Meng Jian is the head of the hundred officials, and his authority is still above Han Xin. Now that Ziying is dead, he is undoubtedly the best choice to oppose the leader of Han Xin's forces. Originally, everyone thought that according to Meng Jian's fortitude, he would definitely jump out at this moment and re-carry the banner of supporting the royal power against Han Xin, but he never expected that he would decide to resign and live in seclusion.

Han Xin and Ying Ke looked at each other, and they both saw shock in each other's eyes. Han Xin pondered for a while, slowly walked out of the right column, and arched his hand; "Prime Minister, now that the kings of the Qin State have alternated, there is already an image of instability in the country, and I hope you will focus on the society and help my Great Qin get through this pass."

Meng Jian glanced at him and said lightly; "The general looks up to the old minister too much, you can have you in the Qin country, what is the difference between the old man's going and staying."

Han Xin heard the dissatisfaction in Meng Jian's words, couldn't help but smile bitterly, and wanted to persuade, but Meng Jian had already turned around and just looked at Ying Ke and bowed; "Princess, Your Majesty has died, the old man is very sad in his heart, and it may be difficult to serve the new monarch after he is over sixty years old, and I hope that the princess will remember that I have served three generations of kings, and I agreed to the last request of the old minister."

After saying that, he bowed to the end, which meant that if he didn't agree to his request, he wouldn't get up again.

Ying Ke sighed slightly, he saw that Meng Jian's mind had been decided, and it was difficult to dissuade him, so he had to say; "Prime Minister, I'll put your resignation here first, and if you change your mind one day, Daqin will open the door to you at any time."

Meng Jian was expressionless, just bowed his head and thanked him in a deep voice. Win Ke had to announce in the court that he would select the prime minister after the new monarch ascended the throne, and the prime minister's power was temporarily implemented by Bai Pang, the imperial historian. After carefully discussing the ceremony of the new monarch's enthronement ceremony tomorrow, the court meeting dispersed.

As usual, Meng Jian was still walking alone, but the only difference was that his pace was much slower this time. He walked slowly and hobbly down the stone steps, but stopped at a bend and stood there quietly, as if waiting for someone else.

Finally, a sentence sounded behind him: "The prime minister stays." ”

Meng Jian slowly turned around and said expressionlessly; "General, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Han Xin was surprised; "Prime Minister, you are waiting for me."

Meng Jian didn't say anything, just looked up at him and said lightly; "I'm no longer the prime minister, general, please don't call me old decay."

Han Xin smiled slightly, bowed and said; "Why should the old man argue about these false courtesies?"

"I wonder what the boss is waiting for me?"

Meng Jian glanced at him, "I have something to tell you, just like I know that you will definitely chase you out and have something to say to me, before the old man leaves, we really need to talk to each other." ”

Han Xin's face showed a little guilt, and he said in a low voice; "Prime Minister, this incident is really just an accident, Your Majesty didn't have to die, and I didn't expect him to kill himself. Believe it or not, I didn't have the intention of rebelling at first. ”

Meng Jian actually nodded and said; "I believe it."

"I know who you are, and I know that you are just forced to protect yourself, otherwise I wouldn't let you go easily. Han Xin, don't underestimate the strength of the old Qin family led by Meng Xibai, if we families unite and raise our arms, I believe that at least half of the army of the Qin State will not obey your military orders. ”

Han Xin was slightly moved, and asked in some surprise; "Then why don't you ......."

"It's simple." Meng Jian said calmly; "I am not sure of victory, you must know that the Qin family is no longer an iron plate, and according to your talent, you must have bought many of them a long time ago. Even if we break with you, it will only disrupt the Qin State, defeat is only a matter of time, and the Qin State will definitely be greatly injured at that time, this is not the result I want to see. ”

Speaking of this, Meng Jian narrowed his eyes, he was already old and his skin was loose, his triangular eyes looked extremely majestic, and he stroked the sparse beard under his chin and said faintly: "Besides, this kind of ending is not the worst ending I expected, and it is even far better." ”

Han Xin was stunned for a moment, and asked a little incomprehensibly; "Forgive the boy for being stupid, I don't really understand the meaning of the old man's words."

