Chapter 1219 Strong Wind (1)
The wind has become fierce since the morning.
The rolling clouds seemed to have spread their tentacles, spreading from the other side of the sea. The howling wind picked up the leaves and the rice paper that came out of nowhere, and danced in the air. Jun Wu folded his hands and watched a group of eunuchs and guards carrying heavy planks and clanging against the palace.
After a while, another chamberlain came over with several concubines and his five-year-old daughter Zhou Fuyang. Jun Wu waved his hand towards the hall: "Everyone hide together, don't waste more manpower."
The Zhou royal family has always had weak heirs, and Jun Wu has not shown very good fertility before. Of course, this does not mean that he has too many problems. Kang Wang and Zhou Yong were originally just wealthy princes in Jiangning. Jun Wu had an easy life as a child, but when he was about to reach adulthood, he suddenly became a prince. In the first two years, he focused on investigating things and wanted to achieve great things. Soon after, in The pursuit of Jurchens in search of mountains and seas The killing left a knot in his heart. During the entire Jianshuo period, Zhou Yong indulged in pleasure, while Jun and Wu focused all their thoughts on breaking through Gewu and building the Jiangnan defense line. They walked cautiously, but did not show too much towards women. Extraordinary interest.
I had my first daughter five years ago, and a son shortly before the Jiangnan War. However, Lin'an city was destroyed, and my father and sister fled to sea. After he succeeded to the throne in Jiangning, he fled to Fuzhou. The baby died without ever being held.
Millions of people died in front of his eyes, and countless parents and children cried and howled in front of him. Yet he gave up on the people of Jiangnan and was chased like a lost dog. The escape, self-blame and the threat of death at any time filled his heart every day - there were times The humiliation of being caught as a dog in the Kingdom of Jin might be possible, but he had already decided not to accept this result - so the loss of the child did not seem to bring him many special feelings. One day he even thought: If he was captured by the Jurchens It would be miserable to catch him, bring him to the Kingdom of Jin and raise him, and then be called the prince of the Wu Dynasty and humiliate him every day.
It is unusual for him to die soon after he is born.
To be really sad, it was a luxurious mood that I only felt after arriving in Fuzhou.
After arriving in Fuzhou, there were a lot of new things to worry about. However, under the advice of Li Guang, Hu Quan and other ministers, Jun Wucai worked harder, and now Shen Ruxin is pregnant. When she became pregnant, he felt that he could handle it for the time being, so he immersed himself in government affairs day and night.
Jun Wu was usually a bit chauvinistic in the relationship between men and women, so that several concubines, including Shen Ruxin, were a bit weak. But in fact, he is soft at heart. Last year, in order to strengthen the royal heirs, someone even proposed to take Yue Fei's adopted daughter Yin Ping as his concubine. On the one hand, he would protect him and on the other hand, he would be able to give birth to a fat baby. However, Jun Wu quickly refused. Yes, Na has such a strong character If a woman enters the house, she will not be able to beat her in the future, so she will bully her - Junwu had a strong sister above him when he was a child, and he has quite a psychological shadow on these things. Of course, such reasons cannot be said. On the surface, of course Said it was for the girl's happiness.
Actually, as a straight man who has been in the royal family for a long time, he doesn't really care about someone's happiness - there is nothing unhappy about marrying the emperor, it's just that he doesn't want to marry. Hum.
When Tie Tianying, who was inspecting the palace city, came over, dense raindrops had already fallen along with the howling wind. Jun Wu still stood there looking at the tiny city under the sky, frowning slightly. The old man wearing a raincoat with white temples quickly went over to remind him. Only then did Jun Wu react and walked into the hall hesitantly.
It was as if he could still shine his eyes on the city while standing outside the palace.
Entering the palace, the daughter came over and pestered her father for a while. Junwu accompanied her and said a few words - the emperor was always gentle and smiling towards his family, but he was prone to being dazed and distracted - said a few words , Jun Wu was stunned there, and began to plan the next disaster relief matters. His daughter called him back, he said a few words, and became distracted again. The concubine came over and coaxed the princess aside to play games.
