Many years later, Master Li often thinks of Bianliang in the thirteenth year of Jinghan of the Wu Dynasty.

It was the eve of the Jurchens coming south, the memory of Bianliang was warm and prosperous, the buildings and eaves in the eyes were full of the atmosphere of peace and prosperity, the alum tower was at the east end of the royal street, and the sunset was greatly sprinkled from the end of the street. It's always autumn, warm golden, and the pedestrians in the market mingle with the sounds of poetry and music in the buildings.

That kind of prosperity is always more profound in the memory after the rain and wind blow away.

For such memories, Ning Yi has other fallacies and heresies.

"It's all the work of the paint."

Men who don't seem to have much interest always swear by this: "From ancient times to the present for so many years, we can use the colors, in fact, there are not many, for example, to build a house, red and purple paint is very expensive, and it is difficult to stay in the towns and villages." At that time, Bianliang was prosperous because the houses were at least colored and maintained, unlike the countryside, which was full of adobe cow dung...... After the development of industry, you will find that the prosperity of Bianliang is actually not worth mentioning. ”

Ning Yi, who said this kind of thing, was actually a little aesthetically worthless, and he often asked people to paint the wall into a whole white wall, which made people look like they had arrived in another place that was incompatible with the mountains and rivers. He could write poetry, but apparently he didn't know how to paint.

The Bianliang in my memory is always autumn and evening, and the big sunset is warm and beautiful. It was the sunset of the two hundred years of prosperity of the Wu Dynasty, and from another point of view, perhaps because the life of Master Li at that time also came to an end. Her days of leaning against the window and napping as an alum tower Oiran were about to pass, and she hesitated in her mind about her future choice.

Didn't make a decision.

The wind is always blown away by the rain and wind, and a huge, chaotic era is suddenly pushed in front of her eyes, and also in front of the people of the Wu Dynasty who have been in Chengping for two hundred years.

She thought of herself back then, and also of the people who came and went in the alum tower, and of Heral, people were tossed in the dark, and the big hand of fate grabbed everyone's thread and tore it roughly, and since then, someone's line has gone to completely unpredictable places, and someone's line has broken in the air.

The moment you can stop your gaze, the world has changed to a different place.

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

If she looked at it from another angle, she would occasionally think of the moment when Jiang Ning and Ning Yi saw each other again.

Whether it is to the world or her personal life, that name has been an existence that people cannot ignore for decades. She was once obsessed with it, but later she was bewildered, even angry and puzzled...... In the passage of time and the changes of the world, people's children's private feelings sometimes seem small, and by that man's side, she can always see the outline of something even greater.

Looking back on her last days in the Alum Tower, she was facing the most important choice in her life, and this is true for many people. The women chose a husband, married him, and spent the next few decades marrying each other and raising children...... If all this goes smoothly, the women will have a happy life.

Qingqi people like Master Li always have more autonomy than others. What kind of man a girl from a pure white family wants to marry, it is not up to them to choose, Master Li can have a certain degree of autonomy in this regard, but correspondingly, she cannot become someone else's big house, she may be able to find a gentle and talented man to sustenance for her life, this man may also have a certain status, she can give birth to a child before her appearance is old, to maintain her status, and enjoy a decent life for a period or a lifetime.

There are too many uncertainties in this choice, but this is how everyone lives their lives. In those days as warm as the sunset, Master Li once envied the atmosphere around Ning Yi, she approached the past, and then was taken away by the huge thing, and she couldn't help herself along the way.

It's hard to say whether it's lucky or unlucky, but in the more than ten years since then, she has seen something more profound in this world. If you talk about choices, of course, there are some nodes in this, such as the time when she was in Dali, and for example, every time someone expressed her admiration for her for more than ten years, if she wanted to go back and leave things to the men around her to deal with, she always had this opportunity.

When she was in Xiaocanghe, she once quarreled with Ning Yi because of Jingping, and what Ning Yi said couldn't convince her, so she went to Dali in a rage. In the three-year war of Xiaocanghe, he faced the attack of a million troops in the Central Plains, and he always fought fiercely in the face of the Jurchens, Li Shishi felt that he was such a person, but when the news of death came, she couldn't help but go out after all, wanting to find a "why".

Ning Yi didn't answer her, and in the days when she thought Ning Yi had died, the members of the Huaxia Army accompanied her from south to north and from north to south. In the past two years, she has seen a human tragedy that is completely different from the peaceful years, where people cry out in desolation and change their children, which is pathetic.

