Chapter 4
Chapter 7: A Kingdom at Its Sunset
Of course, in this era, Xinjiang was not yet considered Chinese territory, or rather, it was not yet fully under control. Poland, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan were also not known by those names.
They were all small countries with strange and bizarre names. In any case, Lia couldn't remember them; she only knew of the relatively powerful ones.
However, her journey from England all the way to China was much farther than Tang Sanzang's journey from the Great Tang of the East to India to seek scriptures.
But the reality was that the distance from the Netherlands to China was only about 9,000 kilometers. Even if they walked in modern times, at 30 kilometers a day, it wouldn't even take a year.
But that was assuming they didn't go in the wrong direction. They arrived in the Netherlands? Or rather, it should be a province of the Roman Empire now.
Here, Lia heard many reports about the Scourge of God.
The Scourge of God was the leader of the Huns, Attila, who was a truly ruthless character.
Although the Huns were defeated by the Han Dynasty, they migrated to Europe. When they started fighting there, they wiped out many countries and even established the Hunnish Empire in Europe!
Even the once-mighty Roman Empire was crippled by this man. However, he would die in 453 AD, and with his death, the once-prosperous Hunnish Empire would fall apart.
It was now 450 AD, meaning this man had only three years left to live. But what did that have to do with Lia? She didn't plan to develop her power in Europe.
Europe at this time was poor, culturally backward, and filthy. How could it compare to China?
Europe in this era was truly not up to par!
Considering that Attila was not yet dead, Lia chose not to cross through the Hunnish Empire but instead traveled directly through the wilderness and forests that the Huns did not rule.
Lia's choice also made Merlin very curious. He couldn't quite understand what Lia was doing, traveling through such sparsely populated areas. Weren't they here to see the declining Roman Empire? Lia's direction was completely wrong.
"Lia, where do you plan to go?" By now, the three of them had already traversed half of the Hunnish Empire's territory, and Merlin finally couldn't help but ask.
"I'm going to the country of the Great Han. You've heard about it on the way, haven't you? In the East, there is a powerful country called the Great Han, and even the Huns were no match for them." Lia looked back at Merlin and said.
"The Great Han? But according to those Huns, that country is still very far away, isn't it? We haven't even finished half the journey yet."
During their travels, Merlin had indeed heard news of the Han Dynasty from the mouths of some Huns. Even he was quite surprised that there was a country even more powerful than the Roman Empire and the Hunnish Empire.
Of course, this Great Han had long since ceased to exist, but because the distance between them was so great, the Huns at this time were unaware of this. They had long been terrified by the Han Dynasty and didn't dare to head toward it.
"I know, so I plan to go to the strongest country over there to take a look. Since the countries there could defeat the Huns, and the Huns could defeat the Roman Empire, isn't the gap between them enormous?" Lia explained, spreading her hands.
"You have a point," Merlin replied, not knowing how else to respond.
"However, walking like this isn't a long-term solution. Let's go steal two horses from the Huns later. They don't have much else, but they have plenty of horses," Lia said after a moment's thought.
"Whatever you say," Merlin said indifferently.
In any case, he couldn't influence Lia's thoughts now, so he could only watch her actions along the way.
Subsequently, the three of them arrived at a pasture. Taking advantage of the Huns' lack of attention, they secretly stole two horses and quickly slipped away.
With horses, their movement became much faster, allowing them to cover 100 kilometers in a day.
Of course, they could have gone as fast as 150 kilometers a day, but Lia also wanted to see the local customs along the way and prepare for future events, so she was a bit more deliberate during the journey.
Besides, there was the issue of Alice. She was still young and her constitution was weak, so she couldn't handle traveling so much in a single day.
However, Lia and Merlin were both very strong. Even if they traveled through uninhabited areas or encountered natural perils, it wouldn't stump them.
The journey could be described as perfectly safe.
Traveling and stopping like this, half a year later, Lia finally arrived on Chinese soil, at "Wuan Commandery, Liang Province."
Along the way, they had passed through dozens of countries, including the Huns, Dayuan, and the Western Regions. Only Lia knew the hardships they had faced.
Fortunately, by relying on the Silk Road trade route, their direction hadn't gone too far off track; otherwise, Lia really couldn't say if she might have ended up in Russia.
It was now 451 AD. As Lia looked at the town in the distance that truly belonged to the Han people, her heart was filled with excitement. Finally, she was going to begin her journey here to reclaim the Han lands!
"steamed buns for sale! Delicious steamed buns!" Walking into the city, she heard the sound of shouting from afar.
"Is this that great Eastern nation? It's completely different from our place, both in architectural style and culture." As the three of them arrived in a commandery, Merlin watched the roadside vendors and nodded in appraisal.
