In June of the 36th year of Qin Shi Huang, although the flood season in Lingnan had not yet ended, the river tide that threatened Panyu City finally receded, which was the first time in thousands of years that Yushui failed to enter the hinterland of Panyu.

Being inland, the Yue people who didn't know that the Qin army had built a rocky pond in the sea were all surprised by this, and at this time in previous years, there must have been floods everywhere, and they had to relocate to Baiyun Mountain in the north of Panyu.

Afterwards, the Qin army sent the surrendered Yue Wu to preach everywhere: "The flood will not flood Panyu this year, and this is all the work of the Dragon King of the South China Sea!" ”

When this word came to the mouth of the Yue, it became: "Hainan Wang Long", because the word order of the Yue language is reversed, even after two thousand years, the local people still call the rooster "Rooster" and the chick "Chicken".

On June 15, near the shipbuilding workshop, ten "steamships" were launched on trial voyages, and a unique activity to worship the dragon king was being held......

There are a lot of people who come to see the excitement, the peripheral are the local Yue people, the inner is thousands of soldiers, and the innermost are Heifu's subordinates, Lu Jia, Li Cang, A Zhong, Wu Chen and others, who are lining up to witness this incident.

Today's weather is fine, Li Cang wiped the sweat from his forehead, and seeing that the ceremony had not yet begun, he turned his head and asked the ink man next to him: "Ah Zhong, do you and other ink people believe in ghosts?" ”

Ah Zhong has been figuring out the "science and technology tree" taught to him by Changnan Hou all day these days, and he is fascinated by how to make a car that can be pedaled with his feet and can move forward on land, and Li Cang shouted twice before he reacted.

"Of course."

Ah Zhong said firmly: "In the chapter of "Ming Ghosts", it is said that essence is the root of life, up to the stars, down to the valley, and even to people and animals, all of which are gathered by essence, and after death, these essences can become ghosts and gods. ”

Li Cang said: "So you also believe in this 'Dragon King of the South China Sea'?" ”

Ah Zhong was noncommittal: "There are many types of ghosts and gods, from the stars in the sky to the mountains and rivers and stone valleys underground, there are ghosts and gods born in them, the sea is inclusive of all rivers, so big, there are dragons born in them as gods, why is it strange?" Do you know that these ghosts and gods are extremely powerful, even in the deep sea and old forests, the bad things people do cannot escape their eyes. ”

He gradually became agitated, and said with righteous indignation: "No matter how powerful the evildoers are, the demons and gods will be able to punish them, even the king. For example, he treated the saints with cannon branding, killed the counselors, killed the scholars, and plunged the world into chaos, so he was finally beheaded in the mountain, and died by self-immolation, unable to enjoy his long life, and was laughed at by the world......"

This is the Mohist concept of rewards and punishments for ghosts and gods, which is intended to use the power of ghosts and gods to warn rulers, so that they will pay attention to their words and deeds out of fear and dare not act recklessly.

However, Li Cang heard that Ah Zhong had digressed for thousands of miles, and there was a lot of insinuation in his words!

He remembered that Heifu had warned him not to talk about state affairs with Ah Zhong......

"Ahem, you are really, no matter what you say, you will end up attacking the court? Well, if I don't ask, can't I? ”

Li Cang moved to the other side angrily, but asked another person.

"What about Mr. Lu? Do you believe in ghosts and gods? ”

Unlike Ah Zhong, the ink master who wore a short fight, the Confucian scholar Lu Jia still wore a wide robe and big sleeves on a hot day, maintaining the dignity of Huaxia's clothes, he glanced at this bored young man, and said lightly: "Zi is silent, strange, powerful, chaotic, and godly." ”

Li Cang smiled: "So the Dragon King of the South China Sea who this prince wants to sacrifice, Mr. doesn't believe it?" ”

Lu Jia shook his head: "It's not that I don't believe it, it's not that I don't think there is, but I don't say it, it's not that I don't want to say it, but I can't say it." ”

He told a story to Li Cang: "In the past, Confucius went to visit Lao Tzu in Chengzhou, and after he returned, he commented on Lao Tzu's ......"

"Confucius said, "Bird, I know it can fly; Fish, I know it can swim; Beast, I know it can go. The walker can be bound with a net, the swimmer can use a hook to catch it, the flyer can use an arrow to catch it, and as for the dragon, I don't know why. The dragon rode the wind and clouds to the nine heavens! What I have seen Lao Tzu is also like a dragon? ”

While speaking, Lu Jia's eyes looked at the Changnan Marquis Benzun who was standing by the sea, and smiled:

"This Dragon King of the South China Sea is the same, his knowledge is deep and unfathomable, and his ambitions are high and difficult to know; Like a snake bending and stretching at any time, like a dragon changing from time to time......"

This so-called "Dragon King of the South China Sea" is known to anyone with a discerning eye, and he made it up to deceive the South Vietnamese people.

It turned out that during the period when the stone pond of the sea blocked the river tide from invading Panyu, the Qin army also rescued some Yue people who were washed away by the flood.

But Heifu scoffed: "The Qin army killed ten times more Yue people than drowned in the water, why did they forget their hatred and turn around to thank us because of a little kindness?" ”

If it were in the mainland, Heifu would definitely let the soldiers everywhere propagate that "the water is ruthless, people are affectionate, and the truth is seen in times of crisis!" ”

But for the Yue people, Heifu has always insisted that only feudal superstition can fool them.

