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The mountains and hills are gathered together, the waves are raging, and the Tongguan Road is surrounded by mountains and rivers.
Looking at the Western Capital, I feel hesitant. I feel sad that the palaces of Qin and Han dynasties have all turned to dust.
When a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer.
In the second year of the Tianli period, there was a severe drought in the northwest and people were starving to death. Zhang Yanghao, who was serving as the acting prime minister in Shaanxi, saw this tragic scene and wrote the poem "Shanpoyang".
History is always in a cycle. The natural disasters and the riots in the northwest during the Chongzhen period were much more tragic than those during the Yuan and Tian dynasties. And not only in the northwest, but also in the Central Plains, bones were exposed in the wild and no roosters crowed for thousands of miles.
Luoyang, after changing hands several times between the Ming army and the peasant army and suffering from endless wars, was almost in ruins.
There used to be a palace complex here that was three or four times larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Wanxiang Palace built by Wu Zetian was 300 feet high, reaching the sky and the clouds, with an extremely magnificent momentum. Even the poet Li Bai couldn't help but exclaim when he visited Luoyang: "How magnificent and beautiful! How magnificent, how great the Tang Dynasty is!"
But a thousand years later, after countless destructions by blood and fire, only some low ruins remain of the palace that once made the great poets sigh. They are mottled by the erosion of wind and rain, silently telling of the endless vicissitudes of life.
After Ma Yongzhen captured Luoyang, he used part of the military rations to provide relief to the refugees. The city of Luoyang finally regained a little vitality. The people who survived the disaster had some hope, and many people began to rebuild their homes with difficulty.
With no money, bricks or tiles, many people went to the ruins of the Sui and Tang imperial palaces north of Luo River to dig some bricks and stones to use.
Feng Xin just turned twenty today. He is very strong and can make loud noises when digging up bricks and stones. Things from the prosperous Tang Dynasty are really good. The fallen bricks have been covered by soil for thousands of years, but they are still intact and usable after being dug out.
Feng Xin dug twenty or thirty bricks. When he stopped to rest, he couldn't help but look at the Qin army on the city wall in the distance with an envious look on his face.
His biggest wish now was to join the Qin army, because if he joined the Qin army, he would have food to eat, clothes to wear, and salary to receive. He heard that he could also get land and his family could live a stable life.
Having food to eat, clothes to wear and land to farm, these most basic survival needs are what Feng Xin dreams of.
Now all the men in Luoyang who have some strength are vying to join the army. Feng Xin also wants to go, but he has a sick and frail mother at home. If he joins the army, there will be no one to take care of his mother who cannot take care of herself.
Thinking of his sick mother at home, Feng Xin got up quickly and dug hard, trying to dig enough bricks as soon as possible to go home. When the hoe fell, there was a sound of metal coming from below.
Feng Xin was startled and quickly looked at his hoe, which was the only valuable item in the house. He saw a small hole on the hoe, which made Feng Xin very sad.
Next, he dug down carefully to see what was underground, and after removing the surrounding bricks and stones, he revealed an iron box, which was covered with rust and traces of fire.
Could this iron box contain treasures from the former imperial palace? Feng Xin's heart tightened inexplicably, and he was sweating with nervousness. He couldn't wait to use a hoe to knock open the copper lock on the iron box, and when he opened it, he saw that the box was full of rotten brocade. It was already rotten.
Feng Xin was greatly disappointed and heaved a long sigh. Reluctantly, he reached out and touched the rotten brocade in the box. Suddenly, a ray of jade light came out, sparkling in the sunlight, and Feng Xin was so surprised that he couldn't help but exclaim.
Some people who were digging bricks and stones nearby heard Feng Xin's exclamation and gathered around him, "Hey, look what treasure Feng Xin has dug up."
"Everyone come and see, Feng Xin has found a treasure."
As the crowd was shouting, more and more people gathered around. Feng Xin regretted it too late. He closed the iron box and held it tightly in his arms, looking at everyone vigilantly.
"Feng Xin, you dug up the things, and no one dares to snatch them from you. Didn't Governor Ma issue a notice a long time ago? Robbery is a serious crime."
"Yes, yes, Feng Xin, open it and let's take a look."
"That's right. Maybe you don't know whether the item is worth money or not. You should take a look to avoid being cheated."
Seven or eight people surrounded Feng Xin, talking loudly and making a lot of noise, but Feng Xin refused to give in. He threw away the bricks he had dug up, wrapped the iron box with his rags, picked up a hoe and ran home.
