Volume 1 Chapter 1: The Wind and Snow of Bianjing

  In the year 1124, the Northern Song Dynasty was already in a state of turmoil. Under the sky of the nine provinces, Western Xia, Jin, Liao and Mongolia coexisted. Among them, the Northern Song was frequently harassed and plundered by its surrounding neighboring countries, causing the Northern Song Dynasty, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, to be on the verge of collapse.

  It has been four years since the Northern Song Dynasty and the Jin State formed a maritime alliance in 1120. Four years ago, the Song Dynasty's army of 200,000 was defeated while attacking the Liao Kingdom's capital, Yanjing, and humiliatingly bought back the ownership of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun from the Jin State with an annual tribute. The story unfolds against this historical backdrop.

  Snowflakes flutter, frosty cold drizzle, Bianjing's winter has a bone-chilling and damp chill. In the coldest season, the imperial city is still solemn and majestic, carrying the grand dragon energy of China for thousands of years, still magnificent. Even now that it is plagued by internal and external troubles, it cannot shake off Bianjing's overbearing spirit.

  As Zhao Chengze slowly opened his eyes, the severe pain in his head made him involuntarily groan.

  Although his head was hurting, Zhao Chengze remembered clearly that he was exploring a mysterious ancient site. He was called Zhao Chengze, and looked quite ordinary, according to his girlfriend, only his eyes were "worth looking at", deep and distant.

  Zhao Chengze is a special archaeologist. From the age of 20, his ten-year archaeological career has accumulated a wealth of historical knowledge and survival experience. Recently, he received a small message that someone had discovered a mysterious palace in the tropical jungle of Xishuangbanna.

  But such small rumors, other colleagues are disdainful, think the value is not great, and it's dangerous, many people are not willing to risk their lives, so most of the in-depth archaeological activities were Zhao Chengze's solo actions, countless times hanging by a thread, but also tempered his body and mind.

  Although luck was not bad, the means of preserving one's life still need to be learned. Once, Zhao Chengze was chased by a lion and almost died, finally falling off a cliff, barely preserving his life, but also breaking three ribs and suffering multiple muscle strains all over his body, taking three months to recover.

  This bloody lesson made Zhao Chengze determined to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to participate in the "菜鸟" mercenary training, which was truly a painful experience. He had lost three layers of skin and his ribs were broken, but under the world's most advanced medical equipment, as long as he didn't die, all other injuries were nothing.

  After graduating from the "Hunter" school, his agile hands and rich experience were of great help to the archaeological work in dangerous places. Zhao Chengze set out this time in a hurry (because he had already engaged with his girlfriend, but this archaeological work was really not to be missed).

  Because the news source revealed that this palace belongs to the Song Dynasty palace site, Zhao Chengze has a sympathy for that era of multiple disasters and difficulties, with a regret, but more is a sigh.

  In the heart of the jungle, Zhao Chengze bid farewell to his guide, who had brought him this far but refused to go any further. With no other choice, Zhao handed over the 20,000 cash he had prepared, and the guide hastily departed, seemingly with a heavy heart.

  Checked the equipment, two special sniper miniature five-shot crossbows. These two crossbows were exchanged from a black instructor at a great price, and the crossbow body was professionally designed with nanotechnology, which is the favorite of European aristocrats when hunting.

  Effective killing range of up to one hundred and fifty meters, five consecutive shots still hit the target with an accuracy rate of ninety-two percent, far surpassing firearms. It is extremely rare to see on the market because it has exceeded almost all modern crossbows. More importantly, the crossbow body is small and light, can be hung on the body, easy to hide, is an essential tool for wilderness survival.

  Thirty arrows coated with the poison of the arrow poison frog (a poisonous frog from South America that can kill with a scratch), guaranteed to be fatal if they come into contact with even a minor wound, have killed many large animals.

  Thirty strong anesthetic needles, can also be installed on the crossbow for use, and five hand grenades, two solar-powered thermal imaging displays, which can detect heat sources at a relatively long distance, although greatly weakened in the jungle, are still life-saving tools.

  Two miniature solar-powered air analyzers, two maps, two compasses, two night vision devices, and some compressed biscuits and other living supplies. This time, he brought two specially-made nano-tech alloy vests from a friend, which were very light and had a great protective effect against knife and beast attacks. It was the army's cutting-edge technology trial project, preparing to promote it in large quantities for special forces. Seeing Zhao Chengze's dangerous work nature, they broke the rules and gave him two pieces. Due to years of archaeological work, he always prepared duplicate items, this habit saved Zhao Chengze many times.

  Put on the alloy vest, put the equipment into the marching backpack, touched the box at his chest, and a smile appeared on his face. Inside the box was an engagement ring and a necklace, which were gifts for her when he returned to get married. After five years of love, there was finally a result. From now on, he would no longer go out for adventure, because family needed company.

  Unfortunately, I left in a hurry this time and hastily grabbed the items without even having time to return home before embarking on my journey to find historical relics.

