When Li Mu escorted Bai Qi to Xianyang City, Zhu Xiang was stuffing sausages.
Seeing that Zhu Xiang's hands were full of meat, Bai Qi waved his hand and told Zhu Xiang to continue stuffing sausages without saying hello to him.
When Bai Qi packed his luggage in the small courtyard where he used to live, washed himself a little, and changed his clothes, he found that the person who cooperated with Zhu Xiang to stuff the sausages was Prince Chu of Qin.
Bai Qi was speechless for a while, then sighed and saluted the King of Qin.
Zichu didn't care at all. "Mr. Lian is walking in the fields. Someone, take Mr. Bai to find Mr. Lian. Zhu Xiang and I are still busy for a while, so Mr. Bai can do whatever he wants."
Bai Qi asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Zichu said, "No need... Zhu Xiang! The sausage is about to burst, stop stuffing it with meat!"
Zhu Xiang said: "Hurry up and squeeze down!"
Seeing that Prince Chu of Qin was busy stuffing sausages, Bai Qi didn't say much and followed the servant to find Lian Po to chat.
After Li Mu changed his clothes, he took Zichu's place and let Zichu rest for a while.
Zichu washed his hands, pounded his shoulders and said, "I didn't expect it to be so tiring. Can't you ask a servant to do it?"
Zhu Xiang said, "It was your own idea that the King of Qin made sausages himself and sent them to Queen Mother Huayang and Queen Mother Xia, and then had the doctors brag about the King of Qin's filial piety. Why are you going to regret it now?"
Zichu complained, "I suddenly realized that I can brag just by pretending to do it and letting others do the rest."
Zhu Xiang scoffed at Zichu's hypocrisy: "Can't you be truly filial for once?"
Zichu was dissatisfied and said, "How come I am not really filial?"
Zhu Xiang said, "You even complain about being tired when making sausages for Queen Mother Huayang and Queen Mother Xia. Where is your filial piety?"
While Zhu Xiang was stuffing the meat into his stomach, he was arguing with Zichu.
Li Mu worked very skillfully, listening to the two people talking about meaningless things in silence, and occasionally curling the corners of his lips when he couldn't hold it in anymore.
When Zichu said he was tired and gulped down some water, feeding Zhu Xiang some water, Li Mu asked, "Where are Cai Ze and Lin Li? They didn't come to help."
Zichu said, "You also know how much work Zhu Xiang found for me after he came back this time. Of course, they are very busy. Xunzi is also busy with the reform of the Xianyang Academy. Zhu Xiang brings meals to the academy. Otherwise, Xunzi will be so busy that he will even forget to eat."
Li Mu was puzzled: "The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are very busy, why are you not busy, Your Majesty?"
Zichu: “…”
Zichu said, "Li Mu, Lord Wucheng."
Li Mu said: "Hmm? I'm here?"
Zichu said seriously: "Fortunately, I am your sovereign. Otherwise, with your mouth, I don't know how many people you would offend. Other countries use tactics to sow discord against you, and they always work."
Zhu Xiang agreed: "That's right. I said he is naturally black."
Zhu Xiang had long ago commented that Li Mu was naturally black, and Li Mu had asked what naturally black meant.
Hearing Zhu Xiang slandering him again, Li Mu's mouth twitched and he ignored Zhu Xiang.
He defended himself to Zichu, "What's wrong with what I said?"
Zichu said: "There are some things I can do, but you can't say them, understand?"
Li Mu said confidently: "I don't know."
Zichu turned to Zhu Xiang and said, "You still want Li Mu to be my prime minister. Do you want to piss me off to death?"
Zhu Xiang said earnestly: "You must believe in yourself. The disaster will last for a thousand years, and you will definitely live a hundred years."
Zichu said, "That's right."
Li Mu: “…” Your Majesty, Zhu Xiang said you are a disaster, and you just accept it
Li Mu actually knew what Zichu was talking about. He did it on purpose.
If it were the previous two kings of Qin, Li Mu would have been very cautious in his words.
Although Li Mu accepted the fact that he was "given" to Qin by Zhao State silently and without much resistance, it still left a great impact on him and made him think about how to protect his life.
But the person in front of him was Zichu, so it might be safer if he was a little more reckless.
Moreover, if he did not do so, he would appear in front of Zhu Xiang as Prince Chu of Qin, who was biased and believed the tyrant. He might really call himself to be the prime minister because Cai Ze repeatedly resigned from the position of prime minister, so that Cai Ze could have a rest.
