son-in-law

Chapter 714
In April, the city of Bianliang starved to death innumerable, and the stench of corpses filled the city.

Tang Ke passed the Bianliang City in a sedan chair and returned to the palace from the imperial city.

The sedan chair swayed slightly, and from outside the swaying sedan curtain, there was a slight stench and weeping. On the road outside, there were dead corpses, and people from Bianliang who were as thin as corpses, with only the last breath left.

There are not many pedestrians on the street.

The old man in the sedan chair was neatly dressed, and his face was dull, but a little indifferent. He looked at the curtain in front of him and didn't move.

As one of the top members of the Wu Dynasty court today, he not only has the servants who carry the sedan chair, but also the guards accompanying him to protect him around the sedan chair.This is to prevent him from being assassinated by gangsters on the way up and down.However, in recent days, the number of gangsters who want to assassinate him has gradually decreased. In the capital, there have even begun to appear in the capital. People who are so hungry and want to assassinate him for the sake of morality have already starving.

This is already a drained city, and in a place where a million people lived a year ago, it's hard to imagine how bleak it will be today.But it is precisely because of the gathering of millions of people that when he became a foreign enemy and wantonly kneaded, the scene displayed became more and more bleak.

Half a year ago, Jurchen soldiers came to the city, and the court party was facing danger and invited Tang Ke, Wu Min and other lords and factions. They hoped that they could minimize the losses after compromise, and on the other hand, they hoped that the generals would be able to resist the Jurchen.Tang Ke was the biggest pessimist during this period. This time, the Jurchen had not yet besieged the city, so he gave advice and hoped that the emperor would take refuge in the south.This time, however, his opinion was still rejected, and Emperor Jingping decided that the king should die, and soon after, he reused the celestial master Guo Jing.

When the court used Tang Ke and others, it meant that they hoped that they could talk before the fight, and it was best to talk after the fight.But the facts of the past few months have proved that there is no meaning in the compromise of the powerless.After the farce of the Six Jia Divine Soldiers, Bianliang City no longer has the qualification to say half a word no matter how rude the requirements are.

In the past few months, people who were once regarded as the Son of Heaven are now being treated like pigs and dogs in the Jurchen camp outside the city.At the same time, the Jurchen army continued to make various demands to the court of the Wu Dynasty. The only choice for Tang Ke and others was to agree to such demands, either to send their wife and daughter, or to send The gold and silver of his own family help the other party to drain the entire city step by step.

Not long ago, the Jurchens, who had already started to leave, made another request. Emperor Jingping of the Wu Dynasty, they were not going to let them go, but the foundation of the Wu Dynasty needed someone to take care of them.So he ordered Dazai Zhang Bangchang to inherit the emperor's position, change Yuan Dachu, guard Tiannan for Jurchen, and be a vassal forever.

At this time, almost all the Zhou royal family in Bianliang City had been kidnapped or killed by the Jurchen.Zhang Bangchang, Tang Ke and others tried to reject this matter, but Jurchen also warned that if Zhang Bangchang did not ascend the throne within seven days, he would kill all the ministers of the court and bloody Bianliang City.

Today is the last day of the deadline.

In the court, Song Qiyu took the lead and elected Zhang Bangchang as the emperor. Half an hour ago, Tang Ke, Wu Min, Geng Nanzhong and others signed their names on the edict.

Zhang Bangchang ascended the throne with the expression of taking arsenic.

When the sedan chair left the court, Tang Ke sat inside, thinking of many things over the years.The once high-spirited Wu Dynasty thought that he had seized the opportunity and wanted the appearance of the Northern Expedition, the appearance of Qin Siyuan and other main battle factions, the alliance of Black Water, even if Qin Siyuan went down, he still had full confidence in the Northern Expedition.

Since then, Bianliang has enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous world with singing and dancing.

