It was the ninth day of March in the fourteenth year of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The morning light shines on the table, a newspaper is spread out, and what comes into view is a row of large characters.
"The pirates invaded the south, and the Mongolian chieftains invaded the Central Plains!"
Kublai Khan was stunned for a moment, and his narrow and sharp eyes narrowed, looking very focused.
"The person from Haidu is the grandson of Wo Kuotai..."
Most of the next page is an introduction to the Ogedai family.
First, the deeds of Wokuotai who brutally raped and stabbed women in the tribe of Ori, poisoned his brothers, and expropriated money were recounted again, and then he described in detail the burning, killing, and plundering of Haidu in the Yinli River Basin.
Only then did Kublai Khan realize that according to the laws of the Han people, being unkind to the people of the world would be a breach of morality. When he came to the throne, he could have punished Wokuotai and abolished his title of Khan.
"After all, the system of Great Mongolia is still immature." He thought to himself.
Looking further back, it is the battle where Haidu sent troops to attack Hetao. The defenders of the Tang Dynasty struggled to maintain the tranquility of the border fortress.
Through the descriptions in the newspapers, what struck me was the brutality of Haidu.
Kublai Khan naturally hated Haidu, and was angry that the other party stole the Great Mongolia while he was fighting with Li Xia. What he felt even more was Haidu's despicability and shame.
So at this time, one can't help but wonder whether Haidu is really so powerful, or whether Li Xia is marching north to deliberately incite public opinion.
It concerns the Great Mongolia, and he cares more about the trends of this war than ever before.
However, when I flipped through it further, I found that the pages at the back were already talking about other things, most of which were about teaching people how to farm.
We can only wait for tomorrow's newspaper.
All day long, Kublai Khan could not calm down while studying and practicing calligraphy. His mind was full of predicting the progress of the war and speculating on whether there was a way to use this war to escape back to Mongolia and make a comeback.
He has been imprisoned for ten years and has greatly improved his situation by passing exams again and again.
Now he is no longer living in a cell, but in a second-entry courtyard, but it is surrounded by high walls and is heavily guarded.
Officials in Peiping allowed Chabi and his other wife, Nuhan, to serve him in his daily life.
Although the life is simple, poor and boring, it can be called peaceful.
Kublai Khan did not lose his ambition.
Just like an eagle, even if it is locked in a cage, it will not turn into a chicken.
He looked at the high courtyard wall and had a premonition that the day of flying high was coming soon...
The next day.
With a "click" sound, a small window next to the door was opened, and a tray was handed in, which contained the food and some small items needed for today.
Nuhan was still waiting there, holding the tray and placing it in Kublai Khan's study.
The study room is very clean, filled with the smell of paper and ink.
The bookshelves on both sides are filled with books.
Hanging on the wall is Kublai Khan's calligraphy, which he practiced diligently in preparation for the assessment.
Kublai Khan did not go to get the newspaper himself, which was his magnanimity.
At this time, he was already sitting beside the bookcase, staring at the newspaper from the moment Nuhan entered the room.
Finally, he unfolded the newspaper and read attentively.
"Huang Daogu improved the cotton textile technology, and the sound of the machine warmed the world."
The front page is this row of regular script characters.
Kublai Khan was slightly stunned. He flipped through the newspaper and searched carefully for a long time, but he never found any follow-up information about the war.
This is not right.
How can we stop mentioning the incident in Haidu?
He threw the newspaper in his hand on the ground angrily, having no interest in reading boring articles about Huang Daogu's improvement of cotton spinning.
But there was nothing else to do all day long. In the afternoon, Kublai Khan finally picked up the newspaper.
"Huang Daogu, a native of Wunijing in Songzhi, was imprisoned in Yazhou. In the eleventh year of the founding of the Tong Dynasty, she first encountered a merchant ship returning..."
In the following days, the daily newspapers no longer mentioned the war.
Kublai Khan felt more and more strange.
Until a thought suddenly came to my mind - it couldn't be that the Tang army was defeated, right?
Although it is difficult to accept that Haidu can defeat the Tang army, after thinking about it, this seems to be the most likely outcome.
Although Li Xia was powerful, he only defeated Zhao and Song Dynasty. His troops were dispersed to the south to guard, and the battlefield with Haidu was in the grassland after all.
"That's fine."
Kublai Khan looked up at the sky and murmured to himself: "Two tigers are fighting. I believe I will be able to see Li Xia again soon."
~~
March 16th.
Li Xia and Zhang Jue walked on the city wall of Peiping.
From the city wall, the city is quite empty, especially since Beiping City covers a vast area and is large in scale, making it even more sparsely populated.
Compared with the Guanzhong and Hetao areas, the development in the north now seems a bit slow.
