Near the middle of June, it was the hot dog days, and the barracks of the Navy Division in Zhenjiang were extremely hot.
The Jurchen has arrived, and Han Shizhong has gone to Jiangbei to prepare for the battle, and Junwu will be in Zhenjiang. Although the prince's status is noble, Jun Wu usually just rests with the soldiers in the military camp. He does not do anything special. When the weather is hot, the big families use the ice cubes stored in winter to cool down. In a house with some cool breezes, if a distinguished guest comes, he will serve a cold drink as a treat.
On the night of the eighth day of the first lunar month, it was not long before night. When the window was opened, the wind blowing from the river was also hot. Jun Wu prepared simple meals and smoothies in the room to entertain the sister who came all the way.
In such weather, riding a bumpy carriage all day long is an unbearable torment for many women. However, Zhou Pei has experienced many things over the years, and many times there are long distance runs. This evening Arrived in Zhenjiang, but it seemed that his complexion was dark and his face was haggard. After washing her face and resting for a while, the face of the eldest princess returned to its former fortitude.
Over the years, the brothers and sisters have carried a very heavy burden. Jun Wu has a beard under his jaw, which hides the childishness on his face. Zhou Pei’s private affairs are hard to talk about. Over time, it often becomes a part of yourself. After the grooming, Zhou Pei's complexion was slightly pale, and his expression was alienated and unpleasant. Although it was a little softer in front of his younger brother, it was actually not much relieved. Every time I see such a sister, Jun Wu always thinks of her more than ten years ago. Although Zhou Pei was smart and proud at that time, she was actually beautiful and lovely. The current royal sister, no matter how hard it is to be cute, except for herself. The man who looked at him probably only felt scared.
For the tragedy of Zhou Pei's marriage, everyone around can't help but sigh. But naturally, I don't mention it at this time. The siblings only meet once every few months or even half a year. Although the strength is together, the words are inevitably formulaic.
After a little chat, dinner was a simple one, meat and three vegetarian dishes. Junwu had a simple meal, and the sour radish strips were eaten with a bang bang bang. Zhou Pei has been sitting in Lin'an for a few years, and he doesn't move around unless there is a major event. Now that the war is imminent, and suddenly he comes to Zhenjiang, Jun Wu thinks that there may be something important, but she has not spoken, and Jun Wu will not mention it. The two briefly ate dinner and drank tea. Zhou Pei, who was wearing a white dress and looked thin, considered for a moment before speaking.
"There is no big problem here in Zhenjiang, right?"
This is a polite speech, Jun Wu just nodded and smiled: "It's okay, General Han is ready to fight, logistically, Xu Guangting has 8,000 shells that haven't arrived, I'm urging him, Huo Xiang's subordinates 30,000 people have crossed the river in the past few days, but he was slow to move, so he sent someone to beat him, and the rest is no big deal."
Zhou Pei nodded: "yes, it's just these days... it's fine."
"Sister Huang came over suddenly, I don't know why?"
"..." Zhou Pei held the teacup and fell silent. After a while, "I received news from Jiang Ning that Shen Ruxin has fallen ill. I heard that she is not very ill."
Jun Wu's heart sank, his face flashed gloomy for a moment, but then he glanced at his sister and nodded: "Well, I know, in fact... Others think that the royal robes and jade food, but it is like the phrase "Enter Houmen" As deep as the sea, she has not had many happy days since she married me. This time... Imperial Physician Zou is watching her, so let it be."
Marriage at this time has always been the word of the matchmaker. . Shen Ruxin didn't have much family background. When she arrived at the Prince's Mansion, she walked timidly and well and was under a lot of psychological pressure.
Although she and Jun Wu are affectionate to each other, the burden on Jun Wu's shoulders is too heavy. It is not easy to have a memory in his heart, but it is usually difficult to care about meticulously. This is also the normal state of this era. This time, Shen Ruhua's accident was brought out. After two months of trial, Shen Ruxin did not dare to intercede in the Prince's Mansion in Jiangning, but she was physically and mentally injured, and eventually vomited blood, fainted, and became bedridden. Junwu people are in Zhenjiang, but they don't even have time to go back.
"I heard about this, and felt it was necessary to come." Zhou Pei held the teacup, and he couldn't see too many changes in his expression, "This time, Yao Qifang, the clear streamer who stabbed Shen Ruhua out this time, is not without problems. I also have a way to treat the Dou family and the Chen family who committed crimes before. Shen Ruhua, if you want to save his life, put him in the army first. I will do things in the capital and what the people below say. "
The corners of Jun Wu's eyes twitched, and his face really sank. Over the years, he has been under a lot of pressure, but he didn't expect his sister to come here for this matter. The room was quiet for a long time, and the night wind blew in from the window. It was already a little cool, but it made people feel cold. Jun Wu put the teacup on the table.
"Sister Huang, Ruhua... must be dealt with, I just can't think of you... come here for this... "
Zhou Pei looked at him as usual: "I came here for you."
"I'm fine. Over the years, so many things have been withstood, and those who should be offended have been offended. The war is imminent..." He paused: "Just get through it."
