Many, many years ago.

How many years have it been, it is difficult to say, but I vaguely remember that at that time, there were only three states in Yandi, and Manzhou was waiting for the old king to save them from the sea of suffering, but the royal court holding the three states was thinking about how to be in a corner of peace, and sought a place to live in a corner under the watchful eyes of Qi, Chu, and Guirong.

Left and right, difficult support, how to seek the survival of Yan Court at the lowest cost is a problem that every Great Yan courtier needs to think about. As a result, various means of harmony, tribute, and land cutting emerged in an endless stream, but the situation of Yandi did not improve, and it seems that this situation will continue like this, day by day, day by day.

Until one day, on a sunny morning, two young men led their horses to the outskirts of Tailin City.

The two talked happily, and when they walked to the long pavilion and the bank of the Sushui River, they suddenly stopped.

The boy in brocade folded willows to give scholars to scholars, and he was reluctant to give up. Or for the sake of reciprocating the peach, the scholar took out a bag and put it in the hands of the son, saying that he would be useful in the future.

Then, when the morning sun was shining, the scholar rode his horse to the east, wanting to go to the Qingming School Palace to seek a strategy for governing the country and securing the people. Childe led the horse back and faced the turmoil under the thunderous storm of the Tailin City.

The scholar and the son went against each other, and they were destined to be at both ends of the world for many years after that.

But one midnight, after a hearty drunkenness, they made promises to each other, but from that day on, it became clearer and clearer-

The king seeks the national policy, and I seek the holy position. He met again in the year, as a minister and a king. Help this building, Kuang this Li people.

......

The promise between the scholar and the prince was like a little mud on the streets of Tailin City at that time, which someone had seen, heard, and knew. But as soon as the wind and clouds rolled and the rainstorm fell, no one took it to heart, not to mention that since then, the wind and rain in Tailin City have not stopped for a moment.

Time flowed like this, the authority of Yandi that he once held, the emperor who was killed and killed was invited into the ancestral temple, and lived there forever as a yin god and as an ancestral god, enjoying the incense of Dayan and the worship of 10,000 people, but at the same time, he also handed over his share and was unwilling to let go of power until he died.

Birth, old age, sickness and death are the way of heaven, and the way of heaven is not benevolent, no matter if you are the great sage of the eight gates or the emperor of the world, under the way of heaven, you are all dogs.

This is both great fairness and great sorrow.

Childe stripped off his brocade robe and changed into a golden robe, and he stepped on the steps that had been washed but had been stained red with the blood of his fellow brothers, and ascended step by step to the throne above all beings. He looked down at the prostrated courtiers and began to try to turn into reality the blueprint of the prosperous era that he had sketched in his mind countless times.

Of course, this process is far less smooth than imagined, and as the book says, there is no single line of happiness and disaster. Internal and external troubles have always followed, but in the past four or five years, the handsome boy who once made the cheeks of the girl in the market pink and the cigarette willow head card eager to be greeted upside down, but the wind and frost that the temples were inadvertently contaminated with are no longer the style of the year.

It's hard to be an emperor, and on that kind of throne, how many people have envied you, you have to be coveted by as many people.

And if you want to be an emperor who helps the world and opens up a prosperous world, it is naturally more difficult.

Whenever he felt powerless, the young emperor would always reach out and touch the bag under the bright dragon robe, which he had carefully kept. The trick in the bag has been used for a long time, but the giver has not returned for a long time, and when he touches the bag, he will think about the oath of the year. Or drink a glass of sake, or look up at the bright moon outside the window, and then ask the distant person who can't hear his voice: "I am already a king, and you will not return?"

......

People say, "If you don't forget, there will be an echo."

Either the young emperor is sincere, or the other party also keeps that promise firmly in mind.

In the sixth year of his ascension to the throne, a scholar rode the old horse of the year, and galloped all the way back to Tailin City in the dust and dust to meet the first winter snow in Yandi.

When the scholar entered the city, he sat down in a wine shop, and listened to the drinkers say that today was the time for the emperor to travel and worship the ancestral temple. When the scholar heard this, he put down the dishes and chopsticks, and came to Baique Street outside Longxiang Palace with great interest. He led the old horse given to him by the prince back then, watched in the heavy snow, and when he caught a glimpse of the huge honor guard appearing on the street, the scholar patted the horse's back and rushed up to him.

