That night, after Meng Zhong reported to Sima Mengzhi and the young sect leader Mengwu about "visiting Mencius" about Mengzhong, he followed Hui'an on a carriage and embarked on a journey to Zou State.

"Don't you need to report this matter to the king?" Meng Zhong asked curiously during this period. After all, as far as he knew, Hui Ang was an important minister around Song Wang Yan. Although Song Wang Yan would not be unable to leave Hui Ang for a moment, logically speaking, Hui Ang would not have done anything "being arrogant because of favor", and should report to Song Wang Yan.

Hui Ann explained that he actually made a special trip to visit Mencius this time because Mencius had a disciple who went to Pengcheng for the second time to meet Wang Yan of Song and begged Wang Yan of Song to stop attacking Teng Kingdom.

In fact, as early as two years ago, Mencius' disciples "Wan Zhang", "Gongsun Chou", "Chen Zhen (zhēn)" and others asked to meet the Song army Sima Jingcheng, and advised Jingcheng to stop attacking Teng Kingdom. At that time, Jingcheng sent these people to Pengcheng to meet Song Wangyan. The one who came forward to receive Wan Zhang and others was Hui'an.

According to Hui Ang, the disciples of Mencius hoped that Song State would stop attacking Teng State was initiated by Mencius' disciples Gongsun Chou, Chen Zhen and others. Mencius himself did not express his opinion—that is, he did not support, but he did not object.

After learning about this, Hui Ang had a debate with Wan Zhang, Gongsun Chou, Chen Zhen and others, saying that the Song Dynasty's attack on Teng State was to better implement the kingly way, so he barely sent away those disciples of Mencius.

However, due to the fierce resistance of Teng State, the fighting between the Song and Teng Army gradually escalated, involving ordinary civilians in Teng State, which made Confucians particularly disliked. Until a few months ago, when Song Wang Yan ordered the conscription again to attack Teng State, Confucians sent people to Pengcheng to see Song Wang Yan again.

In the Confucian disciples who went to Pengcheng this time, two unusual characters appeared, namely Mencius's only son "Meng Zhong" and his only grandson "Meng Chi".

Meng Zhong and Meng Chi appeared in the team of Confucian disciples who "dissuaded Song Wang Yan". Doesn't this mean that Mencius is increasingly unable to tolerate the actions of the Song army in Teng?

Although Hui Ang came forward to persuade these Confucian disciples to withdraw this time, he felt that it was necessary to visit Mencius in person, listen to the latter's ideas, or explain the latter. After all, Mencius had an extraordinary reputation in all countries in the Central Plains. Simply put, a word from Mencius could be called the "name" of Qi, Wei, Chu and other countries to attack Song.

Therefore, it is very necessary to have a good relationship with Mencius.

As for bringing his brother Meng Zhong with him, it was Hui'an's own selfishness, or rather, his care for his brother as his elder brother.

"Brother, are you a disciple of Mencius?"

Meng Zhong was curious about asking Hui Angdao because as far as he knew, this righteous brother learned a very complicated school of Taoism, name, Confucianism, Law, Mo and other schools, but from the strategy of governing the Song Dynasty, we can see that Hui Ang actually favors Confucian "benevolence governance", and "benevolence governance" is exactly Mencius's proposition.

Hui Ann shook her head with a smile.

Hui Ann was a clan member of Huizi (Hui Shi), a native of Shangqiu, Song State. As a native of Song State, the first thing he came into contact with was the thoughts of "Laozi (Tao Te Ching)" and "The Analects of Confucius", namely the thoughts of Tao and Confucianism.

Later, Hui Shi, the uncle who served as the prime minister in Wei, returned to Song because Zhang Yi took the position of prime minister. Hui Ang began to come into contact with the ideas of famous masters because of this uncle.

When Hui Ann used "benevolence" to convince Song Wangyan, who was valued by the latter to participate in the governance of state affairs, he began to contact the academic thoughts of Legalists, Mohists and other scholars to supplement his shortcomings in governing the country.

As for the relationship between Hui Ang and Mencius, Hui Ang had asked Mencius many times, but he only asked for advice - just like he also asked Zhuangzi for advice, but he was not a disciple of Mencius. The reason for this was very complicated. For example, as the prime minister of Song State at that time, he was no longer suitable to join Mencius; for example, Wang Yan of Song held some prejudice against Confucianism and did not allow Hui Ang to do that.

After chatting for a while, Hui'an briefly introduced Mencius's life to Meng Zhong.

Mencius, the surname Meng, named Ke, was from Zou State (Bi State). His ancestors were the "Meng Sun Clan", one of the "Three Huans" of Lu State. During the internal struggle between the Duke of Lu State and the Three Huans for more than a hundred years, the Meng Sun Clan gradually became weak and eventually lost. In desperation, he moved from Lu State to Zou State, which was a vassal state of Lu State, and lived in Zou State.

Mencius's teacher was said to be the disciple of "Zi Siji".

Among the Confucian disciples, two very famous people, both of whom are both named Zisi, and the other is "Yuan Xian", which is called "Zi Sixian".

Zi Sixian was a native of the Song Dynasty and a disciple of Confucius. He was one of the seventy-two wise men of Confucius. He was born in poverty, had a cautious personality, was self-disciplined, and enjoyed the Tao throughout his life, and refused to merge with the secular world. His thoughts were a bit close to Taoist thoughts.

It is said that after Confucius' death, Yuan Xian lived in seclusion in Wei State, with a thatched hut and tiles, a simple meal, and a very hard life.

