Chapter 86: The Beach of Fright, Talking About Fear, Lingding in the Ocean (1)
Sandalwood curls up, and the dim candle light moves with the slight fluctuation of the waves.
She saw the blue sea surface and the clear agate-colored light. When she turned her body, underneath the sea was a huge abyss with no end.
The deep and huge darkness was frightening, hallucinatory sounds of chaos could be heard in the ears, and a yellow figure jumped into the water.
The moment he sat up, the noise faded into the surrounding darkness, and he still saw the cabin that he had gradually become familiar with, the bedding that was smoked with a slight fragrance every day, a few star candles, and the undulating waves outside the window.
The sound of getting up was heard from outside the cabin.
"Your Highness, are you awake?"
"It's okay, no need to come in."
Zhou Pei replied and sat quietly on the candlelit bed for a while. She turned to look at the sky outside, and then got dressed.
When I got out of bed and walked outside, the maid Xiao Song who was staying in the cubicle had also quietly gotten up. After asking Zhou Pei if she wanted to bring water to wash up, she followed her outside.
There are still orange lanterns burning in the aisles passing through the cabin, extending all the way to the door leading to the large deck. After leaving the inner cabin and the upper deck, it is still dark at sea, the waves are undulating on the sea, and the sky is like weaving.
The stars and the moon seem to be embedded in the blue-grey transparent glass, and the sky and the sea merge into one in the boundless place at the end of the field of vision.
Looking back, the huge dragon boat was dimly lit, like a palace sailing on the sea.
Ten years ago, in order to facilitate Zhou Yong's escape, countless craftsmen spliced together more than a dozen large ships and made various modifications to build this huge dragon palace on the sea that looked like land even on the windy sea.
After moving to Lin'an, the dragon boat was moored at the wharf of the Qiantang River, and various craftsmen's ingenuity was incorporated into it. In this quiet night, looking back, it was truly magnificent and graceful.
But in Zhou Pei's heart, it was difficult to have any ups and downs of emotions.
The huge dragon boat fleet has been drifting at sea for three months. It was still summer when they left Lin'an, but now it is approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the past three months, many things have happened on the ship. Zhou Pei's mood has gone from despair to
Heartbroken, on that day at the end of June, while his father was coming and the guards around him were avoiding him, Zhou Pei jumped off the side of the ship.
Then, the first figure to jump into the sea was Zhou Yong wearing imperial robes.
Since the Jurchens went south, Zhou Yong was frightened and his body was once as thin as skin and bones. He indulged in lust in the past, and now his body is even weaker. But on this day at the end of June, as his daughter jumped into the sea, not many people
It can explain Zhou Yong's conditioned reflex at that moment - he had always been afraid of death and jumped towards the sea.
His jumping into the sea was of no help on a practical level. If the guards who jumped into the sea had not rescued the two of them, both father and daughter would have drowned in the sea.
But because of such an action, after being rescued, Zhou Pei's hatred for Zhou Yong gradually turned into more complex emotions. She cried in the room for a long time and was no longer willing to see Zhou Yong. However, Zhou Yong also refused after that.
Gradually, he fell ill. It was a minor illness at first, and gradually worsened in mid-July. By this time, he had collapsed on the bed and could not get out of bed.
Under such circumstances, whether it is hatred or contempt, it seems to have become empty things to Zhou Pei.
She sat on the deck under the night sky, quietly looking at the stars and moon. The autumn sea breeze blew over, carrying water vapor and fishy smell. The maid Xiaosong stood quietly behind her. At some point, Zhou Pei turned slightly
He turned his head and noticed tears on her face.
She moved a seat on the bench and said, "Sit down."
"I don't dare, slave."
"Are you the granddaughter of Mr. Zhao?"
"...Hmm." Maid Xiaosong wiped away her tears, "Slave... I just remembered the poems my grandpa taught me."
