The wind had been picking up since morning.

Rolling dark clouds spread their tentacles from the sea, and the howling wind stirred up leaves and scraps of Xuan paper from nowhere, dancing in the air. Emperor Junwu stood with his hands clasped, watching a group of eunuchs and imperial guards carrying heavy planks, hammering them onto the palace buildings with clangs and bangs.

After a while, an attendant led several concubines and his five-year-old daughter, Zhou Qin, over. Junwu waved his hand towards the palace, "Everyone, take shelter together, save some manpower."

The Zhou imperial family had always been weak in producing heirs. Junwu hadn't shown particularly outstanding reproductive ability before. Of course, it wasn't that he had a major problem. Prince Kang, Zhou Yong's line, was originally just a wealthy prince in Jiangning. Junwu had an easy childhood, but just as he came of age, he suddenly became the crown prince. For the first two years, he devoted himself to natural philosophy, wanting to achieve great things. Soon after, the Jurchen's search and destruction left a mental scar. Throughout the Jianshuo era, Zhou Yong indulged in pleasure, while Junwu put all his mind on natural philosophy breakthroughs and the construction of the Jiangnan defense line, walking cautiously. He didn't show much exceptional interest in women.

Five years ago, he had his first daughter, and near the Jiangnan War, he had a son. However, when Lin'an fell and his father and sister fled to the sea, he inherited the throne in Jiangning and fled to Fuzhou. He never held the infant, and it died prematurely.

Millions of people died before his eyes, countless parents and children cried before him, yet he abandoned the entire Jiangnan populace, fleeing like a lost dog. Self-blame and the threat of imminent death filled his heart every day—there was also the humiliating possibility of being captured by the Jin and raised as a dog, but he had long decided not to accept that outcome—therefore, the loss of his child didn't bring him much special emotion. He even thought one day: if he were captured by the Jurchens, taken to Jin and raised, then called the Wu crown prince and humiliated every day, that would be truly miserable.

Dying soon after birth was ordinary.

The truly sorrowful feelings were a luxury he could only afford after arriving in Fuzhou.

After arriving in Fuzhou, there were also many new things to worry about. However, under the advice of Li Guang, Hu Quan, and other officials, Junwu took on even more burdens. Now that he had made Consort Chen Ru Xin pregnant, he felt he could temporarily account for himself, and plunged headfirst into state affairs day and night.

Junwu was usually a bit of a chauvinist in his interactions with women, to the point that several of his concubines, including Chen Ru Xin, were somewhat submissive. But in truth, he had a soft heart. Last year, to enhance the imperial line, someone even suggested taking Yue Fei's adopted daughter, Yin Ping, as a concubine, partly to protect her, partly because she might give birth to a plump baby. But Junwu quickly refused. Marrying such a strong-willed woman would mean he couldn't even beat her in a fight in the future, wouldn't he be bullied by her—Junwu had a strong older sister when he was young and had a psychological shadow over such things. Of course, he couldn't say these reasons; on the surface, he said it was for the girl's happiness.

In reality, as a straight man who had been in the royal family for a long time, he didn't care so much about someone's happiness—what's unhappy about marrying the emperor, it's just that he didn't want to marry her. Hmph.

As Tie Tianying, who patrolled the palace city, approached, dense raindrops were already falling with the howling wind. Junwu was still standing there, looking at the small city under the sky, his brow slightly furrowed. The old man, wearing a raincoat and with white hair at his temples, quickly went over to remind him. Only then did Junwu react, and hesitantly walked into the palace.

It was as if standing outside the palace, he could still watch over the city with his gaze.

Entering the palace, his daughter缠着her father for a while. Junwu spoke a few words to her—the emperor was always gentle and smiling when speaking to his family, but he was prone to spacing out and being absent-minded—after saying a few words, Junwu froze and began to plan the upcoming disaster relief efforts. His daughter called him back, he said two more words, and spaced out again. The concubine then coaxed the princess to the side to play games.

Junwu walked to his desk and began to plan his chips.

He was of average talent and had to concentrate to do things. Only when things were arranged to a certain extent did he come out of his thoughts, looking at the princess playing games with the concubines not far away: also a fool, the future of Wu couldn't rely on her. She was indeed his own.

Outside the window, the wind and rain howled, as if there were thousands of monsters screaming. Looking at his daughter playing games, Junwu thought of his childhood. If he had encountered such a hurricane at that time, he would have listened to it easily all day without feeling bored, but now… disaster relief, arrangements…

Thinking of this, he spread out the drawings on the table again and began to write detailed disaster relief plans…

……

The howling wind and rain lasted for a day and a night before weakening.

