From the two hundred years of prosperity and prosperity of the Wu Dynasty, the time is about four years, and in this short but long time, people have begun to gradually get used to war, to displacement, to death, to the fact of falling from the clouds. At the beginning of the spring of the third year of the founding of the Wu Dynasty, Jiangnan melted into a gray-white gloom. The Jurchens' search of mountains and seas continues.

In Jiangning, the snow is still covering the city, but a huge chaos is already brewing.

Many gentry and wealthy families are fleeing from this city one after another, the industry of the princess of Chengguo is moving, the Puyang family, which was known as the first rich merchant in Jiangning, a large amount of gold and silver has been moved to a large car, and the family members in the various mansions are also ready to leave, the head of the family, Pu Yangyi, is not willing to flee first, he ran between the government and the army, and expressed his willingness to donate a large amount of gold and silver and industry for resistance and **** purposes, but more people have been on the way out of the city.

If you can still remember, this is the city that Ning Yi first came into contact with in this era, it has already become quiet and graceful in hundreds of years of time precipitation, the city walls are majestic and solemn, and the courtyards are mottled and ancient. The mansion of the Su family was still there at this time, it was only sealed by the government, and the courtyards had grown with bushes and weeds at this time, and the valuables in the room had long been removed, the window lattices had become dilapidated, and the wall pillars had faded from old paint and were mottled.

In the courtyard where Ning Yi and Tan'er once lived, cobwebs were formed in the room, and cats and stray dogs made this place a home, where they searched for food and quietly walked through the snow-covered courtyard walls. Maybe we still remember that nearly ten years ago, Ning Yi and a woman named Su Tan'er used to talk and live in the room in the courtyard here, and gradually became familiar with each other in the spring rain and autumn frost, and gradually became a simple couple.

At that time, the old man and the children were still here, and the young man sat and walked about the limited things of the chicken and dog every day, and the adults in the various rooms were driven by small interests to intrigue with each other. Once, there was also such a thunderstorm, the vicious strongman killed into this courtyard, some people fell in a pool of blood, some people made a hysterical resistance, and soon after, the events here led to the destruction of the bandit village named Liangshan Shuibo.

Outside the courtyard, the road of the city goes straight forward, the Qinhuai River, which is famous for its wind and moon, passes through this city, in two hundred years, the Qinglou Chu Pavilion is opened on both sides of it, and the Oiran and the talented woman gradually have fame here, and gradually are blown away by the rain and wind. More than ten years ago, Jinfeng Tower, which was one of the best in Jiangning City, collapsed a few years ago, and the director of Jinfeng Mansion was named Yang Xiuhong, whose temperament was not without similarities with Li Yun and Li's mother in Bianliang Alum Tower.

Unlike Li Yun, when the Jin soldiers broke through the Bianliang, under the huge pressure of the court searching for beautiful women in the city to provide for the Jin soldiers, the mother Li Yun and several Alumlou Oiran committed suicide for chastity. And Yang Xiuhong scattered her family wealth a few years ago under the coercion and blackmail of officials from all sides, and then her life has become pure, and now this woman who has gradually grown old has embarked on the road out of the city, in this cold and snowy day, she occasionally thinks of the former Jinfeng Tower, the girl who once jumped into the Qinhuai River in the heavy rain, and the Nie Yunzhu who was once chaste and self-controlled, and finally redeemed herself for herself.

Along the Qinhuai River, in the middle of nowhere, the former traitor Qin Siyuan set up a chess stall under the tree on the side of the road, and occasionally such and such people came to see him and talked with him about a game.

Walking up further, the small building that Ning Yi used to run past by the river has collapsed in the snow and disrepair two years ago, and the girl named Nie Yunzhu will stay here every morning to give him a smile. Today, the abandoned and decaying foundations of the building are also covered with snow and artemisia grass.

Once as the head of the three major cloth merchant families in Jiangning, Wu Qilong has inherited the head of this family, once in the event of the competition for the imperial merchants, he was ruthlessly put together by Ning Yi and the Su family, after which Wu Qilong learned from the pain, and became more calm and mature in a few years, and the relationship with the government became closer and closer, and finally pushed the Wu family's business back to its former scale, and even surpassed. In the first few years, he wanted to find a place with the Su family after he rose, but soon after, he lost this opportunity.

Over the years, Xue Jin, the former son of the Xue family, has reached the age of establishment, and he still has no great achievements, just messing around with flowers and grass, and his wife and children are full. At this time, he may still remember the brick he slapped when he was young and frivolous, the man who once hit him with a brick, and later killed the emperor, and at this time, he was still carrying out such an earth-shattering event as a rebellion in a certain place. He occasionally wanted to talk about it to others as a talking point, but in fact, this matter was pressed in his heart, and there was no exit once.

