Xiangyang City.

The mighty walls stood, and time destroyed its vicissitudes: but he still stood majestically, like an angry-eyed King Kong. He has experienced the prosperity of the wind and snow, and some people have gone through the sadness of tea and coolness. Moss is the mark of the passage of time, scratches are the wounds of war, and ancient walls hold back the enemy from making the city impregnable.

The temporary peace brought some peace to the frontier city.

On both sides of the street are teahouses, taverns, pawnshops, workshops. There are also many small vendors with large umbrellas in the open spaces on both sides of the street. The streets stretch east and west to the quieter suburbs outside the city, but there are still pedestrians on the streets: some carrying burdens, some driving ox carts to deliver goods, some driving donkeys to pull wagons, and some stopping to enjoy the scenery of the Bianhe River. With the tall castle tower as the center, the houses on both sides are lined up, and there are tea houses, wine shops, foot shops, butcher shops, temples, public houses, and so on.

Forestry and Huang Rong led their horses into the city and walked on this prosperous and noisy street.

Looking at this busy scene, Forestry knew that in the near future, the city would once again be plunged into the chaos of war, until the city was destroyed.

Because on the far other side, a steppe wolf has awakened its wolf nature, and is encroaching on the Jin country, strengthening itself, and it is more aggressive than the corrupt and depraved Jin country.

At this time, the Song Dynasty, which occupied the Central Plains, was still continuing to be drunk and dreaming of death, and it was rotten to the bones.

Since Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty, released military power with a cup of wine, the military system of the Song Dynasty has hidden dangers.

In view of the dominance of the late Tang Dynasty, Taizu weakened the local military power and turned most of the army into a forbidden army under the direct control of the central government. When defending against the enemy, the local government can only rely on the support of the central army, and cannot effectively resist on the spot.

Secondly, the Song Dynasty despised the army, and many of the generals who led the troops were Confucian scholars and improperly commanded. In addition, the Song Dynasty exempted military service and promoted the development of agriculture and commerce, but it hired a large standing army with good salaries but neglected to train and did not want to make progress.

The soldiers are one and the generals are in a nest, the civilian officials are in control of the court situation, the living space of the military generals has been repeatedly compressed, and the army has neglected to drill.

And the imbalance between civil and military, the consequence of the dominance of the civil official family is that the emperor's words are useless.

Song Shenzong once wanted to change the legal system, but was sentenced to a sentence "To rule the world with scholars, not to rule the world with the people." "Just go back.

The expansion of civil power led to fierce infighting in the imperial court, and "the punishment of the doctor" made the traitorous ministers fearless, and many traitorous ministers betrayed the country in the Song Dynasty when resisting aggression.

Unscrupulous generals lead troops, weak military strength, internal partisan strife ... A vicious circle was formed, which eventually led to the end of destruction.

In the Battle of Yashan, the two sides invested more than 500,000 troops, the Song army was wiped out and defeated, 100,000 soldiers and civilians jumped into the sea and martyred, preferring to die rather than surrender, the Song Dynasty fell, and the Yuan Dynasty finally unified the Central Plains.

The cliffs and mountains of Haijiao are sloping, and they do not belong to China from now on.

The Battle of Yashan caused a fault in the Chinese civilization that has been inherited for thousands of years, which was a sign of the first death of the Han nation, so there is a saying that "there is no China after Yashan".

It is a pity that the Song Dynasty reached the peak of China's feudal society in many aspects such as economy, culture, science and technology, agriculture, industry and commerce, and handicrafts, but it was named the "weak Song Dynasty".

If you don't have enough strength and want to protect your own happiness, you can only rely on the charity of others.

Turning her head to look at Huang Rong, who was smiling like a smile and eyebrows, she was brushing her hair and looking left and right.

"What's the matter, brother, why are you looking at me all the time?" Finding the sight of forestry, Huang Rong asked curiously.

Forestry shook his head, "It's nothing," and after a pause, he said, "I will definitely protect you!" ”

Huang Rong was stunned for a moment, not knowing why Forestry suddenly said this, but looking at his solemn appearance, she smiled sweetly and responded: "Well, I believe in you!" ”

The crisis of the Song Dynasty could not be managed by forestry, and it did not have the strength to manage it.

