CHAPTER 450: CHAPTER 450: DEPARTURE

Meanwhile, considering the expansion of Li Village and the dozen or so outside households extending along the back of the village near Qin Shu’s residence, more than a hundred sets were built, and two hundred people were also allocated to reinforce the walls. The base was not only widened, but reinforcement pillars were added internally every few yards.

This large-scale project truly highlighted the commendable foresight of my daughter, who prepared a vast amount of bricks and stones for the village. Of course, it’s not impossible to use freshly made adobe bricks, but this requires a lot of time and manpower, and the effort involved is naturally more significant. Most importantly, in terms of safety, bricks and stones offer more reassurance.

On the day my grandson turned one month old, the site of Hua Village was orderly, with houses erected, and the walls had largely been repaired.

With over a thousand people working together, the efficiency was outstanding. Not only was the wall widened, but it was also raised by nearly half a zhang, giving people standing below it an even smaller feeling, comparable to the city gates.

Then each family left one person behind to handle the final touches, and Hua Chengtian led a group of people up the mountain once more.

This time, when they came down from the mountain again, it was with the entire village.

After a heavy rain, everything began to revive, and the surviving villagers finally had time to breathe. A month later, they gradually began to recover.

In a year of extreme heat, the surviving citizens of Ancient Yan were bitterly distressed, but they managed to persevere. Even the grain harvested before the extreme heat, as long as people were alive, there was some left.

It is said that during extreme heat, even if people wanted to eat, they couldn’t, only barely maintaining not to die.

Because of this, there were surplus grains and seeds. Although it was quite miserable, it was much better than the extreme cold because at the very least, having seeds in hand gave people hope.

To survive, the citizens whose bodies had just recovered spontaneously began planting food. After all, to survive, they needed grain and water.

Order was gradually restored in various parts of Ancient Yan, and the government also dared to show itself again.

In all Ancient Yan, except for the Imperial City, only Lingyun State and the surrounding states close to it were slightly better off.

Under the Emperor’s feet, the situation in the Imperial City was only marginally better, but thirst led to countless deaths, with corpses even lying on the streets, dried up bodies scattered everywhere, including at the foot of the Imperial Mausoleum Mountain.

All were citizens of the Imperial City seeking to meet the Saint for water, but they had no strength to climb up and ended up sleeping forever at the base of the mountain.

In fact, the situation on Imperial Mausoleum Mountain was not much better than that of the citizens, even though there was a bottomless Taiyin Pond on the mountain. Even with the Saint sending people to fetch water and deliver it down every night, it was like a drop in the ocean.

With daily massive water withdrawals, even if Taiyin Pond was connected to groundwater, it couldn’t keep up. During the ninth month of extreme heat, the water level dropped rapidly, and the once bottomless Taiyin Pond now clearly showed its bottom, with recharging speed greatly slowed. Despite the Saint’s concern for the citizens, he was powerless.

Moreover, humans are inherently selfish, and even the high and mighty Saint was not exempt from this.

Additionally, there was an outcry in various places, blaming the Emperor for the calamities sent by heaven, with rebels rising to proclaim themselves king. The citizens of the Imperial City also voiced their grievances, targeting the Saint.

People are greedy by nature, prone to selfishness. They claim credit when things succeed and lay blame when they fail. Even the Saint cannot transcend this, for it is the essence of humanity.

This is human nature—when all restraints disappear and self-control wanes, the evil within is amplified. When one’s coping capacity is exceeded, they seek an outlet they wish to believe in, making them appear ugly and vile.

No matter how much the Saint wanted to silence the masses, no matter how much he wished to protect his people, he still had to face reality. The reality was that even though he was the Son of Heaven, he couldn’t withstand natural disasters and the wrath of the people.

Thankfully, although resentment was widespread, and rebels proclaimed themselves kings, with natural disasters rampant, they could do little more than criticize.

In the tenth month of natural disasters, the Imperial Mausoleum mountain range was completely sealed in the Saint’s fury.

However, those with foresight could save enough drinking water to persist because the royal family had been releasing water for several consecutive months.

Fortunately, heaven did not abandon Ancient Yan Country. Just as the Taiyin Pond was about to run dry, the extreme heat swiftly receded, and the arrival of heavy rains like a gentle nectar brought new life.

Meanwhile, though the Saint wished to govern the country, he had fewer than one hundred thousand troops when combining the Imperial City Guards and Jingji Camp, and he had lost contact with the rest of the regions. Opportunists stirred the people’s hearts, and although the Saint stood atop the Imperial City, he was like walking on thin ice, amidst fire and water daily.

Moreover, foreign invaders posed an imminent threat, and the retreat of extreme heat was like a drop of water splashing into hot oil, setting the entire Ancient Yan ablaze.

Within a month, the surviving rebels from various countries had regained their strength. Though the extreme heat caused heavy casualties, with the army left one-tenth, their determination to seize Ancient Yan Country hadn’t changed nor did they have room to change. Now, with no food, they couldn’t leave the frontier cities thousands of miles away.

Additionally, the rebels in various regions incited the people, coercing the Saint to issue an edict of guilt and abdicate the throne to appease the heavens, aiming to seize power for themselves.

Yet, the emergence of these individuals was a significant obstacle for foreign invaders trying to conquer Guyan Country.

None wished to rule a fractured country, and thus the ruling authorities naturally would not watch outsiders divide the feast before their eyes.

Because of their presence, it oddly provided the citizens with some breathing room, without having to face foreign invasion and massacre immediately.

But these are stories for later. At this moment, everyone was working hard to recover and to survive.

...

Hua Chengtian and the others returned to the valley a few days later, and it was now less than a month until Yun Niang was due to give birth.

Knowing everything was ready, although many were reluctant to leave the valley, the thought of returning home shortly lessened that reluctance greatly.

Moreover, the valley would not run off on its own. In the future, they could always come back. The day after Hua Chengtian and others returned, everyone began moving in earnest again.

Hua Jin’s family had packed up quite extensively as well, with food and supplies packaged up and ready for departure.

Most importantly, Yun Niang could wait no longer, being in the late stage of her pregnancy, ready to give birth anytime soon. Once she did, leaving wouldn’t be so convenient.

On the third day after Hua Chengtian returned to the valley, with all preparations complete, the large group, escorted by the village’s patrol guards, began leaving the valley one after another.

Every family was laden with big and small packages, trying to bring as much as possible with either livestock or manpower.