Chapter 1211 Smoldering (1)
In March, the third year of Wu Zhenxing, the snow in the south melted, the corpses on the field melted into the spring mud, and wild flowers bloomed on the bones.
In southern Zhejiang, Xianxia Pass in Jiangshan County has now been controlled by the Southeastern Imperial Court and is under the jurisdiction of Han Shizhong Town Navy. It has become the southern boundary of the Fair Party rebellion.
When spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, all kinds of refugees traveling from the south of the Yangtze River to Fujian gather outside the pass. Most of them are in rags and skinny. The imperial court has set up a soup kitchen outside the pass to provide food to those who arrive here. The people prepared a bowl of warm porridge, and then registered each person and placed them in the customs.
Compared to the great disaster that started in Jiangnan last year, the number of refugees arriving at Xianxia Pass every day is not that many.
After the beginning of spring, the war between the Republic of China and the Republic of China in the north has just entered the formal stage of war. North of the Yangtze River, the territory under the jurisdiction of He Wen of the Fairness Party still maintains a certain order. To the south of the Yangtze River, the Jiangnan land, which used to be the most prosperous, is now controlled by the other kings of the Fairness Party and Tie Yan, Wu Qimei and others of Lin'an. After the crazy "King of Yama" Zhou Shang was eliminated first, this area has fallen into a situation where dozens or even hundreds of tributary bandits are frantically devouring each other.
To the north of Xianxia Pass, there are still countless small-scale looting forces that have turned into bandits due to chaos on the road where the refugees are going south. After the beginning of spring, Han Shizhong would send some teams to the north every few days to expel bandits from all walks of life, and the survivors who had traveled for the last few dozen miles would welcome Xianxia Pass. However, such a "benevolent and righteous act" would not be realized in reality. However, there were not many people left who could be saved.
Arrived at Xianxia Pass, there are not many refugees but they are all different. Some people sat on the ground and cried after drinking a mouthful of hot porridge; some people looked at Jiangnan in the north and cried silently; some still had family members holding their children and crying with their families; Okay, some carts were dragged by skinny animals, and there were armed guards gathered around them. These were mostly wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River, or whole villages and whole villages fled south together. Only then could the remaining Some things.
In rare cases, there are escort teams going south, escorting several carts of goods, and bringing a large group of refugees to Xianxia Pass. The number of refugees brought along the way is still large. Those who have paid for the escort team will be used as human walls and cannon fodder when encountering critical situations along the way. Even in such troubled times, the owners of the escort team may be the most powerful "kings" in Jiangnan. . In any case, in such troubled times, any situation may arise.
At Xianxia Pass, both the soldiers guarding and the registered masters have become accustomed to seeing all kinds of tragic images recently - most of them have experienced such things just a year or two ago. ——Except for conducting more checks on some clearly strong brigades, most of the others were simply registered and then released.
On this day of chaos at Xianxia Pass, there were also two young men leading a jujube horse among them.
The two young men are both about seventeen or eighteen years old. One seems to be slightly taller, with an oval face, handsome and delicate appearance, wearing a washed gray but still neat long gown, with a waist With a fan and a long sword, he looks like a well-to-do scholar who is familiar with poetry and is also romantic and handsome. This image was not uncommon in the peaceful and prosperous times more than ten years ago, but it is extremely rare to see it now. .
The other young man walking aside is slightly shorter than him by one forehead and has a lively smile, but his clothes are full of patches and his figure is stronger than his companions. Some, compared to his scholar companion who had a long sword tied to his waist, he had two long knives stuck in his back, and he looked like he was not easy to mess with. In the eyes of some people in the world, this person is more like the bookboy and bodyguard next to the wealthy young master.
Following the two men was a Zaohua horse carrying two large bundles on its back. Because the bundles were not small, it attracted many people's attention, but look at the two men carrying swords on their backs. With their appearance, at this relatively peaceful pass, naturally no one would easily go there to cause trouble for the two of them. Being able to come here with a horse in such troubled times was originally proof of their ability, so much so that the registered master and the guard guarding the gate couldn't help but look at the two of them a few more times.