Land and water merchants from south to north gather here, confident literati and writers gather here, and warriors from all over the world gather here.The members of the court can decide the affairs of the world with one word, and every word and step in the court will involve the rise and fall of thousands of families.The senior officials kept debating and intriguing in the courtroom, thinking that success or failure stemmed from this.He has also argued with countless people, including Qin Siyuan, who has always had a good relationship.

He's a downright pessimist, but he's just cautious.Many times, he even thought that if he really gave someone like Qin Siyuan some opportunities, maybe the Wu Dynasty would also be able to seize an opportunity.In the end, however, he hated that he saw the obstacles on the road too clearly.

His pessimism never played any role, people didn't like pessimism, and in most political ecology, radicals are always more popular.In the main battle, people can easily dominate the battle, but few people are sober and self-improvement.People use the main battle instead of self-improvement, blindly thinking that as long as they are willing to fight and fanatical, they are not cowardly, but few people are willing to believe that this world does not care about human feelings, the world only talks about reason, strong and weak, victory. And failure is the truth.

So he actually understood in his heart that in his life, he might not be able to stand on the heights of the court, and if he stood up, he wouldn't be able to do anything.But in the end he did his best.

He at least helped the Jurchen abolish Bianliang City.Just like facing a too powerful opponent, he chopped off his hands, chopped off his feet, and bit off his tongue. He just hoped that the opponent would at least leave something for Wu Chao, and he even gave away his own. granddaughter.If he can't beat it, he can only surrender. Surrender is not enough. He can give his wealth, but only wealth is not enough. He can also give his own dignity. The country is gone, and he also hopes that at least the lives of those who have nothing in the city can be saved...

He is also clear about what future generations will judge of him.

Over the past few days, he has thought about many things, some that he can say and some that he cannot say.He occasionally remembered that scene, a few months ago, on the last day of Jing Han Dynasty, in the Golden Palace.Qin Siyuan was dead, just like the end of every previous political dispute. People went to court as usual, thankful that they were safe, and then the emperor was thrown into blood. The young man sat down on the golden steps with a knife and slapped the emperor on the head with the back of the knife. a bit.

In this life of the old man, he has seen many great people, Cai Jing, Tong Guan, Qin Siyuan, and even every powerful court official going back, either arrogant and high-spirited, or stable and deep, with a sea of ​​inner connotations, but he has never Never seen such a scene.He has also visited the emperor countless times, and he has never found out that the emperor has this time, like an ordinary person.

Everyone in the courtroom was yelling and yelling. At that time, Li Gang was flabbergasted, Cai Jing was dumbfounded, Qin Hui was scolding like thunder, and Yan Zheng was screaming in horror. Countless people cursed or swore, or quoted scriptures, and stated that the other party's actions were outrageous and unbearable. He also rushed up.But the young man just held the head of the screaming emperor with a steel knife indifferently. From the beginning to the end, he only said one sentence, and that sentence was only heard by some people in front.

Over the past few days, or someone recalled that rebellious scene, but no one has ever mentioned this sentence.The moment he wrote down his name today, Tang Ke suddenly wanted to say this to the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty: "..."

In the court hall that day, the young man did not react in the slightest in the face of the scolding and anger of the court. He just swept his eyes over the heads of everyone and said, "... a bunch of trash."

For all, it was perhaps a slap in the face that was bigger than killing the emperor, and no one could speak of it.

Of course the old man didn't say that.He left the palace, and the sedan chair crossed the street and returned to the mansion.The entire Tang Mansion was dead at this time. His main family had already passed away. Most of the daughters, granddaughters, and concubines in the family were sent out to the Jurchen Barracks. On a hungry day, most of them dare not approach.Only an old concubine who had been with him for many years came over, took off his clothes, and brought a basin for him to wash his face. Tang Ke washed his face meticulously as usual.

He went back to the study, tidying up the bookshelves that had been messed up these days, and tidying up the pen and paper on the desk.The cold of winter has gradually passed away, and the sun shines lazily from the window. It is the sunshine of late spring and early summer.There is nothing left in Bianliang City, the Jurchen should go, he thought.

