Just like this, Li Wuwu walked on the side of the old road of Fengshui River for nearly half a month, passing through Yishui County from Changhe County, and arriving at the border between Yishui and Dazhou, where the Fengshui River was blocked by flow. In the past half a month, all he saw was a state of poor people's livelihood, and many villages were completely uninhabited. This great river, which was once known as the "blood of the country", was diverted because of its blockage, and the pain brought to the people was also huge. The originally fertile fields were watered by the great rivers, the land became barren, and the great rivers passed through the steep ravines and valleys of the tributaries, and the original transportation role was also lost.

After the Fengshui River was blocked into a lake, it had a beautiful name - Descending Immortal Lake. It is rumored that more than 30 years ago, an immortal descended and used great magic power to move mountains and rivers to create this 800-mile immortal lake.

Li Wuwu stood on the shore, only to see the vast smoke and waves, the water color of the sky, the boat on the lake and the boat, and the endless comings and goings. The warm breeze smokes the noodles, and the water vapor is filled with the smell of fat powder, which is even more glamorous.

Someone saw Li Wuwu standing there stupidly, and stepped forward and asked, "Childe is here to visit the lake? ”

Li Wuwu asked, "How can this lake be so prosperous?"

The man laughed: "Childe is not from the old road of Fengshui River? When the Fengshui River ran through the six counties of the three states of my Dayue country, the merchant ships on the river were like white sails, but unfortunately more than 30 years ago, the immortals came to cut off the big river, leaving only a few tributaries to connect, here it was blocked into a lake, the upper three states and the lower six counties cut off the channel, some people started to resell, one and two, this descending immortal lake has become a place where the north and south merchants collude, Gongzi, you come at the wrong time, wait for ten days and half a month, and wait for ten days and half a month, and after the autumn harvest, the boat to transport grain can occupy half of the lake. ”

Li Wuwu said curiously: "In this way, this lake is also an important place for the people?"

The man was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then sneered: "It is the critical place of the rich, but it is the sad place of the poor. ”

Li Wuwu hurriedly asked, "Why do you say that?"

The man came to his senses at this time, stopped talking, and asked, "Do you want to take a boat?"

Li Wuwu said with a smile: "Do you really have that ability?

The man saw that Li Wuwu was about to swim in the lake, so he led him to the wharf and introduced: "There are nine villages and eighteen bays on this lake, the villages are all merchant villages, in the past, merchant ships stopped to stay and trade goods, and the eighteen bays are mostly fishermen's fishing places, and the scenery is first-class.

When they arrived at the dock while talking, the boatman guided Zhao San to store the carriage, and then led them to a rocking canopy boat, and then said: "There are still three islands on the lake, but there is a mountain gate of the Jianghu sect on the island, and we are generally not allowed to go to the island." ”

Li Wuwu nodded and said, "Then let's go to the stockade." ”

At this time, someone came from the dock and shouted at the boatman: "Okay, you Wu Er, you have invited guests again, you are diligent in this boat on the dock, I see, you are still born to eat this bowl of rice." ”

The second brother of the boat family Wu heard what people were talking and hurriedly replied with a smile: "Little brother can eat, and you are also rewarded by Brother Han, right?"

When the person heard this, he smiled and patted Wu Lao Er's shoulder: "You kid has a sweet mouth, the old rules!" After speaking, he stretched out his hand.

The boatman turned his face and whispered to Li Wuwu: "Guest, we all pay the fare in advance for our boat." ”

Li Wuwu motioned to Zhao San to hand over the Baiwen copper coin he had just said to him to the forgotten hand, Wu Lao Er took it, counted out twenty pieces, handed over the rest, and said, "Brother Han, this is a piece of money." ”

Brother Han took the money, weighed it, turned his head to Li Wuwu and said, "Don't worry, Childe, the dock and lake near here are the territory of my Qingliu Gang, and this dock belongs to me Han Dachun, you have something to do." ”

Li Wuwu said thank you, then Han Dachun turned around and walked away, Li Wuwu looked at the boatman, and Wu Lao Er knew that Li Wuwu had something to ask, so he hurriedly said: "Guests get on the boat quickly, there is something to say on the boat." ”

The canopy boat squeaks and sways on the lake, the lake surface in autumn is sparkling, the water line rowed by the small boat slowly fades, the oars draw a circle of ripples, and there is a fishing song in the distance.

Li Wuwu closed his eyes, at this moment, he was not immersed in this beautiful scenery.

Seeing Li Wuwu's appearance, Wu Lao Er smiled and said: "Son, you scholars are very touched, if you have good poems, you can read them to me, I am familiar with them, and I have face when I talk to others." ”

Li Wuwu shook his head gently, looked at Wu Lao Er, and said slowly: "There are still three families in Shilitan, and there is no surname Wu." ”

Boom - the oars fall on the ship's splendour.

Wu Laoer's hoarse cry blended with the faint sound of silk and bamboo on the lake, making the beautiful scenery in front of him look hideous.

