"Hehe, you little coquettish guy, what are you thinking about?"
"I heard that Prince Rui's eldest son is one or two years older than our Crown Prince (Zhao Wei)..."
"Huh?"
In the corridor outside Fengyi Palace, several palace maids, probably in their early twenties, hid behind some thick corridor pillars, peeking at Prince Zhao Zhao sitting in the middle of the palace from a distance, and whispering, as if
He was commenting on Zhao Zhao, and from time to time, there was a sound of laughter like a ringing bell.
This made King Rui Zhao Zhao feel very embarrassed. After all, he had never done anything like "blocking a door" since he was a child, let alone being commented on by a group of young palace maids about his appearance.
"It's so unruly."
Fei Wei, the chief of the imperial guards, murmured in a low voice, but did not step forward to scold the maids. Firstly, the young maids did not have any ill intentions, they just showed their admiration for King Rui Zhao Zhao. Furthermore, this is the Queen of Wei.
Mi Jiang's Fengyi Palace, these palace ladies all belong to this palace. Zhao Zhao and others must give Mi Jiang, the queen of Wei, some face.
At the same time, in the side hall of Fengyi Palace, Zhao Hongrun was pacing back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back, thinking about ways to deal with Zhao Zhao, the sixth brother.
In fact, a moment ago, the great eunuch Gao He had suggested to Zhao Hongrun that he slip out of Fengyi Palace through the side door, but in fact this was meaningless and could easily cause unnecessary misunderstandings and affect the brothers Zhao Run and Zhao Zhao.
Feelings - Zhao Hongrun has only two choices at the moment, either continue to pretend to be sick, or summon Zhao Zhao and have a showdown with him face to face.
As for the third option, the only option is to persuade Zhao Zhao to leave, but from Zhao Run's point of view, this road is obviously unworkable.
"Otherwise... this slave should go and persuade King Rui again?" the eunuch Gao He asked for instructions.
Zhao Run thought for a while and then nodded.
Although he didn't think Gao He could persuade Zhao Zhao to leave, it wouldn't hurt to give him a try.
With Zhao Hongrun's permission, the great eunuch Gao He led the two young eunuchs out of Fengyi Palace, came to Prince Rui Zhao Zhao, bowed their hands and bowed: "Prince Rui."
"Eunuch Gao." Zhao Zhao smiled slightly and asked, "Your Majesty, are you willing to summon me?"
"This..." The great eunuch Gao He hesitated for a moment and then lied: "Your Majesty unfortunately caught wind and cold two days ago. He has taken medicine and is resting on the couch. Prince Rui, why don't you go back to your residence first and wait for your Majesty to recover?"
It’s not too late to come and see you again.”
"Haha." Prince Rui Zhao Zhao smiled.
It cannot be denied that the great eunuch Gao He did speak sincerely, as if he was thinking about Zhao Zhao wholeheartedly, but the premise is that the majesty is really in bed as he said, but the truth is that the majesty is uncertain at this moment.
She was secretly peeping at him from somewhere.
Feeling sick?
The number of times His Majesty has been sick has become so frequent that ministers in the DPRK are used to it, okay?
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhao bowed his hands towards the great eunuch Gao He and said sincerely: "I would also like to ask the great eunuch Gao He to inform Zhao again. Zhao Zhao is waiting here to be summoned. If your majesty does not summon Zhao Zhao for a day, Zhao Zhao will not be summoned for a day."
Let's go... By the way, I also ask Eunuch Gao to confess to Queen Mi on my behalf. Zhao Zhao did not do this intentionally, but was forced to do so..."
"..."
The great eunuch Gao He wanted to say something more, but he saw Fei Wei and Cao Liang, the imperial guards, stretched out their hands to stop him.
In desperation, Gao He had no choice but to return to Fengyi Palace and report back to Zhao Hongrun.
Just as Zhao Zhao guessed, when the eunuch Gao He returned to the side hall of Fengyi Palace, Zhao Hongrun actually stood at the window, opened the window a few inches, and peeked at the movements of Zhao Zhao and others outside the hall, with a rather anxious look on his face.
.
"Your Majesty." Gao He called softly.
"He still refuses to leave?" Zhao Hongrun asked.
"My slave is incompetent." Gao He said with a wry smile: "No matter how much my slave persuades me, Prince Rui still refuses to listen and leave."
From the side, Queen Mi Jiang was sitting at the table holding a cup of tea. After hearing this, she said calmly: "Could it be that he doesn't believe that you are really sick?"
