Time was early April, and the dam being built outside Little Azure River before winter was now complete. Search: \(¨Complete¨ Book¨ Station¨) to read high-quality literature for free. The dam was built against the mountainside, a structure of wood and stone, standing twenty-four chi tall (about seven meters in later eras), currently undergoing the test of the flood season.

During this region's sparse flood season, the spillway beside the dam was releasing water with a dangerous and astonishing force. The roar of the cascading water was deafening, and the road into the mountains wound upwards beside the riverbed.

Entering the mountain pass, the water area of Little Azure River behind it had suddenly expanded due to the dam's presence. A dangerous expanse of turquoise water stretched forward, and the narrow dam connected to this reservoir could sometimes make one's heart tremble, fearing it might collapse at any moment. Of course, since the opening faced outwards, a collapse wouldn't be a major disaster, at most turning the river valley and ravine outside into a large bathing pool.

Chatting noisily, Hou Yuanrong entered the mountain pass, exchanged greetings with the soldiers stationed there, and in front was a hundred-meter-long path winding around the mountainside. Due to the recent rainy season, the road appeared somewhat muddy. There were cave dwellings on one side of the road, interspersed with some wooden and earthen houses, inhabited by the guarding troops. Further ahead was the gathering area for the residents of Little Azure River.

The appearance of the reservoir had raised the water level of Little Azure River considerably, encroaching upon many places in front of the river valley, but the impact gradually lessened as one went further back. Cave dwellings, rows of houses, and tents were gathered in this area, and from a distance, although the various dwellings were still simple, the planned areas were surprisingly neat. Zhuo Xiaofeng had participated in the demarcation of this area in the beginning. The houses might have been built hastily, but all the lines of the construction areas were drawn squarely, as Ning Yi had strictly required.

Even if they couldn't be built for the time being, and they lived in tents, the edges of the tents were never allowed to go beyond the marked lines.

After all, although it was said to be a residential area, the most numerous people in Little Azure River were still soldiers. During the most difficult days of winter, some people came in from outside the mountains, who had initially acted wildly, claiming that this place was pointlessly particular, but they were subsequently suppressed and driven out of the valley. It was during the harsh winter, and the former Wu Rui Army soldiers still had to work every day, so some inevitably became mentally lax, and almost participated, and then a rectification meeting of tens of thousands of people was held in this valley.

The Jurchens were at their zenith, and the Western Xia were conquering and seizing territory outside. The things the incoming refugees encountered were proof of this. They were civilians, who had lost their homes, and you are soldiers, who still want this piece of land under your feet in the future.

For soldiers, every rule, will save several lives on the battlefield in the future!

After this meeting, the army leadership also strictly regulated the coal briquettes and charcoal used daily. When the cold eased slightly, after the dam was completed, wooden houses gradually replaced the tents, but no wall exceeded the originally marked range.

At this time, the progress of wooden houses replacing tents had not yet been completed. The entire residential area was basically built in a pattern of houses of various sizes surrounding a central square. Although the demarcation was neat, the scene was chaotic, and the road was muddy. These were things that the people of Little Azure River had no time to take care of for the time being. From last autumn to the early summer before them, the various construction projects in Little Azure River had hardly stopped for a moment. Even in the harsh winter, various preparations were underway.

Building houses to keep warm, digging cave dwellings, building dams, and then, when spring arrived, the main work became reclaiming land and planting wheat and other crops. As summer arrived, the outline of the residential area in the entire valley gradually took shape. Wheat fields followed the river, extending for hundreds of mu on this side and that side of the river valley. A suspension bridge connected both sides of the riverbank. Further away, the breeding areas for war horses and various livestock were also gradually outlined. Several watchtowers on the mountaintops had been built, but in terms of the living needs of the more than ten thousand people in the valley, the truly necessary work was far from meeting the standards.

Along the way, the child named Hou Yuanrong chattered to Zhuo Xiaofeng about the changes in the valley. In less than a month since he left, many places in the valley had undergone great changes for Zhuo Xiaofeng. In the past six months, Little Azure River had been growing larger almost every day, especially after the dam was completed, the speed of change was even more dramatic.

From time to time, people would greet Zhuo Xiaofeng. The young people from the "Yongle Youth League" and "Zhengqi Society" in Hangzhou had now become low-level managers, allocating and coordinating work here. Passing a slope, a vehicle dragging earth and stone was stuck in the mud. Zhuo Xiaofeng and Hou Yuanrong went over to help push. A young man also came over and casually said, "Brother Zhuo, Chen Xing and the others have formed a Mohist Society and are recruiting people everywhere."

"Mohist Society?" Zhuo Xiaofeng frowned. At this time, soldiers were coming and going around, and several men beside the cart were shouting in unison. Zhuo Xiaofeng followed with an "Ah—" sound, and after pushing the cart out of the mud pit, he said to Hou Yuanrong, "Find some mud, ash, and wooden boards to fill this in." Hou Yuanrong nodded and left. He said to the young man who came to speak, "I just got back and don't know what's going on yet. I'll go see the teacher first, we can chat tonight."

That person nodded, "I know, I just wanted to tell Brother Zhuo."

