Zhou Guanfu called a few entourage soldiers to him, and said in a solemn tone: "The front is about to enter the Huguan Canyon, you must carefully search the cliffs and dense forests on both sides of the canyon, no clues can be missed, the safety of the prime minister is very important, you must not take it lightly, do you understand?" ”

A few of the pro-soldiers agreed and took the order.

Bai Mo, who was sitting in the carriage, shook his head with a smile and said, "Katsuzhi, with you by my side, what else can happen?" ”

Zhou Guanfu shook his head and said disapprovingly: "Although there is a little martial arts in the lower ranks, there is only one person after all, and if he is besieged by the assassins, he may not be able to protect the prime minister." ”

Bai Mo smiled: "Shengzhi, you are too worried, how can there be assassins here." ”

"That's not for sure." Zhou Guanfu said, "The people of Ebony Cliff are pervasive, Prime Minister, your whereabouts may be kept secret in Guanzhong, but once you enter South Korea, I am afraid that you will let them know it a long time ago, Xiang Zhuang Lao'er regards the Prime Minister as a big trouble, how can he turn a blind eye after learning the Prime Minister's whereabouts?" Sending assassins to assassinate was inevitable. ”

"Not necessarily." Bai Mo waved his hand and said indifferently, "Although Xiang Zhuang regards me as a thorn in the flesh, he may not act rashly, although Ebony Cliff is good at spying on news, but after all, he is alone, is it possible that dozens of dead soldiers can really get you, a big Han hussar general and three hundred elites?" ”

Zhou Guanfu said: "Do you know that Ebony Cliff will not move an army from Zhao State? ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Guanfu suddenly became worried again, and persuaded Bai Mo to say: "Prime Minister, I thought it was too dangerous to go to Handan like this, no matter what, Zhao State is still an ally of Chu State!" ”

"Don't worry, Zhao Guojun won't be so unwise!" Bai Mo waved his hand and said indifferently, "What's more." The two countries did not fight each other, so why should Zhao be unfavorable to the prime minister? It doesn't make sense. ”

"But ......" Zhou Guanfu still wanted to argue. was stopped by Bai Mo.

Bai Mo stopped Zhou Guanfu with a smile. He said in a low voice: "Shengzhi, I might as well tell you, in fact, the prime minister has already made all arrangements, so I will go to Handan." There is no danger at all. ”

##########

Xiang Zhuang went all the way to the ferry along Triumph Avenue, and then sent Bi Shu to the ferry.

Hu Yan stood behind Bi Shu with the dumb moon sword in his hand. The urn said angrily: "Your Majesty, don't worry, as long as the last general still has a breath, the general will never lose half a hair!" ”

"What's that your name?" Xiang Zhuang's eyes widened. He reprimanded sharply. "If you are alive, the general can't miss a hair, and if you die, the general can't miss a hair!"

"Whoa!" Hu Yan responded with a bang and gave his hands to the ground.

Xiang Zhuang repeatedly told Bi Shudao: "Learn the sword, go to Linzi." You have to be careful, even though we have everything in place. But he didn't dare to assert that Han Xiao'er would be restrained, and taking a step back, even if Han Xiao'er was restrained out of interest considerations, it could not guarantee that the civil and military generals of Qi State would have some scruples. ”

Bi Shu repeatedly arched his hand and said: "Don't worry, the king can rest assured, the gentleman does not stand under the dangerous wall, and the minister still understands this truth." ”

Xiang Zhuang was still not at ease, and told him for the last time: "Learn the sword, before you are very sure, you must not enter Linzi City, as long as you do not enter the city, even if the monarchs and ministers of Qi have unfavorable intentions for you, Huyan's three hundred iron horsemen can completely protect you and get away calmly, and the widow will let Jiang Ji lead the naval army to meet you by sea." ”

Bi Shu said: "The king can rest assured, the monarchs and ministers of the Qi Kingdom want the lives of their ministers, but it is not so easy. ”

"Very good." Xiang Zhuang finally let go, waved his hand to signal the boatman to start the boat, and then rushed to Bishu and said, "Learn the sword, the widow is waiting for good news in Ziling." ”

"Your Majesty, please come back." Bi Shu returned the salute and said with a smile, "Minister...... No disgrace! Xiang Zhuang did not return here, and stood at the ferry to watch Bi Shu's figure disappear into the vast river in the distance, and then returned to Ziling City with a heavy heart.

##########

Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao, summoned the state minister Guan Gao, the sub-prime minister Zhang Jing, the general Zhao Wu and the second general Bai Xuan into the palace overnight, and then conveyed a rather astonishing news to the four chief ministers: Bai Mo, the prime minister of the Han State, has arrived in Yuci and is about to enter the territory of Zhao through Jingcheng!