"I heard it...the moon rises over the sea, and we are at this moment across the world...You are also from a scholarly family. When I was in Lin'an, I heard someone mention your name." Zhou Pei tilted her head and whispered. The Mr. Zhao in her mouth was
It was Zhao Ding. When he abandoned Lin'an, Zhou Yong summoned Qin Hui and others to board the ship. He also summoned Zhao Ding, but Zhao Ding never came. He only sent a few promising grandchildren at home to the dragon boat: "You shouldn't be."
Slave’s…”
As she said this, Zhao Xiaosong behind him couldn't restrain his emotions and started to cry more intensely. He stretched out his hand to wipe his tears. Zhou Pei felt sad in her heart - she understood why Zhao Xiaosong was so sad. In front of her eyes, the autumn moon swept across the waves and the sea breeze was quiet. She
I think of the bright moon rising over the sea and the world at this moment. However, my family and grandfather in Lin'an may have died under the Jurchens' butcher's knife, and the whole of Lin'an may be about to be burned down at this time.
This severe sadness tightly grasped her mind, causing her heart to hurt as if being squeezed by a huge hammer. However, there was no emotion on Zhou Pei's face, and she looked ahead quietly.
The sky and sea slowly opened their mouths.
"If I remember correctly, Xiaosong was known as a talented girl when she was in Lin'an. Are you sixteen this year? Have you ever promised to marry or have a sweetheart?"
Zhao Xiaosong shook his head sadly, and Zhou Pei looked indifferent. By this year, she was nearly thirty, her marriage was unhappy, and she was busy with many things. In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had gone by, and now, all the way
Her busy life finally turned into an empty existence. She looked at Zhao Xiaosong and could vaguely see herself when she was a girl more than ten years ago.
"It's okay if you don't have it. In times like this, love and love will inevitably turn into hurtful things in the end. When I was your age, I was very envious of the games between talented men and beautiful women that were spread in the market. Looking back, we...
When I left Lin'an, it was the fifth day of May, the Dragon Boat Festival, right? There was a Dragon Boat Festival poem in Jiangning more than ten years ago. I wonder if you have heard it..."
Zhou Pei recalled the lyrics and sang slowly and in a low voice: "Light sweat penetrates the blue sky, bathing in fragrant orchids during the Dragon Boat Festival in the Ming Dynasty. The fragrance fills Qingchuan. Colorful threads gently wrap around the ruby arms, and the little
The talisman hangs slantingly on the green clouds of the servant girl. The beauty meets...a thousand years..."
She chanted this charming poem to the end, her voice gradually became inaudible, and she just smiled at the corner of her mouth: "It's almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are Mid-Autumn Festival poems again... When will the bright moon come, ask the wine to the sky... I don't know the sky
Gongque, what year is it today..."
This low hum turned to singing, and sounded light and soft on the deck. Zhao Xiaosong knew the author of these lyrics. In the past, these lyrics were also circulated in the mouths of the ladies of Lin'an, but only in the mouth of the eldest princess.
What came out was a singing style and tune that Zhao Xiaosong had never heard before.
She looked at the princess in front of her, and saw that her face was still as calm as water, but her words seemed to contain countless things. She could not understand these things now. That was more than ten years ago, and the seemingly endless world
Tranquility and prosperity are like the sound of water flowing...
Listening to that voice, Xiaosong's heart was gradually filled with sadness. At some point, she subconsciously asked: "Your Highness, I heard that that gentleman was really your teacher back then?"
This was not something she should ask. After her words fell, she saw the eldest princess, who had always had a calm expression in the bright and dark light, pressing her forehead. Time was as ruthless as a grinding wheel, and tears fell down in an instant.
——The news on land came through a few days ago.
Regarding the crisis in Lin'an, Zhou Yong was not prepared to escape in advance. The dragon boat fleet left in a hurry. At the beginning, he was afraid of being caught by the Jurchens and did not dare to dock at will until he was drifting on the sea.
It took more than two months before we stopped for a while and sent people to land to find out the news.
The news came back four days ago. After reading the book, Zhou Yong vomited blood and fainted. When he woke up, he called Zhou Pei over. This was the first time father and daughter met after Zhou Pei jumped into the sea at the end of June.