  Cutting through the vegetation with a machete, dodging three poisonous snakes along the way, using a tranquilizer gun to take down an elephant that had gone mad from eating too many mangoes, and avoiding countless poisonous insects, they finally arrived at the GPS-designated location of the ruins.

  Still in sight are the lush woods, a centuries-old tree that was struck by lightning and fell awkwardly to one side, crushing dozens of small trees.

  Next to the collapsed big tree are some dark stone-like objects. On the ground, there are a few pieces of broken pottery scattered around, apparently someone has been inside before.

  Put away the machete, take out the thermal imaging instrument to scan around and the cave, after confirming that there is no danger around, picked up the ceramic fragments by hand, relying on experience, it was indeed the palace ceramics of the Southern Song Dynasty. On the way here, I had also analyzed how Xishuangbanna could have relics of the Southern Song Dynasty, which was very suspicious according to plate distribution.

  They quickly moved away the large tree that was broken by lightning, if not for his strong physique this work would be really hard to persist, several hours later, a ring-shaped stone cave appeared in front of them, looking around, the depth of the cave could not be seen at all, dark and mysterious.

  Although I knew someone had already entered, I still took out the prepared air analyzer, waved my hand to take a random sample, and displayed the test results 10 seconds later. Humidity: 87%, nitrogen 78%, oxygen 21%, and trace amounts of neon, xenon, and radon, which accounted for about 0.94%. It seemed there was no danger.

  Zhao Chengze put on his night vision goggles and quickly entered the cave. The path inside was not difficult to walk, made of ordinary granite, but strangely, there were no signs of damage over the past thousand years. The cave was not wide, about three meters square in all directions. After walking for about thirty minutes, a beautifully carved stone door with a dragon-shaped pattern appeared before his eyes, and the corrosion of the past thousand years had left its mark. Although the patterns on the door were exquisite, years of archaeological work could not arouse much interest in Zhao Chengze.

  He pushed open the stone gate, and a dazzling light came face to face. He quickly took off his night vision goggles, and it took a few seconds for his eyesight to recover. A spacious hall appeared before him, with nine golden dragon pillars distributed in the nine directions of the hall, shining brightly. The top of the hall emitted a warm jade-like light, and the hall was empty, with only one ancestral tablet at the front row, and a grass-made cushion on the ground.

  The porcelain on the table had long since disappeared. Zhao Chengze walked closer to the spirit tablet and found that it was actually made of wood, no wonder the thief didn't have a heart for it, the words on it were already unclear, but being able to find this wooden spirit tablet was also a major discovery, took off the sniper crossbow from his body and put it in his backpack, knelt on the cushion in front of the platform and kowtowed three times, which was also a farewell and respect for his predecessor.

  At this point, Zhao Chengze's knees on the cushion collapsed along with the ground, a pretty head hit the ground, and he knew nothing.

  It was unclear how long Zhao Chengze had been unconscious, but the suddenness of events must have been what made him feel so miserable. As he slowly came to, he found that the wooden spirit tablet was still lying quietly in his arms. He silently cursed his bad luck as he got up and looked around at his surroundings. This was a small room carved out of stone, only about 30 square meters in size. On the wall hung a painting, and when Zhao Chengze saw the girl depicted in it, he felt a shock to his very core.

  Elegant and refined, serene and beautiful, with a perfect figure, wearing a nine-heavenly colorful robe, like the Nine-Heavenly Xuan Nü, not eating human smoke and fire, especially those eyes, moving people's hearts, deep and sentimental, but strangely, there is also a cold aura matching the royal king's demeanor.

  Although it's enchanting, for someone who is about to get married, the future wife is the most beautiful, and the infatuation gradually turns into appreciation.

  At this time, in the lower right corner of the painting, there was a line of small characters. Zhao Chengze carefully looked at it and read it out loud. 'The stars and moon are warm jade, the fish sink into the depths. The willow god's clothes, the thousand-year-old wind whispers.' The seal was from the Jianyan year. When Zhao Chengze read the short poem, he didn't know that the wooden spirit tablet emitted a majestic purple gas. When he looked up again and saw the perfect woman, he was shocked to find that she was examining him. Zhao Chengze suddenly felt a tearing pain, as if his soul had flown out of his body. Was this what death felt like? This was Zhao Chengze's last question.

  The cave completely collapsed, and the boulder buried the memories of thousands of years forever. - According to reports, a magnitude 10 earthquake occurred in Xishuangbanna, but due to its location deep in the jungle, no casualties were caused. Experts said this was a natural phenomenon caused by crustal movement. Relevant leaders have rushed to the scene to direct the on-site work, and we will continue to pay attention to further developments. On the other hand, Zhao Chengze, apart from having lingering heartache due to the intense pain, was more frustrated that he had suddenly returned to his childhood appearance. The snowstorm in Bianjing continued, but history has become somewhat different!