Junwu walked to the desk and began to plan the chips in his hand.
He is a middle-aged man who has to concentrate on his work. Only when things are arranged to a certain stage, he comes out of his thoughts and looks at the princess playing games with his concubine not far away: He is also a fool. In the future The Wu Dynasty can no longer rely on her, but it is indeed her own biological child.
The wind and rain howled outside the window, as if there were thousands of monsters howling. Looking at his daughter playing games, Junwu thought of when he was young. If he encountered such a hurricane at that time, he would definitely be vulnerable. You can easily listen to it all day without getting bored, but now...disaster relief, arrangements...
Thinking of this, he spread out the drawings on the table again and began to write a detailed disaster relief plan... …
……
The howling wind and rain lasted for a day and night before weakening.
On the afternoon of April 20, the rain was still falling, and Jun Wu had already summoned various ministers in the main hall to start disaster relief planning. In fact, major and minor typhoons land in Fuzhou every year - the scientific name at this time is called "hurricane" - and various places have made certain arrangements earlier. It is still April, and the typhoon that landed this time is not considered a big one. Jun Wujiang Some reorganized and refined troops, including the Beiwei Army, were put in.
Some veterans led by Li Guang expressed concern and opposition to the military's participation in disaster relief this time - in fact, last year Han Shizhong's Zhen Haijun, Yue Fei's Beiwei Army and some other armies were involved in disaster relief. Things have caused friction with various places. The military's enforcement of military law in these years is not very strict. In some extremely serious disasters, In times of crisis, it is okay to dispatch the army to rescue people, but if the disaster is not serious, sometimes the army itself will cause serious problems. Among the several armies in Fujian today, only the Beiwei Army has the strictest military laws and can rescue people to the greatest extent. They tried not to disturb the people, but once Han Shizhong's Zhenhai navy and some other teams were let go, they would also create trouble.
However, since the slogan "Respect the king and repel the barbarians" was shouted last year, the Southeast Military Academy in Fuzhou has completed the preliminary national belief in the first batch of young officers with the help of Zuo Wenhuai and others. and subjective initiative education. Now, according to feedback from all parties, these young officers have performed well in all aspects. Whether it's a mule or a horse, sooner or later it has to be taken out for a walk.
There was a debate in the main hall, and soon after, Jun Wu made a decision on this matter and made the decision to implement it.
Military disaster relief is to gather people's hearts and minds, and it is also a training for various things that may happen next. In order to emphasize the significance of this incident, Junwu also wrote a special document for the cabinet, requiring all ministries to maintain strict military discipline and not take anything from the people, otherwise They will be dealt with strictly.
Every place has also carried out impassioned pre-mobilization.
On April 22, a unit of the Beiwei Army entered Houguan County near Fuzhou for disaster relief, helping to clean up the ruins, treat victims, carry corpses, and transfer property... In the afternoon, some local victims accused this department of The army took the opportunity to search Property, perhaps because at the beginning of the disaster relief, the government carried out a lot of publicity that they would not disturb the people and violate discipline or else the military law would be strict. This time, the people gathered at a particularly fast speed, and the nearby military law team also quickly came over and started investigation.
Soon after, a package containing various belongings was found among the belongings of the tenth commander Zhong Ergui.
Public sentiment suddenly boiled like a volcanic eruption. At this time, the government, the military law team, and the disaster relief soldiers were also there. Everyone was blocked on the road in the center of the county, and they were in a dilemma for a while. Because of certain things, Yue Yinping, who had volunteered to participate in the disaster relief, came over to vouch for and argue for Zhong Ergui. This man was an elite member of the Beiwei army. He was a miner in the past and was brave on the battlefield. Fearless, but normally upright and peaceful, he would never do such a thing.
