My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

The people around Wei Wenhou were dissatisfied when they saw that Le Yang had been recently promoted and suddenly assumed an important position.

When he heard that he had stopped the attack three times, he slandered him to Wei Wenhou, saying: "Le Yang has won many victories and has an amazing momentum. He attacked Zhongshan with great force. But just because of Le Shu's words, he stopped the attack for three months. The deep love between father and son can be seen from this."

"If you don't call him back, I'm afraid it will be a waste of troops and money, which will not be helpful in conquering Zhongshan."

Wei Wenhou did not respond, but asked Zhai Huang.

Zhai Huang said: "He must have had a plan long ago, my lord, please don't doubt it."

After that, many ministers wrote to the emperor, some saying that Zhongshan would give half of its territory to Le Yang, and some saying that Le Yang was planning to attack Wei together with Zhongshan. Wei Wenhou said nothing and sealed all the letters in a box. He only sent messengers to comfort Le Yang from time to time, and built a mansion for him in the capital in advance, waiting for his return.

Le Yang was very grateful, and seeing that Zhongshan State refused to surrender, he led his soldiers to attack with all their might.

Zhongshan City was solid and sturdy, with a lot of stored food. Gu Xu and Gongsun Jiao patrolled day and night, dismantling wood and stones in the city in preparation for defense.

After attacking for several months but failing to break through, Le Yang became angry and stood under the arrows and rocks with Ximen Bao, personally urging the four gates to intensify the attack.

Gu Xu was commanding the soldiers to defend the city, but was shot in the head with an arrow and died. The walls of the houses in Zhongshan City were gradually demolished.

Gongsun Jiao said to Ji Ku: "The situation has become urgent! There is only one way to drive back the Wei troops."

Ji Ku asked: "What method?"

Gongsun Jiao said: "Le Shu asked for more time three times, and Le Yang obeyed, which is enough to show how much he loves his son. Now the offensive is urgent, tie up Le Shu and hang him on a high pole. If they don't retreat, kill his son. As long as Le Shu cries for help, Le Yang's attack will definitely slow down."

Ji Ku obeyed his words.

Le Shu was on a high pole, shouting, "Dad, help me!"

When Le Yang saw him, he cursed him, "You unworthy son! You are an official in another country, but you can't offer advice to help your king win, and you can't accept orders to persuade your king to make peace. And you dare to beg for mercy like a suckling baby by wailing!"

After saying that, Le Yang drew his bow, put an arrow on it, and was ready to shoot Le Shu.

Le Shu complained bitterly, left the city, and went to see Ji Ku and said, "My father was devoted to the country and did not care about the father-son relationship. My lord, you decide whether to fight or defend. I ask to die in front of you to show my guilt for not being able to retreat."

Gongsun Jiao said: "The father attacked the city, the son cannot be innocent, he should be sentenced to death."

Ji Ku said, "This is not Le Shu's fault."

Gongsun Jiao said: "Now that Le Shu is dead, I have a plan to retreat."

Ji Ku then handed the sword to Le Shu, who then committed suicide.

Gongsun Jiao said, "There is no closer relationship than that between father and son. Let's cook Le Shu's meat into a soup and give it to Le Yang. Le Yang will be heartbroken when he sees the soup. While he is sad, he will not want to attack. My lord, lead an army to fight a great battle. If you are lucky enough to win, we can make plans later."

Ji Ku had no choice but to obey his words and ordered his people to cook Le Shu's meat into a soup and send it to Le Yang along with his head.

The messenger said, "My king has killed the general because he refused to retreat. He has cooked him into a soup and I am offering this soup to you. The general has a wife and children. If the marshal attacks the city again, he will kill them all."

Le Yang recognized his son's head and cursed, "You unworthy son! You served an unjust and incompetent ruler, and you deserve to die."

Le Yang immediately took the soup and ate it in front of the messenger, finishing the whole bowl.

Le Yang said to the messenger, "Thank you for sending me this soup. I will thank you in person when we conquer the city. I also have cauldrons and pots in my army, waiting for your king."

When the messenger saw this, he was so frightened that his eyes popped out, and his legs were shaking as he sat in the car.

When Ji Ku heard the report and saw that Le Yang had no sympathy for his son, he attacked the city even more urgently. Fearing that he would be insulted after the city was captured, he resolutely walked into the harem and hanged himself.

Gongsun Jiao opened the city gate and surrendered.

Le Yang listed Gongsun Jiao's crimes of slandering the country and had him executed.