"When Your Majesty told me the plan, I tried hard to persuade him, but His Majesty insisted on doing so as if he had lost his mind, and no matter how much I tried to persuade him, he would not dispel this idea. In desperation, I had to fully cooperate with him, but unfortunately although His Majesty is smart, after all, he is inexperienced and not good enough, and he is far from your opponent. ”

"The worst outcome is that you are killed on the spot, but I am sure that your cronies, Zhao Wuji, will rebel against you, whether out of revenge for you or out of fear of self-preservation. At that time, the Qin State will definitely have a big army, and the lives will be stained, even if the rebellion is quelled, it will be a big loss of vitality, and it will be cheap to want to fight them. And now, with you under high pressure, at least the Qin State is still stable for the time being. ”

Han Xin was silent for a while, looked up at Meng Jian and said sincerely; "Boss, I really hope that you can stay in the post of prime minister, you must know that the Qin State is now suffering from internal and external troubles, if there is no you, the respected prime minister, to sit in the court, it will be difficult for me to spare my hands to deal with foreign enemies with all my might."

Meng Jian smiled, and instead asked a question that seemed unrelated, "Han Xin, have you heard the story of Bo Yi and Shu Qi?" ”

Han Xin hesitated for a moment, then nodded, he already knew the meaning of Meng Jian's words.

Boyi and Shuqi were originally the two princes of Dugu State at the end of the Shang Dynasty, and after the death of Guzhujun, Shuqi ran away and wanted to give way to his brother Boyi. Bo Yi also did not want to be the king and escaped. Later, the two met on the road, and Wen Xin Xibohou Ji Changshan was good at raising the old and young, and won the support of the people and took refuge in Zhou. King Wen died, King Wu of Zhou succeeded to the throne and supported the army, they thought that the princes thought it was unkind, and tried their best to advise. King Wu did not listen and was determined to destroy Shang. Bo Yi and Shu Qi scoffed at King Wu of Zhou's behavior, swore not to be Zhou's subjects, nor to eat Zhou's grain, and lived in seclusion in Shouyang Mountain, picking wild fruits for a living. Meng Jian naturally wanted to metaphorize that Han Xin was that Zhou Wu, and he was determined to be Boyi and Shuqi.

Sure enough, Meng Jian continued; "Your Majesty is dead, the seven-hundred-year-old Win Qin State has been cut off, this is the mandate of heaven, everything that can be done has been done, but there is no choice but the will of heaven will die in Qin, how can manpower change it."

Speaking of this, Meng Jian couldn't help but sigh, his face was a little painful, he had been determined to be loyal to Great Qin all his life, but now he was watching the Qin King clan end up like this.

"I don't blame you for what I said. Yu Gong, you have made a contribution to the reinvention of the Qin State, if it were not for you, the Qin State would have died a long time ago, but His Majesty wanted to kill you and seize power, it was the Qin State that was responsible for you first, not you for the Qin State. Yu privately, the Qin State has been cut off, I am loyal to the King of Qin, but now there is no one to be loyal to, what is the use of me staying in the court, will it help you ascend to the throne of the King of Qin? ”

Han Xin raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice; "Prime Minister, am I so much like a thief in your heart?"

Meng Jian smiled slightly, "You don't like it, but I know that you will sit in this position sooner or later." Han Xin, the way of power is like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat, if you don't take a step forward, your henchmen and your cronies will not agree. It's not a question of whether you want to or not, it's something you're going to do. This has been expected by me for a long time, and I just hope that you will promise me three things. ”

"Boss, please."

"First, you have to be kind to the Ying family, although the King of Qin has lost his heir, there are still a lot of collateral blood relatives, I hope you can show the courage of a lord of the world to tolerate these remnants. Second, you have to promise me that even if you ascend the throne, you must retain the title of Qin and not establish a new dynasty. You must agree to these two conditions, or I will never give up. ”

Han Xin looked at Meng Jian, who was resolute, nodded solemnly and said; "Okay, I promise you, I, Han Xin, swear hereby that if I violate this promise, I will arouse the wrath of heaven and people, and everyone in the world can kill him."

"May I ask you, sir, what is your third condition."

Meng Jian saw Han Xin nodding in agreement, so he breathed a sigh of relief, withdrew his aggressive gaze, and said calmly; "As for the third matter, it is my personal matter, and whether you agree or not will not damage our agreement."

"But it doesn't hurt to say it."

