Section 18 Desert Harbor

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The three-masted schooner sailed through the vast sea, sailed west along the hurricane course, crossed the Ghost Howling Gorge waterway and then sailed south, and after the baptism of the storm belt and the torment of the windless belt, the coastline of the western continent finally emerged from below sea level. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

As the coastline gets closer, the cold and humid air adds a hint of dry dust.

In the distance, you can see the yellow sand in the sky blown into the sky by the strong wind, like a yellow dragon flying in the cloudless blue sky.

This is the Western Continent.

The western continent is full of vast expanses of desert, with little land suitable for farming, little fresh water, and the most powerful kingdoms have only dozens of oases, large and small. Only in the northern part of the Western Continent will there be large areas of green jungle, and thorn forests shrouded in gray mist on the other side of the forest.

The location of the 'Worm's Sleeping Land' is at the southern tip of the Western Continent, the largest and most barren desert in the Western Continent.

And the current destination of Chen Yin and others is the only port city at the southern tip of the Western Continent: Yabukana, which means Ganquan.

The name is apt, as Abugana is the only port with a sweet spring.

In other places, the formation of ports is closely related to natural conditions such as commercial development, geographical location, population density and water depth. But on the western continent, there was only one necessary condition for the formation of a port, and that was that there must be fresh water.

There is no business here, and there is no good location, and the population is extremely mobile, living here today may have returned to some oasis in the depths of the desert tomorrow, there is no fixed city and buildings, put up a tent is home, and dismantle the tent is a guest country.

Even the problem of water depth cannot be a constraint on the formation of ports, and some ports in the western continent cannot dock large ships, and can only rely on small boats to trade and replenish supplies. If you see this strange port, then there must be a river flowing through it.

Of course, a port like Yabukana, which always had sweet springs and good hydrological conditions, would naturally be the place where most of the long-going ships would be replenished.

Although the Western Continent is very barren, the things produced here make merchants come here for thousands of miles, and venture deep into the desert to buy something that must be acquired, that is, sunflower thorn grass.

High-quality sunflower grass is one of the important ingredients for making blank cards, and blank cards are the cornerstone of the entire card civilization, which is no less significant than the role of oil in industry.

It is precisely because of the abundance of raw materials that so many merchants risk the destruction of their ships through the storm belt, and then the death of thirst through the windless belt, and then have to go through the hellish voyage again after they have bought enough goods here.

Every year, there are no less than hundreds of sunflower grass trading ships lost at sea, but the merchant ships that come to the western continent at this time of day do not decrease at all.

"Here...... It's a lot more prosperous than I expected. ”

As the three-masted schooner approached the port of Yabukarna, Chen Yin exclaimed.

Although they are all large ports with thousands of sails, unlike the port of the Golden Port, where even the entry and exit channels are reserved in advance, the ships entering and leaving Yabukana are much more messy, and although this has something to do with the fact that Yabukana is an open port, there are some fights between armed merchant ships that no one stops...... This is clearly a lack of port management.

As if seeing Chen Yin's doubts, the captain took the initiative to explain: "Maybe you think it's a bit chaotic here, but in fact, they are just picking their feet and clashes, at most shooting a few wooden arrows without arrows at the opposite side." Because there is only one rule in the port of Yabucana: under no circumstances is it allowed to affect the order of entering and leaving the port. ”

"If any ship delays the entry and exit of other ships or threatens the safety of other merchant ships, he is doomed, and the sand people will rush over in small boats without fear of death, and then burn the troublesome merchant ships. So although it is very chaotic here, it is just chaos, and no one dares to step on the red line of the sandmen. ”

"Oh? Is there such a thing? Chen Yin was stunned, these so-called "sand people" management methods are really interesting, maintaining the balance of order in the chaos, and they are still dynamic management...... Even in modern times, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no problems.

"Hasn't anything happened here?" Chen Yin asked curiously, "If there are only such simple rules, I believe that most businessmen have enough wisdom to exploit loopholes." ”

“…… Of course, there are such people, but the sandmen don't talk about evidence, as long as they think it's right, it will be enforced, so the most important thing to live well here is not to master the rules, but to try not to attract the attention of the sandmen. Because if they suspect you of causing trouble, then the odds of your ship being burned are infinitely great......"