Afterwards, Le Yang confiscated all the jewels and jades in the Zhongshan State's treasury, sent people to comfort the residents in the city, left 5,000 soldiers, let Ximen Bao garrison, and then returned to the Wei State.

When Wei Wenhou heard that Le Yang had won a great victory, he went out of the city to greet him and consoled him, saying, "General, you lost your son for the sake of the country. It is really my fault."

Le Yang kowtowed and said, "I dare not take into account personal feelings, so as not to fail the important task entrusted to me by my lord."

After Le Yang finished his audience, he presented a map of Zhongshan State and a list of treasures.

All the ministers came to congratulate him. Wei Wenhou held a banquet on the high platform in the palace and personally held up the wine cup to give to Le Yang.

Le Yang took the wine glass, drank it all in one gulp, and looked arrogant and proud.

After the banquet, Wei Wenhou ordered his attendants to bring two boxes, seal them tightly, and send them to Le Yang's mansion.

Hand him the two boxes.

Le Yang thought, "The box must contain pearls, jade and other things. The lord was worried that his ministers would be jealous, so he sealed it up and gave it to me."

Le Yang ordered his family to carry him into the hall. When they opened the box, they found all the memorials from the ministers, all of which mentioned Le Yang's rebellion. Le Yang was shocked and thought to himself, "So many people in the court have spread rumors and slandered me! If the king had not believed in me and was not deceived, how could I have succeeded?"

The next day, Le Yang went to the court to express his gratitude, and Wei Wenhou proposed to give him a high reward.

Le Yang thanked him again and declined, saying, "The demise of Zhongshan State was entirely due to the great support from the lord at home. I have only served as a servant outside, so what merit have I made?"

Wei Wenhou said: "It is not that I cannot use you, nor is it that you cannot live up to my use. General, you have worked hard, why don't you go to your fiefdom and enjoy yourself?"

Duke Wen of Wei granted Lingshou to Le Yang, named him Lord Lingshou, and stripped him of his military power.

Zhai Huang said: "Since the king knows Le Yang's ability, why not let him lead the army to guard the border, but let him have nothing to do?"

Wei Wenhou smiled but did not answer.

After Zhai Huang came out, he went to ask Li Ke.

Li Ke said: "Le Yang didn't even love his own son, let alone others. Guan Zhong suspected Yi Ya for the same reason."

Only then did Zhai Huang understand and no longer allow Wei Wenhou to use Le Yang.
-
After the emperor finished telling the story, he looked at Zhang Han and smiled without saying anything.

Zhang Han was in the hall, listening silently to the emperor's story.

In fact, ever since Le Yang chose to give up his son in order to repay his gratitude, Zhang Han had been feeling fearful and his fingers had been trembling.

But what shocked Zhang Han the most was that even though Le Yang had done this, Wei Wenhou finally chose to give up Le Yang.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Zhang Han thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, Le Yang has already given up his son in order to repay Wei Wenhou. This is indeed against human nature."

“But no one could have made a better choice in the situation.”

"If Le Yang chooses to rescue his son, he will definitely be threatened by Ji Ku, and then Le Yang will be defeated."

"If Le Yang loses the battle, he will not be able to survive, and will also bring trouble to the State of Wei. But how will Le Yang's son cope with it?"

"There are a lot of stupid people in this world. It's terrible how they think about things."

"They only see the world with their eyes." "For example, a group of people saw a man holding a sword on the road, and a dead man lying on the ground next to him. The man had a sword wound and blood kept flowing out of the wound."

"At this time, everyone will accuse the person standing next to him of being a murderer."

"But is this person really a murderer?"

“When people think about things, they always only consider the results, not the causes. They only regard what they see as real, and what they cannot see as false.”

"I just don't know what kind of person Your Majesty is?"

"Le Yang is a hateful person in people's eyes. He doesn't even love his own son."

"It seems that the people watching and judging love Le Yang's son more than Le Yang. But the people watching have no relationship with Le Yang's son, nor with Le Yang either."

"In this case, one of Le Yang and his son will die."

"Then since these people love Le Yang's son, why can't they love Le Yang? Why can't they speak for Le Yang? Why don't they think that what Le Yang did is right?"

"There are too many hypocritical things in this world."

"So-called kindness is defined by others as sacrifice, dedication, and loss."

"So-called evil is defined by people as selfishness, self-interest, and inaction."

"But in fact, true kindness is nothing more than rationality. In a matter, make the most reasonable choice, with the fastest speed and the most reasonable method."

