The Emperor is Above

Chapter 232: Hidden Concerns and Crisis in the Cold Winter

"call--"

The north wind grew colder and the snow fell heavier.

Lying on the warm animal skin bed at night, the sound of snowflakes falling to the ground can be clearly heard.

The branches and leaves of many large trees in the solitary hill have not yet fallen, and the sound of branches being broken by the accumulated snow can be heard from time to time at night.

"Oh oh oh-"

Early in the morning, Qing Yi pushed open the door amid the crowing of roosters. Looking around, all the scenery was covered with white snow. There was a thick layer of snow on the roof, giving people a cold, fresh and novel feeling.

"Young Master, why did you get up so early? It's snowing heavily and we can't do anything. It's so cold, why don't you continue to sleep for a while!"

The increasingly healthy Auntie Bo, with her white hair and youthful face full of rosy glow, is preparing today's breakfast. Even though there are more people in the family now, the old lady is unwilling to give up this task, and Qing Yi can only follow her wishes.

"No matter how early I get up, I can't be as good as Auntie Bo!"

Qing Yi picked up the bucket with a smile, ready to help Aunt Bo fill the large water tank in the kitchen, but found that this job had been done by Wang Mangqiji and Wang Mangqubing last night, so he squatted in front of the stove and prepared to help light the fire. Lighting a fire in this cold winter was a comfortable task.

"Meow-"

Just as a bunch of dry grass was ignited, the screams of a civet cat suddenly rang out in the stove.

Then the chubby fat cat broke through the firewood that had just been lit, screamed, and rolled several times in the snow. With unhappiness written all over its fat face, it walked away in a huff with the smell of burnt hair on its body.

"Young Master, are you okay? Hua Ni, that naughty kid, where did you go last night? It turns out you hid in the stove to keep warm, and you almost got your fur burned."

Aunt Bo first checked that Qing Yi was not injured, then ran to the door and looked at the cat running away with concern. After finding that it was not seriously injured, she returned and continued to chatter,
"The weather in the past 20 to 30 years has become increasingly strange. In the early years, there were droughts and floods. Sometimes it didn't rain for several months in a row, and the corn almost died of drought. Or it rained continuously, and the crops were drowned.

I thought this year would be a good year with good weather and a bumper corn harvest, but I didn’t expect winter to come so early and be so cold.”

Qing Yi's heart moved, and he asked softly while he was lighting the fire: "Auntie Bo, you said that the snow fell early this winter, then when did it snow in previous years?"

"Young Master, you young people today are so careless. You have read so many books, but you have forgotten the twenty-four solar terms left by your ancestors?"

Aunt Bo was busy cleaning the big pot on the stove, and then she washed the newly harvested corn and added it into the big pot, and then she continued to nag,
"The scorching heat of July, the cold dew and frost of September, the beginning of winter and the light snow of October. In previous years, the first winter snow usually comes after the light snow in late October.

Moreover, the first winter snow is usually not heavy, often only one or two fingers deep. The heavy snow will not fall until the big snow solar term in early November.

This year's first snow not only came half a month earlier than in previous years, but it was also so thick and so cold that it really caught people off guard. I don't know if it will continue to be cold in the future.

The same thing happens to Daniu, who gets lazy and sleepy as soon as the snow starts. He hasn’t gotten up in such a long time. He’s not as diligent as Erhei, who has already reported to school…"

Amidst Aunt Bo's nagging, Qing Yi couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Previously, Old Man Shi had captured the substitute guard of Mo Chue, the younger brother of Prince Xianyu. This guard of Xianyu gave him a lot of information, including the reason why the Xianyu tribe insisted on going south to attack the border town defense line.

It is precisely because the climate has been getting colder over the past two or three decades that the winters in Xianyu have become increasingly unbearable. On the one hand, the cattle and sheep tribesmen of the Xianyu tribe have been constantly killed and injured, and food is becoming increasingly scarce. On the other hand, the ethnic minorities further north of Xianyu can no longer stand the increasingly harsh and cold climate, and have begun to move southward to attack the Xianyu tribe on a large scale.

