From Tongzhou to Zhongdu, the waterway is the Tongji River Cao Canal, while the land route is parallel to the Cao Canal. This fifty-mile water journey is also the only way for the wealth of the Central Plains to flow into Zhongdu. Therefore, when Wanyan Chenghui came here when he was young, he once saw the shadow of sails covering the sky on the river, and the trackers on the bank were as dense as ants.
But starting from the Cheng'an period, the struggle within the imperial court became increasingly fierce. The emperor fought against the clan princes, the Jurchen military aristocrats fought against the Haner officials, and within the Haner officials, there was also a dispute between the so-called "gentlemen" and the "villains". In the end of the fight, officials who were more familiar with specific government affairs were probably negligent in taking political sides, and all of them were in trouble. In Wanyan Chenghui's impression, Zhang Jiazhen, the governor of Dushui at that time, was charged with "Although he has talent, he is not known for his morality and likes to run around to gain snobbery", and then he was kicked out of the center of the imperial court. .
From then on, the imperial court no longer cared about water control. The Yellow River overflowed and the Cao River became silted up. It connects the Tongzhou and Zhongdu aqueducts and carries the water from Jinkou sluice, so it will not be silted up. The problem is that the water volume is getting less and less and the water flow is very urgent, and the water transportation will soon be exhausted. Therefore, the transportation from Tongzhou to Zhongdu was switched to land transportation. During the Da'an period, as many as 60,000 civilians were mobilized between the two places on a daily basis, and tens of thousands of transfer vehicles were used. Officials, businessmen, and civilians were crowded on the road.
This kind of prosperity, compared with the prosperity of water transportation in the past, is already the result of the domestic weakness of Dajin. But even this prosperity did not last long. Three years after Da'an, the war between Dajin and Mongolia intensified and they suffered repeated defeats. The area around Zhongdu was under fire several times.
Wanyan Chenghui traveled from Tongzhou to Zhongdu. Along the way, he saw only abandoned houses, cleared woods, burned fortresses and camps. There were even more refugees prying cautiously in the fields in the distance, and dogs barked one after another in the distance. Wanyan Chenghui didn't know how else to describe this if it wasn't a scene of the end of the world.
Although he was forced by the situation and had to go to Zhongdu to surrender to Guo Ning, he knew very well that the sudden rise of this Han'er who controlled powerful force would correspond to the gradual disintegration of the Jurchens' regime.
The Jurchens know only how terrifying the Mongolian army is, and Guo Ning's ability to defeat the Mongolian army several times in a row proves that his force is enough to crush the entire Daijin. In the future, there may still be competition between Guo Ning and Genghis Khan, but the regime of the Kingdom of Jin is probably coming to an end.
The next thing is nothing more than exiting earlier or later, nothing more than striving for a dignified exit, and seeing if the political capital in the hands of the Jurchens can be exchanged for something, so as to avoid the conflict between the two parties breaking out and causing a river of blood.
The reason why Guo Ning was able to force himself to take the initiative to meet him was because he knew that he would never let go of this opportunity to fight for the last bit of dignity.
Every time he thought of this, Wanyan Chenghui felt very bad, and he didn't know what kind of attitude to use when meeting Guo Ning. Therefore, he was not traveling very fast. After walking for a while, he stopped to look at the scenery. The desolation struck his eyes, and the more he looked at it, the more uncomfortable he became.
The next morning, the cavalry was still more than ten miles away from the Zhahe camp, but they encountered thick clouds and there was going to be a shower. The weather has been bad these past few years, and there has been a drought near Zhongdu for a long time. Rain is naturally a good thing. But the schedule was delayed, which made Wanyan Chenghui a lot more depressed.
Fortunately, we could find many abandoned buildings on the roadside, including a large restaurant where the cavalry could take shelter from the rain. Wanyan Chenghui and his men rushed over, and soon the rain began to pour down. The rain was really heavy, and even the water in the canal swelled visibly. Wanyan Chenghui stood by the window and stared blankly. By two o'clock, many dry low-lying tidal flats on the inside of the embankment had been covered by river water.
When his mind was in turmoil, he often wandered away, and when he turned around and came back, he was startled.
It turns out that this floor of the restaurant had gathered many pedestrians taking shelter from the rain in a short period of time. Most of these people had a capable appearance, and they obviously came on horseback, but Wanyan Chenghui came from Tongzhou and saw no one traveling with him along the way. And although they gathered together, they all held their breath and concentrated, as if they didn't dare to disturb anyone.
Hey guys, I recognize you! Are you here to see my show?
