A desolate autumn wind blew across the wilderness. Black columns of smoke from burning corpses rose into the sky, and the stench of corpses spread everywhere.
After the war, Jiangning was shrouded in a gray, deathly aura.
The city was decorated with lanterns and colored banners, and the beating of drums and gongs could not conceal the sorrow in the wilderness outside the city. Not long ago, millions of soldiers had clashed and scattered here. Many had died in the roar of cannons and fighting, and the surviving soldiers had gone off in different directions.
Some of the generals led the soldiers under them to surrender to the new emperor of the Wu dynasty.
Some of the generals and leaders took their brothers from the same place and went to relatively rich but remote places.
Some of the soldiers had long since lost their courage in the war. After losing their formation, they dragged their hungry and exhausted bodies on the long road home alone.
The scattering of the crowd was a symbol of chaos. In just a few days, the hundreds of miles of roads and mountains outside Jiangning were filled with scattered deserters.
In the process of being kept in captivity by the Female Zhenren, the soldiers had long lost their daily necessities. After the bloody battle in Jiangning, the fleeing soldiers could not trust the Wu Dynasty, and were also afraid of the Female Zhenren. Along the way, fighting for food quickly occurred.
People with obsessions fell on the road. Starving soldiers with unique skills hid in the hills and hunted their own kind. Some of the soldiers who wanted to leave the battlefield quickly began to devour the scattered soldiers around them. Who knew how many miserable and heinous things had happened during this time.
Most of the soldiers who had surrendered to the new emperor hadn't been properly settled down in a short time. They had besieged the city for several months and had missed the autumn harvest. The food in Jiangning was running low. Jun Wu, Yue Fei, and the others had fought their way out with the determination of burning their boats, but in fact, it was a desperate counterattack. By now, before the joy of victory had completely settled in their hearts, a new problem had come crashing down on them.
More than four hundred thousand soldiers of the Wu dynasty, and the number was still increasing, had defected. The first thing they asked for was a large amount of provisions, military supplies, and medicine. However, Jun Wu's side couldn't even gather enough accommodation for so many people in a short period of time.
And after eleven years and nine months of fierce battle in Jianshuo, corpses piled up outside Jiangning City. The plague was actually already spreading. In the camp where the people had gathered previously, the Female Zhenren had even massacred the entire casualty camp several times before setting everything on fire. After the previous battle, even the collection and incineration of corpses became a problem in the following days. The reserves used for epidemic prevention in Jiangning City, such as lime and other materials, were quickly depleted within two to three days after the end of the battle.
These were all trivial matters. In reality, the biggest problem was Wanyan Zongfu's army, which had fled to Taiping after being defeated.
Although the Female Zhenren army suffered heavy losses during the mutiny and counterattack of a million people and was forced to flee in a sorry state, Wanyan Zongfu hadn't died, and the core of the Female Zhenren army hadn't been defeated. Once Zong Fu, Zong Bi, and the others regrouped and charged over, and no longer treated the Wu Dynasty's surrendered army with inhuman oppression, Jiangning City, which was once again targeted, would probably forever lose the chance to take a million people and break out of the encirclement.
Even the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had defected would become a serious burden on Jun Wu's side. In a short period of time, it would be difficult for these soldiers to produce any combat strength. Even taking them into Jiangning City would be a risk. These people had been starving outside the city for two months, and they weren't Jiangning locals. Once they entered the city and starved, it wouldn't be long before internal strife would break out again and they would have to sell the city for food.
Black smoke continued to rise as the sun rose and the moon set. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers worked ceaselessly on the remnants of the battlefield. Old tents and huts had been built again. Jun Wu wore a white scarf on his forehead. He went in and out of the city, taking short breaks every few days. The officials under his command were even busier.
As soon as they won the battle, envoys had been sent to various parts of the Wu dynasty to lobby them. After that, there were all kinds of tasks such as treatment, comfort, incorporation, and distribution. For the people in the city, there was encouragement and even celebration. For the people outside the city, there was a daily accounting of porridge and medicine.
Three days after the victory, Jun Wu's advisors, who had begun to look forward to the future, gathered their opinions. Jun Wu's eyes were bloodshot. On the evening of the 11th of September, Shen Ruxin went to the tower to bring Jun Wu food. She saw him standing in the red sunset and gazing into the distance.
