"He's a senior in the martial arts world. He's old and virtuous. Be careful that he calls Sect Master Lin over and smashes your stage …"
"If the fatty really dares to come, even if you and I don't do anything, he won't be able to walk out of the southwest alive. Old Qin or Chen Fan is enough to take care of him. "
The night was gentle, and the carriage slowly drove through the streets of Chengdu. Ning Yi and Watermelon looked at the night and chatted in low voices.
"Liheng, what do you think the fatty did after the defeat in Jindi?"
"Zhan Wu wrote back that Lin Echan took in a disciple and didn't manage the teaching affairs for the past two years. The disciples also let go and focused on training the children. Speaking of which, the fatty has been ambitious all his life. He boasted shamelessly in front of people about his ambition. Maybe he's gotten over it and finally admitted that he's only good at martial arts. He's old, so he's pinning his hopes on the next generation. " Ning Yi smiled. "Actually, according to Zhan Wu, Lou Shuwan thought of inviting him to join the delegation of Jindi. This time, he came to the southwest to give us a show of strength."
"… Good idea." Watermelon thought for a moment and knocked his fist on his palm. "Why didn't you invite him?"
"From a political point of view, if it succeeds, it'll be a very interesting thing. The fatty wanted to take advantage of Lou Shuwan and cooperated with her to create the title of 'Descending Goddess'. In the end, he was tricked by Lou Shuwan. The two sides can be considered to have formed a grudge. The fatty didn't take the risk to kill her, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to. If he can take advantage of this to get the fatty off the stage and help Jindi fight. Then Lou Shuwan can be said to be the biggest winner … "
Watermelon smiled. "If Lin Echan and Shi Jin come to the southwest together, this fight will be a bit more interesting. Takeshi and the others will be excited. "
Ning Yi also smiled. "It's very interesting. The only problem is that Old Qin, father-in-law, and Fang Qifo. You, me, Shaoqian, Chen Fan … If he passes the sword gate, he'll die. If he really wants to go to Chengdu, it won't work no matter who it is."
As he finished speaking, a cold glint flashed across his eyes. For a long time, the grudge between Ning Yi and Lin E 'chan was neither small nor big. In Ning Yi's opinion, the most profound thing was that Lin E' chan had killed Old Qin, but on a larger level, Lin E 'chan was just a knife in someone else's hand.
After the regicide, the grudges at the level of the Green Forest gradually diminished. When it came to Lin Yechan, Ning Yi did not mind killing him when he could, but he did not have much intention to take the initiative to seek revenge. If he really wanted to kill a Great Grandmaster with such profound martial arts skills, he would have to pay a great price with little reward. If Lin Yechan managed to find a chance to escape, it would become a battle of life and death in the future, and Ning Yi would not be safe either.
For more than ten years, the two sides had maintained this kind of tacit understanding. No matter how good his reputation was, Lin E 'chan would never enter the territory of the Huaxia Army. Although Ning Yi had met him once in Jin, he did not say that he had to kill him. However, once Lin E 'chan wanted to enter the southwest, this tacit understanding would be broken. The fatty had offended the entire top management of the Huaxia Army. Putting aside the grudges of the past, if such a person entered Chengdu, Watermelon, Ning Yi, and the others would not be afraid of him, but if he went crazy, who could guarantee the safety of his family?
Ning Yi followed the rules when it came to the big picture, but when it came to the safety of his family, there were no rules to speak of. Back in the Green Wood Stronghold, Lin E 'chan and Hongti had a fair duel. He had only suspected that Hongti had been injured, so he had mobilized everyone to gang up on Fatty Lin. If Hongti had not been fine and eased the situation, he might have killed all the witnesses after he attacked — Lou Shuwan was one of the witnesses of that chaos.
"… Since the two sides are doing business, there is no need to add such a big variable just for a little bit of pride. Lou Shuwan probably wanted to scare Zhan Wu. She has matured by not doing so … As for watching the show, of course, I am looking forward to the fight between you, Hongti, Chen Fan, Lin E 'chan, and Shi Jin. But these things … When the world is at peace in the future, let's see the performance of Ning Ji and the others. Lin E' chan's disciple should be good. Looking at Xiaoji's determination in the past two years, I'm afraid he has also made up his mind to go down the path of martial arts cultivation …"
He paused. "It's good to have someone in the family who can inherit our legacy, right …"
Watermelon nodded. "It's mainly up to me. Even if you and Sister Tizi join forces, you can only be evenly matched with me. "
"Huh? What do you mean? "
"Even if you and I join forces, we can only be evenly matched with Sister Tizi."
"… Ah Gua, your words are a little too vicious."
The carriage rattled through the dim light and shadow of the city at night. The couple chatted and laughed casually. Ning Yi looked at Watermelon's smiling profile in front of the window and wanted to say something but stopped on second thought.
Watermelon must have felt his gaze. She turned her head and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ning Yi looked at her and said, "There's news from Old Ox. It's not good." He took out a letter from his arms and handed it over. Watermelon took it and sighed. "Anyway, it's not the first day like this …" Then she began to frown and read the letter.
