ps: Everyone has been waiting for a long time. We only got down from Wa Mountain in the afternoon. We will be busy for two more days. After returning to Kunming on the 31st, the update will return to normal. It will only be available tomorrow night.

...

"The widow wants to seal the land of the Confucius Book Club for seventy miles and let him be a doctor in the state of Chu, what does Sima think?"

King Xiong Zhen of Chu had a small beard under his chin. He was dressed in a red rhinoceros leather jacket, a gorgeous scalloped hat, and a long sword "Zhan Lu" on his waist. This time, he led the army of Chu and Chen and accompanied the army to attack the Cai State. When he attacked the vicinity of Shendi, he happened to rescue Confucius and his disciples who had been trapped for seven days.

The name of Confucius, Xiong Zhen, has long been heard of, and can be said to be one of the sages in the world. He has a strong record. Because he did not want to submit to the power of the Zhao clan of the Jin Luqing family, he ran away. He traveled to Ju, Zheng, Chen and other countries, and now is the king of Chu. Aiming for revival, I heard that this person was saved here, and I couldn't help but seek talent.

However, at the end of the King of Chu's words, his concubine brother, Sima Ziqi of the State of Chu, stood up and exhorted, "No!"

The King of Chu turned his head and asked, "Does Sima feel wrong?"

As Sima, Sima Ziqi was still very concerned about what happened in the Central Plains, he said: "I don't dare, I just heard that the knowledge of Confucius and his disciples is to respect Zhou Tianzi, trying to revive Zhou Li in the world, and want to make People dressed up in costumes, tediously stipulated the etiquette of superiors and inferiors, gestures of gestures, and the rituals and music of the Zhou Dynasty that could not be learned from childhood to old age. All these are incompatible with the customs and habits of Chu, so the study of Confucius is not suitable for the state of Chu. , it's better to go with him."

The King of Chu did not agree: "But I have heard Lord Ye say many times that Duanmuci, a disciple of Confucianism, is good at farming, diplomacy, and state governance. Now he is the ruler of Taoqiu, and he leads Cao people to implement the republican system; There was Ran Qiu, who trained troops for the Zhao clan, and trained more than ten thousand soldiers, so that the Zhao clan could sweep the Jin state. Since these disciples of Confucius are so powerful, he is probably not bad himself, not to mention there are more than one hundred Confucius. Disciple, I'm afraid there are talents, if you miss it, wouldn't it be a pity?"

"Otherwise, the capable disciples of Confucius seem to have been left behind by the Zhao clan, and the rest of the people followed Confucius and walked around the countries like begging, were stolen in Luze Lu, occupied in Juzeju, and in Song, Zheng, and Chen. , and other countries are not welcome and reused, it can be seen that including Confucius, the rest are useless people, and the king is not worthy of the title."

Seeing that the King of Chu was still a little hesitant, Sima Ziqi said, "What's more important is that when the ancestors of the state of Chu were enshrined in Zhou, they were named Zinan, and the area was 50 li. In the cause of Duke Zhou and Duke Zhao, if the Great King appoints him and implements the rituals of Zhou, how can the state of Chu have a dignified and upright place for generations!"

"Our ancestor Xiong Qu once said that Chu is a barbarian, and does not have the posthumous title of China, and the emperor does not have the position of my prince, so Chu has called himself a king! It has been almost ten generations, and the status of the king in the south is actually Similar to the emperor, the princes of Chen, Sui and Xu all regarded themselves as ministers. However, the princes of the Central Plains refused to admit it, and I heard that the people of Lu secretly scolded us as barbarian people and called the prince 'Chuzi'! Confucius! The most important Zhou family etiquette, I am afraid that is the same. Therefore, the king wants to seal Confucius, and first go to ask if he is willing to call the king the king, and pay the servants and ministers three bows, otherwise it will be embarrassing."

The King of Chu pondered for a while, then nodded and said, "That's fine, I'll let Zilu bring some gifts to greet Confucius for me, and try it out."

...

