Chapter 665: The sound of the piano is ancient, House of Flying Daggers (1)
Gyeongju Fortress.
The wars and chaos continued, and the flags of the Xixia people were replaced on the towering city walls.
On the southeast side of the city, smoke was still filling the sky. On the third day after the city was broken, the southeast side of the city was not sealed. At this time, the meritorious Xixia soldiers were carrying out their final madness. For the sake of future rule, the king of Xixia Li Qianshun did not let the army's madness continue indefinitely, but of course, even if there were orders, the other directions of the city at this time could not be called peaceful.
For this kind of city that had resisted, the accumulated anger of the army was also huge. The meritorious army slaughtered, looted, and tortured the people on the southeast side of the designated area. Other teams that had not received the benefit were often in other places. They wantonly plundered and humiliated the local people. The people in the northwest were fierce, and those who stood up to resist were often killed. In such a war, being able to leave a person alive was already a huge gift in the eyes of the massacre.
A courtyard that once belonged to Yang Ju, a wealthy gentry in Gyeongju City, has now become a temporary palace for the king of Xixia. A civil servant named Lin Houxuan in the Han Dynasty and Qu Nuze in the Western Xia Dynasty was waiting for an audience with Li Qianshun in the courtyard room. He looked across the room from time to time. A group of people guessed the origin of this group of people.
There were six people in the group, and the person leading it was very strange. She was a beautiful woman wearing a lady's dress. The dress was blue and white, bright but not bright. When Lin Houxuan came in, she stood up politely , smiled at him, and for the rest of the time, he sat on a chair, lowered his head and meditated on something, with calm eyes, and did not speak to the few followers around him.
This woman's temperament is very much like that of a Han lady who has studied many books, but on the other hand, the way she lowers her head and meditates, she looks like a person in power who has been in charge of many things. The five men beside her occasionally spoke in a low voice. , but his attitude of never daring to ignore her also proves this point.
This is the room where the emperor is waiting for an audience. The team is led by a Han woman. It looks really intriguing.
His official career is based on words and the road of verticality and horizontality, and he has become accustomed to observing people's temperament. After thinking about the origins of the woman and his group, an official came in from outside the door and waved him aside. This The official was his father Qu Ligai, who was also the leader of the party aristocracy. He served as the admonishment official of Zhongshu Province in the Xixia court. The old man was not happy about the return of his son and his failure to persuade the Wu Dynasty army in Xiaocanghe to surrender. , although there is no fault in this, but on the other hand, there is no merit at all.
"Your Majesty will see you soon."
"yes."
"You failed in your mission this time. When you meet His Majesty, don't hide it or shirk your responsibilities. Whatever is going on in the mountains is what is going on. What should be done is up to His Majesty."
"yes."
After a few words of warning, the old official nodded and left. After a while, someone came over to announce his official entry, and once again met the emperor of the Xixia Dangxiang clan, Li Qianshun.
Compared with the Wu Dynasty, which has been in rapid decline over the years, the Xixia Emperor Li Qianshun was forty-four years old at this time, which was the prime of life and the heyday of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Xixia was truly founded by force. Among the countries to the west of Wu Dynasty, Dali is located in the south of the sky with rugged terrain and numerous mountains. However, the country is an out-and-out pacifist. Because of its favorable geographical location, although it is weak externally, it is The Wu Dynasty next to it, Tubo, did not bully it very much. Tubo currently has vassal kings and a huge power. The people in Tubo are not kind people, but they do not have much possibility of expansion. In the early years, they followed the Wu Dynasty. Thigh, occasionally helped to defend against Xixia. In the past few years, the Wu Dynasty had weakened, and Tubo no longer provided help to the Wu Dynasty.
Only Xixia, after establishing itself as a country for so many years, fought with the Wu Dynasty, fought with Tubo, and fought with the Liao Kingdom. There were endless battles, big and small. If it weren’t for the cultivation method of the talented people in the previous decades, the cultivation method would With the powerful economic strength of the Wu Dynasty behind it, it would not be driven out of the Hengshan area.
The barrier to the south disappeared, and seeing danger imminent, the middle and upper-class subjects of Xixia felt more or less a sense of urgency. In such an atmosphere, Li Qianshun, as the king of a country, seized the opportunity of the Jurchen invasion to the south to form an alliance with them, and then He pushed the army through Hengshan and conquered several large cities within half a year. In Qingjian City, even the ancestral graves of the Zhong family of the Western Army were dug up. At the beginning of the year, the remaining Zhong family troops were dispersed and released. After that, they were already the masters of ZTE. A great achievement. The king of a country has opened up new territories, and his power is at an unprecedented peak.
