After spending another three days on the boat, He Nan and his group also disembarked at the ferry and said goodbye to Deng Kaicang and others who continued sailing.
The destinations of both parties were not exactly the same. According to the experience given by the boat boss, it would take about three days at the fastest to reach Mangcheng by land. The people who disembarked in the misty morning did not do much at the ferry. After staying, eating and resting, follow the directions on the map and road signs to move forward.
Since there was a long mountainous road ahead, it was difficult for the carriage to move, and Lu Ning couldn't ride a horse, so the six of them bought five horses at the carriage and horse station, and Wei Kui took Lu Ning - although the horses were expensive, But it can be regarded as a kind of hard currency. The official post of Shengguo will mark the horse with a brand. Customers traveling far away can also sell the horse back to the official post or after riding the official post horse to other places. Of course, the selling price of a private station will be lower than the purchase price, which is due to the wear and tear and depreciation of the items. Each carriage and horse station will also have a professional groom to check the physical condition of the horses as a criterion for measuring the price.
Because there have been cases where official horses were sold privately or privately trained inferior horses were passed off as official horses for profit, in recent years, they have been newly implemented in areas around the capital and parts of the north where the economy, transportation or animal husbandry industries are more developed. A kind of supervision measure for the official stage horse was introduced, which was aimed at preventing a series of disputes caused by the official stage horse transaction. When someone purchases an official horse from Guanyi, the buyer will get a document called a "horse book", which records the transaction date, the horse's name, number, breed, height and weight, and ownership.
If there is no injury or illness, etc., when Guanyi repurchases the Guanyi horse, it can ask the other party to issue a horse book to check the condition of the horse, which will also make it easier for both parties to negotiate the price.
If someone not only passes off a fake horse certificate but also forges it, then the Department of Horse Racing will have to intervene. You can't tell which of the six divisions this Dian Musi belongs to, but whether it is a post horse or a war horse, as long as it is a horse under the official name, it is recorded in the book, and the information of the official post horse nationwide will be released on a quarterly or annual basis. Go to official stations in various places for comparison, and at the same time, collect the current status of horses from official stations in various places to update the files. Although the household registration system for horses is extremely complicated and cannot be updated in time, it can be regarded as a remedial measure. After all, horse life is more valuable than human life these days. Due to the abandonment of road guides, living people can basically run around at will. Even if you fall into a ravine and die, it will to some extent reduce the burden of the Ministry of Household Statistics, but every horse Marco is just money in vain. If you lose it, you will lose your money.
A few people chatted all the way and were not satisfied with the speed of travel. However, as they continued to go deeper into the dense forest, they also smelled a lingering strange smell, a bit like the smell of something moldy, and at the same time it was hot and humid. The feeling is also fermenting on everyone's skin.
"Take it now." Although Lu Ning has never walked through this area, the environment around Yaowangzhai is not far from it, so he has prepared medicine to neutralize dampness and eliminate miasma early. This medicine is also effective. The effect was immediate. Within a quarter of an hour, everyone felt that the sultry heat accumulated on the body surface had dissipated a lot, even in the deep forest and thick fog.
It's not very cool, but it also relieves the discomfort.
"You have to walk more slowly from here on. Some roads look like there is a layer of mud on them, but they are actually unfathomable swamps." She has also followed her master to pick in such dangerous places. Medicine, knowing a little about the road conditions and how to deal with it, took the initiative to explore the road ahead - all things are interdependent and come to the same destination through different paths. Although the miasma in this area is powerful, there are also medicines that can resist poisonous gas growing on the roots of trees or on the side of swamps. Otherwise, It was absolutely impossible to grow and survive here, so Lu Ning also picked some under Wei Kui's protection for emergencies.
"What is that? A mouse?" He Nan also dismounted and walked slowly, and suddenly he caught a glimpse of something walking through the plants that he couldn't name. The alert beast paused for a moment not far from many erect apes, and then It was difficult for He Nan to get a glimpse of its true appearance - this thing was actually as big as a cat and seemed to weigh at least ten kilograms. He didn't know who would win if such a big mouse met a cat of the same size.
"Animals like rats can eat anything. It seems that this swamp is extremely dangerous, but it has been fattened by the carcasses of many animals - but I don't know if it is a special case, or if the rats here are always there.
Can he grow so big? "Mr. Chen is quite knowledgeable in reading. He especially likes all kinds of scenery and has a certain understanding of natural creatures, so he spoke.
