In Hejian Mansion, the first thing that came out was the news that the exorbitant taxes had been increased.
Since the arrival of the Jurchen, after the Wu Dynasty was forced to move south, it has always been difficult for a few days to live in the Central Plains. In the mouths of old people and witches, the officials of the Wu Dynasty lost their luck, and their years became worse. Sometimes floods and sometimes droughts. Last year, there was a large locust plague that ravaged the Central Plains. People who lost their lives turned into "" Hungry Ghost" went south all the way, and there were many homeless wandering souls on the banks of the Yellow River.
The Hungry Ghost watched over the Yellow River. This year, north of the Yellow River, we had a rare and peaceful year. There were no natural disasters that came in turn, and no refugees swept through the ravages. The wheat in the fields looked taller. , and then the heavy harvest. In Shanzi Village, Wang Laoshi was going to grit his teeth and marry a daughter-in-law for his son, and the public servants of the yamen came to the door.
The tax and corvée that have been suppressed this year have increased significantly. In the tone of the public, it seems that 60% of this year's income is to be accounted for, and the yield of wheat per mu is less than two stones. The days will be over.
Wang Laoshi is usually a gentle person, but this time he couldn't help but say something harsh to the public in the yamen: "You are also human, and you are also raised by your parents, you should take all the people in the village. Kill it."
After the prince walked away embarrassedly, Wang Laoshi lost his strength and sat in the yard in a daze, staring at the three earthen houses at home. It's really hard to live, and it's boring. After thinking about it, it was better when the Wu Dynasty was there.
Soon after, the son came back and learned about the tax, blushing and speechless. My son is also an honest and honest young man. He can't beat a fart with three sticks. He is twenty-three this year, and he has not married a wife yet. It's not that there are no women around, it's that the early years were too hard to marry and support. If the government's taxes are reduced, they will have to eat bran again this year, not to mention raising more women.
In the dreary autumn night, the same heavy thoughts were pressing in the hearts of many people. The next day, there was a general meeting in the village ancestral hall. The days cannot go on like this. I have to tell the masters above the sufferings below, and ask them to initiate kindness. There's a way for everyone to survive, after all: "Even when the Jurchen came, it wasn't too much."
The old country squire Su was invited from the clan. In order to clear up the relationship, everyone also subsidized the land to collect some money and food. Wang Laoshi and his son were selected as porters, picking wheat, cured meat and other things with the clan elders into the city. , Soon after, they were connected with several villages next to each other, and everyone sent representatives, one by one, to make a petition.
Seeing that there were more people, Wang Laoshi and others also began to surging in their hearts, and the public also let them go along the way. Soon after, they made a mighty disturbance to the Hejian Mansion. The prefect Wang Manguang came forward to appease everyone. times, unsuccessfully. The people below talked about the cunning of the dog official, and they scolded him, and then there was a jingle of scolding the dog official in the city.
Two more days later, a large number of soldiers suddenly poured into the city, and martial law began. Wang Laoshi and the others were so frightened that they thought that the rebellion against the government had become a big deal, but unexpectedly, the officers and soldiers were not catching them, but went directly to the prefect's yamen. It is said that the dog official Wang Manguang was imprisoned.
After that, things developed rapidly. In two days, there was mourning in the city and outside the city, and the high officials in the government were imprisoned one after another. In just two days, a huge Xingtai was erected at Caishikou in Hejian Prefecture. On this day, Wang Laoshi and others received news and went to Caishikou to see the beheading. It was the dog's head that was killed. It is the head of the yamen and officials.
These officials who were supposed to be powerful were escorted up in groups. Wang Manguang was very fat, and he looked like a fat brain. At this time, he was tied up, and his mouth was covered with cloth strips. This kind of dog official really deserved to be killed, so people picked up the things on the ground and smashed him. Soon after, he was the first to be pressed in front of Xingtai, and the Jurchen official who came down declared him the charge of negligence.
Most of the people didn't understand the charges, they just cheered. Wang Manguang had his head broken, and knelt there with blood on his forehead. When he was about to be beheaded, the executioner took the cloth from his mouth. This chubby corrupt official. Glancing at the crowd in front of him, he finally said a word. In this era, Wang Manguang was not a good official, and he could even be said to be a bad official, but because of this sentence, he was included in the later history.
"Flee now... folks..." said the bloodied dog officer.
After a while, the executioner's knife fell.
On this day, amid the cheers and cheers of the people, almost one-third of the yamen management of the original Hejian Mansion was killed, with their heads rolling and blood flowing into rivers. Wanyanchang, the "marshal" who came from the north, presided over the justice.
