With the sound of boats in the river, Qizhou City is getting farther and farther away in our sight. Crises and risks also seem to be far away from me.

During this period, although some officers and men rowing boats came to interrogate and investigate, under the lubrication of some money and materials, they only glanced at the deck a few times, bluffed and shouted a few times, and then responded in vain.

Although the bows, arrows, knives and guns equipped by the ship's merchants and the like are right under their noses.

In order to avoid possible variables, Su Changsheng and I acted separately, because he was injured and needed to recuperate in another place, he took the initiative to ask to take a later road route.

Because the two of me were temporary, I hurriedly spent a lot of money to add it in, so as an extra private guest, the treatment will not be much better, that is, when the boatman opens the gang, he just carries a copy.

The yellowed brown rice, a few green leafy vegetables like aquatic plants, and the only meat was half a boiled fish lacking oil and salt, but I still dipped some of my own sauce and forced myself to eat it.

After the days of wandering in the wilderness, I got used to this kind of life with my head in my arms, and swallowed it silently, and the only leisure was to lie in the wet and stuffy bottom bilge, lean on me and listen to my stories to relieve my boredom.

Then in the sound of water and moonlight, full of the smell of water plants and mud turned out of the river pond, hug each other and sleep, and maintain enough body and spirit to cope with various situations.

I also took the opportunity of daily contact to get a little bit of my surroundings.

This is a unique flat water steamer that walks the Cao River, with a total of three cabins, two of which are under the board and one on the deck, which are sufficient for the distribution of people and goods, as well as the corresponding use of livestock. After it is full, it can carry about 300 koku of goods, or dozens of passengers.

Therefore, the most striking thing is the huge water wheel that can be raised and adjusted at the stern, and the wet wooden wheel blades, which are very nostalgic in the steam era.

In addition, the superstructure also has traditional sail cables, which can be assisted by stern and oars when offshore or in shallow water, and when entering narrow river lanes or when it is necessary to go against the current, it is propelled by multi-axle pedal water wheels, and when it reaches wide waters, it uses the power of sails to speed up the boat.

Then form a team according to three or five, relying on the self-sustaining ability of the materials they carry, as long as there are enough manpower, they can probably complete the voyage of hundreds of miles alone.

As a result, the usual crowds of people on both sides of the river became sailors who pedaled on the boats, and they were also hired by the guilds along the coast according to their mileage, and they were divided into different township party groups according to different sections of the river.

Therefore, there is always no shortage of them in the Cao River and its tributaries in the north and south. But in this day and age, it's a different story.

The southbound flotilla passed

After leaving the canal of the tributary of Jishui, the water suddenly became wider, and the speed of our boat became faster.

After entering the rough river, they finally relaxed their guard a little, and let our "uncle and nephew" come to the deck to breathe.

Only then did I realize that we were accompanied by a dozen other guests, all gathered on the deck of the last steamer, met briefly, and hid in their respective cabins. Obviously, everyone has secrets, or other hidden secrets.

The so-called scenery of the Cao River, accompanied by the scenery of the beginning of spring, should have been densely populated and prosperous on both sides of the Cao River, most of the time is sparsely populated and lonely, and there are even traces of being burned and plundered.

The few popular market towns are also sentry towers with bows and arrows, surrounded by high walls, weapons on their bodies, and patrolling and guarding inside and outside. As for the suspected floating corpses and other water objects floating in the river, it is a common scene.

That's when people became aware of it.

The prosperity of Qizhou and a certain kind of comfort are only a few cases in this troubled era where hunger and death are the main theme.

Although we are on the supremacy of the old road of the Cao River, but

As a hundred years since Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty went down to Yangzhou, the dragon boat of the Water Temple traveled smoothly from north to south, and the grand occasion of thousands of miles of people and goods was long gone; In the past, the tribute ships of the Jianghuai thoroughfare, full of light and expensive goods, traveled all the way to the pond outside the west gate of Chang'an, and the best prosperous years have also become a passing flower.

Only the mottled grass and trees along the coast, the various ferry piers hidden in the moss-dyed green, and the occasional silhouette of the wind still telling the glory and prosperity of the past.

After all, it has been chaotic for more than 100 years, and the artificial traces accumulated from the subtle power of time and nature, long enough for the vines to re-occupy and recapture, and the human society has been developed for generations.

