Chapter 178: Miniature Model

Chen Tongmin left with the sacrificial text.

Liang Qu believed Chen Zhaoan would not refuse his request.

For one, it was harmless; among countless folk legends, the Jianghuai River God was originally the incarnation of the Jianghuai River; for fishermen, the two were one and the same.

Secondly, changing from sacrificing to the River God to sacrificing to the Jianghuai River was a very minor change. For most villagers who hadn't read books and were illiterate, hearing it once under the sacrificial altar, they might not even notice the change.

Everyone just prayed for favorable weather and a bumper harvest of fish; they didn't care about those fine details, as long as the meaning was conveyed, that was enough.

He didn't know if skipping this "middleman" of the referent, and on this special date of June 6th when the rivers return to their paths and hundreds of streams flow into the sea according to legend, the final feedback could be strengthened.

Liang Qu had expectations for this.

In this way, the normal sacrificial process, the chief sacrificer, and the scale of the sacrifice were all enhanced; all that was missing was the final offering.

Liang Qu had long been prepared; he had already let the fat catfish and the others go into the water to find corresponding monsters—not to kill, just to keep an eye on them, and then catch them alive and bleed them when the time came.

The offerings couldn't just be three random monsters to make do; it was like playing mahjong, it required matching pairs.

Either the three major categories: birds, beasts, and scaled armor.

Broadly speaking, the phoenix, qilin, and dragon—the three divine beasts; narrowly, chicken, duck, and fish—the three poultry.

Or the three meanings: diligence, auspiciousness, and abundance.

The common symbols for the three meanings were ox, sheep, and pig.

It is said that Great Shun sacrifices to heaven every year using the three major categories at the Great Demon level, with a Martial Saint wielding the knife.

On the day of killing the beasts, the boiling qi fills the sky, and the evil qi is so heavy that ordinary people who get close are prone to sudden death, and even those with hard fates have to be seriously ill for three days, losing half their lives.

Court officials with weaker cultivation can only stand on distant pavilions to watch.

After the sacrifice, the land where the three demon corpses are divided will instantly bloom with countless flowers.

It is relatively difficult to gather the three major categories in the water, mainly because birds and beasts are not easy to get, and it is not the home field of Liang Qu and the water beasts.

But finding ones that fit the three meanings in appearance is easy—nothing more than robust, cute, and fat.

Last time, he didn't know that sacrificing could increase favor, and being the chief sacrificer was just to increase his prestige in Yixing Market, so he didn't have much preparation from beginning to end.

This time, Liang Qu was fully prepared and vowed to brush up the favor of the Jianghuai River!

Early morning, dawn was breaking.

The stonemason chiseled a square hole in the ground, dug out the mud under the stone slab, confirmed the depth, dragged the horse-tethering stone to align it bit by bit, inserted it into the square pit, and compacted it again.

"A-Quan's craftsmanship is getting better and better; it's like a real monkey."

Liu Quanfu came over from the street, touched the stone monkey crouching on the pillar head, and praised.

The horse-tethering stone was naturally for visitors to tether their horses; horses belong to fire, and wooden houses are most afraid of fire, while monkeys belong to water, so most stone pillars for tethering horses would have a stone monkey carved on them to suppress fire.

Such a lifelike stone monkey was rarely seen.

Stonemason A-Quan raised his head upon hearing the sound.

"Heh, it's Uncle Liu! It's all craftsmanship passed down from ancestors; when it comes to carving monkeys on stone, my father still carved better. Uncle Liu, what are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Master Liang previously asked me to make an object; I've been busy for a long time and finally finished it, so I came to ask when he wants it."

"What kind of object could stump you, an old clever carpenter, and keep you busy for so long?"

"You brat, go insert your horse stone; is the business of big shots something you can inquire about?"

"Just curious, that's all."

Was the tower ship model for the big toad finished?

In the courtyard, Liang Qu was bare-chested, holding the Fubo, panting incessantly.

Martial artists have sharp ears and eyes; he naturally heard the conversation at the gate, backhanded the Fubo into the water pool, put on his coat, and opened the gate.

