When I was very young, my father and ancestor once said that when I looked at the Jiankang clan, only Wang Jialang was barely worthy of my sister-in-law of the Xie family. So when the servant around me was a little annoyed, and there was a Hu person who asked His Majesty to marry the daughter of the Xie family, and finally His Majesty categorically refused to tell me about it as a joke, I couldn't help but feel a little angry.

At that time, I didn't believe that it was such a seemingly nonsense past that became the source of my Xie family's annihilation.

If there is a choice, whether Emperor Liang will regret it, I don't know.

Because of many things, there is no if.

1. Marriage

On a spring day that year, the willows were green and pink, the birds were singing and the warblers were crying, and I was drawing a cluster of new orchids in the courtyard. The new orchid is beautiful, although it lacks the empty valley and is secluded, but it is better than the strange stone as a companion.

Seeing that the painting became again, there was a hurried voice in my ears.

In the distraction, the thick ink entered the paper, but a note of willow leaves was stained.

"What's the matter?" put down the pen, rolled up the waste picture, and threw it into the paper basket beside him.

"Sister-in-law, do you know! You know that the family mentioned that there is a Hu person who proposed to you in front of His Majesty!" Liuli covered her chest and couldn't breathe for a long time, which showed that she was really anxious.

"And then, what does Your Majesty say?" I asked with a smile as I handed her the undrunk tea beside me.

Liuli drank it all in one gulp, and when she came back, she said strangely: "Huh, why isn't my sister-in-law in a hurry?"

"If it can't be done, why should I be anxious?"

"How does my sister-in-law know?!" Liuli was surprised, but soon realized: "Yes! The family Weng said that the intelligence of the Xie family's concubine is not even lost to the Wang family's son, how can she not even guess this!"

Liuli said this, it is rumored that among the women of the Xie family, the most amazing and brilliant one - the daughter of the ancestor Xie An, Xie Daoyun.

I couldn't help but laugh when I heard her compare like this. If it's not as good as my grandmother, I don't know, I only know that for the Xie family, who have a lot of regrets about marrying the Wang family, how can a mere Hu person be able to get into the eye?

In the Mo Clan, I'm afraid that Emperor Liang can't pass that level, right?

"Tell me, what did Your Majesty say?" I believe that although Emperor Liang today listens to treacherous rumors and becomes increasingly ignorant, at least in this kind of matter related to the scholar clan, he can still be quite clear.

"Your Majesty said: 'Wang Xie Men is not a coincidence, but he can visit Zhu and Zhang'!" Liuli smiled slyly, and said with a little mystery: "Sister-in-law, do you know what the Hu man said?"

"What did you say?"

"The man said angrily: 'Will match Wu's children with slaves!' Sister-in-law, you say it's ridiculous, isn't that ridiculous?, this breath is really big!" Liuli chuckled, as if she had heard some great joke, but in an instant, she changed her panicked look, and picked up the handkerchief in her hand to help me wipe the tea in my hand: "Sister-in-law is it hot?"

"No problem. I smiled reluctantly, trying to hide the sudden inexplicable uneasiness in my heart, looking at the table in front of me that was already spilled with tea, and finally felt deaf.

Pressing my forehead, I wanted to get up and enter the house: "After painting for half a day, I'm a little tired, I'll go and take a nap first." ”

That kind of uneasiness, in my heart for a few days, has never dissipated, I didn't hold back, asked the name and surname of the Hu man Liuli.

Looking at the file in front of me, I finally knew where this uneasiness came from.

Second, the past

Wang Xie Qingliu has been honored for a hundred years, and there is no one to compare with Nanliang.

This may be quite beautiful in the prosperous world, but in today's chaotic world, it is by no means a good thing.

Today's Southern Liang has long been rotten inside: the emperor is deaf and vain, the princes and princes have ghosts, and the scholars are entrenched in luxury. Even though they are dressed in gorgeous and prosperous clothes, they have never been able to eliminate the eyesight of the East and the West - not to mention, as the Xie family at the top of this prosperity, his father and ancestors knew that ants were eating the corners of the wall, but they still tried to destroy the Great Wall.

