Chapter 66: The Year of An Yue (5000 words long chapter!)
Li Yuan rarely went out to the outside world.
Thousands of miles outside Anshan is a vast and desolate land.
The mountains are not prominent and the terrain is flat. It has not been governed by any gods or immortals for many years and is a lawless area.
There is only one place with people, and that is the direction leading to the border town of Qian State.
Li Yuan walked along the direction of Qian State, visited many markets, and searched for a long time before he found the raw materials he needed.
He bought a lot of that raw material, and also dug up a lot of things from the ravines in remote areas, and brought them back mysteriously.
Afterwards, Li Yuan hid in Anshan and kept tinkering with something.
Let’s talk about the foot of the mountain.
Emperor Dayue is having people prepare a large amount of New Year goods.
The people are busy with their work and perhaps forget or don't care much about the approaching year-end.
But as the king of a country, he always thinks about some festive holidays.
Dayue has gone through too many disasters along the way, it's time for something lively.
However, when Dayue migrated, he did not bring much gold and silver.
Anshan was originally poor, and now he is relying on the large-scale sale of tree fruits, plus the little money brought by Dayue, to barely support his expenses.
The crops that had been planted had not yet sprouted, and most of the people’s houses had not yet been completed.
The daily consumption of food and building materials is extremely huge, so where would we get the money to buy New Year's goods?
After thinking for a while, Emperor Dayue took off the imperial crown on his head.
His imperial crown was not a crown with beads, but a heroic crown with carvings of dragons and phoenixes.
The tiara is made of pure gold and inlaid with several rare gems. Overall, it is priceless.
In front of all the ministers, Emperor Dayue put his crown on the ground with a serious face, drew the jade sword from his waist, and cut it off with one blow!
Click——!
The green sword flashed past, the imperial crown shattered, and gold and jade pieces scattered all over the ground.
The ministers were terrified and knelt down immediately.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please calm down!"
"Dai Yue is a newborn, and indeed has very few assets, but Your Majesty, please do not be impatient and angry. We will definitely find another way!"
The minister bowed his head to the ground, fearing that Emperor Dayue would be angry because of the difficulty of this matter.
Emperor Dayue was stunned for a moment.
"You, do you think I am angry?"
A strange smile flashed across Emperor Dayue's face.
A close minister looked up fearfully, only to see a smile on Emperor Dayue's face.
"Your Majesty, are you planning to exchange the gold and jade of the imperial crown for money to buy New Year's goods for the people?!"
A relatively upright general exclaimed, his face full of disbelief.
The civil officials were shocked and tried to dissuade him:
"Your Majesty! You must not do this!"
"The imperial crown is so noble, it is the symbol of your emperorship!"
"How can you destroy this crown that symbolizes the supreme power just for a festival?"
Many ministers continued to dissuade him.
Emperor Dayue frowned, swung his hand horizontally, and his sleeves made a thunderous sound in the air.
All the ministers were silent.
"My throne is not made possible by a crown!"
Emperor Dayue frowned and looked around the hall.
There was a strong sense of dominance on his heroic face.
The ministers' breathing paused slightly.
An old minister smiled bitterly and lowered his head deeply:
"Your Majesty, I am waiting for you!"
After all, they still have the old ideas of the court.
What time is it now?
That was the most difficult and poor period of Dayue Kingdom’s nirvana and rebirth!
The emperor himself already felt ashamed of himself in front of the people, let alone an imperial crown. If the people needed it, he would probably even be willing to destroy the imperial sword that accompanied him!
The relevant ministers hurriedly picked up the fragments of the imperial crown and estimated its approximate value.
If it is a complete imperial crown, it embodies the hard work of the craftsmen and is priceless.
But how can the imperial crown be sold intact? If this gets out, it will somewhat damage the reputation of the Dayue Kingdom.
Moreover, it is easy to attract the attention of some neighboring countries, which may cause some trouble.
Although the value of the broken imperial crown has decreased, the pure gold and precious jade can still be used to buy many materials.
"Your Majesty, the value of the gold and jade from the broken crown is enough to buy some New Year goods for the people and prepare for the New Year!"
The minister who estimated the value was somewhat excited after he came to the conclusion.
Emperor Dayue breathed a sigh of relief.
He was really worried that he would not have enough money to buy New Year's goods for the people, and he was hesitating whether to sell the sword inlaid with beautiful jade in his hand.
The stories in the world are so wonderful.
More than a hundred years ago, Li Yuan smashed the exquisite Tianting wine jar in Anshan, just to allow the villagers to have enough money to buy saplings and improve the environment.
Today, more than a hundred years later, an emperor who had migrated his entire country here was willing to break off his crown just to collect money to give his people a good New Year.
Maybe everything in the world is a cycle, or maybe some people are just very similar.
The end of the year is finally here.
When the hard-working people take a break, they can't help but think back to the past.
Most of them were lying in randomly built sheds, gazing at the stars and the moon in the sky, lost in thought.
Once in Dayue Kingdom, although many of them were poor, they could always barely support their families.
