I thought that I might have the chance to become a disciple of the former by Zhuangzi, but I didn't expect that Zhuangzi would beat this opportunity to death from the beginning. Even Meng Zhong would inevitably feel disappointed.

After more than a dozen breaths, Meng Zhong came to his senses from the blow, took a deep breath, and began to think about why Zhuangzi refused to accept him as his disciple - this was also the question Zhuangzi was asking him back, or was testing him.

Is it because I just contradicted Zhuangzi and was hated by Zhuangzi?

This speculation flashed through Meng Zhong's heart for a moment and was rejected by him.

After all, Zhuangzi is a Taoist sage and open-minded. If Meng Zhong had not added the four words "Taoist will perish", if he just said "Zhuang Zhou will not be able to stop and wait for him to explain.

As for holding grudges, it is even more nonsense. What qualifications does Meng Zhong have to be held grudges by Zhuangzi at the moment?

After excluding this, the answer is actually very obvious.

So Meng Zhong replied in a low voice: "Maybe the Master thinks that the boy is too utilitarian."

Upon hearing this, Zhuangzi nodded slightly.

In fact, for the moment, Zhuang Zhou has a good impression of the boy named Meng Zhong in front of him, and is quite interested in it, but there are a few points about Meng Zhong that he doesn't like.

First, Meng Zhong was young and was too scheming.

The so-called scheming means that people covet things they shouldn’t have and try their best to calculate, because driven by desire, they often cause harm to others and oneself.

For example, for today's incident, Meng Zhong prepared for three months in advance to attack Zhuang Zhou today. This scheming and patience are not common among the younger generations.

Therefore, Zhuang Zhou felt that if he fulfilled Meng Zhong's wish today and accepted him as a disciple, it would be equivalent to helping Meng Zhong's scheming and watching him go to the wrong path.

Since he has decided to "teach", Zhuang Zhou will of course start with the most fundamental mind.

Second, Meng Zhong is too utilitarian.

The so-called utilitarian mind, in a serious way, is the severity of "using any means to achieve your goal."

For example, in order to become his disciple, Meng Zhong did not hesitate to plot against his elders. This behavior of calculating others for the purpose of achieving his goal was very disgusting.

However, what surprised Zhuangzi a little was that this boy was not only smart, but also had self-knowledge, and could understand why he refused to accept him as a disciple. Since that was the case, he might as well "save" him.

However, before this, Zhuangzi had to figure out one thing, that is, why Meng Zhong insisted on becoming his disciple, for fame, for profit, or for something else.

So he wrote this question on another bamboo card: Do you want to be my disciple for fame and fortune?

Meng Zhong thought for a while and replied: "I hope to become a disciple of Master, not entirely for fame and fortune.... I also know that once a person becomes famous, there will be many right and wrong. At that time, someone flatters, someone attacks and annihilation, or may be troubled by rumors all day long. After King Wu of Zhou passed away, when Zhou Duke (Ji Dan) assisted the young king, even if a person with virtue like Zhou Duke would be troubled by rumors, let alone others?... It is not for profit. Status and wealth, but with things outside of him, no matter how high the status is, people are still just people, and a handful of loess in a hundred years; although wealth is beautiful, the surplus can only be piled up in the home..."

Zhuangzi stroked his beard and a few surprises flashed in his eyes.

He didn't expect that Meng Zhong would have such ideological awareness at such a young age.

Why is that?

Zhuangzi asked Meng Zhong with his eyes.

At this time, Meng Zhong raised his hands, clenched his fists, looked at Zhuangzi and said, "Master, I have two hands, my left hand can hold a shield to protect my cherished relatives; my right hand can hold a sword to kill the enemies who try to invade my relatives. However, I only have two hands. When there are too many enemies who try to invade my relatives, I can no longer protect them... I want to be Master, your disciple, because I want to be valued and not sacrificed casually.... In the past, when Song and Wei were fighting, a Song soldier lost his halberd and seized a sword from the enemy. After the war, he returned to the camp and asked the minor official who kept the weapons, and asked "

This spear may compensate for the lost spear. "? The little official shook his head and said that since the lost spear was not allowed, he had to use it to fight. After hearing this, the monk Song and his wife returned to the battlefield with the sword in his hand. On the way, he encountered the war between the Song and Wei armies, and unfortunately died. Afterwards, the little official learned about this matter and said to his side, "How can I ignore this person because of me?" So he also held weapons and participated in the war between the Song and Wei armies, and eventually died unfortunately... The boy thought that the little official and the little official were both loyal and righteous men, but unfortunately they all died. The reason was that they were not able to obtain a higher status and could not determine their own destiny."

After listening to Meng Zhong's words quietly, Zhuangzi was moved by it.

If Meng Zhong's just sayings about fame and fortune only surprised him a little, then Meng Zhong's honest and simple words later really touched him.

In order to better protect his relatives, he did not want to be consumed in this troubled times like the pawn. Therefore, he wanted to use Zhuangzi's reputation to gain worldly attention. Even if Zhuangzi "played" the role he was used in this matter, he could not blame Meng Zhong for anything.

On the contrary, he admired Meng Zhong very much in his heart.

Of course, no matter how much he appreciates, he is also dissatisfied with Meng Zhong's words. For example, Meng Zhong bluntly said "kill the enemy who tried to invade my relatives." After all, Zhuangzi hated and resisted war and killed.

