Xianxia version of Water Margin

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Nanjing of the Yuan Empire.

Don’t get me wrong, this Nanjing is not Hangzhou, but Jiangning.

Speaking of the matter of setting Nanjing, there are actually some twists and turns.

Because Jiang Hongfei has been in Hangzhou for some time, many people in Hangzhou are hoping that Jiang Hongfei will set Hangzhou as Nanjing.

To be honest, it makes sense to set Hangzhou as Nanjing.

Hangzhou has crisscrossing rivers and dense waterways, which can form a natural barrier. Moreover, during the Zhao Song Dynasty, Hangzhou has always been the economic, political, and cultural center of the southeast of the Zhao Song Dynasty. Zhao Gou’s Southern Song Dynasty even set up a small court in Hangzhou. In addition, some ministers who tend to set Hangzhou as Nanjing also pointed out that the Wuyue Kingdom used Hangzhou as its capital.

However, more ministers opposed setting Hangzhou as Nanjing.

These ministers pointed out that large separatist dynasties in the south of the Yangtze River generally set their capitals in Jiangning, such as the Eastern Wu, the Eastern Jin, the Southern Dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang, Chen, and the Southern Tang. Jiang Hongfei knew that the early Ming Dynasty and the Southern Ming Dynasty also used Jiangning as their capital.

Only the Southern Song Dynasty was special, and its capital was set in Hangzhou.

This was very rare among the Jiangnan dynasties.

The Southern Song Dynasty chose Hangzhou as its "capital" instead of Jiangning as its capital, which was actually mainly due to Zhao Gou's personal will.

First of all, it should be noted that although the Southern Song Dynasty lived in Jiangnan, it still wanted to recover the lost territory.

Therefore, the Southern Song Dynasty court always claimed that Hangzhou was only a temporary capital and would definitely fight back to Bianliang in the future.

In the legal sense, Hangzhou was not the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.

But Hangzhou had the actual function of a capital.

In addition, it should be noted that the Southern Song Dynasty only "set its capital" in Hangzhou later, but the first capital of the Southern Song Dynasty was in Nanjing Yingtianfu (that is, Shangqiu, Henan).

After Zhao Gou proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing Yingtianfu, he was chased by the Jin soldiers all the way to the south, and even fled to the sea for a period of time, and was ridiculed as a navigator.

Zhao Gou fled south to Hangzhou, where he upgraded the Hangzhou prefectural government office to a temporary palace, and made Xianning Temple the Shangshu Province. Later, Hangzhou was upgraded to Lin'an Prefecture, laying the foundation for "making the capital".

However, the war faction at the time did not want Zhao Gou to "make the capital" in Jiangnan.

Even if the "capital" was made in Jiangnan, the first choice should be Nanjing.

Ma Kuo had given Zhao Gou three strategies: the best strategy was for Zhao Gou to lead his troops out of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the middle strategy was for Zhao Gou to go north from Jingxiang, and the worst strategy was to stay in Nanjing, protect the Yangtze River defense line, and prepare warships for the northern expedition.

Ma Kuo's three strategies were all offensive. How could Zhao Gou have the mind to clean up the old rivers and mountains at that time? He would be thankful if he did not become a guest of Jin Wushu.

In addition, there was an official in Hangzhou at that time named Wei Fumin. After meeting Zhao Gou, he strongly argued that Hangzhou should not be "made the capital".

Wei Fumin believed that Hangzhou was more remote and isolated than Nanjing, which had the danger of the Yangtze River, and was not the most ideal location for the capital.

Some people say that Wuyue Kingdom also "established its capital" in Hangzhou?

Wei Fumin refuted: Wuyue Kingdom was a small kingdom that was isolated and safe, how could it be compared with a big country like the Song Dynasty? Besides, Qian Shi had no choice but to make Hangzhou the capital. Wuyue Kingdom had only thirteen states, and Hangzhou was the largest city.

Wei Fumin believed that the most suitable city to "establish its capital" in Jiangnan was only Jinling, that is, Jiangning Prefecture.

The reason given by Wei Fumin was: Jinling is connected by mountains and rivers, and is known as the world's dangerous fortress. If the "capital" is Jinling, it can cross the river to the north to recover lost territory, and retreat to defend half of Jiangnan. Moreover, to defend the Yangtze River, it is necessary to defend the Huai River first. As long as the Huai River defense line is defended and heavy troops are placed in Shouyang, Hefei, Jiujiang, Wuchang, Jiangling, and Xiangyang, the Jin soldiers will not be able to cross the Huai River and face the Yangtze River. In this way, Jinling will be safe, and if Jinling is safe, Jiangnan will be safe.

