Master Kong Zhongni

Chapter 197 The Fire of Benevolence and Righteousness
On the outskirts of the central city, on the hills.

Zaiyu stood side by side with Zilu and Shen Jian, and they looked down from the hill.

The Lu army gathered from all over the country was like a long dragon, crowded with people, rubbing shoulders.

The four teams of the army formed a line, spreading from the foot of the mountain to the far field.

The sound of nails rubbing against each other was heard one after another, the sound of footsteps was uneven, and the standing spear was swaying. At first glance, it seemed like a moving forest.

Zilu looked at Zhongdu City in front of him, and said, "When you arrive in Zhongdu, you can walk on the Zhou Road, which is flat and open, and the chariot troops no longer need to be slowed down by the terrain. In this way, one day at most, You can reach the yin of Liangshan and the yang of Wenshui."

The Zhou Road in the sub-intersection is a unified transportation system ordered to be built after the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which is also a national military road shared by Zhuxia.

After King Wu overthrew Zhou, although Yin and Shang were destroyed, there were still many Rong, Di and barbarians who refused to obey the teachings of kings.

In order to conquer these barbarians, the Zhou people enfeoffed the princes of all parties, built cities in various places, and used them as bases to launch expansion wars to various places.

The feudal vassals who were entrusted by Zhou Tianzi were also divided into five types according to the distance of the enfeoffed land from the royal city.

The feudal vassals within Wangji are called Dianfu, those who are enfeoffed five hundred miles away from Wangji are called Houfu, those who are enfeoffed five hundred miles away from Houfu are called Suifu, and those who are enfeoffed five hundred miles away from Suifu are called Suifu. If you want to obey, those who are entrusted five hundred miles away are called Huangfu.

There are five types of Dianfu, Houfu, Suifu, Yaofu, and Huangfu, collectively known as the five-fu princes.

In order to strengthen the connection with the princes of the Five Kingdoms and prevent those countries that penetrated into remote and wild places from being destroyed by the barbarians, the royal family of Zhou ordered the construction of a military road "Zhou Dao" from the capital Cheng Zhou to the capitals of the princes, so that Rescue the country of brothers at any time and maintain the order of the world.

At the beginning of the founding of Qi and Lu, because they were in the land occupied by Dongyi, they encountered the crisis of extinction many times.

And at the critical moment, it was the mighty Wang Shi who came to help them through Zhou Dao's rush to help them withstand Dongyi's attack.

It is precisely because of the difficulty of starting a business in the early stage that everyone has realized the importance of road construction.

Therefore, after the feudal princes of the Zhou royal family established a firm foothold in the barren land, they also spontaneously began to build Zhou roads to connect cities and neighboring countries.

When there is no war, the Zhou Road is open to the common people. Zhu Xia will also arrange officials to guard the Zhou Road to prevent the road from being destroyed by barbarians. At the same time, trees will be planted on both sides of the Zhou Road.

And once there is a war, if any brotherly country is invaded by barbarians, the Zhuxia countries will move when they hear the news, and send a large army to reach the war-torn country through Zhou Dao.

If they can't resist, they will order to cut down the trees planted on both sides of the surrounding roads in their own country, block the roads, and prevent them from being used by the barbarians, so as to block the barbarian offensives and buy time for other fraternal countries to deploy defenses.

In the early years, the Qi and Lu countries often rescued each other through Zhou Dao, and Zhou Dao has always been an important symbol of the Zhuxia blood alliance.

But to this day, Zhou Dao has become a tool for the various countries of Xia to conquer each other.

Thinking of this, Zaiyu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

He couldn't help singing: "The bandit's wind blows, and the bandit's chariot verses. Gu Zhan thoughtfully, and the center is sloppy."

(The strong wind howled and the flag belt fluttered, and the car galloped and rattled. Looking back at the avenues leading to the Zhou Dynasty gradually getting farther and farther away, endless sadness suddenly surged in my heart)
When Zilu heard him sing "Bandit Wind", he also understood what Jaeyu wanted to express.

He also couldn't help sighing: "Rites are broken and music is broken! The old road of kingship is irreversible.

The master said: If you are not in your position, you will not seek your own government.

As scholars, we can only be ourselves first.

Judging from the news that came back in the past few days, the Qi people's attack on Lu this time was not a temporary idea, but had been prepared for a long time.

In the past, when marching and fighting, when siege equipment was used, most of the materials were obtained and manufactured locally.

But this time, the Qi army actually used the waterway to directly carry equipment such as hooks, aids, landings, and rushes. The Qi army navy immediately launched an offensive as soon as it arrived in Yangzhou.

The Yangzhou defenders were caught off guard, and the city was broken in just three days.

