Chapter 76: Are you building a tomb of the living dead?
On the edge of the desert in western Australia, the ruins of "Song City" are under intense construction
Near the desert coastline near the Indian Ocean, a tall statue was carved out of a rocky mountain that faded into reddish brown due to the sun, just like the Bamiyan Giant Buddha in Afghanistan and the Leshan Giant Buddha in Sichuan.
——This is a landmark designed by travelers for the ruins of "Song City". It is as majestic and eye-catching as the Statue of Liberty in New York, USA and the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, so that the Western navigators who arrived here can see the ruins from the seaside. The existence of this colossus can be seen from the ship.
But unlike those giant Buddhas with benevolent faces who save all sentient beings in the Buddhist grottoes of the Old World, the figure represented by this giant statue in the "Australian Grottoes" is a uniformed general wearing armor and standing with a sword, his eyes pensive. Staring at the sea, his expression was serious and tragic.
On the cliff above the head of the giant statue, the four characters "Give me back my rivers and mountains" are carved impressively, making this general seem to be filled with divine brilliance.
Obviously, this is a statue of Yue Fei, the "Military God" of the Southern Song Dynasty, which contains the eternal tragic wish of the "Australian Song Empire" to regain its homeland and return to the Central Plains.
——The great affairs of the country lie in sacrifice and military affairs.
Every nation will strive to mythologize their great history and make it a precious spiritual wealth, even if it is a virtual country or a virtual history - any great nation must have a great origin or idea, otherwise this nation There will be a very lack of cohesion.
Take the Roman Empire as an example. The Roman city-state at the time of its birth was nothing more than a bandit fort established on the banks of the Tiber River by a group of slaves, fugitives and vagabonds gathered by the Romulus brothers (wolf boys). Because the village was too poor and dilapidated, a group of poor bachelors could not find a wife, so they had to resort to all kinds of tricks to snatch the "village wife" from the neighboring Sabines... But after the Romans came to dominate the Mediterranean, look at the Greek city-states who all called themselves He is the descendant of this and that mythical hero, and he is extremely noble. He can't help but feel that his ancestors are too vulgar and a bit useless.
Therefore, in order to increase their worth, the Romans simply dug out the Trojan hero Aeneas from the popular "Homer's Epic" whose whereabouts were not clearly recorded, and then concocted a story about Aeneas, a Trojan hero who was defeated by the Greek coalition forces after Troy was defeated by the Trojan horse trick. Aeneas leads Trot The Yi people sailed out to sea, escaped the pursuit of the Greeks, traveled thousands of miles into exile in North Africa, met the Queen of Carthage, and finally landed in Italy, becoming the mythical story of the ancestors of the Romans. In this way, they embellished themselves and also contributed to the Roman legions. The conquest of Greece provided theoretical basis.
Next, thousands of years later, the Russians, who clearly had no connection with Rome from the perspective of race or territory, relied on the extremely far-fetched reason that a monarch of a certain generation married a Byzantine princess. Shamelessly claiming to be the heir of ancient Roman civilization, he was The "Third Rome" (the Second Rome, the Byzantine Empire) under the blessing of the emperor... was also based on the consideration of improving national pride and enhancing national cohesion - the real Slavic ancestors of the Russian Empire were generally regarded by the civilized world at that time as Slaves and savages are really too much to deal with!
In the same way, although the "Global Chinese Travelers Alliance" comes from the future world, all members still have a strong sense of "Chinese" identity. It seems that there is no need to go out of their way to concoct a non-existent generosity for the time-travelers. Ancestors.
But the problem is that the Chinese League not only needs to consider the situation of the time travellers, but also needs to consider the perceptions of the naturalized people. After all, the thoughts, concepts, culture, etc. of these time-travelers are really very different from the people of the Ming Dynasty in this time and space, even wider than the gap between people from other countries at the same time and the people of the Ming Dynasty. In order for the natives of the Ming Dynasty to successfully integrate into the national system of the travelers and prevent the travelers from being regarded as barbarians and invaders on Chinese land, a fictional "connection" and transition was needed - hence the present The construction project of this "Song City" ruins.
