1.

"Cold is the River Yi, whistle does the wind;

Onward the fighter goes, never to return"

This poem, recalling the departure of the swordsman Jinke on his unsuccessful mission to assassinate Emperor of Qin, depicts the climate of the late Warring States period, but 2-3000 years before that, northern China was much warmer. Even in Shang times, the Huai River area still had elephants and rhinoceroses. On both shores of the Yellow River, mulberry trees grew in abundance. Only when one went to northern Hebei would the climate be too cold for mulberries, hence the name of the region "Mulberry Void" (kong-sang or qiong-sang).

Since the founding of the Divine Dragon Shenlong tribe many years ago by the brother-sister couple Fuxi-Nuwa , its people had multiplied. In western Shangdong alone there were 81 camps of the Jinwei-Shelong tribe led by Chi-you. The Jinwei people had long ago changed their livelihood from hunting buffalos to herding them, and they had also copied the farming techniques of the Shennong (Divine Cultivator - another branch of Shenlong Divine Dragon) tribe, hence their nickname Miao (plant shoots). Some of the people drifted north to Mongolia and Manchuria, and those staying in the south migrated westward along the Yellow River, settling in the farming lands of Henan and Shanxi; some even went into the hills where the herded goats （羊）, hence the tribal names of Jiang/Qiang (姜/羌）。

The mulberry was the sacred tree of the Shenlong tribe; before people learnt to build houses, they slept on trees, to be away from the savage beasts that came out at night looking for prey; the wood of the trees was lit for fire, and the fruits were used for food and also to make the wine needed for ceremonies and fertility festivals; the grubs that ate the mulberry leaves were found to produce silk fibre that could be weaved into a fine cloth.

The Jinwei-Shenlong tribes believed that out in the eastern sea there was a magic mulberry tre called fu-sang, on which perched ten golden birds that took turns to fly from east to west each day, shining their light on the earth, and that 12 moons bathed in the water below the tree, each taking turns to appear once a year, making twelve months in a year coinciding with the menstruation cycles of the women; the moon was therefore the source of fertility. The princesses of the tribe prayed to the moon at night, hence their nickname Dark Maidens xuan-nv 玄女； since the girls spun and weaved silk, silk was denoted as 丝, a double 玄.

Fertility rites were held in the mulberry forests; so the forests were where life started; when one died, one needed to return to the mulberry (sang, 桑/丧), buried under a mulberry tree in the soil, once used by founder Nuwa to sculpture humans. Those of high status had to be wrapped in silk before being placed into coffins made from a hollowed out mulberry trunk.

One branch of the Jinwei-Shenlong tribe lived at Shang (Sang) Hill of Hebei. Here the climate was colder and mulberry trees grew sparsely. Further, this was where the Yellow River entered the sea in hundreds of branch streams, setting down the silt it bought from the western loess plateaus and continuously turning the "lost sea" into "mulberry land"; the ground was too muddy to allow planting, and the Shang tribe lived by herding, grazing their cattle on higher grounds where grass grew, and driving their herd from one location when grass ran out to another. The tribe prospered and both people and cattle multiplied; they were always on the lookout for new grazing land.

One day the young and handsome Chief Hai, with some Shang kinsmen, drove their cattle to the Yi River in the north.

The Yi area already had two groups of occupants. Downstream on their side was the River Lord tribe that lived by fishing; across the river was the populous Youyi tribe that cultivated extensive fields along the northern bank, living in a large walled village with a wide moat; armed men could be seen on the wall watching movements across the river.

However, for now each of the three groups was after something different and there was no clash of interest. While the Shang folks grazed their cattle in the upstream valley, the River Lord people fished downstream, each minding their own business and greeting each other in an amicable way now and then. Occasionally they even visited each and exchanged goods. However, soon the grass on this side of the river began to run out and it was necessary to transfer the herd to the opposite bank.

