In June of the eighth year of the establishment of the Wu Dynasty, an exciting news was coming to the south of the Yangtze River.
The incident began in the first half of the seventh year of Jianshuo, and several battles broke out between Wu and Qi in the border area between the Central Plains and Jiangnan, north of Xiangyang. At this time, it has been a year since the Black Flag Army disappeared in the northwest. Although Liu Yu moved the capital to Bianliang, the so-called "Daqi" is just a lackey under the Jurchen family. When the people in the country are struggling and the army has no fighting spirit, the Wu Dynasty A group of generals led by Li Heng, the envoy of Xiangyang Township, seized the opportunity to launch a northern expedition, taking over a dozen prefectures and towns, and once pushed the front back to the old capital Bianliang. Li Heng passed on all the troops and attacked Bianliang in unison.
Under such circumstances, Liu Yu asked for help from the north several times, and finally got Jin to send troops. This autumn, Wanyan Zonghan ordered the fourth prince Wushu to lead an army south, and with the cooperation of Liu Yu's general Li Cheng, they swept Li Heng's army near Bianliang. After defeating the armies of all parties, they pushed all the way to the south, successively conquered and occupied the strategically important places in Jianghan, such as Xiangyang, Dengzhou, Suizhou, Yingzhou, which were still under the Wu Dynasty, and Fang began to leave.
This kind of disgraced war was not the first time for the Wu Dynasty. However, several years of recuperation are still vulnerable to the Jurchen army. The battle between the Wu Dynasty and the Puppet Qi, even if hundreds of thousands of troops are raised, the status quo that the Jurchen army is still like a child playing a family is frustrating after all. .
Compared with the fierceness of the Jin Kingdom and the tenacity of the Black Flag that once fought hard against the Jin Kingdom in the northwest, the resistance of the Yangyang Wu Dynasty seemed to be as weak as a child before these forces. But power is like a child's play, and the price to bear will never be discounted at all. Soldiers who died in battle will not feel any better, and the suffering of the people in the occupied places will not be alleviated. Jurchen goes south. The pressure will not be abated in the slightest. North of the Yangtze River, people came here with pain and grief. The tragedy and death caused by the war, as well as the accompanying famine and oppression, and even the darkness and hardships of fighting and fighting on the way to escape, or even changing children to eat, have continued. After several years, the consequences of the loss of this order seem to continue forever...
In the spring of the eighth year of Jianshuo, Yue Fei, Yue Peng, and his 30,000-strong Beiwei Army sent troops to the north again. They attacked Yingzhou, which was defended by Daqi's heavy troops, and later frightened Li Cheng's army. The Qi and Jin coalition forces of more than 100,000 people who counterattacked successfully recovered the six counties of Xiangyang and sent the news of the victory back to the capital.
Lin'an in June is unbearably hot. In the study room of the Prince's Mansion, not long after a round of discussions ended, the aides left the room one after another. Wen Ren Bu'er was left behind, watching Prince Jun Wu walk around the room, pushing open the front and rear windows.
However there was no wind.
The other aides had already gone away one after another, and the servants took away the bowls and plates of ice-cold sugar water. This young man who was only eleven years old when we first met, but now he has grown a beard and has raised his majesty, is revealed. Annoyed look, looking at the sun outside the window, looking tired.
"In recent days, I always think of the food shortage in Jinghan's eleventh year... At that time, I was in Jiangning, and I saw Huang Jie and a group of businessmen in Jiangning transporting grain for disaster relief. A different taste comes. Mr. Wenren is a witness, what do you think?"
“…things are tough, and there are similarities.”
"Things are tough..."
Jun Wu tapped the windowsill with his fingers and repeated this sentence.
In the eleventh year of Jinghan, the Wu Dynasty encountered food shortages in many places. Qin Siyuan, the right prime minister's house, was responsible for the disaster relief. At that time, Ning Yi attacked the local merchants and gentry who monopolized the grain price with various foreign forces. Pass. Thinking of it at this moment, Jun Wu's emotion came from its own origin.