The forbidden army on the bright side, and the worship hidden in the shadows, all locked the opportunity on the scholar's body at that moment, and it only took a breath to live, and the scholar who seemed to be powerless would be shot into a sieve by the feather arrow, or he would be siphoned off by a certain power. But just before these means were about to befall the reckless scholar, the king, who was surrounded by thousands of people, stood up from the dragon chariot, and after drinking back the men of all the people in the light and the shadows. The king himself stepped down from the dragon chariot, stepped on the thicker and thicker snow on Baique Street, and walked deeper and deeper towards the oncoming scholars.

Then, the two looked at each other in the snow.

The scholar pulled out a willow branch that was still green, and the king took out the treasure that had been carefully guarded.

The two looked at each other and smiled, and the laughter became louder and louder, spreading from Baique Street to Tailin City, and from Tailin City to the entire Yan Land.

So, a legend that changed the land of swallows and even the north officially began at this moment, from the hands of a pair of young people......

......

On the second day, before the king arrived, the civil and military officials in the court whispered about the sacredness of the scholar who rushed into the dragon chariot yesterday but was personally greeted by His Majesty. Some people vaguely remember that the scholar seemed to be a certain down-and-out scholar he befriended a few years ago when His Majesty was not His Majesty. But as soon as such speculation was released, it was drowned out in the increasingly outrageous discussions of the ministers.

Then His Majesty came in person, the officials stopped whispering, and the ministers shouted long live.

The early dynasty began as always, and the ghost barbarians outside the Barbarian Pass crossed the border to plunder, and outside the Yuxue City, the figure of the Qi State Iron Cavalry began to move, and the ministers debated whether to fight or peace. Pay the money, send a certain eldest princess and relatives, or continue to cut the land with Da Chu, in exchange for the help of the Great Chu Iron Horse, and temporarily resist the tiger wolves on both sides. This kind of trick has not changed since the founding of the Great Yan, although the new king seems to be a little dislike this, and he is constantly changing the method of saving money from various expenses to form an army, but the civil and military officials in the court are not very optimistic about this. Although Yan usurped Zhou, the situation of the former dynasty's juxtaposition of powerful and uneducated royal courts has not eased, but with the change of power, it has intensified, and all parties have their own positions, so it is naturally difficult to really form an army that is enough to compete with other countries. For the sake of today's plan, there is only difficulty to maintain, and then talk about the future.

The courtiers began to quarrel over whether to pay reparations or cede land.

His Majesty sat on the dragon chair and listened to the quarrels that had not ceased for half a moment since the first emperor was there, day after day, year after year.

He had listened to it for so many years that his eardrums were calloused, and he was bored with it.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen. ”

"If you eat Junlu, you must share the king's worries and think about national affairs. ”

Then a voice suddenly sounded from behind the crowd, and everyone looked back, only to see a young scholar in white stepping in from outside the main hall.

The scholar was not wearing official uniforms, and everyone couldn't remember that they had known such a No. 1 person, so how did he enter the court of this Dayan so blatantly?

The officials couldn't figure out this question, but the scholar's questioning was smashed over at that time.

"Harmony, tribute, land cession. ”

"When have you ever seen a wolf that can be fed, and in which book have you read a soldier who can be stopped by kissing?"

"Everyone in the market knows that if you let people score three, people will want to go into three feet. You claim to be familiar with the way of the sages and sages, and you have a full understanding of the statecraft, don't you understand such a truth?"

The scholar smiled, but the question was sharp. The civil and military forces in the audience were naturally not angry, and after coming back to their senses, they had to drink the guards to take away the fool who recklessly broke into the Yanting court.

"Since Sir dares to make a big statement in front of my Imperial Palace, I think there must be a high opinion. But such a thought came to mind, and the king on the dragon chair suddenly spoke.

After a brief period of surprise, the white-clothed scholar in front of him was very likely to be the one who collided with the dragon chariot yesterday and asked His Majesty to greet him personally.

