The fire in July is flowing, and the heat gradually fades.

It has only been only two months since Sun Tu returned to seize power and killed officials. Qingzhou City has emerged from its previous desolation and has become lively again. The streets, which were extremely deserted two months ago, are now in constant population exchanges. Many people are rushing towards the East Street not far from the government office, with excitement on their faces.

When this scene fell into the eyes of a pair of masters and servants who had just entered the city, they immediately became interested. They followed the people there and walked along. The well-dressed middle-aged master also asked the people around him: "What are you doing there?"

"Zun Jia is a foreigner, don't you know anything. In recent days, there have been big shows in Qingzhou City every day, or good shows I have never seen before, and I don't know what good shows I can see today." The man said, stepping faster, and he no longer cared about talking to the other party more. Obviously, he wanted to go there earlier and get a good position.

The middle-aged master was a little surprised. Shouldn't Qingzhou City be panicked about Sun Tu's killing of officials? Why did he see another scene after that? Also, what was the purpose of asking someone to sing opera in the city? Is it because of the rich businessman's birthday, or is it that Sun Tu did all this to win people's hearts? He was worried and decided not to go to the government office to see Sun Tu first, and instead go to the stage to see it.

The middle-aged master and servant came from Bianjing. They were the Shaoqing Zheng Guan of the Dali Temple in the imperial court and his confidant Zheng Nian. This time, he came with the emperor's order, so naturally, to find out that Sun Tu reported to Gao Xiang and other officials colluded with the Liangshan bandits and the murder of all the officials.

After a quarrel in the court, the case had been paid attention to by many people in the court and the opposition, and all parties were putting pressure on Dali Temple, which made the relevant officials who were the trial of the case feel a little embarrassed. In order to find out the truth of the case, Dali Temple finally sent Zheng Guan to Qingzhou. At the same time, he was also responsible for the identity of another imperial envoy, and also brought the imperial decree to the court to order Sun Tu to lead his army to pacify the bandits in Liangshanpo.

In fact, when Zheng Guan came to Qingzhou at this time, he naturally had to have an imperial guard escort all the way, calling and rushing in. However, in order to understand the whole story of the past more directly, Zheng Shaoqing, who was dedicated and responsible, chose to go private visits in a private manner. He first brought people to Qingzhou, while the imperial guard team slowly moved back and waited for two or three days before entering the city.

This approach seems to be somewhat effective today, at least it allows Zheng Guan to see the different side of Qingzhou. And just now, he heard some conversations about Sun Tu after entering the city, but in those words, he highly praised Sun Dujian.

"Sun Tu is either a good official who is dedicated to the people and has no selfishness, or is too good at disguising, so I have to look at it more carefully. It just so happens that there must be more people on the stage, so I can take the opportunity to inquire more." Thinking in my heart, Zheng Guan and the others had arrived in front of the newly built large stage, about a meter high and three meter radius. At this time, the stage was surrounded by people, and everyone was looking forward to the top, waiting for the good show to be staged.

With the help of his extraordinary servant Zheng Nian, Zheng Guan finally squeezed into the crowd. After walking forward for a while, it was harder to make progress. The people's warm discussions kept ringing in his ears:

"Mu Guiying was really good yesterday. Using the Dragon Subduing Wood to break the Liao Dog's Tianmen Formation can be regarded as a great victory for me, the Song Dynasty."

"Yes, then Xiao Tianzuo was very proud. He thought that after all the generals and male members of the Yang family were killed by treacherous ministers, they would be invincible and could directly send troops to attack our Song Dynasty. However, he did not expect that women were stronger than men. The Yang family army led by She Taijun himself was even more powerful than before."

"Hey, I want me to say that the thirteenth widow of the Yang Party is amazing, but it is true that loyalty and filial piety still have to look at Mulan. She, a little girl, actually joined the army for her father in order to fulfill her filial piety. Yesterday, she was in a state of great murder on the battlefield. I believe that the court must reward her heavily after returning. I just don't know if her daughter can still be preserved?"

"This is really hard to say. When you mentioned it like this, even I was a little anxious to see how she would deal with the court later."...

All kinds of people were discussing the content of the play I read yesterday, but Zheng Guan was confused. So what about Mulan who joined the army on behalf of her father? He could still guess that his prototype should be a character in the Mulan Scriptures handed down from ancient times, but what is the origin of this Thirteenth Widow of the Yang Family?