After the change of the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the past year, it was divided into two: in the east, Gao Huan and Erzhu supported Yuan Shannian as the emperor, and he sat in real power, and was in the hinterland of the Central Plains political and economic, called the Eastern Wei Dynasty; in the west, Yuwentai harmed the Xiaowu Emperor Yuan Xiu, and supported the Yuan Bao Torch as the puppet emperor, which was for the Western Wei Dynasty; plus the Southern Liang, which now guards the south of the Yangtze River and has the most prosperous culture and is known as the scholar and doctor, it seems to have become a three-legged state.

In the first month of this year, since the death of Gao Huan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, his former right-hand man openly opposed the Eastern Wei Dynasty because of his discord with his son Gao Cheng. The same Xianbei, the Western Wei Dynasty is naturally the first choice for refuge, but after Yuwentai accepted the six states of Henan presented by this person, although he was crowned with the official knight, he did not send troops to help, and there was a hidden plot to take it out of thin air.

In desperation, the man had to turn to Liang and ask for help with the Thirteen Prefectures attached to Liang. It happened that His Majesty dreamed that the Central Plains was pacified, and there were no unscrupulous generals in the court, so he made a covenant with him, and after awarding the official title, he sent Sizhou Thorn Shi Yang Yaren and others to lead the army to respond.

This rebel against the Savior and looking for a new place is not someone else, it is the Hu man who dared to think about Wang Xie and others in the light of Liuli the day before yesterday - Hou Jing.

Thinking of my father's and grandfather's drunken crying for a long time, "The Xiao family will be declining and the beam will be tilted", I only feel like a fish in my throat.

Although His Majesty rejected his marriage proposal, but now Nanliang can accept such a two-faced and three-sworded person, but it has already broken the hearts of many people.

If you betray the Lord today, why worry that tomorrow you will not be equally abandoned?

Thinking of this person's later sentence of matching Wu's children with slaves, that kind of uneasiness came up again.

The wind blows the old apricot outside the window, this world is going to be chaotic after all, right?

3. Change

The former sages said that women should not talk about politics, but what kind of rules is this in the Xie family, which regards "women are not talented and virtuous" as nothing?

In the study, my father's face was solemn, and he unfolded the letter on the table and pushed it in front of me.

"This Hu man is capable, and this recruitment is a good use to buy people's hearts. Looking at the above content, although he was disgusted, he had to admit this person's scheming, "Now that the taxes are harsh, he is so exempt from heavy taxes to settle the people's children and encourage the people to join the army, I'm afraid that he will collect a lot of people, right?"

"One hundred thousand. The father took a long breath and suppressed the emotions in his heart: "When I left Jiankang, there were only eight hundred people with him. ”

"So many?" I couldn't help frowning in surprise, but looking at my father's grief, I had to pretend to be relieved: "Although it sounds like a lot at first glance, there are still 100,000 soldiers of King Qin. On the one hand, there is a rabble, and on the other hand, there are soldiers who are specially raised for a while, and the strength and weakness are immediately apparent in comparison. What's more, although Hou Jing's manpower is bluffing, his soldiers are not iron-clad. Whether the war starts or not, food supplies are needed, and weapons and materials are needed to prepare for war, but with Shouyang as a city, it is not a climate. ”

"Look at this. Father handed over a letter again, "Auntie, the Xie family has been a scholar for generations, although the ancestors have asked about politics, but when Wang Xie's name is at its peak, he knows that he will retreat into advance, and he will rarely get involved." However, if there is really no power in the DPRK and China, it will be difficult for this so-called scholar clan to last to this day. Now your grandfather and brothers are not interested in politics, so it is inevitable that this matter will fall on one of your daughters......"

"As a child of the Xie family, the blessing of the Xie family should be borne by him, and it is useless for men and women, so my father's words are outward. ”

Knowing that I don't like it the most in my life, someone said in my ear, "Auntie, Auntie, why don't you ...... for a boy", so my father's words came to an abrupt end.

It's just that the unfinished words from before are still in my ears, and I have read this letter for a long time.