Wang's disciple Lu led the way, and the King of Chu and Sima Ziqi continued to discuss the war. They attacked Cai State this time, first, in revenge for Cai State's guidance of Wu Master into Ying more than ten years ago, which brought huge losses to Chu State. The second is to regain the state of Cai and restore the territory of the state of Chu to a more eastern position, with Chen, Cai, Dun, and Hu as barriers to build a line of defense against Wu.

"The state of Chen controls the Yingshui River, and connects the two countries of Zheng and Song in the north. When there is something in Huai and Si, it is the place for its operation. Now the Marquis of Chen is afraid of the state of Wu, and is willing to submit to the king. If you communicate with the princes of the Central Plains, you can still invade Caidi!"

"As for the Cai Kingdom, this place is looking at Fangcheng in the west, Huai-Mian in the east, relying on the heroes of Jing and Chu, following the way of Chen and Xu, the mountains and rivers are dangerous, the fields are smooth and the fields are smooth, the war is rich, the ploughing and settlement are full, and it is between Wu and Chu. essential."

Ziqi said solemnly: "At the same time, it is also a problem for Chu State. To eliminate the trouble of Wu State's westward advance again, Chu State must reconquer Cai State!"

"Retake Shendi first, and then surround Xin Cai, I'm not afraid that Cai Jun will not obey." The King of Chu stroked his small beard and smiled: "The current state of Wu is in a lively battle with the widowed uncle, and has no time to rescue him. Cai Guo, this is our great opportunity!"

At this moment, Zilu, who went to investigate Confucius's words, came back.

"What did he say?" The King of Chu asked casually.

Zilu's face was a little unsightly: "Confucius thanked him, but he resigned, and he didn't want to see the king."

"Why?"

"He said...there are no two days in the sky, and no two kings in the people. Although Qiu is like a lost dog, he should be like Duke Wen Chong'er of Jin. In order to seek help when he was living in the state of Chu, he called Chu the king and made the only king in the world, the emperor of Zhou. For disregard, he practiced the way of King Wen and Duke Zhou, and asked himself if he couldn't do it..."

"Confucianism! What a presumptuous one!" Although he expected it, Sima Ziqi couldn't help but scold.

But the good-tempered King of Chu, Xiong Zhen, smiled and waved his hand: "Sima Xian, don't be angry, Zilu, go and ask Confucius, when Duke Zhao of Lu came to Chu, he also used the feudal lords to see the Son of Heaven. Zhigu’s uncle, King Ling, bowed to his head three times, he is from Lu, so why call me a king?”

Zi Lu led the order away again, and returned shortly after, with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

"how?"

"Confucius still won't come."

"What did he say this time?" Chu Wangxiao asked with interest.

"He said that Meng Xizi, who was one of the three kings of Lu State, accompanied Lu Zhaogong on a visit to Chu State. After arriving in Yingdu, he could not handle diplomatic affairs with courtesy, so that the monarch suffered an undeserved humiliation. Meng Xizi was deeply ashamed, so he worked hard. Studying the rituals of Zhou, when he was about to die, he instructed his second son to learn rituals from Confucius. When Confucius taught his second son, he was very humble and did not dare to neglect his career. Now that he has come to the border of Chu State, if he repeats the past, he will have no face to see Meng Xizi after death... "

Sima Ziqi snorted coldly and said, "Speak eloquently, tie up Confucius and his disciples and force them to the edge of the river. If they don't follow suit, they will throw them down. They can't help but call the king!"

The King of Chu shook his head and said, "Kongqiu's response is neither humble nor arrogant, no less than when Zhiwuzi dealt with the former king and the king. Since Confucius has resigned from my gifts and employment, I don't need to see him, so as not to see each other. I'm tired of it. Besides, the state of Cai is about to launch an army, and they should not go any further. They should send a group of people to send Confucius and his party to Fangcheng, where Duke Ye is. No, let them go back to the Central Plains!"

"Nuo!" Zilu led the order away for the third time. Sima Ziqi looked at his back, and then looked at the King of Chu who was concentrating on checking the map, and couldn't help sighing.

