Various messages traveled north, overcoming numerous mountains and passes. (Search: \"Complete Book Paradise\") to read high-quality literature for free.

Yunzhong Prefecture, also known as Datong, enjoyed the best weather in May, with the wind carrying a refreshing and pleasant atmosphere through the city. As the core of Zong Han's "Western Court" of the Jin Dynasty, Yunzhong Prefecture was home to numerous meritorious officials and nobles. Although the Jin Dynasty's internal purges of the lower classes became more stringent with the departure of the southern expedition army, the upper echelons of society were now in the season for socializing and feasting.

In the many mansions and villas around the city, large and small banquets were held daily, one after another. This year, most of the ambitious Jin Dynasty nobles had already set off with the army. The various nouveau riche and纨绔子弟 who remained in the territory also encountered the best season. Feasting and spending lavishly were the means by which many young people displayed their strength.

South of Yunzhong Prefecture, an opulent yet ancient mansion had recently become a new favorite in the upper social circles. This was a family that had arrived in Yunzhong Prefecture not long ago, but it possessed an inner depth and accumulation as profound as the sea. Although outsiders, they quickly attracted the attention of many in Yunzhong Prefecture.

This family came from the Central Plains.

The Qi family, led by the great Confucian scholar Qi Yan, was once a truly prestigious family that occupied Hedong in the Wu Dynasty. They moved to Yunzhong from Zhending last year. As the saying goes for aristocratic families, "Three generations to see the eating, four generations to see the dressing, five generations to see the writing." Ordinary families rarely lasted beyond three generations, but the Qi family had been wealthy for six or seven generations.

Although some of the Jin Dynasty nobles, who had risen through military achievements, subconsciously didn't take the Wu Dynasty's prestigious families seriously, the Jin Dynasty's upper echelons unanimously gave the Qi family sufficient courtesy. For the former Jin Dynasty leaders, conquering the world on horseback was easy, but governing the world on horseback had become a problem. The difficulty of the Jin Dynasty's second generation becoming corrupt and incompetent was also presented before a group of founders. Even if they conquered the world on horseback and had many reckless personalities, those with real vision had already begun to see these things.

Qi Yan therefore received great courtesy. Some of the elder statesmen stationed in Yunzhong often summoned him to ask for advice, talking and laughing. For the hot-tempered and competitive Jin Dynasty second-generation youth, although they somewhat disliked the Qi family being held in high regard, the Qi family's young people's research on hedonism far exceeded that of these nouveau riche's foolish sons.

Little by little, although everyone said they didn't want to, the high-quality banquets held by the Qi family's scholars still quickly conquered and led the trend of hedonism in the city, becoming the focus of everyone's attention for a time. By May, many of the Jin Dynasty nobles' children had begun to call the Qi family's young people brothers.

Since the beginning of this month, with the arrival of some good news from the south, the Qi family's visits and banquets with the Jin Dynasty's upper echelons had become even more grand, and even held several grand sacrifices and celebrations. The reason was the assassination in Zhending Prefecture last year, which forced the Qi family to move north.

In that assassination, launched by the Huaxia Army, Qi Yan's two sons and a grandson, along with some relatives, died. Because the anti-Jin sentiment was fierce, the elderly Qi Yan could only move the entire family north. However, when Liangshan was slaughtered by the Tu Su family, who even pacified the entire Liangshan, how could Qi Yan, who had accumulated prestige for many years, let it go when the Black Flag Army slaughtered the Qi family?

On the one hand, they moved north, and on the other hand, they used their influence to cooperate with the Jin Dynasty and oppose the Huaxia Army. By the end of March and the beginning of April, Daming Prefecture finally fell, and the Huaxia Army was swept into it, eventually being completely annihilated. Wanyan Chang captured more than four thousand bandits, who were executed batch by batch. Qi Yan was overjoyed and burst into tears when he heard the news. His two biological sons and a grandson were killed by assassins from the Black Flag Army. The old man wished he could slaughter the entire Huaxia Army, even kill Ning Yi, and throw all the women in his family into brothels.

At this time, this great revenge was avenged a little, but it was still worth celebrating. On the one hand, they celebrated lavishly, and on the other hand, Qi Yan also sent 100,000 taels of silver to Wanyan Chang's family in Liaoyang to show his gratitude. He wrote a letter to Wanyan Chang, requesting that the other party spare some of the Huaxia Army prisoners to send back to Yunzhong, where he would kill them to comfort the spirits of his children and grandchildren in heaven. In May, Wanyan Chang's letter of acceptance had already arrived, and the Qi family had already come up with many ways to torture and kill this group of enemies.

