All kinds of news passed through the mountains and headed north.
The Yunzhong Prefecture, also known as the Great Harmony, was at its brightest in May. The wind that passed through the city was refreshing. As the core of the Western Court of the Jin Kingdom ruled by Zong Han, the Yunzhong Prefecture was home to many meritorious officials and nobles. Although the Jin Kingdom had become stricter with the departure of the Southern Punitive Expedition, it was the season for the upper class to socialize and entertain.
In many mansions and courtyards around the city, large and small banquets were held every day. After one party finished singing, another party would come on stage. This year, most of the ambitious nobles of the Jin Kingdom had set off with the army. The rich playboys who stayed in the country also met the best time to show off their strength. They invited guests and friends and spent a lot of money on banquets. This was the way for many young people to show off their strength.
In the southern part of the Yunzhong Prefecture, there was a luxurious and quaint old house that had recently become a nouveau riche of the upper class. This was a family that had just arrived in the Yunzhong Prefecture, but they had a deep accumulation of wealth. Although they were outsiders, they attracted the attention of many people in the Yunzhong Prefecture in a short period of time.
This family came from the Central Plains.
The Qi Clan, headed by the great scholar Qi Yan, had once occupied the eastern part of the Wu dynasty. Last year, they moved from Zhending to Yunzhong. There was a saying about aristocratic families: "The third generation depends on what they eat, the fourth generation depends on what they wear, and the fifth generation depends on what they write." Most families would not be rich for more than three generations, but the Qi Clan had been rich for six or seven generations.
Although some of the nobles of the Jin Kingdom who had risen through military exploits subconsciously looked down on the noble families of the Wu dynasty, the upper class of the Jin Kingdom still treated the Qi Clan courteously. For the upper class of the Jin Kingdom in the past, it was easy to conquer the world immediately. But now, it had become a problem to rule the world immediately. The problem of the rotten and useless second generation of the Jin Kingdom was also placed in front of the founders. Although there were many reckless people who fought on horseback, the truly knowledgeable people had already begun to see these things.
Because of this, Qi Yan was treated with great courtesy. Some of the elders in Yunzhong would often summon him for advice, and they would chat cheerfully. As for the second generation of the Jin Kingdom who were hot-tempered and liked to compare themselves with others, although they couldn't stand to see the Qi Family being praised, the Qi Family's research on pleasure was far better than these stupid sons of nouveau riche.
Over time, although everyone said no, the high-quality banquets held by the scholars of the Qi family quickly conquered and led the trend of hedonism in the city. For a time, they became the focus of everyone's attention. By the end of May, many of the nobles of the Jin Kingdom had begun to address the young people of the Qi Clan as brothers.
Since the beginning of the month, with some good news coming from the south, the Qi Clan and the Jin Kingdom's high-level visits and banquets became more and more grand. They even held several grand ceremonies and celebrations. The reason was because of the assassination that happened in the Zhen Ding Manor last year, forcing the Qi family to head north.
In the assassination instigated by the Chinese army, Qi Yan's two sons, one grandson, and a portion of his family perished. Due to the ferocity of the rebellion against the Jin Kingdom, the elderly Qi Yan could only move his family north. However, back then, Liangshan had massacred the Su family, and Ning Rentu had flattened all of Liangshan. Now that the Black Flag Army had massacred the Qi family, how could Qi Yan, who had accumulated power for many years, be willing to let the matter rest?
On one hand, he moved north, and on the other, he used his influence to cooperate with the Jin Kingdom to oppose the Chinese army. At the end of March and the beginning of April, the Daimyo Manor was finally breached. The Chinese army was embroiled in it and was completely annihilated. Wanyan Chang captured more than four thousand bandits and began killing them batch by batch. When Qi Yan heard the news, he was overjoyed and in tears. His two sons and one grandson had been killed by the assassins of the Black Flag Army. The old man wished he could slaughter the entire Chinese army and even kill Ning Yi so that all the women in his family could be sent to the brothel.
At this moment, he had taken his revenge a little, but it was still worth celebrating. As he celebrated, Qi Yan also sent a hundred thousand taels of silver to Wanyan Chang's family in Liaoyang to express his gratitude. He wrote a letter to Wanyan Chang, requesting him to send a portion of the Chinese army's captives back to the Yun Kingdom for him to kill to comfort his descendants in heaven. In May, Wanyan Chang's agreeable letter arrived. The Qi family had already thought of many ideas on how to torture and kill this group of enemies.