On the afternoon of April 20th, the rain was still falling. Junwu had already gathered ministers in the main hall to plan the disaster relief. In fact, Fuzhou was hit by typhoons of varying sizes every year—at this time, the scientific name was "hurricane"—and there were already certain arrangements in place. It was still April, and this typhoon wasn't the biggest. Junwu投入some of the reorganized and refined troops, including the Beiwei Army.

Regarding the army's participation in disaster relief, some old ministers, led by Li Guang, expressed concern and opposition.

—In fact, last year, Han Shizhong's Zhenhai Army, Yue Fei's Beiwei Army, and some other units had friction with various localities because of disaster relief. The enforcement of military law wasn't very strict these days. In some extremely serious disasters, it was acceptable to send troops to rescue people, but if the disaster wasn't serious, sometimes the army itself could cause serious problems. Among the current troops in Fujian, only the Beiwei Army had the strictest military discipline and could minimize disturbances to the people, but Han Shizhong's Zhenhai Army and other units, once released, would create trouble themselves.

However, since the slogan of "Respecting the King and Expelling the Barbarians" was shouted out last year, the Southeast Military Academy in Fuzhou, with the help of Zuo Wenhuai and others, had completed the initial education of national faith and subjective initiative for the first batch of young officers. Now, according to feedback from various parties, these young officers were performing well in all aspects. A mule or a horse had to be taken out for a ride sooner or later.

There was a debate in the main hall. Soon after, Junwu made a decision on this matter and gave the go-ahead.

The army's disaster relief was to gather popular support and train troops for various things that might happen next. To emphasize the significance of this matter, Junwu also specifically ordered the cabinet to write a document, requiring all departments to enforce strict military discipline and not take a single item from the people, or else they would be severely punished.

Various places also conducted impassioned pre-mobilization.

On April 22nd, a unit under the Beiwei Army entered Houguan County near Fuzhou for disaster relief, helping to clear ruins, treat disaster victims, move corpses, transfer property… That afternoon, some local disaster victims accused this unit of taking the opportunity to loot property. Perhaps because the government had conducted extensive propaganda that they would never disturb the people or violate discipline, otherwise military law would be strictly enforced, the speed at which the masses gathered was particularly fast this time, and the nearby military law team had also quickly arrived to investigate.

Soon after, a package containing various valuables was found in the belongings of Zhong Ergui, a ten-man squad leader in the army.

Public sentiment erupted like a volcano. At this time, the government was there, the military law team was there, and the soldiers providing disaster relief were also there. Everyone was blocked on the road in the center of the county, in a dilemma. Yue Yinping, who happened to be there due to certain matters and was participating in the disaster relief as a volunteer, ran over to vouch for Zhong Ergui and argue reasonably—this person was an elite in the Beiwei Army, formerly a miner, brave and fearless on the battlefield, but usually straightforward and peaceful in nature, he would never do such a thing.

When they realized there was a major problem, it was already late, and the people on both sides of the street were a little out of control in the heavy rain. The young and energetic military law officer, who had received education at the Military Academy, first accused Zhong Ergui of tarnishing the reputation of the army. When he realized that the matter was escalating too quickly, he was unable to clean it up. A framed and mutiny organized and premeditated was imminent.

Their reaction was a little slow.

So next they faced two choices: the first was to directly suppress everything with the army on the scene…

Soon after, they tried to deal with Zhong Ergui according to military law to quell public anger, and Zhong Ergui, facing the insults on the street, crashed into a pillar on the side of the road and died.

This was the first political disaster that the Southeast Dynasty faced in the summer of the third year of Zhenxing.

In the following days, military-civilian conflicts and various cries of injustice caused by disaster relief in various parts of Fujian followed one after another, with true and false stories, and they were overwhelmed…

……

April 25th, afternoon, the rain brought by the typhoon had temporarily subsided, and the entire city of Fuzhou was still a mess.

Entering the side hall for discussions on the side of the palace, Li Guang saw that Hu Quan, Zhou Pei, Wenren Buer, Cheng Zhouhai, and others were already there. Emperor Junwu was sitting at the top—this was a small meeting he had called with people he trusted more—when Li Guang saw his face, which seemed to be unwell due to staying up late, he sighed slightly in his heart.

This Majesty liked the younger generation and was greatly influenced by the Southwest, so he wasn't very close to the old Confucian scholars in the court, but as an emperor, he was extremely hardworking, extremely attentive, and extremely benevolent. Compared to the previous emperors of the Wu Dynasty, he had more of a sense of responsibility as a ruler. It was just a pity that the environment in which he took power was too difficult.