The Jurchen Marshal came, and the beware of the old people were no longer qualified to meet him, and everyone returned to the village. Three days after Wang Manguang was killed, the new yamen and the subordinate staff had resumed operations. This time, the two officers who came to Wang Laoshi's house had two completely different attitudes from the last time.
This time they came to save their lives.
After some notification, more taxes were suppressed, Wang Laoshi was stunned, and then he scolded like last time, and then he was hit on the head with a stick, and when his head was bleeding, he heard The officer scolded: "If you don't listen, everyone will be killed!"
On this day, the people around Hejian Mansion began to recall the words before Wang Manguang was killed.
However, it was too late to escape.
Officers, officers and soldiers near Hejian have already begun to act, blocking all road traffic. The same thing was spreading on the roads of Hebei and Jingdong, which were ruled by Pingdong General Li Xizhi at this time. On Hebei Road, the 300,000-strong army of Jurchen who passed by the pass went all the way south, and the vanguard led by Wanyan Zongbi had already crossed Zhending.
In the small Huanzi Village, Wang Laoshi and others still didn't understand what was going to happen next. But on the stage of the world, the southern expedition of the 300,000-strong army means that the war aimed at destroying and conquering the Wu Dynasty has completely sounded the horn, and there is no room for it. A fierce battle, not long after, started on the front.
On the 24th of July, the "wolves" raided the Daming Mansion!
After the Wu Dynasty moved south, the Wu Dynasty forces led by Wang Shanyue and Dulonggang Hu family, who had been operating in Jingdong East Road and Liangshan for several years, finally showed their long-held fangs.
Since Liu Yu established the Daqi force with the support of Jin Guo, Jingdong Road was originally the core of this force, but Jingdong East Road, or the area of Liangshan, Shandong in later generations, is still a blind spot under the jurisdiction of this force. At this time, Liangshan was still a water pond covering hundreds of miles, with nearby places such as Dulonggang and Zengtou City.
Where the Wu Dynasty was intractable, the puppet Qi was equally intractable. When Liu Yu's court was infiltrated by the Black Flag Army, the emperor was beaten after the palace, and Liu Yu moved south, this area was conveniently attributed to Li Xizhi and Qi Yan, the great Confucian behind him. Family. Li Xizhi tried many times to suppress the bandits but failed. Later, with great effort, he leveled Dulonggang and made a hasty fight. But behind it, Wang Shanyue and others, in the name of "Wu Dynasty Orthodox", can still continue to connect and expand their influence. In the past few years, the actual rule over the entire Liangshan area has been completed.
The bandits nearby came to look for the wind and the righteous people gathered. Even some of the righteous people under Li Xizhi, or Wang Shanyue took the initiative to contact Wang Shanyue, or privately contacted Wang Shanyue, and they all completed their relationship with Wang Shanyue in private. ventilation. This time, with the issuance of the order, Li Xizhi's lineage near Daming Mansion really performed what is called "infiltrating into a sieve". Twenty-fourth, the 30,000-strong army of Liangshan suddenly appeared under the Daming Mansion, and there was chaos outside the city. The change of hands and takeover of the Daming House.
This is the outbreak of almost all the heritage of the Wu Dynasty left here, and it is also the place where Wang Shanyue, who once followed Ning Yi, learned the most from the Black Flag Army. This time, gun-to-gun, gun-to-gun on the table, there is no room for turning around.
Daming Mansion is one of the food and grass relay places for Jurchen to go south. With the development of the grain expedition in these days, the food and grass gathered here is even more amazing. The first shot of the Wu Dynasty people was nailed to the Jurchen army. seven inches. As the news spread, the more than 100,000 troops that Li Xizhi had gathered, together with the more than 10,000 troops that Jurchen originally guarded Jingdong, rushed towards this side together.
The war spread with this first attack. On the road to the north of Shuibo, it is already a mess and desolation at this time, and occasionally empty ruins and villages can be seen. A carriage team was heading north along this road.
At this moment, the caravans that can walk on this kind of road are not ordinary people. Although the team is small at this time, it can be seen that a man is agile. The carriage ahead is bumpy, and occasionally there are The woman's voice came out, it was a soft humming sound, sometimes it was "Lan Zhi Yi" in "Yi Lan Cao", sometimes it was "Son Yu Gui" in "Tao Yao", and occasionally "Li Sao" and "Li Sao" Shuo Rat", the singing has no accompaniment, but it makes people feel relaxed and happy.
It's just the disordered singing, which also reveals that the singer's mood is not calm.