At this time, his classmates and friends, "Zigong", who were also disciples of Confucius, had already become a senior doctor in the Wei Kingdom.

One day, Zigong was wearing gorgeous clothes and riding in a luxurious carriage, and came to visit Yuan Xian with all his might. Seeing that the latter was not well-dressed, Zigong asked with concern: "Are you sick?"

Yuan Xian replied honestly: "No money is called poverty, and those who study Taoism but cannot practice are called illness. I am not sick, I am just poor."

Zigong left ashamed when he heard this, while Zi Sixian leisurely sang folk songs from the Song Dynasty in front of his simple home.

Another Confucian celebrity named Zisi was Confucius's legitimate grandson "Kong Ji (ji), that is, "Zi Si Ji (ji), who was the disciple of Confucius' favorite disciple "Zeng Zi (Zeng Shen).

It is said that Confucius' son "Kong Li" was long ago. Confucius entrusted his grandson Kong Ji to Zeng Shen before he died, and asked the latter to join Zeng Shen's disciple. According to the Confucian "Taotong", Confucius passed on Zeng Shen, Zeng Shen passed on Kong Ji, and Kong Ji's further disciples passed on to Mencius. This is the Confucian Taoist tradition inheritance. [ps: The internal Confucian schools that are not "Taotong" have been defeated by their fellow disciples one after another over the long years. Like Zi Zhang Zhiru, Zi Si's Confucian Confucian (actually referred to Yuan Xian), including Zixia, Xunzi and others, they have been labeled as heretics. Interested book friends can understand it themselves.]

Therefore, Mencius was the "head of Confucianism" in contemporary Confucianism and the founder of the "Meng Confucianism" - when Xunzi had not yet "studyed" and mentioned Confucianism, he would inevitably be unable to avoid Mencius.

Let’s talk about Zou State, the king of Zou State was the descendant of Zhuanxu, the grandson of Huangdi. His ancestor was "Yan'an" and the ancestor of the Cao family. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed Shang, he appointed Yan'an's descendants in Zou, which is the origin of Zou State - the king of Zou State was a viscount. Therefore, all monarchs of all dynasties called "Zou Zi".

The first country of Zou was not weak, it was a country that was exactly the same as the "Ju Country". Among the countries around Mount Tai, it was second only to Qi and Lu. However, due to civil strife and hostile relations with Lu, Zou Country had a split and never recovered from it. It became one of the weakest countries in the Central Plains and was ignored by the countries in the Central Plains.

On September 22, after a short two-day journey, Hui Ang took Meng Zhong to Zou Kingdom and came to this country where there is only one "one county".

Of course, the saying "a county land" is indeed a bit exaggerated. After all, there are at least two or three earthen cities in Zou State. But it is undeniable that the entire territory of Zou State is indeed not as good as the Taoyi Da of Song State. It is a small country that can walk around the borders of the country within one day.

However, although the country is small and the country is poor, the country is peaceful, which is a world of difference from the Teng Kingdom, which is only two days away. It is impossible not to say that this is Mencius's contribution - his existence made countries such as Qi, Lu, and Song dare not offend Zou Kingdom.

About half an hour after entering Zou Kingdom, the carriage drove into a small manor. According to Hui Ann's explanation, this was where Mencius lived - let's just call it "Mencius Residence".

While driving the carriage, Meng Zhong observed the Mencius residence from the car window. He found that the layout of Mencius residence is actually similar to that of Zhuangzi residence. At best, there are houses around and more fields. It is more like a town than a residence.

"Mencius has many disciples, right?"

Meng Zhong asked Hui Andao with emotion.

Hui Ang smiled and explained that according to what he said, Mencius did not have many disciples, at least not as good as Confucius, who was known as three thousand disciples, but his disciples were disciples and followers - even if they were not accepted as disciples by Mencius, there were still many people who were willing to follow him.

These followers and their families, together with Mencius' disciples and their families, made Mencius's residence seem to be a small town.

A moment later, the carriage stopped in front of a building that looked like a palace. Immediately, Hui Ann took Meng Zhong out of the carriage and walked into the building.

The reason why this building is like a palace is not because of its luxury, but because it covers a large area, but because it is because of the large number of disciples of Mencius.

When you walk into this building called the mansion, you will see a door wall. The door wall is written in large seal script with a huge character "Confucian" - a little different from the characters from the Song Dynasty that Meng Zhong knew, and can be roughly recognizable.

Turning over the door wall, I saw an empty courtyard, which was very large, and seemed to be larger than the entire Zhuangziju. At this time, Mencius was in this courtyard, telling the Confucian classics to his disciples and those who were willing to accept his thoughts.

Confucianism pays great attention to etiquette, which can be reflected in the seating.

Mencius sat alone behind a low table, facing the disciples and followers. On the left and right sides of the front, there were vertical seats. The one sitting here was probably Mencius's disciples. Everyone had a table in front of them and a book on the table.

And further forward, the closer we get to Hui'an, there is no horizontal seat where Meng Zhong is. Ordinary disciples and followers sit on a straw mat, facing Mencius, and upright.

Meng Zhong counted roughly and found that there were as many as two or three hundred people in the hospital.

Perhaps he noticed the arrival of Hui Ang and Hui Ang and the other two. Among the last Confucian disciples, one of them turned around and made a gesture of silence. Then he pointed aside again - looking in the direction he pointed, you could see a pile of straw mats placed there.
Chapter completed!