Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Tonight He Xi (1)
What era was this? As he mechanically followed the captives forward, Lu Zhen kept thinking about this question in his heart.

If he had truly transmigrated to the previous era, he would have been able to judge from the fact that these fellows from the Grass-hauling Valley were Meng Ren. However, he still needed to sort out further information about which dynasty this was after the Song Dynasty.

However, judging from the hair ornaments of these prisoners, they weren’t dragged behind by pigtails, so they weren’t braided. This recognition made Lu Zhen breathe a sigh of relief. In the past 5,000 years, he had despised and hated braids the most in the past ten to twenty dynasties.

This was a dynasty that allowed Chinese civilization to slide from the advanced to the backward, and eventually became the laughingstock of the world, causing the Chinese nation to suffer for hundreds of years. What was even more ridiculous was that the rulers of this dynasty still didn’t know how to reflect on themselves. They always boasted about themselves there. They always pretended to be the Empire of the Heavens, and even in the later generations, there were people constantly whitewashing and advocating for them. It was truly disdainful.

Lu Zhen really didn’t want to be reduced to a slave of such a dynasty, so he had to curry favor with those disgusting things. But now, it seemed that there was no need to worry about this. Also, since the Meng people needed to invade the Grass Dredging Valley in the south, it was impossible for it to be the Yuan Dynasty now.

There were only two dynasties left, Song or Ming. From his judgement, it seemed that the latter was more likely. After all, the Meng people of the Northern Song Dynasty did not have the courage to do so. Moreover, judging from geography, if he had only crossed the timeline, then the south should be the territory of the Khitan people. As for the Southern Song Dynasty, it was even more impossible, because it only ruled the area south of the Yangtze River.

Of course, if he had transmigrated to a completely new dynasty, there was no way to talk about it. Lu Zhen could only rely on some appearances to deduce the true history, while others were hard to guess. In addition, even if it was as he had expected, it would be impossible to guess what period of time it was. After all, Great Ming had a history of more than 200 years.

The only thing that could be judged was that it shouldn’t be the early Ming Dynasty or the late Ming Dynasty. Because the former was suppressed by Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Di, they did not dare to invade the Central Plains. By the time of the latter, the Mongol forces had already declined, and they no longer had the strength to invade the Great Ming border.

However, there was still a hundred and fifty years of history before Lu Zhen, and this was the limit of his deduction.

Perhaps he could find out the answer by asking the people around him. Of course, the greater possibility was that these humble people did not know what era they were in. Ancient times were different from hundreds of years later, when information was extremely secluded. Many people had never left their hometowns from birth to death, so it was naturally impossible for them to be clear about the situation in the outside world. Only those businessmen or people with merit and fame could grasp these things that were not even common knowledge for future generations, but the hundreds of people beside them were obviously not that special class no matter how they looked at it.

Actually, Lu Zhen didn’t have a sense of self-awareness until now. With his current situation, even if he knew what era he had transmigrated to, what was the use? Now that he had become a prisoner of the Meng people, he might not even be able to save his life, let alone anything else.

This was not because he was so nervous and slow to react. He really didn’t dare to think deeply. Only by focusing all his attention on this kind of puzzle, could he not collapse from fear. Coupled with his interest in history, this kind of fact was harder to travel through than winning hundreds of millions of lottery tickets, so he naturally wanted to get a deeper understanding of it.

Just as Lu Zhen was full of these thoughts and was about to turn around to ask the people beside him, he heard a gudong sound and the sturdy looking man beside him fell straight down.

Because he was tied up with the other prisoners, this collapse also implicated the others before and after him. Many people staggered under their feet, and two of them were also brought to the ground.

Lu Zhen subconsciously bent down to help him up, but just as he looked down, his expression froze. He discovered that this person clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, but he had already fainted.

In a moment of shock, Lu Zhen knew the problem. Apparently, this person was walking in the hot sun and was suffering from summer heat.

At the same time, the commotion on this side had alerted the Meng people who were riding beside them, and a few of them immediately rushed over with dark faces. Seeing this, someone waved his hand and pulled out his saber, wanting to slash at the person who fell to the ground.

“What are you doing?” Seeing this, Lu Zhen immediately stood up and stood in front of the man without thinking, shouting loudly.

Because he was also using Mongolian, these people could understand him. However, their expressions were very unfriendly, and they said impatiently, “He can’t walk anymore. He has to leave.”

“Leave him? But he’s a patient. Isn’t this killing him?” As a young man with three possessions, Lu Zhen would definitely not let anyone die in vain.