Lu Junyi was in front of the carriage and glanced back.
"Miss teacher, it's not very peaceful ahead, you should be obedient and go south."
The woman in the car was Li Shishi, dressed in coarse cloth, humming a song while mending the torn clothes in her hands. The most popular woman in Fanlou naturally doesn't need to be too many women. But over the years, she has gotten older and bumped and turned, and at this time, sewing on the rickety car, it doesn't get in the way.
"In today's world, there is no place for peace anyway."
"Going south, you can always settle down. With our people, hungry ghosts can't catch you."
"I'm going southwest, does he want to see me?"
"Ning is not a coward."
"But I don't want to see him anymore."
Shishi lowered his head and smiled, biting off the thin thread in his hand. After a while, she put down her things, leaned on the edge of the car window and looked out, the wind ruffled her hair. She has been tossing and turning over the years, but she has not become old, weak and haggard. On the contrary, age has solidified on her face, and only time has turned into a free and easy temperament, embellishing her eyebrows.
Lu Junyi shook his head and sighed: "Xiaoyi has gone to work. I don't understand what you women are thinking. However, fighting is not a child's play. You are ready, and I have nothing to say."
"Well." The teacher in the car nodded, "I know, I've seen it."
She looked down at her hands. It was more than ten years ago, when she was in her early twenties, Jurchen finally came and attacked Bianliang. At that time, she wanted to do something and help clumsily. She remembered the general Xue Changgong who was defending the city at that time. Thinking of his lover, sister He Leier in Fanlou, she was pregnant with his child, so she didn't dare to help under the city wall. They didn't have children later, are they together
All gone.
After more than ten years of changes, the surroundings have been turned upside down. She and Ning Yi also became an "old lover" by accident. In fact, at many critical times, she almost became his "lover". and alienation.
She used to have a good impression of him, and then she admired him, and then she became unable to understand him. Now she understands a part of him, but there are still many things that she can't understand. The world is overturned, and the sprouting of a little emotion has long been no longer important. In the few years she learned of his "death", she came out of Dali and went all the way. Looking back on last year, they might have almost met in Zezhou, but he didn't want to see her, and she didn't want to see him much after that. Maybe one day, she will understand everything and go see him again.
"I'm sorry, Ning Liheng, I wrongly blamed you." She hoped that on that day, she could say such a sentence to him, and then she could be honest about a trivial emotion. However, now she does not have this qualification, and she still has too many things she can't understand.
But there are also some things that she can understand now.
As Jurchen went south again, Wang Shanyue finally started to block Jurchen, and the team that accompanied her back and forth from south to north finally started to have its own affairs. A few days ago, Yan Some of the people led by Qing had already left the team to go north to perform a mission that belonged to him, while Lu Junyi brought the team towards Shuibo after persuading her to go south to no avail.
"It's time to meet some old friends." Lu Junyi said.
"... When I was young, I learned guns and dance sticks, and had a rough understanding of military strategy. I thought that my martial arts skills were unparalleled, but no one appreciated it. Later, I didn't expect to go to Liangshan, and the one surnamed Ning killed Liangshan. I joined the army, and then When you are tied up, you know that you are not a general. I have walked around over the years, and now that I know, there is no room for hesitation. "
The prince of the Wang family, who used to work under Ning Yi, has already activated his power, and the black flag power that had been waiting in the Shandong area has finally ceased to be silent. It has been more than ten years since the late Prime Minister Qin Siyuan led his troops to defend the city and the bloody battle in the Xia Village of Wu Rui Camp, and several years have passed since the bloody battle of Xiaocang River. When the Jurchen came south again, it was still the power of this line The first to stand in front of this raging tide.
Thinking about this, recalling the twists and turns of the past ten years, the teacher felt unbearable in his heart, and a sense of pride and ambition was unavoidable.
Not long after, she saw the Black Flag army gathered at the destination. "Burning City Gun" Zhu Biao led, "Big Knife" Guan Sheng, "Thunderbolt" Qin Ming, "Golden Gunner" Xu Ning, Zhu Long Zhu Hu and other generals of the Zhu family were already waiting here. Later, "Jade Unicorn" Lu Junyi returned to the team.
In this year's water, the reeds have dried up, and the heroes gathered together, bringing more or less sighs to each other, but more or less, they gathered in front of their grand ambitions. Compared with what they are going to experience at the moment, the former Liangshanbo and Juyitang are just little dust in memory, Song Jiang, Wu Yong and others are just the clowns who have survived in the past.
The autumn wind is bleak, and the flood waves are surging.
The war is ahead.