The Jurchens are coming.

In the process of searching the mountains and seas and burning all the way, the Jurchen vanguard was close to Jiangning at this time, and the martial arts battalion stationed here put on a resistance position, but not many people were optimistic about the results of their resistance. In this burning and slaughter, which lasted for several months, except for a slight setback when they went to sea to capture, they attacked cities and plundered land on land, and they were almost completely devastated. The people were already aware of the fact that their imperial army was powerless, and due to the failure to pursue Zhou Yong at sea, the opponent's offensive on land became more and more ferocious.

A few months ago, the crown prince Zhou Junwu had returned to Jiangning to organize resistance, and later, in order not to affect Jiangning, Junwu fled to the southwest with some soldiers and craftsmen, but one of the Jurchens still followed this route and killed them.

The car of the princess of Chengguo also went out of the city in such chaos, and the elderly princess Zhou Xuan was not willing to leave, and the concubine Kangxian was also unwilling to go. The couple eventually compromised with each other, but on the night after leaving the city, Zhou Xuan, the princess of Chengguo, fell ill in another industry outside the city of Jiangning.

They stayed in Beiye for two days, Zhou Xuan's condition had become more and more serious, and Kang Xian did not plan to leave again. That night, someone came back from other places, it was the prince Junwu who rushed back in the starry night accompanied by Lu Agui, he visited Zhou Xuan, who was already critically ill, and when he asked Kang Xian about his condition in the courtyard, Kang Xian shook his head.

The old man was also gray-haired, and his eyes were bloodshot under the company and worry of a few days, but there was already a trace of understanding in his expression, and he said: "She has lived in Jiangning all her life, and when I discussed whether I should leave a few days ago, I thought about it, maybe I shouldn't go, it's just ...... When things come to an end, there is always a trace of luck in my heart. ”

Then he said, "You shouldn't come back, but when the morning dawns, go quickly." ”

There were tears in Jun Wu's eyes: "I thought that if I left, the Jurchens would at least let Jiang Ning go......"

"Where your father and emperor have spent half their lives here, how can the Jurchens let it go. In addition, there is no need to say discouragement, tens of thousands of people in the Wulie Battalion may not be able to resist. ”

After he said this, Jun Wu looked at him and shook his head, the words in his mouth were not spoken, Kang Xian smiled: "Okay, I deceived myself, Wulie Battalion...... You can't resist it, so you can only go. ”

"Then you ......"

"The things of Princess Chengguo's Mansion have been handed over to you and your sister, and we still have nothing to put down. The weakness of the country is the fruit of two hundred years of planting, and you young people have to take your time if you want to move forward. Junwu, you don't need to be generous here, you have to hide, you have to endure, and you don't care about other people. It doesn't matter who gives up their lives here, only you live, and you may be able to win in the future. ”

The old man already had an understanding in his heart, and when he said these words, the clouds were light and light, and Jun Wu felt unspeakably sad in his heart, but he didn't know where to come out.

Late that night, Zhou Xuan's consciousness woke up, Kang Xian entered the room to talk to his wife, and Jun Wu was waiting at the door. He thought that the old man would finally call him in, but after waiting for a long time, there was no more movement inside. The day was about to break, the night was the darkest, and the lights and candles in the room had naturally been extinguished, Junwu carefully pushed the door in, lit the lamp, and Kang Xian held his wife's hand by the bed, and sat quietly all the time. The tears on his face were dry, but his eyes were clear, Jun Wu walked over, Zhou Xuan hugged one of Kang Xian's hands, closed his eyes and fell asleep forever and peacefully.

Jun Wu couldn't help but fall to his knees and started crying, until he finished crying, Kang Xian said softly: "She finally talked about you, and she didn't have much to explain. You are the last imperial heir, and she hopes that you can keep the bloodline of the Zhou family. If you are here, the Zhou family will still be there. He gently stroked his dead wife's hand and turned his head to look at the familiar face, "So, run away." ”

At this time, Zhou Pei was floating on the sea with his father who had fled, Jun Wu knelt on the ground, and kowtowed in front of the bed on behalf of his sister. After a long time, he wiped away his tears and choked up a little: "Grandpa Kang, you can go with me......"

Kang Xian just looked at his wife and shook his head: "I'm not leaving, she and I have been in Jiangning all our lives, and we are also in Jiangning, this is our home, now, someone else is going to enter the house, we shouldn't have left, she is alive, I just spare my life, she is dead, I should also do what I should do." ”

"But I can't do without you next, Grandpa Kang......"

"Of course you can do without me. When the old man is gone, the child can see the cruelty of the world, and can grow up to be independent, although sometimes it is faster, but the world is like this, and there is nothing to find fault with. Junwu, the future is the path you have to take......"

