"General Chu Guowei, Yinghou Zhou Zhi returned to !!!"

"General Chu Guowei, Yinghou Zhou Zhi returned to !!!"

With the successive reports of the guards and the female officials in the palace, near the originally quiet Nangong Qilin Palace, a loud echo instantly sounded, one by one, until it resounded throughout the entire hall.

In this way, after the beginning of the court meeting, it is a great respect for the meritorious heroes, only those who have made great meritorious deeds or have very high power will get, Zhou Zhi arrived last night, because of his outstanding merits, so Zongzheng Temple according to the custom, arrange for him to enter the palace alone after the court meeting begins.

The civil and military forces in the main hall also quieted down, and they had already gotten the news that Zhou Zhi would arrive today, so they were not surprised. Wang Xu, who was sitting on the throne, had already pulled out an arc at the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile.

Zhou Zhi was dressed in a mighty battle armor, and took a big stride, and between the countless guards, he slowly stepped up the wide and magnificent stone staircase in front of the main hall.

When he walked outside the main hall, the female official instantly shouted: "General Chu Guowei, Yinghou Zhou Zhi has come to see you!" ”

"Xuan!" Wang Xu on the throne waved lightly.

The female officer standing not far from him bowed slightly, and then stepped forward and dragged out her voice.

"The king of Chu has a will, Xuanying Marquis Zhou Zhi will meet you!"

With the words, Zhou Zhi walked into the hall with vigorous steps, and his combat boots stepped on the red carpet in the hall, still making a dull sound.

Walking to the center, he waved his hand and shook off the long red robe, his face was solemn, and he knelt on one knee: "Minister Zhou Zhi, meet the King of Chu!" ”

It is necessary to meet with formal etiquette on such formal occasions, and not only for the sake of honor. The most important thing is to highlight the authority of the throne. In times like these. With such an ideological background and such a system, absolute authority can represent a stable and orderly status of monarchs and ministers, and only then can social order be ensured.

"Do you still know to come back?" A cold voice sounded, and Wang Xu opened his mouth to reprimand.

This surprised all the ministers, their faces were full of astonishment, and they looked back at Wang Xu in a daze.

Only Zhou Zhi was unmoved. Still on one knee, quietly staying where he was.

"Where are the Praetorian Guards?"

"In!" The Praetorian guards didn't care about anything else, they just accepted the orders of the King of Chu.

"Received his seal from General Wei!"

"No!"

"This ......" The ministers were in an uproar, and they looked at each other instantly, not understanding the situation at all.

"General Zhou, please!" The guards still respected Zhou Zhi very much, and did not step forward to snatch it directly, but signaled him to hand it over himself.

Zhou Zhi didn't say a word, silently took out the Great Seal of General Wei from his arms, and at the same time took off the ribbon and handed it to the guards, which were all necessary to carry with him when he went to court.

"Humph! Unauthorized troop transfer. Fleeing from the battle, disobeying orders and disrespecting. Three cardinal sins, each of which is enough for you to die once! Wang Xu reprimanded.

"The minister is guilty!" Zhou Zhi couldn't see the expression on his face.

Wang Xu stared at him for a moment, then changed his tone, and then continued: "However, these three major sins are all for a reason, you are also the heart of the Chu State, and the Western Expedition won a great victory, and you have also made outstanding achievements, so I demoted you to a guard captain to punish you slightly!" Zhenxi General Zhang Jing was promoted to General Wei and commanded the border guards! ”

In an instant, Zhou Zhi was really confused, and he couldn't understand what Wang Xu meant by this!

Not only him, but even Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others, who originally thought that Wang Xu was punished first and then rewarded, were completely confused!

It stands to reason that Zhou Zhi is definitely more meritorious than guilty in this battle, and the source of his crime is all for the victory of Chu State, and now in the case of a complete victory, it should be more rewarding than punishing anyway, and Wang Xu has always had clear rewards and punishments, and he has never been like this time, it seems that there is a feeling of deliberately suppressing Zhou Zhi.

But if Wang Xu has the heart to suppress Zhou Zhi, he is afraid of his high merits, or he can't be promoted, then why should he be arranged to the post of Wei Wei? Although Wei Wei's power status is not as good as that of General Wei, he is the supreme commander of the Praetorian Guard, and he is directly in charge of the safety of the royal family and his ministers, but whoever takes office must be Wang Xu's confidant, isn't it a contradiction?

This matter made the ministers puzzled, and they were all silent, secretly speculating in their hearts.

But Wang Xu didn't continue to dwell on this matter at all, and soon after awarding Zhou Zhixin the seal, he then transferred the court discussion to military and political matters!

It wasn't until before retreating from the dynasty that Wang Xu suddenly commanded in a very casual tone: "Zhou Zhi and Zhang Jing will be in the Diligent Administration Hall later!" ”

The Qinzheng Hall is located in the North Palace, where Wang Xu lived, and was the place where he worked alone and summoned his courtiers.

Not long after he returned to the Qinzheng Palace, Zhou Zhi and Zhang Jing followed.

"Sit!" Wang Xu casually pointed to the mattress not far away.

At this time, when they were alone, the atmosphere was much more casual, Zhang Jing went to sit down with him, but Zhou Zhi was like an angry little daughter-in-law, and said angrily: "Don't dare to sit!" ”

"What? Afraid of sitting on my mattress and getting sores on my buttocks? Wang Xu looked at him with a smile.