The Yi River was not wide though its water flowed rapidly, so crossing it entailed some danger. More significantly, the intentions of the people on the other side were uncertain; one needed to consider the possibility of their starting an attack while the herd and the men were halfway across, perhaps just to steal part of the cattle.

While Chief Hai was still considering this matter, some River Lord tribe visitors came, and he asked them for details of the ford across the river. With the information, he placed the herd near the crossing to graze, and when the sun was about to set and the Youyi tribesmen were leaving the field for dinner, quickly started to drive his cattle across the river. By the time the Youyi people began to take notice, the crossing was nearly complete, and it was also getting dark.

However, as soon as dawn broke a group of armed men came from the Youyi village, but they stuck their weapons in the soil when coming into close range to indicate their lack of hostility, and one representative came over to talk, that the cattle were only to be grazed in the valley, far away from the farm fields and the planters, to avoid tramping the crops or injuring people. Chief Hai was only too happy to agree, and indeed he and his men made every effort to keep to his promise in order to avoid trouble, so for a while peace reigned.

The mid spring day arrived and that morning the Youyi tribesmen did not come out to do farming; instead there was from the village the sound of music playing and cymbals clanging. On the opposite bank the River Lord tribesmen were pounding drums and dropping things from boats into the river, presumably offerings for the Dragon King. Soon the Youyi villagers trooped out towards an upstream spot on the riverbank; the Shang tribesmen happened to be grazing cattle not far from there, and all of them stood on the backs of their beasts to watch.

A lovely maiden emerged from the crowd with an priestess and a group of assistants. She knelt down on a pier at the river bank and the priestess began to chant some sort of prayer to the Dragon King, thanking him for keeping the Youyi fields well watered and fertile; she began to twist and dance as her chants became increasingly shrill and urgent; suddenly she stopped and turned to face the villagers, speaking now in a man's voice; the villagers all knelt down and kowtowed.

Then an assistant gave a large jar of wine to the girl to drink; when she was half way through it she was already getting unsteady, and by the time the whole jar went down she was nearly unconscious. The priestess's assistants lifted her up and threw her into the river. She hardly struggled, and after floating for a short time she sank into the water, while the priestess sang a song praising the beautiful bride descending to the palace of the Dragon King, to enjoy eternal happiness and to bring blessings to her tribe with timely breezes and rains.

The another lovely maiden emerged from the crowd and knelt at the pier, while the priestess sang a song praising the sacred virgin of Youyi tribe, beautiful and chaste, so honored to be the Dragon King's bride for next year. She scooped up some water from the river and poured it on the girl, then raised her to her feet. The whole crowd now turned towards the village; as the girl turned, Chief Hai saw her face clearly and was greatly struck by her beauty, her wet dress clinging to her body displaying her curves, almost like those maidens he encountered in the fertility festival that would soon be held back home on the day when the sun would be highest.

A beautiful girl like this ought to be at the festival, so that he could lead her into the mulberry forest and lie on her, so that his child would grow in her stomach. What a waste for a girl like this to be simply drowned. He looked towards the village. The group had by then, with music playing, gone up the village wall where a pavilion stood. This presumably was where the sacred virgin would be stationed for a year, to be thrown into the river next time. He recalled Shang tribe's own legend about its founder Jiandi: she and her sisters, all sacred virgins, were kept on a high tower - another version said they were taking part in a fertility bathe - and heavenly king descended as the dark bird to lay an egg, which she swallowed and this made her pregnant.

The wall was just a bit higher than a man; standing on the back of a buffalo and jumping, he would be able to grab the top of the wall, and then climb up to where the maiden was; a horrible thought - going there to steal the Dragon King's bride, the sacred virgin of Youyi tribe - it would anger gods and men alike, and bring ill fate to the whole Shang tribe, but he could not get the thought out of his mind.

It was getting dark, a moonless night, but a light shone on top of the village wall, an eternal light in the hall that honored the sacred vergin. It was as if the light was telling him "Come here.. come here..."

