By the end of October, the Qi army had approached Jinan from three directions, and Xu Ping carefully commanded his troops to maneuver with it, diligently looking for the enemy's omissions and fighters. Now Xu Ping also has some experience in dealing with Qi Jun's balloons, such as the ability of the opponent's balloon to be significantly affected when the weather is bad, although the climate will also cause some trouble to the Shun army, but it is better than playing well under the nose of the other party.

During this period, Xu Ping was not completely unaware of some fighters, but he did not launch a counterattack, because it was not a good opportunity, and the strength of the Qi army was very dense, and the advance was also very careful, once the counterattack failed and was stuck by the other party, the weak strength of the Shun army was likely to have a crisis - although it was already very serious, Xu Ping could still try to delay time, he still hoped to find a better opportunity, even if it could not completely reverse the situation, it could greatly improve the situation of the Shun army.

Xu Ping and Li Dingguo were anxiously waiting for the arrival of Li Zicheng and other reinforcements, although even with the addition of the troops of Qin and Liao, the Shun army was at an absolute disadvantage, but no matter what, one more person would have more strength, but Xu Ping did not wait for reinforcements but Niu Jinxing.

"Your Majesty has been martyred."

These were the first words of Niu Jinxing after meeting Xu Ping and Li Dingguo, and he told the two that Sun Kewang and Wu Sangui had launched a mutiny and suddenly invaded Beijing to besiege the Forbidden City. In order to support the army loyal to King Shun in Beijing, Shandong was already very few, and seeing that the general situation was gone, Li Zicheng asked the civil officials who had joined the guard to find an opportunity to escape, while he took his family and guards to make the last resistance.

"Sure enough, the one-eyed is broken, and there is still no emperor's name after all."

These were the last words Niu Jinxing and Li Zixing heard before they joined forces, Li Guo and Li Laiheng were both killed in the defense of Beijing, and when the Li family attracted the main attention of the rebels, Niu Jinxing escaped from Beijing under the desperate protection of several guards.

Niu Jinxing handed over a child to Xu Ping, a five-year-old boy who was an orphan of Li Laiheng and whose mother was also lost in Beijing, and who was the last blood of the Li family. In Huangshi's previous life, the Li family resisted the Qing Dynasty for five generations, and in the end, Li Laiheng's father and son were also martyred, but here it is different. After Niu Jinxing handed over the two children of the Li family to Xu Ping, he suddenly kowtowed solemnly and said: "All the past is my fault, and I hope that the general will raise it well, and never forget the past kindness of the Lord." ”

"Prime Minister, please." Xu Ping hurriedly pulled Niu Jinxing up: "Why did the prime minister say this?" ”

"Dashun is over, and I'm no longer a prime minister." Niu Jinxing suddenly burst into tears, this time the rebels raided Beijing, and the officials of the Manchu Dynasty threw themselves to the enemy overnight, in order to protect the little prince to break through, even Niu Jinxing's eldest son died in front of the Forbidden City: "When the prince and grandson parted, I must come to find the two generals, saying that even if the world is opposed, the two generals will raise his orphans to grow up." ”

"That's right." Of course, Xu Ping would not give Li Laiheng's son as a gift to Nanqi, Li Dingguo was also angry at this time, and immediately raised troops to kill and return to Beijing to crusade against Wu Sangui, as for Sun Kewang's rebellion together, Li Dingguo was still suspicious, thinking that it might be Niu Jinxing's hearsay and misunderstanding his brother-in-law.

After arranging for Niu Jinxing to stay, Xu Ping and Li Dingguo discussed overnight what to do next, Beijing was lost, and these Shun troops in Shandong were surrounded on all sides, not to mention that the other party came to attack, even if the other party did not come to fight on half of Shandong's territory, it could not afford to raise an army of 60,000.

"Return to Beijing, crusade against the traitors, and mourn for the ancestors." Li Dingguo still thinks so.

"I'm afraid this will cause great confusion in the army." Zhou Dongtian felt that once the news of Li Zicheng's death was announced, the morale of the Shun army would plummet, and in this situation, I am afraid that no one would think that the Shun army would be able to make a comeback by relying on half of Shandong.

"But we can't hide it if we want to," Xu Ping sighed, he estimated that the Qi army would soon learn about it, and it would soon spread throughout Shandong: "The matter has come to this, and it is useless to deceive the public." ”

The next day, Xu Ping sent someone to invite Niu Jinxing and asked him to come out and tell the officers and soldiers what happened, but the guards reported that Niu Jinxing's tent people went to the camp empty, leaving only a letter claiming that he was shameless to face the soldiers in front again, and Niu Jinxing did not know what happened to him. After learning that the imperial court had fallen, Qin and Liao were both opposed, King Shun had been killed in battle, and his parents and wives had fallen to Beijing, the Shandong defense envoy also committed suicide with a sword in his yamen - until this time, Zhong Guinian was still trying to raise food, grass and personnel.

Soon Sun Kewang's participation in the rebellion was confirmed, and he happily asked for credit from Southern Qi, at this time his army had conquered Taiyuan, and burned Li Dingguo's cronies and family members to death in the Jin Palace, in Sun Kewang's words: The traitor Li Dingguo was already a lost dog.

Li Dingguo and his eldest son, who had brought him to the battlefield, were naturally furious when they heard the news, but Xu Ping, who had calmed down, did not agree to the counterattack on Beijing, and he guessed that the navy of the Southern Qi might have transported troops to Tianjin to cooperate with the rebels. And with the strength of Beijing, Sun Kewang and Wu Sangui held on with all their might, even if there was no Qi army and no reinforcements sent, it was not Xu Ping's lone army that could be taken down immediately, if the troops immediately retreated to attack Beijing, they would lose all the warehouses in Shandong, and be pursued all the way by the hundreds of thousands of Qi troops behind them, then in a blink of an eye, the end of the whole army would be annihilated.

"People can't be resurrected after death, we have to think about tens of thousands of soldiers." As the news of Li Zicheng's death reached Shandong, the Qi army behind Xu Ping suddenly burst into jubilation, the soldiers knew that the war was about to end, and they would soon be able to return to their hometowns, few people were willing to die on the eve of this great victory, the Qi army not only stopped continuing to approach, but also sent envoys to persuade Xu Ping and Li Dingguo to surrender. Xu Ping didn't see him before, but this time he decided to meet him, but asked the other party to send a weighty envoy, he explained to Li Dingguo: "The other party has a victory ticket in hand, and may be paralyzed, we must resolutely defend Shandong, so that the king of Qi understands that we are still a strong army that cannot be humiliated, if the king of Qi has the heart to love the people and want to die less, he will pardon our 60,000 soldiers." ”

After finishing speaking, Xu Ping paused for a moment and said to Li Dingguo: "If the King of Qi is willing to pardon the whole army, I will not avoid the axe, but I think Brother Li might as well consider ......it" Xu Ping felt that if Li Dingguo was willing to surrender, then maybe he could still retain the title, and in the future there would be a chance to avenge Li Zicheng and the Dashun soldiers and his own family in the future.

"No, I'd rather die in the wilderness than descend!" Li Dingguo categorically rejected Xu Ping's persuasion, even if his son persuaded his father to do what the big husband could bend and stretch, Li Dingguo was still unmoved: "The big husband is to have something to be done, but what if he can't stretch it in the future?" Today's Qu is a coward, a traitor, and a dog who is greedy for life and afraid of death! It's too difficult to bend and stretch, I can't do it, it's much easier to bend than bend, I think this is good. ”

……

When the news of the capture of Beijing reached Liaodong, Yi Cheng, who was excited, wrote an article overnight to report the good news to the people of Liaoning. Yi Cheng reminded everyone not to forget the terrible natural disaster that had just passed: under the rule of the Liao Domain, especially in almost every village in the coastal areas, people died unnaturally - not starvation, starvation would not happen under the Liao Domain, which implemented the advanced and superior system of equal pay for equal work, but some people had some complications due to malnutrition, or because of unreasonable diet, which led to poor physical fitness and died of illness.

