Heaven and earth are like a furnace.

And history goes on and on.

In the eleventh year of the founding of the Wu Dynasty, the three behemoths between this heaven and earth finally collided together, tens of millions of people fought and bled blood, and the small creatures hurriedly and fiercely walked through their lives, the beginning of this tragic war, originated from a certain day more than ten years ago, and if you want to delve into its cause and effect, the line between heaven and earth may be entangled in a deeper distance.

Even the spirited gods may not be able to understand everything in this heaven and earth, and as dull as human beings, we can only intercept small tangible fragments of this heaven and earth, in the hope of gaining insight into the truth or metaphor contained in it. Although this small fragment is already unimaginable for us......

In the spring of the eleventh year of Jianshuo, Liangshan in January was cold and barren. The accumulated grain had been eaten in the early winter of last year, and the men, women, and children on the mountain tried their best to fish, struggling to satisfy themselves, and the 200,000 Han troops outside the mountain occasionally attacked or swept up, and when the weather was getting colder, the tired fishermen abandoned their boats and jumped into the water, and many died. And in the days when there is no fish to be fought, the people on the mountain need to go hungry even more.

The old people die in the winter, the young people are hungry, and even the children are suffering from hunger most of the time. The Huaxia Army and the Guangwu Army, which were less than 10,000, relied on their geographical advantages to match the good and bad of the army outside the mountains, and the situation with the opposite side became a stalemate, but in fact, the situation outside Shuibo was even worse at this time.

The area of Shandong, where the people were fierce and bandits, was not a rich grain-producing area, and the Jurchen East Route Army went south, consuming a large amount of materials, and there was no food outside the mountains for a long time. In the autumn, the grain was "requisitioned" by the Jurchen army before it was harvested, and before the late autumn arrived, a large number of people had begun to starve to death. In order not to starve to death, young people went to serve as soldiers, and being soldiers was only in the fish and meat township, and there was nothing left in the township, and the life of these Han soldiers became extremely difficult.

The 200,000 troops who were rushed by Wan Yanchang to attack Liangshan have been struggling in such a difficult situation since late autumn. There are too many people outside the mountain, in late autumn, there is a plague in Shandong, often all the people in a village are dead, and it is difficult to see walking living people in the towns, some troops are also infected by the epidemic, the infected soldiers are isolated, waiting to die in the epidemic camp, and after death, they are burned out by the fire, in the process of attacking Liangshan, even some of the infected corpses are loaded by the big ship and rushed to Liangshan. For a time, Liangshan was also affected to a certain extent.

In the winter, the plague stopped spreading for the time being, and the Han army had no pay, and the soldiers fished in the water, and occasionally two different armies would meet and fight for it. Every once in a while, the generals commanded the soldiers to row a rudimentary raft to attack Liangshan, so that the attrition could be completed to the greatest extent, and it didn't matter if the soldiers died in the war, or directly surrendered to the Black Banner and Guangwu Second Army of Liangshan.

The resources have been exhausted, cannibalism is a common thing outside, no one can afford to raise more mouths, Zhu Biao Wang Shanyue and others occasionally take soldiers out of the mountains to launch surprise attacks, these Han troops who have no combat power kneel on the ground and beg for mercy, and even want to join the Liangshan army, only begging the other party to stutter, and the hungry Zhu Biao and others can only let them disperse.

Soon after, they turned the raid into a smaller-scale decapitation battle, all raids were only aimed at the middle and high-level generals of the Han army, the soldiers at the lower level were about to starve to death, only the middle and upper class generals still had some rations in their hands, as long as they kept an eye on them and caught them, they could often find some food, but soon after, most of these generals were also vigilant, and there were two deliberate ambushes, almost turning Zhu Biao and others in the game.