"...Jiangpu Post Road, also known as Xianxia Ancient Road, was opened by Huangchao in the Tang Dynasty according to historical records. It starts from Xianxia Pass, passes through Qinghu, Shimen, Jianglang, Xiakou and other places, all the way to Fuzhou, I heard that there are many mountains to see along the way, Xianxia Ridge alone is a sight..."
When the queue was about to register and pass, a slightly taller and handsome scholar was telling his followers about things related to the Xianxia Ancient Road. When the registered master heard this, his eyes lit up. At this time, those who could read, read, and understand historical materials That is a rare scholar. What the Fuzhou court needs now is this kind of young talent.
Of course, after listening to the scholar's narration, the follower next to him nodded casually: "Yeah, yeah, I've heard about Huang Chao, I've heard about it... I heard my father say, Huang Chao I wrote a poem called... From now on, if I am allowed to take advantage of the moon, I dare to laugh at Huang Chao's lack of husband! "
This poem is both artistic and powerful. It made both the handsome scholar and the master in front of him who was registering with people frown. The master racked his brains to search for what he had learned in the past. The scholar The corner of his eye twitched, and his subsequent words were clear and soft: "From now on, If Xu Xiancheng Yue... This poem has a good artistic conception, and I don't know where it was published. As for the second half of the sentence, if you dare to laugh at Huang Chao for not being a husband, it must not have been written by Huang Chao, and..." He lowered his voice, "This is This is an anti-poetry..."
This is an anti-poetry... Previous The master at the square table also realized it at this time. If it were in the peaceful and prosperous times, it would be a big event to hear this kind of poetry on the street, but now, the court is almost gone, and the other party is someone who seems to be uneducated. The master heard the verses from the boy, but he didn't know if he should put them on the line. He was registering with the two refugees in front of him. The follower behind scratched his head and laughed: "Haha, no, maybe I remembered it wrong. It's because you read a lot of books. I haven't liked these since I was a child. But I have often heard about Huang Chao..."
This smile sounded like one with no culture, and the master sighed inwardly. As for Huang Chao, whom he often hears talking about recently, he can understand it. Today is a time of great strife. From Fang La, who was troubled by Yongle in the past, to the Southwest Black Flag later, and even the Fairness Party in Jiangnan today, most of them have proposed "equality" Such a statement, regardless of the actual operation, can be traced back to Huang Chao's "Tianmenbu Jianping" in most history books. For scholars, this is also a topic they occasionally mention to others. .
At this time, the two people in front had finished registering, and the two young men holding the Zaohua Horse had already walked over. The master smiled and said: "May I ask the names and birthplaces of the two young masters..."
Smiling Face The follower came over and said, "What is your place of origin?"
"...It means...where is your hometown..."
"Oh, Jiangning."
"Jiangning …Jiang Ning recently…”
"Everyone was wiped out... The whole family should be damned, King Fairness."
"I heard that King Fairness and his whole family have long been gone..."
"Well, he deserves it."
This little follower had no education, but he looked cheerful and seemed to be quite easy to get along with. After a few words of conversation between the two, the master put aside some of his previous slander and contempt. He asked about the names of the two people, and only then did he know that the young man who looked like a scholar from a wealthy family was named Long, and his name was actually Long Aotian. It was really majestic and somewhat taboo, and the relatively sturdy follower claimed that his surname was Sun. His name is Sun Wukong, which is also quite a Zen name. Seeing that he is easy-going and free-spirited, it fits the name quite well.
Mastering the switch of the southeastern court in Fujian to accept refugees was of course a requirement for the status of the orthodox court, and secondly, it was also to accommodate more scattered talents. At this time, I saw two people reading books. When the master registered, he asked a few more questions. When talking about the purpose of going south, the young man named Sun said carelessly that it was to practice medicine and do business. The master's eyes twitched, and then he realized that the baggage on the horse's back was carrying various department store items. I was preparing to exchange things for things on the way south.
"... The Fuzhou court is currently short of all kinds of talented people who have read a book. I think the two young masters are outstanding. If you go, you might as well give it a try."
In these troubled times, anything can happen. , this is not too outrageous. Strange, the master reminded him in his duty, and then added: "In addition, at this time of year, the mountain road going south is actually not very peaceful. Every few days on this side of the pass, a team of officers and soldiers will escort the people to Jian'ou. The first team will wait for three days. If the two teams do not If you are anxious, you might as well wait for two days and set off together."
