In March, the third year of Wu Zhenxing's reign, the snow in the south melted, the corpses in the fields melted into the spring mud, and wild flowers bloomed on the bones.
Xianxia Pass in Jiangshan County in southern Zhejiang has now been controlled by the Southeastern Imperial Court and is under the jurisdiction of Han Shizhong Town Navy. It has become the southern boundary of the Fair Party rebellion.
When spring was warm and the flowers were blooming, all kinds of refugees traveling from the south of the Yangtze River to Fujian gathered outside the pass. Most of them were in rags and skinny. The imperial court set up a porridge soup kitchen outside the pass and prepared a bowl for the people who came here.
Warm the porridge, then register everyone and put them into the customs.
Compared with the great disaster that started in Jiangnan last year, the number of refugees arriving at Xianxia Pass every day is not that many.
After the beginning of spring, the fight between the Fairness Party in the north has just entered a formal stage of war. The territory under the jurisdiction of He Wen of the Fairness Party north of the Yangtze River still maintains a certain order. To the south of the Yangtze River, the land in the south of the Yangtze River, which used to be the most prosperous, is now occupied by the Fairness Party.
Under the control of the remaining kings, Tie Yan, Wu Qimei and others from Lin'an, after the craziest "King of Yama" Zhou Shang was eliminated first, this area has fallen into a situation where dozens or even hundreds of tributary bandit forces are frantically devouring each other.
To the north of Xianxia Pass, there are still countless small-scale marauding forces that have turned into bandits due to chaos. After the beginning of spring, Han Shizhong will send some teams to the north every few days to expel various bandits.
In the last few dozen miles, the survivors have arrived at Xianxia Pass, but in fact, such an "act of benevolence" could not save many people.
Arriving at Xianxia Pass, there were not many refugees, but they were all kinds of people. Some people sat on the ground and cried after drinking a mouthful of hot porridge; some looked at Jiangnan in the north and cried silently; some still had family members.
, holding their children and crying with their families; there are also some in better condition, some carts dragged by skinny animals, and armed guards gathered around them. These are mostly wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River, or some
It was only when the whole village fled south together that they could have some belongings left.
In rare cases, escort teams went south, escorted several carts of goods, and brought a large group of refugees to Xianxia Pass. Most of the refugees brought along the way paid money to the escort team.
, when encountering critical situations along the way, they will be used as human walls and cannon fodder. Even in such troubled times, the owners of the escort team may be the most powerful "kings" in Jiangnan. In any case, in this situation
In troubled times, any situation may arise.
At Xianxia Pass, both the soldiers guarding and the registered masters have become accustomed to seeing all kinds of tragic images recently - just a year or two ago, most of them have experienced such things - except for some obvious
Brigades with strong soldiers and horses will conduct more checks, while for others, most people will simply register and then let them go.
At the Xianxia Pass, which was noisy that day, there were also two young men leading a jujube horse mingling among them.
The two young men were both around seventeen or eighteen years old. One seemed to be slightly taller, with an oval face, handsome and delicate appearance. He was wearing a washed gray but still neat gown, with a fan inserted into his waist.
He carries a long sword and looks like a well-to-do scholar who is well versed in poetry and is also romantic and handsome. This image was not uncommon in the peaceful and prosperous times more than ten years ago, but it is extremely rare to see it now.
Another young man walking aside is slightly shorter than him by one forehead and has a lively smiling face, but his clothes are fully patched. His figure is stronger than his companions, and his waist is longer.
Jian's scholar companion has two long knives stuck in his back, and he looks like he is not easy to mess with. In the eyes of some people in the world, this man is more like the book boy and bodyguard beside the rich young master.
Following the two of them was a Zaohua horse carrying two large bundles on its back. Because the bundles were not small, it attracted many people's attention. But looking at the way the two of them carried swords on their backs, it was clear that this was the case.
On the relatively peaceful pass, naturally no one would go there easily to cause trouble for the two of them. Being able to bring a horse here in such troubled times was originally proof of their ability, so much so that the registered master and the gatekeeper
The guards could not help but look at the two of them more.
