"Brother Gongming...brother, I...have to take the first step..."
Mu Hong was lying on the couch with a withered face. He raised his hand slightly and then dropped it weakly. His eyes showed unwillingness: "I only wish I could not die on the battlefield... but died on the bed cowardly... I am so happy."
Man...ugh!"
"Brother, don't say anything anymore...don't say anything anymore..."
Song Jiang grabbed his hand, his face full of grief.
Ever since they came to the Kingdom of Jin, brothers Mu Hong and Muchun were not accustomed to the local environment and often fell ill.
But he also made a fatal mistake and asked a doctor from Korea.
Suddenly going from the warm and humid land in the south to the bitter cold and icy land in the north, I was already uncomfortable, but if I really needed to take care of myself, the two of them could survive with their bodies. As a result, after taking the Baicao prescription prescribed by the Korean doctor, their health deteriorated.
Mu Chunyue had diarrhea a few months ago and unfortunately passed away.
After his brother left, Mu Hong became even more sad and bedridden. Today, he has run out of gas and energy. Seeing that he had to say goodbye to his brother again, tears burst into Song Jiang's eyes: "I regret trusting that quack doctor!"
Mu Hongdao: "Tie Niu has killed that quack doctor... He also avenged me... Brother Gongming... We died like this... Don't we have a good reputation?"
Song Jiang's eyes suddenly became firm and he held his hand tightly: "Brothers, don't worry, Song Jiang will fight for a posthumous reputation for everyone and won't let your sacrifices be in vain!"
"well……"
Mu Hong nodded slightly, his voice became lower and lower, and his hand finally fell down weakly.
When Song Jiang slowly walked out of the house, he saw Li Kui, Sun Erniang, Deng Fei, and Bao Xu standing outside in silence.
They faced each other, their eyes red, silent.
First it was Wang Ying, then Zhang Qing, and now it is Mu Hong and Mu Chun. Only half of the eight generals who followed Song Jiang in the past are left now.
And this half is also precarious, and is on the enemy's territory. The Jin people are cruel and violent, killing at every turn. At first, they had some basic respect for the Zhao and Song clan, but now they are becoming more and more impatient, and conflicts are about to break out...
So after seeing Mu Hong off, Song Jiang took a deep breath and started making arrangements.
Sun Erniang went to see the queen and successfully transferred a group of Jin people to monitor her. Deng Fei and Bao Xu went to drink with the Korean and Han people they knew well and attracted attention. Then Song Jiang took Li Kui to the courtyard where Zhang Dun was.
Before reaching the courtyard, I heard the sound of chanting sutras and chanting Buddha's name from inside.
Song Jiang's expression was a little complicated.
Recently, the old prime minister seems to be worshiping Buddhism more and more.
Mu Chun and Mu Hong, who were in their prime, unfortunately fell ill and died due to the water and soil environment. Zhang Dun was nearly eighty years old and was born in Fujian, so it was naturally more difficult for him to adapt to the environment here. He fell seriously ill not long ago, but fortunately he did not seek help from a Korean doctor.
I managed to hold on.
But after recovering from his illness, this man seems to have seen through the world of mortals. Recently he has been fasting, chanting Buddha's name, and ignoring worldly affairs.
Song Jiang was worried that without the old prime minister, the Song people here would be completely dissatisfied. However, he felt very conflicted when he thought that after experiencing so many ups and downs, if he could escape into Buddhism, it would be a kind of spiritual relief.
…
He calmed down, and when he arrived at the gate of the courtyard, he saw a group of Jin soldiers gathered around the stove to keep warm. The strong man at the head heard the footsteps and turned around, his eyes suddenly lit up: "General Song!"
Song Jiang stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying: "Depose and conquer!"
Li Kui did not hold an axe, but he followed closely behind his brother, showing a vigilant look.
Because this Wanyan Hunqi was no better than others. He was a close subordinate of the "regicide" Wanyan Gao. He had been riding the horse and made great contributions.
