Xu Yi missed the appointment.

In the autumn of that year, he did not return to Jiankang City.

In the fifth year of Tianhe, this year may be the most difficult year after the succession of the Son of Heaven.

First, the Northern Expedition was deadlocked at the beginning of the year, and then the route to the front line was cut off in May. In order to dredge the grain route, the Northern Expeditionary Army and Jiankang urgently mobilized troops to flank the rebels in Runan, and at this juncture, the Western Wei State sent troops - the Eastern Wei agreed to cede a large area of territory east of the Tiger Pass, including Luoyang, in order to obtain the Western Wei Army. Runan County soon fell under the attack of the Western Wei State and the rebels, and the grain route to the front line was completely cut off.

Just when the imperial court was arguing over whether to withdraw the troops, Yang Yan, the deputy commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, suddenly fell ill and died, and Xiao Zhengqing, the general under Yang Yan, led the troops to escape without authorization. The army on the right was broken, and the sergeants lost their armor and fled.

The right flank was defeated, and the middle flank was also fluctuating. Seeing that the decline was difficult to reverse, Da Sima Xiao Shouyi finally ordered the withdrawal of the army.

Retreat in the face of decline has always been a disaster.

Before the order to retreat was given, the morale of the army was only fluctuating. Once the order to retreat was issued, the entire army completely lost its will to fight and confidence.

It is like a flock of sheep chased by tigers and wolves. There was no advantage in numbers at this point, and the larger the size of the army, the more desolate the damage when retreating

In the hot and rainy summer season in the north, the roads are muddy, there is a shortage of grain and grass, and the people's minds are scattered and the army's morale is sluggish. Originally, the army escorted the baggage first, and the "retreat" of a few elite palace queens soon degenerated into a big run. After being ambushed several times, the army completely turned into a frightened bird, discarding its baggage and looking around in a hurry. In the rout, a scattered sand-like formation of dozens of miles was dragged out.

The forces of the Queen's Palace soon lost contact with the army.

The army was claimed to be one million when it went out - the actual number was not that much, of course, but the total number was nearly 600,000 when the men who accompanied the army were included. In the end, the troops brought back by Xiao Shouyi, the commander of the Northern Expedition, were only less than 100,000. In order to prevent the scattered troops from defecting to the enemy, the Son of Heaven did not hold Xiao Shouyi responsible for the defeat, but instead offered mercy. He also issued an order to the world that those who had defected to the enemy would not be blamed for the past and reinstated as long as they reformed themselves and brought back the troops. In the following two months, generals led troops back one after another.

In total, nearly 200,000 people returned.

But there was no news from Xu Yi.

Ruyi searched for news of Xu Yi's visit with all her might, and she even went to Xiao Shouyi's mansion to visit in person, but the reply she got was only - when the army retreated, Xu Yi invited herself to the palace.

Although he was young, he also stood out for his bravery and strategy in this Northern Expedition. And he is the quasi-son-in-law of the Son of Heaven, although his official position is not high but his status is noble, he invited himself to the palace, and he also made the loyal and brave soldiers in the middle army excited, and they asked for orders to follow. Therefore, Xiao Shouyi finally granted his request and allocated 2,000 elites to him.

In charge of the palace was Chen Ze'an, the general of Zhengxi, and Xu Yi was in charge of him when he retreated. And the news from the front has been confirmed -- Chen Ze'an has surrendered to the enemy.

Chen Ze'an is a first-class general and the founding father, and his defection to the enemy is tantamount to a stab in the chest of the Son of Heaven. In order to prevent him from rebelling, the Northern Dynasty ordered him to attack and slaughter the soldiers who were besieged but refused to surrender. The Northern Expedition soldiers who fled back hated him too much, and it was almost impossible to reverse this matter.

Therefore, what Xiao Shouyi wanted to say but didn't say was actually - if Xu Yi had not surrendered to the enemy, he was afraid that he would have been more than lucky.

The cruelty of defeat never stops on the battlefield, and the right to call for a halt is in the hands of the victor.

In this battle, the Southern Dynasty lost its troops and lost all the cities it captured in the early days. And the army of the North Dynasty took advantage of the victory and advanced. A large area of Huaibei territory has been lost, and Pengcheng has been reduced to an isolated city, which is undefendable. The important town of Shouchun in Huainan was also besieged, Xu Mao desperately held on, and the imperial court was unable to divide troops to save it.

In addition, since the rainy season in May, there has been a severe drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and the rice harvest in the autumn of this year is almost completely lost. Fortunately, the rotation of rice and wheat in the south of the Yangtze River is twice a year, and the failure of one season will not cause disastrous consequences.

