"What? A bandit in the sky?" and Spring hardly understood, he knew that his good friend's brother was not a person of integrity, and liked to play jokes, so he asked Jiang Zhongyuan beside him, "Shimiao, Yuanbao said what?"
"That's the one, that... " Looking around, Jiang Zhongyuan noticed that there were no outsiders, so he lowered his voice and said to He Chun, "Yu Ting, do you know about the Heavenly Father Emperor God?"
"Yes!" He Chun nodded, "That's just the kind of nonsense that bandit leaders make up to deceive the ignorant people and incite them to rebel!"
Jiang Zhongyuan's brows furrowed deeply, "Yu Ting, then... that Heavenly Father Emperor God may not have been made up!"
"It's not made up? Could it be...?"
"Really! " Yuanbao looked scared, "Master He, my subordinate and Mr. Jiang Zhongyuan and many of our brothers have all seen it with our own eyes!"
"Did you really see... the Father, no, it was the bandits in the sky of the Emperor God?" When He Chun asked, his eyeballs were about to burst out. He has been fighting with long-haired bandits for so long that he never thought there would be a real heavenly father Emperor God among them!
"No, it's not that we saw the bandit emperor in the sky," Yuanbao explained, "but that we saw the demons sent down to earth by the bandit emperor in the sky!"
"Demons...?" He Chun still thought Yuanbao was unreliable, so he looked at Jiang Zhongyuan again, "Minqiao..."
Jiang Zhongyuan nodded and said, "Yes, it's true. Riding on the purple thunder, driving the flying cars, descending from the sky..."
"Hold on, purple thunder?" He Chun was greatly surprised, "Is it a purple thunderball?"
"Actually, He Chun also saw that purple thunderball that brought Luo Yaoguo over, but he was far away from the battlefield and didn't see that there was a person inside the ball."
"Yes, yes! That demon was from inside that purple thunderball!"
"Master He, you've seen it too, it was terrifying at the time..."
Jiang Zhongyuan and Yuanbao nodded in unison, and then they went on to describe the process of Luo Yaoguo's arrival from the sky, the demon's one-man bicycle smashing the Qing army's gun position, causing the Qing army to lose heart, and the collective outbreak of the Taiping army in a more vivid way for He Chun.
He Chun's forehead was drenched with sweat as he listened. When he heard that Yuanbao was hit by the "demon" while driving, resulting in a "person and demon injured," his eyes filled with admiration, and he raised his thumb to Yuanbao and said, "Yuanbao, so you drove that demon off the vehicle? You're a hero! By the way, did you catch that demon?"
"No," Yuanbao looked scared, "Just as I pushed him off the flying car, a fierce-looking female general of the bandits led a group of women soldiers and child soldiers to attack... If it weren't for me lying dead just in time, and them urgently carrying the demon along with the vehicle away, I... I would have become a loyal hero of the Qing Dynasty by now!"
"Too bad..." After listening to Yuanbao's words, He Chun first breathed a sigh of relief - the demon seemed not to be very powerful. Then he muttered to himself.
"Master He, what did you mean by too bad?" Yuanbao misunderstood He Chun's words and stared at him with wide eyes.
He Chun realized that he was misunderstood and quickly explained, "It's a pity we didn't catch the demon... Without any evidence, it's not good to report your merit!"
"Evidence? There is! " Yuanbao said, lifting the pocket that held the mooncake box, "Here it is!"
"What is this..." He Chun examined the pocket carefully.
This pocket looks distinctly not of this world!
He Chun can't tell what material it's made of, but it definitely costs a lot!
There's also a drawing of Chang'e running to the moon on the pocket, whether it's well-done or not, it's hard to say, but just by looking at what kind of pigment was used to draw it, He Chun couldn't tell.
Master He Chun comes from a prestigious household of the Zheng Huang Banner, with the old surname Heshili, a descendant of Xi Fu, the brother of Songni, a minister in charge of government under Emperor Kangxi. Their family has been prosperous for over two hundred years, and they have seen countless fine things. Yet none of them can compare to the pocket that holds the mooncake gift box...
"There are more!" Yuanbao said, already holding out a mooncake gift box from an Liangxiang Building, "Master He, take a look at this one."
"Oh, this box..." He Chun took the mooncake gift box and examined it carefully, "Liangxiang Building, renowned for mooncakes, an old Chinese trademark. Founded in..." What characters are these?”
He Chun saw four Arabic numerals... He didn't recognize them, so he waved at his Shaoxing clerk, "Master Zhou, come over and take a look at these four characters?"
