"Father Zhong, why did you say this?" Ying Zheng suppressed the horror in his heart and asked.
Lu Buwei sighed and said in a deep voice: "The old minister brought a medical officer from the mansion to the Meng Mansion that day. The medical officer looked at the old general's condition and checked the prescription. I'm afraid...I'm afraid that the old general Meng will not be around for a long time. Not much, but it’s a pity that Great Qin will lose a pillar.”
Ying Zhenggang wanted to ask whether Lu Buwei felt sad or happy that Da Qin had lost this pillar. But he swallowed the words again. If he continued to test like this, once Lu Buwei got anxious, it would not end well.
"General Meng had a few words with me alone and said that he could no longer go to the battlefield and wanted to remove his armor. I agreed. What do you think, Father Zhong?" Ying Zheng looked into Lu Buwei's eyes and asked.
Ying Zheng felt relieved when he saw that Lu Buwei didn't know what Meng Ao had entrusted him to do, so he changed the question, so he said "disarming" rather than "transferring power".
"General Meng, the old general, has made many military exploits throughout his life and opened up nearly three-thirds of the territory of the Qin Dynasty. He is an indispensable pillar of the country after Bai Qi. If he just retires, the loss to the Qin Dynasty is really incalculable." Lu Buwei said. It's so emotional, and it looks like I really feel sorry for him.
Ying Zheng nodded in agreement.
Lu Buwei continued: "Unfortunately, time is not forgiving. It is only human nature that General Meng proposed to remove his armor. Even if he is not allowed to remove his armor, it is almost impossible to expect General Meng to go into battle and capture cities and territories. "
"Actually, General Meng doesn't have no successor." Ying Zheng said, "I want Meng Wu to inherit his father's legacy. What do you think, Father Zhong?"
"This is exactly what I meant," Lu Buwei said. "It is only natural for a son to inherit his father's legacy. What's more, General Mengwu is not an incompetent person."
Ying Zheng smiled and said, "It turns out that Father Zhong had already planned this."
"It is necessary to make early plans. If the old minister's estimate is correct, once Meng Ao dies of illness, war may break out." Lu Buwei said.
"What Father Zhong said is reasonable. Once a general in the DPRK dies of illness, the enemy will take advantage of this situation to send troops to attack, either to demonstrate or to regain the lost territory with real swords and guns." Ying Zheng's expression became serious.
Lu Buwei nodded: "Yes, especially South Korea and Wei. Over the years, they have lost countless cities and land to the old general Meng. How can they be willing to accept it?"
"Then it's even more necessary for Meng Wu to stand alone." Ying Zheng said.
"What the king said is absolutely true." Lu Buwei nodded and said.
Seeing that Lu Buwei expressed his stance on the Meng family's affairs, Ying Zheng was relieved.
After all, Lu Buwei's attitude is the key to what the Meng family is planning. If Lu Buwei objects, it will most likely not happen.
The first goal was accomplished, Ying Zheng was secretly happy, and turned to ask: "By the way, Father Zhong still remembers the important things I said a few days ago?"
"Oh?" Lu Buwei thought for a moment and asked, "But what did the king mention about the 'Nine Cauldrons'?"
"Haha, that's right." Ying Zheng said, "I came here secretly for another reason, that is, I want to see the legendary 'Chinese Nine Cauldrons'."
"The Jiuding is the King's Jiuding. The King can look at it whenever he wants." Lu Buwei said resolutely, "But this matter must not be known to outsiders. I will go and make arrangements immediately. Please wait for a moment."
After saying that, Lu Buwei handed over his hands and walked out of the door.
It seems that Lu Buwei is quite serious about Jiuding.
Ying Zheng walked alone in the room, full of curiosity: What do the legendary Jiuding look like? Are they really that important to the whole of China? I wonder where Lu Buwei will place the Jiuding.
While Ying Zheng was imagining what Jiuding looked like, Lu Buwei walked lightly into the house. It seemed that everything was arranged well and quite quickly.
"The Nine Cauldrons have been placed in the Treasure Pavilion by the old minister. All the other people have avoided it. Please go with the old minister." Lu Buwei said with his hand in hand.
"Then I have trouble with Father Zhong. I have never been to Father Zhong's Treasure Pavilion, so they must be rare treasures." Ying Zheng teased with a smile.
"The king is making fun of my old minister. They are all antique calligraphy and paintings, not worth mentioning." Lu Buwei made a gesture of invitation and accompanied Ying Zheng to leave.
There were two people waiting at the door. Ying Zheng recognized them. One was Lu Wen and the other was Lu Wu. The names were all given by Lu Buwei, who was very close to Lu Buwei and was equivalent to Lu Buwei’s godson. However, Lu Buwei was Ying Zheng’s second-father. Naturally, he could not accept anyone else as his godson, so the two of them had no status. , nominally the steward of Lu Mansion.
The two of them saluted Ying Zheng, and Ying Zheng nodded to them.
Lu Wen and Lu Wu led the way, while Ying Zheng and Lu Buwei followed behind.
He had to follow him at the third watch, and Ying Zheng asked him to wait where he was. After all, it was always not good to just enter someone else's treasure house, not to mention that this was the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Not seeing anyone along the way, the four of them passed through a small garden and came to a lake. The Treasure Pavilion is built on the lakeside and is quite standard.
Not only is the lakeside scenery beautiful, but more importantly, the treasure pavilion is built on the waterside, so that in the event of a fire, it can be rescued in time.
The shape of the Treasure Pavilion is more like a two-story tower. There are people guarding the door, all around, including the corridor and roof on the second floor, including many experts.
Seeing Lu Buwei coming, the guards opened the door one after another. After the leader stepped forward to greet him, he opened the door.
