Abyss Express

Between the two continents of Shambhala, the Gulf of Aden in the west and Sendai in the east are 11,000 kilometers apart, and it would take the fastest ship thirty-five days to reach its destination.

There are 4,463 scattered islands between the two continents, and the lights of Homo sapiens civilization are dotted between the fjords and canals. But all this has nothing to do with the mortal world. It is even very different from the social environment of the railway system.

According to the records of the secret library, the earliest record of trade with Shambhala is from AD 556. Since then, Shambhala and the underground dwarves (thin and dwarf ancient people without the protection of the sun) share the same calendar and writing, and their culture and bloodline are intertwined and influenced each other.

Since the Pompeii Sea is a lightless sea, astrological positioning methods are useless in the underground world. The sun seen in the volcanic city of Eureka belongs to Shambhala - the orbiting period of this sun. It’s more like a Möbius strip, cruising along the east and west continents of Shambhala.

Every twenty years or so, the ocean currents in the Pompeii Sea are completely overturned. These harsh weather conditions make Shambhala's large-scale immigration plan aborted.

It is a primitive and wild land, where there is an order from hundreds of years ago, technology from decades ago, and even primitive tribes from thousands of years ago. It is like a strange human settlement. Different time and space converge on the same land.

Wood Plaque and Luo Ping'an were both from Shambhala. One was a scholar from the Lennon dynasty of the western countries, and the other was a qigong practitioner from the turbulent Xia Bang.

The story begins with Chabon——

——This "Eastern" big country occupies one-third of the territory of Shambhala. It imitates the official uniform system of Ming Dynasty and Yufuzhi, and is a feudal imperial country.

Yes, you heard it right. In the era when the secular world embraced atomic energy and social science began to study how to achieve human unity, one end of the world in Shambhala was a feudal empire.

So throw away some inherent thinking and part of our common sense. This is a strange environment that has been closed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Except for the imported culture brought by trade, Shambhala is not like some primitive slave tribes in Africa today. What a difference.

Oh no, I'm sorry, there is still a slight difference.

Because no matter how poor Africa is, it still has American aircraft carriers, but the aircraft carriers cannot reach Shambhala.

There is a map from the "Li Chun Jiang Shan Scroll·The Thirty-sixth Year of Aizong丨The Sixteen Kingdoms of Tonghe" drawn by Immortal Luo Pingan himself. This map was made in Shambhala when Luo Pingan traveled thousands of miles hundreds of years ago. Geographical and hydrological map, it has since become the dragon vein of Daxia.

The Lichun Mountains are the origin of the three mother rivers of Daxia. From the northeast to the southwest, they branch out into countless mountains and hills. Copper River is one of them. Surrounding this river, there are forty-six large-scale copper mines. In an era when humans could not control high-temperature flames, copperware was an artifact to seize the country.

The Sixteen Kingdoms of Tonghe mentioned here refer to the Sixteenth Route Warlords in Luo Ping'an's cartographic era.

Today's Daxia cannot be said to be in turmoil, it can be said to be falling apart.

There are demons inside and foreign religions wreaking havoc outside. Rao Xia went to Xiadang, and there were two trade routes from Bangzhou Prefecture to Yongpi County. The heroes of the green forest rose up in rebellion and wanted to occupy the mountain and become their king. Local officials who had escaped from the control of the imperial power also took advantage of the situation and transformed themselves into local emperors, raising private armies in the name of suppressing bandits.

It has been like this for a hundred years. There has never been a complete and independent political power. It is constantly split and reorganized. Puppet emperors take turns taking office. Local warlords fight and fight for land and people.

Maybe these high-profile background narratives will make people sleepy, so let’s narrow the perspective a bit.

Gunsmith-san is still trying out new toys. We came to Raoxia in [the 16th year of Lingzong, 2033 AD], to Danqiu Kingdom in Fufeng Mountain, and to a young man

This young man's name is Li Fengtang. He is not a protagonist, a son of destiny, or a person favored by the goddess of fate - there is no railway here, and there is no cat god Best.