Ziqi knew the temperament of his younger brother of the King of Chu. He acted according to common sense, did not mess with the rules, did not confuse himself for selfishness, did not back down because of difficulties, and always adhered to his principles. Even if Confucius didn't know how to advance or retreat, he wouldn't make the move to drag down and kill with a single sword.

Such a benevolent and wise King of Chu, it would have been better if the State of Chu had met decades or even ten years earlier. If the power of the State of Chu had been in his hands ten years ago, and he had been assisted by brothers such as himself and Zixi, the State of Chu would probably have There will be no catastrophe...

...

Five days later, near the end of the spring, Confucius, master and apprentice had been sent to Fangcheng. The King of Chu and Confucius did not meet each other, so he simply kicked them to Ye Gong and asked Ye Gong to screen for the reception on his behalf.

The Chu army also acted quickly, and they quickly destroyed the fragile defense of Cai's periphery and regained the sinking ground.

"It's still the same as it was twenty years ago, nothing has changed..."

The place where King Xiong Zhen of Chu is located is the old palace of Shen State. Shen State is a small country in the lower reaches of Ruying. His ancestors were sealed in Shendi because of their merit in helping King Ping to move eastward. The monarch called him Shenzi. This small state was incorporated into its own feudal system by the state of Chu very early on, and was influenced by Chu culture. Its utensils, food, clothing, and other aspects were consistent with the state of Chu, except for the language that was difficult and easier to use.

Until more than ten years ago, the State of Jin summoned the feudal lords' alliance to prepare to attack the State of Chu, but the State of Shen, who was close to Chu, refused to participate. The Cai people have since annexed this place.

But Cairen did not change the layout and interior of the place, so many things in this palace are similar to Yingdu. The mural painted on the wall that the King of Chu is admiring at this moment is also full of Chu culture. :

In the fresco, the sun **** "Dongjun" rises from the building in the east, turning the dark night into bright day. Human beings on the ground worshiped endlessly. The musical bell rang to shake the wooden frame of the bell, and the dancers flew as lightly as kingfishers. In the sound of music and dance, the nobles of Shen country finally ascended to heaven and became "feathered men". , together with Dongjun across the sky, to the end of the world...

Seeing this painting reminded the King of Chu of the past. When he was young, he and his father, King Ping of Chu, came to Ruying to hunt. Lord Shen treated the royal family of Chu as a son serving Lao Tzu, and he was extremely respectful.

His father pointed to this mural and told him why the people of Chu worshiped phoenix birds.

"The people of Chu are after Zhu Rong, and Zhu Rong's essence is a bird, and Li is a phoenix. Luan belongs to the phoenix. Zhu Rong is the incarnation of the phoenix, and so are our descendants. King Zhuang of Chu once compared himself to a phoenix bird. Three years without flying, one soaring into the sky, three years without a sound, one blockbuster."

He also touched his head and said, "Jane, you will be like the ancestors of all dynasties in the future, to be a noble phoenix living on the phoenix tree!"

He was under ten years old at the time, looking at the free and elegant Feng, the high-ranking Dongjun was envious and nodded heavily.

The father will also take Xiong Zhen to stand at the highest point of the Shen Palace to look at the woods, rivers and mountains, and then say to Xiong Zhen, who has just been named the prince, "One day, they will all be yours!"

Not only Shen, but Chen, Cai, Sui, and Tang. After just a few years, these vassals eventually became Xiong Zhen's subjects. He ruled from Huairui in the east, Hanzhong in the west, Ruyang in the north, and Ruyang in the south. The vast land in the south of the Yangtze River is just like what his father Ping Wang, uncle Ling Wang, Kang Wang, grandfather Gong Wang, and great-grandfather Zhuang Wang used to rule.

But since the beginning of Xiongqu Road Lanlui, the Chu people have never lost their land, only Xiong Zhen has lost...

This young phoenix stopped on the too high sycamore tree from the beginning, so young and ignorant that it fell the worst.

