Chapter 1270

"The full moon climbs the slope, the old raven laughs, at the third watch we boil wine to pour on the beach.

The old raven brings a red bridal veil, a paper sedan chair, a rotten fishing net, eighteen poles inserted into the whirlpool mouth.

A red bowl filled with rouge, the weeping bride song sung backwards—

The River Earl lifts the red silk, fish carry the sedan chair, the bride catches her breath under the water—"

On the dirt road, a white-haired shaman with disheveled hair and shoulders, wearing a coir raincoat, spun a rattle-drum, singing and dancing, chanting words. The brown dried reeds on the coir raincoat were layered, rising and falling like feathers, as if he were the old raven spreading its wings that he spoke of.

In late May, the sun was scorching, baking the land until it was hot, yellow, and sandy. Ants were moving house, orange and bright.

A thirteen-year-old girl had sweat on her forehead, put on new red clothes, sat in a new bamboo sedan chair, and covered herself with a fishy-smelling fishing net.

Four laborers grabbed the green bamboo poles, gave a shout, hoisted them onto their shoulders, and amidst the beating of gongs and drums, bounced the bamboo sedan chair as they rushed toward the Yellow Sand.

The procession consisted of about a thousand people, including old people, children, and young people, moving forward majestically. They had already walked thirty miles, and the Da He was close at hand. Many old people were covered in sweat, and hearing the faint sound of water in their ears and the humid air, they gritted their teeth and persisted.

"Don't cry, don't cry, don't be sad, don't be sad. Marrying the River God, your girl is going to enjoy happiness! When you go home tonight, wait until next spring, and the River God will send your family a big fat boy! No need for oxen to plow the fields, no need for donkeys to pull the mill!"

The village elder leaned on his cane, accompanying the girl's parents as they walked on the field ridge, talking as they went. Seeing the girl in the sedan chair shaking violently, he took a piece of half-melted malt sugar from his sleeve, stuffed it into the girl's mouth, and wiped the sweat from her forehead with his rough hand.

The girl's attention was entirely drawn by the sweetness in her mouth, and she stopped shaking.

"Grandpa Village Elder, if I marry the River God, will I really be able to enjoy happiness?"

"Of course you'll enjoy happiness. Last night my granddaughter even came to me in a dream, saying that she eats big fish and meat every meal until she's sick of it, and the big carp have no bones, so she asked me to take the opportunity to dig two jin of wild vegetables and send them over." The village elder took out a bundle of dried wild vegetables,

"Girl, you hold on tight. Take this bundle of vegetables to your sister. From now on, you two will be sisters. If there's anything, discuss it."

"Mm, okay, we'll discuss it."

The girl grabbed the rope.

Beyond the nine heavens, the flowing mist was ethereal.

"Doesn't the River Office care about this kind of human sacrifice?"

Liang Qu crossed his arms, riding the dragon and carrying people, looking down at everything happening below, frowning.

In the distance, the yellow sand rolled like melted malt sugar, emitting sweetness and honey, and everyone seemed to be ants attracted to it, flocking there, rushing headlong.

"Naturally, we care. Human sacrifice is an act of ignorance and should be suppressed." Above the floating clouds, Si Nan replied respectfully, "Before you mentioned the sand-flushing, we anticipated this would happen and sent people to various remote villages—"

"What are you doing, what are you doing? Who told you to sacrifice living people? This is nonsense. This is the Imperial Court managing the sand, not some River God. Go back, all of you, go back quickly!"

Shouts rang out.

The people in the sky turned their gaze.

The "ant colony" rushing forward was blocked by three people wearing blue official uniforms. They had climbed mountains and crossed ridges, panting, their bodies soaked with sweat.

The two sides confronted each other.

The young, strong laborers surrounded the village elder, not fearing the prestige of the government at all, and were even superior in local strength. In this remote village, there were actually several Four-Gate martial artists, which was rare.

After a fierce conflict and contradiction, the entire wedding procession scattered quite a bit, sparse and thin.

Solved?

Liang Qu raised an eyebrow.

He glanced at the calm-faced Si Nan and felt that this matter was not that simple.

Sure enough.

After waiting for two quarters of an hour, the officials were trapped by the crowd, and the girl chosen for sacrifice was trembling, pulled out from behind the crowd by her parents and wrapped in a straw mat.

Led by the village elder and the shaman, and two young men, they used the cover of the human wall to bypass the three River Office officials and ran to the mountain forest, hacking through the bushes, heading straight for the Yellow Shahe.

The River Chief and the River Earl were completely unaware, still noisily pushing and shoving with the villagers.

Only then did Si Nan explain.

"Your Highness the Prince of Huai, this place is called Zhujia Village. Most of the people in the village have the surname Zhu. There are more than 130 households and over 800 people. It is more than 9,000 miles away from the nearest county town. The place is remote, located among the mountains, and out of reach."