But between this unkind heaven and earth, if people really don't have the will to resist and the bloodthirsty beast nature in their hearts, they can't survive just by making people pity. The singing and dancing of the alum tower is just an embellishment in the peaceful season, and the pitiful little girl can only turn into dry bones that freeze and starve to death in the end.

How many people need to awaken and resist to support this world? Ning Yi's answer once made people feel very naïve: "It's best to be everyone." ”

At that time, Master Li understood: "This can't be done." Ning Yi said: "If this is not the case, then what is the meaning of this world?" "Is there a world without meaning for everyone to die? Should people who are not interesting deserve to die? Ning Yi's slightly frivolous answer back then once angered Master Li. But it was only later that she gradually realized how deep anger and helplessness there was in these words.

When a person lays down his burden, the burden has to be borne by those who have been awakened, and those who resist die in front, and after they die, those who do not resist kneel down and die. In the past two years, every scene she has seen with Lu Junyi, Yan Qing and others is like this.

She still didn't fully understand Ning Yi, and after the battle of the Daimyo's Mansion, she returned to the southwest with Qin Shaohe's widow. The two hadn't seen each other for many years, and when they first met, they were actually a little strange, but fortunately they were both open-minded people, and it wasn't long before the strangeness was solved. Ning Yi arranged some things for her, and also told her some bigger things in detail.

"There's nothing remarkable about the alum building." Ning Yi, who sometimes seemed clever, and sometimes couldn't speak, was so nervous at the time, "As for the women in this world, there are not many people who read and have seen few of the world, and on the whole, it is actually boring." For their own enjoyment, the man created the Qinglou and let some women who were literate and able to speak sell ...... The feeling of love. But I think that between two independent people, these things can come by themselves. ”

Ning Yi didn't say anything about this, at least in Master Li's opinion, the relationship between Ning Yi and Su Tan'er, Nie Yunzhu and other family members was extremely enviable, so she didn't refute it.

"In the future, both boys and girls can read and write, girls see more things, know the outside world, can communicate, can communicate, naturally, can no longer need alum building. The so-called equality of all people, of course, can also be equal between men and women. ”

Of course, don't be too happy, the basis of equality between people is actually to take responsibility, and those who can't take responsibility actually can't get any power. Women should be equal to men, the premise is that they have their own ability, and after the conditions are met, there will actually be a process of proving ability and fighting for power. ”

"This process is already being done now, there are already some female officers in the military, and I think you can also make some preparations for the conscious position to fight for women's rights. You see, you've seen a lot of the world, you've seen a lot of things, and now you're in charge of diplomacy and things like that, and you're a good example of women being no worse than men, or even better. ”

This is what Ning Yi said when he talked to her in detail after Ning Yi wanted to do some outreach affairs at Ning Yi's hands.

The division took on many things to communicate and negotiate with the gentry and wang clans in the land of Sichuan and Shu.

In this world, sometimes people get closer, sometimes they move farther and farther away. Of course, the criteria for far and near are not as clear as people think.

If you want to persuade the gentry and noble families in various places to stand with the Huaxia Army as much as possible, many times they rely on the combination of interests, coercion and inducement, and there are also many times when they need to argue with others and explain the great truths in this world. Since then, Shi Shi and Ning Yi have had many conversations, some about the governance of the Huaxia Army, and some about its future direction.

In the face of these specific questions, Ning Yi and her were more detailed, and the division finally understood everything about the Huaxia Army more clearly - this was a communication she had not had when she left Xiaocanghe a few years ago.

“…… People are inherently equal, or rather, we believe that people should be equal in the end. But idealized equality needs to be supported by practical conditions, will a smart person be equal to a stupid person? Is a hard-working person equal to a lazy person? Is a literate person equal to an illiterate person? We want to get as close as possible to the prerequisites......"

“…… Gewu's technology is already giving us the possibility of books, people get wisdom from books, popularize books, popularize the most basic literacy education, and everyone has the possibility to improve themselves. We also need to improve the way of education, not just to make people shake their heads and read it, but to study as much as possible the way of education and enlightenment suitable for the public, and to make the main principles understand more people in a more popular way......"

“…… There may be a limit to the way of things, but for the time being, it is still far away, and the guy who raises grain is very clever and right, if you pull too many people into the workshop, there will not be enough people to farm...... On this point, we have calculated a few years ago, and those who study agriculture already have a certain eyebrow, such as the chicken farm that Hedeng ran over there, and then the selection and breeding ...... mentioned earlier."

