And in Suizhou, south of Chengdu.

In the rain and snow falling all over the sky, the Jialing River, which winds and turns between the mountains and gorges, is like a blue-gray snake lying quietly and hibernating, gathering the power and momentum of the roaring and rushing in the past.

On the shore, many slender men who stepped bareback and barefoot on the mudflats like ants slowly dragged several river boats upstream. And not far away, Gao Renhou, the defense envoy of Meizhou and the envoy of Xichuan, was also wearing a bamboo hat and holding his mount, and trekked in the rain, snow and mud with most of the soldiers.

"Haven't you contacted Deputy Envoy Yang yet?"

Half a day later, Gao Renhou, who had stopped to rest in the city of Fangyi, the state governor, said to a general.

"The subordinates are incompetent, and the cavalry team has failed to track down the traces of Deputy Envoy Yang's headquarters from Puzhou to Anyue and Lezhi to the county roads. In the end, it was only when they went west to the territory of Jianzhou that some soldiers who had fallen behind were found."

The muddy general said with a guilty face

"In this way, he is yearning to save Chengdu. Fighting side by side and being a comrade for many years, they can't believe me like this. ”

Gao Renhou sighed deeply to the left and right.

"Then where should my generation go? Vice Envoy Yang took away the most sturdy sons in the army in the name of opening the way. ”

A Shenji battalion general couldn't help but say with panic and anxiety on his face.

"Of course, the itinerary of our army remains the same. Yang Maoyan wanted to go, and he went to save the driver. ”

Gao Renhou is rare to say categorically.

"Continue to follow me to the Dongchuan Institute of Zitong, take the enemy's key points and attack them to save them, and the crisis in Chengdu will naturally be solved. and then deal with the Dongchuan rebels who are eager to return to the division with flaws, and the whole army will have fame and wealth at your fingertips; But I don't know if you are willing to fight with me? ”

More than a dozen Huangtou Army, Shenji Battalion Generals, Chengdu Commando Generals, and even Meizhou and Jiazhou regimental training envoys from Xichuan were present at the scene, and after each facing each other for a few breaths, they responded in a jagged voice:

"The only way to strike the horse's head is to look forward."

"May we have a prosperous future."

However, at this moment, outside the Jinguan City under the cover of night, with the curfew's hanging and beating sounds, there was already a suffocating dead silence. Most of the people hid in their homes with closed doors, anxious and sleepless at night, waiting for the dawn and their possible fate.

As for those flower shops where the original guests were weaving and singing night and night, they were also cold and pedestrians were extinct; The ladies who stood on the tall buildings and laughed and greeted customers were even more gone, and the occasional sound of silk and bamboo in the flickering doors also sounded full of a certain mournful and ominous taste.

However, in this gloom, there were people who lit lanterns and walked out of these flower shops near the Jinqiao Gate one after another, and then gathered together sporadically. And the dim lights that flicker with the wind reflect the reflection of the swords in their hands.

Like a long dragon with glittering scales in the night, it finally arrived at the Jinqiao Gate, which had already been opened from the inside. Then someone shouted loudly in the dark: "Eradicate the traitors, Lang Qingjun's side, it's time today. . . ”

Immediately, these shouts in unison turned into short and fierce shouts of fighting up and down the gatehouse and inside and outside the corridor. And the outside of the city was also lit one by one with the pre-prepared lighting means, and the fire reflected the groups of Dongchuan armor soldiers who were already waiting for a stone's throw away.

As the movement in the gatehouse intensified, and then these armored soldiers rushed out of the column with many sledgehammers in their hands; A daring warrior with an iron cone and chains. Then they crossed the moat that had been filled in, rushed under the heavy gates of the thick nails of copper, and struck the iron cones and hammered them into the panels.

Then there were the oxen and horses that had been prepared long ago, and under the loud spur, they struggled to pull the chains to the left and right; At this time, the top door bar and horizontal bolt inside were finally removed.

Therefore, just a moment later, the loud and roaring Dongchuan armor soldiers rushed into the city of Chengdu like a rolling iron stream, under the shocked expressions of the defenders rushing over the city and the sporadic falling wood and stones in haste.

- I'm the dividing line -

In Jiangling City, where the wind and snow gradually subsided, Zhou Huai'an, who coincided with the routine day of sitting in the palace, was also in the hall of the map, dealing with the daily affairs and new situations that constantly appeared.

"Hu Cao reported that this batch of Xinkou imported from Huainan has about 3,168 people, of which 1,000 and 57 are strong men, 1,565 are young women, and the rest are children."

As usual, Zhuang Ding was put in the newly opened Zhuangzi in Shannan Road, and then recruited volunteers to go to Yuzhou to develop and live in Tun; The women arranged to go to the workshops of the local logistics departments, and the children were sorted into nurseries and children's camps according to their age. ”

"Governor Qiyu, among the people who have moved from the Guannei, a small half of them are the monks of various Chang'an jungles. ."