A fifty-odd-year-old gentleman in a long robe, wearing a melon seed hat, looking somewhat thin, with a white hair tail attached to the back of his head, and wearing glasses on his nose heard what He Chun said and shook the folding fan in his hand. He looked at the four Arabic numerals that He Chun pointed to and smiled immediately: "Reporting to the elders, these four are foreign numbers, which means one thousand eight hundred eighty-nine in our language."
"Founded in one thousand eight hundred eighty-nine..." He Chun asked, "Is this the Western date system?"
Master Zhou nodded: "Elder Master, you are wise. Indeed, this is the Western method of dating... According to what I have learned, the Westerners count from the year of Jesus' birth as the first year. This year is already one thousand eight hundred fifty-two years. The year one thousand eight hundred eighty-nine is... thirty-seven years later!"
"Thirty-seven years later?" He Chun was taken aback, "Are these mooncakes made thirty-seven years later? I have to open my eyes..."
He Chun was about to pry it open when he realized that the iron box was sealed with clear tape. Without tearing off the tape, there was no way to open it.
"Master He," Yuanbao reminded from the side, "This box can't be opened... It must need some kind of incantation to open it."
"Do you have to say a spell?" He Chun said, "Then this box that holds the mooncakes is a magical artifact!"
"I congratulate the elder master!" Master Zhou heard what He Chun said and had already flapped the paper fan to congratulate He Chun.
"Congratulations?" He Chun was taken aback, "Master Zhou, what joy have I gained now?"
"Of course it's a great achievement for the elders, Mr. Jiang, Mr. Yuan, and all of you to defeat the bandits at Shuidang Bay and capture a magical artifact... " Master Zhou laughed and raised his thumb in admiration, "This is a great achievement!"
"It makes sense!" He Chun burst into laughter, "The battle at Shuidang Bay under the raincoat bridge was indeed a major victory. I must report this triumph to the emperor and Minister Sai Chang'a!"
"Master He," Yuanbao still felt a bit guilty, and he whispered a reminder, "Master He, the battle at the Raincoat Bridge... it seems like we didn't win, after all!"
He Chun looked at Yuanbao with a stern expression, "How is it not won? Are the bandits now stopped at the Raincoat Bridge by us?"
"Oh, yes, they were indeed stopped."
"How many victories did we gain at the battle of the Raincoat Bridge?" He Chun asked again.
"More than five hundred enemies were killed!" Jiang Zhongyuan quickly extended a palm, "Yu Ting, this is the actual number!"
He Chun nodded: "Five hundred times ten... Reporting five thousand isn't too much, right?"
"Absolutely not too much!" Jiang Zhongyuan replied.
Although he is a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, he has not lacked deception of the emperor these days. How can he have been promoted so quickly? It's only been a few days, but he has already gone from prefectural magistrate to prefectural governor! Can you deceive the emperor and achieve this promotion?
How can one progress without deceiving the emperor? If one were to report the truth, Minister Sai, Governor Zhou, Commander Xiang, and Master He, as well as the overall commander, would all have to be executed and sent into military service!
So he, Jiang Zhongyuan, has been involved in many things like hiding losses and exaggerating victories!
"Was the demon really defeated by Yuanbao?" He Chun asked next.
"That's right!" Jiang Zhongyuan pointed at the box of mooncakes, "The magical artifact was captured, so of course it's a victory!"
He Chun nodded and said, "That's enough. Master Zhou, you come and write the memorials and reports to the emperor and Minister Sai to report the victory!"
"I'll draft the draft immediately!" Master Zhou accepted He Chun's command with a smile and said, "Elder Master, I am also somewhat proficient in the white line painting technique. Why not let student draw two pictures of demons according to Mr. Yuan's description to send to the emperor and Minister Sai?"
"Good!" He Chun nodded, "Yuanbao, quickly tell Master Zhou what the demon looked like that fell from the sky!"
"Yes!"
Yuanbao quickly replied, "Yes!" He listened to He Chun and Jiang Zhongyuan's back-and-forth exchange about winning the demon, realizing that he should properly report his victory and get the title of Baturu at all costs. The last Baturu in their Guarjia tribe was Aoniubai!
Master Zhou was quite efficient, quickly spreading out the Xuan paper and preparing the ink, picking up a thin, long brush to prepare for his artistic creation: "Mr. Yuan, please tell me what the demon looked like?"
Yuanbao gave some thought and told Master Zhou, "That demon was quite tall, wearing a yellow robe, with a yellow hat that looked like it had rabbit ears attached to it, and had thick eyebrows and big eyes. He didn't have a beard, and he rode a two-wheeled flying vehicle. The two wheels were in front and back, and there was a seat in the middle..."
"Good! Mr. Yuan, look at this. Is it as you described?" Master Zhou painted with swift strokes, finishing the picture in no time.
Yuanbao leaned in to take a look and couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh my, why did you draw him as the Nether King riding a bicycle?"