During the Chinese New Year, the family always gets together, buys a pot of delicious wine, cooks some meat, hangs up lights and decorations, and the whole family is happy.
But, in the past year.
They had been migrating through mountains and rivers, forced to leave by the famine and disaster caused by the evil god.
How many relatives and friends died in famine and on the road of migration.
The people were in a low mood, feeling a sudden sense of sadness after the excitement of being reborn.
People recall the simple beauty of the past, and then think back to the hardships of the past year, and their hearts become even more sad.
Those who have passed away are gone after all.
when--!
Dangdangdang——!
The loud sound of gongs and drums rang out.
Many relatively strong soldiers, wearing red scarves and holding large red gongs and drums, came along, playing festive music and setting off firecrackers along the way.
Wherever the people rested, soldiers would come out from everywhere, lighting lanterns, and the bright red on their bodies was so eye-catching.
The people's attention was inevitably drawn to it.
The soldiers' faces were filled with happy smiles, resolute and sunny, and they shouted loudly:
"People, relatives and friends!"
"Today is the end of the year, why are you all sleeping in the rest area?"
Many people came out from their resting areas, looking at the soldiers who were constantly beating gongs and drums and lighting firecrackers, and forced a smile on their faces.
The soldiers said again:
"Our Emperor has prepared a New Year's gift for everyone. Please gather at the foot of Anshan Mountain!"
The sound of gongs and drums rang out, and after each piece of music, the soldiers shouted, calling on the people to go to the foot of Anshan.
The people left their homes one after another and slowly headed to the foot of Anshan.
Their bodies are actually very tired.
But the people always looked at the red cloth gongs and drums on the soldiers, and they always felt curious and excited in their hearts.
The soldiers said that the emperor had prepared New Year gifts for them!
More and more people came out, forming a huge tide.
The young men who still had some strength left picked up and carried the sick and disabled fellow villagers, as they did not want to neglect these people when everyone was celebrating the New Year!
All the villagers slowly gathered at the foot of Anshan, filling up the huge Anshan.
Here, a large number of soldiers and officials are already deployed.
Many officials were busy sweating and their clothes were wet, but they always had smiles on their faces.
They know they are doing something very meaningful.
There were not enough tables and chairs, so many items were placed on the ground and covered with thick cloth.
People gathered around and saw many New Year's goods that they used to buy during the Chinese New Year.
There are all kinds of things like bacon, New Year wine, rice cakes, rice balls, and cooked beef and mutton.
All these New Year goods were evenly placed around Anshan.
The areas around Anshan were decorated with lights and colorful lanterns, and many wooden stakes were erected just to hang festive red lanterns.
There are also many red lanterns, even hung on the tall trees in Anshan.
In addition, there are many stages built, one every few hundred meters, with many actors standing on them ready to go.
The people felt a lump in their throats and some of them had tears in their eyes.
When they saw these, it was as if they were seeing the once prosperous Dayue and the bustling streets during the New Year.
At the soldiers' smiling greetings, the people cheered, found a stage they wanted to watch, and sat on the ground near it.
Everyone tried their best to keep order, and even though there were so many people and it was a bit noisy, they still maintained courtesy and there was no trouble.
They have experienced so many hardships along the way.
No one has the heart to break this beautiful fantasy-like New Year's Eve.
After the people were seated, Emperor Dayue walked out from Anshan.
Behind him is a newly built mountain temple.
Emperor Dayue stood in front of the mountain temple with a heroic posture and majestic aura.
"People of Otsuki!"
A smile appeared on Emperor Dayue's face and he shouted.
He tied his hair with a wooden hairpin and wore an old dragon robe; but his eyes and brows revealed such a noble temperament.
There were many soldiers lined up in an orderly manner, shouting out the words of Emperor Dayue to all the people.
"Our Great Yue Nation has gone through great hardships and traveled thousands of miles to come here. Have you ever given up?"
He seemed to be intentionally stirring up the emotions of the people.
Some of the people shouted:
"Never!"
They have come all this way relying on that breath!
Emperor Dayue's eyes sparkled, and he asked again:
"Who helped us arrive here safely, escape from the evil god, and regain our new life?"
The soldiers passed the message out.
This time, the people responded louder:
"It was the help of the Anshan Mountain God and the help of Master Zhang!"
"We also have the kind-hearted spirit beasts of Qianshan Ridge and the great cloud and mist monster to help us!"
At this moment, Zheng Tai Biao stood on Anshan Mountain and looked into the distance.
"No way, I have another nickname?" Zheng Tai Biao looked a little awkward, and his face turned red with embarrassment.
He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, no one saw him blush.
At the foot of the mountain, Emperor Dayue said again:
"Then, as we celebrate the New Year, should we also offer some incense to the mountain gods and other nobles?!"
The people shouted: "That's natural!"
They looked back inadvertently and found that a large number of long incense sticks and red candles had been placed on the ground next to them.
Every few hundred meters, there are huge incense altars for people to burn incense and offer sacrifices.
The people picked up three long incense sticks from the pile.
Emperor Dayue also held three long incense sticks in his hands and lit them together with the people.
"This incense is a tribute to the mountain god Anshan!"