Li Mu is now very comfortable in Southern Qin and does not want to work hard as prime minister in Xianyang.
When he was in the Hanzhong Palace, he heard some gossips from some gossipy ministers.
What happened? The King of Qin sent troops to surround the Prime Minister's Mansion one moment, and then sent troops to surround Prime Minister Lin's Mansion the next moment. It was a mess and I was completely confused.
After hearing this, Zhu Xiang asked Zichu what was going on.
The reasons given by the tyrant Zichu were nothing more than stopping him from being lazy, stopping the delivery of the letter, and giving him a fright, which was both bizarre and speechless. To sum up the internal reasons, either the tyrant Zichu and the treacherous minister Lin Zhi teamed up to bully the prime minister Cai Ze, or the tyrant Zichu sold out the treacherous minister Lin Zhi in order to please the prime minister Cai Ze.
Zhu Xiang commented: "If the second emperor of Qin died, it must have been because of the Qin prince Chu."
Zichu replied: "What? Zheng'er caused the fall of Qin II? I will write him a letter and tell him that you said he was the king who ruined his country."
Li Mu was thinking that Zhu Xiang would be able to relax after Zichu became the King of Qin. But he was wrong. He hoped to return to the time when the previous king was in power and Zichu and Zhu Xiang were still normal.
Is there really no problem with such a Qin State
Therefore, Li Mu made up his mind that he must not be recommended by Zhu Xiang to go to Xianyang to replace Cai Ze as the prime minister. Only Cai Ze could be the prime minister of Qin Wang Zichu.
After Li Mu's outspoken and "natural villain" personality was confirmed in front of Zichu, Zichu really gave up the idea of letting Li Mu return to Xianyang.
He felt that Cai Ze was easier to talk to.
Although honest advice may be unpleasant to the ear but beneficial to action, the King of Qin is also a human being and has a temper. It is better for him to avoid hearing unpleasant advice if possible.
Although there was no electric sausage stuffing machine, the speed of stuffing sausages was not slow, as the pulley was driven by the foot to squeeze out the meat stuffing. It was just that Zichu was not very skilled at making sausages before, which slowed down Zhu Xiang's efficiency. When Li Mu took over, Zhu Xiang quickly stuffed the meat stuffing.
Zichu replaced Li Mu and worked for a while. Zhu Xiang knew it was difficult to go from extravagant to frugal, so he told Zichu to go and put up the firewood and not to make trouble.
Sausages can be hung directly from the kitchen window to be air-dried by the smoke; they can also be smoked, which not only increases the flavor but also improves the efficiency of drying the sausages.
When the freshly stuffed sausages are cooked and cut, there will be meat residue inside. They will only taste good when they are completely dry.
Smoking can increase carcinogens, but humans never care much about these when eating delicious food. Anyway, this dose is not enough to kill people. It is foolish to talk about toxicity without considering the dose. In order to get Zichu to deliver the filial piety sausage as soon as possible, Zhu Xiang of course chose to smoke it.
The smoked sausages in Sichuan Basin are the most famous in later generations. Sichuan smoked sausages must be smoked with cypress branches. If other firewood is mixed in, it is not authentic.
There were many cypress trees in the palace gardens. At the command of Prince Chu of Qin, the palace servants cut down all the cypress trees and sent them to the palace.
Zhu Xiang just wanted some cypress branches, but Zichu asked someone to cut down a tree for him. Zhu Xiang was speechless.
He used the remaining cypress wood to make a roasted whole lamb, just in time to welcome Mr. Bai.
When Bai Qi returned to Xianyang, Cai Ze, Lin Zhi and Xunzi temporarily put down their work and came together to welcome Bai Qi.
Zhu Xiang took the good wine from the Qin Palace wine cellar to soak wolfberries, and poured a glass of wolfberry wine for the elderly.
They held a short sword in one hand and a cloth glove in the other to protect themselves from burns. They cut meat and drank wine with ease, not caring that the wine cups were covered in oil.
Only Xunzi cared more about etiquette and asked Zhu Xiang to cut the meat for him.
Bai Qi and Lian Po took turns asking Li Mu about the war in Southern Qin, especially the battle to defend the city of Zhuxiang.
