Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Pfft~" Phaethon, who was driving, laughed, "That doesn't seem impossible. Are you going?"

"What do you think?" Shangluo covered his forehead, "I think it's not impossible to do an online survey."

"It's not that you can't go there." Zheng Shijie answered from behind, "It's a very popular tourist destination now. Many people go there just to experience women's clothing. Well, it's the same as many people going to the beach just to wear swimsuits. You definitely can't go out in a swimsuit on a normal day. Shangluo, you seem to be in a hurry? If you are in a hurry, you might want to consider it."

"No hurry, no hurry, not at all." Shangluo shook his head repeatedly, "I really don't want to experience it. Wearing men's clothes is fine, I don't plan to change for the time being."

"But what we are investigating is very important." Zheng Shijie sighed, "Tell me, do you want to sacrifice yourself and get some information? It's just women's clothing, just rent one from the door. The women's clothing industry in Ryukyu is very mature, and women's clothing for all body types can be obtained."

"I believe in Phaethon. If there is something that really needs to be investigated, then it's the same if she goes in to help me investigate. If she's not enough, then add Lu Liang behind her."

"What does it have to do with me?" Lu Liang held his chin, "I want to see you in women's clothing."

"what?"

"I see you, Lord Shang Tian, ​​showing off all the time. I also want to see you in trouble sometimes. I can wear women's clothes, so why can't I? Well, strictly speaking, you are my benefactor. It was you who pierced the sky so that I could become a Qigong practitioner. But at this time, let's put aside the benefactor."

"I want to see it too!" Han Xingzhi also raised his hand.

"Forget it." Phaethon, who was driving, shook his head. "If you really need to investigate, let me go. If I'm not enough, there's still Yanqiu."

[Tsk, you are too kind. ]

"Ah! You are still the most reliable!"

"Alright, alright." Phaethon glanced at him and said, "Instead of thanking me, why don't you just ask Princess Otohime. As a real dragon, she should know better what happened in Ryukyu."

"That's different. What I want to see is, when the Ryukyu people don't worship the Dragon Palace directly, will their souls flow into the Dragon Palace? Because, if the Ryukyu people worship the Dragon Palace directly, and then return to the Dragon Palace, this is normal. But in fact, ordinary people in Ryukyu don't worship the Dragon Palace directly, right? They should worship the Ontake. If in this case, the souls of the Ryukyu people will still be taken away by Ryukyu, then there are two possibilities;

"First, they were sold by the Ryukyu King. This means that the Ryukyu King seems to have the power to sell everyone's soul, but I don't know what price they sold it for."

"Secondly, the Dragon Palace might have altered the path of Ontake worship, and the very act of worshipping Ontake could draw them into the Dragon Palace. This possibility is less likely, but it carries a greater risk. This means that even if you don't directly and explicitly believe in the Dragon Palace, you could still be abducted by it for other, unrelated reasons. I suspect you'll most likely become a small-time soldier or a crab general."

Zheng Shijie, who was standing behind him, raised his head and asked, "So, you're talking about my father's situation?"

"I think it's very likely. I think your father might have been found by the Dragon Palace unintentionally while struggling with the invisible hand, which triggered this reaction - this explains why he turned into a dragon without any warning. And it seems that the hell flight created by the invisible hand has different cabin numbers. The first-class passengers in the front row can turn into dragons, but those behind the number can only be shrimp soldiers and crab generals."

"Then, there is only one thing we need to confirm first." Phaethon suggested, "Call the Imperial Prison now and ask them to ask Otohime whether it is true that the Ryukyu people go to the Dragon Palace after they die. And what exactly do they do in the Dragon Palace?"

After a moment, Shangluo hung up the phone.

He nodded. "It's true. When they went to ask, Otohime didn't tell them. She had to wait until I called her before telling them. The souls of the Ryukyu people were really taken away by the Dragon Palace. And, they really would turn into shrimp soldiers and crab generals."

"You seem to have guessed almost everything?" Zheng Shijie asked in surprise. From his perspective, Shang Luo was like a divine fortune teller. He just said some common sense that people who often come to Ryukyu know, and Shang Luo guessed all the relevant details.

"It's not that I can predict the future, it's that I have other information channels."

Shangluo had talked directly with Dragon King Ao Zang. He also heard from Dragon King Ao Zang that he wanted to claim the lives of all the people in Wa based on Xu Fu's debts and turn them into shrimp soldiers and crab generals.

Considering this point of view, Ryugu might have already included Ryukyu as a candidate for "shrimp soldiers and crab generals".

