Cai Ze, Lord Gangcheng, was a strange man who was rejected by various countries and even expelled from the State of Zhao because he was too ugly.
This time, Zhao couldn't be blamed for being blind. Not only Zhao, but Yan, Han, and Wei all cruelly rejected him based on his appearance.
Finally, he had no choice but to come to Qin State, and enlightened Qin Prime Minister Fan Ju with the story of "the moon waxes and wanes", and was recommended by Fan Ju to be prime minister.
Cai Ze had no great ambition to help the world, and he went around lobbying for official positions just to seek wealth and fame.
Seeing that the political situation in the Qin court was unpredictable, he returned the seal of prime minister within a few days and became a middle-level official. He occasionally gave advice to the King of Qin, gained some merit, and eventually became a minister who served four dynasties. He was finally granted the title of king and lived a life of wealth and honor until the end of his life.
Ying Xiaozheng’s brain capacity is not enough to remember people’s faces. Now he can’t even remember the face of the old General Wang Jian, who he drove back all night crying and begging for help. But he remembers this “Gang Chengjun”.
If Tsunaari-kun from another world knew about this, he would definitely feel relieved.
In this time and space, when Cai Ze was thrown out of Handan City, Zhu Xiang was setting up a stall at the door to recruit workers.
The year he first took charge of the Lin family's farmland, the State of Zhao was at war and young and middle-aged labor was scarce, so he had to visit the job recruiting stalls at the door every day.
After Zhu Xiang rescued him (Zhu Xiang boasted about it himself), Cai Ze lacked the money to travel to other countries. He also learned that Zhu Xiang was working for Lin Xiangru and wanted to follow the Lin family's path, so he stayed in the Lin family's fiefdom.
It happened that Xia Tong was leaving, so Zhu Xiang hired Cai Ze as an accountant and allowed him to study at the same time.
Cai Ze is now a retainer of Lin Xiangru, and still lives near Zhu Xiang's house, waiting for an opportunity to soar to the sky. After eating with Zhu Xiang several times, Cai Ze's friendship with Zhu Xiang has grown rapidly, and he is willing to teach Zhu Xiang everything he knows.
It was the first time that Ying Xiaozheng saw in reality the "future minister" from the fragments of his dream memory. He opened his bright black grape eyes and looked at Cai Ze curiously.
Cai Ze was extremely surprised: "Zhu Xiang, where did you pick up this child? He is quite brave."
Zhu Xiang was proud: "That's right, the nephew resembles his uncle, he looks like me."
Zhu Xiang had just adopted Ying Xiaozheng, and Cai Ze didn't know about Ying Xiaozheng yet. But Cai Ze knew Zhu Xiang's past.
He looked at the smug Zhu Xiang, and wondered in his heart. Zhu Xiang adopted the child of his eldest sister who abandoned him? He had known for a long time that Zhu Xiang was kind, but was it too much to be so kind
"Don't stand outside, come in and talk." Cai Ze tied up the horse, "Are you here today just to show off your nephew to me?"
Zhu Xiang said seriously: "That's right!"
Cai Ze: "... Please leave."
Zhu Xiang held Ying Xiaozheng and squeezed towards the door: "No, Zheng'er, let's go!"
Cai Ze was pushed away by Zhu Xiang, looking extremely helpless.
When he first met Zhu Xiang, he thought Zhu Xiang was just a well-intentioned but overly reckless young man.
Later, after spending a long time together, he admired Zhu Xiang's virtues, marveled at Zhu Xiang's talents, and discovered that Zhu Xiang was far more mature and careful than his peers.
After getting to know him better, Cai Ze's evaluation of Zhu Xiang changed again.
This is a young man who is kind-hearted but too reckless, innocent, and sometimes naughty. Sometimes it makes people sigh, and sometimes it makes people want to touch it.
Many small doubts popped up in Ying Xiaozheng's mind. What was he rushing for? What was his uncle going to do
Before he could figure it out, Zhu Xiang had already taken the initiative and used some cushions to make a chair for Cai Ze.
Ying Xiaozheng's body was still very soft, and he couldn't help but lean down when he sat on the cushion. Zhu Xiang used several cushions to make a small "throne" for him.