At this time, Zhou Yong's illness worsened and he was so skinny that he could no longer get out of bed. He looked at Zhou Pei who came over and handed her the news, with a look of deep sadness on his face. That day, Zhou Pei also finished reading
Those news made my body tremble and gradually started to cry.
After Zhou Yong abandoned Lin'an and left, throughout May, the world's situation was undergoing drastic changes in chaos. By June, the outlines had already been revealed. In June and July, many forces that originally belonged to the Wu Dynasty had begun to express their stance.
On the surface, most of the armies and governors still claimed to be loyal to the Wu Dynasty, but as the Jurchen army swept across the country, more and more people changed their banners in various places.
In this situation, the Jiangnan area bore the brunt. In June, the important town of Jiaxing near Lin'an refused to surrender. The rebels and the Jurchen army cooperated with the outside world to defeat it.
Major towns expressed their stance one after another, and by July, more than half of those in Kaesong had surrendered.
From the banks of the Yangtze River to Lin'an, this was the most prosperous core area of the Wu Dynasty. There were recalcitrants, but they were becoming increasingly powerless. The excessive authority of military generals that had been criticized by the civil servants of the Wu Dynasty finally began to spread throughout the world.
It emerged that on Jiangnan West Road, military and political officials were unable to unify their orders and a riot broke out. General Hongdu led his troops into the Jizhou Prefecture, imprisoned all the officials, and raised the banner of reducing gold. On Fujian Road, it was originally planned to
The two armies here are already preparing for a fight.
Liu Guangshi, who was traveling south from Xiangyang, entered the Dongting Lake area and began to demarcate territory and seize power. At the same time, he had conflicts with the Nianhan troops in the north and the Miao Black Banners who invaded Changsha. In this situation, countless people and countless forces in the world began to take action.
Here, the Jurchen's order has been issued, driving all the troops of the Wu Dynasty who have nominally paid their dues, and began to move westward. The troops pointed directly at the black flag. A battle that will truly determine the ownership of the world is imminent.
Under such circumstances, the authority that once belonged to the Wu Dynasty collapsed before everyone's eyes.
The collapse of a dynasty may take several years, but to Zhou Yong and Zhou Pei, all of this and the huge chaos may not be the most important thing.
In July, Junwu, who entered Jiangning, refused all orders from the small imperial court in Lin'an, improved military discipline, and refused to retreat or surrender. At the same time, tens of thousands of troops under Zongfu, together with the surrendered Han who had gathered here,
The Wu Dynasty troops and troops surrendered one after another, and the troops from the Wu Dynasty began to launch a fierce attack towards Jiangning. By the end of July, they successively arrived near Jiangning. The total number of troops launching the attack reached one million, and there were even some
Half of the troops were once under the command and jurisdiction of Prince Junwu. After Zhou Yong left, they successively defected.
Wanyan Zongfu said that even if Jiangning was an iron city, he would dissolve it into a pot of molten iron.
Chaos was happening violently in the world, and the Jurchens' westward march had just begun. So in June and July, the city of Jiangning became the center of the most intense war in the world. The Wu Dynasty had collapsed, and only the former Wu Dynasty
The prince, leading several troops from Beiwei and Zhenhai, were like desperate beasts whose homes had been destroyed, making a tenacious and tragic resistance on the ruins.
In front of it, enemies are still coming like a tidal wave.
No one knows how far into the future such tenacity will last.
"I'm sorry Junwu...I'm sorry...my son..."
Perhaps it was the drowning that day that took away his vitality and his fear. At that moment, Zhou Yong gradually regained his sense, and amid Zhou Pei's cries, he just murmured these words.
That afternoon, he summoned the ministers in the small court and decided to announce his abdication and pass his throne to Jun Wu, who was in danger, to give him the last help. However, soon after, he encountered opposition from the ministers. Qin Hui and others
He put forward various pragmatic views and believed that this matter was harmful to both the Wu Dynasty and the king and the military.
Zhou Yong fainted in the quarrel and noise of the officials.
And it was also on that day that Zhao Xiaosong learned that Lin'an had been massacred, and that his grandfather and family members might have died miserably...