He knew enough to stop asking questions, and just wondered in his heart: How many things would happen in a foreign land that he could not imagine?
Perhaps any sailor on the ship was more knowledgeable than he was.
He has always learned knowledge from books, but now that he has arrived in a foreign place where even the knowledge in books is beyond his reach, he truly realizes the meaning of "life has limits, knowledge has no limits".
He half-closed his eyes again, trying to enter a meditative state again, but the red light swirling in the air kept disturbing him, preventing him from truly calming down.
Yun Kong opened his eyes, stared at the red light in the sky, and murmured: "Who are you?"
With just one word, the red light in the sky suddenly stopped, floating faintly in the air, as if looking down at the clouds from a distance.
Yun Kong was startled, as expected, every thought in his heart would shake the world.
"Brother," Yun Kong raised his head and called to the sailor, "those are not ordinary things."
The sailor was a little anxious: "Taoist Master, we are not in the Song Dynasty, so it is best to keep silent."
Seeing that he was scared, Yun Kong had no choice but to stop asking any more questions. Maybe he could wait until dawn and then ask the captain Liang Daoqing.
※※※
As soon as the genius started to shine, the ship started to get busy.
At the highest position of the merchant ship, Liang Daoqing concentrated and held his breath, standing next to the pilot. The pilot held various small flags in his hands, directing the helmsman at the stern to control the direction, and the sailors at the mast to control the ship's speed.
The pilot keeps an eye on the sea surface and judges the rocks under the water based on past experience and the waves on the sea surface.
His focus was not only on the lives of the people on board and the families they had to care for, but also on the expensive ship and the cargo on board that could sustain them for years.
When the leader announced that it was out of the reef area, everyone was temporarily relieved. It was not until the ship successfully anchored in the port that everyone relaxed completely. Then they dropped anchor, started to adjust the reins, lowered the sails, and moved the cargo.
But Yunkong was surprised that the merchant ship did not dock, but stopped at an island, which was still some distance away from the land.
The sailors first moved the goods that needed to be moved off the ship to the island's port. After counting, they would then transport them to the shore in small boats.
Yunkong finally saw the coast clearly. There was a walled city on the fine white beach, as well as a temple and a pagoda. However, the style was very different from that of the Song Dynasty. Yunkong could not recognize it as a Buddhist temple.
From a distance, the mountains look like screens and the forests are continuous. The few red lights he saw last night were flying over this forest.
When everyone was busy, the one who had the most time was the navigator. Yun Kong hurriedly asked him: "Why not just dock to the coast?"
"Our big ship has a deep draft, but the port is too shallow and has many rocks, so it is very dangerous." The pilot was happy to answer him, "This island is called Yangyu, and big ships use Yangyu as their port, and then use small boats to Shipping goods back and forth.”
The pilot pointed to the north, where there was a seaport sandwiched between two pieces of land: "That big bay is the Xinzhou Port, but there is too much silt and it is difficult for large ships to sail, so it has to be transported from here."
It turns out that the cargo boat was not transporting the cargo to the nearby white sand beach, but to the big port ten kilometers away.
"That's quite troublesome."
"Isn't that true? If the king of Champa State hadn't stipulated that the ship should be disembarked here, it would have been replaced by other ports sooner or later."
"Are we going ashore?"
The navigator shook his head: "Champa has been at war with Chenla a lot in recent years, so it's not very safe, unless the ship wants to send someone up to inspect the cargo, right?
However, they are usually traded on this island. "
"Hmm..." Yunkong couldn't help but look at the shore again.
"Do you want to go ashore?"
"I want to see it."
"Can't we just ask the ship owner directly?" The pilot raised his head to look for Liang Daoqing, "Everything was arranged by him."
Yun Kong had made up his mind. When he saw that Liang Daoqing was free, he stepped forward to ask him.
Liang Daoqing pondered for a long time, thinking about selling the goods needed here, buying the products here on the ship, and replenishing food and fresh water. He estimated that he would stay here for five or six days, and maybe he would have to go ashore himself.
"Please take a break, Taoist Master. If you go ashore in the next few days, I will take you up."
Yunkong had no choice but to get off the boat and wander around Yangyu Island as he pleased.