He leaned his back against the cushion, holding the cushion with his hands, framed in the small cushioned throne, and nodded his little head, then rubbed his eyes, curled up in the warm cushioned throne, and closed his eyes uncontrollably.
Children tend to sleep a lot. After eating, Ying Xiaozheng felt sleepy and finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep.
Zhu Xiang supported his chin with his hand and looked at his nephew sitting on the cushion throne with a smile on his face, his expression very kind.
Cai Ze took a robe from the house and used it as a blanket for Ying Xiaozheng. He lowered his voice and asked, "Why don't you let him sleep at home?"
Zhu Xiang said: "He has just been abandoned by Chunhua, he must be very scared. It is better for him to stay with me."
He didn't tell Xue these words.
Children rely more on instinct. Although Xue has treated Ying Xiaozheng as her own child, to Ying Xiaozheng, Xue, who has no blood relationship with him, is still a stranger.
Xue was acutely aware of Ying Xiaozheng's fear of her, and was fooled by Zhu Xiang's jokes.
But this was not a big deal. Although they had only been together for one day, Zhu Xiang had already discovered that Ying Xiaozheng was indeed the future first emperor, and was much more rational and mature than other children of his age.
Perhaps Ying Xiaozheng himself did not realize that he was consciously using reason to influence his instincts and trying to accept Xue as his elder.
Before that, Zhu Xiang will always stay with Ying Xiaozheng and help him adapt to the new family smoothly.
Close people cannot talk about everything, and some well-intentioned concealment is more conducive to family harmony and the happiness of family members. At this time, the importance of friends is highlighted.
Except for concealing Ying Xiaozheng's identity as a member of the Qin royal family, Zhu Xiang told Cai Ze everything else.
He didn't need Cai Ze to give him advice, he just wanted someone to listen.
Cai Ze is a debater. The wealth and glory he longs for are all tied to his eloquence. But in private, he is a calm and somewhat silent person.
This may have something to do with his appearance. People can't help judging people by appearance. He has no close friends, his relatives don't like him very much, and his teachers and classmates are all strangers to him. So he often reads books and thinks alone in private, and doesn't like to talk.
After meeting Zhu Xiang, who was a talkative person, he was forced to listen to Zhu Xiang's nonsense, forced to become Zhu Xiang's listener, and forced to talk a lot with Zhu Xiang.
The same is true this time.
After listening to Zhu Xiang's sigh, Cai Ze said, "Aren't you worried that after you raise this child, Chunhua will come and snatch your child away? Children are naturally close to their mothers. Even if his mother abandons him, if his mother sheds a few tears, he may still be biased towards his mother, and even try to seize your property for her."
Zhu Xiang laughed: "Chunhua will definitely do such a thing."
He looked at the sleeping Ying Xiaozheng, stretched out his finger, and gently poked his nephew's sunken face: "But I believe that sincerity can be exchanged for sincerity. As long as I raise Zheng'er well and teach him what is right and wrong, even if Zheng'er can't give up his attachment to his biological mother, he will consider the feelings of me and Xue. And the child I raised must be able to handle the relationship between us and his biological mother."
Zhu Xiang thought to himself, I am just flattering myself.
How could the First Emperor not handle this little thing? At most, Chunhua would play with her male favorite in the palace, and she would go to the south to help Zheng'er farm. If they didn't see each other, Zheng'er wouldn't be embarrassed.
He gently poked Ying Xiaozheng's face again.
Ying Xiaozheng pursed his lips, frowned and relaxed his small brows, then his belly turned over, he kicked away the armrest of the throne, and fell asleep in a big letter shape.
Zhu Xiang held back his laughter and covered Ying Xiaozheng with his outer robe again.
Looking at this scene, a trace of helplessness appeared on Cai Ze's stern face.
Seeing how much Zhu Xiang liked his little nephew, he asked Zhu Xiang to leave a way out for himself by adopting a child who was easier to control as his heir, but Zhu Xiang would not listen.
Cai Ze thought that he could only seek an official position and a fiefdom as soon as possible, and then take Zhu Xiang to his fiefdom to take care of him when he was old and had no one to rely on. Zhu Xiang himself really had no plan for his future retirement.
