In the first year of the founding of the Wu Dynasty, on September 17, in Gyeongju, northwest China, a vote that seemed strange and whimsical at that time was launched in the city of Gyeongju.

No matter what kind of praise and groundbreaking description this vote was given in later generations, most people in the northwest at that time actually did not understand the situation. The whole process of it is roughly like this, first of all, the Huaxia army and the two sides of the meeting, discussed the process of voting, statistics, and notarization, and each of the three families appointed several local people of high moral standing as a supervisory group, and then the storyteller of Zhuji conducted a lecture in and around Gyeongju for about 15 days, frankly speaking, the process was boring and boring, and the villagers who probably understood what was going on began to ask the opinions of the elders in the neighborhood and village.

On the 16th day, the army of the small planters and the Ori family who had arrived in a hurry led the villagers from several places around Gyeongju into the city, and after the number of people gathered, each of them was given a note, pressed his own handprint, and put into three boxes with different patterns under the supervision of everyone. The whole process lasted three days, and the total number of votes was later determined to be 28,732.

For another three days, the Black Flag Army marched from Gyeongju.

The whole thing happened, cleanly, without the slightest dragging of mud and water. By the end of the day, the world was quiet and silent, and many people wondered what was going on.

In the whole process of this matter, the two companies have made a lot of preparations and back-ups, and they also anticipate various possible situations in their hearts. On the political stage, the words of the big men are never credible, Ning Yi's words are impassioned, but they are beautiful and empty like a dream, they have never dealt with Ning Yi before, and they want to push back from the information circulated in the market, which is actually not accurate. But anyway. While cooperating with this "farce", there is a lot of leeway in the hearts of both sides.

Whether the other party is openly repairing the plank road and secretly Chen Cang, whether he is using such a "vote" to cover up something, whether he wants to sow discord, and whether he wants to do something to us. Will there be any tricks in the voting so that everyone will vote for the same result?

If these things happen, they will not be surprised at all.

And yet nothing.

After the farce ended, the farmer who was originally in charge of Gyeongju got more than half of the high votes. At this time, in order to promote the progress of the "farce", the three parties transferred 1,000 people to Gyeongju City each, and when the Black Flag Army handed over various items in the city to the people under the subordinate, and left the camp, the whole person of the Chong Yan. All a little dumbfounded.

What kind of conspiracy is this?

Two peaches kill three soldiers? Stir up contradictions between yourself and the family? Anyone who stirs up trouble with the whole city?

Not enough food for the winter? Don't want to take the mess? Or is it for the convenience of so-called "trade"? is still worried about making enemies with himself and the Zhe family after getting Gyeongju - it's also a joke, an army that has just defeated more than 100,000 troops in Western Xia, even if it has the intention to be the enemy, within a year or two, who will really dare to do it casually......

Gyeongju changed hands, and the whole person was already stupid, just like a ridiculous thing that a person has seen in his life, all of which happened in two or three months. And at the time of leaving. Ning Yi also invited the two families to Yanzhou as guests soon after, because the other party wanted the same election. It can appear in Yanzhou next.

Half a month later, the atmosphere in Yanzhou became solemn, in order to avoid Ning Yi using Gyeongju as bait, attracting the two families to come to the scene and then catch them all, when the representatives of the two families came, they all made cautious arrangements. At the invitation of the Black Flag Army, two teams of the Western Army drove over to the territory of Yanzhou. This time there was also an envoy from Western Xia sitting at the negotiating table.

Compared to Gyeongju, the situation in Yeonju is a bit more complicated, in order to ensure that no matter what happens. The interests of the Black Flag Army in the northwest can be guaranteed, and there are many things that everyone needs to discuss. Almost all of the participants looked at the Black Flag Army and Ning Yi, Qin Shaoqian and others with a kind of gaze that watched the loser squander his family property: he probably really didn't want to occupy the land, he really wanted to give others a choice, and he really wanted to do business...... These things are ridiculous, but that's what the other side is doing.

In this process, the Western Xia envoys who came to the meeting, such as Lin Houxuan and others, also watched all this with an almost groaning and desperate attitude, with mixed feelings in their hearts. Out of consideration for safeguarding the interests of Western Xia, Lin Houxuan also asked Ning Yi to sincerely persuade him once, but to no avail.

Since the first time he came to Xiaocang River, the two sides have had a lot of contacts, but it was only at this time that he really felt that what was hidden under the gentle and sometimes calm appearance of this scholar was actually a madness that everyone could not understand.

