Riding horseback and following Zhao Hongrun into the city, Lu Wanggong Shupan secretly looked around the city and saw that not only did the people in the city not commit any crime, but they even walked freely as usual. He couldn't help but secretly sigh: I heard that Wei Gongzi Run's Wei army is so important.

Among all the countries in the Central Plains, the army is the most self-responsible towards civilians, and it is well-deserved!

After all, in the era of melee among the Central Plains countries, it was a common thing to loot the wealth in the city after breaking it. South Korea, Chu State, and even the armies of Qi State and Wei State had done so in those years, but only Wei Gongzi Run's command

The army of Wei, as well as the current state of Wei, did not plunder ordinary people.

What is commendable is that Wei Jun did not seem to complain about Wei Gongzi Run's order, which was not easy.

What Duke Shupan of Lu didn't know was that the soldiers of the Wei State, especially the soldiers of the Shang Shui Army, all had houses and servants in their homes in the Wei State, and their families had a stable income. If the Chu people joined the army for money,

In order to support their families, the Wei people joined the army to obtain honors and improve their social status. In short, those civilians who had no hope of taking the imperial examination joined the army to get ahead, not because they could not survive.

Because of this, today's Wei army only has a dispensable attitude towards robbing civilians. Since the higher-ups have issued a ban on robbing, they will never ruin their future for such a small amount of money.

Therefore, in general, most of the Wei army can be regarded as the most well-educated group of soldiers in the Central Plains.

After a while, Lu Wanggong Shupan followed Zhao Hong and others to the city guard's mansion in the city. As Zhao Hongrun said, he had already ordered people to prepare wine and food in the mansion.

When they arrived at the side hall, they ordered the wine and food to be served. Zhao Hongrun and Lu Wanggong Shupan sat at a table opposite each other, chatting and drinking.

The last era was the era when King Lu Xi of Qi dominated the Central Plains. Zhao Hongrun caught up with him and saw with his own eyes how King Lu Xi of Qi was a maverick king of Qi.

It may be because of Qi King Lu Xi's conduct, or because this Qi monarch gave Zhao Hongrun a good feeling. Therefore, Zhao Hongrun still has a good impression of this king. Even now that Qi and Wei are at odds, Zhao Hongrun

When mentioning King Lu Xi of Qi, his words were also full of respect.

As an opening remark, the topic of King Lu Xi of Qi is indeed a good choice. After all, Prince Lu Shupan has always admired and been close to King Lu Xi of Qi.

"...I still remember that when the King of Qi appointed the young master as his deputy general, many people privately dissuaded him. Looking back now, the King of Qi is indeed far-sighted and far-sighted than us..." Lu Wanggong Shupan said with emotion.

Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun deliberately opened his eyes and said displeasedly: "Oh? There were actually people who tried to dissuade me back then? Who are they? Please tell me, Lord."

When Lu Wang Gongshu Pan laughed, Zhao Hongrun said in a melancholy tone: "The King of Qi is certainly far-sighted and used his daughter to trick my brother into Qi State. To this day, my brother is still in Linzi, Qi State, serving Qi State."

The country makes plans..."

When he said this, he let out a breath and looked a little confused.

The reason is that after the feud between Qi and Wei, his sixth brother Zhao Zhao temporarily stopped correspondence with Wei. Although Zhao Hongrun could understand this sixth brother's last resort, he still felt a little uncomfortable in his heart: his sixth brother

As the prince of the Wei Kingdom, he should work for the benefit of the Wei people just like Zhao Hongrun. However, because of the win-win and favor given by Qi King Lu Xi back then, the Sixth Prince stayed in the Qi Kingdom from then on. Even after Qi and Wei turned against each other,

He never returned to Wei.

"Young Master Zhao?" Lu Wanggong Shupan was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "As far as I know, Young Master Zhao is known as a wise prime minister in Linzi and is very popular among the people of Qi. Even though he was born in your country, he is still in Qi.

The country is in a high position, and few people are targeting Young Master Zhao..."

This is indeed true. After all, Zhao Zhao is a gentleman and is the husband of Concubine Ji. He has also formed a political alliance with the Linzi Tian family. Not to mention that Gao Xi, the highest-ranking minister in Qi State, also admires Zhao Zhao's talents.

Even if Gao Xi wants to squeeze out Zhao Zhao, it will not be easy - of course, this is just a metaphor. After all, Zhao Zhao is the minister of Qi King Lu Xi, and Gao Xi, as the royal supporter of the appraisal, is absolutely unacceptable.

It would violate the dying will of his late king Lu Xi.

