After all, in the middle of June, the scenery of West Lake is not the same as the four seasons. The lotus leaves are infinitely green, and the lotus flowers are different red.

Southern dynasties.

It was an exceptionally hot summer day, and Jiangnan was approaching the season of lotus picking. In the annoying cicada song, Zhou Pei woke up from his sleep, and there were still some traces of nightmares in his mind, the conflict of thousands of people, in the darkness into an unspeakable tide of anger, bloody breath, wafting from far away.

How much time has passed since that nightmarish battle?

The Jurchens searched the mountains and seas, and slaughtered wantonly in the south of the Yangtze River.

She and her father drifted on the sea for half a year, leaving her younger brother to run and struggle in this land south of the Yangtze River for half a year.

Time, long in memory. However, if you think about it, it seems that it is only the past that is close in front of you.

The close-fitting maidservant Yiren came in with a cold sour plum soup. She sobered up a little, swept away the gloom in her mind, and soon after she changed her clothes and walked out of the room, where the eaves of the princess's mansion shed shade, and in front of her there were walkways, trees, and a large lotus pond, and the water waves of the pond shone in the sunlight.

The weather was too hot, and there were no people in the aisles and pavilions on the pond, only the guards on duty were occasionally seen under the eaves, and the sound of quarrels was faintly heard from the courtyard next door at the other end of the corridor amid the sound of cicadas.

Zhou Pei frowned and walked over there, the long corridor extended, and the voice over there became clearer and clearer, and it was also this clear voice that made Zhou Pei's mood more and more deposited.

The courtyard where she lives faces the big pond, which is the most spacious, with more than ten rooms lined up at the water's edge, facing the water's edge or the gardens and pavilions on the water, which is the core of the princess's mansion, where Zhou Pei lives and deals with various things every day. The courtyard next to it is slightly smaller, a big locust tree in the courtyard is sprinkled with shade in the poisonous sunlight, when Zhou Pei passed, he saw two men who seemed to be facing each other - in fact, it was just one person looking for fault - the horse Qu Zonghui faced Cheng Zhouhai, scolded and had been talking for a while, seeing that Cheng Zhouhai always ignored it, he rushed over and pushed him at this time.

“…… Why don't you bother to talk to me? Do you think it's really amazing to be a little white face? Don't look at your age, you can be her father......"

Facing Qu Zonghui, Cheng Zhouhai just lowered his eyebrows and didn't say a word, when the horse rushed over and stretched out his hands to push violently, he took two steps back, so that Qu Zonghui pushed it into the air, rushed forward two steps and almost fell. This made Dequ Zonghui even more embarrassed: "You still dare to hide......"

"Enough!"

Zhou Peixing's eyes were angry, and she appeared at the gate of the courtyard, the eldest princess in palace clothes had her own majesty at this time, and as soon as she appeared, the courtyard was quiet. She looked at the man in the courtyard who was nominally her husband, and there was a disappointment in her eyes that could not be concealed—but it was not the first time. After two suppressed breaths, she tilted her head: "The colt is too rude." Take him down. ”

Her words were said to the personal maid Gong Yiren next to her, Gong Yiren saluted and received the order, and then whispered to the two guards next to her to step forward, and apologized in a low voice when she approached Qu Zonghui, the guards walked over, Qu Zonghui raised his head and waved his hand at Zhou Pei, not letting the guards approach.

"I'll go!"

After saying this proudly, he glanced at Cheng Zhouhai again, and turned to leave the courtyard.

If you only look at the back of this departure, Qu Zonghui has a long figure, fluttering clothes, and a high-spirited gait, and he is really a man who can make many women love - over the years, he has indeed relied on this skin bag to capture the hearts of many women in Lin'an City. And every time he leaves in front of Zhou Pei, he does maintain his demeanor like this, Xu hopes that Zhou Pei can change his mind a little bit when he sees his arrogance.

However, he never knew that the woman in front of him had never had too much longing for this side of the man, maybe she had seen too many things too early, or maybe she had been in charge of all kinds of complicated situations in the past few years. Qu Zonghui's efforts to save her relationship often lasted for several days and half a month, and then she left in anger in Zhou Pei's unresponsiveness, and began to throw herself into the arms of other women on the grounds of "self-abandonment".