When Lin Houxuan was called in, discussions were going on in the main hall. Several big leaders of the Dangxiang tribe, such as Ye Lichong, Li Nu, Jiu Yanmu, and several generals in the army, such as Meile and Naduhan. Judu is here. The war is still going on, and the general Naduhan, who is known for his fierceness and good fighting skills, is full of bloody aura. He doesn't know where he came from to kill people. He is standing at the front, with a short beard and a majestic look. When Li Qianshun asked Lin Houxuan to explain in detail about the Xiaocang River, the other party asked: "Where is that place?"
"To the east of Yanzhou, there is a small valley." Li Qianshun pointed at the map behind him.
The big leader Ye Lichong said: "There is a Wu Dynasty rebel army entrenched there. There are about ten thousand people, and they can be regarded as useful talents. I took Qu Nu and went to recruit them, but they refused. Therefore, Your Majesty wants to hear what happened."
The Duhan nodded slightly, Lin Houxuan saluted everyone, and then started to talk about the journey to Xiaocang River. He could also see at this time that Xiaocang River was nothing more than the grand strategy in these people's minds. Among them, he did not dare to exaggerate about the unimportant problem of moss. He just told the whole story of his trip to Xiaocang River. Everyone just listened and learned that the other party refused to see anyone for several days. When the incident happened, he lost interest, and the general sister Le snorted coldly. Lin Houxuan continued to talk, and when the conversation between the two parties later came up, no one was surprised.
After he finished speaking, Li Qianshun frowned and waved his hand. He was not angry, but his voice became a little deeper: "In that case, let him go to this small place." He swept across with an army of more than 100,000 people. Northwest, you are willing to recruit and surrender to give the other party face. Since the other party refuses, then just wipe it out.
Ye Lichong said: "What Qu Nuze said is right. I want to write a letter to Marshal Zonghan of the Jin Dynasty. I will not lose the general and order him to block the northern line of Luliang. In addition, I sent an order to Ji Lasaile and ordered him to block the direction of Luliang. Kill all those who come and go from the mountains. There is no food in the mountains, and it is our top priority to stabilize the situation in the southwest. We can trap them in the mountains and ignore them."
At this time, there were whispers in the hall. Some people also told the people around them about the origin of the Xiaocanghe army. Everyone knew that the Emperor of Wu Dynasty was killed last year, but the regicide turned out to be the team in front of him, such as Nadu Han still didn't understand it. At this time, he looked at the map carefully, then shook his head and laughed.
"Rebellion and killing of the Emperor of Wu Dynasty... a bunch of lunatics. Look at these people, they may have had fighting ability at first, but they didn't even dare to occupy a single state or county. They only dared to crawl into the mountains and defend. They are really stupid. They are both If they don't surrender to us, they will be left to starve and die in the mountains. When the situation in the south becomes stable, I can also give them a lift."
"You don't need to worry too much, but you can't ignore it." Li Qianshun waved his hand and looked at Yeli Chong, "The matter will be decided by the leader of Yeli. He also needs to tell Ji Lasaile, who will guard the northeastern front line and Yu Zhejia's army. These bandits in the mountains need to be treated with caution. However, these bandits in the mountains have killed the Emperor of Wu Dynasty and there is no possibility of forming an alliance with the Zhe family. We will pacify the southwest and we can easily wipe them out when we go up to the northeast."
Meile said: "On the contrary, the people who were dispersed in the Zhong family army are now running around. We need to prevent them from forming an alliance with the bandits in the mountains."
"Getting rid of the remnants of this small family is an immediate priority, but if they flee to the mountains, in my opinion, there is no need to worry. There is no food in the mountains. The more outsiders they accept, the harder it will be to feed them."
"Zhong Lie is now fleeing to Huanzhou and Yuanzhou. Now that we have captured Qingzhou, we can consider attacking Yuanzhou directly. If he retreats to Huanzhou at that time, our army will be able to cut off his retreat..."
