Chapter 553: Hunting Moon

Thirty-odd river dolphins split the waves, following the side of the ship.

The fat catfish, Cannot Move, and Round Head, the three largest water beasts, nested into leather saddles, flicking their tails to tighten the iron chains.

Whoosh!

The new ship and the old ship split the water waves, floating together.

The white sails rose.

The otter observed the wind direction, pulled the ropes, and adjusted the sail angle at all times to borrow the long wind.

Compared to it.

The two large river otters borrowed from the scarred-faced family were using it for the first time and were a bit "clumsy," always getting scolded.

Two ships, six river otter watermen were completely insufficient.

It's all the otter's fault for not being promising, the otter family wasn't prosperous enough.

Guan Congjian settled Zong Lichan's room, stepped on the connecting pedal in the middle, joined the deck of the large ship to eat iced watermelon, and joined the senior brothers' idle chat without any sense of incongruity.

"Pfft, I've grown so big, this is the first time I've traveled so far." Sixth Cao Shixiong Cao Rang spat out a black seed, "I heard that the further northwest you go, the larger the prefectures and counties are. A direct-controlled prefecture like Huangzhou can catch up to more than half of our prefecture in the south!"

"Normal, right? The Heyuan Prefecture where the Eldest Cao Shixiong is, good heavens, I've seen the map, it's bigger than our Pingyang Prefecture by I don't know how much, it's terrifyingly vast!"

"The richer the place, the smaller and more fragmented the imperial court cuts it. If it's both rich and large, that would be terrible; it would be too much trouble if something happened."

Liang Qu asked: "Sixth Cao Shixiong hasn't been to Huangzhou?"

"Mistress hasn't been back for ten years, where would I have the chance to go to Huangzhou? I'm just waiting for this time to open my eyes."

"Second Cao Shixiong, Third Cao Shixiong, where are you?"

Lu Gang nodded: "The two of us have been there once, it was for Mistress's father's eightieth birthday. It's been nearly ten years in a blink."

"However, we should arrive there in the tenth month. It happens to be the Hunting Moon, maybe we can catch the annual Great Hunting Meeting in Huangzhou."

"Hunting Moon, Great Hunting Meeting?"

Guan Congjian was like a mouse seeing grain, pricking up his ears.

Yu Dun laughed: "Local customs, I suppose. There are many people in the south, much water, few mountains, few forests, few demon beasts. But from the Central Plains to the northwest, there is this saying of Hunting Moon, which is the next full moon after the Autumn Equinox."

"The full moon at the Autumn Equinox is called the Harvest Moon. Many crops mature, symbolizing a bumper harvest. At this time, the weather turns cold, and wild beasts need to store food for the winter, so they run into the fields to eat the leftovers."

"By the next full moon, a large and full moon happens to illuminate the prey galloping in the forest, and thus the Great Hunting Meeting came into being."

Lu Gang added: "It's similar to our River God Festival. Ordinary people catch wild boars, martial artists catch demon beasts. Those who perform well will get the favor of the girls, and wealthy families will also pool money to set up prizes."

"The rewards are quite generous. The session I came to, the top five were guaranteed Pulse Marrow Jade Liquid, and the top winner had soul-nourishing treasures similar to Soul Gold Lotus. That's why the folk customs in Huangzhou are martial and fierce."

"In the martial arts tournament the year before last, one of the twenty-eight Wolf Smoke constellations came from Huangzhou. I forgot which one it corresponds to."

Yu Dun nodded.

"We have many rice and wheat rotations here, and the single harvest moon has to be dragged to early or mid-tenth month, and there aren't many land demon beasts, so we don't have this custom."

"Good!"

Guan Congjian and Xu Zishuai slapped their thighs, their eyes burning, their blood surging.

They wished they could take the oars, row the boat manually, and fly to Huangzhou early.

The attraction of Pulse Marrow Jade Liquid to Wolf Smoke martial artists was self-evident, not to mention soul-nourishing treasures.

Liang Qu was also moved, but there was one thing he didn't understand.

"Pulse Marrow Jade Liquid is already worth a lot, and the top five all have it, plus soul-nourishing treasures. How much silver does that cost?"

Are the people of Huangzhou so generous?

The River God Festival in Yixing Town could have so many people paying money, not because the wealthy families were really generous, but because they would distribute the sacrificial meat.

"No profit, no early rising. Such grand meetings cost a staggering amount every year, so naturally, they have their ways of making money. You'll know when you go, Junior Brother."

Yu Dun sold a mystery, and everyone was even more expectant.

Xu Zishuai turned his head: "Ashui, when can we arrive at the canal mouth?"

Liang Qu looked up.

The otter slid down from the mast, opened the map, and moved its claws, gesturing.

Xu Zishuai didn't understand.

"What does that mean?"

"We first go north, follow the Black Water River, then merge back into the Jianghuai River. Fast, two days; slow, three days, and we'll arrive at the Lanzhou Canal mouth. By then, we'll meet up with the Eldest Cao Shixiong, and it will take about half a month to arrive."

"Half a month?" Xu Zishuai was overjoyed, "Good, good, good! Let your water beasts work harder! One day faster, one day earned!"

Pfft!

A water column surged.

The fat catfish at the bow spat water at the sky.

Xu Zishuai pointed: "What does that mean?"

