Although the inscriptions standing next to Longtou Spring explain some long history, they also have a mysterious atmosphere.
The villager leading the way was the son of the old patriarch and the successor of the next generation of patriarch ~ Balu. He saw the shock of Ximen Yourong and others, so he explained roughly:
"Everyone in Yizhou knows that our Longquan Village holds Dragon God Day every year, but outsiders think that the dragon we sacrifice is just the imaginary dragon in the spring. Even most of the villagers in our village think so. In fact, our
What is sacrificed on Shenlong Day is not some imaginary dragon, but the ancestors of Dongling. However, as time goes by, the ancestors of Dongling have indeed become the incarnation of gods in our Longquan Village. Therefore, many future generations do not know that we hang on them every day.
The divine dragon in my mouth refers to the ancestor of Dongling. Only the patriarchs who have been passed down from generation to generation know the origin of the divine dragon! It’s just that since the ancestor of Dongling has become our dragon god, the patriarchs of each generation will not deliberately go there again.
It is emphasized that the person worshiping in Longquanzhuang is not the Dragon King, but the ancestors of Dongling."
"That's it!" Dongling Yuanhao smiled respectfully: "But no matter how much you respect the Dongling ancestor, he is still a human being. How could you, Longquan Village, turn the Dongling ancestor into your Dragon God?"
Balu looked at Dongling Yuan and saluted and replied:
"Prince Hao doesn't know that our Longquan Village existed long before Dacheng founded the country. At that time, Yizhou was not the harmoniously connected Yizhou City it is now, but was scattered with hundreds of villages and towns, large and small, doing their own thing.
The largest village here is also our Longquan Village. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, our Longquan Village became the most prosperous and prosperous village in the entire Yizhou. But this happened after the Dongling ancestors gave us the gift of Longquan Village."
"Before that, it was said that Yizhou was in chaos all year round, with various villages fighting each other, and even riots that often led to life and death. Especially in drought years, there was a shortage of water everywhere, so the water from Longtou Spring became
It was a holy place that everyone in Yizhou City was flocking to. But at that time, Longquan Village had exclusive access to this spring and would not allow outsiders to share it. But the consequence was that when Longquan Village had a good harvest, people from villages and towns downstream would also flock there.
When we come to grab food, it will naturally be a bloody situation."
"Later, the ancestors of Dongling came to rectify Yizhou in person, and each village gradually no longer acted independently, and all obeyed the instructions of the government. We at Longquan Village received special instructions from the ancestors of Dongling. As long as there is a drought, we will share the water of Longtou Spring with
For the villages downstream, Longquanzhuang can be exempted from the taxes that have to be paid that year. The Dongling ancestors made drastic changes to Yizhou, which made Yizhou disaster-free for a hundred years, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, united and helped each other. However, they did not want to have Yizhou go smoothly for more than a hundred years.
Now... alas!"
Balu explained the reasons in detail, and he felt a sense of sadness and helplessness that a hundred years of success had been ruined in one day.
Ximen Yourong listened and looked around the spring. When she looked below the spring, there was a huge stone standing there...or should be said to be a water container polished from the stone, which was also filled with water.
There is also a channel connected with bamboos slanting underneath the large stone container, which looks like it is used to carry water.
Could it be that... Ximen Yourong suddenly thought of something. She looked back at the spring with clear water and asked:
"Balu, the so-called sharing of Longtou Spring water in drought years is that the water is diverted through the bamboo canal below and flows down to various places?"
"Yes. Our Longquan Village is located at a high location, and bamboo canals are built all the way down. The villages and towns downstream can get clean water through the bamboo canals."
"However, this spring is not much bigger than a human head. If water needs to be diverted, can it really be that we can only manually take it out little by little and then pour it into the stone vessel below? That is the water source that supplies the entire Yizhou. Just rely on human power to draw water and divert it, isn't it?
Are you going to get water here day and night?"
Dongling Yuanhao questioned while squatting next to the mysterious spring and watching. Longtou Spring was indeed very strange. The water seemed to be endless, but it really didn't overflow at all, and the surrounding area didn't even get wet.
"Prince Hao is right. If there is a drought year, we villagers in Longquan Village will really have to take turns fetching water day and night to help divert the water downstream. This is why the ancestors of Dongling specially gave us no need to pay taxes in the year of drought.
reason."
Balu said, probably in order to better explain how to collect water and divert water, he walked to a stone crevice and pulled out a long bamboo canal and placed it at the spring to connect the stone tools below. Then he picked up the stone tools that had been placed at the spring all year round.
The water spoon on the side demonstrates how to get water and divert it.
Everyone can understand the convenience of getting water at a glance. People can easily get water and divert it by squatting next to the spring.
Ximen Yourong had no doubts about this. She walked closer to the spring and observed it carefully. Then she squatted down and reached out to touch the water in the spring.
The moment she touched the water, her hands shrank subconsciously and her eyebrows narrowed.
"Sister-in-law, what's wrong? Is there a problem with the water?" Dongling Yuanhao was a little nervous.
"No, it's just that the water is so cold that I'm a little surprised."
Because of the cold poison in her body, she is more sensitive to coldness, so her reaction is a bit big.