When I looked back and realized that there was a huge problem, it was getting late and the people on both sides of the street could not control themselves in the heavy rain. The young men who received education at the Military Academy and served as military judges first accused Zhong Ergui of ruining the reputation of the military. By the time he realized that things had escalated too quickly, it was already beyond control, and an organized and premeditated frame-up and mutiny was just around the corner.
Their reaction was a little slow.
So they were faced with two choices: one was to directly suppress everything that followed with the troops on the scene...
Soon after, they tried to deal with Zhong Ergui through military law to calm the public's anger. , and Zhong Ergui faced the insults in the street and crashed into a pillar on the side of the road.
This is the first political disaster that the Southeast Court has faced this summer after three years of revitalization.
In the next few days, military-civilian conflicts and all kinds of grievances caused by disaster relief came one after another in various parts of Fujian. There were real and fake things, and it was overwhelming...
...
April 25 , in the afternoon, the rain brought by the typhoon has temporarily subsided, and the entire city of Fuzhou is still in a mess.
When he entered the side hall on the side of the palace for discussion, Li Guang saw that Hu Quan, Zhou Pei, Wen Renbuer, Cheng Zhouhai and others were already there, and the emperor Junwu was sitting on top - this was him He convened a small meeting with relatively trustworthy people - when he saw his face that seemed to look bad due to staying up late, Li Guang sighed slightly in his heart.
His Majesty likes the Young Masters and is greatly influenced by the Southwest, so he is not very close to the old Confucians in the court. However, for an emperor, he is extremely hard-working, extremely attentive, and extremely benevolent. The kings were more responsible as kings and fathers than the previous emperors of the Wu Dynasty. Unfortunately, the environment in which he took over power was too difficult.
If he had taken over the Jinghan Dynasty - or even if Emperor Jian Shuo had abdicated early - the current Wu Dynasty would probably have a different look.
He sighed in his heart. As for what everyone in the hall was talking about, it was naturally the various complaints about military-civilian conflicts that had come from various places recently. Not long after, Junwu asked him what he thought about this matter. Li Guang said frankly: "This matter is a counterattack of the grievances accumulated by clans in Fujian since the imperial court cleared land and clarified taxes last year. I know that after reorganization , Nowadays, the number of violations of disciplines by the military of all parties has been greatly reduced. However, last year, the military violated disciplines, and the wealthy families in various places did not say anything. This year, the military did not violate disciplines, and the wealthy families in various places framed them and looked for trouble..."< br>
"The real danger of this matter is that if it is not handled well, our people's morale and military morale may be completely lost..."
Li Guang and other Confucian ministers were worried before In fact, it was the emergence of various conspiracies and accidents...
In the side hall, they discussed for a long time. When the meeting was over, tasks had been arranged, and Hu Quan and Li Guang went out together. In fact, they had warned the emperor many times for being too radical when he was in Fujian. At this time, the younger Hu Quan was silent for a long time and sighed: "Your Majesty, it is not easy..."
Li Guang nodded: "Do your own thing."
......
The slightly larger meeting was temporarily dismissed. After everyone else left, Zhou Pei just met him in the hall. Jun Wu talked about more important matters: "...there are only more than 200,000 taels of silver left in the treasury. According to the previous discussion, we were considering whether military expenses could be saved. However, after Zhong Ergui's death, the morale of the military also fluctuated a bit. , we have to rely on them for disaster relief, and they have to prepare To prevent things from getting worse, it seems that the military pay cannot be delayed..."
Jun Wu sat on the chair and was lost for a moment, then shook his head: "The army is not allowed to disturb the people, the premise is that it is sufficient. military pay. "Not less."
Zhou Pei nodded: "The things I brought from Lin'an have been sold out, and the private treasury has been empty for a long time. I'm thinking of ways to see where else I can move some." .”
"...The fleet that went out last year, Sister Huang, do you think we can come back earlier this year?"
