Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 445: Jinan Wind
"Yang Yuan~where are you?"

Jinan Yin Pushan Zhongyi, who was about 40 years old, was soaking in a large bucket of water with his eyes half open, and asked lazily.

Pushan Zhongyi was a famous general of the Jin Dynasty. At the age of sixteen, he followed Wanyan Zongfu to attack Shaanxi and was awarded the title of "Mouke" for his merits.

At the age of 25 he was promoted to "Meng'an".

This person served successively as Defense Commissioner of Bozhou, Commander-in-Chief of Zhending Prefecture and Military Forces of Hebei West Route, Recruiting Envoy of Northwest Route, and Minister of War.

After Wanyan Liang ascended the throne, he successively served as the Yin of Lintao, the Yin of Pingyang, and now the Yin of Jinan.

Northerners are afraid of heat. Pushan Zhongyi is a military general with vigorous blood and is especially afraid of heat.

The summer heat in Shandong is so hot that the cicadas can't even sing, and the earth can be cracked by the sun.

Pushan Zhongyi really couldn't stand the heat, so when the hot summer came he would strip naked and soak in a bucket of water, even when he was performing official duties in the yamen.

"Your Excellency, the post office has reported that the Song envoy Yang Yuan will arrive in Jinan tomorrow."

"Um……"

Pushan Zhongyi said calmly: "Give orders, recently private salt is rampant in Jinan Prefecture, and this prefecture must severely crack down on private salt dealers in Jinan Prefecture.

All water passes, big or small, to the north and west of Jinan Prefecture were immediately closed.

Order the local soldiers, militia, and townspeople to patrol the area and not allow anyone to leave the country. Anyone who violates this order will be killed on the spot!"

"As ordered!"

Liu Shijiu, the magistrate of Jinan Prefecture, agreed in a proud and confident tone, then walked out with the knife in his hand.

The Jin Empire expanded too quickly.

From the founding of the country, it took only more than ten years for it to expand more than a hundred times from a tribal alliance with only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to own a vast territory.

Even today, more than 20 years have passed since the occupation of the Central Plains. The Jin Kingdom has absorbed a large number of Han Confucian scholars as officials, but it is still seriously lacking in officials to govern the local areas.

Therefore, it was common to place military generals locally and let them take charge of civil affairs.

This Liu Shijiu was originally a fierce general under Pushan Zhongyi, but now he is a civil servant, a magistrate of Jinan Prefecture.

"The Song envoy will arrive in one day..."

Pushan Zhongyi took a deep breath, and his drowsy expression due to the heat disappeared completely.

He received a secret order from Wanyan Liang, asking him to cooperate with Kong Yanzhou's actions.

The Wanyan Wulun family and the Wanyan Wuliye family of the Jin Dynasty were powerful members of the Jin Dynasty who had been relocated to Shandong Road.

Although they obeyed Wanyan Liang's order, they were extremely reluctant in their hearts.

Therefore, they complained all day long and maintained close ties with the powerful people in the capital.

They often exchanged letters, describing the inconveniences caused by moving out of their hometown where they had lived for hundreds of years, and encouraging the dignitaries in Beijing not to be deceived like them.

Wanyan Liang had long been aware of the secret actions of these two major families, and therefore held a grudge against them.

Now that Wanyan Liang is determined to "destroy and then rebuild", he will naturally not let them go.

However, if the troops from Shandong Road were mobilized in Jinan, these two major families would definitely notice the movement.

Therefore, Wanyan Liang decided to use the strategy of "using the enemy's territory to attack Guo" and let Kong Yanzhou and Zhu Songzhang take action.

Pushan Zhongyi, the prefect of Jinan and commander-in-chief of the Shandong Army, was responsible for blocking the north-south roads.

As long as he can successfully block the news for three to five days, that will be enough time.

By that time, the dignitaries who wanted to go to Yanjing had already arrived, and those who had not gone would not go even if they had not received news of changes in Jinan.