But the price of grain has skyrocketed, the rice beads are paid, and the people are miserable. This adds to an already difficult situation.

The entire Jiankang was shrouded in gloom and misery.

At the end of September, Ruyi's sixteenth birthday.

Erlang took time out of his busy schedule and went to see her in Changganli - although the princess's mansion was built next door to Erlang, but carefully calculated, most of Ruyi's daily activities were in Changganli, and the princess's mansion was just a place for her to come back to rest and sleep. And since the news of the rout at the front came, Ruyi even moved to the general rudder in Chang'an. I haven't been home for months.

Originally, Xu Si was worried that Ruyi was too sad and wanted Ruyi to return to the Autumn Hall to live for a while. But Ruyi did not agree.

Therefore, Erlang's trip is actually to see Ruyi's recent situation, so that his mother can rest assured.

Jiro entered the helm, and first felt that this place was busier than when he came back. From time to time, people hurried in and out with papers, and in every room you could see people buried in the case files or discussing formal matters. It's almost time to catch up with the regular yamen.

And most of the people who do the work are still those - after returning from the last time, Jiro suspected that they were carefully selected and trained personal guards. Later, he sent someone to investigate carefully, and even directly asked Xu Si to ask about it, and it was confirmed that these people were indeed private guards. Most of them are loyal and brave men accumulated by Xu Si and Xu Mao in the troubled times, not to mention that they can all die for the Xu family, at least they are all desperate. Xu Si passed these people to Ruyi instead of him, which made Duo Erlang a little surprised, but from the bottom of his heart, he felt that "this is good" - as soon as Ruyi has a loyal person by his side, he can worry less about her. Second, these people are so compatible, and they won't be too angry with him.

It's just that seeing that this place is as usual, only a few times busier, Erlang's heart sank slightly.

Ruyi's condition, he thought, was really not good.

Ruyi felt that she was in good condition.

I woke up in a dream last night and couldn't sleep anymore, I thought I would not have much energy today, but I didn't feel sleepy until now.

It's just that I was idle for a while, and I saw the orchid grass growing on the lake stones in the courtyard, and my mind was full of the oblique rain mist on the stone hill.

She was stunned for a while, and when she came back to her senses, she was listening to someone say, "The county lord of Anji invites you to visit the garden again, it is scheduled for the fifteenth of next month, will you go?" ”

Ruyi's brows furrowed - the county lord of Anji was the sister of King Wuling and Xiao Maode, and the daughter-in-law of King Ji of Jingzhou. Since returning to Beijing last year, he has been active in the circle of noble ladies in Jiankang. Ruyi has been in contact with her a few times, but she can't say that she has a lot of love. It's just that this Anji County lord has a cool temperament and loves Zhang Luoshi, and when he entered the Hajj at the beginning of the year, he asked Xu Si about Ruyi's family affairs, and it seemed that he intended to protect the media for her. After learning that she had promised to be married to Xu Yi, she immediately retreated. Who knew that after the defeat of the front-line soldiers, she warmed up with Ruyi again, and invited Ruyi to visit the garden and relax several times. Although he said comforting words, there was a sense of rehashing old things in his words.

Ruyi rarely dislikes anyone, but he is really disgusted with this cousin whose temperament is not annoying.

But in the end, she still said, "Go." He added, "Among this batch of newly arrived gems, choose a few pieces of medium color, and ask the craftsman Zhou to make me a set of delicate heads." I'm going to wear it that day. ”

Ji Xue hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is it wearing?" Or is it a gift? ”

Ruyi said, "Wear it - wear it for them to see." I won't give away any of these gems, I'm going to sell them all. ”

"But at this time......" Ji Xue didn't dare to mention Xu Yi's name directly, but when Xu Yi's life and death were unknown, Ruyi dressed up abnormally and went to the garden, and it would definitely not sound good to spread out.

Ruyi didn't seem to understand, "They don't care about this, don't they still visit the garden?" ”

Ji Xue didn't know if Ruyi really didn't understand what she meant by "at this time", or if she was deliberately confused. There was silence for a moment before he turned to say, "The third helmsman came here in the afternoon to discuss with you about transporting grain from Shudi. ”

Ruyi said, "Got it." She thought that she really had to meet with the county lord of Anji, and it was best to greet Wang Ji through her and arrange for the official ship to escort her. Otherwise, the grain team passed through Jingzhou, and I don't know what twists and turns there were. She added, "Let Li Dui come with him—and by the way, the matter of recruiting sailors will be settled together." ”

While he was talking, someone brought in the deed - although the chief helm was not a shop that sold goods, he also had his own business - to settle accounts and check accounts for others. Occasionally, I also do some short-term mortgage and loan business, and mortgage loans and other types of mortgage loans must be decided by Ruyi personally.

