As the morning mist rises, it encircles the highlands and low hills near Hangzhou, with camps stretching across the mountains and plains. Search: \(Complete God Station\) to read high-quality literature for free.

The early morning chill freezes the smoke and bloodshed that lingered from the recent battles, and the war frenzy that lasted for days has subsided. From the siege camps to the walls of Hangzhou, countless corpses, bloodstains, arrows stuck in the ground or bodies, and destroyed siege equipment form a crimson and pale intertwined scene, both intense and desolate. On some parts of the ground, corpses have fallen, seeping out red blood, and flames have ignited nearby, spewing out black ashes. Across the entire battlefield, red, white, and black intermingle and extend into the dispersing mist, covered by a thin layer of ice formed overnight.

Occasionally, two or three warhorses emerge from the camps, heading towards the battlefield. In the desolate scene, one or two dark figures occasionally appear. These are soldiers with some authority to leave the camp, searching for the bodies of their friends within safe limits, or a few opportunists in the army secretly searching the corpses for valuables. Such searches are mostly in vain, but even a small gain can be tempting.

On the opposite city walls, the faint light of burning torches flickers, like ghostly apparitions shrouded in clouds and mist.

Around the year 1000 AD, the erratic climate of the Little Ice Age briefly halted the battle. After five days of relentless siege warfare, Tong Guan finally temporarily abandoned his plan to take Hangzhou in one fell swoop, allowing the besieging soldiers to rest and reconsider his strategy.

Although the besieging army was silent for the first time in five days, the defending side still could not relax. Tong Guan was not a mediocre strategist. Over the past five days, his army had launched attacks from three directions around Hangzhou, with offensives as continuous as raging waves, but each wave varied in strength, weakness, reality, and illusion. These 150,000 imperial troops from the south were arguably the elite of the Wu Dynasty at this time, and their combat power was far superior to the rebel peasants in the city. If the Fang La camp had not gathered its elites in Hangzhou at this time, with ample manpower, and with the increasingly cold weather, Tong Guan would likely have found opportunities to tear open breaches in the city walls on several occasions.

Therefore, even though the besieging army had stopped attacking, there was no room for the defenders on the city walls to relax. No one knew if Tong Guan would suddenly launch a new wave of attacks.

Once again, amidst the dangers of war, the slightly bustling city of Hangzhou had fallen into a tense and pale atmosphere. However, compared to the panic in the city during Fang La's army's previous siege, half of Hangzhou was now occupied by rebels, presenting a different ecological environment.

The area near Willow Lane (Xi Liu Jie) belonged to the outer perimeter of the Saber Battalion (Ba Dao Ying), and it was now surrounded by long fences and high arrow towers. At this time, it resembled the Saber Manor (Ba Dao Zhuang) hundreds of miles away, transformed into a fortified village. No one believed that this kind of defense was to guard against Tong Guan's army outside the city. Since the complete break with Bao Daoyi, Liu Dabiao had ordered such a structure to be built, mainly because the conflict with Bao Daoyi was escalating, and Fang La and others could not mediate. However, the real reason, unknown to many, was that Liu Xigua did not want to be disturbed by some activities taking place in Willow Lane, so she used this as an excuse to isolate the Saber Battalion in this way.

After Fang Qifo, Wang Yin, Si Xingfang, Deng Yuanjue, and Shi Bao, the senior military officers, returned, Tong Guan's army had already approached Hangzhou, so they had no time to mediate the conflict between the Saber Battalion and Bao Daoyi. However, after the siege began, both sides temporarily abandoned their desire for revenge, each choosing a side of the city wall to help defend.

