The younger brother of the First Emperor

Chapter 216: Qi settles accounts and retreats (one more chapter)
In front of Jimen.

Ying Chengjiao watched the Seventh Princess's motorcade enter and whispered to himself:
"Meng Yu."

Ying Chengjiao had no impression of this name.

This proves that Meng Yu was neither a famous historical figure nor a teacher at the Jixia Academy, and he was not even well-known in Linzi city.

But to be the teacher of the seven princesses of Qi, he shouldn't be an unknown person... With this thought in mind, Ying Chengjiao returned to the house and called out:
"Do you know Meng Yu?"

Hu thought about it carefully and shook his head. He had never heard of this name.

Hu was not sure, maybe he was a hermit, Lu Zhonglian should know... Ying Chengjiao raised his hand and was about to tell Hu to invite Lu Zhonglian.

The noise coming from all directions suppressed his hands.

Today is New Year.

"My lord, do you have any other instructions?" Hu bowed and asked.

"What are you doing back so early?" Ying Chengqiu glanced at him, waved his hands outside, and said impatiently, "Go play again. If you are not active during the New Year, there is something wrong with your thinking."

Hu was stunned.

The disciples of Gongsun Long, who studied xingming and developed their logical thinking, could not connect the words "New Year" and "thought" together.

"Hasn't the master returned?" Hu said hesitantly, "The master didn't actively celebrate the New Year either..."

"I am a Qin person, and I celebrate the New Year in October." Ying Chengjiao said confidently.

But I am still a Zhao person... Hu thought to himself, and instead of arguing back, he bowed and left.

After the noise was driven away, the young man listened to the joyful voices outside the window, holding a pen.

On the bamboo slips, written in simplified Chinese:

[Qi State, Tian Yan, Ai Min, Teacher, Meng Yu]

Pausing his pen, the young man came to an understanding:

"Could this Meng Yu be a descendant of Mencius?"

The more the boy thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Princess Tian Yan, who would hug a common people's son and cry and apologize, must have been influenced by Mencius' thoughts since childhood.

"The people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is the least important." Ying Chengjiao recited softly.

He put down his brush and thought carefully about what he had seen and heard since coming to Qi. It seemed that he rarely saw nobles bullying men and women.

The people in Linzi City are not so afraid of the powerful.

As long as the powerful and wealthy don't come to their doorstep, the people will treat them with indifference when they meet them on the street.

The boy frowned:

"So...in history, King Jian of Qi was imprisoned and died by Qin Shi Huang. Was it because he was too popular among the people?
“But this is a country that is so popular among the people and has such a large territory.

"As long as we strengthen our military training a little, won't we be a hegemonic country again?

"How come Qi has been defeated by Wei and Chu for the whole year? What are the decision-makers of Qi thinking?"

The Palace of King Qi, seventy-two palaces.

The Seventy-two Palaces do not mean seventy-two palaces, but the name of the palace is Seventy-two.

Yue Yi conquered 72 cities of Qi, leaving only Jimo and Ju as the last two cities. With these two cities, Qi would be destroyed.

After Tian Dan restored his country with the city of Jimo, the newly appointed King Xiang of Qi built a palace of seventy-two palaces in order to be prepared for danger in times of peace.

Remind yourself and your descendants that the State of Qi was almost destroyed.

King Xiang of Qi also set a rule.

Every January 1st, the King of Qi would host a grand banquet for his ministers in the Seventy-two Palaces to discuss important state affairs in order to avoid being distracted by joy and forgetting danger.

In the main hall, King Jian of Qi raised a bottle of wine to toast the twelve important ministers in the room. As everyone drank the wine together, the banquet came to an end.

"Wang Qing, you are in charge of Qi's purse and granary." Qi Wangjian leaned forward and said to a chubby minister: "Do you think that what you said about exchanging grain and land for peace is correct?"

The chubby minister's face was red, like a big apple, and he nodded repeatedly with meat stuffed in his mouth.

His name was Wangxi and he was the Internal History of Qi State.

He stretched his neck, tried hard to swallow all the food in his mouth, and counted on his fingers:
"After a year of fighting, we have already consumed 970,000 shi of grain, and the remaining amount is too small to be counted.

“The number of casualties reached over 48,000.

“We lost three large cities and fifteen small cities.

"According to the current situation, this war may not be over even if it takes another three to five years.

“By then, three to four million dan of grain will have been consumed, and two to three hundred thousand soldiers will have been killed or wounded.

“Even if we recapture all the cities, what we lose is far greater than what we gain.

“In that case, it would be better for us to negotiate peace as you gentlemen have said.

"King Zhaoxiang of Qin imprisoned King Huai of Chu until his death.

“In order to ease the relationship and eliminate the hostility between the nations, despite such a great hatred, they only sent 50,000 shi of grain to Chu during the flood years.

"We gave Chu and Wei 100,000 shi of grain each. It is a blessing that the war can be stopped."

Qi Wangjian nodded repeatedly, let out a sigh of relief, and said with a smile:

"A war that could not be fought with three or four million shi of grain can be resolved with only 200,000 shi of grain. This is really a brilliant plan."

He held up the wine jug filled with wine with both hands and saluted the twelve ministers:

“Qi has all these gentlemen, which is a blessing for the great Qi.

"I have you gentlemen, who are also my deputies."

He raised the glass to his lips, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

Among the twelve ministers, eleven drank with King Jian of Qi.

There was only one doctor from Jimo named Wu Shi, with a sullen face, who glanced at everyone coldly.

There was anger burning in Wu Shi's eyes.

When King Jian of Qi loudly announced the end of the meeting and asked everyone to go back and celebrate the New Year.

Wu Shi could no longer bear it and threw the wine jar in the middle of the hall.

With the sound of "clang", eleven important ministers and King Jian of Qi all looked over, with displeasure on their faces.

Before they could have an attack, something unexpected happened again.

He kicked over the table in front of him.

There was a dull "clang" and a crisp "crackling".

All the small items on the table, including the lacquer plate with fried dishes, the small pot with cooked food, the wine bottle with fine wine, etc., were thrown to the ground.

The wine mixed with the soup flowed everywhere, and the mutton and leeks were scattered on the debris, making a mess on the ground.

King Jian of Qi was furious and stared at Wu Shi for a long time.

Wu Shi was not willing to be outdone, so he glared back with his eyes wide open.

In the end, it was King Jian of Qi who relaxed his expression first. He kept thinking about his mother's words asking him to be humble to his ministers. He suppressed his anger and asked:

"What is the meaning of Lord Wu's actions?"

(End of this chapter)