In Junwu's life, among his relatives, the best for him, that is, this pair of grandparents, now that Zhou Xuan has passed away, Kang Xian's will in front of him is obviously extremely resolute, and he is unwilling to go again, he is sad for a while, irrepressible, choked for a long time, Kang Xian spoke again.

"Alas, when I was young, I also had my own way, I, your Grandpa Qin, Zuo Duanyou, Wang Qisong...... These people, one by one, want to find a good way for this world. Junwu, we are a failure, it seems that we have some experience, but it is nothing more than the experience of the loser, what should be taught to you, in fact, it has been taught to you, you should not be superstitious about these, the views of the old man, the views of the losers, for reference only, not enough. He was silent for a moment, and then said, "The only one who doesn't want to admit defeat will kill the emperor......"

When he talked about Ning Yilai, he regarded the other party as a person of the same generation.

In this room, Kang Xian didn't speak again, he held his wife's hand, as if feeling the last temperature of the other party's hand, but Zhou Xuan's body was irrepressibly cold, and after a long time after dawn, he finally let go of that hand, went out calmly, and called someone in to deal with the rest of the matter.

At noon, Kang Xian urged Jun Wu to leave on the road, Jun Wu persuaded Kang Xian to go with him for the last time, Kang Xian looked back at the courtyard and house full of white flowers, shook his head slowly but firmly, and smiled again: "I know what you think, but your grandfather Kang is also old, and if you leave, you will definitely die on the road...... You can't bear to see your grandmother stay in Jiangning all the time, but I died in a foreign land and can't be reunited from now on? Alright, you get out of here. ”

Junwu and the others were ready to go to Mali, and when they were leaving, Kang Xian looked in the direction of Jiangning City, and finally said: "Over the years, only your teacher, the battle in the northwest is the most exciting, I really hope that we can also fight such a battle...... I probably won't be able to see him again, but if you can see him in the future, tell him for me......" He may have said a lot, but after a long silence and deliberation, he finally just said, "...... He played well, it wasn't easy. But I am too obsessed with mundane affairs, and when I play chess, I am afraid that I will no longer be my opponent. ”

When the winter of last year came, the Jurchens went south, and no one could be one of them. Only when the report of the Northwest War came, the Black Flag Army defeated the Jurchen West Road Army head-on, and beheaded the Jurchen God of War Wanyan Lou Room, for some high-level people in the know, it was the real shock and the only exciting message, but at this moment of the collapse of the world, there are not many people who can learn the news after all, and Ning Yi, who killed Zhou Zhe, cannot be used as a morale booster example to promote it in the Central Plains and Jiangnan, for Kang Xian, the only one who can express two sentences, I'm afraid it's just the young man in front of him who also has a trace of kindness towards Ning Yi.

This is both his pride and his regret. The corruption of Zhou Zhe and the Wu Dynasty back then was too deep, and a hero like Ning Yi could not be used by the Zhou family after all, and now, he can only watch the world fall, and the army in the northwest will eventually fall into an isolated and helpless situation after killing Lou Mu......

After that, Jun Wu and the others turned around towards the southwest in a few steps, and in the evening of this day, Kang Xian returned to Jiangning with the coffin of Princess Chengguo. He was too old to care, and he was no longer afraid of the enemies who invaded his home.

Soon after, the Jurchen soldiers forced Jiangning, the commander of the Wulie battalion made Yin Tu lead the crowd to surrender, open the city gate to welcome the Jurchens into the city, because the performance of the defenders was "better", the Jurchens did not carry out a large-scale massacre in Jiangning, but only looted a large number of rich families in the city, collecting gold and silver treasures, but of course, during this period, there were also various small-scale **** massacres.

Kang Xian dismissed his family, leaving only more than twenty relatives and loyal servants to stay at home and make a final resistance. Before the arrival of the Jurchens, a storyteller came to the door to ask for a meeting, and Kang Xian received him with some surprise, and he asked the storyteller face-to-face about the situation in the northwest, and finally sent him away. This was the first and last indirect exchange between Ning Yi and Kang Xian in the years since the murder of the monarch, and Ning Yi persuaded him to leave, but Kang Xian refused.

Jun Wu, who was far away in the southwest, had no way of knowing this little episode, and the re-meeting between him and Ning Yi was already in the Jedi a few years later. Soon after, an old man named Kang Xian passed away forever in Jiangning.

************

In the Northland, the cold weather continues, and the prosperity of the world and the tragedy of the world are also happening at the same time, without stopping.