For Zhou Pei at this time, that kind of effort is too much like a child's game. Qu Zonghui didn't understand that his "hard work" was too arrogant to ridicule the efforts of people in this world, everything in the princess's mansion was related to the livelihood of hundreds or even thousands of people, if there was room for giving up these two words, then this world would be really good.

It was once difficult to turn the sea into water. This year, Zhou Pei was twenty-five years old, and she had become an adult in a time that she didn't realize it herself.

"The horse has no form, so that Mr. has been wronged."

"It's all right, donkey...... is also because I love the princess, and I have some unnecessary jealousy. ”

"Oh." Zhou Pei nodded and smiled gently, "Mr. come with me." ”

"Hmm."

In the sound of cicadas chirping in the dazzling sun, the two went to the study room in the courtyard one after the other. This is a private relationship that has been done for many days, and in the eyes of outsiders, it is inevitable that it will be a little ambiguous, but Zhou Pei has never defended, and Cheng Zhouhai's position as one of the top staff in the princess's mansion has never been moved.

After inheriting the mantle of the Chengguo Princess's Mansion, after a few years of the Southern Dynasty, the current Eldest Princess's Mansion is already a more expanded behemoth in the south of the Yangtze River than before. After the Jurchens searched the mountains and seas, the Wu Dynasty essentially lost the entire Central Plains. In the face of the chaos, the officials learned from the pain and cleaned up the situation, Zhou Pei and others reorganized the power of the princess's mansion in this chaos, and also started again with the mentality of coming to a dead end.

In a few years, relying on the assistance of Cheng Zhouhai and others, Zhou Pei worked hard and cautiously to learn Ning Yi's skills in developing bamboo and revitalizing various industries. In order to solve these problems, with the power of the princess's mansion in the dark and the imperial court decree in the bright, the commercial workshop began to develop a large scale in order to give these people jobs, and after the initial huge chaos and embarrassment, until they sobered up, everyone suddenly found that the financial resources and influence of the princess's mansion had swelled up at all levels of society.

The gap between the rich and the poor in society is widening, but the revitalization of commerce still gives a large number of people a chance to survive, and after a year or two of chaos, the whole land south of the Yangtze River has become unprecedentedly prosperous - this is the status quo that no one can understand - the people in the princess's mansion and the court can only attribute it to the sincere cooperation and shame of all parties, and to their unremitting efforts.

For some insiders, the development of various undertakings in the princess mansion system even faintly surpassed the bamboo system that could not be mentioned at the beginning - they finally learned a certain aspect of the rebel's skills, and even surpassed it. And after that great chaos, they finally saw hope again.

Sure enough, without such a huge disaster, the people living in a prosperous area would not wake up, and this was the Jurchens' three southward journeys that woke up the people of the Wu Dynasty. As long as this continues, the Wu Dynasty will rise sooner or later.

This is a saying that has gradually become popular in many poetry societies and literary meetings, and on the bright side, the great shame of Emperor Jingping has not gone, but the generous call to wash away the shame is also gradually rising, which may be a symbol of the gradual stabilization of society in some form - of course, the whole process may continue for a long, long time, but to have such results, every participant is more or less proud in their hearts.

The princess's mansion does not mention these, but in the exchange of data, in the reports that people everywhere have been able to avoid hunger, Zhou Pei or Cheng Zhouhai and others can also feel a certain aspect of stability in their hearts.

“…… In Quanzhou, the land of the eight farms cannot be harvested, but I have already negotiated with Mu Yuanwai that after the grain is harvested this time, the price will not exceed the average market price. He was afraid that we would forcibly collect Zhuangzi, so he should not dare to play tricks. Puqing's cotton yarn mill, this time there are 200 people, it is estimated that it will not be used up, and it is a little troublesome, but the owner of the workshop told me that he has some new ideas...... No matter what you do, I think that people should have something to eat first. On the Yangzhou side, the food for disaster relief is no longer enough, and we have some arrangements......"

In a calm tone bit by bit, Cheng Zhouhai, as the chief housekeeper, told Zhou Pei about these things, and from time to time, Zhou Pei would also ask a few words. In such a process, Cheng Zhouhai looked at the woman behind the desk, and occasionally sighed in his heart. He was a man of great machismo – or not just machismo – and his utilitarian and pragmatic side meant that he did not have unconditional trust in everyone, and in the past few people had been able to win his efforts.

