Sitting on the battlements of the city wall of Xuecheng, Chen Shou, the general of Lu State, looked at the book "Yitan" in his hand, raised his head and sighed with a complicated expression for a long time.
A few months ago, when Chen Shou heard that there was a miscellaneous book called "Yitan" in the State of Wei that recorded the heroic deeds of his father Chen Bing, he asked someone to bring a copy back from the State of Wei. After reading it carefully, he It was discovered that this "Anecdote" actually records the heroic deeds of his father, Chen Bing, the former magistrate of Zhaoling County.
Although the content has been slightly changed, for example, in fact, his father Chen Bing died in front of the Wei camp in Yanshui at that time. Seeing that the prisoners could not be exchanged smoothly, Zhao Run, the then King of Su, ordered The crossbowmen of the Junshui Army shot Chen Bing and the other Zhaoling County prisoners to death, completely ending the idea of Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo to exchange these prisoners for Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu.
In this "Anecdote", Chen Bing, the magistrate of Zhaoling County, died directly in the battle at the head of Zhaoling County. Moreover, the novelist Zhou Chu vividly portrayed Chen Bing, who had no power to restrain a chicken. Civil servants, in order to protect their families and country, how they bravely killed the enemy and died heroically in the end.
Although this story was very false, Chen Shou couldn't help but read it again and again, feeling inexplicably satisfied: his father Chen Bing was indeed sacrificed for the Wei State, and the Wei State has not forgotten this loyal man. scholar.
This was enough. As for Wei King Zhao Run instructing the novelist Zhou Chu to write about these loyal and martyrs of the Wei State, in order to arouse the Wei people's sense of belonging to the country, Chen Shou didn't care.
"Hey, I'm in a good mood."
A familiar voice came from behind him, and Chen Shou didn't need to look back to guess that the owner of the voice was none other than Huan Hu, a villain who is now called a hero by the Lu people in Xuecheng.
"Is this the book?"
Walking to the wall, Huan Hu leaned against the wall, stood with his arms folded, glanced at the book in Chen Shou's hand, and said with a smile: "I heard that this book has a high evaluation of your father."
"That's the truth." Chen Shou put the "Yitan" in his arms, glanced at Huan Hu and asked, "Why are you interested in coming to the tower today? I thought you were still busy talking to those nobles."
Huan Hu was stunned for a moment, and after laughing a few times, he explained seriously: "Building good relationships with those nobles and aristocratic families will help you and I gain a foothold here..."
"Huh!" Chen Shou snorted softly.
After Huan Hu defeated the Chu army and took Xuecheng as his own, Huan Hu handed over the affairs of the army to Chen Shou, while he himself wandered among the nobles and aristocratic families who returned to Xuecheng. Time - those aristocratic families need Huan Hu to protect them, and Huan Hu needs to rely on the support of these aristocratic families so that he can better gain a foothold in the Lu Kingdom.
Although Chen Shou also understands the truth, he is still unhappy. After all, he still has a very bad impression of the ruling class. Fortunately, the State of Lu is one of the exporting places of Central Plains culture, and the moral character of the country's nobles is still relatively good. Therefore, although Chen Shou still dislikes them, he does not regard him as an enemy.
"Hehehe." Huan Hu patted Chen Shou on the shoulder, and then he said with a hint of melancholy: "Uncle Ji passed away."
"What?" Chen Shou was surprised.
Uncle Ji in Huan Hu's mouth was a scholar of the Lu State and the head of the Ji family. A few years ago, he accompanied Lu Gong Zixing to Daliang, the capital of the King of Wei, to participate in the League of Nations. He was the most trusted person of Lu Prince Shupan. Even Lu Xi, the king of Qi, favored Uncle Ji when he was still alive and hoped to recruit him as the prime minister of Qi.
And such an important minister of the Lu State finally passed away due to old age and frailty.
"When did it happen?" Chen Shou asked with a frown.
"About seven or eight days ago, people from Jin Gou got the news." Huan Hu crossed his arms and said with emotion: "I have met Uncle Ji a few times. He is indeed a serious and wise man. What a pity.
…”
Chen Shou glanced at Huan Hu, then frowned and said, "Uncle Ji's death means that the relationship between the royal family and San Huan is over, right?"