For the Xixia army at this time, the real concern is the Western Army. If they go to the northeast, the Zhejia army has been keeping a low profile during this period. Now sitting in the northeast of Fuzhou, the head of the Zhejia family, Zhe Keqiu, has never sent troops. Rescue the Zhe family, but it is always a threat to the Xixia army. The main task of General Ji Lasaile, who is currently guarding 30,000 troops near Yanzhou, is to guard against the Zhe family's sudden move south.
On the west side, since the last defeat, Zhong Lie has led thousands of Zhong clan troops to circulate around the area, trying to recruit troops again or save fire. For the Xixia people, there is no suspense about conquering cities and territories, but to say To wipe out the northwest of the Wu Dynasty must be based on the complete destruction of the Western Army.
As for the folk customs in the northwest of Xiaocang River, there are now uprising bandits everywhere in this northwest land. This is just a slightly larger number. They are like a snake locked in an urn. If you reach in and get it, maybe It only takes one bite to pull it out and kill it, but if the jar is sealed, it will naturally die after a while.
Whoever governs a country would take a group of bandits too seriously.
As everyone was talking, the topic ran away and reached a larger strategic level. Ye Li Chong waved his hand towards Lin Houxuan, and Li Qianshun above him said: "Qu Nu Zeqing has done a good job on this mission, please go down and rest. There will still be a place for you to send an envoy in the future." Lin Houxuan then thanked him and bowed and went out."
Gyeongju City is still in huge chaos. The people in the hall only said a few words about Xiaocanghe, but Lin Houxuan understood that the fate of the valley has been decided. Once the situation is calmed down, Even if he is not trapped to death, he will be swept away by his own army. He was still doubting the attitude of the leader surnamed Ning in the valley, but now he really forgot about it.
He had more things to do than worry about dead people.
On the way out from the corridor of the courtyard, he saw a group of six people who were in the same room with him before, headed by the woman, being summoned by the emperor.
…
Lou Shuwan walked through the courtyard of the Xixia temporary palace, turning the indifferent expression on her face into a soft and confident smile. Then, she walked into the hall where the Xixia emperor held meetings.
She came with Tian Hu's seal and a list of all the merchants along the way.
Not long after, she accidentally saw something on the map in front of the meeting hall. It was the location of the inner demon Ning Yi and others, and a new cross was drawn on it.
…
Xixia Emperor Li Qianshun and several leaders and ministers heard about the Wu Dynasty rebels and Xiaocanghe for the second time today.
He looked seriously at the beautiful woman in the hall and frowned: "You guys, do you have any history with the people here?"
For the Wu Dynasty, the Tiger King was also the judge of the rebellion. He was thousands of miles away and wanted to come over to cooperate, but Li Qianshun did not reject it. He did not value the bandits of the Xiaocang River, but he had just judged this place in his heart. The death penalty, in the heart of the emperor, was very taboo for anyone to make him change his mind.
The woman below lowered her head: "The inner demon Ning Yi is the most deviant person. He once killed Shu Wan's father and eldest brother with his own hands. The Lou family and him... have a sworn hatred!"
"Oh." Li Qianshun waved his hand and then laughed. "The revenge for killing your father... don't worry about it. It's a dead end."
When Lou Shuwan walked out of this courtyard, the documents to the Kingdom of Jin had been sent. The summer sun was shining, and she suddenly felt dizzy.
When she came over from the Tiger King, she had already analyzed Xiaocanghe's intentions and understood the other party's efforts to open up trade routes. She followed the trend and ran around, lobbying, and gathering a group of merchants. She first surrendered to Xixia to seek peace, and then The purpose is to disrupt the layout of Xiaocang River as much as possible.
She didn't know whether her efforts would be successful. She expected that because of her efforts, the other party would fall into huge quagmire and difficulties. She also expected Xiao Canghe to die in difficulties and the man named Ning Yi to die in pain. It was unbearable. However, when Li Qianshun casually said "That's a dead place" today, she suddenly felt that something was untrue.
This thing is too simple. But Li Qianshun will not lie. He has no need at all. One hundred thousand Xixia troops are sweeping across the northwest. More troops are coming from Xixia to consolidate this place. They are hiding in that barren mountain. The more than 10,000 people in the Bitter Land were now hostile to Xixia. They were then blocked by the Jin Kingdom, and coupled with the treason they committed during the Wu Dynasty, they were truly enemies of the world. They could not stand a chance. But It's still too simple, as if everything is fake.