Although China was in chaos at this time, it still couldn't hide the ancient aura that permeated the air.
In fact, Dunhuang at this time also belonged to the territory of Northern Wei, but it was too desolate. Additionally, the clothing and decorations there were too influenced by the Western Regions, showing a significant difference from the Han people here.
Western Liang, on the other hand, was much better.
Though the clothing of the three of them looked very strange here as well.
We all know that Lily's outfit is actually a bit suggestive, with the back being entirely bare, snowy-white skin, and no decorations on the shoulders.
In Europe, such an outfit could only be considered acceptable, but in the relatively conservative Chinese regions, it was a bit problematic.
Fortunately, Western Liang was still some distance from the heart of the Chinese regions, and the local customs were rugged, so Lia's outfit wasn't considered too shocking... probably. Of course, Lia also noticed this. On their way here, they had encountered several groups of thugs with ill intentions toward her.
To avoid attracting too much attention from passersby, Lia had to change into a simple set of clothes, making her look like a female knight-errant on a journey.
Alice was also looking around curiously, especially at the delicate small items—bells, small drums, and the like—all of which deeply attracted her curiosity.
Chapter 8: Arriving in Huaxia
Seeing this, Lia smiled slightly and led Alice to a stall. "Alice, what do you like?"
Looking at the beautiful goods in front of the stall, Alice was momentarily unsure of what to choose. After looking for a bit, she finally pointed to a cloth doll.
Lia picked up the cloth doll, asked for the price, and paid.
Alice was very happy holding the cloth doll she had bought. Seeing her happy expression, Lia also smiled slightly.
And Merlin, who knew what method he had used, was actually able to communicate in the language of Huaxia without any obstacles.
Subsequently, Lia went to a stall selling bread. She hadn't eaten stuffed buns in a long time and wanted to reminisce now.
Seeing the three of them, the owner said with a smile, "Miss, would you like to buy a few steamed buns?"
"Do you have meat buns? I'd like to buy a few meat buns," Lia asked.
"Meat buns? What's that?" the owner asked in confusion.
"You don't know what meat buns are?" Lia asked in return.
"Miss, please forgive my ignorance, but I don't know what you mean by meat buns," the owner said, shaking his head.
Lia thought for a moment; perhaps the ancient name was different and they weren't called meat buns. So she explained, "It's like the steamed buns you mentioned, but with pork inside. That's a meat bun."
"I don't have those here. I only have steamed buns made of coarse grains," the owner said, shaking his head.
Meat was very expensive. If it were used to make steamed buns, ordinary people wouldn't be able to afford the price increase.
"Then give me four steamed buns," Lia said somewhat helplessly.
"Coming right up! Two steamed buns for one wen," the owner said with a beaming smile.
After paying, Lia gave one to Alice and one to Merlin. Then she took a bite of the steamed bun and found it had no flavor at all, not even a bit of sugar. This steamed bun was entirely for filling the stomach and wasn't tasty at all.
Even so, Lia didn't discard it in disgust but ate it silently. Whether it was tasty was secondary; the taste of home was what mattered most.
Alice also frowned. During this time, even her appetite had been pampered by Lia. Such tasteless steamed buns were indeed difficult to swallow.
However, Alice glanced at Lia, who was silently munching on the steamed bun, and Merlin, who hadn't said a word, so she also began to munch silently.
The three of them continued to wander through Wuan Commandery. There weren't many pedestrians on the street. They walked slowly, looking around as they went.
At that moment, Lia saw a shop ahead surrounded by many people.
The three of them pushed past the others and saw a middle-aged man kneeling on the ground, pleading with several large men: "I beg of you, sirs, give me a few more days. I will definitely be able to scrape together enough silver."
"To hell with that! Is the Black Tiger Gang's money something you can just buy on credit?" Facing the middle-aged man's plea, a large man stepped forward and kicked him to the ground.
He cursed, "You dog! Who are you trying to fool, saying you can't even produce this little bit of silver? You Han people are just worthless; you need a good beating. Since you can't produce the money, you can stop doing business!"
"Han people?" Hearing this, Lia looked at the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground and the arrogant large man.
Lia naturally had some understanding of the situation in Northern Wei at this time.
At this moment, Huaxia had long since fallen apart following the Three Kingdoms' unification under Jin, the War of the Eight Princes, and the Uprising of the Five Barbarians during the Sixteen Kingdoms period.
After hundreds of years, the north had been unified by Former Qin, and later the entire north was unified by the Northern Wei of the Tuoba Xianbei.
In Northern Wei, the status of the Han people could be said to be low. Because of such policies, it even triggered the largest uprising in Northern Wei, the "Gai Wu Rebellion."
Although it was suppressed within a year, its influence was far-reaching. The Northern Wei regime also became less stable, with small regional uprisings occurring from time to time.
