The old man said: "To talk about how we met these people, we have to talk about why we are here."
"Yes, I dare to ask my father-in-law how and when we arrived here. As far as I know, this place is far away from China, more than a thousand miles."
Cui Yingying leaned against her father and listened to our conversation with her eyes wide open. It seemed that she was also very curious about this past event. The old man looked at me and said slowly:
"If we want to talk about why we are here, we must first talk about our Cui family. We, the Cui family, come from the Qi State in the pre-Zhou Dynasty. Our ancestor is the founding hero of the Great Zhou Dynasty - Jiang Ziya."
This is quite beyond my expectation. Jiang Ziya will be known to people for thousands of years. His original straight hook fishing method will not be mastered by anyone until many years later. The old man continued:
"The Kingdom of Qi was originally granted to my ancestor Jiang Taigong by the King of Zhou. The capital is in Linzi. The ancestor of our Cui family is the eldest grandson of Jiang Taigong, Bao Ji. Originally, he should inherit the throne, but he
Not wanting to be rich or famous, he gave up the throne to his younger brother Shu Yi Gong. He lived in a place called Cui Yi (today's northwest of Zhangqiu). Later, he took Yi as his surname, and we changed our surname to Cui from then on.
"
It turns out that the Cui family has such a long history, but what does this have to do with him being here now?
"A closer look shows that our Cui family is the descendant of the Shennong family of Emperor Yan in ancient times. Until the time of the First Emperor, we have always been a prosperous family in Qidi. So when you mentioned Tian Heng just now, I already knew it, because we live in the same place.
Before we went to sea in Qi, he was not the king of Qi, but he had already had a great reputation. This man was talented in literature and military, had a beautiful mind, and could love others with a benevolent heart. He was a rising hero, and he was truly stronger than me.
Wait, it’s more than a hundred times."
"In the thirtieth year of the First Emperor's reign, there were no major events in that year. If there was one major event, it was that we were ordered to go to sea."
I remember that I heard from Xu Fu, King of Pingyuan, that Xu Fu went to sea to seek immortality in the 28th year of the First Emperor. I don’t know why the First Emperor asked Mr. Cui to go to sea two years later.
What? I know that the emperor once sent Xu Fu."
"This, I know." The old man had been soaking in the water for who knows how long. The skin under his neck had turned white and had many wrinkles. He shook his body in the water and said:
"We are not looking for immortals, but people"
"Looking for someone?"
"Well, there are two of us brothers looking for my brother. My brother's name is Cui Jia, and my name is Cui Ping. In the twenty-eighth year of the First Emperor, my brother and Xu Fu were both sent by the emperor to search for immortals.
Xu Fu went east, and my brother Cui Jia went south."
So that's it, think carefully about the First Emperor who unified China. His land spanned the quicksand in the west, ended in Beihu in the south, reached the East China Sea in the east, and passed Daxia in the north. Everywhere he went, his subjects were everywhere. The only place he had never reached was the sea.
With the emperor's character, facing the vast seas in the east and south of China, it is indeed impossible to just send Xu Fu all the way east. The old man's words today confirmed my idea.
"My brother and Xu Fu embarked on a journey to seek immortality in the same year. However, my brother Cui Jia was not as flamboyant as Xu Fu. When he went to sea, he did not bother us to see each other off. He only took his wife, who was pregnant, and
Two hundred young soldiers set out quietly. Therefore, the world only knows Xu Fu but not Cui Jia."
I thought about the two couples I saw who died at an unknown time when I first entered the Golden Cave. I already understood in my heart and probably thought to myself that they were probably the Cui Jia couple who went to sea at the same time as Xu Fu. No wonder, looking at Cui Yingying and the man
, there is always some similarity in appearance
"There was no news from Xu Fu as soon as he left, but my brother came back two years later with a message from a flying pigeon. The letter said that infinite treasures were found deep in the southeastern sea, and a navigation route map was drawn. He asked the First Emperor to send him a message as soon as possible.
The follow-up troops went to respond, so the emperor chose me."
"We were immediately ordered to set off, with three ships carrying a hundred people, including my wife who was pregnant at the time. We traveled on the sea for more than three months and found the island on the chart drawn by my brother."
"Is this here?" I asked, "Besides, I heard Yingying talking about her mother..."
"It's exactly here, oh, when I went to sea with me, I was already in labor, but I couldn't disobey the emperor's order. I didn't even have the time to give birth to a child, so I boarded the ship. Not long after I went to sea, my little girl was born, but she...
Because of this..." The old man did not continue, but I already understood
The Cui brothers make me admire them more than Xu Fulai.
"We arrived on the island quickly, but we didn't find anyone! My brother was not on the island, and the two hundred soldiers he brought with him were also missing. However, we have traveled all over Danao Island and are convinced that this is the place that my brother said.
At that time, I thought that my brother might have something to do and went to another place, so we waited here for two years, but there was still no news from him."
"Because this island cannot support hundreds of people, I had no choice but to take a boat across the sea and go east to search. We named the ocean to the east of the island Tin Sea, and we just casually looked for it on the other side of the Tin Sea.
After finding a pleasant place to live, I sent people out to find out about my brother and at the same time I sent people to mine gold on this island."
"To be honest, I made a discovery as soon as I landed on the island. I would like to ask the old man to take a look at it." I motioned to Yingying, and she took out the two pieces of silk from her arms.
The first thing she took out was the piece of yellow silk with a large vermilion seal on it. I unfolded the silk and showed it in front of him. Because it had been soaked in water for a long time, the red marks on the silk had been contaminated, but the rough words could still be read.
When the old man saw it, he was shocked, "This is the jade seal of the First Emperor!" After saying that, he looked at the words on it. The cold water washed away the dust on the silk, and the ink was very clear. After reading it, the old man shed tears before he said anything.
Come, "This is the imperial edict my brother has entrusted to me!" After saying that, he choked up and read out the meaning of the words intermittently:
"In the twenty-eighth year of the Wei Dynasty, the emperor made the beginning of peace and order, the chronology of all things, the sage, wisdom and benevolence, and showed the truth to the east to protect the east, so as to save the soldiers. The major task was completed, and he came to the sea... He wrote the code to belong to the country, and the Cui family was awarded silver.
Yin Qingdai, led the guard captain Bai Jing, and two hundred people, went south to the sea, met the immortals and visited the immortals, encountered the bandits and the bandits... He led the guests from the soil, and saw the control as ordered..."
After reading, Cui Ping burst into tears, "May I ask General Tian, where did you get this?"
Just as he was about to elaborate, suddenly there was a big commotion outside the door! An unknown number of people broke out from the opposite door. Their swords and guns clashed with each other, and their steps were heavy and chaotic. One person shouted loudly: "General Bai has an order, and there are thieves who took advantage of the collapse of the treasure house to break into the house."
Let's rob, we will fight to the death and never retreat!"
"General Bai?" I asked Cui Ping quietly. He also had a puzzled look on his face, as if he was thinking, "The military attache my brother Cui Jia brought to the sea is named Bai Jing."
At this time, the originally noisy group of people had already run forward, but someone had already set up a sentry post outside the door. Then there was a slight sound of footsteps, and someone was heard shouting respectfully: "General Bai!"