"...Jiangpu Post Road, also known as the Xianxia Ancient Road, was opened by Huangchao in the Tang Dynasty. It starts from Xianxia Pass, passes through Qinghu, Shimen, Jianglang, Xiakou and other places, all the way to Fuzhou. I heard that it is
There are many mountains to see in the mountains, and Xianxia Ridge alone is a sight to behold..."
When the queue was about to register and pass, a slightly taller handsome scholar was telling his followers about things related to the Xianxia Ancient Road. When the registered master heard this, his eyes lit up. At this time, he could read, read, and understand historical materials.
That is a rare scholar. What the Fuzhou court needs now is this kind of young talent.
Of course, after listening to the scholar's narration, the attendant next to him nodded casually: "Yeah, I've heard of Huang Chao, I've heard... I heard my father say that Huang Chao wrote some kind of poem.
, it’s called... From now on, if you can take advantage of the moon at leisure, how dare you laugh at Huang Chao’s lack of husband!”
This poem is both artistic and powerful. It made both the handsome scholar and the master in front of him who was registering frowned. The master racked his brains to search for what he had learned in the past, while the scholar twitched his eyes, and then
His words were delicate and soft: "From now on, if you can take a leisurely ride on the moon... This poem has a good artistic conception, and I don't know where it was published. As for the second half of the sentence, if you dare to laugh at Huang Chao for not being a husband, this must not have been written by Huang Chao, and..."
He lowered his voice, "This is an anti-poetry..."
This is an anti-poem... The master at the table in front also realized it at this time. If it were in the peaceful and prosperous times, hearing this kind of poem on the street would be a big event, but now, the imperial court is almost gone, and the other party has
It was a poem that a seemingly uneducated boy heard from his follower. The master didn't know whether to take it into consideration. He was registering with two refugees in front of him, and the follower behind him scratched his head and laughed: "Haha, that's not true.
, that may be because I remember it wrong, because you read a lot of books, and I haven’t liked these books since I was a child, but I have often heard about Huang Chao..."
This smile sounded like an uneducated one, and the master sighed in his heart. As for the fact that he often heard people talking about Huang Chao recently, he could understand it. Today is a time of great strife, from Fang La who was troubled by Yongle in the past to the later
The Southwest Black Flag, and even the Fairness Party in Jiangnan today, mostly put forward the concept of "equality". Regardless of the actual operation, this statement goes back even further. Most of the history books cannot escape Huang Chao's "Tianmenbu Jianping". For
For scholars, this is also a topic they occasionally mention with others.
At this time, the two people in front had finished registering, and the two young men holding the Zaohua Horse had already walked over. The master smiled and said: "May I ask the names and birthplaces of the two young masters..."
The smiling attendant came over and asked, "What is your place of origin?"
"...It's...where is my hometown..."
"Oh, Jiang Ning."
"Jiang Ning...Jiang Ning recently..."
"Everything is gone... damn the whole family, the fair king."
"I heard that King Ping Ping's family has long since disappeared..."
"Well, you deserve it."
This little follower had no education, but he looked cheerful and seemed to be quite easy to get along with. After a few words of conversation between the two, the master put aside some of his previous slander and contempt. He asked about their names, and only then did he know that they looked like
The young man who is a scholar from a wealthy family has a surname of Long, and his name is actually Long Aotian. He is really majestic and a bit of a taboo. This relatively sturdy follower calls himself Sun, and is called Sun Wukong, which is also a taboo for Zen. Seeing that he is easy-going and free-spirited
, which matches the name somewhat.
Mastering the switch of the southeastern imperial court in Fujian to admit refugees was of course required by the orthodox imperial court, and secondly, it was also for the purpose of accepting more displaced talents. At this time, I saw that the two of them had read books. When the master registered, he also
I asked a few more questions. When talking about the purpose of going south, the young man surnamed Sun said carelessly that it was to practice medicine and do business. The corner of the master's eyes twitched, and then he realized that the burden on the Zaohua horse was the most important thing.
They were all kinds of department store items, which they were planning to exchange for on their way south.
"... The Fuzhou court is currently in need of all kinds of talented people who have studied and studied. I think the two young masters are outstanding. If you go there, you might as well give it a try."
