“Master! Master!”
By the time Ji Ye returned to the Twin Dragon Mount fort, a lot of people had been gathered in the Temple of Providence where the spoils of war had been cleared.
The dozen managerial players, as well as the heroes such as Wu Song, Yang Zhi, and Lu Zhishen, had all been gathered here earnestly.
They were looking forward to a ritual that had never been held in the Twin Dragon Mount fort before.
The Books of Civilization would be absorbed!
The greatest harvest of the Twin Dragon Mount fort from the Battlefield of Providence wasn’t the Civilization Coins or the special offerings and equipment; it was the five Books of Civilization that could add new settings to the settlement so that more heroes could be summoned, including a mid-sized one and four small ones. Two of them were Perfect, another two were Superior, and the last was Excellent!
“Well, I might as well melt a Perfect one first!”
Ji Ye simply took out the Book of Civilization, which was mid-sized and could expand the range by a dynasty in history.
The background of a settlement was best if it wasn’t too complicated, so naturally, the best books should be used first.
After Ji Ye took out the Book of Civilization, two nine-foot-long dragons appeared in the Temple of Providence, and one of them spewed a stream of golden light onto the Book of Civilization.
Hum!
Immediately, the Book of Civilization glowed with a golden light.
Under the power of providence, it was quickly transformed into a scroll, similar to the beginning of the old TV adaptation of Water Margin.
Then, the scroll was slowly opened by an invisible force, and a dynamic picture popped up.
The picture was rather small and hard to read.
However, as the power of providence surged, the content on the scroll, same as the challenge when heroes arrived, was entirely projected to the top of the Temple of Providence!
“Kill them! Kill them!”
“Protect the king!”
Dozens of bloodstained riders, led by a general who was riding a tall and magnificent horse and holding a long spear, charged from a mountaintop.
They were faced with thousands of fully-armed soldiers!
“It’s a battlefield!
“Such armor… Are they from the Qin Dynasty?”
Elder Meng narrowed his eyes, hoping to tell what age they were from by their attires.
“The Qin Dynasty?
“That won’t be bad at all!”
Mister Bug, who was next to him, was rather excited to hear that.
After all, as the first dynasty to have united the country in the history of Chidragon, the Qin Dynasty was special to most natives of this country.
Having conquered all the other six kingdoms, the Qin Dynasty boasted a lot of heroes too, such as Bai Qi, Wang Jian, Meng Tian, Li Si, Shang Yang, and Zhang Yi. If those people arrived at the Twin Dragon Mount fort, the settlement would be greatly empowered!
It was needless to say that the Qin army’s ferocity was well-acknowledged by the world. It would be no weaker than the Yue Army on the Land of Inheritance!
“Wait, it can’t be the Qin Dynasty. Take a closer look at the flags of the two parties.”
Qin Yueyu, however, shook her head.
Her eyesight had become astonishing ever since she got the Trajectory Prediction talent.
Even though the two parties were fighting fiercely, she was still able to see their flags!
“What’s that word? Well, I don’t know what it means…”
All the top players of the Twin Dragon Mount fort had used the Golden Condor’s Boon Fluid, which allowed them to see the words on the flags.
However, those words were obviously written in ancient styles that not everybody could read.
“It’s a Small Seal Script. The word on the flags of the attackers is ‘Han’ and that on the flags of those surrounded is ‘Chu’.”
“This is the Battle of Gaixia. Liu Bang led other lords to set up ten ambushes against Xiang Yu the Overlord. Xiang Yu suffered a brutal defeat. After Yu Ji, the woman he loved, killed herself, he led eight hundred soldiers and broke free from the siege at night. At daybreak, Liu Bang sent five thousand people after him and surrounded him near the Wu River!” Chu Yin opened her mouth and said.
She didn’t know the ancient cultures as well as Elder Meng did, but she was still much more knowledgeable than regular players.
More importantly, Ambush From Ten Sides, the pipa song that she was best at, was exactly a description of the battle that was most well known in the history of Chidragon from Liu Bang’s perspective.
Everybody in the temple knew the ending of the battle.
Although Xiang Yu, riding his Dark Cloud Horse, was remarkably strong and killed hundreds of enemies when he was outnumbered, he got frustrated when a boat came to pick him up on the Wu River. He said, “Earlier, eight thousand brothers traveled across the river with me, but now, none of them is still alive. I’ll be too ashamed to face their parents in their hometown.”
In the end, he chose to kill himself with a sword.
His body was ripped apart by the Han soldiers. Whoever got a part of his body was knighted!
“He was a hero when alive, and he is still a hero after he has died. We still remember Xiang Yu who refused to pass the river.”
Looking at the scene, Elder Jiao heaved a sigh and recited Li Qingzhao’s famous poem.
At this moment, the scroll was further pulled open, and the picture that was projected in midair had been turned into another scene.
A man, who was wearing a crown and a black emperor’s robe, was paying tribute to the sky and the earth near a river in the middle of all the ministers, generals, and soldiers!
[“At 202 B.C., when the lords such as Han Xin (King of Chu), Ying Bu (King of Huainan), and Peng Yue (King of Liang) jointly proposed, Liu Bang proclaimed himself Emperor at Dingtao to the north of the Si River on February 3. He founded the Han Dynasty and named Luoyang its capital!”]
At this moment, an announcement similar to that when heroes arrived echoed in the Temple of Providence.
“So, the dynasty background we’ve received is the Han Dynasty?”
“Apparently, it is!”
Hearing that, the heroes and players in the temple all realized what the dynasty that the Twin Dragon Mount fort received was.
“Wow. We’re truly lucky. The Han Dynasty is probably only second to Zhou and Tang!”
Mister Bug looked even more delighted than when he saw the Qin Dynasty.
