Chapter 141

(Added four thousand characters in the previous chapter.)

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Da Wang went back to lie on the bed but still couldn't sleep, worrying whether his new friend was still around. In the end, he sneaked up to the small terrace on the second floor, looked around, but saw no sign of the humpback whale—only the sound of waves lapping. Da Wang felt a little disappointed and walked away, sighing.

The next day, Da Wang found Chen Cang again, and the ten thousand questions began.

"Why didn't I see agate and red coral on the seabed, Your Majesty?"

"The sea we are in now belongs to the temperate zone, with lower water temperatures. Agate and red coral cannot adapt to such cold waters; they mostly live in southern seas, which are more suited to tropical and subtropical zones."

Da Wang understood a bit—it was just too cold.

"But I saw red coral jewelry in Youzhou, and the shopkeeper said it was picked up by fishermen?"

"It definitely wasn't picked up near Youzhou. Was that jewelry made locally in Youzhou, or did it come from the south?"

Da Wang didn't know the answer. He felt a bit regretful for not finding agate and red coral. Back then, his set of agate bowls had been his first fortune from street vending.

Seeing Da Wang's disappointment, Chen Cang comforted him: "Next time, if we have the opportunity and time, we can go farther. Our treasure ship is quite safe sailing along the coast. We could go to the southern seas—there, the catch is completely different from here, with many new species."

Upon hearing this, Da Wang felt eager to try and tossed aside his lingering sadness.

"Yes! Once Youzhou stabilizes, I will definitely go to a more distant place to see."

Da Wang figured it out and busied himself on his own. He hadn't yet fully explored this rich sea beneath his feet, so he decided to attend to his own affairs first. After finishing lunch at noon, Da Wang went back into the water, and the people on the ship, unable to stop him, could only go along.

Just as he was warming up on the seabed and picking up some mantis shrimp, he noticed the surrounding fish suddenly panicking and scattering in all directions. Da Wang immediately became alert, turned around in a full circle, and found no danger—only a familiar shadow appearing in the distance.

Humpback whale!

"So you didn't leave after all!"

Da Wang threw away the seaweed he was waving, floated over, and touched the big creature's head, trying to gesture, "Are you here to find me?"

Humpback whale: "Great, it let me catch it again! This little thing is even cuter up close~"

Da Wang followed it to the surface, even trying to be lazy by grabbing its small fin to hitch a ride, but the humpback whale remained gentle and unresisting, letting Da Wang enjoy himself as he surfaced—then he tossed it two feed pellets.

"See, from now on we're good friends. Next year at this time, will you come back here? That way we can meet again, and I'll give you another pellet then~"

The humpback whale let out a meaningless whale call, and Da Wang nearly got tinnitus...

Da Wang covered his ears and translated it himself: "Okay, I'll take it as your promise!"

After that, the humpback whale wasn't always beside the treasure ship, but whenever Da Wang went into the sea in the afternoon, this guy would always be waiting below to meet him.

Within three days, Da Wang's treatment evolved from holding its small fin to dive and surface, to sitting comfortably on top of its large head, moving freely.

The ship's crew, including the Eagle Riders, now revered Da Wang even more. Wei Shen said the crew had been privately spreading rumors that Da Wang was a reincarnated immortal. Da Wang first laughed heartily, then felt very pleased after laughing—this friend had brought him great prestige!

In folk tales, whales of such size are considered highly spiritual beings. Since they didn't recognize the humpback whale, some said it must be a Kun.

The Jin Dynasty people had truly never seen such a large fish before—originally lacking the conditions to go into the deep sea, and besides, humpback whales rarely came near Jin Dynasty waters. Not even a single textual record existed. Soldiers with slight experience who had heard legends would say it might be a Kun.

Kun is a spiritual thing that should only exist in the heavens.

Wei Shen's eyes turned green with envy, but Chen Cang just laughed and said there was a legend in some place that the humpback whale is the mount of the Sea God. Now it's clear—Da Wang's divine identity has a clue!

Wei Shen thought of Da Wang's diving ability and exclaimed in shock for half a day: "Sea God?... Could it really be true?"

Da Wang, knowing his own worth, raised his hand—inside was his little bracelet. Sigh, how to put it? A god made in the days after heaven. Thanks to the shark people's predecessors for their great generosity.

Ten thousand words reduced to one sentence: "You just don't understand."

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New Chapter

This time boarding the ship, Da Wang noticed the treasure ship's operations were much smoother than when he followed it last year—every step was seamless and connected. Obviously, this year's training of several NPCs had yielded remarkable results.

The warehouse was filled much faster than last year. Chen Cang found Da Wang to ask whether they should unload in Jiaodong or Qingzhou.

Da Wang thought for a moment: last year he had just pulled off a big haul in Jiaodong, offended the local tyrant, and had no intention of returning to expose himself again.