In such an atmosphere, the old man did not know that a shadow more poisonous than Yan Qing, who masterminded the assassination in Zhending Prefecture, and even more poisonous than Ning Yi, the demon who destroyed Liangshan, had already enveloped the Qi family.

Directing several carts of vegetables and fruits into the backyard of the Qi family, the cart driver got off and negotiated with the Qi family's steward for a few words, settling the silver. Soon after, the convoy left the backyard again. The driver sat on the cart, and a slight chill appeared on his smiling face.

The convoy drove to the market. The driver got off, went through the streets and alleys, and arrived at a quiet courtyard, where he took off his hat and tore off the mustache at the corner of his mouth. At this time, his face also became gloomy. This was Tang Minjie, and the gloomy color was also his usual color for several days after hearing the battle report from Daming Prefecture in the south.

Walking into the room, the gloom on his face faded slightly. Lu Mingfang was already waiting in the room: "How is it? You haven't looked too good lately."

"The matter of Daming Prefecture is too tragic." Tang Minjie said frankly.

Lu Mingfang was silent for a moment: "Some things, after all, are not something you and I can turn the tide. As I said before, you are too anxious, pay attention to your health, and also pay attention to hiding. I know that your previous actions have been a bit intense, and some people have already noticed you."

Since the Jurchens prepared to invade the south, Tang Minjie had successively done several major things by radical means. Initially, he instigated the Han slaves to revolt, sending Shi Jin south to send the list of Han traitors, then secretly drawing lines and threatening Jin officials, and embezzling the military rations prepared for the south, and then colluding with the纨绔 in the Jin Dynasty to resell military resources by virtue of their power…

The large and small things he did alone could not shake the entire southern war situation, but because of the radical means, he revealed some clues of the code name "Clown" several times. If the "Clown" was just an ordinary code name in Yunzhong Prefecture when Shi Jin went north, now, this code name was really on the high-level wanted list, ranking in the top few. Fortunately, Tang Minjie had restrained himself in the past few months, so the outside rumors had subsided slightly.

"Yes, I know how to hide well." The persuasion of friends and comrades-in-arms still made Tang Minjie smile slightly. "Is there anything today?"

"Good news."

"Hmm?" It was rare for Lu Mingfang to speak like this. Tang Minjie frowned slightly, only to see Lu Mingfang's eyes were complicated, but he had already smiled sincerely, and he said two words: "Zhanmei."

"Found her!?" Tang Minjie suddenly raised his head, Lu Mingfang smiled and nodded.

"Found her, found her... she's not dead yet, she also has a child, not dead yet, now she is in Liaoyang, I am preparing to go over..."

Lu Mingfang's tone was already restrained, but his excitement was still overflowing with his smile. Tang Minjie smiled and slammed his fist on the table: "This news is too good, is it true?"

"Mostly true. Once confirmed, I will immediately arrange for them to go south..."

The two talked about this matter, and smiled in the room like children. Zhanmei, full name Wang Zhanmei, was the name of the concubine who finally stayed with Qin Shaohe when Taiyuan City was breached. In the Huaxia Army's search list over the years, it has always been ranked first.

Speaking of this, the two rejoiced for a while. Lu Mingfang did not speak about how the mother and son had survived for more than ten years, and Tang Minjie did not mention it either.

After a while, Lu Mingfang said: "This matter is a major event that must not be lost. I am going to Liaoyang, and the affairs here will be fully entrusted to you. By the way, last time you said that the Qi family was going to bring several Huaxia Army brothers here..."

"I will arrange it, don't worry." Tang Minjie replied, and then said, "I will celebrate well with the Qi family."

"..." Hearing the ominous aura in Tang Minjie's words, and looking at his smiling face, Lu Mingfang was slightly stunned, but then he didn't say anything. Tang Minjie acted aggressively, and many methods were passed down from Ning Yi. Lu Mingfang was not his opponent in manipulating people's hearts and being ruthless in using strategies. For this kind of subordinate, he could only watch over the overall situation, and not interfere too much with the rest.

"I won't say anything else." After a slight pause, Lu Mingfang patted him on the shoulder, "You know what to do, be cautious, and take care. The world's affairs can only be done by everyone together, you... don't be too anxious."

"I understand." Tang Minjie smiled, "Your side is a big deal, being able to protect the blood of Qin Family's eldest son, they must have not been easy all these years, please give that madam a salute for me."

"I will."

After saying these words, Tang Minjie waved goodbye to Lu Mingfang. When he walked out of the courtyard, he smiled and looked up, taking a deep breath. The sun was warm, and with such good news, today was a really good day.

He also thought of the Qi family.

