In Hedong and Taiyuan, spring came especially late this year.
Until March, there were repeated snowfalls in various places in Hedong. This extremely long and severe winter and heavy snowfall had a fatal blow to the people's livelihood in Hedong.
You must know that in Hedong at this time, animal husbandry accounted for at least half of the people's lifestyle.
For such a terrifying snowstorm, the Han people might be able to wait until the snow melts in spring. Although the winter wheat is gone, they can still plant some of the remaining crops.
But for the herdsmen who lacked the means to keep their livestock warm and cold-proof at this time, all their cattle and sheep would definitely die. Without the cattle and sheep, the herdsmen would have no possibility of survival.
The reason for the large number of nomads in Hedong can be traced back to the late Tang Dynasty.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the father and son Li Guochang and Li Keyong rose to power in Daibei. This was both their good fortune and their great misfortune.
Because from Li Guochang to Li Keyong and then to Li Cunxu, they failed to establish a stable unified dynasty. Instead, they lost the choice of history for them.
In the process of Daibei and Hedong, after three generations of consumption by Li Guochang, his father, his son, and Shi Jingtang, the population was depleted, with more women and fewer men. By this time, the decline was fully visible.
They took control of the political power, but instead of making the cake bigger, they fell into internal strife.
During this period, most of the Han'er from the North and Hedong and the heroes and even adult men from the Shatuo tribes of the Han Dynasty had entered the Central Plains and formed the powerful Daibei and Hedong Wuxun groups.
In the thirty-seven years from the Later Liang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, the change of political power and the rebellion and surrender of Jiedushi and the central government basically took place between the Daibei and Hedong Wuxun groups.
If we include the period during which Li Keyong, Li Cunxu and his son fought against Hou Liang, and the Northern Han Dynasty resisted the Northern Song Dynasty.
It can be said that the entire Five Dynasties was the big stage for Daibei and Hedong warriors.
But behind this grand stage with boundless scenery, there was a complete loss of Daibei and Hedong warriors.
When the warrior groups in Beibei and Hedong were strong, the Fengzhou and Zhenwu armies in the Hetao area were both overcrowded.
But after fifty or sixty years of attrition, the Hedong area where Fengzhou and Zhenwu armies were located had long since been abandoned because there was no one living there.
Even in the most important Yunzhou (Datong) and Taiyuan, the main ethnic groups have become the Tuyuhun people of the former Yinshan Governor's Mansion in the Tang Dynasty.
Historically, the Northern Han Dynasty even relied on the Linzhou Yang family and the Tyuhun people to support the situation.
This time was certainly better than that of the Northern Han Dynasty, but the Tuyuhun people had begun to account for nearly 40% of the population in Hedong.
The Tuyuhun people are naturally nomadic.
. . . .
Guo Rong led the curly green horse behind him and carefully entered Taiyuan City from the south gate of Taiyuan.
This caution was not because he was afraid that someone would come and rob him of the Hexi dragon horse given by Emperor Shao Ming. No one had ever been so bold.
It was because there were a large number of frozen corpses lying outside the south and west gates of Taiyuan, which looked like branches in the snow.
Hedong is also known as Shanxi in later generations. The terrain is called mountains and rivers inside and outside, which means that Hedong has its own dangers of mountains and rivers, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
It sounds like a good word, but it's actually hard to say.
If the country is unified, Hedong serves as a barrier to the Central Plains, and there are countries that mobilize supplies, and all we need are elite soldiers and strong generals to kill the enemy, then this is a good word.
Since the Warring States Period, all the kings of the Zhao Kingdom, including King Wuling of Zhao, were riding horses and shooting in Hu uniforms, completely encompassing Hedong. Shanxi was the country's barrier. Such geographical conditions made the nomads tremble with fear.
But in such troubled times, it is not a good word. Mountains and rivers outside and inside represent inconvenient transportation and poverty.
The whole good place in Shanxi is divided into Xinding Basin, Taiyuan Basin, Shangdang Basin, etc. by mountains and rivers.
Only in these basins can planting be carried out. The rest of the areas are basically mixed farming and nomadic areas, and are also extremely barren areas.