"Where have you mostly been unloading cargo this past year?"

"In Jiaodong, Qingzhou, and occasionally in Bohai Commandery—these places all have long-term leased warehouses under the Zhu Ti Chief Steward."

Da Wang unfolded his map and traced it: "My second brother's fief is Guangling, which isn't far from Jiaodong. Just go down one region, then another—when he goes to take up his post, does that mean we also have connections in Guangling?"

"Guangling... isn't as close as the map shows. If we were to return to Youzhou last year, we wouldn't have stopped fishing, and time wouldn't have allowed it."

"Alright, then next time we have the chance—this time let's just go to the nearest Qingzhou. I haven't been there yet."

Da Wang didn't put away his map, but studied it again, circling back to Youzhou. "Chen Cang, your map and mine only show the Jin Dynasty. We are in Youzhou here, and we're currently in this sea, right? To the northeast, I know it's Liaodong Xianbei, and beyond them are the Fuyu and Goguryeo. When we leave Youzhou heading south, you said the east is all ocean—is that the Pacific you mentioned? And where exactly does it end—where is the shore?"

"There is still land. When we leave Youzhou, we don't go south—we go consistently southeast. The sea we're in is actually a bay, surrounded by land. Once we pass the harbor mouth, we reach Jiaodong." Chen Cang then sketched a simple outline of Liaodong and Bohai Bay's terrain for him.

Da Wang looked at the simple map Chen Cang had drawn for him, pointed to the land opposite Youzhou extending into the sea,

and asked: "What place is this? It looks closer to us than Jiaodong—is it Goguryeo or the Eastern Xianbei?"

This question stumped Chen Cang, because this area is not on the Jin Dynasty map—it should be Liaodong Commandery of later generations.

"... The northern part here is a vassal territory of Liaodong, a small tribe. The southern part extending into the sea—I'm not sure if anyone lives there now, and I've never been there. Continuing north along this stretch brings you to Goguryeo."

Da Wang's little brain spun rapidly—unsure whether anyone lived there?

No inhabitants? No problem—there's land!

"Can this stretch extending into the sea be farmed?"

"It should all be wasteland, but it can be farmed! Though... does Youzhou lack land?" Isn't it the case that vast lands with few people mean wasteland can never be fully cultivated?

"No shortage—I'm just asking. Our Jin Dynasty territory—of course the bigger, the better."

Da Wang smiled to himself contentedly—if not farming, he could do something else, something he couldn't do in Youzhou.

Qingzhou lies north of Jiaodong Commandery. The fully loaded ship raced to Qingzhou at full speed and didn't take much time.

This year, with frequent往来, upon arriving at Qingzhou's ferry, the experienced crew unloaded cargo swiftly. As soon as word spread that a large ship had docked, small vendors selling cheap seafood swarmed in.

Da Wang watched the scene progressing even faster than last year and felt they might be able to return to Youzhou early to celebrate the New Year.

This time Da Wang came along, and the fish catch was still being transferred in the warehouse before being moved to the storage and sold as white poplar; Da Wang watched the unloading and planned to go to Qingzhou City for a stroll.

Thinking about it, time really flies—when they charged on horseback into Yong'an County and smashed the local tyrant's manor, it feels like it was just not long ago.

Usually Da Wang relies on being from a border commandery to act tough when checking road permits entering the city, but who would have thought it's now his turn to be checked?

Da Wang stood outside Qingzhou City, dazed—road permit? He doesn't even have one!

Leaving the commandery without permission is illegal!

Last time, Yong'an didn't check them at all—Da Wang, being familiar with the place, chatted up the elders in line, saying they were dockworkers coming to resupply, asking why they had to queue so long for city entry and why road permit checks suddenly started.

That elder pointed toward the south of the city, saying, "Who knows how the neighboring Linpan offended Heaven— a storm came from the sea and blew away their houses; this autumn they harvested nothing, and the whole population has become refugees camping outside the city gates for months. If they didn't check strictly, these people would just flood in!"

Da Wang was first shocked, then realized—there's actually such a thing?

Then it clicked: probably a typhoon made landfall. What offending Heaven? These people are really superstitious… Looks like reading more popular science books would help.

"And the Court Affairs? Didn't they come to relieve the disaster?"

"We don't know." That old elder was just an ordinary commoner, with limited knowledge.

"At first it was a huge black mass—officials distributed porridge for a few days, then stopped, probably couldn't afford it either. These people just set up shacks outside the southern city wall, taking odd jobs at the docks to get by with thin gruel. Now there are fewer people—after this cold snap, I heard some froze to death, and many more headed south. When crowds were big, they didn't even dare open the city gates—I've had two sons doing odd jobs inside the city for days and haven't come home……" The elder, bored in line, opened up and told Da Wang a lot.

