Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 415 The Echoes of a Century Resound Today

"Are you descendants of the Qi people who traveled eastward back then?"

In another tribe, a three- or four-day walk from the Youyu clan...

Su Guang was quite surprised to recognize his hometown through many things that seemed familiar and the locals' own accounts.

"Yes!"

The other party replied in heavily accented Chinese, “This is what our ancestors have always emphasized to us.”

then,

Tian Zhongzhou led the Qi people to the island of Dongying, where they established a small city. However, he was not satisfied with this achievement.

He still yearns to explore the unknown seas, wanting to follow the great fish in the ocean to the ends of the earth.

Some people think this is just asking for trouble.

"Why not follow the example of Ji Zi of the Shang Dynasty and establish a kingdom here?"

The various Xia peoples have been engaged in fierce involution since ancient times.
Whenever groups of virtuous men from the Central Plains ventured beyond the borders, they always managed to deliver a devastating blow to the local barbarians.

Therefore,
The Qi people who first crossed the sea, although they disliked the strong storms and barren land of Japan, were very confident that they could defeat the Japanese people living there and incorporate Japan into the territory of the Chinese.

But Tian Zhongzhou said:
"If I wanted to be the ruler of a place, why would I need to come here?"

He could have gone to Haidong, defeated the fragile Jizi Kingdom, and become the new sun of Haidong.

"My ambitions lie elsewhere!"

He firmly refused others' attempts to persuade him to stay, and led a few dozen people to form a new fleet.

then,

Drifting along the ocean currents, we have come here with great difficulty.

Because this land is too desolate and primitive

The Qi people, who had just settled there, were unable to even establish a state. They could only huddle in a corner and silently reproduce their bloodline.

"...You guys have had a really tough time these past few years!"

Su Guang listened to the experiences of their ancestors and said with great admiration.

The other person replied, "It's alright!"

They are the descendants of the Qi people who multiplied on the other side of the ocean.
They were born here, grew up here, and eventually grew old here.

Compared to the food and sights of their ancestors,

Their vision is very short-sighted.

Limited by the inability to catch animals for transportation, they cannot travel far on foot, thus limiting their range of activity.

Limited by the extremely sparse population;
Limited by the fact that those who once possessed advanced technology passed away before they could pass it on...

These descendants of the Qi people could only understand their situation by comparing themselves with the surrounding indigenous tribes.

How could the surrounding tribes, who had never even begun slash-and-burn agriculture, inspire them to feel a sense of crisis and strive for progress?

"We are the most advanced!"

"Our tribe is the strongest!"

The other party spoke to Su Guang with great pride.

Looking at the face of the person in front of him, Su Guang recalled the small cauldron that Tian Zhongzhou and others had jointly cast a hundred years ago to show their origins and for future generations to remember them. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

But when the other person was face to face, he simply said, "Yes, you're right!"

"Please take me to see the relics of the ancient sages."

The other party nodded and led Su Guang to a tall house built of rammed earth.

"This is where we hold ancestral rites and preserve our ancestral relics!"

Su Guang surveyed his surroundings and found that the paintings were not much different from those in the Central Plains, but the ornaments and decorations were full of primitive and barbaric traces.

Do the pioneers who opened up new worlds live in places like this after they die?
Su Guang finally let out a sigh.

The clan leader, who was retrieving the sacred artifact, heard his commotion and looked over in confusion.

Su Guang waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need to pay attention to him.

"Hurry up and bring up the belongings."

"I can't wait to taste it!"

then,

The clan chief held a pile of ancient wooden slips and laid them out in front of Su Guang.

Because of its pristine nature,
Tian Zhongzhou and his team have to spend far too much energy to stabilize their position.

Such a delicate task as papermaking is naturally impossible to accomplish.

But they still managed to steal moments from their busy schedules to document their lives in the New World.

Just like how we used to erect a monument on every island we passed by and write "I was here".

Bamboo does not grow here, so they make wooden slips.

Fearing that the words on the wood would wear away with time, they were carved very deeply;
Fearing that the "ink" painstakingly created with charcoal and other materials would fade in the future, the text was rewritten again and again.

