Cao Zhe stood on the ridge of the rice field, looking at the small town not far away.
Like many cities he had seen before, this city was still almost completely closed.
From the outside, it looks like an ugly, awkward, and uneven turtle shell, lying crookedly on the ground, gray, dry, and not round at all.
The small town has limited resources and will not waste energy on shaping the appearance.
All the 'irregularities' are the experience and lessons gained with blood when resisting evil surges and evil beasts.
"After walking for so many days, I have visited more than half of the Tang Dynasty, but I haven't seen many cities and almost no villages."
"The fire of humanity is indeed almost extinguished in this world."
"It's no wonder that Jiuding Town's Qi Luck was originally supposed to extract human Qi Luck by itself as a protection, so why did it need to organize a special team to send sacrifices to stimulate it."
"Just because humanity is gradually declining and is on the verge of ruin, Jiuding was established to protect the human race and will not take the initiative to take it by force. This was originally a good intention, but it only added to the suffering..." Cao Zhe had already taken three steps. Went to the small town.
The small town has no gate.
To enter and exit, someone needs to use a hanging basket, which is specially lowered from the top of the city to pull people up to the cave at the top of the city. Then, at the cave, follow the slide and enter the underground hall with strict inspections.
Only after strict identity verification in the underground hall can you truly enter the city.
This pattern is generally universal. It has been fixed and formed three or four hundred years ago. It is widely used in this land. There are only some subtle differences according to different customs and environments in different places. Cao Zhe has seen A lot.
As for the inside of the city... of course it is completely enclosed, and there is no sunlight all day long. There are only some glowing moss that shine on the walls and corners, allowing people to barely see in the city.
People living in small towns will flock out of the city in large numbers only under special circumstances to see the light and wind outside.
Generally speaking... it is probably for farming outside the city, or for adventurous hunting.
Although it is an opportunity to go out of the city to have fun, it is even more dangerous for the people in the city.
Often every year during the farming and harvesting seasons, it is a time of separation and death.
More than one-third of the adults in the city will be randomly selected and go out to work under the protection of the guards.
After a trip out of the city, less than one-half of the people can eventually return to the city, and the probability of the entire army being annihilated is not low.
Such a high rate of damage has resulted in a large number of small towns being completely dilapidated and abandoned almost every few years, and eventually being buried in the soil of time and becoming a thing of the past.
"Although it is still a country in name, in fact, the 'Datang' has been almost completely 'fragmented' many years ago. The region is centered on certain important towns and a large number of small towns are dotted here and there. However, even if they are on the same side Under water and soil, communication between cities is almost non-existent.”
"What the Tang Dynasty can really control is Chang'an, some cities around Chang'an, and the border areas where troops are heavily deployed. But it has no troops, capabilities, or financial resources. What does it have to do with the wider area? care."
"People have even given up on contact and exploration with the outside world, repeating the past life day after day, delaying the destruction of the city and the complete demise of the group."
"Afraid to go out and face new changes."
"This concept is deeply rooted. Even if I spread the new evil spirit martial arts and let the corpse-carrying people take risks and go deep into various places to spread the evil spirit martial arts. But I still can't break this situation. This is something I have grown up in my heart." It's a stubborn disease." Cao Zhe thought to himself.
This kind of situation can only be truly understood by going deep into the people, seeing and hearing it.
If you just stand in the center and issue orders, even if you know that there is such a thing, it will be difficult to pay attention to the solidity of this 'stubborn disease'.
Just like many people have stayed at home for a long time and don’t want to or even dare to go out again.
The situation here will only become many times more serious.
"That's why I have to come!"
"Every city I walked through, and in every city, I left something behind." Cao Zhe looked at the hanging basket hesitantly lowered from the top of the city, and sat in it calmly.
Even if it was easier for him to enter the city, he was willing to do it.
Facing the curious and eager eyes hiding behind the brick wall and trapdoor, he revealed a smile that made everyone feel relieved.
Just like before, enter the city...then accept inquiries calmly, and undergo some inspections that will make people feel at ease.
The mayor of the small town is a thin young man. Judging from his aura, he is still less than twenty-five years old. However, between his brows and eyebrows, he has already shown an old look. Judging from his face, he must be at least forty.
Even the city lord looked somewhat malnourished.
The soldiers around them who were wearing tattered armor were also short and skinny.
The most 'elite' people in the city are still like this, which shows how difficult the life of ordinary people can be.
Although there is farming outside the city, without daily maintenance and care, there is only one harvest, and the harvest depends entirely on God's will. The annual food output is really not optimistic.
"Master Tianshi! Thank you for your cooperation." The mayor of the small town said as if he was not good at words, and his tone seemed a bit dry.
He seems to have no idea what the specific meaning of 'Heavenly Master' is.
I just know that the corpse-carrying man who came to teach the evil spirit martial arts last time described Cao Zhe like this and left a portrait.
The traces of civilization in this small town... like many similar small towns, have a lot of fractures.
"No need to say more, I am here today to teach the Dharma."
"Does your city have a name?" Cao Zhe asked.
City Lord Qi Qi Ai Ai carefully moved his lips and said: "Yes! Yes...I heard the old people say before that our city is called 'Dou', called Ditch City."
"Okay! Go and build a wall in the city, and I will write a martial arts article on the wall."
"This martial art is unique to you, Goucheng, so we call it...Gouchen. If others want to learn more comprehensively, they have to come to your city and see this wall with their own eyes."
This is Cao Zhe's method.
The evil spirit martial arts has liberated the high wall that human beings cannot resist the evil spirit, but the barriers that naturally grow in the human heart are not so easy to break.
After hundreds of years of closed life, few people dare to take the initiative to leave the city to explore, communicate, and understand the vastness of the world.
Therefore, Cao Zhe would leave a unique martial arts article in every city he visited.
If you want to see the full picture of these martial arts, you have to come in person and stand on the martial arts wall to admire them.
In this way, a group of motivated warriors can be inspired to embark on a brave and adventurous journey.
And with the traction of these people, greater circulation will also break the thick 'turtle shell'.
It can be said that Cao Zhe just asked the human race to "stand up" in this malicious world.
Now we need to make people take the initiative to 'go out'.
