Zi Chu has always felt deeply guilty towards Zhao Ji and her son. After Zhao Ji and her son returned to Xianyang, Zi Chu doted on Zhao Ji day by day and slept in the west courtyard for several days. At the same time, he invited Ying Zheng to marry him.

The best teacher came to teach every day, and Ying Zheng was also smart. He soon became familiar with the rules of the palace, and his knowledge gradually increased.

Han Ji was jealous after being alone in the empty room for half a month, so she came to complain to Mrs. Xia and said: "Since Zhao Ji came to Xianyang, the prince stayed in the west courtyard every night, and his face became increasingly haggard. It must be that vixen who has charmed the prince.

If things go on like this, how will your body be able to survive? Please ask my aunt to advise the prince!"

"I also heard the king mention this recently, saying that since Zhao Ji came to Xianyang, the prince has not been as attentive to political affairs as before!"

"Yes, yes! If this continues, not only will it delay political affairs, but it will also hurt your body, what's the big deal?"

Mrs. Xia didn't like Zhao Ji in the first place, and now she felt that Zhao Ji threatened Zi Chu's future, so she called Zhao Ji to the Xia Palace and said: "You have just come to Xianyang, and you are a guest. I can't say anything to you, but

Every woman must think about her husband, but do you think about the prince wholeheartedly?"

When Zhao Ji heard Mrs.

The Way of Women.”

"In the palace, it is different from the people. The king is the king of Qin, and the prince is the prince of Qin. They have many things to do. Your task is to take good care of the prince's body so that he has enough energy to help the king.

Handle political affairs! Instead of letting him be greedy for sex!"

Zhao Ji now understood what Mrs.

"Since you have already acknowledged your mistake, I will not hold you accountable this time. You have to behave yourself. There is a king above the prince in this palace, as well as me and Mrs. Huayang! If you do it again, I will not forgive you!"

Zhao Ji got up tremblingly and said goodbye and went back.

After Lu Buwei heard about this, he knew that Zhao Ji was in trouble, so he secretly met with Zhao Ji and said: "Madam, do you know that it is often very dangerous to be a favorite in the palace? Too many people are watching the prince now. If he makes any mistakes, he will be punished."

The prince may get into big trouble!"

"But the prince only likes me!" Zhao Ji argued.

Seeing that she had no political sensitivity, Lu Buwei had no choice but to further remind: "Now the prince's safety is not only related to you and me, but also to Mrs. Huayang and Mrs. Xia. The prince cannot make any mistakes at this time, otherwise our lives will be in danger!"

"Is it so serious? Sir, tell me what to do?" Lu Buwei's words moved her and scared her. Especially when she thought of Mrs. Xia's stern expression, a chill ran down her spine unconsciously!

"Madam, I would like to advise the prince to pay more attention to political affairs. In the harem, he must hide his power and bide his time. Only by keeping a close eye on the rain and dew can he be protected!"

For two days in a row, both Mrs.

Concubine Ji stayed overnight. Seeing that the prince came to stay overnight in the East Palace, Han Ji thought that the prince had stayed at Zhao Ji's place just for fun, so she didn't take it to heart anymore.

One day, Ying Zheng was playing in the garden, and happened to meet Cheng Jiao and Han Ji who were also playing in the garden. When Cheng Jiao saw Ying Zheng, he stepped forward and asked, "Are you the brother Ying Zheng who came back from Handan?"

"Yes, I am Zhao Zheng, and you are brother Chengjiao, right?"

"Well. Mother said that I was born in Xianyang, but you were born in Handan, so I am a real Qin person! You can only be half a Qin person!" Cheng Jiao said proudly.

"Aren't people from Qin and Zhao alike? I don't think they look any different!"

"I don't know either. They all say that Zhao people are very vicious."

"I have lived in Zhao country for a long time, and I don't think they are very vicious... Let's not talk about this anymore. Brother, let's play throwing sandbags together!"

"...but mother won't let me play with you!"

At this time, Han Ji noticed that Cheng Jiao was talking to Ying Zheng, and shouted sternly: "Cheng Jiao came here to play, didn't I tell you not to play with the bumpkin?" When Cheng Jiao heard his mother calling him, he ran away.

Opened. Leaving Ying Zheng alone.

Standing there, his eyes were full of confusion and incomprehension. In his heart, he didn't hate his younger brother Cheng Jiao, but the adults always deliberately kept the distance between him and Cheng Jiao, as if they were not born to do so.

Live together.

