It was still early in the morning when I woke up. I walked out of the room and into the yard. There were sparse stars hanging in the night sky before dawn. The air was cold and quiet. There was an orange light in the guardhouse outside the yard.

After buttoning up his clothes, Ning Yi walked to the quiet living room, poured himself a glass of hot water, yawned a few times while drinking the water, and then rubbed his face to wake himself up.

I had a few dreams at night, and when I woke up, I couldn't remember them. There was still some time before the morning exercise. Jin'er hugged little Ning Ke and fell asleep soundly. Seeing their sleeping appearance, Ning

Yi's heart calmed down, and he dressed and got up lightly.

Without lighting the oil lamp, Ning Yi sat in the dark living room for a while. The window lattice revealed the starlight outside, reflecting the crescent-like white color. After a while, a figure came in: "Can't sleep?"

But it's red grapes.

"It's okay, did I wake you up?"

Hongti just smiled, walked to him and stroked his forehead, but was hugged by Ning Yi and sat down on his lap: "I had a few dreams, woke up and thought about things, saw Jin'er and Xiaoke sleeping comfortably, and didn't want to make any noise.

Wake them up. You went to bed late, but you can actually go back to sleep for a while."

"Yes." Hongti replied, but did not go away. She hugged Ning Yi's neck and closed her eyes. In her early years, she traveled around the world, exposed to wind and rain, and her temperament was somewhat similar to that of a village girl. This

After a few years, my heart has settled down, and just following Ning Yi, I feel a bit soft and charming.

The couple sat hugging each other for a while before Ning Yi got up. Hong Ti was not sleepy and went to the kitchen to get some water. During this time, Ning Yi walked to the courtyard outside the door and shoveled the snow in a corner of the courtyard two days ago.

Pile it up. After a few days, the unmelted snow has become hard. After Hongti brought the washing water, Ning Yiwu took a small shovel to make a snowman. She called out twice, and then had to twist it.

I wiped Ning Yi's face with a towel, then washed myself, poured hot water, and came to help.

Two snowballs, one big and one small, were piled into the main body of the snowman. Ning Yi used stones as eyes and branches as hands. Then he used two snowballs to shape a gourd and placed it on the snowman's head. The gourd was inserted into the back.

He picked up a dead leaf, stepped back and looked at it with his hands on his hips, imagining what the child would look like when it came out. Ning Yi clapped his hands with satisfaction, and then high-fived the helpless Hongti.

The two walked towards the outside of the courtyard. Under the black sky, there were still sparse lights in Zhang Village, the outline of streets, the outline of houses, the outline of workshops and waterwheels by the river, and the outline of the military camp in the distance in the sparse firelight.

The embellishments were vaguely visible, and patrolling soldiers walked past from a distance. There were slogans written in white lime on the walls of the courtyard. Ning Yi avoided the river, went around the small hillside on the side of Zhang Village, and crossed the village.

The land of Chengdu Plain stretches into the distance.

Ning Yi looked into the distance, Hongti stood beside him and did not disturb him.

The number of light spots gradually increased in the night, and the movement of human figures gradually appeared in the field of vision. The dog barked occasionally, and soon after, the rooster began to crow. White smoke came from the house below the field of vision, and the stars

When it fell, the sky seemed to be shaking, revealing the white color of fish belly.

It is December 28th of the tenth year of Wu Jianshuo, and the old year is about to pass. After coming here for more than ten years, the antique charm of the deep house compound seemed to be still close to me at first, but at this moment, Zhang Cun

Every bit of it is more like a farm village in another world in my memory. The relatively neat dirt roads, courtyard walls, lime writing on the courtyard walls, the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs in the early morning, vaguely, this world is like...

What to connect to.

But this is of course an illusion.

After leaving this area, it was still the Wu Dynasty outside. The tenth year of Jianshuo was followed by the eleventh year of Jianshuo. The Jurchens were attacking the city and killing people without stopping for a moment, and even this seemingly novel and strong thing in front of them

If a small village falls into the flames of war, it may only take the blink of an eye for it to return to ruins. Before the torrent of history, everything is as fragile as a sandcastle on the beach.

After staying for a moment, Ning Yi jogged forward around the hillside. The distance in his vision gradually became clearer. A war horse galloped from the road in the distance and turned into a yard in the village below.

"It should be news coming from the east." Hongti said.

Ning Yi nodded: "No rush."

