Chapter 282: Unexpected Path (VII)
The whole city of Jiangning was filled with weeping, and General Jiangning, who was passing by, was so upset by the weeping that he could only order his men to hurry up and urge the bannermen in the city to leave.
At this time, the general was even more upset by his subordinates' news: "The rebels outside the city are asking when we will leave the city."
He tried to hold back several times, but the anger in his chest still made the general's personal attendant grab the whip and whip the guy all over his face. The servant didn't dare to hide, and could only shout: "General, spare me! General, spare me!"
After venting his anger, the general dropped his whip, turned around and left without saying a word. The beaten servant waited until the general was far away, then he got up under the malicious gaze of everyone, suppressed his anger and turned away. When he got home, he became more and more angry, and suddenly roared, "You bastards! You all go to hell!"
The family was frightened by the roar. His wife came over timidly and asked, "What should we do? Everyone in the city says they don't want to leave and fight the bandit army!"
The man was filled with hatred. Upon hearing this, he shouted angrily, "Let them die however they want. Let's go!"
"Things at home..." asked my wife.
"Which is more valuable, things or life? Look, everyone in Hangzhou has run away, and what have they taken with them? Don't take anything that needs to be moved! Go away quickly!" The beaten slave made the decision.
It's easier said than done when you're angry, but it's still not easy to really leave the furniture behind. The family members here didn't want to leave behind all the tables, chairs and benches, and finally the brother who had been beaten scolded his wife and slapped his son who hesitated to do it, and only then could he use these things.
The family got a car and moved their things out of the city.
The defenders of the city were already panicking, but fortunately the defenders of the city and the gates either knew each other or were familiar with each other, and there were not many people leaving the city, so the journey was smooth.
Not far ahead is the Han army controlled area. On both sides of the road are positions that are hard to understand. The road is cleared and it is as smooth as if it leads directly to the underworld. The wind outside the city is fierce, and this brother is frightened by the cold wind. His family is even more frightened, and they quickly gather around this brother. This has prompted this brother to have the courage to stand up and be the pillar of support.
However, he was not alone on the street. There were already some people in front of him, carrying their families, carrying loads, and pushing carts towards the north bank of the Yangtze River. Looking at their attire, the flag guards discovered that they were actually the bannermen who hired the Han people to transport goods to the north of the Yangtze River.
He regretted it greatly and should have done the same thing earlier. However, Qi Ding did not want to go back, and with resentment and resentment, he led his family to continue heading north.
There were many boats on the south bank of the river, all of which were used to transport the Hangzhou bannermen last time. They almost covered the entire bank. Far more eye-catching than these boats was the floating bridge on the river. The floating bridge did not directly cross the Yangtze River. What could be seen here was a floating bridge across the river, connecting the bank and the island in the middle of the river.
People heading north did not choose to take the boat, but headed towards the floating bridge. When they got to the floating bridge, the crowds seemed much denser.
Under the floating bridge was a boat locked with iron chains, covered with wooden boards, and the boats went up and down when they walked on them. Families carrying large items were worried about the furniture, so they had to walk back and choose to cross the river by boat.
The beaten slave only carried valuables like the bannermen in Hangzhou, and he felt a little nervous when he walked onto the bridge. He felt better after he stepped on the ground on Jiangxin Island.
It was already winter, and the land on the island in the middle of the river was much more solid. As we walked forward, we saw that the floating bridge made full use of the terrain on the river. It did not cross the river directly, but connected to another island in the middle of the river that was closer to the center of the river. Then there was a floating bridge across the river.
He did not bother to look at it, and his attention was focused on his feet. The bannerman servant crossed the river and felt his feet were floating, as if he was not standing on solid ground, but on the undulating waves. He was so unstable that he almost fell to the ground.
Seeing Jiangning City just across the river, the bannerman servant suddenly realized that he was far away from his homeland, and he was overwhelmed with grief. He simply sat on the ground and cried loudly while looking at the hometown where he had lived for decades.
After not seeing his servant for a day, General Jiang Ning felt that something was missing in his heart. Before, he had this servant running around for him, which made him feel very caring. But now that he was gone, even though his heart was filled with various things, there was still some space that could not be filled.
