Chapter 1268: Great Sacrifice to the River God

Dong dong dong!

Round footprints dried on the moist deck, the little river otter stacked two towels, stuck out a butt, ran on the deck, from east to west, from south to north, swept away the dust, clean and unstained.

The golden-haired monkey climbed the mast, hung up the canvas, bared its canine teeth, and hooted and hollered at the wild boar on the shore.

"Creeak."

The big door opened wide, and the dust in the air swirled and intersected.

It was like a quiet day, a wanderer returning to a hometown hut that had been sealed for many years.

The afternoon sun shone down, the brown fur flowed with floating light, every detail was visible, the ship rudder rod stood quietly on the wheel, never leaving.

Step by step, climbing up, the sun slanted, half bright and half dark.

Stood still in front of the ship rudder.

Otter Kai stretched out his palm and gently stroked the wood rod covered in pulp.

Since the Heavenly God was enfeoffed as a prince, the Creation Treasure Ship had not left the port for a long time, and there was no use for the ship as a vehicle in the south and north battles, and the little Mirage Dragon temporarily acted as the White Cloud Palace.

That majestic title seemed to have been sealed into the basement with the Creation Treasure Ship, the world only knew there was an Otter House Prime Minister, but didn't know there was a Ship Boss.

But now—

The claws hooked away the spider silk.

Long time no see, old partner.

Take a deep breath, double claws tightly gripped the ship rudder, Otter Kai turned hard, the whole treasure ship absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, the patterns flashed and extinguished, like breathing.

River wind was vast, the Monkey King held the monocular high, screamed sharply, all the river otters flew out, performed their duties, pulled the ropes, and the big anchor was pulled out of the water.

The Creation Treasure Ship left Yixing, broke through the overlapping water waves, and headed north majestically.

Set sail!

Destination, Yellow Shahe!

Jianghuai Great Marsh, Bai Yuan "Stone in the River," majestic and mighty, moving forward to the north.

Yellow Shahe water was muddy and turbid, couldn't see the sky light scattering, couldn't see the river bed flowing gold, since ancient times, no sunlight could reach the bottom of the river bed, Liang Qu swam in it, black hair floating, countless white flows extracted from the mud, gathered into a ball like satin.

The muddy water rushed eastward.

In an instant.

Golden eyes shot out, breaking through the turbidity!

A three-zhang white ape, majestically leaped out!

Gravel and mud passed through its elegant fur, the muddy water couldn't cover the brilliance of the golden eyes.

The white ape stretched out its two giant hands, gripped them, as if grabbing a handle out of thin air, rotated its wrists for a week, muscles bulged, pulled down hard, two water dragons gathered into a whip, intersected, the long whip swung, and the dust was shattered.

The Heavenly River shook.

The boundless Yellow River water roared, surged, broke free from the chains, hung upside down in the sky, blocked the sun, cast a long shadow, reached the highest point, the long dragon dived down, smashed a thousand-zhang giant wave, poured and surged, spread and walked water!

Stones, corpses, sunken ships, broken wood, water beasts, big fish, green algae—

Everything, rolled out, piled into a mountain.

Gathered into land!

"Boom boom boom."

Heavenly thunder exploded, from west to east, like ten thousand horses galloping, big fish jumping.

Birds in the forest flapped their wings, horses in the stable neighed, chickens flew and dogs jumped.

Demon beasts in the water watched stones fly over their heads, and the mud and sand on the ground scraped off a layer.

Countless yellow soil mixed into the river water and rolled, countless people either knelt and prayed or fled for their lives.

"River God is angry, River God is angry! Run, it's going to break the embankment!"

"Everyone run to the back mountain! Go to the back mountain!"

"Everyone don't panic, don't panic, does everyone still remember, the notice issued by the imperial court last month? In the last month, there might be—"

"Today there is no wind and no rain, and it has been dry for more than half a month, how can it suddenly break the embankment. Rest assured, folks, the imperial court is governing the water, the Holy Emperor has descended with wisdom, didn't it say three days ago? All go back, go back!"

"Great good thing—"

"I spit, dare to shout again, catch you all into the big prison! Want to die, right?"

Big cities and towns, big states and prefectures, county centers, wherever there were officials, the River Police officers posted notices early, came out to face the public, told the people not to panic, not to cross the river recently, and to avoid taking sheepskin rafts to add trouble. Prefects, magistrates, all cooperated fully, some places were even more direct, directly ordered to prohibit.

Poor villages, village elders governed themselves.