Ruyi stretched out his hand to take the deed and asked Ji Xue first, "Is there anything else to do in the afternoon?" ”

Ji Xue said, "There's nothing important about it - but you have to prepare in advance, today is your birthday, you have to go to the palace to kowtow to your mother." ”

Ruyi paused for a moment, nodded and said, "Well, then you can go down and make arrangements." ”

Then he buried his head in the deed and looked at the deed, and when he saw that there was no problem, he added a seal to the bottom. The deed was written in duplicate, and one was given to the maid to be locked up and kept at the bottom. The other copy was handed back to the man along with the rune letter, and said, "Take this and go to the treasury to get the silver." ”

After she was busy with this stubble, she was about to go into the house to eat some snacks and drink tea, when she saw Erlang standing aside in a complicated mood, looking at her with a disapproving face.

Ruyi looked up at the maid first, and protested with her eyes, why didn't anyone report it? Then he heard Erlang say, "I won't let them say it." ”

Ruyi didn't bother to pursue these things anymore, and only raised her eyes to look at him—while wondering when Erlang was taller than her, she said, "Go in and say?" I happened to be a little hungry and needed to get something to eat. ”

Erlang nodded, and she led Erlang into the room.

At the end of September, the weather in the south of the Yangtze River was already a little cold, and the house was lit with a smoke cage, and the warm breath came with the fragrance of chrysanthemums as soon as I entered. Then I saw a blue-glazed eight-sided bottle from Yue kiln on the case, with a narrow bottle mouth and seven or eight full and gorgeous chrysanthemums of various colors. There are six kinds of hot and cold snacks on the table, and the freshly cooked tea is curling with white mist.

The room is not very large, and it can be seen that it is a reads specially designed for resting. The layout should be comfortable and just right.

Ruyi entered the house and sat down, first ate a piece of dim sum with tea, and then said, "Why do you have time to come to me?" ”

Jiro didn't have the heart to talk to her. Just ask, "How long have you been doing these chores?" ”

Ruyi heard her say "housework" when she spoke, and he knew that he was not very happy. She has a soft temperament, and she doesn't argue with Erlang, but says, "Since I moved out last year, I've been doing it - business was originally such a general task." Do you still think that if I eat and drink dew, I can sit and wait for others to collect rare treasures for me in the boudoir? ”

Erlang said confidently, "Why not?" I think that's good. ”

Ruyi said, "...... If this is the case, then I am just the kind of squishy who parasitizes on the people and is harmful to the country and the people. She said, "Now that the situation is like this, I also want to do what I can." ”

Erlang paused before saying, "Even so, you don't have to bow down to everything. ”

If he was relieved, he sat back to eat snacks and drink tea, and said, "I won't tell you anything, others can't do these things so well." Originally, I was with ...... My cousin and I," she paused, lowered her eyes and took another sip of tea, then looked through the curling tea mist at the broken reflection in the cup, and then said again after a while, "...... The bigger the business, the fewer people can take our place. This is also the same reason as leading soldiers, thousands of troops are easy to get, but one general is hard to find. ”

She stopped talking.

Jiro looked at her for a long time before asking, "Are you still tracking down your cousin's whereabouts?" ”

Ruyi shook his head and added, "But I know that my cousin is still alive." No matter what people say, I just know - he's alive. So you and A-Niang don't have to worry about me, I won't be stupid to toss myself to the point of being sick, and I have to wait until he returns from fulfilling the contract. ”

Jiro couldn't help but ask again, "He said he would come back in October at the latest." ”

Ruyi said, "There are occasional misses, and he can't be regarded as a last resort." ”

"What if he doesn't come back for a year?"

"Then wait for him for a year."

"What if he doesn't come back for ten years, all his life?"

Ruyi looked at Erlang for a while and said, "If he hasn't come back after I'm busy with the business at hand, then there's nothing to do if I want to wait for time - I'll go out to find him myself." ”

"But what if he dies?"

Ruyi said, "If he lives, I will bring his people back." If he dies, I will bring back his bones. As she spoke, tears rolled down, and she looked up at Erlang and said, "Why do you have to ask about these things?" Could it be ...... What's new? ”

Her face turned pale in an instant, her knuckles tightened, her whole body was a little shaky, and tears kept rolling out, "...... Tell me the truth, I can stand it. ”

Erlang said, "Not yet." But you can't always be like this......"

Before he finished speaking, Ruyi was already shaking. After suddenly slackening, her external calmness completely collapsed, she cried and accused Erlang vaguely, "Then what are you talking nonsense......" The tears that had been suppressed for so long finally burst out, she could barely control her feelings, her voice trembled slightly, and she cried loudly like a child.