After running around the hillside for a while, the trumpet in the military camp was also ringing, and the soldiers began to perform drills. Several figures came from the front, but they were Chen Fan and Qin Shaoqian who had also gotten up early. Although the weather was cold, Chen Fan was dressed in single clothes.

There was no sign of coldness. Qin Shaoqian was wearing a neat military uniform. He was probably training with the soldiers around him. He met Chen Fan here. The two were talking to themselves when they saw Ning Yi coming up and greeted him with a smile.

.

"Li Heng is here." Qin Shaoqian nodded.

Chen Fan smiled and said: "You got up so late, what were you doing at night?"

"You're an adult now, so I asked you what you were doing at night. Looking at you looking so hungry..." Ning Yi smiled and insulted Chen Fan, "What are you talking about?"

"You are a sinister boss. It's the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and you still don't give your subordinates a holiday."

"You don't give your family a holiday, and your pig teammates are trying to die. I'll give you a holiday, can you sleep?"

The two of them responded to each other, and Qin Shaoqian smiled: "I was talking to Chen Fan just now, Zhou Yong has done so many things, how should we deal with it... At first, I didn't expect that the emperor would be so messy.

Laugh, but today, no one could have guessed that the consequences would be so serious. The Wushu sword was pointed at Lin'an, the people of the Wu Dynasty were divided, and Zhou Yong had no responsibility. If it really collapsed, the consequences would be disastrous."

A smile appeared at the corner of Ning Yi's mouth, and then he became serious again: "I told him at the beginning that these matters should be discussed with his son and daughter. Who knew that Zhou Yong, a lunatic, would go directly to the court to pick a fight? His brain is broken..." He said

Here, he started laughing again, "It's funny to say that. Back then, I thought the emperor was in the way, so I stabbed him to rebel. Now they are all rebels, and they are still being troubled by this emperor. He is really capable..."

When he said this, several people couldn't help but laugh out loud. Chen Fan laughed for a while: "Now we can see that Zhou Yong proposed to reconcile with us. On the one hand, he wanted to talk to the ministers and put pressure on them.

At the other end, it's our turn to make a choice. I was chatting with Lao Qin just now. If we come out to pick up the fight at this time, we may be able to help stabilize the situation a little. In the past two days, the General Staff has also been discussing, what do you do?

think?"

He looked at Ning Yi, who shook his head and said seriously: "No answer."

Hearing him say these words, Chen Fan's eyes relaxed obviously, and Qin Shaoqian also smiled slightly: "What did Li Heng think about it?"

"You come to test me on this kind of thing." Ning Yi laughed, "The majesty of the royal family is the foundation of rule. If I kill Zhou Zhe, even Zhou Yong will give in. Who else will be afraid of him as an emperor? That person in the court

Everyone can understand it. Even if I were put in the same position, I would not let the emperor do such stupid things. It is a pity that Zhou Yong is too naive..."

He sighed: "It was a trivial matter for him to do such a thing, but the ministers stopped him and Hou Shao died to remonstrate with him. The biggest problem is that when the prince decided to resist the Jin Dynasty, the people of the Wu Dynasty were basically in unity, even if they had second thoughts.

, On the surface, he did not dare to move. After Zhou Yong took this step, people who wanted to surrender, rebel, or at least leave a way out for themselves would start to move. In the past ten years, the Jin Kingdom

Those guys who were contacted secretly can no longer hold their claws. In addition, the people on Xiyin’s side have also begun to move..."

When Ning Yi said this, he paused briefly: "The intelligence personnel of Wu Dynasty have been notified to take action. However, in recent years, the focus of intelligence work has been in the Central Plains and the north. Wu Dynasty mostly followed the commercial route. We must seize Wanyan Xi

It may not be easy for the people on Yin's front line in a short time... In addition, although Wu Shu may have used Xi Yin's calculations and had a premeditated plan, he crossed the Yangtze River three times with 50,000 riders and was finally caught by the tail.

There is no hidden secret behind Xi Yin in the Jiangyin military, and no one believes it. On the cusp of such a storm, Zhou Yong still committed suicide like this. I think Xi Yin in Xiangyang will be frightened by Zhou Yong's stupidity after hearing the news.

Already..."

"If Zhou Yong wants to reconcile with us, scholars with a little common sense in the Wu Dynasty will stop him. At this time, we stand up and say it is to cheer up the people. In fact, the resistance will be great, and Zhou Yong's position will only become more unstable.

, our team is thousands of miles away...Chen Fan, you dare to travel more than a thousand miles to Lin'an with more than 10,000 people?"