"I have received the grace of the country in my life, and I will eat Qin Lu all my life, and I don't want to be a minister of another country when I am old. I want to emulate the high wind and bright festival of Boyi and Shuqi who don't eat Zhou Lu, and I hope you can reward me with the ten-mile land under Yangqu Mountain, so that I can take my old wife to retreat into it and cultivate myself, and never step out of this place for half a step for my life, so as to celebrate the festival of the winning family. ”

"I know what you're worried about, you're afraid that after I'm gone, no one will be able to control those Wenchen families, right? I can recommend one to you. He is the son of the Gongsun family, and the son-in-law of the Bai family, the grandson of the Xi family, I also know his talents very well, enough to be the prime minister. The most important thing is that he greatly admires you and admires you greatly, but it is inconvenient for me, an old man, to express his position openly, so I think that if he is a good person, it will be a great good for you and the country. ”

After Meng Jian said so many words, he gradually felt a little tired, and after finishing speaking, he closed his eyes and said; "So, what does the Admiral think? I also hope that you can treat the Qin people and the Qin country well, so that my Great Qin can restore the page of the former king as soon as possible. ”

Han Xin looked at Meng Jian silently, and his heart couldn't help but be full of respect for this old man who was dedicated to the country. He suddenly knelt down on one knee, bowed his head and said respectfully; "Prime Minister Gaoyi, please bow down to the boy, I will do my best to live up to your high expectations."

On the seventh day of the 11th month of the third year of Qin II, three days after the death of Prince Qin, the enthronement ceremony of the new Qin king was hastily completed. Xiao Yingyi, who was only eight years old, wore a heavy court dress and ascended the throne symbolizing the supreme self-esteem of King Qin in the sound of a mountain shouting long live.

At the age of ten, he didn't really understand the meaning of "King Qin", he was just called by his father yesterday and told him impatiently and carefully, telling him to pay attention to this, pay attention to that, not to do this, not to do that, which made him disgusted with being this King of Qin.

But when he stood on the high throne with Ying Ke's hand, looking at the ministers kowtowing one by one with a happy face, he couldn't help but be excited, feeling that being the king of Qin turned out to be such a fun thing, if it weren't for the family education since childhood, he would have laughed out loud.

It seemed to him to be just a very interesting game, with people dressed in strange costumes kowtowing their heads under him like puppets. And he just needs to sit in his seat without saying a word.

"Mother, look at that old man, he walks like a duck." Ying Yi leaned into Ying Ke's ear and said softly.

Win Keyan couldn't help but burst out laughing, and remembered that he was on the throne, so he hurriedly tightened his face and didn't dare to laugh again. Stretched out his hand and gently pinched him behind Yingyi's back, Yingyi was in pain, and quickly straightened up and pretended to be a little adult.

In terms of seniority, Yingyi should call Uncle Yingke and grandmother, but Yingke disliked this title and called her old, so he asked Yingyi to call her grandmother, and asked him to call Han Xin's father in private. Although Ying Yi was only taken to the palace yesterday, he and Ying Ke's mother are even like each other, and they can't do without her in just one day.

In Xiao Yingyi's opinion, the palace is a hundred times more fun than his home, there are many, many toys here, and many people play with him everywhere; Win is also much better than his father who keeps a straight face all day long, she won't tell herself that this can't do that, this can't do that, she can't do that, she will just dote on him and let him run and play at will.

Ying Ke also likes the lively and lovely Ying Yi in her heart, she is over twenty years old, and many Qin girls at her age are already the mothers of many children, only she has been delayed until now to marry her beloved. Although Ziying is her nephew, she is a few years older than her, and it is not so much the love of aunts and nephews as the love of brothers and sisters. Now there is this smart and clever Ying Yi by her side, which makes Ying Ke, who has lost his relatives, feel greatly relieved. After all, they are all the same surname, and although they are separated by blood, they are still common ancestors.

The closeness of Ying Ke and Ying Yi made Han Xin couldn't help but feel jealous, and now he was the first on the right hand side under the throne, leading a group of generals to pay homage according to the great ceremony of three kneeling and nine bowing. Although he is in the third public food town and ten thousand households, according to the etiquette system, he does not need to kneel and worship the king of Qin, but today is indeed the enthronement ceremony of the king of Qin, so he can not be an exception, so he can only honestly kowtow one by one according to the big ceremony, and his heart is extremely depressed.

Looking up and seeing him on the seat looking at him with some schadenfreude and smiling, he couldn't help but feel depressed, fortunately, this set of gifts was not too long, and it didn't take long for the routine ceremony of the new king to sacrifice to the sky, and then go to Yongcheng to worship the ancestors and tell the ancestors three days later, which is the official ceremony.

Because Ying Yi was young, the ceremony of sacrificing to the sky was completely handled by Ying Ke, and this cumbersome ceremony lasted for two hours before it finally ended. In front of nearly 1,000 officials, Ying Ke read about the new personnel transfer of the court, and most of the officials stayed in their original positions, except for the eye-catching Gongsun Honggao who was promoted to prime minister to replace Meng Jian. It was not until all was over that the ministers dispersed and went home.