Villagers saw the small stream rushing, the family dog barking, terrified.

Those with children of appropriate age in their families were all in danger, forbidding children from going out, praying that they wouldn't be selected this year, just two more years, then they could talk about marriage and marry out, no need to be frightened.

On the field ridge, the old man smoking dry tobacco ran excitedly, ran halfway, panting, and reacted.

"Has the sand flushing started?"

"Thousand-zhang waves, sky river, Jianghuai Demon King, really powerful."

The general office of the River Police in the world was established in Yuzhou.

This "Zhou" was not the "Zhou" of the prefecture, but the general name of a province, the Zhou of the Nine Provinces in ancient times.

The river was turbulent for less than half an hour, the river chiefs and river uncles corresponding to the river channel rushed into the government office, the Water River Governor Qian Bingyi heard the report from the Hengshui envoy, the Yellow Shahe was rioting, and immediately understood what was going on. He turned out a register from the file, which was stamped with the Huai King seal.

Water governance reminder!

The Yellow Shahe, a hundred miles wide, hung upside down to flush sand, how magnificent and grand.

Such a scene, such a violent tremor, the people on both banks, even if they knew in advance, how could they be sure it was water governance and not a collapse? This bet was not other, it was their own life!

Under the fear of long-term disaster impressions, what influence should have, knowing it would still have what influence, must send people to maintain order, avoid riots.

Five days ago, Huai King sent a notice, requesting cooperation, evacuating the crowd.

Therefore, Qian Bingyi had no surprise.

And according to the water governance plan formulated by the Imperial Observatory and the River Police, the first step to clear was exactly near the demon king of the Yellow Shahe, below Qinghe Gong!

The cultivation method of demon beasts was different from human race, they aimed at assimilating heaven and earth, the places where they lived for a long time would gradually become unusual, bringing environmental changes, to Great Demons and even demon kings, they would breed mineral veins, becoming good materials for forging weapons.

The consequence of this was—

Once a demon occupied a place for a long time, it was equivalent to a giant rock protruding from the river bed, water flowed over the giant rock, the position rose, the people on both banks raised the river bed to prevent floods, then yellow sand merged, the river bed continued to rise, the people continued to raise, continued to rise, cycle after cycle, once one side collapsed, it was life and death.

Many rugged places in the Yellow Shahe were caused by strong water beasts occupying and living, building caves, gradually starting to silt up.

Some silted into fertile soil, would also be enclosed by the people to create fields, narrowing the river channel, aggravating the predicament.

The river bed near Qinghe Gong was a disaster area of siltation. The occupation of Qinghe Gong created a mud sand bay in central Yuzhou. There was a "River Gong Silt."

The most dangerous place even reached sixty zhang, twenty-six miles long!

Such a place, once it broke the embankment, the consequences would be devastating, needing the River Police to reinforce with special materials, and additionally inviting two Great Demons to live and sit in town, nourishing the embankment.

This was also why they had to communicate with the demon king, not just to pass the word for the "local snake," but because water governance itself couldn't bypass the existence of the demon king of the Yellow Shahe.

"How many years can it manage?"

Qian Bingyi's thoughts flew, his fingers tapped the table subconsciously.

Yellow Sand had a Long Wang, which would make the Yellow Shahe more prosperous, more Great Demons, and more silted, the Long Wang more irritable, stepping on the right foot with the left foot.

Huai River was different, Huai River was too vast, so vast that no demon king occupying it could directly cause congestion, its river width itself supported a few giant rocks in the river bed without influence, and it had Cave Heaven Lake, Peng Ze, Blue Lake, Jian Water, especially Jianghuai Great Marsh, a super lake with a diameter of more than ten thousand miles, to accommodate these demon kings.

As the Water River Governor, Qian Bingyi had always believed that Huai King's move to flush the river bed, deepen the river, and plant trees was also treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

Planting green plants in the future, the situation would be better, but destruction was easier than construction, it was hard to guarantee one or two Sky Dragon battles, failing, returning to the past, waiting for Liang Qu to die, couldn't invite the Bai Yuan, who would continue to clear?

To cure the root cause, it should be turned into a super river like the Huai River, appearing a Dragon Lord, developing a few super lakes, letting the demon kings enter the lake to occupy from the river itself!

Unfortunately, this was harder, no hope at all.

"Forget it, just random thoughts."

"Treating symptoms is not wrong."

Qian Bingyi shook his head.