"Typhoon… but it's not windy now, right? Why don't they go home?"

"How could they go back? Those squatting here are from houses blown to pieces—Linpan offended Heaven, and going back would be pointless."

"Then isn't there land? Don't they want it?"

"What land does Linpan have? Most rely on the sea for food. Even those with land can't farm now—plow it and it might just wash away again……"

"Oh……"

Da Wang realized entering the city was hopeless, said goodbye to the elder, and walked toward the refugee gathering south of the southern gate.

Before getting close, he smelled a foul odor—Wei Shen stopped him from approaching.

"Refugees are a mix of dragons and snakes—maybe even plague. What are you doing crowding up front!"

Da Wang could only stand in place, craning his neck to stare hard, "Cousin, look—there are still grown men!"

"So what?"

"Which version do you want to hear—the official one or the sincere one?"

"How does the official version go?"

"Although Youzhou is also turbulent, but I have the duty to share my Father Emperor's worries……"

As soon as Wei Shen heard him start dragging on with long-winded talk, he cut him off immediately: "Enough, we're all our own people—speak sincerely!"

Da Wang: "They're all tricked into going to Youzhou to farm."

Wei Shen: ……

"You really are something—don't say, this idea actually works. Youzhou has so much wasteland it's useless—just register there and they'll assign a plot for them to reclaim themselves!"

"Exactly! Youzhou has only 120,000 households—being able to trick… being able to get one more household is one more household."

Vast land and sparse population is Youzhou's biggest problem—one household conscripting one person amounts to only 100,000. After years of border warfare and turmoil, many households are just the elderly, weak, women, and children. If real war came, adult males couldn't even be conscripted fully—unless absolutely necessary, we can't just take someone's only son and send him off to fight, can we?

In reality, Youzhou would struggle to gather 50,000 people.

And Youzhou's long border— the five thousand at Gu Pass are nowhere near enough; Da Wang has always felt a sense of crisis.

"That bandit village at Chishui Village has a huge stretch of wasteland to the north—no people, no smoke. Send word back to have Zhu Ti set up a refugee village there—from now on, wherever refugees come from, Youzhou will take them in."

"Bandit village? Is the whole village bandits?"

"Exactly—I passed through there myself and almost got robbed, luckily I brought enough people."

Wei Shen: …… You Youzhou really are 'outstanding people and blessed land'.

Since they reached agreement, Da Wang wanted to go himself to 'persuade' them. This time Wei Shen stopped him again: "You're just a kid—what persuasive power do you have? Besides, you're dressed too well—going to the refugee camp would draw too much attention."

"Then who should go?" Da Wang looked toward the Eagle Riders behind him, noticing they were also dressed well, tall and sturdy in neat uniforms.

In the end, they found a few articulate sailors on the ship—Wei Shen said these locals might communicate more easily with the refugees.

Da Wang had the low-value small fish moved to them—got to let them see some sweetness, right? Wei Shen joked this was like a weasel giving gifts to a chicken.

Da Wang fumed: "Hmph, I still have to find them work and raise them until spring—where's there such a good weasel!"

The persuasion team, led by ship captain Yang Xu, brought several carts of small fish to the refugee camp, causing a sensation—refugees simply couldn't believe such good fortune existed.

After months as refugees, even the most cheerful personalities had become listless and lethargic.

They didn't believe there was such a thing as a free lunch, but that didn't stop them from eyeing the fish greedily.

Many of them were former fishermen—though they used to eat fish until they were sick of it, now they own nothing, and even one meal a day is hard to come by—so a single fish has become a luxury.

Yang Xu shouted for everyone to line up and receive fish—one per household.

Tall fishermen who made their living at sea, the refugees were fairly obedient and cooperative—after all, if there were conflicts, these hungry people probably couldn't win a fight.

"We are fishing boats from Youzhou—our boat master is kind-hearted. Hearing that disaster victims here have no food, he ordered us to pick up some fish and distribute them—any help is better than none."

Refugees surged forward eagerly to line up, Yang Xu unloading fish while chatting with them.

"……It's almost year-end now—has the Court Affairs said anything? ……Sigh! Not giving us commoners a way to survive! ……Understand, understand! Our Youzhou used to live just like you brothers are now—our family barely managed one meal a day, the border is too harsh, too poor! But now it's better—our Youzhou life has improved a lot…… I'm telling you, Youzhou-registered citizens, at year-end, just bring your household register to our Da Wang and you'll get a fish! There's no such good thing left in the world—since the You King came to Youzhou, we finally have someone looking after us…… ……Yes, the Father Emperor's own son…… ……Yes, His Highness is a good person—we finally have protection…… ……Youzhou opens wasteland for farming—farm five years and you get the land deed—have you heard of such a good thing?"

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