"yes, when I was a kid, I wanted to come here too."

With the soft words, Wu Huizhu's figure appeared.

Jin Xiuying looked at Wu Huizhu, nodded, and said with a smile on the corner of her lips: "At that time, Huizhu slept with me every night and told me those ridiculous and beautiful stories on the pirate ship. She said that there was a lake in the depths of Ganghwa Island, and the shore was full of fiery mandala flowers and trees, and the sunken dragon maiden's palace was buried in the depths of the lake that was brighter than silver. Its walls are made of crystal stones, and the steps are made of agate. Gold, coral, chalcedony, and ambergris, the dragon lady has piled up the infinite wealth of the water tribe, and all the treasures of the shipwrecks for thousands of years, even if there are ten of the tallest giant spirit gods, one of them will still be overwhelmed by the treasure. ”

A smile appeared on Li Meixuan's lips, and she never disdained these ancient myths and beliefs of the Koreans in her heart. But Kim so-young's voice seems to have a kind of hypnotic magic, attracting her and luring her to listen to this story that has been passed down for thousands of years.

"The gods sat in the frozen palace, and wept as they remembered the days of ancient times when they could still gallop on the earth. The tears of the dragon maiden are pearls like morning stars, and each one that falls to the ground resounded in the palace with an echo of sighs. The echo ripples small ripples from the bottom of the lake to the bottom of the sea, and along the way the ripples turn into ripples, and the ripples turn into waves, and the waves stand up like mountains, and fall down like mountains, so that a storm arises in the sky, and this is the white tide. All the pirates at sea know how tempting that treasure is, just as they know how terrible White Tide is. Countless people, with ambitions and dreams, set out to find the palace, but none of them succeeded. The forests and lakes at the bottom of the sea can eat people. Many people simply go to the lake to pick mandala flowers. He died. ”

At this time, the attendant came. Once the horses are ready, they can set off for worship at the temple on the mountain. Jin Xiuying smiled and said, "I'm talking about the story there, so you can go and see it." ”

The path leading to the temple was only for one person, and the maids' retinue were all walking in columns, with only two domesticated petite ponies for Kim so-young and Du Junli to ride. At first, I could hear the roar of the waves, but when I reached the halfway point of the mountain, I could only hear the sound of the wind flapping the wings of a giant bird, and the swift wind pushed on people like a slap. When the order came down, it was shouted all the way. They hadn't walked this path once, Jin Xiuying looked down at the bottom of the cliff, and couldn't help but be dizzy, the original half-human high waves were only like a circle of fine white edges, the rocky beach with interlaced canine teeth was all invisible, and the seabirds were chirping and flying under their feet. Li Meixuan held the bridle for her, Wu Huizhu led Du Junli's horse, and the group was cautious, but they wanted to walk safely. It took more than an hour to reach the top of the cliff, and it was already three quarters in the afternoon.

Look around. To the south is the gold-shimmering sea, and the pier in the bay is only a vague white line. Behind the temple in the north, the thin pine trees all lodging in the direction of the sea breeze, first sparse, and then erect and dense when they reach the low place sheltered from the wind, and the stacks are thick and oily, and the piles are tightly impermeable, and the road is a little loose in the gap between the trees.

A landslide hundreds of years ago split the mountain in half, leaving only half of the temple behind. It was not like the elaborate and intricate architecture of the Koreans, some say it was built by an ancient people who have long since perished, and others say that it was the dragon girl herself who built it. The building is surprisingly simple and tall, made of white boulders and without any inlays. The dragon scales are carved on the base of the hugging boulder pillars, some stand to the sky, some fall to the ground, the small half has been buried by the red sand, like the skeleton of an ancient beast, and the remaining half of the temple stands there lonely, revealing a hollow and solemn cavity in the face of the fierce wind.

The twelve priests sang an ode to the gods. The tone is long and strange, and the language is unfamiliar, and it is said to have been handed down by sailors who picked up a life from the storm. No matter how clear and quiet the noon weather is, as long as such an ethereal song can be heard in the distance, the night will descend on the world in the blink of an eye, and the sky will be stormy, and the faint fire will be lit on the mast. It was the song of the dragon maiden who summoned the storm.