"I just went to your kitchen and saw that your jar of meat sauce was empty. I'll have someone bring some more over later." Zhu Xiang finished his story and changed the subject, "Just tell me when you finish eating something. You want me to come to your kitchen every day? I'm not your son."
Listening to Zhu Xiang's nonsense, Cai Ze raised his eyelids lazily: "You can call me father, I don't mind."
"Bah." Zhu Xiang said, "Don't try to take advantage of me. Okay, come on, what are you going to teach me today? I've already memorized all the previous books."
After saying that, Zhu Xiang took out a roll of paper from his sleeve.
Cai Ze looked at the paper in Zhu Xiang's sleeve and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
Even though he's seen it many times, he still sighs.
He had been considering whether it was right to stay in Zhao State to seek wealth and honor. Given the courage and vision of the current King of Zhao, even if he could obtain temporary wealth and honor, it seemed that it would not last long.
The wealth and honor of an official depended on the country he was in and the king he served. If the King of Zhao was incompetent and the state of Zhao was in turmoil, his wish to live out his life in wealth and honor would be impossible to achieve.
While Cai Ze was teaching Zhu Xiang to read new books, copy the new books onto paper, and learn more characters, he was also thinking about his future.
After Zhu Xiang died once, his memory improved a lot. He could almost remember everything he saw, and he learned to write very quickly.
There were not many words in the book at that time. Zhu Xiang quickly copied the new book and put it into his sleeve, waiting to go home and study it slowly.
"Mr. Cai, you seem a little absent-minded today?" Zhu Xiang asked, "Lord Lin will soon have the opportunity to recommend you as an envoy to another country, so that King Zhao can see your ability. Are you worried about this?"
Cai Ze hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether he should tell Zhu Xiang about his thoughts.
Looking at Zhu Xiang's clear eyes, Cai Ze's hesitation disappeared.
He thought, he could trust his only friend.
"Zhao State has been cultivated by three generations of wise rulers. I thought that I could realize my ambitions by coming to Zhao State." Cai Ze said, "But the current King of Zhao seems very mediocre. It takes many generations of efforts for a wealthy family to accumulate wealth, but it only takes one incompetent person to spend it all. I don't know whether I should stay in Zhao State."
After saying that, Cai Ze said with a wry smile, "But if I go to other countries, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to be reused."
Cai Ze is very self-aware of his appearance. It is really difficult for others to see his talent through his appearance.
Zhu Xiang thought for a while and said, "In fact, Mr. Cai has a final destination in mind where you can realize your ambitions, right?"
Zhu Xiang didn't know that Cai Ze would become the King Gangcheng of Qin in the future.
Even for those who study history, it is impossible to remember the names of every minister in history. Moreover, there are too many bright stars in the long river of history during this period, and Cai Ze really cannot be ranked. Zhu Xiang has no impression of Cai Ze's name.
Cai Ze sighed: "Are you talking about the Qin State? If it weren't for the end of the road, who would be willing to go west to the barbaric land?"
Ying Xiaozheng opened his eyes after a nap and just heard these words.
He lay on his back on the cushioned throne that his uncle had rebuilt for him, staring at Cai Ze with his dark eyes.
Mr. Gangcheng, I will remember what you said!
Zhu Xiang knew that the scholars of that era were very prejudiced against the Qin State.
This is not because Qin was poor.
Zhu Xiang was recommended a famous TV series called The Qin Dynasty by his traveling companion, an archaeology professor. The two of them praised the TV series as being truly wonderful and good, and calling it an absolute masterpiece, while complaining about its flaws, and they were very happy.
When Zhu Xiang saw the King of Qin sobbing while grabbing a handful of yellow earth, he laughed like a dog barking.
The Loess Plateau is one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization. It was because it was once rich and gave birth to a brilliant civilization in an era when farming technology was backward that it exhausted its potential prematurely and became the desolate state it is today.
The Qin State originated in the middle and lower reaches of the Wei River and originated in Yongzhou.
During the Warring States Period, people had already begun to rank soil and fields. According to the "Tribute of Yu", the fields in Yongzhou were rated as "top-quality". Since the middle of the Warring States Period, Qin had become one of the strongest vassal states. Sima Qian also recorded that Qin had "a thousand miles of fertile land".
