The time has long passed Jing Zhe, and this year's Lin'an City looked heavy and worn out inside and out.
Some of the mansions in the city have long since fallen into disrepair. After the death of the owner, they experienced the ravages of military disasters. Rebels also came occasionally, bringing along officers and soldiers who hunted and killed them, and sometimes they lit fireworks again in the city.
Some of the bluestones on the Royal Street are already dilapidated, and no one has come to repair them. After the spring rain, the sewage channel was blocked, and the sewage poured out and flowed on the street. The small court and the yamen in charge of government affairs have always been entangled in countless things, and they cannot manage such things.
In fact, in these years, a little odorous sewage has long been unable to disturb people's cleanliness.
A year ago in Lin'an, there were many brilliant and colorful places. By this time, the paint was gradually fading, and the entire city was mostly occupied by gray and black. Walking on the streets, you could occasionally see trees that never died in the courtyard. A corner of the wall bursts with fresh green, which is a dazzling scene. In the city, the embellishment of the paint is removed, and the heavyness of the earth and stone material itself remains, but at some point, the heavyness of itself will also lose its dignity.
In February, the main force of the Jurchen East Route Army had withdrawn from Lin'an, but the continuous turmoil did not leave much room for life in the city. When the Jurchen came, hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered and stayed for half a year. The Han people living in the cracks attached to the Jurchen and gradually formed a new ecosystem. With the withdrawal of the Jurchen, Such an ecosystem is broken again.
The battles and slaughter of the bottom gangs and outlaws were staged every night in the city, and every day dawn, you could see the dead lying on the streets.
Compared with Lin'an a year ago, the population in the city has dropped sharply at this time, but the living space that everyone enjoys has not been expanded, but has been greatly reduced. This is because the materials in the city have been reduced even more, and the skinny people killed their compatriots in the dark alleys for the sake of small interests that they were unwilling to see in the past. It is not too strange that dozens of people died in the firefight.
We cannot accuse the ferocity of these survivors. When the survival materials in an ecosystem are greatly reduced, it is also inevitable for the operation of each system to reduce the number of people through fighting. Ten people's rations can't feed eleven people, the only question is how the eleventh person will die.
Only a few people still maintain a good life.
The rain stopped for a while, and Li Shan's carriage drove through the long street full of dirty water. Next to the carriage was an entourage of ten guards. These accompanying soldiers with knives blocked the carriage. Pedestrians trying to come begging on the side of the road. He watched from the car window that the woman with the child who was about to rush over was pushed to the ground by the guards. The swaddling child is actually fake.
"Poor **** plan." He thought so in his heart, and lowered the curtain in annoyance.
At this moment, what really troubled him was not the bad things he could see every day, but all kinds of strange news from the west.
Since last year, the former Wu Dynasty officials and forces headed by his mentors Wu Qimei, Tie Yan and others have joined the Jin Kingdom, and elected a collateral royal family who is said to be related to the Zhou family to establish a small court in Lin'an. At the beginning, he was trembling with fear, and he blushed somewhat when he was called a traitor, but as time passed, some people gradually got used to the public opinion they created.
In fact, establishing this small court of the Wu Dynasty may not be the worst choice in the current situation all over the world. In the more than two hundred years of the Wu Dynasty, the current emperors, whether it is Zhou Zhe or Zhou Yong, can be called foolish and rebellious.
Even the Jingping Emperor Zhou Ji, who had been in the middle for less than a year, was a faint-hearted man who asked God for divination. He used the so-called "Heavenly Master" Guo Jing as his general to face the Jurchen, but he opened the city gate himself, so that the Jurchen entered Bianliang effortlessly during the second southern expedition. Maybe no one dared to say it at the beginning, but now it seems that the shame of Jingping and the half-life humiliation that Zhou Ji has suffered since then can be regarded as self-inflicted.
Wu Chao's luck was gone after all. With the Central Plains and Jiangnan already occupied, a little resistance may come to an end - there may be some chaos, but as the Jurchen stabilizes the entire Jin Kingdom, these chaos will gradually die out. of.
After all, this is the process of one dynasty replacing another.
Accept this reality or die in the chaos that follows. In this comparison, some things are less difficult to accept, and on the other hand, many people don't really have much choice.
The torrent of history is too great and too intense. In recent days, Li Shan often feels that he is just an ordinary person who has fallen into the tide of anger. The tide engulfs. He was able to go to the position of the minister of officials in such a small court, more, perhaps not because of ability, but because of luck:
He worshipped Wu Qimei as his teacher, and Wu Qimei became the right minister of the court, and he followed. If he didn't go this way, he actually didn't have any more options.