At this time, Yue Fei regained Xiangyang, and the news of the defeat of Jin and Qi's coalition forces had reached Lin'an. Although the speeches in the world were generous, there were many different opinions in the court. These days, the clamor couldn't stop.
Since the Wu Dynasty lost the Central Plains and moved to the south, the remarks of the rulers of the court have accounted for the majority. The war between Jin and Wu has developed to this point, and many of the status quo has been put on the bright side. There is no doubt that the Wu Dynasty is powerless to fight against the Jurchen who is in full swing. Years of war have proven this. Some people feel that after a few years of pain, they will always regain lost territory and expedition to the Central Plains. However, in the seventh year of Jianshuo, the fact that Xiangyang pacifier Li Heng and others hit Bianliang only proves that the time has not yet come.
Even if it can compete with the army of the pseudo-Qi, even if it can be destroyed all the way to the city of Bianliang, when the main force of the Jin army comes, it has not beaten back hundreds of thousands of troops, and even lost Xiangyang and other places. Then, at this time, how can Yue Fei's army's victory over the puppet Qi prove that it will not be a prelude to greater retaliation by the Jin Kingdom. When they hit Bianliang, they lost Xiangyang and other important places in Jianghan, and now they have recovered Xiangyang and taken over Is it going to be beaten across the Yangtze River again
Such doubts and worries are not unreasonable, and it also makes this victory of Yue Fei's army uninteresting in the court, and may even be reprimanded to some extent. And Jun Wu is naturally on Yue Fei's side, and the main battle faction also has several reasons for this battle.
First, no matter if you can fight now or not, if you want to have the possibility of defeating the Jurchen in the future, training is a must.
Second, the Jin people have already taken the six counties of Xiangyang. This is the springboard for the Jin Kingdom and the pseudo-Qi to invade the south. If they are allowed to consolidate their defense lines, the next time they come south, the Wu Dynasty will only lose more territory. At this time, to take back Xiangyang, even if the Jinren marched south with the main force, they could always delay the pace of their attack.
Third, the Jinren attacked from the south, the logistics line was long, and it was always more laborious than the Wu Dynasty. If he waited until he finished his cultivation and took the initiative to attack, the Wu Dynasty would definitely be unstoppable. Therefore, it is best to disrupt the opponent's pace, take the initiative to attack, and consume the Jinren's national strength in the back-and-forth tug of war. This is the best self-protection strategy.
For these reasons, the two sides of the main battle and the main party are fighting each other in the court. As the main general of one side, if it is just these things, Jun Wu may not express such emotion. However, beyond this, there are more troublesome things. In fact, they are all piled on the shoulders of this young prince.
It has been several years since the Wu Dynasty moved to the south. After the initial prosperity and grouping, many troubles are showing its clues. One is the confrontation between the two sides of civil and military. In the Taiping years, the Wu Dynasty originally emphasized civil and military. After the Jin people invaded south, the country was destroyed and the family was destroyed. Although the system was difficult to change for a while, there were finally expedient measures in many aspects. status has improved.
When Junwu became the prince, the young man had his fiery personality. After learning about the intricacies of the interior of the court, he protected the promising generals such as Han Shizhong and Yue Fei under his own wings with a rude and comprehensive approach. , making them manage their forces north of the Yangtze River, consolidate their power, and wait for opportunities to expedition north. At first, no one dared to speak up. Now, the conflict between the two sides has finally begun to show signs. In the past year, the court has In the midst of the continuous participation of several military generals in the north, most of them said that they recruited private soldiers and did not listen to the dispatch of civilian officials.
The suppression of Yue Fei's military exploits this time is a continuation of the quarrel between the two sides in the past year.
On the other hand, when the northerners came to the south on a large scale, after the initial economic dividend had passed, the contradictions and conflicts between the southerners and the northerners had also begun to brew and erupt.
At this time, the Central Plains had been completely occupied, and the refugees from the north fled to the south, without much possessions. On the one hand, their cheap work promoted economic development; When the situation in Jiangnan stabilized, discrimination between the two regions was formed.
