Chapter 11: Collapse of the State
The Si hour has just passed.
The snow had stopped unexpectedly, and the pale sun was already faintly visible behind the clouds.
Shen Kuo woke up in a pile of dry grass, his hands and feet were cold, and he tried hard to recall what had happened. After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't remember why he was lying in such a hellish place.
Hearing the clanking sound of iron chains, a wooden cage slowly descended from above his head. He and the woman in the wooden cage saw each other at the same time, and both were shocked.
Xiaoping in the cage landed not far in front of Shen Kuo and stopped. The two looked at each other, and Shen Kuo almost remembered everything that happened last night.
He heard noisy voices above, looked up, and saw figures swaying on the edge of the cliff. Those who wanted to execute Xiaoping were ten feet above.
Shen Kuo tried to turn his head and felt a sharp pain in his neck, but fortunately he could still move. The wooden cage was hanging a few inches above the deep pool. He had to be thankful that he was chased by the dog yesterday and rolled down from it, and stopped two feet away from the edge of the deep pool in time, otherwise he would have drowned.
"Why... are you here?" Xiaoping asked puzzledly.
"As for me, I actually came to save you, but I slipped and fell."
Xiao Ping's face was touched for a moment, and then she shook her head slightly: "Lie down and don't move. If you move, they will find you."
She was right. Shen Kuo didn't have much space to move at the moment. As long as he stood up from the pile of weeds, he would be seen by the people above, and perhaps even by that damn dog.
"Sister, what time is it now?"
"It's just past the hour of Si. Why are you asking about the time?"
"Let me tell you a secret. It will be dark soon. Then I will have a chance to save you."
"You knew it would get dark?" Xiaoping's expression changed slightly.
"At 1:00 pm, the dog will swallow the sun, and it will be completely dark." Shen Kuo smiled bitterly, "But I don't know if I will be in time."
"My benefactor, please listen to me. I can handle this matter myself..." An eagle's cry interrupted her words. The two looked up and saw another eagle circling in the sky.
"We have to find a way to open your shackles first, and then open the cage."
As soon as he finished speaking, the sky began to darken. Shen Kuo tried to support himself with his hands and found that he could barely stand, but his right leg was severely sprained.
The sun was obscured in an instant, and in a moment it was completely dark. Shen Kuo limped to the edge of the deep pool, but could barely reach the wooden cage a few feet away.
"My benefactor, you don't have to do this." Xiao Ping looked straight at Shen Kuo, "I will remember your kindness for the rest of my life."
She said the second half of her life instead of the next life, and the wording seemed inappropriate. There was undoubtedly only a moment left in her second half of life, but she couldn't care less about the language when she was about to die.
Shen Kuo ignored her and continued to stretch out his hand to grab the wooden cage, almost touching it.
"Listen to me..." Xiao forced a smile and looked at Shen Kuo, "This wooden cage is very solid. It cannot be opened from the outside without an axe or chisel."
"I can't watch..."
"Hide in the grass quickly. The eclipse will soon be over. When daybreak comes, you won't be able to hide anymore."
Shen Kuo was truly helpless holding the wet iron chain in his hands. During the stalemate, the sky began to brighten.
"Hurry, go back. Hide in the grass." Xiaoping said gently.
Shen Kuo knew that he was powerless, but he was still unwilling to give up.
Xiao Ping reached out from the wooden cage and held Shen Kuo's hand. Both of them felt a burst of warmth at the same time. But in just a moment, she pushed Shen Kuo's hand away with all her strength. The chain on the wooden cage made a rattling sound, and the wooden cage began to go down. In a blink of an eye, the wooden cage was half submerged in the water. Shen Kuo stood blankly by the deep pool, watching the other person slowly sink into the deep pool with a smile on his face.
"Hide now, nerd."
Shen Kuo took a half step back, crouched down and hid in the bushes, feeling hopeless. He watched the wooden cage sink into the deep pool, and a string of bubbles came out from there. Cheers came from above his head. Those guys were celebrating for killing a weak woman.
A melodious sound of a zither came from a distance, interrupting the cheers from above. Even Shen Kuo was surprised at how there could be a sound of a zither. He stood there in a daze with his mouth wide open, looking up and looking around, wanting to know the answer.
A cold and slippery hand covered his mouth and dragged him to the shadow close to the cliff. Shen Kuo wanted to struggle and shout, but when he turned around, he found that it was Xiao Ping.
Xiao Ping put a finger on her mouth, signaling Shen Kuo, who had a lot of questions on his mind, not to speak. Shen Kuo quickly nodded.
"I'm... fine..." Xiaoping said in a low voice.
Shen Kuo nodded like a chicken running for rice, indicating that he understood.
"Let's go, let's leave carefully."
Xiao Ping supported Shen Kuo and moved close to the cliff, looking up from time to time. But the people above seemed to be attracted by the sound of the piano and not paying attention to the people below.
After they walked for a while, the piano music finally stopped.
"If they hang the wooden cage up and see that it is empty, they will definitely chase after us. I can't walk fast, so you run first. They won't do anything to me." Shen Kuo whispered.
"Don't talk, just follow me." Xiao Ping carried Shen Kuo and walked slowly, and he could feel her shivering. The strange thing was that they had been walking for a long time and no one came down to check. In fact, there was not even a little noise. The cliff was so quiet that it was scary. Shen Kuo prayed secretly that the group would not hang up the wooden cage immediately, so that he and Xiao Ping could run a little further.
On the round hill south of Kaifeng City.
