Chapter Twenty-Six: All the Way North
Zhao Chen was a little surprised in his heart, he didn't expect that the "extremely important things" that Li Gang said turned out to be these irrelevant things! He thought to himself that Li Gang must have something else to say, so he looked at Li Gang at the moment and waited for Li Gang to continue.
Li Gang was silent for a moment and said, "Your Highness, it's just that now is a troubled time!" Your Highness's kindness is good, but unfortunately some of your kindness is too much! When you were in the East Palace before, you should have killed that little junior! Just now I said that the troops are divided into two ways, and you should not dissuade General Wang at all! In troubled times, such kindness is already a woman's kindness! Such kindness will harm His Highness's life, and His Highness is related to the future of the Great Song Dynasty, and such kindness will eventually endanger my Great Song Dynasty! ”
"This ......" Zhao Chen understood what Li Gang said!
When he left the East Palace before, Wang De felt that Zhao Chen had done something wrong, and now Li Gang also felt that Zhao Chen had done something wrong! And Li Gang felt that Zhao Chen had repeatedly made mistakes, so he solemnly persuaded Zhao Chen to let Zhao Chen stop having the kindness of a woman!
In fact, it is impossible for any young man in modern society to become cold-blooded all of a sudden when he comes to ancient times and becomes a prince! Let a young man who has never killed anyone kill someone, and anyone will hesitate in their hearts! It is simply impossible for a young man to consider the problem completely in the identity of the "prince" and not to consider the life and death of others.
"Your Highness, you must always keep in mind the matter of the Zhongxing Great Song Dynasty! For the sake of Zhongxing Da Song, fathers and brothers can be killed, children can be killed, and relatives and friends can be abandoned! Just now I asked General Wang to lure away the Jin soldiers, not to mention the danger, even if he was sent to death, His Royal Highness should not stop him, you have to agree! Only in this way can we survive in the troubled times and prosper the Great Song Dynasty! Li Gang said.
"This ......" Zhao Chen is a little speechless now!
What Li Gang said is really incredible, what "fathers and brothers can be killed, children can be killed, and relatives and friends can be abandoned", he is absolutely unable to do it now.
"If it is a peaceful time, I can only praise what His Highness has done, but unfortunately it is a troubled time now, I can only criticize His Highness, and I hope His Highness will not think I am abrupt!" Li Gang said.
"Where did Lord Li come from, I know that Lord Li is loyal! Moreover, along the way, I have already seen Master Li's resourcefulness! Although I can't accept Lord Li's statement for the time being, I also know that Lord Li is for my good and for the good of the Great Song Dynasty! I don't think it's as good as this, from today on, Master Li is my teacher, and I will try my best to obey Master Li! Zhao Chen said with a smile.
This Li Gang is a well-known loyal figure in history, the head of the Southern Song Dynasty! Originally, Li Gang looked ordinary, and even looked a little old and decrepit, Zhao Chen didn't look up to him very much, but he walked this way with Li Gang, although it was only a short day, but Zhao Chen was already convinced by Li Gang, so he decided to worship Li Gang as a teacher!
"Good! Your Highness, rest assured, I will teach you well! I have one more thing to teach you today! Li Gang was in a stirring mood and said.
"Master Li, please speak!" Zhao Chen said.
"It's good that His Highness cares about Lord Wang, but he shouldn't show it too much!" Li Gang said.
"Oh?" Zhao Chen was stunned.
"As an emperor, when joy and anger are invisible! If Your Highness cares too much about one person, the enemy will use this to calculate Your Highness when they see it! At that time, that person is where His Highness's weakness lies! Li Gang said.
What Li Gang is teaching now is the ancient imperial mental technique, which was originally passed down from generation to generation, and the emperors of one generation taught the next generation of emperors, or the old eunuchs and palace maids in the palace to teach, or some of the staff of the prince of the East Palace to teach! In any case, this imperial mind should not come from the mouth of the ministers of the court! It's just that in Li Gang's mind, Zhao Chen is the prince of the dead country, and now Zhao Chen is the only one beside him, and no one except him teaches Zhao Chen these things, so he doesn't have any taboos to say it!
Li Gang and Zhao Chen only stayed for one day, but in just one day, he was extremely satisfied with Zhao Chen, the prince! The prince is smart and wise, which can be seen from the little third child! Although the prince is only ten years old, he talks and behaves like an adult, and it is a good thing to grow old in troubled times! The prince is benevolent, this is far better than Song Huizong and Song Qinzong! It's just that the prince has obvious weaknesses, such as the kindness of a woman and the appearance of joy and anger, which are all great flaws in Li Gang's eyes and must be corrected!
Zhao Chen nodded lightly while listening to Li Gang's words, he felt that he had come into contact with another world today, and he had really begun to learn to be a "prince"!
After the two talked for a while, the sound of the horses' hooves of the golden soldiers below gradually disappeared, and Li Gang said: "Your Highness, let's leave here!" ”
Zhao Chen said: "Where are we going?" ”
Li Gang said: "Let's go to the north!" ”
Zhao Chen was stunned for a moment and said, "North? ”
Jin Bing was killed from the north, and the north is the most dangerous, but I didn't expect Li Gang to say that he would go to the north.
