"In the capital of Jiji, the princes and princes live.

The crown covers the four techniques, and Zhu Lun is actually long. ”

"Learn the caged bird, lift the four corners.

Fall into the poor alley, hugging the shadow and guarding the empty house. ”

"The world is in a high position, handsome and down.

The topography makes it so, and the origin is not a one-time. ”

"Eight Songs of Yongshi", Jin Dynasty writer Zuo Si

- I'm the dividing line -

Gao Yue, the assassin of Chuzhou and the regimental training envoy who was beaten again and was only left in a lonely city, also stood on the street platform of Guoyaoshi Bridge outside Yangzhou, silently watching the scene passing by. The culprit who caused his current situation was Sun Ru, a general under the command of Qin Zongquan, a thief in Caizhou.

Fortunately, the heavy snow after the winter made the ragged thief army under the command of this Caizhou general inconvenient, and suspended the momentum of attacking the city in Huaishang, so that he had the opportunity to get out of the city, along the Cao River, which was completely frozen in the upper position, and went south to Yangzhou to ask for troops and ask for help.

But smelling the smell of fat powder in Yangzhou City, which cannot be concealed even in winter, looking at the colorful skirts on the high-rise buildings on the street. Gao Yue couldn't help but feel a sense of dislocation that he didn't know where he was; It's like the experience of Dangyang, the city of Chuzhou, which was in a bloody battle before, and the city was withered and defeated, is a dream that can be pierced at any time.

However, the continuous war in Huainan and even the world has inevitably brought other subtle changes to this southeast resort that seems to have remained unchanged for thousands of years; For example, wandering in the neighborhoods inside and outside the city walls, and being everywhere are homeless,

"Gao Lang has to be careful when he invites soldiers this time, and the new Lu (Yongzhi) Neishi has done a lot of publicity in the festival office"

With a hoarse and resembling female voice, a fleshy Hao arm slowly grabbed Gao Yue from behind and said:

"Half a month ago, on the grounds of preparing for thieves, Mo Xie came forward to seal up and take over those mansions, stores, quality shops and other industries in the names of the princes and nobles in Beijing, princes and hundreds of officials, and only the background of Chengde, Weibo, and Lulong Zhuzhen can be spared."

"Then he replaced more than a dozen important positions below the governor Shi, Sima, Beijia, Zhu Cao, and judges; Now the ambassador of Xingying Liang (Zhan), who is not allowed to be outside the ya, must also take action and rebound. If you are not careful, you are afraid that you will be involved in the battle between the two sides. ”

Gao Yue, who did not speak, sighed again, since the ancestral uncle Gao Junwang, who was admired by the world, while indulging in cultivation and qi cultivation, on the grounds that wind paralysis was bad behavior, he once again refused the call and order of the imperial court, and was announced to dismiss the camp and unify the capital; A lot of things are different.

Although the Huainan Jieya is still in fact controlling the situation in Huainan at the moment, the divergent thoughts of the various guards under his command are becoming more and more obvious. Gao Yue also had to temporarily put aside his position as a disciple of the Gao family, and think more about the authority in his hands.

At this time, at the other end of Yangzhou City, which is as huge as a chessboard, it ushered in another movement soon after the door opened.

"The ship is coming, the ship is coming."

"The Jingzhou ship is coming"

Then, just like the streets and alleys of the city, which were originally somewhat quiet, many figures rushed to and fro suddenly poured out, and became active; Even the homeless people who sat in the open air on the side of the street were driven away.

Gao Yue couldn't help but sigh heavily, and now the ones who can respond like a tide in Yangzhou City are these Jingzhou and Guangfu merchants who obviously have a Taiping thief background;

Although everyone in Yangzhou City from top to bottom knows the relationship, whether it is the Huainan Shogunate or the Jieyaxing camp, or the defense, regimental training, and military envoys from various places, everyone pretends not to know each other.

Because their arrival also means that all kinds of fresh supplies and treasures, luxury consumer goods, etc., which have been added to this metropolis, so that Yangzhou City can maintain the prosperity and dignity of the former fresh blood.

Among them, there are not only fat powder incense and skirt beads used to maintain the color of women, but also silk silk porcelain tea paper for people's daily use; There are even seasonal and pickled fruits such as lychee, melon, mango, orange, peach, pomegranate, longan, olive, etc.

In fact, among the large and small courtyards and flower shops in Yangzhou today, they are not the source of fresh goods; But if there is no fruit that can be brought out to entertain guests, then it will not enter the stream and cannot be put on the table.

"How often do these merchant ships come now?"

Thinking of this, Gao Yue hesitated for a moment and asked:

"It's just a Jingzhou ship, it will take more than half a month to come back; If it's a sea ship in Guangfu, there will be a round trip within ten years,"

The woman who was around him also replied:

"So diligent."

Gao Yue couldn't help but be a little surprised, this is a winter day when the trade winds and tides are not in time.

"I'm afraid that some people think it's coming slowly.,It's late.。。 But now these businesses are run and controlled by their own people; The ships that came from the south were mainly handled by Lu Neishi as the capital, while the river boats that came from the west were the camps of the Liang ambassadors. ”

The woman said disapprovingly, and then she said pleadingly.

"It's okay if Gao Lang is just handling distribution, but if you want to contact directly, I'm afraid you won't be able to bypass the relationship between these two sides."

