In mid-May, Fuzhou.
The sun slowly rose from the direction of the port. The fishing fleet had long gone out to sea. Accompanied by the shouts of the workers on the docks, the streets, markets, plazas, and construction sites of the city were crowded with people. The scene in front of them had become lively.
People in plain clothes ate breakfast at the roadside stalls and hurriedly walked. Children selling newsprint ran among the crowd. The brothels, teahouses, and pubs that had originally become old had recently been renovated while they were open for business. In these half-new, half-old buildings, scholars and poets gathered here. Peddlers who came from afar began a day of socializing and discussion …
The large influx of refugees and the temporary location of the capital of the new imperial court had brought such a prosperous scene to Fuzhou. A similar situation had lasted for several years in Lin 'an more than ten years ago. However, compared to the chaos in the prosperity of Lin' an at that time, a large number of refugees died, and all kinds of cases occurred frequently, Fuzhou's seemingly chaotic prosperity had a vague guidance of order.
In these few months, a large number of imperial court officials divided their work into several main directions. On one hand, they encouraged the local residents of Fuzhou to participate as much as possible in business activities related to the livelihood of the people. For example, those who had houses to rent, those who had cooking skills to sell breakfast, and those who had capital to expand their business operations. With a large influx of people, the demand for various market links related to the livelihood of the people increased greatly. As long as there was a small stall selling breakfast on the street, their daily business could increase several times.
While guiding and encouraging the local people to expand their business and take care of the livelihood of the people, new docks began to be built in the east of Fuzhou. They expanded the shipyard and placed technical staff. In the north and west of the city, residential and workshop areas were expanded. The imperial court used government decrees as resources to encourage the traders who had fled from other places to build new factories and shacks. They absorbed the refugees who had no property to work and used work as relief. At least, it ensured that most of the refugees would not wander the streets and could find something to eat.
At the same time, extra soldiers joined in the patrol. They cooperated with the lower-level officials to deal with security problems strictly and quickly. Almost every day, there were criminals who were escorted to the entrance of the market to be beheaded. A large number of people watched. In this way, although many criminals were killed, and there were often innocent people who were wrongly accused, it had the effect of killing the chicken to warn the monkey, causing the foreigners and the locals to not have too much conflict for a time.
From a macro perspective, the new emperor's ability to handle political details in Fuzhou at this time was countless times better than his father who was in power in Lin 'an more than ten years ago. From another point of view, in the past, Lin 'an had the original half of the Wu dynasty, the entire Central Plains as nourishment. The nourishment that Fuzhou could attract now was far inferior to the Lin' an of the past.
In the fifth month of the year, a huge tremor swept through this newly prosperous city.
If one were an ordinary commoner who was not involved in politics, they would have seen the shock of the Imperial Court announcing the results of the southwestern war on the second day of the fifth month, as well as the boldness and magnanimity displayed by the new sovereign. In this period of time, there were naturally those who cursed the Wu dynasty, but soon after, many new things and news flooded the eyes of the people.
Li Pin's newspaper began to interpret the concept of investigating things based on the results of the battle at Wangyuan Bridge in the southwest. Every day from now on, the newspaper would extend the concept of investigating things to the ancient Lu Ban and the Mohist school. The storytellers in the restaurants and teahouses would discuss Lu Ban's Wood Kite that could fly for three days without falling, and Zhuge Kongming's wooden ox and flowing horse of the Three Kingdoms era … these were all things that the common people loved to hear and see.
Along with the study of things was Li Pin's discussion of Neo-Confucianism. These ideas were a little distant to the common people, but among the middle and lower class scholars, there was a lot of discussion about the centralization of power, loyalty to the emperor, and patriotism. By the middle of the fifth month, the stories about Guan Zhong and the Son of Zhou in the 'Spring and Autumn Annals' had begun to frequently appear in the discussions of the scholars, and the core of these stories could all be summed up in four words:
'The Honored King Huo Yi'.
While the halo of the divine artifact of investigating things continued to expand, the majority of people were still unable to clearly see the undercurrents surging beneath the surface. On the fifth day of the fifth month, the Fuzhou court dismissed the old Minister of Works, Li Long, from his post, and then reorganized the Ministry of Works. It seemed to be a continuation of the new Emperor's thinking of attaching importance to craftsmen. At the same time, a series of actions such as the Beiwei Army's attack on Quanzhou were carried out. At the same time, in private, rumors about the new Emperor Wu and the Eldest Princess Zhou Pei learning investigating things and arithmetic under the demons of Nanning in the southwest spread like wildfire.