Before he finished speaking, the mouse's companion seemed to have heard Mr. Chen's question, and suddenly came out of a hiding place. There were about ten of them in total, and the one that everyone saw before was
They are not too small, but the largest one is fatter, and the smallest one is slightly larger than an ordinary mouse.
The rats were not afraid of people when they got together, but they didn't do any aggressive behavior. At this moment, a group of rats were squeaking and dragging the body of half a large animal in a hurry toward everyone. direction, and under Lu Ning's careful identification, the packed food seemed to be the lower body of a wild boar - which also answered another question of Mr. Chen. The animals here are larger than similar animals in other places. Bigger.
While everyone was still curious about the behavior of the rats, they heard the noisy calls of birds coming from the dense forest, flying toward them with no intention of stopping. After walking forward for a while, Wei Kui suddenly became alert: "It seems something is going to happen..."
This was not a premonition in his mind, but a familiar scene - when he was looking for man-eating tigers in the mountains, he had experienced a rush of these animals escaping. The reason was that they were jealous of a certain regional overlord. The beast is filled with unspeakable fear.
"I suggest that we either retreat first or take another route." Ge Shuhao also noticed something strange. The village he was in was also built halfway up the mountain. Such scenes of beasts infested and animals frightened were no stranger to him. , and gave pertinent suggestions. Surprisingly, even Old Wei, who has always been dissatisfied, agreed with this opinion - the six of them are tied to each other, and they must retreat as soon as possible, and this place is not suitable for fighting. God knows which kick will happen.
If you step into a dark swamp and can't get out, won't you become the opponent's meal?
However, the other party did not give them a chance to hesitate anymore. A black goat ran for the road and entered Wei Kui's sight at a speed visible to the naked eye. However, it was swept away by something and dragged back in an instant, screaming continuously. No sound was made and it fell into silence.
"That...what is it?" Ge Shuhao frowned. He would rather face the weirdos in King Yama's underground palace than the unknown beasts.
"It's... a snake, a huge snake." Lu Ning said. After hearing this, everyone became solemn and forcibly tightened the reins to prevent the frightened horse's hooves from making any sound.
Although generally huge pythons are non-venomous, who knows what kind of monsters will be raised in this Shura field? For everyone, it might be easy to deal with an ordinary ferocious beast, but once it is contaminated with poison, it will never be able to get rid of it for a while.
There is a saying that clouds follow dragons and winds follow tigers. When Wei Kui encountered the man-eating tiger, he first smelled a fishy wind, and as the dark clouds and miasma rose in the deep forest, the terrifying monster finally revealed its true appearance.
A blood-red letter was thrown out from the black head. The part that everyone had seen was nearly three feet long. Every rough and dark scale was flashing with a terrifying light, and just now that The poor black goat's bones had been crushed by the thick body, and the snake's mouth had expanded to an incredible extent and was slowly swallowing it.
The swamp overlord who was enjoying the feast also noticed the movement, but he still insisted on completing his gluttonous act, and then he arched his pair of lantern-like round pupils and stared at everyone.
But what people didn't expect was that during the confrontation
After a moment, it actually chose to escape. In the blink of an eye, its huge body disappeared into the forest.
"Huh..." Mr. Chen raised his hand and wiped the sweat on his forehead: "This is considered a disaster, right? Maybe this guy has never seen anyone before, so he doesn't dare to attack rashly."
Although the giant python had left, everyone still did not dare to relax for a while, so they tried their best to leave the swamp as quickly as possible. They did not slow down until they were some distance away from the scene of the goat's death.
"I said...are you a disaster star? You meet a man-eating tiger in the mountains, and you hit a big python when crossing the swamp." He Nan had heard about Wei Kui's encounter with monsters when he returned home, so he couldn't help complaining: "Why? What
All kinds of monsters and monsters like to come to you... Fortunately, snakes are more cautious animals by nature and will not be as cruel as tigers, otherwise today would be a big deal again. "
Naturally, Wei Kui didn't take He Nan's trash talk to heart, but he vaguely felt that this matter would never go away like this, so he used a command to urge the tired horse to hold on for a while, until he could feel at ease after leaving the forest. .
One thing was indeed true: Jean He Nan was right. Snakes naturally like to play dirty, and are not as ostentatious as tigers and leopards, so they did not leave too far... but followed everyone quietly.
Just when a few people could see the edge of the jungle from a distance, the pupils of the strange python shrank sharply at this moment, turning into long, narrow and deep vertical slits like daggers.
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