So, there was this farce of sacrificing the Dragon King of the South China Sea, Heifu asked Lu Jia to make a set of etiquette, combined with the South Vietnamese dance, and set up the Dragon King Temple, saying that it is the incarnation of Daqin, not only the wind and rain, but also the control of the South China Sea and all the water tribes of the tributaries of Yushui.

He also let people proclaim: "The reason why the Qin army boat division was able to raid Panyu from the sea, and the Yushui that had raged for thousands of years stopped on the shore, was all blessed by the Dragon King of the South China Sea." ”

Heifu hoped to take the opportunity to establish the worship of the dragon in Panyu, and put the dragon he envisioned as "a body like a snake, scales like a fish, claws like a bird, palms like a tiger, ears like a cow, and a voice like a frog", fused with the totems of the twelve tribes in Lingnan, held the altar, and subjugated the Yue people in faith.

However, in the eyes of the Qin army, this Dragon King of the South China Sea is actually the incarnation of the Marquis of Changnan, and the water has been cured.

Therefore, Lu Jia's extremely high evaluation seems to be talking about dragons, but in fact, he is talking about his impression of Changnanhou.

After that, Lu Jia asked Li Cang rhetorically: "What about you?" Do you believe in God? ”

Li Cang smiled: "The prince said that there is, that is, there is!" ”

At this time, the Yue sorcerer wearing long feathers on his head finished dancing and singing, but listened to the beating of copper drums, the long sound of conchs, and the ten "ships" in the shipyard officially entered the water.

But I saw ten ships in the water trial, the people outside could not see the trampling machinery placed inside, I didn't know that there were people inside walking and trampling, only knew that a few paddle wheels behind the boat were flying, with wood pulp on both sides, in the turbulent flood season Yushui, can also go upstream!

"It's done!"

Seeing the success of the paddle steamer trial, Ah Zhong and the craftsmen cheered excitedly, while the Yue people showed fear and doubt, because in their perspective, those ships seemed to be helped by some mysterious force......

The more amazing thing is still to come, when the ten boats came back in a circle, everyone found that at some point, there was an extra boat among them, and the bow of the boat was carved into the shape of a dragon's head, breaking the waves.

"Welcome the Dragon King!"

Lu Jia hurriedly stepped forward to salute, it turned out that on the dragon boat, there was a wood carving of the "Dragon King of the South China Sea", with teeth and claws, lifelike.

According to the script, Heifu personally entered the water, carried the wooden carving with a group of soldiers, and returned to the shore in the water.

"This is the manifestation of the Dragon King of the South China Sea, and you don't worship it!?"

The Qin soldiers bowed down according to the instructions, and the Yue people outside looked at me, I looked at you, there were not many people who worshipped, and their current beliefs were still the five sheep.

Although the script was clumsy, except for the water army, the audience's response was mediocre, but Heifu still acted very seriously.

They carried the wooden dragon into the newly built temple, placed it properly, burned spices, offered sacrifices, chanted sacrifices, played sacrificial music, danced ballets, faced the mighty waves, and prayed for blessings and flags to rise with the sun......

Hefu said goodbye reverently, and after the ceremony he announced:

"From now on, no matter how the Qin people are more than the people, the new boat is launched, the fishing boat goes to sea, and the rice is planted, the dragon king will be worshipped!"

For a time, the Qin people cheered and sang praises in conjunction with the performance, while the Yue people were skeptical.

Heifu hopes that the dragon king of the South China Sea can play the role of "Mazu" in later generations on the southern coast and become the protector of navigators.

He thought: "It's better to have one on every ship, worship a few generations, even the most stubborn Yue people, they will rather believe it!" ”

Of course, because of the strange setting that Heifu added to it, the dragon kings of the four seas, the dragon roars of the three brothers of the East Sea, the West Sea, and the North Sea are all mighty roars, and the sky shakes.

Only the Dragon King of the South China Sea said: "Quack? ”

Moreover, Heifu never imagined that the evolution of local beliefs was strange, and that the indigenous people in some places would often regard the conqueror as a god or add their image.

In addition to the croaking of the dragon king of the South China Sea enshrined in this Panyu, after thousands of years of evolution, the image slowly changed from the dragon shape to the dragon's head and human body......

……

Just when the incense was first lit at the Longwang Temple in Panyu, ten paddle steamers were carrying Qin soldiers, intending to support the Qin army's earthen fort, which had been cut off from supplies due to the flood season and was isolated. Located in Yulin (Guiping, Guangxi) in the upper reaches of Yushui, outside a village in a forest, the young and strong Xiou warriors hid in the canopy of trees and in the grass, vigilantly staring at the movement of the Qin people's tulou at the bottom of the mountain.

Those round, huge and sturdy buildings, guarded by Qin soldiers with strong bows and crossbows, controlled the main road to the low-lying plains by the river, and saw that the rice planted in spring gradually turned yellow, but the Ou people could not harvest with peace of mind, so they could only hide in the mountains and swallow saliva.

And in the village, the elders of Xiou also discussed their future plans with their monarch Jijun after sacrificing to the frog god.

After a violent discussion, Jijun tapped the trunk with his sword and made a decision.

His words are in Ouyue, and the translation into the vernacular of later generations is:

"Taking advantage of the heavy water in the flood season, the downstream ships can't go retrograde here, so we gathered the troops and went to the watchtowers of the devils of the Qin Kingdom!"