Xu is the side reason, and maybe the news mentioned in the letter:

The first is that not long ago, Xiao Yuanming, the Marquis of Zhenyang, who had assisted Hou Jing together with Yang Yaren, was captured by the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and the Eastern Wei Dynasty wrote to Emperor Liang that he was willing to return Xiao Yuanming with Hou Jing, but the confused Emperor Liang actually publicly agreed; the second was that Hou Jing had failed to propose marriage, and Hou Jing was indignant and arrogant; and the third was that he had successfully rescued Hou Jinglai Liang, and then Yang Yaren, who had settled in the Hanging Fortress City, reported Hou Jing for rebellion, but Emperor Liang was noncommittal; fifth, it was that the thirteen states that Hou Jing had given to Southern Liang at that time had been recovered by the Eastern Wei Dynasty; and the sixth was that when Hou Jing wanted to rebel now, Emperor Liang still provided a large amount of money and food to him……

Looking at the book, the little hope I still had completely collapsed, and my heart was extremely angry for a moment:

"Then Hou Jing is shameless, but why didn't he dare to rebel under Gao Huan's subordinates? Why did Gao Cheng's subordinates rebel but failed? Why did he vainly try to play tricks on Yuwentai but let Henan Liuzhou become the wedding dress of the Western Wei Dynasty? The Gao family, Yuwentai, and Emperor Liang are not good, but at least the first two have enough wisdom and right and wrong to deal with this guy, but what about Your Majesty? Your Majesty will not blindly listen to the rumors of Zhu Yi and others, what else will your Majesty do? What else will you do except connive at the clan to kill the people?! I have done so many terrible things before, and now I actually destroy the Great Wall to send supplies to the rebels?! If this Southern Liang is going to die after all, if this edifice is going to fall after all, you might as well let me overturn it with my own hands! Why bother to work his noble body!"

I laughed angrily, and suddenly I felt ridiculous for both my father and myself.

"He Xiao Yan doesn't want his own country, he is ready to give it away, why should our Xie family run in secret, if he is stupid and loyal?!"

There was silence in the room, except for the insects and frogs outside the house.

After a while, my father sighed: "How can the Xie family's century-old fame be tarnished by the name of the last betrayal? Not to mention the greatness of the world, where is peace; just abandoning the Southern Liang is no different from Hou Jing and others in the eyes of the world." So even if I know that there is no way forward, I need to be with Xie until the end. Lives can be lost, but bones cannot be abandoned, this is the real Xie clan's ......"

"Huh...... What was the point of my father telling me this?"

Slapping those pieces of paper on the table, I couldn't help myself: "Since the lives of thousands of people in the Xie family are not as important as the names of this clan, and since my father has already chosen the way back for the clan, why do these useless things? Since the people of the Xie family live for the Xie family in the eyes of the world, then they might as well still whitewash the peace and wealth in this world where the people are miserable and pitiful, and the clogs are drunk together, and the five stones are clear, and the chaos is waiting for the day when the butcher's knife finally comes, and it is good to die peacefully!"

"The Xie family has never lived for the world!" my father's sharp voice sounded, it was the first time in the sixteen years that I heard that the gentle and jade-like Xie family had such a tendency to break gold and jade, and I was a little stunned for a while, and even the tears I had forgotten.

As if afraid of scaring me, my father's voice suddenly softened: "The giant tree of the Shi clan has a hundred years of roots, and the Wang Xie clan has been beautiful for too long. For a long time, outsiders only see its brilliance, but they don't know what kind of dirt and dirt are hidden inside. Things must rise and fall, and I told you this truth a long time ago. And now, it is the moment when the scholar clan is most decadent, this is fate, it is luck, and it is an inevitable necessity. So you don't have to mind, and you don't have to be blind. ”

The father said with a bit of sadness and disdain: "Besides, the Xie family now takes out one casually, which one is clean? Which one shouldn't die? This is what they owe to the Xie family, and now, it is time to pay it back. ”

I was amazed, I couldn't imagine that such a cold, but sober, words were spoken by my father.

With a long exhale, he gradually gathered his mind, patted me on the shoulder, and said with a little reluctance: "But you are different. Auntie, you're different. The bloodline of the Xie family cannot be broken, the family education of the Xie family cannot be lost, among this generation, you are the most intelligent, and you have the most benevolent thoughts of right and wrong. In this already filthy Xie family, only you are the cleanest and most virtuous...... It's a pity...... Auntie, why don't my aunts ...... for her son"

"Father......" I opened my mouth to speak, and the uneasiness in my heart returned.

