Many years later, Master Li would often think of Bianliang in the 13th year of Jinghan's reign in the Wu Dynasty.
It was the eve of the Jurchens coming south. Bianliang in my memory was warm and prosperous. The buildings and eaves in front of me exuded the atmosphere of peace and prosperity. The Alum Tower was at the east end of Yu Street, and the setting sun shone brightly from that end of the street.
.The time is always autumn, the warm golden color, the pedestrians on the street and the poetry and music in the buildings complement each other.
Such prosperity always becomes more profound in the memory after the rain and wind blow it away.
Regarding such memories, Ning Yi had other theories.
"It's all thanks to the paint."
Men who don’t seem to have much interest always swear by this: “Throughout the ages, we have been able to use only a few colors. For example, when building a house, red and purple paints are very expensive and difficult to use.
Staying in the towns and villages, Bianliang seemed prosperous in those days because the houses at least had some color and were well maintained, unlike in the countryside where they were made of mud bricks and cow dung... When the industry develops, you will find that the prosperity of Bianliang is...
In fact, it’s not worth mentioning.”
Ning Yi, who said this, was actually not worth mentioning in terms of aesthetics. Later, he often asked people to paint the wall completely white, making people look like they were in another place that was incompatible with the mountains and rivers. He
He knows poetry, but obviously he doesn't know how to paint.
In my memory, Bianliang is always in autumn and always in the evening, and the big sunset is very warm and beautiful. It was the sunset of the prosperous Wu Dynasty for two hundred years. From another perspective, maybe it was because that period of Li Shishi’s life had also come to an end.
At the end, the days when she was leaning against the window and taking a nap as the court lady of Fanlou were coming to an end, and she was hesitating about her future choices in her heart.
Couldn't make a decision.
The wind and rain always blew away the wind, and a huge and chaotic era was suddenly pushed in front of her eyes, and also in front of the people of the Wu Dynasty who had been in peace for two hundred years.
She thought of herself back then, and also of the people who came and went in the alum building, and of He Leer. People were bumping in the dark, and the big hand of fate grabbed everyone's threads and tore them roughly. From then on,
Some people's lines went to completely unpredictable places, and some people's lines broke in the air.
The moment you can stop looking for a moment, the world has become a different look.
***************
If she looked at it from another angle, she would occasionally think of the moment when she saw Ning Yi again in Jiangning.
Whether it was in the world or in her personal life, that name was an existence that could not be ignored for decades. She was once fascinated by it, and then she was confused by it, and even felt angry and puzzled... In time
In the changing world, people's personal relationships between children sometimes seem insignificant, but beside that man, she can always see the outline of something bigger.
Looking back on the last period of time in the fan building, she was facing the most important choice in her life, which is the case for many people. Women choose a husband, marry him, and from then on
For decades, they have supported each other and raised their children... If all this develops smoothly, the women will have a happy life.
A pure woman like Li Shishi always has more autonomy than others. It is not up to them to choose what kind of man a girl from an innocent family wants to marry. Li Shishi can have a certain degree of autonomy in this regard, but compared with
Correspondingly, she cannot become someone else's eldest wife. She may be able to find a gentle and talented man to rest her life with. This man may still have a certain status, and she can give birth to a child before her beauty grows old.
, to maintain one's status and enjoy a decent life for a period or a lifetime.
There are too many uncertainties in such a choice, but everyone spends their lives like this. In those days as warm as the sunset, Li Shishi once envied the atmosphere around Ning Yi. She approached and then
Being carried away by that huge thing, I couldn't help myself along the way.
It's hard to say whether it was luck or misfortune. In the following ten years, she saw some more profound things in this world. If we talk about choices, of course there are choices at some points, such as the time she spent in Dali.
Time, for example, every time someone expressed their admiration to her for more than ten years, if she wanted to go back and leave the matter to the men around her, she would always have the opportunity.
When she was in Xiaocanghe, she once quarreled with Ning Yi over the Jingping incident. What Ning Yi said could not convince her, so she went to Dali in anger. During the three-year war in Xiaocanghe, he faced hundreds of people in the Central Plains.
Faced with the attack of Wan Dajun, Li Shishi always fought fiercely against the Jurchens. She felt that he was such a person, but when the news of his death came, she couldn't help but go out and want to find a "why".
Ning Yi did not answer her. During the period when she thought Ning Yi was dead, members of the Chinese Army accompanied her from south to north, and then from north to south. In nearly two years, what she saw
It is a human tragedy that is completely different from the peaceful years. People are crying in desolation and exchanging their children for food. It is pitiful.