In these troubled times, anything can happen. This is not too surprising. The master reminded him in his duty, and then said: "In addition, in this time of year, the mountain road going south is actually not very peaceful, and the pass is not very peaceful.
Every few days, a team of officers and soldiers will escort the people to Jian'ou, and the next team will be in three days. If you two are not in a hurry, you might as well wait for two days and set off together."
Hearing the master talk about this, the handsome young man frowned: "It's not peaceful here...?"
"On the way south, there will occasionally be some bandits making trouble. It's not surprising at this time of year." The master smiled, "I heard that you two want to go hiking to explore the country, but it's always right to be careful right now.
."
The master was kind and polite, and he was very popular with people. After a while, the two of them passed the customs with the name plate written by the master, and some soldiers came over and rummaged through the baggage on the jujube horse they were carrying.
The Zhenhai navy here obviously has strict military discipline. The young man named Sun Wukong took out the ten copper coins that he had prepared long ago. The other party only accepted it coquettishly and did not ask for too many bribes.
Long Aotian and Sun Wukong who appeared here at this moment were naturally Ning Ji and Qu Longjun who left Jiangnan and entered Fujian.
Last year, when the Fair Party chaos began, the two of them lived together in the mountains in a corner of the Yangtze River for more than five months. When the mountains were closed by heavy snow, Ning Ji relied on Ning Ji to go out to hunt wild food from time to time. By February this year, the ice and snow in the mountains began to melt, and Ning Ji
Ji Bian also found out more information outside.
After leaving the winter in which countless people starved to death, several kings of the Fair Party have begun a new round of strife, attack and defense.
The well-prepared King He Wen of Fairness is said to have suffered the least losses this winter. The strict laws he issued, supported by relatively abundant supplies, attracted a large number of new refugees to join him, and he also drastically replaced a group of high-level internal personnel.
Later, the ruling team of King Ping Ping was gradually established based on the concept of reading club. Although it experienced several chaos and even an assassination against him during this winter, its situation north of the Yangtze River began to stabilize with difficulty.
.
As for the remaining three kings under the unfair king, as well as many scattered so-called fair party forces, they experienced brutal elimination in the heavy snow in winter. At this time, spring blossomed, and a new round of alliances began.
Lian Heng, on the one hand, devoured the scattered young people who survived; on the other hand, Shi Baofeng, Xu Zhaonan, Gao Chang and other three forces, while guarding He Wen, had also set their sights on Tie Yan and Tie Yan who were still lingering in Lin'an.
Wu Qimei is prepared to devour the opponent first and supplement herself. These things have actually been foreshadowed last year, so there is nothing surprising.
But further away, the news that Zou Xu and Dai Mengwei were also preparing to hold a conference after teaming up to kill Liu Guangshi has spread throughout Jiangnan.
Through a lively conference, attracting the world's attention, and then putting forward his own political views in this attention, justifying his name and publicizing such things in front of the whole world, since the Chengdu Conference, Dai Mengwei's side has even been the second
It doesn’t count. But no matter what, this is also a major world event that can be foreseen in the near future.
Knowing that Ning Ji loved to join in the fun, Qu Longjun once asked him if he wanted to go to Bianliang first to have a look at the martial arts tournament. But for some reason, after Ning Ji thought about it carefully, he announced that he had become
Peace-loving people, the two of them made preparations and embarked on the journey south to Fujian.
By this spring, three years after the revitalization of the Wu Dynasty, among the young man and woman who were far away from home, Qu Longjun was seventeen years old, while Ning Ji was already transitioning from fifteen to sixteen years old. The two had lived together in the mountains for several years.
Although the shack built at the corner of the ridge was small, it was Qu Longjun's first "home" after her father passed away. When she left, she cleaned the room carefully, preparing it to be a place for hunters to visit after they entered the mountain.
It’s a place to stay, and I look forward to one day in the future when the two of them can come back and visit.
As for Ning Ji, although he felt relaxed about the relationship between the two, he was not sentimental. Ever since he left Southwest, he had been worried about his bad reputation, but after reuniting with Qu Longjun, he didn't know why.
