Sandals of sandalwood drifted, the dim candlelight flickering with the slight undulation of the waves. Search: \(、Complete、Book、God、Station、) Free to read premium literature.

She saw the blue sea, the translucent agate-colored light, and as her body turned, beneath the ocean was a vast abyss without end.

That deep and immense darkness was terrifying, and she heard a hallucinatory chaos in her ears, a yellow figure plunging into the water.

The moment she sat up, the noise receded into the surrounding darkness. Before her were the familiar cabin, the slightly fragrant bedding from daily smoking, a solitary candle, and the rolling waves outside the window.

Outside the cabin, she heard the rustling sounds of someone waking up.

"Your Highness, are you awake?"

"It's nothing, no need to come in."

Zhou Pei replied, sitting quietly on the candlelit bed for a while. She turned her head to look at the light of dawn outside, then got dressed.

When she got out of bed and went to the outer room, the maid Xiao Song, who lodged in the adjoining compartment, had already quietly risen. After asking Zhou Pei if she wanted water for washing up, she followed her outside.

Passing through the passageway of the cabin, orange lanterns still shone, extending all the way to the door leading to the main deck. Leaving the inner cabin and stepping onto the deck, the sea was still dark, the waves rising and falling on the surface. The interwoven stars and moon in the sky looked like they were embedded in blue-gray transparent glass, and at the end of the horizon, the sky and sea merged into an endless expanse.

Looking back, the huge dragon ship was ablaze with lights, like a palace sailing on the sea.

Ten years ago, to facilitate Zhou Yong's escape, countless craftsmen pieced together a dozen large ships and made various modifications, building this massive sea palace that remained stable even on stormy seas. After moving to Lin'an, the dragon ship was docked at the Qiantang River pier and incorporated various ingenious ideas from craftsmen. On this quiet night, looking back, it was truly magnificent and graceful.

But in Zhou Pei's heart, it was difficult to find even a trace of emotional stirrings.

The massive dragon ship fleet had been drifting at sea for three months. When they left Lin'an, it was still summer, but now it was approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many things had happened on the ship during those three months. Zhou Pei's emotions went from despair to heartbreak. On that day at the end of June, taking advantage of her father's visit and the surrounding guards being out of the way, Zhou Pei jumped from the ship's railing.

Then, the first figure to jump into the sea was Zhou Yong, wearing his imperial robes.

Since the Jurchen's southward invasion, Zhou Yong had been anxious and fearful, his figure once becoming as thin as skin and bones. He had indulged in pleasure in the past, and now his physique was even weaker. But on this day at the end of June, with his daughter's jump into the sea, few people could explain Zhou Yong's instantaneous conditioned reflex—the man who had always been afraid of death jumped into the sea.

His jump was practically useless. If the guards who had jumped into the sea later had not rescued them, both father and daughter would probably have drowned in the sea.

But also because of this action, after being rescued, Zhou Pei's hatred for Zhou Yong gradually turned into more complex emotions. She cried for a long time in her room and refused to see Zhou Yong again, but Zhou Yong gradually fell ill afterward, first a minor illness, which gradually worsened in mid-July, and by now, he was paralyzed in bed, unable to get up.

Under such circumstances, whether it was hatred or contempt, it seemed to have become an empty thing for Zhou Pei.

She sat on the deck under the night sky, quietly watching the stars and moon. The autumn sea breeze blew, carrying moisture and the smell of fish. The maid Xiao Song stood quietly behind her. At some point, Zhou Pei tilted her head slightly and noticed tears on her face.

She made room on the bench and said, "Sit down."

"This servant dares not."

"You are Zhao Xiangong's granddaughter, right?"

"...Yes." The maid Xiao Song wiped her tears. "This servant... just remembered the poem my grandfather taught me."

"I heard it... 'A bright moon rises from the sea, people far away share this moment together'... You are also from a scholarly family. I heard people mention your name in Lin'an." Zhou Pei tilted her head and whispered. Zhao Xiangong in her mouth was Zhao Ding. When abandoning Lin'an, Zhou Yong summoned Qin Hui and others to the ship, and also summoned Zhao Ding, but Zhao Ding did not come, only sending several promising grandsons and granddaughters from his family to the dragon ship: "You shouldn't be a servant..."