At this time, as the sun rose, the displaced people who had been driven up had gathered at the city gate and hobbled in several lines, just to receive a bowl of clear and recognizable porridge for each person under the makeshift porridge shed. Of course, this is not for no reason.

Because selling these homeless people is also a big business for these officials and generals in the city. It is divided into men and women, and children can be sold at different prices. Women are even more expensive than men, and children under the age of ten are worth about two sacks of dry grain, regardless of age.

But at least most of the displaced people will survive this harsh winter. Gao Yue thought about it like this, and he couldn't help but feel a little awkward and tired of drinking in his heart.

What is the problem with this country, this court, and this local government that will let these anti-thieves bear these things? Gao Yue was speechless for a while, but he only felt that the stubble that had been cut off by his finger due to necrosis was faintly painful again.

In another restaurant in Yangzhou City that provides breakfast and tea soup, a slightly chubby young man in brocade clothes said categorically to many friends:

"I've already made up my mind, this time the ship is coming and leaving for Jingzhou."

The others couldn't help but be shocked or disapproving and persuaded one after another.

"Zhou Shuo, are you crazy, that's a thief realm. Cruel to the gentry and slow to treat the scholars, it is better to humiliate the Taiping thief who mentions Sven. Except for the mercenary businessmen, who wants to suffer anywhere. ”

"Erlang, why do you want to go to Jingzhou to dangerous places, it's not good here in Yangzhou. You know, the rest of the place is in chaos and unrest. ”

The chubby young man named Zhou Shuo was a little excited:

"Then what can you do if you stay here, do you just watch everyone get drunk and die together, and then one day be killed by the hungry and cold homeless people who break their heads and take their lives; Or was it another daze that someone broke through the house and killed and looted it?"

Then someone sighed and shook his head

"But it's not like that, it's not easy to say elsewhere, but here is the pillar of the South Heaven, the minister of the country, who has been unheard of chaos for many years. Maybe if you persist for another ten or eight years, the patriots will be in chaos? ”

"Then have you ever seen with your own eyes what the situation is like outside the city, or outside Yangzhou?"

The young Zhou Shuo also said helplessly:

"The world says that half of the world's wealth is in the southeast, and the southeast is all in Huaiyang, and Huaiyang's wealth is no more than Yangzhou; But what does Yangzhou look like in the southeast of Fujia now? Hungry people everywhere are tossing and dying, and the city is still singing and dancing at night. ”

"His Majesty claims to have won 70,000 soldiers, and the cost of providing for the army and raising the soldiers is not reduced by half, but the reward is rising and rising, and all this is more than a huge million. Now that the place is tired and chaotic and it is not enough to prepare for thieves and control the chaos, will it not finally fall on us city soldiers? ”

"Even if it's a clue that is temporarily missing, it's just a fish swimming at the bottom of the kettle, and it's just a moment to stop the soup from boiling. My mother has already agreed.,So this time it's goodbye to you.。。 ”

Of course, there is still something he hasn't said, that is, his family has already sent people to Yuezhou and Ezhou to fight the front station early; It was confirmed that there was indeed no example of the Taiping thieves attacking the merchants for no reason since they were occupied, and they gradually made up their minds.

So while he was here to say goodbye to his old friend, the few relatives in his family had already gone to the docks, accompanied by servants, to get ready to board the ship. And outside the city, near the Jiangkou Wharf:

"Is there any hope in the local area, the shogunate is full of people who are lucky and bribed, and locally, the samurai are rampant in the countryside, and the government is powerless,"

A young scholar from Yangzhou, Helan Cairen, said bitterly to his companions who came to see off/stay:

"They have already said that they want to open the peace of eternity. Before this, in this dirty and turbid world, who else could make such a deafening statement. Isn't it a sentence that exhausts the voices and ambitions of people with lofty ideals in the world. ”

"Does anyone dare to say that they are thieves when they enter the country, isn't this the theory of the sages who come from the voice of the Great Dao, and the righteousness of the world and the aspirations of the people of the people who go back to the three generations; How can it not be that people are fascinated and tempted to follow?,If you hesitate and look forward to it.,It's really too late.。。 ”

- I'm the dividing line -

And in the city of Anling, Texas.

"This is the means of the imperial court to see the dagger. It's a pity that it's worth a leg and a foot for me. ”

Wang Jingchong, the envoy of Chengde Jiedu, who could only lean on the long collapse, sneered at his son Wang Ying, who turned around again and rushed back.

"Dare to ask my lord, has this matter been determined to be done by the imperial court?"

Wang Ying asked still a little uneasy and nervous.

"Of course, it's the court's doing, so you can just tell the soldiers of the army."

Wang Jingchong pinched his arm hard, looked at his eyes and said solemnly word by word.

"The child knows. This will make every effort to clear the internal should and spy belonging to the assassins of the imperial court.,It's sure that the adults are at ease.。。 ”

Wang Rong couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, and hurriedly answered categorically

Solemnly recommend "Literary Invasion", a masterpiece that can make people laugh and cry. After reading this book, I have a sense of enlightenment about many social phenomena. It is the so-called principle of whether to be close or not, and to divide the class.

Isn't what the world's bureaucrats and big capitalists dream of is the solidification of extreme social classes, so that the vast majority of people can 996 and be a "good era" that creates value for them to buy villas, luxury cars, and live social animals with more lovers?