Hmm," Ah Xiang nodded and said, "The Holy Venerable is the supreme god in the entire Lancang Kingdom, he lives in a temple, and the city lords of all the city-states in the kingdom and the leaders of the stockades are all loyal believers of the Holy Venerable, and they are all under the orders of the Holy Venerable......"

"Wait, you said that Lancang is a kingdom, so is there a king in this country?" Yang Muyun asked.

"Yes," Ah Xiang continued, "but it is not the king who is in power in the Lancang Kingdom, but a queen mother. ”

"The Queen Mother?" Yang Muyun was surprised: "So it's a woman who is in power in the Lancang Kingdom!" ”

"Yes," Ah Xiang said, "This queen mother is called the Queen Mother, also known as the Nine Queens. ”

"The Nine Queen Mother?"

"Because she has set up nine kings in a row, she is called the Queen Mother of the Nine Queens by the people."

"Then how old is this Queen Mother?" Yang Muyun suddenly became interested, "Since you have established nine kings in a row, you must be over 100 years old, right?" He remembered that there was a Nanyue king Zhao Tuo in Lingnan during the Han Dynasty, who lived for more than a hundred years in one breath, and lost all his sons and grandchildren, and his successor could only be found from his great-grandchildren.

"Where?" Ah Xiang said with a smile: "The Queen Mother is less than forty years old, she looks younger, where is a hundred-year-old old lady?" ”

"Huh?" Yang Muyun's eyes widened in surprise, "Then these nine kings ......"

"These nine kings are all the heirs of the first king Langdenkan, but none of them were born to the Empress Dowager Jiaojiao."

"Well, then they ......"

"Most of them died after a year or two on the throne," Ah Xiang explained, "so the Empress Dowager has only been in power for twenty years, and she has become the ninth king." ”

"Hmm......" Ah Xiang's words made Yang Muyun fall into contemplation, nine kings in 20 years, and all of them died early, it is really unusual, this is a fight with the former Yuan emperors, since the death of Kublai Khan to the succession of Emperor Yuan Shun in less than 40 years, eleven emperors have been replaced, on average, an emperor has only reigned for three years, among them have been assassinated, some have been poisoned, and some have been abolished by the ministers, and those who have failed to seize power and died, in short, basically none of them have a good death. Twenty years of nine kings in a row, this sounds an understatement, and I don't know how much blood and court intrigue are hidden. Yang Muyun blinked, "Since this Empress Dowager is so capable and can set up so many kings, why don't you just call yourself the king." ”

"Since the founding of the Lancang Kingdom, there has never been a precedent for a woman to be the king," Ah Xiang shook his head slightly, "All the city lords of the city-states and the heads of the caves will not accept a queen." ”

"Then she has changed so many kings in the twenty years she has been in power, and other powerful people in the kingdom will not be ignored?" Yang Muyun asked.

"Xianzun said that she was the incarnation of the goddess Maha Devi," Ah Xiang said, "and it was the will of the gods who ruled the power of the Lancang Kingdom." ”

"What a god!" Yang Muyun secretly said in his heart, he suddenly realized that the Holy Venerable mentioned in Ah Xiang's mouth was a representative of the theocracy of the Lancang Kingdom, controlling the thoughts of the people. Through him, the Empress Dowager Jiao consolidated the power in her hands, and in turn vigorously supported the influence of the Holy Venerable throughout the Lancang Kingdom, and the divine power and secular power converged, and to a certain extent, the state power and the divine power were unified.

"Have you seen what he looks like?" Yang Muyun asked.

Ah Xiang shook her head, "The Holy Venerable easily did not show up, and even Lord Venasuva has not seen the true face of the Holy Venerable. ”

"So he's been staying in the temple all along," Yang Muyun asked again, "and where is the temple?" ”

"I don't know," Ah Xiang shook her head again and again, "Some people say it's by the Holy Lake, some people say it's near the capital city of Mengsuwa, anyway, few people know the specific location, maybe the Divine Master knows it!" ”

"Divine Master, is he a disciple of the Holy Venerable?"

"I don't know about this," Ah Xiang said, "I heard that the priest has a very high position in the temple, and he is very respected by the Holy Venerable......

"Oh," Yang Muyun patted the edge of the bed when he saw that she had been standing and talking, "Come, sit down and talk." ”

Ah Xiang blushed and lowered her eyes, but she didn't move.

"I'm afraid you'll be tired," Yang Muyun said, "I don't mean anything else." ”

"I was sent by Lord Venasuva and the Divine Master to serve you," Ah Xiang pursed her lips and snorted, "No matter what your Lord does to me, it is all right." ”

"And what are you afraid of?" Yang Muyun smiled slightly, stepped forward and pulled her over to sit down, through this conversation, he gradually developed a good impression of Ah Xiang, "I can't make you a saint, you won't complain about me in your heart, right?" ”

"......No," Ah Xiang raised her head suddenly, and tried her best to justify: "Actually, my Abba and Aunt don't want me to go to the temple, but no one can disobey the will of the Holy Venerable, so my Abba and Aunt even cried a lot!" ”

"Oh," Yang Muyun's heart moved, Ah Xiang's face was particularly outstanding among this group of girls, and her conversation and knowledge were extraordinary, not like she was born in an ordinary family, so she asked, "What does your father do?" ”

"The head of his Sangtun village," Ah Xiang said, "I am his only daughter." ”

"No wonder," Yang Muyun said secretly, "If I only have one daughter, I don't want her to serve a god." ”

"Then your Abba must cherish you very much," Yang Muyun said with a smile: "I asked you to go back and reunite with your Abba and Aunt's family, what do you think?" ”

"Really?" Ah Xiang's eyes lit up, and she held his hand excitedly, "Will the adults really let me go back?" ”

Yang Muyun shrank his hand and nodded.

