Time has long passed the Jingzhe period, and Lin'an City this year looks heavy and dilapidated inside and out.
Some of the mansions scattered throughout the city have long since fallen into disrepair. After the death of their owners and the ravages of war, the ruins of the mansions have become gathering points for refugees and people living in dilapidated households. Rebels also come occasionally, bringing along the way to hunt and kill rebels.
The thieves' officers and soldiers would sometimes light fireworks again in the city.
Some of the bluestones on the imperial street were worn out, and no one could repair them. After the spring rain, the sewage channels were blocked, and the sewage surged out and flowed on the street. After the weather cleared, it turned into a bad smell and choked people's breath. In charge of
The small court and yamen of government affairs are always troubled by countless things, and they cannot manage such things.
In fact, in these years, a little smelly sewage can no longer disturb people's purity.
A year ago, Lin'an once had many splendid and colorful places. At this time, the paint gradually faded, and the entire city was mostly occupied by gray and black. Walking on the streets, you can occasionally see trees that have never died in the courtyard.
A corner of the wall sprouts new green, which is a dazzling scenery. In the city, the embellishment of paint has faded away, leaving only the weight of the earth and stone material itself. I just don’t know when, this weight itself will also lose its dignity.
In February, the main force of the Jurchen East Route Army had evacuated Lin'an, but the continued turmoil did not leave much room for the city to live. When the Jurchens came, they massacred hundreds of thousands of people for half a year.
As time passed, the Han people living in the cracks relied on the Jurchens and gradually formed a new ecosystem. However, with the withdrawal of the Jurchens, this ecosystem was broken again.
The fights between low-level gangs and desperadoes take place every night in the city, and every day at dawn, you can see the dead lying on the streets.
Compared with Lin'an a year ago, the population of the city has dropped sharply, but the living space enjoyed by each person has not been expanded, but has been greatly reduced. This is because the material supply in the city has dropped even further.
Skinny people killed their compatriots in dark alleys for a small profit that they would not even look at in the past. For a few kilograms of rice, for the benefit of a butcher shop, dozens of people died in a firefight, which is nothing.
It's such a strange thing.
We cannot accuse these survivalists of being cruel. When the survival supplies in an ecosystem are greatly reduced, it is inevitable for every system to operate to reduce the number of people through fighting. The rations of ten people cannot feed eleven people. The problem is
It just depends on how the eleventh person dies.
Only a few people still maintain a good life.
The rain stopped for a while, and the carriage of Li Shan, the minister of civil affairs, drove through the long street filled with dirty water. Following the carriage was an entourage of ten guards. These accompanying soldiers with swords blocked the carriage.
He saw pedestrians trying to come over to beg on the side of the road. He watched from the car window that a woman with a child in her arms was pushed to the ground by the guards. The infant child was actually a fake.
"A poor trick." He thought in his heart and lowered the curtain in annoyance.
At this moment, what really troubled him was not the bad things he saw every day, but the various strange news coming from the west.
Since last year, former Wu Dynasty officials, led by his mentors Wu Qimei, Tie Yan and others, have defected to the Jin Kingdom, elected a collateral royal family who is said to be related to the Zhou family to the throne, and established a small court in Lin'an. Initially,
Although they were always trembling with fear and sometimes blushed when they were called traitors, as time went by, some people gradually adapted to the public opinion they created.
In fact, establishing this small court of the Wu Dynasty may not be the worst choice in the current situation in the world. The Wu Dynasty has been more than two hundred years old, and the current emperors, whether it is Zhou Zhe or Zhou Yong,
, they can all be said to be ignorant and rebellious.
Even Emperor Jingping Zhou Ji, who was caught in the middle and reigned for less than a year, was also a fool who sought divination from gods. He used the so-called "Heavenly Master" Guo Jing as his general to fight against the Jurchens, but he opened the city gate himself, causing
The Jurchens entered Bianliang without any effort during the second southern expedition. Perhaps no one dared to say it at the beginning, but now it seems that the shame of Jingping and the humiliation that Zhou Ji suffered after half his life can be regarded as self-inflicted.
After all, the fortune of the Wu Dynasty is gone. With the Central Plains and Jiangnan having fallen, some resistance may be coming to an end - there may still be some chaos, but as the Jurchens control the entire Jin Kingdom,
Once the situation stabilizes, these chaos will gradually disappear.
After all, this is the process of one dynasty replacing another.
Whether to accept this reality or die in the foreseeable chaos. After such a comparison, some things are not so difficult to accept. On the other hand, many people actually do not have much choice.
The torrent of history is too big and fierce. In recent days, Li Shan often feels that he is just an ordinary person who has fallen into the angry tide. He either grabs the only usable wooden board in his hand and tries to survive, or lets go and is trapped.
Swallowed by the tide. His ability to reach the position of Minister of Civil Affairs in such a small court may not be due to ability, but to luck:
He became Wu Qimei's disciple, and Wu Qimei became the Right Chancellor of the imperial court. He followed suit. If he didn't do this, he would have no other choice.
