Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Vast World
It's overcast, and it's a bit unusual at the end of April!
Xixiudu was originally a wild ferry with no people. The www.biquge.info Pavilion has now become a lively place, because it is now the border between Chu and Shuzhong.
Strictly speaking, now it is the territory of the Tusi of the two states and the border of Shuzhong. Presumably, as the ruler of Chu, Zhou Xingfeng, the governor of Langzhou, will not have any doubts. Because, he can't control the territory of Tusi in the two states, and Shuzhong won't pay attention to Zhou Xingfeng, so Zhou Xingfeng hopes that this place will become a buffer zone.
After the establishment of the Shu Kingdom, it is not more than 100 miles away from Yizhou and Jinzhou in Chudi, but it has become the most important waterway for Chu to enter Shu, and it is also the best place in Shu to flow down Chu. Because of the importance of the location, everyone would rather it be deserted and untouched. However, because this land has been inhabited by barbarians since ancient times, a water village was naturally established here, and a standing military camp was stationed.
The upstream is naturally the army in Shuzhong, but the downstream is less than two miles away from the natural danger, and the Tusi of the two states also deliberately sent two barbarians in the pass, one is the Tusi native barbarian, and the other is the Miao Barbarian who has emerged in recent years.
Perhaps because of the particularity of the terrain, this place is not too many soldiers sent by both sides. It is really a primitive mountainous area with difficult mountain roads and few people.
Now Xixiudu is not only a ferry, but also a military camp water village, and it is also the largest market in the vicinity of 100 miles. People from dozens of miles nearby, whether they are from Shu or Tianchu, will come here to catch up, and slowly a very large market has formed here.
The people living around here are said to be the Dong barbarians who were driven out of Chu by Miao Man that day, because they were constantly oppressed by Miao Man, many Dong Man hid in the mountains and did not dare to come out. Although since ancient times, everyone has grown up drinking water from the Wulong River, but the difference is big. They usually live a very hard life, but they found their place to live on the border of Shuzhong.
Shuzhong Qianzhou Thorn Shi Pingbai got many people, and he was still very happy, so he naturally managed this place. Although the site is a bit remote, compared with the dangerous situation of Shu Road, it has increased the safety of Shu.
Qianzhou Assassin Shi casually sent some border troops, did not need too many people, and brought some sophisticated equipment, which could still deter the barbarians. Sure enough, since Shu set up a military camp here, Miao Man didn't dare to come over blatantly, so gradually some Dong Man came out of the mountains.
Because of the gradual stabilization, some bold Dong barbarians also tried to break through, took out some prey and medicinal materials, and rushed to Xixiudu to trade the agricultural products they needed and some necessary food, and even some rare medicinal materials in the mountains.
Wu Dun is a native of the local, because of his cleverness, when Shu established a military village here, his father still called on the villagers to help. So Wu Dun got some tangible benefits, that is, he became a small tax official in Xixiudu.
I don't know when my ancestors moved here, and even Wu Dun doesn't know if he is Han Chinese, although his father and ancestors have always claimed to be Han, but Wu Dun is more or less suspicious. It is said that it was originally a person from the Nanyang area of the Central Plains, but the ancestors did not produce any characters, and there was really nothing to record.
He really grew up around the Xixiudu military village, and really saw these Dong barbarians slowly coming out of the mountains. To be honest, Wu Dun still sympathizes with these Dong barbarians. Seeing that there are some of them now, I feel a little comforted in my heart, because they gradually dare to live in the surrounding mountains and forests.
According to Wu Dun's father, that day in the former Shu period, but saw with his own eyes that Dong Man was driven away by the Miao Man on the side of Chu, many barbarians died in the mountains and wilderness, and many people died at that time, and it is said that the remaining Dong Man was almost only some old, weak, sick and disabled.
Wu Dun has been somewhat sympathetic to these barbarians since he was a child, after all, his usual life is at least better than these barbarians. Later, Xixiudu was in the hands of the current Shu State, and because of the stability of gathering some people's lives, they opened up a market to catch up. Wu Dun would often buy and exchange some things in the hands of some barbarians, and gradually got to know some barbarians.