In the evening, General Jiang Ning couldn't help asking. The other servants said they didn't know. But seeing the general's bad face, someone quickly said, "General, we have invited the witch. Do you want to see her perform a ritual?"
The Manchus believed in Shamanism, and although not all the high-ranking officials believed in it over the years, they could not openly deny what their ancestors had passed down. General Jiang Ning himself had never hired a shaman, but at this moment he could only try his luck.
After all, the fact that the Manchus entered the Pass was itself full of incredible colors. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was a bit of God's will. What if Huo Chong could really be cursed to death by some means? But General Jiang Ning still felt that something was not right. If possible, he would rather listen to the witch's prayer to Changshengtian for a result. If he defended Jiangning City and fought Huo Chong to the death, would he be able to defend the city, or would he die in battle instead of fighting to the death?
Thinking of this, the general ordered the witch to come in. Not long after, two wizards came in. They had eagle ornaments on their hats, and wore skirts with ribbons. They had nine bronze mirrors tied around their waists, which were dazzling. However, I don't know if the clothes were torn on purpose or worn for too long, and they were tattered. There were all kinds of strange feathers, bones, and some dried flowers and plants tied on them. They looked like wild people jumping out of some wild land.
Seeing the general, the wizards saluted quickly. The moment they raised their hands, the general was a little scared. They saw that their nails were very long, dirty, and twisted. They looked like the claws of animals. It was very scary.
The general asked the two witches if they could pray to God and predict the result. When the witches heard this, they exchanged glances and said no. They only learned to cast spells to exorcise demons. Since Huo Chong outside the city was a bandit, he must be a demon. So dancing to exorcise demons might be useful for demons.
Hearing this, the general was greatly disappointed, but he could only try his luck and give it a try.
The witches were also relieved when they saw that the general did not force them to do divination. Everyone who made a living in this industry knew the rules of this business. If the witches could really cast spells to kill people, they would have been killed long ago.
The reason why they can eat this bowl of rice safely is because they have no power to curse people to death. The so-called inviting gods is just to make customers feel at ease.
When the drums sounded, the witches first swallowed a few mouthfuls of liquid extracted from the stamens of hemp plants. When they felt the liquid coming up, they started jumping around while beating the hand drums.
General Jiang Ning didn't know that at this time in the imperial palace in the capital, Hong Zhou's grandmother, the Empress Dowager, had also invited a fortune teller.
Compared with the local witches in Jiangning, the witches in Beijing were even more horrible in their attire. Because they were closer to the grasslands and the border areas, the witches wore bronze mirrors, strings of simple bronze ornaments, feathers, bones, and herbs, all from the grasslands.
That is to say, the taste is stronger and the smell is more intense.
From the very beginning, the fortune tellers in the capital did not dare to refuse divination, after all, it was the request of the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager held her rosary in her hands, listened to the clear drum beats, closed her eyes and prayed silently. She had always suspected that her son Yongzheng had colluded with Longkodo to kill the late Emperor Kangxi. This was an indelible worry for the Empress Dowager.
The son Yongzheng was killed and his head and body were separated. The Empress Dowager even thought it was some kind of retribution. At this time, the Eighth Prince started an army in Shengjing. The Empress Dowager was very worried that this was a punishment from the ancestors, and she had to pray to the gods for a result no matter what.
In her heart, the Empress Dowager prayed silently, hoping that the sorcerer would get the result she expected.
If Huo Chong heard about this kind of excitement, he would probably go and see it. And the wizard thought the same as Huo Chong, the dance of the gods is actually a comprehensive art, and it is not wrong to call it singing and dancing rap.
In Northeast China, the shaman dance is usually not performed by an individual, but by a group of two people. The one in the C position is called the Big God, and the other is called the Second God.
The Great God is responsible for dancing, being possessed by the God and performing some weird dance steps;
The second god is the vocal and accompaniment, and needs to play drums, chant spells, and sing lyrics.
The combination of the two is an audio-visual feast.
The dance of the great god is sometimes unsystematic and sometimes mimetic, depending on the nature of the possessed god.
For example, if you want to invite the Eagle God, you have to dance the Eagle Flying Dance and peck at offerings like an eagle; if you want to invite the Tiger God, you have to dance the Tiger Pouncing Dance. Well, not that kind of tiger pouncing, you have to pounce and grab like a real tiger.