Before I knew it, more than half a year had passed,

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King Xiaowen's mourning period has passed and he officially inherited the throne. However, just three days later, King Xiaowen suddenly fell ill and died. A happy event in the palace suddenly turned into a funeral. Fortunately, Mrs. Huayang and Lu Buwei made proper arrangements, and arranged for Zi Chu on the third day.

He ascended the throne and was called King Zhuangxiang of Qin. Because the heroes of the royal family had received rewards from King Xiaowen, they had no objection to King Xiaowen's arrangements.

After Zichu came to the throne, Mrs. Huayang and Mrs. Xia were both called the Queen Mother. Soon they appointed Lu Buwei as the prime minister, Meng Ao, Wang Yi as the general, Xiong Zhuang, Han Qi and others as the ministers. The rewards for the royal family's meritorious officials remained unchanged.

The court was quickly stabilized.

Soon after King Zhuang Xiang came to the throne, the matter of appointing a successor was put on the agenda. All parties soon could not restrain themselves and started a heated discussion in the court. Empress Dowager Huayang said: "Ying Zheng is the direct descendant of King Zhuang Xiang."

The eldest son, who was once a hostage in Handan, has made great contributions to the Qin State, so he should be made the crown prince!"

Empress Dowager Xia said: "Ying Zheng has been in Zhao for many years and lacks discipline. He does not understand the affairs in the palace and does not remember all the etiquette. Chengjiao grew up in Xianyang since he was a child and knows a lot about the palace. He is a real

A native of Qin."

Lu Buwei said: "Master Yingzheng is still young, and the king is also in his prime. We have enough time to train him!"

Han Qidao: "The Prime Minister's words are wrong. It takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to cultivate people. It is not easy to cultivate a qualified successor to the king!"

Lu Buwei said: "I heard that people can change easily when they are young! Only old people are difficult to change."

Seeing that the court meeting was about to turn into a quarrel, King Zhuang Xiang quickly stopped it and said: "This matter is not urgent. The two young masters are still young. We will wait for some time to observe their conduct before making a conclusion!" King Zhuang Xiang

Although he favored Zhao Ji, he did not dare to offend the old ministers in the court easily, and his biological mother, the Queen Mother Xia, also supported Cheng Jiao, making it difficult for him to make a decision.

At this time, the newly enthroned King of Qin received a secret report: the Lord of Eastern Zhou was conspiring with the princes to invade Qin while the new King of Qin was not yet firmly established. The entire court of Qin could only postpone the establishment of a prince and focus on dealing with the threats at hand.

.

After receiving the news that the Lord of Eastern Zhou was plotting against Qin, King Zhuang Xiang privately summoned Lu Buwei to discuss countermeasures, saying: "I heard that the Lord of Eastern Zhou has formed an alliance with Chu, Zhao, Wei, and Han. If Yu takes advantage of the new accession to the throne to invade our country, what should the prime minister do?

response?"

Lu Buwei had long sent retainers to monitor the capitals of various countries, and Luoyi had a lot of informants. Therefore, Lu Buwei knew many of the details, so he said: "The Lord of Eastern Zhou wanted to weaken our Qin State by uniting, but the interests of each country are different.

If you are pregnant with evil intentions, you will not use all your strength to deal with us. For the current plan, we still need to make friends with far away and attack closely. To the east, befriend Qi, and to the south, stabilize Chu. Zhao and Wei need military deterrence, so that the Lord of Eastern Zhou can be isolated."

King Zhuang Xiang said: "I have just ascended the throne, and I don't want to stir up trouble. But if I show weakness now, I'm afraid there will never be peace again."

Lu Buwei had just become the prime minister at this time and wanted to gain a foothold in the court. In the martial Qin Dynasty, the best way to be recognized by the court was to achieve military exploits! Lu Buwei wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to obtain military exploits, so he encouraged the King of Qin: "Now the Eastern Zhou Dynasty

You are contacting all the princes, but it is difficult for them to reach an agreement in a short period of time. Therefore, if we strike preemptively and attack when the princes are not ready, we will be very sure of victory!"

King Zhuang Xiang had just ascended the throne and needed a military exploit to stabilize his position, so he supported Lu Buwei's suggestion and said: "My husband and I coincidentally agree! We will discuss it in court tomorrow!" With King Zhuang Xiang, he strongly supported Lu Buwei's suggestion.

With this sentence, Lu Buwei felt confident, so he left and returned home.

When he went to court the next day, King Zhuang Xiang got straight to the point: "My dear friends, I must have heard about the Lord of Eastern Zhou's conspiracy against Qin. How should we deal with it now? Do you have any opinions?"