"There is a simple martial art passed down collectively in the village. All the men can learn it, and the village elder teaches it personally. Cultivation resources depend entirely on hunting in the mountains, self-sufficient. It was brought by the ancestors of the village elder in the early years, so his prestige is extremely high, and his word is final."

"Because the folk customs are fierce, the village also hides many unregistered households to avoid taxes, hiding in the mountain forests. In the sixteenth year of the early Dashun, an official went hunting in the mountains on a holiday and discovered it. The people in the village only then knew that the dynasty had changed. After making a fuss for two or three years, they started paying taxes again."

"And it is rumored that a hundred years ago, this village witnessed the River God turning into a green fish passing through, so superstition is rampant. Even if we stop it today, they will continue to sacrifice on some day when no one is around. The leading village elder even sacrificed his own granddaughter, always talking about marrying the River God to enjoy happiness."

"Has the government managed it?"

"They have. In the past, several county magistrates were quite wise and made efforts, but the results were minimal. First, the place is too far, and ordinary officials are unwilling to spend the effort to travel back and forth. Second, the cost of changing customs is high. After the ban was issued, the villagers turned a blind eye and covered for each other, making it difficult to supervise."

"Third—the harm of this village is not huge. In decades, only three girls have been sacrificed, and they were all voluntary, believing that being chosen is 'enjoying happiness'. Occasionally, the number of children who accidentally drown is more than this. Slowly, it became ineffective, and it didn't help with political achievements, so they were too lazy to care."

Liang Qu pinched the bridge of his nose and understood.

He originally thought it might be a reenactment of the "Ximen Bao story".

Local powerful families, in order to collect wealth, colluded with witches to deliberately fabricate the situation of the River God marrying a wife to deceive the people.

He only needed to have a "magic duel", imitate the wisdom of his ancestors, and state, "The girl is not good, please ask the Great Witch to report to the River Earl, seek a better girl, and send her the day after tomorrow."

Throw the witch, village elder, and powerful families into the river, remove the ringleaders one by one, and he could easily solve it, by the way giving the River Office officials a little shock of "Prince of Huai's wisdom".

It could be said to be calm and relaxed.

As a result, it turned out to be thorough feudal superstition! The local village elder led the charge, directly sacrificing his own granddaughter to the River God, showing piety, "leading by example".

Where can one reason with that?

In normal logic, such things are indeed difficult to handle. After a hundred years and several generations of influence, everyone believes in it firmly. If it happens that both sacrifices were "useful", it directly brands the ideology.

It requires long-term education, and the education itself must have a sufficiently correct and logically self-consistent disciplinary foundation for the world to change customs.

The effort to do this would be long.

The cost is far greater than the status quo of two or three people dying every few decades. How much does it cost to buy a maid in a slave market? Several county magistrates tried and found it troublesome, so they gave up directly.

But—

Now it is not normal logic!

Who said the "magic duel" classic of the Ximen Bao story cannot inspire people and draw inferences about other cases?

Don't sacrifice young girls to me, I really am not the River God?

No!

Liang Qu showed his cards, he stopped pretending.

"I am the River God, and I oppose this marriage!"

Heavenly thunder shook, dark clouds rolled.

Just a moment ago, the sky was clear for ten thousand miles, not a single wisp of cloud was seen, and the golden light was brilliant. In the blink of an eye, dark clouds gathered, obscuring the sky!

The black clouds spread rapidly, the wind whistled, covering a radius of a hundred miles, a thousand miles—like an iron pot, covering the heaven and earth. The county town, the prefecture town, the mountains, the fields, all entered this space!

Lightning split the sky, opening up branched lightning.

The strong wind rolled up sideburns, hunting and flying, black snakes dancing.

Liang Qu rode the dragon and looked sideways: "You girl, you deliberately told me on the boat that there was a River God marrying a wife, was it just to lure me here to solve this matter?"

Si Nan knelt on one knee, drooping her ponytail: "The Prince of Huai is kind-hearted and has great magical powers, so it is naturally a piece of cake. If you didn't want to care, you wouldn't have come in person."

"Hehe, little girl, young and full of schemes."

"I am thirty-eight this year, eight years older than the Prince of Huai. Your Highness's talent is even better than the Overlord of the past."

"—" Liang Qu took a deep breath, "Third Prince!"

The little lip dragon came out from his waist, dragon claws against its horns.

"Third Prince reporting, ready at any time!"

Rumble.

Thunder rolled, and heavy rain poured down.

Water columns as thick as fingers fell straight down, whipping the ground like whips. Rainwater mixed with yellow mud, quickly forming a mud pool. Stepping on it was extremely slippery.

Sudden rain on a sunny day, changing without warning.

The dark clouds were extremely thick, and there had never been such darkness.