It was not long before the Youyi tribal seniors were called to an emergency meeting: the tribe's sacred virgin was pregnant, despite the fact that the path to her pavilion on the village wall was guarded at all times by the priestess's numerous assistants, so that it was impossible for anyone in the village to climb up there without being discovered.

According to the girl herself, a god from heaven descended to make her pregnant. Now if that was true, the child would be a important personage from birth; if a boy, he would be the next tribal chief; if a girl, the new tribal priestess; however, when questioned to provide details, the girl had little to tell, other than that the "god" always appeared when she was in a stage of semi-consciousness, and each time he gave her a heavenly feeling she had never experienced before, which was why she felt so certain he was a god, not a human, plus the fact that she had never seen a human so beautiful, so perfect, other than the fact that he had a small scar on his left forehead...

Pow! the troop commander struck the ground with his palm "that cattle boy: he had a small scar on his left forehead! I saw it when I went to talk to them when they first arrived"

"How could he have got in?" asked the tribal chief

"Hmm... dont know... maybe he somehow climbed up" The elders trooped out to inspect the ground outside the village wall beneath the pavilion, and immediately saw several tracks of buffalo footprints coming up from the moat to the foot of the wall; fury was all around; the tribe had been humiliated in the grossest possible way and must seek immediate vengeance. However, the commander hesitated "those fellows, not many but they looked like tough fighters; maybe they could even drive the cattle to attack us; let's do it after dark"

That evening the Shang people were already getting ready to go home - they wanted to take part in the summer fertility festival - and had moved the herd to near the crossing and set up their tents there, so that they could start the journey first thing next morning. However, Chief Hai could not tear himself away from his tent location not far from the village, and did not move with them. When the Youyi soldiers went to look for them, they found him only, and contented themselves with just chopping off his head.

The next morning his kinsmen, after waiting in vain, went to his tent to wake him up, and found his headless body there; coming out of the tent, they saw Youyi soldiers just emerging from the village, and decided at once to abandon their herd, crossed the river, and escaped back to the Shang tribe to seek help...

In the mean time, the Youyi tribal elders decreed to expel the pregnant girl immediately; she was to leave the tribe and not look back, on pain of death...

Whistle does the wind, cold is River Yi; this might not be a good description of the weather, but fitted very well how the girl felt; she walked along the river, the same river that was to have received her next year as the sacred virgin presented to the Dragon King, towards to valley. The Shang people's tents were still on the riverbank, and she stayed the night in one, eating the food they had left behind in their hasty departure. The also left behind bow and arrows, tools, cooking utensils, and most important of all, the fire flints; with these, she could pick wild fruits and other edible plants, cook, hunt some small animals, and keep wild animals away at night by keeping her fire alight. She was pretty, but also tough enough to survive on her own, at least long enough till she figured out what to do next.

Moving further up the valley, her sight of the village was blocked, but she could see the cooking smoke above it in the sky every day. One day, however, this did not appear, nor the next day, nor the next; puzzled, she left the valley and walked towards the village, despite the elders' warning. It seemed to be surrounded by water. Getting closer, she found the moat and surrounding area covered in water and the gate wide open; corpses of men and animals were everywhere in the village; she realized that the Shang tribe soldiers had been back to seek vengeance and killed every living thing in sight; they even destroyed the village reservoir causing water to flood everywhere. Having put a curse on the place, they would leave it and never return.

She was now the only person left in the once large Youyi tribe; but that did not matter; she was with child and the tribe would have descendents to make offerings to their souls, so that they would not be hungry wandering spirits; death was merely moving to another place, like the girl sent to the bottom of the river to be Dragon King's bride; the important thing is to be remembered in this world. She lived in the village alone, taking care of her own needs, till her child was born.

