Chapter 121: 【Huaxia·Chronicles】Control the waters

Historical games are not particularly brilliant on Blue Star.

This is all because much of Blue Star's history was destroyed after that meteor shower. Even with constant excavations now, a complete history for every federation cannot be pieced together. Plus, this is an era of entertainment-to-death.

Very few people are interested in history.

Below the 【Huaxia History Series】 awards ceremony mentioned by Zhao Ming, countless company controllers and netizens watching the livestream frowned: Is Polar Star Company getting arrogant?

They're doing something so niche; do they think everything they make will be a hit?

Everyone was frowning.

On stage, as Zhao Ming's voice faded, the lights inside the awards ceremony gradually dimmed.

Only the large screen behind lit up slowly, and what came into view was a mountain cave.

At the tip of an inverted stalactite, a water droplet was condensing, slowly taking shape.

Drip!

The droplet fell onto the water surface, the sound echoing through the cave.

A pictograph 'Water' (Oracle Bone Script) slowly emerged, accompanied by a line of large text below.

【Water is the source of life, yet it was also the most terrifying enemy of humanity in ancient times.】

The scene suddenly pulled up to high altitude.

The roaring sound of floodwaters suddenly erupted. From the high-altitude perspective, the land was ravaged by floods, mountains and rivers were submerged, and everything in sight was drowned. At this moment, the Blue Star people watching the CG couldn't help but feel their hearts tighten.

The fear of nature, engraved in the body as an instinct, surged into their hearts.

The scene continued to pull up higher.

Blue Star players could already clearly see that this world, nearly submerged by floods, resembled the Earth on the Polar Star official website's "real-time map," even though many places were underwater.

However, the general plates and shapes of regions like "Earth's" Europe and Asia could still be vaguely identified.

The perspective suddenly rushed downward.

【Banks of the Nile】

The overflowing river water, carrying silt, swept over the banks. Ancient priests prostrated before the altar, kneeling and praying devoutly toward the idol on the altar. Following the priests' actions, countless scantily clad ancient humans below prayed for the gods' grace to descend.

Facing such a flood, it seemed only the gods could save them.

The scene switched to another location.

【Banks of the Euphrates】

The roaring river, carrying thunderous rage, swept across the land. The gloomy sky poured down torrential rain, turning this river that nurtured life into a giant beast that devoured everything. The water submerged the land and forests; countless human and animal corpses drifted with the current.

In the violent river, a massive wooden boat appeared. On the boat were countless animals and a family of devout believers.

All the animals were imitating the devout family, praying to an unknown existence, seemingly begging that unknown existence to forgive humanity.

The scene switched to another location.

【Ganges Basin】

The raging flood swallowed village after village; houses built of mud crumbled into fragments under the impact of the flood. Monks stood on the altar,

chanting and praying to an idol with hair like dancing snakes, begging for divine protection.

The flood kept rising, soon submerging the altar.

Everything vanished: the altar, the idol, and... the praying monks.

At this moment.

Everyone on Blue Star watching this scene was silent, unconsciously drawn in, and simultaneously subconsciously putting themselves in that environment, feeling only deep despair. Humanity seemed truly powerless against the flood.

But... is that really the case?

Just as the Blue Star people were watching the scene and feeling despair.

The scene cut back, slowly displaying.

【Yellow River】

The world had now turned into a vast ocean. The muddy river water submerged mountains and land. The surviving humans hid on mountain peaks, looking at the corpses of their tribespeople floating in the raging river, their eyes filled with tears.

There were old people, infants, and those with arms stiffly raised upward...

The once-worshipped altar had only half a stone pillar left exposed above the water, left to be battered by the flood. Amidst the roaring sound, even the remaining half of the pillar could not withstand the impact of the flood.

Countless people looked at all this, not knowing what to do.

A sense of despair surged through the screen, impacting the hearts of the Blue Star people watching. What should be done? What could be done?

Suddenly.

On the mountain, a man covered in mud stood up, raised his hand to wipe away his tears, and bent down to pick up a turtle shell washed ashore by the Yellow River's waves. On it was carved the character "Water."

Looking at the "Water" character, the mud-covered man picked up a stone tool and carved a building-like shape to the right of the "Water" character.

"Control" (Zhi)

After carving the character, the man held the turtle shell and looked toward the world that had turned into a vast ocean, his gaze becoming firm.

The scene slowly displayed several lines of large text.