The village elder and shaman turned pale, the world spinning, at a loss.

The young man carrying the straw mat in the mountains was terrified. The strong wind made it difficult to stand. His straw sandals slipped, his hands couldn't hold on, and the two of them rolled out along with the straw mat.

The girl hidden in the straw mat was thrown out, sliding along the ground with the straw mat. In her dizziness, she couldn't react in time, blankly clawing at the yellow soil, and finally fell straight into the Yellow Shahe!

Splash!

A yellow water flower bloomed.

The Yellow Shahe was turbulent and rapid, like the tiger in the mountains that eats people without spitting out bones. The girl in her prime sank into it, silent, without even half a struggle.

The river water collided and swirled.

The villagers swallowed their saliva; they saw clearly that the girl had fallen into the Da He.

Was the sacrifice successful?

No bridal veil, no sedan chair, can it count as the River God getting a wife?

The River Earl and River Chief were sweating profusely.

It's over, it's over, we didn't stop it!

Before coming, Senior Secretary Si Nan specifically warned them to—

Unexpectedly, the girl sank into the river, as if a water gate had been dropped. The surging Yellow Shahe suddenly stopped, no longer flowing east, completely still in front of everyone. Afterwards, amidst the great horror of the crowd, the river water rose rapidly, a huge water bag bulged in the center, higher than the river embankment, and finally the water bag broke, pouring down, spitting out an object toward the river bank like a cough.

Pfft!

The girl was panting, her fear not yet gone, her eyes blank, her whole body wet, her head covered in black water weeds, as if she had rolled in the mouth of a fierce tiger, vomited out, covered in saliva.

The villagers' pupils dilated.

The girl who should have become the River God's wife!

The fierce beast that was eating people without spitting out bones just now—in the blink of an eye, it actually vomited her out in a hurry, as if it had eaten something dirty!

Everyone was confused. The River Earl and River Chief were dumbfounded. They, who had originally blocked the villagers from moving forward, now instinctively wanted to retreat behind the villagers.

"Is it—that the River God didn't like her? Why don't we—change one?"

"I think the Li family's girl at the east end of the village is also good, let her girl go enjoy happiness—"

"I said, I oppose this marriage!"

Rumble.

Thunder cut off the words.

The Yellow Shahe, eighty miles wide from north to south and endless from east to west, rose from the ground in the horrified eyes of all the villagers and officials, hanging in the sky!

Countless water flows climbed, flowed, and shaped, turning into a sky-high Huang Long, looking down with its head lowered!

Looking around left and right.

What kind of huge dragon body was that?

Extremely wide, boundless.

The dragon body was like an endless wall of yellow soil, obscuring everything. Birds crossing the river crashed into it, struggling and rolling.

The terrifying oppression dropped a piece of solid lead onto the nerves of the onlookers. Their temples throbbed, their pupils expanded violently, and their breathing froze completely, just like the struggling birds.

Heavy rain poured down.

Silent and dead.

"River God! The spirit has manifested! The River God's spirit has manifested!"

Suddenly, the village elder opened his arms, breaking the silence, and knelt on the ground in tears.

"The River God's spirit has manifested! The River God's spirit has manifested!"

"The River God's spirit has manifested! The River God's spirit has manifested!"

The lead block slid off, and the villagers opened their Ren and Du meridians one by one. Their stagnant brains turned again, matching their worldview, and finally understood everything.

River God!

It was the Yellow Shahe God they worshipped every day!

After a hundred years, it appeared again!

Their held breath became twice as heavy, their bodies trembled and were excited uncontrollably, every muscle was twitching and jumping, blood rushed to their brains, and they were almost fainting.

The villagers knelt in the mud, their knees splashing water, raising their hands to worship, exhausted, veins exposed.

The River Earl and River Chief looked left and right, their Adam's apples rolling, and they also carefully bent their knees and knelt down, reaching out and shouting for the River God.

Lightning exploded in the sky again.

The Huang Long's head broke a gap for this thunder light, the water flowed and turned, floating foam, blooming like flowers.

Under the gaze of countless people with trembling pupils, a towering white jade palace slowly crashed out of the dragon's head!

The towering Zhenxing Pavilion stands out against the wind.

Dangerous railings look down on flying birds, jumping eaves drop on flying monkeys.

Carved beams and painted buildings, pavilions and towers, clouds and mist, waterfalls hanging down.

Its exquisiteness and complexity are hard to describe even with the exhaustion of imagination!

Is this the River God's palace?

Heavy rain poured down, washing the dragon's head.

The white jade palace was right above the giant dragon's head, the gate towering, sturgeon dancing.

The rainwater gathered into stairs in mid-air, spreading along the jade gate to the river bank, and white jade lotus flowers bloomed.

People waited and watched, eyes wide open.