Li Meixuan stretched out her hand and took Jin Xiuying, and walked into the shadow of the dilapidated temple dome, Du Junli and Wu Huizhu were on both sides behind her, and the courtiers then rushed in. Most of the boulders and bricks that had been paved on the ground were broken, revealing the mottled foundation stones below, and the sunlight cast here and there scattered, leaving spots of light. At the end of the temple's main hall, from those gray cornerstones, suddenly rose a dazzling white boulder wave more than two people high.

They are so delicately and realistically carved, rolling, seeping, roaring, chasing every ship that dares to sail into the deep sea like a beast of prey chasing a poor prey.

In the center of that still, thorny corolla-like giant whirlpool, the master of the ocean sits. The statue of the dragon goddess that people worship is a miniature imitation of this statue - the appearance of a beautiful girl singing with her head held high, a person on her waist, a Jiao under her waist, thin ears, and a strand of blue curly hair, as if swaying in the invisible water waves. But none of the imitations could match her. She was tall, magnificent, and looked like life, as if recalling the echoes of thousands of miles of wind and waves in the eternal silence.

In front of the ten-man seated statue of the dragon maiden lay a large number of flowers and fruits, some of which were withered and some of which were still fresh. Between these offerings are small clay urns, which kick up smoke and dust when the wind blows, and are the ashes of the pirates' human sacrifice to the dragon maiden and the god of the sea. In the temple of the dragon maiden sea god, the people of the sea do not fight, so the pirates and the merchant travelers even worship and pray separately, and they are safe, but those contradictory wishes, no one knows how the dragon maiden will decide.

The attendants sent fruits, flowers, and new wine like a stream, and the carols fluttered like a line of green smoke rising into the sky, endlessly.

One hundred and ten people knelt down in front of the statue and whispered a prayer for the peace of the country, the peace of the sea and the frontier, and peace for generations. Li Meixuan was at the front of the crowd, raising her eyes to look at the statue of the dragon goddess in front of her, ten years apart, when she first came, she was timid and childish, at the mercy of others, but when she went, she was no longer the little child of the year. She grinned silently, a rebellious and mocking grin. What does it matter? Everyone followed behind her, and no one could see her expression, and the woman beside her was only kneeling reverently. Close your eyes and pray. Didn't notice her at all. The stone statues in front of him are the gods of these foolish people. Not hers.

The tone of the carol faltered, and when it was closed, the song dissipated like smoke again. The chief priest immediately tidied up his robes, knelt down in front of Jin Xiuying and Li Meixuan, and reported that the sacrifice was over.

Li Meixuan stood up with her head and reached out to support Jin Xiuying. The moment she leaned down, she heard Kim so-young whispering.

"O god of the sea, forgive him. Help him and keep the bad luck away from him......"

Wu Huizhu was also about to bend over to support Du Junli. Li Meixuan saw that in the dimness of the light behind her, a silent tear fell from her beautiful eyes.

Du Junli stood there expressionlessly, like a faint phantom.

The so-called "it is easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down", they left the Tanah Lot Temple and walked for two hours before they returned to the ship, when it was getting late, in this area. Steam-powered warships are difficult to sail at night, not to mention that they are riding in a flat-bottomed sailboat. They had no choice but to anchor here and wait until dawn before setting off.

Li Meixuan has always been surprised by Yuan Weiting's special arrangement, she originally thought that Yuan Weiting would let them take a Qianguo warship or a steamship to Qianguo, but what she didn't expect was that Yuan Weiting arranged for them to take a wooden sailing boat that he bought with money in North Korea, and the people who operated this wooden sailing boat, except for an older Qianguo officer, were all young people of fifteen or sixteen years old, about one-third of them were Qianguo, and the rest were all Koreans.