【When other civilizations prayed to gods, the ancestors of Huaxia carved the first 'Control' character on oracle bone.】

【The left side is water, the right side is a platform; the original meaning of 'Control' was to build dikes to prevent water disasters.】

【The flood was not a divine punishment, but the entrance exam for Huaxia civilization.】

【The first resistance of this nation... was to declare war on nature.】

Following the carving of this character.

The ancestors of this tribe began to fight against the flood. They piled stones to build dikes and dredged river channels, father to son, never stopping. But with the civilization level of ancient humans, how could they manage to control the flood?

The tribal ancestors in the scene, although they never stopped for generations, still saw the flood ravage the land irregularly and unpredictably.

However, the ancestors of this tribe did not give up. Instead, they continued to expand and grow through each resistance against the "Yellow River's" ravaging floods, until the appearance of a man who first clearly and explicitly planned a water control project.

He united people from other tribes, working together to control the flood. From all the tribes around one tribe, from hundreds of people to tens of thousands, a collective consciousness formed for the first time among all tribes in the Yellow River basin during the process of controlling the flood.

Dividing into Nine Provinces, establishing cooperation.

It also promoted the progress of this civilization, having the concept of "All Under Heaven" for the first time.

The road to controlling the water was difficult; some died of exhaustion, some fell to their deaths, some were drowned by the river, but no one gave up. They split mountains without stopping,

persisting day and night.

Finally.

Under the leadership of that man for thirteen years as one day.

The roaring "Yellow River" lost its former ferocity and was pacified, flowing gently eastward. The mountain ridges once submerged by water revealed their grandeur, farmland became granaries, and the god statues in the temples were removed, replaced by clay sculptures of that man.

The gradually prosperous Huaxia ancestors began to develop rapidly, and the constantly updated architecture vaguely took on the appearance of palaces.

The scene slowly displayed several large characters.

【"Records of the Grand Historian·Huaxia Chronicles" records: "Yu suppressed the flood for thirteen years, passing his home without entering. He traveled by carriage on land, by boat on water, by sled in mud, and by wooden shoes in mountains. With the plumb line on the left and the compass and square on the right, he carried the four seasons, opened the Nine Provinces, connected the Nine Paths, embanked the Nine Marshes, and measured the Nine Mountains."】

Then the scene switched rapidly, and a dynasty with the "Xia" flag flying was born.

Xia cast the Nine Tripods, unifying the world.

Time flowed, seasons changed, and the once-powerful Xia Dynasty saw smoke of war rise everywhere as time passed. The perspective pulled up, drifting toward the east of the Huaxia land, then landed. A mysterious bird with a strange demeanor landed on the "Shang" flag.

A cry of the mysterious bird suddenly rang out in the scene.

The mysterious bird of destiny descended and gave birth to Shang.

As time passed, even the powerful Shang reached its end. Dynasties changed, and a dynasty named "Zhou" appeared. The Duke of Zhou established rituals and music, and thus the foundation of Huaxia civilization was laid.

Soon, the "Zhou" Dynasty also reached its end.

At this time, a map of "Huaxia Land" appeared in the scene, with dense feudal states, represented by color blocks, scattered across the Huaxia land.

Then it was like big fish eating small fish. Blue Star netizens watched those color blocks swallowing each other; some had just finished swallowing others when they were swallowed by the side in the blink of an eye, watching the time flow above.

Three hundred years in total.

In the end, only seven color blocks of different colors remained.

Blue Star netizens couldn't help but be stunned. Three hundred years?

They fought for three hundred years?!

You have to know that it has only been three hundred years since the meteor shower on Blue Star. At that time, "Earth" had already been fighting for three hundred years. How many people must have died?

A shock never felt before impacted the minds of Blue Star netizens.

Originally, they thought that in Polar Star Company's game "World War II: Rise of the Empire," the European battlefield was already cruel enough, but compared to the war history of this Huaxia land, it seemed like nothing. They fought for three hundred years...

They simply dared not imagine how tragic it must have been.

The scene switched suddenly.

The sound of a horn rang out. The scene appeared on a high platform. The back of a man in a black and gold dragon robe appeared in the scene, standing on the high platform, with countless soldiers in armor and holding weapons below.

Blood-red large characters slowly emerged.

【The Birth of Wide-Area Kingship】

Looking at the displayed large characters, Blue Star netizens seemed to understand that the Huaxia land had been unified, but they didn't know which of the seven color blocks it was.