Hearing the master talk about this, the handsome young man frowned: "It's not peaceful here..."
" On the way south, there will occasionally be some bandits committing crimes. Chaos, it's not surprising at this time." The master smiled, "I heard that you two want to go hiking to explore the country, but it's always right to be careful at the moment."
This master. He is kind in his advice, has a literary demeanor, and is quite popular with people. After a while, the two of them passed the customs with the famous disc written by their master. Some soldiers came over and rummaged through the baggage on the Zaohua horse they had brought. The navy here was obviously very disciplined. The young man named Sun Wukong took the The other party accepted the ten copper coins that he had prepared a long time ago and did not ask for too many bribes.
Long Aotian and Sun Wukong who appeared here at this moment were naturally Ning Ji and Qu Longjun who had left Jiangnan and entered Fujian.
Last year, when the Fair Party chaos began, the two of them lived together in the mountains in a corner of the Yangtze River for more than five months. When the mountains were closed by heavy snow, Ning Ji relied on going out to hunt wild food from time to time. In February this year, the ice and snow in the mountains began to melt, and Ning Ji also went out to find out more news.
After leaving the winter when countless people starved to death, several kings of the Fair Party have begun a new round of strife, attack and defense.
The Fair King Hewen, who was well prepared, is said to have suffered the least losses this winter. The strict laws he issued, supported by relatively abundant supplies, attracted a large number of new blood refugees to seek refuge. After a group of internal high-level people, the ruling team of King Ping Ping was gradually established based on the concept of reading club. Although it experienced several chaos and even an assassination against him during this winter, its situation north of the Yangtze River, But it is starting to stabilize with difficulty.
As for the remaining three kings under the unfair king and many scattered so-called fair party forces, they experienced a tragic elimination in the heavy snow in winter. At this time, the spring blossoms began, and the A new round of vertical and horizontal alliances, on the one hand, swallows up the scattered young and strong people who survived. , on the other hand, Shi Baofeng, Xu Zhaonan, Gao Chang and other three forces, while guarding against He Wen, have also turned their attention to Tie Yan and Wu Qimei, who are still lingering in Lin'an, preparing to devour each other first and supplement themselves. These things The foreshadowing was actually laid last year, so there is nothing surprising about it.
But further away, the news that Zou Xu and Dai Mengwei were also preparing to hold a conference after joining forces to kill Liu Guangshi had spread throughout Jiangnan.
Through a lively conference, attracting the attention of the world, and then putting forward his own political views in this attention, justifying his name and publicizing such things in front of the whole world, since the Chengdu Conference, Dai Mengwei This side is not even second. But in any case, this is also a major world event that can be foreseen in the near future.
Knowing that Ning Ji loves to join in the fun, Qu Longjun once asked him if he wanted to go to Bianliang first to have a look at the martial arts tournament. But for some reason, Ning Ji thought about it carefully. , announced that they had become peace-loving people, and after preparation, the two embarked on the journey south to Fujian.
In the spring of the third year after the revitalization of the Wu Dynasty, among the young man and woman who were far away from home, Qu Longjun was seventeen years old, while Ning Ji was already transitioning from fifteen to sixteen. The two lived together in the mountains for several months. Although the shack built at the corner of the ridge was small, it was Qu Longjun's first "home" after his father's death. When she left, she cleaned the room carefully and prepared Let it become a stopping point for the hunters after entering the mountains, and they look forward to one day in the future when the two of them can come back here to visit.
As for Ning Ji, although he felt relaxed about the two getting along, he didn't have much sentimentality. Ever since he left Southwest, he had been worried about the bad reputation he had left behind. But after meeting Qu Longjun again, for some reason, he no longer felt too angry about the helpless past in Southwest. It was just another emotion. Coming up: After deciding on the direction, he had been worried about Qu Longjun's inability to protect himself.
He did not express his concern about this matter, but in the past winter, he occasionally boxed and practiced and taught Qu Longjun some routines and self-defense techniques. Qu Longjun had a foundation in dancing in the past, and his body was flexible and in good shape. He could learn many boxing moves instantly and he could fight very beautifully, but he had no strength and no on-the-spot reactions.