If he had taken over the Jiangshan of the Jinghan Dynasty—or even if Emperor Jianshuo had abdicated early—the Wu Dynasty today would probably have a different face.

He sighed in his heart like this. As for what the people in the hall were discussing, it was naturally the various accusations of military-civilian conflicts that had been reported from various places recently. After a while, Junwu asked him for his opinion on this matter, and Li Guang said frankly: "This matter is a backlash of the accumulated resentment of the various clans in Fujian since the court's land survey and tax clarification last year. I know that after the reorganization, the number of disciplinary violations by the various troops has been greatly reduced, but last year, when the military violated discipline, the big families in various places did not speak up. This year, when the military does not violate discipline, the big families frame them and find fault…"

"And the real harm of this matter is that if it is not handled well, our popular support and military morale may be completely lost…"

What Confucian ministers like Li Guang had worried about before was, in fact, the emergence of various conspiracies and accidents…

In the side hall, they discussed for a long time. When the meeting broke up, tasks had been arranged, and Hu Quan and Li Guang went out together. In fact, they had advised the emperor many times about being too radical when he was in Fujian. At this time, the younger Hu Quan was also silent for a long time, and sighed: "Your Majesty is not easy…"

Li Guang nodded: "Just do your own thing."

……

The slightly larger meeting was temporarily dismissed. After everyone else left, Zhou Pei spoke to Junwu about more urgent matters in the hall: "…There are only twenty-odd thousand taels of silver left in the treasury. According to the previous discussions, we were considering whether the military expenditure could be reduced a little, but after Zhong Ergui's death, military morale was also a little unstable. We still have to rely on them for disaster relief, and we also have to prevent the deterioration of things later. It seems that the military salary cannot be delayed…"

Junwu sat on the chair, lost in thought for a moment, and then shook his head: "The prerequisite for not allowing the army to disturb the people is to pay them enough. The military salary cannot be reduced."

Zhou Pei nodded: "The things brought out from Lin'an have long been sold out. The private treasury has been empty for a long time. I'll think of a way to see where else I can dismantle and move some."

"…The fleet that went out last year, Imperial Sister, do you think it can come back earlier this year?"

"I've said it many times, even if it's earlier, I'm afraid it will be in the second half of the year."

"Maybe the fleet sympathizes with朕's hard work and can come back earlier…"

Zhou Pei didn't speak. Junwu then smiled self-deprecatingly. After a while, he said: "Imperial Sister, has it been found out who framed Zhong Ergui?"

"It's not just Zhong Ergui's case that can be made up for now," Zhou Pei reminded him. "There are at least four or five places闹in Fujian now."

"But yesterday afternoon, the Yue family's Yin Ping came to the palace to cry to朕… no, it wasn't crying, she came to scold朕. Zhong Ergui was a poor miner, brave on the battlefield, straightforward off the battlefield. He often helped any people in need, a truly good person… it was such a good person, a good soldier, who was forced to death in front of everyone…"

"Miss Yue also came to me…"

"Is that so." Junwu sighed. "Ultimately, it's朕's fault. Respecting the King and Expelling the Barbarians has taught some people who are loyal to the court and think for everyone, but in the end, they are too inexperienced and act too hastily. Originally, no matter how big the matter was, it should have been handled according to the rules, investigated and tried properly. How could it be dealt with on the spot to quell public anger… Ah, thinking of Zhong Ergui's mood at the time of his death, my heart aches, 朕恨不得…"

He gritted his teeth and raised his fist. Then, he slowly slammed it on the table, powerless and indignant. Zhou Pei looked at him for a while.

"In the end, we underestimated the methods of Cao Jinlong and Pu Xingui and their gang. We thought they could only rely on the power of some clans and gentry to carry out assassinations in the mountains and various small places. They couldn't enter Fuzhou and several big cities, and those who came in to assassinate also failed repeatedly. Who knew they would suddenly make such moves. We did a review of the Houguan County incident. It would take more than two or three people to fan up such a big battle in half a day and mess up the county magistrate's position. There would have to be quite a few people posing as commoners in the crowd."

"Wouldn't it be easier to catch their clues if there were more people?"

"We've received some news now that Chen Family's daughter Chen Shuangran planned it, including the framing and false accusations against our army in various places. She let the local people stand at the front. If something goes wrong, they say they were deceived. These are all her plans…"

"Chen Shuangran… too careless. I said earlier that she was the pretty one from the Chen family?"