——Don’t underestimate the role of “soft power.” The great Soviet Union, which used to be majestic and dominated half of the world, was completely defeated in soft power, even though it still had millions of troops and countless nuclear warheads. , also fell apart all of a sudden and perished in an extremely frustrating way?
In short, the theme of the ruins of "Song City" must serve the ambition of the "Chinese League" to rule the Central Plains and conquer the world.
Of course, this is in a good direction. If it is in a bad direction, it is... in order to promote the superiority of the time traveler regime, in order to allow the natives of the Ming Dynasty in this time and space to establish a sense of identity with the traveler regime, in order to allow the previous people to High Group, North American Group and South American Group are in front of people all over the world. The lies told before will not betray the gang, the lies told before will have to be covered up with big lies, and the big lies can only be made up for with bigger lies - so the time travelers had to spend a lot of money when the Chinese League was founded. So much manpower and material resources were spent to build the ruins of a lost "Australian Song Empire".
Should this be said to be romantic? Or is he mentally retarded? Alas, it’s really hard to put it into words. It seems that only benevolent people have different opinions and wise people have different opinions.
In addition, speaking of it, it feels really cool to be able to spend the country's money and play a real version of the game settings in a vast land.
Riding a bumpy off-road vehicle to the foot of the recently completed Yue Fei Colossus, Wang Qiu looked up at the resolute face of this national hero through the car window - obviously, in the near future, this place will become a monument to the bright future. Let’s go to the “Patriotism Education Base” visited by immigrant groups!
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While the "Song City" site is gradually taking shape, a "History of the Rise and Fall of the Australian Song Empire" with ups and downs has also been initially finalized.
——After the Battle of Yashan, the Southern Song Dynasty was completely destroyed. Wen Tianxiang was captured and taken to Dadu. Lu Xiufu jumped into the sea and committed suicide carrying the last young emperor of the Song Dynasty on his back.
After that, one hundred thousand Song people committed suicide by crossing the sea in despair, and hundreds of thousands of Song Dynasty survivors refused to submit to the Tartars and fled to the sea, scattered in various countries in Southeast Asia.
But after all, they were living under someone else's roof, and they were discriminated against and bullied by the Nanyang natives in all aspects. Therefore, the survivors of the Song Dynasty generally lived a very miserable life.
Moreover, shortly after the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongols launched large-scale expeditions to Vietnam and Java. (I have to admit that the Yuan army’s long-distance sea crossing expedition to Java really broke through the imagination of all feudal dynasties. It’s hard to believe that this was actually a decision made by a grassland nomad) whose desire for war seems to be endless, and even vaguely has the momentum to conquer the world.
Therefore, the remnants of the Song Dynasty, who had long been frightened, believed that the countries in Southeast Asia were probably not a safe place to live, and would be ravaged by the iron hoofs of the Mongolian Tartars sooner or later, so they set sail to sea again and set off to more distant places in an attempt to find their own paradise.
Such a voyage was of course very dangerous, and many people just disappeared on the vast sea, but there was also a fleet of survivors of the Song Dynasty, carrying distant relatives of the Zhao and Song royal families, escaped outstanding scholars, and the most outstanding craftsmen of the old empire. , successfully found a new land - Western Australia, which was "still rich in water and grass and fertile land at that time". Because there was a large lake ("Da'ao") on the shore, it was named Australia by the immigrant fleet.
Then, in this strange land, these outstanding sons and daughters, who inherited all the essence of Chinese civilization, spent hundreds of years overcoming obstacles, cutting through obstacles, reclaiming wasteland and cultivating land, and finally established their own country, named "Ausong".
After reproducing for several generations and gaining a certain degree of strength, the Australian and Song Empire once sent a fleet to explore the situation in their homeland in an attempt to revenge themselves on the Mongolian Tatars. But the news that came back was that the once arrogant Mongolian and Yuan Tartars had been expelled, and a new Han Dynasty had restored the orthodoxy of the Central Plains... Since the enemies of the subjugated country no longer exist, and now it is the Han compatriots who rule the homeland, These "Australians" discussed for a while, but in the end they were still unwilling to have brothers climb the wall and fight with people of the same race, so they temporarily gave up the idea of returning to the Central Plains.