In the following year on the day when the sun was highest, she went to the village Yao Pool by herself, and waited for men of the River Lord tribe to come over and take her into the woods. She had more children, and the boys, at age 14, went across the river to join the River Lord tribe's fertility festival, one of them becoming its commander because of his intelligence and competence; his descendents were the Youxin tribe, whose princesses married founding chiefs of Shang and Zhou states

Many stories were told about him; it was said that he was abandoned at birth, that his mother's tribe was destroyed by a flood but she was warned by a god to run away without looking back, but disobeyed the divine command and turned, causing gods to punish her by changing her into a mulberry tree, so that her son was found in the "hollow of a mulberry" on the bank of the river, but maybe such stories are just a misunderstanding because he was born in the area known as "mulberry void", where mulberry trees did not grow on account of the cold.

2

"One generation to next; bad to worse" Princess Chang-e of Xuannv (Dark Maidens) Tribe sighed to herself.

Direct descendents of Nuwa's oldest daughter's oldest daughter, occupying for untold years the Xuan Palace on top of Mount Kunlun, the tribe had always been pre-eminent among all the branches of Shenlong, not just because of its senior status implying its direct link to "heaven", but also because of its pool of knowledge and wisdom. Only it and a few of its sister tribes knew the secret of keeping silkworms and spinning/weaving silk, needed to make the fine clothes that tribal chiefs wore, to distinguish themselves from lesser persons (especially after death). To obtain silk, other tribes had to defer to the Xuannvs.

The tribe's second secret was the Dark Maiden Arts, with one set used for themselves to retain their youth and beauty, and another set for the young men that came to participate in Xuannv tribe's fertility rituals, making them repeatedly deposit their seeds into the Xuan maidens, to make the girls pregnant and give birth to new Xuan maidens and Xuan boys. Other tribes that also wished to have an abundant population had to send their princesses to Mount Kunlun to learn the arts.

But the most important secret of the Xuannvs was that of the Resurrection Elixir, which could make a person dead for seven days before returning to life. Every seven years, commanders of affiliated tribes would come to Mount Kunlun with their troops, drink the Resurrection Elixir in front everyone and lay dead for seven days, rising up to take their troops home and make a grand celebration of their 7-day visit to heaven, evidence of their divine mandate.

Many affiliated tribes lived in the neighbourhood, and when a boy of the Xuannv tribe reached the age 14, he was expelled from Mount Kunlun and had to find himself a companion at another tribe by going to its fertility festival, while boys from other tribes joined the Xuannv princesses bathing at Yao Pool beneath Mount Kunlun, hoping to get one as companion. Only after the expelled boys reached age 25, too old to take part in festivals, would they be allowed to return as farmers or guards to be of service to their tribe of birth.

For several years Chang-e had accepted Chief Fengyi of the River Lord tribe as companion, but last year was different. While the princesses were bathing in the Yao Pool, a group of men barged in and captured all of them: they carried bows as tall as a man, and when arrows are shot from them, no shield was strong enough to block them; all the other tribes' young men were driven away and those who tried to take a stand were killed or wounded including Fengyi who was shot in the eye.

The men took the princesses back to their camp, where they were already holding many young girls captured from the Dafeng, Ba, River Lord and other tribes, together with slaves, members of the conquered tribes whose lives were spared so that they could be put to work. Girls from the Xuannv tribe were of course special; Chang-e, the senior princess, was naturally allocated to the camp's chief warrior Houyi, famed for "shooting down 9 of the 10 suns" when he eliminated chiefs of 9 other sun-worshiping tribes and merged the tribes into his own.

Once Chang-e applied her Dark Maiden arts on Houyi in bed and gave him pleasures he had never before experienced, her pre-eminent position among Houyi's harem was assured. He kept her beside him in his tent all the time and let her listen in as matters requiring Houyi's attention were reported to him. She soon noticed Fengmeng of the River Lord Tribe, a smart and deligent fellow, taking charge of Houyi's hunting entourage - fighting wars and capturing women was only a occasional activity; the activity Houyi spent most time on was hunting. She also noticed that while Fengmeng maintained a pleasant demeanour as he went about his work, there was an expectant look in his eyes, as if looking for some kind of opportunity.

