092. Flood
Because of his closeness to Shang Changheng, Qingling slept soundly but felt tired.
He dreamed of a scene from a thousand years ago. In the dream, there were boring marches and handling of military affairs. On that day, the first snow fell in the Great Zhou Dynasty a thousand years ago. Time was rushing forward like a flood. Shang Changheng and tens of millions of Zhou people were like mayflies and ants swept away by the torrent. Days passed one by one. They had no hope and the road ahead was like a cliff.
In the distant memories, the past has become stories or legends. Only Qingling knows their final outcome. They will fall one by one on this road. Their blood will dye the mountains and rivers of the Great Zhou red, and in the end no one will be able to save the collapse of the dynasty.
In the dream, Shang Changheng stood under the eaves, looking at the gray sky, and whispered, "It's snowing."
There was no Hou Su and no Wei Qingxia by his side this time. Qingling deduced based on the time, they should still be alive at this time, but Zuo Baichuan was already dead.
"The first snow." There was a haze of fatigue between Shang Changheng's brows. No matter how handsome his face was, it could not withstand such torture. He looked pale and haggard, and had a lot on his mind.
It was the first snow after the beginning of winter. The Dongyi people had not looted enough food and meat this year, so they would not give up. Shang Changheng knew this better than anyone else.
But he had no other choice. Was he supposed to hand over enough people to beg for peace?
The first snow fell heavier and heavier, fluttering like falling goose feathers, covering the sky and the earth with a layer of white.
This is the last winter of the Great Zhou.
When Qingling woke up, the first thing he saw was a gray sky, so gloomy that even the sunlight seemed pale and dim.
"It's dawn." Qing Ling murmured softly and found himself wrapped in a blanket and sleeping in Shang Changheng's arms.
"Well, it should rain soon." Shang Changheng helped Qingling sit up in his arms, combed his hair, and whispered, "Wake up, we should hurry on our way."
As soon as he finished speaking, a drop of rain fell on Qingling's hair.
It's raining again as expected.
Qing Ling didn't care. He reached out from the blanket and put his arms around Shang Changheng's neck. He was slender and could be completely hidden in Shang Changheng's arms and held tightly.
The cloudy days now always make him think of many... not so good things, whether it is the shock of thunder to Shang Changheng, or the things that happened in the past gloomy days, but he cannot stop. All those who fought for the Great Zhou a thousand years ago, they eventually fell into the abyss and could not recover, but that road continued at the moment Shang Changheng revived a thousand years later.
It was cloudy and rainy all the way to Ningzhou. They had planned to settle in the relatively prosperous Jingrui City, rest and see what the weather was like, and then consider settling in Rong County. Ningzhou was already very southwest. It was part of the territory of the Great Zhou in the past, but it could also be considered a border area. Now the capital of the Great Xia was in the north. However, coincidentally, going further northwest and passing through Liangzhou in the middle would lead to Yinzhou. Junziling was a mountain range that spanned Yinzhou and Luzhou.
Luzhou, the ancient capital of Lucheng, was once the capital of the Great Zhou.
The rain was still falling. A place like Ningzhou with many water bodies and rivers was obviously not safe. Qingling was reading the letter left by Qingjie in the shaking carriage.
"Donor Qing," Miao Yuan advised, "The carriage is shaking like this, and it's dark here. It will hurt your eyes if you keep looking at it like this."
Qing Ling sighed and said softly: "I just can't figure it out."
"What can't you figure out?" Zhu Lezhi, who was fiddling with his whip, also raised his head.
Qing Ling was silent for a moment, then said: "A lot. The Dongyi people sacrificed living people to pray for the protection of the gods, but the Zhou people did not believe in this. They sacrificed three animals to worship their ancestors. The Dongyi people were ignorant, but Qing Jie was really capable. It can be seen from the scriptures left by the Qing family that the Qing family has a deep foundation and many ancient scriptures. Qing Jie can even predict the national destiny of the Great Zhou. Such a person, even Shang Changheng, the heir to the Great Zhou, was calculated by him to become what he is now, so... why did his notes fall into Qiu Ping's hands?"
Miao Yuan and Zhu Lezhi looked at each other, and the latter hesitated and said, "Maybe... it's just a coincidence? He paid a lot to get this note from the Qing family. Many of the things we have now, except for family inheritance and master inheritance, were obtained by digging up graves."
"No." Qing Ling lowered his eyes, "I just think that this Qing Jie... He wrote in the notebook that he was continuing the country's destiny, but in fact he was continuing the Qing family's own destiny, and this notebook he made seemed to be deliberately shown to others... The only person who could make him go to such great lengths to deceive must be..."
"Emperor Ling of Zhou."
The last emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Shang Changjun, the king of the fallen country.
Qing Jie had no need to lie to himself, let alone his clansmen. Seeing how stubbornly the Qing family had guarded the tomb for generations and dared not leave, they must have known about it. So this thing was most likely for Shang Changjun to see. Then why did it end up in the hands of the Qing family?
No matter how you think about it, there's something weird and strange about this.
