Volume 1 Chapter 29: Awakening from a Dream (Part 2)
The autumn wind is rustling, the sun is setting, and in the afternoon, in a classical garden in Bozhou, Huaixi, there is an interweaving of light and shadow, and the air is refreshing and warm.
However, because it was a weekday afternoon, not many people could appreciate the beauty of the place. In fact, there was only one backpacker who bought a ticket to enter this Taoist garden, and he was sitting on a bench with his head tilted back, covering his face with a book and dozing off.
“Swish… snap!”
Suddenly, as the autumn wind blew hard, a thin book, "The Gains and Losses of Chinese Politics Throughout the Dynasties", slid directly from the face of the young male tourist to the ground, and was swept away by the wind several steps away. The man woke up immediately, but instinctively looked at his backpack on the bench, and waited until he was sure that the things were not lost before looking for his book.
But at this moment, an old Taoist priest dragging a big broom appeared out of nowhere, bent down to help pick up the book on the ground, and sat on the bench dragging the broom, and then casually flipped through the book... The autumn wind, the blue clothes and wooden bun, the gray face and hair, startled the young man who had just woken up.
However, when the young man took a closer look and caught a glimpse of the XL logo on the collar of the Taoist robe below the bun, he felt relieved. Then he laughed secretly in his heart, mocking himself for being too suspicious.
It turns out that this place is Woyang, Bozhou, known as the hometown of Laozi. The garden here was built next to the Laozi Temple, so it is common to encounter Taoists here.
"It's rare to see young people who read books seriously these days." After flipping through a few pages, the old Taoist priest quickly handed the book back through his backpack in a Huaixi accent, perhaps because he couldn't see clearly or simply didn't understand. "In fact, politics has been the same since ancient times. It's enough to understand the general idea. The details are useless. You read the right book."
"Thank you... um... Taoist priest." The young man took the book back, but was momentarily stumped by the question of address. "It's just for show on the train, I don't think much of it."
"Very modest." The old Taoist priest became more interested in talking after hearing the answer. "Where are you from, young man? How old are you? Why are you interested in coming to our Laozi Temple?"
"Local, 21." The young man said casually, his Mandarin gradually taking on a Huaixi local accent. "I just graduated from college and started working, so I came home to do some work. My train leaves in the evening, and I know it's quiet here, so I just came here to spend some time."
"Twenty-one is great!" the old Taoist priest sighed. "Young! You don't know, our Woyang is the hometown of Laozi, and the Laozi Temple has a long history. Unfortunately, few locals come here, and even fewer young people come here. It's rare that you..."
Before he finished speaking, the young man couldn't help laughing: "Master, I'm a local. You are just fooling outsiders with this. Why are you fooling me? Everyone knows that my hometown is Luyi next door. Is ours fake?"
The old Taoist priest became even more embarrassed upon hearing this, and his face even turned red, but he just waved his hands and said nothing.
The young man was probably bored, and did not let the other party go. Instead, he asked: "What do you mean, Taoist priest? Ours is real, and the one in Luyi is fake? The Laozi Temple over there dates from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty and then to the Song Dynasty. There are layers upon layers, and cultural relics and historical sites emerge one after another. The iron pillars in front of the door have a history of a thousand years..."
"I didn't say Luyi was fake." The old Taoist priest replied awkwardly while holding a big broom. "But our Woyang may not be fake... The two places are so close. In ancient times, Luyi has always belonged to Bozhou, and Woyang is a newly built county that has only been around for a hundred years. Why should we distinguish them so clearly?"
The young man suddenly realized and smiled again: "That makes sense. We are all next to the Wo River. Maybe we were a family when I was alive."
"That's right!" The old Taoist finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Things like true and false are meaningless in history. When we say Laozi's hometown, we mean the birthplace of Li Er. Luyi can be a place of worship for generations. They are both true, so why say one is false?"