Afterwards, Hou Yuanrong dragged a basket of gravel and wooden boards from the side, and the three of them filled the mud pit before continuing forward. Although he had just returned and didn't mention it again, Zhuo Xiaofeng could guess a thing or two about the Mohist Society and such things.

After rebelling against the capital and heading north after twists and turns, the Wu Rui Army settled down in Little Azure River. After coming out of the initial confusion, and then beginning to build Little Azure River, Ning Yi put in a lot of effort. He not only fully controlled the construction in the entire valley, but also gave many lectures every day in terms of cultivating talents.

These lectures were roughly divided into three categories: First, to explain the principles of all things and the principles of investigating things to the craftsmen; second, to teach the administrators in the valley the knowledge of personnel arrangements, about the concept of efficiency; and third, to explain his own ideas to a group of disciples, children, and even some relatively quick-thinking officers in the army, analyzing the current situation, predicting the overall situation, and what a person should be like.

And including when arranging work for people, why it should be arranged in this way, when he could say it, he would try to explain it to the political affairs personnel around him in a simple way. These things, including the first two types of lectures, were, for Ning Yi, a crash course in modern science and modern management science as quickly as possible to cultivate such talents. Only the third type of course had a long-term, Dao-like feeling, but it naturally looked different in the eyes of others. These things were all considered to be the embodiment of Ning Yi's own ideas.

Emphasizing rules, emphasizing efficiency, emphasizing investigating things, emphasizing employing people, emphasizing craftsmen, emphasizing merchants, not despising humble professions, emphasizing personal self-discipline and awakening… these things were naturally different from the Confucian system itself. Especially in the past six months, apart from the first few times he went out, Ning Yi had been sitting in Little Azure River, arranging everything almost single-handedly. During this time—until now, the operating efficiency of Little Azure River was frighteningly terrible. From the initial demarcation and preparation to the later construction of dams and reclamation of fields, to this day, the valley was like a giant beast entrenched in it, spitting out earth and stone every day, flattening the ground, and turning barren places into houses, and the speed of this change seemed to be constantly increasing.

No matter how knowledgeable people were, had they ever seen such efficiency?

Using manpower to drive Kongming lanterns to fly into the sky, building a dam in a few days, and then intercepting rivers. After the dam was completed, the topography of Little Azure River changed dramatically in a short period of time. Using manpower to fight against the great power of heaven and earth, it was so shocking in the eyes of everyone. With the support of these things, people had long said that Mr. Ning's inheritance was very similar to the ancient Mohist's ideas. In the presence of the Yongle Youth League and the Zhengqi Society, several small groups composed of young officers, such as the "Hua Yan Society", had originally appeared within the Little Azure River army, so it was not surprising that another Mohist Society appeared at this time.

Walking out of that residential area and then along the road to the other side of the valley, the scene of running figures was still on the road. Looking back, the muddy street seemed to contain a vibrant vitality.

At this time, Little Azure River was naturally facing huge problems. Every day, on the small square of the residential point, people would bring news from the outside world, the urgency of the Central Plains, and the battle situation of the Western Xia army advancing with hundreds of thousands of troops. People would also announce the progress of various things in Little Azure River in that square, but anyone with a heart could see that Little Azure River was facing overwhelming threats from all aspects.

The threat from the Western Xia was one of them. As long as they gained a firm foothold in the Northwest, the first thing Little Azure River would face was the problem of being unable to develop around it. This did not include the question of what Little Azure River should do when the Western Xia took the initiative to attack Little Azure River.

The food problem was even more important. The reclamation of wasteland in the valley was already at full speed for the ten thousand people in the valley. However, the tools were not abundant and time was tight. In this spring, the farmland added along the river valley in the mountains was about a thousand mu, planted with wheat. It looked endless in the eyes, but in reality, the land here was originally barren and had just been reclaimed. If a thousand mu of land was well planted, it might be able to feed a thousand people, but if it was a thousand soldiers, they would still be malnourished.

Little Azure River currently relied on the blood transfusion from Qingmu Village, but Qingmu Village itself also lacked arable land and relied on blood transfusion from the outside world. However, once the forces of the Jurchens and Western Xia stabilized, even if it wasn't beaten, this place would face a real disaster.

Therefore, even though Little Azure River seemed full of vitality at this time, many people understood its problems, and the countdown had never stopped at any time. In the midst of the chaotic situation of the Jurchens, Western Xia, and the world beginning to rot, Little Azure River had to extend its tentacles and take root. This was not sailing against the current, but completely sailing on the edge of a waterfall. Any hesitation would inevitably lead to eternal doom.

A loud shout came from the front. It was the scene of army training by the river valley in front of the road. Even with a large amount of labor replacing daily physical training, each team would still have battle formation training three times a week. Zhuo Xiaofeng looked at the scene of the army lining up and thrusting their spears below, turned around the road ahead, and further away was the Little Azure River's military and political conference hall located on the mountainside. From a distance, it was just two simple rows of wooden houses, but at this time, it also had a calm and solemn atmosphere.