Hunger, the most primitive and tragic torture of mankind, turned this war in Liangshan into a bleak and ironic hell. When the starving old people on Liangshan were carried out every day, Zhu Biao, who was watching from afar, had an indissoluble powerlessness and resentment in his heart, which was the feeling of wanting to roar out with the greatest strength, but all the breath was blocked in his throat. Hundreds of thousands of "Han troops" outside the mountain were driven by Wan Yanchang and died with them here, and the lives of these "Han troops" themselves became worthless in the eyes of others or themselves, and they knelt down in front of everyone, but they did not dare to resist.

In fact, even if they wanted to resist, neither the Huaxia Army nor the Guangwu Army would be able to get any food. The once dignified Wu Dynasty and the huge Central Plains have now been trampled and reduced to this, and the lives of the Han people are as ridiculous as ants in front of the Jurchens. The indignation is breathless.

The other battlefield is Jindi, where the situation is slightly better, and Tian Hu's more than ten years of operation have left some surpluses for Lou Shuwan and others who usurped the throne. After the fall of Weisheng, Lou Shuwan and others turned to the western part of Jinxi, and maintained a base area in the mountains and mountains. The offensive organized by the capitulation forces led by Liao Yiren has been continuing, and the long war and the chaos in the occupied areas have killed many people, and the tragedy of starving to the point of being eaten by Yizi like Shandong has never appeared, and people are killed rather than starved to death, which is probably a kind of ironic mercy in a sense.

Since the beginning of winter, what the people eat at the bottom is often porridge cooked with musty grain. Lou Shuwan was in charge of people's livelihood when he was under the command of Tian Hu, and he was in charge of the storage of the entire Jindi, and this place was not rich and fertile, after Tian Hu's death, Lou Shuwan vigorously developed people's livelihood, which lasted for more than a year, and in the spring of the eleventh year, it was difficult to recover from spring ploughing in the continuation of the war.

I'm afraid that I won't be able to eat people in the autumn of eleven years...... With such an estimate, since last autumn, Lou Shuwan has been reducing the food expenditure of the army and government departments with an iron fist, and has practiced strict frugality. In order to lead by example, she often eats food with a musty smell or with chaff powder, in the winter, she fell ill twice in the busy and rushing, one time only three days, people around her persuaded her, she shook her head and did not listen, and the other time was extended to ten days, ten days of time she vomited and discharged, water and rice were difficult to enter, and after healing, the stomach and intestines were badly damaged, and when spring came, Lou Shuwan was so thin that her skin and bones were thick, her facial bones were protruding like skeletons, and her eyes were sharp and scary- She seems to have lost the face and figure that she was still so beautiful.

In her notes, she wrote: "...... Yu Yu was already more chilly in winter, his gray hair began to come out, his body was tired, and he was afraid that his life would not be long in coming...... Recently, I didn't dare to take a self-portrait in the mirror, and I often remember when I was in Hangzhou, although Yu was shallow, but rich and beautiful, and there were men around me who praised him, compared to Su Tan'er, it was no difference. But it's not a bad thing now...... It's just that these sufferings don't know when it will come to an end......"

In addition to feeling sad, he wrote: "...... When Yu died, the Liao clan always had to go ahead......" such words that he wanted to kill the whole family, and suddenly he became angry.

Over the years, she has often read official documents or letters written by Ning Yi, and over time, the grammar is also messed up. Sometimes she throws it away after she finishes writing, and sometimes it is saved. When spring came, Liao Yiren and other surrendered forces gradually lost their spirit, and the backbone officials and generals in the forces paid more attention to the stability and pleasure behind them. The pressure in Lou Shuwan's heart decreased slightly, and her body gradually eased up.

In mid-January, the Second Battle of Xuzhou, which began to expand, became one of the focuses of attention. Liu Chengzong, Luo Ye and others led more than 40,000 people to attack Xuzhou, and successively defeated more than 60,000 puppet Qi and Han troops along the way.

At this time, most of the Eastern Route Army led by Zongfu had crossed the Yangtze River, attacking the defenses of the Wu Dynasty in Jiangning and Zhenjiang on the one hand, and eager to try the battle situation in Lin'an on the other. Liu Chengzong's resolute retreat tensed everyone's nerves, and Nie Erqiao, the general of the Jurchen East Route Army, and others urgently mobilized nearly 150,000 troops in various parts of the Yangtze River to confront this black flag division in Xuzhou.