"Chengdu has just stabilized. The more than 15,000 people recruited for the New Year's Games have not yet started training. Water far away cannot save the fire nearby. After Zhou Yong's words, the Wu Dynasty collapsed faster, but we can

We should have faced Zong Han earlier." Ning Yi smiled, "In addition, when we came out to rebel, we relied on unity. Now that the place has just expanded and the people's hearts are not yet stable, they suddenly said that they would help the emperor fight. The brothers who followed us before wanted to

It’s so frustrating that the new member will get the wrong idea and stab himself in the side..."

When he said this, his words gradually stopped, and Chen Fan laughed: "If you think about it so clearly, there's nothing much to say. Alas, I was still thinking that if we came out to talk, what would those scholars from the Wu Dynasty look like?

Doesn’t everything have to be colorful, haha... Uh, what are you thinking about?"

He saw Ning Yi's eyes flickering, lost in thought, and asked. Ning Yi turned his eyes to him and was silent for a while.

"...I was thinking just now, if I were Wanyan Xiyin, I could now pretend to be the Chinese Army..."

"Uh..." Chen Fan blinked and froze.

****************

In Lin'an, just before dawn, there are lights swimming in the antique courtyard.

In Lin'an City, where the New Year is approaching, the New Year atmosphere is accompanied by tension and solemnity. As the news of Wu Shu going south comes every day, the city defense army has begun to mobilize on a large scale, and some people have chosen to abandon the city.

The city has gone far away, but most of the people still stay in the city. The atmosphere of the New Year and the tension of the war are strangely blended together. Every day, people feel a mixed feeling of heart trembling and anxiety.

The scene in the eldest princess's mansion is also the same.

The stewards and servants in charge of daily life put up lanterns and colorful decorations to create the atmosphere of the New Year, but as another team in the princess's house, many people involved in espionage, politics, logistics, and military have been working with high intensity these days.

Facing various situations, as Ning Yi said, the opponent has not rested yet, and the pig teammates are racing against time to do their best. Naturally, the people who are doing things cannot stop because of the New Year.

The two teams are strangely intertwined, including each other but not interfering with each other, forming a wonderful and special scene.

As for the personnel of the Princess Mansion, the so-called pig teammates also include the current head of the country in the court: the father of the eldest princess, the current emperor Zhou Yong.

If it was just that Jin Wushu suddenly crossed the Yellow River and went south, the situation faced by the eldest princess's house would not be as distressing and anxious as it is now. And now, especially after Hou Shao died after touching the pillar, every day

It was a huge torment. The court of the Wu Dynasty seemed to have suddenly changed. Each of the families and forces that made up the entire Nanwu system seemed to become resistance to the Zhou family, and problems might arise at any time.

Turn against each other and become enemies.

Suggestions from all sides continued to pour in. Students in Taixue took to the streets to sit in, demanding that the emperor issue an edict to rectify the name of the deceased Hou Shao, posthumous titles, and confer titles on him. The spies of the Jin Kingdom continued to make moves secretly, going to

They lobbied everywhere to persuade them to surrender, but in just the past ten days, Jiangning had already suffered two defeats, both of which were defeated by the enemy due to weak military morale.

The Wu Dynasty has been operating for more than two hundred years. Of course, not many people will really make it clear at this time that cars and horses will reduce gold. However, under this wave of morale, the anti-gold situation that Wu Dynasty was already struggling to manage has become even more precarious.

.Whatever happens next, it won’t be surprising.

Above the court, the huge twists and turns have calmed down. After Hou Shao crashed and died on the Jinluan Hall, Zhou Yong began to become depressed. He hid in the harem and stopped going to court. Zhou Pei originally thought that his father still didn't look.

She knew the situation well and wanted to enter the palace to continue her speech. Who knew that after entering the palace, Zhou Yong's attitude towards her became harsh, and she knew that her father had given up.

Zhou Pei, Zhao Ding, Qin Hui and others met urgently and confirmed to each other that the most important thing at the moment was to neutralize the influence and fight against the Jurchens. However, at this time, Jurchen spies were already operating secretly. On the other hand, even if everyone avoided

When talking about Zhou Yong's affairs, no Confucian scholar would quietly shut up about Hou Shao's feat of touching the pillar and admonishing him to death.

For top officials like Zhao Ding, Qin Hui, and Lu Yihao, there is no problem in shutting up and not talking about the entire situation caused by Zhou Yong this time. But wait and see, for middle- and lower-level officials and even Confucian scholars who are about to become officials.
To be continued...