Chapter 347: Wusun

Da Wang was in the sea, his personal guards scattered along the ship's side holding binoculars to watch the water, fearing that if Da Wang surfaced they wouldn't see him.

The treasure ship was circling the spot where Da Wang had jumped down, dragging its nets; on deck a net just hauled in was being processed. This blind netting in the rich sea still yields a catch, though the catch is a bit mixed.

At a glance, there weren't many of the same size and variety.

Many of the miscellaneous fish they had never seen before gave the whole crew a serious eye-opener.

The personal guard on the left rail was still gazing at the distant sea when he heard a 'bang-bang' knocking on the hull from below; he quickly lowered his head and saw their Youzhou dragon surface, swinging its tail at the hull……

He locked eyes with the mirage at close range, stunned and unable to react; the mirage grew impatient, flicked twice more, and everyone on the nearby deck heard it.

Chen Cang also came over; the personal guard stood stiffly and stammered, 'Dragon, the dragon that hit the ship—what does it want?'

Chen Cang narrowed his eyes and saw a dark shadow growing larger beside the dragon; sure enough, a humpback whale soon surfaced.

It lifted its head high, showing the net on its pectoral fin; the experienced captain immediately understood.

"Your Highness ordered them to bring back fish." An affirmative statement.

Chen Cang lowered the dinghy and two crewmen; those two went into the water to help the humpback whale hang the fishing net on the crane, and the whole ship watched in awe as the whale's net of fish was slowly hoisted onto the deck……

How to put it? The amount is about the same as their random dragging of nets.

Wei Shen looked at the humpback whale's net full of small yellow fish, then at the deck-full of miscellaneous fish they couldn't even tell if edible, and concluded, 'You lost.'

The humpback whale has been hanging out in Bohai Bay for two years; it knows best which fish taste good.

The personal guard who first spotted the mirage muttered to himself, 'Who'd believe it if I told them… they actually know how to fish!'

Wei Shen leaned on the rail and called out, 'Hey, Da Wang? Bai Li Jing?'

The humpback whale and the mirage certainly wouldn't answer him; the mirage instead started flicking its tail against the hull……

"What does this mean?"

Chen Cang: '…Should we urge them to return the net?'

After the crew removed the fish stuck to the net, Chen Cang immediately lowered it again; the two underwater crewmen reattached the net as before, and the result was that those two sank instantly……

"They really are demanding the net back……"

After that, Da Wang remained missing, but the humpback whale kept delivering a net of fish every now and then.

Wei Shen had gone from initial astonishment to later jealousy, a complete change of demeanor.

If only those two were his workers—he could lie back and relax! Really, just lie by the sea and have the dragon and whale fish for him—how pleasant!

Thinking it over, he slapped himself—what kind of dream is this? A dragon fishing for him?!

I really dare to imagine that!

Across from them, the bored Wei·Ni licking his own bear paw began to eager to try, looking at the bear paw then at Wei Shen's face, wondering if he should ask the bear for help?

Wei Shen: ……

Other people's Da Wang has this cheat, yet he hasn't thought of just lying low; he's been busy at sea. Finally finding a patch of sea cucumbers, he, pressing Wei Shen's limit, finally surfaced, and the personal guard quickly rowed out to scoop him up.

Da Wang climbed up and handed the bag of sea cucumbers he'd been dragging to the person beside him: 'Go, have the cook chop it fine and make porridge for my cousin to eat~'

Wei Shen's head swelled: 'I heard all that—doesn't anyone ask how I feel?'

Da Wang had already been dragged away to change clothes; Ling Yin looked around and, having no choice, asked, 'What do you feel?'

Wei Shen answered seriously: 'Happiness, accompanied by nausea.'

Even the Great Hero couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth.

Da Wang worked hard for a little while, then in the evening dragged two dead dive lamps to the White Poplar Shop.

He greeted him boisterously, 'White Brother, give this king a full charge!'

Bai Yang delighted: 'Da Wang went diving? Fish? Sea cucumbers?'

Da Wang's afternoon haul plus the humpback whale's small yellow fish made Bai Yang overjoyed—this year-end he'll definitely make a killing.

"Sea cucumbers, sea urchins, shrimp, red-shelled crabs for our seafood shop—wow, plus a few groupers and big yellow fish! We've struck it rich! …The rest goes to the supermarket! At year's end, just based on our seafood's quality, it's always valuable, Da Wang!"

"How little?"

Bai Yang gave him a rough price quote; the next day everyone on the ship discovered Da Wang had taken up fishing. Before he'd at most mess around half a day at sea, now he goes out right after breakfast, and Da Wang was hard hit by the year-end prices!

No matter how much money they made, they had to return for New Year; on the fourth day out, the treasure ship had to turn back.

When the ship sped along, Da Wang's fishing business was delayed, but the humpback whale wasn't—it loafed by the rail each day like a landlord, waiting for his workers to pay rent on time.

The humpback whale often neglects its duties, but whenever it returns to the ship's side it definitely brings a net.

In seven days at sea Da Wang fished up over a thousand sets of armor, proud beyond measure.

"After the New Year, when things calm down, I'll keep fishing for small fish from the seabed—small fish actually worth money!" The humpback whale's plump little yellow fish sell for a high price at year's end, and small crabs are valuable too.

"Look at your ambitions—are little fish and shrimp enough? Beyond Bohai Bay lies the vast Pacific, where three- to four-meter-long big fish fetch thirty to fifty thousand each."

Da Wang silently took out a notebook and began recording: Da Wang's wish #112, he wants to go fish in the Pacific!

This year Da Wang celebrated a New Year livelier than any before.

His older sister and aunt were nearby, plus the Wei brothers—Da Wang had never experienced so many relatives celebrating the New Year together.

"…Feeling, livelier than when I was a kid in the palace! So nice~" It was past midnight, yet Da Wang's eyes were still big and bright.

Zhao Bao personally tucked him in, saying, 'Your Highness, hurry up and sleep—tomorrow you have to rise early for the heavenly rites.' He could barely sleep a few hours.

Da Wang was excited today and couldn't sleep; he rolled in bed protesting, 'What's the point of heavenly rites? Since the folk started setting up incense tables by the sea to worship that "dragon," I've lost interest in this ceremony.' It's useless, the great god is nearby, but probably not as good as Bai Ze.

"Your Highness, stop spouting nonsense—just go to sleep!"

"Hmph! Worshipping it is worse than worshipping me—everything's bought with my money!"

"Okay, okay, it's all yours, Your Highness—really, go to sleep!"

Da Wang: ……Just watch—no one believes the truth.

After the New Year, good news came one after another; first, Xie Yuan finally begged Da Wang to send someone to Chen Commandery to fetch his clansmen.

Although not all, the Xie clan decided to move half of its clansmen to the Northern Border.

Next, Xie Yuan discovered that the various offices in the Northern Border were really short-staffed, not just an ordinary shortage of workers, but some places could not even function. Mr. Xie, whose disciples fill the world, finally spoke up, saying he would help the Northern Border find suitable people, and the King gladly agreed to send people to meet them.

Not many days later, the Xiongnu finally sent back a reply.

The Xiongnu leader agreed to send envoys to negotiate, and also coming were several countries of the Western Regions.

The King: "Which countries of the Western Regions exactly?"

The answer was the Wusun and Kucha, which are relatively close to the Xiongnu.