Not long after that, when the elderly concubine came over, Tang Ke and Tang Qinsuo had already taken the poison, sat on the chair in the study, and died quietly.

**************
The overthrow of the dynasty was like the explosion of flying fireworks. In the collision between the Jin Dynasty and the Wu Dynasty, the aftermath rushed to the surroundings. Since the Jurchen went south for half a year, the situation on the entire land has been violently turbulent and changing.

North of the Yellow River, the team of Jurchen escorting the captives back north was like a long dragon, traversing the mountains and ridges, and no one dared to stop them.The former Tiger King Tian Hu has carefully expanded and consolidated his power in places where the Jurchens had never cared.To the east and north, the teams that once rose up in the name of King Qin Kangjin began to demarcate their spheres of influence and waited eagerly for the development of the situation. Wandering south, looking for their own way out.Many big clans in the north are also in such a situation, looking for their own way out in fear.

In the northwest, this land of strong folk customs, the Xixia people have swept in again, and the territory of the Zhong family army has almost been wiped out.Chong Lie, the nephew of Zhong Shidao, led the Zhong family army to fight Wan Yanchang in the south, then fled back to the north, and was defeated in the northwest after a battle with the kidnapper horse.

Zhe Keqiu, the Zhe family, has already returned to the division, but he is also unable to rescue the family, so he has to retreat to Fuzhou, a corner of peace.After Qingjiancheng, Yanzhou and other big cities were broken, countless refugees fled towards Fuzhou and other places, and they gathered up the remnants of their families and expanded their strength to deter Li Ganshun. Therefore, Fuzhou did not suffer too much impact. .

It used to be the rebellious team that fell into the eyes of everyone. In the tide of the times, it was temporarily calm and shrunk. In this time when everyone was too busy, there were very few people who could take care of themselves. As for their movements, some people even reported that they had been swept away by the Western Xia army in the cold winter season, and there was nothing left.

In the south, the same violent turmoil is brewing, and the patriotic sentiments of the middle class who can receive the message are fierce and excited.But for the army, the previous hardship with the Jurchen proved the fact that the army could not fight. The high-level powers suppressed the last few troops, consolidated the defense line south of the Yangtze River, and suppressed the spread of news.It is also for this reason that many people have spent the winter and the spring of the recovery of all things in the still prosperous atmosphere. Although they are worried about the safety of Bianliang City, the real atmosphere is the same as when the Jurchen attacked Yanmen Pass and Taiyuan.

Jiangning, Kang Wangfu.

The young prince hummed a little tune and trotted across the corridor of the mansion. When he rushed back to his room, the sun was shining brightly.In the little prince's study, all kinds of strange drawings and books were placed in half of the room.He went to the table, took out a book from his sleeve to read excitedly, and found a few drawings from the table to compare with each other.From time to time, he clenched his fist and knocked on the table top of the desk.

A figure appeared at the door at some point, and the little prince looked up to see that it was his sister Zhou Pei.He was in a good mood and smiled over there: "Sister, how is it, the old lady of the Wang family and those older sisters, have you met? It really is a scholarly family. Back then, Mr. Wang Qisong was a loyal and fierce family. , are all admirable.”

Zhou Pei's eyes were a little cold, he squinted slightly, and walked in: "I went to see them, although the Wang family is loyal and the widow of the Wang family is also admirable, but they are involved in that matter after all. , You are secretly working and picking them up, do you want to put yourself on the fire? You know how unwise this is!"

"They are treasures." Zhou Junwu was in a very good mood, and said in a low voice mysteriously, and then looked out the door, Zhou Pei also tilted his head and let the accompanying maids go down.When there were only two brothers and sisters left, Jun Wu jumped up with the book on the table, "Sister, I found where Guan Qiao is, I found it, do you know what it is?"

