end song

September 23.

When Wang Xun rushed to Wanshou Xingguo Temple, he saw Liu Bingzhong walking out of the ancient temple.

In today's Yuan Dynasty, Liu Bingzhong was an official of Guanglu, Taibao, and Lieutenant of Zhongshu.

The figure stood in front of the temple gate, as if it had merged with the temple behind him.

Looking at this scene, Wang Xun was inexplicably sad.

I can't explain the reason for this sadness, but in short, recently, I often feel a sense of frustration of falling short, and a sense of loneliness when the song is over.

"Sir." Wang Xun stepped forward, saluted as a disciple, and then persuaded: "Sir, you should not come here."

He is indeed Liu Bingzhong's disciple.

Wang Xun was born in a family of officials in the Kingdom of Jin. He was intelligent and eager to learn since he was a child.

When he arrived, Liu Bingzhong recommended him to Kublai Khan and became Zhenjin's companion.The next year, because of his outstanding talent, he was promoted to the teacher of Zhenjin.

Now Wang Xun is only 32 years old, and he has already worshiped the prince of the Yuan Dynasty to offer wine.

Besides Guo Shoujing, he is considered one of Liu Bingzhong's best students.

But the conversation between teachers and students today has nothing to do with academics.

"Zhang Hongfan has found out that Dong Wenzhi and Dong Wenyi invited Zhang Hongji to meet at this Wanshou Xingguo Temple that day. Mister should avoid this place."

"There's no one left," Liu Bingzhong said.

He looked into the distance, and saw that all the projects under construction in the new city of Yuan Dadu had stopped.

The bustling scene of the past has disappeared, and all craftsmen and laborers have been conscripted into the army.

"Zhang Yi is dead, Zhang Rou has been imprisoned. Your Majesty has come down twice to screen out those with ulterior motives. Who can conspire with me in the new city of Dadu? I come to Wanshou Xingguo Temple to worship Buddha." of."

"Students understand, and His Majesty must also understand." Wang Xun said: "It's just why do you bother to offend Your Majesty at this time?"

This is a very simple official reason. The Dong family brothers met Zhang Hongji in this place, but Liu Bingzhong just returned to Yanjing from Kaiping City and ran over again. Of course, Kublai Khan would be unhappy.

Liu Bingzhong said: "I am a Buddhist layman and a Confucian scholar. I am only because of Buddhism and Confucianism. If I am afraid of His Majesty's displeasure, and I don't even come to the temple, I will not be me."

"The students have been taught." After hearing this, Wang Xun saluted again, and helped Liu Bingzhong walk out of the city.

They are all from the family of officials in the Kingdom of Jin. Their ancestors surrendered to the Mongolian Kingdom. They must have thoughts of greed for life, fear of death, and greed for glory, but they chose Kublai Khan instead of Ali Buge and Haidu, which is a compromise. There is also persistence.

This insistence is part of Liu Bingzhong's "I". He is a lay Buddhist and a Confucian scholar.

And Kublai Khan once respected and tolerated his persistence, so he had Dayuan.

There must be this kind of respect and tolerance between the monarch and his ministers in order to get along with each other.

Therefore, Liu Bingzhong is still here today.

On the way back, I passed the gate of the city, and when I looked up, I could see that the city was covered with human heads.

Those were the heads of more than 250 members of the Dong family, as well as Zhang Xiongfei and others.

Although he had already seen it once when he came, Liu Bingzhong still stopped when he left, squinting his old eyes, and recognized those faces.

He knew too many people, even his best friends.

After a while, Wang Xun talked about some gossip and said: "Two days ago, Zhang Hongfan drank with his friends and wrote a poem titled "Sending Clothes". Sending clothes to you and you are cold. Whether you send them or not, the concubine’s life will be very difficult.'”

Liu Bingzhong's eyes were gradually turning red. After listening to this poem, he shook his head and said, "Is it difficult for me to be a concubine?"