Yang Shan is the earliest Dong barbarian that Wu Dun knew, and Wu Dun's evaluation of him was that he was calm and vigorous. It is said that he is now also the cave master of a Wuling Dong in the mountains, he started hunting by himself at the age of ten, and hunted black bears by himself at the age of twelve, and is a hero among the young people of Dongman.
In this vast deep mountain, it is said that there are still four or five Dong barbarians. Wuling Dong is only one of the surviving ones, and the population is not very large, in order to make the people survive, Yang Shan will work hard to shuttle through the mountains, looking for the best opportunity. He would always bring the best prey and medicinal herbs to Wu Dun, and Wu Dun would also prepare what he needed most.
Wu Dun was most proud of the fact that he once exchanged a three-stone hard bow for Yang Shan in the military village with a complete black bear skin, which was a great gift to the Dong barbarians who lacked weapons. Since then, Yang Shan has always regarded Wu Dun as a friend and gave Wu Dun the best things.
Wu Dun sat on the branch of the old pine tree at the entrance of the post that was not known to be hundreds of years old, one side of the branch stretched out flat, the trunk was only four feet above the ground, but there were two people hugging the thick branch, which was usually a place where many people liked to sit as chairs.
Sit here and see less than 500 meters on the opposite side, the military village built by the mountains and rivers is scattered, although the military village is only about 100 people, there are more than a dozen camp houses connected up and down, left and right. The military camp was built on the edge of the Wulong River, guarding the Wulong River crossed by the high mountains on both sides.
If you want to enter Shuzhong, you must either pass through the military camp or enter the vast mountains. For thousands of years, no one dared to cross into the mountains, not even the Dong barbarians who were cornered, they could only hover in the mountains for dozens of miles.
Therefore, Xixiudu can be said to be the proud work of Shuzhong. Although there are also people who can climb over the mountains on both sides, but now they are also patrolled and guarded by the people in the military camp, not to mention that there are a few people who dare to cross the hundred zhang high mountains.
Wu Dun's home is on the side of Xixiudu, at the foot of the high mountain near the military village to Shuzhong, when there is no military village, there are more than ten families here, of course, Wu Dun's family does not know how many generations, but he enjoys his current life very much.
Sitting on this branch, you can also see the Dong Man coming out of the mountain on the right, and they will all come to this side of the river. It is said that this Wulong River has a tributary flowing into the cave people where they live, and they will also live in the mountains by the mountains and rivers, but they are far away from the world.
They brought their prey, herbs, and some mushrooms from the abundant mountains, as well as fish caught from the river, to exchange them here. There are also some residents living around here, some who have lived for a long time, some who have fled later, and of course, those soldiers who have been stationed there.
Wu Dun's task is to collect some fees from these people in accordance with the meaning of the assassination history that day, of course, even if these fees are collected every time, they will be pitiful in the end. But Wu Dun would call the soldiers who changed the guard to take them to Qianzhou every time, and he had this responsibility.
Of course, there is also an advantage to sitting here, that is, there are other people who come downstream and can see it as well. It is said that the downstream is actually the Wulong River extending down here, and on one side it goes to the mountains on the right, which is the place where the Dong people live in the deep mountains; While going to Chudi, the river gradually flowed into the river and merged into many tributaries.
Of course, the people who crossed the mountains on the left were the Miao Man and the Tu Man not far away, and they had set up camps on the slopes of the mountains on both sides of the mountain not far below.
With a grass in his mouth, leaning against the branch, Wu Dun was a little comfortable, Yang Shan will come again today, and today is a rush again. Last time he brought himself something very good, he was reluctant to take it out, and then because there were some things to deal with. He gave it to Jiao Duwei in the military village, and Jiao Duwei found a good messenger for himself, and he could follow him to the state capital in two days.
Therefore, Wu Dun is looking forward to it today, and Yang Shan will bring good things to himself.
Five people dressed in Dong barbarian heads, led by a young man, were striding down the mountain road. The young man carried a five-foot bow on his back, a quiver made of tiger skin on his left waist, and a knife more than three feet long in his blue linen belt on his right. The most surprising thing is that he actually carried a tiger weighing two or three hundred pounds on his shoulder, and he was surprised to see that he had rushed over one after another.
