In the summer of the eighth year of the Dajin Tianhui, Daxing Mansion in Nanjing, the Dajin Dynasty.
The so-called Daxing Mansion refers to Yanjing, which is also the Xijin Mansion of the Liao Kingdom and the Yanshan Mansion of the Song Dynasty. Located to the south of Yanshan Mountain, this capital of Youyan has been the capital of the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains for more than a hundred years. Since the year before last, it has become the permanent residence of Emperor Dajin. The name of Daxing Mansion was changed at that time. .
Being the place under the feet of the Emperor of the Great Jin Kingdom should be a good thing for the people of this quiet Yan capital.
After all, the current Jin Kingdom is still a huge empire that is better than the Daliao Empire in terms of national power. It not only occupies most of the territory of the Daliao Empire, but also occupies most of the Hebei Road and almost the entire Jingdong Road of the Song Dynasty... ....Those are the sacred places that Emperor Taizong, Emperor Shengzong and Empress Dowager Chengtian Xiao of Daliao wanted to see but could not get!
Now these sacred lands have become the land under the rule of the Daxing Prefecture, including grain and porcelain from Hebei, ironware, copper coins, salt, and silk from Jingdong, as well as the two Haikou commercial ports of Haizhou and Banqiao Town (Qingdao area). The brought artifacts from the south of the Yangtze River and even overseas will be gathered in Daxing.
In addition, Daxing Prefecture was originally backed by Saibei Guandong, and furs, livestock, birds, pearls, medicinal materials, and wheat produced between the grasslands and the white mountains and black waters would also be transported to Daxing by land and water. As a result, this quiet Yan capital suddenly became a commercial and trade capital connecting the Central Plains, grasslands and Northeast China.
So starting last year, Daxingfu City, which lost a large number of people due to frequent competition between the Liao, Song and Jin parties and became depressed and cold, began to quickly recover its vitality.
Nowadays, the city has once again become noisy and noisy, with people of various nationalities mingling. Groups of camels and columns of carriages and horses continued to pass through the city. The Gaoliang River dock outside the city has also become extremely busy. As long as the river is not frostbitten, the dock will always be full of merchant ships carrying goods, waiting to dock and unload.
The whole city is filled with wonderful vitality.
But behind this vitality, there is an aura of war that cannot be concealed!
I'm afraid it won't be long before Yanjing City will have to experience another war!
Since the second half of last year, Daxingfu City has begun to continuously strengthen and add construction - the city wall must be thickened, a sheep and horse wall must be built outside the wall, wider and deeper trenches must be dug outside, and all city gates must be built. A barbican where large cannons can be placed. The wooden buildings on the city wall were demolished at once, and even the wooden gates and buildings could not be preserved. All of them had to be replaced with rammed earth or rammed earth-covered brick buildings.
In addition, on the outskirts of Daxingfu City, small fortresses one after another are also under intense construction.
And the construction deadlines of all these projects are very tight, and I can't wait to use a whip to catch up on the progress!
Although Guo Yaoshi, who is in charge of the Nanjing Road transfer envoy for the Daxing Prefecture expansion project (he was a stay-at-home before and became the transfer envoy after Wu Qimai stayed in Daxing), he has been extremely busy since last year. There are people, bricks, craftsmen, and equipment everywhere, and there is almost no time for leisure. Even during the Chinese New Year, he and his son Guo Dalang were busy opening a small brick kiln.
However, Emperor Dajin was still ungrateful. Every time he went to court, Wu Qimai would pick him out from the officials and criticize him because the progress of the project was not satisfactory... This is not the most hateful thing. Yes, the most hateful thing is that the stingy emperor Wu Qibuy will not pay for the project, so he has to let Guo Yaoshi, the transfer envoy, raise it himself!
But where can Pharmacist Guo raise money? Nanjing Road is only a small area...and Daxing Prefecture's own taxes and people have nothing to do with the Nanjing Road transfer envoy. Pharmacist Guo could only use the financial resources and manpower from Tanzhou, Shunzhou, Jizhou, Jingzhou, Pingzhou, Yingzhou, Luanzhou, Yizhou, and Zhuozhou to build Daxingfu City.
There is still a lot of land and population in these nine states that have been circled by the Jin Dynasty and will be allocated to the Jurchens and Bohai people who have moved in. Meng'an Muke is not allowed to go to the Nanjing Road Transfer Envoy. Take care. The remaining land and population were divided up by the landlords of Guo Yaoshi's own ever-victorious military clan, as well as the rich families of Yan like the Yutian Han family and the Youzhou Liu family... If not After reaching out to these landlords, Guo Yaoshi and Guo Dalang could only spend money from their own pockets to carry out big projects for the Jurchen Emperor.
Therefore, Yaoshi Guo, the "contractor", is a loss-making contractor who cannot receive project payment!
After one year of losses, most of his family fortune has been lost. If he continues to lose money like this for another year and a half, he will probably go bankrupt... By then, he will not be able to spend money to do things for the Jurchens, and the Jurchens will still have to pay for it. Can you tolerate him?
Therefore, the father and son, Guo Yaoshi and Guo Dalang, appear in the yamen and the court with mournful faces these days... with a pitiful look of begging for mercy!
But no one would sympathize with him... A slave with the third surname could survive to this day because of the emperor's grace!
Those at the core of the Wanyan family all know that Wanyan Zongwang, the number two figure in the Aguda lineage, has long wanted to get rid of Yaoshi Guo and his Changsheng Army lineage!