So happy.

……

It was time to kill.

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

When Lu Mingfang received the news of Wang Zhanmei in the north, the great flood in the southwest was still roaring.

Dujiangyan, it rained and stopped, stopped and rained again.

In the evening, in the thatched shed by the Minjiang River, Ning Yi and Cheng Zhouhai, who had been traveling together for the past few days, were waiting for the rain to subside. When bored, Ning Yi handed him a handful of fried broad beans.

Cheng Zhouhai was not here to breach the dike, he was here to talk business. Although he might do it if he could breach the dike, his main purpose was to represent Zhou Pei and talk to Ning Yi about some practical matters.

For many years, this was the first contact between the Princess's Mansion and the Huaxia Army. The subordinates Cheng Zhouhai brought and the personnel of the General Staff Department of the Huaxia Army were responsible for the specific negotiation matters. However, between Ning Yi and Cheng Zhouhai, the words were much easier to say. Of course, in recent days, what the two talked about were mostly trivial matters.

On the southwest side, Ning Yi's family situation, his worries about his children's future, the defeat in Daming Prefecture in the north, and the situation of Wang Shanyue and Zhu Biao. In Cheng Zhouhai's words, he mostly talked about the situation of the people in the Prime Minister's line, the situation of the Princess's Mansion, and the situation between the Princess and the Prince Consort...

"...Alas, the world is like this, children have to grow up, adults have to get old, old people will die, things are impermanent..."

"Lin'an City is even more prosperous than the former Bianliang, it's a pity if you don't go and see it..."

"Lin'an, Lin'an, temporarily safe, the name is not auspicious, you will suffer next... I have been managing the flood these days, otherwise I will take you to Jishan to see what is called industrial prosperity... The water outside the paper mill can't be drunk anymore."

"I felt early on that you always have some messy new names in your mouth, I can't understand them, it's difficult for you to get along with people."

"I'm a bit extreme in personality, I'm sorry to you."

"After you killed Emperor Jinghan, I didn't find it strange. As you said, you can't do this kind of upsetting thing if you're not a psychopath."

The rain fell from the edge of the thatched shed like a curtain. The two cracked broad beans, making a crackling sound. Speaking of this, Ning Yi couldn't help but laugh, his body trembling with laughter: "That bastard, Lao Cheng, do you know what he was saying when I was going to court... I haven't told anyone, I'll learn it for you..."

He repeated what Zhou Zhe said in the Golden Luan Hall that day. Cheng Zhouhai stopped cracking broad beans and sighed, looking up. He didn't know how to answer such unfilial words. He just said after a moment of silence, "Do you remember, I went to see you a few days before you took action."

"Hmm... Zong Feixiao discovered some things, my people killed him, you also thought I was going to take action at that time." Ning Yi nodded, "I was indeed going to take action."

"I thought you were going to deal with Cai Jing or Tong Guan, or maybe add Li Gang and someone else... I could accept it, I wanted to work with you." Cheng Zhouhai smiled, "I didn't expect you to do that kind of thing later."

"If I told you at that time, I probably wouldn't have lived to this day."

"Hmm." Cheng Zhouhai nodded, putting a broad bean into his mouth, "If I had known back then, I would have definitely found a way to kill you."

"What about now?"

"Now... what's the use of killing you?" Cheng Zhouhai said, "As you said, there is a problem with this Confucian world. Li Pin wants to kill you, and he has his reasons, but I don't want to. Since you have already started, and made such a big game, I would rather see what you look like in the end. If you win, as you said, what about everyone awakening, everyone being equal, it's also a good thing. If you lose, we can also have some good experience."

"Brother Cheng is open-minded."

"I'm just a little disheartened." Cheng Zhouhai paused, "If the teacher was still here, the first person to kill you would be me, but the teacher is no longer here, and his sayings have encountered difficulties. Even if we promote them now, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince the public. Since I don't teach, what I have done these years is all practical things. Naturally, I can see that the gentlemen in the court... are at a loss, and the one who went to the front is the one who learned your Jun Wu."

He put a broad bean in his mouth: "It's just that Jun Wu's path is too rigid. Once the foreign troubles are eliminated, it will be difficult to last for a long time. Your side... I don't quite understand, and I don't need to understand too much..."

Cheng Zhouhai said here, with deep fatigue between his drooping brows. Although he was evaluated by Qin Siyuan in his early years as being ruthless and unscrupulous, for Cheng Zhouhai, the biggest backbone was Qin Siyuan as his teacher. Qin Siyuan was framed and imprisoned, and eventually exiled and died on the way. It was impossible to say that Cheng Zhouhai had no hatred in his heart.

