The autumn wind has risen.

Central Plains, Wasion.

In the Tiger King's garden, a grand banquet is in full swing. The lights were bright, and the plans were staggered, and a group of ministers and generals began to wander in front of the Tiger King, and when they began to play with the ladies, Yu Yulin walked out of the hall with a small bottle of wine.

Outside the hall is a beautiful pavilion and water pavilion, lanterns are lit one by one, illuminate the corridor built on the water, he walks along the corridor to the front, the lake has passed, it is the courtyard with rockeries and winding roads, surrounded along the shore of the lake, beautiful. The nearby guards had three steps, one sentry, five steps and one post, and some of them looked lazy, and when they saw Yu Yulin coming, they all cheered up.

A short walk away is a pavilion at the water's edge. Getting closer, I vaguely heard a lazy tune humming, the tune of Jiangnan, Wu Nong's soft whisper didn't know what it meant, Yu Yulin bypassed the mountain and stone outside, and on the bench by the water on the pavilion, he saw a woman in a gray robe sitting against a pillar, hooking a jade pot containing wine in her hand, humming while gently shaking on the water, as if she was a little drunk.

In the past few years, there is only one woman who can walk around in the Tiger King's mansion wearing a man's robe. Yu Yulin's footsteps sounded, Lou Shuwan turned around, saw that it was him, and turned back again, and the tune in his mouth did not stop.

"Miss Lou is so interested." Yu Yulin said.

“…… General Yu is so interested. After a few snorts, Lou Shuwan stopped and replied, "The food and beauties set by the Tiger King, General Yu was not moved." ”

"Although the outside world is bitter, the food and beauty are not lingering for us. It's you, Miss Lou, Ning Motou is dead, but I didn't expect you to be so happy. ”

"Hmph." Lou Shuwan lowered her head and smiled.

"Or is it that Miss Lou knows that he is not dead, so she is so indifferent?"

"Hmph." She smiled again and raised her head, "General Yu, are you all bored?" Are you still a child? ”

Yu Yulin looked at her and smiled, then the smile faded, and he opened his mouth, but he couldn't make a sound at first: "...... It's also in the past few years, I've been too tired from fighting, and suddenly this kind of thing happened, but I couldn't believe it in my heart. Miss Lou, you are very wise, you are also the most concerned about the matter of the Ning devil, I think he may not be dead, and I want to discuss it with you. ”

Lou Shuwan looked at the lake: "Whether he dies or not, I care, but I am not an immortal, the battlefield has not been there, the head has not been seen, how can I assert." You also said that the battlefield is changing rapidly, and I am not surprised that General Yu suddenly died one day. If he is really dead, what is there to be surprising? For people like him, it is a blessing for the world to die, and in the past few years, the people have struggled to make a living...... Not for him, but for whom...... However......"

Lou Shuwan said that later, her voice gradually lowered, and then gradually paused, Yu Yulin also sighed slightly, and when the night breeze blew, the pavilion was enveloped in silence.

Yes, in the past few years, the people have not been able to make a living - four words are the situation summarized by the entire Central Plains. The war with Xiaocanghe and the northwest will continue for such a long time, and the intensity of the war will be so great, which is something that no one could have imagined three years ago. In three years, in order to cooperate with this "Western Expedition", the manpower and material resources of the entire Daqi territory were mobilized.

Under the coercion of the Jurchens, Emperor Liu Yu's strength was the greatest, and the unreasonable mass conscription and oppression of the lower classes made it almost impossible for most of the people in the entire Central Plains to survive in three years. After the three southern expeditions of the Jurchens, the survival resources of these places had already bottomed out, and after the oppression of Liu Yu's regime, every year there was a large famine and a large area of food, and most of the grain was collected into military rations, and only those who joined the army and the cool officials who helped to rule could get some food in such a harsh environment.

