In early summer and June in Hebei, the grass grows and the warbler flies, the green mountains are stacked, the green water is turbulent, the wheat seedlings are green, and the pastoral scenery is a group.

In the drizzle, the peasants wear hats and caps, plough in the cold and heat, paint their bodies and feet, wear stars and work, wear stars and rest, and plough in the fields.

The people's livelihood is difficult, even if there are many wars and disasters, the people still have to work hard, for a mouthful of food, running around and tiring.

Rafts along the Zhanghe River, sparkling and stretching to both banks.

On the bamboo raft at the head, Wang Song stood at the front of the bamboo raft, standing with his hands behind his back, his brows tightly locked, as if thinking about something.

The rolling mountains on both sides, the farmers working hard in the fields, the rolling river, the fishermen fishing alone in the rain on the bank, the ups and downs of life's fate, and the perception of life at the time of life and death, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion, and a few lines of poetry sprang out.

"The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, the waves are sweeping away the heroes, the success or failure of right and wrong is empty, the green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times.

The white-haired fishermen are on the river, accustomed to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze, a pot of turbid wine is happy to meet, how many things in ancient and modern times are all laughing and talking!"

This Ming Dynasty Yang Shen's "Linjiang Immortal", through the rise and fall of history to express the emotion of life, bold and subtle, high-pitched and profound, generous and tragic, meaningless, resonant, heart-filled with thousands of emotions. It also corresponds to Wang Song's current state of mind.

"Good one, how many things in ancient and modern times, are all laughing and talking. Xianggong has a good sentence for the ages, and I admire it at will. It's just that the ambitions of the fair life have not been realized, and they have failed to save the country and the people, and such good sentences are too negative!"

A thin-faced, rather elegant man stepped forward, and the long knife at his waist was very heavy.

"Big brother, your word sounds like a gloomy one, just like "scattered into mud and dust, only fragrant as before". Although it is a masterpiece for the ages, it is too lonely after all!"

Zhao Ruolan, who was dressed in red and had long legs and bee waist, followed, and a few strands of hair on his forehead had been wet by the rain.

Wang Song looked at the misty and rainy river and said with a smile: "Ma Xuanzan, virtuous sister, the Jin people are raging and the people are suffering, of course I will not go with the flow and retreat." But to express your feelings and vent the sullenness in your heart, this should always be allowed. ”

All these people around him are too honest and honest. They either suffered a political blow, saw through the corruption of the imperial court, and did not want to attach themselves to the powerful and maintain their integrity; Either they despise the world, are indifferent, and are cynical; Sooner or later, these people will have to experience the cruelty of politics, the pain of losing friends and relatives, and the struggle of human nature.

He didn't know if it was good or bad for these people.

"Big brother, why did we come to Hebei? According to me, when the prince went out of the mountain and raised the banner of righteousness again, the loyal and righteous brothers in Taiyuan responded to every call, and they were much more refreshing. ”

Zhao Ruolan took a hand towel, handed it to Wang Song, and motioned for him to wipe the rain from his face.

Since Wang Song was injured, it was Zhao Ruolan who had been taking care of him, and even now that Wang Song was injured, she had been staying by Wang Song's side.

Wang Bin nodded, watching the bamboo raft enter the intersection of the two rivers in front of him. The boatmen rowed hard, and the raft turned, heading upstream against the current. This is already in the territory of Cizhou, Hebei East Road.

"There are more than 20,000 brothers in the Loyal and Righteous Army, it sounds like a lot of people, but you can't let the brothers always go to white-knuckle battles with each other, if you can't fight a few times, the brothers should fight out!"

The Zhongyi Society and the Zhongyi Army, with a total of more than 20,000 people on both sides, were all stationed in the Licheng camp and trained by their old subordinates.

Ma Kuo suddenly realized, nodded and said: "Xianggong, you came to this Hebei Road, not only to see the brothers in the past, but also to take a look at our iron factory and our artillery. ”

"Not bad. The loyal and righteous army are all good men, but if we want to defeat Fanzi and kill and injure them on a large scale, we have to rely on the artillery we built!"