Li Gang had already seen the confusion in Zhao Chen's eyes, and explained: "Your Highness, in fact, according to the thoughts of ordinary people, we must go to the south or the west!" The south is Jiangnan, and the west is Sichuan and Shaanxi, which is still the land of my Great Song Dynasty, and there are still troops of my Great Song Dynasty stationed, if we get to those places, we will be safe! However, ordinary people can think of this, can't the Jurchen marshal think of this? Therefore, the Jurchens must now send a large army to the south and west to pursue us! We're not as they wanted, and we're heading north! They never imagined that we would go north! The north is dangerous, but now it's the safest place! ”
"The most dangerous place is the safest place!" Zhao Chen nodded, understanding what Li Gang meant.
"Sun Tzu's Art of War said, 'Throw yourself into the land of death and then survive, fall into the place of death and then live', we are now acting in accordance with the Art of War!" A smile appeared on Li Gang's face and said.
At the moment, the two of them supported each other and went down the mountain, and Zhao Chen admired Li Gang more and more in his heart, needless to say.
The snow was falling, and it was more difficult to descend the mountain than to go up, and it was not until midnight that the two came to the bottom of the mountain, and then the two braved the heavy snow to go north.
*** ***
They walked north all night, and when it was getting dark, they came to a small village.
Many places in the north of Bianliang have been sacked by the Jin soldiers, and the same is true of this small village in front of you! It's a mess, and there are corpses of villagers everywhere! The villagers died a brutal death, and many of the women were lying naked, their bodies already frozen! Some children were divided into several pieces, and the children's faces were full of pain and despair!
At this moment, Zhao Chen couldn't bear it anymore, and he began to vomit heavily!
Li Gang patted him on the back beside him and sighed: "My Han people have suffered such a catastrophe, and we must take revenge in the future!" Your Highness, you are the crown prince, and now that the two Majesties have been captured by the Tartars, you are the only hope of the Great Song Dynasty, you must not be weak! You vomit here today, and you can't do it again! ”
Zhao Chen nodded lightly and said, "Don't worry, Lord Li, I will definitely be strong!" ”
Because of the vomiting, his mouth was bitter, so he grabbed a ball of snow from the ground and began to chew it heavily! Then spit out the snow! After doing this several times, he felt a lot better.
"We're looking for something to eat!" Li Gang said.
"Is there anything else to eat here?" Zhao Chen said.
"There must be something to eat, although the Jin soldiers have sacked this place, there will be a little food left here! Your Highness is waiting here, I'll look for it!" Li Gang said.
"Let's find it together!" Zhao Chen said.
At that moment, the two of them found some moldy steamed buns from the small village and began to eat them in large gulps! Then they stripped the dead men of their clothes, and they took off their original splendid garments and put on the clothes of the dead men! Now they don't look like "nobles", but like ordinary people!
"The heavens will descend on the people, and they must first suffer their minds, starve their bodies, empty their bodies, and act chaotically, so they will be tempted to endure and gain what they cannot...... Your Highness, this is a test from heaven! After going through these many tests, you will be able to defeat the kings of the Great Song Dynasty, so that the Great Song Dynasty can prosper! Looking at Zhao Chen, who had changed into ordinary clothes, Li Gang said.
Zhao Chen nodded!
In fact, he is not in a very good mood now, he has seen many tragic scenes along the way, and he has been running for his life along the way, and his mood is a little depressed! In addition, a few days ago, he was in the splendid palace, but now he has fallen to such a point! A few days ago, he was still dressed in fine clothes, but now he is eating moldy steamed buns and wearing dead people's clothes, his mood can be imagined!
Fortunately, Li Gang has always been by his side, and Li Gang has been encouraging him, so he will not collapse.
Because it was not very far from Kaifeng, they did not dare to stay here, and after eating and changing their clothes, they still trekked north.
The ancient roads were so difficult that they couldn't even find them, so they moved very slowly.
Zhao Chen didn't know how long he had been gone, he felt that he was not his past self at all, he was not the prince in the East Palace, he was not the seventeen-year-old student he used to be, now his body was covered with dust, his body was exhausted to the extreme, he didn't know how long he hadn't eaten a full meal, his clothes were dirty and tattered, and he even walked forward with a stick! Now his image is simply a beggar, Li Gang has always been with him, and now Li Gang is the same! Don't look at Li Gang, he has not practiced martial arts, Li Gang's body is extremely weak, but Li Gang's strong will makes him extremely surprised, along the way, he is tired many times, but Li Gang is still gritting his teeth and moving forward! A generation of celebrities is really extraordinary, and Zhao Chen now admires his teacher to the extreme!
According to historical records, in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was almost Li Gang who turned the tide by himself, and only then did Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and other famous anti-gold generals appear. Along the way, Zhao Chen became more and more convinced that his teacher did have such ability, whether it was his own talent or spiritual strength, his teacher stood at the peak of this era. His father did not need to have such ministers, but used Zhang Bangchang, Li Bangyan and countless other traitorous ministers, no wonder the Northern Song Dynasty would be destroyed.
"Your Highness, tomorrow will be the second year of Jingkang!" That night, when they were sleeping in a cave, Li Gang said.
"What? Have we been gone for a month? Zhao Chen said in surprise.
Walking all the way, Zhao Chen felt that his body and spirit had become numb, and he had even forgotten the date, but he didn't expect Li Gang to remember all this clearly.
"Yes! We've been gone for a month! Li Gang nodded.
"When are we going to stop? Now the Jurchen soldiers are no longer chasing us, are they? Zhao Chen said.
"We're not far from Xiangzhou, and we'll probably be in Xiangzhou tomorrow! When we arrived in Xiangzhou, we stopped! Li Gang said.