On the one hand, because the role of commerce was first attached, after the surrender of the Jurchens, the Tian Hu forces have been maintaining trade with the Jurchens, and on the other hand, it is because the alliance formed by Lou Shuwan, Yu Yulin, Tian Shi and others first encircled a large number of farms in the form of military management, and even encircled the entire county as a forbidden area, strictly prohibiting the movement of population. Therefore, although many homeless people were starved to death or killed outside Tian Hu's sphere of influence after being rejected, this practice maintained a certain production order, and secondly, it also ensured a certain combat effectiveness of the soldiers under his command.

Rao is like this, compared to the peaceful years, life is still very difficult.

I have to admit that the hero of this series of measures was mainly Lou Shuwan, who, after referring to Ning Yi's many actions, cooperated with the sensitivity of women, and took Yu Yulin, Tian Hu's nephew Tian Shi and others as allies to admonish her.

And under the pressure of the Jurchens being strong and Liu Yu commanding the Great Qi, Tian Hu also became more and more aware of the benefits of having such a "housekeeper wife". Therefore, although the people are still poorly managed by the unmotivated relatives of the Tian family, he still gives a lot of power and protection to Yu Yulin, Lou Shuwan and others, leaving a few places with strict governance, increasing output and supporting the operation of the entire territory. Among Tian Hu's forces, after Lou Shuwan became more and more important, she was given the position of imperial envoy, specializing in the impeachment of others, and used the time to check and balance her relationship with others.

In such a crack, Lou Shuwan often fired guns everywhere in the court, today he was impeached for corruption and dereliction of duty, and tomorrow he was impeached for forming a party for personal gain-anyway, it must be a quasi-one-The relationship is getting more and more stinky, and now, he has indeed become one of the most important "ministers" in the Tiger King.

After three years of war, Yu Yulin relied on his alliance with Lou Shuwan and finally escaped the doom of rushing to the forefront. However, even in the rear, there are hardships in difficult days, and they are well aware of the tragedy of the big battle ahead. In the past three years, millions of troops have been filling in that bottomless pit one after another, and although there are no detailed statistics, there are more than one million troops who have never been able to come back.

Few of the generals and soldiers who were sent to that place of death - not only under Tian Hu - even under Liu Yu, but also under Liu Yu really wanted to go, and when they went to the battlefield, they all wanted to dodge. However, they couldn't escape the supervision of the Jurchens, nor could they escape the surprise attack of the Black Flag Army. Over the years, the important people who died in the hands of the Black Flag Army were not only Ji Wenkang under Liu Yu's command, Liu Yu's own brother Liu Yi had begged hard before he died, and in the end he couldn't escape the knife.

In the army under the command of Tian Hu, Wang Yuan and Sun An led the army into the mountain, and the idea of retreating when they saw the enemy was still in the mountain, and the Black Flag Army was separated by a round of cannons across the mountain stream, and nearly 1,000 people were buried alive in the valley on the collapsed mountain wall, and Wang Yuan and Sun An never came out again. General Wu Neng was dying when he returned, and he couldn't even say anything when he saw his family for the last time, Ling Guang, Fan Yuming and others were scattered after being attacked, and the bones of those who died in the mountains were not picked up......

When I first met Ning Yi in Luliang Mountain, I just felt that he was indeed a powerful person, and it was amazing that a businessman could reach this level. In the past three years of the war, Yu Yulin really understood what kind of person the other party was, not to mention killing the emperor and Lou Room, Wang Yuan, Sun An and even Ji Wenkang, Liu Yi and others were not worth mentioning, the other party dragged millions of people on a rampage, chased after this kind of famous general to flee for his life, and directly killed the captured general at the head of Yanzhou City, and he would never negotiate peace with the Jurchens. That's not something that can be summed up by a powerful person.

The entire Central Plains, but everyone who fought with him, was dragged down into the quagmire by him. No one was spared.

Yu Yulin even felt that the whole world was going to be drowned by him.

However, one day, when he said that he was dead, although he didn't think it was impossible, some thoughts could not be let go after all.

"I ...... After all, I don't believe that he has no back, and he suddenly dies, after all, he is ......"