"Wow!" Although Zheng Shijie didn't know what Shangluo's information channel was, the four words "shrimp soldiers and crab generals" made his hair stand on end. "So, after turning into shrimp soldiers and crab generals, will they become seafood and be eaten by people? I'm going to take you to try the Ryukyu specialty seafood hotpot later."

"I am more inclined to believe that this shrimp and crab is just a metaphor, rather than a real shrimp and crab. The meaning of this shrimp and crab may be a metaphor for 'servants of the Dragon Palace'. The shrimp may be the most basic model, with a large number; the crab may have a shell and should have good equipment."

"That's scary too!"

"Ah, actually, it's nothing to be afraid of." Phaethon shook his head. "This kind of thing is quite common in Rome. The Romans like to entrust their souls to a certain god according to funeral rituals after death. Now those people are entering Cyberlania one after another - but not everyone can become a citizen of Cyberlania. Many of them are incomplete people who enter in the form of slices. They only provide services. As for the Dragon Palace, maybe they have some connection with Atlantis, so they got some interesting things."

After saying that, she glanced at Zheng Shijie:

"In that case, you don't have to worry about your father. If he had bought a first-class ticket, he might be enjoying himself in the Dragon Palace now."

Chapter 1082 Ilu Flower

The 22-story building is a rare high-rise building on Naha Island. There are three huge Chinese characters written on the building: "Iruka".

"This is it." Downstairs, Zheng Shijie stood there like a visiting salesman.

He remembered that when he was a child, he had come here many times - the headquarters of Iluhua Department Store.

"I remember when I was a kid and came here with my father, he always put me in another lounge and went to talk to the old chairman here."

"Is it an official visit?"

"That's not the case. The characteristic of Lan Fang is that we can choose to have a formal government visit or ordinary business cooperation. Iruhua Department Store is the economic pillar of the Ryukyu Kingdom. According to the principle of 'no diplomacy for ministers', we will not have direct contact with the Ryukyu officials. Therefore, we come here in an unofficial capacity. Well, this is another sneak visit."

As he spoke, a smile appeared on his face. "Ah, I remember when I was a kid, my dad went in to discuss business with the old men, and I was put in the lounge. There were many lovely older sisters in the lounge, and there was endless candy. At home, I was controlled by everything I ate, but here, someone would call me 'young master~~' and feed me candy. I was six or seven years old at the time, but I was already very happy. Now thinking about it, it was simply the pinnacle of my life."

【Tsk. It’s hard to hold it.】

Shangluo looked at the sign above his head:

"By the way, what does Iruka mean?"

"'Iruhua' is the symbol of the 'head of the Ryukyu alphabet' - Miss Phaethon should be more familiar with it. The three characters of Iruhua are the first three characters of the Ryukyu alphabet."

"But this is actually a Japanese kana. The Ryukyuan Iruka is the Japanese Iroha."

"How did you know???" Zheng Shijie was stunned for a moment, "Oh, by the way, you can also see what you recognize over there, right?"

Ryukyu and Japan are very close. This well-known secret was not yet "well-known" enough for everyone in Kinai to understand. It was just that among the stakeholders, including the imperial court itself, everyone consciously tried not to talk about it.

Because in tradition, Ryukyu and Japan are two different tributary states. Korea commented on this as "my country is a filial son, Japan is a thief". If Korea is a filial son, then Ryukyu is simply the best child in the family. Ryukyu's reputation is even better than that of Koreans, because until the Imjin Japanese invasion in the Wanli period, Korea had not yet entered the state of "filial son" without reservation. Ryukyu has always been consistent and serves the court like parents.

But in fact, Ryukyu is not a pure filial son. If we still use children as an analogy, then Ryukyu is the youngest child in the family who is the most spoiled and loves to ask for candy. Ryukyu's inner self is far from being as pure as it looks. Ryukyu has made many foreign exchanges behind the scenes, and it can be said that it has turned a deaf ear to the principle that "there is no diplomacy for a minister".

But then again, "If you are not stupid or deaf, you can't be a patriarch", and the court certainly knew all of this. But in line with the principle of judging by deeds rather than intentions, Ryukyu only needed to do a good job on the surface, and the court had no intention of revealing the root cause of Ryukyu's motives behind the scenes.

But this matter must be kept secret. Because some things cannot be weighed, and if they are weighed, even a few ounces can become a thousand pounds.

For example, the famous Korean saying, "Our country's filial sons are also Japanese thieves," is not an expression of loyalty but rather a complaint. This is followed by the line, "Although parents may be kind to their children, how can they love their thieves the same way as their filial sons?"

