Chapter 316

In front of the village, dozens of sheepskin rafts and small boats were connected.

The boatmen used poles to pull the villagers soaking in the water up one by one, driving away the rats trying to climb onto the bamboo rafts.

"There's someone over there! It's Auntie Zhang! Uncle Zhang! Auntie Zhang is there!"

"Old Zhang, don't just sit there crying and being sloppy, come over and look, your wife is fine!"

"Oh my!"

Old Zhang bounced up from the boat like a toad, stepped on the edge of the boat and jumped from the sampan in the back to the bamboo raft in the front, but he ran too fast and couldn't stop his feet; fortunately, the boatman blocked him with a pole so he didn't fall into the water.

"Hongmei, Hongmei! Hurry and come up!"

Old Zhang was so excited he couldn't control himself, squatted down on the edge of the raft, and stretched out most of his body to pull his wife up from the water.

Unexpectedly, once on the bamboo raft, the woman was crying and laughing, grabbing Old Zhang's head and beating him non-stop.

"Ouch, ouch, Hongmei, don't hit, don't hit, what's wrong, don't scare me!"

"It's all those fox friends of yours, I told you to see less of them, see less of them! See less of them! And you still bring them home! Still bring them home! Why is my life so bitter! I married such a heartless brute like you!"

A villager on the side hurriedly persuaded: "Auntie Zhang, speak nicely if you have something to say, everyone is here, if you've been wronged, we'll find justice for you!"

"Right, right, did you run into something?"

Hongmei's grievances erupted, and she began to cry and tell the story, causing the villagers to be filled with righteous indignation.

"I said early on that those three little brats were no good!"

"Old Zhang, you're just stupid! Can someone who eats, drinks, and plays all day be a good person? Someone gives you a piece of candy and you dare to pour your heart out to them?"

"Should be beaten, should be beaten!"

"Hongmei, what about that boat? If you have a boat, why are you holding a door panel and coming over?"

"It was all bloody, how could I dare to sit on it."

"Then hurry back and look for it, it's a boat after all!"

"Right, right, right."

"Auntie Zhang, do you remember where it is?"

The crowd followed Hongmei's guidance, held high their torches, and soon found the sampan boat drifting and rocking in the small woods at the head of the village.

The pole hit the water, scaring away the small fish gnawing on the headless corpses.

The entire sampan was filled with blood, mixed with rainwater, turning pink, with red and white objects floating on it.

The torch shone on it, reflecting a layer of oily sheen.

Several women who couldn't handle it lay on the side of the boat and vomited.

Two brave young men stepped forward and pulled the headless corpses that were poking into the water up from the edge of the boat.

The entire head had completely disappeared from the neck; this was definitely not something a woman like Hongmei could do.

"Is there really a water monster saving people?" one of the young men pulling the corpses asked, half-believing.

"Foolish!" the village elder tapped the young man's back with his cane, "How could a water monster save people! That crab monster must be the incarnation of the River God!"

The young man felt the pain, rubbed his back, and muttered: "The flood is the River God, and saving people is also the River God, how can that be?"

The village elder was furious: "What do you youngsters know? The Heishuihe is an evil river, and what's inside is an evil god; it caused the flood, causing dissatisfaction with the Jianghuai River God! It's going to take action to punish the Heishuihe God!"

"The Heishuihe God is an evil god? Why haven't I heard of that before?" the young man questioned.

"How long have you lived? There's a lot you don't know! Many things aren't said, so how would you youngsters know?

The Heishuihe God was originally a general under the Jianghuai River God, but he felt he had worked hard and achieved much, becoming increasingly arrogant and proud. One day, he openly molested the Jianghuai River God's personal maid, so he was demoted to the Heishuihe!

The Heishuihe God was demoted and was dissatisfied, full of resentment, often smashing things in his palace, so the Heishuihe often floods!

Compared to the Jianghuai River, the Heishuihe is nothing but a drop in the bucket!

In my opinion, with the Jianghuai River God here, it won't be long before this flood recedes! Faster than ever before!"

The village elder spoke with certainty and full of vigor.

The young man still felt something was not quite right.

Why hadn't he heard anyone say such things in the past twenty years?

The other villagers believed the village elder was venerable and knowledgeable, and they believed the story of the Heishuihe God's experience without doubt.

Many villagers knew they had the blessing of the Jianghuai River God, their spirits were much better, and the atmosphere of sadness gradually faded.

Dong dong dong!

The village elder knew the villagers believed most of it, and he tapped his cane on the boat board.

"Alright, alright, two people come and wash the boat, the rest take the old, weak, women, and children to the ancestral hall in the back mountain! Take them there, settle them down, and then come back; we'll go to other townships to see if there's anything we can help with!"

