On the Yinyi River outside Fucheng.
The ships are like shadows.
With the bumper grain harvest in recent days, the mountains are covered with precious medicinal materials. As more and more people get the news, the number of ships traveling to and from the city is doubling every day.
The wide river was crowded with ships and masts.
The merchant ships came fully loaded and returned fully loaded. The docks were in full swing. The porters were unloading cloth, spices, porcelain and other commodities brought in from other places. The merchant ships were soon unloaded and empty. Immediately, another group of porters came under the urging of the foreman. Next, carrying the rice and medicinal materials harvested from generation to generation, they speed up the loading and shipping to other places in order to catch up with the next loading.
There was even a situation where there was not enough porters on the dock for a while, and the major chambers of commerce rushed to increase the price to hire porters. They all wanted to unload and load the goods as soon as possible, and made many trips to resell goods from the two places.
The small labor cost of hiring a porter turned into a small profit in the face of the huge profit difference in reselling back and forth.
Even the gangs of porters who usually fight for territory and fight for a merchant ship have no manpower at all when faced with so many merchant ships crowded in. How can they think of fighting? Instead, they call for friends Get up and move goods at the dock and make a fortune together.
No matter who has a wife and children to support, there is endless work to do now, and the businessmen are willing to pay more for labor. If the money is endless, who is still willing to cause trouble and fight for territory.
At this time, Wuzhou Prefecture was not only filled with merchant ships from other places, but also a large number of passenger ships.
Those passenger ships are very different from merchant ships in appearance. Passenger ships do not have to rush. In order to maintain stability and reduce the comfort of passengers, most of them are flat-bowed flat-bow ships. Although the bows of these boats have poor wave-breaking effect and cannot achieve high speeds, their advantages are that the hulls are stable and the shaking of the hull is minimized.
As soon as these passenger ships docked, there were immediately sedan bearers, wheelbarrow drivers, and carriage drivers running over to solicit passengers.
Some young men, scholars, and the family members of old men and women who had just come off the ship were surrounded by people soliciting customers before they had time to see the prosperous city clearly.
These outsiders had heard about the celestial phenomena in Fucheng, Wuzhou Prefecture, and all of a sudden they rushed over to see the spectacle.
What is the cheapest in Fucheng now?
One is grain, and the other is medicinal materials. The grain merchants and pharmacists in Fucheng have made a lot of money in these days, making a lot of money every day.
In fact, because there are not enough merchant ships and the goods cannot be transported, the wealthy merchants of the chamber of commerce have bought up all the private ships, even the fishing boats. For these businessmen, now it is really every inch of time and every inch of gold, every day. Making big money.
At this time, it is not surprising that Fucheng is overcrowded. Restaurants, teahouses, restaurants, cloth shops, and jade shops are full of foreign tourists. Even the incense in temples and Taoist temples has been particularly prosperous these days.
Who would have thought that just a few days ago, the grain harvest in Fucheng was poor, the people were in dire straits, and it was difficult for the people to even drink water.
It is said that whether a place is prosperous or not, first look at the Goulan Houses, secondly the flower streets and willow alleys, and thirdly the brothels. Now these places in Fucheng are crowded with businessmen and tourists from other places, spending money like water, and the girls are busy day and night. Also open during the day.
…
On the Yinyi River where water transportation in Wuzhou Prefecture is prosperous and ships are crowded, a merchant ship with a deep draft and a full load of goods returning home was slowly pulled upstream by trackers on the rope amid shouts and shouts on the river bank.
The skin of the trackers' backs were tanned and dark. They bent forward, carrying stiff ropes on their backs, and limped forward on the rocky shoals. There were blood marks on their bare arms worn by the ropes, mixed with the summer heat. The scorching sun and sweat bring excruciating pain.
It’s not that they don’t wear clothes, and the baby at home is still crying for repairs. How many clothes can a poor family have that can withstand wear and tear?
Hi yo, hi yo, the shouts of these men trackers rang out in the empty valleys on both sides of the river. Suddenly, there was a thud, and the bow of the merchant ship seemed to hit something in the river, causing a small wave to rise.
"What was that sound just now?" A boatman ran to the bow to take a look.
But immediately, a panicked cry sounded from the bow of the boat, and the boatman screamed in panic that there were dead people in the water, there were dead people in the water.
"Uncle Guizi, what's going on?" A lurker on the shore raised his arm and wiped the sweat on his face. He asked a 30-year-old man with a dark face and continued to bend his knees to pull the boat.
This tracker, whose skin on his back has been severely worn all year round and is dressed in swarthy skin, is still only a teenager.
The middle-aged man in his thirties, who was called Uncle Guizi, had a calm personality. He continued to pull the boat with a heavy hemp rope on his back, and said without looking back: "Many people are killed every year in the Yinyi River when the boat capsizes. I guess they saw it." There must be dead people floating on the water.”
"Don't look around. We are about to pass the sharpest bend in the river. Hurry up and finish this trip. There are still endless merchant ships behind us. Wu Zi, haven't you been clamoring to save enough money to be filial to your mother? Does your mother go to the city to see a doctor?"
Oh... Wu Zi responded, and took a last look at the direction of the merchant ship with some curiosity. As a result, he was surprised: "Why is there fog on the river!"
Foggy?
Before Uncle Guizi could react, the hemp rope on his back suddenly tightened, as if being dragged by a giant hand with infinite strength. At this moment, the Yinyi River flowed backwards, and the water level of the river dropped rapidly. Even the Thousand Cave Cave that was originally hidden under the big bend was exposed, and all the ships on the river were carried away by the reverse flow of the river uncontrollably.
The trackers on the shore were all lowering their heads to pull the boat, and did not immediately notice anything strange on the river. In an instant, these trackers lost their balance and fell heavily to the ground. They were dragged by the reins on their backs and flew into the Yinyi River.
"Uncle Guizi!"
A teenage boy named Wu Zi subconsciously reached out to catch Uncle Guizi, who was brought down by the reins. As a result, he was also taken into the Yinyi River.
There was a sound of falling into the water. The trackers on the shore were either smashed to death on the mountain wall or taken into the river. They desperately called for help and were carried away by the retreating tide along with the boats. At this moment, the river was dyed red with blood.
At this time, there were cries and screams on the Yinyi River, but before the government could respond, the backflowing river surged back quickly and hit the shore with turbulent waves. Between the fall and the rise, the flood was so strong that it capsized all the ships on the shore. .
The flood came very quickly and reached Fucheng in the blink of an eye, sweeping away people on the docks and military camps outside the city. Wherever the flood passed, there were floating corpses and miserable howls everywhere.
At this moment, the city was in chaos.
The people began to call the Dragon King to come ashore again, and Longwan came ashore.
Suddenly.
The gate of Bailong Temple, which had been closed for more than a month, was wide open. The abbot of Bailong Temple and several eminent monks in the temple hurried down the mountain.