Considering that the Black Flag Army led by Ning Yi in the Northwest War that year had a record of trapping the city through the secret passage and killing without losing it, the Jurchen army launched several repeated searches in Xuzhou, and hurriedly cleaned up some places that had been beaten into ruins and had not been cleaned up before the war, so I was relieved. The troops of the Huaxia Army camped outside the city, and even launched two onslaughts in mid-to-late January, tightly intimidating Xuzhou like a cobra.

At this time, Lin'an encountered the same situation in Xuzhou for a period of time. On the eighth day of the first month of January, Wushu attacked outside the city, and only retreated on the tenth day of the first month, and then he has been circling outside the city of Lin'an. Although Wushu was lacking in grand strategy, the use of troops on the battlefield still had its own rules, and several Qinwang armies outside Lin'an City failed to gain advantage in his flexible and resolute attack, and there were two small defeats and one heavy defeat in January.

The pressure in the city of Lin'an is condensing, in the city of millions of people, officials, gentry, generals, and ordinary people are fighting for their lives, more than ten officials in the court are dismissed and imprisoned, and there are several assassinations and firefights in the city.

But in any case, in this month, more than 100,000 forbidden troops surrounded the entire Lin'an City, and the people defending the city held down the thoughts of the city. In the direction of Jiangning, Zongfu ordered the army to storm Jiangning on the one hand, and on the other hand, he divided his troops and tried to go south several times in order to echo Lin'an's vultures, and the team led by Han Shizhong stubbornly held the route to the south, and even won a lot of victories on several occasions.

In mid-January, Yue Fei led the Beiwei army eastward along the Yangtze River and inserted it into the Jiangning battlefield at high speed.

An even greater chaos is breaking out in various parts of the Wu Dynasty, Fujian Road, the uprising led by Guan Tianxia, Wu Heilong and others has captured several prefectures and counties; In Xuanzhou, the Central Plains refugees led by Cao Jinlu rebelled and broke through the state city; In Dingzhou, Hu Yuner started an incident in the name of Manichaeism...... At the same time as the anti-Jin uprising gradually appeared in the Central Plains, the various contradictions that had been suppressed in the past ten years in the territory of the Wu Dynasty, and the oppression of the southerners to the northerners, also began to break out in a concentrated manner when the Jurchens arrived.

Against this background, in late January, the Huaxia Army squads from all over the country also began their missions one after another, Wu'an, Changsha, Qimen, Xiazhou, Guangnan, ...... Organized assassinations with incriminating evidence and books of adultery appeared in various places, and planned confrontations against such things, as well as various incidents of pretending to kill people, also broke out one after another. Some of the Huaxia Army squads wandered in the shadows, privately colluding and warning the wavering forces and clans.

During this period, a group of 120 soldiers of the Huaxia Army led by Zhuo Yongqing went out of Shu, along a relatively safe route to lobby and visit the forces that had previously had business dealings with the Huaxia Army, during which two poorly organized fights broke out, and some of the gentry who hated the Huaxia Army gathered "righteous soldiers" and "militia groups" to block them, once the scale was about 500 people, and once it reached 1,000 people, both times were defeated by another team that secretly followed Zhuo Yongqing after the assembly with a beheading strategy.

In order to cope with the actions of these special squads that had left their hometowns, in mid-January, the 30,000 Huaxia troops on the Chengdu Plain moved from Zhangcun to the eastern and northern borders of the forces and entered a state of war readiness.

The expansion of various things and the spread of news will take time to ferment. In the boiling world, in the middle of January, there was a news that gradually spread to the green forests and markets of the Wu Dynasty through the tongues of the vendors and storytellers who walked around the country.

There was an old man named Fu Lu, with the last clothes of his former master, reappearing in the green forest, and was going east along the Yangtze River, in the direction of Jiangning and Zhenjiang, which were caught in the great war.