No matter what, Huai King was young, Bai Yuan entered the Huai River, had a chance to melt the furnace, not die halfway, complete eight hundred years could live, during which continuous sand flushing was not a problem, later bad, not indiscriminate logging, also had to be influenced by Great Demons and demon kings—

"The Governor is talking to himself again."

"Shh, must be thinking about national affairs."

"The Governor is really diligent, we should be like this!"

Two main books passed by the door, seeing Qian Bingyi shaking his head, whispered.

"Wait, did Huai King know the Jianghuai Bai Yuan very early?"

Qian Bingyi thought of another thing.

"Si Nan!"

"Governor." The black-clothed woman in strong clothes appeared flickering, knelt on one knee, the oily ponytail hung on one side, "What are your orders?"

"Did Pingyang Prefecture have a big flood?"

"Yes, Heishuihe in Huazhu County, collapsed, affecting three counties."

"Find the file for me."

One go one return.

"Whoosh."

"Ha! Sure enough!"

Qian Bingyi flicked the paper pages, flipped through the files quickly, eyes showing understanding.

He had been in the Yellow Shahe for many years, had never seen Liang Qu, but since the other party was working in the River Police, he couldn't help but hear the stories of this "capable subordinate," many merits were even approved by his hands.

Bai Yuan appeared for the first time on the surface, was in Xiangyi County, Pingyang Prefecture, the former Blood Stone County, killing a snake demon that occupied the place and wouldn't leave due to local conflicts, didn't involve the upper level of the River Police at that time, let people praise it.

But there was one thing!

In the past, there was a big flood in Huazhu County, the source was improper handling of gang affairs by the River Police, causing the thief leader to hold a grudge, deliberately collapsing the Qiu Gong Embankment.

After repairing the embankment, the tributary Heishuihe also overnight, inexplicably lowered the river bed by three feet for more than ten miles! Combined with the appearance of the Red Dragon Fish, it made local officials worship it as an "auspicious sign," reporting to the imperial court.

Now looking at it, what "inexplicably," it was clearly Liang Qu "colluding" with the Bai Yuan!

The scale today was much larger than the Heishuihe, exactly the reproduction of the scene.

"Huai King is a wonderful person—"

Qian Bingyi narrowed his eyes.

He didn't want to "overturn the case," not to mention offending people without evidence, and there was no benefit.

It was just that before coming to the River Police as an official, Qian Bingyi was a silver-plated secret agent in the Three Judicial Departments, just liked to handle cases by peeling cocoons, digging out the truth, which gave him a kind of "peeping" harvest satisfaction.

"Governor, I flipped through the files halfway, found that this matter had a follow-up, it was handled by the Three Judicial Departments, because the matter was related to our River Police, so a copy was backed up." Si Nan appeared again, presented the register.

"Oh? There is a follow-up?" Qian Bingyi flipped through the files, "Jian Zhongyi bewitched the Shahe Gang leader? He was the culprit? I have an impression, he let the elders pay with death? What for?"

"Don't know, the interrogation at that time was listed as military secrets, non-relevant personnel, not allowed to query, but the Huai West Da He Police mobilized quite a few people and water beasts to the upper reaches of Blue Lake within that year, crossing us, all matters directly reported to the Holy Emperor.

After that, Huai King also went to Blue Lake, made a big scene at the Bai family in Hantai Prefecture, killed the previous head of the Bai family, and went to the Great Snow Mountain territory, moved back a small mineral vein, often sent the Flying Sky Moon Spring to you, it came from this mineral vein, the Great Snow Mountain didn't react afterwards, if you are curious, maybe you can ask Huai King directly."

"Didn't often have it."

"Hmm, occasionally."

"..."

"Whoosh."

The satin dissipated, the Bai Yuan vanished, Liang Qu jumped onto the Creation Treasure Ship with his upper body naked, flowing water dripped onto the deck along the muscle curves.

Spat out the mud and sand in his mouth, Liang Qu took a long breath, looked at the flat river channel.

Both banks were boundless, the people had long run away, and a hundred miles ahead, there was no surging momentum!

How wide and flat, how many big ships could pass?

Except for the muddy and deep yellow river water, where could it be seen as the Yellow Shahe famous for its danger and rapids in the past?

"Charge charge charge!" The Third Prince was excited, "Let's go straight into the East Sea!"

"Not urgent." Liang Qu put on his clothes, "Slow down first, see how it goes later, wait for the River Police to feedback the follow-up influence, don't flush the mud down, and block the bottom."

The Third Prince arched his claws: "Boss is worthy of being the Boss, thoughtful, calm!"

"Learned well."