"Finally I can use the knife!"

Thinking of this, Pushan Zhongyi became excited.

He stood up from the bucket with a splash, and the water rolled down his strong and sturdy body.

The two maids waiting in the corner hurried forward with a large bath towel and started to wipe him.

……

Jinan Licheng, Siheng Gate.

This is a village with only more than a hundred households. It is named after the Zhaowang River where it is located and the four sluices it has.

Not far away is Xiaoqing River, which is a must-pass place for Jinan’s water salt road.

Although Sihengzha Village is just a village with only a hundred households, it produced a great man.

That was Xin Zan, old man Xin, who once served as the "Yin of Kaifeng".

After retiring, Mr. Xin returned to his hometown in Jinan Prefecture.

On the surface, he was a respectable official in Jinan Prefecture, but secretly he became a big salt smuggler.

The Sihengzha Village has hundreds of households and nearly a thousand people, all of whom are members of the Xin family's private salt gang.

The Xin family in this village is equivalent to having countless pairs of eyes and countless guards.

Today, three dignitaries visited the Xin family.

One is Kong Zheng, the Duke of Yansheng; one is Wanyan Dari, a descendant of Wanyan Wulun’s family; and the other is Wanyan Luti, a descendant of Wanyan Wuliye’s family.

There are now two Yansheng Dukes in the world.

When Zhao Gou moved south, he took the 47th generation of the Kong family, Duke Yansheng, Kong Duanyou, with him.

The Jin Kingdom then appointed Kong Duanyou's nephew Kong Fan as the Yansheng Duke of Jin.

The Kong family who followed Zhao Gou to the south built a ancestral temple in Quzhou. From then on, the two ancestral temples of Southern Kong and Northern Kong were in opposition.

Now that Kong Fan has passed away, his eldest son Kong Zheng has inherited the title of Duke Yansheng and the magistrate of Qufu County.

Needless to say, Wanyan Dari and Wanyan Luti are both members of the Wanyan royal family.

As to why these two people have such different names, you have to ask their fathers; others can’t say anything.

Wanyan Liang wanted the royal family to move out first to set an example for the Jurchen nobles in Shangjing, so he used both soft and hard tactics to move these two royal families to Shandong.

As a result, this look was obviously not done well.

When these two families arrived in Shandong, they played a negative role.

They wrote letters to the dignitaries in their hometown in Beijing every day to complain.

The food is not to my taste and the weather is not to my liking. I might as well just relax and enjoy myself in Beijing.

The key point lies in the last sentence: "It is better to live freely and carefree in the capital."

Their roots are not here, and after moving to Shandong, their power is greatly restricted. Of course, they are not as comfortable as when they were in Beijing.

The three of them visited old man Xin Zan together today because Xin Zan once served as the Yin of Kaifeng and worked with Kong Yanzhou, the then governor of Kaifeng. The two had contacts and naturally had a friendship.

The two major royal families wanted to hold a grand banquet to entertain the Song Dynasty delegation, which required the delegation to stay in Jinan Prefecture for a few days.

But the decision-making power lies in Kong Yanzhou's hands. They have to ask Old Man Xin to come forward and negotiate peace with Kong Yanzhou.

The weather in July is already extremely hot.

But as soon as you enter the Xin family's guest hall, you will feel a cool breeze blowing in your face, which immediately makes you feel refreshed.

This tall building not only has good ventilation, but also has excellent sun-shading effect, and it naturally has a certain summer cooling effect.

In addition, the Xin family also used a waterwheel to bring river water to the roof. The water poured down from the roof ridge, like a rain curtain, dripping down from the eaves on three sides, and then was led through the flower beds through the waterway, making the hall naturally cool and pleasant.

"Ha! Mr. Xin, you really know how to enjoy life. I didn't know you could escape the heat in this way. When I go back, I will definitely learn from your family and build a house like this."

Wanyan Darui was very surprised when he saw the Xin family's ingenious way of avoiding the summer heat: "It just so happens that there is a river next to my house."