“…… But the most important thing is that Mr. Gongsun's laboratory that studies explosives has recently achieved some very interesting results, and we have made some fertilizers, which may increase the grain yield of rice several times...... At present, we have not found the possibility of mass production, but at least there is a certain direction on the agricultural side...... In fact, it takes time and a peaceful environment to do these things with peace of mind, and we are very short of manpower now......"

“…… The problem that the imperial power is not under the county must be changed, but for the time being, I don't want to be like the old bull head, seize all the big families and kill them...... I don't care if they are happy or not, the highest hope in the future is the law, they can have land and houses in the local area, but as long as there is oppression of others, let the law teach them to be human beings, and let education drain their roots. Of course, there will be a transition in between, perhaps a long transition or even a repetition, but now that there is a declaration of equality, I hope that the people themselves will seize this opportunity. The important thing is that what you grasp yourself can take root and sprout......"

Some of Ning Yi's words she could understand, and some she couldn't.

For more than a decade after the sunset of Bianliang, it once seemed extremely chaotic - even desperate - the power of the enemy was so powerful and unstoppable that it was like a giant ship adhering to the will of heaven that crushed all the benefits of the past world.

The teachings of the Great Light Sect say that people live too comfortably and indulgently in peaceful days, so that the heavens will send down thirty-three great calamities in order to regain the light—this kind of statement seems so reasonable. Even if some of the rebels fought in despair, they eventually seemed slim and powerless.

In Master Li's memories, those two moods could not finally be grouped together until the first spring after the Wu Jianshuo Dynasty completely passed.

The Great War in the Southwest, for Master Li, was also a busy and chaotic time. In the past year, she has been campaigning for the Huaxia Army, sometimes she will face ridicule and ridicule, sometimes people will express disdain for her status as a prostitute back then, but with the support of the Huaxia Army, she has naturally summed up a set of methods of dealing with people and negotiating.

Ning Yi's wife named Liu Xigua gave her a lot of help, and most of the soldiers and bandits in Sichuan and Shu were presided over by Ning Yi's wife, who was also the most powerful advocate of "equality" thinking in the Huaxia army. Of course, sometimes she would feel distressed because she was Mrs. Ning Yi, because everyone would give her a little face, so she made the other party back down in various things, more like a beacon fire drama from Ning Yi, and not like her own ability.

Because of this reason, Watermelon is very envious of Master Li, on the one hand, because Master Li has a very literary temperament, and on the other hand, because she has no identity trouble. In the past year, the two got along well, and Watermelon once treated Shishi as his "military advisor".

After the end of autumn, there are more opportunities for the two to work together. Due to the attack of the Jurchens, some of the squire forces on the Chengdu Plain who were originally shrunk and waiting for changes began to take a stand, and the watermelon led the men and horses to chase around, and from time to time also let the teachers come forward to threaten and lobby some gentry and Confucian who were swaying from side to side, or who had the possibility of persuasion, based on the righteousness of China, abandon the darkness and turn to the light, or at least, not to make trouble.

Watermelon's work is more forceful, more running outside, and the master has even seen the cold eyes of the round-faced lady when she is covered in blood.

The work of the teacher requires a lot of intelligence and clerical cooperation, she sometimes goes to Zizhou to contact Ning Yi, most of the time Ning Yi is also busy, if he is free, the two will sit down and drink a cup of tea, and most of the talk is work.

The battle on the front line was extremely tragic, and many times the master could detect what he was hiding in Ning Yi's words—she had done this in the past—the tragedy on the front line had actually caused great pressure on Ning Yi. Ning Yi looked calm.

During such a time, the teacher wanted to play a pipa or guzheng for him, but in fact, in the end, he did not find such an opportunity. The man who is focused on his work and takes on great responsibilities is always fascinating, and sometimes it reminds the teacher of emotional questions, and her mind will think of the stories she has heard in the past, the dedication of the woman when the general goes to war, or the affection for it...... This way and that.

But she didn't say it, not because she didn't expect these things anymore, but because she still looked forward to stories about her feelings in the very small gap of time. But at the moment of contact with Ning Yi, she suddenly realized that the woman's dedication when the general went out on the expedition was because for the woman, this was the greatest encouragement and help to the other party.

Now she has more practical things to do.

The number of troops of the Huaxia Army has been very tight, and by the end of December, the largest wave of rebellion appeared--this is not just a spontaneous rebellion, but more of a premeditation by the Jurchens, including the manipulation and provocation of Yan Xiyin--Watermelon led the troops to pursue and suppress, and part of the forces in Zizhou was also divided, and the division and division cooperated with the intelligence department to analyze several forces that might lobby and rebel back, and prepared to persuade them to give up resistance.

