Chapter 98 Drink a glass of dragon juice first
Nie Hong led A'piu to meet Princess Changning in the afterglow of the setting sun.
The princess was dressed in military uniform and carried a long sword, just like the soldiers around her. Apart from the jade hairpin in her hair, she had no extra accessories on her body.
Even though she was dressed so simply and had no gorgeous ceremonial objects around her, in Ah Piao's eyes, she was still like a dazzling pearl.
The princess of Da Zhou really came, and Ah Piu's heart was pounding. If the immortal master brought a clear sky and made people see hope for the future, then the appearance of the princess made her heart, which was floating in the air, fall back to the ground.
The Great Zhou was the motherland in the hearts of the Wangman people, and the princess who came to marry was also regarded as her mother by the Wangman people.
Ah Piao was like a child who had been wronged. After seeing his mother, he finally dared to show his true emotions.
She knelt before Princess Changning and kowtowed three times.
"Help her up quickly." Princess Changning was not much older than Ah Piu. When she saw the admiration in the latter's eyes, she subconsciously acted like a real mother. She hugged her tightly in her arms, regardless of the fact that she was covered in dirt.
Before going on the expedition, Princess Changning read the history of the Inuyi carefully. This country ruled over a population of millions. Although it could not be compared with the Great Zhou, it was already a first-class power among the many small countries in the southwest.
However, among this population of one million, only 30% of the Dog-barbarians can be considered human beings. After being conquered by the Dog-barbarians, the other various local tribes did not naturally integrate into the Dog-barbarians, but were treated as consumables and tools by them.
After reading this passage, Princess Changning knew that the Dog-barbarians could not be generalized with other tribes.
The Dog-barbarians treated outsiders as grass, but she had already decided that if she could rule this land, all tribes would be her people.
Ah Piao lived for twenty-one years, but no noble had ever held her in his arms, let alone a hug. Even for the occasional alms, she was not allowed to get too close. The alms would just be thrown far away on the ground for her to pick up by herself.
Ah Piao showed a look of panic and looked uneasily at the adult in the big red shirt. A stiff smile appeared on the adult's cold face and there was a comforting look in his eyes.
"Good child, you can speak the official language of the Great Zhou, right?" The princess touched her head, and when she nodded, she smiled and said, "Go tell your people that the Great Zhou army is coming, and they will distribute clean water and food in a while. All Wangman people can come and get them."
"What... do we need to do?"
Ah Piao was already past the age of being a child. When she heard the title of princess, she was so shy that she stuttered. How should she address the princess? She didn't quite understand the rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
"Tell us what the Dog Barbarians have been doing recently." Princess Changning glanced in the direction of Pudu City, her gentle eyes becoming a little more cold. "For example, I heard that the corvée you have to perform recently is for the construction of a new temple? I want to know more details."
Ah Piao was startled for a moment, then said seriously: "I will tell you everything I know."
Nie Hong stood silently beside the princess, watching this scene with satisfaction. She watched the princess grow up and become more and more like a leader.
Seeing more and more Wangman people, led by A'piu, tremblingly walking out of the earthen houses, and showing expressions of surprise and ecstasy after hearing the promise of the Great Zhou army, Nie Hong nodded secretly in his heart.
She was about to distribute food with the Great Zhou soldiers when she suddenly realized something and raised her head abruptly.
How long does this brilliant afterglow of the sunset last?
She remembered that it was already dusk when the army arrived at Wangman Village, right?
…
The dusk had lasted for two hours, which was certainly abnormal.
But Xin Maoqing no longer had the mind to care about why it was still not dark.
He hid in the ruins of the Anfusi in Pudu City. Behind him hung a picture of the Great Zhou Taizu sitting, which continuously emitted a faint royal aura, enveloping the Anfusi government office, which was left with only broken walls and ruins.
Beside him, there were nearly a hundred high-nosed, deep-eyed dog-barbarian people, who brought their families with them, holding the Zhou Dynasty classics that they had searched out of their homes with great difficulty, and huddled under the broken wall, not daring to breathe.
In the entire Purdue City, these are the only people who can still be considered “people”.
