Héjiān Prefecture was first greeted with the news of increased exorbitant taxes. Search:\(Complete Book Station\) to read high-quality literature for free.

Ever since the Jurchens arrived and the Wǔ Dynasty was forced to move south, the Central Plains had rarely seen good days. According to the elders and shamans, the Emperor of the Wǔ Dynasty had lost his luck, and the harvests had been poor. There were floods and droughts from time to time. Last year, the locust plague ravaged the Central Plains. People who lost their livelihoods turned into "hungry ghosts" and went south. No one knows how many homeless souls haunted the banks of the Yellow River.

As the hungry ghosts crossed the Yellow River, this year, the area north of the Yellow River welcomed a rare period of peace and prosperity. There were no successive natural disasters, no sweeping and devastating refugees. The wheat in the fields grew taller and taller, followed by a heavy harvest. In Zhàozǐ Village, Wang Laoshi prepared to grit his teeth and marry a wife for his son, when the yamen runners came to his door.

The taxes and corvée this year increased significantly. In the hesitant tone of the runners, it was clear that nearly 60% of this year's income would be taken away. With a yield of less than two *shi* of wheat per *mu*, more than one *shi* had to be handed over, making the coming days impossible to live through.

Wang Laoshi was usually a mild-mannered person, but this time, he couldn't help but say some harsh words to the yamen runners: "You're also human, born and raised by your parents. Are you trying to force everyone in the village to their deaths?"

After the runners left in embarrassment, Wang Laoshi lost his strength and sat dully in the courtyard, staring blankly at the three earthen houses in his home. Living was too hard, meaningless. Thinking about it, things were better when the Wǔ Dynasty was still in power.

Soon after, his son returned and, upon learning about the tax issue, blushed and couldn't speak. His son was also an honest and simple young man, not one to say much. He was already twenty-three this year and still hadn't married a wife. It wasn't that there weren't any women around, but that the past few years had been too difficult to dare to marry, unable to support her. If the government's taxes were levied, they would have to eat chaff and wild herbs again this year, let alone support another woman.

In the gloomy autumn night, heavy hearts weighed down many people. The next day, a general meeting was held in the village's ancestral hall – they couldn't go on like this. They had to tell the lords above about their hardships and beg them to have mercy and give everyone a way out, after all: "Even the Jurchens weren't this harsh."

The clan invited respected elders and gentry. To smooth things over, everyone pooled some money and grain. Wang Laoshi and his son were chosen as porters, carrying wheat, cured meat, and other items to the city with the clan elders. Soon after, they joined forces with several neighboring villages, and everyone sent representatives to petition the authorities piece by piece.

Seeing that there were more and more people, Wang Laoshi and others began to feel excited. The runners along the way also let them pass. Soon after, they marched into Héjiān Prefecture in a mighty manner. The Prefect, Wang Mánguāng, came forward to appease the crowd, but negotiations failed several times. The people below cursed the cunning of the dog officials and then began to chant dog-official rhymes that spread throughout the city.

Two days later, a large number of soldiers suddenly poured into the city and imposed martial law. Wang Laoshi and others were terrified, thinking that their revolt against the government had escalated, but unexpectedly, the soldiers were not there to arrest them. Instead, they went directly to the Prefect's Yamen. It was said that the dog official, Wang Mánguāng, had been imprisoned.

The subsequent events developed rapidly. Within two days, wails of sorrow echoed inside and outside the city. High officials in the government were imprisoned one after another. In just two days, a huge execution platform was erected in the Héjiān Prefecture's vegetable market. On this day, Wang Laoshi and others received the news and ran to the vegetable market to watch the executions. They were executing the heads of dog officials, yamen runners, and government servants.

These officials, who had originally been overbearing, were escorted up in teams. Wang Mánguāng was very fat, with a bloated and greasy appearance. He was tied up at this time and had his mouth stuffed with cloth strips, looking extremely embarrassed. Such a dog official deserved to die, so people picked up things from the ground and threw them at him. Soon after, he was the first to be pressed in front of the execution platform, where a Jurchen official announced his crime of dereliction of duty.

Most people didn't understand the charges, but they just cheered. Wang Mánguāng was beaten on the head, his forehead bloody as he knelt there. Finally, when it was time for the executioner to behead him, he took the cloth strip out of his mouth. The fat and corrupt official looked at the crowd in front of him and said one last sentence. In this era, being able to be so fat, Wang Mánguāng was not a good official, even arguably having a terrible record, but he was recorded in later history because of this sentence.

"Run away... fellow villagers..." the bloodied dog official said.

A moment later, the executioner's knife fell.

On this day, amidst the people's cheers, nearly one-third of the original Héjiān Prefecture's government management team was killed. Heads rolled, and blood flowed like a river. Wányán Chāng, the "Marshal" from the north, presided over this justice.