"But...... It doesn't matter if it's a son or not...... From tomorrow, when you leave Jiankang, I will arrange for someone to secretly send you out of the city. Before I could finish speaking, my father had already interrupted and expressed his decision in the most unquestionable voice, "Don't refuse, Auntie, this is the order of the head of the Xie family, and it is also my father's prayer." You remember, the Xie family can't be stopped, so be obedient and leave tomorrow...... Then, Anshun lived peacefully......"

4. Unknown

On the day I left Jiankang, only Liuli was by my side.

My father said that this kind of thing should not be publicized, so until he left the city gate and went straight to the suburbs, he still remembered that he was still stupidly distressing in the study that night, but resolutely mournful.

I looked from afar at this prosperous place where I had lived for sixteen years, this city that countless scholars regarded as Zhengshuo, looked at the already crumbling fence behind its extravagance, and then went to an unknown place in the sound of rolling away as I gradually walked away.

Father said: The world is big, there is nowhere to be safe, but away from the mundane, there is no obsession, but it can be regarded as peace.

I laughed right: The country is ruined, the family is ruined, and the person is alone, shouldn't it be called a fool's errand?

And now, I am stepping step by step, stepping into this way, in a vain attempt to find a glimmer of life in the unknown.

But everything in the world is not broken or established, and now the end of the Xie family is only for the future rebirth, and such a new life will be eliminated in the troubled times and built at the beginning of the prosperous era;

I don't know how long that day will be, but I do know what to do in the first step.

The place of the new home is in an inconspicuous village. I didn't go deep into the mountains and forests to escape the world, because I needed to know the news from the outside.

Day by day, from the seizure of the stone city to the opening of the city gate by Xiao Zhengde, the king of Linhe, the original so-called rabble, finally in the internal struggle and connivance of the emperor's traitors, in the various states trying to take advantage of him to make way, in the rout and withdrawal of the soldiers of King Qin, they were invincible all the way, and reversed the history of the entire Southern Liang like a broken bamboo.

Jiankang, who once couldn't see the smoke of gunpowder, was finally stained with blood.

Among them, the most colorful are from the Wang Xie and Xie clans.

It is said that the mouth of Wuyi Alley is bleeding and drifting, and even the sunset of those days is unusually beautiful and amazing.

Everyone in the world said that this was the shame of the Hu barbarian revenge on the day of the marriage proposal, and the poor king Xie was the soul of death - as his father wished, all the names of the Xie family were cleared.

When Liuli heard about such a scene from the town, she cried all the way and was exhausted, and almost couldn't return.

Listening to the whimper, I reached out and dipped the corner of my eye, but there was not a drop of water.

My father said that this was the destination he chose for the Xie family, and it was his calm death in order to fulfill the Xie family's century-old name.

He said that when the day came, I couldn't cry because it was his choice, so I couldn't cry.

I always listened to my father, but after that, I also wanted to be my own master.

That night, I blew a cold wind on the top of the mountain, and the stars were unusually bright in the twilight, perhaps my father and grandfather were among them.

I always remember that I am the daughter of the Xie family.

Fifth, Yunyong

My father often said that waiting for the right time and waiting for the time is the best.

So I'm waiting, waiting for a moment, waiting for someone.

I waited until the loyal ministers and traitors were all dead;

waited until Xiao Zhengde came to the throne with Hou Jing as the phase;

wait until the four waves of counteroffensive of the princes of all stripes;

waited until the pathetic Emperor Xiao Yan of Liang was starved to death;

Wait until the southeast has all fallen;

Wait until Shixing Taishou Chen Ba returns first, and Xiao Yi, the king of Xiangdong, raised troops to the north......

I know, it's time.

From the first year of Taiqing to the second year of Dabao, I waited for three whole years, and finally waited for this day.

In the Jiankang bloody case that year, Xie Xi, the surviving daughter of the Xie family in Wang Xie Tumen, finally became one of the think tanks who planned behind the scenes with a statement that dissected the situation.