He no longer felt much anger about the helpless past in the southwest, but another emotion surfaced: after deciding on the direction, he had been worried about Qu Longjun's inability to protect himself.
He did not express his concern about this matter, but in the past winter, he occasionally boxed and practiced, and also taught Qu Longjun some routines and self-defense techniques. Qu Longjun had a foundation in dancing in the past, and his body was soft and healthy.
Yes, you can learn many boxing moves once and you can perform them very beautifully, but you have no strength, and there is no on-the-spot reaction to any move.
Ning Ji had no choice but to teach her some crooked tricks for self-defense: for example, telling the other person "I have always liked you" and then stabbing the person to death. This crooked trick was said to be
This is a classic case of the top brass of the Chinese Army. I don’t know who the evil spirit thought it up. It is an advanced use of women’s self-defense.
After the two of them left the mountain, Ning Ji asked Qu Longjun to dress up as a man, put on a long sword to look like a martial arts master, and even used various barbed armor fragments to make her a "soft girl"
"A", he dressed up more clearly and held the battle next to him.
Nowadays, it is no longer a peaceful time when you don't mess with others and others won't mess with you, so it might as well be more high-profile. His physical development has matured now, and he has begun to change from dexterity to strength, and after passing
After Jiangning's series of battles and even the baptism against Lin Zongwu, his martial arts has made more breakthroughs. Although some insights are still a bit vague, he has already gained the confidence to face many "first-class masters" in the arena today.
Cut off.
Leaving the mountainous area, Jiangnan was in chaos all over the place, but Ning Ji had rigorous scouting experience. He walked and stopped along the way, staying day and night. In some places, he let Qu Longjun ride a horse, and in some places, he could also carry Qu Longjun on his back.
In the past, the two of them even walked around the edge of the battlefield for a while and watched the excitement. Ning Ji was a little nervous at first, but Qu Longjun was obedient and cooperative. After a while, he got used to this kind of itinerary, and Ning Ji was able to get used to it all the way.
Ji taught her some rules for surviving in chaos, and told her some martial arts experiences and anecdotes about the world. Qu Longjun recalled what he had learned in the past, and talked to Ning Ji about poetry, geography, and historical knowledge.
In this way, on this day in mid-March, the two of them left the war-torn area and arrived at the Xianxia Pass from Hengzhou to Fujian.
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Xianxia Pass, which was built at the mountain pass, has four gates all the way up. Although it looks simple, it is truly a grand pass that only one man can pass and no one can open it. The two people leading the horse climbed the mountain all the way, looking left and right, and Ning Ji was thinking in his mind.
Looking at the troops needed to attack here, Qu Longjun whispered the story of Huang Chao and this place, and mentioned a few beautiful poems, which aroused Ning Ji's admiration.
"... But from now on, if I am allowed to take the moonlight leisurely and dare to laugh at Huang Chao's husband, why is he anti-poetry?"
Qu Longjun laughed so hard that his nose wrinkled, and he squinted his eyes and said: "These two sentences must not be a poem. Huang Chao rebelled in the past. This poet dared to laugh at Huang Chao for being a husband. Of course, he is better than Huang Chao."
If the ambition is greater, of course it is anti-poetry."
"Oh, that's it..."
"But, do you think it was written by Mr. Ning? If it was written by him, it wouldn't be surprising."
"Well, that makes sense. I think it's probably true." Ning Ji held his chin and thought for a moment, feeling very suspicious, and then said, "You know more, you know so much, how many books do you have to read?"
"What I know are useless things, unlike Xiaolong, who can do everything... In fact, you don't know, I didn't like reading back then, but at that time, if you didn't read, you would get beaten. I got a lot of
beat……"
"I've been beaten too... inhumane!" The scumbag complained, trying hard to empathize with the top students, and then said: "Hehe."
Seeing Ning Ji smiling, Qu Longjun also started laughing.
After passing through the border in this way, the two came to a small camp in the mountains.
There are many camps like this in all the border crossings. Some will be turned into small towns due to the merchants traveling from north to south, and some will have some merchants appearing in conjunction with the inns. The past trade routes at Xianxia Pass are not very important.