The singing and rapping of the two gods are more freestyle-like. Many of them will write their own lyrics, and even improvise according to the on-the-spot situation, striving to become the Little Zhang Emperor of Northeast China.
For example, the more famous lyrics of the Eighteen Levels of Hell are very long. It starts with "I'm going to beat the drum and whip the old immortal to take a three-room tour of the underworld," and it goes from the first level of hell all the way to the eighteenth level.
During the whole process of shaman dance, the possessed god cannot communicate directly with humans. Instead, two gods act as middlemen, reflecting the mortal's requests to the gods, who then issue the gods' instructions to the mortals.
I heard the god muttering something, and the oral traditions kept coming out, which were probably about Jiangning cursing Huo Chong to hell, and Beijing asking various questions and answers about the ancestors.
The two groups of great gods and second gods took drugs first. After a wild high dance, they suddenly stopped in place and twisted their bodies.
All the ornaments were flying, and the objects that could make sounds made strange and powerful sounds in rhythm.
In Jiangning, the "god" began to curse Huo Chong through the wizard. From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, every vital part was destroyed through strange means of attack. If what the wizard described was true, Huo Chong's body would have exploded in units of inches.
In the capital, the wizards expressed their ancestors' views on the current situation. The Empress Dowager listened to the gods and said that although Yongzheng had a bad temper, it was normal. All emperors were different from ordinary people.
To sum up, it’s “a bit weird” at best.
However, the rebellious Lao Ba and his people were really bad. They were influenced by evil and had the idea of seizing the throne. This was wrong, opposed by their ancestors, and forbidden by the gods. Even though Lao Ba was a descendant of the Aisin-Gioro family, he would be punished by his ancestors for attacking the emperor.
Perhaps the physical strength of the wizards and sorcerers on both sides was similar, or perhaps the effects of the drugs were similar, the two shaman rituals ended almost at the same time.
However, there was no thunder or red light in the room. General Jiang Ning and the Empress Dowager of the Imperial Palace gave the reward money and sent the witch away. Because they had been greatly stimulated, they both went to rest.
The long-term mental torture made the two of them sleep poorly before, so they slept well this time. After waking up, they both felt refreshed.
General Jiangning thought that since he had already consulted a fortune teller, he might as well ask about his future. There was a Taoist temple in Jiangning City, so he invited a Taoist priest.
The Taoist priest here cast a fortune, and his face looked a little bad after reading it. The general felt uneasy and asked hurriedly. The Taoist priest forced himself to explain: "This is Kun Gua..."
After talking for a while, I haven't come up with anything that's truly mind-blowing. I'm just saying that Kun hexagram shows the possibility of various changes under the situation of "Kun". It vividly illustrates the current state of the host-guest relationship. Relative to where we are, the ground is still, which means that the current relationship is still and has few changes; the ground is vast, and everything grows on it, which symbolizes that the current relationship is relatively relaxed and leisurely.
The main hexagram and the guest hexagram of Kun are both classic hexagrams, Kun, and the yang number is 0. The two aspects of stillness and vastness, combined together, form a relatively stable and loose relationship. The host should cherish this relationship, adapt to the situation, and strive to maintain the current state. However, it should be noted that stillness is temporary, and the host should be prepared to deal with changes. General Jiangning could not figure out anything from it, so he could only let the Taoist go away.
However, he couldn't let it go, so he called his master to ask what was going on with the Kun hexagram. The master's face was not very good either. Finally, he managed to say, "Dragons fight in the wild, and their blood is dark yellow."
When the general heard this, he felt that something was wrong. This didn't sound right. Was this going to lead to a river of blood?
The master knew that he had to serve his master, so he asked the general to throw another coin. Unexpectedly, the result was the same as the previous one. All three coins were facing up.
Now the master dared not say no. The front of the coin was Yang, and the back was Yin. If all three coins were on the back, it was pure Yin. It was the Kun hexagram.
The dragon fights in the wild is the sixth line of Kun. The dragon is yang, and this line is yin, so the dragon fights refers to the battle between yin and yang. The suburbs are outside the city, and the wilderness is outside the suburbs. Dark and yellow refer to the colors of heaven and earth respectively. Heaven and earth are the biggest yin and yang, and their blood is dark and yellow, which means that blood has flowed out of the battle between yin and yang, indicating that this line is an ominous line.