The woman in front of her is not amazing, she was still an ignorant little girl when she first met. After Qin Lao left, Ning Yi rebelled, heaven and earth fell, and following Zhou Pei can only be regarded as a temporary expediency for Cheng Zhouhai - the more naïve she is, the easier it is to fool and manipulate - but over the years, the woman's hard work and trembling have been seen in Cheng Zhouhai's eyes. For many nights, she spent almost sleepless comparing and dealing with things in various places, tirelessly inquiring and learning; In the face of the forced palace and confrontation of local forces, she is also struggling to learn various means of coping and differentiation, in an extremely difficult environment, she even once pulled out a knife to kill people, strongly suppressed the contradictions, and waited for the easing of the situation, and continued to run to all parties in Huairou.

Many of these methods come from the advice and teachings of Cheng Zhouhai. Up to now, Cheng Zhouhai may not admire the woman in front of him, but more or less, he can treat her as a companion side by side. It is also for this reason that while he watched this "eldest princess" gradually become calm and calm in countless troubled things, he would also feel pity and sympathy for her.

As a person, especially as a woman, she has never been happy, all these years on her, it is the responsibility of the royal family, the responsibility of the people of the world under the premise of having an unreliable father, this should not be a woman's responsibility, because if you are a man, you may also be able to reap a sense of satisfaction of making contributions, but in front of the child, there is only deep weight and shackles.

Sometimes Cheng Zhouhai even felt that if she gave up her seriousness and accepted the Qu Zonghui as a colt, she might still get some happiness. This colt's nature is not necessarily bad, he is just young, proud, weak, he always approaches with longing, and after ten days and half a month, he feels neglected, and goes to find other women—in fact, if Zhou Pei gives him some good looks, he may never do such a thing in his life.

After all, the eldest princess at this time, as a woman, is also extremely beautiful and temperamental, and her huge power and long-term solitary life also make her have a mysterious and unattainable brilliance, and after experiencing many things, she also has a quiet cultivation and temperament, and it is no wonder that a superficial man like Qu Zonghui will run back unwillingly again and again after being angry again and again.

Every time he thought of something like this unintentionally, every time, deep in his heart, there was also a more secret sigh. It was a sigh that even he didn't want to think about—it was unthinkable—and in some ways he probably knew better than anyone else what was deep inside the eldest princess, a dark secret he had stumbled upon years ago. Many years ago in the courtyard of Bianliang, Zhou Pei gave a deep salute to the man...... Something like this, it's really damn.

He buried these thoughts.

“…… In addition, yesterday afternoon, I met Dexin, who has traveled abroad in the past two years, and it is quite different......"

After chatting about business, when talking about gossip, Cheng Zhouhai mentioned yesterday's reunion with a friend. Zhou Pei raised his eyes: "Li Pin Li Dexin?" In the past few years, I have often heard people talk about his talents, he has traveled all over the world, is he raising hope? ”

"It's different, he told me, and he still had doubts in his heart." Cheng Zhouhai looked at Zhou Pei and smiled again, "I mentioned to him about going out of office, or simply came to the eldest princess's mansion to help, but he refused." However, yesterday he raised some concerns about me, and I think it is quite reasonable, in the past two years, all kinds of shops under our command have developed rapidly, but this is because of the continuous southward movement of displaced people from the north, and our troops will come to block the water and cover the earth, and there may be problems in the future......"

"It's okay one day, I'm wondering......" Zhou Pei clasped his hands, leaned on the side of his face, looked at the heavy stack of rice paper documents on the table next to him, and sighed deeply.

Cheng Zhouhai smiled, in fact, the things he talked about with Li Pin yesterday involved a lot of depth, many of them were discussions on the roots of Confucianism and Taoism, and Zhou Pei has been chasing the back of a man in the past few years, and has gradually become pragmatic. If Cheng Zhouhai wanted to completely retell what they were talking about, Zhou Pei would probably only feel bored and waste time, he tried to briefly talk about Li Pin's current situation, Zhou Pei sighed, and then ignored it.

