But then, Xun Shu laughed as if he didn't care at all:
"Haha, although what Mr. Xun said is true. However, I think that Xunshi and Zhongxing are in the same spirit and work together. How can any gentleman say something so unbearable?
"However, when it comes to the return of Marquis Lu, since he has given me the will of the prince, I should do my best!"
Li Ran knew that Xun Shu was just pretending, and his heart had actually changed. Otherwise, he would not have said these words.
So, he only nodded slightly and said:
"Well, if Xun Xia's army can do this, it will really be a blessing for the Marquis of Lu and the whole world!"
Xun Shu waved his hand carelessly again, and responded with a gesture:
"Haha, Zhuo Nai acted according to the order, as it should be, as it should be!"
At that time, Li Ran was not afraid of big things, so he simply added another fire to it:
"Hey... When I, Li Ran, was studying in the Zhou royal family in my early years, I heard my respected teacher Hong said that our ancestor Xun Xi, who was in the army at that time, persuaded Duke Xian of Jin to give up the construction of a nine-story high platform and said that he was in danger. He proposed the plan of 'destroying Guo by false means' and became the first prime minister of Jin! Come to think of it, how respected was the Xun family at that time?"
"Afterwards, Li Ji was in chaos, and Li and Pi killed their young master. However, Xun Xi remained unmoved and was able to fulfill his last wish before the death of Duke Xian. He finally died from his young master and left this legacy for eternity. Such a heroic name. How fascinating is this kind of spirit!"
"Later, the Xun family was divided into three families. The Xun family and the Zhongxing family were both ranked among the six ministers. However, the Xun family was always not as good as Zhongxing. They were the same ancestors, but their fates were different. Today, Li Ran dared to make a bold statement. Is it true that Xiajun really Don’t you have the intention to inherit the legacy of your ancestors? Besides, has Xia Jun forgotten the past events of the Cheng family?”
The Xun family is divided into the Zhongxing family, the Cheng family, and the Zhi family of Xun Shu. Among the six ministers, the Zhongxing family and the Zhi family have almost always occupied the second place in the past hundred years.
As for the Cheng family, when the Xun family was in decline, relying on the favor of Duke Ping of Jin, they almost directly replaced their Xun family as the Sixth Minister.
Fortunately, on the one hand, Zhongxing Muzi preserved their Xun family lineage, and on the other hand, thanks to the early death of Cheng Zheng, the leader of the Cheng family, the position of Six Ministers was finally restored to the Xun family. Later, the Cheng family was also under the continuous suppression of the Zhongxing family, and finally disappeared from everyone.
Similarly, Xun Shu's father, including Xun Shu himself, succeeded to the position of clan leader as a young boy, so the Zhongxing clan was able to be the Xun clan that controlled them for a long time.
Therefore, Cheng’s lesson learned from the past. The Xun family naturally also has this sense of family crisis.
】
And Li Ran took advantage of this to give the Xun family and Zhonghang family, whose relationship was already tense, a new bargaining chip.
The Zhonghang family is currently connected with the Fan family and is married to the Zhao family in Handan. It can be said that they are in full swing. As for Xun Shu, he had already begun to feel that if things continued like this, the Xun family would sooner or later be suppressed by the Zhongxing family, just like the Cheng family.
Just like him, Xun Shu, who was almost kicked out of the ranks of the Six Ministers for two consecutive generations, how could he not become more active?
Even if the Zhongxing family is nominally kind to their Xun family, how many people can withstand such "favor of reconstruction"?
"The return of the State of Lu was the first thing that the Marquis of Jin did after he succeeded to the throne. If Xun Xiajun can handle it properly, the Marquis of Jin will be prominent among the princes and in front of the civil and military officials. Then Xun Xun Why do you need to look at the faces of Fan and Zhongxing in the future? I hope Xunxiajun will think carefully about it!"
Xun Shuo actually had a certain grudge in his heart during this conversation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said what he said to Li Ran at the beginning. However, Li Ran's few words could make him change his mind temporarily.
Originally, Xun Shu had always been very obedient. After Fan Yang recommended him, he actually told him to act expediently.
Although these words are not stated explicitly, the meaning is obvious.
In the final analysis, he, Xun Shu, is just a scapegoat.
This was the case with Qi Ying back then, and it is the same with the return of Marquis Lu today.
So Xun Shu has actually been thinking about how to put the responsibility for the final failure entirely on Li Ran from the beginning. But now after Li Ran's reminder, he actually thinks that this move will be of great benefit to their Xun family.
The two clinked glasses and smiled tacitly at each other.
"Haha, Xun Shu understands what you mean, sir. Please rest assured, sir, Xun Shu will take this matter to heart."
…
Xun Shu recalled his conversation with Li Ran and realized that he actually tried his best to facilitate this matter. After all, it was related to the interests of their Xun family, but Lu Houchou was eventually taken advantage of, which led to the current situation.
However, they all knew very well, who was behind this incident?
That's right, it's Fan Yang.