The Jurchen marshal had arrived. The cautious elders were no longer qualified to meet him, and everyone returned to the village. Three days after Wang Mánguāng was killed, the new yamen and the underlings had resumed operations. This time, the two runners who came to Wang Laoshi's house had a completely different attitude than the last time.

This time, they came to save their lives.

After some notification, more taxes were levied. Wang Laoshi was dumbfounded, then he cursed like last time, and then he was hit on the head with a stick. As his head bled, he heard the runner scold, "If you don't listen, everyone will be killed!"

On this day, the people around Héjiān Prefecture began to recall Wang Mánguāng's last words before being beheaded.

However, it was too late to escape.

The runners and soldiers near Héjiān had already begun to take action, blocking all roads and traffic. The same thing was spreading in Hébĕi and Jīngdōng, which were ruled by General Lǐ Xìzhī. In Hébĕi Road, the Jurchen army of 300,000 had crossed the border and headed south. The vanguard, led by Wányán Zōngbì, had already crossed Zhēndìng.

In the small Zhàozǐ Village, Wang Laoshi and others did not yet understand what was about to happen. But on the stage of the world, the southern expedition of 300,000 troops meant that the war aimed at destroying and conquering the Wǔ Dynasty had completely sounded its horn, with no room for maneuver. A fierce battle would soon unfold head-on.

On July 24th, "The Pack of Wolves" raided Dàmíng Prefecture!

Since the Wǔ Dynasty moved south, the Wǔ Dynasty forces led by Wang Shānyuè and the Hù family of Dúlóng Gǎng, who had been operating in Jīngdōng East Road and the Liángshān area for several years, finally showed their long-concealed fangs.

Since Liú Yù established the Great Qí forces with the support of the Jin Dynasty, Jīngdōng Road had originally been the core of this force, but Jīngdōng East Road - that is, the Liángshān area of Shāndōng in later generations - was still a blind spot in the jurisdiction of this force. At this time, Liángshān was still a vast water area covering hundreds of miles, along with many nearby places such as Dúlóng Gǎng and Zēngtóu City, which were remote and plagued by bandits.

Where the Wǔ Dynasty found it difficult to govern, the pseudo-Qí also found it difficult to govern. When Liú Yù's court was infiltrated by the Black Flag Army, and the emperor was beaten behind the palace, Liú Yù moved south, and this area fell to Lǐ Xìzhī and the Qí family, led by the great scholar Qí Yàn behind him. Lǐ Xìzhī failed to suppress the bandits many times, and later spent a lot of effort to pacify Dúlóng Gǎng, completing the task hastily. But behind him, Wang Shānyuè and others, under the banner of the "Wǔ Dynasty orthodoxy," were still able to continuously connect and expand their influence. In recent years, they had completed the actual rule of the entire Liángshān area.

Nearby bandits came to join them, and righteous men gathered. Even some of those under Lǐ Xìzhī who had a sense of justice, either contacted Wang Shānyuè actively or contacted Wang Shānyuè privately, had completed communication with Wang Shānyuè privately. This time, with the issuance of the order, the area near Dàmíng Prefecture truly showed Lǐ Xìzhī's system what it meant to be "infiltrated like a sieve." On the 24th, 30,000 troops from Liángshān suddenly appeared under Dàmíng Prefecture. The city was attacked outside and chaotic inside. In less than half a day, the 50,000 troops guarding Dàmíng Prefecture collapsed across the board, and Wang Shānyuè and his wife Hù Sānláng completed the handover and takeover of Dàmíng Prefecture.

This was almost the eruption of all the heritage left by the Wǔ Dynasty, and it was also the place where Wang Shānyuè, who had once followed Nìng Yì, had learned the most thoroughly from the Black Flag Army. This time, the guns facing guns and cannons facing cannons on the stage left no room for maneuver.

Dàmíng Prefecture was one of the supply relay points for the Jurchen's southward march. With the start of grain requisition these days, the grain gathered here was even more astonishing. The first move of the Wǔ Dynasty people was a resounding nail in the seven inches of the Jurchen army. As the news spread, the more than 100,000 troops that Lǐ Xìzhī had gathered, together with the 10,000 Jurchen troops originally stationed in Jīngdōng, jointly pounced on this side.

The war spread with this first attack. The road leading north to the marsh was now a scene of desolation and barrenness, with only empty ruins and villages occasionally seen. A convoy was heading north along this road.

At this moment, the merchants who could travel on this road were not ordinary people. Although there were few people in this team, one could see the agility of the men. The carriage in front bumped, but occasionally a woman's voice came out, a soft humming, sometimes "Lán zhī Yīyī" from *Yīlán Cāo*, sometimes "Zhīzǐ yú Guī" from *Táoyāo*, and occasionally *Lí Sāo* and *Shí Shǔ*. The singing had no accompaniment, but it was refreshing.

However, the disordered singing also revealed that the singer's mood was not calm.