Despite this, the north was not without its benefits. Over the years, the five barbarians abandoned their barbarian ways and assimilated into the Han, resulting in a great ethnic fusion.
The south, meanwhile, was ruled by the Han regime of the Liu Song Dynasty. Lia didn't want to deal with the Liu Song Dynasty for the time being; she had already decided to find an opportunity to subdue the north first.
"Sirs, I am not lying to you. I really have no money. Just give me three more days, and I will definitely have the money ready. Lord Liu, what do you say?" The middle-aged man scrambled up from the ground, still kneeling, and pleaded tearfully.
"Three days? Not even one day! If there's no money, then beat him! Beat him until he has money!" However, the man called Lord Liu did not soften at the man's plea. He just snorted coldly and waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to step forward.
"Yes!" Several large men behind Lord Liu stepped forward and began to kick and punch the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground.
Although Alice couldn't understand what these people were saying, she saw with her own eyes several people bullying one person, not to mention the state the middle-aged man was in.
The middle-aged man's appearance made Alice think of her own situation when she first met Lia. Her face suddenly turned red with anger, and she couldn't help but step forward and shout, "You people, let him go!"
Lia hadn't expected that Alice would be the first to rush forward before she could even move.
In fact, these men were quite measured in their strikes. They didn't use lethal force on the shopkeeper, because if they actually killed him, they would be the ones losing out.
"Where did this little girl come from, babbling about what?" Seeing Alice pointing at them, Lord Liu frowned.
Just then, a woman ran out of the shop. She shouted to the large men outside, "The money is here! Don't beat him anymore!"
As she spoke, the woman hurriedly and tremblingly handed a small piece of silver into Lord Liu's hand.
"Alright, stop."
Seeing the silver in hand, Lord Liu didn't say anything more. He waved his hand to the large men who were beating the shopkeeper, stopping their actions.
He then said to the woman, "If this happens again, I can't guarantee he'll survive. Let this be a lesson to you, to help you remember!"
"Yes, yes, yes, sir, you are right. We will never delay again," the woman nodded repeatedly.
"Let's go." Lord Liu glanced at Alice, who was looking at him with a huff, but ignored her.
He just motioned to his four subordinates, glanced at the surrounding crowd, and shouted, "What are you looking at? Get lost!"
The onlookers didn't dare to speak and scattered. In the end, only Lia, Merlin, and Alice remained on the spot.
Lord Liu just took a glance at Lia and the others before withdrawing his gaze and silently walking past them, his expression exceptionally cold.
"A bunch of bad people!" Seeing Lord Liu and his men leave, Alice walked to Lia's side and said fiercely toward their retreating backs.
"Alright, we've just arrived and don't understand the situation here. Let's go ask someone else first." Lia didn't go to see the man who had been beaten with superficial injuries but instead went to a tavern across the street.
Chapter 9: An Unjust Society
After ordering a few dishes, Lia beckoned to the shopkeeper and asked, "Shopkeeper, what was going on with those people just now? They're openly collecting protection money. Doesn't your local government do anything about it?"
One should know that farmers pay taxes and grain to the government, so the government has an obligation to protect them. As it turns out, the government has no intention of intervening at all?
"Miss, please don't make it difficult for me. I don't dare to talk about such things recklessly." Hearing Lia's inquiry about the incident just now, the shopkeeper immediately refused.
Seeing this, Lia took out a tael of silver from her bosom and placed it on the table.
By modern standards, one tael of silver is roughly equivalent to 1,000 yuan.
Seeing this, the shopkeeper's heart skipped a beat. He glanced around before whispering to Lia, "Miss, I'll only tell you. You must never say it was me who told you."
"Don't worry, shopkeeper!" Lia nodded.
The shopkeeper immediately took the silver from the table into his hand and then said with a beaming smile to Lia, "Miss, to tell you the truth, those people just now were a branch of a gang called the Black Tiger Gang in our Wuan Commandery."
"A gang branch?"
"Yes, this Black Tiger Gang is a famous gang in the martial world. It's said that their leader is a well-known expert in the martial world, so whatever you do, don't provoke them," the shopkeeper warned.
"Expert... internal arts, true qi?" Lia thought for a moment. Was it the kind she was thinking of?
But on second thought, this was a magical world!
The existence of things like internal arts wasn't strange. Especially in the East, they didn't primarily use magical power but rather things like internal arts. Some could even use immortal arts if they were more exaggerated.
For instance, Zhang Jiao, the Great Teacher of Enlightenment from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with his Essential Arts of Great Peace, could call the wind and rain, use Yellow Turban Puppet Soldiers, and so on; those were types of immortal arts.
However, their power wasn't as strong as depicted in myths; they were more like a counterpart to various Western magecrafts.