Yu Dynasty Yingdala (4338-4636)

[Wu Han]

Website: Today's Top Stories
These are the three most viewed stories from the Tian'an Times online homepage

1 September 4328

Northern Anle Drought Ends in Major Rainfall: Villagers Blame the "Sun"


Sun Yijun, the Sun Clan scion, pictured at Dawei Village

DAWEI, Anle -- Startlingly green hills, surging rivers and the snow-wrapped Anle Range in the distance signaled what farmers in Dawei Village knew; after two weeks of rainfall, the drought has ended.

The Dawei Drought began in June of 4228 and had disastrous consequences on the livelihoods of the four thousand people who depend on the fertility of the land. Many in the village began to despair and reluctantly subsist on government assistance offered through the Lotus Party's Green Sprout Program, though no one was happy about this: "We live on this land to work it. I am ashamed to be taking money that doesn't come from my labour" said farmer Wu Feyang.

Many of the farmers will talk about a deep despair in the village that the drought may never cease, until the arrival of Sun Yijun. "I remember when he rode in to our village," recounted local farmer Dai Luoyang, "his face was as bright as the sun. One wanted to look, but couldn't."

Sun Yijun, matrilineal descendant of the deposed Ryeo Emperor Choesun V of Dankuk, and patrilineal descendant of the Sun Clan, was in the area to receive instruction on desert horseback riding. The 16-year-old's party left Dongjing on horseback, making the trip northbound to the Tebie Desert. This would inevitably lead to Sun passing through Dawei Village.


The young Sun Yijun and his travelling party south of Dawei Village

"As he arrived in the village he saw the barren fields and dead plants," says 89-year-old Meng Lin as she begins to tear up, "but nothing bothered him as much as seeing the children, so thin and malnourished"

According to locals, Sun attempted to play a game of football with a group of children while his party tended to the horses, but the children were too tired to play. He then ordered his group to distribute their supplies and food throughout the village.

"One of his men protested this, saying that they needed all of their stuff for the trip" according to Meng, "but he simply put up his hand and restated what he said, and they did it."

Sun Yijun remained in the village for three more days, during which the young heir joined villagers in the fields to provide on the spot guidance, surprising many of the farmers with his knowledge on the topic of agriculture (Sun is well-known for maintaining a large vegetable and flower garden at the family's property outside of Huzheng Lake) and his willingness to participate in physical labour. He also instructed his party members to teach the children how to ride horses and practice archery.

Sun Yijun refused to eat during these three days, asking that all provisions were given to the villagers. Following protestations from a member of his party, he reportedly replied, "just because I have been born with a gold spoon in my mouth, it does not mean I have special right to eat while people here starve. In fact, it is due to the privilege of my birth that I should not eat while the children are malnourished."

His principled stance made him very popular among the villages elders. Sun Yijun often began his morning by playing a game of weiqi with the elders, of which he reportedly always won. "He may be the kindest person to ever come to our village," Xiong Xuegang claims, "but he has a ruthless intellect when it comes to weiqi strategy!"

On the day Sun left, all the villagers gathered to bid him farewell. As his company disappeared beyond the horizon, the unimaginable occured: "I thought I was hallucinating," recounts Dai Luoyang, "I felt something hit me. When I rubbed my forehead and felt my hand get wet, I thought 'this must be a dream'." It wasn't a dream, and what followed was two weeks of heavy rainfall.


Children run through the visibly more fertile Dawei rice fields

"After he left, I feel a deep shame to have treated him so poorly" says Meng Lin, "there isn't a doubt in my mind, or in those of the other villagers, that Sun Yijun is the Son of Heaven. Just look around. After his visit, heaven's fortune shines down on our village. We are so lacking and unworthy of his visit."

While the events may have been strictly coincidental, the Sun Claim to the throne has at least four-thousand deeply devoted supporters.

---

Originally posted by Wu Han on 11 January 2018.