Ever since they knew that the Great Zhou was coming to conquer the Quanyi, the Quanyi officials began to act crazy. In the name of building temples, they conscripted young and strong men from a radius of fifty miles into the city and stuffed them all into the seven temples.
No one could go in or out. The temple was silent, but the blood energy around it was getting thicker day by day. The dog-barbarian civilians were also terrified and wanted to leave the city but could no longer do so.
Just this morning, these blood and qi began to eat people actively.
They eat everyone they see, except those who wear the official seal of the Dog Barbarians.
The person who was devoured by the blood and energy screamed in pain, and tangled blood vessels flew out from the surface of the body. He was suffocated by his own blood vessels. After death, his body quickly shrank, and his blood merged into the blood and energy, looking for the next prey.
Xin Maoqing was the historian of the Great Zhou. In order to collect the lost historical materials during the reign of Taizu, he came to the city that Taizu had ruled when he was expanding the territory.
Knowing that war was about to break out between the Inuyi and the Great Zhou, the young editor chose to stay in the city in disguise in order to obtain first-hand historical materials of the war.
His disguise was very clever, and none of the Quanyi officials discovered that he was actually a Zhou person. Xin Maoqing had already thought about how to show off his gains after the battle, but he did not expect that the ruler of this country was so cruel that he would even use his own people as sacrifices.
Fortunately, Xin Maoqing had already retrieved a fragment of "Journey to the Southwest" hidden in the ruins of the Anfusi, and found this picture of the seated statue of Taizu in this fragment.
Xin Maoqing calculated that this seated statue is more than 40 years old, but there is still a trace of royal aura left in the picture.
He originally thought that it was because the founding emperor established the country and had the mandate of heaven that the country could last so long.
After carefully examining the brushstrokes, he was shocked to discover that this picture was clearly drawn by the eldest daughter of the emperor, who was a master of both civil and military affairs.
The reason why the royal aura remains is not only because the person in the picture is an emperor, but also because the person who painted the picture has the appearance of an emperor.
No one knows why this picture was inserted into "Journey to the Southwest". Xin Maoqing even suspected that the author of this book might also be the eldest daughter of the emperor.
Unfortunately, now is not a good time to study the text. Xin Maoqing can only put away the book in a hurry, post the "Seated Statue of Taizu", and create a temporary shelter before the blood and energy spread to this place.
At the beginning, the surrounding dog-barbarian civilians accidentally broke in, but were repelled by the royal aura, except for a little girl.
After a chaotic comparison and inspection, everyone found that the only difference between the little girl and other dog-barbarians was that she brought a collection of poems written by Zhou Wen.
The girl's parents looked in amazement at the useless things they always talked about, and hurried home to find more Zhou Dynasty books.
The two expressed their gratitude, saying that they just thought that their child was not doing her job properly by reading these poems and articles instead of scriptures. However, because they loved their child, they bought a few books for her whenever the two countries had trade.
Who would have thought that a few books with no practical value could save lives at the critical moment.
With this example in mind, other dog-barbarian people also went home to look for books.
The official Quanyi people have always believed that the Zhou people are weak and not as good at fighting as the Quanyi people. They do not support their people learning the culture of the Great Zhou, fearing that they will be infected with the weak habits of the Central Plains dynasty.
Xin Maoqing was originally worried that few of these dog-barbarians had Zhou Dynasty books and would start fighting each other because of this.
Who would have thought that every one of the dozens of households around here had books printed by the big weekly magazine, and each person had more than one book.
These poems, songs, classics, history books, and miscellaneous collections were buried under the God of Heaven, which was highly respected by the Quanyi government, and they had more traces of being read than the classics.
Xin Maoqing watched these people hide in the Pacification Office with tears of gratitude. Looking at the portraits of emperors on the wall, he suddenly understood why Taizu and the eldest daughter of the emperor were willing to shelter these foreigners.
Perhaps, he shouldn't call them aliens anymore...
The royal aura that enveloped the Pacification Bureau seemed to be only a thin layer that could be submerged by the surging blood energy at any time, but in fact it was incredibly solid. In this environment surrounded by enemies, it protected its people tightly.
The frightened dog-barbarian civilians regained some color on their faces, and when they met Xin Maoqing's gaze, they even tried to force a smile.
