Thirty-seven, the horn of war sounds in the east (middle)

Thirty-seven, the horn of war sounds in the east (middle)

Zhoushan Island. Dinghai County City

Accompanied by a touch of fresh morning glow, the bright midsummer sun rose again as usual.

The faint mist with the salty and fishy smell of the sea gradually dissipated under the sunshine, revealing a trestle and fishing boats and sampans. The fish market, which was rushing early in the morning, slowly began to dissipate in the scorching sunshine and the shouts of fishermen.

Several scoundrels who were eating at the wharf were driven by the whip of the harbor officials on duty, sweating profusely cleaning up the garbage and dirt left after the fish market in the wharf. Other sailors, coolies, had just walked out of the dirty shed with bad eyes, stretched their waists and put on sweat towels, and lined up next to the public well to get water and wash, while connecting with each other, inquiring about news, and preparing to find new jobs.

Under the erosion of refreshing sea breeze, the last scent of pine and oil burning gradually dissipated from the extinguished lighthouse on the reef - a new day is about to begin.

Ma Qianzhu, the newly appointed magistrate of Dinghai County, had just gotten up from the mat woven bamboo strips, and casually slapped his brain, wiped the layer of sweat from his forehead, then got up and put on a shirt, pushed open the window covered with insects, let the cool morning breeze blow into the room, and then squinted his eyes gently towards the red sun on his head that was watching Ranran.

At this time, Dinghai County was shrouded in a bright and bright red glow, like a golden city bathed in the holy light.

But if you look closely, you can only see mottled city walls covered with moss, bumpy and dirty roads, simple houses with thatched roofs, deserted streets with sparse pedestrians at noon on the sun, and the ruins of the bell and drum towers that have long collapsed... It is obvious that in this tragic era of the world and the decline of people's livelihood, life seems not to be very easy in Zhoushan Island, located in a corner of the East China Sea.

The economic depression not only seriously affected the jobs of the people, but also affected the pockets of officials.

"... I have been squatting on this broken island for six years. When can I find a way to find a féi shortage?!"

After looking at the rather shabby furnishings in the room and mocking the yellowed shirt on Mo, the Ma Qianzhu County Ma couldn't help but sigh.

Due to the chaos in the government over the years, the pirate attacks from time to time, and the typhoons that come regularly every year, the seawalls on Zhoushan Island have been disrepaired for a long time and have been breached year by year. Large areas of rice fields are flooded by sea water and become saline-alkali land. Water conservancy ditches are also increasingly collapsed, making the islanders' livelihoods increasingly difficult. For this reason, in this poor situation, young and middle-aged people left their hometowns and went to the increasingly prosperous Shanghai in the north to make a living.

Now there is only less than 20,000 people left on the island, and there are only four or five thousand permanent residents in the county. Because they are attracted by the two major commercial ports of Ningbo and Shanghai, there are few Western ships on Zhoushan Island, so naturally there will be no foreign trade business to do.

Therefore, with such a sparse population, such a barren land, and such a lack of wealth, Ma Qianzhu, the magistrate of Dinghai County, just to raise grain and rice to support a group of county magistrates, chief clerks, inspectors, yamen runners, and to pay full taxes to the province. It was extremely difficult, and he had to cry and demand relief every few days. If he wanted to make any more oil and water, it was basically impossible.

So, he could only look at the dilapidated street scene every day when he started from the second floor of the backyard of the county government office, and then slowly walked to the more dilapidated lobby. The ancient officialdom saying "Officials do not repair the yamen" was carried out in Dinghai County. The walls were moldy, the beams and pillars were decayed, and the stone steps collapsed. Even the roof that was triggered by a typhoon a few years ago, no one thought of filling it out. Drinking tea and chatting with his only staff, or reviewing some routine documents... The poor and closed places like Zhoushan Island usually have no major events, but when they are leisurely, there is no road to plunder and make money.

Therefore, in the past, he spent all his money to raise 3,000 taels of silver to move around, and finally found a county magistrate who was in short supply. He couldn't help but sigh all day long, worried that he would not be able to raise funds for giving gifts and bribery to his superiors, and would eventually lose his official position and go home with a "clean" look.

In the past two months, the troubles of Ma Qianzhu County Magistrate seemed to have increased a little further, and even his hair on his sideburns turned white... Whenever he saw every household along the street, even the apricot and yellow Bagua Banner hanging from the county government, he couldn't help but sigh a few times.

——I don’t know what the imperial court’s drink bags had done, but they even issued a public notice to lift the ban and encourage the activities of the Demon Cult. In a blink of an eye, there was a fire and smoke from all directions, causing trouble to the southeast, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the world’s land of the world!