There were two young men behind him who also carried prey, and Wu Dun looked at it from a distance, with a smile on his face, and jumped down from the branch and met him. What surprised Wu Dun a little was that the other two were actually women wearing silver jewelry, but they were also neatly carrying two large backpacks.
The young man walked up to Wu Dun, put down the tiger that was no longer moving, and threw it on the grass beside him. Seeing that Wu Dun actually showed his snow-white teeth, opened his strong arms, and hugged Wu Dun.
"Good guy, I have gained a lot from this trip today! Yang Shan, how did such a big tiger catch it, it seems that there are no scars! Wu Dun was hugged tightly by the young man, almost out of breath, but he also hugged the young man tightly, it turned out that this young man was Dong Man Yang Mountain that Wu Dun was waiting for.
Yang Shan introduced three unknown people to Wu Dun, one was named Yang Shuiqi, Wu Dun saw that he was as strong as Yang Shan, and seemed to be taller, presumably also a warrior in the Yang Shan clan. The rest are the two women, one is called Hua Liyin, the other is called Wu Hua, although Wu Dun knows that Dong girls are enthusiastic, but they came with Yang Shan, and Wu Dun is not good-looking.
The rest of the man, Wu Dun knew him before, he had been here with Yang Shan several times, his name was Wu Li, and he was a famous warrior among the two surnames in Wuling Dongli. Then Yang Shan told Wu Dun that this tiger was actually killed by him and Yang Shuiqi, and Wu Dun was dumbfounded when he heard it.
Wu Dun remembered that the military academy in the military village stated that he wanted a tiger skin, so he wanted to introduce Yang Shan, presumably it would be convenient for Yang Shan to act here in the future, and he was naturally overjoyed when he mentioned Yang Shan, so he just sold the things in his hand, so he went to see the Chen Military Academy with Wu Dun.
No matter how difficult the road ahead is, no matter what kind of things change in the future, as long as you have a firm heart to win, nothing is impossible, and no difficulty is impossible to overcome. Obviously, things are man-made, and the world is changed by people, and it is also changed by people.
On April 21, there was a sudden turmoil in Zizhou and Suizhou in Shuzhong.
The reason was that the accumulated food in the previous year was not enough, the villagers could not survive after the spring ploughing, and the government and landlords did not relax taxes at all, and the villagers could not bear it, and some people took the lead in attacking the local landlords. Some landlords were unable to suppress the starvation of the villagers, so they turned to the state and county for help. The officials of the prefecture and county had nothing to do, and led a group of headhunters to go down to the township, who knew that they had been boiled dumplings that had been ambushed a long time ago, and they were served in a pot by the villagers.
By the time the higher-level state government found out, the state and county government offices had already been occupied, and some people took the lead in denouncing the criticism and suppression, and the discredited landlords and bullies in various places. As long as it is a landlord bully with bad deeds and bloody cases, none of them will be spared. It was immediately strongly supported by the villagers, and in a short period of time, the two state capitals each gathered 10,000 or 20,000 villagers to make a rebellion.
What alarmed the state government the most was that these villagers had organized and planned instigation and resistance to repression. The state capital was greatly surprised, and under investigation, it was indeed someone who secretly instigated the rebellion. It was not easy to find out that these people claimed to be equal, and in the name of land equality, they launched an action to divide land and property in various places.
Where did the state government dare to report it, they all secretly suppressed it for a while, hoping not to let the emperor of Chengdu know. Who knew that not only could not be suppressed in the history of the assassination of the two states, but by the end of April, the movement in the prefectures and counties had become more and more intense, and some people, with the support of the Average Sect, said that they would occupy the state capital and let the Average Sect sit in the world. Seeing that the state capital could not be suppressed, everyone panicked.
No one knew that this was Liu Jixing's strategy in Shuzhong in the Southern Han Kingdom. The Southern Han court is now attacking Chu with lightning speed, and the surrounding forces do not know about it. And suddenly separated the combat effectiveness, and the counterattack was not at all in the territory of Shu in everyone's imagination.
Not to mention the so-called countries such as Zhou, Chudi, Southern Tang, and Dali, they never thought of it at all, even Shuzhong, which was the country that suddenly suffered at this moment, that was never thought of. Because this is not at all reasonable, and the Southern Han Kingdom has always given people the feeling that it is impossible to meet this condition, not to mention that Liu Jixing was smart and did not let everyone fly the banner of his own Great Han Kingdom.