During this period, because Fang Qifo's efforts to contain Tong Guan's army resulted in heavy losses for the elite Saber Battalion troops who followed him, the Saber Battalion members were not assigned many tasks in the recent city defense battles, but were instead assigned to plug gaps in safer areas. On the other hand, no matter how willful Liu Xigua was, the Saber Battalion members were ultimately the most steadfast supporters within Fang La's ranks. Whether the city might fall in the future or descend into chaos, forces like the Saber Battalion were a core military asset that Fang La needed to preserve. As long as the Saber Battalion had spare capacity, the city would not be too chaotic. Even if someone schemed to replace Fang La as emperor or betray him for personal gain, they would be wary of the Saber Battalion's presence and dare not act.

When Fang Qifo attacked Jiaxing, the main force of the Saber Battalion participating numbered over three thousand. Later, Liu Dabiao turned back midway, leaving more than two thousand still with Fang Qifo. To implement the strategic idea of delaying Tong Guan's siege until after autumn, Fang Qifo led his troops and stubbornly held up Tong Guan's 150,000-strong army. The losses under his command were also quite heavy. The Saber Battalion group had suffered heavy casualties along the way, with only a few hundred surviving.

Such heavy casualties finally bought Hangzhou City a significant amount of time to construct defenses. Liu Xigua had concealed some of the battle progress from the people in Willow Lane. After the army returned to the city, the atmosphere in Willow Lane naturally could not be too high. However, after several days of siege, the people in the streets were finally able to rest on this morning due to Tong Guan's ceasefire. In the not-so-dense mist, pedestrians occasionally appeared on the streets, speaking in hushed tones. And in the main residence of the Saber Battalion,

a window had been lit since early morning, and the two people in the room were currently in conversation about some matters.

"...The people are most important, the state is second, and the ruler is the least... When we first talked about it, we mentioned the idea of equality for all. It's difficult to explain from Confucius, it's better to explain from Mencius. Liu Xiyang is a master in this area. Although his article is a bit casual and probably lacks sincerity, it's easy to understand and still good. We can use it as an introductory reading in the future... I think it's worth a *dou*..."

"Since it lacks sincerity, why give him a *dou*... I'll only allow five *sheng*."

"It's not entirely lacking, there's some sincerity..."

"Anyone can come up with such a superficial explanation. You can just grab a bunch of people from the street and they'll have a pile of such articles. Since he's a great Confucian scholar, we should force him to write a few that are worth scrutinizing. And he's knowledgeable, but he wrote a simple one to fool us. It's clear that he has reservations. If he gets a *dou* of rice, he won't write a second article until he finishes eating it... Only give him five *sheng*."

"Okay, Liu Xiyang gets five *sheng*... Guo Jiliang's article is a bit deeper. Since we want to knock Liu Xiyang down a peg, let's give Guo Jiliang's article seven *sheng*. Also, Han Fangjun's article is a bit lacking in strength..."

The lamp flickered slightly. The two people speaking in the room were Ning Yi and Liu Xigua, reading through the articles. Although they were both speaking seriously, the talk of *sheng* and *dou* made it seem a bit strange. Liu Xigua had also been on the city walls recently. She rested a bit yesterday, got up early today, and sought out Ning Yi to discuss matters. They had been talking about the articles and the teachings of the Mani sect.

"... Wu Yunying is a brainless woman. She's loyal, but she's not from Saber Manor, she's not one of us. You need to be careful of her." Fang La started his rebellion using the Mani sect's "eating vegetables and serving demons" doctrine. There were many followers in the army, but the Saber Battalion was already strong and self-sufficient, so the degree of belief in this sect, which emphasized sharing hardships and uniting the peasant forces, was somewhat lacking in the Saber Battalion. Wu Yunying was the leader of the Mani sect's branch in the Saber Battalion. Liu Xigua didn't take her seriously because she was the sect's honorary saintess here.

"She's alright. She's been attending classes recently. When I asked her, she said that the teachings have a lot in common."

"Oh... good."

"But when they preach, the branch leaders don't study the scriptures much. Wu Yunying hasn't even read through 'The Lower Section Praise.' It's hard to get her to help revise the doctrine in a coherent way."

"The other branch leaders understand it well, it's just that Wu Yunying is a bit stupid... But you don't need to understand too much to preach in the countryside. Uncle Fang said that the four words 'sharing hardships together' are enough..."