"This is not funny at all!" Zhao Hongrun rolled his eyes at Mi Jiang.
"Yes, I think it's a bit funny." After saying that, Mi Jiang put down the tea cup, stood up and walked out of the palace.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun was a little surprised. He thought it was Mi Jiang who wanted to help him persuade Zhao Zhao to retreat. He asked with some joy: "Do you have a way to persuade Sixth Brother to retreat?"
Mi Jiang stopped, turned around, glanced at Zhao Hongrun, and said calmly: "No, I just remembered that I have to take care of some medicinal seedlings..."
Zhao Hongrun stared at Mi Jiang walking away with his mouth open, and then complained with a bit of resentment: "This woman... why should I make her my queen?!"
"Haha..." The eunuch Gao He didn't dare to interrupt on this topic, so he could only laugh at him.
I have to say that Queen Mi Jiang is really a woman who means what she says. Since she said she was taking care of those medicinal seedlings, she actually did it. When she passed by the palace, she just nodded to Zhao Zhao.
The greeting seemed to have nothing to do with her whether Zhao Zhao was sitting in to demonstrate at Fengyi Palace. Instead, it was Zhao Zhao and his group who felt quite embarrassed when they saw Mi Jiang.
As a result, only two brothers, Zhao Run and Zhao Zhao, were left. One was standing at the window in the hall, peeking at the movement of the brother outside the hall from time to time; the other was sitting upright outside the hall, scanning the surroundings with his eyes from time to time.
Especially those windows that are ajar, I hope to see the shadow of His Majesty.
In this way, the two brothers reached a stalemate.
After waiting for several hours, and the stalemate continued until around noon, Zhao Hongrun sighed sadly in the palace and told the eunuch Gao He: "Go and invite Prince Rui to the side hall."
The great eunuch Gao He was relieved. After receiving the edict, he quickly came outside the palace and said to Prince Rui Zhao Zhao: "Prince Rui, Your Majesty has invited me."
King Rui Zhao Zhao smiled slightly when he heard this. After standing up and straightening his clothes, he followed Gao He to the side hall of Fengyi Palace with a solemn expression.
"You win."
When he saw Zhao Zhao, Zhao Hongrun said angrily with a bit of annoyance.
However, after hearing this, Zhao Zhao shook his head and said solemnly: "No, your Majesty just cares about the brotherhood."
This is true. If Zhao Run hadn't cared about the brotherly relationship between Zhao Zhao and Zhao Run, he could have left Zhao Zhao alone. Anyway, Zhao Zhao would definitely not be able to survive in the end.
This is why Zhao Zhao was so moved at the moment.
Perhaps after hearing Zhao Zhao's words, Zhao Hongrun's mood improved slightly, and he raised his hand to invite the former to sit down in the hall together.
"Are you sure you want to go back to Qi?"
After sitting down, Zhao Hongrun stared at Zhao Zhao for a long time and asked seriously.
Zhao Zhao was silent for a moment and said with some apology: "Hongrun, as Brother Yu said at the time, I still can't leave Qi State behind... Qi State's current situation is very difficult."
"Aren't you sure of defeating Chu?" Zhao Hongrun said with a smile: "With those... martial arts warriors!"
"..." Zhao Zhao was stunned and said with a smile: "I never thought that Hongrun, you are in Daliang, but the affairs of Qi State still cannot be hidden from you." When he said this, he suddenly felt something in his heart and asked: "Hongrun
Run, in your opinion, how about a martial artist?"
"Oh."
Zhao Run chuckled.
It is undeniable that when Yawu sent the news of the existence of the "Martial Arts Warrior" to Zhao Hongrun in the form of a letter, Zhao Hongrun was also quite surprised. He felt that Qi's return to glory this time was really incredible, and he actually withstood Chu.
Known as an army of millions.
But as surprised as he was, Zhao Hongrun was not envious at all.
You must know that martial arts warriors are essentially mercenaries, and they have very little attachment to Qi. After fighting this battle and receiving the heavy rewards, those martial arts warriors will disperse; in comparison,
The Wei State paid the same amount of money, but it was able to build elite armies such as the Wei Wu Army, the Shang Shui Army, and the Yanling Army. The soldiers of these armies were either natives of the Wei State or people from other countries who had immigrated to the Wei State.
The bond between the two countries is very deep, and the Wei court has improved the treatment of soldiers several times over the years, which makes Wei soldiers have little to worry about, so they can risk their lives to fight the enemy on the battlefield.