Unlike Jin Xiuying, Du Junli and Wu Huizhu's indifference, Li Meixuan has always paid great attention to the people and things around her, she has observed these young people, they are as if they are training all day long, busy, there is no time to be idle, and the officer of the Qianguo is very stern, he never seems to smile, he always makes the nerves of the teenagers tight, as if a little relaxation, there will be a big disaster.

On the day she got on the ship, Li Meixuan also saw that two black and shiny ocean cannons were carried onto the ship by the teenagers, she guessed that this was to prevent pirates, after all, the sea in North Korea is not very flat, and pirates and bandits often haunt, but she couldn't understand why Yuan Weiting didn't send a warship directly to send them?

Could it be that this "General Yuan" did not have the authority to command the Qianguo Navy?

After the mutiny subsided, most of the Qianguo fleet also withdrew to the country, and only one large warship (the "Weiyuan" ship of the Beiyang Naval Division) remained in Incheon, and only three small gunboats were cruising near the mouth of the Han River. These ships, "General Yuan" also did not move.

Thinking that Yuan Weiting's power may not be as great as it seems, Li Meixuan couldn't help but sigh secretly.

Born in troubled times, in the violent vortex, these women are just ants drifting with the tide, so weak that they can't even protect themselves, so they can only hug and form a group. She and Kim so-young are just entangled by the stumbling cords of fate, saying that they are loyal to the king, but their hearts are always clear - if not, they will not be able to live in this world.

It was getting late, and Li Meixuan, who was very worried, returned to their cabin and slept in her clothes early.

In the middle of the night, Li Meixuan was suddenly awakened by the sound of footsteps.

Li Meixuan straightened up, got dressed, came to the door, and as soon as she opened the door, she saw several teenagers running by.

In their hands, they all held long foreign spears.

"You guys stay in the cabin, don't come up on deck." A person hurriedly walked through the gloomy corridor, saw Li Meixuan, and said coldly.

"What's going on?" Li Meixuan asked.

"There are pirates trying to sneak up on us." The black shadow stopped and replied simply, Li Meixuan didn't see his face clearly, but judging from his voice, it should be the Qianguo officer who trained the teenagers.

After the black shadow left, Li Meixuan sighed, turned around, and saw Jin Xiuying, Du Junli, and Wu Huizhu all awake and standing behind her.

"Pirate...... Could it be for us? Wu Huizhu asked with a pale face.

"It's hard to say, we wear a lot of gold and silver beads, maybe when we go to the temple, they should see it on the shore." The more Li Meixuan thought about it, the more scared she became, and she couldn't help but fight a cold war.

When they went to Fuzhou this time, they did bring a lot of gold, silver, pearls and emeralds, some of which were rewards and daily necessities they received, and more were brought to Fuzhou by Yuan Weiting, mainly from the gifts of the Korean royal court.

They never knew who Yuan Weiting wanted them to bring these things.

But now, these things may have brought disaster to them.

That's when it happened. Du Junli stood up. Quietly dressed neatly. Silently walked out.

"Xiao Du! Where are you going? Li Meixuan was taken aback.

Du Junli didn't answer, just carried the hem of her skirt and ran quickly.

Jin Xiuying immediately chased out the door, and when Li Meixuan and Wu Huizhu saw this, they also chased out.

Soon, they came to the deck, and Li Meixuan immediately saw the two cannons that were already standing on the deck. Around the cannon, there were all the figures of gun-wielding teenagers lying down.

Du Junli turned a blind eye to the existence of the cannon and the teenagers. She walked straight to the side of the ship and looked at the sea.

The surface of the sea is like lacquer, reflecting the sky, but the water is clear and clean, the sea breeze blows, and the sound of the waves is silent. Through the smoke and waves of the vast desert, a small flame suddenly rose in the distance, and its reflection spread out on the black silver water. In the blink of an eye, two or three more flames lit up one after another, shattering the sparkling halo.

Jin Xiuying suddenly grabbed Du Junli and took her back a few steps away from the side. By the light of the fire, she noticed a faint ripple breaking through the sea. Coming towards their boat.

"There's someone underwater!" Someone shouted in a low voice.