One day Houyi was away from the camp; he had gone up Mount Kunlun to see the Xuannv tribal chief Western Queen Mother - hearing about the Resurrection Elixir and his interest aroused, he wanted to have a doze to try out. Fengmeng came to report something about the next hunt, and Chang-e asked him a few innocuous questions; hearing that now most of the hunting entourage were former River Lord people, she casually said "For the next hunt you could take a few days and go further out; on the other side of the forest there are some rare beasts that would be fun to hunt; take the people familiar with the terrain; those who might get lost can stay behind".

A few days later Houyi indeed told Chang-e that he wished to go on a long hunting expedition taking several days. Three days after they went of, Fengmeng returned with a couple of assistants in the hunting team: "Our lord has been seriously wounded by a wild boar and is unable to move; he would like the squad commanders to go to him and arrange future camp affairs". The squad leaders hurried off while Chang-e and Fengmeng followed; as soon as the chiefs entered the woods, they were surrounded by Fengmeng's team, and struck down by many blows from sticks and branches...

Having returned to Mount Kunlun, Chang-e said to Western Queen Mother "Mom, things are now different; we need to find a good fighter tribe to ally ourselves with and give us protection. I hear about this group who know how to make metal; they have been killing and robbing all over the place; soon they will be coming here."

"So what do you suggest?"

"There is a Yellow Dragon tribe coming from the west; they are supposed to be very strong fighters; we should get them as affiliates"

The next morning Chang-e, together with several clan brothers and sisters, went down Mount Kunlun and went towards the west, carrying a parcel of silk cloth as presents.

3.

Originating in the Kunlun mountain range that separates the Tibetan plateau and the Tarim desert, the Yellow River winds its way north from southwestern Shaanxi to near Mongolia, turns south as its way east is blocked by the Taihang mountain range of Shanxi, till it reaches southeastern Shaanxi where it turns east again for its journey to the sea across the northern china plains; for most of its path, the soil is a fine sandy loess, whose looseness makes ploughing and planting simple, one factor that greatly contributed towards the rapid expansion of the Shenlong tribes after it took up agriculture and became Shennong.

The slash and burn method used by the farmers to clear land for crops and to produce fertilizing ash each year was highly destructive to the native plants. As long as population was low, agriculture was carried out in isolated pockets and most of the land was covered by forest, whose roots retained the soil from being washed away by rains and river water; after the population expanded and most covering foliage was burnt away to make way for crops, soil erosion began to occur on a significant scale, with silt being carried downstream, mostly to be deposited in the sea generating an ever expanding delta, but silting of the riverbed also ocurred, leading to Yellow River frequently overflowing its banks and changing course, flooding nearby inhabited areas; this has been a perennial problem since late neolithic times. Initially a tribe so affected could simple move to another location to get away from flooding, but gradually this became more difficult as uninhabited fertile spots, not too far from the river since supply of water must be assured, were harder to find.

The irregation work for which the Great Yu, or Yu the Chief, was well known, after his father tried and failed at the task of flood prevention through dyke building, was actually on very small scales; there were limited manpower to spare for such work, since most people could produce little more food than just enough for their own consumption, and tools were still primitive. Most of the work actually done was to dig wells: by acquiring an alternative supply of water, tribes could live on higher grounds that were less likely to suffer from flood. Some redirecting of water courses was also carried out to provide flood-prone areas, and places where flood water had already accumulated, with outflow channels to drain them, which required some surveying knowledge to judge which way water would flow when it actually came. Having such outflow channels also prevents the build up of salts in the soil through evaporation, which tends to occur if water is constantly introduced into a field without any outflow to carry out the salts coming in within the inflow - such salt build up would ultimately result in the soil becoming unusable for planting crops.

The Great Yu was also a successful military commander, and in his campaigns he probably made good use of his irregation experience to overcome water defenses, by building canals to drain away the water allowing his army to cross the dried out channels and move in to attack.

