He had received detailed information from the west in the wee hours of the morning of the first day of May.
Not long after the night of April 30th, Li Pin talked about current affairs with several up-and-coming Confucian scholars until late at night. They were all in a good mood. After midnight, it was May. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the steward knocked on his bedroom door and delivered the information about the battle of Hanzhong.
The night in Fuzhou was clear and bright. It was already summer, and the weather was pleasant. After reading the information, Li Pin sat under the banyan tree in the yard for a long time in a thin robe. He knew that many people, including him, wouldn't be able to sleep that night.
The situation was still tense. Although a large number of people had flooded into Fuzhou, the city was still under curfew at night. At this time, he, Princess Royal's Residence, and some members of the Office of Secret Investigations could receive the information. Naturally, His Majesty in the palace wouldn't miss it either.
He could more or less imagine how His Majesty would feel when he read the news in front of him.
The Wu dynasty had taken many wrong paths in the past. According to Mr. Ning, it had owed a lot of debts and left a lot of messes, so much so that it had been in a desperate situation where it only existed in name. Now, the only thing left was the "orthodox" situation in Fujian. In many ways, it could even be said that they had brought it upon themselves.
However, the new Emperor, who had succeeded the throne in Jiangning last year, had indeed given the people a glimmer of hope in this hopeless situation. After arriving in Fuzhou, the conservative people were not used to the young emperor's methods, but in the eyes of more people, the measures taken by the new emperor showed the vigor and vitality of the country.
Li Pin was probably the one who had seen the most clearly on the way here.
From the bravery he showed when he broke through the siege in Jiangning to the guilt he felt along the way. After arriving in Fuzhou, Jun Wu took care of a lot of things himself. He would go to the places where the refugees were taken in and ask about the procedures in detail. He would also take the initiative to ask about the refugees' future hopes. During this period, he was even attacked by assassins several times.
In April, people built a stone monument in the northwest square of Fuzhou to commemorate the people of Jiangnan who had died during the Jurchen invasion. Jun Wu wore his armor and white silk. He cut his palm with a long sword and poured the blood into the wine. Then he paid his respects to the dead three times. This was against the rules of the Ministry of Rites, but Jun Wu didn't care.
After the ritual, an assassin tried to assassinate Jun Wu. Jun Wu had his men bring the captured assassin to the stone tablet and ask him to explain the reason for the assassination. Only then did he execute the assassin.
These approachable, personal, or iron-blooded actions could only be regarded as external appearances. If that was all, those in high positions would not have a high evaluation of him. But what really made people feel that he was reliable was the various details under the surface.
After arriving in Fuzhou, the first thing Jun Wu did was to calculate all the money and supplies. At the same time, he ordered the original officials in Fuzhou to cooperate with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to hand in and review the names of all the craftsmen in Fuzhou. Fuzhou was a good port. The shipbuilding industry was the most developed in the Wu dynasty. When Jun Wu was the crown prince, he paid attention to craftsmen and other things. At first, people didn't find it strange. But at the end of March and the beginning of April, the Ministry of Revenue, which had finished the initial reorganization, began a new round of population statistics and household registration.
The original Wu dynasty had a large number of scholars and there had never been a shortage of officials. After arriving in Fuzhou, Jun Wu carefully selected officials to enter the court, but he also paid more attention to the integration of the officials.
In the second half of last year, when the Wu dynasty was on the verge of collapse, Jun Wu broke out of the siege in Jiangning and brought many people with him. Although the lives of the people didn't matter, when he had to choose, Jun Wu still prioritized the lives of the advisors, shopkeepers, and craftsmen who could write and calculate.
After arriving in Fuzhou in batches, the advisors and shopkeepers who could write and calculate were incorporated into the Ministry of Revenue, and the names of the craftsmen were incorporated into the Ministry of Works. The first thing Jun Wu did was use the names of the local craftsmen in Fuzhou to train his troops. After the initial reorganization of the officials, he began to organize household registration and statistics for the people of Fuzhou, especially the refugees. Household registration seemed complicated to the people, but it had always been the most stable way for the government to strengthen its control at the bottom.
