The national highway in Zhangzhou leads directly to the county seat of Pingshan County, and after learning more information, the group should theoretically avoid this area. However, there is still a short distance to the county seat, so after going around the auxiliary road, the mighty procession walked on the stable national highway in a short time.

The roads that have been cultivated for many years lead in all directions. If you look down from above, after removing the lush summer vegetation on the surface, the national highway paved with blue and white stone slabs and the nearby yellow-colored auxiliary roads look like dry and old pines and cypresses.

The stout main road is straight and the side roads on both sides are like branches of trees, connecting the nearby villages and settlements in all directions.

But this straight-and-smooth experience gradually began to fade as we went further south.

At the beginning of the construction of the national highway in Xinjing, the land doctors who were in charge of the planning of various places were full of confidence, and planned to make a road as short and vertical as possible at the expense of manpower and material resources to dig mountains and fill lakes. What made this idealism sink into the sand for a time was the miasma of silt in the southern part of Zhangzhou.

Even paving a road in Zhangzhou, which is full of mud, requires a lot of consideration - it is not advisable to build a road directly on top of the swamp, because if it rains, it will be submerged and the stone slab will be lost, and if you lose your way, you will die in the mud.

Therefore, it is either a detour or an elevated overhead. In the past, the land doctor who was in charge chose the latter, rose to the challenge, raised the roadbed with pillars, and named it "Heavenly Dao". After the approval of Xinjing, the Chinese people in Zhangzhou gathered manpower and material resources to work together to build this major project, which has become a world-famous scenery in more than ten years, and even entered the famous volume "Heavenly Creations" in the country of the moon, and has become a local scenic spot that the people of Zhangzhou are proud of.

However, this glory did not last long, due to the excessive amount of swampy area, in order to save costs, Tendo used a lot of wooden supports. Despite all the effort to protect it and apply lacquer to increase its life, it only lasted less than a decade before it was corroded by the toxic miasma.

In the end, the big project that cost people and money became a flash in the pan, and Dr. Land, who was in charge of the planning of this section of the national highway, was hidden from the snow and no longer had an important position. Although the materials and engineering plans used in this matter were approved by Xinjing, it was the local government that ultimately took the responsibility.

Xinjing must maintain its authority and must not make mistakes. There are no mistakes or omissions in the approved plan and the materials used, and the problem must be because the local officials cut corners and did tricks - whether this is a fact or just to maintain face and use the Chinese in Zhangzhou as scapegoats no one knows, but after this incident, it is a matter of everyone who knows that Zhangzhou has not been taken seriously by Xinjing.

After all, the province of the chicken rib could not turn over, and a large section of the collapsed wreckage of the Heavenly Dao now stood above the distant horizon, as if silently mocking the stupidity and ignorance of human beings trying to conquer nature.

Walking on the new national highway that was built at the foot of the mountain, Henry and the others looked east and saw such a scene.

June is coming to an end and July is about to begin, and the heat wave of sunny days licks the surface of the earth wave after wave. The soil on the lower eastern side of the swamp at the foot of the mountain has been dry and cracked with heat, but if you think it's hard ground, you will sink deep into your thighs and sink into the mud.

The vegetation near the waterways, which have not yet been dried, is lush, and the evaporating water vapor distorts the view under the effect of the heat wave. At this distance, the reeds looked like writhing and twisting ghosts, and even though it was broad daylight, it gave goosebumps all over one.

Below this is the home of poisonous insects and beasts. The crocodile species unique to Crescent Island are lazily lying on the shore in groups of threes and twos. Some of the bodies are leaning into the turquoise water, revealing only the upper part of the flattened skull and the eyes protruding above, disguised as dead wood, to observe the shore for wildlife or humans who have come to drink.

The local language of the Wa people refers to the crocodiles as "Jiao", and believes that they are a subspecies of the Crescent Continent dragon. Rical scholars, who are full of dragons, believe that crocodiles are more distant from dragons than dragon lizards.

Even the legendary dragon of Crescent Island is considered by the people of Rigal to be closer to snakes, and is a different creature from the more beastly dragon of Rigal.

It is only similar in character that a similar statement is adopted in the texts translated by the two places. Just as the coat that the Rigalese love to wear is also called by the coat in the human language, it is the same thing from the words alone, and the function and positioning are the same. However, there is a great difference between the Rigalese style, which emphasizes the curves of the human body, and the loose-fitting Japanese clothing, and these details are difficult to convey in words alone.