There was silence for a moment before Yu Yulin spoke again. Lou Shuwan on the opposite side always looked at the lake, suddenly moved the wine jug, and raised her eyes slightly: "I don't believe it either." ”

Her tone was not high, and she paused before she spoke softly again: "Backhand...... What is it for dragging millions of people and fighting a three-year battle without retreating? Is that a breath? I can't figure it out...... Ning Liheng counted ten steps, he said that after all, it was difficult to calm down, and after killing the emperor, there was still a way to go, this time to make the Jurchen unhappy? He is for the sake of fame, the name of killing the king has long been difficult to reverse, he called the name of Huaxia, saying that the people of Huaxia do not vote for foreign countries This is the bottom line, this is of course the bottom line, what others can do, he has long been unable to do it, if there is a little compromise with the Jurchen, his reputation will collapse in an instant. However, after three years of fighting head-on, there will eventually be someone willing to follow him, and he has fought a way head-on......"

"It's too hard to risk all your belongings here for the sake of fame......"

Lou Shuwan was silent for a long time: "After the three-year war, after entering the mountain, the battle was a mess, the Jurchens only let people rush forward, whether they died or lived, those generals fled for their lives, and then bombed the camp ten times and eight times, how many people died, General Yu, do you know?" ”

Yu Yulin frowned: "What do you mean ......?"

Lou Shuwan's eyes were confused: "In April last year, Shan Shiqi returned from defeat, and after being questioned, I went to interrogate him, copied the gold and silver in his house, and asked about the battle in the mountains. However, I am not familiar with the things of the battlefield, so it is difficult to delve into them, and this matter is only buried in my heart......"

“……”

At this time, the night breeze was soft, the lake was sparkling, and in the distance on the side, the lights in the hall were still faintly coming, Lou Shuwan talked about her guess, carefully considered the words, and slowly spoke.

After the defeat of Shanshiqi, he fled with a group of pro-soldiers, and then took refuge in Su Yuan, a general under Liu Yu. A few days later, one night, Su Yuan's army was suddenly attacked, 20,000 people bombed the camp, and fled without a clue, and the Jurchens came to the rear to stabilize the position, Shan Shiqi said that that night, he vaguely saw a general who rushed to Su Yuan's army, who was the original deputy general under his command. ”

Yu Yulin opened his mouth slightly: "In the past three years of war, there are indeed people who surrendered to the Black Flag Army, however, do you want to say ......?"

"In the past few years, in order to trap the Black Flag Army in the mountains, the Jurchens have indeed been very heavy on grain and grass and heavy troops. However, no one can say how much grain the Black Flag Army has stored in the mountains, how much it has robbed, and we don't know, we only feel that it is so difficult to live outside, and in the big war, the Black Flag Army will inevitably not be able to collect too many prisoners, and they will not be able to feed them at all. But...... What if it was possible? ”

Lou Shuwan said calmly: "Millions of people threw themselves into the mountains, saying that they would fight with tens of thousands of Black Flag troops, how many tens of thousands?" Who knows? In the past three years of battle, the army in the first year still had some fighting spirit, and in the second year, they were all strong men who were caught, and they went up with a knife and a fork, and put them in the mountains to hang...... General Yu, originally there were not many people willing to participate in the Black Flag Army, the Black Flag killed the monarch, and the reputation was not good, but the Jurchens forced them to go up and test the artillery, if there is a chance to choose again, General Yu, do you think they are willing to follow the Jurchens, or are they willing to follow the Han army...... General Yu, you also know Ning Liheng's training methods. ”

Yu Yulin was already frowning, quiet as death.

"In the three-year war, I didn't retreat a single step to stand up to the front, put millions of people on the field of life and death, and when the knife was chopped down, ask them which side they participated. If...... I'm just saying if, he took the chance...... In that big mountain, will it also be a recruiting ground for them to choose? Haha, millions of people, after we are done, let them pick ......"

Lou Shuwan's laughter sounded and stopped in the pavilion, the joke was too cold, Yu Yulin didn't dare to take it for a while, and after a while, he said, "After all, ...... It's not easy to keep it secret......"

