Yu Yan took a hundred tigers, rode out of the mouth of the wind spring, and went south through the Rui army camp. Less than two miles away, he heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him, and it turned out that Zhou Kao and the bears had caught up.

After Zhou Kao caught up with Yu Yan, he reined in his horse and said, "Young Master Yu, I have been grateful for the hospitality of Lord Yu Hou for the past few days. ”

Yu Yan smiled slightly: "It's a trivial matter, why worry about it." ”

Zhou Kao said: "Young Master Yu, have you been to Maojindu before?" I wonder how far from it is? ”

Yu Yan pointed to the guide and said, "Have you seen the village in front of you?" It's called Maoyi, and the village is inhabited by boatmen from Maojindu. After Maoyi and then go south, not far away is Maojindu. ”

Zhou Kao was very happy to hear this, and said, "Thank you for your advice." When he saw that Maojin was not far away, he struck the horse's ass with a bamboo shot, and the horse neighed, spread its hooves and galloped away.

The weekly examination was originally a whim, and the horse galloped. Yu Yan thought to himself: Is this a horse race with me? I won the last time I was a horse race, and I can't lose to you if I want to race. He kicked his feet in the horse's belly and slapped the horse in pursuit. Zhou Kao's mount is short and thin, how can he be his opponent of Zi Yanliu? In just one stroke, Yu Yan has surpassed the horse's head in the weekly examination.

When Yu Yan ran to the entrance of Maoyi Village, Zhou Kao had been left far behind by him. The place where the thatched up is a large tidal flat, and there are hundreds of wooden houses of varying heights scattered on the tidal flats. Some of the houses have fishing nets hanging in front of their doors, and some have one or two small wooden boats with their bottoms facing the sky in the open space in front of them.

The purple swallow ran away and walked straight through the village without stopping, and then a large fan-shaped sand appeared in front of Yu Yan, and the big river flowed quietly beside the beach. Yu Yan walked east along the river bank and in the direction of the current, only to see a gap in the northeast corner of the beach. The river poured in through this opening, forming a bay.

There are large and small ships moored in the bay, one after the other, and the whole harbor is crowded. A long wooden plank road stretches from the shore into the water, and ten large ships are docked in front of the plank road; Many people were shuttling back and forth on the boardwalk, loading goods on those ships. Yu Yan inspected the clothes of those people and recognized them as Rui Hou's retinue.

Yu Yan didn't want to have more troubles, and decided to ignore them. But what made him strange was that except for the ten big ships next to the plank road, the rest of the ships were empty. At this time, Zhou Kao and Mane Bear had also come to the ferry, and Zhou Kao asked, "Young Master Yu, have you found the boat?" ”

"I don't even have a figure, where can I find a boat?"

Zhou Kao looked around and said, "Aren't there many people on the plank road over there?" ”

Yu Yan said: "Those are all Rui soldiers, not the boatmen of the ferry. ”

Zhou Kao scratched his head and said, "Then what should I do?" Why don't we go back to the village we just passed by? ”

Yu Yan thought that this could only be the case, so he turned his horse's head and walked back. Then he saw ten boats beside the boardwalk, already loaded with goods, sailing out of the harbor end to end, and drifting down the river to the east. When the three of them returned to the southern entrance of the village, they saw a long earthen embankment on the outskirts of the village, separating the village from the beach from west to east. Zhou Kao ran too fast when he passed by before, and barely paid attention to the scenery along the way.

After passing through the gap in the center of the causeway, Zhou Kao came to a wooden house closest to the entrance of the village and called a few times, but no one answered. Yu Yandong looked around, walked to a large house, knocked on the door a few times, and asked loudly, "Is there anyone?" He shouted twice in a row, but there was no movement. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he heard a "bang", and a middle-aged man took off the door panel and walked out of the house, and asked in a rough voice, "What's the matter?" ”

"My son is going to go to Chaoge by boat, dare to ask you are the boatman here?"