"Yes." Zhou Pei nodded. "The Chen family is said to be a maritime merchant, but in reality, they are pirates. When the Chen family was wiped out last year, I heard that this girl was already engaged to the son of He Hu's family in Yanping and was about to marry into the family. By the end of the year, He Hu was wiped out, and she, Pu Xingui, Cao Jinlong, and others were secretly pushed out by the big families. 理应说she's just a puppet, so I don't know if this rumor is true."

Since gaining a foothold last year, Junwu had made his intentions clear. On the one hand, he established the Military Academy to enrich its internal affairs, and on the other hand, he cleared obstacles externally. He removed maritime merchants in the middle of the year, and used himself as bait to lure several large families with rebellious intentions to take action at the end of the year. Although it was risky, he fought very beautifully, with the style of a monarch on horseback. And since he measured the land in Fujian last year and tried to increase taxes, the resistance of some large families was within the expected range. Even though vicious incidents such as "killing the yellow dog" and assassinating officials continued to erupt in some places, the official forces had gained a foothold in several major cities. The competition for the lower levels was originally something that needed to be done step by step.

If the other party wanted to assassinate, he would send more people to try to catch them. If the big families wanted to resist, he would collect evidence and fight them one by one. In short, he would first stabilize his base, and then deal with soldiers and water with earth, gradually increasing control over the periphery. Junwu couldn't be called a genius, but under long-term setbacks and磨炼, he wasn't lacking in patience and韧性.

Under such circumstances, this time it proved that they had ultimately underestimated and neglected Pu Xingui, Cao Jinlong, Chen Shuangran, and their gang of clowns who had been pushed to the stage. After all, before this, none of the various assassinations they organized in Fuzhou had succeeded.

When setbacks came, the emotions were of course still uncomfortable. Zhou Pei thought for a while and comforted: "Mr. Cheng and Lord Tie are already working on the investigation of this matter. We actually knew that these people had been making various preparations for assassinations and had even issued heroes' posts to various places, inviting some notorious邪派masters into Min to commit凶, but in the past, there was a lot of thunder and little rain. After Lord Tie was responsible for the garrison of Fuzhou, we didn't actually put too much thought into dealing with these people, but after this incident, we felt that we still had to spend some effort to eradicate them. It's just that Your Majesty shouldn't worry too much about them."

"Catch them early, kill them early," Junwu喃喃said. "For this matter, everyone has been so busy. Zuo Wenhuai wrote a review and asked for thirty military sticks. Now it's difficult to get out of bed. He's still thinking about going to the army to quell the situation. Mr. Li has launched various Confucian scholars to write articles. Although the Beiwei Army has suffered such humiliation, General Yue is still insisting that we must help with disaster relief and must strictly enforce military law. Li Guang, Hu Quan, and these people, I'm not very close to them on weekdays, but when something happens, they are all wholeheartedly doing things… Everyone is busy, it's nothing for朕to spend more thought and effort. In this situation, if Chen Shuangran is really so capable, if 朕can't kill her, I even want to纳her."

He made a joke. Zhou Pei laughed too.

"Is Your Majesty 求贤若渴or is it because she's pretty?"

"I've always been 求贤若渴. If she's really a talent, 朕…" Junwu said here, his finger paused in the air. After a moment, his eyes changed. "I have a way, Sister, I have a way."

"What?"

"Money! I have a way." He shook his finger and became excited. "Taking a concubine! Taking a concubine! Didn't the southeastern gentry always feel that朕wasn't close enough to them and抢ing their things? Haven't there been voices advising朕to take a concubine in the past two years, and saying that朕isn't safe without a crown prince… It's good not to have a crown prince. Let these big families send girls over. We can support ourselves for a few months with the dowry, Sister!"

Zhou Pei frowned: "Haven't you always said that you're afraid that in-laws will cause trouble? Even if you demand strictness, in-laws will be subjected to various enticements. You've taken small households in the past, and even the matter of Chen Ruye happened. This time you're taking big households…"

"We can't管得了so much. We've already fallen out with all parties, and there's only so much tax revenue. The珍玩you brought out of Lin'an were all loaded onto the ship last year. The money won't come back, so let's见步行步first. We can't sell officials, and we can't reduce military salaries. 朕will sell myself first, hehehe…" Saying this, he became excited, spread out a piece of paper,磨了磨墨, and prepared to write something: "朕won't be picky about this kind of thing, well, the pretty ones are best… No, the ugly ones are also okay, the ugly ones should have more dowry, well, anyway, the standard is the amount of money, beautiful or ugly, it depends on朕's luck, haha…"

The proposal to take a concubine,收外戚, and结交big families had been raised when they first arrived in Fuzhou, but the matter itself had endless troubles, and there wasn't such a tight situation at the time, so Junwu flatly rejected it. Remembering it again now, he felt relieved, and his words became lighter. He sat behind his desk and wrote the preliminary regulations happily.