In the days that followed, the Australian and Song Empire continued to prosper and develop, realizing the Industrial Revolution and pushing civilization and technology to an astonishing height. However, the good times did not last long. A terrible drought suddenly struck. The entire Australian and Song Empire could not see a drop of rain for many years. The rivers dried up and crops died of drought. In the end, countless once prosperous towns and villages were rapidly expanded. swallowed by the desert.
At the same time as the tragic natural disaster broke out, the internal conflicts of the ruling class of the Australian and Song Empire also intensified. Regardless of the fact that the country was gradually turning into desert, it instead fell into frequent palace coups and bloody all-out civil wars, further weakening the country's response to The ability of natural disasters.
(This section is modeled after "The Destruction of the Empire of Netheril" in the DND Faerûn continent campaign setting.)
In the midst of devastating civil wars and natural disasters, the once prosperous Australian and Song Empire soon collapsed and was destroyed as suddenly as the legendary Atlantis civilization. Many "Australians" who were Miao descendants of the Song Dynasty once again bid farewell to their hometown with tears, sailing to sea to find a new home like their ancestors... As a result, they blossomed in every corner of the world, establishing China, the East Coast, and Linzhou. Colonies such as the High Senate and the Far Eastern Company in Vladivostok.
As for the people who stayed in the homeland of the Australian and Song Empire, they struggled for a while. But not long after, with a tragic super sandstorm, even the empire's capital "Song City" became a barren land where humans could not survive. These last survivors of the Australian Song Empire had no choice but to embark on a migration journey, moving outside the territory of the Australian Song Empire to other desolate places on the Australian continent, trying to rebuild their homes...
——So far, the origins of various traveler forces from North America to Australia have been given a "reasonable" explanation. The ambition of the "Chinese League" travelers to land in the Central Plains and take over China also has a legal origin: that was originally their hometown.
Although going through such a long circle to prove that the time traveler is Chinese seems to be a bit too much, but in order to fulfill the lies they told to the natives of this time and space, the central government had no choice but to hold their noses and carry out construction after taking over.
Everything seemed fine and reasonable, but Wang Qiu still felt a subtle dissonance.
"...Um...Brother Li Wei, although this 'Australia Songcheng Ruins' does look interesting, I still can't figure out why you are so excited? Anyway, you have already made up your mind to leave this world. And hasn’t my sister-in-law gone back with her nephew?”
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——Just as Wang Qiu is confused, the "genuine Australians" in this time and space are the more than a hundred unlucky passengers who first took the modern all-metal sailing ship "Cosco Star" and unfortunately traveled to Darwin Port in Australia. , after meeting with the liaison personnel sent by the central government, they all cried and shouted that they wanted to return to the modern world. Not even one of them, including Li Wei, the "senior time traveler", was willing to stay.
Later, the relevant departments persuaded more than fifty of them to temporarily stay and work temporarily for the central government in Australia in this time and space. After all, they had traveled for two years and were more familiar with this land. But the other nearly a hundred women, children, the elderly, the weak and those who refuse to work, including Li Wei's wife Zhao Na, have now all returned to the modern world of the 21st century to enjoy modern urban life.
Even those who stayed behind were eager to return home. They had all agreed with the relevant departments in advance that when the central government dispatched personnel to evacuate this world, they must be taken back with them instead of letting them continue to stay here for the rest of their lives. A hellish place, gnawing on smelly kangaroo meat... Under such circumstances, it felt a little strange that Levi was not spending his days in a hurry, but was so enthusiastically and actively engaged in the counterfeiting work.
"...Well...is there any contradiction between my plan to leave this wild world and leaving some memories in this world?"
Li Wei glanced at Wang Qiu and said, "...Of course, there are reasons - you can get out of the car with me and go over and take a look."