This man is really crazy, so no one can persuade him......

**************

The west wind swept the ground, and the grass gradually folded.

In Yanzhou City, Mao Yishan walked out of the empty courtyard, the sky was sunny, but the cold winter breath had gradually arrived.

The old woman he had been watching over had died a few days earlier. In the mass vote a few days earlier, the old woman could no longer get out of bed, but when she heard about it, and after understanding it a little, she put her handprint on the note sent to her home and threw it into a box belonging to the Huaxia Army.

However, the stay of the Huaxia Army has been decided.

Dong Zhiyuan, the monument commemorating the great victory of the Huaxia Army here has only been erected, and it stands alone on the field, facing the withered grass and autumn wind and decaying scene around it, as if telling that in this great chaos in the northwest, peace has come briefly.

The Huaxia army is about to return to Xiaocanghe, and Yanzhou is once again under the jurisdiction of Chongyan. Unlike Gyeongju, Yeonju will have another vote to decide its ownership after three years, according to the agreed terms, and it will be repeated every three years thereafter. For such a condition proposed by Ning Yi before, the two sides regarded it as his method of checks and balances, but in the end he did not refuse. In such a world, who can say what the situation will be in three years, no matter who gets here, there are a lot of ways to regret it or cheat after three years.

The army that returned to the mountains took with them more than a thousand newly recruited soldiers, and they left only a force of 200 men in Yanzhou to supervise that Xiaocanghe's interests in the northwest were not harmed. During this period of peace, all kinds of materials rhyming by the members of the Badao Battalion in the south began to pass through the northwest one after another, entering the mountains of the Xiaocang River. It seems to be a drop in the bucket, but the bits and pieces add up to a lot of filling.

At the same time, the Xiaocanghe side also began to trade with the Western Xia side, and the reason why it proceeded so quickly was because it came to Xiaocanghe first. The one who expressed his intention to cooperate with the Black Flag Army was an unexpected force: it was the envoy of Tian Hu, the tiger king of Hebei, who expressed his willingness to respond in the hinterland of the Wu Dynasty and cooperate in the sale of green salt from Western Xia.

The rule of the Wu Dynasty north of the Yellow River and south of Yanmen Pass was no longer solid at this time. The next person who took over the heavy task was the famous old man Zong Ze, who ran to persuade the leaders of some forces to fight for the Wu Dynasty. However, the name of righteousness is pressed down, and the verbal war is the war. Things like selling contraband to make money are no longer taboo for these rising reckless forces.

Tian Hu's reaction was so fast, who was behind the planning and hosting, and he didn't have to think about it to know the answer. Lou Shuwan's movements were very fast, and the Black Flag Army defeated the Western Xia people, and she immediately worked out a large number of items that could be traded between the two sides, handed over the list to Ning Yi's side, and waited for Ning Yi to make a positive reply. The food and supplies over there are already on the way.

The reason why Lou Shuwan reacted so quickly came from a reason. Although she is heavily used in Tian Hu's army, she is a woman after all. You can't make a mistake. After Wu Ruiying's rebellion, Qingmu Village became the target of public criticism, and Tian Hujun, who originally had business dealings with it, cut off contact with it, Lou Shuwan came to the northwest this time, first of all, to set up a line with the king of Western Xia, and by the way, to pit Ning Yi fiercely. However, the king of Western Xia couldn't count on it, and Ning Yi had clearly become the head snake in the northwest, and if she went back in disgrace, I am afraid that things would become quite embarrassing.

And when Ning Yi occupied the northwest, he connected with several surrounding places. I can't hold it down on my side. Rather than being taken advantage of by others, she could only make the "best" choice at that time, that is, to show goodwill to Xiaocanghe first, at least in the future business, she will have a better advantage than others.

It is difficult to know what such a quick and "correct" decision feels like in her heart. And when she received the news that Huaxia Army had given up Qing and Yan, what kind of emotions she had in her heart, whether it would be a stool on her face, for a while, I'm afraid no one could know.

And in this October, the green salt transported from Western Xia and a large number of materials from the Tiger King's side will be traded for the first time with the participation of the Huaxia Army, which is a good start in a sense.

After the Black Flag Army left, Li Pin came to Dong Zhiyuan to see the stone tablet that had been built, and after being silent for a long time, he laughed.

"I see, haha, I see. Ning Liheng is so ruthless......"

The Iron Aquila next to him looked at him suspiciously. Li Pin laughed for a while, and gradually quieted down, he pointed to the stone tablet and clicked it a few times.