"Compared with the ordinary literate people, it is handled as usual, and there is no need to directly arrange to go to various monasteries, so they will gather together to study and observe for a period of time. Just beware of spies and people with ulterior motives. ”

"Master Yixin requested the establishment of a new Buddhist institute at Lumen Temple in Xiangzhou to emulate the Honghua story of the original source of Lingnai."

"Yes, but under my order, all Zen Buddhism, Vinaya, Pure Land, and Tiantai belong to it, and you can choose to list the learned people among them as a branch. In addition to the original houses and grounds that need to be repaired and expanded, no other property is allowed to be purchased, and no worship and worship from the outside are accepted. ”

"The Runzhou garrison area came by ship to report that one hundred and thirty-seven more soldiers came to defect in Yuejiangdong Province this month. How many hostels are overcrowded these days? Request for expansion of the premises. ”

"Yes, the treatment is still maintained with one dish and one soup, and six people have a single dormitory; Anyway, there are still empty houses that have been confiscated. However, the number of recruits should be reduced each month as appropriate to create the illusion of shortage and encourage competition. Then take turns to arrange for people to go back and show up. ”

Zhou Huai'an immediately instructed.

"We should also try to break them up and separate them to avoid getting together and making trouble. In addition, do more odd jobs for some writing and writing, and organize them regularly to pull out visits and on-site education, so as not to let people have the opportunity to think crankily. ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Huai'an didn't sigh, but remembered that there has always been a saying or speculation in the historical circles of later generations;

It is the war and chaos from the middle and late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, in fact, it is also the long-term game, confrontation and tug-of-war between those family gate valve political groups who refuse to withdraw from the historical stage, and the emerging Hanmen Shu scholar groups.

Therefore, behind many major events and turmoil, including the division of feudal towns since the Middle and Tang Dynasty, there have always been a large number of scholars with a long-term background of unfortunate Han clans, who have been the potential driving force and a steady stream of talent supplements from beginning to end.

In other words, this is an instinctive and spontaneous backlash of these middle- and lower-class scholars who have emerged with the progress of society and the increase in the population base and surplus resources, for the gate valve clans who naturally control and monopolize the upward passage and the way to enter;

After all, when the high-ranking families in the clan chronicles gradually controlled and monopolized the political resources of the center, they could only throw themselves into the local feudal forces to seek a future.

When this upward and downward flow was completely blocked and blocked, the peasant uprisings and blind riots, which had been constantly swirling and whirling, were joined by a large number of literati, and began to undergo a radical transformation in terms of goals and demands.

And as these peasant uprisings were gradually destroyed and torn apart, after the last fig leaf that the righteousness and authority of the imperial court could maintain, those feudal towns that were deeply constrained by the framework of righteousness naturally lost the last shackles and restrictions that could be restrained, and officially entered the chaotic war of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms fighting for the king.

Perhaps this is a painful time for most civilians and soldiers that continues to be a nightmare; For those high-ranking armors, they also continued to fall into the mud and dust from the high clouds, and the despair of disintegration and disintegration, shattered bones.

However, for those who have been suppressed by the family for a long time since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, as well as the warriors who stand on the table and are also from humble backgrounds, it is an era of carnival feasts that break the shackles and fly and indulge the upper and lower limits.

After all, it is not known how much has progressed and developed since antiquity to the present mode of productive forces and social life; However, the families born out of the backward old era, as well as the political resources and ways of rising in their control, are stubbornly unwilling to withdraw from the stage of history; and gave way to the new and landlordish class of scholars.

Therefore, there are five dynasties and ten kingdoms of continuous division and turmoil, constantly cleansing and destroying the foundation of the existence of old things, and exploring and trying to find a more suitable social class and a more advantageous political system between ignorance and confusion;

So in the end, in the suffering and tears of countless people named "the world is fixed, and the sea is one", it gave birth to the "scholar doctor and the emperor of the world", a deformed child who was overkill, congenitally deficient, and even weaker.

And now, Zhou Huai'an has to stand in front of this historical trend/wheel that has not yet been fully formed, holding down the back of the neck of the future fortune known as the general trend of the world, and deflecting it to another new and more rugged road.

Fortunately, he is no longer alone, but a vast territory and population full of opportunities and possibilities, a new army composed of many followers, and officials at all levels trained by a new education system.

Since Zhou Huai'an gave them a common long-term goal and an expectation of steps to achieve, he should also focus on the core concept that has been initially self-consistent, and constantly improve and expand, so as to maintain the simultaneous victory and leading edge in the ideological field.

Therefore, these scholars who were unexpectedly attracted by the Taiping oath can be said to have to find a way to keep one of them; As long as they can stay, the Taiping Army will have the means and time to gradually turn around and transform these intellectuals with different demands and ideals.

Time flies quickly, and when Zhou Huai'an walked out of the governor's mansion with a hug, he saw a number of female guards standing in the gatehouse, and his heart couldn't help but get up.

It turned out that this afternoon was the day to meet Yao'er to see the performance of the new play.