After successfully merging with the original host's body and dismissing the shocked witch doctor and others, Ding Yun leaned against the bed and began to sort through the original host's memories.
This was an era akin to the Spring and Autumn period.
A time of many contending states.
The original host hailed from the State of Song. She was the eldest legitimate daughter of the former ruler of Song. Forty-seven years ago, Song and Zhou formed an alliance through marriage, and the original host married the then Prince Qi of Zhou. Forty-three years ago, Prince Qi ascended the throne and became King, making her Queen. Twenty years ago, Emperor Tianzi Qi of Zhou passed away, and his son succeeded him, elevating her to the position of Queen Mother.
As her son was still young when he ascended the throne,
The original host acted as regent, ruling from behind the curtain for ten years.
Only after her son reached the age of twenty and underwent his coming-of-age ceremony did she retire to the inner palace and allow him to govern. Because she yielded power so readily, their mother-son relationship remained strong and harmonious.
It was truly a case of maternal affection and filial piety.
Overall, the original host was content with her current life. The root cause of her death stemmed from the war between Chu and Song a year prior.
Although the ruler of Song during the Chu-Song conflict was no longer her father, he was her own brother. Naturally, the original host was deeply concerned. In her concern, she continuously used her status to condemn the State of Chu, denouncing their unprovoked attack on Song as immoral.
The State of Chu, however, shamelessly declared, "We are barbarians.
We attack when we please.
We do not consider morality or righteousness."
While the State of Song was far inferior to the State of Chu in terms of territory and military strength, if both sides had adhered to the rules and engaged in open warfare according to the established rites and rituals of the time, Song would have at most suffered a severe defeat, but there would have been no danger of national annihilation.
The King of Song himself thought so.
And he fought Chu with utmost adherence to the rites and rituals.
The so-called rites and rituals were the code of conduct for warfare among the states at that time, a tacit agreement. For instance, battles must be fought openly on the borders, and surprise attacks were forbidden during the mourning period of a ruler or during major natural disasters within the enemy's territory.
Envoys were not to be slain during conflict, and wars were to be limited in duration to avoid disrupting agricultural seasons.
There were rules for warfare.
For example, the wounded were not to be attacked, the elderly with white hair were not to be captured, victory was not to be achieved by exploiting treacherous terrain, and no attacks were to be made on the ruler of either state, who should even be saluted out of respect.
In short, if warfare were conducted under the constraints of proper rites and rituals, after a victor emerged, the defeated party would apologize and compensate, and that would be the end of it.
There would be no war of annihilation.
The King of Song strictly observed the rules. Even though Song's armies were arrayed on the border, ready to attack, they did not launch a surprise attack because the Chu army was still crossing the river. They waited until the Chu army had crossed and formed their battle formation before engaging.
But since Chu had already used the excuse of being "barbarians" to justify their invasion, how could they possibly fight according to rites and rituals or abide by the rules?
One side adhering to the rules while the other did not, and the side not adhering to the rules being the stronger one, it was entirely natural for the Song army to be pushed back.
At this point, the King of Song, the original host's own brother, still believed that everyone should follow the rules. He personally took to the battlefield to boost morale, thinking that if he, the King, appeared, the State of Chu would surely abide by the rules and not attack him, as this was an unwritten rule observed for hundreds of years. However, the reality proved that Chu had completely abandoned all pretense of honor and refused to follow the rules.
The King of Song was shot and killed on the spot by a Chu general.
The army collapsed.
And before long, the entire State of Song was conquered by Chu, with all its territory annexed.
Chu did not even leave Song with a ancestral temple.
Only a few Song nobles fled in scattered directions.
Generally, even in wars of annihilation, the victor would leave the defeated a piece of land to build an ancestral temple, worship their ancestors, and continue their lineage. This was how the State of Song had been granted lands for sacrifices by the Yin nobility after Zhou conquered Yin.
Who could have imagined encountering such shameless individuals as the people of Chu?
They brought about the complete destruction of the state, along with the cessation of ancestral worship.
It was upon receiving this news, coupled with her advanced age, that the original host, overwhelmed by anger and grief, collapsed and passed away, making way for Ding Yun.
Seeing this, Ding Yun had a general understanding of the current period. Since the decline of the Zhou dynasty, the entire social system had entered a stage of collapsing rites and rituals.
However, it could only be said to be collapsing, not yet completely disintegrated. The destruction of the State of Song, which had strictly adhered to rites and rituals, by the completely lawless State of Chu, undoubtedly signified that the collapse of rites and rituals had entered its final stage—complete disintegration. The old contracts would no longer hold any sway, and every existing state, to avoid the fate of Song, would inevitably abandon rites and rituals.
This meant that future wars would be unrestrained.
It would no longer be enough to simply determine victory or defeat.
It meant that future wars would result in casualties tens or even hundreds of times greater than in the past.
It further meant that from this point onward, any underhanded tactics would be permissible, with only victory or defeat mattering. The Warring States period, devoid of its original ethical foundation, had begun.
However, since the State of Song had already fallen, it was too late to save it. At best, revenge could be sought, and revenge could not be rushed. Therefore, Ding Yun logically proceeded to examine the golden finger she had randomly received this time.
Whether she had a golden finger and what specific golden finger it was would determine the modifications to Ding Yun's plan.
[Myriad Worlds Delivery Soul Plugin App]
"This is a delivery app that can be loaded onto the soul, connecting to the catering and supermarket merchants of all worlds with activated plane permissions in the Primeval Universe. The trial version temporarily waives shipping fees. All energy substances can be directly recharged into delivery coins, allowing normal shopping in all stores."
"A delivery app. Why make a good golden finger so flashy? It's just a shopping app.
Why insist on making it a delivery app?
Isn't it troublesome...
Well, let's see which stores are available!"
After a brief grumble, Ding Yun clicked on the newly installed delivery app and, following the procedure, logged in and registered using her soul's aura, filling in the delivery address, and so on.
Once everything was done, she opened the delivery app again.
The app displayed three connectable worlds. It was evident that the app had truly learned from delivery apps, only showing worlds and their respective merchants within a thirty million light-year radius that had activated plane permissions.
After carefully reviewing the app's rules, Ding Yun understood why so few worlds were connectable.
It clearly stated that the app connected to worlds under the jurisdiction of the Primeval Universe. She was currently in another universe completing an exploration mission. Most of the worlds in this universe were not under the jurisdiction of the Primeval Universe, so how could they be connected to this delivery app?
The fact that she could connect to three worlds upon opening the app was already considered extremely fortunate by Ding Yun.
Furthermore, the three worlds currently connectable were likely those that had been branded and brought under the Primeval Universe's banner by explorers dispatched in recent years. Perhaps, among them, there were worlds that Ding Yun was familiar with or had even branded herself.
At this thought, Ding Yun's excitement and anticipation grew as she eagerly began to examine the detailed information of the three worlds, as well as the available shops and goods.