Due to the high probability of danger, the Ministry of Intelligence originally did not plan to let Shi Shi come forward in person, but Shi Shi still chose two schools with Confucian scholars in charge, and her persuasion might be effective forces on her shoulders.

On the third day of the first lunar month, she persuaded a large family of rebels into the mountains to temporarily lay down their arms and no longer oppose the Huaxia army. For the success of this matter, she even made a promise to the other party on behalf of Ning Yi that once the Jurchen soldiers retreated, Ning Yi would have a fair debate with the Confucian students of this family in front of the public.

After the matter was negotiated, the teacher went to Zizhou and reported to Ning Yi by the way. It was already evening when I arrived in Zizhou, and people came and went in the headquarters, and the war horses reporting the news kept coming, which was a sign of the urgency of the front-line situation. Shishi saw Ning Yi who was busy from a distance, she left a Chen knot, and turned around and left here.

She wanted to save time and solve the second one as quickly as possible, and the carriage left the city at night, and half an hour after leaving Zizhou, an accident happened.

The attack on the carriage was sudden, and there seemed to be someone shouting outside: "Tie up Ning Yi's concubine-". The guards who followed the division fought with each other, but one of the opponent's good men got into the carriage and rushed forward in the carriage. The carriage was bumpy, and the master lifted the curtain on the window to take a look, and after a moment, she made a decision, and she threw herself in front of the carriage.

It was an all-out impact, and the master and the murderer who had robbed the carriage flew into the snow on the side of the road, and the murderer got up as soon as he rolled, and the master also struggled to get up, and jumped into the sharp stream on the side of the road because of the narrowness of the river.

The river water in the winter was cold and biting, and the moment it was like water, the master felt his heart suddenly tighten, and his brain was dizzy. The river was rushing down, and when it came to a bend, Shishi's body hit the stone, and she woke up for a moment, struggling. She struggled to move ashore on the edge of a pebble river, her body no longer feeling like she was herself, and her mind wanted to stop.

But she didn't stop. For some time, it was as if something that was not her own was dominating her—she had seen the wounded soldiers in the camp of the Huaxia Army, and she had seen extremely bloody scenes in the camp of the wounded soldiers, and sometimes Liu Xigua walked in front of her with a big knife on her back, and the poor child starved to death on the side of the road and emitted a rancid smell...... These things flashed through her mind mechanically, and her body was also mechanically searching for firewood and firelight by the riverbed.

A sunken stone wall on the edge of the riverbed saved her life, and she found a few dead branches, broke some firewood, and took out the flint and lit it with great difficulty with trembling hands...... She took off her clothes, put them on the fire to dry, and walked whining in the mountain breeze at night, until it was close to dawn, when the soldiers of the Huaxia Army, who had searched back and forth twice, found her in this blind spot of vision.

She was carried to the wounded barracks, examined, rested - the wind chill had already been found, and she had to rest. The watermelon sent her a letter from the other side, asking her to live well, and in the story of others, she also knew that Ning Yi later heard the news of her attack, and sent a small team of soldiers to look for her in a very urgent situation.

This should have been the closest thing to death in her life, and the most worthy of telling it, but when she thought about it after the injury healed a little, she didn't feel anything. In the past year, a few years of traveling, dealing with watermelon and others, so that the teacher's physique has become very good, in mid-January she recovered from her injury, and went to Zizhou again, Ning Yi met her, asked about that night, but the teacher just shook his head and said, "It's nothing." ”

She contacted the watermelon and intelligence department again, and returned to the work she could be responsible for.

Participating in the entire huge and complex work of the Huaxia Army, sometimes the division can feel that a plan that seems to be invisibly advancing. Every time there are fewer problems on the Chengdu Plain, there will be more vitality to devote to the Zizhou front.

In late February, the work in the rear no longer seemed to be as tricky as before, and the division came to Zizhou with a group of soldiers, and arrived in Zizhou on the morning of February 23, and the city of Zizhou was under martial law and slaughter as usual. Since Ning Yi was not free for a while, she first went to the wounded barracks to visit a medical officer who had a friendship earlier, and the other party suddenly realized: "You also came over, just say that there is a big move......

"What?"

“…… You don't know? The other party was stunned, "Forget it, you can take your own time." ”

In the army for a long time, you will encounter some secrets, but there are also some things that can be detected by a careful look. After leaving the camp of wounded soldiers, the division sensed signs of the assembly of troops in the city, and then learned about other things.