Although Lin Tianyou and the craftsmen below were all researching and developing artillery according to Wang Song's requirements, he did not intend to put these credits on himself.

Fortunately, from the very beginning, artillery development was placed under the control of the Loyalists. Even if it is Yue Fei and others in Hebei, they only know a little scratch. Without Wang Song's instructions, no one could go to the iron factory to give orders, and few people knew about it.

"Xianggong, in the past, it was the imperial court that provided grain and grass for baggage. But now that we have become an independent army, we need more money, grain, and grass. When an army marches and fights, it is silver that is fought. Now that the salt has returned to the imperial court, our life will not be easy. ”

"Ma Xuanzan is talking about it!"

Liang Xing followed, and said loudly: "Xianggong, now there are more than 20,000 soldiers in the Loyal and Righteous Army, and the monthly salary is about 30,000 taels. It's enough now, but in two or three months, how are we going to deal with it?"

"At present, it seems that we can only feed the war with war."

Wang Song's brows twisted into a pimple. He is not the God of Wealth, and without money, everything is free to discuss.

"Hebei two roads, prosperous since ancient times. Charcoal and iron minerals are abundant, and the Hebei Plain is a large grain-producing area, and there are tens of thousands of soldiers in you and me, and there is no problem with supply. However, we still have to find a way to expand our business in order to drive the Jurchens out faster. ”

"It's just that since then, brother, how do you get along with the court?"

Liang Xing glanced at Ma Kuo and asked.

"Since the imperial court can't manage these places, and they exist in name only, let's take care of them for him, preach and educate them, appease the people, and resist the barbarians."

Ma Kuo said loudly: "The land of the two rivers and Yanyun has been my hometown of China since ancient times, how can these hunting, fishing and hunting nations be rampant!"

Yang Zaixing and Liang Xing glanced at each other, and both nodded secretly.

What Yang Zaixing said is extremely true. The top priority is to save the people from fire and water, and not let them be ravaged by Fanzi, and other things will be talked about later!"

Ma Kuo looked at Wang Song, seeing that he was silent, and his heart couldn't help but sink.

It seems that Wang Song still doesn't want to be a head-on enemy with the Great Song Dynasty.

"The number of fans is only one million, and the most people who can go into battle are only about 200,000, but the hateful thing is that a large number of Han'er are waving their flags and shouting behind them, which is very hateful when you think about it!"

Yang Zaixin's words made Wang Song's heart move, all along, he always seemed to feel that something was wrong, something was missing, but it turned out to be this.

"Yang Zaixing is right! What we need to do now is to arouse their national consciousness through propaganda and let them know that they are Han Chinese, dignified and upright Chinese and Miao descendants. ”

"A nation without heroes is unfortunate, and a nation with heroes but without knowing how to respect and cherish is incorrigible."

Wang Song suddenly remembered Mr. Duff's words.

There are heroes in China, but there are heroes alone, and there are no people who love their nation, and heroes can only be sad.

If we fail to arouse the patriotic fervor of the people and arouse their national pride, revival will be an empty word.

Everyone stared at Wang Song, stunned for a while.

Could it be that Wang Song can solve the stubborn disease that has not been solved in the Great Song Dynasty for a hundred years?

"Xianggong, you and I are now separated from the imperial court, there is no tax and food source, there is a shortage of money and food, and we have to find another way to pay the bereavement benefits to tens of thousands of brothers."

Ma Kuo's words made Wang Song's brows furrow. The focus of everyone's discussion is still inseparable from money and food.

Since ancient times, the government is money and food, and the war is inseparable from food and silver.

"Xingye, expand the business, I heard that Zhang Daqian and they made glass, when the time comes, let's take a look, and we will know. In addition, the iron factory should not only produce firearms, but also separate the military and the government, and sell both the workshops needed by the army and the workshops for civilian use. ”

"Big brother, is this what is called the idea of making money?"

Zhao Ruolan was very interested in this.