Zhou Pei frowned. She was dissatisfied with the ingenious and lewd techniques studied by Zhou Junwu, and now she was even more disgusted.However, Jun Wu said excitedly: "Old... that person is really a genius. I thought the key hole was on the cloth, but after searching for a long time, I couldn't find a suitable one. Every time the big hole lantern burned. What he did in Bianliang in the last period of time, only to realize that the key is the pulp... Haha, sister, you can't guess, the key is actually on the pulp, if you want to not be burned, you have to apply the pulp!"

"In the days of Bianliang City, the Wang family was always helping to make the paper workshop, while the Su family made cloth. Only when both of them were taken into consideration would we find that the flying big Kongming lantern had to be painted with pulp. , so that it can swell up and not breathe! So, the Wang family is a treasure, and I should save them."

Ning Yi was in Bianliang and made good friends with everyone in Wang Shanyue's family. When the rebellion left the city, the Wang family was absolutely unwilling to follow.So Zhu Biao went to kidnap the betrothed girl of the Wang family, and even almost beat the old lady of the Wang family, and the two sides fell out.But the matter of killing the king, how could it be so simple to clear the suspicion, even if Wang Qisong still had some connections to stay in the capital, the situation of the Wang family was not easy, and the whole family almost went to prison.When the Jurchen went south, the little prince Jun Wucai contacted some forces in the capital to take over these poor women as much as possible.

If not, the entire Wang family would have been sent to the Jurchen army in the disaster in Bianliang, and suffered humiliation and died.

The one who contributed to this matter in Beijing was the monk Jue Ming who was ordered by Zhou Zhe to think in the temple after Qin Siyuan was imprisoned. Qin Fu Keqing was quite afraid, but he did not want to offend Jue Ming, so he could see some power from the temple and help the poor widow of the Wang family.When the Jurchen besieged the city, the outside of the city was already empty, and the temple was destroyed. Monk Jue Ming was probably going south with the refugees. At this time, he was only hiding behind the scenes and doing some of his things.

Zhou Pei was dubious about Jun Wu's words: "I know that you admire him a bit, I can't tell you, but the situation in the world is tense at this time, and there are many people watching in our Prince Kang's mansion, you better not mess around. , causing big trouble for the family."

She pondered for a while, and then said: "You know, Jurchen ordered Zhang Bangchang to ascend the throne in Bianliang, and changed Yuan Dachu, and has already withdrawn his troops north. The adults in Jiangning City, just don't know what to do... Jurchen retreated north. At that time, all the Zhou royal families in Bianliang City have been kidnapped. To be honest, the state of the Wu Dynasty has died... This is all on him..."

"Humph." Jun Wu snorted coldly, but raised his eyebrows and put down the book in his hand, "Sister Wang, you are deceiving yourself by putting such a big matter of Wu Chao Guozuo on him. You can't do well yourself. Things, tossing people who can do things well, thinking that everyone else can only suffer, anyway... hum, anyway, the country of Wu Dynasty is dead, I will say, this country..."

"Shut up!" Zhou Pei's eyes slammed, and he took two steps closer, "How can you say such rebellious words, you..." She gritted her teeth, calmed down, and said seriously, " You know, my court and the scholar-officials govern the world together, and it is rare for the court to have a harmonious atmosphere. If this happens, it will be difficult for the emperor and ministers to be of one mind in the future. At that time, they were jealous of each other. Beware of someone stabbing, what kind of etiquette... He is now in the north, and he is also the leader of the rebel army, the initiator, do you think he has no successor?"

When it comes to that one, Zhou Pei's emotions are often intense, and the two have had a lot of arguments during this time.From the initial laziness to answer, to the final tit-for-tat, Jun Wu's patience was exhausted.He curled his lips at this time: "What harm is there to the hundreds of guards to follow? Xun Ziyun, the water will carry the boat, and the boat will also capsize, for the king's person to bear the lives of thousands of people, just want to be carried? Can? The more you are afraid of the risk of overturning the boat, the more you can do things well, and the more you worry about the ruler, the more benefits you can get from tens of thousands of people. Isn’t it worth it? The trouble of following hundreds of guards? For the sake of decency? The benefits of tens of thousands of Limin are not worth the same decency?"