Lú Jùnyì was in front of the carriage, looking back.

"Miss Shī Shī, it's not peaceful ahead, you really should listen and go south."

The woman in the carriage was none other than Lǐ Shī Shī. She was dressed in coarse cloth, humming and mending the torn clothes in her hand. The most popular woman in Fánlóu naturally didn't need to do much needlework. But in recent years, as she grew older and traveled around, she was now sewing and mending in the swaying carriage, and it didn't seem to hinder her.

"Anyway, there's no peaceful place in the world now."

"Going south will always find a place to settle down. We have people there, and the hungry ghosts won't catch you."

"If I go southwest, will he be willing to see me?"

"The surname Nìng isn't a coward."

"But I don't want to see him anymore."

Shī Shī lowered her head and smiled, biting off the thread in her hand. After a while, she put down her things and leaned on the edge of the car window to look outside, the wind messing up her hair. In recent years, she had traveled around, but she had not become old and haggard. On the contrary, age had solidified on her face, and only time had turned into a free and easy temperament, embellishing her eyebrows.

Lú Jùnyì shook his head and sighed: "Xiǎo Yì has gone to handle affairs, and I don't understand you women's hearts. However, war is not a child's play. If you are prepared, I have nothing to say."

"Mm." Shī Shī in the car nodded, "I know, I've seen it."

She looked down at her hands. It was more than ten years ago, when she was only in her early twenties, and the Jurchens finally came, attacking Biànliáng with force. At that time, she was wholeheartedly trying to do something, helping clumsily. She remembered General Xuē Chánggōng, who was defending the city at that time, and his lover, Hè Lěier, a sister in Fánlóu. She was pregnant with his child, and she was afraid to go to help under the city wall. Did they have children later? Did they stay together?

All have passed.

The changes of more than ten years have turned this place upside down. It was the same between her and Nìng Yì, by chance, they became "old lovers". In fact, at many key moments, she was almost going to become his "lover", but fate played tricks, and in the end, it became distant and estranged.

She once had a good impression of him, then admired him, and later became unable to understand him. Now she understood a part, but there were still many things she couldn't understand. With the world turned upside down, the budding of some emotions had long become unimportant. In the years after learning of his "death", she came out of Dàlǐ and traveled all the way. Looking back last year, they might have almost met in Zézhōu, but he didn't want to see her, and she didn't want to see him much after that. Perhaps one day, she would understand everything and go to see him again.

"I'm sorry, Nìng Lìhéng, I wronged you." She hoped that one day, she could say such a sentence to him, and then confess a trivial emotion. However, she didn't have the qualifications yet, she still had too many things she didn't understand.

But there were also some things that she could now understand.

As the Jurchens went south again, Wang Shānyuè's resistance to the Jurchens finally started. The small team that had been accompanying her back and forth from south to north finally began to have its own affairs. A few days ago, Yàn Qīng and a part of the people had left the team and went north to carry out a mission that belonged to him. After Lú Jùnyì failed to persuade her to go south, he led the team towards the marsh.

"It's time to see some old friends." Lú Jùnyì said.

"... When I was young, I learned spears and sticks, and I had a rough understanding of military strategy. I thought I was unparalleled in martial arts, but no one appreciated it. Later, I never thought I would go to Liángshān, and that Nìng guy destroyed Liángshān again. I joined the military, and then I was restrained, only to realize that I was not a great general. These years I have been walking around and seeing, and now I know that there is no room for hesitation."

The power of the Wang family's son, who used to work under Nìng Yì, had been launched. The Black Flag forces that had been waiting in the Shāndōng area finally stopped being silent. More than ten years had passed since Xiān Xiāng Qín Sìyuán led his troops to defend the city, and the bloody battle in Xià Village of the Wǔruì Camp, and several years had passed since the bloody battle of Xiǎo Cāng River. When the Jurchens came south again, it was still this line of forces who stood at the forefront of this angry tide.

Thinking of this, recalling the twists and turns of the past ten years, Shī Shī felt a burst of emotion, and a sense of heroism inevitably surged up.

Soon after, she saw the Black Flag army gathered at the destination. Zhù Biāo, the "Burning City Spear", led the way, along with "Great Saber" Guān Shèng, "Thunderbolt Fire" Qín Míng, "Golden Lance Hand" Xú Níng, and the Zhù family's generals, Zhù Lóng and Zhù Hǔ, were already waiting here. Then, "Jade Kirin" Lú Jùnyì returned to the team.

In this year's marsh, the vast reeds were already withered. Heroes gathered, bringing each other more or less sighs, but more of it was the lofty ambition gathered before their eyes. Compared to what they were about to experience, the former Liángshān Pō and Jùyì Hall were just small specks of dust in their memories, and Sòng Jiāng, Wú Yòng and others were just clowns left over from the past.

The autumn wind was bleak, and the waves rose.

The great war was ahead.

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