“…… Yes, I also thought later, if this is the case, why not many people talk about it, maybe I thought about it after all......" She paused, raised the flask and took a sip of wine, her eyes were confused, "The battlefield, who can say for sure, it will take three years to fight the Central Plains like this, whether he is really dead or fake dead, everyone has a step down, General Yu, why bother to dig deeper, maybe the next time you go forward, it will be you......"

Yu Yulin took a sip of wine, nodded, and after a while, he didn't say hello and left quietly.

Lou Shuwan leaned on the edge of the pavilion, still with her head down, the wine jug in her hand shook slightly, and she hummed a song from her mouth, and she listened to it for a while, and the song vaguely was: "...... The smoke willow paints the bridge, the wind curtain is green, and there are 100,000 people. Cloud trees surround the embankment sand...... The angry waves roll frost and snow, and the moat is endless...... Heavy lakes are stacked on top of each other. There are three autumn laurels and ten miles of lotus...... Qiang tube clear, Lingge flooded the night, frolicking and fishing lotus baby...... Thousands of horsemen have high teeth......"

This is what Ning Yi wrote in Hangzhou many years ago, at that time, the two sides had just met, her father and brother were still there, Hangzhou was a water town, rich and prosperous, and no one would have thought that one day they would lose the beautiful scenery. How bright and happy that is...... Everything is now, after all, there is no going back......

Thinking of his relatives in the past, now there is only the only brother who gets by every day and doesn't look like a human at all, and then thinks of that name, Yu Yulin is right, he died suddenly, she won't be happy, because she always thinks that she wants to kill him with her own hands. However, Ning Yi ......

"Ning Liheng ......"

The name crossed her mind, and there was a complicated and painful look in her eyes, so she raised the flask and took a sip to suppress all those emotions.

"Ning Liheng, if you die like this...... It's also ......."

She just murmured and looked forward to it.

In this long-suffering land, the night is shrouded for a long time, and in the west, the boiling mountains that have not stopped for three years have finally gradually stopped. In the once prosperous Aoki Village, now the moon is like water, and in the valley that has long been scorched, the once wooden buildings have turned into fertile new mud, new tree branches have grown in it, and birds have flown in, staying on this still black land for a while, and flying into the distance.

Xiaocanghe, the old buildings have long been destroyed, houses, streets, squares, farmland, and waterwheels have no traces of the past, and the traces behind the collapse of the houses are horizontal and straight, and after the crowd goes, it is like a ghost, this place has also experienced extremely tragic killings, and almost every inch of the place has been stained red with blood. The once huge reservoir has long since collapsed, and the river has washed into the valley as before, and the grass and trees have become more and more lush in the valley that has been washed away by the flood and the corpses have been corrupted, and under the grass and trees are the white bones of the forest.

More than a year has passed since the offensive and defensive battle of Xiaocanghe, at this time, even a very small number of Jurchen and Daqi troops who stayed here did not dare to come here, and under the moonlight of this day, someone appeared from the hill, but only a few people stepped through the outer valley in the sneak, and walked into the valley from the mouth of the collapsed dam.

They watched their surroundings as carefully as they could, silently passing past and where they had once known, and some of them brushed their fingers over the ruins, and they came to the mountainside, where they saw that the courtyard had long since burned down, and only the foundations were left, and now weeds were growing in the foundations.

"Let's go." Someone whispered that they might be the last Black Flag team left here.

At the mouth of the valley, the stone tablet with the words "Xiaocang River" had already been smashed to pieces, and now only traces of destruction remained, they caressed the place, and looked back at the valley in the moonlight: "One day we will come back." ”

"It won't take long to ......," someone said.

The figures crossed the valley and crossed the mountains. Under the moonlight, the Xiaocang River flows as before, winding through this land where millions of people are buried, and the people who leave here will return here one day in the future, and some will never return, they may exist somewhere in happiness.

And war.

The war has subsided temporarily, but sooner or later, with weakness and hiding as its nourishment, it will also come in a more violent posture after transformation.

The Wu Dynasty was established for three years, in late summer and early autumn. The history of Xiaocanghe has turned another page. (To be continued.) )