When they learned that Li Mu crossed the river overnight and Xiang Yan hid near Guangling City on the first night of the siege, and as a result, the camp had not been built yet and Xiang Yan was defeated on the second day, they first scolded Li Mu for making Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng take risks, and then laughed, saying that Zhu Xiang could call himself a famous general based on the Battle of Guangling City.
Lian Fu's eyes lit up. Although he had heard about this from the Chu people who had fled across the river, he still felt that it was a little too exaggerated.
Xiang Yan's 100,000-man army was like 100,000 pigs, and it would take some time to disperse them. Zhu Xiang had never led troops to fight a war before, so how could he defeat Xiang Yan's 100,000-man army in just one day
Judging from Xiang Yan’s previous battle record, he was not an incompetent general.
After listening to Li Mu's story, he discovered that the truth was even more magical than the facts.
Maybe Xiang Yan is really not weak, but Zhu Xiang's psychological tactics are linked one after another. If it were me, it would be difficult to think of a way to deal with it.
Bai Qi shook his head: "Fortunately, I didn't meet you at the beginning, otherwise I would have suffered the first defeat in my life."
Bai Qi's words were exaggerated. If he had sent troops, he would certainly not have attacked like Xiang Yan, but would have concentrated his superior forces to trap Guangling City and attack the reinforcements. He was just praising the younger generation.
However, after Bai Qi finished his boast, he thought that if he led the Qin army to attack the city, he would have a great chance of winning. But if he replaced Xiang Yan, he would probably not be able to fight this battle. He would just retreat.
As long as Li Mu came back to help, the number of attackers was far less than that of the defenders and reinforcements. What was the point of fighting? Xiang Yan was also deceived by the reckless command of the King of Chu and the Lord of Southern Chu.
But who could have thought that, under the premise that the Qin army had already abandoned many cities, Zhu Xiang, who had never fought a war, would stay to defend a city that seemed to be of no benefit to the Qin State
He would get angry and confront the veteran general of Chu State just because the enemy army massacred and burned the city. The current Lord Changping Zhu Xianggong is indeed the commoner Zhu Xiang who went to Changping alone.
Lian Po glanced at Bai Qi and said, "Are you showing off? Showing off that you have never lost a battle?"
Bai Qi said: "I am just telling the truth. Li Mu has never been defeated."
Lian Po said: "He is still young, he will have it in the future."
Li Mu said: "I think there shouldn't be any."
Lian Po put the wine cup down on the table: "If I say yes, then yes!"
Zichu said drunkenly, "When Zheng'er is the King of Qin, Li Mu will be defeated again. I won't allow that while I am the King of Qin!"
Li Mu: "… Your Majesty, even if Zheng'er becomes the King of Qin, I will not be defeated. Please rest assured. Lord Lian, you are drunk."
Lian Po ran to Zhu Xiang, snatched the wine jar that Zhu Xiang was holding in his arms, tilted his head back and gulped down the wine, and even took out the wolfberries from the jar and ate them.
Bai Qi praised: "Mr. Lian has a good alcohol tolerance."
Lian Fu was horrified and hurried to stop his father from acting crazy in front of the King of Qin, but was kicked away by Lian Po.
After Lian Po kicked Lian Fu away, he held the wine jar, beat the jar, hummed a song, and danced out of rhythm.
Lian Fu looked at Prince Chu of Qin in panic. Prince Chu of Qin was shaking his head and hitting the wine cup with chopsticks. He looked even drunker than his old father who had drunk a jar of wine.
Lian Po was singing a song of the State of Zhao. Zichu was very familiar with it, so he sang along with Lian Po and asked Zhu Xiang to sing as well.
Zhu Xiang said: "If you don't want to sing, I will play music for you."
He could not afford to lose face, but he could embarrass his friend, so he instigated the drunk and tyrant Zi Chu to order Cai Ze, Lin Zhi and Li Mu to sing together.
Zhu Xiang asked someone to bring the huqin that had not been played for a long time, tuned it, and started playing it.
Cai Ze sighed and also hit the wine cup with chopsticks, weakly responding to the King of Qin's order; Li Mu sang while holding his sword, and his singing was very powerful, and he was the one who sang the most in tune.
As for Lin Zhi, he threw off his shirt and started twisting around Lian Po, which was extremely eye-catching.
Zhu Xiang thought that Lin Zhi was born in the wrong era. He should not have come to Qin, but should have gone to Wei and Jin.