"That's the truth... There's not much else. Oh, the few articles we got recently..."

"If I were to change my name, what do you think would be a good one?"

"After showing them to the kids... what?" Ning Yi was stunned.

"Uh... change my name." The girl named Liu Xigua, wearing simple clothes but draped in a large cloak, waved her hand casually. "Let's talk about your things first... Uh, I'm just asking... Of course, I don't really need you to help me choose one... You're more knowledgeable. I'm curious what you think."

"...A kid looked at them, asked some questions, and wrote two short essays. I think he has potential... Change your name, still surname Liu?"

"Of course... Which kid is it?"

"Surname Chang, named Chang Qing. I plan to reward him with something, but his family doesn't lack rice. I'll make a certificate and you can help me write a word... uh, or stamp it. Something that can be framed... Surname Liu, how about Liu Yifei?"

"Oh, just take it and stamp it yourself. I leave them all on the table. Tell Uncle Tiannan when I'm not around... What did you say?"

"Liu Yifei." Ning Yi began to put away the articles on the table. He said this casually, not taking it as a serious matter, and even laughed to himself.

"Liu Yifei... No, nine out of ten people with the surname Liu on the street are named Liu Yifei... Never mind, I'm just asking for fun. You go back first. If you have time in the afternoon..."

"Nine out of ten, is that right?"

"Yeah, the other day I heard that my neighbor Aunt Liu Ahua's great aunt also has the name Yifei. And the cat raised by Wen Kerang's nephew's second wife is also called Yifei Yifei. Wen Kerang wanted to kill you before. Find someone to stew that cat and eat it when you have time... You have important things to do, go ahead. I was just asking casually."

After Ning Yi left, Liu Xigua took out a piece of paper filled with names from the drawer, wrote the new name on it, put it away, and continued to handle her affairs...

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

After the formal break with Bao Daoyi, Ning Yi no longer closely participated in this matter. Liu Xigua had him take charge of some more pragmatic or, one might say, more theoretical work in the Saber Battalion, which was to change the institutional foundation of the entire Saber Battalion. At the time, it seemed a bit like child's play.

The Saber Battalion had already held the first so-called election, and it seemed bad to stop it in a half-hearted way. But with Tong Guan's army moving south, the pressure was imminent. With the future of the Saber Battalion uncertain, it was absurd to use the entire Saber Battalion's strength to cooperate with some "reforms" that resembled child's play. But in any case, since they were fighting a war, they had to be prepared to lose and also to win. If Fang La's side could really hold out, there would be no problem for Liu Xigua to be the lord of a county or prefecture in the future, giving her a piece of land to mess around with. What to do in the future could be arranged now.

Ideas like democracy and freedom were mostly weapons used to fool Liu Xigua, but on a real psychological level, Ning Yi really wanted to do an experiment. Of course, the root of democracy is never a system problem, but a people's hearts problem. In this era, so-called democracy is just a tree without roots, and few people will think about it. It's absolutely impossible to give the Saber Battalion a system, transplant the election system, and fantasize about building a utopian world.

In fact, from the scarce history that Ning Yi knew, he had also heard that there had been many experiments with utopian societies in Chinese history. Some wealthy people or scholars donated their property and created a village similar to a commune, where everyone ate from the same pot, children went to school together, and everyone did things together. Matters were decided by the elders together, but without exception, they all failed. Regardless of whether utopian society is like this, just giving people a system is never useful. The essence of democracy is also the dictatorship of the majority over the minority. To have democracy, you first need culture, you need people to fight for it spontaneously, and you need to recognize the legitimacy of what you are fighting for. You need this theoretical basis.

After having the power to act, Ning Yi first took the scholars of the Wenlie Academy as his target.