The reason why the Qin State was able to prosper so quickly was because it had a vast territory, a sparse population, and extremely fertile land.
Therefore, scholars from various countries disliked the Qin State only because they disliked its customs and thought it was a barbarian country.
The Qin State was isolated in the Central Plains and lived alone in the northwest. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Central Plains states and the Zhou royal family regarded the Qin State as the Western Rong, and did not regard it as a "fellow tribe".
After King Ping of Zhou moved eastward, the State of Qin gradually expanded eastward and was granted the title of a vassal, trying to integrate into the big family of the Central Plains. However, the social customs of the State of Qin were very different from theirs, which still made other countries dislike the State of Qin.
For example, it was not until the time of Duke Xian of Qin that the Qin State abolished the system of burying people alive, which had lasted for more than three hundred years since Duke Wu of Qin.
The various schools of thought in the Central Plains were very opposed to the practice of burying people alive with the dead, especially the Confucians. Confucius once said something very radical, "The one who first made clay figures for burial will have no descendants."
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was forbidden to bury people alive with the dead. Instead, people were buried with straw figurines, chariots and horses, which were similar to the offerings made by burning paper today. After the Spring and Autumn Period, the feudal lords of various countries began to compete with each other in burying people, and figurines were used as burial objects.
Confucius angrily criticized the degradation of this system of burying people alive with the dead. Now you are using human figurines to bury people with the dead, so are you going to use living people to bury the dead in the future? You will cut off your lineage and grandchildren!
From Confucius' anger, we can see how barbaric and disgusting the Qin State, which restored the system of burying people alive, was in the eyes of knowledgeable people.
Even though the Qin State has abolished the practice of burying people with the dead, its past has made people of integrity and ambition consider it as a last resort.
Even though Cai Ze was a man who only sought wealth and honor for himself, he was still very hesitant about the reputation of the Qin State.
Choosing Qin to seek official position basically proved that one had been forced into a desperate situation and abandoned all propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame. For scholars of this era, this indicated that their previous lives had been a complete failure, so they had no face left.
After Zhu Xiang woke up, he glared at Ying Xiaozheng and held him in his arms.
It would have been unlikely that Ying Xiaozheng, who was less than two years old, could understand the conversation between him and Cai Ze. However, given the legendary mysteriousness and narrow-mindedness of the First Emperor, Zhu Xiang still treated Ying Xiaozheng as an adult with clear thoughts and explained to him why Cai Ze was unwilling to go to the State of Qin.
Ying Xiaozheng pouted: "So many years have passed!"
Zhu Xiang laughed and said, "Our ancestors dug the pit, and our descendants have to fill it with soil before they can build a house. There is nothing we can do about it."
Ying Xiaozheng continued to pout: "Besides, didn't Zhou also start its prosperity in Haojing?"
Zhu Xiang explained: "So Zhou was once Xibo. The second king of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou, built a new capital, Chengzhou, in the Central Plains."
Chengzhou is Luoyang.
An old professor of archaeology who was on the business trip with me once complained that the archaeological excavations in Haojing yielded very few results, which once again led to some scholars making the statement that "Chinese history is fake" - this time they said that the Western Zhou Dynasty no longer existed.
Fortunately, subsequent excavation shut them up.
Before Zhou entered the Central Plains, it was also regarded as an accomplice of Rongdi like Qin. After entering the Central Plains, it was caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, they wanted to wash away their former identity as an accomplice of Rongdi and hoped to move the capital to the Central Plains; on the other hand, they thought that if they did so, wouldn’t it confirm the slander that they were an accomplice of Rongdi
With this contradictory mentality, although they established their capital in Haojing, Haojing has always been a "transitional capital" and its urban construction was far less prosperous than that of Chengzhou, so there are so few results from archaeological excavations in Haojing.
This time, Ying Xiaozheng changed his pursed lips into pouty ones: "Humph, the place where the king is is the Central Plains! They can't do that!"
If I were you, I would just make Guanzhong my capital, and Guanzhong would be the Central Plains in the future! Ying Xiaozheng at least remembered that his uncle told him not to reveal his identity, but he only said this in his heart.