Zhao San smashed his fist on the boat gang and roared in a low voice: "This thief is the way of the world." ”

Wu Lao Er heard the voice before he remembered that he was on the boat, and hurriedly apologized: "It's causing trouble for the two of you." After speaking, he wiped a handful of tears and asked Li Wuwu: "The two of you have been to Shilitan." ”

Li Wuwu nodded and said: "We went all the way up the old road of the Fengshui River, passed by Shilitan, and stayed overnight. After speaking, he couldn't bear to tell the tragic truth, so he changed the topic: "So the way is like that, just now I saw that you only got twenty yuan for 100 yuan, is it like this every time?"

Wu Lao Er raised his head and said: "All the people who beg for life on the lake are like this, and eighty percent of them have to be handed over." After speaking, he added: "The Great Lake has long been occupied by families and gangs, and anyone who does not rely on them will not be able to survive." ”

Li Wuwu asked: "What is the reputation of this Qingliu Gang? ”

Wu Lao Er picked up the boat and slowly rocked it, while Li Wuwu explained the intricate distribution of forces on the lake.

"When the lake was first formed, no one paid attention to it, that is, some fishermen came over, and then many of them came to the downstream and could not go downstream, and the local families saw that there were more people, so they successively took the original field as their home as the reason, and collected taxes from these fishermen, and then later, some merchants saw business opportunities, and also brought the fleet over, because of the inconvenient transportation, the caravan stopped at the lakeside water village, and the goods traded were collected by these families, and these families relied on grasping the transaction of the lake, and they exploited the people in every possible way. ”

"There are many people on the lake, and some people take the lead in confronting these families, and some Jianghu sects also send people over, and those merchants don't want to trade and be controlled by the family, so there are these large and small gangs, and those families actually have their own gangs. In this way, outsiders can't come in, and those of us who beg for a living can only ask for a bite to eat in their hands, so I thought that I would be diligent and work harder, and I would go back。。。。。。 ”

Wu Laoer's voice was low again.

The boat stopped at a water village, and Wu Lao Er said that this was the village of the local family Cao family.

There are not many boats on the shore, because it is not yet time, so they moved ashore, and Wu Lao Er introduced them as he walked.

There are mostly some warehouses in the village, and there are not many open doors now, and there are some restaurants and green buildings or something, but now there are many rough men on the shore who carry goods and bags, and of course they have no money to take care of the business in these places.

"Some of these families pay attention to the transaction of goods and goods, the village is mostly some inns and inns, some of the villages are built beautifully, and the Qinlou boat is like a fairyland, specially entertaining rich merchants and guests. Saying, he added: "This Cao family's village is mainly a warehouse. ”

Li Wuwu walked around the village and found that most of the various businesses here were mainly engaged in grain exchange, and the price of grain was more than twice as different from that received from the people. After eating some at a restaurant at random, Wu Lao Er took Li Wuwu and the two of them to take a boat tour of the lake.

Wu Lao Er pointed to the tall painting boat that passed by far away and said: "This painting boat is owned by the Hu family village that we are going to now, the painting boat is extremely luxurious, and it is said that the girls are all like fairies." After speaking, he whispered again: "Actually, most of them are the daughters of our broken families, who are good-looking, and they tried every means to take them away from you." ”

The canopy boat slowly approached the painting boat, only to see that the curtains on it were heavy, and the gold and phoenix paintings were very luxurious. When the man on the boat saw a boat approaching, someone shouted, "Are the guests on the boat coming to play on the boat?"

Li Wuwu suddenly said to Wu Lao Er: "You send us to the painting boat, you can go back, and help us take care of the carriage by the way." Then he said a little mysteriously: "Maybe in a few days, you can go back to Shilitan." ”

The painting boat put down the hanging ladder to pick up Li Wuwu and Zhao San on the big boat, although Zhao San walked through the business road, but where had he seen such a battle, he didn't know where to put his eyes. Fortunately, he silently thought in his heart that his young master was a person from Changle Mountain, and he was the pride of the sky, what could this scene be, and he must not be ashamed.

Li Wuwu looked at the furnishings, although they looked luxurious, they were a little cheesy, and their eyes were full of piles.

At this time, a small servant came over to solicit: "Childe, please, I have everything to eat, drink and have fun in the Happy Boat, and the scholars and beauties are the favorite in our party." ”

Li Wuwu said lightly: "Tell me what's fun, right?"

The little guy said with joy on his face: "Do you want to gamble on two of them?" There is a gambling house on the second floor of the deck, and the third floor is where the girls serve. As he spoke, he led Li Wuwu and the others to the cabin of the "Rich Gambling House" in the book.

As soon as I entered the cabin, the loud noise and the foul smell rushed over me. Li Wuwu couldn't help but fan his sleeves.

The little guy smiled secretly on the side: "Now you are pretending to be so reserved, I will wait to gamble to see if you are still holding it like this, and when you lose all your money, see if you can still look like an uncle." ”

Li Wuwu looked at the gambling games on the table, some played dice, some gambled on pai gow, and cheered.

Li Wuwu turned around and asked Zhao San, "Will it?"

Zhao San replied: "Young master, the little one has bet on dice, this little bet is pleasant, just have fun." "He thinks his son-in-law doesn't look like he can gamble.

Li Wuwu glanced at it, and then slowly closed his eyes.

After a while, Li Wuwu gently opened his eyes and said to Zhao San with a smile: "Young Master will take you to gamble for money." ”