Li Fengtang was a tenant farmer in Efeu County, Yiyang Prefecture, Danqiu Kingdom. He had never read a book and usually worked with his father. During the busy farming season, he had work to do. In his spare time, he asked the innkeeper and the county government to tell him what to do. , he just followed whatever he learned - he learned a lot of trades at the age of eighteen, and the neighbors praised this kid for being smart, but it was a pity that he didn't take the reading test.

The owner of the Danqiu Kingdom was a great warlord who had suddenly emerged in the Tonghe River Basin in recent years. After the founding of the country, he began to besiege the city and build walls to collect grain and prepare for war. Without trade, the inn's business was getting worse day by day, the relationship with the county magistrate was broken, and the Li family gradually became more and more difficult.

Coincidentally, during those days of spring, it snowed heavily.

Lao Li went back to his ancestral home and took his wife's spiritual tablet back to acknowledge his ancestors. He first worshiped the God of Grains and then the God of the Sun. He couldn't find a shop on the road, so he went home to prepare for the New Year's Eve and did not take care of the food. Okay, the two of them stared at each other in the room, only thinking about how to evenly distribute the food in the rice vat into twenty-four meals.

On this cold and freezing day, not a single villager came out to sell grain or sell goods in the streets, and there was still a war. If a family has a surplus of grain, the military and grain conscription officer led by Yu Datong will see it and will always give you some shoes to wear.

The first few days were fine. The cold spring weather had passed. I went to the woodshed to collect some firewood, and I didn't feel hungry even when I sat by the clay stove and slept.

There seemed to be a cold wave in the next few days, and the weather became more and more weird. It was so cold that his mouth and arms were sore, and even the young and strong Fengtang boy began to feel lethargic. Lao Li was about to die.

Li Fengtang didn't understand why the weather was so weird, so he asked his father.

"Dad, how many days are left before we can see the sun? This yellow leather jacket can't block the wind."

Lao Li read some books with the shopkeeper, but they were all about monsters, classics and alchemists' miscellany.

"Commander Yu wants to fight with the imperial court and the four southern countries for the natural danger of Yiyang Prefecture. It seems that there are capable people and strangers who invited the Immortal to cast spells. Efeu County is the first county to station troops in the southeast of Yiyang Prefecture. To fight against Danqiu, We have to go through Efei County. If the weather gets warmer, there will be war, and we won't survive."

Li Fengtang felt despair after hearing this——

——There was also a freezing cold wave last year, and my mother starved to death in the frost and snow. This year, it was my father’s turn to suffer again.

This theory that the great immortal casts spells to bring down the snow and destroy the enemy is the work of powerful psychics or devils raised by the earth emperors. These extraordinary beings can change the historical process of Shabon at will and rewrite the fate of countless people. This is also the source of the chaos in Shambhala - the price of obtaining power is too little and too little, and the rewards obtained through power are too much.

Lao Li dragged his frozen legs to find some grains in the rice vat, then went outside the door and started making porridge with a handful of snow water. As soon as I went out, I saw a vast white vegetable garden, as if the tears shed by God had turned into grains of salt. When I stepped out, my knees were gone.

A call was heard from behind.

"Dad, let me help you."

Lao Li waved his hand: "Don't move. If you don't move, you won't be hungry."

Li Fengtang didn't realize that Lao Li had entered a state of hypothermia and was on the verge of death until his father walked back to the clay stove. The yellow leather jacket on his body stopped emitting heat, and his skin turned purple.

"Don't surrender to the army."

Put the copper pot on the fire, Lao Li said.

"Your mother has said that you want to stand out. You usually follow me to do things and learn more and see more. Then I know that your heart has become wild."

Li Fengtang didn't reply.

Lao Li continued: "Earlier, probably when the autumn harvest was busy, I took you to Mr. Private School's house to repair his stable. You saw Mr. Private School's wife and looked at it for a long time. I knew - you were very sad. in a hurry."

Li Fengtang quickly explained: "No."