As they chatted, the topic gradually shifted to the matter of "enmity between Qi and Wei". Duke Shupan of Lu said with emotion: "If the king of Qi was still here, Qi and Wei would not be in the situation they are today."

Zhao Hongrun took a sip of his drink. Although he did not speak, he recognized what Prince Lu Shupan said.

It has to be said that although Qi envoy Tian Hu went to Daliang, Wei State, Zhao Hongrun scolded him harshly, saying that Wei State did not owe Qi State any favors - but he did not owe Qi State any favors, but he owed Qi King Lu Xi a debt.

Favor.

After all, no matter what, King Lu Xi of Qi did help Wei State when Wei was at its weakest, and made Qi and Wei form an alliance, so that Chu State would not dare to make mistakes easily, otherwise, if it were nine or ten years,

The former Chu State used all its strength to counterattack the Wei State in retaliation. Even Zhao Hongrun was probably in danger of falling.

Therefore, as long as King Lu Xi of Qi is still alive, Wei will generally not compete with this king for the position of leader of the alliance and overlord of the Central Plains, even if the strength of Wei gradually catches up with Qi.

The current situation is that King Lu Xi of Qi has passed away, and the person who inherits the throne of King Qi is Gongzi Bai - this Gongzi Bai, what kind of kindness does he have to the Wei State? Why does the Wei State need to give in?

After casually chatting with King Lu Bai of Qi for a few words, Zhao Hongrun finally shifted the topic to the matter of "Qi State's intervention in Song County". He said to Prince Lu Shupan: "Today, the matter of "Qi State's intervention in Song County" has

The king and the king know each other well about the inside story, so there is no need for the king to go into too much detail... The king, forgive me for speaking frankly, the era when Qi State dominated the Central Plains has passed away with the death of His Majesty the King of Qi.

And if we go too far, in this new era, we, the Wei Dynasty, will surely replace Qi and become the overlord. The ignorant and arrogant Qi people will eventually pay the price for their arrogance... But I don’t know that in this new era,

Where will the king go?"

Listening to Zhao Hongrun's straightforward and somewhat aggressive words, Prince Lu Shupan chuckled melancholy.

I have to say that if these words had not come from the mouth of the Wei Gongzi in front of me, I believe he would have scorned him. After all, since the death of King Lu Xi of Qi, Qi State's strength has indeed been weakened due to civil strife, but it has finally returned.

With Zhao Zhao, Tian Tao, Gao Xi, Guan Zhong, Bao Shu and other virtuous ministers, as well as generals such as Tian Dan, Tian Ao, Tian Wu and others, it might be impossible for Qi to prosper again - in fact, after the civil strife ended, Qi's strength was increasing.

Gradually recovering, there is no chance of defeating Wei before it is restored.

However, it was the Young Master Run of Wei who said this, which was enough for Prince Lu of Lu to take these words seriously. After all, comparing Young Master Run of Wei to Young Master Bai of Qi who is now the King of Qi, the latter still

He is too young and far unworthy of being the opponent of the former.

Prince Shupan of Lu was much older than Zhao Hongrun, and almost the same age as the latter's father, Zhao Si. Therefore, Prince Lu witnessed with his own eyes the changes in the Central Plains in the past three to forty years.

Going back thirty years, it was the "War between Qi and Han". The "King Jian of Han" who had been in power since the beginning was the most eye-catching hero in the Central Plains. He attacked Donghu in the north, Linhu in the west, and fought against Qi in the south.

During the battle, the Qi Kingdom once almost lost the entire Julu County, and even Linzi was in danger of overthrowing.

The old King of Qi also passed away during that war, and the throne was succeeded by Prince Xi, the later King of Qi, Lu Xi.

Although everyone at first was not optimistic about the young Qi King Lu Xi, thinking that the latter would definitely be defeated by the hero Han Wang Jian, what they did not expect was that Qi King Lu Xi withstood the pressure from South Korea - when he thought of this

, Lu Wanggong Shupan was also a little proud. After all, he also participated in it and helped Qi Wang Lu Xi defeat South Korea.

Since then, King Jian of Han and King Xi of Qi seemed to have become the focus of the entire Central Plains.

But unfortunately, Han Wang Jian passed away at a young age. The person who succeeded Han Wang Jian was Han Wang Jian's younger brother "Han Qi". Han Wang Qi was far inferior to his brother in terms of talent, so the "Qi-Han Controversy" at that time

, although South Korea took the lead, in the end, it ended with the final victory of King Lu Xi of Qi.

Since then, King Lu Xi of Qi has laid the foundation for Qi's hegemony, but it cannot be denied that Qi at that time had not yet become the recognized overlord of the Central Plains.