In the past few months, generally speaking, the development of the "Jun Society" headed by Wu Qimei is quite gratifying. In the small court, Wu Qimei was originally ranked as the right prime minister, and the most powerful one was the left prime minister Tie.
Tie Yan, but many of Tie Yan's forces came from the Fujian army. At the beginning of the year, the eldest princess Zhou Pei used a trick to capture Fuzhou and killed Tie Yan's cousin Tie Sanwu. Tie Yan's momentum dropped. And the pace became even more intense.
The steady Wu Qimei not only expanded her momentum, but also gained more appreciation from the Jurchens to a certain extent.
At present, the Lin'an court does not pay much attention to checks and balances. Wu Qimei's momentum has increased, and the rest of the people have risen to heaven. As a disciple of Wu Qimei, although Li Shan is still only a minister in the official department, even the minister does not dare not give
His face. In the past two months, although the conditions at the bottom of Lin'an City were still difficult, many things, including curios, land deeds, and beauties, were delivered to Li Shan like flowing water.
In such a situation, for the first time in his life, Li Shancai felt what it means to be a general trend, and what it means that the world and the earth are united in time. He did not need to speak about these benefits, and even refusing to do so would feel like he was hurting others. Especially in February,
After the main force of the Jin soldiers withdrew one after another, the situation at the bottom of Lin'an became agitated again, and more benefits were sent to Li Shan.
In the foreseeable future, the "Jun Society" led by Wu Qimei will become the ruling class of the entire Lin'an and the entire Wu Dynasty, and Li Shan only needs to follow forward to have everything.
After all, dynasties are changing, and he is just following along, just to protect himself, not actively harming others, and there is nothing wrong with his conscience if he asks himself.
If it weren't for the information that had been sent to him in the past few days, everything he had experienced would have been a dream in heaven.
In the battle of Changsha, Chen Fan defeated the Jurchen army and was able to kill with silver.
In the southwest, the Black Flag Army defeated the female main force and killed Wanyan Xiebao.
Of these two big pieces of news, the first one came a few days ago, and everyone is still confirming its authenticity, while the second one entered the city the day before yesterday. Only a few high-level officials really know about it now, and all the details are still unknown.
It's being passed on.
Thousands of miles apart, it takes several days to arrive at the 800-mile express. The first round of information is often inaccurate, and the confirmation period is also extremely long. It is difficult to confirm whether there are other problems in the process. Some people even think it is a conspiracy.
The Banner Army's careful operations took advantage of the turbulent situation in Lin'an and used false information to disrupt the situation - such doubts are justified.
Amidst various speculations, in general, this news has not caused too much waves thousands of miles away. People suppress their thoughts and try not to make any statements. But on a real level
, because people still don’t know how to deal with such news.
At the end of last year, when the news of the killing of Yu Lili came out in the Southwest Battle, people were still able to make some responses - and not long after, Huangming County was captured, and the Southwest Jin Army also achieved its own results, and some discussions immediately subsided.
. But today... Black Flag can really defeat the Jurchens.
Isn't it said that the Jurchen army is the strongest in the Western Imperial Court? Is it possible that a legendary figure like Wanyan Zonghan is exaggerated?
what is going on?
What kind of person is Wanyan Zonghan? What is the situation in the southwest? What is this war like?
All kinds of questions were swirling in Li Shan's mind, and his thoughts were agitated and difficult to express.
The carriage drove all the way into the residence of the Right Prime Minister, and people from "Jun Society" also arrived one after another. People greeted each other and talked about the situation in the city in the past few days - almost all the interests involved in the small court, "Jun Society"
They all got the big prize. People talked about it, smiled at each other, and then they all paid attention to the situation of military training and recruitment.
Only in a very private circle, maybe someone mentioned the information coming from the southwest in the past few days.
As Wu Qimei's disciple, Li Shan's status in "Jun Society" is not low. Although he is not a very important figure among his brothers, his relationship with others is not bad. When "elder brother" Gan Fenglin came over, Li Shan
When they went up to talk, Gan Fenglin and Li Shan walked aside and exchanged a few words. After Li Shan mentioned something about the southwest, Gan Fenglin asked something in a low voice.
"In Lin'an back then, Junior Brother Li knew a lot of people. I heard that he had some contacts with Li Pin and Li Dexin. I wonder what the relationship is like?"
"When Li Dexin was in Lin'an, I did have contact with him and visited him several times to ask for advice..."
Li Shan frowned, and for a moment he didn't understand the purpose of Gan Fenglin's question. In fact, Wu Qimei lived in seclusion to raise his family. Although he was a great Confucian and had many disciples, there was no one who was extremely talented and beautiful among these disciples.
, back then it was considered a high-level job and a low-level job - of course, now it can be said that a traitorous official is in power and his talent is not appreciated.