The middle-aged man looked Yu Yan up and down, and his tone suddenly became much more respectful: "The villain is the boatman of Maojindu, the villain's family has five brothers, and there is a big boat and two small boats in the family, I don't know how many boats the son will use?" ”

Yu Yan smiled and said, "How are these boats enough?" I have a few hundred men and horses, more than ten carriages, and at least fifty large ships to be loaded. ”

The boatman laughed and said, "Childe, there is no one in the entire Maojin ferry port who can have so many boats." I think you can only make up enough money if you ask a few more companies. ”

How could Yu Yan have the patience to go door-to-door and ask, he said: "Do you know all the boatmen in this village?" ”

"The little man was born and grew up, and he has lived here for decades, and I know every family in the village."

Yu Yan nodded, and took out a pengbei from his arms: "You go and find fifty boats for me, as long as you can do it, this pengbei will be rewarded to you." ”

"Don't worry, Childe! This matter is wrapped up in the villain, and he must find the biggest and best boat for the son...... "The boatman was overjoyed, and quickly stretched out his hands to take the string of seashells.

Yu Yan interrupted him and said, "Don't be verbose, I'm going to get on the boat tonight, you just go to find the boat quickly." ”

The boatman was stunned, and said with an embarrassed face: "Childe, I can't leave tonight." There was nothing to see at night, and no one dared to sail at night. ”

"Nonsense! I just saw Rui Hou leave the port by boat, they dare to go, why don't you dare? ”

"Childe, you don't know. Lord Rui Hou was on his own boat, and those boatmen were all his subordinates, so of course they would not dare to disobey their orders. ”

Yu Yan said impatiently: "You tell the boatman in the village that I am willing to pay double the fare, and there will be brave men under the heavy reward, I don't believe that there are not a few brave people in the whole Maoyi." ”

The boatman saw that Yu Yan looked down on people, and he was a little angry in his heart, but he didn't dare to openly contradict him, so he had to say: "Don't hide it from the son, the villain grew up by the water since he was a child, and even if he soaks in the river for half a day, he can't drown me." The villain is actually worried about the safety of the child, if the son has a good water nature like Rui Hou, the villain himself has nothing to fear. ”

Yu Yan couldn't help but be curious when he heard this, and asked, "What is the water nature of Rui Hou?" Tell me about it. ”

"The villain listened to the people in Rui Cheng say that the Rui Hou came and went freely in the water, and swam faster than a fish; He was a carp and could jump straight from the water to the boat. But the most amazing thing is his breath-holding kung fu. It is said that he dived underwater and could swim to the other side of the river in one go, without showing his head in between. If Childe has such a water nature, the villain dares to sail at night. ”

Yu Yan thought to himself: Is this Rui Hou really so powerful? Although I myself am rough and watery, but my mother and Yue'er can't swim in the water, if there is any accident at night, who can save them?

Thinking of this, he had no choice but to say to the boatman: "In that case, you should go and find all the boats for me tonight, and they will all wait at the ferry early tomorrow morning." Remember, if there is a half-point difference in the pool, I miss my big event, and my son will not be spared! ”

The boatman couldn't help but nod his head and said, "Only, the villain will do it immediately, and the son will be relieved." ”

Yu Yan mounted his horse and was about to go back to his father to report his life, and when he was about to leave the village, he met Zhou Kao and Mane Bear, and they also asked seven or eight families, but none of them wanted to sail at night. The three of them had no choice but to return to the mouth of the wind spring first.

In Yu Mengyan's tent, Yu Yan told the story of the chartered boat. After Yu Mengyan discussed with Xin Jia and the others, he decided to camp at Fengquankou tonight. The mouth of this wind spring is located between two mountains, and in the second half of the night the north wind blows and "whines" in the valley. The tent where Zhou Kao slept was blown by the strong wind, and the noise made it difficult for him to sleep. Until dawn, when the wind gradually subsided, Zhou Kao slept for a while, but was woken up by Zhou Chang.

Zhou Kao followed the team to the ferry in a daze, and when he walked to the bank of the big river, he was fully awakened by the cold wind. When he passed by the river bank yesterday, he was only looking for a boat, and he did not pay any attention to the scenery on the other side. Looking up at this time, I saw that on the other side of the river was a flat open field, surrounded on three sides by hills in the distance. Behind the verdant hills, farther south, there seemed to be many tall peaks looming in the early morning mist.