Since then, Korea has temporarily subsided. Instead, the Chu State in the south, with the rise of "King of Chu Xiong Xu", has once again entered the era of "Qi-Chu Conflict" in the Central Plains.

This struggle, which lasted for more than twenty years, was the key to Qi's dominance in the Central Plains.

Now, King Lu Xi of Qi has passed away. He has become weak since the defeat in the "Battle of Wei-Han Shangdang" decades ago. In the Wei State, which has been almost unknown in the Central Plains for the past thirty years, a man like Wei Gongzi Run was born.

The hero of the war caused the entire Central Plains to once again enter a new era of "the battle between Wei and Qi" and "the battle between Wei and Han".

As one of the bystanders and participants who witnessed the changes in the Central Plains in the past three or forty years, Lu Wanggong Shupan couldn't help but sigh in his heart: In this Central Plains, there is no shortage of magnificent heroes from generation to generation, including King Jian of Han, King Xi of Qi, and now

The Duke of Wei, Run, or the future King of Wei, was born in the same era as these heroes. This is both an honor and a sadness.

For example, King Xiong Xu of Chu was obviously a very talented hero, but he was hampered by the various shortcomings and weakness of Chu State, so that in the past thirty years, he never took the lead in the battle with King Lu Xi of Qi.

to the upper hand.

Another example is Lu Wanggong Shupan himself. As the leader of a country, he has always played a supporting role in the battles for hegemony in the Central Plains.

And now, in this new era, is there any hero who can compete with Wei Gongzi Run?

Holding the wine glass and taking a sip of the wine, Prince Lu Shupan thought silently.

"Let Rong Gu think about it."

After a long time, Duke Shupan of Lu said this.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun didn't rush him, since he had a lot of free time recently.

For the next two or three days, Zhao Hongrun invited Lu Wanggong Shupan to drink every day, and asked the latter about the results of his considerations. However, Lu Wanggong Shupan always ignored him and did not answer Zhao Hongrun's questions directly.

After several times, Zhao Hongrun's clan guard chief Lu Mu vaguely felt something was wrong, and said to Zhao Hongrun in private: "Your Highness, I'm afraid King Lu is just delaying."

"I know." He took a piece of fruit pulp handed over by his concubine Zhao Que and threw it into his mouth. Zhao Hongrun chewed it and said, "If I am not mistaken, King Lu had already made arrangements for his death before he came to Ningyang.

, entrusting the country to his son and the important ministers of Lu State... The reason for drinking with me these days is probably just to delay time, so that the reinforcements of Qi State can arrive in Qufu as soon as possible. "

Hearing this, Lu Mu was puzzled: "Your Highness, since you know, why..."

"Otherwise, what else can I do?" Zhao Hongrun heard this and sneered, "Kill him?"

Of course Lu Mu understood that if Lu Wang Gong Shupan had already arranged his posthumous affairs when he came, then even if Zhao Hongrun killed Lu Wang, it would not change the Lu country, but would arouse the Lu people's indignation against Wei.

It even affects Zhao Hongrun's personal reputation.

He thought for a while and said: "I think that if His Highness wants to make the State of Lu surrender, sending troops to Qufu may be the best way... You have also seen that King Lu has been talking about him these days, and he obviously does not intend to betray him.

Qi State, defect to our great Wei..."

"There is nothing we can do about it." Zhao Hongrun once again took the fruit pulp handed over by Zhao Que and threw it into his mouth. Zhao Hongrun said lightly: "The State of Lu is too close to the State of Qi. I, the Wei Dynasty, sent troops to attack the State of Lu, and the State of Qi had time to rescue; but

If the state of Lu and the state of Qi are at odds and the people of Qi attack them in anger, we, the great Wei, will be too late to save us..." At this point, he smiled and said: "Actually, you all think too much.

This time it is not necessary to make the State of Lu surrender, but to invite the King of Lu to have a drink is really just to reminisce about old times."

"Seriously?" Zong Wei Chief Lu Mu blinked in disbelief.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun rolled his eyes and muttered secretly: Why has my credibility become so low recently? No one believes what he says.

But to be honest, he really thought about it this time.

After all, the purpose of Zhao Hongrun's personal expedition to Song County this time was to lure South Korea to take the lead in launching that unprecedented war with Wei State, and by the way, it was just to teach Qi State a lesson.

In other words, Zhao Hongrun had to stay with Song County before there was any movement in South Korea. Therefore, with nothing to do, he simply invited Lu Wanggong Shupan to reminisce about the past on the one hand, and on the other.
To be continued...