*************

From spring to summer, in April of the second year of Jingping in the Wu Dynasty, the Jurchens who invaded the south had squeezed out everything that could be plundered from Bianliang City. They ordered Zhang Bangchang to be the emperor and established the Great Chu regime, and then began to escort more than 100,000 people, including the Jingping Emperor, the Empress Dowager, the Empress, the noble women in the palace, as well as wealthy people, civilians, and artisans, to the north in succession.

In the Northwest, after recovering several cities such as Qingjian and Yanzhou, Emperor Li Qianshun of Western Xia began to expand to the surrounding areas, forcing the direction of Qingzhou and Weizhou, and recovered 200 li of Hengshan. At this time, the area north of the Yellow River in the Wu Dynasty had fallen into a brief state of "ownerless land". The Jurchens, the actual rulers, did not have time to digest this area. The newly established Great Chu regime was not justified, and Emperor Zhang Bangchang immediately took off his yellow robe and removed the title of Emperor after the Jurchen troops withdrew. He did not go to the main hall of the palace to handle official business, and acted according to rules. He had no intention of governing the political affairs in the north, which led to the government offices north of the Yellow River entering a state where they could do whatever they wanted.

Patriotic people who still had the Wu Dynasty in their hearts accounted for the majority in various places, and mountain bandits and righteous armies in various places also played the banner of defending the Wu Dynasty. But among them, various forces that began to seek a way out for themselves had also begun to move quickly. Among them, in addition to some large families and armies that were originally deeply rooted, Tian Hu's forces also rose to prominence during this period. At the same time, several parts of the Tubo that were divided by feudal lords also began to move towards this land in the east after the influence of the Wu Dynasty faded.

At this time, the rebel army that had just begun to take root in Little Azure River was in a strange state. If you look from back to front, this army, which was operated by Ning Yi's powerful operating ability, was actually like walking on a sharp knife edge. To put it seriously, this army that rebelled after assassinating the emperor had no way forward and no way back. There were three reasons why it could be maintained in the big direction. The first was the obvious external pressure and the Central Plains, which was about to collapse and rot - to make the people in the Little Azure River Valley aware of this, and Ning Yi's internal propaganda power, was directly related.

Secondly, it was because of the results of the strong planning and employment ability all the way. The amazing work efficiency in the valley fed back to the workers themselves to a certain extent, resulting in the higher the efficiency, the higher the surprise and sense of achievement in everyone's hearts. In particular, the completion of the Little Azure River Dam gave people an unspeakable sense of satisfaction, and further promoted the efficiency of everyone doing other things.

The third was because of the publicity of Ning Yi and others' achievements and the gradual formation of personal worship. Everyone knew the difficulties faced by Little Azure River, but before that, when Ning Yi was still a guest minister of the Prime Minister's Mansion, he had already fought against the world's grain merchants with little effort. The people who followed from Zhuji were relatively clear about these things. At this time, Ning Yi sent a large number of people out to contact various merchants, constantly manipulating and pulling lines. In everyone's mind, it was naturally his attempt to use commercial power to solve the food problem. At this time, the world was in chaos, and it was certainly difficult to do this. However, the mental demon was resourceful and manipulated people's hearts. When he was in the Prime Minister's Mansion, he was even known as the "God of Wealth". At least on the matter of business, most people had almost blind confidence.

These factors that promoted the continuous operation of Little Azure River were interlocked, and the loosening of each link might lead to a complete collapse, but during this period, the entire situation operated in this strange way. At the same time, on Ning Yi's personal side, in early April, Yunzhu, who had been pregnant for ten months, gave birth to Ning Yi's third child, and also his first daughter. However, due to the difficult labor during childbirth, both the mother and the child fell into extreme weakness after the child was born. The small infant ate very little on weekdays and often cried for half the night and could not sleep, so that many people felt that this child was ill-fated and might not be able to grow up.

And the external situation was still constantly deteriorating at this time. As Zhuo Xiaofeng and others returned, the intelligence they brought back showed that Tiger King Tian Hu, who was nearly a thousand miles away, was actively engaging in alliances and colluding with some of the original Wu Dynasty clans. Now he had extended his tentacles to the Northwest. He was also trying to maintain trade routes and even open up connections with Western Xia and Tubo. It could be seen that all of this was to prepare for the future to face the Jurchens. And looking at their methods and the conflicts that had begun to arise between the two sides, Ning Yi seemed to be able to see the figure of a woman from Tian Hu's side.

Even in an ideal state—even if Western Xia had not temporarily reached out to the Northwest—it would be difficult enough for the Wu Rui Army to open up this area's commercial road. At this time, the demons danced wildly, and it became almost impossible. On the Western Xia side, in April, Li Qianshun had heard the name of the Wu Rui Army, the emperor-killers. He sent an envoy to demand that Little Azure River submit. At this time, the envoy was heading towards the mountains where Little Azure River was located, preparing to inform Little Azure River of its future fate: either surrender or be destroyed.

The Western Xia army of hundreds of thousands of troops came to pacify the Northwest. Since they had entered their field of vision, if they did not surrender, there would inevitably be a battle in the future.

Our story begins again here, immersed in the light of this summer. This is a calm, dull summer that is difficult to survive without helping each other...

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