The refugees from the north were once wealthy subjects of the Wu Dynasty, but when they got here, they were suddenly inferior. After the initial patriotism faded, the southerners gradually began to feel that the poor relatives in the north were disgusting. The perpetrators and swindlers, who have no food to eat, do whatever they may do. These people may complain all day long and disturb the public order. At the same time, the northern expedition they talk about all day may also break the deadlock between Jin and Wu again. The combination of the above-mentioned Jurchen expeditions has caused friction and conflicts in all aspects of society.
On the civilian level, discrimination between the North and the South has vaguely formed a trend, and in the officialdom, there has also been a certain confrontation between officials from the South who were far away from the political core and officials from the North. Since the year before last, several large gatherings of refugees broke out south of the Yangtze River. In several prefectures and counties, northern refugees connected in series held swords and sticks, besieging and killing local local snakes, bullies, and even officials. Conflicts and turf wars between the two countries have intensified. The southerners were originally local snakes, with a large number of powerful townships, while the refugees who fled from the north had no possessions and experienced wars and were not afraid of death. Several large-scale incidents are numerous small-scale frictions, and Chaotang has to face these problems more and more.
As of last year, some people in the courtroom began to raise the opinion that "people from the south should return to the south and people from the north should return to the north" and that they would no longer accept refugees from the north. As soon as this statement was put forward, it received a large-scale refutation. Jun Wu is also young and vigorous. Now that the country has collapsed and the Central Plains have fallen, the refugees have no life. They are going south, and they have to push them away? So what's the point of this country? He was outraged and refuted it in court. After that, the question of how to receive refugees from the north fell on his shoulders.
This year, the consequence of this incident is that the gentry and wealthy businessmen who had close ties with the eldest princess' mansion began to put pressure on this side. Of course, no one dared to obey the various orders put forward by the prince's mansion, but during the implementation of the orders, there was a problem of friction. Continuing, the national treasury is the prince's palace and the eldest princess's palace, and the profit of silver money has dropped by 30%.
The gentry and noble families in the south also have to protect their own interests. If you receive money, if you speak for me, or even exploit the refugees from the north for me, naturally hello, hello, everyone. If you don’t help, who would be willing to serve you willingly? People don’t fight against you, they don’t play with you, or they don’t care when they play with you. It can always be done.
However, on Junwu's side, the refugees from the north have already lost everything. If he leans more toward the southern forces, then these people may not really be human.
Originally, after Zhou Yong was proclaimed emperor, Jun Wu was the only crown prince, and his position was stable. If he only spends money to run some object workshops, then no matter how he plays, the money in his hand is probably inexhaustible. However, after experiencing the war and seeing the tragedy of a large number of civilians being killed in the river on the edge of the Yangtze River, the young people's hearts have been unable to survive alone. Of course, he could imitate his father to be an idle prince and just watch a workshop in Jiangning, but his father, Emperor Zhou Yong, was an uneasy emperor himself. There were many problems in the court. Standing up, facing the storm and taking the blame, most of them will also become the same generals of the Wu Dynasty who couldn't fight back then.
And once you stand up, you can't go back.
Trivial things, dense pressure, pressure from all sides. In the past two years, Jun Wu has lived in Lin'an, and he has not been able to take time to visit Jiangning's workshop a few times, so that although the hot air balloon has been able to go to the sky, there has not been a major breakthrough in carrying people and objects. It is difficult to form a strategic advantage like the Northwest War. Even so, he could not solve the many problems smoothly. Above the court, he couldn't stand the cowardice of the Lord He faction, but could it really be possible to fight? To reform, how to do it, he could not find the best balance. The refugees who fled from the north must be accepted, but are they capable of resolving the conflicts arising from the acceptance? Also still not.