Of course, the most taboo thing about Liu Jixing's Great Han Kingdom is that he is afraid that Zhou Guo will know. After all, it is Shuzhong and Southern Tang that are at the forefront of the battle against Zhou State now, and there is no need to take the pot right away, so Liu Jixing's strategy is to cut in in another state first.
Now, when the farthest Zhou State wants to know about this incident, it is basically to wait for the information sent back by the spies of the Zhou State in Shuzhong, of course, now the Zhou Lord Guo Rong is planning the Northern Expedition. And when he knew it at that time, he didn't know how the political situation in Shu had changed, and Zhou Guo obviously didn't have time to react.
Chu Di naturally reacted the most fiercely, but as the Southern Han State had targeted Chu in advance, it not only launched a war, but also had the posture of attacking the city and seizing land. Of course, the most troublesome thing for Zhou Xingfeng was that after the troops of the Great Han Kingdom captured the state and county, they did not go to defend the city and occupy the land. Instead, they cleared all the officials and left every city in a vacuum.
And that bandit Guo Jing, the king of Xiangxi, was the most hateful, leading thousands of bandits, and when he saw that there was no one to manage the city, he went in and searched it. Of course, the people he looted were also rich people and those bullies with a very bad reputation. The biggest trouble is that Guo Jing also knows how to buy the people, and most of the things and property he looted are distributed to the people, so in a short period of time, Guo Jing, the king of Xiangxi, occupies more than ten prefectures and counties.
The special operations army of the Southern Han State not only attacked Chudi, but also advanced hundreds of miles a day like a bamboo. What worries Zhou Xingfeng the most is that there are actually sailors who attack from the three Chudi rivers of Xiangshui, Zishui, and Yuanshui, and march to Langzhou together. Moreover, after the navy that entered from Lishui successfully occupied the upper waterway of Yongzhou, it actually clamped down on Zhang Wenbiao, the assassin of Hengzhou.
As the leader of Chudi, Zhou Xingfeng's first reaction was to consume Zhang Wenbiao, but what he didn't expect was that he did consume Zhang Wenbiao, but he lost the opportunity to fight. Even Pan Song, who he later sent to support in the Chuzhong region, could not play any role at this time, and could not form a joint encirclement with Zhang Wenbiao, but isolated Zhang Wenbiao.
Nantang was also relatively slow to receive this news, and the reaction of the Qianzhou Assassin Shi as a border was even slower. Because Nantang, who had just been scared by Zhou Guo, didn't believe in this matter at all. The neighbors around him, who had been silent, suddenly became as excited as chicken blood, and would cross the five ridges to attack Chudi.
When they planned to send Qianzhou to try the reaction of the Southern Han Kingdom, they really received a battle report from the border pass, saying that Chu was attacking Chu in several ways. The information is too slow, not to mention the lack of decisiveness, and Tang Guo does not have the courage to take the opportunity to enter Chu when the horses are fighting for the groove like back then.
Of course, in the Tang Kingdom, there are still voices asking for war in Chudi, such as Han Xizai and others hope that when Chu is interfered with by the Southern Han Kingdom, the Tang State can take the opportunity to get a piece of the pie. But unexpectedly, someone in Zhongshu actually stopped this action. It is said that since the Southern Han Kingdom dared to suddenly kill Chu Di, it must have some understanding of Chu Di, and even more so of Tang State. Otherwise, how could the Southern Han Kingdom, which has always been a partial, dare to do so.
The lucky elements naturally attacked, and Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, naturally wanted to send someone to Chu to confirm it for the sake of prudence. Sure enough, Jia Bao, the envoy of the Zhaoxin Army (Zhaoxin Army) of the border defense, sent a report that after it was confirmed that the troops and horses of Pan Chongche were stationed in the northwest camp of the Southern Han Kingdom, and the border was turbulent. Nantang didn't react, and the lord of the country, Li Jing, was silent. As if none of this had happened, it had only allowed the Shoshin Army to strengthen the garrison of the border.