This is also an important reason why the Tuyuhun people are now nomadic in Hedong.
Since they left the Khitan oppression and moved inland, the land east of Hedong has developed the characteristics of Han people farming in the basin and Tuyuhun people grazing in the mountains.
Therefore, most of the refugees who died outside Taiyuan City were Tuyuhun people. In this long winter, which was comparable to the white disaster on the grassland, the Tuyuhun people and their livestock were almost wiped out.
The herdsmen had no way to survive and after eating everything they could, they spontaneously gathered in Taiyuan, Jinzhou, Fenzhou, Shizhou and other big cities, hoping to seek food here.
Then, and then no more.
In order to have the capital to compete with Zhang Gao for world hegemony, Liu Zhiyuan scraped three feet of land east of the river. He didn't even care about the life and death of the Han and Shatuo people in the basin, so how could he care about the Tuyuhun people who were consumables in his eyes.
So the four gates of Taiyuan and Fenzhou were closed, and thousands of Tuyuhun refugees froze and starved to death outside the city in the heavy snow.
"This is what I heard: At one time, Bhagavan was staying in the vast Vajra Dharma Realm Palace blessed by the Supreme Heaven, and all Vajra holders were gathered together.
The Supreme Heaven believed in the magical transformation of the game and gave birth to a treasure king in a large pavilion. It was as high as the center and decorated with all kinds of wonderful treasure kings. The body of a Bodhisattva was on the master's seat. "
Guo Rong suddenly looked in the direction of the sound. This scripture was wrong!
The Buddha inside has been replaced by the Supreme Heaven, and everyone knows who the Supreme Heaven is.
Then he slowly lowered his head. Not to mention in Hedong, even in Hebei, there were temples that enshrined the Buddha at the highest place and the Supreme Heaven at a slightly lower place.
Foolish men and women among the people basically regard the Supreme Heaven as the closed disciple of Buddha and the representative of dealing with common things.
"The Great and Merciful Dharma King in heaven knows my heart completely and knows how hurt I am."
Guo Rong walked over slowly. The person chanting sutras was a Tyuhun woman who had not yet fallen down. The tears on her face had been frozen into ice strips and hung on her face.
Opposite the woman was a stooped old Tyuhun herdsman. His face was covered with black ravines and crisscrossed by ice, giving it a strange icy face. His eyes were as white as dead fish, and he looked at the sky with unblinking eyes. .
The woman chanted the Compassion Mantra of the Great Merciful Dharma King in a trembling low voice, as if she had lost any sense of consciousness, making people tremble and feel horrified.
Guo Rong thought about it again. Hedong has always been the most believer in Buddhism, and the Tyuhun people even more so. In recent years, many of the Tyuhun people in Hedong believe in the Supreme Heavenly and Compassionate Dharma King.
What's more, the direct descendants of the last great Khan of the Tuyuhun people are the most beloved adopted sons of the Supreme God, and they are also titled after Qinghai, the ancestral land of the Tuyuhun people.
And in this battle that is about to take place, the Supreme God has the greatest chance of winning. So what the Tuyuhun people think, from herdsmen to powerful chiefs, has almost come to light.
By some strange combination of circumstances, Guo Rong stretched out his arm and directly lifted the woman onto the horse's back like a chicken, and then walked towards Taiyuan City.
This time he came to ask the King of Peiping (Liu Zhiyuan) to increase his troops, because Yan Jin's troops who were confronting them in the Fu River area had recently increased by at least five thousand people, and they were all brave soldiers from the Eight Towns of the Zhou Kingdom. Look, Get up, the war has come.
. . . .
In Taiyuan City, the Peking Palace, Liu Zhiyuan was dark and thin, and looked much older than a year ago, but the blazing fire in his eyes made Li Sanniang tremble with fear.
Li Sanniang felt as if this flame was going to burn up everything she knew and cherished.
The love story of Liu Zhiyuan and Li Sanniang can actually be regarded as a legend. It was later written into the opera "The White Rabbit of Liu Zhiyuan".