Due to the emotions in his heart, Jun Wu's words were a little tough, and Zhou Pei stopped. She sat there with a cup of tea. There was a team walking in the military camp outside, and the wind was blowing fire. Zhou Pei was indifferent for a long time, but smiled again.
"Shen Ruhua is not important, but Ruxin is very important, Jun Wu, these years... You have done a good job. I put more emphasis on civility than martial arts. In order to allow the army to self-determine in war, you have protected many people and blocked many winds and rains. In the past few years, you have been very tough and under pressure, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong... In this mess in Jiangnan, many of the refugees who came from the north survived thanks to your strong resistance. I won't talk about it for a few years. If you offend people, you will offend others. But about Ruxin, I'm afraid you will regret it one day."
Jun Wu was stunned for a while, but did not speak. Zhou Pei held the teacup in both hands for a moment and looked out the window.
"... Over the years in Nandu, our sisters and brothers have hardened a lot. Others seem scared, but they have to. You know, little brother, I was not happy after getting married, I didn't like the concubine, and after I dealt with him, others said I was Hard-hearted, with only power in his eyes, he will be a loner and Wu Zetian. When I deal with Qu Zonghui, I have no mercy. Even today, I don’t think there is any problem. But time has passed, and many times, I also want to be myself My family... I won't have it in this life."
She smiled bleakly from the corner of her eyes, which was fleeting, and then added with a smile: "Of course, I'm not talking about the father and the younger brother, you will always be my family."
The room was quiet again. Jun Wu also gradually understood in his heart, what is the reason for the emperor's visit, of course, this matter can be very big or very small, it is difficult to measure, these days, it is actually difficult for Jun Wu to think clearly in his heart.
He was silent for a long time, and then he could only say reluctantly: "If she enters the royal gate, she can hold on. Even if... she can't hold on..."
He then smiled: "Sister, after all, it's just one of the people around me. Over the years, there are not a few people around me who I personally ordered to kill. I can't get to today and give up all my achievements... What do you think of me?"
"Maybe it's not as big as you think. Maybe..." Zhou Pei lowered her head for a moment, and her voice became extremely low, "Maybe... these years, you've been too tough, enough... I know you're learning from that person, but Not everyone can be that person, and if you want to take a step back before you push yourself to regret... everyone will understand..."
Zhou Pei said these words extremely difficult, because she herself did not believe it. Jun Wu can understand the emotions, the elder sister has reached the extreme, there is no way to retreat, even though she understands that she can only do this, but before the war, she still hopes that her brother may have a path of regret. Jun Wu vaguely sensed this contradictory mood. This was the first time in many years that my sister had shown such an indecisive mind.
He just shook his head.
Zhou Pei stopped persuading: "I understand... I sent someone to get the best medicinal materials from the palace and sent them to Jiangning. It's not a bad thing to have you ahead."
The siblings stopped talking about it, and after a while, the heat of the night remained the same. The two left the room and took the cool breeze along the hillside. Jun Wu remembered Shen Ruxin in Jiangning. The two were strong on the way to escape from the mountains and seas. They were married for eight years, and they met less and separated more. For a long time, Jun Wu told himself that he had to do something important. But it is decoration. But when I think about it at this time, I can't help but feel sad.
My sister came here to remind him of this.
"Not everyone will become that person. If you take a step back, everyone will understand... Huangjie, the person you mentioned also mentioned this matter. The people of Bianliang are like that, and everyone can understand it. But not Not everyone can understand that bad things won't happen." After a while, Jun Wu talked about it again.
A trace of sadness flashed in Zhou Pei's eyes, and he just nodded. The two stood on the edge of the hillside, watching the lights in the river.
"In recent years, I have often read the things from the north, the edicts that Emperor Jingping was forced to write every year, saying that the emperor of the Jin Kingdom treated him well. For a period of time, he was raised by the Jurchen in a well, and his clothes were No clothes, the queen was insulted in every way by the Jurchen in front of him, and he had to smile and beg the Jurchen to give him something to eat. All kinds of imperial concubines and palace maids are not as good as prostitutes... Huangjie, the royal family back then The middle-aged people are also vain, and the idle princes in the capital look down on the idle princes from other places. Do you still remember the appearance of those brothers and sisters? Back then, I remember the time when you went to the capital with your teacher, and met Zhou Qing, the county master of Prince Chong’s mansion, in the capital. I also asked you to come over with the teacher. The teacher also wrote a poem. The shame of Jingping, Zhou Qing was taken north by the Jurchen, Huangjie, do you remember her? Two years ago, I knew her whereabouts... "
Zhou Pei looked at Jun Wu, and Jun Wu smiled miserably: "Jurchen took her to Yunzhong Mansion, harassed her in all kinds of ways, got pregnant when she got there, and was sold to a brothel in Yunzhong Mansion as a prostitute, with six children pregnant. Yue, was beaten and had a miscarriage. A year later, she became pregnant again, and then the child was drugged to kill him. Two years later, a group of the powerful children of Jin Guo went to the building to have fun and compare themselves with others. beat her, pinned her to the table, cut her ears, she went mad, and then got a broken leg... she died three years ago... she lived a long time..."