This year's winter came half a month earlier than in previous years, and it was even colder, which meant that the Xianyu tribe and the foreign tribes further north had an extra month of long winter. This brought about an even worse chain reaction, as a longer winter meant further food shortages and a worse climate.

Then, whether it is the Xianyu tribe or the ethnic minorities further north, their will to move south will inevitably be stronger, and the situation facing the northern border of the State of Xing will become even worse.

"Hey, why should I think so much? Even Old Man Shi, a first-class Grandmaster, didn't care. It's useless for me to rack my brains now. I should just do my own thing first."

Qing Yi shook his head helplessly. No one except himself would care about what happened in the far north of the Northern Wilderness. Even if he wanted to do something, he was powerless and had no idea how to solve the problem.

After a hot breakfast, Qing Yi strolled around the solitary hill with a lot of thoughts in mind. The road had already been cleaned up by Gongsun Wu, Chai Yong, their private army, militia and villagers.

After the heavy snow, the school was temporarily suspended. The naughty children in the village chased each other and played snowball fights. Fist-sized snowballs flew around Qing Yi, but none of them hit him.

"Wow—"

When passing by the haystacks in the east, the four dragon eagle elders greeted them eagerly, and immediately revealed a group of small creatures hidden under their huge wings.

"Tweet-"

The eight dragon vulture chicks, each more than ten feet long, have grown full wings, but are still afraid of the cold winter and hide under their parents' wings to keep warm, refusing to come out.

However, Qing Yi noticed that the civet cat, the little fox, the big rooster, and the fat eagle were also hiding under the wings of the dragon vultures, and it seemed that they were getting along very well with the dragon vultures.

The strange fire at the tips of the flying feathers of the four Great Wilderness Dragon Vultures flickered from time to time, and the falling snowflakes did not land on them at all. It was obvious that the group of civet cats regarded the Great Wilderness Dragon Vultures as four natural heaters.

He said hello to the Great Wilderness Dragon Eagle in silence and left. When Qing Yi passed by the gate of Guqiu City, the actions of the big bull outside the gate attracted his attention.

This simple guy, who still has a childlike heart, sculpted the snow into a huge snow sculpture of a green rhinoceros.

Although the appearance is not very detailed and it only has a rough outline, the aura of the green rhinoceros beast is still very impressive from a distance, especially the knight in heavy armor riding on the back of the green rhinoceros, who should be the image of himself in Daniu's mind.

"Danniu can also make snow sculptures, but yours is too rough. Let me work on it for you!" Qing Yi couldn't help but let his childishness show and personally worked on Daniu's work.

In less than a quarter of an hour, a snow sculpture with the same height and length as the green rhinoceros was completed. The expression of the giant beast was almost exactly the same as that of the green rhinoceros of Daniu.

Even the heavily armored knight on the back of the green rhinoceros beast looked even more powerful after being dealt with by Qing Yi. The face revealed by the heavy armor was exactly the same as Da Niu's, which made the fool smile and shouted for others to come and see and show off.

Such a huge snow sculpture erected at the gate of Solitary Hill immediately attracted everyone's interest, and those who were skillful and deft began to make their own snow sculptures.

Among them, the one made by Gongsun Wu is the most exquisite. Having received strict artistic aesthetic education from Jiang Ji, the postures and facial expressions of his snow sculptures are even better than those of Qing Yi.

Xizi, Huaimu, Mengzi and other young boys are also very clever and dexterous. Although their snow sculptures are not as good as Gongsun Wu's, they are very good at learning, especially in terms of spirit.

In the evening, many snow sculptures of various sizes were erected on both sides of the gate outside the Guqiu city wall. Thanks to Gongsun Wu's enthusiastic guidance, each snow sculpture was lifelike and attracted cheers.

The hot girls from Guqiu, who had long coveted Gongsun Wu's beauty, came to join in the fun despite the cold weather. They took out rags from their homes, dyed them, and turned them into flags, which they inserted into the team in the snow. From afar in the night, it looked like a mighty army that had just left the city.

(End of this chapter)