The young man nodded perfunctorily, but he was disdainful in his heart... To put it bluntly, no one cares where I was born, and the dispute over Laozi's hometown is clearly a dispute over tourism resources and local cultural confidence. Even if the old Taoist priest's argument is somewhat reasonable, the two local governments will definitely not recognize it! The Luyi government, which holds a large number of genuine cultural relics and historical sites, will not recognize it even more!
Moreover, this Taoist priest is not a proper Taoist priest. He is probably just a cosplay cleaner, and a lazy cleaner at that... How else? A Taoist priest who always calls himself "Laozi" and "Li Er" without any respect? And then he is carrying a broom in the garden on a windy day, pretending to be serious. Who is he trying to fool?
However, as if he had seen through the young man's perfunctory attitude, the old Taoist priest continued to chatter: "Young man, don't disbelieve me... We in Woyang also have real cultural relics and historical sites. The Nine Dragon Well in Meteor Garden is an ancient artifact from the Spring and Autumn Period verified by experts. There is only one well. If you don't believe me, go and take a look."
The young man shook his head repeatedly, and simply stood up and picked up his backpack to leave... As a local, what does he know? The so-called Nine Dragon Well, there is also one in Luyi, but to be honest, let alone the one in Woyang, even if it is the one in Luyi, who knows if it has any connection with Daozu?
"Young man, wait a moment!" Seeing this, the old Taoist became even more anxious, and simply stood up and told the truth while leaning on the broom. "A dog fell into the Jiulong Well over there, and its legs were injured. We can't reach it with a broom. The well is supposed to be very wide, only one person deep, but we are too old to get out after going in, so we need to trouble the young man for help."
The young man was speechless for a moment: "Master, why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Isn't it because I'm afraid you won't agree?" The old Taoist priest also felt embarrassed, but he just held the broom and led the way. "Young people are not easy to talk to nowadays. Besides, I don't want to take care of this dog, but its family is familiar with us and often invites us to dinner. Now that his family is not here, I feel embarrassed to leave their dog at the bottom of the well and do nothing about it..."
In the midst of the chattering, the two of them, one in front and one behind, headed towards the ancient site of the Spring and Autumn Period, the so-called Nine Dragon Well in Meteor Garden. When they arrived at the place, they saw a well-protected ancient well, a pavilion on top, and a plaque with the title of the No. 1 Pavilion in the World... But the old Taoist led the young man to the secondary well on the side.
It is called a secondary well, but it is just one of the eight new wells that were forcibly built to complete the story of the Nine Dragon Well when Laozi was born. It is not a historical site, but simply made of cement with a cement bottom, two meters square and less than two meters deep... Rather than a well, it is more like a wide-mouthed cement pit.
The young man followed the Taoist priest to one of the wells. He stuck his head out and saw a little pug lying motionless at the bottom of the well, which was more than one person deep. It only kicked its legs occasionally to show that it was still alive. Around the puppy there were a pile of coins, copper coins and other objects of blessing.
Seeing this, the young man just frowned slightly and was about to put down his backpack and jump down. However, when he supported the edge of the well with both hands, he didn't know why he always felt unwilling to help with this small favor, as if someone would die if he went down the well this time.
Seeing that the young man was so ignorant, the old Taoist sighed, but suddenly his eyes turned angry:
"You don't want to save him, you don't want to leave, are you trying to fool everyone in the world?!"
"How can a mere dog be involved with the whole world?" The young man frowned instantly.
"No matter what, since you have promised me, you should be honest, right?" The old Taoist shouted vigorously, leaning on his broom. "Young man, you are hesitant and don't have integrity. How will you enter the society in the future?!"
The young man was just about to say that he had found a job and was a member of society, but the old Taoist suddenly raised the broom, pushed hard, and easily pushed the young man into the well.