The break between Li Pin, Li Dexin and Ning Yi was, for some reason, a big deal back then and spread widely. After he started running a newspaper in Lin'an City, his reputation increased rapidly, even enough to be compared with Wu Qimei and others. Li Shan was nothing at that time.
His achievements and profile are also low. He traveled around Lin'an City to learn how to establish relationships. He has the same surname as Li Pin and can be said to be from the same family. He participated in several gatherings and had the opportunity to speak. Later he visited to ask for advice and was regarded as a relationship to the outside world.
Not bad.
But among the brothers of the Wu family, Li Shan would usually stay away from this matter. After all, Wu Qimei worked hard to gain a reputation as a great scholar who was recognized by others, and Li Pin Huangkou Xiaoer had a quarrel with Ning Yi because of it.
, and then became one of the leaders of Confucianism. This is really too much of a prestige thing.
What's so great about quarreling with Ning Yi? Mei Gong even wrote more than a dozen articles to denounce the regicide, and none of them were eloquent and eloquent. But the world is ignorant and only likes to make noises about vulgar things.
"Junior brother and that Li Pin, what did they talk about?"
"Uh..." Li Shan was a little embarrassed, "Most of them are... academic matters. When I first came to visit him, I asked him about the sincerity and integrity section in the university. At that time, he said..."
Li Shan recounted the conversation between the two parties, and Gan Fenglin waved his hand: "Did you mention anything about the Southwest?"
"Southwest...what's going on?" Li Shan was horrified. In the situation in front of him, everything related to the southwest was very sensitive. He didn't know his senior brother's purpose, and he was actually a little afraid of saying the wrong thing, but he saw the other party shook his head.
"Teacher asked me to investigate the situation in the southwest." Gan Fenglin confessed, "The news from the past few days has been confirmed by all parties, and now it seems that it is generally true. We originally thought that there was no suspense in the battle in the southwest, but now it seems that there is no suspense
No small matter. In the past, it was said that Nianhan Tushanwei was rarely defeated in the world, but now that I think about it, I don’t know if it is an exaggeration or there are other reasons."
"On the other hand, in the past few years, we have known very little about the Southwest. Therefore, the teacher asked me to inquire about the people involved with the Southwest. How cruel the Black Flag Army is, and what happened after the regicide.
A situation... Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle, and now you have to know it well... In the past two days, I have found some information, but there are not many people who want to know more specifically..."
Li Shan understood in his heart.
For a long time, when people in Lin'an talk about the southwest, they actually just talk about a shady situation. People curse, condemn, and curse, but people in Lin'an know too little about the specific situation in the southwest. This is due to the fact that the Jurchens are always present
On the other hand, facing "enemies" like the Jurchens, everyone can still treat them with a rational attitude. Regarding the "rebellion" of regicide in the southwest, people can only use more words when talking about it.
Respond with an extremely intense attitude.
Going against the grain and conquering the country together will lead to death - there is no doubt about this. As for treating the Southwest with a national war attitude, everyone will feel that it is shameless to talk about it. People are willing to understand the Jurchens, but in fact they are not willing to understand the Southwest.
The reasons for this situation are too complex, and their analysis is of little significance. This time the Jurchens marched south, it was actually a bit difficult for everyone in the Wu Dynasty to measure and understand how powerful the Jurchens were. The entire land south of the Yangtze River was on the east road.
It fell under the attack of the army. As for how powerful the legendary more powerful Western Route Army was, it is difficult for people to explain rationally. The battle that will happen in the southwest is actually beyond the imagination of people thousands of miles away in dire straits.
Understand the scope.
There is no need to understand too much. In short, after Nianhan, the strongest army in the world, is killed, the southwest will be completely destroyed.
But at this time, all this development went wrong, and the people of Lin'an could not help but seriously understand and evaluate the situation in the southwest.
What happened in the Kingdom of Jin?
Is Nianhan really still the best general in the world today?
According to the rumors, the Jurchen Western Court, which has great achievements in seizing the throne, is actually not that scary? Are these rumors about the Jurchens all false? The West Route Army actually has lower combat power than the East Route Army? So, is it possible?
Presumably, the rumors about internal strife in the Kim National Assembly are actually false news?
All these are possible results under rational analysis, but if in the most unlikely case, there is another explanation...
If the Jurchen West Route Army is really stronger than the East Route Army.
What if Nianhan was really the undefeated general who dominated the world and built up half of the Jin Kingdom?
If the Jurchen Wanyan Xiyin, Yin Shuke, Ba Lisu, Han Qixian, Gao Qingyi... and many others really still have the strategy and bravery of the past...
If there is a very small possibility that such a situation exists...
So in the past few years, in the southwest mountains that people have not paid much attention to, what kind of army will be established and built by the regicide demon? How to rule there, how
How does troop training work... How will the team that defeated the Jurchen's strongest army with a small number of troops be like... barbaric and cruel?