In the past two years, the elder sister Zhou Pei has manipulated the power of the eldest princess' mansion, which has become more and more terrifying. She has built up a huge network of relationships in politics and economics, accumulated invisible influence, and secretly also has various Conspiracy and intrigue continue. The Prince's Mansion stood on the bright side, while the Eldest Princess Mansion was working in the dark. Although Jun Wu had never said hello to many things, he knew in his heart that the eldest princess' mansion had been transfusion for his side, and even there were several disturbances in the court, and officials who opposed Jun Wu were impeached, slandered and even slandered. , are also extreme means by Zhou Pei and his staff Cheng Zhouhai and others to play in secret.
On the bright side, Zhou Pei, the eldest princess, has become wide-ranging and gentle, but in the few private meetings, her sister is serious and cold. In her eyes is selfless support and a sense of urgency. They have this sense of urgency, and they all understand each other's hearts, but there is no kissing.
They all know what that is.
Two years ago, Ning Yi died.
The three-year war in the northwest, they covered their eyes and pretended not to see it, but when it finally ended, something shocking still turned their hearts upside down. In the face of this dangerous situation where the sky and the earth are changing color and the ocean is flowing, even such a powerful person, after resisting for three years in the front, is still dead. Before that, neither sister nor brother seemed to have thought about the possibility of this matter.
However, when it finally appeared, the sister and brother seemed to suddenly understand that in this world, they couldn't rely on others.
A few years later, Jin Guo called again, what should I do
They have no choice but to stand up, but once they stand up, the world becomes more complicated and hopeless.
It was one dead knot after another, too complicated to unravel. Everyone wanted to be good for this Wu Dynasty, but in the end, it became the cause of weakness. Everyone is impassioned, why did they become vulnerable in the end. Accepting the subjects of the Wu Dynasty who lost their homes is something that must be done. Why is it that when things come to an end, everyone can only take care of their immediate interests. Everyone knows that there must be an army that can fight, so how can we ensure that these armies do not become warlords? It is necessary to defeat the Jurchens, but are those lords and factions really treacherous officials, and there is no reason
When the adult eagle leaves, the young eagle can only learn to fly by itself. The former Qin Siyuan may have taken over the burden called responsibility from a taller back. After Qin Siyuan left, the younger generations took over the burden of the world in a new way. Fourteen years have passed, and the young man who appeared in front of us for the first time as a child can only use his still immature shoulders to try to carry the weight that was pressed down.
Their shoulders will naturally be broken, and one can only hope that when that shoulder is broken, it will become stronger and stronger.
"In the past few years, I finally realized that I am not a smart person..." Standing by the window of the study, Jun Wu tapped his fingers lightly, the sun was shining outside, and the situation in the world was like this windless summer afternoon It's usually hot and exhausting. "Mr. Wenren, if Master was still there, what would he do?"
With such a sigh, the prince paid tribute to the back of a figure he once admired, and he would not stop because of this. Wen Ren Buer in the room cupped his hands, and only spoke a few words of comfort. After a while, the wind passed through the yard, bringing a little coolness and blowing these scattered words into the wind.
Young people inevitably stepped onto the stage, and in some parts of the world, there may also be old people coming out again. One morning north of the Yellow River, You Hongzhuo, who escaped from the Daguang Sect's pursuers, was practicing his wandering swordsmanship in the mountains. One of his saviours was slowly punching a strange set of punches. The punches were slow and graceful, but it was a little confusing: You Hongzhuo couldn't figure out how to hit people with such punches.
While he was wondering, the female benefactor standing not far away frowned and scolded: "What kind of swordsmanship is this!?" Before he could finish the shouting, You Hongzhuo only felt the murderous aura around him, and the hairs on the back of his head were chilled. They all stood up, and the female benefactor waved and slashed out a knife.
The knife wind seemed to be fast but slow, You Hongzhuo subconsciously waved the knife to block it, but then flew out with a bang, causing pain in his shoulders and chest. He got up from the ground, only to realize that the female benefactor was swinging a wooden stick. Although wearing a veil, the benefactor Apricot's eyes widened, obviously quite angry. Although You Hongzhuo was arrogant, in front of these two people, he didn't dare to make trouble for some reason, stood up and apologized embarrassingly.
