The voices of the people were mixed, and the chariots and horses were in a hurry. In Damingfu, the towering ancient city wall stands in the autumn sun, and there is still the chilling atmosphere of war a few days ago. Outside the south gate, there is a pale stone statue standing quietly in the shade, watching the gathering and separation of the crowd.
A big migration started again at the end of the autumn of this year.
Wealthy households driving carts and horses, dragging grains, men with frightened faces, dragging their families, old masters swaying in the crowd, potbellied women dragging unexplained children... Sometimes there are also people in official uniforms. The gentleman, the darthead who dragged the sword, spear, sword, and halberd on the carriage, the martial artist, and the lightly dressed Green Forest Hawker. On this day, people's identities dropped to the same position again.
Their destination may be the rich south of the Yangtze River, or the surrounding mountains, or relatives living in remote places nearby. All of them were generally uneasy, and the dense and chaotic team gradually dissipated after stretching for dozens of miles. Most of the people went south and crossed the Yellow River, and some went north, where they disappeared into the mountains and forests.
Things are changing, and the scene in front of me is not the first time it has happened in the past ten years. Jurchen went south several times, and the harsh living environment made people have to leave their familiar hometown. However, the current situation was a little different than usual. More than ten years have taught people about the experience of war, and also taught people the fear of Jurchen.
On the 24th of July, when the "Guangwu Army" of the Wu Dynasty led by Wang Shanyue took over the Daming Mansion by chance, a similar migration situation appeared out of hand. In the war, no matter who is righteous or who is evil, it is difficult for the civilians involved to choose their own destiny. The march of the 300,000-strong Jurchen army to the south represents that tens of millions of people will be involved. Among them, the catastrophic catastrophe that was crushed and useless.
Some people leave and some people stay. The towering city walls of Daming Mansion stretched for 48 miles. At this moment, all kinds of defending objects such as artillery, bed crossbows, rolling wood, stone, rolling oil, etc. were constantly being placed under the efforts of countless people. Amid the fire-like flags, we will build Damingfu into a stronger fortress. In this busy scene, Xue Changgong walked slowly with a long knife on his waist. What flashed in his mind was the battle that guarded Bianliang more than ten years ago.
More than ten years ago, Bianliang, facing the Yangtze River to the north, under the leadership of the left minister Li Gang and the right minister Qin Siyuan, experienced the baptism of the Jurchen soldiers for the first time. The Wu Dynasty, which had undertaken two hundred years of national fortunes, had hundreds of thousands of Diligent King's army outside the city, including the Western Army, beaten to pieces by the Jurchen army of no more than 100,000, killing people and killing people. , countless casualties broke the city several times. That was the first time Wu Chao faced the Jurchen's strength and his own weakness.
Xue Changgong rose to prominence in the first Bianliang defense battle. Later, he experienced the shame of Jingping, followed the steps of the entire Wu Dynasty to flee south, and experienced the search of mountains and seas by Jurchen. After that, Nanwu was initially set, but he was disheartened and lived in seclusion in the south with his wife, He Leier. A few years later, He Leier was weak and critically ill. Jun Wu, the prince, came to invite him out of the mountain. He only got up and went north after accompanying his wife on the last journey.
In the cruelty of the Bianliang defense battle, his wife He Leier was injured by an arrow. Although she was lucky to save her life, the child she conceived was already aborted, and it will be difficult to conceive after that. In the first few years and the quiet later years, He Leier has been worried about this, and has persuaded Xue Changgong several times to take a concubine and leave a child, but Xue Changgong has always refused.
In fact, looking back at the beginning of the two, there may not be any love between them that will last forever. Xue Changgong went to Fanlou when he was not a general in the army, but in order to vent and comfort, He Leier chose Xue Changgong. I am afraid that he may not think that he is better than those scholars, but he is fierce and dangerous, and he has only one support. It was only later that He Leier had a miscarriage in the middle of the city wall, and Xue Changgong was in grief, and the relationship between the two was considered a reality.
Later, they were accompanied all the way until He Leier died of a serious illness. Xue Changgong hugged his wife and cried a lot and buried her. In fact, he doesn't want to have an heir, is it just because of He Leier? Because he has seen the strength of the Jurchen, and he is a general who has nothing to do with the army, he is well aware of the many drawbacks of the military of the Wu Dynasty, and it is immutable. If the Jurchen will be defeated all the way, the entire Nanwu will be embezzled, and he will have children, but he will only be born as a slave of the Jurchen.
Now that his wife has gone, he no longer has any worries in his heart. He went all the way north to Liangshan to join forces with Wang Shanyue. Although Wang Shanyue has a weak face, he is a ruthless man who doesn't even care about eating people for the sake of victory. The two hit it off. In the next two years, a series of strategies have been set around the Daming Palace.
