The journey from Daliang to Xinzheng is only over a hundred miles and can be reached in a few days.
While riding on the road, when he saw the endless fields of fields, Zhang Liang, who was appointed by Xiang Liang as the "Fake King of Korea", knew that his motherland had arrived...
Zhang Liang knew very well that he was testing Xiang Liang, and Xiang Liang was also testing himself. If he refused to become king, he might never be able to return to Yingchuan.
So he pretended that he was not a royal family and could only be a false king. Xiang Liang agreed and asked Zhang Liang to return to Korea quickly and organize the Koreans into an army to resist the Qin army's eastward advance.
The water in Putianze Lake is so clear that it can never be exhausted. It is a delicacy of fish and shoots. When Zheng Guo was still a minister of the King of Han, many ditches were dug here to irrigate the Korean land. The grains on both sides of the ditches were abundant. On the way to Zhang Liang's return to the country, when he
When he realized that Wang Ben might launch a thunderous attack on Xu Di, he advocated moving north and taking refuge here.
Unfortunately, Han Wangcheng did not listen to him and died at the hands of the Qin army. However, the seeds of the restoration of Han were preserved in Putianze. Finally, half a year ago, with the help of the Chu army, the entire Yingchuan County was captured, and Korea was officially restored.
, return to the old capital!
But has the restoration of the country really been successful?
In the reeds beside the road, there were many hungry eyes flashing. They were in ragged clothes and holding pitchforks and sickles. They had probably been lying in wait here for a long time. After realizing that there were many people like Zhang Liang, they retreated wisely and retreated.
Deep in the grassland, I saw that they were thin, maybe they had been hungry for a long time...
"It's a group of thieves."
Sima, who led the way, said helplessly that Putianze was the base camp for the successful restoration of Korea, but now it is suffering from banditry.
"The war between Qin and Chu was in Beijing, and between Suo and Suo, the refugees from Sanchuan and the common people in Yingchuan who had no food and clothing all ran to the grassland. At least they could catch some fish and shrimps here. If not, they could dig grass roots to satisfy their hunger. When they met some pedestrians
If you pass by, you can also plunder their property."
Zhang Liang sent people to stop the thieves, but they didn't look back and ran faster...
"I'm afraid you'll take me to the army to fill ravines! For those people, harsh government is as fierce as a tiger!"
An old man with a red nose wearing a side crown said this while drinking wine. This man's name was Li Shiqi. He was a senior official in the state of Wei and the brother of Duke Chenliu of Chu. When Zhang Liang left Daliang, he said shamelessly.
He said he was going to Xinzheng and asked him to give him a ride.
There was no legitimate reason for this person, but Zhang Liang told his men to ignore it and freed up an empty truck to load the old drunkard. Although Li Shiqi drank all day long, his cloudy eyes were observing various situations along the way, and he came to see Zhang from time to time.
Talk well.
"The Great Chaos is like this. Bandits are rampant in many places in Wei. Heroes have risen together. Qin officials have been expelled and killed, and Qin laws and regulations have been abolished. However, no one can stop those who kill people and steal goods. Big bandits
, such as Peng Yue, who suddenly became a prince, a small bandit, or joined the big bandit and became a county magistrate, or continued to stay in the grassland and plundered everywhere."
Thanks to the Restoration of Korea movement and Zheng Chang's policy of using Korean property to serve Chu, the order in the entire northern part of Yingchuan has completely collapsed.
As the instigator, Zhang Liang remained silent.
Going further south, they arrived at Yuanling County.
Li Shiqi smacked his lips and said, "Is this Yuanling the ancient country of Xi?"
As early as 600 years ago, Duke Huan of Zheng was the Situ of Zhou Youwang. He was very worried about the decadent Zongzhou and wanted to set up his own business and leave this doomed ship. He used his position to find Zheng Guo in the east.
A new foothold. Tai Shibo at that time analyzed him: "In today's world, in the country of sons and daughters, Guo and Hao are the largest. Uncle Guo relies on power, and Hao Zhong relies on danger. If two cities are conquered, the former will lead to the latter.
River, Luo on the right and Ji on the left, Zheng Guo can be less solid..."
Dongguo is the Xingyang area, and Haoguo is the ancient name of Yuanling. This area was the foundation of the Zheng State. Although the capital was built in Xinzheng in the south, Yuanling was still a large and prosperous city.
When Li Shiqi went up to the city, he saw how big the houses were. He couldn't help but admire: "Zhuangzai County is no less than a large city. How many households do you have here?"
Someone told him the answer: "In the early years, there were 10,000 households. In recent years, there have been many wars and many people have disappeared. Now there are only 5,000 households..."
No one knows whether the five thousand disappeared families fled, fled to the grasslands, or were kidnapped by the passing Chu army.
Li Shiqi sighed: "It's a pity, it's a pity, but it's not just Yuanling. As far as I can see, whether it's east of the river or in Hanoi, these former prosperous places in the Three Rivers are also in ruins."
It seemed that the words were intentional or unintentional, as if he wanted to touch Zhang Liang.
Everyone rested for one night in Yuanling and continued south. That night they stayed in a pavilion on the way. Because Zhang Liang was a simple man, he only had coarse rice with him. His attendants asked the pavilion chief for food and asked him to offer the best food.
, Unexpectedly, when meal time came, the pavilion chief steamed chaff for everyone to eat!
Zhang Liang's cronies were immediately furious: "Bold, do you know who the noble man is!"
The chief of the pavilion was not afraid, he puffed out his chest and said:
"Don't you want the best food? There is nothing but chaff in the ten miles and eighty villages. Even if Zheng Chang and Zhang Liang come, they can only eat this!"