In such an atmosphere, the old man did not know that a shadow more vicious than Yan Qing, who had led the assassination at the Manor of Zhending, or even the mental demon Ning Yi, who had destroyed Liangshan, had already enveloped the Qi family.
After directing a few carriages of fruits and vegetables to enter the Qi family's backyard, the peddler who escorted the carriages came down to negotiate with the Qi family's steward and settled the payment. Not long after, the carriages left the backyard. The peddler sat in the carriage, his smiling face revealing a hint of coldness.
The carriages drove to the market, and the peddler alighted. After passing through the streets and alleys, he arrived at a quiet courtyard. Only then did he take off the hat on his head and pull off the beard at the corner of his mouth. At this moment, his expression also became gloomy. This was Tang Minjie. His gloomy expression was also his usual expression after hearing the battle report from the daimyo's residence in the south.
Walking into the room, the gloominess on his face faded slightly. Lu Mingfang was already waiting in the room. "How is it? You don't look too good recently. "
"The incident at the daimyo's residence is too tragic," Tang Minjie said frankly.
Lu Mingfang was silent for a moment. "There are some things that you and I can't turn the tide. I'll say it again. You're too anxious. Take care of your body. Also, pay attention to your concealment. I know that your previous actions were a little intense, and some people have already noticed you."
Since the beginning of the Jurchen's preparation for the southern expedition, Tang Minjie had done several major things with radical means. At first, he incited the Han slaves to revolt and asked Shi Jin to send a list of traitors to the south. Later, he secretly pulled strings and threatened the Jin officials to blackmail the military provisions prepared for the southern expedition. Then he colluded with the playboys in the Jin Kingdom to resell military supplies by virtue of their power …
It was impossible for the things he did alone to shake the entire war situation in the south. However, because of his radical means, there were several clues of the code name "Clown". If "Clown" was just an ordinary code name in Yunzhong Mansion when Shi Jin went to the north, by now, this code name was really hanging on the top of the high-level wanted list. Fortunately, in the past few months, Tang Minjie had restrained himself, and the rumors outside had subsided a little.
"Well, I know how to hide." The advice of both a friend and a comrade made Tang Minjie smile slightly. "What's the matter today?"
"Great news."
"Hmm?" It was rare for Lu Mingfang to speak like this. Tang Minjie's brows moved slightly. Lu Mingfang's eyes were complicated, but he had already smiled sincerely. He said two words, "Zhan Mei."
"Found her!?" Tang Minjie suddenly looked up. Lu Mingfang smiled and nodded.
"Found her, found her … She's not dead yet. She still has a child who's not dead yet. Now she's in Liaoyang. I'm going to go there …"
Lu Mingfang's tone was already restrained, but the excitement in his smile was still overflowing. Tang Minjie laughed and smashed his fist on the table. "This is great news. Is it true?"
"It's mostly true. Once it's confirmed, I'll immediately arrange for them to go south … "
As the two talked about this, they laughed like children in the room. Zhan Mei, full name Wang Zhan Mei, was the name of the last concubine who stayed by Qin Shaohe's side when Taiyuan City was destroyed. Over the years, she had always been on the top of the search list of the Huaxia army.
Speaking of this, the two were happy for a while. Lu Mingfang didn't say anything about how the mother and son had survived for more than ten years, and Tang Minjie didn't mention it either.
After a while, Lu Mingfang said, "This is an important matter that can't be missed. When I go to Liaoyang, I'll leave the matters here to you. Oh right, last time you said that the Qi family wanted to force a few brothers of the Huaxia army here … "
"I'll arrange it. Don't worry," Tang Minjie replied. Then he said, "I'll celebrate with the Qi family."
"…" Hearing the ominous tone in Tang Minjie's words, and looking at his smiling face, Lu Mingfang was slightly stunned, but then he didn't say anything. Tang Minjie's actions were radical. Many of his methods were inherited from Ning Yi. In terms of manipulating people's hearts and using vicious schemes, Lu Mingfang wasn't his match. When it came to subordinates like this, he could only watch the overall situation and wouldn't do much else.
"Let's not talk about the rest." After a pause, Lu Mingfang patted him on the shoulder. "You know what you should do. As I said, be careful and take care of yourself. The world's important matters can only be accomplished by the people of the world working together. You … don't be too anxious. "
"I understand." Tang Minjie smiled. "It's a big matter on your side. It must have been hard for them to protect the children of the eldest son of the Qin family all these years. Give the madam a salute for me."
"I will."
After saying this, Tang Minjie waved goodbye to Lu Mingfang. When he walked out of the courtyard, he raised his head with a smile and took a deep breath. The sun was warm. With such good news, today was really a good day.