Ning Ji had nothing to do about this matter. In the end, he could only teach her some crooked tricks for self-defense: for example, telling the other person "I have always liked you" and then stabbing the person to death. . This crooked move is said to be a classic case of the Chinese military's top brass, and I don't know who the evil spirit thought of it. It is an advanced use of women's self-defense.
After the two of them left the mountain, Ning Ji asked Qu Longjun to dress up as a man, put on a long sword to look like a martial arts master, and even gave her various pieces of armor with barbs. I made a "soft girl armor", and I dressed up more clearly to stand next to her.
Nowadays, it is no longer a peaceful time when you don’t mess with others, so you might as well do it in a more high-profile way. His physical development has matured now, and he has begun to shift from dexterity to strength. Transformation, and after the baptism of Jiangning's successive battles and even against Lin Zongwu, his martial arts has made more breakthroughs. Although some insights are still a bit vague, but against many "first-class masters" in the arena today, he has made more breakthroughs. They were all confident of cutting it off head-on.
Leaving the mountainous area, Jiangnan was in chaos all over the place, but Ning Ji had rigorous scouting experience. He stopped and walked along the way, staying day and night. In some places, Qu Longjun was allowed to ride a horse, and in some places he also They could carry Qu Longjun over there, and the two of them even walked around the edge of the battlefield for a while to see the excitement. Ning Ji was a little nervous at first, but Qu Longjun was obedient and cooperative. After a while, she got used to this kind of schedule. Along the way, Ning Ji taught her some rules for surviving in chaos and some tips on martial arts. Experience and anecdotes from the world, Qu Longjun recalled what he had learned in the past, and talked to Ning Ji about poetry, geography, and history.
In this way, on this day in mid-March, the two of them left the war-torn area and arrived at the Xianxia Pass from Hengzhou to Fujian.
——
Xianxia Pass, built at the mountain pass, has four gates all the way up. Although it looks simple, it is truly a grand pass that cannot be opened by one man. The two people leading the horse climbed the mountain, looking left and right. Ning Ji was calculating in his mind the troops needed to attack here. Qu Longjun whispered the story of Huang Chao and what happened here, and mentioned a few beautiful poems, which aroused Ning Ji's excitement. Ji's admiration.
"...But why is that person who dares to laugh at Huang Chao's husband from now on, if he is allowed to take a leisurely ride in the moonlight, anti-poetry?"
Qu Longjun laughed so hard that his nose wrinkled and he squinted. Eyes said: "These two sentences must not be a poem. Huang Chao rebelled back then. This poet dared to laugh at Huang Chao for not being a husband. Of course he has greater ambitions than Huang Chao. Of course he is an anti-poetry."
"Oh, that's it..."
"But do you think it was written by Mr. Ning? If it was written by him, it wouldn't be surprising."
"Well, It makes sense, I think most of it is." Ning Ji held his chin and thought about it, feeling very suspicious, and then said, "You know more, you know so much, how many books do you have to read?"
< br >"What I know are useless things, unlike Xiaolong, who can do everything... In fact, you don't know, I didn't like reading at that time, but at that time, if you didn't study, you would be beaten, and I couldn't." Beat less..."
"I've been beaten too...inhumane!" The scumbag complained, trying to empathize with the top students, and then said: "Hey"
Seeing Ning Ji smiling, Qu Longjun also started laughing.
After passing the border all the way, the two came to a small camp in the mountains.
There are many camps like this in the border crossings all over the world. Some will be turned into small towns due to the merchants traveling from north to south, and some will have some merchants appearing in conjunction with the inn. The trade route to Xianxia Pass was not very prosperous in the past - if we followed the path of another period of history, it would have been a few years before the Southern Song Dynasty began to recruit civilians to renovate this ancient Xianxia Road due to the need to develop trade with Fujian. But now everything still seems rushed.
The camp where the refugees gather is a mess, with muddy land and sewage flowing across it. Some shacks support simple shops on the side of the road. The two pawn shops have the largest doors. In addition, there are also dirty restaurants and escort agencies. , some seemingly weird forces are recruiting people here, resulting in long queues at several places in the camp. Children with yellow faces and thin skin are squatting or lying on the roadside, some are fighting, some are shouting, and some are crying.
