Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 498
Brothers Meng Yuan and Meng Liao had just finished their oath, when a clear voice suddenly sounded from outside Xing Yuan: "Brother Tian Fang, are you planning to die for Ying's family, following the precepts of loyalty and righteousness?"

Brothers Meng Yuan and Meng Liao suddenly changed their countenance, and looked up at Meng Ji at the same time. Just now, the two brothers felt that their father seemed to be explaining the funeral to them. This will be said in this way, but the more they think about it, the more they feel like it, brother The two immediately walked forward on knees, one left and one right hugged Mengji's thigh, they didn't know what to say in desperation, but their father and Ah Weng kept screaming.

Meng Chu was slightly shocked, and looked anxiously, only to see that Bai Lixian had already entered, and behind him was an imposing young man, but it turned out to be Xiang Wang, the son of the world.

"Brother Ziliang? Son?!" Meng Chu and Meng Keng rushed to salute, and Meng Yuan and Meng Liao, who were kneeling on the ground, also hurriedly got up to salute Xiang Wang and Bailixian respectively.

Bai Lixian returned the salute, then smiled and said to Meng Yuan and Meng Liao: "You two nephews, you accompany the son to the military camp, the old uncle still has something to say to your father."

Meng Yuan and Meng Liao knew that their father and Bai Lixian had a very good relationship, and they talked almost everything, Bai Lixian was the best candidate to persuade their father to change his mind, and the effect was much better than their brothers. Now he went out with Xiang Wang, and Meng Keng also accompanied him, leaving only Bailixian and Meng Ji in the hall of Xingyuan.

Only then did Bai Lixian solemnly go forward, pay homage to the tablets of Meng Ao, Meng Wu, Meng Tian, ​​and Meng Yi, and offered incense again, Meng Ke knelt on his side to answer the salute, and solemnly invited Bai Lixian to the table.

The two of them sat down and sighed, "Brother Ziliang, you should know me."

Baili Xiandao: "Of course I know you, not only I know you, but the king also knows the nature of you, he is afraid that you will die for Ying's family, so he sent me to Liaodong with my son. The purpose is to prevent you from committing suicide, and I, Da Chu, cannot lose such a loyal and righteous pillar of talent like you."

Meng Shu sighed: "Is the elder brother trying to trap the younger brother in disloyalty and disfilial piety?"

Ying Zhen was granted death, and Meng Ji, as the guardian of the Ying family, would be disloyal if he could not complete the festival with his death. Disloyalty would violate the ancestral precepts of loyalty and righteousness of the ancestors, and that would be unfilial piety.

Bai Lixian swung his tongue, and counted with his fingers: "Back then in Jiuyuan, when the king and concubine Ying were married, Tianfang you and all the soldiers of the Great Wall Legion made an oath to protect you to the death in this life. Xiang Chu, I still hear my oath today, but God let you sacrifice righteousness for the sake of the whole thing, is this loyalty? Filial piety?"

Meng Chu smiled faintly, and said: "The little brother did make an oath in Jiuyuan to protect Xiang Chu to the death, but the little brother also made a poisonous oath in front of the ancestors and spirits in front of his father, and swore to protect Ying to the death. Concubine Ying's bloodline, now that Concubine Ying is dead, Ying's bloodline is extinct, and my younger brother should follow his father underground."

Bai Lixian persuaded again: "Tian Fang, it is a small matter to protect the Ying family, and it is the righteousness to be loyal to the Great Chu!"

Meng Chu shook his head and said: "Ziliang, Ying's bloodline is gone, I have no face to live on, so don't persuade me anymore."

Bai Lixian smiled bitterly. Of course he could see that Mengji had an obsession in his heart, and he knew why this obsession came from. In fact, Mengji was not the legitimate son of the pre-Qin general Meng Tian, ​​but a fake son. Meng Tian would rather commit suicide than abandon Daqin, which had an indelible impact on Meng Ji throughout his life.

It was probably at that time that Meng Ji had already made an oath in his heart that he would imitate his father Meng Tian in this life and in this life, and would rather die than betray Daqin or the Ying clan. The last royal blood of the Great Qin Empire no longer exists, so Meng Ji has no other choice but to commit suicide in gratitude.

Of course, the only one who can't forget the whole festival of his father's suicide and can't let go of his obsession in his heart is Mengji. The death festival for Ying's family is only Mengji's personal choice. The Mengshi family will continue to be loyal to Dachu. The main reason for calling his younger brother Meng Keng and his two sons to give speeches before the ancestors.

With a soft sigh, Bai Lixian had no choice but to throw out his last words, saying: "Tian Fang, who said that the bloodline of the Ying family is extinct? Isn't Shi Ziwang the bloodline of Concubine Ying? He has at least half of the bloodline of the Great Qin imperial family! "

Meng Ji still shook his head and sighed: "But his surname is Xiang after all, he is a descendant of the Xiang family."

Bai Lixian waved his hand, and sighed: "When the sky is released, the king ordered the son to come to Liaodong with me. Don't you understand what he means? To tell you the truth, the king gave death to win the concubine because he had no choice but to let him die." And because of this, he still feels guilty towards us survivors of the old Qin Dynasty, so he decided to let the eldest son Wang change his surname to Ying, so as to inherit the blood of Ying's family."

"What?!" Meng Chu's face changed slightly, and he asked in a deep voice, "Brother Ziliang, are you serious?"