"But now...... "Ah Xiang's eyes darkened, "the army of the Yue people has pressed over, Abba and the people in the village have abandoned the village and moved into the valley, I don't know where they are now?" ”

"It's also simple," Yang Muyun said, "I'll ask Lord Venasuwa tomorrow, and I'll know." ”

"Really?" Ah Xiang's face was happy, "Then Ah Xiang is here to thank you." Saying that, Ying Ying got up and was about to bow down, but Yang Muyun hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop her, "No need to be polite...... blinked, "I have a request here, you must agree." ”

"Your Excellency, please speak." Ah Xiang's face turned even redder, and she lowered her head and didn't dare to look at him.

"Don't mention anything I say to anyone else." Yang Muyun said this with a serious face, "Even if it's a divine master, he can't say anything about you." ”

“

Ah Xiang got it. Ah Xiang was slightly stunned, but still agreed: "Ah Xiang will never say it, even if she meets Abba and Grandma, Ah Xiang will not say it." ”

"That's good," Yang Muyun sighed, "Divine Master, he doesn't know that I understand Annan dialect. ”

————————————

Late at night, Ah Xiang lay on the bed and quickly fell asleep, she was wearing very little clothes, so she went to bed directly. Before going to bed, she was nervous for a while, afraid that Yang Muyun would ...... her A girl of this age already understands a little about men and women.

But Yang Muyun was far away from her, so she simply turned her back and didn't look this way, which made her feel relieved and couldn't help but be slightly disappointed.

Yang Muyun stood in the room for a while, and when he saw that Ah Xiang was already asleep, he gently pushed open the door and walked out.

There were a few barbarians guarding outside the courtyard, but Yang Muyun didn't alarm them at all, flew up the courtyard wall, and jumped out from the wall......

The bluestone path outside the courtyard was quiet, and there was no one. In this way, Yang Muyun still didn't dare to be careless, and walked against the wall root of each courtyard.

"I thought that Cunpenman was just an independent barbarian tribe, and it turned out that there was a Lancang Kingdom on it......" Yang Muyun was puzzled, "Zheng Ke led the army to conquer Cunpen, intending to divert Ruan's attention from being killed, but wasn't he afraid of provoking a war between Annan and the Lancang Kingdom?" ”

How did he know that the state nature and organizational form of the Lancang Kingdom were completely different from those of Annan. The Lancang Kingdom is said to be a country, but in fact it is just a large tribal alliance, and the structure of the state is very loose. One of the most powerful tribes was located in the city of Mengsuwa on the banks of the Lancang River, and in order to give orders to the Quartet, the second tribal leader, Sang Sentai, paid tribute to the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty at that time. Yongle Emperor Zhu Di took the city of Mengsuwa as the center and set up the Lao military and civilian consolation envoys. Ren Sansentai was the ambassador of consolation, and issued a seal letter, and since then he has ordered hundreds of miles of places on the banks of the Lancang River. Backed by the big tree of the Ming Dynasty, Sang Sentai expanded his power step by step, and finally developed Mengsuwa into a big country in Indochina, almost able to compete with Annam. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long, since his death, his son Langkanden succeeded to the throne, he was cowardly, and handed over the power to the queen Jiaojiao Panba, that is, the Empress Dowager Jiaojiao called by Ah Xiang. The women's rise to power aroused the dissatisfaction of the nobles in the court, and the centrifugal force of some tribes and city-states was strengthened, and some were attached to Annam, such as Nanma, Yuma, Mangmei and Cunpan, although they were still nominally under the orders of the Lancang Kingdom, and their relationship with Annam was even closer. Later, Daomeng, the chief of Nanma, simply surrendered to Annam, accepted Annam's official uniform, and became an official of Annam. Later, Annan conquered Yuma, due to the lack of timely rescue, Yuma was captured by Annan, and the local chief Qin Daomu surrendered to Annan and became the newly established Yuma Prefecture Governor of Annan. This series of actions greatly dealt a blow to the influence of the Lancang Kingdom, and made many local chieftains near Annam excited.

In order to prevent this unfavorable situation from developing further, Empress Dowager Jiaojiao vigorously encouraged the development of religious theocracy in the Lancang region, so that its agents could control the minds of the Lancang tribes, so as to avoid further penetration of Annan's power. Since then, the power of the temple has expanded to all parts of Lancang, involving all the city-states, chieftains, and tribes, so that they can be spiritually loyal to the Empress Dowager, thus effectively preventing the division of the Lancang kingdom and consolidating the authority of Mengsuwa.