"He's ...... Raising Gu, he has no mercy at all! There were a lot of people, and he could save them......"

"Master Lee." Iron Sky Eagle wanted to speak and stopped, "Don't think about these things anymore......"

"He ......," Li Pin pointed to the monument, "the grain in the northwest is not enough." At the beginning, he could kill a lot less people according to the number of people, and return Gyeongju and Yeonju to the seeds, and the seeds could not be ignored, but this winter, the number of people who died of starvation will be doubled! Ning Yi, he let the farmer carry this black cauldron, the farmer's power has lost most of it, where can there be so much surplus grain, people will start fighting, fighting to the extreme, and they will always think of him Huaxia Army. At that time, the suffering man will willingly join his army. ”

Tie Tianying hesitated for a moment: "He didn't even want these two places, and he wanted a good reputation, which was originally due." Moreover, will you consider that there are not enough soldiers under your command......"

"Should it?" Li Pin laughed, "But do you know, he originally had a way, even if he occupied Gyeongju and Yanzhou, his business with Xixia and Tianhu had already started!" The things he brought from the south also arrived, and at least for half a year and a year, no one in the northwest would really dare to mess with him. He can let many people survive, it's not enough, he occupies two cities, he has food, and there is really no way to recruit troops? He just wants to make these people clear and not confused! ”

"Iron Catcher, you know?" Li Pin paused, "In his world, there are no neutrals. Everyone has to find a place to stand, even these ordinary people who don't do anything on weekdays, they must know exactly where they stand! Do you know what this kind of world is like? He deliberately let go and forced people to die! Let them die and understand—"

Li Pin's words echoed in the wasteland, and Tie Tianying thought for a while: "Then the world will be overturned. Who can be left alone? Lord Li, with all due respect, if his world is not good, what is your world like? ”

Li Pin fell silent and stood there in a daze. After a long, long time, his eyes moved slightly, and he raised his head: "Yes, my world, what is it like......"

He closed his eyes: "Ning Yi has some words, what he said is right, Confucianism should be changed...... It's time for me to go. Iron Catcher ......" he tilted his head to look at Iron Aquila, "but...... No matter what. I always feel that this world should leave a way for ordinary people to live......" In the end, this sentence is as thin as mosquitoes and flies, and it is so sad that it is difficult to help itself, like moaning, like praying......

Ning Yi returned to Xiaocang River at the end of October, when the temperature had dropped suddenly. Zuo Duanyou, who often debated with him, was also rarely silent, Ning Yi's various behaviors in the northwest. The decision made, the old man can no longer understand. Especially in those two farce-like votes, ordinary people see the madness of a person, but the old man can see something more.

At the beginning of November, the temperature suddenly began to drop, and the chaos in the outside world has already begun to show some hints. People only regard these things as the sudden takeover of the two places, and in the valley, some people began to come here, hoping to join the Huaxia Army. Zuo Duanyou occasionally came to discuss a few words with Ning Yi, in some of Ning Yi's lectures to young officers. The old man can actually understand some of the other party's intentions.

“…… After winning one or two battles, what I am most afraid of is that I feel that I will start to enjoy the rest of my life after the catastrophe. Thousands of people, placed in the two cities of Gyeongju and Yeonju, you may have problems soon, and a team of thousands of people, no matter how powerful it is, it is inevitable that someone will make up their minds. Assuming that we stay in Yanzhou, as long as the ill-intentioned people are prepared to defeat the three thousand people, they may take the risk and return to Xiaocanghe, leaving two hundred people outside, and they will not dare to do anything. ”

“…… Moreover, in the two states of Gyeong and Yan, there are all kinds of waste waiting to be rebuilt, and to put them in order, we have to spend a lot of time and resources to plant the seeds, and only after a year or two can we start to point to the harvest. We can't afford to wait. And now, everything that has been earned, is in the pocket...... You must appease the emotions of everyone in the army, and you don't have to dwell on the gains and losses in one place and two places. After the propaganda of Gyeongju and Yeonju, soon, more and more people will come to us, and at that time, there is no ...... where you want."

However, on the old man's side, it is not these superficial things that really bother.

At the end of November, after a long time of running and thinking, Zuo Duanyou fell ill, and the children of the Zuo family also came here one after another to persuade the old man to go back. On this day in December, the old man sat in the carriage and slowly left the snow-capped Xiaocang River, Ning Yi and others came to see him off, and the old man retreated from the people around him and talked to Ning Yi.