Wanyan Luti became depressed after hearing this because there was no river near their home.

"Haha, these are just some little tricks for cooling off in the summer heat, not worth mentioning." Grandpa Xin smiled and asked them to sit down, then asked about their purpose of coming.

Kong Zheng spoke on behalf of Wanyan Dari and Wanyan Luti, telling them that they wanted to ask Old Man Xin to come forward and use his relationship with Kong Yanzhou as former colleagues to ask him to stay in Jinan Prefecture for a few more days.

Only in this way would they have the opportunity to have more contact with the envoys of the State of Song.

After Kong Zheng finished speaking, Wanyan Darui added: "Xin Weng, the two countries of Jin and Song have been peaceful since the 'peace talks'.

Why can't we continue to have peace?

We want Mr. Yang from the Song Dynasty to understand that there are also many people in our Jin Dynasty who hope that the two countries will continue to live in peace.

We want to know what the Song State thinks about the peace talks."

Wanyan Lvti said in a gruff voice: "Yes! As long as they don't go too far, we can find a way to convince Your Majesty.

Now! As long as the two countries can successfully negotiate, there will be no need to fight! "

Many of the Jin Dynasty's powerful people did not want to continue moving south, just as many local officials and gentry in the Song Dynasty did not want to move north.

A large number of Jurchen nobles opposed the southward march to fight because continuing the southward march would not benefit them at all, but would only bring them disadvantages.

When the Jin Dynasty first moved south to the Central Plains, although it had already established an imperial state, it was actually still a tribal alliance.

These Jurchen tribal chiefs would gain huge benefits by going south to expand their territory.

But now that motivation is gone.

Wanyan Liang was rapidly carrying out real imperial reforms and continuously centralizing imperial power.

The new nobles of the Jin Empire wanted to establish their careers through conquests. As for the old nobles, if you took away their land, their tribesmen, and their rights as local tyrants, even if you gave them a throne, would it be worth the tangible benefits they had originally received?

Naturally, they became obstacles to Wanyan Liang's ambitions.

In addition, Wanyan Liang was too ruthless in his efforts to consolidate and centralize power.

Almost all of the founding heroes of the Jin Dynasty who conquered the Central Plains, such as Wanyan Wulubu, Wanyan Zonghan, and Wanyan Wuzhu's families, were killed by Wanyan Liang.

Not only did he kill all the male members of the families of these founding heroes, he also took these men's wives and daughters into his harem for his own amusement.

What would other powerful people think if they saw you?
Therefore, these old nobles were determined not to fight again.

When Mr. Xin heard the purpose of their visit, he was greatly interested.

What he hoped for was for the Song Dynasty to march north and recover its homeland, rather than for the Jin army to march south and massacre people in the south of the Yangtze River.

Since the Xin family was secretly engaged in the salt smuggling business, which included smuggling Song salt from the large salt fields in eastern Zhejiang, he knew more about the news from the Song State.

He knew that the Song Dynasty had a new ruler, and that the new ruler's temperament was very different from that of the previous emperor, Gaozong.

Under such circumstances, the Song State sent envoys for peace talks, obviously because it was not yet ready for the Northern Expedition.

Gou Jian spent ten years of accumulation and ten years of training to finally destroy Wu. Since the rulers and ministers of the Song Dynasty had the ambition to recover their homeland, they should be given an opportunity to accumulate strength.

These Jin nobles were unwilling to go to war, of course, because of their family interests, but if their power could be used to facilitate a successful peace talks between the Song and Jin dynasties, it would certainly be beneficial to the Song Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Mr. Xin said: "Duke Yansheng and the two kings care about the world and are interested in peace. This is a great thing that benefits the country and the people.

Although Xin is old, he also wants to do more good things for the people, so he is willing to follow in his footsteps and make things happen! "

Wanyan Darui and Wanyan Lvti were overjoyed when they heard this. They stood up and clasped their fists to Xin Zan, thanking him and saying, "With Mr. Xin's help, this can be accomplished. On behalf of the people of the world, we thank Mr. Xin!"