The scene alternated under one order after another.

"Standardizing writing"

"Standardizing carriage tracks," "Standardizing weights and measures"

"Building the Lingqu Canal," "Expanding the Great Wall"—one order after another left Blue Star netizens dumbfounded. Accompanied by one scene after another, it made Blue Star netizens feel surging emotions. After all, if one order could do this, if they could really experience the feeling of being an emperor, how cool would that be?

However.

The scene switched suddenly.

Harsh taxes and heavy labor.

Building palaces, the Great Wall, roads; countless laborers died of exhaustion or were beaten to death.

The scene changed to a torrential rain.

Hundreds of conscripts looked pale in the rain, staring at the straw shed in the center. Beside the bonfire in the straw shed lay a corpse wearing official robes.

The man holding a blood-stained sword turned around, his chest heaving, scanning these hundreds of conscripts, his roaring voice piercing through the rain curtain:

"You all missed the deadline due to the rain; missing the deadline means execution!"

Hearing this, the hundreds of conscripts turned even paler, all because the imperial laws were harsh.

Some were already paralyzed on the ground, not daring to think.

Scanning the crowd, the man holding the sword said slowly:

"If a brave man doesn't die, that's it; if he dies, he should leave behind a great name!"

Then he took a deep breath, his roar like thunder:

"Are kings and nobles born with high status?!!!"

Crack!

A bolt of lightning struck across the sky, exploding in the ears of these hundreds of conscripts. The conscripts' expressions gradually became firm.

The scene slowly displayed several large characters.

【The Destruction of the Myth of Kingship】

Then the map appeared again. The single-colored territory shattered, turning back into many broken color blocks, only this time it was quickly swallowed up by the red force.

At this moment, Blue Star people watching this scene felt as if it were a cycle.

Unification, division, unification, division...

The next second.

A large area of black also appeared in the north of the Huaxia nation.

The scene pulled down suddenly.

【Xiongnu】

The two characters slowly emerged, and a new enemy appeared.

The Xiongnu cavalry swept over like a black cloud, splitting the battlefield. The soldiers in red armor on the opposite side were easily slaughtered, cities were broken, and the harvested grain and women were looted. Everything in sight was bones.

Under the Xiongnu king's flag, a big man holding a golden whip looked at the looted resources and pointed to the endless wheat fields in the distance, laughing loudly: "This place is fertile; it shall be my pasture!"

The scene switched rapidly. Year after year, the Xiongnu kept looting the Han land.

Each time it was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, but the resilient Huaxia nation walked back onto that trampled land every year. They did not want to waste that fertile land.

A full several decades!

The Huaxia nation had been suppressed and beaten by the Xiongnu.

Until...

Inside a magnificent palace.

A man in a dragon robe sat on the imperial throne, his gaze scanning the ministers, his words domineering:

"I am fighting a battle of momentum."

"Our dynasty has fought and lost repeatedly against the Xiongnu for seventy years, leading to low morale and the loss of national prestige."

"This battle of mine is to clearly tell the world and the Xiongnu."

"From now on, the roles of attacker and defender have changed!"

"If the invaders can go, I! Can! Also go!!!"

The scene switched, and a large number of cavalry gathered at the border.

A virtual map appeared, representing the red Huaxia nation's force, attacking deep into the black Xiongnu force.

Watching the red force advance and cut through the black force.

This scene was extremely familiar to Blue Star players.

In Mo Xiaomo's livestream room, Mo Xiaomo, who was already stunned, couldn't help but be shocked:

"Isn't this 'Blitzkrieg'?!"

"This is ancient times! How many years before the Empire did this happen?!!!"

Such a scene happened in every livestream room. Since the launch of "World War II: Rise of the Empire," the Empire's Blitzkrieg had truly numbed Blue Star players.

It wasn't until the 【Battle of Moscow】 ended a few days ago that the myth of "Blitzkrieg" was broken.

But they didn't expect that Huaxia had already researched Blitzkrieg in ancient times.

The scene continued.

With the attack of the red force, the black force retreated in large areas.

The previously looting Xiongnu no longer had the wild laughter of "This place is fertile; it shall be my pasture," leaving only countless Xiongnu fleeing westward, occasionally looking back, crying with tearful eyes:

"Losing my Qilian Mountains makes my livestock unable to breed!"

With the attack of the red force, the black force on the virtual map remained only in small groups, fleeing toward the European continent from the perspective of Blue Star players.