This is of course not a problem of Zhang Jue's governance, but the trauma left by years of war.
"If we don't return to Han rule for three hundred and forty years, the governance of Beiping will be a difficult problem in the future."
"I have also seen clearly over the years in Yandi that the barbarism here is too serious."
"The Jin drove away the Song Dynasty, and the Mongols destroyed the Jin Dynasty. The people have been displaced for too long, and they have lost the concept of homeland and nation." Li Xia said: "This cannot be changed overnight."
"It's not that there are no benefits." Zhang Jue said: "Now the people who are clamoring the most for killing back to Mobei are the surrendered Mongolian cavalry."
"Brother Jun Yu has not fought for many years, so he must be unable to sit still?"
"I have always dreamed of riding in the desert and being a wolf. Now I am said to be the founding hero of the country. According to the history of Qing Dynasty, I am just on a par with the likes of Zhao Pu."
Nowadays, Zhang Jue obviously looks down on Zhao Pu. When he said this, he curled his lips slightly, then his face became solemn, and he continued: "Only when the imperial court is destroyed can we emulate Li Weigong's ambition!"
Li Xia smiled and said, "Send troops when you're ready."
"Aren't you waiting for the royal decree?"
"I told you to send troops."
Zhang Jue was overjoyed, pounded his breastplate, and said: "After eight years of preparation, I have a very good understanding of the terrain of Mobei. For this battle, it is enough to bring only three thousand elite cavalry, but I will not be burdened by the baggage."
"Brother Jun Yu, it's good if you are confident." Li Xia said, "I just need to be prepared to govern Mobei after winning the battle..."
~~
The yard is still clean.
Kublai Khan, who was holding a book and reading, turned his head and murmured: "Someone is coming...do you hear the chains ringing?"
Chabi listened for a while, then quickly got up and rushed to the small courtyard.
It was indeed the chains that were ringing.
Afterwards, with a "squeak" sound, the courtyard door was slowly opened.
Chabi was very excited because this had not happened for a long, long time. The last time Zhang Jue came to see Kublai Khan.
She stared straight at the door until she saw a figure standing there, and she was stunned.
The people outside the door also froze there. It took a while before they made a sound.
"Eji."
"Yue Lie?"
Chabi took two steps closer, glanced at the other person's Han-style uniform, and then moved it to his face before he dared to recognize him.
"Yuelie, Eji almost didn't recognize you!"
"Eji." Yuelie was already crying loudly. He rushed forward and hugged Chabi, "I've made you suffer!"
There was another creaking sound, and the guard had closed the door again.
"..."
Kublai Khan had already walked to the door of the house, looking at the scene that happened in front of him, with a look of thought in his eyes.
He coughed twice, walked to the chair in the room, put his hands on his knees, and sat down in a majestic posture.
After a while, Yue Lie and Cha Bi came in.
"How did you get here?" Kublai Khan asked.
His Chinese is very fluent without any accent.
When Yuelie spoke to Chabi, he was still speaking in Mongolian, but now he responded in Chinese: "I begged your majesty, and your majesty agreed."
In comparison, her Chinese is not very good.
"Li Xia?"
Kublai Khan was a little surprised, and then he looked at his daughter carefully.
She was only fifteen or sixteen years old when they separated. Now, eight years later, she has grown from a dark-skinned prairie girl to a grown-up girl. She is dressed like a Han woman, her skin is much fairer, and she has lipstick on her lips. She has a charming temperament.
It's so different from the past.
"You became Li Xia's woman?"
Yue Lie did not answer, but lowered his head.
Kublai Khan asked again, and after waiting for a long time, he heard her say "hmm".
"I have no choice." Yue Lie raised his head, his eyes that were already red from crying became even redder, "Father Khan, I have no choice but to serve him..."
"Have you given birth to a child?" Kublai Khan seemed a little surprised, and leaned forward a little, "Is it a son?"
Yue Lie shook his head and said: "Not yet."
"Incompetent." Kublai Khan couldn't help but be disappointed and asked again: "Are you not favored?"
"yes."
Kublai Khan shook his head and sighed, stood up and took a few steps. He had so many things to ask that he didn't know what to ask first. He thought about it and asked first: "How is the battle between Li Xia and Haidu?"
"How did Father Khan know about the war?"
"I read newspapers and know the world's affairs." Kublai Khan continued to ask: "Did the Tang army lose?"
Yue Lie nodded quickly and said in an excited tone: "Yes, I heard that Haidu's cavalry is very powerful. Li Xia is very angry. Maybe Haidu can rescue Father Khan?"
"You are wrong." Kublai Khan said: "Haidu is also an enemy of this Khan. He even wants me to die more than Li Xia."