"The weakness of the swallow is nothing more than two points. ”

"As soon as the previous dynasty came to the disaster, Mangzhou fell, there was no Mangdang Mountain to defend it, and the ghost Rong iron horse was like walking on the ground, and it could go straight into the hinterland of the Central Plains. Ningzhou thought it was the gateway, but it had to face the tigers of Qi, Chu, and Guirong, and its natural strength was not enough. ”

"Second, the gate lords of each clan are in their own formations, named Yanchen, but they are actually Yan thieves. If you want to change the weakness of my Yan Ting, not be bullied by external powers, and even recover the lost territory, the first thing is to coordinate the strong and powerful in various places and accept the hearts of the people. And Ningzhou, as the gateway to Dayan, is the first to bear the brunt. We should warn them with force, and move their minds with profit, not only to enforce Your Majesty's virtues with benevolent government, but also to show your majesty's majesty with strict laws. Therefore, Ningzhou Ning, Dayan Sheng. Ningzhou is declining, and Dayan is dying!"

The scholar's words can be described as deafening, making the audience silent again.

Although the emperor on the stage was full of solemnity, there was a smile in the depths of his wrinkled eyes.

He patted the dragon chair and asked: "It's easy to say, if the things that govern the country are as you believe, the country and the people will be safe, why is my big Yan Jiangshan like this?"

"Those who are difficult will not, and those who will will not be difficult. Your Majesty gave me ten years, and I gave your Majesty a splendid river and mountain. The scholar said.

Everyone laughed at this scholar for being an idiot and dreaming, and he didn't know how thick the sky was.

But his majesty stood up: "Okay!"

"Give you ten years, I want Ningzhou to be my big Yan. ”

So, on that day, a little-known young man was named the governor of Ningzhou, and the Yanting government and the opposition were shaken, and the north was paying attention to it.

After all, no one knew where the young king and his unpreserved courtiers would sail the ruined ship of Dayan......

......

The father of the young emperor, the Taizu of the Yan Court, used to have some ambitions.

Following the example of the northern states, he modified the old system left over from the previous dynasty. Set up a cabinet to check and balance the imperial power, so that there will not be a bastard emperor like the previous dynasty in the next generation, and the court will be stirred up by one person.

It's just that he probably didn't expect that such a wise move to balance all sides would become a stumbling block for his son to show his strength in the future.

The canonization of the state pastor did not go well, and one after another the impeachment of this matter flew into Tailin City like snowflakes from all over Yandi and sent to Longxiang Palace. Under pressure from all sides, even the cabinet, which had been urged by His Majesty the Emperor many times, did not dare to approve this decree.

Seeing that things were at an impasse, His Majesty the Emperor was about to tear his face with the court's civil and military forces.

Zhou Xiangmin, the first assistant of the cabinet, suddenly stood up and expressed his support for this matter, and with the prestige of his protégé from all over the place, he finally temporarily suppressed the opposition from all sides.

As a result, the scholar and the son on the banks of the Sushui River had just reunited, and they carried their promises to each other again and went their separate ways again.

......

There is a way that a strong dragon can hardly suppress the head snake.

The scholars who first arrived in Ningzhou were under far more pressure than the court.

Countless people waited to see this state pastor sink into the sand in Ningzhou and roll back to Tailin City.

But the scholar who was questioned, ridiculed, and even insulted by everyone in Tailin City, but never got angry, and could even smile right, began to show his thunderous methods as soon as he arrived in Ningzhou.

Inducement, lobbying, coercion, repression.

He can always find the right way to deal with the right opponent and break them one by one. Every step he took was difficult, and there were many dangers, but if he was like God's help, he could always turn danger into relief.

Thousands of miles away in the city of Tailin, the young king was not at ease. The Black Wolf Army and Cangyuwei were founded by him, and the obstacles encountered by the canonization of the state pastor made him realize that the dispersion of imperial power could only make what he did difficult, and there would always be short-sighted people who would thwart his grand ambitions under the guise of grandiose. He began to maintain his rights, and at the same time helped the scholar in Ningzhou in every way possible. In those ten years, half of the expenditures of the Yandi treasury were sent to Ningzhou under various names. And in this process, the first assistant Zhou Xiangmin also played an extremely important role.

Ten years have passed.

The monarch and the minister met again.

His Majesty ordered the state pastor to be summoned to the Longxiang Palace, and at the same time, the first assistant Zhou Xiangmin entered the palace together.

The young scholar has reached middle age, but the light in his eyes is becoming more and more fierce, and he is like a sword. It took him ten years to sharpen his sword, and the next ten years would be the time to show his sword to the north.

The king is no longer what he used to be, his temples are even more weathered, but his gaze is more and more calm.

In this way, one monarch and two ministers talked with candles in the Longxiang Palace, and it was not until the night of the second day that the conversation came to an end.