He opened a short class every day, gathering many scholars inside and outside the academy, explaining the relationship between production and distribution, and talking about *Das Kapital*. Among them, he separated out a simple essence of society, which is that the essence of the country is a group of people who come together to help each other to obtain benefits. On this essence, no one is superior or inferior, and the progress of society is to constantly achieve fairness in distribution. Then, he asked people to explain these basic cooperative relationships in any language that others could accept, and to write articles. Confucius's theory was okay, Mencius's was okay, Mozi's was okay, Han Fei's, Laozi's didn't matter, if you could make up a piece out of Sun Tzu's for me, if it had quality, it could be accepted.

At this time, Hangzhou had already turned into a state of war.

Although Fang La still had the autumn harvest when he occupied Hangzhou, and gathered a lot of resources to prepare for war with Tong Guan, Hangzhou City's resources were still sufficient. But in a state of war, all kinds of materials were difficult to circulate, and anyone with money and food found it difficult to take it out again. This group of Confucian scholars from the Wenlie Academy became idle people again, so Ning Yi gave them a price: articles for food.

Ning Yi explained various modern theories as simply as possible. In short, these educated people could generally understand them. Regardless of whether they agreed or not, he forced them to make it up, to forcibly connect it to the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, right or wrong didn't matter. If these Confucian scholars wrote too many articles, a hundred pieces of trash could always produce one or two interesting ones. In the future, he could use these articles to enlighten the children, turn lies into truth by repeating them a thousand times, and then let people gradually verify and improve them in their lives, showing them to others. Some rebellious people would always see something that seemed to make sense.

But first, there had to be articles. He was bored anyway. What he needed to do now was to disassemble and scatter *Das Kapital* and mix it with Confucius and Mencius. As for what this bomb would become in the future, he didn't care.

In this way, when he came out of the main residence, he ran into Chen Fan, whom he hadn't seen for several days. He was injured again, with a strong smell of medicine on his body, but he still looked vigorous. After greeting him, he said that he had been on the battlefield these past few days.

"In fighting a war, the first thing you rely on isn't high martial arts skills, the most reliable thing is luck... Although you are a master, if you don't have good luck, it's better not to go to the city walls. You just came from over there? How is that little girl Xigua? Did she get injured?"

"It looks like her luck is better than yours." Ning Yi laughed. "Chief Steward Tiannan told me that you almost fought with her again a few days ago, what happened?"

"Just kidding. Didn't fight. At that time, we were on the city wall, and she suddenly said, if she were to change her name, what would be a good one... She's been asking people this lately, mysteriously, and I said, her father is called Liu Dabiao, and it's not good to call her Liu Dabiao and Liu Xigua at the same time, it's best to combine the two..."

At this point, Chen Fan couldn't help but laugh, and bent down. Ning Yi's mouth twitched, "Uh, what would you call her?"

"Hehe, combine them, of course... haha, huh huh... call her Liu... Liu Big Watermelon, or you could call her Liu Big Watermelon Biao, hahahaha..." Chen Fan laughed non-stop, very annoying. "And then, then she broke down and drew her knife to chop me, on the battlefield, couldn't do it, I laughed to death, hahahaha..."

He couldn't stop laughing. Ning Yi's mouth twitched for a long time, and he finally patted him on the shoulder: "I think you'd better not let her see you for a while."

"Of course, of course, oh, wait, I have something, something to ask you..." Chen Fan grabbed him as Ning Yi walked past, and laughed for a while, before straightening up and trying to keep his face straight. "It's like this, Tong Guan has been attacking for five days, the weather is getting colder and colder, and when it really snows, he won't be able to fight anymore. The city should be able to hold, but my master said that with Tong Guan's character, and the tense situation in the northern war, he might not give up, and he should still launch one or two more strong attacks. Anyway, when he's free, he wants to see you. I'll tell you in advance, it might be soon, if Tong Guan can stay idle, it might be this afternoon..."

Ning Yi thought for a while and nodded. The two chatted a few more times, and when Chen Fan left, he stood there for a while before exhaling and smiling.

"Fang Qifo..."

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

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