Yue Lie was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't know what to do.
Kublai Khan slowly pondered: "Is Li Xia coming to Dadu for the sake of the host kings?"
"My daughter doesn't know."
"At that time, the kings of the East Road chose to support Ben Khan and had a grudge with Ali Buge's supporters. In order to occupy Mobei, Haidu was bound to win over the kings of the West Road, and they were definitely at odds with the kings of the East Road. Therefore, Li Xia came to Dadu, probably for the purpose of alliance
Kings of the East."
Speaking of the situation in Mongolia, Kublai Khan finally regained the momentum of the Great Khan.
"I have been waiting for this opportunity for many years. After you go back, please remind Li Xia that if you want to defeat Haidu, I need Ben Khan to help him..."
On this day, Yue Lie was sent away, and Kublai Khan was waiting for Li Xia's summons.
He would open the "Wuyue Chunqiu" from time to time, reaching out and touching the pages that had been turned out with rough edges.
"In ten years Gou Jian destroyed Wu Ji, and in seven days Bao Xu wept for Chu's heart."
However, after waiting for many days, Li Xia was still not summoned.
At first, Kublai Khan was still thinking that Li Xia was trying to temper him, but as time passed, he finally couldn't stand it anymore.
Once you have expectations, it will be much more difficult than the calm days before.
Kublai Khan felt that he was going crazy. He couldn't sleep all night long and wanted to analyze the situation, but there was no news.
Finally, more than a month later, the door opened again.
"The Emperor summons you!"
Kublai Khan's fingers couldn't help but tremble, and his heart beat uncontrollably.
He believed that many of Li Xia's loyal ministers were not as excited as he was at this moment when they met the saint.
~~
In these years, Liu Bingzhong, who was better at building cities, was transferred to Fengzhou to take charge of building Fengzhou New City. Instead, the Peking Palace was built by Zhang Jue.
Zhang Jue had only participated in the repair of Diaoyu City and had no experience in building palace cities at all. It was simply built with the materials of ordinary houses. There were no gold bricks or gold paint. It looked very simple and plain.
Anyway, Li Xia hasn't officially issued the decree to move the capital yet, so he built it in the name of a temporary palace.
Fortunately, it occupies a large enough area, and although it is not luxurious, it still looks grand.
Kublai Khan walked through the empty square and walked around the three main halls of the front palace. Looking at this palace that belonged to him, he couldn't help but hate that Li Xia even built a palace with his own foundation and walls.
The audience was arranged in a side hall behind the three main halls. The three characters "Wuying Hall" were written on the plaque. I wonder if Li Xia wanted to mock him deliberately.
In fact, this was the first time Kublai Khan met Li Xia since he was defeated and captured.
"Xuan, Doctor Yinqing Guanglu has an audience with Kublai Khan!"
After hearing the announcement, Kublai Khan entered the palace, glanced around, and was surprised again.
The hall was not as he expected with several important ministers discussing matters, but instead a banquet was being held. The ministers were sitting in two rows, with wine and food placed on their respective eucalyptus tables.
Looking around again, you can see many old acquaintances.
Some Mongolian clansmen who were captured and surrendered early, such as Brother Yixiang, Hu Lahuer, some Han officials such as Li Dehui and Yao Shu, as well as some princes of the Zhang family, Shi family, Yan family and so on.
And the person sitting at the front is, after all, Li Xia's Yuan Cong.
Seeing Kublai Khan come in, everyone in the hall fell silent.
"minister……"
After a while, Kublai Khan had no choice but to break the silence, speaking with some difficulty.
If he didn't want to suffer this kind of humiliation, he could just stay in that small courtyard. As long as there was no trouble, since Li Xia wanted to take away his subjects, he wouldn't make it too difficult for him.
But what brought him here at this time was a kind of perseverance.
"Gou Jian's plan to destroy Wu in ten years" came to mind again. Kublai Khan bowed deeply to the ground and said: "Your Majesty, Kublai Khan, please greet me."
If he had met Li Xia when he was defeated at the beginning, he would have said a few harsh words to show his majesty and unyielding power despite defeat.
After all, too much time has passed, and those unwillingnesses have been smoothed away.
"Give me a seat. Today is a private banquet, so there is no need to be restrained."
Kublai Khan took a peek and saw Li Xia sitting on the dragon throne with a long beard and a majestic look.
Li Xia is not yet forty years old this year, and has been in good health for many years, and still gives people a sense of vitality.
At this moment, Kublai Khan suddenly felt a huge loss in his heart, feeling that he would never be able to defeat Li Xia. He lost not because of his ability, but because of time.
"I heard from my beloved concubine that you want to contribute to the country in the national affairs of conquering Haidu, is that right?"
