037. Chongxiao
"Gradually the stone becomes higher and higher."
"The mountains and rivers are so vast and distant, and it is exhausting to travel there."
"If the warriors march eastward, the dynasty will cease to exist."①
“…”
Qingling heard the sound of reciting, he didn't know where it came from, it was vague as if it was far away in the sky, and he seemed to be ringing in his ears. He didn't know where he was, as if he was in a thick fog, or above a sea of clouds, and all around him was chaos.
He saw many things, scattered like fragments of a painting, there was a majestic army holding axes, swords and halberds, there were marching soldiers singing all the way, there were swords and sabers on the battlefield, there were bloody corpses all over the city, but there was a figure among them, Shang Changheng, wearing heavy armor, sometimes a young boy, sometimes a handsome man. He was the most colorful blade in the painting.
However, Qingling stared at a painting for a long time.
The young Shang Changheng wore a headband, held a wooden sword in his arms, and sat under a tree with one leg bent. Zuo Baichuan, wearing a short shirt, lay beside him with his hands behind his head and a piece of grass hanging from his mouth. Wei Qingxia sat on a branch of the tree with her legs crossed and a branch full of pink and white flowers in her hand. They were all looking up at the sky, with the starry sky and the bright moon reflected in their eyes.
Everyone was smiling, and Shang Changheng's eyes were also filled with a faint smile, gentle and silent.
The soft pink peach blossoms were tinged with red, and the painting was instantly engulfed in flames. The scarlet light burned up the young and beautiful people, the stars and the moon.
Qingling seemed to have suddenly fallen into an abyss, and then woke up suddenly.
The morning light was just right, and a ray of sunlight shone through the gap in the bed curtains onto the bed. Qingling's fingers resting on the quilt clenched slightly, as if he wanted to grab something.
The slender and fair wrist bore a red mark from being bound, and another pale, bloodless hand covered it until they held each other. Qing Ling then realized that Shang Changheng was still lying beside him, dressed neatly and tidy, and he...
He was messed up by this bastard last night.
Qing Ling was a little embarrassed, but he was still thinking about that chaotic dream, so he let Shang Changheng grab him and said softly: "I..."
As soon as he spoke, Qing Ling realized that his voice was very hoarse, so he thought about the evil bastard who covered his lips last night and didn't let him speak, and even said that he was afraid that he would hurt his throat, without thinking about who was the culprit.
But Shang Changheng was still laughing in his ear: "Look, I told you not to scream so loudly, now you are speechless?"
Qing Ling really wanted to kick him, but his legs were so sore that he didn't have the strength to move. He could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger while reluctantly saying, "I had a dream."
He doesn't dream often.
Miao Yuan said that he and Shang Changheng had a deep connection, and they had been so closely entangled, so it was not surprising that he could glimpse some of Shang Changheng's memories, so Qingling did not think that the dream was groundless.
He went on to say, “You are in my dream.”
Shang Changheng liked the body temperature of a living person on him. He lay on his side, supported his head with one hand, lowered his eyes and asked, "What did you dream about me?"
Some scenes were already blurry, but Qing Ling could not forget the beauty he saw at the end. He thought for a moment and said, "Seeing you, Zuo Baichuan, Wei Qingxia, and... the warriors marching east, the dynasty is over."
These names that had long disappeared in the years were mentioned again, as if the dusty past was gradually surfacing. Shang Changheng was silent for a while, and then he slowly said: "Eastern Expedition...Eastern Expedition to the Yi people, I seem to have fought for many years, but according to your history books, I think I lost."
Qing Ling raised his eyes and saw that Shang Changheng's eyes were filled with extremely complicated emotions. The history books had determined that after the end of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the world was in chaos.
"Great Zhou, the royal family, wars... I still can't remember who killed me." Shang Changheng held Qing Ling's hand and gently touched his warm palm. "I think it might be my enemy from the past. Otherwise, why would he hate me so much? If I find him..."
He paused again, as if he was still holding a grudge, and even his tone became cold: "When I find their descendants, I will make them pay my debt."
Qingling felt that for a moment, what Shang Changheng showed was not resentment, but unrelieved pain and hatred, or even the pause at that moment, as if... what he originally wanted to say was that he had found the enemy.
But after a thousand years, his enemies might have turned into sand and have been reincarnated countless times. Where can he seek revenge?
Only this evil ghost who has lost all his memories is hating the world aimlessly.
Shang Changheng's death can be said to be unclear. He knew that the Qing family was guarding his grave, and he also knew that the Qing family borrowed his luck. Therefore, the final downfall of the Qing family was a cause and effect, and perhaps his death was also related to the Qing family.
But the blank history made it impossible for Qingling to know. After the fall of Zhou, there was a chaotic era, the world was torn apart, and there was endless war for more than 200 years. Babies were cooked in jars, women were used as food in the army, and many precious ancient books were burned at that time. But even so, many things before that were still preserved, except for the time before and after Emperor Ling of Zhou ascended the throne, as if they were deliberately erased.
But Qingling felt that Shang Changheng, a distinguished member of the royal family, was dismembered and buried, with his soul sealed for a thousand years. The fate of Emperor Ling, the king who lost his country, would not have been much better.