The conversation between the two ended here, and when they were leaving, Cheng Zhouhai said: "I heard that the prince is coming over today." Zhou Pei nodded: "Well, I said that I would arrive in the afternoon." Sir wants to see him? ”

"Not really." Cheng Zhouhai shook his head and hesitated for a moment before saying, "There is a lot of resistance to what the prince wants to do. ”

"He's obsessed with things, and he's not very resolute in this matter anyway."

Cheng Zhouhai smiled bitterly: "What I'm afraid of is that the prince is still very resolute......"

After saying this, Cheng Zhouhai said goodbye and left, Zhou Pei smiled slightly, and his smile was slightly bitter. After she sent Cheng Zhouhai away, she turned back to continue to deal with official business, and not long after, the crown prince Junwu also came, passed through the princess's mansion, and went straight inside.

Compared to the status of the crown prince, the twenty-three-year-old Jun Wu looks too simple in appearance, wearing a pale cyan simple crown, a beard under his chin, and his eyes are sharp but slightly absent-minded - this is because he has too many things in his mind and is too focused on something. After greeting each other, he said, "Qu Zonghui came to make trouble today." ”

"You don't have to arrange for someone to be around him." Zhou Pei sighed and shook his head.

"If he makes trouble again, I'll break his leg sooner or later."

"You used to be friends." Zhou Pei smiled slightly, and after a moment, "I mean, people should be used in the right place, he is an insignificant person, and he is really not worth it." ”

Since the death of Qin Siyuan and the rebellion of Ning Yi, the foundation of the original Right Prime Minister's Mansion was broken up, until King Kang reunited after succeeding to the throne, mainly under the two sisters and brothers of Zhou Pei and Jun Wu. Among them, Cheng Zhouhai and Jueming followed Zhou Pei to deal with business and political affairs, and Wen Ren, Yue Fei, Wang Shanyue and others took refuge in Prince Junwu, and the two sides exchanged ideas from time to time and helped each other.

But in terms of temperament, there is a difference between the relatively casual Junwu and the strict and rigid sister, although the two sides have a deep sister and brother relationship, but every time they meet, they will inevitably pick and quarrel and have differences. Mainly because Jun Wu was obsessed with things after all, Zhou Pei scolded him for not doing his job, while Jun Wu thought that his sister was becoming more and more "taking care of the overall situation", and she would become like those court officials. Therefore, in the past few years, the two sides have gradually met less.

Now that they met, the two subconsciously left the topic of possible quarrels at the beginning and talked about some family trivialities. After a while, Jun Wu mentioned the matter about the north: "...... For the matter of April, Wang Zhongqi impeached Yue Fei for making a rash advance, and I endured it, and the punishment was just. More and more inches, what's going on. If it weren't for something like this, I wouldn't want to make this trip. Father is like that...... I'm ......."

When he said this, he was on fire, when the Jurchens searched the mountains and seas, his father Zhou Yong only cared about escaping, after the father-son exchange, the army had some respect for his father, but the world was a little stable, this emperor was always a gentle and gentle like listening to everyone's speech, no matter what happened Junwu looked for him, the other party showed "You are my son" instead of "You are reasonable", which is really a little resentful.

Regarding his anger, Zhou Pei was silent for a moment: "You know what's going on. ”

"yes, everybody knows what's going on...... Can you still take it out and show it off!? ”

"The preparation is not enough, no one wants to recruit the Jurchens again."

"If you don't fight, you can be ready?"

"The meaning of the court...... It's to be cautious, slowly ...... it," Zhou Pei said, and it was a little light.

Jun Wu hammered it on the coffee table next to him.

"Of course, since you're here, they'll give in......"

"In this world, if you do it like this, you still can't save ...... after all" Jun Wu gritted his teeth.

Zhou Pei shook his head and said softly: "After all, we haven't gained a firm foothold yet, these days, the outside looks prosperous, but in fact, the displaced people are constantly moving south, and we haven't held the situation yet." The unstable roots below cannot be solved by a few generous words, and the adults in the court do not want to go north, but since the general trend is concentrating, they can only maintain the situation first......"

"The general trend is congenial...... People from the north want to fight back, the general trend is real, such a good opportunity, no one wants to seize it......"

