Xiaoshan Town, three hundred miles southwest of Ruiguang City, is a garrison established by the Duhufu in the wilderness. The entire town has a population of about three thousand, one-third of which are rotating militiamen, and the rest are permanent residents.
The townspeople responsible for farming here.
Zhang Yu and his party, all one man and two horses, arrived here before evening. They need to stay here for at least two days to check whether there are any cultists here, and to eliminate any spiritual abnormalities that may exist.
The people in the town were very enthusiastic. When they saw them riding in, they all came up to ask for help. Many children ran out with joy and climbed to fences and high places to look at them curiously.
Under the arrangement of the settlement officer, everyone put their luggage in the house built by Xuanfu here. After that, people kept coming to visit, and most of them were village officials and local town officials in Xiaoshan Town.
Naturally, the four of them who were visited the most were Zhang Yu and the others. Because Xuanfu disciples were traveling as Taoists when they went out, these people would always ask gods for divination when they came over.
People in the Duhu Mansion are not allowed to believe in it, but they can only worship the ancestors of the Tianxia people, and alien gods and their like are definitely among those who are banned.
Zhang Yu did not think that their move was foolish, because this place was far away from the civilized center of the Protectorate and could be said to be in a wilderness area. There were often strange monsters and barbarians wandering nearby, posing a threat to the lives of the townspeople, so he asked
Praying for your own safety from ancestors and supernatural powers not only gives you peace of mind, but also provides comfort to your family.
The town’s school inspector Chen Zhengzheng came out of Taiyang Academy, and he had been working as a clerk here for six years. When he learned that Zhang Yu also came out of Taiyang Academy, and he was still
An assistant teacher was also extremely happy.
He knew that many people who came out of the academy didn't like to socialize, so before it got completely dark, he simply acted as his own guide and took Zhang Yu out to familiarize himself with the surrounding environment.
The two of them drove their horses out of Xiaoshan Town and headed to a sparse woodland in the north. Not far away, they could see a large area of green farmland, but as they got closer, Zhang Yu noticed that there were some hidden things in the grass.
After seeing the ruins of the ruins, he asked: "Brother Chen, are there any ancient ruins here?"
Chen Zhengdao: "Yes, the scale is not small. The Academy sent people here to inspect the surrounding geographical environment before, and it is speculated that there should have been a large lake here in ancient times, and those ruins are ancient cities built next to the lake."
Xiaoshan Town was established here, of course, not without reason. Although the ancient lake with a large area is no longer there, there is still an underground river with a large amount of water under the ground.
When Zhang Yu heard what he said, his heart moved. Because the strange bone fragments contained source energy, when he was searching for documents in Xuanwen Hall, he paid special attention to those places where ancient strange people had lived and multiplied.
Most of these places exist in lakes and mountain ravines. Since you are here, it is naturally necessary to visit them.
After walking around, he and Chen Zheng found the original entrance to the ruins. They got off their horses and walked into the entrance on foot.
The afterglow of the setting sun falls on these desolate weeds and rocks. In this world, in countless years, several civilizations may have only had a brilliant moment, but such dilapidated scenes occupy a much larger space.
long term time.
After the two of them walked for more than a hundred steps, Zhang Yu noticed a half-collapsed stone tablet next to him. He went up to take a closer look, stroked away the dirt with his gloved hands, and tried to identify it again.
After looking at it for a while, he said: "It is indeed a building from the Omezo period."
"Omezo period?" Chen Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Is it the ancient academic definition?"
Zhang Yu nodded, stepped on the bottom with his feet, and said: "The continent under our feet is far away from the mainland of Tianxia. It is said that no one has visited it in the past few calendars, until we Tianxia people came here.
."
"But in fact, we are not the first 'outsiders' to set foot on this land. According to research by predecessors, there used to be a larger island continent outside of this land, and a island was born on it.
The creators of this civilization called themselves the 'Idi people', and their most glorious era was the Omezo period. The Yidi people came to this land before anyone else and built a large number of cities here."
"The expansion of the Yidi people has infringed on the interests of the indigenous people deep in the continent. Judging from the knotted rope records retained by the Anshan indigenous people, the gods of both sides launched a divine war that lasted for more than three hundred years."
Chen Zheng listened with rapt attention and asked, "What happened next?"
Zhang Yudao: "The specific process is difficult to know. In the end, the Yidi people lost the war, and the entire island continent where they lived sank to the bottom of the sea. The islands now on Tenghai Sea are the damaged parts of the mainland that were not sunk.
Partially. However, the local indigenous people are not doing well either. Legend has it that the country that once ruled half of the continent fell apart soon after, and their descendants are the various indigenous tribes that our Protectorate has to face."
Chen Zheng thought for a while and said firmly: "We Tianxia people are not from Yidi. We will not lose."
Zhang Yu nodded slightly and asked: "Brother Chen has been in town for so long, have you ever seen a supernatural god?"