At this critical moment, when His Royal Highness the King of Liao, the princesses, and the princes were all frugal, eating only one meal a day, and the whole body also had malnutrition complications such as edema, the murderous Li Zicheng gang came to force the tribute. At a time when there were internal disasters and a large army of millions of Li Zicheng's bandits were pressing the border, His Royal Highness the King of Liao calmed down and handed over the tribute and grain demanded by Li Shun in full, which not only eliminated the excuse for Li Zicheng's bandits to get involved in Liaodong, but also fully embodied the iron backbone of the people of the Liao Domain who were not afraid of violence and moved forward in unity, effectively deterred the ambition of Li Zicheng's bandits, won a great reputation for the Liao Domain, and fully embodied the advanced superiority of the system of equal pay for equal work in Liaodong.

After seeing through the nature of Li Zicheng's bandits, His Royal Highness the King of Liao got in touch with the King of Qi, who had long admired the King of Liao, and secretly established a strategic alliance to crusade against Li Zicheng's bandits. In order to rescue the suffering and moaning masses under the rule of Li Zicheng's gang as soon as possible, the king of Liao took the lead and invaded Beijing in one fell swoop with hatred for the Li bandit group, and killed the beast in its lair.

This move avenged the blood and hatred of the compatriots who died during the disaster period, and also avenged the millions of undead who died at the hands of the rogue in the past few decades, and the people of the whole China appreciated, praised and thanked the Liao King and the people of Liaodong for this. Yi Cheng also pointed out that the people of the provinces other than the Liao Domain couldn't help but ask curiously while being shocked: In addition to being oppressed by natural disasters and Li Shun, will Liaodong still have such a mighty and majestic army? Answer: Because the Liao Domain has the leadership of the wise Liao King and has an advanced system of equal pay for equal work.

"Long live constitutionalism! Long live the King of Liao! ”

With a clangling gong, Liaoyang fell into boiling again - now Liaoyang has a small boil every two days, a big boil every three days, and sometimes several times a day. Everyone cheered, lifted the "Liaodong Chronicles" above their heads, rushed to the streets and poured into the Liaowang Mansion, expressing their love for the great father of Liaodong, His Royal Highness Wu Sangui, who not only brought equal pay to the people of Liaodong, but also immediately began to build a constitutional system with Liaodong characteristics.

On the high platform in front of the Liao Palace, Chen Yuanyuan, who was wearing a military uniform, stood heroically and spoke to the people of Liaoyang. When Chen Yuanyuan spoke, the concubines of Hong Chengchou, Wang Fuchen and others also stood on the side to listen, and like Chen Yuanyuan, they also began to show up and assist their husbands in their work - since Wu Sangui is a master who is not as close as his wife and father like Lin Danhan, of course others will follow suit, so as not to be suspected by the Le Ye Division of being dissatisfied with King Liao's behavior of reusing the pillow person. The only difference is that among these people, only Chen Yuanyuan is wearing a cloak, and the rest of the ladies certainly don't dare to use the cloak with the same specification as Princess Liao, but they have the privilege of batch coats, and when they stay behind Chen Yuanyuan respectfully and listen to her hoarse shouts, these ladies are wearing military coats with basically the same style on their shoulders, and the size is reduced according to the husband's position from high to low.

Although the evil Li Zicheng gang was defeated, and the previous behavior of claiming to be a minister was just a kind of husband's behavior that could bend and stretch, this song was obviously not out of the original intention of the King of Liao. Soon "Liaodong People's Observer" began to reflect on the culprit, why do we have the wise Liao King, the advanced system of equal pay for equal work and the invincible Guanning Iron Cavalry still pay tribute to Li Shun? At another rally a few days later, Chen Yuanyuan angrily rebuked the minister of state, Hong Chengchou, saying that she had seen and heard with her own eyes that Hong Chengchou, who was afraid of the enemy like a tiger, kneeling in front of Wu Sangui, whose face was sinking like water, and said that in order to give the people of Liaodong a few more years to recuperate, they should not crusade against Li Zicheng's gang.

Before Chen Yuanyuan's statement could be reflected in the newspaper, Minister Hong Chengchou ran onto the street when he heard the news, held the "Liaodong Chronicles" in his hand higher than anyone else, and shouted with all his strength before the crowd: "Hit Hong Chengchou, long live the King of Liao!" hit the traitor Hong Chengchou, long live the King of Liao! We must criticize Hong Chengchou's capitulationism, long live the King of Liao! ”

Hong Chengchou's wives and concubines also went into battle, following behind him and shouting slogans angrily, this shout was a night, and in the dead of night, the people of Liaoyang who lived near the Liaowang Mansion were often awakened by a terrible, male or female "hit Hong Chengchou". The next day, soon after the exhausted Hong Chengchou was helped home by Chen Yuanyuan's agents of the Anjusi, he got up again and went out again to shout that Hong Chengchou's accumulated crimes must be completely reckoned. Soon, the king of Liao, who was far away in Beijing, sent instructions, and the minister of state, Hong Chengchou, had been diligent and diligent for many years, although sometimes he inevitably made mistakes in his work, but there was no problem with the big festival, and the overall goal was to strive for progress, and the merits and demerits could be called nine fingers and one finger, as long as the past mistakes were seriously reviewed, it was still a rare good minister of the people of Liaodong.

……

The envoys of the Qi army came to the agreed place of the talks with great pride, and Xu Ping and his guards arrived before the Qi army, and had already set up tents in the field to avoid the cold. The Qi army who came to negotiate this time was also of a very high standard, and He Feihu, the commander of the Zhejiang Group and the chief adjutant of Qi Shizi, personally came to hold talks with Xu Ping. After the Qi army entered the camp, Xu Ping took the lead in leading his subordinates to salute the other party, but all the Qi troops, including He Feihu, did not return the salute, and a Qi army officer standing beside He Feihu took a big step forward and asked in the first sentence: "Does General Xu agree, your army has been defeated?" ”

"Yes, I agree." Xu Ping nodded.

"Very good," the Qi army officer who asked showed a satisfied smile on his face, he took a step back and hid behind He Feihu again, and announced loudly: "We believe that General Xu has the most basic negotiation sincerity and judgment ability, which is the basis for starting negotiations. ”

At this time, the officer corps of the Qi army saluted Xu Ping under the leadership of He Feihu, this arrogant attitude Xu Ping didn't seem to fully notice, he stretched out his hand and made a gesture to sit down: "You may as well sit down and talk." ”

"Your Majesty and the cabinet are very willing to pardon General Xu himself, as well as the fifty war criminals designated by General Xu," the Qi army envoy group didn't seem to think that there was much to talk about, He Feihu took out a power of attorney and unfolded it, and read the contents to Xu Ping: "If General Li Dingguo promises not to seek revenge against His Royal Highness the King of Shaanxi and the King of Dong, Your Majesty and the cabinet are also willing to pardon General Li and the fifty war criminals he designated, and the pardoned war criminals, their families and property will be protected by Chinese law, and General Li's royal title will be recognized, His Majesty is also willing to give General Xu the title of Duke of the Kingdom and the title of Fortune that is in line with this title. ”

"His Majesty's benevolence will never be forgotten," Xu Ping said slowly after listening patiently, "But I have 40,000 subordinates, and I want to know how His Majesty King Qi will deal with them?" ”

"This king and the cabinet have their own opinions, so General Xu doesn't have to ask." He Feihu replied, he gently rolled up the authorization form, and asked a guard to walk over and hand it to Xu Ping: "How does General Xu answer this?" ”

Xu Ping was silent, He Feihu waited a little, and then asked, "How does General Xu reply to my lord's kindness?" ”

"If I refuse to be pardoned," Xu Ping asked, looking up, "Can my subordinates be pardoned?" Before He Feihu answered, Xu Ping added: "My life should be worth more than ordinary people, right?" ”

"The king and the cabinet have no intention of asking for General Xu's life," He Feihu frowned slightly, he may not agree with some rear policies, but he can understand the cabinet's worries: "General Xu is the great enemy of our dynasty, I don't know how many soldiers have died because of the general, I don't know how many people are looking forward to the general's head in a different place." But first of all, there was no selfish feud on the battlefield, and secondly, the general let go of more people, and the king and the cabinet appreciated General Xu's move, and they were unwilling to ask for the general's life. ”

Xu Ping lowered his head and counted with his hands, and when he looked up again, he said: "The number of your troops released by my hands is about 50,000, if one life is worth one life......