Kublai Khan came back to his senses from the loss and responded quickly: "My lord, I have devoted myself to death and died."
Someone chuckled, as if they were laughing at Kublai Khan's success in Chinese studies.
Kublai Khan seemed as if he had not heard anything. Looking at the drinks in front of him, he suddenly thought of a story serialized in a newspaper a while ago.
It's about Cao Cao and Liu Bei having a drink and discussing heroes.
The sentence "Today's heroes are only envoys and caoer" is so similar to today's situation...
At this time, Li Xia asked: "Does your name have a Han name?"
Kublai Khan just sat down and quickly stood up again, saluting and saying: "I am brave enough to ask your Majesty to give me a surname."
If it weren't for the hope of returning to the grassland now, he would not be so respectful. At least he would let people see that Li Xia was making things difficult for him, so that the Meng Yuan elders would not be ashamed of Li Xia's big heart.
But it just happened that I hid my thoughts and had no choice but to compromise.
However, Li Xia did not want to humiliate Kublai Khan, but he really wanted to set an example for the descendants of the Jin family, so he said: "You are the Jin family of Bor, so your surname is 'Bao'."
"I would like to thank Your Majesty for the surname."
"How about Bao Qing give yourself a Chinese name?"
Kublai Khan lowered his eyebrows slightly and endured the humiliation.
Gou Jian can serve Wu Cha, so what can he not tolerate now? The more loyal he is today, the greater his chances of returning to the grassland.
"I dare not hide it from Your Majesty. The thing that I hate the most in my life is the evil deed of my ancestors massacring the city. Therefore, when I first led the troops on the expedition, I raised the flag of 'stop killing' and implemented Han law. Although I lost my position, I was fortunate to submit to the Holy Emperor. This is
A peaceful and prosperous age is also what I hope for. I only wish to be loyal to Your Majesty and return to the Chinese state forever. Therefore, I want to name myself Zhongbang, Bao Zhongbang."
"Good, his intentions are commendable." Li Xia said: "Pass the message and give Bao Zhongbang a thousand ingots."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"
After hearing this conversation, some people in the palace looked at each other.
Many people had followed Kublai Khan. Who could have imagined that one day they would see Kublai Khan bowing to Li Xia like this?
Yao Shu couldn't help but think of the past when he personally wrote a letter of surrender to Li Xia.
At that time, he was under the rule of Kublai Khan, and he thought that he was loyal to a peerless wise king.
With a noble background as a descendant of the Golden Family, a city that forbears to seek the throne, a wise man who treats scribes courteously, an ambition to dominate the world, and a willingness to practice Han law, it can certainly be regarded as the best choice at that time.
Who would have thought that with the passage of time, we would see such a scene.
Kublai Khan's behavior today is no better than that of Zhao Gou, who submitted himself to the Jin Kingdom.
That is to say, the emperor of the New Tang Dynasty was wise and had the general trend of unifying the world, which made the scene more beautiful. Otherwise, it would be much different from Zhao Ji and his son.
"Zhao Song abandoned the Central Plains, and did not hope for peace for a long time. No one was timid to fight. If Bianliang was not defended, Jiangdu would flee again, the cowardly leader would lose his courage, and the mediocre ministers would be unjust..."
The words still ring in my ears, the so-called "cowardly leader" has been replaced by the mighty Great Khan of the Mongolian Kingdom.
Thinking of this, Yao Shu couldn't help but hide his face.
It's not because I'm worried about the humiliation of my ministers, but because I feel ashamed...
~~
It's evening.
Li Xia returned to the living room of the inner court and stood in front of the map and looked at it.
"His Majesty."
Yue Lie came over with a fox fur coat and put it on his back.
"It's cold in the north and there's no charcoal in the palace, so don't get too cold."
"It's not cold." Li Xia said: "Your father does still have prestige among the kings of the East. For example, there is a Mongolian sect king in Liaodong."
He circled the location north of Korea on the map.
"In recent years, Naiyan wants to stand on his own and become a khan, so he has been forcing Xingdu; now Haidu also wants to recruit him and has sent envoys to Liaodong. Xingdu is in a dilemma among all the forces. I am considering how to make it happen.
All the orangutans surrendered to the Tang Dynasty..."
~~
"Ape City?"
A few days later, Kublai Khan heard about the events in Liaodong from Yuelie. He couldn't help but think deeply, and then asked: "How is the war with Haidu?"
Yuelie responded: "It doesn't seem to be going well."
"It seems that Li Xia has decided to let me return to the grassland to gain strength for him to fight against Haidu."
Kublai Khan couldn't help but smile when he thought of this.
It seems that when two tigers are fighting, Li Xia has to ask him to help...