On top of the Altar of Land and Grain, a group of people watched helplessly as a broken sun gradually appeared. Yang Wei De's hands were shaking, and the eldest brother stood there with his mouth open. This was undoubtedly the biggest omen since the founding of the Song Dynasty, and it really came true in the nursery rhyme.
When the incident happened, Yang Wei De was kneeling not far from the emperor. He watched everything happen helplessly. Who could have expected that the heavy snow would suddenly stop?
"Does God really want to destroy the Song Dynasty?" A thought flashed through his mind.
Bao Zheng also stood on the hill, watching this bizarre scene unfold.
"The fourth sentence came true, they won again..." Lao Bao was so angry that his teeth were itching.
A low roar was heard in the distance, which made the emperor and his ministers of the Song Dynasty surrounding the round hill alert. It seemed that the misfortune was not over yet?
The roar continued, like a wolf's howl, but much deeper and louder. If it was a wolf, how big would it be?
"Is... is it a fire dog?" Yang Wei De suddenly had an idea and ran to Lao Bao in panic, "It's a fire dog. It must be a fire dog." He pointed to the north, where the sound came from.
"Why are you so panicked? It's totally inappropriate." Bao Zheng saw that Yang Wei De's face was ashen, and then he looked at the officials around him, all of whom had fear on their faces.
The imperial guards on the Altar of Land and Grain rushed forward, protected the emperor and ran down together. A group of officials also followed suit and fled from the Altar of Land and Grain in a panic.
Lao Bao felt a surge of nameless anger in his heart, so he straightened his clothes, pushed away the people who were retreating downwards, walked upstream to the top of the hill, and stood facing north in the direction of the wolf's howl. He was determined to find out what the hell was going on today.
A burst of light rose in the distance. In addition to the howling of the wolves, everyone gradually heard another sound, that of some kind of footsteps: heavy and steady.
A series of huge wolf footprints were extending from far to near in the snow.
No one could see the invisible giant dog. All they could see were plum blossom-shaped wolf paw prints sunken into the thick snow. Each one was about the size of an eight-immortal table, and white mist was rising from the footprints. The paw prints were divided into two rows, slowly extending towards the hillock.
Wen Yanbo was also going upstream. He slowly walked towards the pale-faced royal family member who was standing on the second floor of the altar. He was the de facto crown prince - Zhao Zongshi, the commander of the Thirteenth Regiment.
"Your Highness, do you know that everyone else can retreat, but Your Highness cannot?"
Zhao Zongshi opened his mouth wide, looked at Wen Yanbo hesitantly for a while, and then followed Wen Yanbo to the altar, of course, his face was still pale. At this time, there were no more people fleeing on the ramp, only a few shoes were left.
The officials who were still on the mound felt the ground shaking. It was as if the invisible giant dog was coming towards them. The soul-piercing howl sounded again, and with each ground tremor, the giant wolf's footprints extended unstoppably. The three-story altar kept shaking, and a crack broke out from the middle of the mound . On top of the altar, the crown prince Zhao Zongshi sat down on the ground, watching the crack extend to his trembling legs and stopped. He didn't know what kind of terrible thing would befall him. Would he have to bear the consequences of the previous emperors' misdeeds? He collapsed on the ground and couldn't stand up at all. He only saw Bao Zheng standing upright in the northeast corner, blocking the front and looking up to search for the invisible monster. As the heir to the throne, Zhao Zongshi mustered up the courage to stand up.
The terrible wolf howls disappeared, and in an instant, everything returned to its original state. The dome stopped shaking, and the ghostly howls of officials at all levels who were staggering continued for a short while, and then fell silent, as if nothing had happened.
Yang Wei De had already climbed to the edge of the hill using his hands and feet and looked down. The huge wolf footprints were left in the snow, still emitting white mist. The invisible hellfire dog was clearly here just now, and now it left? It didn't kill anyone. Its appearance was only to shake the Song Dynasty and prove the fulfillment of the prophecy.
The panic atmosphere lasted for a long time, and Wen Yanbo slowly walked to the side of the crown prince Zhao Zongshi, watching the imperial sedan chair not far away going madly towards Bianjing.
"Your Majesty has been a little impolite."
Zhao Zongshi looked at Wen Yanbo, speechless for a moment.
"Your Highness, there are only two things you can do now."
"Minister Wen, what countermeasures are there against such heavenly wrath?"
"Whether the heaven is angry or not, we can only calm the people first. The only way to dismantle the power of this nursery rhyme is to report it to the government and issue an edict of apology, and then change the era name. This is the only way to calm people's hearts."
"… Minister Wen is absolutely right. I will go to the palace ."
"There is something more important."
"Minister Wen, please teach me quickly."
"Madam Zhang's state mourning was not in accordance with etiquette, and the Lantern Festival was forcibly suspended. The people are extremely resentful. Now strange phenomena are appearing in the sky, and prophecies are spreading in the streets. The people will surely make all kinds of accusations, thinking that the emperor has violated etiquette and law, resulting in heaven's punishment. Therefore, this extended mourning period must be ended quickly, and a reason can be found to make up for the Lantern Festival. Any reason will do, on the one hand, to calm the resentment, and on the other hand, to let the people watch the lanterns, guess riddles, and gamble, so that they can distract themselves and not have too much time to make up rumors."
"Minister Wen, that's a good idea. I'll go to the palace now." Zhao Zongshi wiped his hands with his sleeves, secretly admiring that the old man is the wisest. At such a critical moment, Wen Yanbo could actually come up with three strategies to reassure the people.