As she said this, Zhao Xiaosong behind her could not restrain her emotions, and cried even more fiercely, reaching out to wipe her tears. Zhou Pei felt sad—she understood why Zhao Xiaosong was so sad. The autumn moon was shining on the waves, and the sea breeze was quiet. She thought of "A bright moon rises from the sea, people far away share this moment together," but her family and grandfather in Lin'an were probably already dead under the Jurchen's blades. The entire Lin'an was probably about to be reduced to ashes.

This intense sadness tightly gripped her mind, making her chest feel as if it was being squeezed by a huge iron hammer, but there was no emotion on Zhou Pei's face. She quietly looked at the sky and sea in front of her and slowly opened her mouth.

"If I remember correctly, Xiao Song had the reputation of being a talented woman in Lin'an. You are sixteen this year, right? Have you been betrothed, do you have someone you admire?"

Zhao Xiaosong sadly shook her head, Zhou Pei looked indifferent. This year, she was almost thirty years old. Her marriage was unhappy, and she busied herself with many things. In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed. By this time, all the running around had finally turned into an empty existence. She looked at Zhao Xiaosong, and only vaguely saw herself as a girl more than ten years ago.

"It's good that you don't. In times like these, love and affection will inevitably become something that hurts people in the end. When I was your age, I was very envious of the games of talented scholars and beautiful women that were rumored in the market. Looking back, we... left Lin'an on the fifth day of the fifth month, the Dragon Boat Festival, right? More than ten years ago in Jiangning, there was a Dragon Boat Festival poem, I don't know if you've heard it..."

Zhou Pei recalled the poem and slowly, softly, recited it: "Slight sweat slightly penetrates the emerald silk, tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival to bathe in fragrant orchids. Fragrance flows and grease fills the clear river. Colorful threads lightly wrap the red jade arms, small charms are obliquely hung on the green cloud hair. Beautiful women meet... a thousand years..."

She recited this charming poem to the end, her voice gradually becoming inaudible, only smiling at the corner of her mouth: "Now it's almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and there is a Mid-Autumn Festival poem... 'When will the moon be clear? With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the blue sky...' I wonder what year it is tonight in the celestial palace..."

This low recitation turned into a song, sounding lightly and softly on the deck. Zhao Xiaosong knew the author of this poem. In the past, these poems also circulated in the mouths of the ladies of Lin'an, but coming from the princess's mouth, it was a singing method and tune that Zhao Xiaosong had never heard before.

She looked at the princess in front of her, only seeing her face still as calm as water, but her voice seemed to contain countless things. These things she could not yet understand, it was the sound of more than ten years ago, that seemingly endless tranquility and prosperity flowing like water...

Xiao Song listened to the sound, and the sadness in her heart was gradually infected. At some point, she subconsciously asked, "Your Highness, I heard that that Mr. Ning, was really your teacher back then?"

This was not something she should have asked. As the words fell, she saw the princess, whose expression had always been calm, press her forehead in the dim light. Time was ruthless like a grinding wheel, and tears fell in an instant.

——News from the mainland had been received a few days ago.

Regarding the dangerous situation in Lin'an, Zhou Yong had not made preparations for escape in advance. The dragon ship fleet left in a hurry, and in the beginning, fearing being caught by the Jurchens, they did not dare to casually approach the shore. After drifting at sea for more than two months, they made a brief stop and sent people to land and inquire about news.

The news returned four days ago. After Zhou Yong read it, he vomited blood and fainted. When he woke up, he summoned Zhou Pei to come over. This was the first time the father and daughter had met since Zhou Pei jumped into the sea at the end of June.

At this time, Zhou Yong's pain had worsened, and he was so thin that he was skin and bones, unable to get out of bed. He looked at Zhou Pei who had come over, handed her the presented news, and his face only showed a heavy look of sorrow. That day, Zhou Pei also finished reading the news, her body trembling, and gradually began to cry.

