But when they saw the construction plan that Lin Hai and his team had come up with, they exclaimed that it was impossible.
How does that sentence go?
"Your Majesty Lin Hai, you are the Emperor, and we are willing to obey your will. However, you cannot make the rocks from the mountains run to the plains and then pile them up into city walls and houses. Within six months, we are willing to build a palace for you and the other Your Majesties. Well, it should not be a very complex palace, but it will definitely be worthy of your status and the status of the other Your Majesties, and it will be large enough for the entire alliance. However, we are truly unable to build such a city in six months."
But now the impossible has become possible, or to be more precise, it is moving rapidly towards the possibility.
After all, Lin Hai's plan for Dawn City was simple: city walls, military camps, warehouses, houses and platforms for meetings, and then...
And then it was gone.
The city was not originally intended to allow ordinary people to live in it, at least not before the alliance was completed.
In places out of sight, more supporting facilities have been built, such as the brick kilns that stretch for miles next to the clay mine thirty miles away, the cement factory that produces endless dust all day long, the steel mill with chimneys reaching the sky, and the oil refinery that can only produce asphalt.
Thanks to the support of the Qinghe Merchants Group, Lingyang had built an industrial zone at the border of Liang and Chen within half a year. And a few months ago, this place had a new name - the Central Battlefield.
The convoy gradually drove into the square outside the city. Before that, officials from various countries in charge of the construction had been waiting there for a long time.
Lin Hai was the first monarch to arrive here.
In fact, Xia Junao, the landlord, set out almost at the same time as Lin Hai, but Zhongdu was farther away. According to officials from Liang State, it would take at least ten days for their emperor to arrive here.
“This is a historic moment.”
Sima Ding, the Grand Historian of Liang State who arrived earlier, said to his new friend Dong Mao, the director of Qinghe National Archives.
"Well, after all, the alliance has already begun."
Dong Mao said so.
"Has it already started? Doesn't it start on June 1st? Besides, only His Majesty Lin Hai has arrived now. Who will he form an alliance with?"
"Haha, it doesn't have to be a gathering for everyone to be present, right?"
Sima Ding had a flash of inspiration: "Oh, that's right, but what you are talking about can be considered as the political field. According to my records, the alliance will still start on June 1st."
"For you, as for me, every event and the metaphor behind it is worth recording."
Dong Mao smiled and said, "You are the Grand Historian, and you are responsible for recording history. I am the director of the archives, and I only need to record the facts."
"What's the difference between the two?"
"Some parts are the same, but some things in the archives won't appear in your history books."
"For example?"
"Just like the market next to this square, haven't you been there?"
"I just came back from there. To be honest, I was quite surprised to find that I could eat a bowl of your Qinghe specialty Dandan noodles there. After all, it's at least two thousand miles away from Xijing."
"The noodles are delicious?"
“It’s delicious.”
"Will you record it in your history books?"
"? If you have something to say, just say it. Don't make me look at you like that. People around me will think I'm an idiot."
Sima Ding looked at Dong Mao with a little annoyance.
"Which generation of historian are you in the Sima family?"
"Which generation? I don't know. You know, we wrote a lot of things, but nothing can be passed down, not even the family tree."
"That's because you've included too much private information in your genealogy. Otherwise, look at how the genealogies of ordinary people were passed down. After all, whose genealogy would include records of dynastic changes and the secret history of the palace?"
"So what does my position as a historian have to do with Dandan noodles?"
"I remember your family is famous for being frugal with words when recording history."
"That's right. In this world, a hundred years is just a few numbers in history books. I've been here for so long, and I've made an exception and written three lines. To be honest, it's because the impact this place has left on me is too great. Otherwise, this place would only be worth three words at most."
"Do you know how much I've written and am planning to put in the National Archives?"
"How many?"
"Eight hundred thousand words."
"Are you crazy? Is anyone watching all these?"
"Even a flopped 800,000-word time-travel novel can have a few devoted fans, not to mention that I'm writing about archives!"
"Although I don't understand what you are saying, why can anyone read the files?"
"When I graduated from Qinghe College, I had to write a paper, and they had to find citations..."
"Oh, actually, I wanted to ask you, what did you write?"
Dong Mao waved his hand when he heard this: "All of this."
Yes, all of this, the war is over, the stories about famous generals and gunpowder have come to an end, and the time that truly belongs to the people has just begun. Dong Mao, who has traveled hundreds of miles around Dawn City, recorded all the stories about the post-war period, including survivors crawling out of the ruins, disabled veterans who have been dismissed, lovers separated by life and death, and mothers waving soul-calling banners and shouting out their son's name. Of course, there are also those factories that have sprung up, the markets that have gathered spontaneously, the first wedding after the war, the birth of the first newborn, and the Dawn City under construction that no one can ignore.
In short, he recorded the history that belonged to the people.
"Oh, I understand, but you have to stop imagining it."
"Why?"
"Your emperor is walking towards you. I think he's here to see you."
"Yes, I came to see you, Dean Dong, what do you think of this place?"
Lin Hai said with a smile.
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