People from different cultures often have to dance to explain their meanings, even if they speak the same language. Even so, the amount of information that can be conveyed is still limited, and the deficiencies are filled in by later generations with imagination and written into travelogues. In this way, an article composed of a few truths, errors and omissions, and the author's brain has become the only way for people who have never been to this land to understand knowledge, and after a long time, there is a scene where the imperial people on the other side of the ocean have a deep misunderstanding of many things in the Moon Country.

Some things have to be seen with your own eyes to understand them – like the area where the group is located right now. Before you arrived, you only heard descriptions of miasma everywhere and swamps, and you may have come up with fields and small ponds near your home, but in fact, the miasma here in Zhangzhou is endless, and it smells pungent in the hot sun.

And the people have a saying that Zhangzhou used to be written as a miasma, which means the state of miasma, but because it was not elegant enough, it was changed to a chapter of the article.

The heat was mixed with the stench of volatile scents from the swamp, and the unique stench of animal carcasses and decaying plants buried in the mud gave off a unique smell, but there was also a salty smell similar to that of seawater.

According to Ryunosuke and others, there are many places where the marshes here are salty. In the past, there were people who made a living by extracting salt and alkali from it, but in the end, the water quality of the swamp was muddy and filthy, and the salt after hard boiling and sieving always had a strange smell that would make people sick, and finally the government ordered them not to carry out it.

Of course, the more important reason is that salt as a daily necessity is government-run, and it is illegal to make and sell it privately, and most of these people secretly boil it because the official salt cannot be bought and there is a demand, and the excess is sold to the same village.

The troop of more than 100 ronins walked on the road like a plague god, and the merchants traveling around were afraid to avoid it. Even the other traveling samurai tried to distance themselves as much as possible, not intending to come up and talk to them.

In the land of the Moon, where the social class is strict, the existence of ronin, who used to be a samurai but now has no profession, is delicate. Because they still belong to the aristocracy and can also have weapons and equipment, the local government is not good at driving or imprisoning the unemployed vagrants, but they are excluded and hostile to a certain extent without a proper job.

It's like a good student encounters a bad boy, he can't afford to be beaten, and he can avoid it as much as possible, but it also achieves the low-key not to be disturbed that Henry and others need on another level.

The dull march and the stench of the summer and the swamp made it even more like a year, and I felt that I had walked all morning, and by the time I was exhausted and ready to rest, I found that it was not yet ten o'clock in the morning.

It was still early for lunch, and the climate was hot, and the smell of fish in the mouth and nose was so hot that the group had little appetite despite the heavy consumption.

If you haven't marched in the summer heat, you won't understand how uncomfortable it can be.

Men and children love to wear a kind of clothing called Jinping in the summer. The fabric used in this garment is light and loose cotton and linen, which is extremely breathable, and the sleeves and torso that are only elbow-length are still corded rather than sewn, and the heat dissipation is excellent when paired with shorts that are no longer than the knee.

When the weather is especially hot, some farmers don't even wear shorts that are flat, but only wear a base layer called a crotch cloth, which covers the crotch with the hem of the jacket and both legs exposed, which can be described as extremely cool.

But this was not the case with serious samurai, who had to wear two layers of clothing inside and out, even in the summer, to maintain their dignity. It is even more troublesome in the case of armor, as the armor under the inner lining is long sleeves under the jacket and trousers, and with the armor on the outside, it can make you sweat even if you are not exposed to direct sunlight for half an hour.

The armor of the Crescent Continent is painted, and compared to Rigal's polished armor, it is indeed relatively slow to heat up in the face of the sun. In addition, the metal area they use is smaller, not a whole sheet, but a small piece or long strip of metal sewn on the fabric, and the overall resistance to hot and dry environments is higher than that of the Rigalese style.

But despite this, the long march was enough to make people dizzy and exhausted. Because arming is not only about the temperature but also about the weight, and the combination of two will only make people more tired.

Ryunosuke's lowest level of walking ashigaru is a complete basic configuration, with a pair of calf guards made of three simple iron plates sewn into the fabric, and a simple long cage hand, which is also sewn with simple painted iron bars and fabric. These two parts together weigh about 2 kilograms, and the thighs are not protected, plus a light chest armor weighing about 5 kilograms, a sagging straw fold - called a skirt armor in Rigal - protects the crotch and upper thighs, and wearing a 1.5 kilogram iron hat, the weight of the whole set is actually only 10 kilograms.

