Chapter 372: A Letter Worth Ten Thousand Gold, Water Beasts Take Office! (4k)

Flowing Gold Sea.

Heyuan Prefecture.

As the largest border city and transportation hub in the entire Great Northwest, it had towering buildings and was flourishing, with none to compare.

Past this city was the vast grassland and desert.

Business from the south and north all had to pass through here for supplies. When the weather warmed up slightly, the sound of horse bells could ring from early morning until midnight.

However, as of today, the guards responsible for inspection and release on the city tower swayed twice, scanned roughly, and returned to the tower fort to roast fire, dispelling the bone-chilling cold.

Winter had arrived, and the continuous heavy snow outside the city had already submerged the horses' chests.

The sky was gray, and the sun couldn't be seen. The environment was so harsh that no merchants were traveling at all.

Even the Yubei River and the Luo River were frozen with thick ice. Standing on the gate tower, one could only see fearless herdsmen following fishermen and turning into black dots, moving slowly on the vast white ground, smashing ice to catch fish. If it was frozen too hard, they would dig it out together with the ice.

The guards often saw large fish three or four feet long and dozens of jin heavy frozen in the ice nests, which the fishermen would pick up bit by bit and bring into the city through the small gate.

Even though the large fish had been dead for no one knew how long, the fish gills revealed by the arched bodies were as bright red as blood.

The guard put aside his waist knife, sat cross-legged, put his hands into the orange light, moved his stiff fingers, and complained about the harsh weather.

"The snow is really thick this year; if you step on it, it can bury more than half of your leg! The parapet on the tower is several feet high, and you have to sweep it clean to see clearly below."

As soon as this was said, it resonated with the surrounding soldiers.

"Isn't it? Since the beginning of autumn, the white-haired wind hasn't stopped. The Lang grass in the northern grassland has fallen in patches, and the winter grass hasn't been harvested in time. Every day when I wake up and open the door, I have to shovel the snow at the door first."

"Damn it, I opened the door for half a day and didn't even see a bird shadow. I didn't collect a single copper coin of toll!"

"No way, a horse gang came yesterday, and all the goods were lost in the desert. They relied on an old horse to find the way back. Out of more than sixty people, only thirty-two came back; less than half survived."

"In such cold weather, even ordinary martial artists can't stand it, let alone ordinary people."

"In my opinion, martial artists should be sent to guard. Those who can endure the cold don't come, while those who hug soft, watery hot women in their quilts don't come. Why should we, who are in the second or third gate, suffer the cold?"

"Stop complaining. If you had the ability to be a centurion, you would be hugging women to keep warm in the quilt now."

The water in the iron pot on the campfire was boiling. A large hand passed through the gaps between the soldiers, picked up the iron pot, filled his water bottle, tightened the lid, and stuffed it into his bosom to keep warm.

"Centurion, it's not that we don't have the ability, it's just that we are complaining."

The little soldier was not angry, laughing and taking the iron pot to pour water for everyone.

Someone started a commotion: "It's cold, when will the Centurion take us to hug women to keep warm? It's been too long, my big bird is almost getting bedsores!"

"Get lost." The Centurion kicked the person who started the commotion, "I don't have that spare money. If you want to keep warm, go find a prostitute in the dark alley yourself."

"Water is gone!" The last soldier who emptied the iron pot shouted.

The Centurion scanned the circle and stared at the person who started the commotion: "You, go get ice to boil water, and bring a bundle of firewood. Don't use snow to fool me; it's full of ash and slag! It tastes like rust!"

"Okay! I'll bring the Centurion a piece of cold, watery old ice!"

The guard ended the laughter of the crowd, took the iron pot, took the chisel, went down the city tower corridor, drilled out of the small door, and didn't go far before he caught a glimpse of a black shadow from the wind and snow, and the sound of bells could be heard in the wind.

The guard's skin tightened, and he shouted: "Who comes there?"

"Delivering a letter!"

The voice penetrated the haze, vast and powerful, shouting until the wind and snow stopped.

Delivering a letter?

Delivering a letter!

The guard didn't care about chiseling ice and ran back: "The letter deliverer is here! The letter deliverer is here!"

"Don't shout, I heard it upstairs."

The Centurion drilled out of the small door, followed by all the guards, looking forward to it.

The wind and snow were full, and the carriage seemed far and near.

The letter deliverer, wearing thick cotton, had a rosy face, and the several followers behind him had extraordinary momentum, all of whom were powerful martial artists.

"Master Chang!"

The Centurion stepped forward and cupped his hands to ask for peace.

In a military restricted area, the people coming and going, even the letter deliverers, were not ordinary people, and they were rarely changed. There was no guard at the gate who didn't know them.

The messenger nodded slightly, waved his hand, and someone behind him sent up the official verification voucher.

After confirming it was correct, three carriages of letters drove past the guards.

The guards swallowed their saliva.

Prostitutes can often be found, but family letters are hard to see.

The news of the arrival of the post station messenger spread like wildfire throughout the north gate city tower, and then spread outward, even faster than the messenger's carriage.