At the time a loose tribal alliance centered on the Xuan Palace reigned, and Yu was appointed as the successor to the then alliance chief Shun for his achievements, though Shun's personal preference would have been his own son in law Yi, as this was the more common practice during matriarchal times with property and position passing from mother to daughter and their husbands were like hired managers, brought in by "owners" to exercise control on behalf of their wives; Shun himself was the son in law of the previous alliance chief Yao. In consideration of this wish of Shun, Yu designated Yi as the next successor; however, after Yu's death his son Qi broke the agreement and took over as alliance chief; further, Qi was raised in his father's tribe rather than mother's, which too was a departure from the matriarchal practice; this transition from matriarchal to patriarchal system had been occurring for some time and Qi's succession completed the transition process; the new succession system resulted in, rudimentary as they might be, imperial dynasties, a concept unknown before.

....

Chief Yu was rushing; in front of him at some distance was Dragon Gate, a mountain pass in the Mount Tu range between the Ru River valley, which went down to the Huai River, and the Luo River valley, which went towards the Yellow River. Going from place to place to carry out the irrigation works he had been entrusted with by Xuan Palace, he had gone back and forth along this route many times.

Today was different however; as soon as they entered the valley, they saw before them the Tu tribesmen, holding weapons, blocking the path through the woods. When they came close, they were told: "Today the Tu princesses are bathing in the Yao pond; outsiders are not allowed to pass".

Yu's interest was piqued: Mount Tu tribe was a Xuannv sister tribe and its princesses were equally well known for their beauty. "I am below 20 years old; I am entitled to join fertility festivals"

The chief of the guard team looked Yu over, and saw that the boy was well built, his skin was fair and unblemished, and his eyes bright and alert; he looked like a good seed. "Sure outsiders can take part, but not wearing outside tribe cloths; take them off and I will get someone to lead you there. But remember: you need to have the Tu vertical eye tattooed on your head first before taking part, if you are sure you can stand the pain" A few of Yu's followers were originally showing interest, but hesitated when they heard the last part. While they were still thinking, Yu took off his clothes and went into the woods.

He was led to an opening among the trees with a pond; a number of girls were dipping in the water, while boys were standing on the edge, also without clothes, waiting. He was introduced to the tribal shaman, who started carving a vertical eye on Yu's forehead with a jade knife; having made the figure and rubbed the wound with permanent tattoo colour, he told Yu to join the other boys. Just then the girls came up; their leader came towards Yu, took his hand, and led him to a secluded spot among the trees; she used many of the Dark Maiden arts on him, making him deposit his seeds into her again and again.

Afterwards he sat on the ground leaning against a tree trunk, panting. She stood up to leave, but before going off she stroked his forehead "still hurting? when I was in the water I saw you having yourself tattooed; you were not at all afraid of the pain, not even one grimace; so I knew you must be very strong" She giggled, and left.

For several years after this, Yu undertook various irrigation works in the area, each year returning to the Tu tribe to take part in its fertility festival, renewing his encounter with the same Tu tribe princess, giving her several children; however, he had not seen any of them: Tu tribe camp was off limits to outsiders. Even when the princess was carrying his child, he could not visit her. However, as he finished this project on Tu tribe land, she would come down to bid him goodbye.

At the end of the project a ceremony would be held, to thank his own tribe's white bear ancestor for smoothening their way, interceding with the local soil god and water god not to get offended by their domains being disturbed and not to do anything that would impede progress. As part of the ceremony, the white bear ancestral idol must make a presence, and the white bear tribesmen will throw stones at the hairy white demon that was the cause of the floods, burying him under a pile of rocks, finally ending the ceremony with drum beats. For some reason one stone was thrown off course and hit the drum, making a loud sound. The princess and her maids were waiting in the woods for the ceremony to end; when they heard the drum beat, they thought it had already finished, and came over; thus they caught sight of the white bear ancestor idol, a sight forbidden to outsiders, thus committing a most serious tribal taboo violation; frightened, the princess turned to go, but it was already too late

Trembling, she passed by the sacred white rock erected by the bear tribe people to commemorate their work, and felt the child in her womb stirring: she was about to give birth prematurely, a punishment from the white bear ancestor gods; lying down next to the white rock, she felt as cold as a stone while her life ebbed away. "Ask the child's dad to come here; I am dying". When Yu and others rushed over, the princess was already beyond help.