The news of the appearance of the old man came out, and some people heard about it in various places, first silent and then whispering, the sun rose and the moon set, gradually, some people packed up their packages, some people arranged their families, and began to go north......

In Yizhang County, the notorious underworld murderer Jin Chenghu opened a strange flowing water seat.

Jin Chenghu is in his forties, with a fierce face like an iron tower, and he is an underworld strongman who relied on his ruthlessness to fight the world here after the Wu Dynasty moved south. Ten years of hard work, it is not easy to save a body of savings, in the eyes of others, he is really in the prime of life, and in the next ten years, Yizhang area, I am afraid it will be his territory.

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, there was no red and white celebration, and it was not a housewarming of the new house, Jin Chenghu had to open this flowing water banquet, and the reason was so that many people couldn't figure it out, and his opponents in the past were even afraid that this guy would have to play because of something, such as "It's past the Lantern Festival, you can start killing" and so on.

The flowing water mat was held on the small school field in Yizhang County for three days, and at noon that day, the sky suddenly snowed, Jin Chenghu drank some wine, stood on the high platform, and looked up at the snow. He began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen...... Fellow villagers, brothers, I am Jin Chenghu, originally not called Jin Chenghu, my name is Jin Cheng, when I was in the Northland, I was a ...... Bandits! ”

He held the wine bowl: "The cottage I am in, the big tiger village on Hedong Road!" My boss is called Peng Dahu! He's not a nice guy, but he's a man! He did two things that I will remember for the rest of my life! In the eleventh year of Jinghan, there was a grain shortage in Hedong, and Grandmaster Zhou Dong Zhou went to Dahu Village to ask for food, and he left the rations in the village and asked for 216 stones, and the owner of the village gave it without saying a word! We told the owner of the village that Zhou Dong was just a master and servant, and we had more than 100 men, what were we afraid of him! The owner of the village said at the time that Zhou Dong robbed us for the world, not for himself! The owner of the village took us and handed over 216 stone of grain, and he didn't play any tricks! ”

"Second thing!" He paused, and snowflakes fell on his head, face, and wine bowl, "Jing Han! Thirteen autumns! The golden dog is heading south! Grandmaster Zhou Dong and Zhou didn't say a word, stabbing sticky! Many people followed him, and Peng Dahu, the owner of my village, was one of them! I remember that day, he happily told us that Grandmaster Zhou's martial arts are world-famous, and the last time he came to our village, he begged Grandmaster Zhou to teach him martial arts, and Grandmaster Zhou said, when you don't become a bandit one day, I will teach you. The owner of the village said, Sect Master Zhou is definitely going to teach me now! ”

"The owner of my village is one of the righteous men who followed Zhou Dong to stab Sticky Han!" He almost shouted out these words, and there were tears in his eyes, "He disbanded the stockade back then, and said, he wants to follow Sect Master Zhou, you guys disperse." I'm afraid, I'm scared when the Jurchens come! When the stockade was dispersed, I came south. My name is Jin Cheng! Changing his name to Jin Chenghu, it's not about bringing a tiger word to look fierce! I've been thinking about the meaning of the name for more than ten years...... Almost all of the righteous people who followed Sect Master Zhou to assassinate Sticky Han at the beginning died, and this time, Senior Fu Lu came out, and I figured it out. ”

In the falling snowflakes, Jin Chenghu swept his eyes over the gang that followed him in the audience, the few concubines he had married over the years, and then raised the wine bowl in his hand with both hands: "Fellow villagers, fathers, brothers!" The hour has come—"

"—Disperse!"

His whole body muscles are like an iron tower, and his plain face is quite scary, but he stands straight at this time, but he doesn't show any handsomeness. Heavy snow was falling.

Time has passed through the distance of more than ten years, and there is a figure in the long time to bring about the influence, which will not be dissipated for a long time. His life and death have left a huge imprint in people's hearts. His spirit, years and decades after his death, is still running through and changing the lives of many people......

Zhou Dong. Zhou Dong.