Han Xin didn't have this blessing to enjoy, and he still had a mountain of official documents to deal with. In the past few days, the Qin State seems to be calm and calm, but in fact, it is loose on the outside and tight on the inside, a large number of generals and garrisons have been transferred, and Han Xin's cadres Tian Shi, Zhao Wuji and others have also been transferred out of Xianyang to various important places to take over local military affairs, and to prevent people with different intentions from raising troops to rebel.

The chiefs of the various counties were also transferred, and some of Han Shin's confidants and trusted people were placed in various important positions, while others with ambiguous attitudes remained unchanged and were transferred to many insignificant places.

After finishing these political affairs, it was already approaching dusk, and Han Xin finally took care of all the emergency military affairs. When he looked up and saw that the sky was getting dark, and he felt a pang of hunger in his belly, he closed the file and left the Governor's Mansion and returned to his mansion.

A while ago, when Ziying named him the Marquis of Wuxin, he had given him a very large mansion last time, and it was not too far from his throne mansion, and it was only a quarter of an hour's journey to walk quickly.

When he arrived at the Marquis Wuxin Mansion, Han Xin was taken aback as soon as he entered the door, the Hou Mansion, which originally looked dilapidated and shabby, had changed its appearance drastically, and it looked extremely clean and tidy, until he saw his old butler that he was convinced that this was his mansion. Han Xin originally lived alone, and he rarely stayed in his own mansion except for sleeping every day, and he stayed in the Captain's Mansion, so although this mansion was large and magnificent, it looked a little dilapidated.

When he walked into the courtyard, there was a mess in the courtyard, Ying Ke rolled up his sleeves and long skirt, and was crossing his waist and loudly ordering the servants how to place it, but Ying Yi on the side stood there obediently and watched Ying Ke. Ying Yi was originally the king of Qin and couldn't leave the palace without permission, but Ying Ke had no scruples and still ran around with him.

According to the Qin system, the princess who marries out can no longer stay in the palace, and Ying Ke also dislikes the cold palace very much, so he moved to Han Xin's mansion. Seeing that his layout was not exquisite, he summoned his servants to sweep the real house.

Seeing Han Xin coming back, Ying Ke couldn't help but be overjoyed, stepped forward to greet him, and said with a smile; "You're finally done."

Han Xin shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile; "What are you going to do?"

"I see that the feng shui arrangement here is very problematic, so I have itchy hands and want to rearrange it for you, you won't mind."

Han Xin laughed. "You're the mistress here, it's up to you, what do I mind."

Ying Ke couldn't help but blush when he heard the word "hostess", and pointed to his personal maid Su'e and looked at Ying Yidao; "You can go over there with this big sister first." Yingyi nodded, and happily followed Su'e to the side yard.

Ying Ke looked at Ying Yi's back with a smile, his face was full of doting, Han Xin couldn't help but be jealous when he saw it, and said angrily; "Don't look at it, if you look at it again, your eyeballs will fall, you must know that your husband is next to you."

Ying Ke heard the vinegar in Han Xin's words, and couldn't help but smile; "Okay, stingy."

Suddenly thinking of something, he looked at Han Xin and said; "Brother Han, I want to ask you for one thing, can you not hurt Yi'er in the future, I really like this child."

Han Xin said with a smile; "It's okay to promise you to arrive, but there is one condition."

"On what terms?"

Han Xin said seriously; "That's why don't call me Brother Han anymore."

Win Ke was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted, and suddenly his cheeks were full of redness, and he couldn't help lowering his head and shouting softly; "Husband."

Han Xin laughed and said, "Since you like children so much, how about I give you a gift." ”

"What a gift?"

"In the future, if we give birth to more than two sons, let one of them change his surname to Win, and if I become the emperor, I will make him the king of Guanzhong to inherit the Qin industry and offer Ying incense, okay?"

Win Ke was surprised and delighted, and couldn't help hugging Han Xin and crying with joy. Han Xin whispered in her ear with bad intentions; "Then you have to work hard, why don't we start now?"

Ying Ke's face was red, his head was buried deeply, and he whispered "En" in a weak mosquito voice. Han Xin was overjoyed, and hurriedly picked up Ying Ke and rushed into the bedroom.

The maidservants beside him covered their mouths and chuckled one by one, thinking that this uncle was so anxious, and he was in a hurry to the cave room before it was dark.