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As dusk fell, the evening glow over Nine Wood Ridge shifted and changed. In the distance, the mountains were covered in lush, green forest, being gradually swallowed by the darkness. When birds startled from the woods, Lin Chong stood on the mountain path, turning back.

Nine Wood Ridge remained the same, a small ridge, appearing barren and treacherous. The few houses and the single inn were all newly inhabited by those who had fled the disasters. Lin Chong and his wife, Xu Jinhua, had lived here for over a year, and usually, nothing much happened. However, in the last few days, the number of people passing by during their escape had gradually increased.

"Someone's coming."

Back at the inn, Lin Chong said in a low voice. Two families were already in the inn's hall, neither of them particularly well-off. Their clothes were old and patched, but because they had brought their families, they had bought food and hot water at the inn. Fortunately, the couple running the inn didn't charge too much. After Lin Chong said this, both families fell silent, showing their alertness.

"Don't light any lamps," Lin Chong said again, in a low voice, and walked towards a small room to the side. Inside, his wife, Xu Jinhua, was packing their bags. A lot of things were laid out on the bed. After Lin Chong told her about the people coming, she showed a slight panic. "Are we...are we leaving?"

"No, I'll go take a look." He turned, picked up a wooden stick from the corner that was obviously long unused and a little warped, then handed a knife to his wife. "You be careful..." He gestured with his eyes towards the outside.

"I know, I know...they don't look like bad people, they even have children."

Xu Jinhua took the knife and casually placed it aside. Lin Chong could also tell that the two families outside weren't likely bad people. He nodded, picked up the stick, and went out. Before leaving, he glanced back at his wife's stomach—Xu Jinhua was now pregnant.

The sky gradually darkened. He went to the other houses on Nine Wood Ridge and knocked on their doors, telling the people still there not to light any lamps. Then, he crossed the road and walked forward. He reached a rocky outcrop at a bend in the road and looked ahead. In the mountains ahead, where there was barely a discernible path, a group of people emerged one after another. They were about twenty-odd deserters, carrying torches and swords, listlessly walking forward.

Occasional voices carried over. Nothing more than asking where to go, saying they were too tired to walk, looking for a place to rest, and so on.

Lin Chong didn't know how the battles were going ahead, but from the refugees who had passed by in the last few days, he knew that fighting had already broken out ahead. Tens of thousands of scattered soldiers were no small number, and he didn't know if new imperial troops would meet them—but even if they did, they would certainly be defeated.

After the Jurchen's second invasion, bandits rose up north of the Yellow River, each leading tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, occupying land as kings. Compared to the Liangshan era in Shandong, their momentum was incredibly great, and after the imperial court's rule weakened, they could only be appeased and not suppressed. The existence of many mountain strongholds thus became legitimate. Lin Chong lived in this small mountain ridge, only occasionally going to nearby villages and towns with his wife, and he knew the names of quite a few people:

The great bandit Wang Shan, who claimed to have 700,000 troops, "Hornless Ox" Yang Jin, "Prince of Jin" Tian Hu, the Eight-Character Army "Wang Yan," Wang Zai Xing, Li Gui, Wang Dalang, and the heroes of Five Horse Mountain. As for smaller strongholds, there were countless. Even his former brother, Shi Jin, had once again gathered followers under the name "Eight-Armed Dragon King" of Crimson Peak Mountain, supporting the Wu and resisting the Jin.

These twenty-odd people who had escaped from the battlefield intended to go south to join Prince of Jin Tian Hu—not because they were deserters trying to avoid punishment, but because Tian Hu's territory was mostly in the towering mountains, with dangerous terrain. Even if the Jurchens went south, they would likely treat them with a gentle approach first. As long as this Tiger King didn't get a hot head and try to stop a chariot with his arms, they could enjoy a good life for a while longer.

Recalling the scenes in Bianliang, there were still good days of singing and dancing, but in recent years, the situation had become increasingly chaotic, making it impossible to see clearly. But Lin Chong's heart was already numb. He could no longer muster any lament for the chaos or schadenfreude for the world.

Listening to these people and watching them walk straight past, making sure they wouldn't go up Nine Wood Ridge, Lin Chong quietly turned back.

His wife was packing things. Some items in the inn that couldn't be taken were now being dragged by Lin Chong into the mountain forest and buried. The night passed without incident. The next morning, Xu Jinhua got up, steamed cornbread, and prepared dry rations. The two of them set off with the other two families from the inn—they were all going south of the Yangtze River to take refuge, where it was said there would be no fighting.