Sometimes the overall situation is like this, and many things will happen without any real sense. In her fantasy, there was naturally a time when Ning Yi died. At that time, he should beg for mercy in front of her. He might not Beg for mercy, but at least he will die in agony in front of her.
But now it seems that she will only get a message one day. Tell her: Ning Yi is dead, and there will never be such a person in the world. Thinking about it now, it is so fake that it is suffocating.
"What would you do..." she whispered, walking through the chaotic city.
*****************
"Wow, wow"
"Bang bang bang, bang bang bang... sister, don't cry, look here, look here..."
"Did I wake her up? Sister, sister..."
Mixed with the cries of children, it was a chaotic and noisy scene in the small courtyard at noon.
It was after lunch, and Luo Ye, who was left to eat, also left. In Yunzhu's room, the one-month-old baby cried without warning after drinking milk. Ning Xi, who was already five years old
He held a rattle next to him and wanted to coax her. Ning Ji stood there biting his fingers, thinking that he had woken up his sister, with a panic look on his face. Then he went to coax her, and Yunzhu, who was wearing a white singlet, sat beside the bed.
Hold the child and rock it gently.
"What's wrong?"
Ning Yi came in from the door, followed by Jin'er. Ning Xi shook her head: "My brother and I were reading the little book next to us, so we didn't bother my sister." He turned the rattle in one hand and held Ning Yi and Yunzhu in the other.
There was a little book drawn by Yi Yi. Ning Yi smiled and touched his head. He went over to look at the crying child in Yunzhu's arms and said, "Let me take a look." He took her over and held her in his arms.
After entering Ning Yi's arms, the baby's cries became quieter.
As Ning Yi's third child, the little girl had a difficult life after she was born. She was weak and had difficulty breathing. One month after she was born, she had colds twice. As a mother, Yunzhu almost died during childbirth.
, lying in bed for more than half a month, it was difficult to stabilize. Previously, Ning Yi found a wet nurse in the valley to breastfeed the child, and asked the wet nurse to drink medicine and dissolve it into the milk to treat the child's illness. Yunzhu felt better, so he insisted on himself
She feeds the child and takes medicine by herself, so that she can only sit so and so during this confinement. If Ning Yi had not insisted on controlling her behavior many times and calming her mood, I am afraid that Yunzhu's physical recovery would have been slower because she felt sorry for the child.
.
During these days, the situation inside and outside the valley was not optimistic. Ning Yi was personally involved in almost every daily affairs in the valley. But what was unshakable was that he would come here every night to take care of his children, wife and frail baby.
Every night, he cried in discomfort. Yunzhu was weak and would be anxious if he could not coax the child. Ning Yi came over to hold the child and coax her to sleep. At this time, he was actually better than Yunzhu at how to coax the little girl.
.
"Let me see... I haven't peed my pants. I just finished drinking milk. Ning Xi, stop banging the rattle, it will disturb your sister. And Ning Ji, don't worry, you didn't wake her up... I guess there is something in the room.
Bored, let’s sit outside. Well, there’s really no wind today.”
He carried the child outside. Yunzhu took out his embroidered shoes and used a gauze scarf to slightly cover the child's face. In the afternoon, there was a slight chirping of cicadas in the yard, and the sun shone down, spreading warmth between the trees.
There was only light and breeze, and the swing under the tree swayed slightly.
Sure enough, after a few seconds, the child in her arms stopped crying. Jin'er sat on the swing and swayed back and forth. Ning Yi and Yunzhu also sat next to them. Ning Xi and Ning Ji saw their sister calm down.
, then ran to the side to read a book, this time running far away. After Yunzhu took the child, he looked at the sleeping face of the child under the gauze: "I'm not even good at being a mother."
"You gave birth to her and lost half of your life. Who said you were not good? I will beat him." Ning Yi chuckled softly.
Yunzhu lowered his head and smiled. She had a calm temperament, and her appearance did not change much from before. Her beautiful and plain face was just a lot thinner. Ning Yi reached out and touched her cheek, recalling that she gave birth to a child a month ago.
It was thrilling at the time, and my mood was still hard to calm down.
He has experienced many major events in the past few years. It was not difficult for Tan'er and Xiaochan to give birth to two children before. When Yunzhu suffered from dystocia this time, his mood swings were even more intense than the murder of Zhou Zhe in the Jinluan Palace.