Shen Ruxin went up to greet him. Jun Wu was silent for a long time before he realized what was going on. The internal officials moved a table on the tower and Shen Ruxin laid out some simple food. Jun Wu sat in the sunlight and stared at the bowls and chopsticks in his hands and the side dishes on the table. His eyes were bloodshot and he gritted his teeth, unable to speak.
There was the faint sound of a celebratory gong in the city.
Shen Ruxin said, "Your Majesty, you won the battle and you're about to inherit the throne. How can you …"
Jun Wu waved his chopsticks. "Inherit the throne! Inherit the throne! There's no emperor like me! I don't have the face to be an emperor! "
His reaction startled Shen Ruxin. She quickly picked up the chopsticks and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Two days before the victory, Jun Wu was exhausted but happy. But now, he seemed to be overwhelmed by something.
"… We're going to abandon the city." Jun Wu was silent for a long time before he put down his bowl and said this. He staggered to his feet and walked to the door of the tower. He tried to speak as calmly as possible. "We don't have enough food."
"… Didn't we get anything after defeating the Nun Zhenren?" Shen Ruxin asked in a low voice.
"Hundreds of thousands of people were like hungry ghosts. Whatever they could get was either divided or burned by the Nun Zhenren. Even if we can keep Zong Fu's logistics, it won't be of much use. The 400,000 people outside the city are just a burden. If the Nun Zhenren comes again, we won't be able to go anywhere. Zong Fu has taken over Taiping Prefecture to the southwest. Zhenjiang is in ruins to the east. If we go south, we'll run into the Nun Zhenren. If we go north, we won't even have enough boats … "
Jun Wu said, "We're three months late. The power of the Wu dynasty is gone. Most of the people in Jiangnan have surrendered. Even if there are loyal people, we can't stay here for long. The Nun Zhenren have taken advantage of the autumn harvest. General Yue and the others also said that I can only run away. I can't be besieged by the Nun Zhenren. Otherwise, no matter where I stay, I can only wait for the Nun Zhenren to grow stronger and stronger. I risked my life to win the battle, but I can only run away. Ruxin, do you know what will happen to the people of Jiangning if I run away? "
He walked out of the door. From the high watchtower, he could see the city wall below. He could also see the rows of houses and residences in Jiangning. After a year of bloody battles, the city wall looked especially majestic under the setting sun. The soldiers standing on top of the city wall were wearing old armor, but they seemed to have experienced the vicissitudes of life and determination.
"I grew up in Jiangning. During the ten years I was the Crown Prince, I lived in Jiangning most of the time. I risked my life to protect Jiangning. The people here see me as one of their own. Some of them trust me as if I'm their own child. So in the past few months, no matter how difficult the city was, they didn't complain. We've burned our boats and fought to this extent. But now … I have to inherit the throne in front of their eyes … and then run away? "
He said this with a sad look in his eyes. Shen Ruxin had completely understood. She couldn't weigh the pros and cons of these things. It was a nightmare for her. "Can't we … really defend?"
"There's no food in the city. If we rely on cannibalism, we might be able to defend for a year or so. In the past, if Wu Qimai died, we might have a chance of survival. But at this point, once we surround Jiangning, even if Wu Qimai dies, they won't go back so easily." Jun Wu closed his eyes. "… I can only try to gather as many boats as I can to send people across the Yangtze River and run for their lives …"
He stood on the observation deck for a while. The sun was setting, and there was a little fire left. The lights in the city lit up, illuminating the outline of the city, the iron armor on the city wall, the antique houses in the city, the running water and the small bridge over the Qinhuai River, and the places he had lived in since he was a child. Ning Yi had also looked at these places with curiosity.
"I know … what's right, and I know what to do …" Jun Wu's voice was a little hoarse. "Back then … my teacher talked to his soldiers in the Xia Village. He said, 'You've risked your life and won a battle. It's hard, but don't think that you can win. You have to win ten times, a hundred times, and go through hundreds and thousands of difficulties before it's over … On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, I thought it was over after I risked my life, but now I understand. Ruxin, it's the hardest to win a battle, and there will be hundreds and thousands of difficulties ahead of you … I understand …"
"But even if I understand …" He clenched his teeth. "… it's too hard for them."