Because he thought of the rebuttal, he was quite proud: "I now manage hundreds of people, and I can't sleep at night. I think all day long, have you neglected which master? It's still the same, when there are tens of millions of people, you don't even want to worry about it? If you mess up, you will be scolded. If you can't beat others, you will be beaten. Bianliang's current situation is very clear. , I have never revitalized the Wu Dynasty, why do you have to tell the Jurchen!"

Zhou Pei stared at him, and the room fell silent for a while.This conversation is outrageous, but firstly the sky is high and the emperor is far away, secondly, the royal family of Bianliang is wiped out, and thirdly, it is also a young man who is in high spirits, so he will talk about it in private, but after all, he can't continue.Jun Wu was silent for a moment, then raised his chin: "A few months ago, Li Ganshun in the northwest was beaten, and several cities in Qingjian and Yanzhou were destroyed. In the cracks, Wu Rui Camp also dispatched people to confront the Xixia people several times. , save a lot of refugees, this is what a real man does!"

Zhou Pei frowned even more, and turned to look at him: "Why did you know that?"

Jun Wu raised his head: "I have hundreds of people under my command. I really want to inquire about something. What's strange when I know it."

Zhou Pei sighed, and the expressions of both of them calmed down at this time.After a while, Zhou Pei took out a few pieces of information from his clothes: "I just wanted to tell you about Bianliang's information. In that case, you should also take a look."

She turned and walked out of the door. When she got to the door, she stopped again and tilted her head: "You know, he was in the northwest and had a few fights with the Xixia people. Maybe the Xixia people couldn't help him for a while. But the Yellow River In the north, the world is in chaos. Now that the flood season is coming, the refugees in the north are scattered. Soon, people on his side will starve to death. He killed the king and father, and we are no longer together. I... I just think sometimes, he If I hadn't been so impulsive at the time, but had come back to Jiangning, now...how good would it be..."

After Zhou Pei returned from Bianliang, he was exposed to various complicated matters under the guidance of Princess Chengguo.The relationship between her and Junma was not smooth. She devoted herself to these things, and sometimes it became a bit gloomy. Jun Wu did not like such a sister, and sometimes went against each other, but in general, sister and brother The relationship between the two is still very good. Every time he sees the back of his sister leaving like this, he actually feels that he is somewhat lonely.

He was smart since he was a child, but he didn't think about his sister's words at this time. He read the information about the tragedy in Bianliang City in his hand. As a young man, it is difficult to have complicated sighs, and even as a person who knows the inside story, he still I feel that Bianliang's tragedy is somewhat self-inflicted.This knowledge made his eyes firmer, and after a while, he threw the message aside and concentrated on the technology that made the hot air balloon take off.

The sparks of the old days are gone.In the mountains in the northwest, the rebel army was struggling hard in the muddy situation.

　Tell me what you're interested in.My wife and I got the certificate with NO.16. She was still working that night and I was still typing. NO.18 went out. The last chapter was coded on the train.She is 1.6 meters 16, usually under a lot of mental stress, so thin that she is only in her early 30s.I made an appointment with her for half a year. On the day of No. [-], after receiving the certificate, she took the wedding candy and sent it to the office. She was granted five days of annual leave, plus nine days before and after the weekend, and went out to discuss business two days before.So for the next few days, I focused on the vacation and letting her relax.I just came back yesterday, and I will update it in a few days.Uh, she is not my reader and doesn't read my book, but I don't update it, and she is also anxious, urging updates all day long, um, everyone can rest assured.I just got married, more responsibilities, more pressure, are feeling.When you have more ideas, please share them with you.After all, I only entered this state when I was [-] years old, so it shouldn't be considered dog abuse.Well, that's it, I'm back.

　
(End of this chapter)