At this time, Daming Mansion, located on the north bank of the Yellow River, was an important defensive town for the Jurchen East Road Army on the way south, and it was also one of the checkpoints for the army to cross the Yellow River south. When the Liao Kingdom was still in existence, the Wu Dynasty set up a companion capital in Damingfu to show its determination to refuse Liaoning to the south. At this time, after the autumn harvest, officials under Li Xizhi were collecting supplies, waiting for the Jurchen to go south to receive them, and the city changed hands. All the supplies fell into the hands of Wang, Xue and others, and a big battle could be fought.
The autumn wind is hunting, and the flags are stretched. Walking all the way, Xue Changgong saw Wang Shanyue and the others who were looking to the north at the front of the city wall. Surrounded by soldiers and workers who were erecting crossbows and artillery pieces, Wang Shanyue was wearing a red cloak and was holding it It was Xiao Wang Fu, the eldest son of him and Hu Sanniang, who was four years old. The child who had been growing up in Shuibo was obviously new to this majestic city scene, so Wang Shanyue hugged him and pointed at the scene ahead.
"...From here to the north, it was originally our place, but now, there are a group of bad people who are coming from the side you see, killing all the way, robbing people's things and burning people's houses... Father, Mother And these uncles and uncles are trying to block these bad people, you say, what can you do for daddy..."
"Beat the bad guys."
"That's right, but we still have to grow up first. When we grow up, we will be stronger and smarter... Of course, father and mother hope more that when you grow up, there will be no such bad people anymore. You have to read more and tell your friends what happens to these bad guys..."
While he was talking to the child, Xue Changgong had already walked to the vicinity, passing through the entourage. Although he has no children, he can understand the preciousness of Wang Shanyue as a child. The Wang family is loyal and fierce. Before the alliance of the Black Water, the Liao people went south. Wang Qisong led his family to fight against each other, and finally left a house of orphans. Wang Shanyue was the only male of his third generation. It is the fourth generation of the single pass. This family has sacrificed so much for the Wu Dynasty, and it is not an exaggeration for them to leave a child.
"I still think you shouldn't bring Xiaofu here."
"Xiaofu, look, Uncle Xue." Wang Shanyue smiled and sent the child to Xue Changgong's arms, slightly dispelling the chill on the general's face. After a while, he looked at the scene outside the city and said: " It's not always a bad thing to have children around. Today, the old people in the city came to see me with their names, and asked me if the Guangwu Army captured the Daming Mansion and whether they wanted to defend the Daming Mansion. The implication is that if you can't keep it, get out and don't come. Involving us... I pointed to Xiao Fu who was playing in the yard and showed them, and I brought all my children. The Wu Dynasty will do everything in his power to restore the Central Plains."
For the next battle in Daming Mansion, the two have had countless deductions and discussions. In the worst case, the "Guangwu Army" might be nailed to Daming Mansion. It is not impossible, but it is definitely not like Wang Shanyue. So sure. Xue Changgong shook his head.
"Send away before the war, there will inevitably be variables, leave early, good morning."
"That's his fortune." Wang Shanyue looked at her son and smiled, and the smile faded: "The Wu Dynasty is weak, even if it needs to be changed, it is not a generational effort. The Jurchens are strong only because they were young. Dare to fight, dare to snatch, fight to kill tenaciously. If our generation did not defeat them, I would rather my children have been used to seeing swords and guns since childhood! The Wang family has no bones, but no generals. I hope it will be different from him. "
Wang Shanyue's words were calm, and Wang Fu was hard to understand, so he asked ignorantly, "What's the difference?"
Xue Changgong said, "Your father wants you to be a general in the future."
It was probably not the first time that he had heard such an expectation in the process of growing up, so he understood, and then nodded heavily: "Yes."
Xue Changgong smiled, and Wang Shanyue laughed too. At this time, the city walls were in full swing, but the afternoon sun seemed indifferent. To the north of Damingfu, under the vast sky, Ma Pingchuan, Li Xizhi's army of 170,000 divided into three routes, and had already crossed Xingzhou, a hundred miles away. day. And more than ten miles to the west, a Jurchen army of more than ten thousand people is also rushing to the bank of the Yellow River at the highest speed.
Daqi "General Pingdong" Li Xizhi is 43 years old this year, with a long face, clear eyes and a high nose. He was the general who surrendered with the Qi family when the Jurchen went south for the second time. The endorsement of Qi and Liu forces in the northeast of the Yellow River. The Central Plains north of the Yellow River has been occupied for ten years, and the original thinking that the world belongs to martial arts has gradually loosened. Li Xizhi can see that the rise of an empire is the time to change the dynasty.
The rise of Jurchen is the general trend of the world, the trend of the times, and it cannot be resisted. But even so, it is not his ambition to be a lackey, especially after Liu Yunan moved to Bianliang, Li Xizhi's power has expanded, and the area under his jurisdiction is close to a quarter of the Puppet Qi, which is more than the total of Tian Hu and Wang Juyun. If you want to be big, you are already a real prince.