According to the news from the market, not only did Jiangnan become the world of the Demon Sect, but every village started to burn incense, and local governments at all levels were almost paralyzed. Even on this remote and barren Zhoushan Island, he also came a group of "Liulihui" from the subordinates of the Demon Sect. There were about 60 or 70 strong men in total, and in places like Dinghai County, it was already very popular.

This "Liulihui" specializes in worshiping the god of fire Zhurong. Among the Demon Cult, it seems that it is just a semicolon that is not in the ordinary among the Demon Cult, but the show is not at all. The leading Demon Cult senior brother called himself "Feng Xian Zhenren" wearing a magic crown, a Taoist robe, a blue dragon sword in his hand, and a "puff puff" in his mouth. The Demon Cult minions under his command were also wearing red clothes, red turbans, red cloth shoes on their feet, and a red bellyband in front of them, with two rows of words "sealing the gun, turning bullets into mud". It is said that they can specialize in Western firearms and incompetent to the battle.

Since he went to Zhoushan Island, this Feng Xianzhen has been doing rituals everywhere to open a temple, performing magical powers to attract people to the sect, and by the way, "persuading" the wealthy households to donate money and rice generously, and immediately fucked. Seeing the power of the Demon Cult, I believe there are quite a few people in this thing. In a few days, thousands of people ran to participate, and countless apricot and yellow gossip flags were flying all over the streets!

Read }} books

The people of Zhoushan Island, whether they live in the city or in the countryside, have been fooled by the people of the Demon Sect during this period. The men have pinched talismans and called each other their senior brothers and brothers. They are busy burning incense all day, and even don’t care about the rice fields being abandoned.

And those nvs who were not very good at walking around in the past also changed into red clothes, tied red ropes, carried baskets and fans, walked around the streets and alleys, gathered together in groups, chanting some of the truly powerful magical powers. There was no real cultivation of them, but the little good things treasured by each household, from daily wine, food, clothes, fabrics, and silver, money and jewelry, were delivered to the magic sect in their bare hands!

Many wealthy and gentry who are well-known on weekdays, looked at the surging people's sentiment, and had to put down their faces and put them down. They changed into a red cloth short jacket with their big belly, and stayed with their fellow teachers all day long. They didn't want to practice any invincible magical skills, but just wanted to not beat Feng Xian to two and three sons, so that they could burn up the house with a fire!

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Faced with such a chaotic and mysterious situation, Ma Qianzhu County Magistrate felt very depressed - you gang of madmen and luàn-stricken men who believe in the Demon Cult, if you want to kill foreigners, go to the Shanghai Concession to make trouble! Why are you here to Zhoushan Island where there are no foreigners at all?

What made him even more depressed was that according to the orders issued by the court, whenever the senior brothers and sisters of the Demon Cult took the initiative, officials from all over the country had to wear complete sets of official uniforms and boots, and led local gentry to burn incense and sacrifice, and kowtow to the gods' shrines with the etiquette of the imperial envoy... Let the grandparents of parents bow to this level to the point of being so powerful? Where is the official power?

At this moment, in addition to the suppression of the imperial guards at the foot of Nanjing, it is also a little more stable. The prefectures and counties of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces that are slightly farther away are almost going to become the world of the Demon Sect. There are senior brothers and sisters wearing red belts and red turbans everywhere. The weaker guys are still showing off their power between the towns and towns, saying that they will kill all the Westerners and protect the Dajin Mountains, but they are busy extortion and show their power to the native people of the country. If they encounter a stronger thug, Suxing directly bombards the county magistrate and change the yamen to the fragrant house! If there is anything in the county, the most respectful senior brothers discuss the referendum, and there is no trouble for the county magistrate!

This is really a country that will perish and will be a monster!

If the court really counted on these guys to protect the Dajin Kingdom, then all the civil and military officials in the court should have found a piece of tofu to kill him!

Moreover, if such cult mobs are flooded with the name of the court, there will be basically an unexpected disaster in the future!

In fact, no matter what the senior officials and officials in the capital's court think, the local officials in Jiangnan can see clearly: for those demon disciples, the so-called expulsion of foreigners and protecting the country is just a guise of perfunctory Jinling court. And nailing yellow paper books and extorting and extorting donations to those "two" and "three" ones" one by one is their main business!

If the leader of the Demon Sect really rises and his power rises sharply, the first person the leader of the Demon Sect, the incense masters will definitely not deal with, but will definitely turn around and invade the capital to become the emperor - they are all professional rebels for thousands of years!

The Manchu man in the capital had already thrown away most of his country. Even the ancestral tombs and dragon veins were dug up by someone, but he still had to come up with such a foolish move... Are you really afraid that the country and the country would not be subverted quickly enough?

Of course, although it is "not afraid to forget the country when you are low", Ma Qianzhu County Ma did not have such high feelings and awareness. He only asked these guys who were doing magic sects to get out quickly and not be tempted to visit and ask gods to do rituals like a monkey. He was already very satisfied.

