The sunlight slanting through the clouds fell on the endless roofs and eaves. The birds flying across the sky gently landed on the branches, chirping and preening their feathers. The long and noisy street below suddenly caused a commotion, and passers-by retreated one after another.
Tap tap tap…
Bang Bang…
Horses galloped, and several fast horses rushed across the street, waving whips and shouting: "Get out of the way!" Some distance behind them, more than ten carts pulled by pack horses were driven and shouted by the drivers, speeding up to pass through the street. The sound of the carts faded away, and the pedestrians who were hiding on the curbs on both sides returned to the street, raised their hands and pointed in that direction.
"What's going on these days?" "You don't know, I heard that something is being built over at Hibiscus Pond, it's square and quite big."
"It looks like a high platform, and it's almost finished."
"I remember there was already such a building, why is it being rebuilt?"
"Oh, it has been pushed a long time ago. This is a new one, bigger than the old one. The Liu family, the rice shop next door, has made a lot of money just by delivering rice to the peasants over there these days. Now he smiles at everyone he sees."
"If you smile at everyone you see, you are a fool."
On the noisy and bustling street, a bird perched on a roadside branch flapped its wings and flew away, passing over the noisy street below, over the rooftops with lazy cats lying on them, and over the houses and buildings lined up in the sun. The bird's eyes reflected the southeast of the city, and in the distance the sparkling Hibiscus Pond came into view. There was a ten-foot-high platform carved out of huge rocks surrounded by a wooden frame. Countless shirtless figures climbed the wooden frame, swinging hammers and hitting the bricks. The young men who were pulling bricks had bulging veins on their necks, shouting slogans, and sending the square rocks to the bottom of the stage, calling on their companions above to lift them up bit by bit. The stone wall of the stage that they passed over was carved with lines outlining the sun, moon, stars, auspicious clouds in various postures, and gods.
The busyness continued until it was dark.
In the atmosphere of an impending war, people in the city suddenly discovered over the past seven or eight days that a large number of carts pulling large and small rocks were coming back from outside the city every day. At first, they thought they were used to reinforce the city walls, but there was no sign of troop mobilization. Instead, from the stories told by the summoned laborers back home, only a few people realized that it was the imperial teacher in Wanshou Temple who was going to build a large stone platform, but they didn't know what it was going to be used for.
Soon, after the news spread, some people who had an impression of it recalled the grand event of enthroning the national master that year, and their memories were still fresh. For a time, they speculated that the national master, who had not appeared for a long time or even had no news, was going to do something.
"Speaking of the Imperial Master, I remember the scene back then. There were huge crowds of people, and the noise was deafening. You couldn't see the end. You just moved to Chang'an, so you must have never seen it."
"I've heard that the lightning and thunder that day were caused by the Imperial Master, right?"
"That's for sure. The Imperial Master is making a move again. Considering the rioters outside, it's possible that he is targeting them."
"Wouldn't that be a good show?"
"… Those thieves deserve to die. Now that the Imperial Master has taken action, let's see how long they can survive."
Word of the story spread quickly in the streets, and within two days the whole city of Chang'an knew about it. Even the shorter residents would take a stroll outside the lotus pond every day, wondering when the altar would be completed so they could be the first to witness the grand event.
Apart from watching the mysterious magic, who wouldn't want the rebels outside the city to be wiped out and no more wars to break out
Amid the noisy and chaotic sounds of footsteps and voices, the sound spread to the alley on the side of the government office. A faint light shone into the darkness inside through a small window that was almost touching the ground.
Dust was flying, iron chains were jingling, and a dishevelled figure was leaning against the small window on tiptoe, with his ear against the wall, listening carefully to the sounds of the bustling city outside.
In particular, the words "altar", "bandits outside", "national teacher" and so on fell clearly into his ears. Unfortunately, it was difficult to form a complete story. He hurriedly ran to the prison fence and banged on the wooden pillars.
"Someone come!"
"Prison boss, I want to see the Imperial Master!"
In the dim prison corridor, under the flickering torchlight, two figures walked by. The jailer was swinging a bunch of keys in his hand, and came with a guard following the sound. When he saw the young man being beaten, he chuckled twice and leaned against the bars.
"Why, you are the only one who wants to see the Imperial Master? Then the Imperial Master must also want to see you."
The guard laughed and hit the young man's hand that was clinging to the fence with a wooden stick. "I heard your name is Chen Jing, right? You were the emperor of the Southern Dynasty? How did you end up like this? Come and show me how you attended court in the past."
In the prison, Chen Jing withdrew his hand and didn't care about the other party's ridicule. He was feeling depressed in the cell and was thankful to have someone to talk to.
"Prison boss, why am I asking you why there is so much noise outside? I really want to hear what the market is saying about the national master, and what else is going on with the altar. Can you tell me? I want to hear it."
"You want to listen?" The prison boss leaned against the fence, looked at the guard and smiled, then hooked his finger into the cell: "Come, come closer."
Chen Jing dragged his feet with the iron chain and approached. As soon as he grabbed the wooden stake, the prison boss picked up a stick and hit it. There was a loud "bang" and forced the man back.
Hahaha~~~
The prison boss laughed loudly while brandishing his stick, then turned and left with the guards, "You want to listen too? Stay here, no matter how big the things are outside, they have nothing to do with a prisoner like you! You still want to dream of restoring the country, wake up."
Birds flew past the small window, the light and shadow dimmed and then brightened, the sunlight shone with dust particles on Chen Jing's disheveled hair, and the shadow stretched on the ground.
The laughter gradually disappeared in the distance of the prison. Chen Jing sat down on the ground dejectedly. Under his messy hair, he stared blankly at his dirty hands.
'Prisoner...'
He whispered softly.
The sun was shining brightly outside. To the north of the prosperous city, across the surging river, the grass on the bank was swaying. Suddenly, a hand reached down, pulled it up, and put it into the mouth.
A thin figure was reflected on the flowing river surface. On his thin shoulders was a huge hammer that was bigger than his body. He had a tuft of yellow hair on his head and was looking around at the surrounding scenery.
"Didn't they say that there were many enemy troops outside? How come there's not even a shadow of a ghost in sight?"
"I finally learned a lot of skills, are you going to let me go back in disgrace?"
"No, no, that would make Yuwen Tuo a laughing stock."
The young man squinted his eyes, looked around and talked to himself for a while, then continued walking north along the river for a while, climbed a gentle slope, threw the iron hammer to the ground, sat on a big rock, took out a cake from the leather bag around his waist and put it into his mouth, kicking his feet and shouting twice in boredom.
"Come here, let me try the hammer~~~"
The young man was Li Yuanba who had escaped from Chang'an. He had been feeling depressed for a long time after hearing the news that his parents and brother had escaped from Taiyuan. He thought this was a good excuse to come out and try out the skills he had learned.
But I didn't expect that after walking for several days, apart from seeing a few groups of fleeing civilians, I didn't even see a single wild animal.
"I'm not lost, am I?"
Li Yuanba tapped his feet and muttered something. In the wind blowing through the woods by the river, he seemed to hear something vaguely coming from a distance.
It seems to be... the sound of a wheel
His brows furrowed, he stood on the stone and turned to look at a winding path in the woods over there, "Another refugee?"
The next moment after the young man's whispered words came out, the grass and trees flew away with a rustling sound, and a horse-drawn carriage rushed out with branches and leaves hanging on it. The horses pulling the carriage neighed in panic, which magnified in Li Yuanba's eyes. They crashed into this side with a panicked cry of "Hey, hey, hey~~~"