“We are here to take his life.” One of them said something that surprised Lu Zhen even more, “I don’t know if he’s faking it. Since he can’t leave, then kill him.” As he spoke, he stepped forward again, wanting to use his saber to finish off the people on the ground.

“No! He’s just suffering from heat stroke, not a terminal illness. You can’t kill innocent people like this!” Lu Zhen continued to stop them.

Seeing that this brat was actually so reckless, the Meng Ren were instantly enraged. Immediately, someone grabbed Lu Zhen’s open arm and waved it abruptly, causing him to stagger and almost fall to the ground.

As Lu Zhen was pulled away, the person on the ground was no longer protected. One of the Meng people had already drawn his saber and was about to kill him. Seeing this, Lu Zhen’s eyes turned red, and he immediately shouted, “You and he are companions, how can you bear to let him die here?” These words were addressed to the prisoners who were standing on the side indifferently.

Unfortunately, these people didn’t even react at all. They were still standing there indifferently. Apart from a trace of helplessness that flashed through the eyes of a few people, as well as a trace of hatred, the others only looked on coldly, as if they were used to this kind of thing.

Lu Zhen struggled to rush up again to save her, but it was clear that he was out of reach. At this moment, the somewhat familiar voice sounded again, “What’s going on?” His words were rather impatient.

“Hezha, this brat actually prevented us from killing this burden.” Someone explained, but the person who was about to make a move stopped.

Lu Zhen seized the opportunity to shout, “He’s just suffering from heatstroke. He can recover with a little rest. Why did you kill him because of such a minor illness?”

“A minor illness? Could it be that you can save it?” The leader named Hezha glanced at Lu Zhen in surprise.

Lu Zhen was stunned for a moment, but he still nodded, “If you give me some time, I can try.”

“Alright.” He Zha also wanted to see if this strange fellow had any unexpected abilities, so he nodded and said, “I’ll give you time. If you can save him before sunset, I won’t kill him. Otherwise, I’ll kill you too!” The last sentence was filled with killing intent.

Lu Zhen felt a burst of fear in his heart, but he still gritted his teeth and said, “Sure. But I’m going to move him over there for treatment.” As he spoke, he pointed to the bush beside him, which was already the coldest place in front of him.

Hezha nodded and agreed. Without any delay, Lu Zhen immediately stepped forward and wanted to help him up and bring him there. However, this person had completely lost consciousness. His entire body was deathly heavy. Even though Lu Zhen was still considered strong, he was unable to move him for a while.

The Meng people around him only sneered at this and didn’t have any intention of coming forward to help. Lu Zhen also knew that it was useless for him to ask for help, so he could only give up and exert himself silently.

At this moment, a person suddenly appeared in front of him. Without saying anything, he bent down to help Lu Zhen lift him up. With someone helping him, things would be much easier. After a while, he was put in the shade. Only then did he separate his thoughts to look at the person who was helping him.

He was a well-proportioned man. Although he was dressed in rags, he was more energetic than the other prisoners. However, his face was rather ancient, and he could not tell his age.

“Thank you.” Lu Zhen said a sentence in Mandarin, but the other party only looked at him with puzzled eyes.

“Damn it … I forgot that they probably don’t understand Mandarin.” Lu Zhen thought helplessly, and then he could only clasp his fists at the other party.

Seeing him act like this, Yi Fang understood what he meant. He grinned and cupped his fists at him, saying something. Lu Zhen only felt that this person’s accent was a little strange, but when he heard it carefully, he seemed to be able to tell that it was a dialect from Shanxi or Shaanxi.

So he checked the unconscious man’s condition and asked in what he thought was the Shaanxi dialect, “Can you understand that?”

The other party was obviously stunned for a moment, and then hesitantly said, “I think I can understand you, but your accent doesn’t sound like the Central Plains …”

Seeing that he could communicate, Lu Zhen was delighted. He had only learned this from TV, but he was very half-hearted. It was already thankful that people could vaguely understand him.

However, this matter was not easy to explain, so he only smiled. After looking at the unconscious person’s condition, he suddenly stood up and walked towards Hezha and the others.

These people were resting on the spot, and when they saw him walk over, they all cast their gazes over, “What, is he unable to be saved?” As he spoke, a harsh look flashed in his eyes.

Lu Zhen shook his head, “People can be saved, but I want my bag back.”

Hezha was stunned, but he still nodded. He waved his hand and had someone throw the strange package back to Lu Zhen. He really wanted to see what this kid could do and do. Furthermore, they had been searching for a while ago, but they were unable to open the bag. They did not know how the strange package was opened.

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Passersby are so quiet, adorably looking at you, not saying anything. . . . .