After arriving home, Feng Xin closed the old door, looked at it and felt uneasy, so he moved a stone mill to prop up the door, and then ran into the room excitedly: "Mom, mom, when I was digging bricks, I found a treasure. Mom, when I have money in the future, I can sell you medicine to treat your illness..."
The room was brightly lit. Apart from a broken wooden bed, the room was bare and there were holes everywhere on the walls, allowing rays of light to shine in and form beams of light.
An old woman with a sick face and gray hair was lying on the broken wooden bed.
She said with difficulty: "Son, what are you talking about? What did you dig up?"
"Mother, look, it's a piece of jade, a very big piece of jade..." Feng Xin knelt in front of the bed, opened the iron box, and carefully pushed aside the rotten brocade.
The old woman opened her cloudy eyes and propped up her upper body as much as she could to take a closer look at what her son was holding. She saw a large piece of jade with five dragons carved on it, intertwined and circling, looking lifelike.
"Son, turn it over and let me see it. It looks like a big seal."
"Oh, mother, please take a closer look. It doesn't matter if it's a seal or not. If you sell such a big piece of jade, it will be enough to buy medicine for mother to treat her illness. Hey, this corner is inlaid with some gold. Look, mother..."
It was indeed a large seal, four inches square, with some crooked characters underneath. Neither the mother nor the son could recognize them, but they knew the dragon carved on it. The old woman counted them carefully and found that there were five dragons entwined on it, not one more or one less.
"Ah!" The old woman screamed and fell on the wooden bed.
"Mom, what's wrong with you? What's wrong? Mom, don't scare me..." Feng Xin stuffed the things to the head of the bed and hurried to help his mother.
The old woman took a deep breath and said anxiously, "Son, we can't have this thing. We can't have it. This is a jade seal that big. Even the prefect's seal is not this big. There are five dragons carved on it. My God, this is a seal that only the emperor can use."
"The emperor's seal? Mother, no way..."
"What do you mean you can't? Only the emperor's family has this dragon. Who among the common people dares to carve dragons and phoenixes on their seals? This jade seal is so big, and there are five dragons carved on it. Who except the emperor dares to use it? Son, take this thing away quickly, otherwise it will bring disaster to our family. You are the only one left in our Feng family. You can't let this ruin the Feng family and leave them without a successor. Take it away quickly, take it away..."
The old woman kept urging him, as if someone would break in at any moment to rob and kill people. Feng Xin panicked and asked tremblingly, "Mom, what should we do? Where are you going to take the child?"
"This... My son, Commander Ma is a good man. If he hadn't used military rations to help the people, my mother and I would have starved to death. You should give this to Commander Ma. Maybe you can get some reward money in exchange. You are not destined to be like that. If you keep this, you will definitely get into trouble. Go, go..."
Feng Xin was a very filial man. He quickly responded to his mother's repeated urging. After putting the jade seal back into the iron box, he said, "Mom, don't worry. I will give this jade seal to Governor Ma. Anyway, I want to exchange it for money to treat your illness. It's not worth keeping it. Wait, Mom. When Governor Ma gives me the reward, I will buy you medicine to treat your illness..."
The news that Feng Xin had unearthed the treasure quickly spread throughout the city, and there were many different opinions.
Even Ma Yongzhen heard about it, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Lekedehun was attacking Hulao Pass, and Aobai was attacking Mengjin Pass. Luoyang was under attack from both sides, and the situation was already very tight. In this case, how could Ma Yongzhen care about who dug out what treasures
He sent most of his troops there, but due to heavy casualties, his manpower became increasingly tight, and he had to recruit soldiers locally near Luoyang.
What worried him even more was the supply of food and weapons. Wuchang to Luoyang was a long distance, and logistical supply was difficult. In order to stabilize the people in Luoyang City, he had to take out part of the tight military rations to provide relief to the people, otherwise there was no guarantee that the people who could not survive would not cause chaos.
"Report! Commander Ma, there is a man named Feng Xin outside the government office, who said he has some treasures to present to you, Commander Ma."
A personal soldier came to report outside the door. Ma Yongzhen was busy, and said without raising his head: "Don't bother me with such matters. Let him take the treasure to sell somewhere else. Pass my order and ask Gao Yigong of Hangu Pass to dispatch another 2,000 troops to help Mengjin. Go quickly."
“Yes.”
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ps: Congratulations to China ~ Huangdi for becoming the Grand Master of Tianyang Tianxia, from Shan Jianqing to Mingyang Tianxia, thank you for your company and encouragement along the way!
I will continue to update three chapters today. The monthly votes from my brothers have been very strong these two days, so I can't slack off. Even if I have to write by hand, I have to rush out three chapters. I hope my brothers will continue to support me! (To be continued...)
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