In the past few months, in general, the development of the "Jun Society" headed by Wu Qimei is quite gratifying. In the small court, Wu Qimei was originally the right minister, and the most powerful was Tieyan from the left, but a lot of Tieyan's forces came from the Fujian army. After Yan's cousin Tie Sanwu, Tie Yan's momentum dropped. Wu Qimei, who has a more stable pace, not only expanded her momentum, but also received more appreciation from the Jurchen to a certain extent.
The current Lin'an court does not pay too much attention to checks and balances. Wu Qimei's momentum has risen, and the rest of the people have also ascended to heaven. As Wu Qimei's disciple, Li Shan was still only a servant in the Ministry of Personnel, but even the minister did not dare to deny him face. In the past two months, although the bottom level of Lin'an City was still difficult, many things, including treasures, land deeds, and beauties, were sent to Li Shan like flowing water.
In such a situation, for the first time in his life, Li Shancai felt what is meant by the general trend, what is meant by the strength of the world and the world, these benefits, he doesn't need to speak at all, and even refusing to not feel hurts others. Especially in February, after the main force of the Jin Bing evacuated one after another, the bottom-level situation in Lin'an stirred up again, and more benefits were delivered to Li Shan.
In the foreseeable future, the "Jun Society" led by Wu Qimei will become the ruling class of the entire Lin'an and the entire Wu Dynasty.
After all, the dynasties are already changing, he just follows, just to protect himself, not to take the initiative to harm others, and there is nothing wrong with his conscience if he asks himself.
If it weren't for the information that had come in the past few days, everything he had experienced would have been a heavenly dream.
In the Battle of Changsha, Chen Fan defeated the Jurchen army, and he was able to cut silver.
In the southwest, the Black Flag Army defeated the main force of the Jurchen and killed Wanyan Xiebao.
These two big news, the first one came a few days ago, and everyone is still confirming its authenticity, while the second one entered the city the day before yesterday, and now only a few high-level officials really know about it, and various details still remain. Passing over.
Thousands of miles apart, and it takes several days to arrive at 800 miles in a hurry. There are often errors in the first round of news, and the confirmation cycle is extremely long. It is difficult to confirm whether there are other problems in the process. Some people even think that it is the meticulous work of the Black Flag Army who took advantage of the turbulent situation in Lin'an and used false information to disrupt the situation. Such doubts are justified.
Among all kinds of speculations, in general, this news has not caused too much waves in the thousands of miles away. People are holding back their thoughts and try not to make any statements. And on a real level, people don't yet know how to respond to such news.
At the end of last year, the news that people were killed in the Battle of the Southwest came, and people could do something about it - and Huangming County was broken not long after, and the Southwest Jin Army also achieved its own results, and some discussions died down. But today... Black Flag can really defeat Jurchen.
Isn't it said that the Jurchen army is the strongest in the Western court? Is a legend like Wanyan Zonghan exaggerated
what is the problem
What kind of person is Wanyan Zonghan? What is the situation in the Southwest? What is this war like
All kinds of questions swirled in Li Shan's heart, and his thoughts were restless and unspeakable.
The carriage drove all the way into the residence of the right prime minister, and people from the "Jun Society" came one after another. People greeted each other and talked about the situation in the city in the past few days—almost all the interests involved in the small court, the "Jun Society" Got the big head. When people talked, they smiled at each other, and then they all paid attention to the situation of military training and recruitment.
Only in a very private small circle, maybe someone mentions the information that has come from the southwest for the past few days.
As Wu Qimei's apprentice, Li Shan's status in the "Jun Society" is not low. Although he is not a pivotal figure among the brothers and sisters, he has a good relationship with others. When "Big Brother" Gan Fenglin came over, Li Shan went up to chat, Gan Fenglin and Li Shan walked aside and exchanged a few words, only when Li Shan mentioned something about the Southwest, Gan Fenglin asked in a low voice.
"Back then in Lin'an, Junior Brother Li knew a lot of people. I heard that Li Pin and Li Dexin had a relationship. I don't know what the relationship is?"
"When Li Dexin was in Lin'an, I did have contact with him, and I visited the door several times to ask for advice..."
Li Shan frowned, for a while he didn't understand the purpose of Gan Fenglin's question. In fact, Wu Qimei lived in seclusion back then. Although he was a great scholar and had many disciples, none of these disciples was too amazing and talented. Back then, it was considered too high or too low—of course, it can now be said that a traitor is a traitor.