Suddenly, Zhuangzi's heart moved.

Because he felt that the boy in front of him had a little too mature mind and a long-term vision, he was already a little prepared for danger in times of peace.

Generally, ten-year-old children should not have such a mature mind in the stage of mental enlightenment.

"Is it possible that there was an accident in his family?"

Zhuang Zhou thought to himself.

Of course, if you ask about such bad things, he will ask Zhuang Bo to inquire afterwards. What he wants to know at this moment is what exactly caused Meng Zhong to be prepared for danger in times of peace and was already planning for the future.

A moment later, when he saw the words written by Zhuangzi on the bamboo plaque, Meng Zhong replied truthfully: "Because of the State of Song."

Zhuangzi was stunned when he heard this. He stroked his white beard with his left hand and spread his hands to Meng Zhong with his right hand, making a "detailed" gesture - he also wanted to hear what unique insights Meng Zhong, a ten-year-old boy, had about him.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong thought for a while and said, "As we all know, the State of Song was a descendant of the Yin people. Except for the State of Qi, the "Tian Family Dealing Jiang" incident, the rest of the state of Qi, if it were not the descendants of the Ji family, they were descendants of the ministers of the Ji family. The Zhou Dynasty was originally established after overthrowing the Yin people. What's more, the King of Song was called king more than ten years ago. In the following years, he defeated the three kingdoms of Qi, Chu, and Wei, and he dared not underestimate our State of Song from now on... But I thought this was not a blessing. In the end, although our State of Song was not a weak country, it was not a strong country. He was called king and domineering, and was also hostile to Qi, Chu, and Wei. Although he could be protected for a while now, he might be afraid of disaster in the future."

Zhuangzi nodded slightly and recognized Meng Zhong's insights in his heart.

Because his close friend Hui Shi's clan member "Hui Ang" was a major minister under the Song Dynasty, he was a senior official under the Song Dynasty. Therefore, his understanding of the situation in the Song Dynasty naturally exceeded that of Meng Zhong - even though he didn't care much about it before.

Zhuangzi knew that the reason why Song Jun Dai Yan dared to be king was because "Gongsun Yan" who served as the prime minister of Wei at that time was organizing a total of seven participating countries, including Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, Chu, Qi, and Yiqu. At that time, the focus of the Central Plains was on this major event, so the incident of Song Jun Dai Yan's king did not cause much shock in the world.

However, because all countries have selfish intentions, the "seven countries jointly attacked Qin" was defeated by Qin, which then led to the confrontation between Qin and Qi and Chu.

Since then, Qin, Qi and Chu have all fought for the alliance and ranks, fighting for the position of overlords, and of course they have no regard for Song.

A few years later, when the Yan State was in civil strife during the "Seven Kingdoms Jointly Defeat Qin", Qi took the opportunity to send troops to attack Yan State. This move led to the killing of King Kuai of Yan. The prime minister of Yan State "Zizhi" fled and was caught by the Qi people and chopped into meat sauce. It was this war that laid the root of disaster for the Qi State in the future. Later, King Kuai of Yan State's son "Yan Zhao" worked hard to govern and relied on "Le Yi" to lead the army to attack Qi State as revenge. He successively occupied more than 70 cities of Qi State, leaving only "Ju" and "Jimo" two cities, almost destroying the country. After that, Qi State quickly declined.

As for Chu, a few years later, he was deceived by Qin's prime minister "Zhang Yi". At that time, Zhang Yi deceived King Huai of Chu and used Qin's cedes 600 miles of Shangyu as a condition to exchange for Chu and Qi to terminate the alliance. King Huai of Chu was trapped and broke off diplomatic relations with Qi. However, Zhang Yi said that he was talking about "Liu Li Land" at that time.

So King Huai of Chu was furious and attacked Qin with his vast army, but was defeated by Qin.

Afterwards, Han and Wei took the opportunity to seize the territory of Chu in the Central Plains, and Chu also declined.

In short, the powerful countries such as Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Qin were all frugal. At that time, Qi, Chu, and Wei, which had a war with Song, Qi focused on the two things of "attacking Qin" and "annexing Yan"; Chu was the leader of the seven-nation coalition line at that time, and was busy attacking Qin; as for Wei, Wei was already full of holes at this time, and was defeated by Qi in the east. In Maling, the 100,000 troops of Wei were wiped out, and were attacked by Qin in the west. In desperation, Hexi County was ceded to seek peace from Qin, and was no longer the Wei State that swept the world when Wu Qi took over Wei Wu.

Under such circumstances, how could Qi, Chu, and Wei take care of the war with Song?

I have to say that if it weren’t for Song Wangyan who saw the right time, then it would be God bless Song State.

Otherwise, those who sacrificed the heaven and became king like King Yan like Song would definitely be attacked by neighboring countries, and would be legitimately attacked.

And now, the situation between the countries has become different again.

But Zhuangzi did not intend to tell Meng Zhong about these things for the time being. After all, what could Meng Zhong do if he knew about them?

It only increases worries.

Zhuangzi’s expectation for Meng Zhong is that the latter removes his scheming and utilitarian mind and can understand the principle of “clear, quiet and inaction”.
Chapter completed!