They didn't know that in history, this man had made meritorious deeds when the Jurchens raised their armies. Wanyan Hunqi was present in every key battle. In the end, he was named Xu Guogong and was the founding hero. In this world, Wanyan Hunqi was mainly responsible for guarding the Zhao Song clan.
He and his ministers, on the contrary, performed less meritorious service on the frontal battlefield, but he also became the person that the survivors of Zhao and Song Dynasties least wanted to see.
Still having to endure the humiliation and bear the burden, Song Jiang squeezed out a sincere smile on his face: "In this freezing weather, Hun Muke is still doing his duty faithfully. It's really hard work!"
Wanyan smiled and said: "When we were at Jinshui, life was much harder than it is now. Now we can still buy wine to warm ourselves up, but it's a pity that the price of wine is getting more expensive day by day. We are poor..."
Song Jiang immediately took the money bag from his waist, without taking it from it, and handed the whole thing over: "Song has a few taels of silver here. If you don't mind, you must accept it."
After witnessing this scene, Li Kui understood why every time Song Jiang came here, he would divide most of the money in it for himself. His brother was indeed very clever.
Wanyan reached out to take the slightly dry money bag, weighed it, and was already very satisfied: "General Song is really a wonderful man, thank you very much brothers!"
Song Jiang deliberately showed a bit of pain and said with a dry smile: "You're welcome!"
Wanyan was deposed but did not let him go: "But there is one thing, I can't figure it out. We, the Jin people, support you Song people in daily food and clothing. How come you always have money with you?"
Song Jiang was furious. When Zhao Ji prepared to go hunting with the Jin people in the north, he brought a large amount of property with him. The Zhao and Song clan also wore gold and silver. Now the money was looted, and even the accessories worn by the royal family were taken away.
Do you have the nerve to say that the golden man provided for them?
But he knew that there was nothing to argue with these barbarians who would fight to the death sooner or later, so he still kept smiling: "When we were in Pyongyang, Tokyo, I funded some merchants and invested in some businesses, and then I got some small money."
The administrative areas of the Jin Dynasty are currently managed at three levels: road, state and county, with five capitals and twenty-one roads.
The Shangjing and Xijing of the Five Capitals overlapped with those of the Liao Kingdom. Dadingfu in Zhongjing became Dadingfu in Nanjing, Huanglongfu in Tokyo became Zhongjing, and Pyongyang of the Goryeo Kingdom was changed to Tokyo.
In other words, compared with the Liao Kingdom in its heyday, the current Jin Kingdom roughly overlaps in territory. It lacks the Yanyun Fourteen Prefectures and has the Korean Peninsula. The land is actually much larger, but the population is far less.
According to statistics at the beginning of the year, the total population of the Wujing Road was less than 4 million, which was less than half of the Liao Kingdom in its heyday. The Liao Kingdom was already a standard sparsely populated country, and its population at its peak was less than one of the two Zhejiang Roads in the Northern Song Dynasty.
.
Calculating it this way, the huge Jin Kingdom, in terms of population alone, is an ordinary country in Dayan, but the living conditions are still very different.
Hearing Song Jiang's method of making money, Wanyan Hunqi immediately showed a fiery look: "You Han people are still capable. If General Song can bring our brothers, we will take more care of General Song!"
"Haha...easy to say! easy to say!"
Looking at this enthusiastic face, Song Jiang was perfunctory and at the same time slightly confused.
When they first came to the Kingdom of Jin, the guard at that time was Wan Yan Hun. Song Jiang wanted to try to bribe them, but what he faced was his unwavering patriotic enthusiasm.
He still remembers that night, when Wanyan Hunqi reported his affairs to the police, and a group of Jin men came to arrest him. Li Kui, Mu Hong and others were all ready to fight to the death, killing as many Jin men as they could.
Fortunately, Zhang Dun came forward to calm the situation down...
