"I didn't expect there was such a secret in it."

After listening to the story of Prince Zhang and Tian Burui, even Meng Zhong didn't know what to say.

He finally understood why the young master Zhao Zhang was so resentful to Zhao He's mother Wu Wa just now, but in fact, it was indeed worthy of resentment.

After all, Wu Wa relied on Zhao Zhufu's favor for her, not only took away the position of queen of Han, but also the position of prince of Zhao Zhang.

If the young master Zhao Zhang was ignorant and had no talent, that would be fine. However, Zhao Zhang looked very much like Zhao Zhufu, and was a very brave heir. It was just because of the instigation of the women in the harem that he had turned from a hot-handed prince to an unwilling deposed prince. Even Meng Zhong couldn't help but feel worthless for him.

The three of them chatted for a long time, until Prince Zhao Zhang got drunk because of this incident, Meng Zhong said goodbye and left and returned to the palace in the city.

When he returned to the palace, Master Zhao was already awake. When he saw him return, he smiled and asked him, "Boy, as my guard, how can you leave your post without permission?...Where have you been?"

Looking at the appearance of Master Zhao's father, Meng Zhongbing guessed that he might have learned the truth, so he said truthfully: "I just visited Mr. Zhang and Doctor Tian Busuo... When I came to Zhao State this time, my righteous brother Hui'an gave me a letter asking me to take it to Doctor Tian."

"oh……"

Maybe he didn't expect Meng Zhong to be so honest, and a few surprises and praise flashed in Zhao Zhufu's eyes.

After thinking for a while, he smiled and said, "You are a disciple of Zhuangzi, brother Hui'anyi. I think Azhang and Tian are not in love with you, so they will definitely regard you as a close relative... Have they ever said bad things to you?"

"Why do Master Zhao think that Master Zhang and Doctor Tian will say bad things about you?" Meng Zhong certainly knew that Master Zhao was messing with him, and asked calmly after hearing this.

Master Zhao was silent for a long time after hearing this, then sighed and said, "Han, Zhao Zhang and his son, I owe them too much. It is natural for Zhao Zhang to hate me..."

Meng Zhong thought about it but still didn't interrupt.

Seeing this, Master Zhao looked up at Meng Zhong, nodded and said, "It seems that you have learned some secrets."

Of course, Meng Zhong would not deny it foolishly and bowed and said, "Boy will keep his mouth shut."

“No need.”

Master Zhao shook his head, then stood up and walked towards the window, and said lightly: "When I deposed the queen and the crown prince, all the ministers in the country opposed it. At that time, Fei Yi also said to me, "The queen and the crown prince are not virtuous, and you should not depose it lightly." I was determined to do my own thing, and in the end I deposed the Han family, deposed Zhao Zhang, appointed Wu Wa as the queen, and Zhao He as the crown prince..."

As he said that, he turned around and asked Meng Zhong and said, "Meng Zhong, did you say, did I do something wrong?"

Meng Zhong pondered for a while and finally said, "Mr. Feiyi is right. You should not easily abolish the queen and the prince. This will cause turmoil in the country."

Hearing Meng Zhong's blunt statement, Zhao Zhufu did not look angry at all, but sighed: "Yes, shortly after the destruction of the Han family, the King of Han sent an envoy to condemn me. Not long after, the diplomatic relations between Zhao and Han broke down, and South Korea once again formed an alliance with Wei... It was just because of his favor for a woman that Zhao lost an allied state."

『…』

Meng Zhong looked at Zhao Zhufu in surprise because he found that when Zhao Zhufu mentioned this, his tone was very calm, as if he was telling the past of others.

『Is it...』

Meng Zhongxin secretly guessed.

At this time, Master Zhao turned his head to look at Meng Zhong and said with a smile: "I remember that on the day I first met, that boy Meng Hu had muttered in a low voice, curious why I passed the throne to Zhao He when I was in good health... Now do you understand?"

Seeing that Master Zhao’s father looked at him intently, Meng Zhong thought for a moment, nodded and said, “It was Master Zhao’s father who was dying in order to fulfill the last wish of Queen Wu…”

“This is just one of them.”

Master Zhao shook his head and then said to Meng Zhong: "As for the second, it was the fourth time that our Zhao State attacked Zhongshan State..."

According to Zhao Zhufu's story, the State of Zhao was in its fourth attack on Zhongshan. At that time, the Zhao army invaded the capital of Zhongshan, Lingshou, and forced the King of Zhongshan to flee to Qi, so that the Zhongshan Kingdom had no leader and had a melee.

At this time, Zhao Zhufu had an idea of ​​annexing Zhongshan Kingdom, but considering that this move might anger Qi, causing a war between Zhao and Qi.

Because this time the attack on Zhongshan Kingdom, Zhao State also consumed a lot of national strength, even Zhao's father was not sure to resist the attack of Qi State. Therefore, he agreed to Wu Wa's plea and passed the throne to the crown prince Zhao He.

From then on, Zhao State was "separated from military and political affairs", with the new king Zhao He and the prime minister Fei Yi in charge of Handan and were responsible for governing the country; while Zhao's master father claimed to be the master father, was in charge of Xindu, and was prepared to command the army, focusing on annexing Zhongshan Kingdom, and facing threats from Qi State.