Fortunately, after nearly a month of tossing on Zhoushan Island, the real person Feng Xian felt that he could not always stay trapped in the land. He took a group of disciples to the outer island to carry out missionary work. He went to Daishan Island seven days ago and then to Shengsi Island... Although the county's Xinghuang Bagua Banner still fluttered high among the countryside, the ears of Ma Qianzhu County Ma's ears became much cleaner.

Therefore, Ma Qianzhu County Magistrate became increasingly reluctant to see Feng Xianzhen come back, and even secretly stole the grass man with Feng Xianzhen's name, and cursed every day with needles and fire. He hoped that this third-rate charlatan would be better off meeting Feng Xianzhen's boat capsized and drowned at the sea, and never come back again...

I don’t know whether it’s luck or misfortune, but his curse actually came true!

——When Ma Qianzhu had lunch in the county yard and was about to go back for a nap, a sloppy officer, suddenly rushed into the lobby with the help of several yamen runners, bringing good news and bad news to the county magistrate.

"...Report to the county master, yesterday afternoon, a Western giant ship with a large hill suddenly invaded our Shengsi Islands! And he happened to meet Feng Xian Zhenren riding a sea boat leaving the island. He couldn't dodge for a while and was overturned by the damn giant ship!

Since there were sharks in the sea, although we quickly drove the inspection boat and tried our best to rescue them, by the time we were cast in the net to salvage the person, Feng Xian had become half a real person, and the other half had gone, and the rest of the church members were not alone..."

If it is still good news for Ma Qianzhu County Ma, then the next news will be bad news.

"...When Beizhi came to report the news, the water camp fortress on the Shengsi Islands had fallen! Please ask the emperor to quickly start the court and ask for help from the army!"

...

A moment later, the special political communication system for the Great Jin Dynasty that had been passed down for thousands of years began to operate frantically.

"...My dear sirs, this is the emergency official document of the county magistrate, level 3 encryption! Military information is like fire, please be sure to send it immediately!"

Accompanied by a burst of rapid footsteps, outside the heavily guarded Dinghai County Post Station, a yamen runner held a box in his hand and panted to the forehand of the duty team in the post office room.

Although the customs in the court's officialdom have always emphasized culture over military affairs, the soldiers who managed the post station were not ordinary green camp soldiers, but also worked as an entourage of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was equivalent to intelligence officers on the court's secret front. Not to mention a xiǎoxiǎo yamen runner, even the county magistrate himself, could be treated with courtesy.

So, the duty team just nodded arrogantly, then took the box and carefully checked the fire seal with the two deputy. After everything was confirmed, they put out the official seal and poked it, turned around and walked to an outside of a bluestone house in the inner courtyard. They gently knocked on the board a few times, but did not open it, but handed the box into the room from a window next to it.

The post station where he was staying in the house quickly completed the inspection of the box, filled out a receipt form, stamped it with the official seal and sent it out from the window. The team was sending the receipt to the yamen runners, and the yamen runners also checked it carefully, and then took the receipt form to report.

Next, the inn in the house took out a blank letter paper, and according to some strange and ancient voice, he recited the official documents sent by the county magistrate, and then picked up the pen and recorded it from the bookstore next to him, turning it into a group of strange words that no one could understand. Then he translated it into a score according to a code book, and gave it to the musician on duty in another house. The musician found a corresponding chime on the huge instrument rack according to the musical score after the translation... After a while, a wonderful musical sound rang in the house.

At the same time, in a quiet and spacious hall, in a quiet and spacious hall, one of the hundreds of chimes suddenly rang without knocking. The three eunuchs with beautiful eyes and eyes knelt beside them quickly took notes and recorded the music score, and then gave the attendant on duty in the hall.

The servant immediately found the code book, translated the music score into a pile of incomprehensible text, and then gave it to the palace to recite and decipher, asking him to restore the code to the initial official document again, and then handed it to the eunuch in the palace with a receipt. The eunuch in charge filled out the receipt, signed the copy of the official document and put it into the warehouse, then picked up the original document and hurried to the Qianqing Palace where His Majesty the Emperor lived and worked in daily life.

After a while, outside the study room of Emperor Kant Wanyan Dezhao, the voice of Kong Lingqi, the general manager of the Dawen: "...Your Majesty, Ma Qianzhu, the magistrate of Dinghai, Zhejiang Province, rushed to report the secretly, and there was a major military report..."

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

...Although the Xianglong Empire has become increasingly ignorant, rigid and decayed under the foolish rule of the barbarians, and its whole body exudes a breath of supremeness. However, among the several legacies left over from the golden age in the past, some shining points worthy of our admiration can still be discovered... Among them, the yu stone instrument communication system of this empire is a great invention that is most worthy of our introduction and promotion...