……

Under the scorching sun, the willow trees beside the tree were wilted.

The willow leaves drooped weakly, and only swayed a few times in a faint breeze occasionally.

The horses could not stand such heat either, and no longer had the momentum they had when they first set out, with men like tigers and horses like dragons galloping across the wilderness.

Once passing a river or a forest, the entire team will stop.

The men and horses drank water, and some soldiers even jumped into the river to wash off the heat in the water.

Generals like Kong Yanzhou and Zhu Songzhang, especially those who served as escorts, disregarded their image and stripped almost naked.

"You guys, take it off if you want, it's okay."

Yang Yuan looked outside the car and saw Yu Jiguang and others who were almost suffering from heatstroke. He said gloomily, "You don't have to save face and suffer in vain."

When Yang Yuan spoke, Yu Jiguang, Chen Lixing and others were immediately overjoyed.

Da Chu was the first to cheer and rushed to the river happily.

He leaped into the river in his military uniform and buried his head in the water.

He stood up only when he could no longer hold his breath.

I suddenly felt the heat that had been lingering all over my body finally dissipate.

Kou Heiyi couldn't help but be moved when he saw it.

Although he was not as happy as Yu Jiguang and the others, he also took off his clothes gracefully, folded them and placed them on the shore, then stepped into the stream wearing a pair of calf-nose trousers, and immediately felt relaxed both physically and mentally.

Fei Yuye, Hanane and Xiaonai were sitting under the shade of a tree.

They no longer cared about their ladylike image, they just stretched their legs out and used their Fan Yang hats as fans, the wind they blew out was hot.

Their skin, which was intentionally painted with turmeric, could not hide the flushing.

During this journey, the three of them became familiar with each other.

When they were resting at night, Kanon and Kona would often use their ninja survival skills to sneak out with Fei Yuye to find a river to bathe.

Otherwise, these three girls will all go bad.

At this time, the most miserable person in the entire team was Yang Yuan.

Others could undress and wash in the river without caring about their image, but he, Fei Yuye, Hanane and Kona could only sigh at the sight of the river.

Fei Yuye, Hanane and Xiaonai are girls, there is nothing we can do about it.

He is a person who was created here!
How can a gentleman who is upright and upright, with a righteous spirit, a Confucian scholar who regards the honor and image of the Song Dynasty as more important than his life, and a literati who regards warriors as rude common people be the same as these warriors who do not care about their image?

So, no matter how hot it was, he couldn't take off his clothes, he had to endure it.

Zhu Songzhang, with his dark and muscular body naked, walked to the side of Yang Yuan's carriage and kindly advised him to take a bath in the river to get rid of the summer heat.

Yang Yuan sat in the car, fanning himself gently, his forehead dripping with sweat, but he still said calmly: "Without being indifferent, one cannot clarify one's ambition. Without being calm, one cannot achieve far-reaching goals. Without a peaceful mind, one cannot feel cool.

Look at the green leaves and red flowers, hear the cicadas chirping, feel the breeze on your face, how could your heart not feel peaceful and tranquil?

You guys, you still haven’t mastered the art of cultivating your Qi yet…”

As he spoke, sweat flowed into his mouth.

Yang Yuan took out a neatly folded embroidered handkerchief from his sleeve, gently wiped his face with it, and said with a smile: "The environment is created by the mind. When the mind is calm, it will naturally be cool."

Zhu Songzhang laughed and said, "Mr. Yang's skill in nourishing qi is admirable. I am a rough man, so I can only go to the river to soak."

Zhu Songzhang turned and left.

When they passed under the willow trees, Fei Yuye, Hua Yin and Xiao Nai heard the shirtless Zhu Songzhang utter two very cool Chinese characters: "Stupid!"