With the death of Li Zicheng, the already small Shandong Shun army was dispersed, and now there are only more than 40,000 people.

"Who bargained with you!"

An officer of the Qi army shouted, He Feihu stretched out his hand to stop him, and shook his head at Xu Ping: "General Xu, strictly speaking, you didn't let go of our army, you let go of the Ming army, and ...... Moreover, the king and the cabinet will not necessarily treat your family, but this matter has nothing to do with General Xu. ”

He Feihu's words made Xu Ping chuckle lightly, and shook his head helplessly, now he has too few bargaining chips in his hand: "But you have never let go of my subordinates, and when your thirteenth town fled to Chunhua, you did not let go of my subordinates, how can I believe that you will suddenly show mercy." ”

"That's what the cabinet has given me, and the rest is beyond the authority of the general."

"Since it's a negotiation, then you have to bargain." Xu Ping pleaded.

He Feihu thought for a while: "Just for the sake of General Xu's face, I thought that the cabinet would not refuse to pardon the hundred war criminals designated by General Xu." ”

After hearing this, Xu Ping lowered his head again, He Feihu waited for a while, and finally an officer of the Qi army who couldn't hold back shouted: "General Xu, how do you reply to the king's benevolence?" ”

Xu Ping took a deep breath and said softly: "Shun does not pay off, Ping does not pay off." ”

This answer stunned all the officers of the Qi army, and only after half a sound did a burst of laughter sound.

"Dare to ask the general, where is Dashun today? Where is King Shun? A Qi army officer asked happily.

"Dashun is not the great shun of the king of Shun, but the great shun of countless soldiers, we are determined to overthrow the tyrannical and create a fair and clear peaceful world, a peaceful world where the poor can be free from hunger and cold, the young are supported, and the old are buried." Xu Ping stared at these Qi army officers, and the Shun army officers behind him all stood upright: "Although the king of Shun has fallen, tens of thousands of Shun soldiers are still there, they have done nothing wrong, they have been forced to a dead end by the dim and have to fight back." The funny thing is that you are the same, you have also overturned the dimness, you don't think you are wrong to survive, but you don't tolerate another group of people who are also struggling to survive. If you accuse us of being traitors, then are you still in the Ming army? ”

Xu Ping's words did not have any effect, the eyes of the officers of the Qi army on the opposite side were still full of mockery, looking at the Shun army side as if they were looking at a group of beasts that had finally been forced to a dead end and were seriously injured and dying, He Feihu put on the hat on his head and said loudly for the last time: "We will give General Xu and General Li ten days to think about it, if there is no reply by then, we will think that the two generals have rejected His Majesty's kindness." ”

After finishing speaking, He Feihu turned around and left, and the officers of the Qi army followed him.

"I don't want to kill anyone," Xu Ping sighed heavily after the footsteps of the Qi army were far away: "But we must let them know that we are still a strong army, and if they want to kill us, they will have to suffer heavy casualties." Saying that, Xu Ping grabbed the pardon letter given to him and Li Dingguo in his hand, and then fell aside: "In this way, they will know that this condition is a big mistake." ”

More than 40,000 Shun troops have been hidden to the west approaching the Huguang group of the Qi army, and in the past few days, taking advantage of the wind and snow, the balloons of the Qi army cannot be dispatched, Xu Ping has been mobilizing troops to prepare for a counterattack. First of all, the Qi army has become more paralyzed because of the hope of victory, many officers are optimistic that the Shun army may be on the verge of collapse, and many people think that the Shun army will return to Hebei to try to recapture Beijing instead of rushing towards the 200,000 Qi army - the Ming army is strong and the Shun army should hate traitors more now, these officers think that it is good to let this Shun army and the former Shun army kill each other first, so that the battlefield can be cleaned up and a few fewer soldiers can die, They were equally reluctant to pay heavy casualties on the eve of victory. After learning of Li Shun's downfall, the ordinary soldiers in the Qi army also began to look forward to going home for the New Year, many southern soldiers saw snow for the first time, some of them were curious, and some were nostalgic for their warm hometown.

After leaving the negotiation camp, Xu Ping and his subordinates rushed to the right route army of the Shun army, which was hiding in the snow, and after seeing Li Dingguo, Xu Ping shook his head and said, "The talks collapsed." ”

"I knew." Li Dingguo quickly replied that he had wanted to attack yesterday, but Xu Ping insisted that the decision should be made according to negotiations, and that only one division of the enemy army should be sent to attack with 40,000 troops, and Xu Ping and Li Dingguo were content to destroy one of their isolated regiments when they made a plan. The two of them estimated that the southern soldiers did not have much experience in marching and fighting in the snow, and this plan was not very difficult to complete, if Xu and Li had not even considered sending such a large number of troops and spending so many materials to fight a battle with such a small result. But now that the strategic objectives have completely changed, the tactical means must be adjusted accordingly, and the Shun army wants to show its strength, and the inventory is not very important - they do not need to think about holding out in Shandong for many years.

……

"Can't we find a general who can fight?" In the past half a month, Xu Ping had attacked the Ming army four times, and each time he eliminated and captured hundreds or thousands of Ming soldiers. In this regard, He Feihu explained that he did not expect Xu Ping to be dying, but he did not expect that the other party would fight such a meaningless small battle. Huang Naiming and He Feihu both felt that in this kind of weather, tens of thousands of troops were dispatched to run around to fight the Ming army's small isolated army, even if they could win a complete victory, it would cause many soldiers to fall ill and suffer from cold, and I am afraid that the casualties and attrition of the victorious Shun army would not be smaller than the losses of the Ming army. Huang Naiming and He Feihu both felt that it was good to let the Shun army toss, they were continuing to consume their few and difficult to replenish the supplies, and it would not be difficult to capture them in one fell swoop after the beginning of spring.

But the harassment was undoubtedly annoying to the South, which was basking in the joy of the end of the war, after the Labour cabinet had recklessly announced to the media that the war would end before the New Year after learning of the killing of Lee Zicheng...... No, it's that the war is over, and military families can rest assured that they can wait for their loved ones to come home.

But new names of the dead are always being sent, and these lists, which are not as long as they used to be, still make the cabinet very uncomfortable. After seeing the cabinet's successive scandals, the opposition began to sneer at Miao Shoufu and his gang, ridiculing him for not being able to solve a group of poor people in such a favorable situation, so incompetent that the heroic volunteers not only could not return home, but continued to die in large numbers in the north.

Miao Shoufu is a good businessman, a very successful politician, but by no means a good soldier, after several refusals by Huang Naiming - it is obvious that the crown prince is extremely cautious in the face of Xu Ping, Miao Shoufu instructed the Minister of Defense to lure the commanders of several groups under him with various rewards such as promotions and medals, so that they can take the initiative to end the war before the New Year, and at least fight a few beautiful battles to earn some face for the cabinet.

As a result, the commander of the Huguang group was indeed a little moved, and he tried to dispatch three divisions of 40,000 men to attack a nearby Shun army of 5 or 6,000, but because he relied too much on balloon reconnaissance, once the balloon could not be dispatched in a snowy weather, the Qi army exposed many loopholes in reconnaissance, and did not find the main force of the coalition army of Xu Ping and Li Dingguo lurking nearby. Most of the officers and soldiers who had never seen snow did not know anything about snow warfare, and they were far from being able to compare with the experienced Xu Ping in this regard, and as a result, they were defeated, with more than 4,000 casualties and more than 10,000 prisoners. If it weren't for Xu Ping's political and military considerations, which were not for his pursuit of prisoners rather than killing, and at the same time trying his best to avoid his own casualties, it is estimated that the losses of the Qi army would have been more than that.

Comparable to the results of the Huangchi fiasco sent back to Nanjing, Miao Shoufu felt that his head was going to explode, fortunately Huang Naiming did not chase after it, nor did he reveal to the media the problem of Miao Shoufu's hand being too long, and the military assured that even so, the Qi army was still many times stronger than Xu Ping, Xu Ping still could not replenish his personnel and material losses, and when the snow battle time that the Shun army was good at passed, more than 200,000 Qi troops could still kill him.