At that time, the Jin soldiers had crossed the Yangtze River and captured Hangzhou, and Zhao Gou ran for his life.

After that, the Jin soldiers used Hangzhou as a temporary headquarters.

Hangzhou was not in their hands, let alone "making the capital" in Jinling.

After the Jin soldiers withdrew from Jiangnan, Zhao Gou shyly returned to Lin'an, calling it "temporary residence".

At that time, Zhao Gou sent eunuch Yang Gongbi to start building a palace in Hangzhou, which further showed that Zhao Gou had made up his mind to "make Hangzhou the capital".

In the first month of the following year, Zhao Gou returned to Hangzhou, and from then on "the warm wind intoxicated the tourists, and they thought Hangzhou was Bianzhou." Even at the end of the year, a fire broke out in Hangzhou and burned down many official residences, Zhao Gou was reluctant to leave Hangzhou.

Zhao Gou's loyal minister Zhang Jun did not agree with Zhao Gou's "making the capital" in Hangzhou, and he still insisted that the "capital" should be Jinling.

Zhang Jun said: "In the southeast, Nanjing is the most important. If the Song Dynasty wants to revive, it must "establish its capital" in Nanjing. Hangzhou is good in every way, but its location is too far to the southeast, which is not conducive to the Northern Expedition and winning the hearts of people near and far."

In fact, Zhao Gou was not unaware of the importance of Nanjing.

But on the issue of "establishing the capital", Zhao Gou still preferred Hangzhou.

Why?

Zhao Gou said a lot.

But in the final analysis, there is one reason: he hopes that the new capital is as far away from the border of the Jin Kingdom as possible.

Ningling is indeed dangerous by the Yangtze River, but the Jin soldiers have not attacked Nanjing.

Moreover, weren't all the dynasties that "established their capital" in Nanjing destroyed by the northern dynasties crossing the river?

Zhao Gou felt that as long as the Huai River was guarded, the Jin soldiers would find it difficult to cross the Yangtze River again.

And if the Yangtze River was guarded, Nanjing would be safe, and Hangzhou, which is located further south than Nanjing, would naturally be safer.

Another point is that if the "capital" was established in Nanjing, if the Jin soldiers crossed the Yangtze River again, Zhao Gou would have to go to sea for refuge, so it would be more convenient to go to sea in Hangzhou.

——Zhao Gou had to travel hundreds of miles on land to reach the sea from Jinling. The cavalry of the Jin soldiers was invincible. Even if he ran as hard as he could, could he outrun the Jin cavalry? He might be killed by the Jin soldiers on the way.

Of course, there were economic reasons as well.

In the Song Dynasty, with the Wuyue Kingdom in the lead, Hangzhou's economy was better than Jinling's.

Moreover, the economic centers of Jiangnan, such as Suzhou, Changzhou, Shaoxing, and Ningbo, were mostly concentrated around Hangzhou.

Therefore, "setting the capital" in Hangzhou would make it more convenient for the court to eat and drink.

Considering all factors, Zhao Gou set the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty in Hangzhou instead of Jinling.

Jiang Hongfei was not Zhao Gou who had made up his mind to live in seclusion. He would not have chosen Hangzhou instead of Jiangning as Nanjing.

Moreover, some of Jiang Hongfei's ministers had made it very clear to Jiang Hongfei.

Jiangning Prefecture is safe because of the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. It is a grain production base and will not be short of grain. It has convenient transportation and waterways. It can remotely control the Central Plains and manage the entire southern region from Jiangning Prefecture.

In this process, there are also some "alternative ways", such as asking Jiang Hongfei to set Fuzhou as Nanjing. The reason they gave was that Fuzhou was originally the center of the Yuan Empire in the southeast and had a very good ruling foundation. They also said that Fujian was surrounded by Shandong on three sides and close to the sea, which was safer than Jiangning Prefecture and Hangzhou.

Although Jiang Hongfei would not punish these people for their words, he directly put them on the blacklist in his heart.

Those who made these suggestions either had ulterior motives or were brainless.

Fuzhou can be said to be one of the least suitable places to be the capital. It is remote, inconvenient for transportation, and it doesn't produce grain. Why set Fuzhou as Nanjing? Playing with suffocation?

It's a pity that these people can come up with so many reasons!