But in this unkind world, if people really don’t have the will to resist in their hearts, and their bloodthirsty beasts can’t survive just by being pitied. The songs and dances in Fanlou are just embellishments of the peaceful season.
The little girl who is pitiful can only turn into a withered skeleton that dies of cold and hunger.
How many people's awakening and resistance are needed to support this world? Ning Yi's answer once made people feel very naive: "It is best for everyone."
At that time, Master Li understood: "This can't be done." Ning Yi said: "If this is not the case, then what is the meaning of this world?" If there is no meaning in the world, let everyone die? People who have no meaning will just die.
Should he die? Ning Yi's slightly frivolous answer once angered Master Li. But later, she gradually realized the deep anger and helplessness in these words.
When a person puts down his own burden, the burden must be taken up by those who have awakened. Those who resisted died in the front. After they died, those who did not resist knelt behind and died. In two years, she followed Lu Junyi,
The scenes that Yan Qing and others saw were all like this.
She still did not fully understand Ning Yi. After the Battle of Daming Mansion, she returned to the southwest with Qin Shaohe's widow. The two had not seen each other for many years. They were actually a little stranger when they first met, but
Fortunately, both of them were open-minded people, and soon the strangeness was resolved. Ning Yi arranged some things for her, and also told her some bigger things in detail.
"There's nothing special about Fanlou." Ning Yi, who sometimes seemed clever and sometimes was very taciturn, said so at that time, "There are not many women in this world who are educated and have seen very little of the world.
Generally speaking, it's actually boring. Men create brothels for their own enjoyment, and let some women who can read, read, and speak sell...the feeling of love. But I think that between two independent people, these things
, you can do it yourself.”
Ning Yi was not talking arrogantly when she said this. At least from Li Shishi's point of view, the relationship between Ning Yi and Su Tan'er, Nie Yunzhu and other family members was extremely enviable, so she did not refute it.
"In the future, both boys and girls will be able to read and write. Girls will see more things, know the outside world, and will be able to communicate and communicate. Naturally, they will no longer need a fan building. The so-called equality of all people, of course, men and women can also
equal."
"Of course, don't be too happy too early. The basis for equality between people actually lies in taking responsibility. People who can't take responsibility actually don't get any power. The prerequisite for women to be equal to men is
After they have their own abilities and the conditions are met, there will actually be a process of proving their abilities and fighting for power."
"This process is going on now. There are already some female officers in the military. I think you can also consciously strive for women's rights and make some preparations. You see, you are well-informed, have seen the world, and have done many things.
, and now you are in charge of foreign affairs and other affairs, you are a good example that women are no worse than men, or even better."
This is what Ning Yi said when Shishi had a detailed discussion with her after Ning Yi had some external relations matters.
The teacher was responsible for many matters of communication and negotiation with the gentry and noble families in Sichuan and Sichuan.
In this world, people sometimes move closer and closer, and sometimes they move further and further away. Of course, the criteria for distance and near are not as clear as people think.
If you want to persuade the gentry and noble families in various places to stand with the Chinese army as much as possible, you often rely on interests, a combination of coercion and inducement. There are also many times when you need to argue with others and explain the great principles of the world. Since then, teachers and teachers have
Ning Yi had many conversations about the administration of the Chinese Army and its future direction.
In the face of these specific questions, Ning Yi spoke to her in more detail, and the teacher finally understood everything about the Chinese Army more clearly - this was a communication she had never had when she left Xiaocanghe a few years ago.
.
"...People are born equal, or in other words, we believe that people should be equal in the end. But ideal equality needs to be supported by actual conditions. Will a smart person be equal to a stupid person? A hard-working person
Will they be equal to lazy people? Will a scholar be equal to an illiterate person? We must try to bring the prerequisites as close as possible..."
"...The technology of studying things has given us the possibility to popularize books. People can gain wisdom from books. If books are popularized and the most basic literacy education is popularized, everyone will have the possibility to improve themselves. We also need to improve the quality of education.
The method is not just something that makes people shake their heads and read it, but try to develop education and enlightenment methods suitable for the public as much as possible, and let more people understand the great principles through a more popular way..."
"... There may be a limit to the way of studying things, but for the time being, it is far away. The guy who carries grain and produces grain is very smart, and he is right. If too many people are brought into the workshop, the people who farm the land will be
It’s not enough... Regarding this, we have already calculated this a few years ago. Those who study agriculture have already had a certain idea, such as the chicken farm established by Hedeng, and the selective breeding mentioned before.