Refugees coming from the north have to have a new life here. They have to pawn or sell the belongings they carry - even some that look skinny and have no body. Some of those who grew up with items also brought their last treasures with them. Many people set up small stalls on the roadside and carefully sold these items that contained their last hope. Some people were watching on the side of the road, looking at this thoughtfully. situation.
There was a lot of noise, so Ning Ji let Qu Longjun lead the horse and followed him forward while he also observed the movements around him. In this camp in Xianxia Pass, there are officers and soldiers maintaining order, so there are no conflicts on the surface. Some of the methods of maintaining security have traces of Southwest, but they are not maintained so thoroughly. In the final analysis, there should be insufficient manpower. The reason is that there are now several brothers and sisters of the Zuo family in the small court in the southeast. This may be a simple plan made by them.
Every time you go to a place, the most important thing to do is to walk around to check the situation. After walking around half a circle in the camp where about one or two thousand people gathered, Ning Ji became happy and prepared to Implement the big plan he has been planning in the mountains of Jiangnan:
He led Qu Longjun to an open space on the side of the road. He tied the date horse first, then spread out the furoshiki on the ground, took out the small packages one by one, opened them, and put some needles, threads, gold and silver Jewelry and even things like porcelain bottles and iron bowls were put out in preparation for opening a store.
Two flagpoles were erected on the side.
The flag on the right says: Hua Tuo is reincarnated and can cure all diseases.
The flag on the left reads: Bamboo mark semicolon, buying and selling department stores.
The refugees who came from the south of the Yangtze River are not all miserable and have no background. Many of them are actually literate. The stall next to the road here is an old man with a sad face who is selling ancient books. Seeing Hua Tuo's big words about being able to cure all diseases in this world, his face became even more bitter, and he wanted to scold him. Then he saw the decapitation slogans like "Bamboo marks semicolon", and he sighed and closed his mouth. After that, I saw the young man wearing patched clothes shouting with dignity.
"Dear fellow villagers, all uncles, uncles, aunts and ladies who are passing by, come and take a look, have a look, diagnose your pulse, see a doctor, buy and sell all kinds of curios and department stores, support barter The things are all good things collected on the road, come here Take a look and see..."
The atmosphere in the camp here is depressing, and the shouting that the boy learned from somewhere is quite exaggerated, which is incompatible with the surrounding atmosphere. Qu Longjun next to him blushed. She had heard the other party talk about the idea of buying and selling goods to make a living along the way, and she had already had the mentality of "marry the chicken, follow the chicken, marry the dog, follow the dog". She felt that it would be a great thing for two people to set up a stall and travel together, but this After all, this was the first time he shouted like this in front of a large audience, and seeing that the atmosphere around him was different, he felt a little ashamed.
But after a while, she gritted her teeth, put her hands around her mouth, and shouted loudly: "I'm selling things! I'm selling things—"
This moment was the afternoon of March 12th, the third year of Wu Zhenxing, when the two set up a stall for the first time. The shouting, which was relatively indifferent to the feelings of others, caused a somewhat awkward atmosphere in the noisy camp. Some people passing by looked at the stall curiously. Some of the items Ning Ji picked up from the battlefield were indeed relatively valuable, but they were not the rarest items in the current camp. Therefore, Ning Ji's exaggerated shouts did not bring much business. This afternoon was just Sold some needles and threads. Some people came over and asked: "How can a youngster know how to see a doctor?" But in the end, young Ning Ji was not chosen to treat the children at home.
Memories left behind.
Back. Regarding the COVID-19 situation, when the situation was at its peak some time ago, my mother fainted twice, my grandmother was ninety years old, and my father had undergone chemotherapy more than ten times, but it was not a serious problem. Finally, two elderly people were sent to the hospital. I had just recovered from my illness and had been in two hospitals for more than 20 days. I could fall asleep in the taxi every day. After I came back, I felt completely paralyzed. I originally thought that many of these things could be done. I wrote about it, but then I thought about it, who was not like this during that time. That's it, this period is probably over, let's start updating.
(End of this chapter)