But it was still a big defeat, and it was going to drag on until next year, and when Miao Shoufu saw the long list of fallen soldiers in the newspaper that had not appeared for a long time, he felt that this matter had to be over.

However, Miao Shoufu still did not come up with a good way to end it, and when Xu Ping released a large number of prisoners again, Miao Shoufu found that he had become more passive: Xu Ping asked the soldiers to bring messages to the media in the south (after a long experience on the front, Xu Ping began to realize the usefulness of the media. He said that he had no intention of letting the Qi army continue to bleed and die, and that as long as the Qi cabinet was willing to pardon his army, he was willing to immediately lay down his arms and surrender, and as for himself, he neither sought nor accepted any personal pardon, so the Qi cabinet should not expect to hasten the end of the war by bribing him.

Although constitutional and autocratic systems are very different, one thing is the same: the first instinct of any bureaucrat is to pass the buck, even if it is a bureaucreature under a constitutional system. Miao Shoufu very, very much wants to end the war immediately, but even if it can't end immediately, it doesn't mean the end of the world, it's just that these months will become difficult, and the opposition will always say strange things; However, if Miao Shoufu proposes to pardon the Immortal Army and change the tacit agreement before the Constituent Assembly, then if something happens in the future, Miao Shoufu, his cabinet, and the party will be responsible for this.

If Xu Ping is just one person, there is nothing to be afraid of, but the tens of thousands of troops under his command are another matter, although Beishun no longer exists, but the remnants of Beishun, those feudal kings, are still there, if the immortal army that hates the south is pardoned, and the king of Sichuan, Shaanxi or the king of the east succeeds in absorbing them, then he immediately has a formidable force. If these vassal kings refuse to honestly withdraw their feudal domains in the future, the cabinet will inevitably use force to clean them up. Of course, if it was really decades later, it would not be Miao's turn to worry, he was worried that if the cabinet disbanded the troops in large numbers, and some of the vassal states had bad intentions to strike first, then the matter would be in trouble, and he would definitely be mercilessly attacked for this pardon; In addition, even if the vassal state did not use force, as long as a vassal state was particularly strong, the cabinet would arm more troops to defend against it, and the extra military expenditure would be given to the opposition to justify it.

Therefore, when Xia Wanchun came to suggest that Miao Shoufu consider agreeing to Xu Ping's request to pardon him and Li Dingguo's subordinates, Miao Shoufu was still undecided, he admitted that the Immortal Army's hatred for these betrayed vassal kings would not be light, but he was not afraid of 10,000, just in case, no matter what, the responsibility for not pardoning the Immortal Army was shared equally by everyone and the risk was predictable, and the pardon of the Immortal Army would be at his own risk and the size of the risk was difficult to assess.

Xia Wanchun did not deny that he still had feelings for the Changsheng Army, and he came to persuade Miao Shoufu to go to the Constituent Assembly to take the lead in issuing a pardon order, which was also his personal decision, and did not represent the will of the Kuomintang. After talking openly and carefully with Miao Shoufu, Xia Wanchun finally figured out the other party's concerns, which made Xia Wanchun breathe a sigh of relief: If the other party has any personal hatred for the Immortal Army, it will be really difficult to handle.

"The king has an idea, maybe we can end the war and stop our children from shedding blood." No matter what ideas King Qi has, he will not go to the Constituent Assembly by himself, this time he also discussed it with Xia Wanchun, and now the latter plans to reveal part of the plan to Miao Shoufu, before Xia Wanchun first asked: "It's just that this plan costs money, how much does Lord Shoufu think it is appropriate?" ”

How much is the armistice worth for Miao Shoufu is the benefit minus the risk, and the benefit is how many fewer people can die, how long the war can be shortened, and how much military spending will be less; And the risk can only be judged if you survive Xia Wanchun's plan.

After Xia Wanchun finished talking about the part of the plan that he thought could be revealed to Dr. Miao, he noticed that Lord Shousuke's expression was serious, and Miao Shoufu was still thinking about it long after Xia Wanchun was over—he felt that this plan seemed to be very feasible, the risk was very low, and it seemed vague that there were long-term benefits; As for spending money, it is not a big deal to be able to solve such a big problem, and it is not a matter to spend some money to let the war end before the New Year.

"Why don't you let your party come up with this proposal?" After thinking about it, Miao Shoufu did not immediately agree or refuse, but began to ask rhetorical questions.

"Lord Shoufu is the ruling party," Xia Wanchun knew that the most powerful force in the Constituent Assembly was still the ruling four-party alliance, and Xia Wanchun frankly admitted: "Although I am a party secretary of the Kuomintang, I am actually not familiar with my fellow party." "Relatively speaking, Xia Wanchun is more familiar with Miao Shoufu, as officials of the Qi Palace, they have dealt with a lot before.

"Mr. Xia said that this is mainly out of your own meaning?"

"Yes, General Xu is my friend, and many of his subordinates are my friends, friends who have shared weal and woe." Xia Wanchun said that he did not look at these people facing death and stood by and watched: "They are not beasts and villains who do all kinds of evil, although the newspapers and voters do not see it that way now, but one day they will understand, and they will feel disgusted and regret for killing these people today." ”

"In that case, what benefits can the party gain from Mr. Xia's realization of his personal wishes?" Miao Shoufu asked, twisting his beard.

"It's also good for Shousuke-sama......" Xia Wanchun wondered why he asked, because the benefits of ending the war were obvious to the ruling party.

"But it's not enough." Miao Shoufu categorically interrupted Xia Wanchun's explanation.

"What does Shousuke-sama mean?" Xia Wanchun was a little confused.

"Since Mr. Xia is here for a private person, then I also have to make a personal request, and Mr. Xia has just said that he actually has no friendship with the Kuomintang," Miao Shoufu felt that this plan was very likely to succeed, and in this case, he should try his best to ensure the interests of the Labor Party after the plan succeeded: "If Mr. Xia quits the Kuomintang and joins the Labor Party, this official will agree to this request." ”

Moreover, Xia Wanchun is a close minister of the King of Qi, and his work is quite good, and he also admires this person in his heart, Miao Shoufu is young and promising, although he is not in the Constituent Assembly, he is a famous constitutional expert, and has many commendable constitutional treatises. There is a relationship in the Qi Palace, and there is also a relationship with the failed Shun Court, and in the future, the Labor Party may be able to use this relationship to canvass votes in the newly recovered provinces, as for his relationship with Xu Ping, if this plan succeeds, it will seem useless for the time being, but who knows what will happen in the future? The last reason is that Miao Shoufu feels that he also needs to cultivate a successor, the Ren Hongcheng cultivated by Chen Zizhuang of the Donglin Party is very popular with Miao Shoufu, and there is no such potential young man around him: "If Mr. Xia is willing to join the Labor Party, the old man happens to lack a party prime minister, and if Mr. Xia is willing to give in, this pardon will make the old man go forward to say something." ”

After thinking about it, Xia Wanchun stood up and bowed to Miao Shoufu to the ground: "Miao Gong is wrong to love, dare to disobey his fate in his later life?" ”

……

After capturing the Ming army's prisoners, there were always subordinates who wanted to kill a few to vent their anger, but Xu Ping never agreed, and his subordinates all said that it was unpredictable whether they could get a pardon, and they would rather not be pardoned than kill them.

At one time, several subordinates expressed this opinion loudly in front of the captives, and the captives immediately knelt on the ground and lamented in unison that they were originally the people of their duty, and that they had never killed the prisoners of war of the Shun army, and that it was also known that Xu Ping did not continue to stubbornly resist and lay down their arms and surrender. The officer of the Shun army said angrily, this is not the case when these people gain power, if the two sides are transferred today, it is to ask for a life and not to get it.

"Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Xu Ping finally let everyone go: "What's the use of killing these people?" If I had caught King Qi's Minister of Defense today, or the heads of those military branches under him, I would definitely not spare them, but these little soldiers ...... Have you done it to kill them or not? ”

When the nominal envoy of the king of Qi arrived in Jinan, Xu Ping was already considering stopping the harassment war, because supplies were beginning to be scarce, and Xu Ping and Li Dingguo thought again and again that they should try to hold Jinan for a long time, so as to inflict maximum casualties on the attacking Ming army - there was no benefit to fighting the traitors in Beijing, and no matter how many people were killed, they would not be able to gain bargaining chips.

"Mr. Xia, it's really a blessing," seeing the envoy Xu Ping's face showed unconcealable surprise and joy, Li Dingguo had also seen Xia Wanchun but didn't know the name, Xu Ping reintroduced him and said: "I was fortunate enough to read some of your constitutional articles in the newspaper, I don't know if you got the opportunity to show your strengths on the side of King Qi?" ”

"It's much better than in King Shun."

Xia Wanchun's words made Xu Ping smile bitterly, and after the three of them sat down, Xu Ping shook his head and said, "King Shun is a good person, but he is not a good emperor." ”

"Yes, the Emperor needs to be cunning, insidious, and capricious, so that he may not be blinded too much. Being a villain doesn't necessarily make a good emperor, but not being a villain certainly can't be a good emperor. Xia Wanchun said: "The King of Qi told me that he once told General Xu about the days when there was no emperor, but General Xu did not believe that there would be such days. ”

"I haven't accompanied the emperor, I really don't know that the emperors are like this, and the king of Qi does dare to think and act, I can't do it as well." Xu Ping smiled slightly: "Now that I think about it, it may indeed be better without the emperor." ”

"But General Xu still has to fight to the end."

"I'm not for any great shun anymore, it's just that King Qi refuses to let go of my subordinates."

"If General Xu is just for this, then it will be easy to do." Xia Wanchun confirmed again: "In addition to pardoning the life of each of General Xu's subordinates, are there any other requirements?" ”

"Nope." Xu Ping shook his head and said, and at the same time, infinite hope rose in his heart.

"It's not that pardon can't be considered, but you have to be exiled," Xia Wanchun said bluntly, these tens of thousands of people under Xu Ping are well-trained and skilled soldiers, and the Constituent Assembly considers them a great threat, which makes them inevitably free up the idea of solving this threat once and for all: "The cabinet does not want to kill more people, but if you continue to threaten the country, then the cabinet would rather die tens of thousands of people than worry about future generations." ”

"Where did the exile go?" Xu Ping was first worried about becoming a slave, but Xia Wanchun waved his hand and said that the Immortal Army would not become a slave, first of all, because the right to vote had spread to every adult man, the slavery system was obviously difficult to establish in legislation, and they could not reassure the Constituent Assembly if they stayed at home.

Xia Wanchun told Miao Shoufu that these people would be exiled overseas, but he did not tell him that the king of Qi had prepared a nautical chart for these exiles, and now Xia Wanchun took out this nautical chart and spread it out in front of Xu Ping and Li Dingguo: "Behind this ocean, there will be a continent, and its southern side is relatively rich, but it has been occupied by the Spaniards. ”

"I've heard of this continent," Xu Ping remembers that Huang Naiming once told him about this place, and also said that the south is rich in gold and silver, while the north is relatively barren, with little production and always stormy and snowy.

"King Qi feels that the north is not inhabitable, and there are actually large plains and wide rivers in the interior," although Huangshi said so, Xia Wanchun estimated that what King Qi said was the limited scope of the coast, and most of it was hearsay from the Spaniards, and the wealth was also limited: "It seems that the King of Qi had wanted to send a few people to build two cities before, but it has not been done for decades. ”

Huangshi did consider occupying North America in the past, and at least build one or two strongholds as outposts for the future to advance inland, but there was really no one willing to go, China itself has rich output, exquisite fabrics, delicious food and wine, and all kinds of music and entertainment to play, famous mountains and rivers to travel, family and friends, Huangshi really can't find anyone willing to go tens of thousands of miles away, to a wild place where there is nothing—this is obviously not to think of returning to his homeland for the rest of his life.

Even for Li Dingguo and Xu Ping, who had no way out, this kind of exile still moved them and hesitated: "It will take two months to cross the sea......" Xu Ping and Li Dingguo looked at each other when they heard this, the two of them had been boats, but the widest water surface they had ever seen was the Yangtze River, and there were almost few of their men who had gone to sea.

"It's better than staying in Shandong and waiting to die." Xia Wanchun knew that the other party would agree in the end: "Besides, if you are close to the Constituent Assembly, you won't be at ease." ”

Sure enough, Xu Ping and Li Dingguo really didn't have any more choices: "Two months? We can reach this continent in just two months? ”

"You don't have skilled sailors, and you need fresh water and rest along the way, otherwise you should be faster."

"But we don't have a ship either."

"The Constituent Assembly is willing to spend money to send you away, and the Cabinet has promised to provide you with 200 sea boats, one boat can squeeze 200 people, which are very expensive ships, but as long as you are willing to go, the Constituent Assembly is not willing to die anymore." Xia Wanchun took out an agreement drafted by the Constituent Assembly for Xu Ping and Li Dingguo to see, according to which the Jinan Shun army was to lay down their arms to the Qi army, and after the formal surrender to the Ming army, these Shun troops would be sent to Dengzhou, where they would board ships and leave China forever: "There will be some weapons on your ship, and you can use them for self-defense in case of encountering barbarians, and in order to show its sincerity, the Constituent Assembly is also willing to give you some tools and machines—the kind of steam engine that General Xu has always wanted. The Constituent Assembly sincerely hopes that you will live and work in peace abroad and never come back. There are also ploughing cattle and some horses, and there are many fish in the sea, so don't eat these animals, King Qi asked me to remind you that there may not be cattle and horses on that continent......"

After reading it, Xia Wanchun pushed the document to Xu Ping and Li Dingguo: "General Xu has always been true to his word, and General Li also has a good reputation, as long as you sign this agreement, the Constituent Assembly believes that you will never return to the sea according to your promise, and will pardon you and give you ships." ”

Xu Pingzai read the agreement carefully, and put it down after half a ring: "But it says that we must hand over our weapons first and stay in Dengzhou under the supervision of the Qi army, can't we let us go to a place near the sea and hand over the ship to us?" We'll need time to learn how to steer a boat, too. ”

"If you take the opportunity to seize Dengzhou and hold on there for half a year, it means that the cabinet will fall, although General Xu has a very good reputation, but Lord Shoufu is worried that you will also put your credit aside at this time......" Xia Wanchun also told Xu Ping and Li Dingguo that there may not be enough ships before the New Year, and this is not a good season to go to sea, and the cabinet desperately hopes that the war will end before the New Year: "General Xu, I have tried my best to fight for you, but sometimes you have to take some risks, After all, you still want your subordinates to live, don't you? ”

Xu Ping pondered for a while, during which Xia Wanchun emphasized again: "This agreement has been approved by the King of Qi and the Constituent Assembly, as long as the two generals sign it, then it will be guaranteed by the Criminal Division, and no one will violate it." General Xu, I assure you that as long as you sign it, you will be able to abide by it. ”

"Okay." Xu Ping grabbed the pen, signed his name under the agreement, and then handed the agreement to Li Dingguo, who also silently wrote his name.

"There is one more thing," Li Dingguo said, after signing his name, he asked another question: "We still have 40,000 horses, and since there are no cattle and horses there, we will take as many animals as we can." In addition to cattle and subordinates, our army also has a small family, can you give us some more boats. ”

Xia Wanchun shook his head: "Actually, I can't be regarded as negotiating, General Xu, General Li, I have tried my best to speak for you in front of the cabinet, and I can't come up with anything more." As for the sailors, I'm afraid you don't have much time, and the Constituent Assembly is asking you to go as soon as the ship arrives. ”

Li Dingguo sighed, while Xu Ping expressed his gratitude: "Thank you, Mr. Xia." Then Xu Ping turned around and comforted Li Dingguo, everyone has a nose and two eyes, there is still some time in Dengzhou, since others can learn to operate the boat, then even if the Shunjun is not good at driving, there is no reason why they can't learn it completely.