Guessing is useless. Qingling cannot leave Lincang City for the next two days. He plans to look through those miscellaneous records and unofficial history books again. But just when he wanted to get up, he felt like his whole body was falling apart. Under his winding black hair, there were faint red and purple bruises. He felt embarrassed and annoyed for a moment. He pulled the quilt to cover himself more tightly and called Shang Changheng: "Go and get the book I didn't finish reading last night."
Shang Changheng didn't even stand up. He just stretched out his hand and the book that he had just opened and hadn't had time to read floated over and landed lightly on the bed.
Qingling turned over and lay on the couch, and habitually pushed her hair aside. She supported her face with one hand and began to turn the pages of the book. The red mark on her wrist was like a flower branded on white jade.
Shang Changheng looked at him silently.
It has always been like this between them. They don't talk much when they are together, but Shang Changheng's eyes always follow Qingling unconsciously, observing Qingling's every word and action.
Qingling watched for a while, and Shang Changheng beside him suddenly got up. He didn't disappear silently, but he walked out like a human, lifting the bed curtain and pushing the door open when he went out.
Not long after, Shang Changheng came back again.
Qing Ling was stunned when he saw the bowls, chopsticks and porcelain plates placed directly on the couch, "You..."
Shang Changheng touched the top of his head and said calmly: "The monk left it for you. Flesh and blood are the most delicate. If you get sick or starve, you will die. It won't be too late to see after you finish eating it."
Qingling looked up at Shang Changheng in a daze. It was absurd that he could see some of the gentle appearance of the young man from this evil spirit across thousands of years of time.
So he thought, if it was Shang Changheng who he first met, maybe... he could also watch the moon and stars with Shang Changheng.
It’s just a pity that you were born before I was.
.
The next few days were spent preparing for departure. A long journey was no different from being away for a few days. Qingling also needed to ask someone to look after his own courtyard, and he would read some books in his spare time.
During the Great Zhou Dynasty, the small city of Lincang was actually the border area with the Yi people. However, as the territory of Great Xia has expanded, the Yi people of that time have long since been destroyed. Further east is still within the territory of Great Xia. However, there are many letters from the Yi people circulating here. Some have long been lost, but some predecessors have read them and left a few comments after reading them.
For example, in the book "Guangyouzhi" in Qingling's hand today, the author was also an ancient person from four hundred years ago. He never entered the officialdom, but he also left a good name. This book is actually a travelogue.
He mentioned the history of Zhou many times and wrote several times about his regret for the loss of the history of the late Zhou Dynasty. He seemed to be very interested in the history of Zhou Dynasty. He also wrote in the book that there was endless war with the Yi people during the late Zhou Dynasty. Before the reign of Emperor Ling, Emperor Cheng of Zhou, whose reign was Ruixing, was in power. When Emperor Cheng first ascended the throne, the war had lasted for several years until the Zhou Dynasty was destroyed, which should have lasted for more than 40 years. There should have been many battles of all sizes during these years, but there is no record of any of them, and no famous generals left their names.
It's impossible that we have been losing for the past forty years. The only possibility is that the records have been erased.
It can be seen that the people of the previous dynasty also found something strange in Zhou history, and later recorded: "I went to pasture and was once a barbarian. Fortunately, I saw a handwritten letter from my ancestor, which was a relic of the barbarian tribe. At that time, paper was already available, but it was rare for the barbarians. It can be seen that this person was either rich or noble. The book mentioned that this person's ancestor was a barbarian general who fought with Zhou for several years."
Qing Ling almost held his breath. He finally found the records about the weekend a thousand years ago. Even though the route was very tortuous, the author of "Guangyouzhi" traveled to the pasture and obtained an ancient book of the Yi people recorded by the descendants of a Yi general a thousand years ago.
The book records that the Great Zhou and the Yi people had been fighting for many years during the late Zhou Dynasty, including the "Battle of Changlu" and the "Battle of Xidi" during the Ruixing period. In the short two years of Duanhe, there were more than 20 major and minor battles, almost every month, which shows how fierce the fighting was.
Among them, the Grand Marshal Wei Shanfu, the female general Wei Qingxia, the famous general Zuo Baichuan, and the fierce general Hou Su, who disappeared in the official history, are all mentioned.
And the name that Qingling had been looking for for a long time.
The eldest son of Emperor Cheng, he was born in the second year of Ruixing and died in the second year of Duanhe at the age of twenty-five. His name was Changheng and his courtesy name was Chongxiao.
King Xiang Changheng died in the wild and his burial place is unknown. His posthumous title was "Lie".
"Armor is a reward for hard work, and land reclamation is a reward for merit."
"The glory of the military is the glory, and the unyielding integrity is the glory."
The ancients left a letter here, praising Changheng as the god of war at the end of the week. He died in the wilderness and no one knows where he was buried.
Qing Ling tightly grasped the pages of the book, and read the last sigh in this travelogue over and over again: "Shang Chongxiao, the King of Zhou, and his three armies would rather die than surrender, and fought to the death for their country, and their glory will be remembered for thousands of years."
Chang Heng was born in a turbulent time. He put on armor and went into battle at the age of sixteen and died in an unknown place at the age of twenty-five. In the same year, the Zhou Dynasty fell, and the emperor known as Emperor Ling in later history burned down the Zhou Dynasty palace, leaving no trace of his body.
The collapse of the Great Zhou Dynasty marked the beginning of the complete breakdown of order.
No one knew that King Lie of Zhou, who was supposed to be glorious for thousands of years, was dismembered and buried, sealed for thousands of years, unable to be reborn.
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