"Master Liang! *2"

"Uncle Fu, come in and talk. A-Quan, thank you for your hard work; come find me for your wages after installing the horse-tethering stone."

"Alright, Master Liang."

Liang Qu smiled, turned around, and led Liu Quanfu into the house.

"Uncle Fu, I heard you say in the courtyard that the tower ship is finished?"

Liu Quanfu looked happy: "I didn't fail the mission; I just brushed it with tung oil this morning. It probably won't work in the water; I don't know how to caulk, but according to what you said, just looking at it, it's exactly the same as the two tower ships docked at the Pingyang County pier.

Speaking of which, it's a bit boastful, but I personally feel that because it's not that big, it looks even better than those two at the pier."

Liang Qu was overjoyed; was the first transaction with the big toad finally going to happen?

He couldn't wait to see the new ship: "Let's go, take me to see it quickly."

"Alright! Master Liang, follow me."

Liu Quanfu took the lead.

Building such a large ship had exhausted him; he had to work day and night with his seven or eight apprentices to finish it today.

Fortunately, the reward Liang Qu gave was generous enough; everything went smoothly, and he could get the money today!

"A-Quan, Uncle Liu and I are going out; I'll give you the money first. You don't need to come and notify me after installing it; if there's a problem, I'll send someone to find you."

"Master Liang, rest assured; don't look at me being young; I've been carrying stones with my father since I was nine, and I've been doing this work for ten years or so; I guarantee I'll do it cleanly for you without any flaws."

"Done, Uncle Liu, let's go."

"Go this way."

Under Liu Quanfu's guidance, Liang Qu crossed a street, two small alleys, and arrived at a large courtyard.

There were quite a few people standing in the courtyard, all Liu Quanfu's apprentices; the whole place was very spacious, and the corners were piled full of shaved wood shavings.

But these were not what Liang Qu wanted to focus on; right in the middle of the courtyard, an eight-meter-long "miniature tower ship"—not counting the mast, the hull alone was more than two meters high—was quietly docked on a wooden frame.

The thick smell of tung oil permeated the air.

Ship frame, keel, dragon tendons, ribs, beams, bow and stern posts, hull, side planks, bottom planks, deck, mast—everything that should be there was there, nothing missing.

A storied ship is not like Liang Qu's pleasure boat; its overall structure is far more complex.

In the middle of the ship's body are "large buildings" stacked layer by layer, a full four layers stacked, not flat at all, which is why it is named a tower ship.

Liang Qu leaned against the hull to look; the ship planks were dense.

The entire hull was made of teak; the most distinct feature of this wood is that the wood grain is very good, and brushing a layer of tung oil can highlight this point even more.

The ink-colored lines extended like waves, and paired with the golden hue of the teak itself, it was like a warm fire in winter.

Liu Quanfu was not wrong; thanks to the fine carving, the entire "miniature tower ship" looked even better than the two hundred-meter-long large tower ships at the pier just from the appearance.

"Master, come and see this side."

A clever-headed apprentice stood out, took the initiative to lead Liang Qu to climb the stairs, and opened the carved windows on both sides of the tower ship.

Looking inside through the human-head-sized windows, the small rooms had tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, rudders, oars, and utensils—everything was there; there were even bird patterns on the cabinets.

Similar rooms were in every two windows, each with differences.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a clever person named Wang Shuyuan who could use wood with a diameter of one inch to make palaces, utensils, and figures, down to birds, beasts, wood, and stone, all according to the trend and shape, each with its own state.

Liang Qu suddenly thought of this sentence.

"Master, you don't know, my master spent a lot of effort to build this small tower ship, going to the pier every day before dawn to look at the ships and draw pictures to ensure not a single bit was wrong.

We don't know the structure inside the ship and didn't dare to go in to see, but my master has been to other merchant ships to see, and built it all according to his own imagination.

Take a look, are you satisfied? Can it win the favor of that big shot? Whether we carpenters earn money is secondary; if the big shot blames us and harms Master Liang, that would be a loss that outweighs the gain." ===== CHAPTER 179 =====