Chen Zhengdao: "I haven't seen the alien gods, but I have seen a lot of alien gods, and they were driven away by the garrison in the town every time." He looked at Zhang Yu and saw that he had no reaction, "I thought Zhang Yu
Brother, you will ask why they were not arrested or simply killed."
Zhang Yudao: "I think the town must have made such a decision based on the most practical situation."
Chen Zheng sighed: "Yes, most people in the town just want to live a good life. The rotating militiamen just want to spend a few years in peace and then be transferred back. If the alien gods are really provoked, the town will definitely not be able to stop them."
This ruins was quite large, and because the sky was getting darker at the moment, the two people retreated from it without going too deep.
When the mayor of Xiaoshan Town held a banquet at his home at night, in addition to Cai Yong, Zhang Yu and the others, most of the town's affairs officers and militia leaders also came, and many townspeople also came to join in the fun.
, but they just lit a bunch of bonfires outside, played musical instruments around the fire, drank and sang.
This night, everyone in the town returned home happily.
Early the next morning, after Zhang Yu went out, he was invited by Chen Zheng to the only school in the town.
This Xiaoshan Academy is the best and most carefully built building in the entire town. The roof of the hall with pointed double eaves has a typical Tianxia style. Outside, there are school corridors surrounding the square, which can accommodate about four to five hundred people.
People study together here.
Because Zhang Yu was an assistant teacher, Chen Zheng tried his best to invite him to take a class here. He did not refuse, and told some methods on how to avoid conflict with the barbarians if he accidentally ran into them, as well as various insects and wild vegetables.
How to eat.
Unexpectedly, the following content was particularly popular among the students here because it was novel and interesting. After class, many people came to inquire and asked Zhang Yu if he could leave some records about this knowledge.
Zhang Yu readily agreed and said that after returning to Ruiguang, he would write some articles specifically on this topic and send them over.
Because of this incident, Chen Zheng was very grateful to Zhang Yu and thanked him repeatedly.
Afterwards, Chen Zheng invited Zhang Yu to drink tea upstairs in the school. Through the window, he watched the lively children playing in the open space and said with emotion: "Before I came to Xiaoshan, I just wanted to leave here early.
But after I have been here for a long time, I have feelings for this place in my heart, and I feel that I have placed something here. When I was leaving last time, I stayed as soon as those children asked me to stay. Now six years have passed, and it is again.
Once...well, I looked at those pairs of pure eyes, and I really couldn't bear to leave."
Zhang Yudao: "Where are Brother Chen's family members?"
Chen Zheng sighed: "I am an orphan. Only when Tianxia Academy opened a kindergarten did I have books to study. After the Academy came out, I thought about letting more children like me have books to study. At that time, I was
With the help of friends, I married a girl from a good family. However, I have been staying here for several years and I couldn’t delay her any longer, so I sent her a divorce letter. Last year, she wrote a letter saying that she had burned the letters and called her
I can teach here with peace of mind, and she will take care of my children at home, so I don’t have to worry about them.”
He shook his head, his eyes slightly red, "She is a good wife, but I am not a good husband."
Zhang Yudao: "I just saw the children in the school. There are Tianxia people and mixed-race children, but many of them are still barbarian children. But now they are all writing the same characters and speaking the same language. This is the merit of etiquette education. Chen Jun
It is a loss for Xiaojia, but it is a great contribution to Dongting and Tianxia. You should be a courtesy from me."
As he spoke, he stood up, clasped his hands together, and bowed to Chen Zheng.
Chen Zheng stood up in a hurry and returned the greeting somewhat at a loss: "How dare you do this, how dare you do this..."
After Zhang Yu bowed, he said: "But Yu also wants to say that it is not that without Chen Jun, no one will come here to teach. You should also give others a chance, not to mention that practicing Tianxia rituals and music is not necessarily necessary."
Confined in one corner, given the size of the Protectorate, Chen Jun can go to Ruiguang and display his talents elsewhere."
After a pause, he added: "Even if Mr. Chen doesn't want to leave here, it's only half a day's journey from Ruiguang, so he can still come back and have a look when he has time."
Chen Zheng was stunned for a long time. After a long time, he seemed to have put down something. He bowed his head to Zhang Yu and said, "Thank you, Brother Zhang, for your enlightenment. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart." He sighed, "After so many years, I think I
It’s time to go back and make up for the past debts.”
Zhang Yu came here mainly to track down the strange monsters and cultists, so he could not stay in the school for too long. After saying goodbye to Chen Zheng, he left the town with two assistants and went to the north to investigate.
According to the method agreed upon with Cai Yuan and the Wen brothers last night, the four of them were each responsible for a direction and would meet again in the evening to communicate.
He soon arrived near the ruins again.
Looking at this place, he always had a feeling that if there were problems around Xiaoshan Town, they must be related to this place.
It is not unreasonable to think so, because the remains of these ancient buildings provide natural shelter for the wild beasts and barbarians in the wilderness, and the water source is also nearby, so both monsters and cultists may come here.
When he came here yesterday, he didn't find anything special, but this time, as soon as he got closer, something strange suddenly appeared in his heart!