"I've said it many times, but I'm afraid it will be the second half of the year."
" Maybe the fleet can sympathize with my hard work and be able to..."
Zhou Pei didn't say anything, Jun Wu followed. Then he laughed at himself, and after a while, he said: "Sister Huang, who killed Zhong Ergui, have you found out below?"
"Now it is no longer possible to make amends for Zhong Ergui. "Zhou Pei reminded him, "There are at least four or five places in Fujian that are making trouble now."
"But yesterday afternoon, Miss Yin Ping from the Yue family came to the palace to cry to me... No, she was crying to me. She came to scold me. Zhong Ergui is a poor man who mines. He is brave on the battlefield and straightforward off the battlefield. Which common people are in trouble? , he would often help Busy, a real good person... such a good person, a good soldier, was forced to death in front of everyone..."
"Miss Yue also came to me..."
"Right." Jun Wu sighed, " In the final analysis, it is my fault. Respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians has taught me some people who are loyal to the court and consider everyone. But after all, I am too inexperienced and act too urgently. No matter how big the matter is, I should follow the rules and do it well. Check it carefully, how can you In order to calm down the public grievances, we have to deal with it on the spot... My heart hurts when I think of Zhong Ergui's mood when he was dying. I can't wait..."
He gritted his teeth and raised his fist, and then slowly smashed it on the table. Above, powerless resentment. Zhou Pei looked at him for a while.
"In the final analysis, we underestimated the methods of Cao Jinlong and Pu Xingui. We thought they could only rely on the power of some clan gentry to carry out assassinations in the mountains and various small places. Fuzhou and several It's a big city, they can't get in, and those who come to assassinate them often fail. Who knows? The Taoist Association suddenly made such a move. We reviewed the matter in Houguan County. We wanted to instigate such a big battle in half a day, which caused confusion among the county magistrates. It couldn't be done by just two or three people. Those who can afford it, there must be a lot of people among the crowd who want to be common people.”
"Wouldn't it be easier to catch their clues when there are more people?"
"Now we have received some rumors. It is said that Chen Shuangran, the daughter of the Chen family, is planning this, including this time that various places have attacked our army. Frame and falsely accuse people, and let people from all over the world take the lead. If there is a problem, they will say they were cheated. , it was also her plan..."
"Chen Shuangran...is too careless. As mentioned before, the one in the Chen family is very beautiful?"
"Hmm. Pei nodded, "The Chen family said they were merchants, but they were actually pirates. When they suppressed the Chen family last year, I heard that this girl She had already been engaged to the son of the He family in Yanping and was about to get married. At the end of the year, the He family was wiped out. She, Pu Xingui, and Cao Jinlong were pushed out by the big family behind the scenes. Logically speaking, they were just puppets, so this time I don’t know if the rumors are true or not.”
Since gaining a foothold last year, Junwu has made clear his plans. On the one hand, he is building a military academy to enrich his internal resources. On the other hand, he is clearing external obstacles. In the middle of the year, he will exclude maritime merchants, and at the end of the year, he will use himself as bait to lure several wealthy families with rebellious intentions. Although he took risks when he took action, he fought extremely beautifully, with the demeanor of a king on horseback. Since last year when Fujian land was determined and attempts were made to increase taxes, the resistance of some wealthy families was within the expected range. Even though vicious cases of assassination of officials such as "yellow dog killing" broke out in some places, the power of the official Having already established a foothold in several big cities, the fight for the bottom level was originally something that needed to be done step by step.
If the other side wants to assassinate, they will send more people here to try to arrest people. If the big clan wants to fight, they will collect evidence and fight one by one. In short, they should first stabilize their basic base, and then soldiers will come to cover up the water and earth, and gradually increase the number of enemies. Peripheral control. Jun Wu is not a genius, but he does not lack the patience and resilience to stand up to others despite long-term setbacks and training.
