The autumn wind rustled, the sun was warm and slanted, and in the afternoon, a certain classical garden in Bozhou, Huaixi, was filled with interlaced light and shadow, a refreshing and warm atmosphere.

However, such a beautiful scene was not appreciated by many because it was a weekday afternoon. In fact, in this scenic garden, which focused on Taoist culture, there was only one backpacker who had bought a ticket to enter. He was even using a book to cover his face while dozing off on a bench.

"Whirr... Thump!"

Suddenly, as the autumn wind tightened sharply, a thin copy of "Gains and Losses of Politics in Chinese Dynasties" slipped from the face of the young male tourist and was blown several steps away by the wind. He woke up immediately, instinctively checking his backpack on the bench. Only after confirming that nothing was missing did he go to retrieve his book.

But at this moment, an old Taoist priest dragging a large broom appeared from nowhere, bending down to help pick up the book from the ground. He then casually dragged the broom and sat down on the bench, flipping through the book. The autumn wind blew, the blue robe and wooden hairpin, the wrinkled face and white hair, startled the young man who had just woken up.

However, when the young man took a closer look and glimpsed the xL logo on the collar of the Taoist robe below the priest's bun, he relaxed and chuckled inwardly, mocking his own paranoia.

It turned out that this place was Woyang, Bozhou, known as the birthplace of Lao Tzu. This garden was built relying on the Lao Tzu Temple, so encountering a Taoist priest was a common occurrence.

"It's rare to see young people reading books seriously these days." After flipping through a few pages, perhaps because he couldn't see clearly or simply didn't understand, the old Taoist priest quickly handed the book back over the backpack with a thick Huaixi accent. "Actually, governing is the same since ancient times. Understanding the general idea is enough. The specifics are useless. You're reading the right book."

"Thank you... uh... Taoist Priest." The young man took the book back, hesitating over the form of address. "I was just pretending on the train. I don't really read it."

"Quite humble." The old Taoist priest became more talkative after hearing the reply. "Where are you from, young man? How old are you? Why are you interested in coming to our Lao Tzu Temple?"

"Local, twenty-one." The young man said casually, his Mandarin gradually taking on a local Huaixi flavor. "Just graduated from college and started working. I came home to take care of something, and I'm taking the train again tonight. I know it's quiet here, so I just came here to kill time."

"Twenty-one is a good age!" The old Taoist priest sighed. "Young! You don't know, our Woyang is the birthplace of Lao Tzu, and the Lao Tzu Temple has a long history. It's a pity that few locals come, and even fewer young people come. It's rare that you..."

Before he could finish, the young man couldn't help but laugh: "Taoist Priest, I'm a local. You can fool outsiders with that, but why fool me? Who doesn't know that the birthplace of Lao Tzu is in neighboring Luyi? This one is fake, right?"

The old Taoist priest was even more embarrassed and waved his hands repeatedly without speaking.

The young man, probably bored, didn't let him off the hook and instead pressed him: "What do you mean, Taoist Priest? Ours is real, and Luyi's is fake? Their Lao Tzu Temple dates back to the Han Dynasty, then the Tang Dynasty, and then the Song Dynasty, one layer on top of another, with endless cultural relics and historical sites. Even the iron pillar in front of the gate is a thousand years old..."

"We didn't say Luyi's is fake." The old Taoist priest replied awkwardly, holding his broom. "But our Woyang might not be fake either... The two places are so close. In ancient times, Luyi always belonged to Bozhou, and Woyang is a new county less than a hundred years old. Why bother distinguishing so clearly?"

The young man suddenly laughed again: "That makes sense. They're both on the banks of the Wo River. Maybe Lao Tzu was one family when he was alive."

"Exactly!" The old Taoist priest finally breathed a sigh of relief. "The truth or falsity of such things is meaningless in history. When we say the birthplace of Lao Tzu, we're referring to the birthplace of Li Er. Luyi can be the place of worship for generations. They're both real. Why say the other is fake?"