In the past, Ning Yi had killed the Emperor and rebelled. This was indeed a great act of rebellion, but no one in the world could deny the strength of his ability. After the death of Emperor Jing Han, the Jingping Emperor Zhou Ji was abducted north. At that time, the nobles of Jiangnan chose the unremarkable Zhou Yong from among the many members of the imperial family. In reality, they hoped that after this pair of brother and sister inherited Ning Yi's mantle, they might be able to turn the tide. Among them, the Eldest Princess's residence in Jiangning and the Prince's son-in-law, Kang Xian, and the others, also did much to promote this, hoping that one day, this pair of brother and sister would be able to accomplish something …
These half-truths and half-lies gave rise to a strange atmosphere among the people, but they also indirectly dispelled the negative feelings that people had when they thought about their own problems because of the situation in the southwest.
On the ninth day of the fifth month, the Beiwei Army, with the help of spies inside and outside the city, took Quanzhou in just four days. When the news came, the entire city was excited.
This was the activity in Fuzhou that ordinary people could see, but if they walked up, they would discover that a huge storm had already been roaring in the sky above Fuzhou for a long time.
From a general point of view, in any change of court, there would be a phenomenon of a new emperor changing court officials. This was not unusual. The character of the new emperor, what his ideals were, who he favored and who he alienated, this was something that people had to pay attention to and adapt to during the normal change of the emperor.
With Zhou Yong's departure from Lin 'an, the Wu Jianshuo court existed in name only. Crown Prince Jun Wu, who followed, had always been at the center of the chaos of war and countless bumps. After he succeeded to the throne, he had, with great difficulty, 'revitalized' the court. In the midst of bitter fighting and fleeing, he had barely managed to gain a foothold. The national power of the Wu dynasty had declined, but from a righteous point of view, he could still be said to be the most legitimate new ruler of the Wu dynasty. Once he gained a foothold and rose to the top, half of the noble families in Jiangnan would still choose to support him. This was the power of status.
As a whole, the Wu dynasty was indeed a broken ship, but a broken ship also had three points of nails. Furthermore, under the premise that this broken ship's original size was incomparably large, this righteous foundation, when placed on the stage of fighting for the world, still appeared extremely large. At the very least, compared to Tie, Wu, and the others in Lin 'an, compared to Liu Guangshi, Dai Mengwei, and even compared to the bandits in Jin, it was much larger.
Countless large clans were waiting for this new Emperor to sort out his thoughts and speak out, so that he could judge what form they should use to support him. Among the various powers that began to gather in Fuzhou in February and March, many of them were actually representatives or envoys of these local powers that still retained power, and some were even the people in power themselves.
In May, the Emperor's true intentions were revealed and he officially gave his voice. The release of this voice was a disaster that caught countless large clans unprepared.
Respected King Quyi!
Starting from the second half of last year, this new Emperor called Zhou Junwu had always been fighting in the most bitter environment. In Jiangning, he was besieged by millions of soldiers. Burning all means of retreat, he personally went into battle, and only then was he able to slightly push back Zong Fu. After he was pushed back, he succeeded to the throne in Jiangning. Not long after, he was forced to abandon Jiangning and flee through Jiangnan. Behind him, countless people were slaughtered. He reformed the army, once choosing to centralize power, and organizing the Monitoring Team and the Military Law Team with the lower-level soldiers whose families had been destroyed as the backbone. These actions were all pardonable.
People were waiting for him to calm down and look at the overall situation from a higher perspective. In essence, many people were waiting to be bestowed official positions and make wishes. Many clans were waiting to establish meritorious service under the new political framework. These clans had resource reserves, power, and talents — these talents had been nurtured in the framework of the previous system. As long as the new Emperor displayed his magnanimity, the entire broken ship of the Wu Dynasty would still be one of the largest ships in this ocean.
Starting from February, countless people had already sent one outline and suggestion after another to the Fuzhou court under the overall framework of a strategically advantageous building. The golden man left, the wind and rain stopped, and the broken ship began to be repaired. In this direction, it was admittedly not easy to achieve perfection, but if one only wanted to pass, then it was truly something that could be accomplished with ordinary political wisdom.
However, the people at the top discovered to their surprise that the stupid Emperor seemed to be trying to smash the ship and was preparing to rebuild a laughable little sampan.
After waiting for three months for this result, the confrontation almost immediately began. Some of the large clans began to try to leave. In the court, there were all kinds of vague and explicit suggestions and opposing memorials. Some people began to describe the future tragic possibilities to the Emperor, while others began to reveal that certain large clans were dissatisfied and that the Fuzhou court was about to lose the support of a certain region. The new Emperor was not angry. He tried his best to persuade and pacify them, but he would never let go of his promises.
At this time, the Emperor had almost absolute control over the situation in the Fuzhou court. The officials could only threaten and beg, but they could not actually do much to check and balance his actions. This was especially true after the news that Jun Wu, Zhou Pei, and Ning Yi had an old relationship spread. The court lost face, but the Emperor regained some face. Some people petitioned, saying that this kind of gossip damaged the reputation of the royal family and should be stopped. Jun Wu only said, "Rumors stop with the wise. I don't want to punish the people because of what they say." Then he blocked the petition.