When Zhang Jing over there heard this, he laughed out loud: "Hehe, he's not just afraid of sores, he's afraid of being beaten with a military stick on his butt!" ”

"You are cheap and good, and the General Wei Mansion that I worked so hard to build will be picked up by you for nothing!" Zhou Zhi looked over indignantly and glared at Zhang Jing.

"It's none of my business, you can't blame me, boss's arrangement!" Zhang Jing waved his hand again and again.

Wang Xu smiled and looked at Zhou Zhi, who was full of resentment, and finally shook his head and said: "I know that you are not convinced, the western expedition to Liangzhou, you took the initiative to fall into danger, and fought hard for a year, not only forced Liangzhou to surrender, but also laid a favorable pattern in the northern frontier of Chu once and for all, no one can compare to you in terms of merit alone!" Even if you count the mistakes you have committed, then you should be rewarded, not to mention that everything you do is for the Chu State, and those mistakes can be punished or not! ”

"Then you still strip me of military power!" Zhou Zhi whispered aggrievedly.

"The mastiff is dead!"

"It doesn't matter to me whether others die or not, I ......" Zhou Zhi said, suddenly reacted and looked at Wang Xu in shock. Which king mastiff? ”

"You owe more than 6,000 stone to others, and you haven't paid it back to the mastiff!"

"How is that possible?" Zhou Zhi was so excited that he jumped to his feet in disbelief. "He didn't lead the troops to the battle, why did he die suddenly!"

"There are too many injuries, too many diseases, I have hollowed out my body, and I have contracted lung disease!"

"Is this true?" Zhou Zhi looked at Zhang Jing tremblingly.

"Hmmm! Really, not only is Wang Mastiff dead, but Kuai Liang is also dead! Zhang Jing said heavily.

"How so? How so? ”

Zhou Zhi's eyes turned red instantly, and he kept shaking his head, he was a very emotional person, and he obviously couldn't accept it.

"Your body is worse than that of the king mastiff, but you are supported by your deep internal breath, and you are not so old, so you can still stand here." Wang Xu said leisurely: "You have overdrawn your body this year, and the border guards continue to expand and reorganize, taking on more and more important responsibilities, the affairs of General Wei's Mansion will only become more onerous, you should rest!" First of all, temporarily hang the post of guard lieutenant, and the actual affairs will be handled by the four guards of Xiang Pet, rest more in Xiangyang, and relax! ”

Zhou Zhi's eyes were red, and he said excitedly: "But the world has not yet calmed down, and I don't want to retire like this!" ”

He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and choked up: "I know that my body is not good, I know that I can't live for too long, but I'm not reconciled!" I'm really unwilling! For the sake of this world, we have been fighting for so many years, and how many people have died? Once you will succeed, what is this sentence? Can it describe the hard what if? ”

"Now that I am halfway there, I am going to go down the battlefield and enjoy the glory and wealth alone, so what face do I have to meet those brothers who have faithfully followed me? Boss, the brothers are falling halfway through! How do you make me face their trusting gaze? How to deal with their generosity to death? Even if I live for a long time, my conscience will be uneasy, and my mind will be uneasy! ”

"When I was young, I didn't understand why those generals preferred the horse leather shroud, but when I came to this point now, I understood that the battlefield is the destination of people like us, I have handed over to the battlefield all my life, and I have given it to the dream of pacifying the world and creating a prosperous world, there is no turning back, you let me quit now, how can I accept it?"

"Boss, I was brought out by you from a small mountain village, thirteen years old, in this life I have followed you to fight in the north and south since I was thirteen years old, I have been pressed all my life, and now I don't have a few years to live, but you let me quit? How do I accept it? Even if I die, I will die on horseback in this life! Can you think about how I feel? ”

Listening to Zhou Zhi's outpouring as if venting, Wang Xu and Zhang Jing were very silent, in fact, they both understood and understood that kind of feeling, so why weren't they the same?

"Zhou Zhi, I understand what you said, and with your ability, it will greatly promote the Chu State to sweep the world, I don't want you to be idle, but I don't want you to die so quickly, I don't want to watch you die in front of me in the prime of life!" Wang Xu said lightly, his voice was slightly helpless, but also with vicissitudes.

"But you have deprived me of my faith and soul, and of everything for most of my life, how is this different from death?"

Looking at each other, Zhou Zhi's eyes were particularly persistent and persistent.

Zhang Jing also said loudly: "Boss, in fact, what Zhou Zhi said makes sense, if it were me, I wouldn't want to!" We're all already on this path! ”

After a long time, Wang Xu was finally defeated and sighed helplessly.

"Okay, if you insist on insisting, then I still respect your choice, but your body is really not suitable for taking on tedious affairs, three days later, you will be transferred to the general of the town army, the same position as the general, enter the Shangshutai, ignore trivial matters, but be ordered to lead the army to the expedition!"

"Good!"

Zhou Zhi left satisfied, Wang Xu saw them go away, but fell into a long silence, in fact, he had a faint feeling of unease, but he was not sure if this feeling was related to Zhou Zhi, but since he studied the "Dunjia Heavenly Book", this feeling of uneasiness has always been very accurate...... (To be continued......)