To maintain the status of one of the princes, it is Liu Yu, and he can no longer respect it, but only the will of the Jurchen cannot be disobeyed.
The Jurchen South this time is no longer the usual slapstick. After years of cultivation and recuperation, this new empire will officially annex the land in the south. The Wu Dynasty is already the afterglow of the sunset, and only those who follow the trend can survive this war.
Out of this consideration, before the Jurchen went south, Li Xizhi had sent his cronies everywhere to carry out a strict purge. Since the three-year battle of Xiaocanghe, such purges have become the norm within the puppet Qi forces. It's a pity that after this, the news that the Daming Mansion was quickly changed hands by internal and external cooperation continued to spread. After Li Xizhi was furious, he could only quickly mobilize troops to save him according to the plan.
Time is a terrifying weapon that is warm enough to crush everything. When the Jurchen first went south, there were countless resisters in the Central Plains. By the second southward, Jingping Shame, there are still many rebels in the Central Plains struggling and active. However, by the time the Jurchen ravaged Jiangnan, there were not many large-scale rebels in the Central Plains area. Although every bandit who went up the mountain and fell to the grass had to be called an anti-gold rebel army, in fact They were still relying on drugs, robbery, murder, and kidnapping to make a living. As for who they killed, they were nothing more than more defenseless Han people. When the Jurchen was furious, these righteous people actually didn't dare to move.
Big fish eat small fish, and small fish eat shrimp. Therefore, when the Jurchen went south, Li Xizhi didn't care about the many people who fell around him, but he knew about his own affairs. There were two forces on his territory that he had been guarding against. Wang Shanyue's troubles in Daming Mansion were not unexpected Unexpectedly, the power of the "Guangwu Army" made him vigilant, but beyond that, there was a force that kept him vigilant and even feared, the shadow black flag army that had always shrouded behind everyone. .
No one wants to be beaten in the palace in the middle of the night like Liu Yu.
If it was said that after the Xiao Canghe War, the only thing that everyone could comfort themselves was the conferring of the heart demon Ning Yi. Last year, Tian Hu's forces suddenly changed, and all the talents in the Central Plains truly experienced the oppression of the Black Flag Army. Later, the news that Ning Yi was not dead was more like a high-profile mockery of everyone in the world: You are all. is a fool.
Liu Yu was frightened insane in the palace, and Jurchen received a heavy slap in the face. However, Jin Guo was in the north of the sky, and the black flag was in the southwest. how many sins.
In addition to this, other forces in the Central Plains can only pretend to be peaceful. Li Xizhi strengthened the internal purging efforts. In Hebei Zhending, the elderly Qi Yan, the old lady of the Qi family, was frightened and woke up several times in the night. Calling "Black Flag to kill me", they secretly offered a reward of millions of dollars to take Ning Yi's head, so the Green Forester who went to the southwest for money was instigated by Qi Yan to go to the Wu Dynasty to lobby. of Confucian scholars, I do not know how many more.
As the saying goes, what thousands of people refer to will die without a problem, but only this Ning Yi, from the very beginning, took the risk of the world, and killed Zhou like a chicken in the Golden Palace. After that, he took risks and offended Wu Chao and Jin Guo. , Offending the Central Plains, offending Xixia, offending Dali... After he offended the whole world, Li Xizhi and others had to admit that once they were targeted by such murderers, no matter who they were in this world, they would have to be skinned if they didn't die.
The old lady Qi of Hebei was on the roster of Chinese traitors, and in the few years of governing Jingdong and Hebei, Li Xizhi knew that there was a black flag near Liangshan, which was reserved for him and Jurchen. After several years of small-scale frictions, the message of this power gradually became clear. Its leader, Zhu Biao, known as the "Burning City Gun", has followed Ning Yi since he slaughtered Liangshan and Song Jiang's clan. He has always been Ning Yi's most reliant right-hand man. He has high martial arts skills and a ruthless heart.
With such a group of people buried around, it would be an accident sooner or later, but Li Xizhi didn't dare to really put his troops on the matter of destroying the black flag. Time has changed, the mighty Liao Kingdom has been destroyed, the Wu Dynasty is on the decline, and it is struggling in the final struggle with its 200-year-old legacy. The Huaxia Army is the most bizarre devil born in this chaotic world.
The immortals fight and the little ghost suffers. It is inevitable that the so-called "Guangwu Army" led by Wang Shanyue will be on the road to the south of the Jurchen. method. But there is only this black flag, Li Xizhi can only hope that they will be separated from the Guangwu Army in appearance, or the Huaxia Army who lives in the south of the sky is still afraid of the Jurchen. Peaceful transition, the trouble this time is no longer my own.
