Life is a difficult practice.

Song Yongping, courtesy name Wenchu, was born into a family of officials. His father, Song Mao, once served as a prefect during the Jinghan Dynasty, and the family prospered. Ranked fourth among the Song clan, Song Yongping was intelligent from a young age, and was praised as a prodigy in his childhood. His father and other members of the clan had great expectations for him.

Growing up in such an atmosphere, shouldering the greatest expectations, and receiving education from the best teachers, Song Yongping was also extremely diligent from a young age. By the age of fourteen or fifteen, his articles were praised as having the talent of a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examination at the provincial level). However, his family believed in Lao Tzu and the Doctrine of the Mean, often saying the principles of "knowing the masculine while guarding the feminine" and "knowing glory while accepting humiliation." It was not until he was seventeen or eighteen, when his mind was stable, that he was allowed to try the imperial examinations.

He passed the Xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examination at the county level) at the age of eighteen, and the Juren in the capital at the age of nineteen. For this amazingly talented Fourth Young Master of the Song family, if there were no other accidents, his official career would be smooth sailing, at least in the first half, and his achievements would be higher than his father's, and he would even become the pillar of the entire Song family in the future.

But accidents always exist.

Before the prefect Song Mao, the Song family was already a scholarly family, having produced several minor officials, but their roots in the officialdom were not deep. Small aristocratic families need to maintain and unite many relationships in order to advance. The Su family, merchants in Jiangning, were collateral relatives of Song Mao through marriage. They relied on the protection of the Song family to conduct silk business, and had also provided a lot of wealth to support Song Mao's career. The relationship between the two families has always been good.

Song Mao's cousin married Su Zhongkan of the second branch of the Su family, whose relationship with the main branch was not close. However, the Song family did not care about these things. Marriage was a threshold that connected the two families, but what truly supported this relationship was the mutual transfer of benefits. In this chain of interests, the Su family had always been currying favor with the Song family. No matter who was in charge of the Su family in the next generation, their flattery towards the Song family would never change.

As a scholarly family, Song Mao was quite fastidious when facing this family of merchants. If Su Zhongkan could take over the entire Su family later, that would certainly be a good thing. Even if he couldn't, Song Mao would never interfere too much. This was the situation between the two families at the time, and because of Song Mao's nobility, Su Yu's attitude towards the Song family was even closer, which, to some extent, narrowed the distance between the two families.

The appearance of that Son-in-Law in the main branch of the Su family was the initial variable in this family. When Song Mao first saw Ning Yi in Jiangning, who should have had no status, he noticed the other party's existence. However, neither Song Mao at the time, nor Song Yongping later, nor anyone who knew him, had ever imagined that the variable would later swell into a hurricane spanning the horizon, ruthlessly crushing everyone's lives, and no one could avoid the huge impact.

Song Yongping first met Ning Yi when he went to the capital to take the imperial examination at the age of nineteen. He easily won the title of Xiucai, and then passed the Juren examination. At this time, this man, although a Son-in-Law, was quite talented and had been valued by Prime Minister Qin and entered the Prime Minister's mansion as a staff member.

As the saying goes, "even a seventh-rank official in front of the Prime Minister's gate." For Song Yongping, who came up through the orthodox route, he still had a disapproving emotion in his heart when facing this brother-in-law. However, a staff member would be a staff member for a lifetime, while he himself had a promising official career. With this understanding, he maintained considerable grace and politeness towards this sister and brother-in-law.

Subsequently, because of the Prime Minister's mansion, he was quickly appointed to a substantive position. This was the first step in his official career. During his tenure as a county magistrate, Song Yongping could be described as conscientious and diligent. He promoted commerce, repaired water conservancy, encouraged agricultural affairs, and even, in the context of the Jurchen invasion southward, he actively relocated the residents of the county and cleared the fields. In the subsequent great chaos, he even used the local terrain to lead the army to repel a small group of Jurchens. After the first Battle of Bianliang, he received great praise in the initial awarding of merits.

However, at that time, this brother-in-law had already mobilized the Wu Dynasty army, frontally defeated the entire Resentment Army, and even forced back the entire first southern expedition of the Jin Kingdom.

Song Yongping, who knew the inside story at the time, had a earth-shattering change in his view of this brother-in-law. Of course, this emotion did not last long. Subsequently, the Right Prime Minister's mansion lost power, and everything took a sharp turn for the worse. Song Yongping was anxious, but later, he was frightened by the news suddenly coming from the capital. Ning Yi committed regicide and fled, and the armies chasing after him were defeated one after another. After that, the world turned upside down, and the situation of the entire world became incomprehensible. Song Yongping, along with his father Song Mao, and even the entire Song clan's official careers, came to an abrupt end.