...More than 1,200 years ago, in order to ensure the smooth transmission of the government orders of this huge empire, the most outstanding Eastern monks at that time finally invented the thunder-type magic technique dedicated to instant communication, which was used to replace slow postman and unreliable carrier pigeons.

This magic is solidified in yu-like vessels, and there is no need to bother those mysterious cultivators. As long as ordinary mortal officials can do it, they can be used ten times a day, and at most ten thousand syllables or five thousand square characters can be passed on at a time. The county-level post stations can only support a single line, and the six ministries of the court and the imperial palace each have an information center composed of dozens of chimes...

From then on, those top musicians and people with particularly sensitive ears became national strategic talents. In important stations in various places, there were sturdy houses with special musical instruments, which were strictly guarded by the most sharp soldiers outside the house. There were musicians and bookshops in the house, responsible for translating the sent official documents into music scores and sending them out, recording the received music scores and translating them into official documents to local government officials.

In order to ensure the same information transmission efficiency, the ancient Imaska ​​Empire had to establish hundreds of spaces to transmit Mén in the territory, and consumed amazing amounts of rare materials such as gems, gold, mitrils, etc. every day, which was astonishingly expensive. What's even more terrifying is that in the actual use process, some strange monsters would run out of the teleportation Mén from time to time, causing huge damage to the empire. The most serious time even attracted the Abyss Majeska Emperor Dimoggen, which instantly destroyed half of the Imaska ​​Empire.

The music resonance system of the Xianglong Empire is relatively cheap and safer. The only inconvenience is that this special combination of fairy instruments must remain absolutely quiet and stable when used, so it cannot be installed on bumpy ships at all. The army carrying such equipment must also set up camp before collecting and sending reports with the court behind...

In fact, it is a very complex process to process yu stone instruments, carve various runes and spiritual power circuits in seals, and realize the solidification of synchronous information transmission spells. In the history of the Eastern world, only the three Taoist sects of Maoshan, Shushan and Longhushan were able to master it. Three hundred years ago, after the complete collapse of the Eastern cultivation world, these three schools had disappeared, and the technology of manufacturing communication instruments was naturally lost.

However, the Great Jin Dynasty, which now ruled this empire, found a sufficient number of spare yu stone instruments from the royal warehouse left by the old dynasty three hundred years ago. It also extended its service life by simply simplifying the number of post stations, limiting the length of official documents, and reducing the frequency of sending reports. Finally, this yu stone instrument communication system has been operating until now...

...

This extremely advanced official communication system once operated safely and smoothly for a long time while being extremely confidential to the outside world.

However, in this world of dynamic movement, everything has its beginning and end, and empires and dynasties will naturally have their rise and fall. With the collapse of the old dynasty, the former top secret can no longer be strictly protected.

By the time the next new dynasty was established, this mysterious communication mechanism was also mastered by the barbarians near the living empire. Although they did not have enough financial resources to establish a national communication system for themselves, it would not be difficult if they just equip the generals with a complete set of simple equipment for monitoring and deciphering.

As a result, the frequent leaks of military information on the border caused the generals of the Xianglong Empire to be very puzzled. No matter how complicated the passwords they used, it was difficult to ensure that they would not be deciphered by their opponents for a long time.

In the end, this distressing problem was solved in an unexpected way by a Jinshi from a remote mountainous area.

The hometown of this Jinshi is a poor town closed by mountains and rivers. The conditions are very bad. The people living there always maintain ancient folk customs, sing ancient songs, and speak ancient dialects... Basically, no one except the locals can understand it.

Therefore, the Jinshi came up with a wonderful idea - to read out the official documents that need to be sent in this dialect, then write them into corresponding texts according to standard official syllables, and finally use the songs from their hometown to compile them into music scores and send them.

This confidentiality method was ultimately successful. Although the enemy could still intercept these music, no one could understand the translated heavenly books.

Because the source of these music is a classic "The Great Wind" from the ancient elegant language...

Therefore, in the years that followed, this remote town was far away from poverty and famine, and became the only place in the country where the whole nation could eat official food. Local young people began to learn various ancient music scores and elegant languages ​​from time to time, and could be directly selected into the court to serve as official positions without having to pass the difficult imperial examination. Together with a royal guard who would work with him for a long time, they were assigned to the post stations and government offices in various places, enjoying the best treatment and handling the most confidential official duties. When they were old, they would leave with their titles and wealth and retire, and return to their hometown to spend their old age.

The only trouble for these people is that according to the strict orders of the court, they must not speak local dialect or sing the hometown songs in the presence of outsiders, nor can they leave their workplaces and hometown without surveillance and protection without personal royal guards.

Among the people of this country, they are usually respected as "Wind Talking"...

——"Memoirs of the Eastern Expedition——The Conquest of Xianglong Empire"
Chapter completed!