After falling into the well, the young man suddenly heard a dog barking and then became dizzy.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
In the daze after the dog barking, Zhao Jiu vaguely heard human voices, and suddenly sat up from the cold tent, then sweated profusely, his heart pounding like rain. It took him a long time to realize that he had just dreamed. The first half of the dream seemed to recall the origin of all this, as if he had experienced it all over again, vividly; the second half was extremely absurd, but it seemed like a self-expression in the dream.
"It's good that the emperor has woken up." Yang Yizhong was relieved to see this.
Zhao Jiu turned around to look at Yang Yizhong, who also looked extremely bad, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and then tried to comfort him: "Don't worry, Zhengfu (Yang Yizhong's name), I just had a nightmare."
Yang Yizhong was cautious and hesitated to speak.
"Is there something wrong?" Zhao Jiu asked instinctively.
"General Liu has crossed the river." Yang Yizhong spoke carefully in a low voice.
"What?" Zhao Guanjia was confused again. "Who?"
"General Liu, the governor of Fengguo Army, is leading his troops across the river." Yang Yizhong became more cautious.
"I told him to send the old, weak and redundant militiamen here, but I didn't let him come?" Zhao Jiu seemed to remember an order he issued yesterday or this afternoon, but he became more confused. "Is he afraid that I will punish him?"
Yang Yizhong looked extremely embarrassed.
"Tell me the truth!" Zhao Jiu was completely impatient. "What's going on?"
"Liu Taiwei led his elite troops to seize the ferry, but left the old, weak and local militia in Xiacai." Yang Yizhong was obviously in a very difficult situation. "The commotion in the evening was because Liu Taiwei personally led his troops to seize the ferry crossing in Xiacai City."
"How do you distinguish between the elite and the old and weak under Liu Guangshi's command?" Zhao Jiu asked carefully in confusion. He knew that Yang Yizhong was a subordinate of Zhang Jun.
"His 3,000 Western Army headquarters, 2,000 Wang Yasha troops, and 3,000 Fu Qing troops who surrendered in Jingdong have all crossed the river intact." Yang Yizhong gritted his teeth and said, "That's fine, but just now, I don't know if it was because of the instructions of General Liu, the last group of Fu Qing troops actually set fire to Xiacai Ferry when they left. Now Xiacai City and General Zhang's troops of nearly 20,000 people in the city have become isolated troops... I am a guard, and I shouldn't ask about this matter. It was only when I saw the fire on the other side that I secretly went down to ask my acquaintances in the Western Army, and then I learned the inside story!"
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a long time, and it took him a lot of effort to figure out the specific situation of Yang Yizhong's report . When he suddenly came to his senses, he ignored the cold weather and ran out of the tent, rushing to the top of Linhuai Mountain where the view was excellent. As expected, he saw that the ferry at the foot of Bagua Mountain all the way to the camp at the pass was already bustling with people. He didn't know how many soldiers had arrived, and there was indeed a fire somewhere in Xiacai City on the opposite bank.
Emperor Zhao was completely bewildered at first, then he was furious, blood rushing to his head. He was about to turn around and call for help, but unexpectedly Yang Yizhong came out of the tent at a very fast speed, and kneeled down on the ground desperately, grabbing the emperor tightly:
"Your Majesty, please be patient! You must know that there are only a few thousand civilians near Bagong Mountain at this time, and the available troops are only Hu Yantong's troops and a few hundred squads. How can they be a match for the eight thousand elite troops of General Liu?!"
Before he finished speaking, someone came running over from afar. It turned out to be several eunuchs shouting, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! The military governor of the Fengguo Army, General Liu, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp, General Wang, and the Minister Wang of the Privy Council, all come to see you!"
After hearing this, Yang Yizhong didn't dare to say anything, but he couldn't help but use more force with his hands.
Zhao Jiu snorted coldly and tried to shake him off. Under the light of the campfire, his face looked ferocious but also smiled, as if he was mocking himself: "Let them come! All of them! Prime Minister, scholars, censors, and generals in the camp, all come!"