"I-I saw Engong punching, and I was puzzled, right, sorry..."
"What are you sorry for? If you practice knives like this, if you die, you are sorry for yourself, and for the parents who gave birth to you!" After the female benefactor finished speaking, she paused, "Besides, I am not scolding you for being distracted. This sword technique, this is how it was when it was handed down from the family?"
"me… "
"Humph! Change it at will, what a master you are! Practice it ten times for me as it is!"
After You Hongzhuo nodded and started to practice properly, the female benefactor walked not far away with a pile of firewood sticks.
You Hongzhuo practiced the knife, but his heart was a little shocked. Since he was a child, he has been practicing the routine of the Youjia swordsmanship. After the insight between life and death, he understood that the actual swordsmanship should not be determined by rigid moves, but should be treated flexibly. After practicing the sword for a few months, There were doubts in his heart, and every time he felt that this move could be slightly modified, that move could be faster. After he had sworn in with his six brothers and sisters, he asked them about martial arts, and the six were amazed at his understanding. Said he would be successful in the future. Who would have known that he didn't say anything about the sword practice this time. The other party just looked at it and knew that he had revised the sword technique, but asked him to practice it as it was. I don't know why.
However, since yesterday morning, the female benefactor lightly killed Tan Yan and other eight people from the Daguang Sect, and after a day of walking together, You Hongzhuo understood that the two people in front of him were probably the kind of truly extraordinary seniors in the world. The male benefactor is easy-going, but he is very knowledgeable and deep inside. The female benefactor is his wife. Although he usually doesn't talk much, it was the female benefactor's idea to save her because she felt that she The knife technique is "interesting", I just let myself practice and give pointers last night and this morning.
You Hongzhuo knew a little about the identities of the two benefactors last night. When he asked, the male benefactor said: "A certain surname is Zhao, and he and Zhuojing crossed the rivers and lakes 20 years ago, and it can be considered to have made some famous names. Has your master told you about this name?"
You Hongzhuo has only practiced martial arts with his father since he was a child. He didn't hear much about the legend of the green forest, and he felt ashamed for a while. , it can be considered a fate, if you encounter any difficult situation in the rivers and lakes in the future, you can report my husband and wife names, which may be useful."
You Hongzhuo just nodded, thinking in his heart that although his martial arts skills are low, it is a great blessing to be saved by two benefactors, but he can't fall into the names of two benefactors at will. After that, even if they encountered a life-and-death situation in the green forest, they never said the names of the two, and finally they were able to overcome all obstacles and become a generation of heroes.
Of course, these things are just an idea in my mind at this time. He practiced the law of the sword ten times on the hillside, and that Zhao Engong had finished his boxing practice and invited him to go over to drink porridge. You Hongzhuo heard him say casually: "Tai Chi is born from the infinite, the machine of movement and stillness, the mother of yin and yang. , I'm playing Taijiquan, you can't understand it now, it's normal, you don't have to force it..." After a while at dinner, he told him the reason why his female benefactor asked him to practice knives in a disciplined manner.
"When the swordsmanship is actually fighting, it is good to pay attention to the flexibility and adaptability. But the swordsmanship that has been tempered and tempered has its reason. Why this move is played like this, which considers the opponent's move and the opponent's response, and often needs to be poor. Only by changing its mechanics can you fully understand a trick... Of course, the most important thing is that you are only in your teens, and you have learned the truth from the swordsmanship. You may not feel it at first, but over time, you will inevitably feel that life should be free. In fact, young people should learn the rules first, understand why the rules come, and then break the rules in the future. "
In the mountains, the martial arts seniors who have come back from the rivers and lakes are talking ramble. You Hongzhuo has been taught martial arts by his clumsy father since he was a child, but he has never felt that the truth of the world has been said so clearly, and listened respectfully with admiration on his face. . Not far away, Mrs. Zhao in the Black Wind Shuangsha sat quietly on a stone and drank porridge, with an occasional smile in her eyes... (.)