…”
"... But the most important thing is that Mr. Gongsun's explosives research laboratory has produced some very interesting results recently. We have made some fertilizers that may increase rice production several times... At present,
It is said that we have not yet found the possibility of mass production, but at least there is a certain direction in agriculture... In fact, it takes time and a peaceful environment to do these things safely. We are short of manpower now..."
"...The problem of the imperial power not extending to the county must be changed, but for the time being, I don't want to be like Lao Niutou, who caught all the big families and killed them...I don't care if they are happy or not. My highest hope in the future is the law.
, they can have land and houses in the local area, but as long as they bully others, let the law teach them how to behave, and let education take away their roots. Of course there will be a transition, maybe a long transition or even repetition, but
Now that there is a declaration of equality, I hope that the people themselves can seize this opportunity. The important thing is that only what everyone seizes can take root and sprout..."
She could understand some of Ning Yi's words, but she couldn't understand some.
The vast changes of the times flowed past people. In the more than ten years after the sunset in Bianliang, it once seemed extremely chaotic - even desperate - the enemy's power was so powerful and unstoppable.
It is really like a giant wheel adhering to the will of God, crushing all the gainers in the world in the past.
The teachings of the Great Light Sect say that people lived too comfortably in peaceful days and were arrogant and extravagant, so God would bring down thirty-three catastrophes before they could regain the light. Such words seemed so reasonable. Even though
It was some of the resisters who fought with despair, and in the end they seemed helpless and powerless.
In Li Shishi's memories, those two emotions were not finally reunited until the first spring after the Wu Jianshuo Dynasty completely passed.
The Southwest War was also a busy and chaotic period for Li Shishi. In the past year, she had been lobbying for the Chinese Army. Sometimes she would face ridicule and ridicule, and sometimes people would criticize her.
At that time, she expressed disdain for her status as a prostitute, but with the support of the Chinese military, she naturally summed up a set of methods of dealing with people and negotiating.
Ning Yi's wife named Liu Xigua gave her a lot of help. Most of the military deployment and bandit suppression in Sichuan and Shu were presided over by Ning Yi's wife. She was also the "equal" in the Chinese army.
"The most powerful appealer of thinking. Of course, sometimes she will feel distressed because she is Ning Yi's wife, because everyone will give her some face, so she makes the other party give in in various things, which is more like coming from Ning Yi
A beacon fire to play with the princes, but it does not seem to be her own ability.
For this reason, Xigua envied Shishi Li very much. On the one hand, Li Shishi had a very elegant temperament, and on the other hand, she had no identity problem. During this year, the two got along well, and Xigua once regarded Shishi as herself.
Treat it as a "strategist".
After the end of autumn, there were more opportunities for the two to cooperate. Due to the attack of the Jurchens, some gentry forces on the Chengdu Plain who had been waiting for changes began to take a stand.
Teachers came forward to threaten and persuade some gentry and Confucian scholars who were swaying around, or who could be persuaded, to abandon the dark side and join the bright side, or at least not to cause trouble.
Xigua's job was more about force, and he often ran outside. Shishi even saw the cold eyes of the round-faced lady more than once when her body was covered in blood.
The work of the teacher requires a lot of intelligence and clerical cooperation. Sometimes she will go to Zizhou to contact Ning Yi. Most of the time, Ning Yi is also busy. If she is free, the two of them will sit down and have a cup of tea and talk.
Most of them are jobs.
The fighting on the front line was extremely cruel. Many times, Shishi could detect what Ning Yi was hiding in his words - she had done this in the past - and the cruelty on the front line actually put a huge pressure on Ning Yi. Ning Yi
Yi appears calm.
During such a time, Shishi wanted to play a pipa or guzheng for him, but in fact, no such opportunity was found in the end. Men who focus on work and shoulder huge responsibilities are always fascinating. Sometimes this
Let Shishi think about emotional issues again. In this gap, her mind will think of the stories she heard in the past, the sacrifice of a woman when the general went to war, or the confession of good feelings... this and that.
But she didn't say it, not because she was no longer looking forward to these things. In the very small time gap about herself, she was still looking forward to stories about feelings. But when she came into contact with Ning Yi
At this moment, she suddenly realized that the woman's sacrifice when the general went out to fight was because for a woman, it was the greatest encouragement and help to him.
Now she has more practical things to do.
The number of troops in the Chinese Army has always been very tight. By the end of December, the largest wave of rebellions appeared. This was not just a spontaneous rebellion, but more of it was actually premeditated by the Jurchens, including Wanyan Xiyin.