In the following ten years, the entire Song family experienced one upheaval after another. These upheavals could no longer be linked to the major events that affected the entire world, but being in them was enough to witness all kinds of vicissitudes of life. It was not until the sixth year of Jianshuo that a guest official from the Princess's mansion named Cheng Zhouhai came to find him. After a series of tests, Song Yongping, whose family had declined and who was making a living by running a private school, was reappointed to the post of county magistrate.

At this time, Song Yongping realized that although Ning Yi had committed regicide and rebellion, many people who were involved with him were still protected to varying degrees. The guest officials of the Qin mansion in those years had their own places, and some were even relied upon by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Her Royal Highness the Princess as trusted aides. Although the Song family was related to the Su family, they were dismissed from office once, but there was no excessive persecution afterwards. Otherwise, how could anyone from the entire Song clan be left?

Song Yongping then understood that although that rebellious person had committed heinous crimes, no one in the upper echelons of the entire world could escape his influence. Even if the whole world wanted to get rid of that inner demon, they had to pay attention to his every move, so that those who had worked with him in the past were all re-used. Song Yongping was looked down upon because he had a family relationship with him, which led to his years of decline.

He was sharp when he was young, but he was stunned by the impact of the crime of regicide in his early twenties. In the past few years of experience, Song Yongping had a better understanding of human nature, but also smoothed out all his edges. After his reinstatement, he did not dare to use his connections too much. In the past few years, he has been cautiously serving as a county magistrate. At the age of less than thirty, Song Yongping's temperament had become extremely calm. He personally took care of everything in his jurisdiction, regardless of size, and within a few years, he turned the county town into a peaceful and prosperous paradise. However, in such a special political environment, doing things in an orderly manner also made him lack too many bright "achievements," and everyone in the capital seemed to have forgotten him. It was not until this winter that Cheng Zhouhai suddenly came to him, for the sake of this great change in the southwest.

Song Yongping naturally knew about the actions of the Black Flag Army in the southwest.

The Princess's mansion came to him, hoping that he would go to the southwest and be a lobbyist in front of Ning Yi.

Since the Huaxia Army issued a declaration of war to the world, and then defeated the defenses of the Chengdu Plain all the way, no one could resist. What was placed in front of the Wu Dynasty was always an embarrassing situation.

On the one hand, the Wu Dynasty could not fully conquer the southwest, and on the other hand, the Wu Dynasty was absolutely unwilling to lose the Chengdu Plain. In this status quo, seeking peace and negotiation with the Huaxia Army was also an absolutely impossible choice, because the hatred of regicide was irreconcilable, and the Wu Dynasty could never admit that the Huaxia Army was a force as an "opponent." Once the Huaxia Army and the Wu Dynasty reached "equality" to some extent, it would be equivalent to forcibly whitewashing the hatred of regicide, and the Wu Dynasty would also lose the legitimacy of orthodoxy to some extent.

They couldn't fight, they couldn't talk, and they still hoped to preserve some of the interests in the southwest. The Wu Dynasty was faced with such a difficult situation. Asking Song Yongping to play the emotional card was a ridiculous choice, but it was obvious that the court had to take every path.

There was also a small interlude during this period. Cheng Zhouhai was arrogant and usually had a cold and stern face when facing lower officials. He came to Song Yongping's jurisdiction, and after talking about the Princess's mansion's ideas, he was about to leave. Who knew that after looking at the small county town a few times, he stayed for two days. When he was about to leave, he specially bowed to Song Yongping and apologized, and his face became gentle.

"I originally thought that Lord Song had been in office for three years without any obvious achievements, and was a mediocre person who occupied a position without doing any work. After seeing it these two days, I realized that Lord Song is a great talent for governing the territory and pacifying the people. I am ashamed of my slights, and I have come to say sorry to Lord Song."

Song Yongping bowed humbly with a calm expression. He felt a burst of bitterness in his heart. The Wu Dynasty became the Southern Wu, and the people of the Central Plains flowed into Jiangnan. The economy of various places developed rapidly, and it was too easy to have some achievements written on the memorials. However, it was not so easy to truly settle the people down. Song Yongping was in a suspicious place, and he only dared to write one-third of his achievements. However, he was only thirty years old, and he still had ambitions in his heart. Now that he was finally recognized, his mood was mixed and difficult to express.

