Long Sideburn Hair had just left, when Boss Mao arrived with the Dragon Tiger soldiers. Zheng Yuming pulled the hairpins from the asses of the two horses and threw them into the deep ravine before Huang Zhong and the others arrived.
"My lord! My lord!" Huang Zhong rolled over and dismounted, rolling and crawling to Zheng Yuming's side.
Huang Zhong is familiar with the surrounding terrain, following the traces left by the carriage wheels, the more anxious to chase, the more anxious to chase. Seeing Zheng Yuming standing intact at the side of the carriage, Huang Zhong almost cried tears of joy. As for Zhao Xuan lying on the ground, he ignored it.
"My lord! What's going on?" Huang Zhong looked at the gully not far away and broke into a cold sweat of fear. There were two Longhu soldiers on the camp who saw Zhao Xuan pounce on Zheng Yuming before the horse spooked. No one saw Zhao Xuan injure the horse with a hairpin, and no one thought that Zhao Xuan, who was wrapped up like a mummy, would still have the strength to hijack Zheng Yuming, who wasn't the soft type.
"The horse spooked, it was the wood and long sideburns that stopped the horse back." The clothes on Zheng Yuming's body were ruined to save Long Sideburns, and he was still naked.
It was the sun had already set in the west, a summer wind blew, and Zheng Yuming's sweaty body was immediately blown dry.
"It's still Woody's valor!" Huang Zhong was filled with gratitude towards Woody, who could be said to have saved the Great Wu Kingdom.
The Longhu soldiers who rushed to the gully carried the unconscious Zhao Xuan back to the camp on a stretcher for medical treatment, one of the horses on the four-wheeled carriage was seriously injured and was definitely going to be wasted, and the other horse was fine, except for a small wound on its buttocks. Huang Zhong carefully examined the asses of the two horses, associating Zheng Yuming and Zhao Xuan both with their hair draped over their heads, and if he came to a realization, on the way back, he was even more defensive of Zhao Xuan.
Zhao Xuan was so tossed about that the wound that had already solidified opened up again, the blood soaked through the gauze, and the whole person turned into a blood gourd again. The bad thing was that his body started to heat up, with a tendency to have a high fever. Fortunately, the doctor accompanying the group was Jiang Gui's favorite student, and his medical skills were good, so he took care of Zhao Xuan for the night, and after dawn, Zhao Xuan's temperature did not continue to rise, but he was still unconscious.
The acacia forest was too close to the border of Zhao, it was not safe to stay here all the time, and even though Zhao Xuan's injuries were not suitable for movement, Zheng Yuming did not dare to disregard the lives of more than a thousand people for him alone. As soon as the day dawned, taking advantage of the low temperature, the mission hurriedly pulled out their camp and hurried on their way.
Xu Guo's lord did not go into Haojing because of a minor health problem. That said, the vassal pilgrimage to worship the son of heaven is both an event and a gossip conference, an event for the exchange of gossip among the vassal states. Xu delegation just returned to Xu capital city, Xu king summoned them.
"It's understandable that the kings of Qi and Lu couldn't go on a pilgrimage to pay homage to the Heavenly King and didn't send any emissaries. But how come the king of Yan didn't even send a messenger? It's too rude!" Xu bordered Qi, and the King of Xu knew the domestic situation of Qi very well, and the critical situation of the domestic situation of Lu also knew about it.
The two countries of Qi and Lu had their difficulties in being rude to the Son of Heaven this time, and King Xu was more sympathetic.
As for Yan, although the drought is very heavy in the country, there is no major turmoil in Yan, and it is unlikely that the Lord of Yan can't get out of it, and even if he can't get out of it himself, he should still send a representative to go there. King Xu had a view on the Lord of Yan.
"The lords' evaluation of Yan is consistent with that of the great king." Wang Qiang, the clan brother of the famous scholar Xu Jie, was the deputy envoy of Xu's mission, and this time, he was the one who reported the details of the pilgrimage conference to King Xu.
"Have you seen Mr. Ming, the Duke of Wu? What exactly does that Duke Ming look like?" King Xu was curious about Zheng Yuming.