Prosperity - If we follow the path of another period of history, it will take a few more years before the Southern Song Dynasty will begin to recruit civilians to renovate this ancient Xianxia Road due to the need to develop trade with Fujian, but now everything seems to be in a hurry.
The camp where the refugees gather is a mess, with muddy land and sewage flowing across it. Some shacks set up simple shops beside the road. The two pawn shops have the largest doors. In addition, there are also dirty restaurants and escort agencies. Some of them look strange.
The forces are recruiting people here, resulting in long queues in several places in the camp. Children with sallow faces and skinny muscles are squatting or lying on the roadside, some are fighting, some are shouting, and some are crying.
Refugees coming from the north have to have a new life here. They have to pawn or sell the belongings they carry - even some who look skinny and have nothing to offer, some of them have to
They also brought their last treasures with them. Many people set up small stalls on the roadside and carefully sold these items that contained their last hope. Some people watched on the roadside, looking at this scene thoughtfully.
There was a lot of noise, so Ning Ji let Qu Longjun hold the horse and follow him forward. He also observed the movements around him. There were officers and soldiers maintaining order in the camp in Xianxia Pass, so there was no appearance.
What is the conflict on the surface? Some methods of maintaining public security have traces of the southwest, but they are not maintained so thoroughly. In the final analysis, it should be due to lack of manpower. There are now several brothers and sisters of the Zuo family in the small court in the southeast.
Maybe this is a simple plan they made.
Everywhere he went, the most important thing to do was to walk around and check the situation. After walking half a circle around the camp where about one or two thousand people gathered, Ning Ji became happy and prepared to implement his mountain plan in the south of the Yangtze River.
A big plan that has been planned since then:
He led Qu Longjun to an open space on the side of the road. He tied the date horse first, then spread out the furoshiki on the ground, took out the small packages one by one, opened them, and put some needles, threads, gold and silver jewelry and even
Porcelain bottles, iron bowls and other things were put out in preparation for opening the store.
Two flagpoles were erected on the side.
The flag on the right reads: Hua Tuo is reincarnated and can cure all diseases.
The flag on the left reads: Bamboo mark semicolon, buying and selling department stores.
The refugees from the south of the Yangtze River are not all miserable and have no background. Many of them are actually literate. The stall next to the road here is a sad-faced old man who is selling ancient books. It turns out that Hua Tuo is still alive.
Bai Bing's expression became even more bitter because of such big words. He wanted to scold him, but when he looked at the beheading slogans like "Bamboo marks semicolon", he sighed and closed his mouth. After that, he saw the man wearing patched clothes.
The young man shouted with dignity.
"Fellow fellow villagers, all the uncles, aunts and ladies who are passing by, come and take a look, check your pulse, see a doctor, buy and sell all kinds of curios, department stores, barter, all collected on the road.
Come and take a look at the good things that have come..."
The atmosphere in the camp here is depressing. The boy's shouting, which he learned somewhere, is quite exaggerated and incompatible with the surrounding atmosphere. For a moment, even Qu Longjun next to him blushed. She had heard the other party say that
I had the idea of buying and selling goods to make a living along the way, and I had already adopted the mentality of "marry the chicken, follow the chicken, marry the dog, follow the dog". I thought it would be a great thing for two people to set up a small stall and travel together, but this was the first time after all that
Seeing the crowd shouting like this and seeing the different atmosphere around me, I felt a little ashamed.
But after a while, she gritted her teeth, put her hands around her mouth, and shouted loudly: "I'm selling something! I'm selling something--"
This moment was the afternoon of March 12th, the third year of Wu Zhenxing, when the two of them set up a stall for the first time. The shouting, which was not attentive to the feelings of others, caused a somewhat awkward atmosphere in the noisy camp. Some people passing by curiously looked at the stall.
I took a look online. Some of the items Ning Ji bought from the battlefield were indeed relatively valuable, but they were not the rarest items in the current camp. Therefore, Ning Ji’s exaggerated shouts did not bring much.
In terms of business, I only sold a few needles, threads, and brains this afternoon. Some people came over and asked, "How can I see a doctor if I am born young?" But in the end, young Ning Ji was not chosen to treat the children at home.