"If I believed in the common notion of good and evil in the world, I would not have the opportunity to be in this position today."

"As the Minister of the Imperial Household, if I only fulfill the tasks assigned by Your Majesty, there are many people in the world who can replace me."

“Even a bricklayer can do these things.”

"But I, Zhang Han, want more than that. I have to consider the future of the generals under my command, and I also have to consider what will happen to the prisoners in the mausoleum in the future."

"I personally think that Le Yang is a true gentleman. And Wei Wenhou is a villain. If you use the heart of a villain to judge the mind of a gentleman, then the gentleman will inevitably be a villain."

"Le Yang knew that if a villain like Ji Ku took over Wei, both Wei and Zhongshan would be destroyed. Rather than giving the victory to Ji Ku, it would be better to let him win."

"However, Wei Wenhou is a short-sighted person. He only cares about what is happening at the moment, but does not consider why Le Yang was in such a situation and the purpose of Le Yang's actions."

"Le Yang had killed his son for Wei Wenhou, but Wei Wenhou despised Le Yang for being unfilial and no longer valued him."

"Who will be willing to work for Wei Wenhou in the future?"

"Isn't it because the king was intolerant and only feared people that the State of Wei gradually declined and could not retain talents?"

"Wei Wenhou didn't even love Le Yang, who gave up his son for him, so how could he love Le Yang's son?"

"Le Yang sacrificed a lot for Wei Wenhou, but all Wei Wenhou gave Le Yang was an empty title."

"Wei Wenhou's behavior as a king is not only unfaithful to his subjects, but also violates the integrity of a man. It is extremely hypocritical."

“Everyone is trying to protect their own interests, but those who have gained the benefits, the winners, define themselves as good and the losers as evil.”

"The Shang Dynasty was originally a dynasty that revered gods, respected ethics, and worshipped nature."

"What's wrong?"

"It was only because the Shang Dynasty wanted to protect its own interests that it had to destroy Xiqi. The people of the Zhou Dynasty took advantage of the Shang Dynasty's eastern expedition and the lack of defense in the capital, and took advantage of the opportunity to invade and replace the Shang Dynasty."

"The Emperor was killed, and the Shang army crossed the ocean and headed east."

"The royal family of the Shang Dynasty completely declined."

"The Zhou Dynasty became the victor, and from then on they began to discredit the Shang Dynasty. The Shang people's punishment of evildoers was even made up as a fault."

"Because the Zhou Dynasty could not face itself, it seized power from a vassal state through a surprise attack."

“So they invented good and evil, right and wrong.”

Maybe, this is how people are. It’s not that they can’t face others, but that they can’t face themselves.

All false things were created, and then began to cause chaos and confusion among people.

Perhaps, from the end of the Shang Dynasty to the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, when theocracy was shattered and the lower-class people completely lost the ability to communicate with ghosts and gods, that was the beginning of the collapse of rituals and music.

In other words, the birth of Zhou itself was a kind of collapse of rituals and music.

The surprise attack by the state on the Shang Dynasty was itself a rebellion by its subjects.

So, is there any good example that the Zhou Dynasty states can follow? No.

Because the Zhou Dynasty itself was a huge lie.

He had gained power by launching a surprise attack on the Shang Dynasty, so why should his followers follow the rules?

What goes up is what the boss does. What kind of boss you have, what kind of subordinates you will have.

"Your Majesty, I am Le Yang, who is willing to sacrifice his son for myself, for the Qin Dynasty, and for Your Majesty."

Zhang Han's words made Qin II silent for a while.

The conflict between him and Zhang Han was just like the conflict between Wei Wenhou and Le Yang.

Zhang Han paid too much for himself and sacrificed his own reliability.

But in the end, he betrayed him.

This is unreasonable.

Originally, Qin II wanted to give Zhang Han a way out today.

As a result, Zhang Han was so sensible that he gave Qin II a way out and let him step down quickly.

Fusu then asked, "Who do you think is more powerful, me or Wei Wenhou?"

Zhang Han smiled and said, "I think Wei Wenhou is not as good as Your Majesty."
-
On the hunting ground, black flags fluttered in the wind.

The strong wind blew the flags, making a rustling sound.

The horses were neighing, the elks were running, the wild boars were howling on the hillside, and the birds were taking off and landing at the top of the trees, gathering together like a fishing net floating in the green ocean, rising and falling.

Zhang Han stood behind a rock on a high mountain.

His younger brother stood beside him. (End of this chapter)