"Yes." Huan Hu licked his lips.
You must know that the royal family represented by Lu Wang Gong Shupan and Lu Gong Zixing has always had a bad relationship with Sanhuan. When Uncle Ji was still alive, he could serve as a bridge between the two and ease their conflicts so that they would not fight against each other.
Now that Uncle Ji has passed away, the internal stability of the Lu State may be gone forever.
But this is not a bad thing for Huan Hu.
Because Huan Hu took Xuecheng as his own without permission, in fact, Lu Wang Gong Shupan was also very dissatisfied later. However, due to the strong enemy San Huan, Lu Wang Gong Shupan did not dare to force Huan Hu too much, lest Huan Hu
Just take refuge in Sanhuan.
But now, Uncle Ji has passed away, and the peaceful relationship between the royal family and Sanhuan is no longer there. If Prince Lu loses to Pan, he will no longer care about Huanhu.
"What are you going to do?" Chen Shou frowned and asked, "Are you still going to side with the royal family?"
"Of course!" Huan Hu licked his lips and said with a smile: "If San Huan really does something rebellious and rebellious, how can I, Huan Hu, join them? I am... a hero of the Lu State!"
"...Hey!" Chen Shou glanced at Huan Hu and snorted softly.
The fact was just as Huan Hu expected. As soon as Uncle Ji died, San Huan immediately launched an attack on the royal family.
First of all, the Meng family and the Shusun family in the Sanhuan family immediately coerced the Ji family, who was also in the Sanhuan family, and asked Uncle Ji's eldest son Ji Wen to advance and retreat with them. They deposed the monarch Gongshu family and supported another family with the same royal blood.
Gongsun came to power.
Gongsun, who went back several decades, was also a descendant of the royal family who could inherit the throne of the monarch of Lu.
But unfortunately, after the appearance of King Lu Xi of Qi a few decades ago, the State of Qi became unprecedentedly powerful. King Lu Xi of Qi had known Gongshupan since childhood and had a very good relationship. Therefore, with the help of King Lu Xi of Qi,
The Gongshu clan seized the position of monarch of the Lu State and deposed the Gongsun clan.
Later, after Gongshupan succeeded to the throne, on the one hand, he followed the Qi state in everything, and on the other hand, he suppressed the Sanhuan. Due to the strength of the Qi state, the Sanhuan could only choose to compromise, and endured the humiliation and endured the heavy burden to survive to this day. However, the grievances between the royal family and the Sanhuan still remain.
But it’s ended ever since.
Twenty years later, King Lu Xi of Qi became weak due to drinking and sex, and San Huan gradually began to relapse. When King Lu Xi of Qi died during the expedition against Chu, San Huan began to take revenge on the royal family.
But at that time, Uncle Ji, a member of the Ji family among the Sanhuan, managed to ease the conflicts between the two, so that the royal family and Sanhuan could live in peace. But now that Uncle Ji is gone, Sanhuan will naturally start to make trouble.
Ji Wen was a cautious and timid man, and his talents were far inferior to those of his father. Faced with the threats from the Meng family and the Shusun family, he suddenly lost his sense of control and immediately wrote to his younger brother Ji Wu - although Ji Wu was very
He is not ranked in the Central Plains, but in the State of Lu, he is still a well-known general and holds military power.
But what Ji Wen didn't expect was that Sanhuan not only came into contact with him, but also with the rest of the Ji clan, and the impression of these other Ji clan members on Lu Wanggong Shupan was not much better.
This is no wonder, after all, Prince Lu Shupan only trusted Uncle Ji, which did not mean he trusted the entire Ji family.
Faced with the persuasion from brothers in the clan, and even uncles and aunts in the family, brothers Ji Wen and Ji Wu inevitably hesitated. After all, Sanhuan was indeed a sympathizer, and Prince Lu lost.
Pan, while suppressing Sanhuan as a whole, actually caused some damage to the interests of the Ji family. However, Uncle Ji was there at the time, and the Ji family could only complain a few words in their hearts.
It has to be said that the defection of the Ji family greatly increased Sanhuan's reputation and made Duke Shupan of Lu very angry.