However, supporting the Wu Dynasty was the most central thing in Qin Siyuan's thinking. As he said, if Ning Yi had confessed to him before the rebellion, Cheng Zhouhai would have done away with Ning Yi at the first time, even if he had hatred in his heart. This was Qin Siyuan's orthodoxy, but because of the excessive lack of scruples, Cheng Zhouhai himself did not have his own orthodoxy.

After Qin Siyuan's death, the way forward was no longer clear to him. After Yao Zunian's death, Jueming, Kang Xian and others also left. Wenren Bu'er followed Jun Wu on a relatively radical path, and Cheng Zhouhai assisted Zhou Pei. His methods were certainly brilliant, but the goal in his heart gradually changed from protecting the Wu Dynasty to protecting this pair of siblings - although in some sense, this was two-in-one, but it was still somewhat different.

Zhou Yong's nonsense at the beginning of the year caused Zhou Pei to be greatly disturbed, but after calming down, Zhou Pei had to admit the weakness of the Wu Dynasty in the face of the Jin Dynasty's southern invasion. Finally, she sent Cheng Zhouhai here, deciding to secretly exchange benefits with the Huaxia Army forces to a certain extent. This was also the greatest sacrifice and effort that Zhou Pei could make after letting go of her inner knot, under the premise of the foreign enemy's attack.

Cheng Zhouhai knew a little about the background of Zhou Yong's messing around at the beginning of the year, but he naturally wouldn't mention it in front of Ning Yi. He just roughly mentioned Zhou Pei and Prince Consort Qu Zonghui's grievances over the years. When talking about Qu Zonghui's murder and Zhou Pei's handling of it, Ning Yi nodded: "The little girl has grown up too."

Cheng Zhouhai looked at Ning Yi: "Her Highness the Princess is no longer a little girl... Speaking of which, I know the last time you met with Her Highness."

"Hmm?"

"That was before you went to Liangshan. In Bianliang, Her Highness was almost taken advantage of by that... Gao Mu'en. Actually, it was my plan. Later that night, she said goodbye to you and went back to get married..."

The broad beans crackled. Ning Yi nodded: "Well, speaking of which, it's been many years."

"Her Highness the Princess she..." Cheng Zhouhai wanted to say something, but finally shook his head, "Forget it, let's not talk about this..."

"Of course I know about her affairs." Ning Yi did not notice what Cheng Zhouhai wanted to say, but just said casually, "Let's not talk about things that hurt harmony. It's been so many years, she's been a widow all alone, can't she find a suitable man? You elders are not doing it right."

Cheng Zhouhai laughed: "With Her Highness's status, how can she find someone? Who dares to come? Who dares Her Highness find? And as you said, you know about Her Highness's affairs, what if you release the news when the two sides fight?"

Ning Yi lost his smile: "Are you looking down on people? I guarantee, I will never do this kind of thing."

"Isn't there the Jurchens?"

"...That's true."

Speaking of the Jurchens, the two were silent for a moment, and then they changed the topic again.

The sky was gloomy, and in the heavy rain, the river in front roared. Even though they were casually chatting and cracking broad beans under the thatched shed, what the two smelled every day was actually the smoky atmosphere from the wind and rain.

It was as if the difficult step Cheng Zhouhai took to the southwest was extremely difficult. Although all the business was still being conducted secretly, this was already the greatest sacrifice and effort that Zhou Pei could make after letting go of her inner knot, and the premise of this sacrifice and effort was because the upheaval of this world was already at hand.

At the moment they were chatting, Lou Shuwan in Jin set fire to the entire Weisheng City. She and Yu Yulin led their troops into the mountains. Looking back, it was a city full of fireworks. Thousands of Huaxia Army in Xuzhou, together with tens of thousands of defending troops, began to actively withdraw to the surrounding areas after resisting the offensive of Wushu and others for several months. The imminent Battle of Liangshan in the north was just a small episode in this situation.

Next, the Xiangyang and Zhenjiang defense lines of the Wu Dynasty, with Jun Wu in charge and Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and others leading the troops, would engage in close combat with the 300,000 troops of the Jurchen's eastern route army.

Nearly two million troops were filling this defense line that stretched for thousands of miles. They were here to block the two routes of the Jurchen army, but at this moment when the test was about to come, everyone was sweating in their hearts about the combat effectiveness of the Wu Dynasty army.

In May, the water of the Minjiang River roared down. Even though they were cracking broad beans and chatting leisurely in this rain-soaked mountain, what the two smelled every day was actually the smoky atmosphere from the wind and rain.

It was as if the entire world,

——was burning.

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