Song Jiang felt incredible about this. He was very familiar with bribery as a small official. This was the first time he encountered such a wall. At that time, he even had a fear of the Jin people. If the generals at the middle and lower levels could be so strict with themselves, this country would be better.
How terrible?
As a result, now, the other party not only takes the initiative to ask for it, but also wants to get involved in the business he handles in Pyongyang...
"The Jin Dynasty is the same as the Song Dynasty!"
With a mood that he didn't know whether to be sad or happy, after dealing with Wanyan's greedy face, Song Jiang took a deep breath and walked in.
"Winter! Winter! Winter!"
During the process of bribing the gold man, the wooden fish inside kept beating rhythmically, and the sound of chanting scriptures continued. It was not until he walked in that the room slowly became quiet.
I saw a thin old man sitting on the table, his eyes slightly closed. Not far away was a row of monks chanting sutras, basically all Korean survivors.
At this time, the monks stopped, put their hands together, looked at their nose and heart, and did not get up to avoid it. The old man slowly opened his eyes and looked over.
The two sides looked at each other, and Song Jiang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
These old and turbid eyes, but still resolute, are still Zhang Gong in his heart!
Zhang Dun observed Song Jiang and asked, "Gongming, Da Lang of the Mu family..."
Song Jiang nodded sadly: "I just died of illness."
Zhang Dun sighed softly: "The dead are gone. All we can do for the living is to let them die a worthy death!"
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Song Jiang nodded firmly, feeling completely at ease. He sat in front of Zhang Dun and glanced at the monk next to him.
In his opinion, Wanyan Hunqi was guarding the outside of the courtyard, and these Gao Li monks were acting as spies inside the courtyard. Naturally, what he said was restricted, and every word must be carefully considered.
Zhang Dun did not shy away from it. After asking about the recent situation, he started talking about Buddhism: "I met Zen Master Zhiqing a few months ago, the former abbot of Daxiangguo Temple. Now he is teaching Dharma in the Golden Realm, and his tongue shines like a lotus flower.
A large number of people go to every venue."
Song Jiang replied: "This is an eminent monk, why did you come to the Kingdom of Jin?"
Zhang Dun said: "I'm afraid it has something to do with the examination of the monks in the Great Yanding. Once every three years, there is a three-part examination on Sutras and Vinaya. It also stipulates the number of disciples for monks. It also prohibits monks and nuns from interacting with the court and nobles, and requires monks and nuns to worship their parents as the common people do.
and perform funeral rites..."
"Various behaviors have caused the Buddhist temple to lose its former glory. I heard that some monks proposed to pay taxes to relax the restrictions on disciples, and to seek new ultimatums from the court to legally accept disciples..."
Song Jiang knew that there was something in Zhang Dun's words and listened very carefully. However, when he heard that under the new dynasty system, Buddhists were restricted from accepting disciples, he couldn't help but be a little surprised: "In this way, wouldn't the value of the ultimatum be greatly reduced, and the life of a monk would be difficult...
…”
His biggest impression of Buddhism was that the ultimatum could exonerate heroes. He once wanted to prepare a few ultimatums to make friends with those loyal people who were driven to desperation by the court's laws. Unexpectedly, he was far away from his hometown, and even the ultimatum would no longer be what it used to be.
status.
Zhang Dun nodded lightly: "The monks suffered disaster, not only Dayan, but the financial owner also doted on a Taoist named Lin Lingsu, who used strange methods to seduce people's minds, aggressively attacked Buddhist temples, burned classics, and forced monks to return to secular life..."
The monk not far away clasped his hands together, showing a sad look, and whispered the Buddha's name: "Amitabha!"
Song Jiang understood what was going on, but he didn't understand why the old prime minister specifically told him this. Was he trying to win the support of the monks?
It wasn't until Zhang Dun spread out a piece of paper in front of him and wrote a sentence on it that Song Jiang's childishness suddenly grew bigger: "The fall of the Jin people began with the struggle between Buddhism and Taoism!"