In fact, since the Qianyuan period of this timeline, because of the fall of the Central Plains and the great chaos in the Jianghuai River, the large-scale maritime transport that arose, and the southeast Caoyun, which had flourished since the Sui Dynasty, has inevitably moved towards the fate of decay.

After the Yiwei Rebellion, the chaos of the court situation and the turmoil in the world further caused the depression of the Caohe waterway, the disrepair and the man-made damage in the war, resulting in the collapse of the canal water system.

The unrestrained floods and rivers have led to various silts and diversions, and the destruction of large tracts of fertile land has also created large areas of water, turning the banks of the Cao River beyond recognition.

With the gradual abandonment of embankments and water conservancy facilities, the main artery of water transportation between the two capitals, which originally ran through the center of power in the world, and the southeast wealth, has also become a section of inland rivers of different depths. The tension and stalemate in the war further further artificially blocked the Cao River basin into large and small spheres of influence.

Plus,

Because of hunger and food, or for other reasons, the displacement of the land and the abundance of thieves also posed a de facto threat to the canal.

Therefore, only a small number of boat gang guilds with strong strength and regional background can continue to use some of the functions and relics of the Cao River to maintain their own means of livelihood in this troubled era.

But the risk still exists, because the official or local powerful bandits, there is still the fact that they can negotiate to reach some kind of conditional communication, but for those rogues who come out from time to time and can't always kill them, they can only rely on character and luck.

Therefore, on the trip, I have seen at least twice that the ships that are suspected to have been robbed and burned down, and the wreckage that runs aground on the shore will make them sad and sad, and they will be on the alert for a long time......

Whenever the ship stopped to rest, and it was also the time when they were most vigilant, they had to arrange for enough men to patrol the sentry with bows and arrows, and resolutely avoid going near shallow water unless it was necessary for other reasons, such as damage to the ship.

When I was mooring the ship at night, I could also see the fire in the barren grass on the shore in the distance, and it was said that it was an unidentified person, following and spying on the small fleet.

Therefore, although the boat traveled on the water, it still had a considerable amount of armament, including large poles, forks, and personal weapons in the traditional sense.

And these knives, guns, bows and arrows are used to deal with the endless water thieves along the way, and all kinds of wandering and watering rogues and hungry people, in this troubled era, the most important thing is the source of outlaws, and the price of selling their lives may only be a bite of food.

Therefore, the sailors and shipwrights on the ship should be more than the normal ones for rotation, so that half of the people have enough manpower to deal with unexpected situations when operating the ship and driving the water wheel, and there are corresponding hardwaremen, carpenters and attendants in the fleet, so as to maintain and improve the self-sustaining ability of the fleet, and avoid too many docking in addition to the destination.

And the travelers on the ship, whether they are foot merchants or ordinary passengers, it is normal for them to bring their own blades, as long as you don't pull them out in front of them.

But the crossbow that had accompanied me through a lot of things, and after I had dismantled it, I brought it with me, and every night I fastened the strings and placed it next to the bed made of felt with the short horizontal knife.

This is a little experience after the robbery incident that has just been squatting, and even in the stronghold where you think it is safe, it is not so safe.

Although the boat is known as a business that travels back and forth on the water, it has a reputation for hundreds of years, and theoretically it will not be saddled with the notoriety of killing people and stealing goods because of seemingly worthless targets.

I and the men's clothes are nominally "uncles and nephews" who are anxious to go home for funeral, and their public identities are You Fanglangzhong, as the head props for role-playing, they are all bought bits and pieces from Su Jingxian's store.

She kept saying "uncle" one after another, shouting very smoothly, which somewhat covered up her true colors as a girl.

But after all, this is a force that sails in troubled times, and there is no guarantee that it will be discarded as a burden or sacrificed for other reasons for the special needs and changes at certain times, which requires corresponding self-preservation strength and preparation.

At least I can swim, I masturbated. As for the girl who squats with her head and lives in troubled times, it is a rather tragic thing in itself, if I don't pick it up.

We took a boat all the way along Jesu and passed through Liseong and Sanzhuang counties before arriving at Changcheong County in Jeju, where we anchored for a day.

A large group of officers and soldiers boarded the ship from the water, causing most of the people to make a false alarm, only to find out that they had only removed a batch of wine, silk and silk from the ship in accordance with the prior agreement, and then released the supervision of the fleet.