He was very angry. Uncle Ji had just passed away, and the Ji family immediately turned against him, and Sanhuan also immediately attacked his royal family.
In view of the situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, Duke Shupan of Lu State immediately thought of Huan Hu who stole Xuecheng.
It is true that Huan Hu is an evil tiger, but in the current situation, only this evil tiger can swallow the three unfed wolves, San Huan.
San Huan apparently also guessed that the royal family's only support now was Huan Hu, so he asked Ji Wu, who had defected, to lead his troops to station between Qufu and Xuecheng, cutting off the road and blocking the news.
But even so, the envoy of Lu Wang Gong Shupan still came to Xuecheng with difficulty and asked Huan Hu for help from King Qin.
After learning about this, Chen Shou found Huan Hu and asked the latter: "I heard that King Lu sent someone to ask for help. When are you going to leave?"
At this time, Huan Hu had just escaped from his group of wives and concubines, and met Chen Shou naked. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Why are you so anxious? Now is not the time for you and me to take action."
Chen Shou had been following Huan Hu for a long time, and of course he knew about Huan Hu's ambition. Hearing this, he frowned and said, "Are you trying to borrow a knife to kill someone?"
"Hahahaha." Huan Hu laughed loudly, licking his lips and said, "I am a hero of the Lu State, how could I do such a thing?"
Although he denied it, in fact, he really thought so.
From Huan Hu's point of view, Sanhuan is now at the peak of his momentum. If he intervenes at this time, although he can help the royal family defeat Sanhuan, how much benefit does it have for him? If he had to wait until Sanhuan defeated the royal family,
Even after deposing the royal family, he, the hero of the Lu State, would send troops to serve the king in the name of righteousness. By then, the royal family would no longer be there, the three Huans would no longer be there, and he, Huan Hu, would be the true master of the Lu State.
.
Just as he was laughing, a soldier suddenly came to report: "General, there is a group of people coming to visit outside the mansion. One of them calls himself "Gongsun"..."
"Gongsun?" Huan Hu was stunned for a moment, touched his chin thoughtfully, and then said with a strange smile: "This is really interesting... please!"
Chen Shou shook his head, turned and left Huan Hu's residence, and returned to the tower. In a deserted corner, he carefully read the "Yitan" in his arms.
His father sought benevolence and was benevolent, and finally he was able to leave his name in history. Chen Shou's resentment towards Wei also dissipated.
Instead, he was confused about his future.
Huan Hu, who he followed, was very ambitious and was still working hard to steal the Lu State and become the master of the Lu State, but Chen Shou had no interest in this. In fact, the reason why he followed Huan Hu was just because he did not
Just other places to go
——After all, he once attacked Shen Yu, the chief of the imperial guard of Wei King Zhao Run, with a vengeance, causing Shen Yu's wrist to be injured. Later, he accepted Huan Hu's rescue and escaped from the prison in Shangshui County, and has since become wanted by the Wei State.
The main offender.
This is the fundamental thing, and then it involves Huan Hu’s personal charm.
"Shen Yu..."
Closing the "Yitan" in his hand, Chen Shou walked to the city wall and looked towards Tengcheng.
On the other side of Tengcheng, it originally belonged to the Song Dynasty, which was restored by the leader of the Northern Bo Army, Xiang Ding, but now, this city has become the territory of the Wei Kingdom.
Weishan Lake also became a place for the Huling Navy of Wei State to train warships and soldiers.
When Chen Shou thought of the Huling navy of Wei State, he thought of a person, Shen Yu, to whom he owed something.
In fact, last year, when Shen Yu was ordered by Wei King Zhao Run to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Huling Navy, Chen Shou also heard about it.
Although he had been paying attention to Shen Yu all these years and wanted to know whether the injury on Shen Yu's hand had healed, etc., but after learning that Shen Yu had arrived in Huling, he did not dare to go and visit him - he had the guts to assassinate Pingyu Junxiong alone. Hu, but did not have the courage to meet Shen Yu alone, probably because of the guilt in his heart.
"After you kill Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu, you can go and blame Shen Yu. Return your life to him and settle this grudge."
Chen Shou thought secretly.
But how to kill Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu?