"If the Jurchens come again, Jiangnan will all collapse. Jun Wu, General Yue, General Han, can they give the court everyone the confidence to block the Jurchen once? We need to be able to block it at least once, right? Let my father go to sea again? ”

"Nothing in the world is possible." Jun Wu looked at his sister in front of him, but after a while, he still looked away, he knew that he was not looking at his sister, Zhou Pei was just stating other people's reasons, and among them, there were more and more complicated reasons to say and not to say, both of them actually knew it, and they understood it even if they didn't open their mouths.

In the courtyard in the afternoon, the sun was no longer as hot as at noon, and a cool breeze began to blow in the room. The two chatted casually for a few more words, and Jun Wu suddenly said, "...... I received an earlier message from the Northwest. ”

"I don't want to hear it." Zhou Pei replied as soon as possible.

"It was too bad." Jun Wu leaned on the window frame, looked out, and whispered. After a while, he turned around and said, "I will enter the palace later, and I may have dinner in the palace." ”

Zhou Pei nodded: "There was a banquet in Xu's Mansion in the evening, and Mrs. Xu came to invite me again and again, and I agreed." ”

Jun Wu nodded and was silent for a moment: "I'll go first." ”

"I'll send you."

The elder sister sent her younger brother to the gate of the mansion, and when she parted, Zhou Pei said: "Since you are here, my father will accept you." ”

Jun Wu smiled: "It's a pity that he won't promise to fight north." There was some sarcasm in that smile," ...... He was afraid. ”

Zhou Pei didn't speak, a few years ago, the search for mountains and seas, and the destruction of the Jurchens in the distance, were imprinted in everyone's minds, and during this period of time, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun, Liu Guangshi and other generals have been training troops while advancing to the chaotic area north of Qinhuai, and have also fought a few battles and recovered several prefectures and counties, but every time there is a big battle, the lord and the power in the court will inevitably begin to stop, what is the core reason......

…… He was afraid.

This is...... Something that can't be said on the countertop.

Zhou Yong can be unprincipled and muddy, and he can help his son or daughter perversely on the table, but at the root of it, deep in his heart, he is afraid. When the Jurchens went south for the third time, he twice repaired the book to sue for peace with the Jin Wushu, and when the Shulie raided Yangzhou, Zhou Yong failed to wait for his son's arrival, and finally took the first step to sail. In the deepest part of his heart, he is not a strong emperor after all, and he doesn't even have many opinions.

Sending off her younger brother, Zhou Pei walked all the way back to the study, the afternoon wind had begun to become mild, she sat quietly at the table for a while, stretched out her hand, opened a drawer at the bottom of the desk, a lot of pieces of paper recording intelligence information were stored there by her, she flipped through it, these pieces of information have not been filed, there is a piece of information stopped in the middle, she pulled out, smoked a small half, and paused.

It was not long ago, the news came back from the northwest, and she had already read it. Placed here, she was reluctant to make a special classification of it, at this time, she even resisted to look at it again, it was not some strange information, in the past few years, similar messages have come often, often.

She sat there, her head bowed, her eyes closed, trying to make it all feel normal. Soon after, Zhou Pei sorted out his mood, sorted out the information, and put them back in the drawer.

It's just ordinary information, it's an ordinary day, and I haven't remembered anything very special...... After such thoughts, her attention was already on reality, so she beckoned the maidservant, dressed up a little, and got into the carriage and went out.

The convoy of the princess's mansion drove through the streets of the former Hangzhou, which was already known as Lin'an, and passed through the dense flow of people to the mansion of Xu Qi, the right minister at this time. Xu Ji's wife's maiden family is a wealthy family in the south of the Yangtze River, with vast land, many people in the clan, and a deep influence, after getting into a relationship with the eldest princess Zhou Pei, invited many times, Zhou Pei finally agreed to come down and participate in this female family gathering in Xu's house.

At the end of the summer of the sixth year of Wu Jianshuo, the places south of the Yangtze River, including Hangzhou City, were showing a full of prosperity and vitality, and even made people suddenly feel that the fall of the Central Plains could be a good thing.

In the Xu Mansion, many officials and eunuchs welcomed the arrival of the eldest princess. When the sun set, in the Champs in the backyard of the Xu Mansion, the banquet began, for Zhou Pei, this is the simplest social scene, she skillfully converses with the women around her, watches elegantly and with a little distance during the performance, and occasionally speaks, leading some of the topics of the banquet. The many women present looked at the twenty-five-year-old princess of a country in front of them, wanting to get close, and they all trembled in awe.