In the afternoon, she had finished contact with the Ministry of Intelligence and the General Staff Department, and saw Ning Yi coming over in a military uniform, and the army at the head was passing through the street outside.

"They said you're here, come and have a look. You haven't been in any danger lately, have you? ”

“…… You're going to war? ”

"Zong Han is very close, it's time to meet him for a while."

"In ...... Outside the showdown? They said...... It's not good, there are few of us. ”

Shi Shi racked his brains, recalling the military news he had heard in the past time, before this, in fact, no one thought that this big battle would all be fought in front of Zizhou City. Ning Yi is going to throw all his troops into it......

"It's just an unexpected plan that works when you go to war. Don't worry, Xiaocanghe, I have also been on the front line for a long time. Ning Yi smiled, "I killed it with my own hands." ”

"I've always thought you're the best ...... poetry," she said, feeling that the words didn't make sense, and tears were about to come out. At this moment, she felt the dedication of her lover before the general's expedition - it was much better than talking.

"Haha, poetry......" Ning Yi smiled, but the meaning of this smile was a little incomprehensible. The silence between the two lasted for a moment, and Ning Yi nodded: "That...... Let's go first, it's time to teach them a lesson. ”

Ning Liheng...... Liheng. The teacher stopped him, she has always had a little big forehead, but she has a very temperamental appearance, at this time her eyes are wide open, and many thoughts seem to be about to turn into substance in her eyes, afraid, anxious, complicated, and anxious that she can't reach her words...... Her lips twitched a few times.

"That...... I...... If you...... Dead on the battlefield, you ...... Hey, don't you have anything to say to me? You...... I know that you all have to write and write suicide notes when you go to war, and you wrote it to everyone in your family...... I'm not saying, "That...... I mean...... Your suicide note is for your family, we have known each other for so many years, if you die...... Don't you have anything to tell me? I—We've known each other for so many years......"

She couldn't find a better way to put it, and at this point, tears flowed down her face, and she could only tilt her head, one hand grabbing the skirt on her thigh, and propping the other hand on the table next to her, so that she only bent her knee slightly and did not crouch down. Tears poured down.

Ning Yi looked at her with a complicated gaze, and his fingers were unconsciously tapping on his legs, and after a long time, he said, "If I can come back...... Let's talk about that again, shall we? ”

After a while, I wanted to turn around, but I felt that this sentence was a little unlucky, and reached out and knocked on the table: "Don't worry...... How big of a deal...... I will definitely be able to come back. ”

And so, he turned and walked away.

This is the 23rd of February in Master Li's memory, at least at that moment, the future is uncertain, and the tide of fate is rolling here, and it is rolling up the tragic atmosphere like the wind and the water.

At this moment, all the resistance faced by the southwest, the world, including the Jurchens, who have dominated the world for 30 years, is about to come to an end. If it fails, it will be the end of the world.

When the division came out of the room, the soldiers, who were not many for the entire battlefield, were walking through the city gates in the thin daylight.

Due to the pigments, the momentum in the picture is not full. It's early spring when everything looks pale.

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

In the spring of the first year of Wu Zhenxing and the fifteenth year of Jintianhui, February 23.

In the mountains of the southwest, several armies of the Balisu, Wanyan Saba, Dalai, and Wanyan Xiebao who participated in the southern expedition suddenly launched a large-scale interspersed advance in mutual agreement, trying to break the war situation that had become chaotic due to the terrain in the desperate resistance of the Chinese army.

At the same time as the interspersed unfolding, the Huaxia Army headquarters in front of Zizhou reacted, concentrating its troops to carry out a large-scale division and volley on the weak line of the Jurchens moving forward, trying to swallow a certain result before the strong line of the Jurchens reacted. The two sides fought for a day.

On the night of February 23 and the morning of February 24, a piece of news was sent from Zizhou, and after passing through various routes, it successively spread to the camps of the main generals of the Jurchen departments on the front. This news even interfered with the subsequent response of the Jurchen armies to a certain extent. The Dalai and Sabasuo divisions chose a conservative defense and pulled out the speed unhurriedly, while the avenging army troops of Wanyan Xianbao suddenly increased their speed and pushed forward frantically, trying to break through the line of Leigang and Brown Creek in the shortest possible time.

On February 23, Ning Yi personally led more than 6,000 elite troops to step out of the city gate of Zizhou.

- Pressing to the front.