Adventures in Heaven (novel) Zhang Baotong

After dinner, the king called me into his study. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info This is where the king reads books and works. The place is not large, with two large cabinets full of books and a large number of cases. There were pens, ink, and paper on several cases. The paper looks coarse and yellowish. We sat cross-legged like old friends beside a few tables covered with straw mats and felt. At this time, the king told me that he was also a Han Chinese, and that his ancestors were once the royal relatives of the capital Luoyang. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he traveled west with the envoys and communicated with the envoys.

When I heard this, I was amazed and asked, "At that time, the Silk Road was thousands of miles away in Xinjiang, and Tibet was not well known at that time, how could your ancestors go deep into the heavenly land between the Gangdis Mountains and the Himalayas, surrounded by ice peaks and snow-capped mountains?" "To answer my question, the king took a very thick and old book from a bookcase and placed it before me. I opened the cloth bag on the surface and saw the title of the book: "Heavenly History: A Biography of the First King". The book is bound in yellowed tissue paper and copied in very neat block letters, so it is easy for the book to rot and worn, and must be taken very care.

The first part of the book is "The Beginning of the Ancestors", and because of the age, the handwriting is blurry and there are too many complicated characters, I found it difficult to understand. But I can still get a rough idea of what the book is about. The story is that in the 106th year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the ancestors traveled west with the envoys and rested in peace, and returned to the Western Regions in the following year. When I arrived at the ancient city of Loulan, I didn't expect that due to the damage of wind and sand, the river changed course, and the river on the edge of the city had dried up for several months. Therefore, the city was desolate and desolate. Many people dug pits along the river to draw water, and the sediment in the water was so thick that it was undrinkable. The ancestor then inquired about the whereabouts of the mission, but said that he had been gone for more than a month and did not know where he was going. The ancestors wanted to find a way back to Beijing, but they heard that the Qiang people were rioting in Shaanxi and Gansu, and the Han army retreated to Chang'an, so that the road back was intercepted by the Qiang people, and the Qiang people were brutal, and the Han people would be beheaded. The ancestors had no plan and wanted to go north to Shanshan. One day, when he arrived at the west gate, he saw hundreds of homeless people returning along the way, saying that there were officers and soldiers guarding the way, and they were not allowed to force them. The ancestors were angry for a while, so they gathered hundreds of nomads, saying that I am the envoy of the Han Dynasty, and I have returned from rest, and I know that there is a land in the southwest, which is sparsely populated and wide, and the water source is abundant, and everyone can go with me. Then many city residents responded, and they moved all the way to the southwest. After walking for more than a month, I finally reached the field. This place was originally a small remote village with no official office. The migrants then gathered along the west bank of the Keriya River into villages, cultivated and sowed, recuperated and recuperated, and were very peaceful. The ancestors originally wanted to live in peace here for the time being, and then return to Beijing after the Western Regions were peaceful, the Qiang people left, and the road was opened. But I don't want to, after moving to the field, for several years, the Western Regions can not be peaceful, and even this remote place by the Keriya River often has Hun soldiers and horses patrolling and harassing, searching for grain, and robbing people's daughters. The ancestors were very worried and intended to move westward to Shule. However, one day, a year of long-term people came to the door to divination, and the calculation was extremely accurate. The ancestors then asked him to calculate the westward migration. The Taoist said: No, the Shule people are dense and wide, and they have been entrenched by foreigners for a long time. The ancestors asked: The existing Xiongnu often patrol and disturb, and they cannot immigrate westward, so what can they do? The Taoist replied: There is a fairyland among the snow peaks of the southwest mountains, the vegetation is luxuriant, the climate is excellent, it is surrounded by the snow peaks of Qitian and the clouds, isolated from the world, and can be a place for life and rest for ten thousand years. It's just a journey of thousands of miles, the road is far away, and it is extremely difficult, I don't know what it means? The ancestors have been worried about the war for many years, and they are very happy when they hear it, saying: If there is this place, dare to have a reason not to move? It's just that the family moved thousands of people, which is not easy. The Taoist said: Although the place is good, but there is no grain and cotton village, you can send 100 strong men and women to cultivate and cultivate, and wait for the season of abundant food and clothing in the coming year, and you can move their fathers and children to it. The ancestors followed it, and then selected 100 young men and 100 daughters of Lingxiu, with more food, clothing, and fine cattle and horses, and followed the Taoists on the road in the twilight of spring. Over the mountains and mountains, sleeping in the open air, hunting birds and beasts, picking wild food, day and night for more than four or five months, and finally marching to the place where the Taoist cultivates and retreats. This place is really lush with vegetation, excellent climate, surrounded by rivers, and extinct in the world. At this time, the Taoist said to the ancestors: they can make their strong men and women marry on their own, choose a place to live, cultivate and sow seeds, and support themselves. The ancestors followed. In the summer of the following year, there was a bumper harvest of grain and cotton, and the migrants were very homesick. The ancestor asked the people: "You can make people move their villages." The Taoist said: No, this is thousands of miles to the field, the mountains are steep, the rivers are vertical and horizontal, the road is dangerous, I am afraid that I will go here and cannot return. Moreover, if thousands of villagers are moved to the mountains, there will be hidden dangers inside and disasters outside, so that it will be difficult for all of us to have a peaceful day. Then the ancestors led people to divert the stream into the mountain to the outside of the mountain, and sealed the hole of the stream with a boulder, so that the strong men and women in the mountain were isolated from the outside world. A few years later, when the Taoist ascended to heaven, the ancestors named this place the kingdom of heaven, the Taoist named the heavenly father, and the heavenly father's legacy as the law of the heavenly kingdom. In the thirteenth year of the kingdom of heaven, the ancestor died at the age of fifty-one. The ten-year-old son Qi Qi succeeded to the throne and was named King Xuan.