The one in front of her is not the kind of royal woman who is not familiar with the world, she has half of the royal family in her hands, most of the time, her methods are gentle, and she is nominally not involved in any government affairs, but in the previous two or three years of various famines and chaos, the eldest princess's mansion also has quite a lot of sharp examples.

A group of noble ladies who are accustomed to intrigue in the backyard of big families have natural weakness and longing in the face of such a woman. Although there are also many people who secretly slander the eldest princess for being too strong at home, and even force the horse to give up on herself and wander in Lin'an City, but when the other party has been ignoring this rumor, they are even more afraid of Zhou Pei.

A woman who doesn't even want a family and a reputation really wants to start a surge, what can't she do?

As a result, the belly slander only stops at the belly slander.

During the banquet, the women talked about poetry, talents, music, and then talked about the Qixi begging after the moon, whether they could invite the eldest princess together. Zhou Pei participated in it decently, and during the banquet, a frail official woman fainted due to heat stroke, Zhou Pei also went over to take a look, and resolutely asked the woman to help her to rest.

When the time came, the sky had just darkened, and the banquet was halfway through, when the singer in Xu's mansion was performing, Zhou Pei was sitting there, and she had already begun to wander around the world idlely, and inadvertently, she remembered the dream she had at noon.

How long has it been since that nightmarish war? In the summer of the third year of Jianshuo, the Jurchens crossed the river in the yellow sky, and now it is the sixth year of Jianshuo. Time, long in memory. But when you think about it...... It's only been three years.

Three years...... She looked at the scene of singing and dancing, almost as if she was in a different world.

A servant came from outside, and when the maidservant saw it, he walked over silently, exchanged a little with the servant, and then came back with his things. Zhou Pei saw it in his eyes, and on the side, Mrs. Xu accompanied her smiling face and spoke to this side, Zhou Pei also responded with a smile, and Gong Yiren quietly handed over a note. Zhou Pei glanced at it as he spoke.

Her smile faded silently, and gradually became expressionless.

It was an indescribable hollowness that appeared on the eldest princess's face, and everyone listened to her—even if it was not nutritious—but the voice stopped abruptly. They saw that Zhou Pei, who was sitting in the center of the front of the flower pavilion, stood up slowly, her face looked at the note on her left hand without any expression, and her right hand was gently pressed on the table.

No one dared to speak, that empty expression could also be cold and terrifying, the eldest princess in front of her had commanded people to kill, and even killed people with her own hands - there was no momentum on her body, but all the negative feelings such as coldness, rejection, and intimidity were the first time, as if they were unscrupulously revealed-If there was some news about the Xu family in that note, if she suddenly wanted to operate on the Xu family, it might not be surprising.

"Princess......" Gong Yiren tried to come over to help her, Zhou Pei's left hand waved gently, and she heard her say: "Fake." ”

Mrs. Xu on the side also came over, and was opening her mouth to ask, ushering in Zhou Pei's fierce and short sentence: "Go away!" This sentence seemed to exhaust all her strength, and Mrs. Xu was shocked in her heart, and stopped her pace with a pale face.

Ahead, the body shook, she didn't feel it, the eyes were wide open, tears had poured out, flowing all over her face, she took a step back, her gaze swept forward, and her left hand clenched the note: "Fake ......" The voice did not come out well, because there was blood flowing out of her mouth, and she fell to the seat behind her.

It's been three years......

Looking through the Champs, in the sky, the night is engulfing the last rays of sunset, and the clouds are orange-gray, drifting slowly. It's been three years...... The black thing fell, and the message that was pressed in the depths of her heart was surging, swords, guns, swords, halberds, thousands of enemies, iron horses and glaciers, the surging shouts and spreading blood, the corpses and bones filled the city, the sea of fire filled the sky, and the giant, with a strong and unyielding attitude, held the forament of heaven and earth...... Like a volcanic eruption, a sea of mountains rushed towards her.

Jiangnan, an ordinary, hot day, the clouds are long.

Zhou Pei sat on a chair......

The greatest nightmare has befallen ...... (To be continued.) )

PS: I looked at it, this chapter is 8,000 words.