Under such circumstances, this time it proves that they still underestimated and neglected the clowns Pu Xingui, Cao Jinlong, and Chen Shuangran who were brought to the stage. After all, before this, they None of the various assassinations organized in Fuzhou City were successful.
After the setback came, of course he was still emotionally uncomfortable. Zhou Pei thought for a while and comforted: "Mr. Cheng and Mr. Tie are already working on the investigation of this matter. We actually know these people He has been making various preparations for assassinations, and even posted hero posts in various places, and invited some evil masters with a bad record to come to Fujian. Fierce, but in the past, the thunder was loud and the rain was light. After Lord Tie took charge of the Fuzhou garrison, we actually didn't put too much thought into dealing with these people. But after this incident, we felt that we still had to spend some time to uproot them. It’s just that your Majesty shouldn’t worry too much about them.”
“Catch them earlier and kill them earlier.” Jun Wu murmured, "Everyone has been extremely busy for this matter. Zuo Wenhuai wrote a review summary and hired thirty army sticks. Now he can't even get out of bed, and he still wants to go to the army to calm down." Regarding the situation, Mr. Li has mobilized Confucian scholars from all walks of life to write articles. Although the Beiwei Army suffered such insults, General Yue still insisted that it must help with disaster relief and that military law must be enforced. Congyan, Li Guang, Hu Quan and others, I am not really close to them on weekdays. If something happens, they will work wholeheartedly... Everyone is busy, so it doesn't matter if I spend more time and energy. Now In this situation, if this Chen Shuangran is really so capable, even if I can't kill her, I will accept her."
He made a joke. Zhou Peibian also laughed.
"Your Majesty, are you thirsty for talents, or are you looking for beauty?"
"I have always been thirsty for talents. If you are really talented, I..." Jun Wu said this and paused with his fingers in the air. After a pause, his eyes changed, "There is a way. Sister, there is a way."
"What?"
"Money! There is a way." He shook his fingers and said, "Nake the concubine! Didn’t the southeastern gentry always think that I wasn’t close enough to them, and they still robbed them? Their things, haven’t there been voices urging me to adopt a concubine in the past two years? They also said that I am not safe without a prince... It would be better if I didn’t have a prince. Let these big families send girls over. How many months can we survive on the dowry? Ah sister!”
Zhou Pei frowned: "Didn't you always say that you were afraid that something would happen to your relative? Even if you accept a concubine, even if you have strict requirements, your concubine will be wooed in various ways. In the past, something happened to Shen Ruye in the small family you accepted. Large subcontractors..."
"How can you manage so much? We are already on bad terms with all parties, and the tax revenue is only so much. The treasures you brought out of Lin'an were all moved on the ship last year. If you can't get the money back, just wait and see. Officials can't sell it. The military pay cannot be reduced, so I will sell myself first, hehehe..." He said this, he was already excited, spread out a piece of paper, rubbed the ink, and prepared to write something: "I won't pick on this kind of thing. Got it , Well, beautiful ones are best... No, ugly ones are also fine. Ugly dowries require more, well, anyway, more money is the standard. Beautiful and ugly ones depend on my luck, haha..."
As for the proposal of having a concubine take in relatives and make friends with the rich family, someone had mentioned it when they first arrived in Fuzhou, but this matter itself had endless consequences, and it was not so tight at that time, so Junwu categorically rejected it. Thinking about it now, he felt relieved and his words became lighter. He sat behind the desk and wrote the preliminary articles of association happily.
Zhou Pei looked at his younger brother's expression at this moment, a look of compassion gradually flashed in his eyes, and sat down aside: "...it seems that he can sell me for a round in the future."
"That won't work. Selling myself is taking advantage. Sister Huang, you can't sell it." In the side hall, the emperor was writing at his desk. While doing this, he made a hearty and unguarded voice, and he smiled, "...I will take good care of you."