The carriage quieted down. Ning Yi looked at his wife with warm eyes. He came to Lu Liutong's side to join in the fun. After all, his curiosity about the greenwood was secondary.
Nearly two years ago, during the Old Ox incident, Chen Shanjun and Lu Ming led more than a thousand Huaxia Army troops to split from here and occupy the northwest corner of the Chengdu Plain to develop on their own. Chen Shanjun's heart was for the people. He pointed to the world of Great Unity, where the means of production were equal. With the cooperation of more than a thousand Huaxia Army troops, several nearby counties and towns were annexed. They began to divide the land and various large means of production.
The whole process of reclaiming the land was not intimate. At this time, the big landlords and rich farmers who controlled the land could be found with bad records, but not all of them were bad people. Chen Shanjun first started with the landlords who could control the misdeeds. He severely punished them and deprived them of their property. Then he spent three months lobbying and laying the groundwork. Finally, with the cooperation of the elite troops, he completed all of this.
During this period, there were bloody incidents, but Chen Shanjun firmly believed that this was a necessary process. On the other hand, most of the Huaxia Army soldiers who followed him had a deep understanding of the importance of equal means of production. Under Chen Shanjun's daily speeches, the resistance in the entire territory was finally suppressed. Of course, some landlords and rich farmers moved into the territory of the Huaxia Army with their families. Chen Shanjun certainly had no intention of killing these people who were unwilling to submit but were willing to leave.
Therefore, from last spring, Chen Shanjun and others created the world's first "people's commune" in Old Ox. With nearly 2,000 armed men as the foundation and a population of about 40,000, all the means of production belonged to the government. The land was evenly distributed, and the cattle and iron farming tools that Chen Shanjun had bought through the Huaxia Army were collectively distributed. Of course, the seeds of the problem had existed from the beginning.
There were good and bad farming tools, and the land was also divided into different grades. Chen Shanjun relied on the army to suppress the people in this place, and the army had become an invisible privileged class from the beginning. Of course, Chen Shanjun was not unaware of these problems. Ning Yi had reminded him of these problems from the beginning.
Because the place was not big, Chen Shanjun set an example. Every day, he would hold classes and preach to everyone about the meaning of equality and the scene of the Great Harmony. As for the activists around him, he sent out a group of elites to form an internal supervision team, hoping that they would become more conscious defenders of equality in terms of morality. Although this also led to the formation of a higher privileged class, Chen Shanjun could only rely on these "more conscious" people to do things in the early stages of the team's establishment.
For more than ten years, the Huaxia Army's exploration of "equality" could not be considered complete. The doubts and conflicts within Old Ox never stopped from the beginning. During this period of time, the Huaxia Army first prepared for war before officially entering the war with the Jurchen Western Army. They did not pay attention to Old Ox's situation, but Qian Luoning and the others, who had been arranged there, were constantly observing the development of the entire situation.
The struggle over interests always appeared in the form of politics. After Chen Shanjun formed the activists into an internal supervision team, some of the soldiers who were excluded protested, and there was friction. Then, some people began to mention the bloody incident during the land distribution, believing that Chen Shanjun's method was not correct. On the other hand, there was another type of doubt. They believed that the Jurchen Western Army was about to invade the south, and that the division they started now seemed very foolish.
Due to this pressure, Chen Shanjun even proposed to the Huaxia Army to send troops to help in the battle. Of course, Ning Yi also expressed his refusal.
The joy of the land distribution occurred in the first half of last year, but in the second half of the year, all kinds of problems began to surface like surging undercurrents. Many members of the army began to show signs of anger, and similar signs appeared in the supervision team. The reason why it was called signs was because the conviction became blurred and difficult. Gradually, people began to gather together. Last September, during an investigation, there was even a case of a farmer's family being killed to silence them. The highest level of the conference table began to quarrel and blame each other.
Chen Shanjun and Ye Mingming cooperated to launch two internal purges, but the specific effects were difficult to define. They could use strict methods to equalize the land, but it was very difficult to launch a true purge within the army. After the two purges, a few higher-ups were convicted and dismissed, but the hidden dangers were not eliminated.
Although they had set a bright direction from the beginning, Old Ox's steps had been difficult from the beginning. At the beginning of this year, there were almost daily arguments at the conference table. Chen Shanjun and the other leaders' control over the spring plowing was already weakening. When the Huaxia Army achieved a great victory in the southwest war, more people in Old Ox's inner circle began to bring up Ning Yi's name. They felt that they should not disobey Mister Ning's words. The equality of the means of production here was not yet the time for it to appear.
On the scene, Old Ox's people were saying bright words, but in reality, they were trying to cover up the imbalance that had already erupted in private. Under the circumstances that the internal supervision and purges were not strict enough, the embezzlement of interests had reached a very serious level, and the specific reasons were naturally even more complicated. In order to deal with this attack, Chen Shanjun might launch an even stricter and more thorough purge, and the other parties naturally picked up their weapons to counterattack and began to blame Chen Shanjun for the problem.
