The Black Book

Looking at the weed-covered wasteland around him, Liu Heng's eyes were full of heartache. These lands can be made into excellent paddy fields after a little tidying up!

Hearing this, Zhu Haomiao nodded thoughtfully, and remembered some statistics in the present world.

During the Taiping Rebellion, the population of Daiqing dropped sharply from 400 million to 240 million, losing nearly 40% of the country's population, a full 160 million people!

However, this number is controversial, and many refugees and migrants are also counted as deaths in the statistics.

But even if it is a conservative estimate, the population loss during this period is about 50 million to 100 million, and its bloody and cruel degree is outrageous.

You know, the total number of deaths in the world during the First and Second World Wars is less than 100 million!

Daiqing single-handedly beat the total losses of the Allied Powers and the Central Powers!

Of course, the population that died directly in the war during the Taiping Rebellion was only a small part, and the vast majority of people died from secondary disasters.

Because that period was the peak period of natural disasters, natural disasters continued in various places, blizzards, droughts, floods, locusts, plague, earthquakes, etc. one after another.

In addition, the Taiping Army and the Qing Army, who were bloodthirsty, not only did not provide disaster relief, but also exploited the people under their rule by any means, for the sake of victory, and forced countless people to death...

In this magical world, in addition to natural and man-made disasters, there are also supernatural disasters. No wonder it has become like this now, with bones exposed in the wild and no roosters crowing for thousands of miles.

By the way, during this period, Britain and France also took the opportunity to organize two big events, giving Dai Qing a little imperialist shock.

What's even more magical is that under such internal and external troubles, my Dai Qing actually survived? !

Of course, it didn't survive completely. In another ten or twenty years, the dead will still die!

With a sigh, Zhu Haomiao observed along the way calmly and found that as he approached the Huai River, the population along the way finally became dense.

As the sun was setting, a small town along the river appeared in front of them, causing a group of people to cheer excitedly.

"Sir, we can change boats and take the waterway in Wuming Town. If it's fast, we can reach the Magic City in one or two days."

"Yes."

Zhu Haomiao nodded without comment, watching the group of men skillfully come to the dock and hire a few porters to move the goods onto the ship.

After settling on the ship, the huge merchant ship slowly started, drifting downstream, and soon left the dock behind.

When Zhu Haomiao woke up the next day, he found that the ship was already sailing in a wide river.

"Sir, we have entered the Yangtze River. If everything goes well, we can reach the Magic City this afternoon."

Seeing Zhu Haomiao coming to the deck, Liu Heng hurried over to report.

At this moment, Zhu Haomiao clearly felt that the ship was turning and deviating from the channel near the center of the river.

"Is it going to dock?"

Hearing the boy's question, Liu Heng shook his head in confusion, supported his neck and carefully observed the river surface, and found the problem.

"It's not docking, it's making way, young master, look over there."

Looking at the position Liu Heng pointed, a huge ship was spewing black smoke and going upstream, with the eye-catching Union Jack fluttering in the wind on the mast. All the ships on the river retreated and made way when they saw it.

"That's the foreigner's ironclad ship. They are used to being domineering on the Yangtze River. Anyone who dares to stop them will be directly rammed and sunk. If you see them, you must stay away from them."

"Directly rammed and sunk? So domineering? No one cares?"

Hearing this, Liu Heng smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Who dares to intervene? Who can intervene?"

"If someone is killed in a collision, they will ask you for compensation, saying that their ship was damaged..."

"Last year, a shipping company was hit and sunk, dozens of people died, but the government ordered them to pay 3,000 taels of silver. Where can they get justice?"

Listening to Liu Heng's angry and helpless whisper, Zhu Haomiao looked at the ironclad ship that was passing by in a hurry not far away, and looked at the Union Jack fluttering on its mast. He felt inexplicably moved and sneered involuntarily.

Who would have thought that two wars would bring down this arrogant empire a few decades later...

History is really interesting...Maybe in this magical world, I can help her speed up and achieve the achievement of the Five Permanent Representatives' shame with her Gallic rooster who loves and hates each other as soon as possible...

Just then, Zhu Haomiao suddenly met the sight of a figure on the deck of the ironclad ship. The two sides met eyes across a long distance, and they both saw the flashing metallic luster on each other's chests.

It's just that one is a noble and gorgeous purple-gold color, and the other is a dull black iron color.

"Brother, did you find anything?"

On the ironclad ship, a beautiful blonde girl noticed the fluctuation of her brother's eyes, and curiously followed his gaze, but found nothing.

"I saw a dragon child."

"This is China. Isn't it normal for a person with a dragon to be born?"

"He has a black iron dragon emblem."

Hearing this, the blonde girl widened her eyes in disbelief.

"Black iron? Amateur level? Has China built a permanent gate? Beginning to open to ordinary people? Isn't it expected that all countries will have to wait until the end of the Ascension Competition before they can develop this plane on a large scale?"

Listening to his sister's curious questioning, the young man looked at her deeply and shook his head.

"He should be a contestant this year."

"Huh?"

The blonde girl looked down at the golden emblem on her chest, and her small brows wrinkled.

Isn't it said that all contestants from China are powerful?

How could there be amateurs mixed in?

Did they get a backdoor to get a gold plating?

Is such a person worthy of competing with us?

Sensing his sister's resentment, the young man pressed her head, hesitated for a long time, and gave a serious warning.

"Tia, this Ascension Competition is completely different from the past, you..."

There was another silence, and the young man looked at her distressedly when he thought of the monsters his sister might face.

"Be strong."

However, her brother's consolation confused Tia. What the hell is being strong?

"Brother, do you think I am so unpromising? I am a Master after all! A 17-year-old Master! I am also in the first echelon in the whole of Europe!"

Tia patted the gold badge on her chest, looking indignant.

The young man rubbed his sister's blonde hair, wanting to say something but stopping, but due to the confidentiality regulations, he could only give a vague warning in the end.

"Be careful of all the guys who enter the fantasy realm with black iron bodies. This time, some monsters came in... very scary monsters..."

Listening to her brother's faint whispers, Tia felt a chill on her back, but her brother's next words made her furious again.

"In short, relax your mind, don't have too much pressure, and don't doubt yourself. It's already great to be alive. Your goal this time is to live one day at a time..."

A new month, please vote, please read, (ω) ShuanQ