After it was confirmed that the Southern Han State sent troops to Chudi and occupied a large amount of territory with the bandit Guo Jing, Dali made a short silence and finally sent another envoy to Xingwangfu. In any case, after all, the barbarian nominally belongs to Dali. Although Dali is remote in the southwest, there is no intersection with the Central Plains court, but it is also necessary to take care of the general trend.
Feeling the most wronged is naturally Shuzhong, not to mention that Shuzhong has always been in a hostile state with Zhou Guo, thinking about living his own free life. Even the Southern Han Kingdom, which was separated from the previous territory and is now close to the border, is basically an alliance. What's more, not long ago, Shuzhong also married the Southern Han Kingdom?
Who knows, Liu Jixing, the young emperor of the Southern Han Kingdom, suddenly had a nervous nerve that was not right, and suddenly let his army enter Chu. let the bandit Guo Jing get cheap, and he actually wanted to secretly attack Shudi, and he still maintained the speed of driving thousands of miles of land for a few days. also regarded the words that Shu Dao is difficult and difficult to go to the blue sky as a joke.
Shuzhong seems to be completely chaotic at the moment, not to mention that the garrisons in various places are in a mess, I can't imagine that there will be any average teaching, most of the troops in normal times go to guard against the Zhou State, and they have been guarding against the Zhou State on the border. Even if there are troops in various places, there are not many troops, not to mention that they usually rely on natural danger to eat and defend, but let a small sect incite a large number of people.
There are soldiers everywhere in Shu at this time, that is, some official villages still have some manpower and some preparations, and they were also attacked by the special operations forces that fell from the sky in the Southern Han Kingdom, these people pretended to be people, and the stealth average sect incarnated as friends.
Some of the more miserable official villages and cities were directly controlled by the average sect followers who had already infiltrated it, and they put it bluntly were controlled by the members of the secret party members, and as soon as the army of the Southern Han Dynasty was divided into pieces, the people who were sovereign in various parts of the Shu army were controlled or killed, and the military villages and small cities in each place completely welcomed the arrival of the average sect team.
Not to mention those officials and soldiers in Shu in various places, even if they want to serve the country loyally, they can't catch up in terms of time, the speed of the army led by the average sect is eye-catching, they don't know or understand, why these villagers are so powerful, why they can be so fast, is it that all the natural dangers are muddy? But no one knows anymore.
As for some officials and soldiers who were loyal to the Mengjia court in Shuzhong, who were lucky enough to escape from their own area and rushed to Jinguancheng to report the news, they were either intercepted and killed in the middle of the road by the average cultists, or they might have reached the next area, which had been controlled by the average cultists, and they were no longer able to break through the defense line with their own strength and go to Jinguancheng to report the news.
That is, in just one week, the various armies led by the Average Sect drove straight into the Shu realm. With the cooperation of the party members who infiltrated the government and the army from all over the country, the distance from the nearest average sect leader in the capital was only a hundred miles away from Chengdu, the capital of Shuzhong. And this distance of more than 100 miles, there are many places in which there are villages.
Because of the prosperity of Jinguan City, the development of the surrounding area has been promoted, making the population dense. It also makes it impossible for these places to become everyone's battlefields, but it also makes it impossible for the Shuzhong army to defend in front of them, and naturally the average sectarians have no way to enter the vicinity of Jinguan City in large numbers.
There are pros and cons, and both sides know this truth. The members of the secret party in various parts of the Han Kingdom have long infiltrated the surrounding area of Jinguan City. Calling on the people to organize spontaneously, absorb the forces of mountain bandits and soldiers in various places, and fight local tyrants and landlords every day, not only affected the common people, but also basically formed a siege of Chengdu City.
In Chengdu, the capital of Shu China, known as Jinguan City, it was not that there was no news of the invasion of the army led by the Average Sect at this time, but that many officials had their own thoughts. The lord of the official university was afraid that he would go to the stall to do things, and now the emperor favors Mrs. Hua Rui the most, spending every day and drinking, and indulging in his dream of being in the danger of Shu Dao. Basically, he just ignores political affairs, and if he goes to report the news himself, the emperor may not believe it, and he may be put on the name of demagoguery.