"It's the Boss's good leadership!"

Liang Qu shook his head, riding the river wind.

Worked hard for an afternoon, probably dug out more than a hundred miles of river bed, the river bed dropped six zhang, twenty meters, and by the way widened part of the river channel, cleared the siltation, mud and sand were thrown to both banks.

Flushing the Yellow Shahe bed was harder than imagined, roughly for three reasons.

One, no Yellow Shahe favor; two, one jin of water, five liang of sand, water control coverage dropped significantly, can only flush at most seven or eighty miles at a time; three, there were too many demon beasts in the whole Yellow Shahe, all in the river channel, violent flushing, inevitably making demon beasts angry, must avoid, further reducing flushing efficiency.

"No big lake to accommodate?"

Liang Qu suddenly discovered the difference between the Yellow Shahe and the Huai River.

Huai River had five big lakes, each famous, tracing back to past history, all had demon kings, among which Jianghuai Great Marsh had never been broken, multiple upward.

In addition, there were many small and medium lakes, for demon beasts with lower realms to inhabit.

It seemed that the Yellow Shahe didn't have all these.

Not because big lakes had big demons, but because big demons had big lakes, most water beasts all inhabited the river channel, the disaster of water beasts was also one of the important reasons why Yellow Shahe water transport was not developed.

According to a hundred miles in half a day, three hundred miles a whole day, including communicating with demon beasts, settling demon beasts, and other places to evacuate people, wait a few days to see the follow-up, can't bury his head and rush.

"More than 28,000 miles of ground river, really have to do it for a whole year—ground river is only a small part of the Yellow Shahe—"

"Plop."

Table corner hit the ground.

"Wuhu, eat eat!"

The little river otter moved the table, supported it on the deck, the Third Prince took the seat first.

Otter Kai brought the dishes.

Braised Yellow River Big Carp, Spicy Turtle, River Mouth Knife Fish, Yellow Thorn Stewed Egg—all were seasonal fresh food of the Yellow Shahe.

Forgetting the bitterness of water governance, Liang Qu's index finger moved, busy for half a day, came to such a meal, life couldn't be better.

"Right Boss." The Third Prince hugged a piece of turtle skirt, gnawing on the fat gelatin, his little white face full of brown soy sauce, "Didn't you say before, visit the demon king first and then flush the sand?"

"What I said was big sand flushing, we are small sand flushing today, everything must speak a little strategy."

"Ah, what strategy?"

"Taking the initiative to visit, not only looks like we are weak, but more like begging for fish to do things," said he had to bring something else.

"Yee! Bring things, no no." The Third Prince crossed his dragon claws, "We don't let it move, that's already Boss being kind."

"So, make some moves first, express our purpose, wait to be called to the door, then it's completely different."

"Called to the door?" The Third Prince's soy sauce claws scratched his head.

"At people's door—" Liang Qu spat out fish bones, originally wanted to explain, halfway through, put down chopsticks, "Get, fish is coming."

Water flow light sound, flowing out different water waves, seemed to have big fish floating. The Third Prince's eyes lit up, wiped the skirt meat in two mouthfuls, and lay on the side of the ship.

In the sand river, shadows floated.

A big green fish was poking its head, looking east and west, saw the Third Prince poking its head, expression shocked, arched its sub-fins: "This little brother has jade horns facing the wind, so spirited, could it be a Dragon-seed? May I ask, is the Great Shun Huai King and Jianghuai Ape King on this ship?"

"Wow, you big-headed fish, have good eyes!" The Third Prince gave a thumbs up, stroked his dragon horns, "Not bad, I am the left and right arm of the Huai King, known as the Third Prince!"

Green fish demon was overjoyed: "That's even better, my Great King learned that distinguished guests have arrived, specially prepared a banquet, don't know if the two Great Kings can give face—"

"Today?" The Third Prince held his chin, frowned and pondered.

"Er—" Green fish demon gripped his fish fins, "But where is it inappropriate?"

"Little green fish, according to the rules of our human race, inviting guests to eat, all must notify three days in advance." Liang Qu stepped on the railing with half a foot,

"Er—" The Green Fish Demon tightened its fins, "Is something amiss?"

"Little Green Fish, according to our human customs, when inviting someone to a meal, you have to call them three days in advance." Liang Qu stepped on the railing with half a foot and interjected.