In those days, it was a common event for mothers to die in child birth; decisively, Yu pulled out his sword and sliced open her belly, pulling out the baby. He raised the child to show his fellow tribesmen: "This is my son; I name him Qi (to open)"

4.

The tribal elders of the Gong tribe were holding a meeting, to discuss the order from the Zhuanxu tribe concerning fire.

Fire was a sacred matter to all the tribes. With fire, we could turn bloody, tough flesh into tender, fragrant food, we could keep savage beasts away from campsites at night, in the spring, we could burn away vegetation with fire to clear land for planting while making a fertilizing ash, and most important of, fire turned food and other offerings to the gods into smoke, to rise to heaven for them to enjoy, so that they would be pleased to confer blessings on the people who showed them such love and devotion.

Every tribe had a fire chief, whose job was to keep the sacred fire of his tribe burning at all times, and to distribute fire to his tribesmen when it was time to do spring planting, burning away the grass and bush; to do this at the right time, he had to know the seasons, and fire chiefs were all star watchers and calendar makers. The emissary bringing the order from the Zhuanxu was none other than Zhongli, the heaven tribe's fire chief, who was sent to the eight Li tribes to lead them; because of his honorific title Heat Shaman Zhurong, the eight tribes were called the Zhurong Eight.

There were originally nine Li tribes, living in 81 camps under their leader Chiyou, who however battled the Yellow Emperor and was killed. Yellow Emperor sent his son Qingyang to head the Nine Li, but later his son Zhuanxu led one Li tribe to Puyang and occupied the ancient Xuan Palace of the Shenlong tribe, and started to put his own tribe above all others. Henceforth his own tribe was the only one allowed to maintain a heavenly fire, and all other tribes could only worship the earth. Each year on the Cold Food Day they had to extinguish their tribal hearth, and obtain a heavenly flame from the Zhuanxu tribe, relighting their hearth only after the flame was delivered in the evening.

Chief Gong, who was himself born in a Li tribe, but came to Gong as the previous chief's son in law and successor, did not like what he heard. He looked at the clay dragon hung over the altar at the end of the hall: this was made by Shenlong founder Nuwa herself and given to her daughter when she left with the Jinwei tribe; who was to say we were not good enough to pray to heave ourselves?

As voices of dissent were heard around the hall, Zhongli started to get upset "The Zhurong 8 have a divine mission to enforce heavenly will; we are abundant in manpower and strong in arms; you should carefully consider your stand"

"Oh, you think you can overcome our water defenses and take our village?" The mocking voice was of that of "Little Uncle", who was a generation above the chief, though young in age. Chief Gong glanced at him - what he said was correct, but it could have been left unsaid too; whether the Gong tribe would follow the order to extinguish fires on Cold Food Day, whether there could be some scheme to have it both ways, we could still work on some issues; there was no need to open a can of worms just yet. However, for now we could leave the discussion "Sure we will carefully consider." He then started talking about some inconsequential matters, till it was time for the guest to take his leave.