Although the Qin Dynasty was the first unified dynasty, it was too short, and its heroes were definitely not as many as the Han Dynasty’s.
As to why Zhou and Tang ranked higher, it was because the two dynasties were deeply related to Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, and the heroes from those times could be very strong!
“No, I don’t think it’s worse than Tang and Zhou.
“Our Book of Civilization’s genre is ‘History/Dynasty’, which means that we can only summon the heroes from history but not the mythical figures from those ages.
“Therefore, the Han Dynasty is probably our best choice!”
Guo Wei shook his head and pointed out Mister Bug’s mistake.
In the Temple of Providence, the scroll that was covered in golden light was still unfolding, and the scenes from history were projected in the temple as if the river of time was flowing.
After Liu Bang died, a woman wearing a diadem sat in the court and accepted the kneeling of all officials.
“In 188 B.C., Queen Lu assumed power. She was the first queen to rule over a country ever!”
The picture changed again, and it was another scene of war.
However, this time, the flags of one of the parties in the war said “Liu”, and the other side said “Zhou”.
“After the Prosperity of Wen and Jing, Zhou Yafu settled the rebels of the seven states… During the Wu Emperor’s reign, he reduced the power of the kings with the Tuien Order!”
Not every picture displayed in the Temple of Providence was interpreted.
However, thanks to Elder Meng who was very familiar with history, the people in the temple knew what the pictures were trying to say.
The picture changed again, showing a fully armored general who was riding on the spacious grasslands. Around him were people kneeling on the ground, who looked different from the Han people.
“This is… Year five of Yuanshuo, when Wei Qing attacked Gao Que with a great army. He captured a dozen lesser lords and more than ten thousand men and women. He was nominated as the Great General and commanded all the troops of Han!”
“Wei Qing the Great General!”
Lu Junyi’s eyes flashed.
Every living man wanted to become a Great General who commanded all the troops in the world!
The picture changed again, showing a young and vigorous general who was offering sacrifices to the heavens on a snow-capped mountain!
His offerings were a hill of spoils of war from the Huns!
“In Year Four of Yuanshou, Huo Qubing, Lord of Guanjun, led fifty thousand soldiers a thousand kilometers into the north and destroyed seventy thousand Hun soldiers. After this battle, the Huns fled far away, and they no more had a court in the south of the desert!”
“The Lord of Guanjun!”
Both Li Qing and Qin Yueyu took a deep breath.
All kinds of titles had been given in so many dynasties, but few people were qualified to be the Lord of Guanjun.
Then, the picture changed again, showing a man wearing a Confucian hat proposing to the magnificent Wu Emperor with a bamboo book.
“A saint king should terminate the chaos before his age and focus on education. When the future generations are taught and new customs are formed, the dynasty will thrive for five hundred years…
“He is Dong Zhongshu, who proposed to dismiss all the other Schools of Thought and honor just the Confucian School!” Guo Wei mumbled with earnestness in his eyes.
The scroll was continuously opened, and all the important incidents of the Han Dynasty were projected to the Twin Dragon Mount fort in chronological order. In 119 B.C., Zhang Qian was sent to the west as an envoy. Su Wu herded sheep in the North Sea. Sima Qian wrote The Scribe’s Records. The Xuan Emperor of Han set up the Protectorate of the Western Regions…
However, even the most powerful dynasty was bound to decline in the end.
In the river of time projected by the Book of Civilization, the Han Dynasty lasted two hundred years in the eyes of the players from the Twin Dragon Mount fort and the Water Margin heroes.
In 5 A.D., Wang Mang killed the Ping Emperor of Han, proclaimed Liu Ying, who was only two, the royal prince and named himself the regent. In December of 8 A.D., he revoked Liu Ying’s title as the royal prince and set up the Xin Dynasty, known as “Wang Mang Ousting Han”!
The scroll formed by the Book of Civilization in the golden light was still unfolding.
However, the picture that followed was blank.
“I didn’t expect that I could see the demise of the Han Dynasty so directly. It truly felt so powerful. I’ve never seen some of the details on any history books before. Do you think the records of the Land of Inheritance are true or false?”
The Twin Dragon Mount players who watched throughout the play had mixed feelings. They were both confused and curious.
However, faced with that question, Elder Meng, who knew most about the history and had been interpreting, was silent.
It was because he was gazing at the scroll that the Book of Civilization projected.
Although a period of blankness appeared on the scroll, it was only half-opened at this moment!
Hum!
At this moment, another nine-foot-long dragon of providence in the Temple of Providence spewed out a streak of golden light and hit the Book of Civilization!
In the next moment, the scroll rolled again.
New pictures appeared and were projected to the Temple of Providence.
“Kill them! Kill them!”
The armies of two parties were confronting each other.
However, the gap between the numbers of the soldiers of the two sides was even greater than that in the Battle of Gaixia they watched earlier.
Boom! Boom!
When the battle was soon to start, a storm of meteors suddenly fell from the sky and smashed the soldiers that were larger in number. Their camps were razed, and flames rose to the sky. Many soldiers were too scared to move.
At this moment, the soldiers who were smaller in number charged close, further horrifying the soldiers on their opposite side and causing stampedes.
Even their main general was killed in the chaotic battle.
After the deputy general finally reorganized the soldiers and led them to retreat in panic, the river rose because of a thunderstorm and swallowed the remaining troops.
It was exactly the troops of Liu Xiu, or Emperor Guangwu of Han, who miraculously defeated enemies that outnumbered his troops with unbelievable luck and successfully restored the Han Dynasty from the hands of Wang Mang who was widely believed to have been a traveler of time!
As a mid-sized Perfect Book of Civilization, it contained more content than merely the Western Han Dynasty.
It also contained records of the Eastern Han Dynasty!