This means that parents should not treat filial sons and thieves the same, and should not indulge thieves as much as they love filial sons. During the Imjin War, the imperial court planned to bypass Korea and directly recruit Toyotomi Hideyoshi, so someone in Korea said this.

The situation is still the same today. North Korea is the same inside and outside, and there are no secrets anymore. If the little secret of Ryukyu is exposed, it will be difficult for the head of the family to "not be stupid or deaf". When everyone is weighed together and the matter is exposed to the sun, it will tear everyone's face.

"Shangluo, if you really know, please remember to say less."

"Okay, there's no need for me to be this wall-breaker." Shangluo nodded, "But do you have any questions?"

"So how did you know?"

"Over here, the Ryukyu Kingdom is finished, the entire empire is finished, so there is no need to keep these things about the Ryukyu Islands secret. So the Ryukyu Islands actually use the same phonetic alphabet as Japan, right?"

"How should I put it?" Zheng Shijie thought for a while, "You can say yes, or you can say no. Because in principle, Ryukyu's Iruka and Japanese Iroha are both intercepted from part of Chinese characters. For example, the sound of 'ah' can be traced back from the simplification of several characters such as 安, 爱, 噩, etc., and the writing methods are also different. Anyway, they are all phonetic, so you can write them anyway. But why did Ryukyu choose to write the same way as Japan? You can understand it the other way around, Japan chose the same font as Ryukyu."

"So Ryukyu has been doing business with Japan, right?"

"Well, so, in fact, the Edo Shogunate's isolation of the country was not a complete isolation of the country."

"Then I only want to ask one thing." Shangluo intended to dig deeper into this question - because it was very important. Now that the emperor was away, Zhu Xianxun had handed these matters over to him, and since he knew about it, he had to ensure that he was informed no matter what.

The father-in-law can pretend that he knows nothing, but he cannot really know nothing.

"So Ryukyu now belongs to both the Imperial Court and Japan? I mean Satsuma. I know that Ryukyu was once controlled by Satsuma for a period of time in history. When our envoys came to Ryukyu, the Ryukyu Kingdom even put on a show. I know that in history it was a last resort, after all, the Imperial Court did not have the surplus food to help Ryukyu expel the occupying forces of Satsuma. But is this happening now?"

"Of course not. When Kokusei succeeded in conquering the sea, he also liberated Ryukyu from the control of Satsuma. Since then, Ryukyu has completely maintained the independence that a tributary state should have, and has only accepted the guidance of Lanfang."

"So you guys have taken Ryukyu into your possession, right?"

"Hey, guidance, guidance, and occupation are different. We only provide business guidance to Ryukyu, and we did not use force to coerce Ryukyu like the Japanese did. Do you see Lan Fang's chariots on the streets of Ryukyu? Are there any Lan Fang battleships in the harbor? No. It's just that Lan Fang has invested in many companies in Ryukyu."

Chapter 1083 The Dragon King of Dragon Palace

"Okay." Shang Luo shook his head. "Then I'll just assume I know about this. Since you brought me here, you don't worry about me asking these questions, right?"

"That's right. Lan Fang's behavior did not cross the line. I am very clear about that."

"Then the next question is linked to our current actions: I know that Ryukyu's Dragon Palace belief has been connected to the East China Sea. So, is Ryukyu's Ontake belief related to Japan's Shinto belief?"

Shangluo also had to confirm this matter. He wanted to infer from it what role Dragon Palace played in this matter.

"I think these are independent events that evolved independently and there is no direct relationship. It is normal for people living in an island nation like this to have similar beliefs. But some things cannot be judged by appearances alone - for example, in Ryukyu, Japan, and even in Hawaii, people like to use ropes to circle stones and trees in nature that are inhabited by gods. This does not mean that there is a relationship between them, it is just a natural religious behavior."

Phaethon nodded. "In theory, it is true. Using a rope, an artificial object, to make a circle means to represent a 'meaningful object'. It is to distinguish this object from nature."

"That makes sense." Shangluo spread his hands and said, "This shows that Ryukyu's current behavior is completely influenced by the Dragon Palace."

"That's right." Zheng Shijie nodded vigorously. "Lan Fang only guides Ryukyu. She doesn't mean to treat Ryukyu as a puppet. Absolutely not. Based on this, many of Ryukyu's actions are probably influenced by the Dragon Palace, not Lan Fang."

"Then here comes the question. Guoxing, has your Lan Fang been influenced by the Dragon Palace during this process?"

"???" This question made Zheng Shijie stunned for a moment, "What do you mean?"

