Chapter 5: Living a Life of Drunkenness and Dreaming of Death
"In the battlefield, he may not be inferior to you. But in the court battles, you are definitely inferior to him."
The drunkard sneered, obviously not taking Ying Chengjiao's words to heart.
The way he and Ying Chengjiao got along with each other was very casual. They were more like friends than master and his retainers.
"I can't be a mean person who has honey on his lips but a sword in his belly."
Ying Chengjiao reached over the table and tapped the drunkard's chest.
"Who are you talking about? Are you trying to curse me in a roundabout way? Do you still want to work for me?"
"When did I ever scold you, Your Majesty? Uh, hahaha! I never meant that. Please don't blame me, Your Majesty! Don't blame me!" The drunkard finally reacted.
Ying Chengjiao and Meng Tian both have their own motives, and they are the same. When he mentioned Meng Tian just now, he was talking about Ying Chengjiao.
The two laughed and joked for a while, the drunkard drank and ate, behaving casually.
"Your Majesty has not asked about Qin's political affairs for a long time. Why did you change your mind because of Ying Fusu? As a young man, he became a knife in the hands of Confucianists. Why does Your Majesty waste your time on such a stupid person?"
"Do you really think Fusu doesn't know Confucian ideas?"
While chewing the meat, the drunkard muttered, "If he knew, why would he contradict the King of Qin? Unless he is a lunatic!"
"You are right. My nephew is a lunatic!"
The drunk looked up, raised his eyebrows, and gave Ying Chengjiao a suspicious look.
The eldest son of the Qin State, he is kind, pure, kind, courageous, polite and gentle to others.
You say that such a person is crazy. Your Majesty, you think that I have damaged my brain by drinking, right?
"You still don't believe it, come, I'll explain it to you!"
“No need!”
The drunkard pushed his hand away and refused, looking cautious.
"Your Majesty, you are very good at deceiving people. You even tricked me into coming to Qin. But you can't always trick me alone, right? When a girl on the grassland plucks wool to make clothes, she won't just pluck one sheep, or she will pluck the sheep bald."
Ying Chengjiao was furious.
"Who fooled you? You drunkard! You have no knowledge! I taught you out of kindness, but you bite me back!"
"The term 'unlearned and unskillful' is only used by you, Your Majesty, in Xianyang City."
"I have some thoughts, so I want to give you two sentences. I hope you will remember them in your heart - the whole world is turbid but I am pure, everyone is drunk but I am sober! Don't let worldly prejudices blind you!"
"Your Majesty, your understanding is the same as Qu Yuan's. Qu Yuan wrote these two sentences in "The Fisherman"."
"You're still reading The Fisherman? Can you read?"
"Fighting a war also requires the use of military tactics. How can a famous general be illiterate?"
"Yes, I have!"
Ying Chengjiao smiled coldly.
"Famous General Li Yunlong, who could not read, was still able to command the Ping'angle Battle that changed the situation of the war!"
"Li Yunlong? Why haven't I heard of this name? Which country is he from? Where is Ping'angle? I can memorize the entire map and I'm sure there is no such place name on it. Your Majesty, you are fooling me again."
"I have another insight. The more ignorant a person is, the more he likes to question others. Didn't Qu Yuan say this?"
"Your Majesty, have you admitted that you plagiarized Qu Yuan before?"
"No, I just had the same feeling as Qu Yuan."
The drunkard said sincerely: "How thick is your face? Even if I use the sword forged by Ou Yezi to scratch your face, I can't leave a scar on your face."
Ou Yezi was a Yue person in the early Warring States Period. He was the originator of sword making . Half of the ten famous swords were made by Ou Yezi.
The Tai'a Sword, the King of Chu, and the Chunjun Sword, the King of Yue, were both forged by Ou Yezi.
Every sword forged by Ou Yezi is extremely sharp and is the best sword among all.
"Drunkard, can you go and bring me Touman's head now?"
Touman was the name of the Xiongnu Khan.
The Khan of the Xiongnu was equivalent to the emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
The Xiongnu were the most powerful ethnic group of the Hu people.
"Yes, Your Majesty, just give me 200,000 men."
"I can only give you 20 men. I heard that famous generals can defeat the enemy with fewer men. You are a famous general in the world. I believe you will bring me back the head of Guman."
"Why does the Lord want to kill me? Did I say something wrong to anger the Lord?"
"Of course not. I'm not a stingy person. I just want Touman's head."
The drunkard stared at Ying Chengjiao for a long while, knocked on the table three times, blinked seven times, and suddenly smiled.
He picked up a jar of strong liquor and poured it into his mouth through the mouth of the jar without using a jug.
"Leave some for me! I don't want to drink anymore!"