When the last Qi man to reach this place died...
The wooden slips had piled up into a small mountain. Su Guang picked up one of them and, by reading the text on it, glimpsed the past lives of the ancient sages.

Unlike the profound mystery of oracle bones,
It is also unlike the profoundness of the Spring and Autumn Period.

The writings of these people who crossed the sea are always simple and straightforward.

"One sunny day, I went hunting and caught a deer. I was overjoyed!"

"In pottery making, 30% is successful and 70% is wasted, what a tragedy!"

Building cities is exhausting!

"Teaching savages is such a hassle!"

"Fighting savages is awesome!"

……

"Ah!"

After reading about the thoughts and feelings of many sages on the pioneering journey, Su Guang couldn't help but smile.

Seeing his happy expression, the chieftain suddenly said, "Can you tell me what's on it?"

Because the initial seeds were scarce, and this place was far from the ancestral homeland of the Central Plains, it was impossible to introduce more superior varieties and obtain more nutrients.

In addition, due to the environment, no matter how many books you read or how much wisdom you gain, you can only circulate within a small scope.

Therefore, a hundred years later,

These descendants of the Xia people can no longer even fully recognize the characters written by their ancestors.

Su Guang felt a pang of sadness, realizing that the descendants of the sages had fallen to such a state.

He took a breath and then, together with the clan chief, began to read softly from the wooden tablet.

Perhaps having come to understand the hardships and emotions of their ancestors, the clan chief, who had previously been self-righteous and arrogant, began to show signs of dejection.

He scratched his hair, and long, messy strands fell down, draped over his shoulders.

He glanced again at Su Guang, who, though looking as wretched as a wild man, had his hair neatly tied up, and wondered what he was thinking.

The chieftain then pulled out a stick made of animal bone from the ornament at his waist, then gathered up his hair, twisted it twice on top of his head, and tied it up.

Finally,

He explained somewhat awkwardly, "My head often gets infested with worms, which makes it very itchy, so many people in the tribe don't like to tie their hair up."

Su Guang didn't say anything, but he was quite satisfied with the clan chief's "slow realization".

Upon returning, he said to his companions:
"It is understandable that the descendants of the Xia people, who grew up in such a remote and barbaric place, have become like this."

"As the ancients said, 'If you live among barbarians, then treat them as barbarians,' and that is the principle."

His companion was disgusted, "But they're so barbaric!"

"It's only been a hundred years!"

"If a few decades pass and the next generation is born, how much of the language of the Chinese people will they still speak, and how much of the written language will they still recognize?"

Su Guang sighed and said, "That's what I'm worried about too."

Their numbers are also very small.

Scattered here, for generations, people were easily assimilated and absorbed by the wild grass.

Even if they had ships, they could still sail back.

But firstly,
After crossing the ocean, the ship had suffered considerable damage and would require a great deal of time and manpower to repair.

Secondly,

Whenever Su Guang thinks of pioneers like Tian Zhongzhou and looks at the appearance of their descendants, he finds it unbearable.

After pondering for a moment, he said to his companions:
"The ancient sages brought the seeds of the Chinese people here, allowing them to multiply."

"Now that we have come from the State of Qi, we should fulfill our duty to educate them, rather than letting them fall into depravity."

"Moreover, the close unity among the various Xia peoples will also facilitate the repair of the ships, allowing us to return to our homeland as soon as possible, won't it?"

His companions agreed with his suggestion, and then someone slapped their forehead and asked Su Guang, "Now that you've seen the notes left by the ancients, do you know what name they gave this land?"

They were newcomers and had no intention of settling here, so they did not give the New World a specific name.

Su Guang said, "Yes, yes!"

He stamped his foot and said, "The ancients called this place Yinzhou."

"It is said that the ancients learned from a wise man that a thousand years ago, when the Shang Dynasty fell, some of the survivors crossed the sea to the east."

The Japanese people on the island of Dongying are short in stature and have a wild nature, so they are obviously not native to the Central Plains.

It is inferred from this that

The people here are naturally descendants of the "Yin Shang" dynasty.

His companions were all surprised. "I thought only people who respected the Zhou rites would have the habit of running around and settling down wherever they wanted."

"Who knew Shang Li would be like this too!"

"Looking at it this way, it really has been this way since ancient times!"

(End of this chapter)