The Green Fish Demon observed him up and down, unable to gauge his depth. Seeing no one else, it hurriedly offered ten large treasure fish: "Your Excellency is handsome and dashing; you must be His Highness the Prince of Huai. My Great King lives in seclusion and doesn't quite understand human customs. Alas, today is truly too rushed. I hope both Great Kings will forgive us. This is a specialty of my Yellow Shahe, the Red Gold Tail, which nourishes the yin and supplements the yang."

"That won't do. It's not that I don't want to go." Liang Qu spread his hands, looking very helpless, "Three days in advance isn't just some etiquette that must be followed—it's not that we can't go if the rule is broken—but rather that notice must be given early so the guest can clear their schedule. I have things arranged for today and tomorrow. You see, this is quite a mess—"

"That's right, that's right, my Boss already has arrangements." The Third Prince nodded repeatedly, "Those high-ranking local officials and court dignitaries have to line up just to invite my Boss to dinner! As for things like dragon liver and phoenix marrow, my Boss wouldn't even give them a second glance."

The Green Fish Demon was speechless: "This—then—"

"We can go, but let's choose another day. You take these treasure fish back for now."

"No, no, that won't do. Since that's the case, please accept the treasure fish, and I shall invite you to the banquet in three days?"

"Boss?" The Third Prince turned his head, "I think this Green Fish Demon is quite enthusiastic. Why don't we cancel the dinner in Yuzhou? I feel the Green Fish King won't treat us poorly, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes, we won't treat you poorly, we won't. My Yellow Shahe also produces plenty of treasure fish."

"It's truly hard to refuse such kindness—" Liang Qu pinched the bridge of his nose, "Alright then, I'll accept the gift."

"Wuhu! Accepted!"

The Third Prince performed a spinning dive, his dragon claws picking up the ten large treasure fish.

The Green Fish Demon was overjoyed: "Many thanks, many thanks. I shall return now to report the good news to the Great King."

"Lord Qinghe is too kind. Please thank Lord Qinghe for me!"

The fish tail flicked water droplets, and it returned along the river.

Liang Qu watched for a while.

The setting sun slanted down, the shimmering gold scales interlocking like dog teeth.

Done, time to eat!

The red sun sank into the river, the black curtain rose, candlelight shone through window paper, and the bright moon illuminated the forest. This was a night that caused countless people to suffer from insomnia. After a day of labor, they lay on their beds, the Huang Long circling in their minds, the roar of the Shahe echoing in their dreams. In the mountain villages, bonfires soared to the sky, ashes accompanied by sparks rising and dancing, and the old shaman performed rituals and prayed for blessings throughout the night.

"The blood moon climbs the slope, the mountain ghosts weep, at the third watch we boil wine to feed the River Earl.

Where the Huang Long rises, the black water falls, flesh walks and bones live—ask not, speak not—"

The next day.

The treasure ship moved slowly.

The white jade map was spread out, simulating the situation, while Liang Qu ate a large mouthful of Yuzhou braised noodles.

People from the Yuzhou River Office arrived early to report. The leader was a rather pretty girl in black clothes, long hair, a single ponytail, exuding a capable style, leading two Wolf Smoke colleagues and a pile of documents.

"I am the Senior Secretary of the Yuzhou River Office. Your Highness may call me Si Nan. The Viceroy has said that if the Prince of Huai has any needs in Yuzhou, you may tell me."

"Oh, you are also a Senior Secretary?" Liang Qu looked up.

"Also?" Si Nan was stunned.

"Nothing, just rambling. Tell me, after the sand-flushing yesterday, what happened on both banks? Was there any impact downstream? Were there any major casualties?"

"There has been no additional impact five hundred miles downstream for the time being; we are still observing. The demon beasts have not yet shown any stress reactions or unusual movements."

"The great power of the Prince of Huai and the Ape King is extraordinary; everyone in the world admires it. The people on both banks were inevitably frightened, and there were indeed cases of trampling. Fortunately, thanks to Your Highness's prior warning, the situation was brought under control. More than ten people were injured, but there have been no deaths so far," Si Nan reported one by one.

Liang Qu knew such things were inevitable and did not blame them, biting off the noodles.

"Take good care of the injured. Next time, have your people evacuate earlier and coordinate better. If there are difficulties with local funding for resettlement, you can list them for me, and I will provide assistance as appropriate."

"The Prince of Huai is benevolent. In addition, I have another matter to report."

"What is it?"

"Yesterday, after the river calmed, the people voluntarily initiated sacrifices to you. The officials of the River Office are trying to stop them. Some are slaughtering sheep, some are killing pigs, and some even intend to sacrifice living people, saying it is—the River God seeking a marriage."

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