Some months later we found Zhongli back in the Gong area, but in his tent some distance from the town walls, in fact separated by a wide stretch of water. He sighed "O what a mess I got myself into"

when he went around the tribes delivering the heavenly order, most tribes were awed: here was the great grandson of the Yellow Emperor, who defeated such strong enemies as Chiyou, Kuafu and Xingtian and took charge of the Nine Li, delivering an order from Xuan Palace ruled by Yellow Emperor's grandson, how dared they disobey? but the Gongs dared, and when he looked over the town defenses, he found the wall not particularly high and the moat not particularly deep, and it should not be difficult to breach them

however, when he led the Zhurong 8 army westward from Shangdong, crossing the north of Puyang and setting up camp at Buzhou Hill near Gong, he got the shock of his life: nor only were the water level of the Yellow River south of Gong and the Gong River on its west, much higher than he remembered, the north and east of the two were also under water: the Gong tribe, being skilled in irrigation works, had opened canals upstream and flooded the whole area. Zhongli requisitioned many boats from nearby fishing tribes, but lacking marine experience, the Zhurong soldiers were not able to row boats to the town walls carrying their weapons and equipment, under arrow shots and rock slings, to fight their way into town.

He then arranged a siege, but the Gong people had already collected a big store of food, and inside their walls there were some farming land that could be used to produce more; and with water all around, boats could find ways to slip in and out to obtain additional supplies; as his troops were stuck in the area, food supply was not as good as it should be, and the environment was damp, so many soldiers fell sick; to make things worse, the flood water had continue to flow east and some had reached Puyang downstream, causing rumours to arise among the people there that, after the watergod was defeated by the firegod, he butted his head on the heaven pillar Buzhou Hill and caused the sky to collapse, so that water had descended from above, and everyone needed to pray to founder Nuwa to deploy again her power to again rescue her people from the flood.

"O what I mess I got into" Zhongli sighed.

An aide de camp rushed in "Emissaries from Xuan Palace are here"; just then the tent front hanging was thrust aside and Chief Priest Kunwu came in with his junior priests and attendants; he was holding a red silk cord.

Zhongli had green silk cord tied around him; it was given to him by Zhuanxu when he set out on his campaign, meaning "victory or death"; when the red cord makes it appearance, it meant time for victory had run out. The decree read out by Kunwu, granting Zhongli, in view of his many services, immediate departure to a heavely existence and appointing his brother Wuhui as commander and Zhurong, confirmed this.

Zhongli took off his green cord and handed it to Kunwu, accepting the red cord; two attendants came over and bound the red cord tightly around him, and he was taken outside the tent; his officers, including his brother Wuhui, were already waiting, and a pile of firewood had been prepared. As soon as he came out of the tent, the fire was lit, and he was taken next to it. Kunwu drew his sword, the famed Kunwu blade, and gave it to Wuhui, who thrusted it into Zhongli's chest; as he pulled the sword out, blood ejected from the wood, and an attendant caught the flow in a gold cup; Zhongli swayed and fell on th fire, while everyone present knelt and kowtowed to him; the fire burnt brightly, and soon Zhongli turned into ash and smoke rising into the sky - Zhongli had gone to heaven for his well deserved eternal happiness.

Kunwu handed the gold cup to Wuhui, who dipped his finger in the blood and smeared it on his lips, while the priests chanted an oath of loyalty to Zhuanxu; he then handed to cup to the officers, who all smeared blood on their lips while the priests chanted an oath to obey their commander; then Wuhui pored the blood into the river, with each soldier dipping his finger in the water and smearing his lips with it; they then cheered in unison "Long live Zhurong!", for they had been looking forward to having Wuhui as the new commander for some time.

As soon as the Kunwu group left, the new Zhurong gave his order: "End the siege; cross to the south of Yellow River".

Some of his officers did not quite understand "didnt we just swear loyalty to Zhuangxu?" Wuhui replied "The Zhurong 8 are the children of Zhuanxu; preserving Zhurong 8 is for his benefit, to make sure his descendents survive"; to deter the Gong troops from coming out to attack while the river crossing was in progress, Wuhui himself commanded the best fighter squads personally and deployed them north of the river (with boats at the ready for when they needed to make their own crossing), while the soldiers previously stationed to the north, east and west of the town were gathering, with their families, on the northern bank behind the defense line; after the bulk of the army had crossed the river, his group took to the boats and followed; the Zhurong 8 occupied Zheng on the southern bank and built a new settlement there