He thought of the Qi family again.
How happy.
…
It was time to kill.
*****
When Lu Mingfang received the news from Wang Zhanmei in the north, the flood in the southwest was still roaring.
In Dujiangyan, the rain fell and stopped, then stopped and continued.
In the evening, in the straw shed by the Min River, Ning Yi and Cheng Zhouhai, who had been traveling together for the past few days, were waiting for the rain to subside. When he was bored, Ning Yi handed him a handful of fried broad beans.
Cheng Zhouhai didn't come to break the dam. He came to talk about business. Although he might do it if he could break the dam, his main purpose was to talk about some practical things with Ning Yi on behalf of Zhou Pei.
For many years, this was the first contact between Princess Royal's Mansion and the Huaxia Army. Cheng Zhouhai's subordinates and the members of the Hua Xia Army General Staff were in charge of the specific negotiations. Between Ning Yi and Cheng Zhouhai, it was much easier to talk. Of course, during these days, the two of them talked mostly about trivial matters.
In the southwest, they talked about the situation of Ning Yi's family, worries about the children's future, the defeat in the Daming Mansion in the north, Wang Shanyue and Zhu Biao. And from Cheng Zhouhai's mouth, they talked about the situation of the people in the Prime Minister's Mansion, the situation of the Princess Royal's Mansion, the situation between the Princess and the Emperor's son-in-law in the past ten years after Ning Yi left …
"… Alas, the world is like this. Children grow up, adults grow old, and the old die. Things remain the same, but people change …"
"Lin 'an is more prosperous than Bianliang. It's a pity that you don't go and see it …"
"Lin 'an, Lin' an, temporarily safe. The name is not auspicious. You will suffer … These days, we are fighting the flood. Why don't I take you to Mount Ji and let you feel what is called industrial prosperity … The water outside the paper factory is no longer drinkable."
"In the early years, I felt that you always came up with a mess of new names that I couldn't understand. It's hard for you to get along with people like this."
"I'm a little extreme. I'm sorry."
"After you killed Emperor Jinghan, I didn't find it strange. Like you said, if you weren't crazy, you wouldn't have done such a terrible thing. "
The rain fell from the edge of the straw hut like a curtain. The two of them cracked the broad beans. Speaking of this, Ning Yi couldn't help but laugh. He laughed so hard that his body trembled. "That bastard, Old Cheng, do you know what he said when I went to court … I didn't say it to anyone. I'll let you hear it …"
He repeated what Zhou Zhe said that day in the throne room. Cheng Zhouhai stopped cracking the broad beans, raised his head, and sighed. After all, it was not easy for him to answer this kind of disrespectful words. After a moment of silence, he said, "Do you remember that a few days before you made your move, I went to find you?"
"Yes … Zong Feixiao discovered something. My people killed him. At that time, you also thought I was going to make my move." Ning Yi nodded. "Indeed, I was going to make my move."
"I thought you were going to deal with Cai Jing or Tong Guan, or even Li Gang, or someone else … I could stand it and wanted to work with you." Cheng Zhouhai laughed. "I didn't expect you to do such a thing."
"If I had told you then, I probably wouldn't have lived to this day."
"Mm." Cheng Zhouhai nodded and popped a broad bean into his mouth. "If I had known back then, I would have definitely thought of a way to kill you."
"And now?"
"Now … what's the point of killing you?" Cheng Zhouhai said. "As you said, there's a problem with the world of Confucianism. Li Pin has his reasons for wanting to kill you, but I don't want to. You've already started, and you've done so much. I want to see what you'll be like in the end. If you win, as you said, everyone will awaken, and everyone will be equal. That's a good thing. If you lose, we'll get some good experience. "
"Brother Cheng is very open-minded."
"I'm just a little disheartened." Cheng Zhouhai paused. "If my teacher were still here, I would be the first one to kill you. But he's gone, and his ideas are in trouble. Even if we push for it now, I'm afraid that we won't be able to convince the public. Since I'm no longer a teacher, I've been doing practical things all these years. I can naturally see that the people in the court … are at a loss for what to do. Instead, it's Jun Wu, who's learned from you, who's taken the lead. "
He popped a broad bean into his mouth. "It's just that Jun Wu's path is too unyielding. Once the external threat is eliminated, he won't be able to last long. As for you … I don't really understand, and I don't need to … "
At this point, Cheng Zhouhai's brows drooped, revealing a deep sense of exhaustion. Although Qin Siyuan had said that his methods were vicious and unscrupulous, Cheng Zhouhai's biggest pillar of support was his teacher, Qin Siyuan. Qin Siyuan was sent to prison and eventually died in exile. It was impossible for Cheng Zhouhai to not have any hatred in his heart.