The worried officials began to link up in private, preparing to raise a large-scale protest later. But the news that the Beiwei Army had captured Quanzhou came. Together with the public opinion in the city, they stopped the officials' complaints. On the fifteenth of May, a long-simmering news quietly spread.
In order to change the weak military of the Wu dynasty for the past two hundred years, the Emperor, led by Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, and the others, would build a "Jiangnan School of Martial Preparation" to train generals and officials in the army. In the school, there would be more education on loyalty to the Emperor. This would replace the self-castrating system of civil officials supervising the army. At the moment, they were already selecting people.
This news spread through the court. Although it was not immediately confirmed, people were increasingly certain that the new Emperor's belief in respecting the Emperor and suppressing the barbarians was almost set in stone.
When the country was stable, the power of the military needed to be weakened, and the power of the monarch needed to be checked and balanced. When the country was in danger, power needed to be concentrated and the army needed to be revitalized. This idea seemed simple, but it was actually a sudden change in the policy of governing the country for the past two hundred years. To "respect the Emperor and suppress the barbarians", it was impossible to "rule the world with the scholar-officials", and to "rule the world with the scholar-officials" would directly conflict with "respect the Emperor and suppress the barbarians".
By the end of the fifth month, the Emperor's will for reform had become clear. Countless remonstrations and persuasions kept appearing in Fuzhou. Sometimes, these remonstrations were delivered to Jun Wu, and sometimes to the Eldest Princess, Zhou Pei. Some of the fierce-minded old officials agreed with the new Emperor's reform. Among the middle and lower class scholars, many expressed their approval of the new Emperor's boldness. However, in a larger area, the old ship was beginning to collapse …
At the end of May, Ning Yi was in the sword garret. He roughly learned of the series of news that the Fuzhou court had launched a reform in Lin 'an. On this day, the Zuo family's envoy team passed by the sword garret. As the leader of the envoy team, Zuo Xiuquan, the second-in-command of the Zuo family, asked to see Ning Yi.
After Zuo Duanyou's death, Zuo Jiyun was now the master of the Zuo family, but Zuo Jiyun's ability was limited to preserving the legacy. Over the years, Zuo Xiuquan, as a collateral relative of the Zuo family, took charge of most of the Zuo family's affairs. He could be regarded as the successor of Zuo Duanyou's will. This was a traditional scholar in his fifties, with a dignified appearance and a gentle and elegant temperament. There was a lock of white hair hanging on his right forehead. After seeing Ning Yi, he exchanged information about Lin 'an with him.
The place was more than two thousand miles apart. Although the high-level information channels had begun to open after the withdrawal of the Golden Men, a lot of the first-hand information was often false. Only by cross-comparing could a relatively clear outline be seen.
"… The little Emperor's strategy is a bit unexpected." The information at hand was only up to the release of the rumors from the Jiangnan School of Martial Arts. After a rough comparison, Ning Yi said so and sighed, "Previously, Yue Fei besieged Quanzhou but did not attack. In private, he should be colluding with the city, contacting spies, and persuading people to surrender … Who would have thought that he attacked Quanzhou, but was preparing for the public opinion in Fuzhou. Interesting. Fortunately, he attacked in time …"
Zuo Xiuquan said with a smile, "I heard that Mr. Ning used to be a master and disciple of the new emperor in Jiangning. I wonder if you are a little gratified to hear this news today?"
"It's not easy for him and Zhou Pei all these years." Ning Yi said, "When the Golden Men went south, we kidnapped Liu Yu and put the blame on the Wu dynasty. He threw the problem back through Xuzhou. In fact, he did a good job. When he cut off his means of retreat in the battle of Jiangning, he really grew up to be a man of indomitable spirit … In fact, his sister's character was stronger at that time, and Junwu's character was weaker. It's not easy. It's been hard … "
For a long time, because of Zuo Duanyou, the Zuo family had maintained a good relationship with the Huaxia army and the Wu dynasty. In the many discussions with the old man in the past, Ning Yi also knew that although Zuo Duanyou strongly supported the Huaxia army against the Jin, he was still a Confucian scholar who cared about the Wu dynasty and the orthodoxy. Before his death, the arrangements he made for the Zuo family were probably also inclined towards the Wu dynasty. But Ning Yi did not mind this.
He also knew that the words he said here would very likely enter the ears of the little emperor thousands of miles away through Zuo Xiuquan's mouth. Because of this, he didn't hesitate to say a few words of encouragement to the child from back then.
— It was indeed hard for him to come this far.
Zuo Xiuquan nodded.
"Then, Mr. Ning, what do you think of the new emperor's decision?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