"When you stare into the abyss, the abyss may have grown tired of looking at you. So, could it be that Lan Fang has been infiltrated by the Dragon Palace since a long time ago?"

“Will this happen???”

"You can see that many of Ryukyu's current behaviors are the result of being influenced by the Dragon Palace. And Ryukyu knows nothing about this - is it just Ryukyu that knows nothing? Could it be that Lan Fang is actually a puppet of the Dragon Palace?"

"Ah, this. Ah, this." Zheng Shijie had actually understood it just now. But if Shangluo hadn't told him about it, his self-protection mechanism wouldn't have allowed him to think about it. But now, he had no choice but to think about it.

"No way! Am I also a puppet? Am I also being manipulated by an invisible hand? Is there an invisible thread behind me that connects me to the sky?"

"I think you can see it when you go in." Shangluo pointed inside.

The first floor of the Yiluhua Building is hidden in the shadows, and the lights are not bright. The cool air blowing from the first floor can also be felt here.

The office building of Iruka Department Store, where I had been countless times since I was a child, and the place where I was fed by the older sisters in the lounge when I was a child, all became scary now.

"Could it be that the big sisters who fed me candy when I was a child were actually spies from the Dragon Palace? Then the candy they fed me, those nostalgic times, were just mirages? Were all these memories wasted?"

[These memories of the young master are just a mistake. There is no need to sympathize with them. ]

"Well," Shangluo said comfortingly, "I think the candy is just candy. But what your father came here to talk about is very important. By the way, there is one very important thing: What does the chairman of Yiluhua Department Store look like?"

"In the past, it was an old man. There was a change of leadership about 10 years ago, but I heard that it was not the old chairman's son. The old chairman's son died a long time ago. It is still very sad to talk about it now. I heard that he was stabbed to death by some gangster. As for the current new chairman, I have met him several times."

"Wait, did this new chairman appear at the same time as your father disappeared?"

"That's different." Zheng Shijie shook his head. "Although these two things are completely unrelated, if the time is close, it's hard not to consider it. But in fact, when the new chairman took office, my father hadn't disappeared yet."

"Have these two appeared at the same time?"

"Huh?" This question stumped Zheng Shijie. "Don't mention that these two people really never appeared at the same time! Wait, do you mean that my father ran away to the Dragon Palace to become the Dragon King?"

"I didn't say that. But you see, isn't it possible to argue this way?"

"Totally. Ah! I didn't expect that my old father who eats and drinks every day could be so powerful?! Could it be that he faked his death that time and actually used the 'Dragon Escape' to pretend to be eaten by a dragon, but in fact he himself was the dragon? It turns out that the invisible big hand is my father?"

"I am not your father." A voice suddenly appeared behind him - it was Ao Zang's voice.

“???” Shangluo and Zheng Shijie turned around suddenly and saw him standing there, having just gotten out of his car.

"When did you start standing here?" Zheng Shijie was terrified.

"A dragon can be big or small, it can rise or hide," Ao Zang replied, "Now that it has come to this, it doesn't matter where I start listening. What matters is who I am, isn't it?"

Zheng Shijie nodded, but his eyes immediately became lonely.

"You...you are not my father."

"How did you get it?"

"Eyes. The way you look at me is different from the way my father looks at me. You are not him. Even though you look exactly like him."

"So they look the same???" Shang Luo was stunned for a moment, "If I knew what your father looked like, I would have figured out what was going on long ago!"

"Yes. You have never seen my father, so you don't know. This Ao Zang, the Dragon King, looks exactly like my father. But I know at a glance that he is not my father. So who is he, Excellency?"

"I am the Dragon King, you know that's enough."

"What about my father?"

"He's fine. When things here are over, he will naturally go home. Shang Tianjun, you may also want to ask why others can't see it, right? As the Dragon King, it is very simple for me to hide my face. Appearance is determined by the heart. Everyone sees me with a different mentality, so my appearance is naturally different. But in front of you, I don't need to hide."

Zheng Shijie turned around suddenly: "So Shangluo, you are the Heavenly Lord, right? Can you help me ask..."

Ao Zang interrupted him: "If Shang Tianjun asked on behalf of the Heavenly Court, I would certainly answer you. The Dragon Palace should not hide anything from the Heavenly Court. But are you sure that the answer you asked is really what you want to know?"

"."

"It seems that you also know that this is not a question to ask. Then, Guoxing Shijie, let us start a meeting among the princes. The crusade against Xu Fu is a big deal, and the Dragon Palace is ready. Is your Lan Fang ready?"

Chapter 1084 Ao Zang