At the beginning of his succession, he thought that everything in Chu was sunny and good. Yin Zichang pretended to beautify everything. He confuses the King of Chu to laugh and play with his brothers and sisters on the Zhanghua stage. He used brocade to hang the orange branches next to the road below the stage, and told the King of Chu that the Chu people outside were wearing silk clothes and there were so many cloths. It can't be finished; he deliberately let people row a boat of rice to pass under Zhanghua stage, so as to tell the king of Chu that the country of Chu has a good harvest every year; he also equipped the palace guards with the best equipment, everyone wears it A good sword, wearing rhinoceros leather armor, so as to reassure the king of Chu, the military equipment of the state of Chu is also extremely strong!

However, it all fell apart, along with the fiasco at the Battle of Baiju and the destruction of Yingdu. He almost lost everything when Wu Shi entered Ying, lost his mother, lost his brother, lost his sister, lost the throne, lost the capital, lost the state of Chu...

He took his sister and the whole family to flee the capital in a hurry, crossed the Han River, and trekked in Yunmengze along the way. Only then did he see the real state of Chu: the domineering nobles, the robbers who openly looted in the daytime, the refugees who struggled to survive in Yunmeng Ze, the Chu state was full of traitors, and the Dou clan's remnants almost attacked him. . The group wandered for more than a month, and finally escaped to Suiguo. They were also surrounded by Wu Jun and forced to take it. If Suihou Yinian chose to betray them at that time, the King of Chu and the entire royal family would be caught in one pot!

They escaped in the end, but it was also thanks to his eldest brother Xijian that he established the king's flag, calmed people's hearts, gathered stray soldiers, and organized the war of resistance. Shen Baoxu went to Qin State to beg for a teacher. The Qin army, led by Zipu, traversed in and out of Fangcheng. The Chu division was in the north and south of the Han River. The Wu division was unable to cope. .

After Master Wu left, Xiong Zhen returned to Yingdu. It was October, and the 10-month war was finally over. In this war, the people in Yingdu suffered the most. The teacher was devastated and dilapidated. Since then, the prince of Wu State, Fuchai, attacked against the current, and the people of Chu were afraid of dying again. So he moved Yingdu to Yuandi, reformed politics, and came to stabilize the state of Chu.

King Xiong Zhen of Chu came of age during such a difficult journey. This was the fault of King Ling of Chu, King Ping of Chu and Ling Yin Zichang, but this bad result made Xiong Zhen brothers eat right up... He therefore He has accumulated too much guilt, lost his ancestral land for himself, and let down the people of the country. He knew that the state of Chu needed healing, so he rewarded the meritorious, tolerated those who betrayed, and comforted those who were hurt. This treatment lasted for ten years...

Ten years have passed, and Chu State is gradually recovering, but at this time, they have lost more than a thousand miles of land along the Huaihe River. The pain caused by Wu Shi's entry into Ying still exists in the depths of the Chu people's spirit and is difficult to treat.

"I have failed Zhu Rong and the ancestors."

King Xiong Zhen of Chu finished her deep thinking, and once again walked up to the high platform of the old palace of Shen State. She reflected on the battlements that his ancestors conquered and stepped on, and looked at the distant Cai Di with a smile of determination.

"But I will not fail my son!"

He married the thirteen-year-old daughter of King Goujian of Yue the year before last~lightnovelpub.net~ The taciturn Yue girl who didn't even know how to speak Chu Yan just gave birth to a son for Xiong Zhen this year, named "Zhang". Zhang Huatai's Zhang, Xiong Zhen hopes that she can solve the threat of Wu State as soon as possible, and can move back to Yingcheng, so that her son can grow up in the ruins of Yingdu and Zhanghuatai, learn the lessons of the past, and also get forward. courage.

At that time, I will touch his head and tell him what my father said.

"Zhang! You will also be a noble phoenix resting on the phoenix tree in the future, and you must firmly remember that the phoenix does not die, and the nirvana will rise again. "

"Your Majesty..." Thoughts and pride were interrupted, Sima Ziqi appeared behind him, his face sinking like water.

When the Chu Jun Baiju was defeated and Ziqi came to an emergency, this was the expression on his face.

The King of Chu suddenly became nervous and asked, "What's the matter?"

Ziqi took a deep breath: "Your Majesty, I just learned the news that King Wu's Fuchai defeated King Goujian of Yue in Fujiao!" (To be continued.)