But Ying Xiaozheng didn't say anything. From Ying Xiaozheng's pouting mouth that could hang a bottle on it and his disdainful eyes, Zhu Xiang knew what his nephew was thinking.
He was so happy. As expected of the son of the First Emperor, he was born to be so domineering!
"Zhu Xiang, your nephew..." Cai Zepin felt something was wrong.
Zhu Xiang held up his little nephew: "Looks like me, right?"
Cai Ze: “…”
Zhu Xiang took back his nephew who was kicking his legs and said, "You want to know? Go ask Lin Li. I can't tell you."
Cai Ze pondered for a while and asked, "Do you want to go to Qin?"
Ying Xiaozheng immediately turned to look at his uncle.
Cai Ze once again sensed something wrong from Ying Xiaozheng's expression, who was unable to hide the truth.
Could it be that this child... That's not right. He is still so young, what can he understand
"This is not a question of whether I want to or not." Zhu Xiang pressed Ying Xiaozheng's head into his arms, not letting Ying Xiaozheng see his slightly sad expression. "I am just a commoner, and my future is not my own choice. I can't abandon the Lin family."
Cai Ze was silent.
After a while, he said, "If the King of Zhao still refuses to employ me this time, I will go to Qin to give it a try. I'm afraid the King of Zhao won't employ the descendants of Lord Lin too much. I will try to bring you all to Qin then."
Zhu Xiang stroked the back of his nephew's head and said, "Okay, it's a deal."
The two of them were silent.
After another long while, Cai Ze said, "Zhu Xiang, you used to focus on the farmland, but today you talked to me about the affairs of the various countries for the first time."
Zhu Xiang pinched the wrinkles of flesh where the head and neck of his struggling nephew met, and whispered, "Maybe now that you have a child, you'll be more worried about the future. Don't tell Lin Li about this. I can only talk to you."
Cai Ze said: "Of course. Just like you wouldn't tell him that I want to go to Qin."
Zhu Xiang picked up Ying Xiaozheng and said sadly, "We are close friends, but we have to deceive each other. How sad."
Cai Ze was silent.
He watched Zhu Xiang leave before he sighed deeply.
Zhu Xiang originally wanted to find Cai Ze to study and show off his nephew. Unexpectedly, he suddenly talked about the heavy topic that he had always avoided, and Zhu Xiang was in a bad mood.
"Zheng'er, your uncle will take you to the fields for a walk." Zhu Xiang said, "Your uncle knows how to farm, and he's really good at it!"
Ying Xiaozheng lay in Zhu Xiang's arms, playing with his fingers idly.
What's so great about farming? I don't understand my uncle.
Zhu Xiang put Ying Xiaozheng on his shoulders, let Ying Xiaozheng hold his head, and carried Ying Xiaozheng to inspect the fields. When the farmers met along the way saw Zhu Xiang, they all stopped their work and saluted Zhu Xiang in their own way.
Yan and Zhao are full of heroic and tragic knights. In other words, Yan and Zhao are full of street brawlers.
Along the way, Zhu Xiang also met many knights who were carrying weapons and exposing their arms, practicing martial arts under the shade of trees or on the ridges of fields.
These rangers blocked traffic, and civilians walked around them while doing their work.
But when Zhu Xiang walked over with the child on his head, they immediately made way for him and were concerned about why Zhu Xiang did not bring servants with him and whether he needed their protection.
Even though Zhu Xiang said they didn't need it, this group of people still followed Zhu Xiang around and accompanied him, and even picked leaves and grass stems to make toys for Ying Xiaozheng.
Ying Xiaozheng used Zhu Xiang's head as a small table and placed a bunch of toys made of leaves and grass stems on it.
He looked at the strangers around him curiously.
All the strangers around him smiled at him kindly.
Ying Xiaozheng, who had been living in disgust since he was old enough to understand, felt very curious and confused.
"Duke Zhu Xiang, is this your adopted son? He looks very smart!"
"His name is Zheng. Doesn't Zheng look a lot like me?"
"Oh, really, very similar! He will definitely be as powerful as Duke Zhu Xiang in the future!"
The praises from strangers around him continued to ring in his ears. Ying Xiaozheng hugged his uncle's head tightly and buried his face in the top of his uncle's head.
It's really strange.
(End of this chapter)