"Xianggong has just said that the land of Hebei is rich, and there is a lot of carbon and iron. The next step is to expand the iron works, build more artillery, and build more earth-shaking thunder. If the court wanted to use it, it had to buy it with silver. This is what the eldest brother calls making money. ”

As long as there is war, there will naturally be a market for artillery and earth-shattering thunder. Of course, he would never do the business of the Jurchens. However, according to his estimate, the Jurchens are probably also pondering the manufacture of firearms. However, I'm afraid it's not that easy.

"Xianggong thinks well!"

Ma Kuo continued: "The way of war today is very different from before. The advantage of the Jurchen cavalry in treating the Song infantry has disappeared with the use of firearms. No matter how powerful a person is, no matter how strong his strength is, no matter how sharp his knife is, and no matter how fast the speed of the war horse is, he can't withstand a round of thunderbolts and artillery attacks. ”

Wang Song nodded, this is the power of technology.

Everyone followed Wang Song to investigate, and the people's livelihood withered everywhere, and everyone felt bored. In the afternoon, everyone went ashore, and this place was less than ten miles away from Guzhen.

Everyone got on their horses and headed north, all of them with solemn faces.

Last year, the Hebei Road Loyal and Righteous Army once marched north, stationed in the north of Zhaozhou, and defeated the army of Wanyan and Ma in Xingzhou, and the army was directed at Zhaozhou.

It was only now that everyone moved forward and saw the corpses that kept appearing in the fields, and they realized that the situation was much more serious. The Jurchens went south and plundered countless counties in Hebei Prefecture, but they didn't know if the important towns of Daimyofu and Hejian Mansion were safe?

Unexpectedly, in the past few months, the situation in Hebei has become even more erosive.

On the south bank of the river, under a few hundred-year-old willows, it was crowded with ragged refugees. Drink coarse tea at the tea stall, rest for a while, and then embark on the journey south.

The boatmen kept carrying the refugees from the north shore to the south bank, and the refugees were all dragging their families, men, women, and children on the way, along the official roads and trails going south, all over the mountains, all the backs of the people going south.

Liang Xing stopped a refugee couple and asked, "Big brother and sister-in-law, what happened, why did everyone drag their families and go south one after another?"

The husband is in his thirties, with a full beard and coarse cloth clothes, and is an ordinary peasant man.

Seeing that Liang Xing and others were extraordinary, they didn't look like ordinary people. The man spoke: "Brother doesn't know. Fanzi waved his troops south, burned and looted everywhere he went, and everyone had no choice but to flee south, so as not to lose their lives in vain!"

Liang Xing was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but speak: "Isn't there a sect husband and a loyal army, can't they deal with Fanzi?"

The man shook his head and said, "Wang Xianggong died in battle." The loyal army has no leader, where can it take care of the people? The local officials and soldiers are still able to bully the people, and when they start a war, they are Fanzi's opponents. When Fanzi came, the officers and soldiers hid in the city, and it was us poor people who suffered in the end!"

The officials and soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty are still always virtuous, they are deceived and deceived, and it is okay to pretend to be gods and ghosts, and when it comes to going into battle and fighting, they are opposite the Jurchen army on the battlefield, and they immediately disperse in a hurry.

Although Zong Ze and Zhang Jun were capable ministers, they were limited to the cavalry ability of the Song army, and they were more than enough to defend and not enough to attack.

It's just that I pity the people of the Song Dynasty on the two roads in Hebei.

In this way, I am afraid that Hedong Road is also more auspicious. However, due to the great injury of the most ferocious and brave Lou Mur army, the threat caused should be lighter than that of the two roads in Hebei.

"If the prince returns, we poor people will be saved!"

"The prince is dead, what do you say? Besides, even if Wang Xianggong comes back, he will not be framed by those corrupt officials, and he will have to die sooner or later!"

The husband glared at his wife, said goodbye to the group, and continued south, joining the rolling army of refugees.

Wang Song's face was pale, his brows were furrowed, and everyone was also solemn.

Wang Song came out at the right time.