"So, the people in the harbor will unconsciously be a quarter shorter when they see the sandmen?" Chen Yin asked curiously.

"Well, that's right." The captain nodded.

"High-pressure rule...... Chen Yin pouted.

Captain "......" looked dazed, not knowing what Chen Yin meant by the word, but he still understood the word "rule".

"That's right, it's the sandfolk who rule this port." The captain replied.

The sea breeze blew gently, but it didn't smell good at all, even in the port area, the wind blowing from the land would carry a smell of dust, and if you added the smell of the fishy smell of the sea, the smell of rotting and smelling of something rotting on the shore, and the smell of filth that was defecating in the open......

“…… I found that all the ports in the world are the same smell. Chen Yin not only covered his nose.

"Silly." The crow said lazily as he stood on a high place. It has learned to be obedient, and when it says this kind of thing, it will definitely ensure that it is in a position that Chen Yin can't catch, otherwise it will be inevitable to repair it.

However, Chen Yin was too lazy to take care of the crow, and in the past few months on the ship, Chen Yin and the witch took turns to fight, and soon emptied all the stocks in its stomach. Perhaps Crow Clinton also felt that the degree of demand was plummeting, from the initial good food and drink, and the obedient words of sycophants...... Until now, he has scolded Chen Yin, and he has not bothered to look up.

"Silly! Silly! Thinking of this, Crow Clinton couldn't help but cry loudly.

"I'm going to go shopping, are you going?" Chen Yin looked up at the big bird on the mast and asked.

"......" Crow Clinton always felt that Chen Yin's eyes made it very uncomfortable......

"Don't go." The crow wisely chose to shut up.

Chen Yin nodded with satisfaction, took a few sailors, hired a translator in the port area, and began to browse the beautiful scenery of this desert port.

A few minutes later, Chen Ye was smoked back by the rich flavor.

"Hehehe......" Watching Chen Yin take a deflated, the witch leaned back and smiled backwards, and when Chen Yin and the others walked in, they held their hands on their chests and looked at Chen Yin leisurely.

"You...... Aren't you going out to see what's going on? Why did you just hit the street and come back? The witch looked at the embarrassed appearance with great interest, and seemed to be in a good mood.

Chen Yin really didn't think about this question, so he decided to ignore the witch's ridicule and directly offered the Dafa of changing the topic: "Hey, can you talk about it now?" Where is the place where the worm sleeps? ”

"Well, from here, we have to go through a few oases to get there, so what we have to do now is buy water and livestock." The witch didn't make Chen Yin even more embarrassed, and gently exposed the topic.

"Cattle?"

"Well, we need sand lizards for camel supplies." Seeing that Chen Yin still looked dazed, the witch had no choice but to explain, "The sand lizard is a species endemic to the Western Continent, and it can survive for up to half a year without eating, and it can survive for more than a month without food or water. And they have a lot of strength and a wide ball of their feet, so they can easily move forward where quicksand is everywhere. ”

"That'...... Little donkey? Chen Yin suddenly remembered the sad child in the bilge......

"Entering the desert is like looking for death, and the consumption of food and water in a day is more than ten times that of humans, which will make our logistics very stressful." The witch said with a serious face.

"Poor fellow......" Chen Yin shook his head.

“……”

The little donkey, who was still eating fish in the bilge, never thought that Chen Yin and the witch would continue to live in darkness with a few words......

With a familiar helper like the captain, Chen Yin and the witch easily arranged all the livestock and luggage. Animals are naturally large sand lizards, and luggage is water, food, maps, veils, furs, and most importantly, tents.

In desert areas, although it can be very hot during the day, sometimes the surface temperature can even exceed 50 degrees, but at night, the temperature will drop sharply, and it is common for ice to freeze even more than 10 degrees below zero. Therefore, veils, leather jackets and tents are a few essential items for walking in desert areas.

......" The captain looked dazed, not knowing what Chen Yin meant by the word, but he still understood the word "rule".