Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Don't worry, Ryukyu is considered the 'best place' among the tributary states. When they were middlemen, they stored a lot of good things at home. I'm familiar with that place. My father often took me there when I was a child. I'm on vacation, no, I'm on treatment these days. I recommend you to go to some reputable restaurants and bookstores. I'll lead the way."

Chapter 1079 Naha

Ryukyu Island, Shuri Castle, Bongeun Airport.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Zheng Yin stood on the tarmac with a panicked look on his face. He had heard the news when the Ninghe was approaching and had been waiting here early.

"Oh, Uncle San, my head." Zheng Shijie was carried out by the medical staff who had entered first. His head was wrapped in a bandage.

"You didn't get heat stroke last night, did you? You're so stupid! How can a grown man like you die of heat in an air-conditioned room? Can't you use ice cubes if there's no air conditioning?"

"Ah? Yes, there are ice cubes!" The medical miracle happened to Zheng Shijie's head in 0.5 seconds, and then he lay down again: "Oh, no, no. Ouch - my head - hurts, my head -"

While howling, the medical staff put him and the stretcher on the cart.

[This acting is really poor.]

"Shangluo, what happened to him?" Zheng Yin asked hurriedly. His nephew had been staying with Shangluo since this morning. He was fine when he went out in the morning, but he was half dead from the heat. Why did he suddenly lie on a stretcher tonight? It couldn't be that he was really hot.

"Ah," Shangluo thought for a moment, "it's still hard to say."

He looked at Zheng Shijie: "Guoxing, what's wrong with you? Remind me."

[How come your acting partner’s acting is even worse than his?]

"Oh my!" Zheng Shijie pointed at his head, "My brain! My brain is going to be eaten by bugs!"

"Huh???" Zheng Yin took a step back and took out a talisman. "Kid, just bear with it for a while. I, your uncle, will use a palm thunder to hit you from the top of your head. All the bugs will die."

"Hey! No no no no!"

"Bear with it, this is a cure!"

“Wait!” The dying Zheng Shijie immediately sat up and grabbed Shangluo’s arm. “Shangluo! Tell me, what should I do with this disease?”

"Ah" Shangluo was caught by him, and there was nothing he could do. "It seems that this disease needs to be recuperated. He wants a vacation."

"Rest?" Zheng Yin was stunned for a moment. "Why don't you see a doctor when you have worms in your brain? Why do you rest? Isn't that just feeding the worms?"

"Oh, this." Shangluo scratched his head. This was the first time he had compiled a medical record for someone.

"Shangluo, do you know? If not, I will take him home and treat him slowly."

"Shangluo!" Zheng Shijie grabbed Shangluo's hand again, "Shangluo, think of a solution quickly!"

"Ah!" Shang Luo slapped his head fiercely, "Apollonia, help me find a solution!"

[I've already told you two that your acting is so bad, so stop pretending to be sick. Wait, I'll look through the book.]

Shangluo slapped his head three times before he found out the result:

"That's right. It's what the Cave God Secret says, the three corpse worms. The upper worm Peng Ju is white and green, the middle worm Peng Zhi is white and yellow, and the lower worm Peng Jiao is white and black. The upper corpse worm is causing trouble in his brain now."

"Hi." Zheng Yin waved his hand. "I thought it was something else, but it turned out to be a three-corpse worm."

"Uncle San, you were worried about the flesh worms in my brain, but now you're not worried anymore when I say it's something as serious as the Three Corpse Worms?"

"Because who knows what you ate, who knows what kind of poisonous insects got into your brain. If I know it's the Three Corpse Worms, then it's a disease of Qigong practitioners, then I have an idea - although I don't know what the Three Corpse Worms are specifically."

Before he finished speaking, he raised his foot and kicked Zheng Shijie's stretcher: "Rest well! Don't hang around! This whole family is waiting for the rice to cook, if you don't come out to work, who will work?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Zheng Shijie covered his forehead, "Uncle San, what about other things? For example, the board of directors?"

"I'll help you look after it over there, okay? After all, it's a family matter. I'll ask for leave from the Royal Guards."

"Thank you, Uncle San! Uncle San is always the best to me! See you later, Uncle San!"

"Oh, trouble." Zheng Yin shook his head and turned into a flash of lightning.

Zheng Shijie sat up immediately: "Ah, cool!"

"Guo Xing, are you okay?" the medical staff nearby asked in surprise. "Didn't you call us to treat you? You said you had a headache."

"The headache is cured."

"Already 'ok'? Shall we go then?"

"Let's go, let's go. Thank you all very much. I'll treat you all to dinner later." He sat on the stretcher and bowed while sending away the medical staff who came to pick him up.

"Hey, this isn't a good idea," Shangluo asked. "Calling an ambulance randomly will take up public medical resources, right?"

"It's okay. I called someone from my private hospital. There is no public medical service anyway."

【Good boy, that's fine, that's fine. 】

Shangluo shook his head: "What about Guoxing? Are we walking now?"