"One treasure fish accelerates one hundred li. The more you add, the faster it swims."

"Can we owe it for now?"

Pfft!

The fat catfish spat again.

"Small fish business, no credit."

"Hiss, this fish of yours is quite clever."

Xiang Zhangsong mocked: "Fourth Cao Shixiong, I'm afraid you'd even cheat a fish."

"Impossible!"

Xu Zishuai denied it flatly.

Xiang Zhangsong raised his hand: "Yu Cao Shixiong, Lu Cao Shixiong, when we get there, how should we address people?"

"Hmm."

Everyone looked at each other, really not quite sure how to address Mistress's father.

Master Grandfather?

Yu Dun waved his hand: "No need to think too much. Mistress's father is a retired Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments. We'll just follow and call him Lord Xu."

Night.

Liang Qu went into the water alone to build a vortex waterway leading to Shangrao Port.

The vortex waterway hadn't transformed into a divine ability, but the quality built by the Water King Ape and the Ze Rong was completely different.

One construction could support it for several months, and one waterway could extend for a hundred li.

A qualitative leap.

Liang Qu prepared to lay it all the way to Huangzhou from here, so that his water beasts and supplies could travel back and forth whenever needed.

Peng Ze, one of the five lakes of the Huaihe, was near Huangzhou, far smaller than the Jianghuai Great Marsh, but had a different scenery.

The road was built well enough.

Peng Ze and the Jianghuai Great Marsh were neighboring lakes!

The morning of the third day.

Dense water birds circled the sky, waiting for the people on the ship to pour out the leftovers from last night.

Guan Congjian got up early, eating one freshly baked crab meat soup dumpling after another, his mouth full of soup, fresh enough to make his eyebrows fall off.

There was a white-case master on the ship, and the white-case master brought two apprentices to help. There was no reason not to make full use of them.

Three meals a day, two of which were noodles, and an extra small snack with tea in the afternoon.

Comfortable.

Liang Qu stood at the bow, blowing the river breeze, holding a large bowl of noodles with meat sauce.

The Huaihe was wide, with no end in sight, and the river waves were surging like tides.

Merchant ships gathered, all with long sails, ranging from ten-odd meters to a hundred or even several hundred meters.

The oars of the surging waves were more numerous than the fish of the Eastern Sea;

The sails of the galloping wind were more numerous than the bamboo shoots of the Southern Mountains.

"Truly spectacular, this is the first time I've seen so many ships. We're almost at the canal mouth, right?"

Xu Zishuai came out with a bowl.

"Hmm, Lanzhou, the intersection of the canal and the Jianghuai River. Eldest Cao Shixiong said that after we go ashore, we should go near the Drum Tower, someone is waiting for us. Hey, we're at the port!"

Liang Qu wiped his mouth and put down his bowl and chopsticks.

The otter steered, sailed the ship, dropped anchor, and docked.

Masts stood like a forest.

The gap-toothed fisherman opened his clothes, riding a small boat through them, shouting to sell fish to the passing large ships.

The river otter lowered the wooden ladder.

"Slower."

Yang Dongxiong supported Mistress Xu as they came down from the deck.

"Lord, your ship is over three zhang, less than ten zhang, belonging to a medium ship. You didn't buy a berth. Two ships docking for one hour is forty wen, a day is cheaper, four hundred wen. Hiring someone to watch the ship is extra. I don't know if you want..."

"Stop for two hours first, no need to watch the ship."

"Alright."

The port worker collected the silver and gave change nimbly, turning a blind eye to the official waist token on Liang Qu, truly having a bit of freshness.

Liang Qu laughed and asked: "Before, when I docked at other counties, no one dared to collect my money."

The worker weighed the silver with a small scale and picked out a few pieces of broken silver: "Lord, you are joking. We have people coming and going from the south and north. Just talking about those hundred-zhang merchant ships, which one is something ordinary people can afford to build?

But if we don't collect their money, what do we use to repair such a large port?

If you have a good attitude, noble people like you wouldn't care about the tip of the hair on this nine-ox-one-hair. Lord, here is your change."

"Fine, keep it."

"Thank you for the reward, Lord!"

"Hey, that worker, come and collect the money!"

"Eh, coming!"

A large ship docked.

The worker apologized and carried the scale forward to collect the money.

"Truly interesting."

"Ashui, what are you doing, hurry up!"

"Coming!"

Port Drum Tower.

Two personal guards were chatting while eating peanuts.

One of them habitually scanned with his peripheral vision, his gaze suddenly stopped, and he patted his companion's shoulder.

"Eh eh, look south, is that the Lord's father?"

"Let me see!"

The companion pulled a picture album from his bosom, compared it repeatedly, and raised his eyebrows.

"Can't be wrong, exactly the same! The facial features are very similar to Lord Yang! Wait, who is the woman next to the Lord's father?"

"The Lord's mother?"

"Doesn't look like it, look."

The companion unfolded another picture album, on which was a woman. Although one could tell she was a beauty when she was young, her temples were gray and her forehead was wrinkled, which could not be associated with the woman around thirty next to Yang Dongxiong.

"Does the Lord have sisters?"

"Never heard of it."

Pondering for a moment.

The personal guard who unfolded the picture album slapped his forehead fiercely.

"Bad news, could it be that the Lord's father took a concubine!" ===== CHAPTER 554 =====