Jingping Emperor Zhou Ji, the emperor of the Wu Dynasty, who liked to ask God for divination all his life, and soon after ascending the throne, he activated the heavenly master Guo Jing to resist Jin, and then was exiled to the north, was living a miserable life here at this time. Zhou Ji, who was "sealed" by Wu beggar after being captured in the north, was a special slave used by the Jurchen nobles for fun, and he was locked up in a small courtyard near the imperial city, serving some unpalatable meals every day, and at every Jurchen gathering, he had to be arrested and insulted to declare the martial arts of Dajin.

At the beginning, the pampered Zhou Ji naturally couldn't adapt, but the thing was simple, as long as he was hungry for a few days, those foods like pig food could be swallowed. The Jurchens called him a "duke", but in fact regarded him as a pig and a dog, and the guards who guarded him could beat and scold him at will.

These are not the hardest to bear. The royal women who were arrested and sent to the north of the country, some of them were his sisters-in-law and nieces - that is, the wives and daughters of Emperor Jinghan Zhou Zhe - some were his own daughters, and even his wives and concubines, these women would be caught in front of him **** humiliation, of course, what if they couldn't tolerate it, if they didn't dare to die, they could only endure it.

The winter in the north is cold, when winter comes, the Jurchens do not give him enough charcoal and clothes to keep him warm, Zhou Ji can only hug the queen who follows him to keep warm, sometimes the guards are in a good mood, and the queen gives alms or he kowtows to get some charcoal and clothes. As for the Jurchen banquet, Zhou Ji was called out, and every time he knelt on the ground to praise the Great Jin Kingdom, and even composed a poem, praising the Jin Kingdom's cultural and martial arts, and his own blame was taken by himself, if the other party was happy, he might be able to exchange for a normal meal, if he was not convinced enough, he would be beaten or hungry for a few days.

We can't judge whether this emperor, who has only been on the throne for a short time, has to endure such a huge humiliation for the Wu Dynasty, and we can't judge whether Ning Yi will not kill Zhou Zhe, and let him bear all this is a more just ending. Between countries, the loser can only bear misery, there is no justice at all, and in this northern country, the most miserable is not only the emperor, those nobles and royal women who were beaten into the Huanyi Workshop were frozen and starved to death in such a winter, and the vast majority of the captive slaves lived a life that was worse than death, and in the first year, more than half of them died tragically.

The Jurchens didn't care about the death of slaves, because more were to come from the south.

This second winter in the past has been even more difficult for Zhou Ji. The Jurchens did not successfully capture the new emperor of the Wu Dynasty in the south, and the battle situation in the northwest came, and the Jurchens' attitude towards Zhou Ji was even worse. At the end of this year, they summoned Zhou Ji to a banquet, and after Zhou Ji wrote a few poems to praise the Jurchens, they asked him to write a few edicts.

One of the edicts was that he, as the emperor of the Wu Dynasty, advised the people of the Southern Dynasty to submit to the unification of the Jin State, reprimanded those resisting troops as rebellious people who were inferior to beasts, cursed them, and at the same time taught Zhou Yong earnestly, persuading him not to hide anymore, to come to the north, and to share the grace of His Majesty the Jin Kingdom.

In the second part, he once again denounced the rebellion and murder of the monarch in the Northwest Yuan Wurui Battalion, and called on the people of the Wu Dynasty to jointly crusade against the public enemy of the world who fled after killing the monarch.

The third part is that he passed on the prefect who surrendered at the gate of Kaijinan, and the virtuous man Liu Yu ordered him to establish the Great Qi regime south of Yanmen Pass, with Jin Guo as his brother, to guard the land and the border and appease the people to rebel.

Then, Jin Guoren collected Zhou Ji's praise articles, poems, and edicts into a book, and sent them to the south for free, just like half of last year......

**************

In the northwest, the brief peace continues.

After the beginning of spring, Ning Yi came to Yanzhou City to visit Chongyan. At this time, the people in this place were in high morale, and most of the people in the vicinity who were close to the Jurchens had shrunk up, and life was quite difficult.

Many chose to join the Huaxia Army or the Seed Army, and the two armies are now allied.

"The crowd is excited." Ning Yi and Chong Yan stood on the city wall, looking at the scene below signing up for the army.

This is the last hilarity.

The fall of the Central Plains has become a substance, and the northwest has become a lonely Jedi.

"There's no way back." Chong Yan pressed his hands on the city wall, and his tall body had the unique heroism of the Northwest man, "Then kill a way!" ”

After the battle against the Jurchen Western Route Army, his whole life seemed to be burning. Ning Yi watched from the side and did not speak.

On January 29, Jiangning fell.

He remembered the city.

There are many things, broken and gone, and the light and shadow of darkness are crushing and crushing everything, and it is about to press here, a darkness that is more difficult to resist than before, but it is difficult to say what form it will become.

Three years after the founding of the Wu Dynasty, the northwest turned into a Jedi on the eve of it. (To be continued.) )