You must know that since Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo became the King of Chu, Pingyu Jun Xiong Hu has risen sharply, replacing one of the first three pillars "Diyang Jun Xiong Shang" and becoming one of the new three pillars of Chu. , under the name of Chu King Xiong Tuo, he supervised the entire western Chu.
It is no exaggeration to say that in today's Chu State, Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu is the most important minister of the king. Although his official position is not as good as that of Prime Minister Liyang Lord Xiong Sheng, in terms of real power, especially military power, few people can compare with him. .
If Chen Shou wanted to assassinate such an important minister of the Chu State who held military power, he would probably never come back if he relied on his own courage.
Therefore, he continued to wait for the opportunity to kill his enemy with his own hands one day.
At the same time, Wei's "Yitan" had also spread to Qi, taking the lead in Linzi.
To be fair, in Wei's "Anecdotes", there are very few things that slander the Qi State. Even the deceased King of Qi, Lu Xi, is recorded in the book as a positive character, becoming an example of a wise king. Unlike South Korea, like Jin Mao, Sima Shang, Bao Yuan and other generals, almost all appear as villains in the book, and they were defeated one after another by Wei Ji, Zhao Xuan, Zhao Jiang, Jiang Bi, Wu Ji and other Wei generals.
Especially for the former county governor Ju Xin, the novelist Zhou Chu very bluntly exposed the ugly appearance of Ju Xin's attempt to massacre the city of Shanyang County, which greatly affected the overall reputation of Korea and its generals.
But even though the Wei State had "showed its noble hand", generals such as Tian Dan and Tian Wu of the Qi State were still very dissatisfied with this "Yitan" because the book exaggeratedly boasted about the generals of the Wei State.
Forget about Wei generals like Wei Gongzi Run, Yu Wang Zhao Ke, Sima An, Shao Hu, Wu Ji, and Jiang Bi. After all, these are indeed very famous or brave generals. Yin, Zhu Hai, Zhou Kui, and Cai Qinhu all had to brag, which was a bit much - in Tian Dan's view, these Wei generals were only qualified generals at best, not famous generals at all.
What makes Tian Dan even more unswerving is that this "Anecdote" does not record his dignified deeds.
Are you kidding me? Tian Dan is a famous Qi general who can compete with Wei Gongzi Run!
Compared with Tian Dan's grumblings and complaints, Qi's left prime minister Zhao Zhao, right prime minister Tian Tao and Shiqing Guan Zhong, Uncle Bao and others saw clearly: Wei State did not just ignore Tian Dan. In fact, like South Korea, The two famous generals of Yanmen Guards Li Mu and Beiyan Guards Le Yi who could compete with Wei Gongzi Run were deliberately ignored by the Wei State and were not mentioned at all.
The reason is self-evident.
"A novelist who has always been looked down upon by others actually still has such power..."
While flipping through this "Anecdote", Right Prime Minister Tian Bao said with emotion.
In this era, almost everyone looked down on novelists and believed that novelists were not worthy of being called "an academic discipline". Only Wei Wang Zhao Run had a unique vision and picked up the despised novelist, which made the novelist be recognized by the Wei State.
used.
The current situation is that the novelist's "Yitan" has become popular throughout the Central Plains. Some storytellers have directly excerpted excerpts from the "Yitan" book, which in disguise has once again increased the popularity of Wei.
For example, Wei general Sima An, who was stationed in Hexi County, became famous in Qi State because of a story about "a hundred sheep destroyed the enemy". Even the young people of Qi State also admired this famous general of Wei State.
The familiarity made Sima
An Zai's fame in Qi State has gradually surpassed that of Tian Dan, Tian Bao, Tian Wu, Zhongsun Sheng, Dongguo Piao, Lu Qiutai, Ji Mi, Zou Ji and other local generals. This is simply unbelievable - it is just a miscellaneous book.
It has such power!
It is worth mentioning that from the book "Yitan", Tian Tao and others also saw the square printed fonts and realized that it was unusual. However, compared with the book "Yitan"
The power of this part has been ignored by them.
Wei State has become too powerful.