Manipulation and instigation included - Xigua led the troops to pursue and suppress, and some of Zizhou's troops were also sent out. The division cooperated with the intelligence department to analyze several forces that might lobby for rebellion, and prepared to come forward to kill them
Convince and give up resistance.
Shishi was involved in the analysis of these forces from beginning to end. Due to the higher risk, the Intelligence Department did not originally plan to let Shishi come forward in person, but Shishi still chose two families with Confucian scholars to be in charge. Her persuasion
The force that may be effective is placed on one's own shoulders.
On the third day of the first lunar month, she persuaded a large family that rebelled into the mountains to temporarily lay down their weapons and stop fighting against the Chinese army. For the success of this matter, she even made a promise to the other party on behalf of Ning Yi. Once the Jurchen soldiers retreated, Ning Yi
Yihui had a fair debate with the Confucian scholars of this family in front of the public.
After the matter was settled, the division commander went to Zizhou and reported to Ning Yi. It was already evening when he arrived in Zizhou. People came and went in the headquarters, and the horses reporting the news kept coming. This was a frontline battle.
It was a sign that the situation was urgent. Shishi saw Ning Yi who was busy from a distance. She left a summary and turned around to leave.
She hoped to save time and deal with the second family as quickly as possible, so the carriage left the city at night. Half an hour after leaving Zizhou, something unexpected happened.
The attack on the carriage came suddenly, and someone outside seemed to be shouting: "Tie up Ning Yi's concubine——". The guards following the division started fighting with the other side, but an expert from the other side got on the carriage and drove
The carriage rushed forward. The carriage bumped, and Shishi opened the curtain on the window to take a look. After a moment, she made a decision and rushed out towards the front of the carriage.
This was a collision with all his strength. Shishi and the murderer who hijacked the carriage flew into the snow on the roadside. The murderer rolled over and got up. Shishi also struggled to get up and jumped into the road.
In a stream with rapid water flow due to its narrow channel.
The river water in winter was freezing cold, and as soon as it became like water, Shishi felt his heart suddenly tighten and his head felt dizzy. The river flowed rapidly downwards, and when it reached a corner, Shishi's body hit a stone.
, she woke up again for a moment and struggled hard. She struggled to move ashore on a river beach full of pebbles. Her body no longer felt like her own, and her mind wanted to stop here.
But she didn't stop. For an unknown period of time, it was as if something that was not her own was controlling her - she had seen disabled soldiers in the Chinese army's camp, and she had seen disabled soldiers in the camp of the wounded soldiers.
She had seen extremely bloody scenes. Sometimes Liu Xigua walked up to her with a big knife on his back, and the poor child starved to death on the roadside, giving off a putrid smell... These things just flashed through her mind mechanically, and her body also mechanically
Searching for firewood and kindling materials by the river bed.
A sunken stone wall beside the river bed saved her life. She found some dead branches, broke some firewood, took out flint and started a fire with trembling hands... She took off her clothes and put it on the fire.
She was baked to dry, and the mountain wind whined away at night. It was not until dawn that the Chinese soldiers who searched back and forth twice found her in the blind spot of the field of vision.
She was carried to the wounded barracks, checked, and rested - Fenghan had come and had to rest. Xigua sent her a letter, telling her to have a good life. From other people's stories, she also knew that later Ning
Yi heard about the attack on her and sent a small team of soldiers to look for her under very urgent circumstances.
This was supposed to be the closest to death in her life and the most worth talking about, but when she thought about it after she recovered from the injury, she didn't think it was anything. In the past year and several years of running around, dealing with Xigua and others
, which made Shishi's physique become very good. In mid-January, she recovered from her injuries and went to Zizhou again. Ning Yi met her and asked about what happened that night, but Shishi just shook his head and said: "It's nothing."
."
She contacted Xigua and the Intelligence Department again, and returned to the work she was responsible for.
Participating in the entire huge and complex work of the Chinese Army, sometimes the division commander can feel that a vague plan is advancing invisibly. Every time there are fewer problems on the Chengdu Plain, there will be more.
A little bit of manpower was put into the Zizhou front line.
Entering late February, the work on the rear no longer seemed as difficult as before. The division division followed a group of soldiers to Zizhou. When they arrived in Zizhou, it was the morning of February 23, and the city of Zizhou was as usual.
Martial law, solemn killing. Since Ning Yi was not free for a while, she first went to the wounded barracks to visit a medical officer with whom she had known each other before. The other party suddenly realized: "You came here too, so you said there was a big move..."
"What?"
"...You don't know?" The other party was stunned, "Forget it, just take your time and see for yourself."