The people of Qi have prepared so carefully, it seems that this time the Marquis of Qi's will to attack Lu cannot be easily shaken!
Speaking of which..."

Zilu's eyes suddenly drifted to Zaiyu's troops at the foot of the mountain, and he pointed to Tuqiu's trolley and asked.

"My son, what are you doing with so many small cars when you lead the army?"

He had always wanted to ask this question before, but he was in a hurry to join the large army, and most of his thoughts were spent on driving, so he ignored many details.

Now that his mood has calmed down, Zilu took a closer look at the army under Zaiyu, and felt that there was a trace of evil in it.

First of all, the soldiers under Zaiyu's command are all big and round, and they all wear armor and crossbows.

If that's all there is to it, that's fine.

After all, Zaiyu managed Tuqiu so well, it is normal for the people to live and work in peace and contentment and grow stronger.

And when the finances are good, it is not surprising that Zaiyu has spare money to develop armaments.

But ordinary doctors would choose to build chariots if they had money.

It's good to get to Zaiyu's place, Tuqiu Jiashi almost has a cart in his hand.

If it was just carts, then Zilu could also attribute it to the fact that Zai Yu cared about the strength of the people and didn't want to use corvees or conscript civilians indiscriminately, so he let the soldiers use carts to transport grain by themselves.

But the problem is, it's impossible for the cart to be full of food!
As long as they arrived at the assembly point of the Lu army, the rations of the soldiers would naturally be supplied. They only needed to prepare the rations before arriving at the destination. Bringing so much would affect the speed of the march.

Moreover, the contents of these carts are different, some are cooking utensils to be used during the march, and some are various sealed altars and jars.

There are also differences between jars and jars.

What made Zilu most curious was the jar with a red cross painted on the surface with cinnabar.

When you get close to this kind of jar, you can occasionally smell a faint strange smell.

Zilu thought it was filled with meat or pickled fish before, but then he thought about it, that's not right!
This is to go to war, not to engage in some outdoor barbecue, what is Zaiyu doing with so many salty goods?

He went to ask Shen Shun this morning, but Shen Shun was so secretive that he refused to let go even if he was beaten to death.

He also said that this was Zaiyu's death order, and anyone who dared to disclose the contents inside would be dealt with directly as collaborating with the enemy.

It's fine if Shen Shu didn't say that, when he said that, Zilu's heart immediately itch like a cat scratching.

He thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't come up with a reason, so he asked Jai Yu directly.

Unexpectedly, when Zaiyu heard his words, he just replied: "What's inside is the fire of benevolence and righteousness."

This time Zilu was completely confused.

"The fire of benevolence and righteousness? Can the fire still be stored in a jar? And how is the fire of benevolence and righteousness different from ordinary fire?"

Hearing this, Shen Jian finally couldn't help but said: "The fire of benevolence and righteousness cannot be extinguished."

When he said this, he couldn't help thinking of the day when the fire of benevolence and righteousness was born.

During this period of time, Tu Qiuyi had to make fertilizer and armor, so the warehouse stored a lot of animal bones from hunting and phosphate rock brought back from Qi.

Zaiyu ordered the bones to be burned into bone charcoal, the phosphate rock was ground into powder, rosin, resin and other items collected from the mountains were added, and the special tar made by Tuqiu was added, and the mixture was blended by heating and stirring.

Finally, after more than half a year of repeated testing, I finally got the daunting 'Fire of Benevolence and Righteousness'.

It is said to be fire, but in fact it is not fire, but a viscous liquid.

It's just that after it is ignited, it cannot be extinguished even if it floats on water.

And there is only one way to make it go out, and that is to wait quietly for it to burn itself out.

Other than that, there is no other way.

Zilu just thought it sounded miraculous, but Shen Shun knew how terrible this thing was.

Just because they understand the power of this thing, they don't want to bump it even if they slow down during the transportation process, and thus leak it.

If one accidentally gets some of this thing on his body, it will be more uncomfortable than death.

However, although this kind of thing is powerful, the output is not too high, and the cost is too high, so Zaiyu will not use it unless it is a last resort.

If he hadn't been pushed to a dead end this time, Zai Yu wouldn't have made up his mind to risk his life with all his wealth.

Just as Zilu was wondering what the fire of benevolence and righteousness was, a convoy with the flag of the Meng family suddenly appeared in front of him.

Standing on the leading chariot was a warrior with a height of nine feet. He looked up and saw Zai Yu on the hillside, and couldn't help grinning at him.

"Zaizi, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing recently!"

　If you are a reader, I just need to become a writer.

　　——Excerpt from "Zaiyu's Diary"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)