Dongling Yuanhao also stretched out his hand to explore the spring water. The fruits were as ice-cold as winter water. He said with some wonder:
"It is said that water flows to lower places, but this spring is located at a high place. It is already hot in summer, but it is obviously as cold as winter here, and the water is extremely ice-cold."
"That's why we say this is a blessed place. Summer is as cool as winter, but in winter, it's as warm as summer, and the water is also warm. In short, the solar terms around Longtou Spring are completely opposite to those outside. Until now, we have not
Understand why this happens."
While Ximen Yourong listened attentively to Balu's words, he picked up a water spoon, took some water, brought it up to his nose, smelled it, and then took a small sip into his mouth. However, except for the natural sweetness, there was nothing unusual about the spring water.
Looking at the good-looking Balu again, Ximen Yourong asked carefully:
"Balu, on the day of your sacrifice, all the villagers will come here to get water and take a sip, is there no exception?"
"Everyone comes, even those who can't come in person, will ask their relatives and friends to bring back the Dragon God Water on Dragon God Day. In short, everyone from centenarians to newborn babies will have a little bit of Dragon God Water.
In order to ask the Dragon God to favor us."
"What about you? Did you drink the Dragon God Water that day too?"
"This is an essential part, so of course I drank it too!"
"Then why are you safe and sound...?"
Ximen Yourong was confused. Balu was one of the few people who was not poisoned. If she reasoned that the people in Longquanzhuang were poisoned because they drank faucet water on the same day, then Balu and a small number of other people were fine.
What explanation did the villagers give?
Balu was slightly stunned when he heard Ximen Yourong's doubts, and then he asked in surprise:
"Could it be that the Queen is suspecting that our collective poisoning in Longquan Village was caused by drinking the Dragon God Water?"
"To be honest, I do think so."
Although no conclusive evidence has been found, Ximen Yourong felt more and more that the sudden poisoning of the villagers must be related to drinking the dragon water that day.
However, Balu strongly disagreed:
"Queen, by rights, ordinary people should not question your queen's judgment! But we have been drinking this Dragon God water for over a hundred years, and there has never been any problem. It is very clean. If your queen doesn't believe it..." Balu said in order to
Proving that there was nothing wrong with the spring water, he drank a large spoonful of spring water in one breath: "Look, what could be wrong with this water?"
"No, I'm not saying that the spring water is not clean. On the contrary, the water quality of this spring water is the best I have ever seen. However, this does not mean that there is no problem with the spring water on the day of the sacrifice."
"This... the common people don't understand what the empress means. Is there any difference between the day of the sacrifice and the past and now?"
"What the Queen means is that the spring water that day may have been tampered with."
Dongling Yuanhao told Ximen Yourong her guess. But Balu was still too shocked to agree:
"This is even more impossible. The reason why only our Longquan Village can control this Longtou Spring is because outsiders cannot approach this spring. Not to mention outsiders, even the villagers of our village can only approach this place on Dragon God's Day."
"Why is this?" Ximen Yourong asked.
"Because Longtou Spring is not only the holy land of our Longquan Village, but also the source of life-saving for the entire Yizhou at critical times. We adhere to the will of Dongling ancestors and protect the peace and purity of Longtou Spring from generation to generation. The water of Longtou Spring is not used unless necessary. Therefore.
, nothing happens on weekdays, except for the spring protectors who come regularly to patrol, no one else is allowed to come near here."
It is not difficult to understand what Balu said, because the inscription erected at the spring confirms that the ancestors of Dongling did have such a holy intention.
However, Ximen Yourong continued to overturn it and said:
"It's true that you have rules to prevent people from coming close to here, but it's not difficult if someone wants to get close. In this way, it's not impossible that the spring water was tampered with on the day of the sacrifice."
"But no matter who we are in the village, even if he wants to kill someone, he can't do anything bad to Longtouquan. I dare to guarantee this with my life."
For all the people of Longquan Village, it is not enough to devote all their money to the Longtou Spring. How can anyone defile the Longtou Spring, let alone endanger the lives of thousands of people in the village?
Chu Hengye, who had been silent all this time, leaned toward Ximen Yourong's guess and said:
"It's not necessarily from your village, it's more likely to be someone from outside."
"The road to Longtou Spring can only enter our village, and then pass through the pass that is guarded day and night. Since the disaster in Yizhou, our village has been strictly guarded to prevent outsiders from entering. Therefore, no outsiders can enter during this period.
I've never come in. Even if you take a step back, someone took a detour to avoid the eyes of us people and came here to cause mischief, but do you think this possibility is realistic?"
As Balu spoke, he raised his head and looked at the cliffs above his head, and then said:
"The reason why this Longtou Spring can be completely exclusive to our Longquan Village is not only because it is on our territory, but also because of this unique natural barrier. As long as we don't let people in, who can get in? Unless those bad guys can
If it falls from the sky, then I have nothing to say."
Balu confidently believed that the possibility of outsiders coming in and defiling Longtou Spring was extremely slim.
This is also true. There are steep rocky cliffs on the left, right and behind Longtou Spring, and the only access is the road leading to Longquanzhuang.
If you don't take the only passage, you will really have to fall from the sky like Balu said!