Lord Changping and Crown Prince Zheng were about to leave Xianyang for Southern Qin again.
Many scholars in Xianyang City speculated that someone must have falsely accused Changping Jun of having too much power. Although he had no intention of treason, he might have committed treason. He was executed by the Qin King Chu for having secret dealings with the six kingdoms. Changping Jun was sad and prepared to leave this sad place.
When Lin Zhi, who had just returned from his tour, mentioned this incident, Zichu almost choked on his wine.
Cai Ze sighed and said, "I thought they would say that you left to avoid suspicion."
Lin Zhi winked and said, "Isn't it that the Lord doesn't seem to be afraid of Zhu Xiang, but in fact he is afraid of him, so he wants Zhu Xiang to get out?"
Zichu coughed and said, "Why isn't he tired of staying in Xianyang and can't wait to go back to Nanqin to farm?"
Zhu Xiang sighed, "My reputation has been damaged again, Xia Tong, you should reflect on this."
"Get lost!" Zichu cursed, "It's my reputation that's suffering!"
Ying Xiaozheng handed the juice to his father and said dissatisfiedly: "No one mentioned me?"
It's not just Lord Changping who left Xianyang, it's me too! Do I have such a low sense of existence? !
Zichu took the juice Ying Xiaozheng offered him: "No."
Cai Ze thought about the information he had collected: "No."
Lin Zhi patted Ying Xiaozheng's shoulder and said with a smile: "No, Zheng'er, your presence is too low."
Ying Xiaozheng was so angry that he pinched the walnuts that everyone at the table was going to eat.
Zhu Xiang almost laughed and coughed: "It's normal for you to go to Southern Qin. Southern Qin is too far away from Xianyang. Without the crown prince, it would be difficult to govern the Qin State."
At this time, the monarch needed to go on tours in person to govern the country.
From the Zhou emperor's tours around the world to the king, crown prince, and prime minister's tours of the country, they all saw the problems that arose in the country with their own eyes and dealt with them personally.
When a feudal lord manages his own territory, he will patrol the territory himself or send someone to patrol the territory.
It can be said that the scope of the territory that the ruler can patrol is the scope that the ruler can directly govern.
Later, when the Qin Dynasty unified the world, the emperor's direct territory became unprecedentedly vast, and relying on this method to manage the land was obviously too backward. This is a later story.
Lin Zhi had been on a business trip before, inspecting the territory for the King of Qin in the name of prime minister, supervising the officials' implementation of the New Land Law, and by the way, if he met someone brave enough to file a complaint, he would also redress the grievances for them.
When Ying Xiaozheng had not yet become Crown Prince Zheng, Changping Jun who went south was the person who inspected Southern Qin and Bashu on behalf of the King of Qin. Therefore, although Zhu Xiang did not have a clear official position at that time, he actually had great power and could decide many things independently.
Now that Ying Xiaozheng has become the Crown Prince, his trip to Southern Qin has an extra layer of political significance and he has more power.
Prince Chu of Qin has issued an edict that Prince Zheng can exercise some of the power of the King of Qin during his trip to Southern Qin, which is equivalent to being a feudal lord. If Ying Xiaozheng slaps his thigh one day and says he wants to fight a war with Chu, he can also order the three counties of Southern Qin to jointly send troops to attack Chu. If they are self-sufficient in food and grass, they can even fight and then report.
This was the only case since the Warring States Period where a Qin king gave such power to the crown prince.
However, the only King of Qin who could still drink and chat with friends and be called by his name by some of his friends was Zichu.
Zhu Xiang and his close friends chatted about trivial matters in Xianyang. Ying Xiaozheng is now fourteen years old. Although Zhu Xiang still regards Ying Xiaozheng as a child, in the eyes of outsiders, he has been "grown up", so he does not need to go to bed early this time and can stay up late to chat with his elders.
The mid-spring night was a bit chilly, so they put a small stove on the table to warm the wine.
After drinking for a while, Zhu Xiang heard Ying Xiaozheng's stomach growling. In anger at Ying Xiaozheng, Zhu Xiang laughed at Ying Xiaozheng for being a "teenage kid who is eating his elders out of money" and asked someone to bring a clay pot so that they could start a hot pot while chatting.