Jun Wu tried his best to talk about this matter calmly: "When outsiders talk about the royal family and the struggle in the court, they can do anything to the extreme. Lu Zhi, the empress of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, can cut off people's hands and feet in order to be jealous, how cruel... Sister, can you imagine how the Princess Zhou Qing felt when she was treated like this? Those things have come to the fore again, and the Jurchen has already come... "
"I know." Zhou Pei replied. Over the years, those things that happened in the north have certain restrictions on the spread of the people, but for them, as long as they have the heart, they can understand clearly.
Jun Wu looked at the river in the distance: "In these years, I was actually very afraid. As people grow up, they gradually understand what fighting is. A person rushed over to kill you, and you took up a knife to resist and beat him. If you don't resist, you have to die. I don't want to die, I don't want to break my hands, and I don't want Ruxin to die like this. She died... I will regret it one day when I think about it. But over the years, there is one thing that I am most afraid of, I have never told anyone, Huang Si, can you guess what it is?" He said this and shook his head, "It is not a Jurchen..."
Zhou Pei looked at him.
Jun Wu was silent for a while, then pointed to the river over there: "In the second year of Jianshuo, the army escorted me to the riverside, only to find a small boat, the escort put me on the boat, and the Jurchen killed them. Tens of thousands of people were rushed into the river by Zhu Lixu, some people were swimming desperately, some people dragged others to drown, and some people dragged their families with their mouths... A woman was holding her child, and the child was swept up in the water. When I went in, I could hear her shouting when I stood on the boat. Sister Huang, do you know how I was feeling at that time?"
Jun Wu's eyes widened: "I feel... I'm glad... I survived, I don't have to die," he said.
The night wind blew across the hillside.
"For so many years, I think of their eyes at night, I was frightened, they were slaughtered, I didn't feel angry, Huangjie, I... I just feel that they are dead, but I am alive, I am very lucky , they put me on the boat... Over the years, I have killed many people with military tactics. I told Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, and countless people that we must defeat the Jurchen. I am with them, and I kill them to resist Jin Daye. Yesterday I brought Shen Ruhua over and told him, I must kill him, I am fighting against Jin... Huangjie, I have spoken rhetorically for several years, and every night I think of what I want to say the next day, I am alone I'm afraid of practicing those words here... I'm afraid that someone will jump out on the spot and ask me, in order to resist gold, they have to die, and the soldiers who go to the battlefield will fight with blood, how about you?"
"Everyone who died that day was looking at me. They knew I was afraid. I didn't want to die. There was only one boat. There are so many big words, I ask myself every night, when the Jurchen comes back, can you stand it? Can you grit your teeth? Do you dare to bleed? Sometimes I pick up the knife and want to cut a knife on my hand! "
As Jun Wu said, he drew a dagger from his waist and gestured towards his left arm. Zhou Pei's expression changed, he took two steps forward, grabbed Jun Wu's left arm, and lifted his sleeve.
There was no scar on his arm, and Jun Wu laughed: "Sister Huang, I can't do it even once... I'm afraid of pain."
"You, you..." Zhou Pei looked into his eyes with a complicated expression.
"What I'm most afraid of is that one day Jurchen kills me. I find that I'm still afraid of pain and death. I'm afraid that one day, tens of thousands of people will be squeezed to the riverside with me, and I will get on that boat. Ship, I am still glad that I survived. I am afraid that I have killed so many people righteously. When it comes to the end, I will give my brother-in-law a favor, and I am afraid that I will kill my brother-in-law righteously. , When the Jurchen came, I was still a coward. I never told anyone about this, but Huangjie, I was afraid every day..."
"I'm afraid of everything..."
When he said this, his eyes were mournful, his eyes had turned red, but his teeth had been biting hard. Yes, who in this world is not afraid, he is just a pampered son born in the royal family. Fear of bloodshed, fear of sacrifice, fear of losing the battle, fear of going through all that tragedy. And before the real test really comes, no one knows what he has become.
That night, the sister and brother chatted a lot. The next day, Zhou Pei found Wenren Buer before leaving, and told him that if the battle ahead was critical, Jun Wu must be brought down from the battlefield. She left Zhenjiang and went back to Lin'an, while the weak prince stayed by the river and continued to surround her heart with iron and stone every day.
At noon on the tenth day of the first lunar month, eighteen-year-old Shen Ruhua was beheaded in Zhenjiang City. In the Prince's Mansion in Jiangning, the physical condition of the fourth lady Shen Ruxin was deteriorating day by day. She was struggling on the boundary between life and death. Life and death ups and downs. That night, Zhou Junwu sat by the riverside on the side of the barracks and did not sleep all night.
At this time, in the north, Jurchen Wanyan Zongbi's East Road vanguard army had left Xuzhou and was heading towards Xuyi, less than three hundred miles away from Yangzhou.
Around Yangzhou, Tianchang, Gaoyou, Zhenzhou, Taizhou, Zhenjiang... With Han Shizhong's troops as the core, more than 800,000 troops, including 100,000 navy divisions, are waiting in battle.
In the tenth year of Wu Jianshuo, on June 23, the Jiangnan War broke out.