Hearing that Yunzhu was in pain for half the night, he, who had been quiet all the time, even got up and rushed into the delivery room. He wanted to force the doctor to kill the baby to save the mother if that didn't work.
Perhaps because of this, he felt somewhat guilty for the child who survived the catastrophe, and since he was a girl, he actually had more care in his heart. Of course, he refused to admit this on the surface.
Yunzhu knew what he was thinking and smiled at this moment: "Sister has also lost weight. If you have something to do, you don't need to sit here with us. You and sister have heavy burdens."
She is older than Tan'er. But when talking about Tan'er, she usually calls her sister, sometimes she calls Tan'er sister. Ning Yi nodded, sat next to her and basked in the sun for a while, then turned and left.
.
He still had many things to deal with. After leaving the courtyard, he went to the meeting hall accompanied by Chen Fan. This afternoon, he met many people, made a boring summary of affairs, and was unable to catch up with dinner.
Jin'er and Chen Fan's wife Ji Qian'er brought food boxes over. After finishing things, they had dinner on the hill watching the setting sun. After that, they had some free time, and the group sat on the hill.
Take a slow walk.
It was getting dark, and Jin'er whispered some interesting things that happened today, and occasionally expressed some trivial thoughts. When she stopped on the grass slope, she crossed her legs and asked Ning Yi to lie down with his head on top.
She stretched out her hand to massage him. Jin'er, who couldn't hide her words in a soft voice, would occasionally ask about things in Gu Zhong. During dinner today, she saw that Tan'er had also lost some weight. Things were very busy, but the situation may not be good. Gu Zhong
The food supply was somewhat reluctant to be eaten until June and July, and it was gradually beginning to bottom out at this time, but people outside did not seem to be bringing good news.
"...I heard Duan Shanhua say that people in Qingmuzhai were also a little worried, so I advised her that she would be fine... Well, actually I don't understand this either, but I know that Li Heng, you are so calm, so nothing will happen to her.
...but sometimes I am a little worried, Li Heng, is there really so much food outside the mountain that can be transported in? There are more than 10,000 of us, including Qingmuzhai, almost 40,000, so we have to eat every day...
Uh, how much do you need to eat..."
While she was massaging Ning Yi's head, she was talking softly. When she came to her senses, she saw that Ning Yi had opened his eyes and was looking at her from below with a half-smile.
"Why, does it feel uncomfortable?"
"You made me almost fall asleep." Ning Yi said with a smile.
"That's not good, then you should take a rest."
As Jin'er spoke, Ning Yi had already sat up cross-legged. Night had fallen and the mountain breeze was still warm. Jin'er approached and pressed his shoulders.
"...You deal with so many things every day, and you have to hold all the big and small things in your hands. It's very tiring...Don't you just leave it to the people below to handle it? I see the previous shopkeepers, and the children like Zhuo Xiaofeng
, are all reliable... You work so late every day, my sister and I are very worried, we ask you to sleep but you don't sleep..."
This chatter continued again, until at a certain moment, she heard Ning Yi whispering.
"It's difficult, but it's not impossible..."
"Um?"
The hand in front grabbed the hand on the shoulder, and Jin'er was pulled over. She knelt behind Ning Yi and hugged his neck from the back. Ning Yi was seen looking at the valley below. After a moment, slowly and
He said in a low voice: "Look, what does Xiaocanghe look like now?"
"ah?"
Jin'er's eyes widened, and then she blinked. She was actually a smart woman, and knew that what Ning Yi said at this time was probably the answer to a riddle. Although she didn't need to think about it, of course she would be interested in it.
Looking down from here, on the bank of the Xiaocang River, in the settlement area, little lights gather together. From a high position, you can see groups of people gathering or scattered in groups of three or three. This small valley is surrounded by the darkness of the distant mountains.
, seems lively yet lonely.
What does it look like?
However, this night, Jin'er has never been able to guess the answer to the riddle...
Also on this night, a figure carefully avoided the outer sentry of Xiaocang River and quietly escaped towards the mountains and forests to the east. Due to the acceptance of some refugees during the winter, although there were not many spies from other forces among the refugees,
But it could not be eliminated after all. At the same time, Xixia officials, who asked the Jin Kingdom to block the smuggling road north of Luliang, rushed on the road.
In the turmoil of the world, a vicious situation of ambush from all sides around Xiaocang River and Qingmuzhai has gradually unfolded.
The malice is about to be crushed... (To be continued.)