Since Zhou Yong abandoned Lin'an and left, throughout May, the situation in the world was brewing dramatic changes in the chaos. By June, the outline had already appeared. Between June and July, many forces that originally belonged to the Wu Dynasty had begun to express their positions. On the surface, most of the armies and governors still bore the slogan of being loyal to the Wu Dynasty, but as the Jurchen army swept across, the number of those who changed flags in various places gradually increased.

Under such circumstances, the Jiangnan region bore the brunt. In June, Jiaxing, an important town near Lin'an, was breached by traitors and Jurchen armies cooperating from within and without because it refused to surrender. The Jurchens massacred the city for ten days. At the end of June, Suzhou surrendered at the sight of the wind, and the major towns in the Taihu Lake basin successively expressed their positions. As for July, more than half of the cities opened their gates and surrendered.

From the Yangtze River coast to Lin'an, this was the most prosperous core of the Wu Dynasty. There were resisters, but they appeared increasingly weak. The situation of excessive power of the military generals, which had once been criticized by the Wu Dynasty's civil officials, finally began to manifest itself throughout the world at this time. In Jiangnan West Road, military and political officials broke out in turmoil because orders could not be unified. The military general Hongdu led troops to kill into the Jizhou state government, imprisoned all the officials, and raised the flag of surrendering to the Jin Dynasty. And in Fujian Road, the two armies originally arranged here were already preparing to fight each other.

Liu Guangshi, who went south from Xiangyang, entered the Dongting Lake area and began to divide the territory to collect power, while also engaging in friction with the Nianhan troops in the north and the Miao Jiang Black Flag that invaded Changsha. In this situation where countless people and countless forces throughout the world were beginning to act mightily, the Jurchen's orders had already been issued, driving all the Wu Dynasty troops who had nominally surrendered to the Jin Dynasty to begin pulling up their camps and advancing westward, with their spearheads pointed directly at the Black Flag. A great battle that would truly determine the ownership of the world was imminent.

And under such circumstances, the power that once belonged to the Wu Dynasty had collapsed with a bang before everyone's eyes.

The demise of a dynasty may take several years, but for Zhou Yong and Zhou Pei, all of this, the great chaos, may not be the most important thing.

In July, Junwu, who had killed his way into Jiangning, refused all orders from the small court in Lin'an, rectified military discipline, and refused to retreat or surrender. At the same time, the tens of thousands of troops under Zongfu, along with the surrendered Han troops who had originally gathered here, and the Wu Dynasty troops who had successively surrendered and arrived, began to launch a fierce attack on Jiangning. By the end of July, the total number of troops who had successively arrived near Jiangning and launched an attack had reached as many as one million. Among them, even half of the troops had once belonged to the command and jurisdiction of Crown Prince Junwu, and had successively defected after Zhou Yong left.

Wanyan Zongfu released a statement that even if Jiangning was an iron city, he would melt it into a pot of molten iron.

The chaos of the world was happening dramatically, and the Jurchen's westward advance had just begun. So in the months of June and July, the city of Jiangning was transformed into the core of the most intense battle in the entire world. The Wu Dynasty had collapsed, and only the former Crown Prince of the Wu Dynasty, leading the Beiwéi and Zhenhai troops, was like a desperate giant beast whose home had been destroyed, making a tenacious and tragic resistance on this ruin.

In front of it, however, the enemies were still surging like a tide.

No one knew how long such tenacity could last into the future.

"I'm sorry to Junwu... I'm sorry... my son..."

Perhaps it was the sea jump that day that took away his vitality and also took away his fear. At that moment, Zhou Yong's reason gradually recovered, and amidst Zhou Pei's cries, he just muttered this sentence.

That afternoon, he gathered the ministers in the small court and decided to announce his abdication, passing his throne to Junwu, who was in a dangerous place, giving him his final help. But soon after, he was opposed by the ministers. Qin Hui and others put forward various practical views, believing that this matter would be harmful and useless to both the Wu Dynasty and Junwu.

Zhou Yong fainted amidst the arguments and clamor of the ministers.

And Zhao Xiaosong also knew on that day that Lin'an had been massacred, and her grandfather and family might have died miserably...

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