But the boy thought to himself that the woman who had read books was indeed different from the women walking around the streets in the county town and the women seen in the fields in the villages and towns.

Maybe dad knows, dad has seen it, dad has been to the capital.

Are all women in the capital like this?

The county magistrate's wife is also from Efei County. She is not as fair and fair as the private school teacher's wife, and her smile is elegant.

"What's wrong with joining the army?" Li Fengtang immediately asked: "Wealth is gained through danger. If I perform meritorious service, kill enemies and get rewards, and the commander-in-chief promotes me, I will give you a big house - no matter how heavy the snow is, Someone also brought food to the house!"

Lao Li fiddled with the porridge and soup: "Wealth and honor are sought in danger, but also lost in danger. One tenth of the time it is sought, nine tenths of the time it is lost."

Li Fengtang immediately stopped talking. He couldn't talk to this farmer father.

"Your mother froze to death and starved to death. I don't blame the commander-in-chief. The harvest failed last year. It seems that she was cursed by the long-bearded immortal. All the food in the fields was eaten by insects." Lao Li continued: "Big The commander defeated the Great Immortal Longbeard, but the Snow Lady hasn’t left yet, so I thought..."

"Your mother is not from Yiyang Mansion, she married from far away."

"I must give her a title and send her spiritual body to the ancestral temple. I wonder if the snow will be lighter this year and if the Snow Queen will be merciful."

"If it doesn't turn out, it doesn't exist at all."

"I ran slowly when I came back. The snow on the sixteen-mile mountain road was too heavy and I couldn't walk fast. I went to Yanjiapu to look for good food for the winter. The chickens in the chicken coop in their shop were all frozen to death. The food was too much. It’s too expensive and I can’t afford it.”

"I went to your Uncle Zhao's house to ask again, and it turned out that his father had also frozen to death and was crying in mourning. I couldn't open my mouth. In a few days, I won't be able to get out of this door - I think this is life."

"Don't surrender to the army, Feng Tang, don't go."

"Growing up, I watched Yiyang change six generals. I followed the adults in the county government and did chores for six families. The houses were beautifully repaired, but no family had a good ending. "

As he spoke, Lao Li froze.

"I am leaving."

Before he finished speaking, Li Fengtang had no time to speak. He heard the roar of boiling water in the clay stove. Amidst the gurgling sounds, Lao Li's spirit body left his physical body and turned into a dead corpse.

Fengtang finally joined the army and joined Yu Danqiu's Huozi camp. He followed his fellow villagers to build walls and cities. They had to complete the fortifications before the weather warmed up completely. He did a lot of work with his father, was a very capable craftsman, and soon became the leader of the camp.

A month later, a scholar came to Huozi camp. This is very rare in the Danqiu Kingdom. Since the walls were built to close the country and the mountains were built, few outsiders have entered Yiyang Mansion. The local scholars all want to run away, let alone join the army.

The task of welcoming the new brothers fell to Li Fengtang.

At the moment when the ice and snow were about to melt, there was a strange smell of coldness and dampness in the air. A man in long clothes dressed as a scholar walked out from the gate of the county government office. His face was fair and he looked elegant.

Li Fengtang saw the portrait and went up to recognize the person. A month later, he had grown a beard and now looked like a slovenly man.

"Yu Datong, is it Yu Datong?"

Feng Tang had a killing stick on his waist and was wearing armor and cotton clothes. He looked majestic and stopped in front of the scholar.

"You come with me and go to the camp to sign for custody."

The scholar named Yu Datong did not reply, but responded with a cold expression: "Okay."

Back in the barracks, Li Fengtang still felt that the scholar seemed to be putting on airs and making it difficult for others to get close to him, so he squeezed into his barracks in the middle of the night and wanted to talk to the scholar. Otherwise, how could he continue the city-building work on the second day?

The two of them reported their family names and talked about their backgrounds and backgrounds, which was regarded as acknowledgment of the brothers in the barracks.

Later, when Yu Datong heard that Li Fengtang's parents had died, especially that Lao Li had starved to death in his old house, the scholar asked one more question.

