#406 - New town breaks ground
September 10th.
One thousand miles south of Shuzhou City.
Bordered by the Shiwan Mountains to the west, Shuzhou City to the north, Ning'an County to the east, and the Dali territory a few thousand miles to the south.
Although such a geographical location cannot be considered naturally blessed, it is still decent with mountains and rivers nearby.
Ever since the news of Ning Yukee's plan to build a new city spread, countless people had been speculating about where this new city would be located.
Second, as a political symbol.
Regardless of the motivation, the scale of the new city would not be too large, and it would mostly be far away from the main city in the area.
However, Ning Yukee went against the grain. The scale and area of the new city were not small at all, and it was only a thousand miles away from Shuzhou City.
In this way, the two cities would undoubtedly compete for the same population and resources, which seemed like an extremely failed decision.
Of course, these are all evaluations based on common sense.
If everyone knew that this new city was for the demon race to live in... then the expressions on their faces would probably be different.
“…”
“Worship the Land and Mountain Gods!”
“Auspicious groundbreaking! Peace and good fortune!”
“Scatter beans!”
“Raise the stone!”
“Ring the bell!”
“…”
At the hour of Si (9-11 AM), the ceremonial officer in a green robe stood on a temporary high platform and began to preside over the groundbreaking ceremony, with a vast number of craftsmen and laborers standing below.
After all, it was a large-scale project, so this ceremony was also held in a grand manner.
The Department of Astronomy had specially calculated an auspicious time, and people had also gone to the surrounding hills to worship the various mountain gods and land deities in advance.
Even Ning Yukee herself, under heavy guard, came to the scene to personally inscribe the name of the new city.
Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, dark without drawing, and her lips were like painted rouge, red without dabbing.
Under the gaze of the crowd, she stood on the dragon platform in luxurious attire, the golden skirt swaying in the wind, and dragon-tasseled golden hairpins hanging from her temples. The colorful embroidery was full of unparalleled dignity and beauty.
Is Ning Yukee beautiful?
Undoubtedly beautiful.
Is a female emperor novel?
Of course, it's novel.
Most of the tens of thousands of craftsmen on the scene were rough men. They had neither seen such a beautiful woman nor had they ever seen an emperor in person. Logically speaking, their eyes should have been staring straight at her.
However, when a “beautiful woman” and an “emperor” were combined, few people would have any lewd thoughts.
Many even felt that looking at Ning Yukee more than once was an offense to her, so they would often only glance at her and then quickly lower their heads, only to praise her heavenly beauty in their hearts.
Conquering a crowd of subjects with beauty and temperament alone, Ning Yukee can be said to have benefited a bit from her “looks”.
However, for the court spies mixed in the crowd, they were more concerned about another woman standing on the high platform.
A white veil covered her face, her figure was curvy, she wore a blue long sword at her waist, and there was not a trace of joy or sorrow between her eyebrows.
If Ning Yukee had shown the beauty of “雍容华贵 (yōng róng huá guì, grand and gorgeous)” to the extreme, then this simply dressed woman vaguely transcended this mundane beauty. Just standing there, she seemed like an immortal, standing alone.
There is currently only one woman in the world who can have this kind of temperament.
It was Qing Xian, who had officially “taken office” and become Ning Yukee's personal guard.
“…”
Faintly feeling a few gazes, Qing Xian looked in a few directions without showing any emotion, and noted a few faces in her mind.
These spies probably never expected that they would be exposed so easily, and they were still racking their brains to guess Qing Xian's identity.
And Qing Xian certainly wouldn't kill the spies in public, so after taking a few glances, she shifted her gaze to a farther place.
The dense forest stretches for hundreds of miles, the terrain is flat, and several small rivers flow through it in a crisscrossing pattern.
If Wei Changqing can keep his promise, if Shuzhou can defeat the 300,000 rebellious army and gain a firm foothold.
Then, half a year later, a new city will stand here, a new city where humans and demons coexist peacefully.
And this new city will open the door to a new world for the demon race, which has been suppressed by humans for thousands of years.
“Your Majesty, the ceremony is complete.”
Suddenly, a voice interrupted Qing Xian's thoughts.
The long bell gradually stopped, and the ceremonial officer bowed his head and walked to Ning Yukee, respectfully holding a purple writing brush with an ivory handle to the latter.
“Please, Your Majesty, name the new city.”
“…”
Taking the purple writing brush in one hand and slightly lifting her long sleeves with the other.
Ning Yukee looked at the tens of thousands of people looking forward to it not far away, and the blank golden silk Xuan paper was also laid out flat in front of her.
Immediately, the tip of the pen fell, and a few strokes outlined two upright and ancient characters.
From this moment on, this highly anticipated new city, which is destined to leave a strong mark in history, finally has its name.
“…”
The sun shone down, and Qing Xian narrowed her eyes slightly.
Of course, she saw those two characters.
And as the most direct “stakeholder,” she hesitated for a moment and then asked in a low voice, “Little girl, what is the deep meaning of these two characters?”
“Senior Qing Xian, I didn't come up with this name, Young Master Wei did.”
Gently shaking her head, Ning Yukee turned her head and replied, “I was also puzzled at the time, and Young Master Wei only answered with four words.”
“What four words?”
“…”
Moving a little closer, Ning Yukee whispered the answer.
This answer made Qing Xian's pupils shrink suddenly, and her breathing gradually became rapid.
Then, a flash of cyan light passed by.
“Clang!”
In the crisp sound, the long sword was suddenly unsheathed, the sword body reflected the sunlight and scattered countless golden spots, and then, in everyone's astonished eyes, it turned into several sharp sword energies and went straight to a huge bluestone in the distance.
The bluestone was as tall as five people, and it was originally planned to be used to engrave the name of the new city.
But from the current situation, the stonemasons standing aside may not be of any use.
“Whoosh!!”
“Slash!!!”
The sword energy stirred up a strong wind, swept across the bluestone, and the crushed stone turned into powder and rose with the wind. After the wind passed, only sword marks that penetrated several inches into the stone were left.
Each sword mark was nearly ten feet long, and they intertwined with each other, forming two large characters from top to bottom that were almost exactly the same as the ones Ning Yukee wrote on the paper.
“…”
“Hey bro, what are those two words?”
“How would I know? I can't read.”
“Big brother, do you know them?”
“Well... I only know that the first character is ‘Da (大, big/great)’, I don't recognize the second one.”
“Da? Da what?”
“…”
Although the two characters carved on the bluestone by Qing Xian with sword energy as a knife were grand enough and shocking enough.
But how could the craftsmen gathered here not know how to read, so it was inevitable that they would whisper to each other, eagerly wanting to know what the new city was called.
The noisy discussion suddenly became one, and then stopped abruptly in the ceremonial officer's high-pitched chanting.
“When the Great Way prevails, the world is for all. The virtuous and the capable are selected, and sincerity is cultivated. Therefore, people do not only love their own parents...”
“Men have their roles, and women have their homes. Goods are hated to be discarded on the ground, but they do not necessarily have to be stored for oneself. Efforts are hated not to come from oneself, but they do not necessarily have to be for oneself...”
“This is called the Great Harmony!”
“Therefore, His Majesty named this city...”
“Datong (大同, Great Harmony)!”