At the beginning of the year, when Tie Sanwu took control of Fuzhou, Zhou Pei, Cheng Zhouhai, and the others secretly worked together with the local factions to cut off Tie Sanwu's head and easily took over Fuzhou. Speaking of which, the local gentry and armed forces naturally had their own demands for the new court. In everyone's imagination, with the collapse of the Wu dynasty, the newly ascended young ruler would be eager to launch a counterattack. Moreover, under these circumstances where he was besieged on all sides, he would actively win over all sides and reward his supporters greatly in order to achieve the effect of a thousand gold coins selling their bones.
But when the statistics and household registration began anew, people discovered that this seemingly radical new ruler had adopted a style of chewing up everything and digesting everything. In April, Fuzhou was flooded with refugees from all over, and the work of counting and settling them down was very busy. Occasionally, there would be chaos and assassinations, but the chaos they caused couldn't be considered large. In the end, it was the new ruler and his troops who treated these matters as training. Each and every one of them had prepared a contingency plan so that once something happened, they would be able to react.
Because of this, in the eyes of those who were observant, Fuzhou was currently in a busy, complicated, and orderly atmosphere. The new ruler's control over the city was expanding every day. For anyone who sincerely hoped for a wise ruler and was loyal to the Wu dynasty, the scene before their eyes would only make them feel gratified.
And even if some people were unwilling, it didn't matter. After breaking out of the encirclement in Jiangning, Jun Wu had carried out a strong reorganization of the army. Now, more than a hundred thousand elite soldiers were under the control of Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, and other generals. Although a large portion of the Wu dynasty's territory had fallen, Jun Wu could easily take over Fuzhou, or even all of Fujian, with these remaining forces.
At the same time, he consolidated the Ministry of War, cleaned up military discipline, drilled officials in the Ministry of Revenue, and began to organize households for the people. At the same time, the Ministry of Works was being reformed in a bold and decisive manner. In the upper echelons of the Ministry of Works, several active craftsmen were promoted to the position of chief officials. Jun Wu had promoted the craftsmen who had worked at the Gewu Research Institute in Jiangning and made great contributions. He had even conferred the title of nobility to two of them, and publicly promised that as long as they made great contributions to the development of gewu science in the future, they would not be stingy with the title of nobility.
In the past, the social classes of the Wu dynasty had been the scholars, farmers, merchants, and merchants. In the past, the merchants had used the power of money to slightly raise their status, but after all, they hadn't been recognized by the government. When Jun Wu was the crown prince, he didn't have this kind of power. Now, he was actually promoting and recognizing the status of the craftsmen.
Some of the old Confucian scholars and officials who had followed Jun Wu to the south had more or less objected, but some had only vaguely reminded Jun Wu to reconsider and not be so radical. But now that the army was in Jun Wu's hands, the officials were at his disposal, the intelligence was provided by the Eldest Princess and the Office of Secret Investigations, and Li Pin's newspapers were used to publicize the news. Although these old Confucian scholars and officials could more or less contact the rural gentry of the Wu dynasty, Jun Wu had made up his mind to take things one at a time, so the influence and constraints these officials had on him had unknowingly been reduced to the minimum.
Because of these tactics, the conservative Confucian scholars might have some complaints about the new emperor's rebelliousness and "unsteadiness," but for a large number of young Confucian scholars, this kind of emperor was undoubtedly exciting. Over the past few days, a large number of Confucian scholars had come to Li Pin's place to talk about the new emperor's tactics and strategies.
Yes, as long as Fuzhou could be completely digested and controlled, it would be far more useful than hastily recovering the whole of Fujian or gaining a disunited Jiangnan. Once the new emperor had a meticulous control over Fuzhou, the whole world would be in good order in the future. Under this premise, it was possible that the weak gentry and aristocratic families who only cared about themselves could be reformed.
Throughout history, which dynasty or generation had not been able to control the lower classes like this without the image of an emperor?
While people were full of praise for Jun Wu's actions, they also began to reflect on many things that had happened in the past. In the past two months, the most discussed topic in the Confucian circle in Fuzhou was the original ranking of the scholars, farmers, merchants, and merchants. In the past, people used to think that these four kinds of people were from the top to the bottom, but now it seemed that this idea had to be changed, and the status of the merchants, merchants, and businessmen had to be taken seriously.
Following that, various theories were born. There were two most representative theories. The relatively conservative one believed that the scholars, as the administrators and coordinators of the world, should be at the top, while the farmers, merchants, and merchants should be treated equally and encouraged to develop. The more radical one believed that the scholars, farmers, merchants, and merchants should be treated equally and belonged to the same level. Of course, the radical one was that it was stuck on the question of how to treat the farmers and scholars equally. For example, craftsmen and merchants could be given official titles to show their status, but how should they reward and encourage the farmers? Because of this problem, most people believed that this idea was good, but it was unlikely to be implemented.