Oh, that group of people in the Wei and Jin dynasties studied Zhuangzi, and Lin Zhi was a direct descendant of Zhuangzi.
It was the group of people in the Wei and Jin dynasties who learned from Lin Zhi, not Lin Zhi who learned from them.
As a direct descendant of Laozi and Zhuangzi, it is normal for Lin Zhi to dance naked, right
Bai Qi watched calmly. Blue veins had already appeared on the back of Xunzi's hand.
Zhu Xiang hurriedly pulled Xunzi aside and said, "Xunzi, don't be angry. Lin Li's teacher is Zhuangzi, who has nothing to do with our Confucianism. He is unruly and has lowered the image of the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Huang-Lao school!"
Xunzi scolded, "Who is your Confucian? You can also be called a Confucian?"
Zhu Xiang: “…” Ouch, how did you get into trouble
It doesn’t matter, just continue playing music and dancing. Even though Xunzi looked angry, he didn’t raise his cane, so it’s not a big deal.
When he was in Handan before, Xunzi would raise his heavy broadsword and hit people as if he was going to kill them. But now, just raising his cane could no longer intimidate the hateful bastards like Zhu Xiang and Lin Zhi.
Lian Po led the dance, Lin Zhi came later and stole the spotlight, Li Mu sang, Zhu Xiang played music, Zichu sang harmony, and Cai Ze provided background music. The group of people gathered around the bonfire, and it was so lively that Lian Fu wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
He finally understood why his father said he was unworthy.
He really doesn't deserve to be here. Why is he here? ! If he had known this would happen, he should have claimed to be sick and stayed in the room!!
No, if he had known that this would happen, he should not have followed his father to Xianyang!
Looking at the laughter of King Qin and others, Lian Fu felt both uneasy and envious.
But no matter how envious he was, he didn't dare to join such an outrageous gathering.
Even if the King of Qin gave him a chance, he wouldn't dare.
Perhaps if I had not looked down on Zhu Xiang when I was in Handan and had gotten to know Zhu Xiang in advance, I would have integrated into their group now.
But Lian Fu was very self-aware. Even if he could go back in time, he would not become friends with the commoner Zhu Xiang.
Lian Fu was different from Li Mu and Lin Zhi, who made friends based on talent and character regardless of status. Lian was an old noble family that existed when the State of Zhao was founded. They could be traced back to the same clan and origin as the King of Zhao, and they both had the surname Ying. They attached great importance to status and position in their bones, and had the pride of an old noble family.
Lian Po looked down on Lin Xiangru because he was a commoner.
Lian Fu felt very complicated as he looked at his father who was quarreling with the younger generations and no longer looked like the old nobleman he used to be in Zhao State.
His father had changed, a lot, and he felt very unfamiliar with him.
A night of hangover.
The next day, the King of Qin and the Prime Minister all skipped work.
Even Xunzi skipped work.
Xunzi was not drunk. Zhu Xiang guessed that Xunzi was angry.
Xunzi was very angry about the chaos last night, but he didn't want to disturb the hard-won gathering of Bai Qi, Lian Po, Zhu Xiang and others. He could only indulge a group of people who didn't know what "etiquette" was and let them go wild. He was so angry that he couldn't sleep.
Zhu Xiang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, so he made some rice porridge with jujube and wolfberry for Xunzi to help him calm down.
But after hearing the ingredients that Zhu Xiang prepared for making porridge, Lin Zhi complained that Zhu Xiang was not helping Xunzi to calm down, but was making him more angry.
The four friends all had headaches on the second day after their hangover, so they made their beds in one room, played cards and chatted together, and spent half a day relaxing.
Zichu dozed off on the pillow; Cai Ze asked Zhu Xiang for his opinion on government affairs; Lin Zhi made trouble; and Li Mu was in charge of roasting potatoes and pumpkins on the brazier.
Lin Zhi: "King Qin, Your Majesty, if you fall asleep, don't hold the cards. Are you going to play cards or not?"
Zichu yawned and said, "Hit, hit, is it my turn to play a card?"
Cai Ze: "Zhu Xiang, why don't you come to Xianyang and I will go to Wujun to replace you."
Zhu Xiang: "Explode! Uh, don't even think about it. If you insist on finding someone to blame, I think Li Mu is pretty good."
Li Mu: "I want to train the navy and not return to Xianyang. Follow the bombing."
Zichu: "Ah? Wait? Where did you get so many explosive cards?"
