The first was the Star-Plucking Tower. It stood over a foot tall, with a stone platform taking up two-thirds of its height. Above it stood an exquisitely built, luxurious wooden tower, carrying a dense aura of stars and mystery. It had originally borne inscriptions unique to the Shang Dynasty, but they had now changed into Qin script.
This Nation-Guarding Artifact belonged to the Shang Dynasty. As one of Huaxia's five great ancient states, it was stronger than ordinary Nation-Guarding Artifacts. Zhao Fu renamed it the Qin Star Tower.
The second had originally been eight silver dragons, each a foot long and forged from silver. They bared their fangs and brandished their claws, looking incomparably fierce. Now, infused with Great Qin's destiny, they had turned dark silver and emanated an even more savage and powerful aura.
This was the Nation-Guarding Artifact of the Jin Dynasty, likely formed during the War of the Eight Princes in the Jin era. Zhao Fu renamed it the Eight Qin Dragons.
The third was a large ship one foot long. It was made of jade, with a dragon head carved at the front and a dragon-patterned tail at the rear. It rose seven stories high in the middle and was made up of many small towers, all hung with treasures and exceedingly precious. Now, it was naturally also filled with Great Qin's aura.
This was the Sui Dynasty Dragon Boat—the dragon boat historically built by the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Yang of Sui had ridden it down the Grand Canal several times.
Although Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, had been a good emperor, he was also quite skilled at smearing others. Emperor Yang of Sui had not truly been such a foolish and incompetent man, and his elder brother Li Jiancheng had in fact been an