Therefore, Cheng Zhouhai talked with him for most of the day, and he no longer hesitated about many things in the capital and the world, but explained them one by one, and the two studied them together. Song Yongping had already accepted the task of going to the southwest, and then traveled day and night, rushing to Chengdu quickly. He knew the difficulties of this journey, but as long as he could see Ning Yi, seize something from the cracks, even if he died because of it, it would be worth it.

The situation in the southwest was tense, and the court was not without action. In addition to the troop movements in the south, which still had room to spare, the denunciation of the Black Flag by many forces and great Confucians was also in full swing. Some places had also made it clear that they would never engage in commercial exchanges with the Black Flag. When they arrived in the Wu Dynasty territory around Chengdu, the towns and cities were in a state of panic, and many people fled in the snow as winter arrived.

According to the rumors, the reason why the Black Flag Army came out of the mountains was because the Zizhou government had arrested Ning Yi's brother-in-law, and the Black Flag Army came for revenge, vowing to flatten the Wu Dynasty. Now Zizhou was in danger, and Chengdu, which had been captured, had already become a dead city. People who escaped said vividly that Chengdu was massacring and looting every day, and the city was on fire. The smoke pillars could be seen from more than ten miles away, and most of the people who had not escaped died in the city.

Song Yongping was no longer a greenhorn. Looking at the scale of these remarks and the caliber of the propaganda, he knew that someone must be manipulating them behind the scenes. Whether at the bottom or at the top, these remarks could always give the Huaxia Army some pressure. Although some Confucians were also good at instigating, in recent years, Ning Yi, who was more than ten years ago, was more skilled in guiding trends through propaganda. It seemed that people in the court had been working hard to learn that person's methods and style in recent years.

He entered the Chengdu territory all the way, and after reporting his name and intention to the Huaxia Army guarding the area, he did not suffer too much harassment. He entered the city of Chengdu all the way, only to find that the atmosphere here was completely different from the other side of the Wu Dynasty. Although more Huaxia Army soldiers could be seen outside, the order of the city had gradually stabilized.

The "offensive and defensive war" and "massacre" that had been rumored to be extremely fierce outside could not be seen too many traces at this time. The government was reviewing the accumulated cases in the city every day, and killed a few corrupt officials and bullies in the city who had not escaped, which seemed to have caused the residents of the city to cheer. Some Huaxia Army personnel who violated military discipline were even dealt with and publicized, and outside the yamen, there were wooden mailboxes and reception points where people could sue soldiers who violated discipline. The city's commerce had not yet recovered its prosperity, but on the market, it was already possible to see the circulation of goods. At least the prices of things related to people's livelihood, such as rice, grain, oil, and salt, had not fluctuated too much.

Song Yongping had never heard of such an army and a post-war city before.

He recalled his impression of that "brother-in-law" - after all, there were too few contacts and exchanges between the two sides - during the time when he was affected as an official, and even in the past few years when he was a county magistrate again, he had more hatred and disapproval of this rebellious person in his heart. Of course, there was less hatred, because it was meaningless. The other party had lived a life of luxury, and even in death, he could be treated with the highest honors. Song Yongping was still rational and knew the gap between the two sides, so he was too lazy to act like a pedantic Confucian and bark wildly.

However, thinking about it carefully at this time, this brother-in-law's thoughts were different from others, but he always had his reasons. The development of Zhuji, the subsequent disaster relief, his tenacity against the Jurchens, and the decisiveness of regicide were always different from others. On the battlefield, artillery has now been developed, which he took the lead. In addition, there are many things that have arisen from investigation of things, but the output and technology of paper have increased several times or even ten times compared to ten years ago. That Li Pin made "newspaper" in the capital, and now others in various cities have begun to imitate it.

Song Yongping governed the county, using the dignified Confucian method. Economic development was important, but he was more concerned with the harmony of the city's atmosphere, the clarity of adjudication, the education of the people, and the great harmony of the body where the widowed, orphaned, and childless were supported, and young children were educated. He was gifted and hardworking, and had experienced officialdom and the polishing of the world, so he had his own mature system. The roundness of this system was based on Confucian teachings. Cheng Zhouhai understood these achievements when he saw them. But he buried his head in that small place and managed it, and he finally saw some less of the changes in the outside world. Although he could hear about some things, it was not as good as seeing them with his own eyes. At this time, seeing the situation in Chengdu, he gradually chewed out many new and unseen feelings.

This feeling was not like Confucian governance of the world, which combined kindness and power. When giving kindness, it made people feel warm, and when applying power, it was icy cold that swept everything away. Chengdu gave people a clearer feeling, and it was relatively cold. The army attacked the city, but Ning Yi strictly forbade them from disturbing the people. In many armies, this would even cause the entire team's morale to collapse.