According to Zong Wang: This guy is rebellious and must not be kept!
However, both Wanyan Wu Qimai and Wanyan Zonghan felt that this old dog was still of some use, so they spared him for the time being and killed him when he was no longer of use...
So in the eyes of these Wanyan gangs, Guo Da, the contractor, is just a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, a waste waiting to die... However, they never thought that the pitiful appearance of Guo Yaoshi and Guo Dalang, the father and son, was just an act. Yes, because these two guys are not three ministers at all, but four ministers!
The two of them, father and son, had already secretly taken refuge with the Emperor of Luoyang, Zhao Kai... and now it was Zhao Kai who buried an extra-large explosive pot in the city of Daxing!
Looking at the current situation, it seems that the Great Jin Kingdom is coming to an end, and they can once again be the founding heroes of the country (they are considered the founding heroes of the Great Jin Dynasty)!
Moreover, they have found out clearly that Guo Tiannu is now the beloved concubine of the Emperor of Luoyang... With her taking care of him, are the Guo family and his son afraid that they will not have a good life in the future?
...
"Master, this is the latest city defense map of Daxing Fucheng... Wu Qimai has never seen it, so you should take a look first!"
In the northwest corner of Daxing Fucheng, deep in the mansion where the father and son Guo Yaoshi and Guo Anguo live, a Daxing city defense map hand-drawn by Guo Anguo has been spread out in front of Monk Ma Zhima who came from Xishan Qingshui Yuan - this Ma Zhi now shaves his head and wears monk's robes, and he really looks like an eminent monk. In addition, he was well-informed and very eloquent. He talked about people and ghosts, and he actually gained some reputation. The nobles in Daxingfu City all knew that there was such a great monk in Qingshuiyuan.
So it is natural that he now enters and exits Daxingfu City and the mansions of nobles... Monks always have to beg for alms!
However, Ma Zhi was not very interested in the city defense map presented to him - how could the Jurchens defend the city? What determines the ownership of Daxing City is ultimately the field battle!
If the Emperor of Luoyang could fight another Black Mountain battle outside Daxingfu City, the Jurchens would probably have no choice but to retreat to Liaodong.
But Ma Zhi still had the patience to read the city defense map carefully, and then carefully folded the city defense map and stuffed it into the secret pocket inside his monk's robe. He also smiled and said to the Guo family and his son: "This is a great achievement. Ah! When the emperor conquers Youdu in the future, you father and son will definitely be granted the title of marquis!"
When Guo Yaoshi and Guo Anguo heard this, they laughed loudly and looked very happy... In fact, the title of Marquis is nothing to them. Being able to escape from the Jurchen's butcher knife raised high is the most important thing. .
At this time, Ma Zhi smiled and asked: "Dacao, Councilor (Guo Anguo has appointed a Councilor), the Jurchens have been busy choosing Banbo Jilie recently, right? Who do you think has the greater hope?"
This matter is what Ma Zhi is most concerned about, and it is also what Zhao Kai, who is far away in Luoyang, wants to find out the most.
Because they all knew that Wu Qimai was in poor health and might not survive the Northern Expedition of Zhao Kai's army. Therefore, whoever becomes familiar with Banbo Jilie will be the opponent of the Northern Expedition.
Pharmacist Guo shook his head, "It's still unclear... Wanyan Zonghan, Wanyan Zongqian, and Wanyan Zongpan all have loud voices. However, Wanyan Zonghan did not express his intention. He stayed behind closed doors after arriving at Daxing Mansion. Who knows? Don’t you know what he’s thinking?”
It seems that Wanyan Zonghan really listened to Wanyan Zonggou's opinion and took the stance of "no dispute".
Ma Zhi frowned, "Doesn't he want to be one?"
"It's also possible," Guo Anguo said. "I heard that people on both sides of Zong Qian and Zong Pan are running towards Wanyan Zonghan, trying to pull him over."
"Then who will he support?" Ma Zhi asked.
Pharmacist Guo frowned slightly, "It's still unclear... If he supports Zong Qian, the emperor will encounter greater difficulties in the Northern Expedition in the future. If he supports Zong Pan, it will be easier to deal with."
On this issue, Zong Han did not completely follow Zong Gou, but had his own opinions, but he was still keeping it secret for now, and no one knew his thoughts.
Guo Anguo shook his head and said: "That's not necessarily the case... The situation in the Great Jin Kingdom is like this now. There is no strong leader, and whoever gets there will be a weak leader. However, the Jurchens still have a strong foundation and a large territory. We have a large population in our hands, so Zong Han, Zong Qian, Zong Wang, Zong Bi, Zong Fu, and Zong Pan can all be defeated. Even if they are divided into several pieces, it will not be easy to defeat them."
Guo Dalang is obviously not as optimistic as his father. In his opinion, the current Dajin is still in its infancy, unlike the Daliao of the past. Even if it is not very united, it can always fight against Zhao Kai.
Moreover, the Jin Dynasty was not united, and the Song Dynasty was not broken into two and a half pieces (Zhao Gou counted as half a piece)?
Pharmacist Guo smiled and said: "Divided we are weak, united we are strong... It is easier to deal with it if you divide it into several pieces than twist it into a ball. In my opinion, this big gold is definitely going to be destroyed. But the emperor better not force it now." It’s too tight, otherwise those factions will push out a strong leader and it will be difficult to fight.”
Ma Zhi nodded and said with a smile: "The old monk has written down the words of Da Cao, and will definitely bring them to the emperor together with the city defense map later."