I don't think that when the Eastern Han Dynasty had been extinct in China for more than 1,700 years, there was still a small kingdom of the Eastern Han Dynasty still living silently in this isolated mountain. It is no wonder that the king knew and paid so much attention to the history and ending of the Han Dynasty. When I finished reading the first part of the book, the king put it away and wrapped it, put it back in the bookcase, and then said to me, "Although I have been isolated from the Han Dynasty for more than a thousand years, it is difficult for the people of heaven to break off their flesh and blood, and I don't want the Han Dynasty to be ruined." As he spoke, he was very sad. I said in a comforting tone, "The king does not need to grieve, although the Han Dynasty has been extinct for more than 1,700 years, China is also a descendant of the Han Dynasty. Then the king's face was pleasant.

That night, when the night was already dark, the king and I went on asking questions and answers, and it was not until the third watch that he separated from me and went to bed. And I read at night, flipping through the history books, and did not turn off the lights until the fifth watch when I was extremely tired. The next morning, when I was woken up by the birds in the trees in the palace, it was already dark. A beautiful young maid knocked on the door and led me into a nearby hut, where I was prepared with salt water from Seguchi and hot spring water to wash my face. When I finished washing, I sat down at the table and started eating. Then, go for a leisurely walk in the woods behind the harem house alone.

Follow the path paved with stones to a moon gate, you will see the shelter of trees and bamboos, a number of boulder rockeries stand in it, the surrounding open space is full of green grass and flowers, in the early morning light, the clear dew drops are crystal dripping, and the five-colored butterflies fly leisurely over it. After crossing the meadow, there is a bridge that bends and bends from the stream to an ancient forest with deep greenery. At this time, a stream-like ancient song Xiaoyin seems to be dreamy from the depths of sensory consciousness reverberating beautifully, like a bright and happy sunshine blowing in my face, with that long-lost cordiality and melodiousness, evoking my lingering lovesickness and ardent yearning for distant relatives.

I crossed the winding bridge and path in search of prestige, but I saw the king approaching me. We walked and talked on the grass by the bridge. I asked the king how the length of the biographies of the kings of the past was determined, for when I read the book last night, I found that some of the biographies of the kings were only three or four pages long, which was pitiful. The king replied, "The biographies of the kings were written by the prime minister and the scholar after their immortal deaths, and the length of the pages is generally determined by the whole council according to the number of kings' achievements, and the ancestors are the founding kings, so the length is naturally the longest." ”

I said, "In that case, why didn't the kings do more with great vigor and vigor, so that they could add words and pages to their biographies after their ascension?" The king shook his head and said, "Quiet and inaction, according to the will of the people, is the last instruction of the Father, and it must not be violated." If there is any violation, the people's grievances will be recorded by future generations as a warning. When I heard this, I said, "The king is the lord of a country, and the prime minister and the scholar dare not offend." The king said, "This is true, but the Father's teachings are the law of the kingdom of heaven." We can only do our best to follow it, and we must not violate it. If the promise is biased, there will be a meeting to come to the palace to meet and ask for it. ”

From the king's words, I learned that the palace council was generally composed of the prime minister, the governor, the scholar of the school village, the owners of the thirteen villages, and a dozen school village fathers. Although the king is the king of a country, if he does not have the support and approval of the majority of the council, the king's decision may be vetoed. Moreover, the councillors could submit a letter to the king for explanations and answers to the king's mistakes and faults.