More importantly, the strength of the Wei State is different from the strength of other countries in the past. For example, South Korea was famous for its powerful military, while the strength of the Qi State lies in the country's wealth. But now the Wei State
is powerful, but it seems to be powerful in all aspects,
In terms of military strength, it surpassed South Korea in the past, and in terms of economy, it gradually replaced Qi's previous position. Even Wei King Zhao Run could always come up with brilliant ideas that others could not imagine to make Wei stronger, such as this
"Anecdotes" written by a minor novelist.
I have to say that Tian Dan, Tian Tao, Guan Zhong, Bao Shu and others gradually understood Han Wangran's mood: Wei's temporary strength is not terrible, but what is terrible is that this country continues to become stronger, and other countries
If it is strengthened by one point, Wei will be strengthened by two points. It is simply invulnerable.
Han Wangran was almost driven crazy by this.
But just when the whole world seemed to be discussing the miscellaneous book "Yitan", Wei Guo's excitement about this book gradually subsided.
It's not that the people of the Wei Dynasty suddenly lost interest in this miscellaneous book, but because the interest of the Wei people was transferred to a miscellaneous book called "Di Bao" published by the Ministry of Rites.
It turned out that after seeing the amazing influence of "Yitan", the Ministry of Rites was inspired by it.
The officials of the Ministry of Rites believed that they could imitate the novelist's miscellaneous book and compile a miscellaneous book to teach the people, persuade them to be kind, loyal to the emperor and patriotic.
Unfortunately, the first attempt of the Ministry of Rites failed, and almost no one paid attention to the miscellaneous books they compiled.
Later, after consultation with the Ministry of Rites, we learned that the Chinese people were not interested in the miscellaneous books compiled by the Ministry of Rites at all - you must know that the novelist's "Anecdotes" vividly described the anecdotes of famous people in Wei, and the Miscellaneous Books of the Ministry of Rites
, but most of them are extracted from the "Book of Songs" and "Ancient Rites". This kind of book, not to mention ordinary people will not read it, even nobles who claim to have status will not read it.
.
After learning about this, Zhao Run burst out laughing: After working on it for a long time, the Ministry of Rites still didn't understand what entertaining education meant.
Therefore, Zhao Run summoned Du You, the Minister of Rites, and gave the latter some ideas.
After Du You returned to the Ministry of Rites, he told the officials of the Ministry of Rites that they were both skeptical, but in the end, they listened to Wei King Zhao Run's suggestion and published another pamphlet.
This booklet only records the major events of the Wei Kingdom in the past twenty years, including both external expeditions and internal governance. It should be very boring, but for some reason, the response is very good.
Afterwards, Wei Wang Zhao Run said to Du You, the Minister of Rites, "Du Qing hopes to strengthen the loyalty of the people to Wei. Just telling those big principles will not help. It is best to let the people know what the imperial court has done in these years, including what
Only those who have vital interests with the people in the country can gradually cultivate the people's sense of belonging to our Wei Dynasty, and then slowly develop loyalty to the country."
Du You, the Minister of Rites, suddenly realized this.
After that, the Ministry of Rites advocated the publication of this pamphlet, which focused on the court's actions, such as reclaiming wasteland and building water conservancy. It also popularized the pros and cons of farmland and water conservancy.
To the surprise of the Ministry of Rites, the people were quite interested in this booklet. This may be because in this era of strict class system, the people at the bottom were actually curious about what the court and its officials were doing every day.
In addition, under the instruction of King Zhao Run of Wei, the Ministry of Rites gradually relaxed its standards for this booklet and did not exclude excerpts from the works of some novelists, making the booklet increasingly more oriented.
increase.
Later, the Ministry of Rites also gradually added new policies implemented by the imperial court to this pamphlet, and stated the pros and cons in it.
Not to mention, this has gradually attracted some people.
Except for King Zhao Run of Wei, even the officials of the Ministry of Rites did not notice that with the help of novelists' works and this pamphlet from the Ministry of Rites, the imperial court gradually began to guide public opinion, subtly instilling the ideas that the imperial court wanted to see in the people, and guiding them to do certain things.
some things.
In this way, Wei ushered in the sixth year of Wei Xing'an. In this year, Wei's new capital, Luoyang, was finally initially built. Wei finally bid farewell to its old capital, Daliang, and moved its capital to Luoyang.
And does this mean that Wei will usher in a completely new situation?