"Come on, let's go and rest. I've wanted to rest for a long time. Don't worry, I don't want to take up your time. We are going to do serious business." He untied the bandage on his head and got off the stretcher.

Standing still, he took a deep breath: "Ah, the air in Ryukyu is so sweet."

Han Xingzhi, who was standing at the back, also took a deep breath: "You know what, it really smells sweet. Why?"

"Because it is one of the tourist attractions. There are many pineapple trees planted next to the airport so that you can smell the pineapple scent as soon as you get off the plane. There is also pineapple fragrance in the terminal to create a tropical atmosphere. I remember that when I came to Ryukyu as a child, I also asked my father. This is what my father said."

"So, where are we going?" Shangluo asked.

"Let's go to the Dragon Palace."

"Dragon Palace?! Do you know where the Dragon Palace is?"

"I didn't know it before. But now that I know there is such a thing as the 'Dragon Palace' and I know that my father has not returned from the Dragon Palace, I know where the Dragon Palace is."

He looked back and nodded - besides Shangluo, there were four other people, making a total of six including him.

"Okay, no problem, we can just rent a car. Now that no one is following us, let's move carefully."

After leaving the airport through the VIP channel, he also asked the service desk to call a rental car - after a while, a six-seater commercial vehicle stopped at the entrance of the VIP terminal.

He put on the cap that he had prepared long ago, took the key from the visitor, and then handed it to Shangluo:

"Drive, I know the way."

"."

"Why are you looking at me? Take the keys and drive."

"Why do you assume I have a driver's license?"

"You've driven a racing car before, haven't you? Wait, don't tell me you don't have a driver's license? Really?" He looked back, "Wen Yuan, right? I remember you drove a tank in school?"

Wen Yuan nodded. "I do have a tank driver's license - but I don't have a civilian driver's license. I haven't had time to take the test yet."

"Don't you have your own surname?" Shangluo asked.

"I really didn't! I've never driven a car by myself before - so no one can drive a car, right? Hey, hey, hey, we can't let it come to this and be stuck with this kind of problem. At this point, even if it's driving without a license, we have to investigate this matter thoroughly. The window of opportunity left for us is only two or three days, and the army will be here in two or three days."

"Well." Phaethon raised his hand, "If you don't mind, I can drive."

"Wait, you have a driver's license?" Shangluo asked, "Why don't I know about it?"

"Because the place where I work told me that it would be very troublesome if I didn't have a personal ID. At this time, I can first take a driver's license test, so that at least I can have a certificate when I need to confirm my identity - it's the little secret of the Jinyiwei." She took the key from Shangluo:

"So, where are we going?"

"Shuri City, Nishi-Mahiga, 1-jo 1-chome 1, the headquarters building of Iruka Department Store. Let's go there. If I'm not mistaken, there should be some great news there. Maybe the real Dragon Palace is there. I want to see what that invisible big hand looks like and what its name is."

Chapter 1080: Dragon Palace Yuyue

Shangluo was sitting in the passenger seat, Phaethon was driving, and the others were sitting in the back.

Looking out the window, the streets here made him feel as if he was back in Yingtian.

The streets of Ryukyu are still similar to those of Pontianak. To be more precise, they are also similar to Yingtian.

Modern cities all look similar, and are basically smaller versions of Yingtian or Shuntian. If they are well planned, they will be like Shuntian, and if they grow naturally, they will be like Yingtian. Especially when these places all use Chinese characters, they are exactly the same.

Compared with Yingtian, the difference here is that the roads are narrower. Most of the buildings facing the street are six to eight stories high, not very tall. Because the roads are narrow, the sun is blocked by these not very tall buildings, and the lighting on the street is not very good.

However, although Ryukyu cannot enjoy direct sunlight like Pontianak on the equator, what it lacks the least is sunlight.

"There are so many barbecue restaurants here." Shangluo turned around and asked Zheng Shijie, "So Ryukyu's specialty is barbecue?"

"Yes, it's pork, all kinds of pork," Zheng Shijie replied. "Pork is the soul of the Ryukyu people. Legend has it that when they set sail, they carried pigs with them."

“Is there any story behind this?”

"This is a great story. Ryukyu holds a special position among the tributary states because it is considered the 'ancestral home' of all Pacific island nations. According to legend, all these Pacific island nations, including Honolulu, Maori, etc., are descendants of the Baiyue nations along the southeast coast in ancient times. They started from Ryukyu, and Ryukyu started from the southeast coast."

“I’ve heard that before, but is it true?”

"How would I know?" Zheng Shijie shook his head. "Anyway, this is a statement used to unite them. For example, Siam likes to say that their ancestors were the Baiyue people, and they had to migrate to avoid the conquest of the First Emperor. Myanmar likes to say that their migration was more recent, and was formed by the southward migration of the Bailang Qiang during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Ryukyu is even more amazing, and they pushed the legend back to ancient times - they said that their ancestors were the ancient Fang Guofangfeng clan, and because they were killed by King Yu, their people had to leave their homeland."