However, supporting the Wu dynasty was the core of Qin Siyuan's thinking. As he said, if Ning Yi had confessed to him before the rebellion, Cheng Zhouhai would have killed Ning Yi immediately even if he hated him. That was Qin Siyuan's orthodoxy. But because he had no scruples, Cheng Zhouhai himself didn't have his own orthodoxy.
After Qin Siyuan died, it was no longer clear to him how to go. After Yao Zunian died, Jueming, Kang Xian, and the others also died. Wenren Bu 'er followed Jun Wu and took a relatively radical path. Cheng Zhouhai assisted Zhou Pei. His methods were brilliant, but his goal gradually changed from protecting the Wu dynasty to protecting the brother and sister. Although in some sense, it was the same thing, it was still somewhat different.
Zhou Yong's nonsense at the beginning of the year had thrown Zhou Pei into chaos. But after she calmed down, Zhou Pei had to admit that the Wu dynasty was weak in this southern expedition of the Jurchens. Finally, she sent Cheng Zhouhai and decided to secretly exchange some benefits with the Huaxia army. This was also the greatest effort that Zhou Pei could make in letting go of the knot in her heart under the premise of the foreign attack.
Cheng Zhouhai knew a little about the background of Zhou Yong's nonsense at the beginning of the year, but he naturally wouldn't mention it in front of Ning Yi. He only briefly mentioned the grudges between Zhou Pei and the son-in-law Qu Zonghui over the years. When he talked about Qu Zonghui's murder and how Zhou Pei dealt with it, Ning Yi nodded. "The little girl has also grown up."
Cheng Zhouhai looked at Ning Yi. "Her Highness is no longer a little girl … Speaking of which, I know about the last time you met Her Highness."
"Hm?"
"That was before you went to Liangshan. In Bianliang, Her Highness was almost molested by that … Gao Muen. Actually, it was me. Later that night, she said goodbye to you and went back to get married … "
The broad beans crunched. Ning Yi nodded. "Oh, now that you mention it, it really has been many years."
"Her Highness, she …" Cheng Zhouhai wanted to say something, but in the end, he shook his head. "Forget it, let's not talk about this …"
"Of course, I know about her matters." Not noticing what Cheng Zhouhai wanted to say, Ning Yi casually said, "Let's not talk about things that will hurt the harmony between us. It has been so many years, and she's been a widow. Can't she find a suitable man? It's not right for you, the elders. "
Cheng Zhouhai laughed. "With Her Highness's status, how can she find someone? Who would dare to come? Who would Her Highness dare to look for? Moreover, you also said that you know about Her Highness's matters. When the two sides start fighting, what if you release the news? "
Ning Yi laughed. "Are you looking down on me? I promise I won't do such a thing. "
"Isn't there still the Jurchen?"
"… That's true."
Speaking of the Jurchen, the two fell silent for a moment, then changed the subject.
The sky was overcast, and in the heavy rain, the river in front of them roared. Amidst what seemed like casual chatter, the two people under the straw hut understood that Cheng Zhouhai's journey to the southwest was extremely difficult. Although all business was still carried out in secret, this was already the greatest sacrifice and effort that Zhou Pei could make after letting go of the knot in her heart. And the premise of this sacrifice and effort was that the upheaval of the world was already close at hand.
While they were chatting, Lou Shuwan of Jindi burned down the entire city of Wei Sheng. She and Yu Yulin led the army into the mountains, and when they looked back, they saw the city filled with smoke and fire. After resisting Wu Shu and the others' attacks for several months, the thousands of Huaxia soldiers in Xuzhou, along with tens of thousands of soldiers defending the city, began to voluntarily retreat to the periphery. The battle of Liangshan in the north, which could break out at any moment, was nothing more than a small interlude in this situation.
Next, under the command of Junwu, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and the others, the Wu dynasty's line of defense in Xiangyang and Zhenjiang was about to engage in close combat with the Jurchen eastern army of 300,000.
There were close to two million soldiers on this line of defense that stretched for thousands of miles. They had come to stop the two armies of the Jurchens. However, as the test was about to come, everyone was worried about the combat strength of the Wu Dynasty's army.
In May, the waters of the Min River roared down. Even though they were eating broad beans and chatting leisurely in the heavy rain, the two men's noses smelled the smoke of war in the wind and rain every day.
It was as if the entire world was filled with smoke.
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