Ying Chengjiao tried to stop him several times, but to no avail.
Snap~
The wine jar fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
There was no wine splashing, only a few drops of wine could be seen on the broken pieces of the jar.
Meng Tian and Ying Chengjiao drank half a jar of liquor together, and the drunkard was so drunk that he drank the whole jar.
The drunkard's eyes were hazy. He stood up and burped, and the whole house was filled with the smell of alcohol.
He staggered out and was grabbed by the shoulder by Ying Chengjiao.
"What are you doing? I was just joking."
The drunkard turned around, his eyes shining like stars, and shouted, "I'll go and bring Touman's head back to you, Lord!"
Ying Chengjiao laughed angrily and shouted, "Do you have 200,000 soldiers?"
The drunkard got louder.
" I have!"
Plop~
The pair of stars dimmed, and his body tilted, falling drunkenly on Ying Chengjiao.
"You have nothing but the smell of alcohol!"
"……I have."
The drunkard's voice became much quieter. Perhaps he was drunk and his head was confused, so he couldn't shout anymore.
He tried hard to open his eyes, but his eyelids kept falling down.
During these dozens of times of opening and closing, he saw those familiar and young figures again.
The young men, who still had childish looks on their faces and had no beards yet, were shouting loudly.
"General! Didn't you say that drinking would cause trouble? You can't drink during war!"
"General! Where were you in the last battle? Without you, we can't stop the Qin army!"
"General! Have you surrendered to the Qin State? Didn't we agree that we would never surrender until our death?"
I do. I actually do...
The drunkard was drunk, and Ying Chengjiao sighed softly.
"No matter how much you drink, you won't survive."
Most of the wine in Chang'an Jun's mansion went into the mouths of drunkards.
A drunkard gets drunk three times a day, every day.
Living in drunkenness and dreaming of death - the living are drunk and the dreamers are dead.
Meng Mansion.
Meng Ao, who had served four generations of Qin monarchs, lay on the couch with a head full of white hair, listening to his grandson Meng Tian's complete account of what happened in the Chang'an Jun Mansion.
"The eldest son and I were stopped in the palace by Ying Chengjiao. After this idiot went to the palace, His Majesty really changed his mind. He managed to accomplish something that neither the left prime minister nor the right prime minister could do, and the eldest son really stayed here temporarily! Grandfather, why aren't you surprised at all?"
Qin's veteran general Meng Ao sat up, hunching his back, and Meng Tian hurried forward to support him.
"Your Majesty, you and Chang'an Jun have always had a good relationship, you young people just don't know it. If Chang'an Jun hadn't been willing to give up the throne of Qin... forget it, it's all in the past, don't talk about him."
Meng Ao was talking halfway when Meng Tian realized there was something hidden and kept asking questions.
But no matter how much he asked, this old man who usually told him everything remained tight-lipped and refused to reveal any information.
"What are you asking? If you have nothing to do, just get out of here! Don't disturb my sleep!"
Seeing that he could not get any information out of Meng Ao, Meng Tian could only helplessly say, "Since you don't want to talk, I won't ask. But you must tell me how my Meng family will behave in the court tomorrow."
Meng Ao said happily: "Will there be another court meeting tomorrow? Your Majesty has held more court meetings than King Zhaoxiang did. The Qin State is getting better and better."
The Qin court meetings were not held every day, but were only held when the King of Qin notified them.
If the King of Qin did not say to convene a court meeting, it would be normal not to hold one for ten days or half a month.
In fact, holding morning court every day was a rule set by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Before this, there was no such rule in any dynasty.
King Zhaoxiang of Qin was the first monarch Meng Ao served in Qin, and he was also a famous wise monarch in the history of Qin.
Meng Ao considered himself a rough man. In his mind, the wisdom of the monarch was positively correlated with the number of court meetings held.
He originally thought that King Zhaoxiang of Qin held court meetings frequently enough and that he was wise enough.
When he was in his old age, he discovered that Ying Zheng, who was in his prime, had held more court meetings than King Zhaoxiang of Qin had held in his entire life.
This made the veteran feel that Ren Qinjun was extremely wise.
"Since you have been assigned to the eldest son by His Majesty, you should recognize the eldest son as the commander in chief in matters that have nothing to do with His Majesty. We, the Meng family, are not from the old Qin family. We are from outside. We can stand firm in Qin not only because of our fighting skills, but also because of our loyalty!"
Meng Tian agreed.
"Grandson, I understand. Tomorrow I will cheer for Ying Chengjiao."
"What does this have to do with Lord Chang'an? Huh? Lord Chang'an is going to attend a court meeting tomorrow? He wants to participate in politics?!"