Perhaps the tense nerves suddenly relaxed. At this moment, Jun Wu His words were as innocent as those of a boy many years ago. Zhou Pei looked at him for a long time and nodded:
"...Hmm."
...
In order to solve the temporary financial problem, I thought of a temporary solution. Although such a big thing cannot be finalized immediately, my mood is slightly relieved. After a while, the eldest princess Zhou Pei left the palace. Jun Wu sat on a chair and rubbed his forehead. In the afternoon when the typhoon had just passed, the sky in the distance was intertwined with light and darkness, spilling into part of the palace door, but not illuminating the emperor on the dragon throne.
Exhaustion still enveloped him. He thought about the matter of taking a concubine for money, and then thought about the situation of the military in various places, and thought about Zhong Ergui's unjust death. At the end of last year, he even celebrated, But the tentacles intertwined from the darkness behind him wrapped around his hand.
What he faced was not a battle with open swords and guns. Everything was like a quagmire, with blood-sucking bugs crawling onto his body unknowingly. Many times, he could not even tell who was his friend and who was his enemy. .
Thinking this in the dark, at a certain moment, he raised his hand and slammed it on the table.
The guard who heard the sound poked his head in from outside the palace and checked what was going on inside. The majestic emperor, who was in gloom, looked over. The next moment, the emperor sighed slightly and looked outside. He waved his hand.
"It's okay..."
He comforted with a sigh.
Like a deflated ball.
And after a while, he even had to cheer himself up and continue working...
...
Wu Zhenxing's third year, April 25th, evening.
While everyone in Fuzhou was caught up in this turbulent political turmoil, at the southwest gate of the city, an old carriage pulled by Zaohua horses was carrying two traveling teenagers. Driving into this ancient city that is still in the ruins of the wind disaster.
The water brought by the wind and rain has not completely receded. Sewage is flowing freely on the streets. There is a lot of garbage on the roadside. There are also collapsed houses. People are still cleaning up their homes after the disaster.
"Well, it's so lively."
In front of the carriage, a young man wearing patchwork clothes and holding a riding crop stared and sighed strangely.
In the carriage at the back, the girl who was forced to use the pseudonym Long Aotian was packing her things while looking at him tenderly.
Ning Ji and Qu Longjun also experienced a typhoon a few days ago.
They luckily found a small cave to take shelter in the nearby mountains. When the typhoon came, the sky was dark, and the howling wind and rain were like thousands of troops rushing through. Ning Ji was stunned and excited in the cave. Incessantly. Since the cave was not big, Qu Longjun was hugged by Ning Ji, and they were crowded together with the Zaohua horse "Bald Donkey".
When the storm calmed down, Ning Ji went out to box a few times. Because according to the Huaxia Army, fighting against flash floods and tsunamis can significantly increase martial arts skills.
Typhoon is so powerful and exciting.
After the strong wind passed, they came out of the mountain and exchanged for a shabby carriage owned by someone else on the way. I heard that there are often strong winds in Fuzhou, and it may be even worse than this one. Ning Ji was already looking forward to it. . He and Qu Longjun planned to come to Fuzhou together, convert this broken carriage into a mobile department store, make a lot of money buying and selling goods, and then rent a sturdy house in the city until the next typhoon comes. The two of them will eat hot pot and sing songs in the room, and feel all this.
Of course Qu Longjun is also looking forward to everything with him.
At the same moment, in Houguan County, a few miles away from here, Yue Yinping and Yue Yun were pouring a pot of strong liquor on the street where the Wei army soldier died unjustly three days ago to pay homage to their dead comrades. .
On the other side of this world, a name named Chen Shuangran is spread by word of mouth among the clan leaders, and will soon become a legend among the underworld this summer...
The noisy and busy city, the sea breeze Blow, the line of cause and effect is stretching in it, some stories have not happened yet.
It's about to happen...
New threads need to be arranged and repaired several times. Fortunately, based on the monthly update rhythm, it is obvious that I have not stopped updating. (End of this chapter)