"Mr. Ming is as immortal as the legends say! Not only is Mr. Ming's appearance rare in the world, but his kindness and generosity is also unique in the world!" Wang Qiang boasted, telling the details of Zheng Yuming's help in repaying the huge amount of money for Win Zhai.
"Three hundred thousand gold?" King Xu smacked his tongue, envious in his heart; Xu was a small to medium-sized vassal state, and its yearly taxes didn't amount to this.
"Gong Sun Pan, the head of Wu's education department, also told the micro-minister that Wu's gratuitous aid to Zhao after last year's Rong attack also amounted to this figure."
"Wu actually helped Zhao? This can't be possible, the new king of Zhao turned out to be unkind to Wu!" King Xu was surprised, when Wu was in domestic turmoil, Zhao had taken advantage of the fire. Zhao had openly questioned Duke Zheng Yuming's identity.
"Your Majesty! I didn't believe this at first either, and I even sought confirmation from the new king of Zhao. The Lord of Zhao admitted it himself in front of the micromanager!" Wang Qiang told King Xu about Zhao Xuan's words of admission.
"So it's a friendship between King Zhao Xin and Prince Ming." King Xu nodded his head and secretly sighed how he had not been able to befriend such a generous and good brother. The drought within Xu was also very heavy, only because the Great River traversed the country, and the farmland near the Great River was in good condition, leveling out the extent of the drought damage. However, even with the blessing of the Great River, half of the spring tax revenue of the whole country has not been collected yet.
"Yes! Lord Zhao and Prince Ming are inseparable, and their brotherly love is deep." Wang Qiang would have thought that Zhao Xuan and Zheng Yuming were the pair if he didn't know that Zheng Yuming's counterpart was Chu Chaohui.
"I really want to meet this Mr. Ming." King Xu was annoyed that he didn't go forward to pay homage to the king's capital due to his ill health, otherwise, by utilizing Xu's special relationship with Wu and making good relations with Zheng Yuming, maybe Wu would also help Xu.
King Xu had only been lamenting for a day when a messenger from Wu sent a letter meaning that Zheng Yuming wanted to visit Xu.
After hearing more about Zheng Yuming's various virtues, the whole court of King Xu was very favorable to Zheng Yuming, and was very much looking forward to Zheng Yuming's visit. After two days, the Wu delegation was about to arrive at the capital of King Xu, and along with the news came a handwritten letter from Zheng Yuming.
King Xu wondered as he opened the letter and the more he read, the more serious he became. Immediately after reading it, he ordered the attendants to prepare a carriage.
"Dear Ministers, follow the orphan to the road to greet Mr. Ming, in addition to Mr. Ming, there is also the Lord of Zhao."
What Huang Zhong said about the Lord of Xu inviting Zheng Yuming to visit was just an excuse to fool Zhao Xuan, not wanting Zhao Xuan to have doubts about Zheng Yuming's rerouting. Xu State Lord invited to visit the said is fabricated, but take the Xu State is true, after all, Zhao State civil unrest, can not take the Zhao State to return to the country, can only be from the Xu State by boat to return.
After Huang Zhong left, Chu Chao Hui arranged for a dozen warships disguised as merchant ships to travel from Tangdi to Xu Guo to meet Zheng Yuming and the mission.
Battleships have defensive and offensive devices that are not afraid of any attack on the waterways, and even when docked at a riverbank, the long-range archery feature keeps the area around the mouth of the river safe.
The Lord of Xu led his ministers, and when he had gone ten miles out of the royal capital, he encountered a delegation from Wu.
"Marquis Yan is so despicable! I finally realized why he didn't send a delegation to pay homage to the Son of Heaven, so it was to take advantage of the opportunity to plot against his in-laws!" King Xu met the unconscious Zhao Xuan, listened to Zhao Xuan's injured cronies complaining about what had happened to the gorge, and listened to these people who had come back from the dead to tell of the Wu's mission's pulling out the sword to help them.
"Yuming felt something was wrong and turned back with his guards, fortunately saving Lord Zhao." Zheng Yuming seemed so sad that under his intentional misdirection, Zhao Xuan's injured men thought that it was the Lord of Xu who had invited Zheng Yuming to visit Xu, not Zheng Yuming himself who had proposed to visit Xu.
"Duke Ming is righteous! If Lord Ming had taken a step at night, then Marquis Yan would have succeeded in his plot!" What King Xu said was exactly what Zhao Xuan's men had in mind.