Xia Wanchun listened to it for a while, and after Xu Ping finished speaking, he smiled and said: "General Xu is indeed very similar to His Majesty, no wonder outsiders coax you to be a disciple of the king, well, in fact, it is." ”

"Really?"

"Yes, Your Majesty and General Xu always think that others can do it, then you can learn and do better, Your Majesty said that this is the work of the strong, I think General Xu will be able to reach the other side smoothly." The big thing is over, Xia Wanchun thought about it, and asked again: "Your Majesty once had a relationship with General Xu, right?" Your Majesty once told me a story, which is said to have been told to three people before, and General Xu was one of them, a story about the Heavenly Father, the tiger wolf, and the sheep. ”

"Not bad."

"I gave His Majesty an answer, and His Majesty said that I was the only one who answered correctly, oh, there is no right or wrong, it was in accordance with His Majesty's heart."

"What did Mr. Xia say?"

"Since ancient times, officials have been tigers and wolves, whether under the rule of the emperor or under the constitution, tigers and wolves are meant to eat sheep. The sheep can't fight the tiger wolf, and the heavenly prince can't remove the tiger wolf, because there will always be a new one, that is, the sheep rise up and defeat the old group, and those who lead are actually tiger wolves, and the sheep think that they are the same kind is not at all. ”

"Ugh." This time it was Xu Ping's turn to sigh.

"So the Heavenly Guild will ask the flock, do you want a tiger or a wolf?" Xia Wanchun continued: "The tiger eats too fiercely, the sheep can't stand it and changes to the wolf, the wolf wants to stay and eats less than the tiger, and gradually the tiger will discuss with the sheep in order to have something to eat: I will change to eat the old, weak, sick and disabled in the future, and I will open up new pastures for you!" In order to compete with tigers, wolves will also act as half-guard dogs to protect sheep from being bullied by wild dogs and foxes. Sheep can't fight with tigers and wolves, they can only let them fight each other, pick a less bad guy, although they still have to satisfy the tiger and wolf with flesh and blood, but in the end they may be able to let both the tiger and the wolf control their appetite to the minimum - to ensure that their appetite does not starve to death is that the sheep can get the best treatment; In the same way, they had to exert a little more force, and without dying of exhaustion, they did their best to drive out the other beasts—the best treatment a sheep could get. ”

"Is this the constitutionalism of the Duke of Qi?" Xu Ping commented softly: "It still sounds a little sad. ”

"But I'm afraid General Xu can't find a better way, right?" Xia Wanchun took out a book from his arms, held it in both hands and handed it to Xu Ping: "I have been observing the constitution in the south for several years, taking notes every day, and writing down the feelings and gains and losses in my heart at any time. ”

"Thank you, Mr. Xia," Xu Ping knew that this must be the other party's hard work for many years, he solemnly received it in his hand, listening to the other party's tone, I am afraid that there will be no chance to see each other in the future, which made Xu Ping suddenly remember something: "Mr. Xia, there is still one thing to ask for in the future." ”

"General Xu, please speak."

"King Shun's nephew, General Li is a prodigy."

"Of course I know General Li, and I've met him several times."

"Yes, he only has a five-year-old orphan left, entrusted to me to take care of, this time he went overseas, it is really not suitable for a five-year-old child, I want to ask Mr. Xia for help, find a suitable person......"

Without waiting for Xu Ping to finish speaking, Xia Wanchun agreed angrily: "You don't have to find another person, if General Xu believes me, I will take General Li's orphan home to raise him, and I will treat it as my own." ”

After taking out the children of the Li family and handing them over to Xia Wanchun, Xu Ping looked at the book that the other party had just given him: "King Qi is quick to think, and he has never thought before, I am far inferior to this, but King Qi's things, I am confident that I can always develop one or two, and this was the case with the art of war at the beginning; Today, Mr. Xia gave me this book on constitutionalism, and gave us a second chance to govern the country and repent of our mistakes. ”

"So the general is similar to His Majesty, and before I gave this book to you, I told Your Majesty about it, and Your Majesty said, 'General Xu will definitely think that he can do better than me.'" , but the teacher does not have to be better than the disciple, and the disciple does not have to be inferior to the teacher. It is best for General Xu to have this confidence, and my hard work has not been in vain," Xia Wanchun said with a smile: "But Your Majesty said later: 'But if General Xu thinks that governing the country is as easy as governing the army, it is a big mistake. His Majesty hopes that General Xu can make some achievements, and he is not afraid that General Xu will do well, because no matter how well General Xu does it, the world will still say that 'famous teachers produce high apprentices', isn't it? ”

……

Before surrendering to the Qi army, Xu Ping let the disabled and women and children in the army take the first step to dodge, in case the Ming army wants to regret and not forgive, at least these people who are not threatening can escape for their lives, most of them were ordered to hide temporarily, but Yue Mu and a very small number of loyal subordinates said nothing and refused to leave, if the Ming army finally regretted they would rather die with their comrades. In front of the hundreds of thousands of Qi troops who watched the ceremony, Xu Ping surrendered respectfully to Huang Naiming, and as the last of the resisting Shun troops laid down their arms, China's civil war finally came to an end. Although the attitude of the Qi army was very bad, Huang Nai clearly kept his promise, and the Changsheng Army, who was placed in the Dengzhou prisoner of war camp, was also allowed to learn sailing skills.

Originally, the Constituent Assembly thought that many people would disperse after Xu Ping's surrender, and if there were few of these people and their fighting spirit was completely broken, then the Constituent Assembly could ignore them, and if there were a large number of people and there was an intention to defect to other feudal domains to continue to serve as soldiers, the Constituent Assembly could also search for them because they did not abide by the pardon agreement.

However, unexpectedly, in addition to the 20,000 old troops who had followed Xu Ping and Li Dingguo since Henan, most of the Shun troops who joined later also chose to stay with the two generals, plus their families, in addition to the more than 30,000 Changsheng officers and soldiers who finally wanted to go to sea, there were also tens of thousands of military dependents - according to Xu Ping's order, children who were too young should stay as much as possible, and it was more likely to find an adoptive family than to take them out to sea to survive.

When the Constituent Assembly sent the ships, the Shun army immediately discovered that it was impossible for them to load all the people on the ships, and under the surveillance of the Qi army near Dengzhou, the Changsheng army cut down trees to build a large number of rafts.

"Are they going to cross the sea with something like this?" Seeing the Changsheng Army tying more and more rafts to the back of the sea ships, the naval officers of the Qi Army were all dumbfounded: "They don't know how to sail at all." ”

However, the Immortal Army obviously did not know such an evaluation of the Qi Army, and the women and children were all placed in the boats, and the soldiers who could not squeeze in would take turns to set off together on the rafts tied to the back of their family's sea boats.

"They just use boats, I doubt that they can not capsize," Shi Tianyu's side of the Qi army naval officers finally laughed, and one person said excitedly: "It's okay, although it took a lot of boats, but they didn't need us to do it, they went to their own death, no matter what, after all, it was ominous to kill prisoners." ”

"I don't think they can even float in Japan." Shi Tianyu made the same judgment, in his opinion, the attempt to cross the Taiwan Strait on a raft was a brave and unscrupulous move, and now this group of people has no idea what the ocean is like.

"We're going to be at sea for two months, and although we're going to look for as many islands as we can along the way, most of the time we're surrounded by endless seas, and maybe none of our ten will survive by crossing the sea on these rafts." Before leaving, Xu Ping said to all the officers and soldiers of the Immortal Army: "You can consider staying incognito, I think it may be better than following me to cross the sea on a raft to survive." ”

"The subordinates have to go with the adults." Hu Chen shouted that he would take his wife to the sea with him: "Even if we can live, our subordinates do not want to stay in this country that slaughters our comrades, do not want to call our enemies adults, and our subordinates will never forget our comrades who died and will not bow their knees to the enemy." ”

One after another, many people expressed similar opinions, and Gao Chengcang shouted: "My lord, you have promised to belong to the next peaceful world!" Are you going to break your word? ”

Those subordinates who showed the best seafaring talent were arranged by Xu Ping to be sailors on the seagoing ships, and when they boarded the ships in batches, Xu Ping stood by the harbor and shook his fist with them one by one: "Keep going east, see you in the new world." ”

"See you in the new world, my lord." After hearing these words of encouragement, the sailors of the Immortal Army laughed one after another, if they could really reach the continent that even had doubts about their existence, they would naturally meet in the new world, and if they didn't arrive, they would still meet in the new world.