The scene switched to the common people of this Huaxia dynasty.

Hearing the news of the Xiongnu's crushing defeat, everyone's face was filled with proud smiles.

Blue Star netizens were in a trance.

Seventy years.

For an individual, it is a generation.

But counting by establishing a family and career, father to son, it was a full four or five generations. The resilience of this civilization, this nation, was simply unimaginable.

The scene continued.

The territory of the red force was still expanding, but as time passed, it seemed to fall into a cycle again.

【Late Eastern Han Dynasty】

This once-powerful empire also reached its end. The controlled territory kept changing. The scene switched: forced labor, taxes, looting by powerful clans, civilians wantonly slaughtered.

In a trance.

Blue Star netizens always felt they had seen this scene somewhere; it seemed like the previous dynasty building palaces and the Great Wall... people living in misery.

Would a second "Are kings and nobles born with high status?" appear?

This thought popped up inexplicably in the minds of Blue Star netizens, and then they watched the scene.

A place that could almost be called a dead city.

On the ground lay or leaned figures, indistinguishable whether they were people or corpses. It looked like there was an epidemic here. A man in a Taoist robe rushed into the street carrying a bowl of brewed medicinal soup.

He found a child and wanted to feed the medicinal soup into the child's mouth.

But when he rushed to the child's side, he suddenly stiffened, and the bowl of medicinal soup in his hand fell to the ground.

The emaciated old man beside him was now without sorrow or joy, his voice hoarse as he said to the Taoist man:

"Thank you, Daoist, but it's a pity for this bowl of soup. She doesn't have the fortune; it's all fate..."

After speaking.

The emaciated old man's lips moved, and finally, his head drooped; he had already breathed his last.

The Taoist man raised his trembling hand and slowly closed the eyes of the grandfather and granddaughter.

They... were all starved to death.

The Taoist man stood up and looked at the common people mixed with corpses on the street, tears flowing down his face.

Medicine can cure illness, but it cannot stop hunger...

Medical skills could not save the common people. The Taoist man's gaze became much firmer as he looked in a certain direction.

Whoosh!

Talisman papers burning in the sky flew up, blocking the view.

Then the talisman papers drifted into bowl after bowl of somewhat murky water—Sizzle—

The burning talisman papers extinguished upon meeting the water, the ash dissolving in the bowls.

One could vaguely see grains of millet lying at the bottom of the murky soup mixed with talisman ash.

Countless common people picked up the bowls, drank this "talisman water," tied on yellow turbans, rose up in rebellion, and shouted:

"Yellow Heaven protects me!!!"

Then they rushed toward the "enemy army" without fear of death.

The scene switched.

On the high platform of Julu.

The Taoist man held the nine-section staff high, pointing to the gray sky, looking at the tens of thousands of believers wearing yellow turbans below, his voice exploding like thunder:

"The Azure Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall stand! The year is Jiazi, and the world will be auspicious!"

As the words fell.

Tens of thousands of believers erupted with a mountain-shaking response, the yellow turbans surging like waves!

Giving this dynasty, which had reached its end, the most fatal blow.

A virtual map appeared, and the dynasty representing the red force was suddenly occupied by a large area of yellow force. For a time, it was unclear who was strong and who was weak. The scene ended suddenly.

The Blue Star netizens and the audience at the awards ceremony who were watching immersively felt it end abruptly.

Just as they were immersed in understanding the history of this civilization and this nation.

It was suddenly interrupted. That feeling of being cut off almost drove people crazy.

Why is it gone?!

What about the rest?!!!!

【Emotion Value +122541】

【Emotion Value +135747】

【Emotion Value +121....】

On stage.

Zhao Ming's mouth curled slightly. Feeling the emotion values coming in, he coughed lightly:

"Alright."

"Due to the limited time of the awards ceremony."

"So, the history of this civilization and this nation will be played for everyone up to here today."

"If you want to understand in detail."

"Everyone can log in to the Polar Star game official website. We will release CGs one after another before the game goes online. Everyone, please look forward to it."

The scene was in an uproar; many people felt suffocated and uncomfortable.

The streamers and friends in the Daxia Federation livestream room also broke their defenses one after another. Mo Xiaomo pointed at Zhao Ming's face and said:

"Me???"

"This guy is definitely Old Thief Zhao, no doubt about it!"

"With such a handsome face, how can he do such wicked things?!!!"

"Finish playing it?!!!"