If you stay in the army for a long time, you will encounter some secrets, but there are also some things that you can detect if you look carefully. After leaving the wounded barracks, the division commander noticed signs of the army gathering in the city, and then learned some other things.
In the afternoon, she had finished communicating with the Intelligence Department and the General Staff, and saw Ning Yi coming in military uniform. The leading troops were passing by on the street outside.
"They said you're here, come and take a look. Have you encountered any danger recently?"
"...You want to go to the battlefield?"
"Zong Han is very close. It's time to go and meet him for a while."
"A decisive battle... outside? They said... it's not good. We have few people."
The teachers racked their brains, recalling the military news they had heard in the past period. Before this, no one actually thought that this battle would be fought in front of Zizhou City. Ning Yi wanted to invest all his troops.
Went in...
"In war, only unexpected plans are effective. Don't worry, I have been on the front line for Xiaocanghe for a long time." Ning Yi smiled, "I will kill you with my own hands no matter what."
"I have always felt that you are the best at writing poems..." As she spoke, she felt that her words did not convey her meaning and she was about to burst into tears. At this moment, she felt the general's lover's devotion to himself before he went on an expedition - better than speaking.
It's actually much more comfortable.
"Haha, poetry..." Ning Yi smiled, but the teacher couldn't understand the meaning of this smile. The silence between the two lasted for a moment, and Ning Yi nodded: "Then... let's go first, yes
It’s time to teach them a lesson.”
"Ning Liheng... Liheng." Shishi called him. She always had a big forehead, but a very elegant appearance. At this time, her eyes were wide open, and many thoughts seemed to be reflected in her eyes.
Concerned with the essence, fear, anxiety, complexity, and anxiety that she couldn't express what she meant... Her lips trembled a few times.
"Well... I... if you... die on the battlefield, you... Hey, don't you have anything to say to me? You... I know you all have to write a suicide note when you go to the battlefield, and give it to your family.
You wrote them all...I don't mean, that...I mean...your suicide notes are all for your family. We have known each other for so many years. If you die...don't you have anything to say to me?
?I, we have known each other for so many years..."
She couldn't find a better way to express it. When she said this, tears flowed down. She could only turn her head, one hand firmly grasped the skirt on her thigh, and the other hand rested on the table next to her.
He only bent his knees slightly without squatting down. Tears fell down.
Ning Yi looked at her with complicated eyes, and tapped his fingers unconsciously on his legs. After a long time, he said: "If I can come back... let's discuss this matter again, okay?"
After a while, I wanted to turn around, but felt that these words were a bit unlucky, so I reached out and knocked on the table: "Don't worry...it's such a big deal...I will definitely come back."
Just like that, he turned around and left.
This was February 23rd in Master Li's memory. At least at that moment, the future was uncertain, and the waves of fate rolled here, creating a tragic atmosphere like the rustling wind and the cold water.
At this moment, all the resistance faced by Southwest, the world, including the Jurchens who have conquered the world for thirty years, are about to come to an end. If they fail, it will be the end of the world.
When the division commander came out of the room, a small number of soldiers compared to the entire battlefield were walking through the city gate in the thin daylight.
Due to the paint, the momentum in the painting is not full. This is early spring when everything looks pale.
****************
In the first year of Wu Zhenxing, in the spring of the fifteenth year of Jin Tianhui, it was February 23rd.
In the mountains of the southwest, several armies from Ba Lisu, Wanyan Saba, Dalai, and Wanyan Xiebao who participated in the Southern Expedition suddenly launched a large-scale interspersed advance upon mutual agreement, trying to break through
The war situation became chaotic due to the terrain amid the desperate resistance of the Chinese army.
At the same time as the interlude unfolded, the Chinese Army headquarters in front of Zizhou responded, concentrating its troops to conduct a large-scale segmentation and interception against the Jurchens' weak troops moving forward, trying to prevent the Jurchens' strong troops from reacting.
After swallowing a certain amount of victory, the two sides fought for a day.
From the night of February 23rd to the morning of February 24th, a message was sent from Zizhou. After passing through various routes, it was successively spread to the main camps of the Jurchens on the front line. This news
The news even interfered with the subsequent response attitude adopted by various Jurchen armies to a certain extent. In Dalai and Saba Division, they chose a conservative defense, and the troops of Wanyan Xiebao's Revenge Army chose to defend conservatively.
He suddenly accelerated his speed and pushed forward crazily, trying to break through the Leigang and Brown River lines in the shortest possible time.
On February 23rd, Ning Yi personally led more than 6,000 elite troops and stepped out of the gate of Zizhou City.