By the time the carriage arrived at the post station, the door was already crowded with noisy soldiers.

One scholar after another braved the severe cold to bring over desks, their frozen red palms holding brushes, writing letters on behalf of others in the cold wind to earn a few hard-earned coins.

In winter, the post station would reduce the number of transports.

The soldiers' letters could only wait for the quantity to accumulate, and when the messenger arrived, they would be packed and sent out together.

In the middle of winter, the end of the year was approaching.

Who knew when the messenger would arrive next time if they missed this opportunity.

Those who were far away had to send letters in advance today while the messenger arrived, otherwise they wouldn't be able to catch up.

"Let go, let go, don't block the door!"

"Go write letters elsewhere, don't block the door!"

"Wait until the letters are sorted, wait until the letters are sorted. The messenger needs to resupply for two days, no rush, everyone write slowly!"

The post station officials maintained order and finally made a passage for the carriage to enter.

In the backyard, the officials handled the letters. The letter paper was packed in burlap bags, and the brown cloth was covered with white snow. When they arrived at the post station, the officials stepped forward to move them, grabbed the two corners of the bag, and poured them out together with the dry snow, letting the errand runners be responsible for classification and distribution.

Until the third carriage, the errand runners treated them differently. Except for the majority packed in burlap bags, which were poured out as usual, the rest were packed in wooden boxes.

Opening them, stacks of letters were neatly piled up.

The letter paper inside was obviously much better than others, clean and delicate, and some covers had gold-stamped patterns and wax seals.

While the officials were processing the letters, the post station officials heard communication from the front hall.

"Why did Commander Yang come to pick up the letter in person today? Isn't it enough to find someone to run an errand?"

A male voice full of energy sounded.

"I am on duty at the north gate these days, and I just happened to go to the city tower to take a look. Seeing you coming, I asked by the way if there were any letters for me."

"Master Yang came at the right time. If I remember correctly, there really is a letter for you, from Huaiyin Prefecture. It should be a letter sent by Master Yang's relatives."

"Oh? I just received one a month ago, and there is another one today?"

"Then I don't know."

In the backyard.

The official in charge of sorting letters heard the voice and shuddered, waving his hand to urge everyone: "Quick, quick, quick, flip through, flip through, is there a letter for Master Yang Xu! Master Yang Xu's letter!"

"Quick, find it, find it!"

The others received the order, immediately put down their work, all ran to look at the names on the wooden boxes on the third carriage, searched one by one, and soon someone found a wooden box with the name Yang Xu on the bottom of the carriage.

"Found it, here, here!"

"Give it to me, give it to me!"

Just at this time, a middle-aged man in a long black robe stepped over the threshold and walked into the backyard while chatting with the messenger.

"Does it really rarely snow in the south?"

"Rarely. There are three or four thin snows in Huaiyin Prefecture a year, which is quite remarkable. It is possible to have heavy snow once every five or six years, but it is much worse than the Flowing Gold Sea."

"The days when the entire Jianghuai Great Marsh freezes can be counted on one's fingers. I have lived so long, and I have only heard of it twice from the local county annals, and the range was not very large."

"Master Yang, your letter."

The official who got the letter stepped forward quickly, held it with both hands, and presented it respectfully.

"Hard work!"

Yang Xu exhaled rolling hot air while speaking. He took a few taels of broken silver from his bosom, rewarded the official, took the wooden box, and there was only one letter inside.

Yang Xu was quite surprised that he received a letter, because he had just received one a month ago.

The time for letters between Huaiyin Prefecture and Heyuan Prefecture was at least two months. If the weather was bad, three months was also possible.

Now that there was another one in less than a month, it was likely that something had happened at home, so letters were sent one after another.

Therefore, he had no scruples and opened it to read in detail on the spot.

After a long while.

"Flowing Gold Sea, three *li* east of Bitter Wood Cliff? Half a secret book?"

Yang Xu read carefully and confirmed that there was no change before he felt relieved.

It turned out that the Junior brother had something to ask for.

Yang Xu hadn't been home for five years, and he hadn't seen the three disciples his father had accepted in the past five years.

But letters from home were constant, and he roughly knew the situation.

Especially the three letters this year, his Junior brother, whom he had never met, occupied quite a lot of space.

The first letter said that his father had gained a disciple, who was pure in character and outstanding.

The second letter said that the Junior brother had natural martial bones, entered the River Bo Office, and achieved Galloping Horse.

The third letter said that he had made contributions in flood control and received the Holy Emperor's oral instruction, accompanied by three methods.

The difference in content was so great that if the handwriting wasn't real, Yang Xu would really want to send a reply full of questions.

An extraordinary genius.

With this level, Yang Xu himself was far behind, especially the three methods sent by the Junior brother not long ago, which were very useful and were all skills for saving lives and knowing the evil of human hearts, but they were difficult to practice!

Clearly it was just a thin little booklet, but practicing it seemed more difficult than those advanced martial arts!

