Xianxia version of Water Margin

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Zhao Gou, no, Jiang Hongfei's stepson Jiang Gou accepted all the peace terms of the Yuan Empire, and the two sides signed a peace treaty.

Well... it's not accurate to say a peace treaty.

To be precise, Zhao Gou has led the remnant Song forces to surrender to the Yuan Empire. In name, there is no Zhao Song Dynasty in this world. There are only the Jiangnan counties under the Yuan Empire, which are temporarily under the jurisdiction of Jiang Gou, the King Kang of the Yuan Empire.

Let's put it this way, if Jiang Hongfei defeated Wang Qing and Fang La, it can be said that Jiang Hongfei has completed the great unification and completely become the new master of China.

Zhang Jun, Liu Guangshi, Yang Yizhong, Zhao Mi, Tian Shizhong, Zhang Zigai, Yu Yunwen and other people that Jiang Hongfei wanted, under the lobbying of Zhao Gou and his ministers, also took their families to the north with Chai Jin and Xiao Rong.

Along the way, Zhang Jun and others saw that the Jiangnan area, which was once lush and green, with shady trees, misty and rainy, and picturesque, has now been beaten to pieces, with bones exposed in the wild, and no roosters crowing for thousands of miles. It is a miserable scene everywhere. The people are ragged and their haggard faces are full of hardships of life. They are hungry and struggling on the edge of life and death, but they still have to endure the oppression and exploitation of the government. Their eyes are full of despair, as if they are begging for a glimmer of life from the sky.

The tragedy of the world at this time has reached its extreme in some wild dogs gnawing on corpses. Those once lively lives are now only cold bones left, left to be eaten by wild dogs.

This contrast between life and death further highlights the cruelty and ruthlessness of society at this time.

Seeing this scene, even Zhang Jun and others who are used to life and death can't help but sigh!

Yang Yizhong said leisurely: "Once the hero draws his sword, the people will suffer another ten years of disaster."

Yu Yunwen then added: "Where the army is, thorns grow. After the army, there will be a bad year."

Soon, Zhang Jun and his party followed Chai Jin and Xiao Rong across the Yangtze River.

As soon as they crossed the Yangtze River, Zhang Jun and others found that the situation suddenly changed!

The Jianghuai region, that is, the Jiangbei region, which was controlled and governed by the Yuan Empire, was much better than the Jiangnan region, and there were porridge distribution points everywhere.

-Although the porridge was not very thick, everyone who came to the porridge distribution point could get a big bowl. After drinking it, they would be about five or six points full, which was definitely no problem.

In addition, there was a medical tent every few miles. As long as the sick people came here, not only would the doctors see them for free, but they would also give them free medicine.

Zhang Jun and others gradually discovered that the further north they went, the better the land was governed. Many areas had even emerged from the flames of war. The faces of the people in these places no longer had the indifference and hopelessness of the war. They were like the walking dead. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. They worked hard in the fields, enjoying the gifts of sunshine and rain. The fields were full of vitality, with swaying rice, rolling wheat waves, and lush greenery. They cultivated hope and harvested happiness on this land, which was in sharp contrast to the miserable scene in the south.

On a field full of hope, the figure of a child slowly emerged. He rode on the back of a cow, holding a flute in his hand, and the melodious sound of the flute filled the air.

Zhang Jun and others were attracted by the sound of the flute. They walked slowly from the green fields and passed through the golden rice fields. The sound of the flute and the ups and downs of the rice waves intertwined to form a beautiful pastoral painting. The cows were leisurely and steady. Every step seemed to step on the hearts of Zhang Jun and others, making them feel peaceful and serene.

Looking at this scene, Zhang Jun and others couldn't help thinking: "Is this a gift from His Majesty the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty?"

The contrast between Jiangnan and Jiangbei vividly presented the abilities of Jiang Hongfei and Zhao Gou in front of Zhang Jun and others. Thinking about the wailing of the people in Jiangnan, their helplessness and despair, those dilapidated houses, barren land, and exhausted people, they couldn't help but wonder, can Zhao Gou end the suffering and struggle of this era?

The contrast between the two is like a mirror, allowing Zhang Jun and others to see the cruelty and reality of reality, and who is more suitable to be the master of this world.

On the way, wherever Zhang Jun and others passed, they heard people talking about Jiang Hongfei, all of them flattered and awed, saying that Jiang Hongfei was a wise master of all ages.

Zhang Jun and others finally realized that they might have really been helping the tyrant and really turning history backwards. It is no wonder that the situation of the Zhao Song Dynasty was getting worse and worse.