Then, the scholar rode away again and returned to Ningzhou.

After that, the Sanxiao Army, which was famous in the north, began to prepare under the mediation of scholars, and the matter spread and the opposition from the government and the opposition came again.

"Supporting the army is self-respecting, and I am afraid that it will become a national disaster. ”

"The external enemy has not been eliminated, and internal worries have arisen. ”

"Wanton military force will bring disaster to the country and the people. ”

The dissatisfaction of all parties with the annual expenditure of half of the silver money by the national treasury to Ningzhou was completely ignited by this fuse at that time, and under the excitement of the masses, even the head of the cabinet and the king could not suppress it.

But maybe it is in response to that strange sentence, God helps those who help themselves......

coincided with the fact that the army of Ghost Rong came to the outside of the Manhong Pass again, the army was menacing, everyone in the court was in danger, and the words of cutting the land and paying tribute, which had not been mentioned for a long time, were once again put on the agenda by the civil and military officials. But at that time, Shoufu said that he was sick and did not go to court, and His Majesty the Emperor also excused the death of the ancestors and would not govern the government. The dragons in the Yan Court were leaderless, and the civil and military Baiguo was so anxious that they added fuel to the fire. Everyone felt that something was wrong, and they couldn't stop worrying. A few days later, the front suddenly came back with good news, saying that Jiang Huanshui came to the battlefield in person, and the Sanxiao Army broke 80,000 ghost iron cavalry, beat them to the point of losing their armor and abandoning their armor, and withdrew from the Manhong Pass for 300 miles.

That good news made the court dumbfounded, probably since the last hundred years of the previous dynasty, Yan Di has not repelled a foreign army for countless years.

This good news spread, and the people of Tailin City put up lanterns and gongs and drums. The officials who were the most good at seeing the wind and steering the rudder were extremely silent and silent, and never mentioned the matter of blocking the formation of the Sanxiao Army - they knew very well how much the people of Yandi longed for such a victory, and after such a victory, whether it was the Sanxiao Army or Jiang Huanshui, they were destined to be carried to the altar and become unshakable heroes in the hearts of the people of Yandi. Going against the twisted and twisted public opinion is always the stupidest thing in the world for those in power. Although the civil and military officials of Yanting do not know how to govern the country, they are well versed in this wise way to protect themselves.

......

The rise of the Sanxiao Army was unstoppable, and with the idea of protecting the country and the people or sealing the wolf, countless heroes in Ningzhou began to move closer to Jiang Huanshui.

Qingxiao, Zixiao, and Chixiao were separated, Xiao Qingxu, Xu Xianghou, Ning Tingqing, Yu Hu, and Chu Lantian, these names that resounded in the north in the last twenty years began to emerge one by one.

In another decade, the Sanxiao Army proved their worth with blood in battles against foreign tribes again and again, and they were worthy of the huge annual expenditure of the national treasury, and they were also worthy of the position of the state pastor who was canonized by Shoufu and His Majesty.

The scholar who was over forty years old returned to Tailin City again.

Unlike in the past, this time the people greeted him, and the hundreds of officials who came to visit him almost broke the threshold of his temporary residence.

The emperor, who was nearly fifty years old, entertained scholars, and the first assistant, who was over sixty, was still by his side.

After three rounds of drinking, the emperor asked drunken and hazy: "The world is set, what do you want? ”

The scholar smiled faintly and shook his head: "Your Majesty, it's just the beginning. ”

The scholar said, picked up a wine bottle on the table, and threw it aside. The emperor was stunned for a moment, and looked fixedly, but saw that there were still three wine bottles left on the scholar's desk, he suddenly realized, and asked again in a deep voice: "This time, how long will you want?"

"Ten years. ”

......

The third decade of the scholar and the boy in brocade clothes was orderly, but it was turbulent.

There were big battles on the border of Ningzhou, with countless casualties among the Sanxiao soldiers, and Chu Yanyun, a female general who did not let the bearded eyebrows, fought bloodily and led 8,000 soldiers to die for the country;

The Sanxiao army filled the name of weakness in the past hundred Yan land with their flesh and blood, and the two kingdoms of Chu and Qi finally reined in their intention of annexing Yan land, and sent envoys to envoy Da Yan to shake hands and make peace with him.