Zhou Kao urged the horse to come to Zhou Chang's side and asked, "Father, you see that the other side seems to be a ferry, I don't know which country's border it belongs to?" ”

Zhou Chang said: "On the other side of the river is Chongguo, which has a vast territory, and its territory starts from Chongshan in the east and reaches Huashan in the west. In other words, from Fenglingdu to Mengjindu, all the land south of the river belongs to Chongguo. ”

It's a pity that Zhou Kao didn't know where Chongshan was, nor did he know where Huashan was. Originally, Zhou Chang's plan was to take a boat to Fenglingdu, but he failed to arrive because of the dog Rong people; I've heard of Mengjin several times, but I've never been there. So after listening to his father's description, his heart was still vague, thinking: Since my father said that Chongguo is very big, then it must be much bigger than our Zhou Kingdom? All I had to do was remember these things that my father taught.

I only heard Zhou Chang continue: "Speaking of which, this Chongguo and we are still a little related. The king of Chongguo is called Chonghu, and their Chong family claims to be a descendant of Xia Houqi, and they are all descendants of the surname Xi like your uncle. ”

Zhou Kao said: "But why have we never had anything to do with Chongguo? I've never heard my uncle mention what he has to do with Chongguo? ”

"That's because after Xia Wei perished, the Chong clan took most of the land that originally belonged to the Xia Hou clan as their own. Since then, the Chongguo people have been worried that other princes with the surname Xi would want to divide up the lands, or even replace them. Therefore, Chongguo is always wary and jealous of the country of brothers with the same surname, and the relationship between them is becoming more and more estranged. ”

Zhou Kao said in his heart: I didn't expect that my uncle's clan would fight against each other, but fortunately, our Zhou country is only a small country, but there is no such trouble.

At this time, Zhou Chang said to him: "When you arrive at the ferry, you follow Master Huoshi and arrange for people to take the boat immediately." ”

Zhou Kao and Mane Bear dismounted and walked towards the plank road, and met Yu Mengyan and his son standing on the bank of the river. Zhou Kao stepped forward to salute the two, and Yu Mengyan asked him, "Zhou Gongzi, have you found all your boats?" Zhou Kao replied: "Thank you for your concern, our ship is enough, I am about to help load the ship, please forgive the juniors for retiring first." ”

After Zhou Kao said goodbye to the two, Yu Yan said to Yu Mengyan: "Father, I see that this Maojindu is deserted, and there are no people, why are there many ships moored in the harbor?" When I went to Fengling Ferry before, I had never seen so many boats. ”

Yu Mengyan said: "It is the end of the year, not the season for salt production, so these ships can only be idle here. At the turn of spring and autumn, when the salt fields of our Yu country are harvested, salt merchants from all over the world are like clouds. At that time, the boats of this Maojin ferry come and go, and there is no time to spare, then you will not see so many boats. ”

Yu Yan said: "Oh, I also said that the people of Maojindu have built so many boats but don't use them, isn't it a waste of wood." Also, a long embankment was built outside the village of Namaoyi, nearly a mile from the riverbank, I wonder why they built a levee so far away from the river? ”

Yu Mengyan smiled: "It's no wonder you don't understand, because you have never seen a flood in a big river. When the torrent came, the waves swept the sky and the earth, and the river could swell a foot or two high in a day. If an embankment is built on the bank of this river, the length of the embankment will be greatly increased, and the amount of earthwork and labor required will be several times greater. In the vicinity of Maoyi, there is no need to build a long earthen embankment, and the houses in the village can be protected, which is called doing more with less. ”

"Father, it turns out that such a seemingly simple matter as building a dam also needs to be carefully calculated, and it is by no means something that can be done well by being reckless."