Dabianlu is a Cantonese hot pot. It is said that the original Dabianlu was eaten standing up. The Dabianlu that Zhu Xiang had eaten was not much different from ordinary clear soup hot pot, similar to the northern shabu-shabu mutton, but the ingredients tend to be more seafood, but also chicken, duck, beef, mutton and pork.
The soup base in the pot is just well water with ginger, garlic and scallions added. The beef, mutton and fish are cut into thin slices that let light pass through. The vegetables are picked from the fields. The condiments for dipping the ingredients include sesame paste, black bean sauce, chili sauce, etc., which you can mix yourself.
When the water boiled with gurgling sounds, everyone continued chatting while blanching the food with long chopsticks.
There is no such thing as not talking while eating. Some people even curse the people around them while chewing their food, and no one is surprised.
Fortunately, Xunzi was old and went to bed early. If he had seen this scene, he would have raised his crutches and hit the most powerful people in Qin State on the back.
Zichu had a bad stomach and ate the least. He would stop eating after a few slices of fish, and only occasionally ate some hot vegetables when he was craving.
Ying Xiaozheng was indeed hungry, and he ate for a long time, eating most of the meat on the table;
Lin Zhi loved wine, and a piece of meat could be washed down with a large cup of wine. He would start singing as he drank.
Cai Ze and Zhu Xiang ate very slowly, chatting as they ate, with very comfortable expressions.
After Ying Xiaozheng had his fill, he rubbed his bulging belly, stretched himself, asked someone to remove the food from the table, replaced it with warm wine and a fruit plate, and then continued to eat the fruit.
Zhu Xiang looked at Ying Xiaozheng, who never stopped talking, and kept shaking his head and sighing.
"Xia Tong, look at how you starved the child!"
"Aren't you raising Zheng'er? Zhu Xiang, look how hungry you've made Zheng'er!"
"Father Jun, how can you say that?"
"really."
Ying Xiaozheng looked up at the laughing elders. The rising steam made Ying Xiaozheng's vision somewhat hazy and even the laughter of the elders seemed a little distant.
Ying Xiaozheng shook his head, grabbed a date and blocked the mouth of his uncle who was making fun of him again.
Zhu Xiang: “?”
Zichu: “Hahahahahaha.”
Cai Ze: "Zheng'er, you... Alas, Zhu Xiang, you spoiled me!"
Lin Zhi patted Zhu Xiang's back and laughed at Zheng'er for doing a good job.
Only Zhu Xiang was coughing.
Unfortunately, it is black when cut open.
On the second day, Zhu Xiang left with his friends seeing him off.
When he left, he specifically instructed the new disciples of the Xianyang Academy who were serving Xunzi to take good care of Xunzi and not let him get tired.
When Zhu Xiang learned that one of his disciples was named Zhang Cang and the other was named Meng Yi, he gave Zhang Cang and Meng Yi homework, asking them to help compile the mathematical knowledge they had recorded in their spare time into a book.
This knowledge ranges from elementary school mathematics to high school mathematics to advanced mathematics, and he is still organizing geometric functions and algebra.
Mathematics is the foundation of natural science, and he hopes that this theoretical knowledge can be passed on.
I think Zhang Cang, who was familiar with the "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art" in history, would definitely be able to help him do this.
"Are you Meng Yi?" Zhu Xiang looked at the very nervous and shy young man and wanted to say something encouraging, but seeing that Meng Yi was so nervous that he couldn't breathe comfortably, he didn't dare to talk to Meng Yi much. He just said, "Learn from Xunzi. Meng Wu has already joined Li Mu's army, and Zheng'er is still short of a close attendant."
Meng Yi: "Yes, yes..."
Ying Xiaozheng's angular and handsome face was squeezed into a ball, which would surely become an emoticon in the future.
He had seen Meng Yi in his dream. Meng Yi was one of the most beloved ministers of Emperor Qin Shi Huang in his dream, and his conversation and appearance were the best in the world.