Veteran minister Ying Liang said: "It has been more than seven hundred years since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, and it has been three hundred years since the capital was moved to Luoyi. Although his power is no longer there, he is still the nominal ruler of the world. Now the king should send an envoy to Luoyi to plead guilty to the Lord of Eastern Zhou.

The best policy is to avoid fighting!"

Han Qidao: "I think what the old master said is reasonable. As long as we go to court to plead guilty, the Lord of Eastern Zhou will have no reason to unite with the princes to attack us."

Lu Buwei stood up at this time and said: "This is wrong. Our Great Qin originally had the function of protecting the country. It is a country that has been rewarded. Since the founding of the country, we have fought against barbarians and respected the emperor at home. What is wrong? Now the Lord of Eastern Zhou wants to unite the princes.

Those who attack our Qin country will definitely listen to the villain's words. If we go to Luoyi now to plead guilty, wouldn't we be showing weakness to the world! What's more, it is unreasonable to plead guilty with innocent bodies!"

Ying Liang said: "Then Mr. Yi Lu means to send troops to attack the Lord of Eastern Zhou?"

Lu Buwei said seriously: "It's not that we are willing to send troops, but at this critical moment, we need to use troops."

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It is our only choice! Now that the king has just ascended the throne, the princes and countries have evil intentions and plots against our Qin country. If we cannot deter the princes with force, we will be underestimated, and our Qin country will never have peace!"

"This is a treasonous act against the superior!" Ying Liang said angrily!

Xiong Zhuang, who had been standing by the side at this time, said: "Since King Ping moved eastward, when has the Lord of Eastern Zhou ever upheld justice for the world! During the reign of Duke Mu, the Jin Kingdom took away our land west of Hexi. Did the Lord of Eastern Zhou ever say a word of justice to the world?

The world is no longer the world of Emperor Zhou, but the world of the strong! Only a strong country can stand! Cowardice can only be beaten!"

What else did Ying Liang want to say, but he was interrupted by King Zhuang Xiang, saying: "Old Master, please stop talking. Now we have made up our minds. We have appointed Lu Buwei as general, Xiong Zhuang as military advisor, and leading 200,000 troops to attack the Eastern Zhou Dynasty!"

"

Half a month later, King Zhuang Xiang offered sacrifices to Xiong Zhuang and Lu Buwei. King Zhuang Xiang said: "The generals and military advisors can relax their hands. I have sent envoys to Qi and Chu to persuade them not to send troops to rescue. At the same time, General Meng Ao was in Zhao Wei.

A hundred thousand troops have been gathered at the border. If they dare to send troops, we can cut off their retreat and annihilate them in one fell swoop!"

Lu Buwei said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your thoughtful consideration. Buwei will definitely fulfill his mission!" After saying this, the army set off!

The Lord of Eastern Zhou was shocked when he heard that the King of Qin had sent a large army to attack! The Lord of Eastern Zhou only had one hundred thousand troops under his command, and lacked food and grass. Fighting against the Qin army was like throwing an egg against a rock. He asked his attendants: "Who leaked the news? What happened to the people of Qin?"

Will you know about our plot to attack Qin?"

The person next to him said: "We have contacted the princes several times to attack Qin together, but to no avail. The princes from all walks of life have been obedient and unwilling to provoke Qin. Someone among the princes must have leaked the news!"

The king of Eastern Zhou Dynasty said: "Then what should we do now? Is there any news from the princes?"

The left and right said: "We have sent envoys to Zhao, Wei, Han, and Chu. Zhao, Wei, and Han all promised to send troops to help, but Chu has not responded! Now is a critical moment. Your Majesty must quickly send people to the princes to urge reinforcements.

!”

The king of Eastern Zhou hurriedly sent envoys to the princes to ask for help.

The Qin State was adjacent to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. In less than half a month, the Qin Army penetrated deep into the hinterland of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The 100,000 troops of the Eastern Zhou Army were completely vulnerable. When they heard that the Qin Army was invading, many cities surrendered. Lu Buwei was receiving the surrendered cities.

After that, the former officials were still appointed to manage daily affairs, and opened warehouses to release grain and provide relief to the victims. The people in the territories of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty were eager to surrender. The Qin army encountered less resistance and reached the gates of Luoyi in less than a month.

Seeing that the reinforcements from all walks of life were being sent in disguise, and no one was actually sent to rescue him, the Lord of Eastern Zhou hid in the palace and cried loudly, saying: "The 800-year-old foundation of the Zhou Dynasty will be in the hands of a few people. God will not help me."
To be continued...