It is nearly half the weight compared to a full set of about 20 kg of samurai armor, but the ashigaru people are not as light as the samurai, and they have to carry everything by themselves without horses, including some daily necessities.

The standard unit of food for the long-distance march of the Tsuki no Kuni was based on 50 days, and Ashigaru had to carry 3 days' rations by himself, and the rest was stored in large packages in the baggage.

The main part of the ration for these 3 days is roasted and dehydrated dry food such as rice and flour, so it is not too heavy, and the real trouble is fresh water resources.

The bamboo water cylinder or gourd that people love to use can hold about 0.7 liters according to the Rigal standard. Of course, because it is a handmade product, there are actually large and small, generally speaking, an ashigaru will bring two water cylinders, adding up to nearly 1.5 liters of water is enough to support half a day's march, and if you save a little, you can last a day.

It is not difficult to walk dozens of miles in a day, as long as you are familiar with the terrain and know where to replenish, it is not a big problem. However, in the case of a large increase in consumption in summer, the original simple problem will also be magnified, and the 1.5 liters of water carried by individual soldiers will be exhausted in only half a day.

Henry and his entourage were also in this dilemma before, and the excessive consumption and lack of unfamiliar terrain and lack of route planning eventually led to the end of Ah Yong's three lying in the nest.

Ryunosuke and his entourage took the solution of turning a horse-drawn carriage directly into a waterwheel, and a large, custom-made bamboo water tank was made by skilled craftsmen, which was treated with planers until the edges were extremely straight, and then tightened with metal hoops. This large water storage tank, which is thin and not leaky, is actually a mobile water tank used by people for firefighting, because earthquakes and mudslides occur frequently in most places, and most of the houses are made of light and thin wood combined with paper structures for search and rescue.

This structure is easy to lift up after a disaster, and it is less harmful to residents than heavy stone structures when it collapses, but it is easy to catch fire in the middle of summer.

If one of the wooden houses in a row catches fire, it is easy to burn down the entire city, so the fire prevention personnel have ordered water tanks of various specifications. It is usually loaded on a light and flexible wheelbarrow that can be pulled up and down the street quickly, and can carry more fresh water than a human portable wooden barrel.

Ryunosuke's custom-made tank is larger than the firefighting kind, almost the same length-to-width ratio as a large four-wheeled carriage. However, usually this tank is not full. Even the best national highways are often bumpy on the slopes, and the water tank filled with water is a very high burden on the axles and the horses pulling the carts, and there is a great risk when going downhill because of the heavy weight.

However, even so many such waterwheels have greatly improved the continuous combat ability of Ryunosuke and his party, and Henry and his party, who were temporarily traveling with them, have also been stained with this light, and have been able to obtain sufficient fresh water to supply the three of Ayong who are lying in the nest to avoid dehydration shock.

The disadvantage of this is naturally that they cannot leave the flat national road due to their poor mobility, but after all, the size of the number of people is there. Small groups can still travel lightly, and if there are not enough supplies for more than 100 people, it is only a matter of time before they become robbers and robber to make a living.

The scorching summer days and the stinking heat of the swamp made everyone almost exhausted. After 10 o'clock, they walked a short distance, but seeing that the pace of their walk was getting slower and slower, the sergeant who was like lieutenant Ryunosuke handed out some pastes in small wooden jars.

Extracted from several refreshing medicines such as peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and camphor, this paste made with beeswax is a common dizziness medicine in Japanese society. Henry and his party also made purchases before leaving Ziyun.

Apply it to the sides of the forehead and the area known as the temples, as well as the upper lip called the "middle point", and take a deep breath to clear the mind and clear the dizziness caused by the heat.

After about 40 minutes of walking, the group took a break near the abandoned foothill inn on the side of the road.

When they arrived, the other travelers who had been enjoying the shade under the bamboo forest in the vicinity quickly packed up their things and distanced themselves, and the few who were more unresponsive moved away after realizing that the samurai did not have a home crest.

This scene caused Henry and his party to raise an eyebrow, and the personnel under Ryunosuke, who had long been accustomed to it, began to set up pots and pans to prepare for lunch.

Obviously, they're not surprised.