Finally, Jiang Hongfei overcame all objections and designated Jiangning Prefecture as Nanjing of the Yuan Empire. He sent people to build Nanjing immediately and built his own palace in Nanjing.

After more than a year of construction, Jiangning Prefecture, renamed Yingtian Prefecture by Jiang Hongfei, was finally completed, and Jiang Hongfei moved into his own palace.

Today's Nanjing City.

The outer city is more than 20 miles in radius, and the moat is more than 20 feet wide. Willows are planted inside and outside the moat, and people are forbidden to come and go behind the white walls and red houses.

The city gates are all three-layered urn-shaped cities with curved doors, which are daunting.

After entering the city, a war tent is set up every hundred steps to command and guard, and secret sentries are set up, which looks awesome.

The city's tooth roads are shaded by various willows.

The transportation inside and outside the city is very convenient, and the rivers inside and outside the city are crisscrossed, and water transportation is busy.

The streets are prosperous, with a constant flow of traffic. There are countless shops in the streets and alleys, including brothels, teahouses, incense shops, hookers, pharmacies, boot shops, horse shops, wine shops, and tile markets. It can be said that there is everything you need. Business is booming, business is booming, and the service is thoughtful. There are also many public facilities that did not exist in this era, such as the large-scale schools and large-scale medical clinics that Jiang Hongfei specially instructed to build, which are refreshing.

Jiang Hongfei's palace is even more extraordinary, with magnificent buildings, pavilions, flying dragons, golden nails and red doors, and strict guards.

All government offices are nearby, and warehouses are also gathered together, which is very convenient.

People from other places, or even from foreign countries, who come to Nanjing, see such a city of Nanjing, all sigh at the power of the Yuan Empire, and a capital so prosperous.

And people in the southeast are all proud of Nanjing.

Only those who have truly experienced war and persecution are more eager for peace and know the value of peace.

The key is that Jiang Hongfei not only brought them peace, but also brought them a better life.

Nanjing is the best change.

People in Jiangnan are therefore more and more respectful of Jiang Hongfei.

Of course, this is what Jiang Hongfei deserves.

Jiang Hongfei came to Nanjing, no, in the past two or three years when he went south, and carried out drastic reforms in the south.

The most important of these is the industrial revolution.

It can be said that the industrial revolution promoted by Jiang Hongfei has made great contributions to the rapid recovery and development of the south.

Moreover, in addition to his own reforms, Jiang Hongfei also allowed others to reform.

Jiang Hongfei is not like the previous rulers. For reforms, he either resolutely opposes and fears them like a tiger; or firmly supports them without caring about the consequences; or supports them today and does not support them tomorrow, and changes his mind every day, let alone compromise.

Jiang Hongfei is very creative in proposing the "experimental field system".

That is, no matter what reform, a reform area will be divided first for experimentation. If the experiment is successful, it will be vigorously promoted. If the experiment fails, the reasons for the failure will be summarized first, and then collective efforts will be made to find remedial measures. Once it is confirmed that the reform cannot be carried out or there are huge loopholes that cannot be remedied, it will be decisively abandoned.

The "experimental field system" proposed by Jiang Hongfei provided the most feasible and safest system for reform, giving reformers the opportunity to unleash their enthusiasm and allowing conservatives to control these reforms, so that the Yuan Empire would not have the same conservative and reformist disputes as Wang Anshi and Sima Guang. The problems that the Zhao Song Dynasty had been arguing about for decades and could not be solved were easily solved by Jiang Hongfei.

In short, every time Jiang Hongfei made a move, people could see his brilliance and unparalleled wisdom.

Although Jiang Hongfei was a genius, he did not take power. He grasped what he should grasp and let go of what he should let go without dragging his feet. He was very daring to use people, allowing the vast majority of civil and military officials to realize their life values.

How could such a Jiang Hongfei not be respected and loved by them?

Under Jiang Hongfei's governance, the national strength of the Yuan Empire was booming.

What made the Yuan Empire even more excited from top to bottom was that the Yuan Empire completely destroyed the Japanese Dynasty and the Goryeo Dynasty and incorporated these two large areas into the territory of the Yuan Empire.

By the way, the reason why the Yuan Empire recovered so quickly after the war and was able to carry out the Industrial Revolution was mainly because the Yuan Empire seized the accumulation of hundreds of years of the Goryeo Dynasty and the Japanese Dynasty, and the two places provided a large blood transfusion to the Yuan Empire.

Otherwise, even with Jiang Hongfei's leadership, the Yuan Empire would not have achieved such great achievements today.