And the external troubles are gone, and the king in the Longxiang Palace finally freed his hands and began to prune the big gentry who were also entrenched in Gukuan and Erzhou who did not listen to the orders of the imperial court. Yanting and Ningzhou are both prosperous, with the successive successes on the border, the people of Gukuan and the two states have also reached a very high level of support for Yanting, coupled with the full-fledged black wolf army and Cangyuwei over the years, the big clans and gentry in various places have almost no room for resistance under such a general trend, either they are attached, or they are placed on the felony of treason, raze the three clans.

In the past ten years, the scholar has repelled all the strong enemies that came to attack, and made the entire northern territory face up to Yandi. The emperor also solved the troubles of the scholar clan that had plagued him since he ascended the throne, and at the same time changed all the cabinet assistants except for the first assistant Zhou Xiangmin, and after more than 30 years on the throne, he finally became the emperor in the true sense of this Yan land.

......

Ten years after the internal and external troubles were eliminated, the monarchs and ministers gathered again.

The king has white hair, and the old minister bows down. Accompanied by Shoufu Zhou Xiangmin, the two chatted more happily and had no disputes.

The white-haired son asked the scholar of the year: "The world is set, what do you want?"

Same problem, same people, only after another decade, something finally changed.

The scholar shook his head, and he sat in the same position, looking at the place where he had thrown the glass—the wine bottle that he hadn't picked up yet......

The king frowned, and he said, "I have given you ten years. ”

The scholar responded to him: "Ten years is not enough, you know it." ”

The king said, "You have been in Ningzhou for thirty years, and it is time for you to return to Tailin City......

"Ten years, I want another ten years. The scholar's attitude was resolute, the light in his eyes flickered, and he repeatedly told the king in front of him that the sword he had sharpened twenty years ago was still sharp.

The head of the cabinet coughed incessantly, saying that he wanted to retire due to illness, but the king did not allow it, so this ten-year covenant ......

In this last ten-year covenant, the monarch and the minister finally broke up in silence.

The scholars who returned to Ningzhou again dispatched troops, the situation in Ningzhou changed, the imperial court began to reduce Ningzhou's military salaries, and the holy edicts that summoned scholars to Beijing were one after another, but the scholars ignored this, and just carried out their own plans step by step. During this period, he sent away many people, Xiao Qingxu, Xu Xianghou, Ning Tingqing, and Yu Hu, whose names once resounded in the north were extinguished one after another.

Finally, in the thirty-seventh year of the scholar's tenure as the state pastor, the scholar felt that the time was ripe.

So the head of the Ningzhou military department was summoned to the state pastoral mansion, and the old man who was over sixty years old unfolded the map of Yandi in front of everyone, and he lightly touched the blank space in the south of Ningzhou, looked at many soldiers, and said: "Manzhou." ”

Everyone's faces changed, and they all understood that the deployment of the state pastor over the years was at this moment, but the imperial court cut the military salary and summoned the state pastor back to Beijing for this moment.

It's a very ambiguous question.

The powerful northern border of the Ningzhou Sanxiao Army is obvious to all, and the prestige of the state pastor has long surpassed that of Yanting in Ningzhou. Once Mangzhou is recaptured, Jiang Huanshui, who holds the land of the two states, has the capital to sit on an equal footing with Yanting in every sense. Even His Majesty the Emperor, who had personally raised him to the position of state minister, would never be assured of the existence of such a powerful minister, and the holy decrees that summoned him back to Beijing over the years are the best proof of this.

So when the scholar looked at them, everyone present lowered their heads, of course, this is a merit that is enough to make people famous, but everyone knows that behind this feat is also an abyss that is enough to break people's bones.

Of course, the scholar understands.

But the people of Mangzhou have been looking north for 80 years, and Ningzhou has long been strong.

When you have the strength to welcome back your lost family, what reason is there to turn your siblings away?

The scholar couldn't imagine that the sage books he had read and the statecraft he had learned had never told him this truth, so he pointed his finger over and over again in the open space in the south of Naning Prefecture.

He asked, "Who wants to go?"

After a long silence, a man with a black and white blade hanging from his waist finally stepped forward, knelt down on one knee, and shouted, "The last will go." ”

......

The candle flame in the state pastor's mansion flickered, and the old man slowly turned his head to look at Wei Lai, who could listen attentively, and said.

"That's right. ”

"This guy's name is Chu Lantian......"

"The first commander of the Darksky Army......"