Lu Buwei ordered the leader of the guards to wait where they were without entering, and then led Ying Zheng and others into the Treasure Pavilion.
Facing the door is a stone screen, which is as tall as a person. It is made up of several stone slabs butted together. There are some patterns carved on it, and the joints are polished very carefully. It can be seen that this is not to let people see the scene inside the house from outside the door.
Turning around the screen, my eyes suddenly opened up.
There are basically letters, satin, and cotton hanging or placed on every wall. Most of them have turned yellow, or even broken or damaged.
The slips are mostly poems and songs, while the silks, satins and thin sheets are mostly calligraphy and paintings.
Presumably, these are the handwritings of celebrities. They seem to exist in all eras and are of great collection value.
Lu Buwei kept walking forward without saying a word, as if he didn't want to introduce anything to Ying Zheng. Ying Zheng didn't care about this either. His mind was all on Jiuding, so he didn't ask any more questions.
After passing through the hall and entering the corridor, there were several rooms on both sides, but the doors were all locked. The doors are all stone doors, and the locks are also double and double locks made of cast iron. No need to ask, Lu Buwei's family assets are all stored in these rooms, which are veritable small treasury.
At the end of the corridor is a secret room. Lu Buwei unlocked the door, went in first, and lit the oil lamp for lighting.
Seeing that there was light in the secret room, Ying Zheng followed him into the secret room.
Lu Wen and Lu Wu did not go in, but stayed outside.
The light in the secret room is very weak, but you can see clearly. It is more like a study than a secret room.
There is a set of tables and chairs placed in the middle of the secret room, which looks very elegant. There are also bookshelves on both sides with a lot of books on them, and there is a wooden couch behind which can be rested. But Ying Zheng understood that these were just pretense, and there should be a secret room within the secret room.
Sure enough, Lu Buwei used the key to open the drawer under the desk and found an iron thing shaped like a wrench.
I saw him coming to the wooden couch again, lifting up the mat, pulling out a piece of wood, and using the "wrench" he took out, he inserted it diagonally into a groove, pulled it up, and twisted it half a turn.
Click, click, squeak...
On the innermost floor of the secret room, a stone slab was opened, revealing a secret passage.
"Your Majesty, this is it. Follow me in." Lu Buwei took the lead with an oil lamp in his hand, guiding the way.
Ying Zheng took a deep breath and followed him into the tunnel.
A gust of cool wind hit his face, and Ying Zheng shivered slightly, and his mood was quite complicated.
Anyone who enters a strange and complex environment that they don't understand for the first time will have some fear in their heart. What's more, he is the monarch of a country, and his vigilance is higher than that of ordinary people. Besides, it was Lu Buwei who led him in. If Lu Buwei had ulterior motives, he didn't even have a helper around him, and he couldn't help but feel a little regretful in his heart.
But as a young man, my thirst for knowledge and curiosity are engraved in my bones. He was about to see the legendary Jiuding, which made him full of expectations, and he couldn't help but speed up his pace.
Ying Zheng was thinking about it when he heard Lu Buwei say: "Your Majesty, we are here."
Ying Zheng looked up. The light was very weak, but he could vaguely see several large cauldrons placed squarely in front of him. He suddenly felt excited and a little nervous.
Lu Buwei told Ying Zheng not to move for the time being, while he walked around the secret room, lit the oil lamps used to illuminate the secret room one by one, and checked to see if there was anything different. After returning to the original place, he led Ying Zheng towards Jiuding.
The light was much brighter, but only a few large cauldrons in the front could be seen, while the ones in the back were blocked.
I saw that the shapes of the several tripods in front were all different. The body of the tripod was round or square, and the same was true when looking at the tripod legs. The height and size of each tripod are also different. The taller one is two heads taller than a human being, while the short one is one head shorter than an adult.
The color of each tripod is also different, including gray, silver with gray, copper-green, gray-green, etc.
Ying Zheng walked to the nearest tripod and observed it carefully.
This cauldron is gray in color and slightly whitish. The body of the cauldron is round, and the three legs are also round. The legs are short and the body of the cauldron is relatively deep. There are two tripod ears on it, which are also arc-shaped. The outer sides of the tripod body and tripod feet are relatively smooth, and are also carved with various stripes, like strange words, and there are various strange patterns in some places.
Ying Zheng stroked the stripes on Ding's body with his hands, and carefully observed the patterns and symbols with his eyes. He was very curious, but he couldn't figure out what they represented.
After moving a few steps laterally, Ying Zheng came to another tripod. This tripod was green and seemed to be made of bronze. The body of the tripod was square, but the legs were round, and the ears were also arc-shaped. , there are also stripes and patterns engraved on the outside, which are somewhat similar to the symbols on the first tripod, but it can be seen that the order of arrangement is completely different.
Lu Buwei just watched from the side and did not disturb Ying Zheng.
Ying Zheng looked at the third, fourth...
In half an hour, Ying Zhengcai observed the Jiuding one by one.
The body, feet and ears of each tripod may be square or round, but the combination methods are different and there is no similarity.
The outside of each tripod is engraved with strange symbols and patterns, and the order is also different.
The colors of each tripod are also different, but I don’t know whether it’s due to the different materials used to make the tripods, the craftsmanship, or the different eras.
These are the initial impressions that Ying Zheng got after observing the nine great cauldrons.
"Father Zhong." Ying Zheng walked towards Lu Buwei, "This Jiuding is really unusual. I wonder what Father Zhong thinks?"
Lu Buwei bowed his head and said solemnly: "Back to the king, I believe that this Nine Cauldron is a natural thing, and I am afraid it was not made by mortal hands."
Ying Zheng was stunned.