After the removal of this cargo by the officers and soldiers, the whole fleet breathed a sigh of relief, somewhat relaxed the scope of our activities, and relaxed the time to the whole day.

Obviously, they carried part of the military funds before, so we were quite taboo and wary of those of us who were privately brought, and on weekdays, there were people coming up to block the way even when the upper warehouses were approaching, and the boatmen were also with an attitude of not entering.

Most of the piggybackers did not take the plane to go ashore, but just bought some seasonal fruits, vegetables, dried vegetables, fish and other fresh goods from the small rowing boat that survived, and then retracted back and continued to stay in the warehouse.

After arriving at the end of the ship, the proprietor of the first ship traveled from a familiar place, replenished the ingredients and other goods, loaded a new batch of bulk goods and people, and set off again.

Just after the completion of an important business, there is a local supplement, and the overall food conditions have also improved a lot, small fish boiled with sour bamboo shoots and slices of bacon with fur appear in the content of the rice.

Then the tight schedule was slowed down a lot, and the sailors who operated the boat changed from two shifts to three shifts, with more time to rest and mooring.

Continue along the Jishui River to the south, is Pingyin County, and then to the Hunzhou border landmark danger - Yushan, it is said that here is entrenched in this force of bandits, but we really have little to do with the water.

Jishui made another big bend to the south here, the current became much more turbulent, the water wheel was completely raised, and the sails were fully pulled and began to accelerate again.

Rushing down the river, even if it was a big boat of 300 stones, it couldn't help but bump and shake, so I squatted with my head and began to get seasick, I could only accompany her and divert my attention to distract the symptoms.

After passing through Xuchang County in Hunzhou, you will enter the big lake commonly known as Juyeze, where the waves are sparkling, the water and the sky are the same, and the body and mind are new.

Because Huncheng, where the Hunzhou government is located, is on the edge of Juyeze, and there is a naval army to control the pass, it seems to be more peaceful than other places, and you can even see some rare fishing boats and wild villages.

"Xia Langzhong? ……”

Suddenly I heard the sound of banging on the partition,

"Have you ever rested ......?"

"What's ......?"

I answered loudly, squatting with my head in my hands, and she put it on as fast as she could, and then pulled out her short blade and put it in her arms.

Then he pointed his crossbow at the door, and quietly made some turning and dressing sounds.

"In some cases, you have to rely on Lang Zhong's ability......"

There was another voice outside the door, and I was finally sure it was the bow of the ship.

"Isn't there a medical worker on the ship,......?"

I pulled open the door slightly, and pressed my foot against the other end, making a look of impatience.

"That old man is not responsible, he is drunk again, and he can't count on it now......"

At the bow of the ship was a short, dark-skinned man who complained politely to me.

"I just thought that there was still you on the tail boat......

"I'm good at bruises, red and white wounds, I'm just afraid that the symptoms are ...... wrong"

I shirked

"It's okay to go and see it,"

He shook his head in response

"The same boat is karma, and my shipowner will definitely reward him for this good ......fate."

"Okay, I'll just have to wait and see......"

I could only squash with my head in my hands, and wait for me to come back with the door on the back.

Walking past the narrow side of the boat, I saw a crowd of people at the bow of the boat, mainly the boatmen and sailors, and the voices of pleading.

But it was a young sailor who had just come on board, and suddenly he had severe symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, which made the cabin smelly, and he rolled his eyes and twitched and couldn't stand up, which also caused panic among those companions.

As we walked over, we heard that they were constantly worried, worried that they were infected with the epidemic, and they were discussing whether to throw each other into the water and fend for themselves.

Then his brother categorically refused, and was begging everyone to send the patient to the shore to see the doctor, but as the owner of the ship, how could he interrupt the trip lightly because I was a sailor.

However, the patient's brother was among the sailors, and there were many fellow villagers, so things inevitably got into trouble.

"What are you all doing together...... Looking for death?"

The short black bow shouted

"Don't get out of the way yet, Lang Zhong will take a look......"

The word "Langzhong" seemed to have great magic, and they avoided it one after another.

I breathed a sigh of relief, put on a stern expression, and walked forward with the medicine box, okay, it's time for roleplay.