Chapter 163: Baiting the Area

Two tribesmen piloted a small boat to head downstream first, because this was their first time traveling this waterway and they needed someone to scout the water conditions; if there were a sudden drop or shallow reefs halfway, it would be too dangerous for the Large Ships.

Although in the impression of Baifeng and the others, the hydrological conditions along the way were very good because they had previously traveled downstream along the Dahe, the Dahe had now changed its course, so they could not fully guarantee it.

Even for the two Large Ships, they kept a great distance between them, one following the other downstream, all for the sake of safety.

Baifeng was on the leading Large Ship because this way he could still grasp the overall situation; whether it was receiving news from the front immediately or giving orders to the front and rear ships, there was no problem.

The distance between the two ships was too great, so voices could not be heard; they could only use colored flags as signals to communicate with each other, but because time was tight and the tribesmen had poor learning ability in these aspects, the signals were naturally better the simpler they were.

A red flag meant turn back, two meant turn back quickly. Green meant continue forward, two green meant accelerate forward, and red and green crossed meant wait in place.

The Baifeng Tribe had discovered a few more types of mineral-based dyes, so the colors of the Baifeng Tribe's cloth were no longer limited to black and blue.

Traveling by water was much faster than traveling by land, and they did not feel tired; they even had the mood to set up fishing rods to catch a few fish along the way. The fish in the Dahu and this river were not only similar in variety, but the resources in the Dahe were even more abundant.

It was just that as they traveled downstream, it was not easy to get fish to bite the hook. A tribesman took some Sorghum and threw it into the water to bait the area, which made Baifeng laugh so hard he lay on the boat unable to speak. The tribesman did not know what was so funny; he felt his fishing technique was definitely better than the Tribal Chief's.

After Baifeng stopped laughing, he didn't say anything, just watched him fish in the "baited area," but after a long while, no fish took the bait. The tribesman thought he hadn't baited enough and threw two more handfuls of Sorghum down. The tribe was not short of these things, so Baifeng let him be.

After a while, there was still no movement. Just then, a tribesman felt seasick and looked like he was going to vomit, so he quickly grabbed the person and used the vomited matter to bait the area.

This time, Baifeng laughed until he couldn't catch his breath, and the discomfort from his own seasickness disappeared quite a bit; the other tribesmen on the boat were also amused by this scene and laughed out loud.

After baiting the area several times in succession, no fish took the bait, and the tribesman was so angry he almost broke his rod. He had been invincible at fishing before, but now, after such a long time, there was not a single sign of a fish.

In the future, there would be the idiom of "marking the boat to find the Sword," and now he was baiting while moving downstream—it would be strange if that worked. Baifeng reminded him: the water is flowing, you throw Millet in, does that baited area follow you, or does it disperse?

He scratched his head: "But isn't the direction of the water flow the same as ours? Wouldn't the baited area keep swimming in our direction?"

That made so much sense, I actually couldn't refute it. Baifeng couldn't explain it either; anyway, whether he was right or wrong, it seemed useless for now.

The distance covered by water in one day was already further than they could run in two consecutive days, so they were quite leisurely. By the afternoon, it was still early before dusk, so they prepared to stop the boats and rest early.

Their two Large Ships had anchors, which were actually just temporarily modified from Iron plowshares; the principle was the same. The stern anchor could prevent the boat from turning around while stopped, and raising the anchor was simple, requiring only vertical force. Before setting off, Baifeng had already tested the effect; in this kind of sandy riverbed, it could anchor very firmly.

The small boat had no anchor; it just needed to row to the shore and tie the boat to the bank, and it was tied to the Large Ship when resting at night.

The small boat went along stopping and starting, stopping every once in a while to turn back and report the water conditions ahead.

The distance traveled today was far enough. Although the people in the Fishing Team were on the water for a long time, the water was relatively calm, which was different from constantly flowing water, so everyone was more or less seasick, and even Baifeng's own head was dizzy.

So they stopped early today to rest. After stabilizing the boats, several people took turns rowing the small boat to the shore to find firewood. There were stoves on the Large Ships for the convenience of life; they couldn't just light a fire directly on the boat.

Only after stopping could they fish. Whether it was scattering Sorghum or Millet to bait the area, or using a person to bait the area, everyone showed their own unique skills. In such a large river, the resources were extremely rich.

Baifeng used his own unique skill: primitive lure fishing, using a fake bait that looked like a bug. However, since there were many big fish now, Baifeng's bait was the kind larger than a silkworm. In the constantly flowing water, it was best at attracting lively and fierce carnivorous fish.

While they were still baiting the area, Baifeng's rod had just gone down when a fish immediately took the bait. The carefully selected bamboo and refined high-elastic fishing rod were pulled until the middle section turned into an acute angle; Baifeng was terrified the rod would suddenly snap.

The Fishing Line was made of Silk, because the Baifeng Tribe raised so many silkworms that they were indeed very gluttonous, but the Silk produced was only that much, not very much. And because of their technical limitations, they couldn't weave such fine Silk into cloth yet.

Thus, the Silk with better toughness and less conspicuous color was made into Fishing Line by Baifeng. As for the matter of making Silk, it was better to leave it to the professionals, such as Leizu; he could just enjoy the shade under Leizu's big tree.

Baifeng pulled hard for a long time, and combined with the direction of the water flow, the fish also had to resist the power of the water, so before Baifeng intended to switch people, its strength was finally exhausted.

The fish was too big for Baifeng to pull up alone; it took two people pulling together to haul this fish, which had been looming in the water, out. The moment the fish left the water, everyone shouted "Ao!" not only because of its size, but also because its golden fins and scales were very dazzling.

With pulling and hugging, they finally got this giant fish onto the boat. Its size was so large that Baifeng estimated it was at least twenty catties. If it were in later generations, he would probably have wandered around until the fish stank before going home, but now, although it was shocking, it was not rare.

For the sake of freshness, they immediately gutted it, scraped off the scales, and sliced the fish. Because of the limitations of seasonings, they could only make boiled fish slices.

A pot of white rice was steamed, and a pot with various seasonings added was also brought to a boil. The fish slices were blanched in it for a few moments, then eaten with rice; it was beautiful, it was authentic.

However, only those on Baifeng's boat could eat it; the people on the other Large Ship didn't know what Baifeng and the others were eating. The two people guarding the small boat also climbed onto the Large Ship to join in on this meal.