The answer is simple. Those who are righteous have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous have few supporters. The people have made their choice.

This made Zhang Jun and others curious about Jiang Hongfei, who rose from the fields and destroyed Liao, Song, Goryeo, and Jin in just ten years to conquer such a large territory.

In fact, Zhang Jun and others are not curious about Jiang Hongfei today.

However, Zhang Jun and others had no chance to meet Jiang Hongfei before, and could only hear his name.

But now it is different. If nothing unexpected happens, they will meet Jiang Hongfei soon.

To be honest, Zhang Jun and others, while worried, can't help but look forward to the future.

On the way, Zhang Jun and others first went to Yingtian Prefecture, Nanjing of the former Song Dynasty, and then to Kaifeng Prefecture, Tokyo.

——These two important cities during the Zhao Song Dynasty, looking from afar at the ruins that have not been completely repaired, and the traces of being burned by fire everywhere, it is not difficult to imagine the scenes when they were hit by war.

But when you enter these two big cities and take a look again, are there any traces of war left?

Although these two big cities are no longer as prosperous as before, they have also come out of the war. People have settled down and worked in peace, and many people have happy smiles on their faces.

Ten days later, Zhang Jun and his party came to the capital of the Yuan Empire - Yuan Dadu.

The streets are neat, standardized, and in a chessboard pattern. They broke the restrictions of the market and opened up a new layout of setting up markets along the streets, making them an international metropolis where the eight wildernesses compete and all nations are connected.

Urban entertainment venues can be seen everywhere on the streets. The types of tile art include small singing, purine singing, miscellaneous drama, stick head puppets, hanging silk puppets, rope miscellaneous hand skills, ball stick kicking, history, novels, Sanle, dance, children's sumo, shadow play, insect ant, various palace tunes, business riddles, combined life, talking nonsense, miscellaneous dramas, miscellaneous classes, calling fruits, pretending to be gods and ghosts, etc., which are countless. There are also many kinds of medicine, fortune-telling, drinking old clothes, exploring, eating, shaving, paper painting, and Lingqu in the tiles.

Farmers, boatmen, merchants, small handicraftsmen, officials, scholars, Taoists, wandering monks, quack doctors, fortune tellers, and other 360 professions are all available.

There are also a large number of Semu people (that is, the Hu people of the Khitan and other ethnic groups), as well as many Arabs and Persians. Among them, there are even some blond and blue-eyed Westerners, and of course there are some Westerners with brown, brown, white or even red hair.

It is worth mentioning that there are also many hotels run by foreigners.

The sign in their store is "Hu Ji", which means foreign women who serve as service staff and perform singing and dancing part-time.

There is a sense of "Hu prostitutes are like flowers, and they should be like laughing spring breeze".

Many people are introduced to their stores by these foreign women who are very different from Chinese women, and spend a lot of money in them.

These foreigners did not appear all at once.

Because Jiang Hongfei vigorously developed maritime trade and was fully open to people from all countries who wanted to come to the Yuan Empire, and even took the initiative to help them come to the Yuan Empire, so that the Yuan Empire had already seen foreigners from various countries, especially those coastal port cities, all kinds of foreigners had long been commonplace, and the local Yuan people had long been accustomed to these seemingly strange foreigners.

Later, these foreign merchants slowly flowed to Yuan Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Empire, along with the developed merchant ships of the Yuan Empire.

These foreign merchants also brought goods from all over the world to the Yuan Empire.

Some foreign merchants with strong financial resources and good business talents also got involved in various profitable businesses, such as food, entertainment, horses, etc.

All nations came to pay tribute! The national strength was at its peak! Unprecedented prosperity!

Seeing such a Yuan Dadu, let alone how strong the shock in the hearts of Zhang Jun and others was.

They thought of Chang'an City at its peak, the center of the world during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty!

After comparing it with the peak period of the Tokyo Bianliang City in their impression, Zhang Jun and others thought: "Bianjing is probably not as good as Yuan Dadu."

After Zhang Jun and his party entered Yuan Dadu, they found that on the main road of Yanjing City, there was a military patrol station every 300 steps, with five soldiers stationed inside. At the same time, a lookout was built on a high place, and the room below could station hundreds of soldiers.

Don't get me wrong, these Yuan troops are not for maintaining public order, but for firefighting.

In addition to these firefighters who always prevent fires in Yanjing City and soldiers guarding the city gates, there are no other obvious troops in Yanjing City.

What does this mean?

