several Wei cities and most of the areas east of Anyi in Korea. The elite of Wei and Korea were completely lost, and at this point, Wei no longer had the strength to resist Qin alone, and could only seek survival space in the cracks.

The destination of Zhao Jie's trip is such a once glorious and declining country.

Two days after leaving Korea, Zhao Jie and Li Min entered the territory of Wei, and two days later they arrived at Daliang City, the capital of Wei.

Daliang City is the center of the Central Plains, bordering Qilu in the east, Jianghuai in the south, Songyue in the west, and Yanzhao in the north, and the geographical situation is very important. Since the Wei State moved its capital to Daliang, the Wei kings of various generations have built large-scale water conservancy projects many times, and painstakingly operated the water network around the periphery of Daliang City, making the waterways outside Daliang City vertical and horizontal, and the shipping is developed. Thanks to this, Zhao Jie and Li Min abandoned their horses and boarded the ship soon after entering the Wei State.

"Your Highness is really fast." Gao Le greeted the duo on the dock.

"How's it going for your class?" Jumping off the boat, Zhao Jie asked impatiently.

"Your Highness, rest assured, today Zhao Envoy took Brother Feijin to the Xinling Jun's Mansion." Gao Le replied, "I have been ordered to meet them here, and I don't know what is going on with them." ”

"Xinlingjun and my Zhao family have in-laws, it shouldn't be difficult for them, don't worry!" Zhao Jie patted Gao Le's shoulder and comforted.

"Senior brother, have you helped us arrange a good place to live! We're all the way, we're tired, and we're in dire need of rest. Li Min asked, carrying his luggage, jumping off the boat.

"Come with me!" Gao Le took Zhao Jie and Li Min and walked towards the city.

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When he woke up, the fatigue gradually disappeared, Zhao Jie got dressed sleepily and walked out of the room.

"Childe, you're awake!" A voice came into Zhao Jie's ears: "In Xia Nai, Zhao envoy Lou Ji, sent an envoy to Wei at the order of the prince of the prison state." ”

Zhao Jie wiped his eyes, raised his head, and glanced up and down at the visitor, only to see that this person was tall and mighty, with a rough face, hair of different colors, and a long distance from Zhao Ren. "Are you Lou Furen, Donghu people, or Huns?" Zhao Jie asked.

"Weichen's father is Zhao Ren, and his mother is annoying." Lou Ji replied neither humbly nor arrogantly. The Zhao family has a lot of connections with the northern nomads, and even several generations of family heads have Hu blood, so the people in Zhao do not discriminate against or resist the northern nomads, and domestic laws also allow Zhao people to intermarry with the Hu people.

"How's it going?" Zhao Jie asked.

"Tomorrow, the head of Confucianism, Xun Guo, will come to Daliang City, and Xinling Jun will set up a banquet for him tomorrow, and the whole Wei State will come to the banquet. Today, I visited Xinling Jun and got four invitations, which means that we can go to the banquet to meet the powerful faction of Wei. Lou Jiyu reported.

"You have a great idea, so let's do it!" Zhao Jie praised and commanded.

On the second day, at the time of Chen, a carriage slowly drove into Daliang City under the protection of elite soldiers, followed by two or three hundred Confucian scholars wearing Confucian scarves and Confucian shirts, and there were also elite soldiers around them. In the carriage sat the new head of Confucianism, Xun Kuang, known as Xunzi, and the Confucian scholars who followed behind the carriage were his disciples.

The carriage was slowly moving forward on the streets of Daliang City, and Xunzi was sitting in it. The disciples behind the carriage all performed the disciple salute, and they followed the trend cautiously. As the carriage continued to move forward, the ranks of disciples continued to expand, and many scholars who had been waiting on both sides of the road joined one after another, and in a short time it stretched for hundreds of zhang.

Is this the appeal of Confucianism? It is no wonder that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in later generations chose to respect Confucianism alone. Zhao Jie, who was also in the middle of it, thought so.

Few people know that Confucianism was once the source of a hundred schools, and that the Mohists, Legalists and other schools of thought during the Warring States Period all evolved from Confucianism. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, pioneered private learning and taught students, and many outstanding talents appeared among the students he taught. After Confucius's death, Confucianism inevitably split due to his lack of clarity on some issues, which led to his disciples disagreeing on their own words. Among them, the Confucian disciple Mo Zhai founded his own Mojia because he was disgusted with the Confucian concept of etiquette and righteousness; Li Kui, a disciple of Confucius, once studied under Zeng Shen, a disciple of Zixia, and later became a representative of Legalism, creating a new era of Legalism in the Warring States Period. Although Confucianism was divided and even became obscure for a period of time, the huge talent pool could not be compared with other schools, and God gave them new heirs, Mencius and Xunzi.

"Xun sacrificial wine, welcome." Walking to Xinlingjun's mansion, the carriage stopped, and Xinlingjun saluted Xunzi in front of the mansion. Xunzi had been a sacrificial wine for three terms in the Qi State, so the world called it Xun sacrificial wine.

Xunzi, who was in his fifties, slowly got out of the car and returned the salute meticulously. Unlike Mencius, who emphasized "righteousness", Xunzi paid more attention to "etiquette". In his view, etiquette is a tool to guide people to goodness.

After the ceremony, Xunzi said gratefully: "I can come to Daliang City to give a lecture this time, and I would like to thank you for your care." ”

Confucianism has a deep relationship with the Wei State, Confucius's disciple Zi Xia took the lead in propagating Confucianism in the Wei State, after Zi Xia's death, some of his disciples and re-disciples were divided due to concepts, and the space of Confucianism began to be oppressed by the Legalists, so Mencius took over the banner and propagated the Confucian ideas of his master Zisi in the Wei State, and created the idea of "benevolence and righteousness", and Meng's Confucianism was born and occupied the dominant position of Confucianism in the world. For Xunzi, this lecture in Wei can also be said to be a decisive battle to replace Meng's Confucianism with Sun's Confucianism, thus occupying a dominant position.

"Sir, Daxian, taking care of Mr. is what should be done in the future." Xin Lingjun replied humbly and politely: "Meat eaters despise, I only hope to listen to the high words of the gentleman." ”

"Your Majesty is serious." Xunzi smiled and said modestly: "It's just the words of the scholar." ”

Xin Lingjun also smiled in return, and then said, "Please come with me, sir, the pulpit is not far ahead." ”

So Xin Lingjun led the way in front, Xun Jing followed, and many disciples followed behind and walked towards the place where the lecture was held.

Zhao Jie, Li Min, and Lou Ji were surrounded by the excited crowd and had to continue to move forward step by step.