Looking back at the dilapidated small inn on Nine Wood Ridge, both husband and wife felt reluctant. It certainly wasn't a good place, but they had almost gotten used to it.

Talking about life in the south along the way, they met another refugee family at noon. In the afternoon, they got onto the main road, and there were even more people, dragging families, cattle, horses, and carriages, bustling about. There were also soldiers mixed in, aggressively pushing forward.

The pregnant Xu Jinhua couldn't walk fast, so they separated from the two families at noon. In the afternoon, she remembered a piece of jewelry she liked when they were on the ridge that she hadn't brought. She searched for it for a while, looking distracted. Lin Chong helped her search for a moment and finally found it in her bag. The decoration on the jewelry was just a pretty stone that had been polished. Now that Xu Jinhua had found it, she wasn't too happy.

Occasionally, government runners would walk through the crowd. Whenever this happened, Xu Jinhua would hug Lin Chong's arm even tighter, pulling his body almost down—although the tattoo on Lin Chong's face had been scarred away, if someone really suspected, they could still see some clues.

That evening, the couple rested on a hillside. They squatted on the slope, chewing on the cold cornbread, looking at the refugees all over the mountains and roads, their eyes a little lost. At one point, Xu Jinhua said, "Actually, we don't have anyone to turn to in the south."

Lin Chong didn't speak.

"So many people are going south, there's no land, no food, how can they support them? We'll be begging..."

The woman's eyes became even more fearful. Lin Chong took a bite of cornbread. "It'll be good for the child..."

"So many people are staying in the north. Even if the Jurchens come, they won't kill everyone in the mountains."

Lin Chong was silent for a moment. "We can hide...of course, but..."

"I'm pregnant, walking so far, I don't know if the child will survive. I...I can't bear to leave Nine Wood Ridge, can't bear to leave the small inn."

Xu Jinhua touched the scars on Lin Chong's face. Lin Chong stuffed the cornbread into his mouth and, after a long time, reached out and hugged the woman beside him.

"Then we'll go back," he said. "Then we won't go..."

The two figures blended into the crowd of refugees, conveying a small measure of warmth to each other. In the end, they decided not to leave.

When the Jurchens went south, some chose to stay, and some chose to leave. And even more people had already had their lives changed in the previous days. In Hedong, the bandit Wang Shan's troops were already claiming to have 700,000 men and tens of thousands of war chariots. "Hornless Ox" Yang Jin had 300,000 soldiers. "Prince of Jin" Tian Hu claimed to have 500,000 troops. The Eight-Character Army had 180,000, and the heroes of Five Horse Mountain had gathered over 200,000 men—just these people alone already numbered a vast two million. In addition, the imperial court's numerous armies had expanded to over a million north of the Yellow River in their frantic expansion and confrontation. However, the north of the Yellow River was originally the territory of these armies. Just seeing how they had continued to swell, yet couldn't even suppress the soaring numbers of the "righteous army," could explain a simple truth.

--However, that was useless.

People were simply trying to survive in their own way.

And a few people were also doing what they should be doing in their own way.

In Bianliang, an old man named Zong Ze, who had been urgently re-employed, was working with all his might. In the half-year since taking on the task, he had pacified the order around Bianliang and reconstructed the defense line near Bianliang. At the same time, he tried his best to travel to and appease the various righteous armies north of the Yellow River, granting them official titles.

However, as the Jurchens truly pressed south, the pressure coming from these "righteous armies" was also constantly increasing. Wang Shan, Yang Jin, Tian Hu, Wang Zai Xing, Li Gui, and other leaders of the armies were gathering here, demanding large amounts of grain, weapons, and even truly recognized territories, titles, and official status from the imperial court. Just like the reason why Guo Jing actively opened the gates of Bianliang, the swindlers themselves were the most clear-headed. As leaders, they knew better than anyone how much strength their hundreds of thousands or millions of troops actually had—many of them also wanted to fight the Jurchens, but going there like that would be meaningless.

Faced with this helpless and powerless situation, Zong Ze appeased these forces every day. At the same time, he kept writing to Yingtian Prefecture, hoping that Zhou Yong could return to Bianliang to take charge, to boost the morale of the righteous army and strengthen their determination to resist.

This year, Zong Ze, who was sixty-eight years old, already had white hair and a white beard. Yue Fei, who had been training troops in Daming, had been recruited here from the first moment the Jurchens went south, following the old man to work. Yue Fei knew that the old man had been very efficient in pacifying the order in Bianliang, but the old man was also powerless with the righteous army in the north—he could give them official titles, but it was a fool's dream to allocate enough grain and supplies for millions of people. The old man was at most a little famous as an official, and his foundation was worlds apart from that of Qin Siyuan and others in those years. Not to mention a million people, the old man would have difficulty supporting even ten thousand.