Of course, the story of Liu Zhiyuan and Li Sanniang is not as beautiful as in The White Rabbit.
Well, actually speaking, The White Rabbit is quite cruel.
From the perspective of future generations, Liu Zhiyuan and Li Sanniang can be regarded as one of the tragedies of this era.
The reason for the so-called legendary love is that Liu Zhiyuan, a soldier in his thirties, did not have a serious mother-in-law. One day when he went out, he happened to fall in love with Li Sanniang.
But he was old, ugly, and dark, and he was still in a small school with no future. How could Li Sanniang's father be willing to push his daughter into a pit of fire, and Li Sanniang was not willing to do it either.
But this is the fifth generation! If the soldiers are willing to come to propose marriage, it will give you face. Since you don't know what to do, that's fine.
Liu Zhiyuan's brothers gathered together and snatched Li Sanniang onto Liu Zhiyuan's bed.
Originally, this was supposed to be a tragedy. A beautiful girl who was sixteen or seventeen years old was snatched into the bed of a rough man who was twenty years older than her.
But fortunately for Li Sanniang, Liu Zhiyuan had already admired Li Sanniang for a long time. After getting along with her, he was conquered by her intelligence and virtuousness. From then on, he was obedient and devoted to Li Sanniang.
It was under Li Sanniang's persuasion that Liu Zhiyuan gave up his bad habit of being a soldier and began to make progress. In less than ten years, he became a Jiedu of a town worthy of being called the Tu Emperor, and now he is even more qualified to compete in the world.
The story of the two of them can be re-created again and again by later generations. It must be a rare touch of luck in this dark and terrifying era.
Liu Zhiyuan saw Li Sanniang looking at him worriedly, and a warm smile appeared on her usually dignified dark face.
"Sanniang is worried about a certain family? Hahaha!"
Liu Zhiyuan pretended to be heroic and laughed three times, "I think that I, Liu Zhiyuan, started from a young age and fought hundreds of battles. I am unrivaled, and I am also highly respected by people in Hedong.
That Zhang was no more than a kid from Hexi. He was a Tibetan slave. After pretending to be loyal, all the heroes in the world noticed him. He had only been in business for more than ten years and had no relatives. As long as he was killed, the Zhou Kingdom would surely fall apart.
Sanniang is waiting in Taiyuan. At this time next year, a certain family will take you south to Tokyo, and you will also be the queen of the world. Dalang is ill and takes good care of him. "
After saying that, without waiting for Li Sanniang to speak, she strode out.
Li Sanniang stood up in a daze, looking at Liu Zhiyuan's retreating figure, tears already welling up in her eyes.
She took a few steps hurriedly, as if she wanted to call Liu Zhiyuan back, but in the end she didn't speak. She leaned against the door and looked at it, then sighed softly.
"You said that you started from a humble beginning and fought a hundred battles without danger, but Prince Shaoming also started from a humble beginning. He even killed the Khitan Master and he was victorious in every battle. At this age, why bother to fight again?"
. . . .
Liu Zhiyuan strode into the White Tiger Festival Hall of Hedong Jiedushi.
Outside the festival hall, all the civil servants and military generals Wang Jun, Bai Wenke, Guo Congyi, Shi Hongzhao, Murong Yanchao, Su Fengji, Wang Jingchong, Guo Rong, etc. have been waiting here for a long time.
You said, doesn't Liu Zhiyuan know how powerful Zhang Yan is?
He knew, but he had no time to confront Zhang Yan because he couldn't afford to wait.
Liu Zhiyuan was born in 895 AD, the second year of Qianning, the second year of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty. He was seventeen years older than Zhang Zhi, who was born in 912 AD, the second year of Qianhua.
If he waits any longer, it will be time for him, Liu Zhiyuan, to see the King of Hell.
Moreover, Zhang Yan occupies Henan, with fertile land and numerous Dingkou. He also has Guanzhong, Hexi, and Longyou as his backing. One more day will increase his chances of victory.
On the other hand, in Hedong, if we don’t take action after this heavy snow disaster, we may never be able to move again.
(End of chapter)