The friends in the livestream room were also furious.

【Rough rough rough! Just got immersed, and you give me this?】

【Brothers, go give him bad reviews ahhhhh!】

【Done, someone hurry and recommend a history game to me; I'm thirsty and impatient.】

【Forget it, which history game can be made like this? Only Polar Star Company, but they aren't releasing it now.】

【Damn it... to be honest, this Old Thief Zhao's story design is so awesome, why doesn't he go make movies?】

【I feel like if this CG were made into a full version, it could take the top spot in the 【Movie】 category.】

Comments of agreement drifted by.

Fang Ming's livestream room.

Seeing the smile on Zhao Ming's mouth and then announcing there was no follow-up, Fang Ming was so angry he smashed the table a few times:

"Damn!"

"Sure enough! It's this guy's style!"

"Ah—"

Fang Ming grabbed his hair. This damn thing, it's too much!!!

At this time.

The host of the "Anti-War Competition" awards ceremony seemed to have received some news and hurriedly said to Zhao Ming:

"Mr. Zhao Ming, the competition organizing committee has specially approved half an hour for you."

"You can continue to play the complete CG here."

"If you didn't bring it, you can contact your company's people to go get it first."

As soon as these words came out.

The sky-filling curses in the major livestream rooms stopped instantly, and countless Blue Star friends looked at Zhao Ming expectantly through the livestream.

But Zhao Ming was full of righteousness, a light smile on his mouth:

"How can that be."

"How can I break the rules?"

"I cannot occupy everyone's time."

"If everyone wants to see it, go to the Polar Star official website. We will release CGs irregularly."

"Next, let me talk about the gameplay of this game."

As soon as these words came out.

The cursing comments that had just stopped instantly surged into the major livestream rooms again.

【Deliberate! Absolutely deliberate ahhhhh!!!】

【This guy really doesn't act like a human, damn!】

【Boycott Polar Star! Everyone don't play it!】

【Damn, who's going to the East Sea with me to squat on this guy?】

【Me me me! Now that I know what he looks like, I must squat on him! I'm going to prepare a sack!】

【Add me one!!!】

Zhao Ming naturally didn't know about these words.

However, it could be clearly seen that below the awards ceremony scene, quite a few forces were walking toward Shen Qinghan to hand over business cards.

Zhao Ming clicked on the virtual screen in front of him.

On the large screen behind him, a short CG popped up, still from a first-person perspective, sitting in a magnificent carriage carried by several people, with countless soldiers on both sides. As the first-person perspective carriage passed by, they knelt down and shouted.

Blue Star players became interested. Just looking at this scene was pretty good.

As modern people, commanding ancient people should be no problem, right?

And having learned so many tactics, maybe they could sweep across the battlefield when the time comes.

Just as Blue Star netizens were thinking, Zhao Ming explained:

"We have carefully designed up to a thousand identities for this 【Huaxia History】 series of games we will launch in the future."

"Players will experience it from a first-person perspective, for example...:"

"Monarch."

Zhao Ming pointed to the first-person perspective in the scene. Clearly, this identity was a monarch, and also an identity for players to experience.

As this magnificent carriage stopped, the first-person perspective slowly stood up, picked up the sword beside him, and walked into a magnificent tent.

There were five other people in the tent, and there was a huge sand table in the center of the tent.

Zhao Ming explained:

"Players can experience the feeling of waking up to hold the power of the world and sleeping on the laps of beauties."

"And you can feel the peerless heroism of stirring the entire world situation with your words and destroying a country at will."

"Like this...:"

The first-person perspective in the scene, along with the other five, stood in front of the huge sand table, each with a smile on their face, and then drew their respective weapons. Blue Star players were drawn in by Zhao Ming's words.

Watching the first-person perspective draw the sword in hand and place the weapon above the sand table together with the other five, they couldn't help but be drawn in.

Then, including the first-person perspective, the six of them laughed together and said in unison:

"The rivers and mountains of Qin, divided by the six kingdoms!!!"

In an instant.

Blue Star players were addicted. It seems... a bit interesting?!

Feeling the emotion values popping up continuously.

Zhao Ming's mouth curled slightly. Blue Star players still didn't know they had been dug a big hole. After all, most of the CG just now used colors to represent forces, but didn't say the names....

Zhao Ming paused, clicked on the virtual screen in front of him again, and said:

"For another example..."

"You can also experience exotic customs." ===== CHAPTER 122 =====