"All the way east, see you in the new world."

"See you in the new world, my lord."

Watching one after another sea ships pull up the iron anchors, drag a large number of rafts behind them, and set sail to the east without hesitation, Shi Tianyu shook his head again: "They really had to rely on a raft to float over, this is really brave and stupid." ”

After saying goodbye to Xu Ping, Gao Chengcang first sent his daughter-in-law and children to the sea boat, then carefully checked the cable tied to the big ship one last time, and then jumped back on his raft. Several of the companions on the raft each had a piece of wood pulp, and these few people, including Gao Chengcang, had not shown much seafaring talent, but they were not discouraged, but began to swing the oars in their hands vigorously - when the wind was not right, the raft would be used to tow the boat.

"Let's go! Let's go! There were also many immortal officers and soldiers on the many rafts around, and they waved their oars together with the people on the raft of Gao Chengcang, shouting towards the boat in the middle: "To the east, to the east!" Our new world, our peaceful world! ”

The ship slowly sailed out of the port of Dengzhou, gradually leaving the castle behind, and trying to follow the column of white sails in front of it.

"Lao Wang, they really have two hits, it's very similar to that." Gao Chengcang commented excitedly, the few he said were the best performing Immortal Army sailors, and they were now sailing and steering on the ship: "We have to continue to learn, there are still two months, and I also want to sail for a while." ”

……

"What time is it?"

"Looking at the heat, it's still June."

"Not necessarily, the further south you go, the hotter it gets, yesterday I heard Hu Tou say that it has been almost four months since we came out, and it should be July."

A few bearded fellows were talking loudly as they climbed a tree to pick fruit, and not far from the tree, two people with also loose beards were walking towards a stream not far away.

When he had reached the stream, a man knelt on the ground with a face full of intoxication, stretched out his hands in a reverent manner, and picked up a puddle of clear water from the stream, and did not even bother to drink it into his mouth at once, but muttered, "This is the water of the earth, not the rain—"

"Brother Li," the man behind him said as he smashed a coconut on the stone with all his might, and took half of it himself and gave the other half to the person in front, "We have been walking for almost two more months, but there is still an island nearby, and there is no mainland. ”

"Huang Quai, that guy! Who knows if there really is a continent," the first person grabbed half a coconut, drank two small sips and scolded hatefully: "Maybe he is scolding us and letting us drift on this sea forever." ”

"But we did make a lot of detours, and we drove very slowly," the man behind thought thoughtfully, and skillfully pulled out his compass from his chest and glanced at it, "But we should be in the right direction now."

"Well, let's take a little rest today, fill all the boats with water, let the children come down and take a bath, and then pick all the fruit from this big island...... No, you can't pick them all, those who fall behind may catch up, so keep a few of them. The man in front had already drunk the coconut milk and threw the husks far aside: "If it doesn't rain, we'll leave tomorrow." ”

The other party's positive attitude surprised the latter a little, in the past, after seeing the island, he remembered that the other party would always be nostalgic, and he had never been so happy this time: "Brother Li didn't ...... just now"

"That's right, I still think Huang Qubing is lying to us, but we still have to go."

"Oh?"

"Because of Yuan Shu."

"Because of Yuan Shu?" The other one is completely out of the head.

"Yes, I used to read books and saw Yuan Shu screaming when he was dying because he couldn't drink honey, 'Would I rather do this?' Until I had a dream yesterday, I dreamed that I did not die in the wilderness, but died on the barren sea, eating wild fruits of the island for decades, eating raw fish for decades, and drifting on the sea, when I was dying, I only wanted to drink a mouthful of broth, and I couldn't get a mouthful of pork, and when I was dying in a dream, I also screamed: 'Is this what I Li Dingguo is?' Then he woke up. Li Dingguo shook his head slowly, his face was miserable, as if he was still immersed in that terrible dream: "If there is no mainland, forget it, if there is one, I must find it in my lifetime." ”

After inserting wooden rafts in the most visible places on the island, marking that the main force had passed, and urging those who had straggled to continue the pursuit to the east, the officers and men of Changsheng loaded all the fruits, small animals, and bird eggs found on the island onto their ships, which was undoubtedly a devastating disaster for the flora and fauna inhabitants of the island.

"To the east! East! East! ”

Li Dingguo shouted three times, shouted to raise the sail and anchor, and on a sea boat behind him, Gao Chengcang was skillfully manipulating the rope, and together with the other sailors, he quickly raised the sail and let it take the ship away from the island with the wind to its heart's content.

……

"Report to the two adults."

The sentry standing at the top of the mast shouted down at Xu Ping and Li Dingguo's positions: "The clippers we sent to the south have also returned, and they report that they have sailed for a day without seeing the end of the land. ”

Not long ago, the clipper sent north returned with the same report, and Xu Ping looked to the east, with no boundless forest in sight, and towering mountains within the boundaries of his vision.

"Continental!" Li Dingguo, who was beside him, let out a sigh of air, and his eyes looking up at the sky were full of gratitude: "God will not abandon me." ”

"Send scouts to land." After discovering the mainland, Xu Ping calmed down after the initial ecstasy, first sending clippers to the north and south to explore, and now sending several more sentries ashore. In the past, when they encountered an island, the Immortals would quickly land and sweep away all the resources they could find on it, but this time they were cautious after discovering the endless coastline.

"What are you worried about?" Hu Chen, who was behind him, couldn't help but ask, in the past two days, Xu Ping has let the fleet anchor on the shore, but he has not allowed a large army to land: "Even if there are barbarians, it will not be worse than Huang Quai, right?" We are not even afraid of Huang Quai! ”

As soon as he talked about King Qi, Li Dingguo's face was suddenly full of anger: "Six months! If that's really the continent he's talking about! We walked for six months. He actually told us it was two months. ”

The spies sent out did not come back for a long time, Xu Ping ordered not to wait any longer to start lunch, there were not many wild fruits left, and the people gathered together ate the fresh fish they had just caught by the rain, as long as the fish was fresh enough, now this group of people is too lazy to start a fire.

Halfway through the meal, suddenly the lookout cried out excitedly, and the spies sent out came out of the large bushes on the shore and waved their flags towards the fleet.

"What did they say?"

"It's a continent, there's a river, there's a lot of animals, there's roe deer, there's a rabbit," said the lookout, who was thrilled when he translated, and every time he said a word, the people below who were waiting for it would let out a burst of cheers: "And wild boars!" ”

After hearing this, Li Dingguo exhaled and shouted: "God will not abandon Li Dingguo." After speaking, Li Dingguo waved his arm vigorously and threw the half-eaten raw fish as far as he could.

"Anyone?" Xu Ping raised his head and shouted to the top of the mast.

"Nope!" Half a ring later, the lookout sent back a reply.

Xu Ping finally ordered the whole army to prepare for landing, and then he walked to Li Dingguo's side: "Brother Li, in this new country, we are not kings, okay?" ”

"Well, don't you just want to build a constitutional state without an emperor and without a nobility? I agree. ”

Xu Ping and Li Dingguo stretched out their palms at the same time and slapped each other in the air.

After the two of them high-fived and swore an oath, they boarded the raft with their subordinates, and a large number of immortal officers and soldiers around them were rowing their small boats and rafts away from the fleet mooring, rowing densely towards the coastline of the unknown continent. Yue Mu sat beside Gao Chengcang, paddling hard with his one-arm and his companions, the earth in the distance became closer and closer, and Gao Chengcang suddenly stopped paddling, probed the water with his oar, and then put the oar flat and jumped off the raft. The sea water flooded to Gao Chengcang's waist, Yue Mu followed him and jumped into the water, and more and more Changsheng officers and soldiers jumped into the water from the boat, leading the raft in the waves, and walked towards the sea step by step.

"Someone once said that our Immortal Army is a dandelion, and it can take root wherever it floats."