……

When Xin Qiji and his entourage were about to enter the territory of Jinan Prefecture, they suddenly discovered that Jin soldiers and militiamen were rushing out to defend along the roads and rivers.

The baozhang, big baozhang and du baozhang connected with the able-bodied men in the villages and towns and began to deploy manpower in the suburbs.

Because Xin Qiji had Fei Tianlu by his side, he was naturally extra alert to such unusual movements.

As soon as he realized something was wrong, Xin Qiji immediately gave up moving forward along the road.

He turned his horse and took Fei Tianlu and his followers into a country road.

Soon, they entered a village.

The village chief was beating the gong and calling on able-bodied men to follow several village chiefs to set up defenses outside the village.

He shouted loudly that the village would be responsible for three meals a day, and threatened in a stern voice that if any family member was absent, their food would be confiscated or something.

As he was speaking, the old villager immediately smiled when he saw Xin Qiji arriving with a group of knights.

He bared his few remaining teeth, stuffed the gong into his grandson's arms, and greeted Xin Qiji enthusiastically.

Those village chiefs with fierce looks on their faces also put on friendly smiles and greeted Xin Qiji warmly.

Well..., they received an order from Jinan Prefecture to block all water and land passes, major and minor roads, and prohibit all personnel exchanges.

The purpose is to crack down on illegal salt trafficking.

However, Xin Qiji not only came and went, his family also ran a private salt business, and the village chief and the village heads were obviously well aware of this.

However, they seemed to have no idea what this government order had to do with the Xin family.

The old villager was just welcoming Xin Qiji and his party to his home, and was shouting at his daughter-in-law to hurry up and kill the chickens and geese, but was stopped by Xin Qiji.

Xin Qiji asked the old village chief the reason for the sudden martial law. The old village chief did not hide anything and said in a loud voice: "The governor of Jinan has ordered to ban all traffic and arrest and crack down on salt dealers.

Look, the old man is just about to send someone to set up the post.

The road section that our village is responsible for is quite long, so we need to send more people there, otherwise we won’t be able to defend it.

The higher-ups said that not even a fly can fly out."

Xin Qiji said, "So that's how it is. Mr. Ma, I brought someone with me, but I don't have an official ID, so it's not convenient to take the main road. Please make some arrangements for me."

“No problem, no problem, but you’re here at noon, just in time for dinner, you can’t just leave like this.

Si Wa’s mother, Si Wa’s mother, please quickly kill two chickens and a big fat goose…”

The old villager said to Xin Qiji with a smile: "Xiao Xin, tell the guys to take a rest. The horses need a rest too. Let's have lunch before we set off again.

Don't worry, everything will be fine in our Majia Village. If anyone dares to talk nonsense, I, Old Ma, will kill him.

Sit down, sit down, eldest daughter-in-law, take care of Xiao Xin and the others, and make some tea quickly."

After the old villager finished speaking, he grinned at Xin Qiji and said, "We are family, so I won't be formal with you.

I have to arrange to close the road first. The government has ordered that no one is allowed to enter or leave."

After the old village chief finished speaking, he hurried out. After all, there were hundreds of strong men waiting for him to make arrangements at their doorstep.

What Laocun was planning was not just how to defend them.

Now that they are sent out, the people in the village must make pancakes and porridge and send food to the defense line, right?
The old village chief is very serious about his work. He is a village chief who has been commended by Jinan Prefecture and has a positive attitude.

The nine "Blood Pagodas" traveled all the way south, and along the way they often asked the merchants coming from the opposite direction for information about the characteristics and appearance of Xin Qiji and his party, and they were very sure that they were just ahead.

If the weather hadn't been too hot to chase after them quickly, they would have caught up by now.

But as they walked, they suddenly lost any news of Xin Qiji and the others.

Various checkpoints were set up along the way. Although the main point was not to allow people to leave, and they had official badges, the roads were congested with merchants and pedestrians. How could they go fast?
The person who was about to be caught up slipped away from their control.

(End of this chapter)