"Don't you hate that your father is dead?"

Li Fengtang: "Who do you hate?"

Yes, he didn't even know who to hate.

Should he blame heaven and earth, blame the Snow Empress in his father’s mouth?

He didn't even know what Snow Queen was, was she a human or a ghost?

"You finally survived, relying on that vat of rice?" Yu Datong asked aggressively: "Brother Li, did you eat human flesh?"

"Nonsense!" Li Fengtang shouted immediately: "How...you..."

Seeing that the craftsmen and soldiers were anxious, Yu Datong added: "I was demoted from the capital. I came to the capital to take the exam just for the sake of dressing up in animal clothes. I am the first-class in the township examination! The third-class in the county examination! -"

"——As soon as I entered the capital to take the imperial examination, I was framed and exiled to Danqiulai!"

"Do you know what people say about Danqiu outside, outside this wall?!"

Li Fengtang didn't know, he had never been out, but he was very curious.

If this scholar was a prisoner sent by the imperial court, where would he be qualified to enter the Huozi Camp under Commander Yu? This is the key to city defense.

"I feel like a meat dog." Yu Datong said: "This barren land is eating people. The city you built is a big alchemy furnace. Someone wants to become an immortal! Build a big alchemy furnace! ——”

"Danqiu must keep fighting, keep fighting, defeat Puyang and Puyin, defeat Jiangxi and Jiangdong, and defeat the four southern countries and the ten northern countries."

"It's a big alchemy furnace! It's a big alchemy furnace!"

Yu Datong's eyes widened and he suddenly started going crazy.

"I am a dog, I am a meat dog"

Li Fengtang didn't understand. He didn't know what to say. He was just frightened by this foreigner who was talking so loudly. The battle hadn't started yet, he hadn't even touched a real weapon, and he hadn't made any meritorious service. How could he? Will you be willing to do so?

At dawn, a group of military prostitutes were sent from the county government. There were about 20 people in total. When they handed over to the chieftain in the barracks, the chieftain pointed at the escorting soldiers and cursed: "Fucking bastards! It's agreed. What about one hundred?”

The escort officer responded: "Sir, what's the use of scolding me for being a low-down man? Go scold the county magistrate."

Seeing the weeping women and girls entering the barracks one after another, the chieftain was worried - how can these two thousand brothers divide such a small amount of meat?

Li Fengtang also knew that it was not his turn to eat the meat, so he and a few close and sensible people in the barracks went outside the centurion's house at the head of the camp, listened with open ears, and had a good time.

But the centurion couldn't eat either, so the centurion took a few of his right-hand men and went to the major general's camp, a hundred steps away from the school grounds, to listen carefully.

They stretched their necks, and the snow completely melted away, and a stream of warm air rose between the sky and the earth.

Although the sound was very small and far away, it was almost inaudible.

There were guards who came to drive people away, but they only drove them away a few steps, like a flock of crows that gather and disperse at times, inseparable from this enchanting sound.

Li Fengtang and his companions vowed.

"I also want to be a major general! I also want to be a major general! Look up! I also want to be a major general!"

The guard took out Li Fengtang's killing stick and struck it head-on. The temperature of the melted snow was no match for the burning pain on his forehead, which woke Fengtang up immediately.

"Are you worthy of being a major general?!"

Li Fengtang lost his temper. When he returned to the camp, he saw that Yu Datong was still going crazy. He kept talking about alchemy furnaces, elixirs, medicines and so on.

He was so angry that he picked up a stick and beat the lunatic severely.

Until he was tired from beating him and was so flustered that he was afraid of causing harm to others, until Yu Datong's head was covered with blood——

——He felt majestic again and felt at ease.

Scholars from the capital must be obedient in his hands.

The guards who bullied him were definitely not as wealthy as the scholar. Beating one scholar was equivalent to beating three or four guards.

Li Fengtang wiped the killing stick with a smile.

"Okay! Hey! Okay!"

This laugh lasted a hundred years.