Lin Zhi: "I'll follow you too."
Cai Ze: “Follow.”
Zichu: "No, you guys are all so lucky?! Oh, it turns out I got a bomb too, that's ok, I'm just luckier. Hahaha, I won again, give me the money!"
Zhu Xiang, Cai Ze and Li Mu all sighed.
Zichu was worthy of being the King of Qin. Perhaps he had some good luck in Qin and he almost defeated them all.
Lin Zhi told Zichu to go to bed quickly and stop depriving them of their salaries.
Zichu was so excited after winning that he didn't even yawn.
Bai Qi and Lian Po came to see if the younger generations were too drunk to get up, but when they saw that the four were having a really good time, they shook their heads and left in disgust.
Lian Po: "I think Xun Qing must want to beat them up. But it's a pity that Xia Tong is already the King of Qin, so he can't beat him up."
Bai Qi shook his head: "I think Xun Qing wants to beat you the most."
Lian Po: “Bullshit!”
The two old men started arguing with each other, but it was only Lian Po who was arguing with Bai Qi unilaterally, and Bai Qi's tone remained calm the entire time.
As for Lian Fu, he had made himself disappear.
After Bai Qi arrived in Xianyang, Zhu Xiang planned to leave Xianyang and go south back to Wujun.
He originally wanted to stay for another half a year and help Zichu do more things, but after hearing from Zichu that Ying Xiaozheng took Xiao Chengjiao away, he could no longer stay.
Although the adjustment of Qin's farming was very important, there were many capable and wise officials in the court, so he didn't need to go there in person. Zhu Xiang only needed to write a plan and let King Zichu of Qin arrange people to implement it.
Zichu had a strong sense of responsibility. He would inspect the heartland of Qin State himself and adjust the agricultural planting structure.
But Ying Xiaozheng taught little Chengjiao? Zhu Xiang was worried that little Chengjiao probably wouldn't learn anything in the past six months, and would just be pitifully beaten up by Ying Xiaozheng.
No one knew better than Zhu Xiang how much patience Ying Xiaozheng had in teaching people.
In order to prevent Ying Xiaozheng from leaving a psychological shadow on Xiao Chengjiao, leading to future strife between the brothers and making Xiao Chengjiao embark on the tragic path of his previous life, Zhu Xiang believes that he must go back as soon as possible.
After hearing what Zhu Xiang said, Zichu was puzzled: "Is it that serious?"
Zhu Xiang said: "It is that serious!"
Zichu sighed, "If you want to leave, go ahead. I also have to inspect Qin. Alas, I don't know when we can have some free time."
Zhu Xiang said: "You will never be able to rest in your life."
Zichu laughed: "That's right."
Zichu had his men load several carts with fine wine and vinegar brewed in the palace and sent Zhu Xiang away from Xianyang City.
Wine and vinegar not only consume a lot of grain, but also require a lot of experience to make. So although Zhu Xiang had a novel method of making wine and vinegar, after the palace craftsmen learned it, the wine and vinegar brewed by the palace craftsmen were more delicious than those brewed by Zhu Xiang himself.
Zhu Xiang praised the wine and vinegar in the palace, so Zichu asked Zhu Xiang to take some away.
Zhu Xiang didn't like rewards of gold, silver and jewelry very much. He always said that these rewards with marks on them could only be kept and could not be converted into cash. Only things that could be eaten could make Zhu Xiang happy.
Originally, Zichu wanted Zhu Xiang to take a few cattle and sheep away, but Zhu Xiang said it was difficult to carry them on the boat, so he gave up.
Seeing Zichu chattering and stuffing things into Zhu Xiang's mouth, Lian Fu wanted to crawl into the ground again.
He really couldn't get used to this kind of relationship between the monarch and his subjects, although he envied it.
Lian Po set out again and returned to the military camp; Bai Qi went south with Zhu Xiang and Li Mu; Zichu and others continued to do what they should do.
After a brief reunion, they separated again.
When Bai Qi and Lian Po parted, they bowed to each other solemnly and said goodbye to each other in a rare ceremony.
When Zhu Xiang saw this scene, he felt a little disappointed.
Xunzi also came to see Zhu Xiang off. Before leaving, he talked a lot and prepared a cart of books for Zhu Xiang as homework, so that Zhu Xiang would never be lazy.
Zhu Xiang took several boatloads of gifts and set out on his journey back to Wu County.
(End of this chapter)