The new emperor's wisdom and vigor, as well as the changes in the world, could inspire some young people. Li Pin often communicated with these people.
On the one hand, she guided them to do some practical things, and on the other hand, she vaguely felt that the emergence of the new Confucianism might really be at a critical point.
Of course, for him, these things and the changes in front of him were more complicated.
Young people who had not seen much of the world, or Confucian scholars who had seen much of the world, could all feel encouraged by the changes happening here — indeed, the Wu Dynasty had been through too much turmoil, to the point where the country had fallen and the families had been destroyed. Most people realized that without a complete revolution and change, it seemed that the Wu Dynasty would not be able to be saved.
Therefore, even the old bureaucrats who had followed Jun Wu to the south didn't really oppose him when they saw Jun Wu's bold reforms. They even cut their palms and offered their blood to the Emperor during the sacrificial ceremony. Although they complained about it, they didn't really oppose him. Because even the old people knew that they could only stick to the old ways, and if they wanted to open up, they might really need Jun Wu to do something out of the ordinary.
From a historical point of view, an emperor like Jun Wu, who was hot-blooded, methodical, and had even seen blood on the battlefield, might be qualified to be the leader of a resurgence in any dynasty or generation. At least for this beginning, with his feedback and the assistance of Cheng Zhouhai, Wenren Buer, and the others, it could be said to be perfect. If he were in any other moment in history, he would indeed be overjoyed by such an emperor.
But right now, amid the sincere expectations, praise, and beauty of those Confucian scholars, there was always a kind of emotion rising in the depths of their hearts, suppressing his joy and questioning him.
— At this historical moment, how does our effort compare to that of the southwest?
— Does the strong and wise leader of a resurgence have a chance of winning against that of the southwest?
In the eyes of many of the capable and knowledgeable young Confucians who had come to discuss the Dao with him, the answer to this question was unquestionable. But on Li Pin's side, deep in his heart, he wasn't even willing to answer such a question. He understood that this was already a reflection of his own evaluation and answer.
Thus, when all the Confucian scholars were excited and encouraged, only he would always calmly smile, point out the other party's problem, and guide them into thinking. This kind of situation caused his reputation in Fuzhou to grow a bit more.
In the early morning of the first of the fifth month, not long after he finished his discussion with the Confucian scholars, this question in his heart was once again presented to him through intelligence reports.
On the 24th of the fourth month, when Ning Yi's reinforcements had yet to arrive, Qin Shaoqian led the Seventh Army of Huaxia and routed the attack of Zong Han and Xi Yin's army of one hundred thousand. He even killed Zong Han's son, Wanyan She, in front of his eyes. Since then, the two most talented of Zong Han's sons, the King of True Pearls and the King of Baoshan, had both died at the hands of the Huaxia army in the southwest war. Zong Han and Xi Yin led the remnants of their army and fled east in panic …
Zong Han, Xi Yin, the King of True Pearls, and the King of Baoshan were among the Jurchens' second siege of Bianliang and the greatest humiliation of the Wu dynasty, the Shame of Jingping. In addition, Yin Shuke, Balisu, Yu Yu, and Dalai … in the hearts of the conscientious people of the Wu dynasty, these savage Jurchen generals were irreconcilable enemies that they would do everything in their power to kill. This time, they had been killed one by one in the southwest.
He should have been happy …
However, an even more complicated emotion arose, entangling him and interrogating him … This kind of emotion caused Li Pin to sit under the big banyan tree in the courtyard for a long time. The night breeze blew gently, and the banyan tree swayed. At some point, a Confucian scholar who was staying overnight came out of his room and saw him. He came over to greet him and ask what had happened. Li Pin only waved his hand.
"It's nothing."
The Confucian scholar went back to sleep. Li Pin cast his gaze in the direction of the palace and sighed.
He then summoned a servant.
"Prepare the carriage to enter the palace."
This was news that the entire world would cheer and jump for, but whether or not it could be released was a matter that needed to be discussed.
Not long after, in the palace, he saw Zhou Pei, Cheng Zhouhai, Wenren Bu 'er, Tie Tianying, and …
The only one who unscrupulously expressed his excitement was the Emperor …
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