"Patter."

A furry big palm stepped on the rain stairs, causing ripples.

No.

That was not a palm, it was a foot!

The villagers looked up in astonishment, looking up along the white-haired foot.

Lightning split the sky, briefly illuminating the earth, and a three-zhang white ape with a domineering spirit, protruding dog teeth, and brilliant golden eyes came into view!

This—

Is this the River God?

Their beating hearts missed a beat.

The villagers subconsciously looked at the village elder and shaman.

But they saw the village elder already covered in tears and snot, moving on his knees, crawling to the feet of the white ape: "I don't know if my granddaughter has served the River God well!"

"Never seen, don't know, don't try to climb up and claim relatives."

"?" The village elder looked up in astonishment.

"This god has a wife, and I don't eat people, human flesh is sour and bitter! Next time you throw people around and arrange marriages, I'll beat you!" The white ape snorted, clenched its fists, popped out its index finger, and pointed at the villagers one by one, "If you throw things around again, this god will cause a flood, and I'll drown every village, county, and prefecture—you, you, you, all of you! Drown you all! Drown you!"

The Huang Long suddenly raised its head, soaring higher.

All the excitement turned into horror in an instant. The villagers trembled, hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, saying they didn't dare.

The village elder's eyes were cloudy, all his thoughts stagnant at this moment, heavy, his heart cold, he was confused, his beard trembling: "Then—then my granddaughter—"

"This god has thousands of transformations!"

As the white ape spoke, its body deformed, suddenly turning into a huge green fish.

The villagers, village elder, and shaman widened their eyes.

Right, this is right.

This is the River God!

Exactly the same as recorded by the ancestors.

However, the next moment.

The big green fish turned into a white dragon, then into a big frog, then into a carp, everything, and finally returned to the white ape.

Heavy rain poured down, the white ape crossed its arms: "Ignorant people! This god is born of heaven and earth, not human, how could I marry a human as a wife?

Climbing the dragon and attaching to the phoenix? Wishful thinking!"

The village elder opened his mouth wide, lost his soul, and his whole person withered visibly, as if his essence and spirit had been drawn away.

The villagers were even more shocked and panicked.

Didn't enjoy happiness—

The girl smacked the sweet malt sugar, her expression lonely.

"Bang!"

A silver ingot smashed onto the ground.

"Just that little money, if you have nothing to do, take it back and build a small temple, worshiping is enough. Heaven and earth are unkind and treat all things as straw dogs. Except for your parents, who cares about you?

Don't throw things around in the future. Summer is here, the weather is getting hotter, children shouldn't go into the water casually. I have a bunch of water ghosts under my command, they pull one whenever they see one. The village should be harmonious and friendly, helping each other.

Otherwise, I'll cause a flood and drown you! I'll cause heavy rain and drown your wheat!"

Gods have no form, and are even more capricious.

The villagers kowtowed repeatedly and said yes.

"Hmph, this god is so busy, and mortals are causing trouble! Throwing things around!"

"Drown! Drown! Drown!"

Thunder sounded again, the voice gradually fading away.

The white jade palace sank into the Huang Long's head, and the Huang Long turned around and fell back, flowing east.

The dark clouds in the sky dissipated rapidly, and light leaked out from the hole.

In the blink of an eye.

The weather was clear, the sun was just right, and the yellow-green wheat swayed.

The villagers looked around, the fields were all watered.

Everything was like a dream.

Only the village elder was absent-minded.

The shaman jumped up from the ground, rushed forward, and held the gold ingot in his hands.

"Quick, quick, quick, build a temple for the River God! Right here, right here!"

The crowd surged like ants, all holding the gold ingot.

Above the firmament.

Liang Qu let go, and the Yellow Shahe, like a tamed dragon, returned to the riverbed, flowing quietly.

The little mirage dragon flew back and coiled around his waist as a belt.

"Wuhu, report to Boss, Third Prince has successfully completed the organization's mission! Requesting credit!"

"Next time for sure."

Si Nan witnessed everything, her heart shaken.

Moving clouds and rain, grabbing yellow sand, white jade palace appearing—

As the Senior Secretary of the River Office, she had seen countless river conditions and knew countless governance methods. She could be certain that among the dragons in the world, few could do the same! It had nothing to do with strength, nothing to do with realm, it just couldn't be done!

Liang Qu clapped his hands: "How about it, is it settled now?"

Si Nan took a deep breath, suppressed her emotions, and flipped out a booklet: "Your Highness flushed more than a hundred miles of sand yesterday, and there were tremors within a radius of three hundred miles. There are two more villages with similar stubborn sacrifices."

"There are more?"

"Yes, and it is foreseeable that during the future water management by Your Highness and the Ape King, there will still be a large number of villages along the way—"

"Sacrificing this, sacrificing that, idle!"