The crowd didn't dare not to listen.

Amidst the crossing of human shadows, only the village elder remained standing in the middle, leaning on his cane like a reef in flowing water.

Where his gaze reached, it was a vast ocean, with only willow tips and house corners visible.

River God.

River God.

He had lived seventy-two years in vain, experiencing floods more times than he could count.

Sacrifices every year, floods every year.

Is there really a River God in the world?

And this was just some strange event in the flood.

The fist-crab hiding in the dark swayed its eye stalks, reported the results to the Heavenly God, silently went to the distance, and hid its merit and fame.

"The further out, the more chaotic..."

Liang Qu wrote a note in his register.

Based on the understanding of his few subordinates, beauties only deserve to be possessed by the strong; whether you agree or not, why would they take the initiative to save people?

The actions of the fat catfish and the fist-crab were all instructed by Liang Qu.

The few townships near the Qiu Gong Dike were the first to be affected, and the degree of chaos was actually not as bad as the places outside Huazhu County that were currently being affected.

The rape and looting of women were the most common; if they didn't submit, they wouldn't be allowed on the boat, and they would be thrown into the water to feed the fish; using this as a threat, they could usually succeed.

Besides this, there was robbery; some people survived the first wave of the flood, and the first thing they did was not to save people, but to take advantage of the chaos to rush into the homes of the wealthy and loot.

Such behaviors are extremely difficult to judge after the fact, as the flood can submerge most of the evidence of the crime.

If you can't find the evidence, you naturally remain at large.

At the bow, Lu Xinqing looked at Liang Qu circling and drawing, not knowing what he was writing; he looked around and everything was the same, nothing new, what was there to record?

Little did he know that a hundred miles away, Liang Qu had several pairs of "eyes" that could provide real-time feedback.

After recording what he saw and heard, Liang Qu put away the ink box and looked at Lu Xinqing.

Lu Xinqing lowered his eyebrows and eyes, and carefully came before Liang Qu: "Does my lord have something to do?"

"I'm going to the Shahe Gang, is there any protocol?"

Liang Qu opened his water bag and drank a few mouthfuls of tea.

He had obtained more detailed information about the Shahe Gang from Yu Dayi and knew that the current leader of the Shahe Gang was the former third leader, whose strength could not be underestimated, and he was also a Wolf Smoke expert, possibly the only one on the surface in Huazhu County today.

However, the current decline of the Shahe Gang was not because of the harassment of the Ghost Mother Sect, but because it had been destroyed by the government.

Yu Dayi had not tried to requisition the Shahe fleet before, but what he got was a refusal.

The meaning of Yu Dayi pointing out this path to Liang Qu now was very obvious: want ships? Go chew on this hard bone yourself!

It's just that Liang Qu didn't care; his teeth had always been very good.

Besides, a large Shahe Gang, raising so many subordinates, must have a treasure vault, property!

There would certainly be no shortage of precious water plants, and there might even be unexpected gains.

"Protocol?"

Lu Xinqing pondered for a while, his eyes brightened, knowing it was time to show his value.

"My lord, you really asked the right person! When I was eleven or twelve, I also ran errands for that Shahe Gang, and I know the ins and outs better than anyone!"

"Oh? Tell me."

Lu Xinqing was beaming: "The main base of that Shahe Gang is built on a small mountain! The flood can't reach it; on the mountain is a mansion-style building, three halls and two rows!

It means there are three buildings on the center line, low in front and high in the back, separated by a courtyard, and on both sides of the courtyard are two rows of side rooms.

After entering, the front building is the front hall, the middle building is the main hall; with your status, my lord, you can just go directly into the middle hall.

Once inside, you can see the loyalty plaque being worshipped; first go up and kowtow three... cough cough, my lord, just offer three sticks of incense.

After offering incense, a waiter will come to pour tea for you; this tea has its own rules!

The tea lid is heaven, the tea saucer is earth, and between heaven and earth, people nurture it; that is a tea bowl!

Since you are borrowing ships, my lord, you need to move the tea lid, take off the tea bowl, and then close the tea lid and tea saucer, indicating you have something to entrust; it's even better if you can place the tea bowl on the tea lid, meaning you won't be helped for nothing afterward.

At this time, the waiter will shout 'hang the sign', and place a pair of chopsticks horizontally on your tea bowl; the meaning of these chopsticks is..."

Lu Xinqing talked endlessly, wanting to scrape out everything in his stomach to show his value.

Liang Qu, sitting in the boat, nodded: "I understand."

Understand?

Lu Xinqing, who was about to say it a second time, was stunned.

Such a complicated process, and he remembered it after hearing it once?