After the fall of the Song State, Shangqiu was the place the feudal lords had left it for ancestral sacrifices, while its other cities had mostly gone to the Royal Domain and the Luo State.
In a corner of Shangqiu's Eastern City stood a cluster of very rudimentary wooden and stone houses, their roofs covered with thick thatch.
The courtyard walls were tall, and all manner of oddly shaped devices filled the yard. Many people were assembling scattered components, occasionally bursting into little cheers.
Quite a few others were writing and drawing on the ground, their symbols possessed of a beauty born of order.
Five or six people were debating in a corner by the wall, arguing so fiercely that none would yield. Someone held a piece of cracked glazed glass up to the sunlight.
There were also wooden training dummies, and quite a few burly men wearing only short cloth garments and straw sandals were practicing swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat.
Shouts rang out in the courtyard from time to time. To anyone who came to look, these were a very strange group of people.
"Clop, clop, clop."
The sound of hooves striking the ground and axles turning instantly drew everyone's attention. Like battle-hardened soldiers, those practicing martial arts immediately grew wary and stared fixedly beyond the courtyard. Quite a few had already begun readying those strange devices.
Then they saw a handsome man arrive driving a carriage. He was dressed very simply, in a short cloth garment and straw sandals. Perhaps shabby would have been a more fitting description.
Yet he gave no impression of timidity whatsoever. His face was resolute, and his features carried an air of composure and unyielding tenacity.
A sword hung at his waist, making him look like a warrior ready to draw his blade