Wanyan Chenghui started his career as a close official of Emperor Zhang Zong. He was famous for his extensive knowledge of classics and history when he was young. He was in charge of criminal justice, money and grain transportation, and civil affairs. He suppressed the favored concubines and concubines of two emperors in the court, and served as an apprentice. Yi's political opponent. Later, he entered the military world and fought with the Song Dynasty people in the Southern Dynasties.
He defeated the civil uprising in Shandong and was also the first high-ranking official in the province of Jinshan. As a result, he and Wanyan Chengyu lost hundreds of thousands of troops in Yehuling.
In recent years, the Jurchens' famous ministers and generals have gradually withered away, and the few rising stars are all under the control of King Sui of Nanjing. In the huge Zhongdu Road, Shuhu Gaoqi rebelled, Pusan Anzhen died, and Pusanduan was too old to be a director. Now he seems to be the only important minister qualified to serve as the representative of the Jurchens.
Although he has never really reached the position of a powerful official in the court, he has been in the officialdom for decades, has a wide range of knowledge, and has no sand in his eyes.
This situation was strange, and he immediately realized it. It turns out that it's this bunch of bastards in Zhongdu City. None of them dare to come forward. They insist on waiting for me to come forward. They are also afraid that I will betray them, so they came here to keep an eye on them, lest they miss any clues!
In the past, Wanyan Chenghui would have asked the guards to arrest these people and beat them up, so that the masters behind these people would suffer. But now, he was full of sorrow and helpless. Even though he knew there was something strange, he didn't pay attention to it at all.
At the moment, he just sat down at the table and chairs occupied by his entourage, took a bottle of water and drank water. The leader of the guard at the side was a little nervous. He pressed the handle of the knife in his hand and kept glancing around.
"Captain, we will leave immediately when the rain subsides." The guard leader said softly, "These people have been secretly looking at us. I feel like something is wrong!"
"Don't be nervous." Wanyan Chenghui sighed: "As soon as we set off, they will follow us immediately. So there is no point in leaving early and late? They look at the table next to the door. It is not Pusanduan's son, Su Zhi's general servant Did Sannatan come out? They probably sneaked out of Zhongdu and came here specifically to meet me!"
"This..." the guard leader frowned: "Why is this?"
"They want to see if I can be Yuan Tianmu of the Great Jin Kingdom..."
Wanyan Chenghui sighed one after another, as if there was no end to the bitterness: "Thank you for their kindness in letting me, a man in his sixties, work hard! Why, if I become Yuan Tianmu, how can they still be able to win a Yuanzi?" Are you coming?"
Just as he said this, he suddenly heard a young man from behind asking: "Who is Yuan Tianmu? Who is Yuan Ziyou? These two names sound familiar."
It was very quiet in the abandoned hall. Except for the roar of the wind and rain outside, everyone was almost silent. Wanyan Chenghui's words were very soft, but everyone could hear them. Everyone could also hear this young man's voice.
Because it had just rained heavily, everyone was in a hurry and rushed into the hall in a chaotic manner. After entering, everyone stared at Wanyan Chenghui. No one really took a closer look at the companions in the hall. Suddenly I heard someone speaking softly, and everyone turned to look.
I saw that in the inner part of the hall, there were no less than thirty or fifty powerful guards sitting, all of them tall, carrying crossbows on their backs and long swords on their belts. These people had obviously rested here before the heavy rain. The representatives sent by the Jurchen nobles had never seen them before.
Surrounded by the guards was the young man who had spoken just now.
The young man asked, and a tall scholar with a thick beard next to him explained: "Yuan Tianmu was an important minister of the Yuan clan who was in the same party as Er Zhurong in the late Northern Wei Dynasty. He became the king of the Shangdang County and had great power in the government and the public. Ziyou was the Emperor Xiaozhuang of the Northern Wei Dynasty who was favored by Er Zhurong. Later, he trapped Er Zhurong and Yuan Tianmu to death, and his own family was hanged to death by Er Zhu Zhao."
The young man patted his forehead: "Yes, yes, I remembered it. We talked about this period of history a few days ago. At that time, I said that Er Zhurong was the chief of Qihu, and his tribe was short of talented people. Therefore, its power While expanding rapidly, they had to rely on the Yuan and Wei imperial courts and use Yuan Tianmu as the middle man between the two families."
Having said this, he laughed twice: "Haha, haha. Our Dinghai navy has nothing to rely on the court of Dajin. It doesn't matter if there is a Yuan Tianmu or not."
Having said that, no one knows his identity yet!
The representatives of the group of Jurchen nobles in the hall stood up with a roar, some ran out of the hall despite the heavy rain, and some fell to their knees directly.