It means that the Yuan Empire has completely established a foothold in Yanyun, a region with complex ethnic composition. The people here have completely obeyed the rule of Jiang Hongfei and the Yuan Empire, and even happily accepted the rule of Jiang Hongfei and the Yuan Empire.

Zhang Jun and his companions took a closer look. No matter what race people were, even those with blond hair and blue eyes, they all kept their hair and wore Han Chinese clothes in Yanjing City, and even spoke authentic Central Plains dialect. And wherever they looked, they saw Chinese characters.

Zhang Jun and his companions were all thinking: "I'm afraid that soon no one will know that there are Liao, Song, and Goryeo!"

Through this observation, Zhang Jun and his companions have determined that Jiang Hongfei is not a bloodthirsty, deceiving, lustful and greedy bandit as the Zhao Song Dynasty propaganda said, but a founding emperor of the Yuan Empire with courage, foresight, means, and kindness, a saintly monarch who can end the chaos and lead the Han people to prosperity and strength.

Soon, after Chai Jin reported, Jiang Hongfei summoned Zhang Jun and his companions.

What Zhang Jun and his companions didn't expect was that Jiang Hongfei actually met them in the Privy Council.

What surprised Zhang Jun and his companions even more was that there was a huge sand table here.

Zhang Jun was very clever. Although he didn't recognize that this was the sand table of Huaixi, and he didn't even know the sand table, he quickly guessed the use of this sand table of Huaixi.

Seeing Zhang Jun and his friends coming, Jiang Hongfei waved to them directly, signaling them to come over.

Jiang Hongfei's casual movements made Zhang Jun and others feel that they seemed to be Jiang Hongfei's subjects, and favorite subjects, and both sides didn't need extra courtesy at all.

After hesitating for a while, Zhang Jun and others came to Jiang Hongfei and bowed together: "Your Majesty, I am a guilty subject..."

Jiang Hongfei interrupted them: "I will personally lead the expedition to Huaixi in the next few days. Tell me, how should this battle be fought?"

Zhang Jun and others have heard a lot about Jiang Hongfei and his deeds.

One of the most common ones is that Jiang Hongfei is the best emperor in history who is invincible in all battles and has never lost a battle in his life.

Although Zhang Jun and others do not fully believe this, they also know that this is not aimless.

The Yuan army and the Song army are very different.

This is reflected in many aspects.

For example, the Yuan army's military discipline of "freezing to death without demolishing houses, starving to death without looting";

For example, the Yuan army's unique military supervision system;

For example, the Yuan army's soldiers' tenacious fighting will;

For example, the Yuan army's soldiers are particularly concerned about the sense of honor;

For example, the Yuan army's soldiers all advocate the "Sword" spirit.

And so on...

A Song army general once summarized that if a Yuan army soldier is thrown into a group of Song army soldiers, he will definitely be found at a glance, and if a Song army soldier is thrown into a group of Yuan army soldiers, he will soon transform into a Yuan army soldier.

And all of this originated from Jiang Hongfei.

It is not difficult to see from these that Jiang Hongfei is definitely a person who understands military affairs and is definitely an outstanding military strategist.

Let's put it this way, since the establishment of the Yuan Empire and Jiang Hongfei became the emperor, Jiang Hongfei rarely led troops in person, otherwise Jiang Hongfei would definitely have more military legends.

But this also shows from another perspective that Jiang Hongfei dares to use people, does not take power, does not act like a hero, and trusts his subordinates.

For the generals of the Song Dynasty who were constrained by the emperors and civil officials of the Zhao Song Dynasty, this may be what they like most about Jiang Hongfei.

In fact, Zhang Jun and others heard a lot that Jiang Hongfei often said to his generals that "generals are not subject to the orders of the king when they are away from home", so Jiang Hongfei would never easily interfere with whoever he sent to fight, and if any general had any problems or lost the battle, Jiang Hongfei would usually give them one or two opportunities to redeem themselves.

Of course, Zhang Jun and others heard more about Jiang Hongfei's romantic affairs.

He monopolized all the royal daughters and clan daughters of the Liao Dynasty, the Zhao Song Dynasty, and the Goryeo Dynasty, and also robbed a large number of royal daughters and clan daughters of the Jin Dynasty, and had sex with queens and queen mothers of various countries, princesses and princesses of various countries, female generals and female guards under his command, the world's number one prostitute Li Shishi, and the world's number one talented woman Li Qingzhao...

"I soon found out what kind of person the Great Yuan Emperor is."

With this thought in mind, Zhang Jun and others came to Jiang Hongfei, looked at the sand table in Huaixi, and began to tell their suggestions for attacking the Chu State...

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