Chapter 40: Zhong Shengquan

"How to find it?" Nian Songyu frowned, "Do you want to pray for rain in the Panlong ruins?"

"Praying for rain here, the success rate is less than half a percent, but the effort spent is five or six times more than usual." Sun Fuping smiled bitterly, "Just now I tried to summon the mountains and marshes, but got no response at all."

Summoning mountains and marshes here, it really has imagination. He Lingchuan couldn't help laughing: "This place is too dry, even the Land God is dried to death."

"If we can't pray for rain, then pour water, the Baling Nation's team might have done it this way." Nian Songyu thought for a while, "It's impossible to pray for rain in the whole city, and there's no need. We must find the right place."

The Baling Nation's team couldn't pray for rain to cover Panlongcheng here either; they had to use the limited water in a precise location. With successful precedents, National Master Sun's party only needed to deduce according to the situation to estimate a rough idea.

"In my analysis, the places where rainwater irrigation can trigger the Wild Sand Season are nothing more than these: Mitian Temple, Zhong Shengquan's Ancestral Hall, Red General's Ancestral Hall, Zhong Shengquan's graveyard, and the mass grave of Panlongcheng." Sun Fuping added another sentence, "Those two ancestral halls were built when people were alive; they are rare living ancestral halls."

As everyone knows, only the dead or gods can enjoy the incense offerings in the ancestral hall; if a living ancestral hall is built for a living person, it is not worshipping a person, it is harming a person, because a living person is mostly not blessed to enjoy it, light ones will reduce their lifespan, and heavy ones will lose their lives.

Obviously, Zhong Shengquan and Red General are exceptions, figures who were deified before they died.

He Lingchuan asked strangely: "Why not count Red General's graveyard?"

He Chunhua answered him: "He wasn't buried, at most it's a cenotaph, there's no value in searching."

Nian Songyu asked: "Even if we find these locations, how do we determine where to pour water in the end?"

"We can't, but the Three-Corpse Insects know." Sun Fuping took out several sealed glass jars, inside which mist seemed to be lingering.

Everyone looked closely, good fellow, where is the mist? In the jar, there are clearly four or five swimming Three-Corpse Insects! They are very lively, each one using its head to top the edge of the jar, looking a bit like jar-raised eels.

"They only move in one direction, which is away from the Great Fang Hu." Sun Fuping explained, "That is to say, the opposite direction of their swimming is where the Great Fang Hu is. You take this jar and walk around the target location, and you can find it."

This old man is very deep in the city, planning everything in advance; if he is holding back evil, he will probably be very thorough... He Lingchuan glanced at him quietly, becoming more vigilant in his heart.

Next, everyone picked up the glass jar and acted separately.

The He father and son naturally walked together, heading to Zhong Shengquan's graveyard.

On a cold and desolate night, walking in the ruins of a city. This feeling of loneliness and decay reached its peak when seeing Zhong Shengquan's graveyard.

Zhong Shengquan's tomb was located in the northwest corner of the square at the south gate they passed earliest, and it was actually a large and magnificent tomb, all made of green stone, occupying a full two acres. Judging from the surrounding situation, the buried person specifically demolished many houses to make space for this large tomb.

The epitaph was very simple: Tomb of Zhong Shengquan, Commander of Xiluo, next to it were the dates of birth and death.

It has been over a hundred years, and except for the traces of excavation by later generations, the entire tomb is intact, and the stone strips of the tomb don't even have a broken corner.

The He father and son walked here and sighed long.

The story of Panlongcheng and the Great Wind Army has been sung year after year, and it has been enduring in today's Black Water City, but how many people can come to worship this legendary general who sacrificed his life for the country?

He Lingchuan sighed: "The enemy actually built such a large tomb for him."

Zhong Shengquan committed suicide when the city was breached, fulfilling his vow that "the city is there, the person is there; the city is broken, the person dies." Later, Panlongcheng was massacred, and of course, there were no compatriots who could bury him. The one who built this tomb could only be his enemy.

"The Xianyou Nation had no choice but to do so. After Zhong Shengquan died, he was beheaded, and his head was presented to the Xianyou Nation capital to claim credit, and the whole country celebrated, and the palace collected it as a collection. However, since then, the Panlong wilderness has encountered strange events one after another, people and livestock have not lived, and grass and trees have not grown. The Xianyou Nation wanted the mineral-rich wilderness, not the desert where living people are not allowed to enter, so they sent people to enter Panlongcheng again to bury Zhong Shengquan thickly, hoping to appease the anger of the vengeful souls."

"And then failed." What the Xianyou Nation was like later, and what the Panlong Desert was like later, need not be repeated.

He Chunhua didn't know where he took out two bundles of incense and lit them, sharing one bundle with He Lingchuan: "It's not easy to make a trip."

Let's pay homage to the heroic soul.

The two worshipped seriously, and He Lingchuan took out a bag of mare's milk wine from his bosom, and then turned out three cups and filled them.

The He father and son toasted the tombstone and drank it in one gulp.

He Lingchuan sprinkled the wine lightly on the grave and whispered: "General Zhong, you must bless us to enter and exit the Panlong Desert safely, so that we have a chance to come and offer wine to you again in the future."

He Lingchuan took out the glass jar and walked around Zhong Shengquan's tomb, but the Three-Corpse Insects in the jar didn't change direction, always arching toward the south wall.

That is to say, this large tomb was not their target.

He walked a circle and came back, seeing He Chunhua lost in thought: "Father, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking, if we really find the Great Fang Hu and send it to the inland battlefield, will the Wild Sand Season of the Panlong Desert become a swan song?"

"Definitely. Isn't this a good thing? The Panlong wilderness looks barren, but it is actually rich in products, otherwise the coalition forces wouldn't have fought Panlongcheng to the death back then. If it lets us go, Qiansong County wouldn't be so poor." Speaking of this, He Lingchuan looked at He Chunhua's expression and was startled, "Why, did I say something wrong?"

"All right, but I feel that it is best for the Panlong Desert to remain as it is."

He Lingchuan asked strangely: "Why?" Is there anyone who likes to guard a barren desert that is fickle?

"The Panlong Desert is an obstacle, a disaster, and impermanence, but it is also a guarantee. Great Yuan is no longer as strong as it was back then; if this layer of protection is removed, the consequences are unpredictable."

"What kind of guarantee is the Panlong Desert?" He Lingchuan secretly praised Prefect He for being delicate, but on the surface, he had to laugh, "If we can find the pot, our whole family will move to the capital, so why care about the Panlong Desert? Whether it blows or rains here, it has nothing to do with us."

This statement is indeed very consistent with the personality of He Lingchuan's original body, and Prefect He looked at him and smiled: "The way of being an official, you are transparent."

No matter the promotion, the trouble is for the next local official, and he just pats his butt and leaves. As the eldest son said, why worry for others?

When the sky falls, there will always be others to hold it up.

Actually, He Lingchuan understood as soon as he heard it; the Panlong Desert is a buffer zone between several major forces. Anyone who wants to cross it to attack the Yuan Nation has difficulty, not to mention the Wild Sand Season, which lasts for nearly half a year, is almost the nightmare of all expeditionary forces. During this period, unless they can support the war with war and the looted supplies can support the army, the logistical supply will be completely cut off.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 41 =====