The officer of Qianguo was very calm, he waved his hand, and the young man of the brigade immediately rushed to the side, raised his rifle and began to shoot at the position where the ripples were stirring.

The piercing gunshots rang out, and Kim so-young, Li Meixuan, and Wu Huizhu heard such a dense roar for the first time, and they all couldn't help but scream in fright.

Du Junli didn't shout, as soon as the gunshot rang out, she broke free of Jin Xiuying's hand and rushed straight to the ship's gunhouse.

"Yulang! Stay back! Let's go! She hissed and shouted, although the gunfire was drowned out in an instant, Li Meixuan could hear it clearly.

She turned her head to look at Kim so-young, obviously Kim so-young also heard it, and her face was full of astonishment.

Several crossbow arrows suddenly shot out of the sea, and the boys heard the sound of the air whistling, and immediately fell down, most of the crossbow arrows missed, but there were still two teenagers who were hit by arrows in their arms, lost their rifles and fell on the deck, screaming in pain. The other teenagers stopped shooting in order to escape.

The Qianguo officer's face suddenly turned pale, "Keep firing!" Don't stop! He roared, rushed to the side of the gunwale, and fired his revolver into the sea.

Hearing his command, the boys resumed shooting, and in a short time the arrows stopped shooting upwards in the water, and as the water churned, corpses floated up.

Seeing those corpses, Du Junli burst into tears for a while.

There was no more movement in the sea, and the officers of the Qianguo ordered to stop shooting, and the teenagers stopped their hands one after another, stretched their necks one by one, and looked at the sea with floating corpses.

The Qianguo officer seemed to hear Du Junli's crying and glanced at her a little strangely, but he didn't say anything.

Suddenly, with a few sharp weapons piercing the plank, an agile black figure suddenly flipped up from the side of the ship and jumped onto the deck.

"Xiaoli! Where are you?! He had suffered a gunshot wound, and the climb and the desperate jump had already taken so much of his strength that he had only taken two steps before he fell to his knees.

"Yulang!" Du Junli screamed and pounced on him.

"Xiaoli! I don't want you to go to the country! I don't want you to marry that Yuan Yuandan! Xiaoli! Come with me! He heard her voice and let out a beastly roar, sending a teenager flying as he rushed at him.

Du Junli saw that she was about to rush to him, but she hugged Jin Xiuying and Li Meixuan tightly.

He spotted her, and just took a few steps towards her, a series of gunshots rang out, and clouds of blood mist burst out of his body in an instant.

"Yulang! - Don't ......," Du Junli cried and stretched out her hand to him.

A strong sea breeze blew, and the hull shook violently, and he stumbled backwards, and his body suddenly toppled off the side of the ship, and fell back into the sea.

Du Junli's hand hung down weakly—she fainted.

The strange change was steep, and everyone froze, and at this moment, I saw a red light flash in the distance, and after a muffled sound, there was a whistling sound in the air.

The face of the officer of Qianguo changed, "Pirates also have cannons!" Be careful! ”

The boys immediately fell to the ground for shelter, and only a few of them sat there for unknown reasons.

"Tom!"

The cannonballs fired by the pirates entered the water next to the ship, causing high spray, and several teenagers were caught off guard and poured their faces all over the sea.

Seeing that the other party fired an obviously solid bullet, the Qianguo officer seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and he shouted to the teenagers who had already set up the cannons, and the teenagers quickly aimed the cannons at the location of the fire in the distance under his command and began to shoot.

Because it was at night, the location of the opponent's ship was not clear, and it could only be identified by the fire on the ship, which was fired by the teenagers two guns in succession, both of which were close misses and did not hit the target, but the power of the grenade fired by the Krupp sampan should not be underestimated, and the pirate ship was obviously frightened, and did not fire again, but quickly sailed away, and the original fire gradually turned into a small point of light, and soon all disappeared.

After confirming that the pirate ship had escaped, the officer of Qianguo let out a long breath, he looked at the four women on the deck with some annoyance, his eyes stayed on Du Junli for a while, and left with a gloomy face. (To be continued......)

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