Zhang Jing was greatly surprised when he heard this, and said puzzledly: "King, Bai Mo is Liu Bang's minister, at this time, he is not in Xianyang to assist Liu Heng, what are you doing in Zhao State?" ”

"What the hell is going on?" Zhao Wu said with a hideous face, "Back then, on the Golden Bull Road, Bai Mo set up an ambush and almost killed the King of Chu. In this way, wouldn't the alliance between my Great Zhao and the Chu State be more consolidated? ”

"I'm afraid that's not right, right?" Bai Xuan frowned and said, "The so-called two countries do not cut off the envoys, this time Bai Mo came to Handan as an envoy, if I can't help but say that I will capture it, wouldn't it be dishonest to the people of the world?" ”

"What's wrong with losing faith in the world?" Zhao Wu snorted sullenly and said disapprovingly, "Now that the country of Chu is strong, and my big Zhao is backed by strong Chu and arrogant to the princes, who dares to say half a word of gossip?" Hum! ”

"Backed by Qiang Chu?" Bai Xuan said coldly, "How do you know that Qiang Chu won't covet my Da Zhao?" ”

"You ......" Zhao Wu was suddenly speechless, and then immediately said with strong words, "Bai Xuan, you are against General Ben everywhere, what is your intention?" Have you repeatedly sabotaged the Chu-Zhao Alliance, intending to trap my Great Zhao in danger? ”

Bai Xuan no longer paid attention to Zhao Wu, and said to Zhang Ao: "King, the trend of Chu State sweeping the world has been completed, and maintaining the alliance with Chu State at this time is tantamount to seeking skin with the tiger, and I am afraid that I will die in the future. ”

"Bai Xuan!" Zhao Wu shouted, "Hugh wants to make such misleading words again!" ”

Seeing that Zhao Wu and Bai Xuan were arguing again, Zhang Ao waved his hand again and again: "Okay, okay, don't quarrel with the two Aiqing, don't quarrel, if you have something to say, talk about it, ......talk about it."

Finally suppressed the quarrel between Zhao Wu and Bai Xuan, Zhang Ao asked Guan Gao again: "Old Prime Minister, what do you think?" ”

Guan Gao's snow-white shou eyebrows moved, and he said to him: "King, the old minister thinks that this matter should be considered in the long run. ”

Zhang Ao smiled bitterly, and then cast his inquiring gaze on Zhang Jing, Zhang Jing's eyes flickered, and said: "The minister thinks that what the two generals said is reasonable, but the old minister is the old man who seeks the country, and this matter should be discussed in the long run." "Zhao Wu and Bai Xuan have become fire and water, and Guan Gao and Zhang Jing don't want to get involved easily.

"That's fine." Zhang Ao was full of annoyance, and said dejectedly, "Let's not talk about this matter for the time being, then wait until Prime Minister Bai arrives in Handan, and please go back to Aiqing." ”

##########

Since Xiang Zhuang implemented reforms, especially the national examination system, the power structure of the entire country has undergone earth-shaking changes! The original family system was suppressed to pieces, and was replaced by a new system of honors and scholars.

Nowadays, the officials of the Chu State are divided into two systems: civil and military.

Military attachés are mainly honored relatives and nobles, relying on military merit rewards and promotions, and civil officials are all out of Taixue, relying on performance assessment and promotion, more than ten years, these two systems have been gradually standardized and relatively complete, for example, the inclusion of the six counties of Liangdi, so that the Yin Mansion in a very short period of time has been promoted six county guards, more than 70 county orders, this is the power of the system.

If it weren't for Xiang Zhuang's invention of papermaking and printing, it would have made it possible to spread a large number of books, even if Xiang Zhuang implemented the national examination system, it still could not change the status quo of scarcity of readers, the so-called national examination could only become a decoration, imagine that if only a few hundred people in Liao Liao took the exam every year, then it would be a fart? …,

But now, the state of Chu has no worries about this, the entire country of Chu has a population of eight million, not to mention 100,000 scholars, and the younger the age, the higher the proportion of reading, Xiang Zhuang is even a little worried, in the long run, will all young people choose to study, then who will be the soldier and go to war?

However, after all, the formation of the civil service system is still short, at least above the court, the climate has not yet been formed.

In the current court of Chu State, the core position is still occupied by those military generals, as well as the nobles from the descendants of the clan, for example, Ling Yin Xianghe, who is the head of the civil official, is himself a Xiang clan and is the most prominent noble! There is also Xiang Tuo, the chief of the generals, who is also a member of the Xiang clan.

In other words, in today's court, the nobles have a great right to speak!

Most of these nobles and nobles are crawling from the sea of corpses and blood, they are not like those civil officials who have been trained too much, the power of civil officials comes from royal power, and if they lose the support of royal power, they are not fart, and the power of noble relatives and nobles comes from their own military exploits, even if they are the king of Chu, they cannot be easily deprived of their military exploits.

This will inevitably lead to a situation in which civil officials are more loyal to the monarch, because the monarch can give them more power, while military attaches are more loyal to their own families, because only when the family is prosperous can they obtain more resources, and with more resources, they can win more military exploits, and then in turn consolidate the power and status of the family.

In other words, the military attaché cares more about the interests of their respective families!

And the highest manifestation of the interests of the military attache family is the division of the feud.

In fact, those nobles and nobles of Chu have long been clamoring for the division in private, and the vast majority of them are no longer young, seeing that they will not be able to live for a few years, if they don't divide the seal, they may not be able to catch up, but Xiang Zhuang's prestige is too high, and he presses it under the pretext that the revenge of the previous king has not been avenged, otherwise, they would have invited the seal in groups.

Therefore, when the news that Queen Wei Yue had a nephew came to defect spread, it was like a stone thrown into the pool, and there were ripples in an instant, and in less than two days, the request to divide the grandson of the late Wei King Leopard as the king of Wei and re-establish the Wei State flew into the palace of the king of Chu like snowflakes, and piled up on Xiang Zhuang's desk.