It is a metaphor for a great event, a battle between dragons in the wilderness, and a metaphor for the competition among heroes.
If used as a metaphor for human affairs, it means the struggle between superiors and subordinates, leading to deaths, injuries and bloodshed.
General Jiang Ning could only sigh after hearing this. Perhaps he had slept well and his mental state was relatively normal. He already knew that if he had to fight Huo Chong, he would probably end up dying.
Huo Chong had previously annihilated 200,000 government troops, and his combat effectiveness was not exaggerated. The general had also witnessed the strict formation of Huo Chong's troops and the sharpness of their firearms. Once the war started, blood would flow like a river.
If you want to protect yourself at this time, there is no other way except to withdraw from Jiangning City.
Although the general was also resentful, he was clear-headed in the dark corners of his heart. Since it was God's will, he should withdraw from Jiangning.
Huo Chong never expected that General Jiang Ning would actually agree and start organizing the evacuation.
Worried that this guy would delay time, Huo Chong asked someone to tell General Jiangning that seven days had passed since Huo Chong arrived in Jiangning. On the morning of the tenth day, no matter how far the Han army retreated, they had to enter the city.
Afterwards, Huo Chong felt bored. All the preparations had been completed, and all he had to do now was wait. But waiting was boring, so Huo Chong thought about it and suddenly had an idea. Why not go to the destination of this trip, the Mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang.
After this request was made, the subordinates immediately took action. Zhu Yuanzhang's mausoleum is called Xiaoling. It is located at the foot of Dulongfuwanzhu Peak on the southern foot of Zijin Mountain in Xuanwu District, Nanjing City, adjacent to Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in the east and Meihua Mountain in the south. It is located in Zhongshan Scenic Area. It is the joint burial mausoleum of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and his queen. Because the queen Ma was posthumously named "Empress Xiaoci Gao" and because she practiced filial piety to rule the world, it was named "Xiaoling". It covers an area of more than 1.7 million square meters and is one of the largest imperial mausoleums in China.
The Qing dynasty did not destroy this place, but Huo Chong was still a little disappointed when he arrived here. The Xiaoling Mausoleum is surrounded by mountains and waters from Xiamafang to Baocheng.
I originally thought that this place should be a beautiful place with clear water and mountains, but I didn't expect that there were mountains and water, but not many trees. The most growing thing was weeds. It was a desolate scene with wild grass and vast expanses of grass.
Climbing to a high place and looking down at Jiangning City, Huo Chong saw that the city was vast, the city walls were continuous, and there were many city gates. He couldn't help but sigh: "Here, if there are not 100,000 troops, it is really difficult to defend such an isolated city."
The people who came with Huo Chong were not very important, and Zeng Jing was one of them. He quickly asked in a Hunan accent: "What did the governor say?"
Huo Chong didn't understand Hunan dialect very well, so he repeated what he had just said in Jiangzhe dialect. Jiangnan articles were the mainstream in the Qing Dynasty. Zeng Jing had also been to Jiangnan and understood what he said immediately. He sighed and said, "General, I heard that Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty established Kaifeng as the capital, saying that it was for virtue rather than danger. If you can distribute the land equally, I think the people of the world will follow you. By then, Jiangning will naturally be as solid as a rock."
Somewhat surprised by this, Huo Chong carefully looked at Zeng Jing. This brother looked like an ordinary scholar, without the boldness of a master. Huo Chong sighed, called Kong Liangeng and Weber in front of him to come over, and said to the three of them: "If I distribute the land equally, regardless of whether the people will follow me or not, the landlords and gentry will immediately stand up and fight me. It is true that it is more about virtue than danger, but it also depends on who recognizes this virtue."
Weber chuckled a few times but didn't respond. Kong Liangeng didn't want to talk, but seeing Zeng Jing looking like he was going to argue with Huo Chong, he quickly interrupted Zeng Jing and said first: "General, the so-called competition with the people for benefits is to distribute the land equally."
Huo Chong couldn't help but sneer like Weber. Zeng Jing couldn't help but said loudly: "The so-called people, aren't they the people of the world?"
"The people are the people, and the people are the people. If they are the same, why haven't they become one word?"