And even if Xun Shuo wants to help now, the best he can do is "not do bad things." If he was asked to confront Fan Yang directly, he would not have the guts after all.
What's more, after this incident, everyone can predict Fan Yang's next move.
He will definitely exaggerate words such as "It's the Marquis of Lu who doesn't want to return to the country, and he can't blame Ji Sun Yiru."
By then, no one in the Jin court would dare to mention this matter again. It is already obvious how the Marquis of Jin will decide in the end.
Since the Marquis of Lu failed to live up to his expectations, how could the Marquis of Jin dare to mention this matter again? What's more, Fan Yang is still here. Even if he wants to cause trouble again, I'm afraid it won't be possible.
Xun Shu decided to return to the capital first. Li Ran and others also escorted Lu Houchou back to Yunyi. Luhou Chou was in extremely low mood and was silent all the way.
The failure to return home was indeed a huge blow to Lu Houchou. But after all, he still has to blame himself. If he hadn't listened to what others said, he would still have imagined that the Jin State would "do justice" for him and liquidate Ji Sun Yiru. He may be on his way back home now.
Li Ran couldn't bear to blame him anymore, and it was meaningless to blame him again at this time.
Confucius had always "hidden evil" for Lu Houchou, so naturally he would not choose to remonstrate at this time.
However, Zijiaji didn't care about this:
"Hey... Your Majesty, you are too impatient! If you can distinguish one thing from the other, why would you do this?!"
When Lu Houchou heard this, he remained silent.
Seeing this, Zijiaji said again:
"Hey...it's useless to say more now that the matter has come to this point. But your Majesty's character really needs to be changed. You had the rashness to take action against the Ji family back then, and you really shouldn't have acted so rashly this time. !”
After hearing this, Lu Houchou felt ashamed beyond words. He suppressed his grief and anger and whispered:
"I...know my mistake..."
Seeing Lu Houchou like this, Zijiaji just sighed to himself and could not say more, so the group hurried back to Yunyi.
…
And not long after they returned to Yunyi, Yang Hu, the Prime Minister of the Ji family, was also very fast. After leaving the Jingjin Kingdom, he immediately rushed back to the Ji family camp stationed near Yunyi without saying a word. , issued orders directly, encircling Yunyi on three sides.
Fortunately, Meng Sun He Ji had chosen to lead Meng's army to evacuate before, so Yang Hu still did not dare to attack directly.
In other words, why did Meng Sunheji choose to withdraw his troops?
This is really thanks to the letter left by Confucius.
In other words, not long after Li Ran and Confucius went to Jin, Meng Sun He Ji also led Meng's army to station near Yunyi.
And Sun Wu presented Confucius' letter. After that, Meng Sunheji decided to withdraw his troops directly and not waste time here. Yang Hu wanted to stop him, but after all, he was only the head of the Ji family, so how could he stop the clan leader of the Meng family?
Although Meng Sun He Ji still had some feelings for him, when Yang Hu kidnapped him onto the city wall and chopped off Li Xi's head in front of him, Meng Sun He Ji was still young at that time and he was really frightened.
However, Meng Sunheji is now an adult and will no longer be intimidated by a family leader. So he resolutely decided to withdraw his troops, and Yang Hu was helpless.
At this time, it happened that Ji Sun Yiru had received an order to suspend the attack on Yunyi and asked Yang Hu to go to Qianhou to join him, so Yang Hu ignored the matter. They had to settle down Ji's army first, and then rushed to Qianhou.
But now, Yang Hu has left and returned, and after sending troops to surround Yunyi, he sees that Yunyi has become isolated.
After all, the garrison strength in Yunyi was too empty. Although, after Li Ran and Confucius left, Sun Wu also recruited a certain number of people to join the army, but even with the original Qi military strength, it was still less than 10,000 people.
As for Yang Hu, Meng Sun Heji and Meng Sun Heji originally brought a total of 30,000 people. Even if Meng Sun Heji left with 10,000 of his own people, Ji's side still had 20,000 people! It can be said that he is determined to win Yunyi.
Yunyi was originally a small town, but now the Marquis of Qi doesn't care about it, and the Marquis of Jin doesn't care about it. And Yang Hu also formulated a strategy of wheel warfare, surrounded Yunyi, and sent people to invade from various places from time to time. His intention was to make the defenders of Yunyi disorder their position, and even force the Qi garrison to abandon the city. Walk.
He knew that the main force of the defenders was Qi's soldiers and horses. Once they evacuated, Yunyi would almost become an empty city.
In addition, Yang Hu was indeed very methodical in fighting, and his use of troops was both weak and real, real and weak, which actually made Sun Wu unbearable for a while.
As for Ji Le, after learning that Lu Hou Chou failed to return home, he knew that Lu Hou Chou was in a low mood, so he stayed by his side to comfort him.
Lu Houchou's mood was a little more stable. When Li Ran and Ji Le met, they were also lingering without mentioning it.
However, it had only been a month since he had seen her, but Li Ran felt that her body seemed to be even weaker. And the worry in his heart became even worse.