Just like the merchant navy, which was almost half destroyed in the recent war with South Korea, it still faced the South Korean army head-on with its tenacious fighting spirit, forcing the then Korean army coach Le Yi to use the "Daijun Heavy Cavalry"
Zhang's last trump card led to the final defeat of the Korean army.
On the other hand, if the Shang Shui Army had not been so tenacious, other armies might have been defeated by Le Yi's Northern Yan Army. In this case, Le Yi invested Daijun's heavy cavalry, then Wei would very likely have
Encountered a defeat far more disastrous than the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Shangdang.
If in Zhao Hongrun's eyes, the armies that truly belong to the country, such as the Wei Wu Army, the Yanling Army, the Shang Shui Army, and the Shanyang Army, can be called forces that can be relied on, then in his eyes, the martial arts warriors of Qi State are
It is nothing more than an army that subjugates the country - it consumes a lot of Qi's money, but can only allow Qi to survive for a while.
To put it simply, Qi State escaped the fate of subjugation this time by relying on money to hire martial arts warriors, but what about next time? Next time it will still spend huge amounts of money to fight against Chu’s army?
You know, in the past, the Chu State only needed a bag of rice to recruit soldiers.
Therefore, if the stalemate between Qi and Chu continues in this way, Zhao Hongrun can guarantee that Qi will become weaker and weaker. When the country's economy is dragged down, it will no longer be able to afford the huge sums of money to hire those martial arts warriors.
time, then this country will face destruction.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun said lightly: "A martial artist is a soldier of a weak country."
Zhao Zhao was stunned. He originally thought that Zhao Hongrun was satirizing Qi's army because it was difficult to defend the country, so he created a mercenary army like martial arts warriors. However, after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly realized that what the brother in front of him said was "
"Weak country" should mean "making the country weak".
And this point coincides with him.
But the embarrassing thing is that today's Qi State can only rely on this trick to survive, otherwise, Qi State may have been destroyed by Chu State.
"...Perhaps, it was destroyed by the Wei Dynasty."
After taking a look at the brother in front of him, Zhao Zhao added something in his mind.
To be fair, when Zhao Hongrun stationed 100,000 troops in the Julu area of South Korea, the Qi State was not unaware from the beginning to the end, but they did not dare to act rashly - Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng in the south, had already made the Qi State unable to resist him. Dare to provoke Wei Gongzi Run who was stationed in Julu at that time?
Regardless of others, Zhao Zhao guessed the intention of his brother Zhao Run at that time. Therefore, he advocated deploying elite troops to give the Chu army a heavy blow. On the one hand, it was to frustrate the Chu army's arrogance, and on the other hand, he wanted to The Wei army, who was watching eagerly from the sidelines, understood that Qi State still had the strength to fight.
Otherwise, if the Qi State retreats steadily in front of the Chu Army, maybe even the Wei Army stationed in Julu will take advantage of the situation and capture Linzi before the Chu Army - this is a disaster that they absolutely do not want to face!
Fortunately, things went smoothly. Although it cost a lot, the martial arts warriors recruited and organized finally blocked the Chu army. Perhaps because of this, the brother in front of him gave up attacking Qi and focused on attacking South Korea. .
"What Hongrun said is great good."
After listening to Zhao Hongrun's evaluation of martial arts warriors, Zhao Zhao nodded and asked sincerely: "I don't know, Hongrun, do you have any way to alleviate this matter?"
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun glanced at Zhao Zhao and said with a smile: "Sixth brother, you have overstepped this... Even if I have an idea, I will not seduce the enemy, right?"
"Qi is not the enemy of Wei!" Zhao Zhao said seriously.
Zhao Run chuckled. If it weren't for Zhao Zhao's sake, he would definitely make some sarcastic remarks: With today's Qi State, do you still want to become the enemy of his Wei State? Come on, if it hadn't been for his Wei State in these years The captured land has not yet been digested. With the strength of Wei State, he can now annex Qi State.
But at this moment, in front of Zhao Zhao, Zhao Run naturally wanted to give this brother some face and said lightly: "No, Qi is the enemy."
"Hongrun..." Zhao Zhao said hesitantly.
However, before he could finish speaking, Zhao Run raised his hand to interrupt him, and said sternly: "I respect King Xi of Qi, and I respect you, Sixth Brother, and my two sisters-in-law, but...Qi is the enemy!" Having said this, he grinned and added: "Ever since that arrogant Tian Hu said such outrageous things in front of me, I have been thinking about teaching Qi Ren a lesson... This time Fortunately for the Qi State, South Korea's counterattack was far more intense than I imagined, so that my army of Wei Dynasty was dragged in South Korea. Even though it has defeated South Korea now, it is temporarily unable to conquer the Qi State. Otherwise, I will definitely let those who The great state of Qi understands that in this era, only we, the great Wei Dynasty, stand at the top of the Central Plains!"