"Good fellow," Shangluo blinked, "Is this credible? Is it even a little bit?"

"It's hard to say whether they are the Fangfeng clan, but the cultural systems of Maori and Honolulu - or Hawaii - can indeed be traced back to Ryukyu. Ryukyu has two belief systems, one is the belief in the Dragon Palace, and the other is the belief in the Ontake. The Dragon Palace is the god of the sky in Ryukyu. Because the Ryukyu do not worship the sky directly, they believe that the Dragon Palace dominates the natural order of heaven and earth. According to this system, the Ryukyu people do not go to the underworld after death, but to the Dragon Palace."

【Um? 】

"Huh?" Shangluo was stunned when he heard "go to Dragon Palace after death".

Judging from the previous conversation with the Dragon King, this may not be a legend, but the truth. The East China Sea Dragon Palace has shown a strong interest in the ownership of the Japanese people, and there is no reason not to want to take action against Ryukyu.

Therefore, it is possible that the Dragon Palace did not take action against the Ryukyu Islands, but had already taken action a long time ago. The souls of the Ryukyu people may have already belonged to the Dragon Palace, and they may really return to the East China Sea after death.

What Shangluo didn't know was which generation of Ryukyu king sold Ryukyu and how much they sold it for.

Zheng Shijie saw Shangluo's expression and asked in surprise: "Do you know something?"

"Maybe I do know something, but I haven't confirmed it yet. So, what is Ontake?"

"If Ryugu is the god of heaven, then Ontake is the earthly deity of Ryukyu. Our ancestral temples worship the gods of heaven and earth, while Ryukyu worships Ontake of Ryugu."

"Is Mitake a mountain god?"

"Ontake can be a mountain god, but it is not just a mountain god. Ontake can be a pile of stones, an old tree, a forest, a spring, a river, etc. Any place where a god resides is an 'Ontake'. The same thing is called 'Tabu' in Hawaii. If you travel to Hawaii, you will occasionally see some trees or stones tied up with ropes. That is the 'Ontake' in Hawaii."

"Ah," Shangluo nodded, "So, do the Ryukyu people mainly believe in the Dragon Palace or the Ontake?"

"Is this related to the answer we are going to ask now?"

Shangluo nodded. The answer to this question represents the extent of the influence of the Dragon Palace on Ryukyu.

"In fact, Ontake has a greater influence. In essence, the difference between the two in Ryukyu is the 'visiting god' and the 'guardian god'. The Ryugu God does not live in Ryukyu and only comes at specific times such as when the king ascends the throne. He has little to do with daily life. But the Ontake God lives locally and is closely related to the lives of the locals. To be specific."

Zheng Shijie thought for a moment and said, "The Ryukyu King himself is usually in charge of the Ryukyu Palace sacrifice. The chief priest of the Ontake sacrifice is not the Ryukyu King, but 'Mondeok-daejun', who is usually the Ryukyu King's aunt, sister, or daughter. The current Mondeok-daejun, as I remember, seems to be the king's granddaughter? Because this Ryukyu King was particularly long-lived and outlived his son, so now his granddaughter is in charge of the Ontake sacrifice."

Phaethon, who was driving in front, suddenly muttered, "The next thing he's going to ask is, how can we get to know this princess? Can we see her at the sacrificial site?"

“???” Shangluo was full of question marks.

Zheng Shijie suddenly burst out laughing: "I won't comment on Shangluo's behavior, but he really can't go."

"Why?" Shangluo asked.

[Look, you got anxious when you heard you couldn't go. ]

"I'm doing business."

"Because the Ryukyu Ontake worship is traditionally performed entirely by women. Men are not allowed to participate, let alone enter. Therefore, all the shrine maidens responsible for the Ontake worship in various parts of Ryukyu, from the Lord Monde to the village maidens, must be women. They can get married and have their own families, but they must be women."

"Wow." Phaethon turned around and said, "That really looks like the temples in Greece. There are a lot of temples in Greece where men are not allowed to enter."

"But it's not completely off limits." Zheng Shijie tilted his head. "In order to develop tourism in modern times and to appear more open-minded, Ryukyu's Mount Otake now allows men to enter - but there is a prerequisite."

"What is it?" Shangluo asked again.

[Look, I’m in a hurry. 】

"I told you I'm doing business. I'm doing research. I want to know how far the Ryugu has infiltrated Ryukyu. I'm trying to find out the details of the Ryugu - so what's the premise?"

Chapter 1081 Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals

"The premise is that according to Ryukyu tradition, the king, as a man, cannot worship the Ontake in principle, but the Ryukyu royal family worships the Ontake called the [Saifaku]. As a provider and a monarch, the king has to inspect the territory under his rule, but the rule that men are not allowed to enter the Ontake cannot be broken.

"So starting from a certain Ryukyu king, this rule was compromised: as long as the Ryukyu king changed into women's clothes, he could enter the Ontake. Now according to this rule, all the Ontake in Ryukyu can also be visited by male tourists, provided that they all change into women's clothes."

[Puff~]