The young man nodded perfunctorily, but he was disdainful in his heart... Frankly speaking, who cares where Lao Tzu was born? The dispute over the birthplace of Lao Tzu is clearly about tourism resources and local cultural confidence. Even if the old Taoist priest's words have some sophistical reasoning, the two local governments certainly won't agree! And the Luyi government, which holds a large number of real cultural relics and historical sites, will certainly not agree!

Moreover, this Taoist priest is not a proper Taoist priest. He's probably just a cosplaying cleaner, and a lazy one at that... Otherwise? A Taoist priest, opening his mouth to Lao Tzu and closing it to Li Er, without a trace of respect? Then he's holding a broom in the garden on a windy day, pretending to be something, fooling who?

However, as if he had seen through the young man's perfunctory attitude, the old Taoist priest babbled again: "Young man, don't disbelieve... Our Woyang also has real cultural relics and historical sites. The Nine Dragon Well in the Meteor Garden is an ancient artifact from the Spring and Autumn Period, authenticated by experts. There's only one like it. Go and take a look if you don't believe me."

The young man shook his head repeatedly and simply got up, picked up his backpack, and prepared to leave... As a local, what didn't he know? The so-called Nine Dragon Well, Luyi also has one, but to be honest, let alone the one in Woyang, even the one in Luyi, who knows if it has anything to do with the Taoist ancestor?

"Young man, wait a moment!" Seeing this, the old Taoist priest became even more anxious and simply got up, leaned on his broom, and told the truth. "A dog fell into the Nine Dragon Well over there, and its leg is injured. I can't reach it with the broom. Logically speaking, the well is wide, only one person deep, but I'm old and I can't get back up if I go down. I need the young man to help."

The young man was speechless for a moment: "You should have said so earlier, Taoist Priest!"

"Wasn't I afraid you wouldn't agree?" The old Taoist priest also felt embarrassed, but he directly led the way with his broom. "Young people are hard to talk to these days. And I didn't want to bother with this dog, but its family is familiar with me and often invites me to dinner. Now that its family is not here, I'm too embarrassed to leave their dog at the bottom of the well and just ignore it..."

In the babbling words, the two of them, one in front and one behind, finally headed towards the ancient relic, the so-called Nine Dragon Well in the Meteor Garden. When they arrived, they saw a well-protected ancient well, with a pavilion built above it and a plaque hanging that read "The First Pavilion in the World"... But the old Taoist priest led the young man to a side well.

Called a side well, but it was only eight new wells forcibly built to complete the Nine Dragon Well story of Lao Tzu's birth. It was not an ancient relic, but simply made of cement, sealed with cement at the bottom, two meters in diameter, and less than two meters deep... It was more like a wide-mouthed cement pit than a well.

The young man followed the old Taoist priest to one of the wells, stretched his head to look, and sure enough, there was a small pug lying motionless at the bottom of the well, more than one person deep, only occasionally kicking its legs to show that it was still alive. Around the dog was a pile of coins, copper coins, and other things for blessing.

Seeing this, the young man only frowned slightly and was about to put down his backpack and jump down directly. However, when he supported himself on the edge of the well with both hands, he didn't know why, but he felt unwilling to help with this small favor, as if going down the well this time would lead to death.

Seeing that the young man was so uncooperative, the old Taoist priest sighed and suddenly glared:

"If you're not going to save it, and you're not going to leave, are you mocking the whole world?!"

"It's just a dog, how is it related to the whole world?" The young man frowned instantly.

"In any case, since you agreed to my words, you should be honest, right?" The old Taoist priest leaned on his broom and rebuked forcefully. "Young people are hesitant and not honest. How will you enter society in the future?!"

The young man was just about to say that he had already found a job and was a member of society when the old Taoist priest suddenly raised his large broom and pushed with all his might, easily pushing the young man into the well.

After falling into the well, the young man only heard a dog bark and then became dizzy.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!! Your Majesty!!!"

In the daze after the dog's bark, Zhao Jiu vaguely heard voices again. He suddenly sat up from the cold tent, covered in sweat, his heart pounding like rain. After a while, he realized that he had just had a dream. The first half of the dream vividly recalled the beginning of everything that had led to the current situation, as if he had relived it; the second half was extremely absurd, but it seemed to be a self-expression in the dream.