Zhao Xuan's men were treated by Wu's healers, and except for two people who died due to their injuries being too severe, everyone else was out of danger. Zhao Xuan, who had been injured by the hijacking of Zheng Yuming's second-degree fracture, was unconscious due to too much blood loss, and has not yet come to his senses as of today, but Zhao Xuan's pulse is becoming more and more steady, indicating that the vital characteristics are getting stronger and stronger.
"Marquis Yan treated his brother in law so despicably, Yuming and him are irreconcilable, Yuming will raise the power of the Wu Kingdom to seek justice for his brother in law!" Zheng Yuming swore an oath.
"Your Excellency is a model of righteousness and affection for us!" King Xu was starting to get jealous of Zhao Xuan, jealous that Zhao Xuan had such a good brother with such guts.
"We thank Your Excellency for doing justice to my great king! We are willing to lay down our lives for Your Excellency! Please feel free to do as you please, Your Excellency!" Zhao Xuan's men were even more emotional as they listened, their gratitude overflowing as they knelt down in front of Zheng Yuming and swore.
"Good! Good! All of you are loyal to your brother Wang, the crusade against Marquis Yan is in need of your contribution!" Zheng Yuming rejoiced, Zhao Xuan's men would later be sent as representatives to various parts of Zhao, proving that Wu had sent troops to Zhao all for the sake of Zhao Xuan.
Zheng Yuming didn't stay in Xu Kingdom for a long time, when the warship from Tang Land arrived at Xu Kingdom's big river crossing, Zheng Yuming said goodbye to the King of Xu and took Zhao Xuan and others on board the warship. When Zhao Xuan woke up, the warship had already entered the territory of Qi.
The two sides of the great river in the territory of Qi were the places where the disaster was the least severe. However, while the natural disaster was mild, the human disaster was severe, and the grain harvested by the common people was basically scraped clean by the King of Qi. Because of the lack of food, the people of Qi could only dig up wild vegetables and peel the bark of trees to satisfy their hunger.
Because they could not feed themselves, people did not have the strength to cultivate their fields, and the crops in the fields were withered and yellow. Ragged farmers struggled to pick up water from the river to water the land, often walking, even the bucket and the person planted on the ground, crouching on the ground and not moving.
From time to time, there are always soaked and swollen corpses floating in the water of the big river. In the summer heat, these corpses rotted so badly that their shapes were horrible. The people were at first touched by these situations, but soon became accustomed to them. From the time the battleships saw the first floating corpses, they no longer used the water of the Grand River for washing. All domestic water was used from wells filled in Xu.
This was the case in Qi, and it was the same at home in Lu. As the warship traveled, it often looked out to see rioting refugees walking on the riverbank, and these refugees found the big ship, pointing with the crude weapons in their hands while chasing the warship and shouting loudly. Refugees with bows and arrows began to shoot at the warships. The warships dressed as merchant ships were also enemies of the refugees because only the nobles in the two countries of Qi Lu could afford to do business.
The battleship itself had defenses, and the soldiers on the battleship were fully armored, so the refugees' arrows couldn't harm the battleship or the soldiers.
Zheng Yuming and the others stayed in the cabin, observing the situation on the shore only from the slit in the cabin window.
"Wouldn't the king and his vassals rather have a breed? The Qi pariahs are so treacherous!" Zhao Xuan repeated in shock as he heard the meaning of the Qi refugees' shouts.
'Kings and lords would rather have seeds' turned out to be the slogan of the peasant revolt put forward by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in the history of the twenty-first century, embodying their opposition to slavery and the ideology of officialdom.
"Brother Wang, is the Marquis of Qi such a stupid and brutalized king? The people of Qi should die silently under such a brutal and mediocre king?" Zheng Yuming smiled.
'The slogan 'Kings and Marquises would rather have seeds' was propagated by Wu's spies lurking in Qi and Lu.
Zhao Xuan choked. "Monarchs like Marquis Qi are but a minority."
"A few?" Jung Yuming smirked.
"..." Zhao Xuan couldn't answer, half of the kings of Great Qin were of such a nature.