In such a chaotic situation where swords were drawn and bows were drawn, Ye Mingming, as a "spy", might have already sensed some clues. Thus, he wrote a letter to Ning Yi, reminding him to pay attention to Old Ox's development.
In reality, from the beginning, Ning Yi had only treated Old Ox as an experimental field. It was completely predictable that such a great idea would be difficult in the early stages, but this matter had a different meaning to Watermelon.
He looked at the figure of the woman who was reading the letter by the window.
Time flowed like water, making the side profile of his wife in front of him more mature. However, when she frowned, she still had the innocence and stubbornness of the past. Over the years, Ning Yi knew that what she had been thinking about was the idea of "equality." Old Ox's attempt had originally appeared under her insistence and guidance, but she didn't go over in the end. After more than a year, when she learned about the stumbling blocks on the other side, she naturally had all kinds of anxiety in her heart.
"Maybe this will make things better …"
"Maybe this won't …"
Occasionally, when she talked to Ning Yi about Old Ox, Watermelon would say these words the most. It was just that in the process of fighting the Jurchen, the two of them had spent more time apart than together. They had met a few times, but she had always suppressed this kind of small talk and didn't say too much.
At this time, the war in the southwest had been settled. Although Chengdu was currently in chaos, he had already decided on a step for all the situations. He could jump out of this and care about his wife's ideals.
"It's getting more and more chaotic …" Under the light and moonlight, Watermelon frowned and read the letter for a long time before finishing. After a while, she let out a long sigh. "… Liheng, do you think it's possible to get through this time?"
"If we weren't by their side, they wouldn't have been able to get through the first time." Ning Yi shook his head. "Although they have separated in name, in reality, they are still a small power in the southwest. Many of them will still worry about our existence. So since the first two times have passed, it's hard to say this time … Maybe Chen Shanjun is vicious and merciless, and can find a more mature way to solve the problem. "
Watermelon thought for a moment. "… Would it have been better if we had completely driven them out?"
"An immature system model will experience more cruel internal struggles, and will only collapse earlier. This kind of thing in its nascent stage is always like this … "
"… You haven't really seen it!"
Watermelon frowned and shouted at Ning Yi. Then she took a few deep breaths. "You always say that, always say that … You haven't really seen it …"
This time, it was probably because the war in the southwest had finally ended, so she could get angry and finally explode in front of Ning Yi. Ning Yi wasn't angry and looked outside the carriage. "You're right … There aren't many people here. Let's go down and take a walk?"
"… Mm."
Watermelon nodded, and the two of them called for the carriage to stop. When they got off the carriage, they arrived at a quiet alley in the city that did not have many tourists. Although there were shops and houses with lights on the roadside, most of the pedestrians on the road were nearby residents, and children were playing happily in the streets. They walked forward, and after a while, Ning Yi said, "Doesn't this place look like that night in Hangzhou?"
"There was a curfew in Hangzhou that night, so there was no one!" Watermelon said.
Ning Yi leaned over and held her hand. Two children playing in the alley came nearby and saw the man and woman holding hands. They immediately let out surprised and shy sounds and retreated to the side. Watermelon, who was wearing a blue floral dress, looked at the two children and smiled. She was a girl from the mountains of Miaojiang. She dared to love and hate, and was very generous. After being married for more than ten years, she had a calm demeanor.
"Sometimes I think about it." Ning Yi held her hand and said as they walked, "At that time in Hangzhou, how old were you? You kept saying that you wanted to be a shepherdess, that you wanted everyone in the world to snatch that steamed bun. If it were another situation, would your thoughts still be so firm today?"
"Mm?" Watermelon turned her head to look at him.
"Back then, on the streets of Hangzhou, I was the one who told you about the Great Harmony of the World and the equality of all people. Ah Gua, could it be possible that it was because I told you these things, that after so many years, you still remember them so firmly? When I think about it this way, I feel that this matter can be considered as our common dream, right … "
His words were warm. After saying this, Watermelon's originally rebellious expression also softened, and her eyes gradually narrowed with a smile. "But didn't you say that that year was a lie to me …"
"It's still the same sentence. At that time, there was some element of deception, but it doesn't mean that I don't believe it." Ning Yi smiled and said, "Looking back, when I asked Tian Zi what she wanted, I took it, tied it into a bow, and gave it to her. She said that she wanted world peace … I can achieve world peace, but we can't achieve your thoughts in this lifetime …"
"It's Chen Shanjun who can't achieve it." Watermelon looked at him, her eyes a little resentful. "Sometimes I think that if you did those things, would it be different? But you haven't done it, and you always say that it must be like that … Of course, I also know that the priority of the Chinese army is to first defeat the Jurchen. You can't do things like Chen Shanjun, you want stability, but … you really haven't seen it …"
"If …" Ning Yi sighed softly. "If … I have seen it?"
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