The meaning of shaking his head seemed to be expressing his disapproval of Zhang Hongfan's word "difficult".

Zhang Hongfan completely pushed the treason case to Dong Wenzhi and others, but took out the Zhang family. In the eyes of everyone, this kind of behavior can only be described as "despicable".

The impact of this matter also caused the Zhang family's prestige to plummet, and they have been vigilant by all the nobles in the north and cast aside by all the scholars.

As far as Da Yuan was concerned, the execution of the Dong family obviously deterred many ready-to-move thoughts and temporarily stabilized the situation in Yanjing.But some rifts also seem to go deeper...

"That's Zhang Xiongfei, right?" Liu Bingzhong asked after identifying it for a while.

"Yes, he is also involved in Zhang Yi's case."

"Zhang Xiongfei is from Xuzhou." Liu Bingzhong said, "Zhangde, Daming and other Lu Xuanfu envoys You Xian are also from Xuzhou."

"Sir, you mean Zhang Xiongfei and You Xian know each other?"

"After Xuzhou was massacred, only those [-] or so families survived. It's hard not to know them."

"Since Zhang Xiongfei rebelled, is it possible that You Xian will surrender?"

"I didn't expect Li Xia to enter the army so quickly. It was unexpected. I'm afraid he will arrive in Xingzhou soon." Liu Bingzhong just returned from Kaiping City and said, "Write a letter to my second brother and ask him to take the princes to Yanzhou." Take refuge in Beijing."

"Students will do it now."

When mentioning Xingzhou, Wang Xun's eyes were also full of worry.

But there was another thought in his mind that he didn't express.

He heard that Guo Shoujing had already surrendered to Li Xia and was very popular.In this way, with such an important minister from Xingzhou, the Tang army should not cause too much damage...

Continuing to move forward, they returned to the dilapidated old city of Jinzhongdu.

When he entered the city, he saw the arrest document pasted on the wall next to the city gate, and the person who was arrested was a person Liu Bingzhong knew—Bai Hua.

Liu Bingzhong glanced at the notice lightly, and a look of worry flashed in his eyes.

When he arrived at the residence, he saw another disciple anxiously standing there pacing. As soon as he saw Liu Bingzhong, he rushed up in a few steps.

"Sir, something has happened."

When Liu Bingzhong heard the tone, he immediately had a premonition, twisted his long beard and asked, "Did Bai Wenju be found?"

Although he was worried, in fact he couldn't save Bai Hua at all.

After all, what Bai Hua committed was a serious crime of treason, and the evidence is solid, whoever touches it will die.

"No, it's Bai Hua's son, Bai Pu Bai Tai Su, who was escorted back to Yanjing."

"Tai Su?" Liu Bingzhong was both surprised and worried, and said, "Is Tai Su implicated?"

When Wang Xun heard this, he immediately became anxious.

"Brother Tai Su has never asked about political affairs. The recent big cases have nothing to do with him. What are you going to do with him?"

"Sir, please save Taisu? Bai Taisu is the only one who can inherit Mr. Yishan's mantle in our northern literary world."

"Let's go."

Without much hesitation, Liu Bingzhong hurried to Daning Palace again.

~~
Daning Palace.

Kublai Khan was discussing with Sangge from Tubo, Sai Dianchi from Hui, Ali, Kudu Daer and others about increasing taxes to expand the army.

Brother Sang is a Buddhist monk who used to be an attendant of Bhaspa. He followed Bhasba to Beijing and met Kublai Khan.Because he was knowledgeable, could speak various languages, and knew how to please Kublai Khan, Kublai Khan recruited him.

At the beginning, Sang Ge only served as an official of the General Assembly.Now seeing that the Dayuan war is going on concurrently and there is an urgent shortage of military supplies, he advises Kublai Khan, showing his ability to manage money, and has been reused even more.

Today, as soon as he opened his mouth, he put forward another opinion that made Kublai Khan Longyan very happy.