This reform achieved great results in the early stage. After getting rid of state affairs and finally being able to concentrate on the war, Zhao Zhufu captured almost the entire territory of Zhongshan in one breath the following year. Even Qi did not dare to face such Zhao. He sent an envoy to talk to Xiang, hoping that Zhao would retain Zhongshan. I think this was the last bottom line of Qi.

Considering that Zhao State does not have the ability to completely annex the entire Zhongshan and considering the bottom line of Qi State, Zhao Zhufu finally agreed to allow Zhongshan State to still exist and supported a son of the Zhongshan prince named "Shang" as a puppet.

So the war between Zhao and Qi did not start in the end.

"At that time, I thought that Zhao He was still young, and Fei Yi could assist him to participate in handling state affairs as soon as possible and share my hard work, while I could concentrate on opening up territory for my Zhao State..." Zhao's father explained his idea of ​​deciding to pass on his position in Zhao He.

"I see."

Meng Zhong suddenly realized when he heard this.

However, there was one thing that Zhao Master did not tell Meng Zhong, that was that he regretted it.

Yes, I regretted that I had appointed Zhao He as the crown prince, and I regret that I passed the throne to Zhao He.

There are many reasons for this.

One is guilt for Han, Zhao Zhang and his son.

Secondly, when Zhao Zhang grew up, he became stronger and braver. In terms of appearance, expression and personality, they were similar to Zhao Zhufu when he was young. In contrast, the new king Zhao He was thin and cowardly.

So, Master Zhao gradually loved Zhao Zhang again, but not his second son Zhao He.

As for the third point, it is the position of the domestic minister.

Once upon a time, the State of Zhao was completely surrounded by Zhao Yong. All the nobles and ministers in the country were obeyed Zhao Yong. However, when the new king ascended the throne, Zhao Yong became the father of Zhao. The loyalty or support of the people of the country to this father of Zhao gradually weakened - a large number of people began to revolve around the new king Zhao He.

Including the Prime Minister Fei Yi, whom Zhao’s father trusted the most.

If Zhao Yong was old and no longer had the ambitions he had in the past, that would be fine. But this Zhao Master's father was still strong and even had the ambition to make Zhao dominate the Central Plains. In this case, how could he accept that he gradually lost authority?

For example, when he was in the Sand Dune Palace a while ago, when Zhao general Xu Jun talked about Meng Zhong and others, he subconsciously said: "Especially Meng Zhong, who you value, is about the same age as the emperor, and may become an important official to assist the emperor in the future."

Isn’t this an example of Zhao’s father gradually losing authority?

Although Zhao Zhufu smiled and said nothing, he felt very uncomfortable.

Two days later, Zhao's father took Meng Zhong and others to tour the entire territory of Zhongshan Kingdom. Whenever he arrived at a place, he asked people to put the banner in the city and announced that the land would be owned by Zhao Kingdom in the future. The people of Zhongshan inside and outside the city became Zhao people.

Just like when Song State attacked Teng State, Zhao State attacked Zhongshan State, which actually made many Zhongshan people regard Zhao people as enemies, but the difference between the two is that Zhao State was "famous in his army". In order to appease the people of Zhongshan, Zhao State introduced many policies that were beneficial to the Di people in Zhongshan, such as generous treatment in terms of tax exemption in Tianyi.

In addition, Fei Yi, the prime minister of Zhao, was from Baidi, and was the same ancestor as the Di people in Zhongshan. Therefore, combined with this, the resistance of the Di people in Zhongshan to Zhao gradually faded.

During this period, Meng Zhong, who witnessed Zhao's pacification of Zhongshan people, recorded this incident on three bamboo slips and asked someone to give it to Zhuangzi, Mengzi and his righteous brother Hui'an.

About four months later, he received reply from Zhuangzi, Mencius and his righteous brother Hui'an one after another.

Zhuangzi's reply was the most concise and concise, with only one sentence: This is the way of "the inner sage and the outer sage"!

Mencius' reply was a lot of words. He said that Zhao's measures were "implementing the kingly way to the outside world and implementing benevolent governments internally", which was a way to make the country stronger.

In summary, Zhuangzi and Mencius's evaluation of Zhao's attack on Zhongshan and appeasement of the people of Zhongshan were very close, so Meng Zhong was very curious whether these two sages had communicated in private.

Not to mention that during the period when Meng Zhong was not in the Song Dynasty, Zhuangzi and Mencius had a lot of exchanges. They used letters to communicate with each other, and they were very irritating, so that Jingbo and Zou of the Song Dynasty specially sent out postmen to these two postmen to facilitate the "communication of academics".

As for the reply from his righteous brother Hui'an, he said that Meng Zhong's letter was very timely, and he had used Zhao's measures to convince Song Wang Yan to implement benevolent governments, which should be called Tengyi, without distinction between Song and Teng people, and they were treated equally.

It is worth mentioning that during the time when Meng Zhong followed Zhao Zhufu to tour Zhongshan Kingdom with Zhao Zhufu, he also met a Zhongshan native who was willing to join Zhao and became a Zhao person.

Unlike other Zhongshan people whose ancestors were from Rongdi, this young man of the same age as Meng Zhong, his ancestors are said to be the general of Wei State "Leyang".
Chapter completed!