"It's good that Your Majesty is awake." Yang Yizhong was also relieved to see this.

Zhao Jiu turned to look at Yang Yizhong, who also looked terrible, wiped a handful of sweat, and then勉力 comforted him: "Zhengfu (Yang Yizhong's courtesy name), don't worry, I just had a nightmare."

Yang Yizhong was cautious, hesitant to speak.

"Is something wrong?" Zhao Jiu asked instinctively.

"Grand Commandant Liu has crossed the river." Yang Yizhong said cautiously in a low voice.

"What?" Zhao Jiu was confused again. "Who?"

"Military Commissioner of Fengguo, Grand Commandant Liu, has led his troops across the river." Yang Yizhong was even more careful.

"I told him to send the old, weak, and excess local soldiers, but I didn't tell him to come, right?" Zhao Jiu seemed to recall an edict he had issued yesterday or this afternoon, but he was even more confused. "Is he afraid I'll punish him?"

Yang Yizhong looked extremely troubled.

"Tell me the truth!" Zhao Jiu was completely impatient. "What exactly is going on?"

"Grand Commandant Liu took the elite of his headquarters and seized the ferry boats, leaving the old, weak, and local soldiers in Xiacai." Yang Yizhong was clearly extremely embarrassed. "The commotion earlier in the evening was because Grand Commandant Liu personally led his troops to seize the ferry crossing in Xiacai city."

"How do you distinguish the elite and the old and weak under Liu Guangshi?" Zhao Jiu asked carefully in his confusion. He knew that Yang Yizhong came from Zhang Jun's subordinates.

"His three thousand Western Army headquarters, two thousand Wang Yecha troops, and three thousand Fu Qing troops surrendered from Jingdong, all came across the river intact." Yang Yizhong said through gritted teeth. "That's fine, but just now, I don't know if it was because of Grand Commandant Liu's instructions when he left, the last batch of Fu Qing's troops even set fire to the inner ferry of Xiacai when they left. Now Xiacai city and nearly 20,000 of Grand Commandant Zhang's troops in the city have become an isolated army... I was originally a forbidden army and shouldn't ask about this matter, but only after seeing the fire on the other side did I secretly go down to find acquaintances in the Western Army to inquire, and then I learned the inside story!"

Zhao Jiu was stunned for a long time, spending a lot of effort to figure out the specific situation of Yang Yizhong's report. When he suddenly woke up, he ignored the cold and immediately flipped out of the tent and ran to the top of Lin Huai Mountain, which had an excellent view. He saw that the ferry from the foot of Mount Bagong all the way to the bottleneck camp was crowded with people, and he didn't know how many soldiers had come. Sure enough, there was a raging fire somewhere in Xiacai city on the opposite bank.

The Zhao Emperor was completely茫然 at first, then filled with anger, blood rushing to his head. He was about to turn around and call for someone, but Yang Yizhong quickly chased after him from the tent and knelt down regardless, grabbing the Emperor tightly:

"Your Majesty must be patient! You must know that at this time, there are only a few thousand civilians near Mount Bagong, and the only available troops are Huyan Tong's troops and a few hundred guards. How can they be a match for Grand Commandant Liu's eight thousand elite troops?!"

Before he could finish speaking, someone came running from afar, a few eunuchs calling from afar: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Military Commissioner of Fengguo Grand Commandant Liu and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard Grand Commandant Wang, and Privy Councilor Wang, are here to see you!"

Yang Yizhong did not dare to speak any further after hearing this, but he could not help but use more force on his hands.

Zhao Jiu snorted coldly and shook him off with all his might. Under the illumination of the bonfire, his face was ferocious and seemed to be smiling, as if mocking himself: "Let them come! All of them! Prime Minister, Academician, Censor, and the generals in the camp, all come!"

ps: Continue to sacrifice the "Imperial Uncle of the Great Ming Dynasty" Yuzawa Guardian, the "Global Runaway" journey of Zhu GaoXu, the Prince of Han of the Great Ming Dynasty!

By the way, I continue to wish everyone a Happy New Year!