A weak scholar with the pseudonym Si Xie, no one doubts her true identity. Because of one victory after another, everyone could not question it, and the sword and gun confrontation again and again made them have no time to worry.

Under the same command of Xiao Yi, Chen Baxian did not hesitate to feed more than half of the army rations when Wang Seng was suspicious because of jealousy, so as to dispel Wang Seng Bian's scruples about the Western Army and pave the way for the two armies to form an alliance in the future; with the dispatch of troops to Nankang, Chen Geng defeated Hou Jing's main force in the Baling and Yingzhou areas, and successively captured Ren Yue, Song Zixian and other major generals; and then finally made an alliance with Wang Seng Bian, completely destroying Hou Jing's remaining power.

Everyone thought that it was the wisdom of the guard general Chen Baxian, but only he knew what the reason was.

"Xiao Yi wants to be the emperor in Jiangling, let me guard Jingkou. After the last orchid was finished, he opened his mouth after being in the account for a long time, and he was unwilling.

"Listen to him, he is the seventh son of Emperor Wu, but he has a brother in the past, so his name is not right, and he forgets that the princes have not been eliminated now, and the bird that comes out will surely die. I commented casually, Shi Shiran put down the pen, picked up the scroll in his hand, and finally smiled for the first time in four years.

Over the years, my art of painting orchids has become more and more sophisticated.

Even if there is no cluster of orchids blooming in the spring boudoir garden of Xie Mansion at that time, there are no more orchids in front of you.

"The wolves take food, and no one knows if it will become a praying mantis picked up by the yellow finches. If the general really has great ambitions, then wait a minute. If the name is not right, the words will not go well, and when the internal worries are eliminated and the external troubles are temporarily eliminated, and the day when the people's aspirations are raised, it is the time when the water will come to fruition. He rolled up the orchid painting in front of him and threw it into the wastebasket again.

No matter how good the painting is, it is difficult to have the spring love after all.

I have to admit that although Chen Baxian has a humble background, he has a credibility that is hard to ignore above the word forbearance and loyalty—I mean, it seems.

Many times, even I can't see clearly whether this person is really a foolish and loyal who has no desires, or an actor who has no loopholes.

But it doesn't matter, the important thing is that Hou Jing is dead.

"What are the conditions for my sister-in-law. "After listening to my analysis of the situation and various countermeasures when we first met, Chen Baxian, who had been silent for a long time, finally couldn't resist such a temptation.

"When the general ascends to the highest place, let Xie Xi leave. ”

"If you don't have any other intentions, why help me?"

"Hou Jingtu, is it considered that my Xie family has a hatred of thousands of lives? Is it considered that Liang Wu connived at the faintness and destroyed the clear stream in the south of the Yangtze River?

After a long time, he finally nodded: "Okay, I'll answer." ”

6. New students

Chen Baxian does have the talent of a general.

After that, watching him win one victory after another, from the battle of the rest of the Pingwang monk's debate, the battle of Pingxiaobo, and the battle of Pingwanglin, gradually controlling the entire Southern Liang, and finally establishing himself as the emperor, I knew that it was time for me to go.

When she was boating on the five lakes with colored glass, she was puzzled and asked: "Why doesn't my sister-in-law continue to help Your Majesty unify the north and the south?"

I smiled helplessly.

If I am really talented, why did I see the Xie clan wiped out in the past?

I once swore that I had asked the three calculations, and only the first calculation was my original intention.

What's more, people are greedy and hateful. In order to avoid the cunning rabbit from dying and cooking, why not retreat bravely from the rapids and follow the saint of business?

The building is in decline, and now I am used to watching the ups and downs here, and I have seen it. The rest has nothing to do with me, and I can't do anything with it.

I began to understand that maybe my father had made the right choice.

It is obviously a simpler thing to let the people of the Xie clan who have the supreme scenery become slaves and prostitutes, and **** to die in the decaying Jiangnan under the blood wash of the rebels.

As a living person, the only thing I can do is to spend this life peacefully and happily, inherit the century-old family education of the Xie family, sing the romantic and proud bones at the mouth of Wuyi Alley, and mourn the self-immolation of my father to death.

- Even if the scenery of the Shi clan gate valve is no longer there, the Wuyi Xie clan in the story will always exist. (To be continued.) )