"I understand some of the things here." The old man said slowly in a hoarse voice, "The method of training soldiers is very good, I understand it, but it is useless." ”

"Hmm......" Ning Yi frowned.

"They...... Take your life, it is the people who really fight for themselves, and they wake up this part, they are heroes. If there really are heroes, how can there be a place for the wrong species? I can't use this method......"

Ning Yi nodded slightly.

"There are a lot of things I can't figure out, and there are a lot of ......"

"Don't think about it, go back and take your grandson."

"Hehe......" The old man smiled and waved his hand, "I really want to know, do you have the bottom in your heart, they are heroes, but they don't really understand the reason, I have said it many times, you can fight with this, govern the country with this, these people will not be able to do things, do you understand...... And that day, you mentioned it by chance, and you have to type the word 'reasonableness'. Ning Yi, do you really think so in your heart? ”

The goose-feather-like snow fell, Ning Yi raised his head and was silent for a moment: "I've thought about it, the law of reason and reason must be fought, and the core of governing the country has also been thought about." ”

The old man closed his eyes: "Reasoning and reasoning, you really can't tolerate this heaven and earth......"

"Well, old man, but I can be sure that this future will be based on the word 'reason'." Ning Yi sat down on the wheel and closed the thick curtain as much as possible, "You really want to know, I will only say it once, and I won't tell anyone else." ”

"You say ......"

"The core of the problem is actually the person you said, the old man, I made them awaken their blood. It is true that they meet the requirements of fighting a war, but in fact they do not meet the requirements of governing the country. So what kind of people meet the requirements of governing the country, Confucianism talks about gentlemen, and in my opinion, constitutes the standard of a person. It is called the three views, the outlook on life, the world view, and the values. These three things are very simple things, but the most complex laws are in between. ”

The old man listened to him, hugged the quilt, and leaned against the car. His health is not good, and his brain can no longer keep up with Ning Yi's words. could only listen, and Ning Yi also spoke slowly.

The so-called outlook on life, determining the place that this person wants to go to in his life, and what kind of person he becomes, is good, just like Confucianism, who set his heart for heaven and earth. Establish a life for the people, and continue to learn for the saints. To open peace for all generations, it is good to do this. And the so-called worldview: the world is isolated from the outside, and the worldview is in the heart of each of us, what we think the world is like. How we perceive the laws of the world in our minds. The outlook on life and the world are fused to form values, for example, I think the world is like this, and I want to set my heart for heaven and earth. So, what should I do, these things are valuable to my life pursuit, and others do that way, they are not valuable. This kind of positive and negative identification is called values. ”

"And the biggest problem in this world is that the outlook on life and the world often seem to be contradictory and contradictory."

"You and I have been looking at the world all our lives, in order to understand its laws, and only after understanding the laws do we know what we can do to make the world better. But many people stop at this first step, like those who read, when they become adults, they are used to seeing the darkness of officialdom, and then they say, "This is how the world is, and I have to go along with it." Such a person has a wrong outlook on life. And some people, with naïve ideas, do not believe that the world is like this until death, and their worldview is wrong. Either this person doesn't want the world to be better, or he wants the world to be better, but he hides his ears and steals the bell, all the choices made by these people are meaningless. ”

"For example, the people of Gyeongju and Yeonju, I said to give them a choice, but in fact, it is not a choice, they don't understand anything, and if the fool and the bad guy are stained with one, all their choices are meaningless. When I lied to the problem, I said that I believe that giving everyone a choice can make the world a better place, and it is impossible. The first hurdle for people to truly become human beings lies in breaking through the confusion of the outlook on life and the worldview, the worldview must be objective, the outlook on life must be positive, we must know how the world works, and at the same time, we must also have the idea of making it better, and this kind of people's choice will have an effect. ”

"And the world is extremely complex, and there are so many things that people are confused and can't understand what they can't understand. It's like doing business and governing the country, whoever doesn't want to make money, who doesn't want the country to be good, and if he does something wrong, he will definitely go bankrupt. ”

Ning Yi paused: "Taking the order of reason and law as the core is a very important thing for Confucianism, because this world is developed from the state of the small people in the widowed country, the country is large, all kinds of small places, ravines and ravines, and the governance of love words is more affordable than reason and law." However, at the level of the country, with the development of the past thousand years, what has always been needed in the court is to take the word first. The internal lifting does not avoid relatives, and the external lifting does not avoid suspicion, what is this, this is the reason, and the word is the avenue of heaven and earth. Confucianism says that kings, ministers, fathers, fathers, sons, what does it mean? The emperor must be like an emperor, the courtiers must be like a courtier, the father must be like a father, and the son must be like a son. ”