Of course, he also knows who he is referring to as a famous military general named Yang of the Song Dynasty. It should be Yang Ye, Yang Yanzhao and Yang Wenguang's grandparents and grandchildren. But where did this family come from? Mu Guiying, what are these?

Just as he was puzzled, as the gongs and drums above were ringing densely, the curtain covering the backstage was turned, and then teams of actors with small flags on their backs had already come to the stage with agile steps. A moment later, a man in the play dressed in a woman came on stage heroically and sang loudly: "I have been on the battle to serve the country and become a military force for my father for seven years. I will return to my triumphant today, and I hope that the world will be peaceful forever!"

Only these four sentences have caused everyone in the audience to applaud. Even Zheng Guan nodded at this time and said, "Sun Tu has some ideas about using this to educate and govern the people to be loyal to the emperor and patriotism."

The plot then turned to the various passages of Mulan returning to the court to receive the reward. Even if there was no fight scene like yesterday, the people under the stage were still fascinated.

You should know that this play was modified by Sun Tu combined some of his own memories. At this time, the so-called 100 plays in the Song Dynasty were much simpler than the various local plays in later generations. In terms of the excitement of the plot, the lyrics, and the mobilization of the audience's emotions, those straightforward plays were simply incomparable to this play. Even Master Zheng Guan, who had never read the previous text, was also enjoyed and nodded continuously.

The story soon follows Mulan's return to the countryside, and then meets her comrades around her who ridiculed the woman in the war and was useless, so she refuted her anger: "Brother Liu's speech is too perverse, who said that women enjoy leisure? A man went to the border to fight, and a woman was in her home..."

This reason for playing the role of Mulan is singing one by one, and the people in the audience immediately showed a deep thought expression. After the actor finished performing all this part, the cheers in the audience were much more slimmer than before. Taking this opportunity, this person said what he had been reminded before:

"Dear fellow villagers, Mulan can join the army on behalf of her father and make great achievements for the country. Today, my women in the Song Dynasty are the same. This time, our Sun Dujian was worried about the troubles of Shandong, and only suffered from the serious losses of the troops in Qingzhou, so he had the intention of recruiting women into the army. After all, his efforts were also for my Qingzhou and for my Shandong stability. You can no longer make him feel embarrassed."

If the people just use the principle of persuading them to suppress them, the people may not be able to listen. But now, with the opera in front of them, I think of the heroes like Mulan and Mu Guiying, who can fight against the enemy like men, and make contributions to the country, can't the women in Qingzhou follow the example of their ancestors?

Especially the women below, all their faces were red and excited. They used to worship heroes and never thought that they would be heroes one day, but now they are completely different. At this time, they wished they could join the army now and then kill the enemy for this country.

"Old Cao, your wife looks much better than you. I think she might as well let her enter the army on your behalf. Maybe you can still benefit from her and get a husband of imperial decree." Someone teased his friends around him, but the latter did not object, and obviously he was a little moved.

The effect of literary and artistic publicity is much stronger than talking about big principles. The opera performances in a few days have indeed shaken the people's firm resistance.

Zheng Guan's face turned gloomy at this moment: "Absurd, it's so ridiculous! Sun Tu actually came up with such a ridiculous idea. If he really spread it, how would the people in the world view my Song Dynasty? Is my Song Dynasty so weak that I need a woman to protect the country? No, I must not let this happen really, and I must stop him immediately!"

As a scholar-official class, Zheng Guan’s concept of defense against men and women is more serious than that of ordinary people. In his mind, women should be at home with peace of mind. It is already wrong to show up in public, let alone join the army and practice combat with men!

At this moment, he didn't care about watching the show or revealing his identity as an imperial envoy, so he immediately stepped out and rushed to the government office in a hurry.

As he walked, he heard someone saying strange words: "Is Sun Dujian so deliberate to make our Qingzhou army stronger or have ulterior motives? Do you think he felt that the soldiers in the army were living too hard, so he specially brought the woman into the camp and then at night..."

"Hey, don't talk nonsense. Be careful that the government officials heard you and took you into the prison." This companion hurriedly stopped him. But these words still fell into Zheng Guan's ears intact, making his face even more gloomy. If Sun Tu really had such an idea, he would have stopped him even more.

Because once a woman enters the army, the military discipline will inevitably be corrupt, which is not a good sign.

When he hurried to the government office, Zheng Guan's servant was immediately blocked by the officer: "If you have any questions, you should see the official, first explain what your grievances are there, and who will tell me."
Chapter completed!