荒墟牧神 - 第110章 煙花柳巷 - 簡牘書房

Less than an hour later, the giant bird with black feathers and a crimson crest came racing to the capital. Shen Mu looked ahead, and his heart gave a small jolt; he had already seen Jiangling City and been deeply shaken by it, yet the capital before him shook him even more. Jiangling City was built upon the Jin River, its walls thirty zhang above the water, a magnificent sight.

This capital, by contrast, stood upon mountain ranges like giant dragons; and not one range, but nine.

Nine ranges crouching like dragons upon the plain, converging at the very site of the capital: nine dragons joining their courses, their heads meeting, and where those heads met stood the capital.

Such majestic momentum surpassed by far that of Jiangling City built upon the Jin River. No wonder Emperor Yanfeng paid no mind to the talk that the so-called New City of Jiangling had cut the dragon vein and built itself upon a dragon's head; the capital was already the sovereign of nine dragons, so why should it concern itself with the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping pressing down upon the single dragon of New Jiangling?

Nine dragons encircled the capital, and thirty li from the capital stood four military camps, each camp as vast as a city; twenty li from the camps lay eight market towns, and though they were called towns, they were the equal of cities. These eight towns were built beside a great river, the second greatest in Jingping, the Tu River, whose land and water routes made travel and transport exceedingly easy. The greatest river was the Yong, which rises in the Wasteland. Though only the second river, the Tu was known as the dragon vein of Jingping, the orthodox dragon vein; and as for the claim that the Jin River was a dragon vein, in truth many at court and in the countryside did not accept it.

Shen Mu gazed into the distance: the capital where the nine dragons converged had an extraordinary atmosphere, worthy indeed of the place from which the Son of Heaven ruled all under heaven. "The capital actually hides its soldiers in the mountains! " Looking out over the nine-dragon range, faintly discerning the qi of arms, he said in astonishment.

The several soldiers on the bird's back were just as astonished, and all looked toward him; one of them said, "Little brother, have you kin in the army? To know that troops are hidden in the mountains.

" Shen Mu did not answer. That he could make out the thousands upon thousands of soldiers hidden within the nine-dragon range was owing to his Heaven-Soaring Eye; among the Ninefold Heaven Gazing Art that the blind old man had taught him was the art of reading qi.

To read qi is to observe the fortunes of a place.

In a place like the capital, where troops were gathered on such a scale, the martial qi employed to suppress the fortune of the empire could not possibly escape his eyes. The mounted archers escorted them as far as the capital gate, then took their leave.

Shen Mu and Wei Yong showed their travel permits at the gate and entered the capital; beneath the Son of Heaven's feet, it was naturally prosperous to the utmost. Though Shen Mu had been to Jiangling City, and its prosperity had already opened his eyes wide, the capital was another scene entirely.

Here there was prosperity, yet not the haggling of merchants over every penny; here there was not only accumulated wealth, but something more: a deep cultural foundation. The houses and towers here had true flavor; the stone lions beside the streets were carved with great care; the couplets on the gates of great households were full of ingenious charm; and the door gods pasted upon every household's gate stirred a strange feeling, as though these door gods might truly come to life and block demons and monsters. From the small one knows the great; a single leaf tells the season, a drop of water tells the ocean.

Shen Mu observed all around him and understood well how fearsome this empire was.