The climate here is so hot that Yun Kong no longer wears robes. He puts on short clothes like a sailor. He still puts on his straw hat, hangs up the yellow bag he never left behind, informs Liang Daoqing, and walks off the boat.
The island is only one kilometer square in size. There is a hill in the center of the island. There are offices of port officials along the coast, small huts with guards stationed there, and straw huts for temporary shelter from the sun and rain and for stacking goods.
Sailors and workers came and went, but the people from Champa were all darker-skinned, and the men did not tie up their long hair, so it was not difficult to identify them.
Yun Kong was wandering around and had already reached the edge of the port. At this time, he smelled a strange aroma, which was the aroma of food cooked with spices. The smell of spices was something he had never smelled before.
Next to the hut where the workers rested, two women were preparing food for the workers. They built a stove with stones and were cooking two pots of fish.
Seeing the stranger Yunkong, the two women couldn't help but retreat and glanced at Yunkong with twinkling eyes.
Yun Kong also felt very shy, because the Champa people wore very little clothing. The two women were topless and only wore a piece of floral cloth around their waists. Even though the younger woman had jewelry hanging around her neck, it could not hide her appearance. Young and full breasts.
In order not to make them uneasy, Yun Kong didn't look at them and walked slowly over.
Not far away, Yun Kong heard the cry of a baby and couldn't help thinking: "So there is a child? Why didn't you see it just now?"
He looked back and saw the young woman taking the baby out of the basket on the floor and immediately feeding him.
The older woman actually stopped what she was doing, walked towards Yunkong, pointed to the yellow bag on his shoulder, and said, "Douxi?"
Yun Kong frowned, not understanding.
"Knife time?" The woman tried to change her words.
Yun Kong understood and pointed to himself: "Taoist."
Apparently this woman saw the gossip image on his bag, and it seemed that she also knew something about China.
The woman muttered something unknown, opened the fold of the cloth around her waist, and took out a small piece of jade, which was in the shape of a half ring, similar to the "Jue" of half a jade, but it was obviously a fragment of an originally complete jade jade. Because there are words engraved on it, but the words are missing.
She handed the jade to Yun Kong, and he had no choice but to take it, but he couldn't tell what kind of characters those twisted inscriptions were.
Yun Kong returned the jade to her: "What is this?"
The woman tried to explain, but due to the language barrier between the two, she still couldn't explain clearly after a lot of effort. The woman sighed and had to go back and continue cooking the fish.
Yunkong continued to walk on his way, and the surrounding environment gradually became desolate. He saw several stilt houses on the back hill of the island. Since he did not understand the customs here, in order to avoid offending, he started to turn back.
When I passed the shed where the fish was cooked earlier, I saw sailors and workers queuing up to receive lunch. Each person was assigned a fish, which was served in a banana leaf. The local workers spit out the betel nuts they chewed in their mouths and sat down to eat anywhere. .
Yun Kong also got a piece of fish. When he took his lunch from the woman, he noticed that the breastfeeding mother was actually very young, just a girl who had just grown up.
There was a hint of sadness in her eyes. When she saw the clouds in the sky, her eyes were averted, not knowing what she was afraid of.
When Yun Kong took the fragrant fish back to the boat, the pilot asked him with a smile: "Have you eaten it? Are you used to the taste?"
The taste of spices is very exciting to the taste, making Yun Kong's stomach a little hungrier than usual: "It's delicious."
"Did you notice? They cooked two pots, and the ones they gave us were different from those of the Champa people."
"What is the difference?"
"Champa people don't like to eat fresh fish. The fish they eat is kept for a few days until it becomes sour and smelly before eating."
No wonder I kept smelling sourness just now, that's why.
The pilot smiled and said: "There is also a very special fruit here called jackfruit. It has a strong aroma after entering the mouth and is sweeter than sugar!
The boat owner will buy a few for everyone to enjoy every time he comes, and you will have some tonight. "
Towards the end of the night, the sailors really had a chance to rest, so they slept under the shed and waited for work in the morning.
Today they loaded the goods shipped by Liang Daoqing onto the boat, and tomorrow they had to wait for the goods ordered by Liang Daoqing to be transported from land before loading them onto the boat.
Liang Daoqing and all the crew members were sitting on the deck, sharing the sweet and rich jackfruit. Liang Daoqing said to Yun Kong, "I'm really sorry that I can't take care of you today."