"Alas." Zhu Lezhi leaned against the carriage and shook his head. "We know too little now, and blind guesses may not be the truth. Let's wait until we gather all five graves and take a look. But then again, it won't be easy to travel in winter. It's best for us to hurry up in the next two months so that we can find a place to avoid the cold during the coldest days of winter."
Qingling said nothing.
Almost instantly, he thought of Shang Changheng's expression when he looked at the first snow in his dream. That was probably the last time he saw the first snow of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In the autumn of the following year, the Great Zhou Dynasty was burned to ashes in history by the flames of war.
Miao Yuan looked at the two people sighing and said slowly: "I think..."
The two gazes converged instantly.
The monk Master Miaoyuan put away his fierce and resolute look, and said with compassion, "If this rain follows us all the way to Ningzhou, I'm afraid no one will have an easy time."
The carriage suddenly fell into silence.
In fact, the rain had subsided in the past two days, but from the time they started traveling in the morning until now, the rain has been getting heavier. Their carriage did not get stuck in the mud, but was able to move as if on flat ground. Miaoyuan was shocked at first.
Then he immediately discovered the reason.
The evil ghost Shang Changheng was using Yin energy to travel. The road they were walking on was actually no longer the road of the living, or rather... more than that, it overlapped with the road that ghosts took.
“Senior Shang…” Zhu Lezhi exclaimed, “I have never seen a ghost that can do this… Fortunately, most ghosts only have the desire to kill but no brains, otherwise it would be really difficult to deal with them…”
No one expected that Shang Changheng, a mere ghost, could come up with so many messy moves. It was truly unprecedented.
But this rain eventually brought disaster.
Five days later, Qingling and his companions arrived at a small county town called Jicheng on the edge of Ningzhou and settled down there to rest for two days.
On the deserted road, a man rode his horse at full speed. He was wearing the clothes of an imperial official. On the second day, news came from the small county town that due to continuous heavy rains, the muddy water burst the dike and had washed away several fishing villages. In particular, the area near Lucheng was severely affected. Now many refugees were fleeing to the east or north. At this moment, Ningzhou, which was hit by heavy rain, seemed to be in extremely dangerous conditions.
Qing Ling stood in front of the bed, looking at the carved window frames that were trembling due to the beating of rain, and was speechless for a long time.
"It's like reincarnation." Shang Changheng walked to Qingling's side and said, "It was the same in the Great Zhou Dynasty back then. Natural disasters were merciless. People, livestock, and even flowers, plants, and trees would all die when natural disasters struck. Qingling, how long do you think this prosperous era can last?"
After a long while, Qing Ling said in a deep voice: "Chang Heng, do you think Da Xia and Da Zhou are similar?"
Shang Changheng fell silent because of this sentence. Is that true?
Of course not.
In fact, the power of Daxia was far greater than that of the Great Zhou back then. The territory of the Great Zhou was not as vast as that of Daxia today. Whether it was food, clothing, farming or commerce, Daxia today was tens of millions times better than the Great Zhou back then.
"Daxia has many vassal states." Qingling said softly, "But the emperor who is now in power has been in power for more than 20 years. Daxia has not experienced war since 50 years ago. The prosperity and wealth of these years are not fake. The breach of the Ningshui dike is not a small matter. Both Dingzhou and Yuzhou will be affected. But such natural disasters have happened before. Flood control has been a matter of money for the court for more than a thousand years."
Shang Changheng turned his head to look at Qingling.
His wife looked pale, as if she was frightened by the news, but she still looked calm.
"What do you want to say?" Shang Changheng asked.
Qing Ling also turned his head to look at him, and said softly: "I have read in ancient books that the separation and reunion of countries is a common thing, and no one can always be high and mighty. The fall of the Great Zhou is a pity, but it is inevitable. Decades of natural disasters and wars have hollowed out the Great Zhou. But in fact, there is only one dynasty like the Great Zhou that has been destroyed. Many dynasties have succeeded each other because people could not bear the oppression and resisted the tyranny of the tyrants."
Shang Changheng sneered, "Then my luck is pretty bad too."
But he was clearly blessed with great fortune, and could even support the Qing family for a thousand years. Qing Ling looked at him with some sadness, "Chang Heng, I just want to tell you that if Da Xia is really going to be destroyed one day, it will be just like the dynasties in the history books. Even if the prophecy of the Zhu family is really going to come true, it can only be fate, not..."
He didn't finish.
But what is left unsaid actually explains everything.
Because Qingling could hear that Shang Changheng was still the evil ghost full of resentment and unwillingness. Some ghosts are obsessed with revenge, so what does Shang Changheng, who had fought for ten years in his life, want to do?
Qingling thought about the divination that Zhu Lezhi had said for a long time. He could also see that Zhu Lezhi was also very wary of Shang Changheng. She followed him all the way, perhaps because... she thought that the divination would come true for Shang Changheng.
"Instead of what?" Shang Changheng sneered, "Even if Daxia is overthrown, what can it do? Those who died a thousand years ago will not come back."
His old friend...can no longer even enter the path of reincarnation.
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