We are not fools and have already seen that the man who posted this seated portrait is a man from the Great Zhou dressed as a dog-barbarian.
Xin Maoqing looked calm, as if he had confidence in this temporary shelter, but he was extremely anxious in his heart.
Now, the confrontation between the royal energy and the blood energy is still calm, but one is growing stronger while the other is declining. They only have one image here, and the seven temples emitting blood energy are constantly devouring the sacrifices.
How long can this royal energy last? One hour? Two hours? One day?
That's impressive, but it's not enough.
He must find a way to leave here as soon as possible, or spread the news.
Xin Maoqing did not hold much hope for the second method. The Great Zhou army was coming, but even if they were already at the gates of the city, how could they capture such a large city in a short time?
Therefore, his main thoughts were still focused on how to escape.
He held the book box, gritted his teeth, and kept saying to himself, "Use your brain quickly and think about what to do."
Got it.
On the way here, he heard that the "Jingzhen Eating Ghosts" painting popular in Sizhou was a great way to exorcise evil spirits, so he went to watch it.
Is this blood energy considered evil?
Who knows.
Let's try our best to save the situation.
Xin Maoqing opened his eyes, exhaled a breath of foul air, quickly took out a pen and paper, and according to the image in his memory, he drew the image of the leader of the Duotian Sect in crimson clothes and jade belt, with his sharp white teeth biting the evil ghost.
Strangely enough, he hadn't painted for several months, but when he painted this picture, his brushwork did not seem unfamiliar at all, as if there was some divine help, and he had finished the picture in less than a cup of tea.
The dog-barbarian people had no idea what he was doing, but they could sense the increasingly strong aura of the gods in his writings, and they all looked at him in awe.
Xin Maoqing looked down at the portrait, blew on the wet ink, and was about to try to send it out when he suddenly heard a strange voice in the unskilled Da Zhou official language: "My lord, be careful!"
What?
Xin Maoqing looked up blankly, only to see that the royal aura that enveloped the Anfu Division had been eroded by the blood energy, leaving a crack. A stream of blood energy then pounced towards his face like a poisonous snake.
It's over.
If I had known earlier, I would not have been so brave and would have stayed at the outermost edge.
Xin Maoqing felt a chill in his heart and his mind was completely blank. Images of years of studying hard flashed through his mind. The only thought in his mind was: If I had known that I would die in a foreign land, I would not have saved money by living frugally for so many years!
The next moment, the "Jingzhen Eating Ghosts Picture" with the ink not yet dried in his hand flew out a huge mouth of the abyss, and like waiting for an opportunity, it caught the flying terrifying blood energy.
"ah!!!!"
A miserable scream suddenly sounded and disappeared in an instant.
The huge mouth of the abyss filled with chaos and madness closed and suddenly shrank back into the painting, as if nothing had happened.
Xin Maoqing, holding the picture, blinked slowly: ...Ah?
In Fujiao City, the baby Li Zhou smacked his lips as he drank Li Sheng brand milk tea.
What's going on? Suddenly, a smell of dragon fruit came in.
The smell is different.
Mr. Li looked at his daughter expectantly: "How does it taste?"
The sensible Li Zhou tried hard to swallow it: "It's so delicious."
Li Sheng looked at her wrinkled face and said, "...Don't force it."
Yue Niang took the milk tea and said, "What's wrong, Zhu'er? Don't you like it?"
She took a sip and said in wonder, "It tastes quite sweet."
Baby Li Zhou said tactfully: "I'll have to wash the cup next time, otherwise..."
Halfway through her speech, she suddenly realized something and opened her eyes wide.
Yue Niang and Li Sheng were still asking, "What else?"
Swordsman Li Zhou looked towards the direction of Pudu City and sniffed the scent in the distance. It was hidden so well, the dragon fruit.
Unfortunately, it still couldn't escape her nose. The smell coming over was clearly hidden in the distant city.
Dragon fruit can be eaten directly or squeezed into juice and drunk. After eating, remember to remind yourself that it is normal to have blood in the urine or stool when you wake up the next day.
She knows so much, Li Zhou praised himself in his heart.
It's decided! She'll drink a glass of dragon fruit juice first to moisten her throat and stimulate her appetite.
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