Jun Wu thought of the arrow that flew over from outside Zhenjiang. When it went into his stomach, he thought, "That's it." He thought that he wouldn't be afraid or sad anymore. But of course, that wasn't the case. After overcoming one difficulty, he finally saw the hundreds and thousands of difficulties ahead. That evening was probably the first time he shed tears as an emperor.
That night, he remembered his teacher, so he summoned Wenren Buer and asked him about the progress of finding the Huaxia Army. In the camp of the surrendered soldiers outside Jiangning, the person who was responsible for instigating and instigating the Huaxia Army had clearly sensed the activities of another force. When the war broke out, a large number of unknown people participated in instigating the generals and soldiers who surrendered.
After the war, Jun Wu arranged for someone to be responsible for contacting the other party. He thought that since he had succeeded to the throne, many things would be different from before, so it would be easy to contact them. But strangely, after a few days, he still hadn't contacted the "Takeshi" members under his teacher's command.
On the evening of September 13th, Jun Wu finally met a skinny man who was brought here by Wenren Buer. His name was Jiang Yuan, and he used to be a middle-level member of the Huaxia Army.
From the conversation with the other party, Jun Wu found out that the collapse of the Wu Dynasty this time was too fast and too sudden. In order to protect some people, the Bamboo Ji Store had risked exposing their identity to take action. Especially in the battle of Jiangning, Ling Zhiguang, who was originally sent by Ning Yi to take charge of the situation in Lin 'an, had passed away. At this time, the other person in charge of Jiangning, Ying Hou, was seriously injured and unconscious, and it was unknown whether he would wake up or not. After the rest of the people contacted one after another, they decided to meet with Jun Wu.
Jun Wu nodded. From the seemingly simple description of the other party, he could guess a lot of things had happened.
"… Originally, Mr. Ning issued the order to eliminate traitors at the beginning of the year and sent us here, hoping to strengthen the will of the people of the Wu Dynasty to resist the Jin. But now it seems that we failed to do our duty, and Wanyan Xiyin and the others took advantage of it …"
As Jiang Yuan spoke, Jun Wu waved his hand and said, "This has nothing to do with you. At the beginning of the year, you and Old Hero Fulu helped us a lot, and the morale of the army was greatly boosted. It's just that success requires unity, and bad things only require a few rats. The Wu Dynasty has fallen, and it's not your fault. "
"Your Majesty is reasonable. It's a blessing for the Wu Dynasty." Jiang Yuan expressionlessly cupped his hands and thanked him.
"… Mr. Ning of Xining has taught me many things. Now … I'm going to ascend the throne, and there are many things we can talk about. I've just sent someone to fetch some medicine. I don't know how many people you have here, but if you need any other help, please don't hesitate to ask. I know you've sent a lot of people here. If you need food, we still have some … "
"… enough food." Jiang Yuan cupped his hands and his eyes flickered. "There aren't many people left."
His words were short and cruel. Jun Wu opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. Jiang Yuan, who had been expressionless, forced a smile and explained, "Actually … most of the people left for Changsha at the end of May to prepare for the war. The two teams that stayed here to support His Majesty … still have enough food."
Jun Wu nodded. At the end of May, the Wu Dynasty had begun to decline, and in June, the whole line had begun to collapse. After that, Chen Fan had launched a surprise attack on Changsha, and the Huaxia army was ready for an all-out war with the Jurchens. He had asked to meet with the Huaxia army, hoping that his teacher had left some backup plans here. Maybe he didn't have to choose to leave Jiangning, and there were other paths he could take … But now, Jun Wu pressed his fists tightly on his knees and suppressed the thought of speaking.
The pressure in his heart had been lifted a lot.
When the world was about to fall, who would have the luxury of time? The soldiers of Huaxia in front of him, the teacher of Xining, all of them had been through dangerous situations.
"I'll ascend the throne on the fifteenth … but Jiangning is already a dead end. I'll work with General Yue and the others to stop the Jurchens and evacuate as many people as possible. You've helped me a lot, so please take care of yourself. If possible, I'll arrange a ship for you to leave. Don't refuse."
On the fifteenth of September, Jun Wu ascended the throne in Jiangning and named the reign "Zhenxing."
The new Emperor ascended the throne, and the city of Jiangning was filled with people. Jun Wu sat in his imperial carriage and drove along the streets he was already familiar with. He looked at the cheering crowds on the roadside and reached out to grab his dragon robe. Under the sunlight, he felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife …
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