But over the years, human feelings have always been reasonable, and there is a tendency to become more and more strict. When the emperor talks more about human feelings than reason, the country will be weak, and when the courtiers talk more about human feelings than reason, the country will also be weak, but why is there no internal accident? Because the internal requirements for favor are becoming more and more stringent, making the internal weaker and weaker, so as to maintain the rule, it is absolutely impossible to resist external aggression. ”

"Gewu will develop, Zuo Gong, you don't have faith in it, but one day, it will change what you see now tenfold and hundredfold. Gewu is more cold and objective, it does not tolerate a trace of human affection and assumptions, and the law is the law. Imagine that a workshop can increase manpower tenfold, hundredfold or even thousandfold, and the person who goes to study it will talk about human feelings all day long, and he will be confused by human feelings sooner or later, and the person in charge of this matter will talk about human feelings, so the really useful people will not be able to come up. If a thing flies into the sky, as long as there is a slight mistake or omission, it will fall, and if the person in charge cannot be strict, what will become? ”

"The bigger and more developed the country, the more urgent the demand for truth. Sooner or later, all the people in this world will be able to study, they will no longer face the loess with their backs to the sky, they will speak, they will become a part of the country, and what they should understand is the objective truth, because just like Gyeongju and Yeonju, one day, someone will give them the power to be human beings, but if they are not objective enough to deal with things, and they are obsessed with homesickness, assumptions, and all kinds of either/or dichotomy, they should not have such power. ”

"Zuo Gong, you said that scholars may not be able to understand reason, this is very true, today's Confucian scholars, who have read a lifetime of sage books, can understand the truth, there are very few. I can foresee that in the future, when everyone in the world has books to read, there will not be too many people who can break through the opposition and unity of the outlook on life and the world, limited by whether they are smart or not, limited by the way of knowledge inheritance, and limited by their usual life. Whether you are smart or not has already been determined at birth, but the inheritance of knowledge can be changed, and the edification of life can also be changed. ”

"As the world continues to develop and the way of the world continues to progress, I assert that one day, the greatest dregs of Confucianism that people face must be the order of the three words 'Reason'. A person who is unreasonable and does not understand reason, who cannot see the objective operation law of the world and is addicted to all kinds of nostalgia, his choice is meaningless, if the core of a country's operation is not reasonable, but in terms of human feelings, the country will inevitably face a lot of internal friction. Our roots are in Confucianism, and our biggest problem is also in Confucianism. ”

"It doesn't matter what kind of people you need, or what kind of country you need. That's right, I want to defeat the law of reason, not because I don't talk about human feelings, but because reason must come first. Ning Yi tilted his head, "Old man, if you ask me these things, it may not be meaningful in a short period of time, but if you talk about the future, what I see is like this." In my life, I may not be able to do it, maybe lay a foundation, the next seed, what the future holds, you and I may not be able to see, or, I can't support the Jin people to come south. ”

He smiled: "In the past, Qin Siyuan and they chatted with me, and they always asked me what I thought of this Confucianism, and I didn't say it. They patched up, I couldn't see the result, and then it didn't. I can't see the results of what I'm going to do, but since I've started, I have to do my best...... Say goodbye. Zuo Gong, the world is going to be chaotic, you take care, one day you can't stay, tell your family to go south, if you live a long life, maybe we can meet one day in the future. Whether it's sitting and talking, or arguing with me, I'm welcome. ”

He raised his hand and patted the old man's hand, whether he had an extreme temperament, or he didn't give anyone a good look, Ning Yi was not afraid of anyone, but he was in awe of the wisdom of people, and he also respected those who had wisdom. The old man's eyes trembled, his eyes were complicated, and he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say it. Ning Yi jumped out of the car and summoned the others to come over.

The specially made carriage began to walk along the rugged mountain road, and Ning Yi waved his hand over there, knowing that he might never see this old man again. When the convoy had gone far, he raised his head, took a deep breath, and turned to walk into the valley.

Xiaocanghe has a peculiar vitality and vitality in this white world. Distant mountains and near mountains, wind and snow are eyebrows.

This year is the second year of Jingping of the Wu Dynasty, the first year of Jianshuo, and soon after, it will pass. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you, it's already fourth, is it possible to enter the top three ^_^?

More than 7,000 words, ask for a monthly pass!!

To be serious, after this chapter, the beginning of the second half of the entire "Son-in-law" can be regarded as truly completed.