The Jin Kingdom has begun to decline, the rise of Mongolia has become unstoppable, and the Great Song Dynasty, unless the dynasty is changed, is like a terminally ill patient, and there is no way to return to heaven.

The only thing he can protect is this family, his parents, and his sister.

In this world, with the back of Huang Yaoshi, coupled with his current strength, as long as he doesn't die by himself, he can get through it smoothly.

But the world is unpredictable, who knows what will happen in the future, like the seemingly peaceful situation now, which is secretly already turbulent.

Forestry settled down, and said secretly, why do you want to do this, let's get the Dugu Nine Sword in your hands first.

"Rong'er, there is an inn in front of you, after so many days, you can take a good rest today."

"It's really not easy, I've been sleeping in the open for so many days, I can take a good bath today." Huang Rong said excitedly, with a hint of tiredness on her face, after all, she couldn't sleep peacefully in the wild, coupled with sweating on the road, Huang Rong, who hadn't washed well for a few days, was a little uncomfortable.

After entering the inn, I asked for two upper rooms, and after instructing Xiao Er to bring the food up later, I came back to the room with Huang Rong and took a comfortable bath.

The next day, the two foresters, who had nourished their spirits, went downstairs and asked for a table of vegetables and a jar of good wine, and tasted them slowly.

Eat meat in large pieces and drink wine in large bowls, this is the children of the rivers and lakes, and forestry has already liked this kind of life.

The meat is average, but the wine is a good thing. Although it is not as strong as in later generations, it is better than mellow, especially after the success of forestry martial arts, the physique is far better than ordinary people, a good wine person, and finds that he is not drunk, it is undoubtedly happy......

Take a big gulp of wine, and then take a sip of meat, this life, a thousand dollars will not change.

In contrast, Huang Rong was much more gentle, picked up a chopstick, put it in her mouth, chewed it slowly, and took a sip of wine, her face flushed with a tempting flush......

After a full meal, Forestry called the shopkeeper.

"Xiao Er, come here, I have something to ask you."

"Ai ~ come on."

The shopkeeper responded with a dragging voice, trotted over, and asked, "Guest officer, you have something to order." ”

Forestry pondered for a while, organized the language and asked: "My family has practiced medicine for generations, and the snake gallbladder is very effective, I heard that there is a strange snake called Pusqu snake in Xiangyang, this snake gallbladder is very good in medicine, so come to see if you can catch a few, little second brother, you have worked in the inn for so long, and you have seen a lot of people who have traveled south and north, I don't know if you have heard of it?" ”

The shopkeeper scratched his head and thought carefully for a moment: "Guest officer, you are stumped for me, I grew up here since I was a child, and I know a lot about the situation around Xiangyang, but I really haven't heard of this strange snake." ”

"Did anyone ever talk about big birds and birds?"

Forestry took out a silver ingot and put it on the table, and said to Xiao Er: "If you know, this silver is yours." ”

Looking at the silver on the table, the shopkeeper stared at it with straight eyes, and said to Forestry: "Guest officer, let me think about it, if the little one knows, he will tell you." ”

After speaking, he took two steps with a frown, rubbing his head from time to time.

After a long time, the shopkeeper laughed helplessly twice and said, "Guest officer, the little one really doesn't know the strange birds and snakes you said, but I know that someone may know what you said." ”

"Oh, who is it?"

With the clues, Forestry immediately cheered up and put the silver on the table in the small second-hand, and Huang Rong's attention was also attracted.

Smiled and took the silver, the shopkeeper said: "That person's name is Lao Wang, he lives next door to my house, he is a firewood-gatherer, he goes out of the city every day to chop firewood, and he is most familiar with this piece near Xiangyang." ”

It's really hard for you to call Lao Wang, and I still live next door to your house.

Lin Lin cast a strange look at the shopkeeper and asked, "Have you ever married a wife?" ”

"The small family is surrounded by four walls, how can there be spare money to marry a mother-in-law, why did the guest officer say this?

"Ahem, I'm just asking casually," Lin Lin dozed off for a moment and asked, "Then Lao Wang, where do you live?" ”

"Not far."

The shopkeeper told the detailed address of the forestry.

After understanding, he did not hesitate, and together with Huang Rong, he led the horse and walked towards Lao Wang's house.