Having said this, Levi opened the car door and walked out. As he did this, a burst of hot air poured in from outside the car. Wang Qiu suddenly felt as if he had become a bird in the oven. The roasted duck, just smoked like this, almost feels cooked
Shaking his head, he took out Doraemon's magical prop [Universal Adaptable Lamp] from his backpack, shined it on his body, and immediately felt more comfortable. Immediately, Wang Qiucai jumped off the off-road vehicle and followed Li Wei to a slope behind the cliff where the Yue Fei Colossus was located.
At this time, a hot wind suddenly blew up, blowing sand and stinging his skin, but Li Wei didn't seem to care and just walked forward quickly, while Wang Qiu could only frown and stumble to barely keep up... Fortunately, after turning to the back of the cliff, the wind and sand became much smaller.
Then, Wang Qiu saw an unfinished cemetery on this slope. The periphery of the cemetery was filled with various Christian-themed religious decorations - marble statues of Christian angels and a holy Virgin Mary. Leah relief plate, and "Jesus on the Cross" bronze and a super mini "dollhouse" chapel... And in the center of the cemetery, stands a majestic marble statue of a knight in uniform, wearing gorgeous full-body armor and a cloak of the Knights Hospitaller, but Levi deliberately didn’t wear a helmet and exposed his face!
Looking at the inscription on the stone base of the statue of Li Wei in uniform and riding a horse, Wang Qiu couldn't help but feel embarrassed for a moment:
"...The most devout Christian, the tomb of the paladin Levi from France? Hey, is this your identity in the previous time and space of medieval Europe during the Black Death era? There has never been a name in the French port of Marseille in this time and space. A member of the Knights Hospitaller named Levi!”
"...Hey, according to the setting here, my title of Holy Knight is not conferred by the Holy See, but comes from the Australian Church! In the virtual history of the Australian and Song Empire, my identity is set He became a French knight who wandered to the Australian and Song Empire in the fourteenth century, and was also the first A famous saint who introduced Christianity to the Australian and Song Dynasty empire and made the Australian and Song Dynasty court abandon the old era names and switch to the Gregorian calendar. This is to explain to the current Europeans why the 'Australians' use the day of the week and the Gregorian calendar like them, and The origin of the 'Australian Church'..."
Levi, who is of mixed Chinese and Russian descent and has quite a few Western features in appearance, replied with a smile, "...about my amulets, statuettes and murals, as well as the hymns praising my 'merits'. Codices will appear in many corners of this ruins - roughly, it is a slightly modified version of our previous journey to the European Middle Ages to fight the Black Death. Next, I will be placed in this fictitious Australian and Song Dynasty empire, and in the future, the Australian church will praise me as a saint for generations to come - it feels quite satisfying to be a celebrity in both worlds and to be erected with monuments and statues. Ah! Next, I plan to build a saint’s tomb to give my wife the reputation of a saint!”
"...Uh... I'm sorry that it's hard for me to understand your thinking, brother Levi. Anyway, I will never build such a tomb of the living dead for myself... Of course, it's not that I can't understand that you can build such a tomb for yourself. Respecting a statue is a very beautiful thing no matter what..."
Wang Qiu stretched out his hand and rubbed his temples, with a troubled expression on his face, "...But there will be a problem. I think you have no intention of burying yourself here! But if you leave an empty tomb, it seems that It doesn’t sound right! Do you plan to just grab a corpse and stuff it into your own grave, so that others can use your name to enjoy the incense and worship it? To be honest, this feels really awkward... …”
"... Regarding this matter, I have already given full consideration! Everything is according to plan!" Levi confidently patted his chest and said, "When the tomb is completely covered, I will dig another hole. Pretend that the tomb has been robbed. In this way, since the tomb robbers have been attacked, the coffins, dead people and burial objects in the tomb can be saved. Just throw some junk into the tomb and you can probably deal with it. …”
Seeing the knight Li Wei who was so excited about building his own tomb, Wang Qiu didn't know how to complain for a while.
But after returning to the Sanya base through the [Random Gate], Wang Qiu no longer had the time to complain about this matter. "...What what? Huang Shi, the commander of the East Asia Theater, sent an emergency telegram from Quanzhou, claiming that drastic changes have occurred in Fujian?"