Listening to Zhao Hongrun's last heroic words, Zhao Zhao not only felt a sense of joy that seemed to have a lingering glory in his heart, but also inevitably felt an inexplicable heaviness because of the situation of Qi State.
"Hongrun, our country of Qi is now willing to accept Wei as its overlord..."
"Too late!"
Zhao Hongrun shook his head, looked at Zhao Zhao and said: "If it were another envoy from Qi, I wouldn't even be interested in meeting him. But for the sake of Brother Six, I'll tell the truth... I The Wei Dynasty has no interest in participating in the war between Qi and Chu for the time being. In recent years, the national policy of the Wei Dynasty has only been to develop national power and further suppress South Korea. However, if Qi State cannot withstand Chu's army one day, then Qi State will face Maybe Chu is not the only one... This is why I don’t want Sixth Brother to return to Qi again.”
Zhao Zhao was silent when he heard this. He took a deep breath and suddenly changed his tone and said: "Hongrun, as you are a fool, the Wei Dynasty's appeasement of the Chu State is not necessarily the cause of raising tigers. The Chu State has a vast territory and a large population. , it’s just that in the past, the nobles in the country only cared about extortionate taxation and did not think about the people’s livelihood. But as far as Brother Yu knows, Chu Gongzi Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo is actually a man with far-reaching ambitions. If he works hard to govern, cultivate his health, and strengthen his army, one day , will definitely become Wei’s powerful enemy.”
"Sixth Brother, are you trying to make a case for the State of Qi?" Zhao Hongrun said with a half-smile, "Is the person in front of me now Zhao Zhao, the Left Prime Minister of the State of Qi?"
Zhao Zhao's face froze when he heard this, and after giving a wry smile, he said: "Hongrun, don't make fun of Brother Yu, and listen carefully to what Brother Yu has to say..."
Zhao Hongrun smiled lightly and listened to Zhao Zhao's story.
Zhao Zhao's point of view is very simple. To put it bluntly, it is just to persuade Wei to "unite the weak to attack the strong": since Qi is far from Wei's opponent and can no longer pose a threat to Wei, it is better to unite with Qi to attack powerful forces. The Chu State, which is showing signs of rising, in layman's terms, is nipping the threat in the bud.
In this way, the Wei State can always securely maintain its position as the overlord of the Central Plains, and neither the Qi State nor the Chu State can pose a threat to the Wei State.
It is undeniable that secretly supporting Qi and Chu as enemies at this time is really in the interests of Wei, and on the other hand, Qi can also benefit from it - for Wei and Qi, this is a win-win situation policy.
But everything has pros and cons. Supporting Qi means breaking with Chu, although Chu is indeed a potential threat to Wei in the future.
However, looking at Zhao Zhao's expectant eyes, Zhao Hongrun shook his head and said: "Sixth brother, you understand that it is impossible for our Wei Dynasty and the Chu State to break up at this time... Maybe our Wei Dynasty can only Being able to maintain peace with the Chu State for twenty years, after that, the rising Chu State may covet the position of the Central Plains overlord, but even so, I, the Great Wei, will not break with the Chu State at this moment, because I, the Great Wei, also It takes twenty years of development. Therefore...Qi is out."
It's not that he doesn't give Zhao Zhao face, the key is that compared to Qi and Wei, the relationship between Wei and Chu is obviously closer now. Although Zhao Hongrun, considering the interests of Wei, does not want to see Chu completely annexing Qi. , but before this thing actually happens, he will definitely stand on the side of Chu State in exchange for Chu State's recognition and support for Wei State - to put it bluntly, Qi State has been regarded by him as a victim to win over Chu State.
At this time, the war with Qi was resolved, and a rift with Chu was caused, which was of no benefit to Wei.
That day, Zhao Run and Zhao Zhao brothers chatted for a long time in the side hall of Fengyi Palace. In the end, Zhao Run failed to persuade Zhao Zhao to stay in Daliang, and Zhao Zhao also failed to persuade Zhao Run to change his attitude towards Qi. diplomatic attitude.
But through this conversation, they also understood each other's difficulties.
At the end, Zhao Run said to Zhao Zhao with a complex expression: "Sixth brother's visit to Qi is like a moth flying to the flame. In my opinion, Qi is destined to be unable to resist Chu... Even if Qi this time You can survive, but what about next time?”