Although after a long period of wind and sun, frost and rain, the black uniforms on their bodies still did not completely fade, and the officers and soldiers were still careful to keep their felt hats or hats, and the golden sunlight was slanted on the turquoise sea. In the midst of these thousands of miles of blue water, thousands of black-clothed soldiers, raising their weapons above their heads, slowly stepped out of the water from the sea, one after another, one after another, and set foot on a new continent.

…… Time passes......

After the establishment of the Shaanxi and Shanxi Qing Yuan, the first thing the two newly constitutionalized provinces did was to sue the former ruler Sun Kewang, and this move provoked a fierce reaction from the Liaodong People's Observer, saying that the people of these two provinces had been kidnapped by careerists who hijacked public opinion and unthankfully framed the wise Shaanxi king, who had raised the people of the two provinces for many years.

After seeing the report of "Liaodong People's Observer", the owner of this small restaurant in Taiyuan City sneered: "What is it to raise the people, every penny used by that bastard is ours, he eats our flesh and blood, and at most throws a gnawed bone to the people......"

"You really shouldn't sue the King of Shaanxi." A serious voice rang out, and this voice sounded with a northeastern accent.

The people in the shop looked at that person in surprise, at this time, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces were arguing over whose sentence hall had the right to sue Sun Kewang first, and some people would say that they should not sue him.

"The king of the east has not yet accepted the constitutional agreement to return power," the man with a northeastern accent said solemnly, "don't you think about us northeasterners?" ”

"I'm sorry," several Shanxi people were apologetic in their hearts: "We really can't bear this bad breath." ”

"What's wrong with two more days?" The northeasterner said indignantly: "Why should we wait until the king of the east hands over power, and sue us together!" Now that you're happy, how long will it be before we can sue those bastards in the East Palace? ”

…… Time passes......

"Don't listen to the Chinese blowing their King of Qi so well."

"That is, at that time, the army was in the hands of China's Qingyuan, and as soon as the war was over, the Qingyuan disbanded the army, Huangshi wanted to be the emperor, but he also had to have soldiers."

In a certain country in Asia, a group of people are discussing the deeds of China's first ruling king:

"That's it, and Huang Shi hasn't won a battle in the civil war, he is purely the spiritual leader of the Qing Yuan." One of them looked like he was holding a wisdom bead.

"It's not that Huangshi doesn't want to be a dictator, it's that he doesn't have that ability, to say that the Chinese's ability to brainwash is really strong, and many people believe it." The other person analyzed it even more thoroughly, and his face was full of disdainful sneers.

…… Time passes......

"One hundred and thirty-two years ago, our ancestors landed here, and they founded our republic," an elementary school teacher led his students, and the sound of the waves of the sea could be heard in the distance, and in front of this group of teachers and students, there was a dense row of stone monuments: "The first thing they did when they came ashore was to erect this row of stone monuments, and each of them left his name on it. ”

This stele is engraved with tens of thousands of names, because of Xu Ping's insistence, everyone had to engrave their names here, and later when they sent a search team to find the stragglers scattered on the island, the new arrivals also swore in front of these steles, and then solemnly engraved their names.

"As long as this country continues to use my services for the benefit of its people, I will swear allegiance to the country."

The teacher read the oath first, and his fingers gently stroked over one stone tablet after another:

Xu Ping, Li Dingguo, Zhou Dongtian...... Liu Yixuan, Ji Huaiyu, Liu Ran......

"The founders of the republic have spent their lives looking for a fair and clear country, and they have been looking for it from distant China. Although our republic still has many flaws, we love her, because she loves us and does her best for our well, and we swear allegiance to her for it, from the beginning of the land of projectiles, to the east and the west to this day. I hope that our republic, which was created for and loved by the people, will never change its original intention; May the aspirations of the founders always coexist with the people of our country. ”

(End of book)

Author's note: "Tiger Wolf" The book started in March 08, to June 11 today, a total of three years and three months before and after writing, think about it carefully, there are still a lot of things I want to write, and there are still many unfinished regrets, but so far, a book can not express all the author's want to express. Now that I'm done, let's just talk about some of the ideas and writing processes that led to this book.

In the outline of "Stealing Ming" at the very beginning, it will be a complete whole process of the creation, prosperity, decline, and destruction of the Yellowstone Group, that is, the whole process of the life of a standard Zhizhi Group, and the story of "Stealing Ming" will also end at the end of Yellowstone's replacement of the Ming Dynasty and independence, that is, the end of yesterday's section of "Tiger Wolf". However, when I wrote the end of the online version of "Stealing Ming", that is, when the Yellowstone Group was at its peak, I suddenly didn't want to write it, so I just stopped like that, and I thought about it at the time.

Later, many readers asked to read the second half, so I started writing, so there is "Tiger Wolf", strictly speaking, "Tiger Wolf" is not a sequel to "Stealing Ming", these two books are the same story, but an outline is cut in half to write. For example, the fate of He Baodao, which I told people during the "Stealing Ming" period: "He Baodao will be loyal to Huangshi until He Renlong dies, and then become ill-intentioned until he raises the banner of rebellion against Huangshi." "This is a requirement for the role applicant. The fate of the other main characters has been determined since the beginning of the writing of "Stealing Ming" in 07.

The biggest change is the change of the protagonist, from Huang Shi in "Stealing Ming" to Xu Ping in "Tiger Wolf". When I decided to write an article, the first thing I thought about was: what do I want to express in this article? Then look for a perspective that can express this meaning, "Stealing Ming" I want to show some details of Yuan Maogong's case, the eunuch party and the Donglin party, the apocalypse and the Huang Taiji, so I need to look for a person who is fighting in the Dongjiang Theater of Liaodong, between the eunuch party and Donglin, and has the opportunity to meet the apocalypse and Huang Taiji, okay, since this is what I want to show, my protagonist and his journey are determined. However, in "Tiger Wolf", I found that the outline is a bit problematic, that is, the perspective of Yellowstone is good in the ascending stage of the Yellowstone Group, but it is not suitable for the descending stage. I need a perspective from which Huangshi cannot see down but from the bottom up I can see the corruption of the new army, I need a perspective that can see the camp, I need a perspective that sees the Ming army slaughtering the people in Henan, Sichuan, and Huguang, I need a perspective that can see the ugliness of the Ming officials in the camp and breaking the city, I need a perspective that sees the camp and the old road of the Ming Dynasty, and of course, I also need to see the perspective of constitutional progress. But only the last one could be met by Yellowstone, so I needed a new protagonist, an eye through which my readers could observe the story, but I didn't realize it at first. I changed the draft several times before, mainly because this perspective was not well adjusted, and I tried to see the whole story through Huangshi's eyes several times, but I couldn't complete it. Finally, after considering the change of protagonist, the perspective was adjusted at once.

Some readers said that "Tiger Wolf" overturned the setting of "Stealing Ming", in fact, there is almost no overthrow, except for the different perspectives of the whole story, the outline process is to run all the way down, damn dead, live alive, nothing has changed, the biggest change is actually Xu Ping was originally set as Huangshi's second adopted son, and became the new leader of the Huangshi Group with his military merits, but he was neither the eldest son nor the son-in-law, and the status was more embarrassing, and finally he died with it after the conflict between the group and his father intensified, but this perspective is not easy to use, So I moved Xu Ping to the camp, and when the sequel trailer was released at the starting point, Xu Ping was also set as Huangshi's adopted son, so the trailer was a little different from the plot of "Tiger Wolf".

By the end of "Tiger Wolf", there are some things that I want to write that are not good to write. The story to be told later is that the constitutionalism further improved itself, and in the face of repeated counterattacks by conservative forces, especially after Huangshi's death, the constitutional system was in danger; At the same time, the Immortals began to explore the Americas, where exiles from the East met with Westerners. Both factions will face a variety of challenges, from the revolt of the vassal states to the impact of the Immortals' invasion of the Americas on Europe. I envisioned a big scene, but the materials I collected were seriously insufficient, and the whole world began to deviate from history, from the level of science to political and military events, I struggled to set it up. For the time being, I can't write the third part, I plan to rest, rest, maybe write something else first, and then talk about it after a few years of brewing.

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