However, even though it seemed like a futile effort in Yue Fei's eyes, the old man was still doing it decisively—even a little violently. He promised Wang Shan and others that there would be a turnaround, and he kept sending articles to Yingtian. When Zong Ze secretly summoned him to give orders one time, Yue Fei asked.

"Even if there is enough grain and supplies for the million people in the north, they probably can't even fight when they encounter the Jurchens. Fei can't understand. It seems that the old man really places his hopes on them... Even if Your Majesty really returns to Bianliang, what good will it do?"

The old man glanced at him, his temper a little fiery recently, and said directly, "Then tell me, how can we fight when we encounter the Jurchens?!"

Yue Fei was stunned, wanting to speak, but the white-haired, white-bearded old man waved his hand. "These million people can't fight, how can the old man not know? However, in this world, how many people dare to say they can fight when they encounter the Jurchens! I have no certainty on how to defeat the Jurchens, but the old man knows that if there is really a possibility of defeating the Jurchens, the Wu Dynasty must have the determination to risk everything! If Your Majesty returns to Bianliang, that is this determination. If Your Majesty has this intention, these millions of people will dare to truly fight the Jurchens. If they dare to fight the Jurchens, a group of heroes and men of ambition may be able to emerge from the millions of people and find a way to defeat the Jurchens! If we cannot do this, then we will truly die without life!"

"The old man is just seeing these things and doing what should be done."

Yue Fei was silent for a long time before he cupped his fist and left. At this moment, he seemed to see another old man he had once seen, doing things with only faint hope in the surging torrent of the world. And his teacher, Zhou Tong, was also like this.

It's not that it will succeed if you do it this way, but if you want to succeed, you can only do it this way.

Yingtian Prefecture.

Fierce discussions took place in the Golden Luan Hall every day, but Zong Ze's memorial had already been buried under many memorials. Even Li Gang, who was a staunch proponent of the main battle faction, did not agree with Zong Ze's constant proposal for the emperor to return to Bianliang.

That ruined city that had been trampled on by the Jurchens should really not be returned to.

"...What can really be done is within the Jin!"

"...Although the Jin army has been almost invincible since Aguda rose up, now the Jin's internal affairs are not monolithic. According to merchants in the north, since a few years ago, the Jin court has had two secretariats, the east and west. Wanyan Zongwang controls the military and political affairs of the east, and Wanyan Zonghan controls the west. It is said that within the Jin, only the Eastern Dynasty is under the control of Wugumai. And Wanyan Zonghan has always had disloyal intentions. As early as when Zonghan first went south, there were rumors that Zongwang urged Zonghan, but Zonghan did not move his troops in Taiyuan..."

"...As for last year, Liu Yanzong, the Privy Councilor of the East Secretariat, died of illness, and Wanyan Zongwang was also seriously ill due to years of war. The Jurchen's East Secretariat is now nominal. Wanyan Zonghan is now on par with Wugumai in terms of power. This time the Jurchens came south, there were reasons for fighting for power. In the east, princes such as Wanyan Zongfu and Zongbi hoped to establish prestige, and Zonghan had to cooperate, but he sent Wanyan Loushi to conquer the west and reportedly even wanted to pacify the north of the Yellow River, which proves his intentions. He wanted to expand his private land..."

"...In my opinion, there are plenty of strategies to sow discord in the middle!"

The adults in the court were arguing and expressing their opinions. Apart from military affairs, the scholars could only offer the political and diplomatic wisdom accumulated over thousands of years. Soon, the old Confucian scholar Ou Hongxi, who had emerged from Chen Prefecture, asked to go as an envoy to the Jurchen prince Zongfu's army to explain the advantages and disadvantages to prevent the army. Everyone in the court praised his high righteousness.

Prince Kang Zhou Yong originally had no insight, so he let them do as they pleased. He spent his days in the harem with his newly concubines. Before long, the news spread, and the scholar Ouyang Che posted a big-character poster in the city denouncing him...

Little Cang River, this is a quiet time of year. As spring departed and summer arrived, the valley had stopped its frequent exchanges with the outside world, only sending out scouts to occasionally bring back news from the outside world. In this summer of the second year of Jianshuo, the whole world was pale.

If the death of Emperor Jinghan and the capture of Emperor Jingping symbolized the sunset of the Wu Dynasty, now that the Jurchens had made their third invasion, the night of the Wu Dynasty had finally arrived...

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