"You and I have known each other for decades, when have I ever lied to you?" Bai Lixian sighed softly, "Brother Tian Fang, the king has worked so hard to make me and the survivors of the old Qin have something in their hearts. The more important thing is for you, the tiger of the Meng family, Da Chu can't live without you, and can't live without the Meng family."

"Your Majesty." Meng Chu's face changed again and again, and then he bowed to the ground towards the south, and couldn't get up for a long time.

Only then did Bai Lixian let out a long sigh of relief. Looking at the situation, this tiger of the Meng family had already figured it out. Finally, this trip to Liaodong was not in vain. Then he said: "Tian Fang, my brother will leave tomorrow. Now that Luoyang is here, the general will go with me, and this Liaodong or Northern Diao Kingdom will be handed over to you, the four tigers of the Meng family."

This is also Xiang Zhuang's consistent purpose, don't use doubtful people, and don't doubt employing people!
Meng Ji got up, then bowed to the ground again towards the south, and couldn't get up for a long time.

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The royal family set off from Ziling to Luoyang was not the first group, nor was it the last group, but it was the group with the largest number of people. Baggage, the relocation of the royal family, there are not so many pots and pans, all kinds of sundries.

At three quarters past noon, the men and horses were barely assembled, and Xiang Zhuang ordered to set off. First, he left Ziling from the north gate, then traveled along the Kaixuan Avenue to Wujiang Pier, and then crossed the north to reach Zhongli territory. Five thousand sailors, men, horses and luggage were divided into two routes, water and land, and marched towards Luoyang side by side.

Xiang Zhuang, as a monarch, naturally does not need to be exhausted by chariots and horses, but has large boats to ride on.

Board a boat from Zhongli County, go westward along the Huai River, and then turn north into Yingshui, and then enter the territory of Chen County. Chen County is one of the five counties in Liangdi, which is also known as Runan County in later generations. During the Han Dynasty, Runan County was a county with a large population. When the population was the largest, it once exceeded 260 million people.

But at this time, Chen Jun was in a state of depression.

Turning from Huai River to Ying River, traveling northward for hundreds of miles, there were many villages along the way, but none of them emitted cooking smoke. Soldiers were sent to check, but they all said that there was no one there. There are inhabited villages, but there are very few people. Even in Ruyin County, there are only a few hundred families.

Xiang Zhuang sighed inwardly, and immediately beckoned to Prince Xiang Zheng.

Xiang Zheng tremblingly walked up to Xiang Zhuang, bowed to him and said, "See Father."

Seeing Xiang Zheng's cautious appearance, walking on thin ice, Xiang Zhuang felt sad, and wanted to say a few light words to ease the atmosphere of the conversation between father and son, but the words that came out of his mouth were veiled with consideration: "Prince , what do you think about the depression on both sides of Yingshui?"

Xiang Zheng's face turned bitter, and he looked at the senior doctor Wu She with eyes asking for help.

In order to teach the crown prince Xiang Zheng to become a talent, Xiang Zhuang equipped him with a powerful regiment of Taifu. He taught the art of war with Bishu, taught history with Bai Lixian, taught scriptures with Uncle Sun Guan (who has been cracked by a car), and taught martial arts with Jinxiang. There is Hu Yan, who teaches riding and shooting, and occasionally even asks Gongshuche to teach the prince about equipment and mechanisms.

But this time the grand tutors are not around, so Xiang Zheng can only turn to the senior doctor Wu She for help.

Wu She knew that the king was testing the prince, so naturally he couldn't answer for the prince, so he turned his eyes to other places, pretending he didn't see anything.

Xiang Zheng became more and more anxious, but after all he had been the crown prince for many years, he could still hold his breath even though he was anxious, he calmed down and said cautiously: "Father, my son thinks this place is very depressed, it's really not as prosperous as Jiangdong."

Xiang Zhuang's face turned cold, and he said with some displeasure, "There are so many tutors, how can I teach you this knowledge?"

Although what Xiang Zheng said was true, Xiang Zhuang instinctively believed that Xiang Zheng was greedy for the prosperity of Jiangdong and could not bear hardships.

Xiang Zheng was so frightened that he quickly knelt down on the bow of the boat and said in a trembling voice: "The child is stupid, I really don't have any extraordinary insights, I hope my father don't get angry, if the father gets angry, the child will die. gone."

"Forget it, get up and talk." Xiang Zhuang sighed softly, and reached out to support Xiang Zheng.

Looking at Xiang Zheng who was so nervous that he didn't know where to put his hands, Xiang Zhuang knew that in the minds of his sons, even if he wasn't a tiger that devoured people, he was probably not too bad. In the face of "Wang", he is very talented and learned, and I am afraid that he can't even show a point, let alone Xiang Zheng's aptitude is mediocre.

At the moment Xiang Zhuang felt a little depressed, so he sent Xiang Zheng back to the cabin to accompany his mother.

Wu She stepped forward and explained: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is not a person who seeks pleasure and pleasure. What he said just now was just out of feeling, without any deep meaning. The old minister thinks..."

"Sir, you don't have to speak well for him." Xiang Zhuang waved his hand, and said indifferently, "Is my own son, don't you know? The crown prince's qualifications are a bit inferior, but he is a solid man, which is like him Empress Dowager, he has a tenacious personality, and he has the tenacity to not give up until he reaches his goal, but he is very like a widow in this respect."

Wu She breathed a sigh of relief, and said sincerely: "I am Wang Yingming."

(End of this chapter)