"Of course, the earthen embankment outside Maoyi Village, the locals call it Yu Dike. Legend has it that when Dayu dug the Maojin Road canal, the excavated soil was piled up here, and it was built along the way. ”

Yu Yan asked suspiciously: "I only know that Dayu used the method of channeling to calm the flood, and I have never heard that he also built a dam." What's more, Dayu's father Kun was beheaded by Emperor Shun because he built an embankment to block the waterway, how could Dayu repeat the mistakes of the past? ”

Yu Mengyan just smiled lightly: "What you heard is just some rumors in the market, in the legend, Kun also stole the Heavenly Emperor's soil to block the water, and so on are absurd and ridiculous." Kun was beheaded by Emperor Shun, not because he built an embankment to keep out the water, but because he dug up the soil without authorization. This soil is fertile by the river, and is the most suitable for cultivation; They dug up all the soil and destroyed countless fertile fields. Emperor Shun was furious, and only then did he punish Kun for his crimes. Relatively speaking, Dayu is much more clever than his father, he used the soil of the ditch to build an embankment, which can be described as making the best use of things, killing two birds with one stone. Later, Emperor Shun passed the throne to Dayu, not all for his meritorious work in controlling water, but more importantly, Dayu knew how to adapt measures to local conditions and be flexible, which is really a rare good material for governing the country. ”

These words are far from what Yu Yan knew before, and if it was said by others, Yu Yan would probably think that it was not worth it. But now when it comes out of my father's mouth, he can't help but believe it. Yu Yan secretly thought: I don't know how many secrets and old news of Yu Guo are still hidden in my father's heart, if he doesn't tell me, I am afraid that many things will be annihilated, and no one will know about it anymore.

His father and son chatted while waiting for their subordinates to board the ship, but how easy was it for so many soldiers, carriages and horses to all get on the ship? At the same time, the Xin and Zhou families were already waiting on the boat, but it was inconvenient for the boatman to drive the boat first, so they could only let the boat stop and drift with the waves by the plank road.

At this time, the wind on the river was wet and cold, and Xin Jia and the others all entered the cabin to take shelter from the wind. Only Zhou Fa felt bored in the cabin, and ran to the bow of the boat alone to watch the scenery. The water in the bay is a little muddy, and it is a green pool against the backdrop of aquatic plants. When Zhou Fa looked underwater, he saw a huge shadow swimming beside the boat, and he shouted excitedly: "Big brother! Come and see, there's a big fish underneath the boat! ”

Zhou Kao was sitting in the cabin, and when he was about to get up, the boat was hit hard by something. Hearing only the sound of "bang", the hull of the ship shook violently, and Zhou Kao's footing was unstable, and he suddenly fell on the deck. Xin Jia and the others are all staggering, but they don't know why; Mrs. Jiang looked even more panicked, and her right hand tightly grasped Xin Jia's arm.

After a while, the boat shook less violently, and Zhou Kao got up with his hands on the boat. He looked at the bow of the boat, but he didn't see Zhou Fa's figure, he secretly screamed in his heart, and in a hurry, he climbed to the bow of the boat to check around, but he couldn't find Zhou Fa.

There was a boatman sitting on the bow of the boat, he stared at Zhou Kao with round eyes, and stammered: "That, that child, fell into the water...... At this time, Zhou Chang and Taiji also came to the bow of the boat, and asked in unison: "What about Fa'er?" ”

Zhou Kao didn't have time to answer, so he jumped into the water to look for Zhou Fa. Fortunately, the water was not deep where the boat was moored, and he could still step on the bottom of the water on tiptoe. Zhou Kao groped around in the water but found nothing, and he couldn't see Zhou Fa everywhere when he dived underwater. He secretly wondered: how could he not find the hair when he fell from the bow of the ship, which should be nearby?

At this moment he heard the boatmen in the boats next to him shouting, "Alas, there are giant catfish! "Look, what a big catfish!" Zhou Kao wiped his eyes and looked at the center of the lake, only to see a huge fishtail not far away, which disappeared after making a wave on the water.

Zhou Kao didn't have time to think about it, and immediately swam towards the place where the fish monster disappeared. Tai Ji was afraid that Zhou Fa would be devoured by the giant catfish, and she was worried that Zhou Kao would have some accidents, so she was heartbroken for a while. At that moment, she didn't care about face, and begged the boatmen around her: "Please, go and save my child, please!" But the boatmen were frightened, and they all said, "That's a giant catfish that eats people, and it's not good, and even our own lives are put into it......"