The legal system was also completely separated from the army. The steps of adjudicating cases were more rigid than when he was a county magistrate. The main thing was that the measurement of adjudicating cases was stricter. For example, when Song Yongping was a county magistrate, he paid more attention to the education of the people in adjudicating cases. Song Yongping tended to severely punish and severely punish some cases that seemed morally bad. Song Yongping was also willing to mediate when he could be tolerant.

And in Chengdu, the judgment of cases naturally also has a human touch, but it has been greatly reduced. This may depend on the way "legal personnel" adjudicate cases. It often cannot be decided by the chief officer alone, but by three to five officials who state, discuss, and vote. Later, more attention is paid to its accuracy, and it is not entirely inclined to the effect of education.

...This is to disrupt the order of emotion, reason, and law... to cause great chaos in the world...

In his thoughts, Song Yongping flashed through the concept that Cheng Zhouhai had told him - it is said that Ning Yi had said this to Li Pin and Zuo Duanyou - and was shocked for a moment.

In any case, his observation and thinking along the way was ultimately for the words he would use when he met Ning Yi. Lobbyists have never been able to get things done by being reckless and fearless. If you want to persuade the other party, you must first find a topic that the other party agrees with and the common ground between the two sides, so that you can argue your point of view. When he discovered that Ning Yi's views were completely unorthodox, Song Yongping's statement for this trip became chaotic. Reproach the world of "reason" that can never be achieved? Reproach such a world as being icy and devoid of human touch? Or that everyone is ultimately leading the world to collapse and disintegrate?

If it were that simple to make the other party suddenly realize, I am afraid that Zuo Duanyou, Li Pin, Cheng Zhouhai and others would have persuaded Ning Yi to repent long ago.

Words hung on the lips can be faked, but the traces that have been implemented into the entire army and even the political system are real no matter what. And if Ning Yi really opposes emotion, reason, and law, how much weight can he, a so-called "relative," have? He would not regret dying, but if he was killed as soon as he met, it would be a bit ridiculous.

He was lost in these thoughts for two days, and then someone came to pick him up and went out of the city all the way. The carriage sped across the depressed sky of the Chengdu Plain, and Song Yongping finally made up his mind. He closed his eyes and recalled his life in the past thirty years, the high-spirited youth, the official career that he thought would be smooth sailing, the sudden, head-on blows and bumps, the feelings in the subsequent struggles and losses, and the state of mind when he was an official in the past few years.

After all, that high-spiritedness is not a real life. A so-called life is a mixture of five flavors that sinks and floats in a magnificent wave.

In any case, it is useless to fantasize. A scholar dies for his confidant. If he stakes his life and can seize something from the cracks, that would be good. Even if he really dies, there is nothing to regret. In short, it is to justify his life. He made this decision. That evening, the carriage arrived at a small camp on the edge of a river bay.

After more than ten years, he saw Ning Yi's figure again. The other party was wearing a casual green robe, as if he had suddenly seen him while walking. He smiled and walked towards him, that look...

Song Yongping suddenly remembered. More than ten years ago, this "brother-in-law's" eyes were as calm and gentle as they were now, but he was too young at the time and did not quite understand the aura hidden in people's eyes. Otherwise, he would have had a completely different view of this brother-in-law at that time.

"Little Si, long time no see."

"Song Yongping, the magistrate of Tanling, pays respects to Mr. Ning." Song Yongping showed a smile and cupped his hands. He was also in his thirties, and had his own demeanor and majesty as an official for several years. Ning Yi tilted his head and looked at him, and waved his right hand.

"Okay, I know, you won't pay respects back." He smiled, "Come with me."

Song Yongping followed him. Ning Yi walked slowly in front. When Song Yongping came up, he was straightforward and casual.

"During this time, many people have come over, criticizing and pleading in private. You are the only one I have met so far. I know your intention. By the way, who is your superior?"

"...Cheng Fang, Cheng Zhouhai."

"That's the Princess's mansion... They are not easy either. They can't win on the battlefield, so they can only try all kinds of methods in private, which is a bit of progress..." Ning Yi said, then reached out and patted Song Yongping's shoulder, "However, I am very happy that you can come. Over the years, there have been many twists and turns, and there are fewer and fewer relatives. Tan'er will be very happy to see you. Wenfang and the others have their own things to do, and I have also notified them to come as soon as possible. You can catch up. I would also like to hear about your situation over the years, and Uncle Song Mao, I don't know how he is doing, is he in good health?"