For nearly a month, there had been no major events or wars. Yang Xu almost put down everything at hand, and even used a lot of incense and treasures to increase enlightenment, focusing on practicing the methods in the booklet, barely grasping a little bit of the "Eye-Knowledge Method," not even counting as an introduction.

However, even so, the benefits were already obvious.

On the day he practiced the trick, Yang Xu stood on the city tower and used the half-hanging "Eye-Knowledge Method" to pick out eight spies and one traitor.

After verification, except for two spies who were misunderstandings, there was no mistake at all.

Especially the traitor, who was more hateful than the spy, which earned Yang Xu a not-small merit.

Once this happened, the whole north area was buzzing, and many people gave Yang Xu the nickname "Eagle Eye."

It was also because of this that the Heavenly Grandmaster who guarded the north gate felt that Yang Xu was a good seedling for catching spies. He should have changed shifts to rest yesterday, but he had to extend it for half a month, change his rest day, and continue to catch spies and traitors.

Thinking of this, Yang Xu turned to look at the messenger: "When is Brother Chang planning to set off?"

"The weather is severe, the heavy snow has blocked the road. I am not afraid, but the carriage is difficult to move, and it has wasted a lot of effort. I plan to rest in the city for two days before leaving."

"Then Brother Chang might as well stay for two more days. The weather observer in the city has calculated that the heavy snow will stop in four days. The road will be easier to walk then."

Yang Xu knew where Bitter Wood Cliff was, and it was not too far from Heyuan Prefecture, half a day was enough.

But with continuous heavy snow, the road was submerged, the direction was unclear, and it would take one to two more days. Plus the search...

Letting the messenger stay for two more days might just catch up with the delivery time.

The Junior brother was about to condense True Gang and sent precious Three-Knowledge Methods. It was rare for him to have a request. As a Senior brother, he naturally couldn't just fill the position, and it would be good to arrive five or six days early.

The messenger roughly understood Yang Xu's intention, thought about it, and agreed: "That is fine."

With the foot speed of martial artists and black iron horses, the snow problem was a small problem.

The key was the heavy snow filling the sky, obscuring the sky, and the time wasted in not being able to distinguish the direction.

Staying for two more days to wait for the snow to stop would indeed help with the journey.

"Thank you!"

"Master Yang is polite."

After getting the promise, Yang Xu rushed to the government office to ask for leave, and then went to the camp to gather his subordinates.

Two quarters of an hour later.

The city gate opened, and thirty-six riders turned into a long wind, stepped out of the city gate, and disappeared into the flying snow.

Huaiyin Prefecture.

Pingyang County, Yixing Town, Shangrao Wharf.

The stars were dotted in the night sky.

The large ship beside the plank road rose and fell with the water flow, docked and motionless.

However, one lucky ship raised its sails in the night, rode the night wind, and swayed out of the port.

Otter Otter Kai jumped down from the roof on all fours, shouting and screaming in its mouth.

Liang Qu couldn't understand, but the otters on the deck understood. They immediately ran under the mast, untied the tied ropes, pulled the two long ropes, and adjusted the direction of the sails.

After more than a month of training, under the patient guidance of the old giant clam, Otter Otter Kai considered itself to have mastered superb ship-driving skills and finally took a solid step today to carry out practical operations!

All six otters went into battle. At first, they were in a mess, but under a series of coordination and operations, the lucky ship gradually moved steadily from the initial aimless turning and spinning in place.

The beaver family stood on the deck, dumbfounded. Every incisor exposed showed their shock at the brother's changes.

On the river.

Long Pinghe and Long Pingjiang poked their heads out, clicking their tongues in wonder at the otters on the lucky ship.

"As expected of the Dragon Lord, the otters enlightened are so smart, and they can even drive a ship!"

"Exactly, exactly." Long Pinghe nodded, "The otters I know only know how to fight."

Otters that only knew how to fight were actually able to obediently drive a ship, which truly broke the cognition of the two Dragon-men.

Half an hour later.

No accidents happened.

The entire lucky ship's sails were bulging, moving forward slowly, sailing steadily on the water surface.

Liang Qu stood on the deck, his heart relaxed.

Whether it could be done by letting otters act as crew, Liang Qu himself didn't know.

Now it seems that through the Ze Tripod's enlightenment, Otter Otter Kai's strength hasn't changed much, but its spiritual wisdom has truly improved a lot, and it has really mastered the ship-driving skills.

The otters jumped up and down, excited that they could move such a huge guy just by moving the sails and turning the disc.

Otter Otter Kai stood at the bow, its fur flying, not feeling cold at all.

So what if Scar-face can fight? Can it drive a ship?

Liang Qu saw the lucky ship moving away from the wharf, and his thoughts moved. Following his body's induction, he used "Calling Wind and Summoning Rain."

In an instant, the clear night sky turned black.

Dark clouds seemed to appear out of thin air, covering the entire night sky.

The Dragon-men in the river were stunned. ===== CHAPTER 373 =====

The Dragon-man in the river looked stunned.