Who was this person who stuttered and behaved awkwardly? Could it be true that as his uncle said, men change a lot when they grow up, and Meng Yi was actually very shy when he was young
That's not right. He heard that Meng Yi was quite active in the Xianyang Academy and did not have a reputation for being shy.
Ying Xiaozheng originally wanted to test Meng Yi, and if Meng Yi was really good, he would take Meng Yi away.
Now he pretended not to know Meng Yi, and slipped away at a very fast speed, not giving his uncle the opportunity to "take care of his friend's son".
The one who doted on Meng Yi was Qin Shi Huang, the Great Emperor Ying Zheng. What does that have to do with me, the Crown Prince of Qin, Ying Xiao Zheng
Slipped away. Slipped away.
Zhu Xiang really wanted to introduce Meng Yi to Ying Xiaozheng, so that Ying Xiaozheng could see if he liked him.
Seeing Ying Xiaozheng slipping away so quickly, how could Zhu Xiang not see that Ying Xiaozheng disliked Meng Yi's shyness
He couldn't help but sigh.
He has given up the idea of finding friends for Ying Xiaozheng and only wants to find a few younger brothers for Ying Xiaozheng so that Ying Xiaozheng can have more people of the same age to use.
But Ying Xiaozheng obviously has too high standards and looks down on people of his peers.
It seems that they are not all dismissive? Zhu Xiang thought of little Zhang Liang when he got on the carriage.
That was probably the only "strange boy" that Ying Xiaozheng had ever given a gift to. Unfortunately...
When Zhu Xiang thought of little Zhang Liang, little Zhang Liang was still on his way home.
He and his brother Zhang Sheng walked very slowly when they returned to Xinzheng this time. It would take half a day to walk and the remaining half a day. Little Zhang Liang would always visit the surrounding villages accompanied by his guards.
Zhang Sheng was puzzled.
Little Zhang Liang said arrogantly: "That Prince Zheng always says that I only know book knowledge. When he was young, he followed Zhu Xianggong to walk in the fields. He knows more about how to govern the people than I do. It's just walking in the fields. Everyone can do it!"
Zhang Sheng said helplessly: "You don't have to learn from Lord Changping. You are different from Lord Changping. Lord Changping was born a commoner, so he sided with the commoners; you are the son of a hereditary noble..."
"So we should side with Shiqing?" Little Zhang Liang looked up and asked, "Will side with Shiqing help South Korea become stronger?"
Zhang Sheng paused for a moment.
Little Zhang Liang said, "Brother, you promised Duke Zhu Xiang that when you return to Xinzheng, you will fulfill your duties as a hereditary noble. Did you deceive Duke Zhu Xiang?"
Zhang Sheng shook his head: "No."
Little Zhang Liang asked: "Do you regret it?"
Zhang Sheng looked a little embarrassed, but looking at his second brother's serious expression, he gritted his teeth and said, "Yes."
Little Zhang Liang said, "Brother, don't do it. I'll do it."
Zhang Sheng was stunned, then he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Second brother, you are still young, you can't come out to be an official yet."
Little Zhang Liang said proudly: "If I don't become an official, I can't influence the government? I can become the prince's tutor, or I can lobby the elders who are close to me."
Zhang Sheng looked at the complacent little Zhang Liang and felt a little sad and sympathetic.
But he didn't want to discourage his younger brother with words, so he could only say, "Okay, go and try."
He thought that even if he regretted it because of fear, he had to fulfill his promise to Duke Xiang of Zhu, because although his second brother was smart, he was still too naive. He needed to protect his second brother who was destined to get hurt.
Moreover, if the Zhang family does not show some ability, even if they enter Qin and worship Gongzi Fei as their master, it will be difficult for them to gain a foothold in the Qin court.
When Zhang Sheng thought about this, he still felt very resistant.
If he wanted to be a high-ranking official in the Korean court, even if he had ordinary talents, he could have become a high-ranking official when my father was still the prime minister of Korea.
But he really didn't like to seek personal gain, let alone in the court of Korea, which was already doomed to destruction.
I don’t know how long I can hold out this courage
Zhang Sheng looked at his second brother who was chattering with him about people's daily life, and smiled as peacefully as always.
(End of this chapter)