Zhang Liang, however, was not angry. He comforted his subordinates, picked up the chaff, ate it with a smile, and asked others to distribute the dry food they carried to the chief of the pavilion.
"Old man, how long have you been eating chaff?"
“I’ve been eating it since winter.”
The director of the pavilion looked at his family gobbling up dry food and sighed: "This county is hilly and dangerous, and we live in mountains. The best crops are wheat and beans. What we usually eat are mostly beans, rice, and grasshoppers."
Soup, once the harvest is not good, you can only eat the chaff."
"Last year, Qin and Chu fought a war, but the fields were not destroyed. The harvest in our hometown was originally good. But after the Chu army passed through the border in the autumn, Zheng Chang actually ordered all the grains along the way to be donated, even the life-saving grains were not spared. We
These are the only things left that can be used to satisfy hunger."
This is good, now that last year's food has been used up, and next year's seeds have not fallen, by the time summer comes, I'm afraid I will have to eat bark and grass roots.
When the pavilion chief was worried, after scolding Zheng Chang, he scolded Zhang Liang again.
"When the Qin officials ruled this area, although the corvee was heavier and more than half of the taxes were collected, we still had enough food and clothing, and no bandits dared to openly plunder."
"But now, we are living in such misery. What will Zhang Liang do if he wants to restore the country? The Zhang family's wealth has been restored, but the food, clothing and life of our common people have been restored!"
The attendants dared not speak out in anger, but Zhang Liang just nodded and continued to eat the chaff in the pottery bowl.
There was no salt, no oil, and no honey. The dry chaff was difficult to chew, and swallowing it made his throat sore.
Like choking in throat...
Is he doing all this for the sake of his own wealth, or for this so-called "fake king"?
Li Shiqi looked at Zhang Liang's expression, as if he was aware of it.
After nightfall, Li Shiqi went out for a walk with his wine in hand, and found Zhang Liang standing on the ridge of the field outside the pavilion, looking at the stars.
He walked over and said with a smile: "People are like this. They are always ungrateful and vengeful. If the present is not as it used to be, they will resent the person who brought them to where they are today."
"Nothing but the ovary, no, now I will be called the false king of Han. Your family has always been the prime minister of Han, and Han is destroyed. You don't love the wealth of ten thousand gold. You avenge Han and attack Qin. Junan assassinates, and the world is shocked. Today, the country is finally restored.
Success, even becoming a false king, this is the ultimate commoner, what are the regrets?"
As he said, Zhang Liang did have a heroic spirit and a strong spirit in his youth.
However, the assassination of Qin failed, and Da Tiezhu died to save him. The experience of being in exile in Xiapi made Zhang Liang mature and steady, and he began to abandon assassination and work on strategy. Unfortunately, he was trapped in the restoration of Han and could not play on a larger stage.
Come to the fore.
But now his dream has come true, South Korea has recovered, and he has even been promoted to the position of "False King". It seems that he has control over some aspects of South Korea, but Zhang Liang is not happy at all.
"If you want to be crowned, you must first bear its weight..." Zhang Liang said this and said with a smile:
"It's still the same as before, when I only fight for my own anger, I feel free to do whatever I want. When I was young, I thought it was simple to restore my country and take revenge. After more than ten years of doing it, I realized how difficult it is. But more
The difficulty is still to come. Only when Zhang Liang carried the weight of millions of people in South Korea on his shoulders did he understand how heavy it is."
"I cannot afford to be this false king."
Li Shiqi shook his head: "But who in Han can afford it? Zheng Chang? Han Xin?"
He said meaningfully: "Zifang, in my opinion, you are the only one who can save Han Di."
"Save Han?"
This word is so familiar, as if it reminds me of what a certain "Han traitor" said when he was questioned by Mr. Zhang when he was young.
At that time, young Zhang Liang scoffed.
Zhang Liang shook his head: "There are fire pits in front and behind, so how can we save him? Li Sheng, are you going to point me to a clear path?"
Li Shiqi almost blurted out the words, but he still held back in the end.
The time has not come yet.
Zhang Liang stood up, patted Li Shiqi, and said in his ear:
"Li Sheng said earlier that both Hedong and Hanoi are in a very poor state. I just want to ask, you have gone to Guanzhong before. How is the people's livelihood there under Heifu's rule?"
Li Shiqi had prepared a lot of tricks, but at this moment, there was only shock on his face.
Although Li Shiqi reacted quickly, he put away his surprise and replaced it with confusion.
For Zhang Liang, the expression at this moment was enough for him to confirm his guess.
"What does Zifang mean by this? I have been to Xihe once, but..."
Li Shiqi held a sharp dagger in his broad long sleeves. It was this hand. When he was lobbying a Wei county magistrate in Hedong, because he suspected that he had changed his mind, Li Shiqi pretended to be drunk and stayed with him in the middle of the night.
But he secretly got up and cut off his head, and presented it to Han Xin as an incompetent old man, a high-yang drunkard, and a pedantic scholar. They were all disguises to cover up the fact that he was a blood-licking knight in his youth!
But this time, the goose hunter made the goose peck his eyes.
Li Shiqi's hand was grabbed by Zhang Liang, and the dagger was snatched away. Instead, it was held in his arms!
Everything happened suddenly. Only when they saw the perseverance in Zhang Liang's eyes did people often think of this beautiful woman who seemed to be a frail scholar, but she made her name by assassinating the First Emperor of Qin!
"There are no outsiders here, so you don't have to pretend."
Zhang Liang smiled and said:
"Li Sheng came to me, was he following the orders of your lord Heifu, or was he acting on his own initiative for the sake of great achievements?"