He is not worried about what the Chu soldiers will do to his sixth brother after the Chu army defeats Qi in the future. After all, even for the sake of Zhao Run, Chu Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo will treat Zhao Zhao well. With his family, what Zhao Hongrun is most worried about is that his sixth brother is likely to make some irrational actions when Qi falls. Although Zhao Run does not want Chu to annex Qi in his heart, Wei and Qi Even though they were more than a thousand miles apart, it was impossible for him to keep an eye on the war between Qi and Chu, right?
However, Zhao Zhao said with confidence: "As long as Wei does not intervene in the dispute between Qi and Chu, Qi will be defeated at the hands of Chu..."
"Rely on those martial arts warriors?" Zhao Hongrun curled his lips and said with a smile.
"No!"
Zhao Zhao shook his head and said seriously: "As my wise brother said, martial arts warriors are ultimately external forces. If you want to resist the Chu State, you have to rely on the Qi State itself... In fact, in my opinion, the defeat of this war is
It might not be a good thing. Just like what you said, Hongrun, the people of Qi in the past were too conceited. They thought that Qi was still the same state when their father-in-law was still alive... This defeat just made the people of Qi learn from the pain and abandon their past.
Those honors, facing the crisis before us..."
Looking at Zhao Zhao's leaving figure, Zhao Hongrun sighed sadly.
He had done everything he could do, short of putting Zhao Zhao, the sixth brother, under house arrest. But even so, he still could not prevent Zhao Zhao from returning to Qi.
It has to be said that that year, Zhao Zhao and his wife, Concubine, paid a return visit to the State of Wei. At that time, Zhao Hongrun's prediction when he bid farewell to him at Shiliting Pavilion outside Daliang City was very accurate: after leaving this time, the sixth brother would probably not be able to survive in his lifetime.
Return to Wei State again.
The next day, with Zhao Run's tacit consent, Zhao Zhao embarked on a journey back to Qi with his wife, concubines, and Tian Wan, as well as his children, Zhao Liang, brother and sister, and his mother, Wu Guifei.
At that time, only a few people came to say goodbye, such as Zhao Zhao's close friend He Xinxian, and He Song, the grandson of He Mei, the former Minister of the Ministry of Personnel who now works in the Ministry of Personnel, etc. They were all old friends of the Yafeng Poetry Society.
Apart from this, there is only Zhao Hongmin, the eldest son of Zongzheng Zhao Yuanyan.
When meeting Zhao Zhao, Zhao Hongmin looked a little embarrassed and said hesitantly: "Hongzhao, my father is extremely angry at your decision. In his anger, he even said that you would be removed from the genealogy... Can you really not stay?
?”
"Did the second uncle say that?"
Zhao Zhao couldn't help but smile bitterly.
However, he could also understand. After all, his second uncle Zhao Yuanyan was an elder who valued the Zhao family and the country very much. Naturally, he could not understand Zhao Zhao's behavior of abandoning Wei and the Zhao family and going to Qi. This man
The second uncle could resist not sending Zongwei Yu Linlang to arrest him and imprison him in the meditation room of the Zongfu as a punishment. This is already showing his noble hand.
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Zhao Zhao raised his head and looked in the direction of Daliang.
As if guessing Zhao Zhao's thoughts, He Xinxian whispered from the side: "Brother Xian, are you waiting for Your Majesty? In my opinion, Your Majesty may not come to see you off this time..."
From the side, He Song also curled his lips and said: "How can the king of Wei send off his ministers from Qi?"
It can be seen that he is also quite dissatisfied with Zhao Zhao's decision.
However, at this moment, they suddenly heard the sound of horse hoofs, and everyone took a closer look. It turned out that it was Mu Qing, the general of the Imperial Guard, leading a group of Imperial Guards in a hurry.
"Could it be that His Majesty changed his mind and wanted to arrest Zhao Zhao?"
While everyone was guessing, Mu Qing got off his horse, took out a piece of silk from his arms and handed it to Zhao Zhao.
Zhao Zhao spread it out and saw that there were only the words "I wish Qi Xiang a good journey" written on it.
"Congratulations to Prime Minister Qi...?"
Zhao Zhao shook his head, laughed at himself, and said goodbye to everyone.
He knew that after today, the two former brothers might become enemies.
But he had no regrets. Since his father-in-law had left him alone before his death, he could never sit back and watch the country be destroyed by Chu.
To this end, he is willing to make sacrifices again.