"Great Khan, I think monks, Taoists, and Catholics who have wives and families and do not abide by the religious rules should be naturalized as civilian households. In this way, the Great Khan can collect their taxes and make up for their missed payments in the past. taxes."

Ali laughed as soon as he heard it, and said, "Brother Sang, you mean the monk with a wife, right? Liu Bingzhong? Do you want the sweat to collect taxes from him?"

Kududa'er had long been displeased with these Han people. When he saw someone mocking the Han people, he immediately laughed and said, "In order not to pay taxes, Liu Bingzhong always dressed in rags on purpose, hahaha..."

Kublai Khan was not happy to hear these words.

Because he was the one who ordered Dou Mo to marry his daughter to Liu Bingzhong.The purpose is not to let Liu Bingzhong become a monk, but to be his courtier.

But Brother Sang's proposal was indeed good, and Kublai agreed.

At this moment, Xue Xue came over and reported: "Khan, Liu Bingzhong and Wang Xun are asking to see you."

When Kublai Khan heard it, he was still happy. After all, Liu Bingzhong was a think tank who had been advising him since the Qiandi. Now that the Great Yuan was in danger, it was time for these former Qiandi ministers to show their wisdom again.

"Haha, Ben Khan's Secretary Cong is here, please sit down. We are discussing the matter of increasing taxes for conscription, and Secretary Cong has an idea."

Liu Bingzhong was very smart, he didn't bring up his intention right away, but started talking along the lines of the topic.

"Your Majesty, don't worry. Ever since Thief Li entered the country, he has not won much victories on the battlefield. The reason he attacked all the way to Hebei is that many defenders surrendered to him. To defeat him, the important thing is not how many troops you have. , but the human heart..."

After talking about this topic for a long time, when Kublai Khan asked how to stabilize people's hearts, Liu Bingzhong once again brought up the idea of ​​governing the country with tolerance and benevolence.

But in the end, unavoidable, he still made a request to Kublai Khan.

"I heard that Bai Pu has now been escorted back to Yanjing. This talent is known far and wide, and is known as the No. 1 of Dayuan's lyrics and music. If your majesty kills him, he will lose the hearts of scholars in the world. Why don't you recruit him as an official and use him as an official?" To show His Majesty's mercy?"

Kublai Khan's eyes gradually turned cold, and he asked, "Secretary Cong came here just for this matter today?"

Liu Bingzhong had sensed his sullenness and was about to explain.

Suddenly another coward Xue came forward and said, "Khan, Dou Mo, Xu Heng, Zhang Wenqian, Hao Jing, Zhao Bi, Shang Ting and others are asking to see you."

"Okay, all the veterans of Ben Khan's shogunate have come to intercede."

Liu Bingzhong shivered, feeling Kublai Khan's anger growing, and said quickly: "Your Majesty, I have absolutely no selfish intentions, it's all out of consideration for Your Majesty."

However, the news that added fuel to the fire was not over, and before a word was finished, another messenger rushed in.

"Khan, Wugu brought an urgent report that You Xian has defected to Li Xia, and the Tang army has surrounded Xingzhou."

As soon as he heard the word "Xingzhou", Kublai Khan looked into the eyes of Liu Bingzhong and Wang Xun, and asked again.

"An extremely smart person like Secretary Cong thought that You Xian would surrender?"

"minister……"

Liu Bingzhong wanted to deny it at first, but he was not sure whether the conversation with Wang Xun today would spread, so he was at a loss for words.

"Why didn't you remind Ben Khan?" Kublai Khan asked again: "You came here to intercede for Bai Pu when you had time, but you didn't remind Ben Khan Zhangde that his name would be lost. Is this what you mean by considering Ben Khan?"

Standing aside, Kudu Da'er looked at Liu Bingzhong, who was always talking and laughing happily, with sweat on his forehead, and felt a rare breath of malice.

He couldn't help but bowed his ear and said to Sang Ge: "Look at the ugly appearance of these Han people, they are all disloyal dogs..."