Zhou Kao swam forward a few feet, but when he looked at the water, he was unusually calm; He dived underwater again to find Zhou Fa's location, but the sediment at the bottom of the lake was flooded, and there was a blur all around, and God knows where the giant catfish had swam at this time.

At this moment, a column of water suddenly stirred up on the water in front of him on the right, and the splashes fell on Zhou Kao's face like raindrops. Zhou Kao stretched out his hand and wiped it on his face, but was stunned by the next scene: the head of a giant catfish was exposed on the water, and most of Zhou Fa's body had been swallowed by it; But Zhou Fa opened his arms and clung to the two long whiskers next to the giant catfish's mouth, so that the giant catfish was not completely swallowed.

Zhou Kao didn't think about it, so he swam towards the giant catfish. Seeing this scene, Tai Ji was extremely tormented in her heart, and finally cried bitterly, and Zhou Chang also shouted: "Kao'er, come back quickly!" ”

Zhou Kao only thought about saving Zhou Fa and turned a deaf ear to his father's cries. He swam to the side of the giant catfish, and pulled out the light lu from his waist to stab the fish monster, but the giant catfish did not swim away, but kept twisting its body, stirring up layers of waves on the surface of the water, and hit Zhou Kao almost unable to open his eyes. Zhou Kao simply closed his eyes, calculated the direction, and stabbed the giant catfish with all his might.

The sword was piercing into the giant catfish, but the fish monster did not dodge, but struggled more violently. Zhou Kao opened his eyes again and found that all the water around him was stained red with blood, and he thought in surprise: Could it be that my sword has caused so much blood from the fish monster? Although the giant catfish was seriously injured, he still refused to spit out Zhou Fa. looked at Zhou Fa again, but saw that his eyes were closed tightly, and he seemed to have lost consciousness. Zhou Kao didn't care too much, immediately pulled out his sword, and stabbed the fish monster's right eye. The eyes of the giant catfish were originally big, and Zhou Kao stabbed them quickly and accurately, and pierced the eyes of the giant catfish with a sword.

This thorn really had a miraculous effect, and the giant catfish spit out Zhou Fa in one gulp, and opened Bai Sensen's big mouth to swallow Zhou Kao. However, although the giant catfish is big, it is not to the point where it can swallow Zhou Kao in one bite, so this time it only knocked Zhou Kao backwards to two feet away. Rao is like this, Zhou Kao was also hit by the strange force of the giant catfish and almost fainted, and when he came to his senses, he found himself lying on his back on the water, and there was a person supporting him in the water. Zhou Kao heard the man say, "Kao'er, are you okay?" He opened his eyes, only to see the sun shining brightly in the sky, which made him dizzy again. Only then did he see that the man in the water was a bear. It turned out that the bears saw Zhou Kao swimming towards the giant catfish on the shore, and knew that this move was very dangerous, so he hurriedly jumped into the water to rescue Zhou Kao, but because it was too far away, he arrived at this time.

Zhou Kao shook his head, and then looked at the water, the fish monster and Zhou Fa had disappeared. Zhou Kao wanted to swim over again, but was hugged by a bear. Mane Bear said: "Big Prince! That giant catfish is extremely powerful in the water, you can't save the second son, why bother to give your life in vain? ”

But where can I listen to the weekly exam? Zhou Fa is only three years younger than Zhou Kao, no matter where Zhou Kao goes on weekdays, Zhou Fa is always close to the left and right; Among the brothers, Zhou Kao and the second brother have the deepest relationship. At this moment, how could he bear to watch Zhou Fa die in the belly of the fish? He muttered to himself, "I was so close to Fa'er just now, and he was within my reach, I really didn't want to ......"

Seeing that Zhou Kao still wanted to break free, Mane Xiong said again: "Eldest prince, do you want Lord Zhou Hou to lose two sons at the same time?" If you make any mistakes, how can Mrs. Taiji bear it? ”

Zhou Kao looked back at his parents, Tai Ji couldn't cry anymore, and Zhou Chang kept calling for him to go back. The waves on the water were still undulating, but the giant catfish was no longer there. Zhou Kao was helpless, so he swam to the shore with the bear.