Nowadays, although the Yuan Empire has not yet completed the great unification, the territory of the Yuan Empire has long exceeded most dynasties in history, including Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Song Dynasty, only slightly worse than the Tang Dynasty.

The land area is one of the best in history, the country is well governed, and none of the neighbors can pose a threat to the Yuan Empire. The national strength is strong and prosperous.

The key is that the remaining Fang La has been surrounded by the Yuan Empire.

Moreover, if outsiders don't know, how can people in the southeast not know?

At the end of the Zhao Song Dynasty, several emperors had no experience in governing the government. There were also many corrupt officials in the local area, which made life difficult for the people. Especially in the south of the Yangtze River, the people lost their fields and had no extra food, so they could only eat tree bark. Some officials also reported the situation to the court, but they did not get relief from Zhao Ji. Other court ministers also concealed the matter. Zhao Ji and his ministers also launched the Flower and Stone Gang. Because of the suffering of the people, Fang La saw an opportunity. He preached the Manichean doctrine and had many followers.

Fang La went deep into the people and could better understand the people's hardships. As more and more believers came, Fang La also set up some leadership organizations and began to lead troops to revolt. Under the banner of anti-Song, the rebels quickly gathered hundreds of thousands of soldiers. These soldiers quickly captured the surrounding cities and occupied half of Jiangnan.

Although Fang La had many soldiers under his command, his strength was relatively weak. Fang La's soldiers had not received much training. When fighting, he often needed several times more troops to compete with the Zhao Song Dynasty's army. Fang La was also unable to mass-produce weapons. Many soldiers had no armor and could not kill the enemy on the battlefield, and could only be cannon fodder. Fang La also did not have enough food and grass as a backup.

The Zhao Song Dynasty's army also had hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Compared with Fang La's rebel army, it was considered to be strong and good at fighting.

If it were not for the southeastern part of the Yuan Empire, Fang La would have been wiped out by Tong Guan.

In fact, the Chinese are the easiest to govern. As long as there is a bite to eat, most people will not follow Fang La.

Most of Fang La's men were believers, and some were hungry and disappointed with the court. There were still not many people who dared to follow the rebels.

This caused Fang La to be unable to quickly recover his strength when he failed, and he could not get food and grass support.

When the people were oppressed, they had many complaints about the court. Fang La also seized the opportunity and chose to revolt. In the early days of the uprising, Fang La also developed well and occupied a large territory. But Fang La did not have many people who could govern the local area. They only used religious means to paralyze their subordinates.

Fang La's army's killing methods were very cruel. Whenever they caught Song Dynasty officials, they would cut their flesh, cut their bodies, take their lungs and intestines, or boil them into ointment, blindly retaliate, and hope to scare away other city guards.

This led to Fang La and his men bringing only destruction, no construction.

In today's western Zhejiang region, cities frequently change hands, and people are displaced. The once prosperous streets and alleys are now only broken walls and overgrown with weeds, like a purgatory on earth. As far as the eye can see, there are pieces of white bones, shining with dazzling white light in the sun. They were once living lives with their own dreams and ties, but now they can only silently tell the tragedy of the past.

"No cockcrows for a thousand miles", this is not only a poem, but also the most realistic portrayal of western Zhejiang. Once upon a time, the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs were the most common scenes in the rural areas of western Zhejiang, and they were symbols of peace and harmony; now, the silence is so palpitating that even the most tenacious life seems to have lost the courage to survive on this land. The fields are barren, the crops are not cultivated, the once fertile land has become barren, and hunger and death are like shadows, shrouding every corner.

Comparing Jiang Hongfei and Fang La, the difference is obvious.

Comparing the Yuan Empire and the Yongle Dynasty, one is a paradise on earth, and the other is a hell on earth.

Over the past year, with the implementation of the strategies of Sun Jing, Wu Yong and others, a large number of people in western Zhejiang have escaped and embraced a new life.

There are not many stubborn elements left.

The reason why these people did not surrender is not because they did not want to surrender, but because they did not dare to surrender.

Jiang Hongfei and the Yuan Empire did not accept Manichaeism, and even made it clear that they wanted to destroy it. They were all the most loyal followers of Manichaeism. If they surrendered, they would be betraying their beliefs.

If so, first of all, their beliefs would collapse, and most importantly, they would be executed by those religious lunatics.

There was no other way, they could only resist to the end, and they would not stop until they died!

And Jiang Hongfei and his ministers saw that the time had come to destroy Fang La and Manichaeism, so they no longer hesitated and prepared to take action...

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