The officials did not dare to squeak, but of course most of the officials did not have the opportunity to meet the emperor. In fact, there are also bloody people, a seven-grade official named Ma Yi who is not afraid of death, and his family in his hometown is a big local tyrant, and the family is averaged by the average number of people who are taught.
Someone in the family escaped and rushed to Chengdu to risk death to report the news, Ma Yi was naturally like a thunderbolt, sad and sad in his heart, and wanted to meet the emperor by beating the drum on the morning ceremony. The next day in the morning drumming made a fuss, who knew that the emperor Meng Chang was happy at night that day, and accompanied Mrs. Hua Rui to drink too much in the palace, and was so drunk that he didn't wake up.
It just so happened that Wang Zhaoyuan, the big guy, was in the court, and he didn't know what this big guy was thinking, so he called Ma Yi to a few of his big guys. After asking the reason, I was really taken aback. In fact, he already knew something, and he understood that others knew even more. But he didn't expect the situation to be so critical, and he felt a little troubled in his heart.
But he knew the size of this matter, and in front of the big guys in Zhongshu, he didn't dare to mess with himself. Moreover, Ma Yi was also unlucky, because everyone didn't see anyone else reporting the news, and they all thought that Ma Yi was a fake public and private. Although these bigwigs are tacitly aware of their hearts, no one dares to pierce it. So blame Ma Yi for demagoguery, and let people put the sad Ma Yi in prison.
But this Wang Zhaoyuan was not too confused, and he also knew how to pretend, so he sent people out of the city to inquire about the news. However, there are no clues near the outside of the city, because the common people have not been harassed by the average religion at all. And because there are a lot of benefits to teaching local tyrants, landlords, and bullies on average, everyone will deliberately hide it, so everything seems to be normal.
This Ma Yi is looking forward to it every day, all the time, and he didn't look forward to the emperor's summons, and the bigwigs in the court also ignored him, they were all thinking about their own ways. But when Emperor Meng Chang woke up, that Ma Yi committed suicide in the prison. As for why he committed suicide, only the devil knows, because Ma Yi seems to be insignificant.
Maybe it's because the sky is going to die, after this Ma Yi died in the prison, although Emperor Meng Chang knew about it, he didn't ask in depth, he just heard that Ma Yi's family was killed by the chaos. He had never thought that danger was imminent, and he had never heard the auxiliary ministers around him mention it. He didn't know who this kind of low-ranking official was, not to mention that the person sent by Wang Zhaoyuan to inquire about the news was also sent on a tour, and he didn't reply for a long time. Wang Zhaoyuan didn't dare to squeak at all, so he passed inexplicably.
In fact, they couldn't even imagine how much work the average congregation had done here. First of all, they bought off many officials from all walks of life in the capital city of Chengdu, and controlled many officials by various means and methods. In fact, he has mastered every move of the Shuzhong court, and even the movements of the inner court are well understood.
After learning about Ma Yi's chaos that happened unexpectedly, he was glad that he was imprisoned in the prison, so he naturally managed to sneak into the prison and understand a certain link in this system, and then caused the illusion of Ma Yi's accidental death. Externally, it was naturally Ma Yi who committed suicide.
Then secretly tracked and monitored, Wang Zhaoyuan's actions of the bigwigs in Shuzhong, when Wang Zhaoyuan sent people out of Jinguancheng, the confidential elements of the Average Sect followed the past, assassinated or controlled all these spies sent out in the dark, and then fed back the wrong information to Wang Zhaoyuan.
Now, the people Wang Zhaoyuan was waiting for naturally would not come back, and those who came back to report were all mixed or bribed by the people of the average teaching. The action of the average teaching undoubtedly bought great convenience and time for the movement of the assembled army. The garrisons in all parts of Shuzhong were either cut and separated by the Average Sect, or surrounded and annihilated by the army of the Average Sect, and no one was able to return to the capital Chengdu.
The encirclement of Chengdu has completely reached maturity, and the time during this period is only one month before and after. Ren didn't expect things to develop like this, let alone such an ending, but the overall situation has been decided.
Liu Jixing, who was far away in Xingwangfu, although he didn't know what the specific situation would be in Chengdu, but every day he looked at a lot of information about the secret party, looked at the various information about the average teaching, and the ending was already understood, and he smiled knowingly in the direction of Shuzhong.