"Brother Wang, if your concubine son is very good and your first son is very mediocre, and Zhao Guo Li Crown Prince, which one would brother choose?" Zheng Yuming smiled at the analogy.
"My brother's concubine son's mother consort's lineage is also noble." Zhao Xuan glanced at Zheng Yuming, he was not willing to talk about his concubines and son in front of Zheng Yuming.
Zheng Yuming rolled his eyes. "Let's put it this way then, if there is a talent that can prosper the country, but is a civilian, will brother reuse it?"
"That's for sure!" Zhao Xuan answered without thinking, and after answering, he knew something was wrong and realized that he had fallen into the trap of Zheng Yuming's words.
"Look, if this great talented civilian has great achievements, brother will make him a marquis, isn't this a king and marquis without seeds?" Zheng Yuming spread his two hands.
"Civilians don't have the money to pursue their education, so where would they get talent!" Zhao Xuan shook his head.
"Brother Wang is wrong, if you make the people of Zhao rich, won't the people of Zhao have the ability to cultivate their own children and grandchildren? In the future, the kings and princes of Zhao will still need to be planted?"
Zhao Xuan was speechless, he had always hoped that his country would be strong and the people would be rich, at that time, there would definitely be cases of civilians practicing the six arts.
"Brother Wang, the water of this river is the people, and the boat is the royal court. A big boat can only move forward with the wind in the water; however, the water can carry the boat, and at the same time, it can also capsize the boat!" Zheng Yuming pointed at the river water outside the window crack.
"Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it!" Zhao Xuan, whose health had not yet recovered, leaned against the cushions of his bed and repeated Zheng Yuming's words, agreeing with the meaning expressed in these words.
"The people of Qi are not happy, the boat of Qi Hou should not be at peace." Zheng Yuming was meaningful.
"If Marquis Qi can't, then who can become the Boat of Qi?" Zhao Xuan lowered his voice. If his state of Zhao hadn't been subverted by his great-uncle in conjunction with his wife, Zhao Xuan would have been ambitious enough to ask for the throne of Qi by now.
Zheng Yuming smiled slightly and didn't answer Zhao Xuan directly. "Yuming had invited brother Wang to die for this world."
Zheng Yuming is this time clearly revealing his ambition to ask for the world.
Zhao Xuan raised his head, staring silently at Zheng Yuming for a long time, before spitting out the question: "Yudie humbly yielded the throne, it is not to be the king of the people, and in the future, Wu won the world, Yudie is not the king of the Nine Cauldrons. Zheng Yuming, Zhao Xuan would like to ask a question, what kind of character do you really want to become? Is it possible to be that Jiang Ziya?"
Zheng Yuming war rose to show his teeth and smiled, "Brother Wang, to tell you the truth, Yuming has great ambition!"
Zhao Xuan held his breath, "What great ambition?"
Zheng Yuming waved his wide sleeves, "Yuming wants to be an Ancestral God, to be an Ancestral God alongside the Aristotle Clan, the Suiren Clan, Shennong, and Fuxi!"
Zhao Xuan sucked in a breath, no wonder Zheng Yuming said that he had great ambitions, the only ones that could be juxtaposed with the Aristotle Clan, the Suiren Clan, Shennong, and Fuxi were those Founding Celestial Sons, such as the Founding Celestial Sons of Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Qin. However, not to be the founding prince, but also to be juxtaposed with those heroes who have made great contributions to the people of Great Qin, the achievement can not be less than the founding prince.
"Brother Wang, Yuming hopes that one day, you and I will have our brotherly tablets on top of the sacrificial altar!"
Zheng Yuming wasn't trying to be an Ancestral God, and since he had decided to bring Zhao Xuan back to his country, not to mention that Chu Chaohui wouldn't let Zhao Xuan become the Lord of Zhao again, Zheng Yuming himself wasn't happy about it either.
Zhao Xuan has the talent to govern, Zheng Yuming does not want to waste it, to be able to persuade Zhao Xuan to sincerely contribute, the only way is to give Zhao Xuan tree a direction to pursue, a goal that can be more than the Lord of the State of Zhao for generations to come.
Battleship downstream, sailing speed is very fast, but four days time, the battleship through the Qilu two places, arrived in the Tang land. Tang land big river ship docking place, Chu Chao Hui has long stood at the pier waiting.