The breakup between Li Pin, Li Dexin and Ning Yi was a big uproar for some unknown reason, and it was widely spread. Since he started a newspaper in Lin'an City, his reputation has increased rapidly, even enough to be on a par with Wu Qimei and others. Li Shan had no achievements in those days, and his attitude was low. He visited everywhere in Lin'an City to learn about relationships. He had the same surname as Li Pin, so he could be said to be from his own family. He participated in several gatherings and had the opportunity to speak. Externally, it's a good relationship.
But within the Wu Department of the brothers, Li Shan usually clears up the matter. After all, Wu Qimei worked hard to build a reputation as a great Confucian recognized by others. Li Pin and Huangkou Xiaoer relied on a quarrel with Ning Yi to become one of the leaders of Confucianism.
What's so great about arguing with Ning Yi, Duke Mei even wrote more than a dozen articles to rebuke the monarch murderer, which one was not eloquent and eloquent. But people in the world are ignorant and only love to make fun of vulgar things.
"What did the junior brother and that Li Pin talk about?"
"Uh..." Li Shan was a little embarrassed. "Most of it is... academic matters. When I first came to the door, I asked him about sincerity and sincerity in the university. At that time, I said..."
Li Shan recounted the conversation between the two sides, and Gan Fenglin waved his hand: "Have you mentioned the matter of Southwest?"
"Southwest... What's going on?" Li Shan was horrified. Under the situation in front of him, everything about Southwest was very sensitive. He didn't know his brother's purpose.
"The teacher asked me to investigate the situation in the Southwest." Gan Fenglin confessed, "The news from the past few days has been confirmed by all parties, and now it seems that it is basically true. Not small. In the past, it was said that Tu Shanwei would never be defeated, but now that I think about it, I don’t know if it’s an exaggeration, or there are other reasons.”
"On the other hand, over the past few years, I have known very little about the Southwest. Therefore, the teacher asked me to inquire about the people involved in the Southwest, what kind of cruel thing this Black Flag Army is, and what happened after the slaughter of the king. One of the situation... Knowing oneself and knowing the enemy can save a hundred battles, and now I have to know... In the past two days, I have found some information, but more specifically, there are not many people who want to know... "
Li Shan understood in his heart.
For a long time, when people in Lin'an talked about the southwest, they actually only talked about a dark scene. People abused, condemned, and cursed, but the people in Lin'an knew very little about the specific situation in the southwest. On the one hand, it is due to the huge pressure that Jurchen exerts all the time. On the other hand, in the face of "enemies" like Jurchen, people can still treat them with a rational attitude. Speaking of which, it can only be dealt with with a more extreme and violent attitude.
Doing the opposite way, the whole world will fight, in short, you will die - there is no doubt about this. As for treating the Southwest with the attitude of a national war, everyone would feel shameless. People are willing to understand the Jurchen, but in fact they are not willing to understand the Southwest.
The reasons for the formation of this situation are too complicated to be analyzed. This time, the Jurchen Southern Expedition, for the strength of the Jurchen, the people of the Wu Dynasty are actually a little difficult to measure and understand. The entire Jiangnan land fell under the attack of the East Route Army. As for the legendary stronger West Route Army, in the end How powerful it is, it is difficult for people to explain rationally, and the battle that will take place in the southwest is actually beyond the understanding of people thousands of miles away.
There is no need to understand too much. In short, after Nianhan, the strongest army in the world, is killed, the southwest will be completely destroyed.
But by this time, there was a problem with the development of all this, and the people of Lin'an could not help but seriously understand and measure the situation in the southwest.
What happened to Jin Guo
Is Nianhan really still the number one player in the world today
In the rumors, the Jurchen Western court, who was the most powerful, was actually not that scary? Are these rumors about Jurchen all false? The West Route Army is actually less powerful than the East Route Army? So, can it also be speculated that the rumors about infighting in the Kim Congress are actually fake news
All of these are possible results under rational analysis, but if in the most unlikely case, there is another explanation...
If the Jurchen West Route Army is really stronger than the East Route Army.
If Nianhan is really the undefeated general who traverses the world and builds half of the Jin Kingdom.
If Jurchen Wanyan Xiyin, Yin Shuke, Ba Lisu, Han Qixian, Gao Qingyi... and many others really still have the strategy and martial arts of the past...
If there is a very small possibility, such a situation exists...
So in the past few years, in the mountains in the southwest that people have not paid much attention to, what kind of army will be established and forged by the devil who killed the king? How to rule over there, how to train troops, how to operate... What about the team that defeated Jurchen's strongest army with a small number of troops... barbaric and brutal
Cold sweat dripped from Li Shan's back...