"... Dajin's two princes launched an army to the south. Wang Shanyue's so-called Guangwu Army took the famous mansion. It seems brave, but in fact it has no strategy! Regarding this Guangwu Army, this commander has already had an affair with Dajin Wanyanchang Lord. Discuss. These 30,000 or 40,000 people are from Liangshan and Rivers to guard them. If we want to encircle and suppress them, we will get twice the result with half the effort, and it will be difficult to compete. But he dares to come out. , it should be slow, not urgent! I will wait for the first step, slowly draw all its troops, and gather all its troops in the daimyo, and gather around it! If it is really powerful, I will surround the daimyo into another Taiyuan mansion, and I would rather kill it in vain. , do not go beyond the inch of your armor. Cut the grass and eradicate the roots! Never suffer from it!"
In the Central Plains of the 14th year of Jinghan, Qin Shaohe, the eldest son of the Qin family, led the army and people in Mancheng to defend Taiyuan for a year. In the end, due to isolation and helplessness, the city was destroyed. The whole city was slaughtered. Qin Shaohe was killed on the way to escape. They were all chopped up by the Jurchen, which became one of the most tragic incidents of the Jurchen's first southward trip. The original strong city of Taiyuan is still in ruins today more than ten years later.
On the first day of the eighth lunar month, after the army passed Xingzhou, Li Xizhi set the tone for pinning Wang Shanyue and the others to Daming Mansion during the army's discussion. And just a moment after this discussion passed, a spy came from 400 miles away and brought the news that there was no room for turning back.
"The black flag seizes the city, and it comes out from Zengtou!"
Li Xizhi sat in the camp for a long time: "So, Wang Jiya's 20,000 people are gone?"
Since the Wu Dynasty, many parts of Jingdong Road have been unstable and tyrants have frequently appeared. Most of the time Zengtou City is a mixed bag and tends to be autonomous, but in theory, there are of course officials and garrisoned troops.
He took over Jingdong Road from Li Xizhi. In order to guard against the harassment of black flags, he stationed 20,000 troops in Zengtou City. The commander of the army was Wang Jiya, a fierce general under his command. In the early years, he participated in the battle of Xiaocanghe and had a deep hatred with the Huaxia Army. Since he guarded Zengtou City and echoed the garrison of Jinan Prefecture, he has overwhelmed many surrounding hills for a period of time, so that most bandits dare not make trouble. Who knew that the gathering of the black flags would still take Zengtoushi first.
On July 28th, 11,000 black flag troops raided Zengtou City and first took down the east city wall. After the chaos in the city, they fell into street fighting. Wang Jiya assembled a large army to defend the south of the city, and even led the team to kill three times. When he captured the city, he was raided by the Black Flag Army, and he was decapitated by a knife after fighting with Guan Sheng, the "big knife". This black flag led the team, it was the black flag general Zhu Biao.
After defeating Wang Jiya and taking Zengtou City lightly, the Black Flag Army had already released news that they were going to kill Li Xizhi and Damingfu directly. When the spy heard about this, he cringed a little. Li Xizhi asked a few words before he saw the flyer brought by the spy and shot into the city on the way.
The message of the flyer is crooked, like this: Li Xiaozhi, adults are going to fight, children get out!
"Too deceiving!"
With a loud bang, Li Xizhi slapped his palm on the table and stood up. He was tall and tall. After standing up, his beard and hair were stretched out, and the entire tent was filled with murderous aura.
However, next, there is no luck at all. Facing the Jurchen army of 300,000 people heading south, the black flag army of more than 10,000 people has not kept a low profile, and has been directly at the forefront. For Li Xizhi, this kind of behavior is the most inconsiderate and the most terrifying. Immortals fight, and little ghosts have no place to hide after all.
There is no place for anyone to hide.
It is strange to say that with the opening of the prelude to the Jurchen South, the fierce battle situation in the world is still unfolded by the black flag in the southwest of "Pan An". Jurchen's army of 300,000 people had not crossed the Yellow River at this time, and Liangshan in the southwest. On July 21, Lu Qiaoshan negotiated with Ning Yi. Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, one hundred thousand troops entered the Liangshan area one after another. First of all, they echoed the Mangshan Ni people and others, and launched deterrence and persuasion to the surrounding Ni tribes.
For this battle, countless people are waiting with bated breath, including the Dali Gao clan in the south, the Tubo army in the west, Long Qifei in Zizhou City and other Confucian scholars, the warlords of the Wu Dynasty at this time, and even Yu Yuan Thousands of miles away, Jin Guowanyan Xiyin each dispatched spies and meticulous work, waiting for the first cannon to fire.
On July 26, at the Xiufeng Pass in Liangshan, the main force of the black flags in Hedeng San County, who had been silent for several years, swung the first sword against the army of 100,000 who entered the mountain.