Zhou Pei watched her younger brother's expression at this moment, and a look of compassion gradually flashed in her eyes. She sat down to the side: "…It seems that I can be sold in the future as well."

"That won't do. Selling myself is taking advantage, Imperial Sister, you can't be sold." In the side hall, the emperor, while伏桉写作, made a hearty and undefended sound. He laughed, "…I'll take good care of you."

Perhaps it was that his strained nerves suddenly relaxed. At this moment, Junwu's words were as pure as when he was a boy many years ago. Zhou Pei looked at him for a long time, and nodded:

"…Okay."

……

To solve the temporary financial problem, he came up with an expedient measure. Although such a big matter couldn't be finalized immediately, his mood was also slightly relieved. After a while, 长公主Zhou Pei left the palace. Junwu sat in his chair and rubbed his forehead. In the afternoon when the typhoon had just passed, the light and dark in the distance were intertwined, and a portion洒进了the palace gate, but it didn't illuminate the emperor on the dragon chair.

Tiredness still enveloped him. He thought about the matter of taking a concubine for money, and then thought about the situation of the armies in various places, thinking of Zhong Ergui's wrongful death. At the end of last year, he even celebrated, but the tentacles intertwined from the dark behind him were缠在了his hands.

What he faced wasn't a battle with bright knives and spears. Everything was like a mud pit. Bloodsucking insects crawled onto his body unconsciously. Many times, he couldn't even tell who was a friend and who was an enemy.

Thinking like this in the dark, at one point, he raised his hand and slammed it hard on the table with a bang.

Hearing the sound, the guards probed their heads in from outside the hall, checking the movement inside. The majestic emperor in郁郁望looked over, and the next moment, the emperor sighed slightly and waved his hand outwards.

"It's nothing…"

He comforted in sighing.

Like a deflated ball.

And after a while, he even had to pump himself up again and continue working…

……

Wu Zhenxing, year 3, April 25, evening.

While the people of Fuzhou were陷入this焦头烂额的** situation, a dilapidated carriage pulled by jujube-colored horses was slowly entering this ancient city, which was still陷in the devastation of the wind disaster, carrying two traveling teenagers, from the southwest gate of the city.

The accumulated water brought by the wind and rain had not completely receded, and sewage was flowing freely on the streets. There was also a large amount of garbage and collapsed houses on the roadside. People were still cleaning up their homes after the disaster.

"So, so lively."

The teenager in front of the carriage, wearing patched clothes and holding a whip, stared his eyes and made a strange remark.

In the back of the carriage, the girl who was forced to take the name "Long Aotian" was organizing things while looking at him gently.

Ning Ji and Qu Longjun had also experienced the typhoon a few days ago.

They had luckily found a small cave in the nearby mountains to hide. When the typhoon came, the sky was full of blackness, and the wind and rain howled like thousands of troops and horses rushing over. Ning Ji was stunned and excited in the cave. Because the cave wasn't big, Qu Longjun was held by Ning Ji. They squeezed together with the jujube-colored horse "Baldy".

When the wind and rain were smaller, Ning Ji went out to practice拳a few times. Because, according to the Huaxia Army, fighting mountain floods and tsunamis can significantly increase martial arts修为.

The typhoon was so powerful and exciting.

After this storm passed, they came out of the mountains and exchanged for a broken carriage from someone else on the way. Hearing that Fuzhou often had strong winds, and perhaps even bigger than this one, Ning Ji was already looking forward to it. He and Qu Longjun planned to come to Fuzhou together, turn this broken carriage into a mobile department store stall, buy and sell goods to make a lot of money, and then rent a sturdy house in the city. When the next typhoon comes, the two of them will be eating hot pot and singing songs in the room, enjoying it all.

For everything with him—Qu Longjun was of course also very much looking forward to it.

Also at the same moment, in Houguan County, several miles away, Yue Yinping and Yue Yun were pouring a pot of烈酒 on the street where the Beiwei Army soldiers had died冤wrongfully three days ago, paying tribute to their dead comrades.

And on the other side of this world, a name called Chen Shuangran was being passed around by word of mouth among the elders of various clans, and was about to become a legend in the underworld this summer…

In the noisy and busy city, the sea breeze was blowing, and the lines of Karma were extending among them. Some stories had not yet happened.

Were about to happen…