See you in the world

Chapter 256 Why Are You Going Here?

There was fog on the river, and a ten-meter-long awning boat sailed along the Yanbo River towards the pier.

"Boater, this way," Yun Jing, carrying a bookcase, stood at the dock and waved from a distance.

After a while, the water surface was rippling, and the awning boat came to the pier. The rower was an old man with gray hair in his sixties. He put down his oars, quickly came to the bow, and took the rope to the pier to tie the boat.

Is this going to leave?
Yun Jing was taken aback by the old man's actions.

After the old man tied up the boat, he looked at Yun Jing with a smile and said, "Master, do you want to take the boat?"

"Yes, but old man, are you planning to leave?" Yun Jing nodded.

The old man explained: "Master, I misunderstood. Instead of leaving, I have to wait here. There may be other passengers. If I can't wait for passengers in half an hour, I will go to the next pier."

It turned out that this is the case, just like a bus that stops at a stop.

Then the old man said: "Since you want to take a boat, why don't you go to the boat to rest and sit for a while? I will leave in half an hour. I hope you will forgive me."

Yun Jing didn't move, and asked: "Old man, what is the charge for taking your boat?"

"It depends on where the young master is going," the old man said with a smile. While speaking, he slowly took out the smoke pot and prepared to take a sip.

"I want to go north. The old man can go wherever the boat can go. When the time comes, I will find a way to continue going north. If this is the case, I don't know how to charge the boat fee?" Yun Jing asked.

After finishing the action of the smoke pot, the old man said: "Master, you want to go north. My boat can't go very far. It's just carrying people and passengers at more than ten piers within a range of dozens of miles on the river. I can take you to the end of the river." How about charging you fifty copper coins for the wharf that is fifty miles away?"

It's equivalent to a copper plate for a mile, and they earn hard money, which is completely reasonable, so Yun Jing nodded and said, "Okay, then I will trouble the old man."

The old man smiled and said: "No trouble, no trouble. It's my honor, sir, to be on my boat. Besides, I charge money. You should go to the boat for a rest, and you will leave in half an hour. Slow down when you get on the boat. The boat rocked a bit”

Yun Jing nodded, stepped onto the boat, put down the bookcase and sat on the boat, feeling bored, simply took out a book and read it slowly.

The old man looked at the way in front of the pier, took two puffs of dry cigarettes, thought of something, slapped his forehead, looked at Yunjing and said, "Look at my memory, so what, son, you said you were going to the north, but I don't know how far north you want to go ?”

"Stay as far north as possible, why does the old man ask that?" Yun Jing looked away from the book and asked him.

The old man smiled and said: "Try to stay as far north as possible. The northernmost part of the Lijiang River is thousands of miles away, and then turn back and cross thousands of miles to go deep into the wild forest. The reason why I ask this question is because I live on the river all the year round. , I know that there is a place where there is a large cargo ship going to the north every few days, and it happens to be there today, if you go to the north, you can take that large cargo ship, and save the trouble of transferring on the way.”

"Really?" Yun Jing's eyes lit up.

The old man laughed and said, "Don't dare to joke about this kind of thing with the young master."

"How far is the place where the large cargo ship set sail from here? Is there time to go now?" Yun Jing asked quickly.

The old man said calmly, "It's not far away. It's just thirty miles away at a pier. You don't have to worry. The big ship usually sets sail at noon, so there's no time for it."

Set sail at noon, is this afraid that something will happen sooner or later?

Whispering in his heart, the relieved Yun Jing said: "Then please ask the old man to take me there later."

"No trouble, just drop by. Since the young master decided to change to a big ship, and the thirty-mile waterway, I will only charge you thirty copper coins. I have lived on this river for decades, and I know the people on those cargo ships very well. At that time, I can directly tell them to let the young master come on board, so as to save the young master from the trouble of negotiating with them," the old man said enthusiastically.

Yunjing said sincerely: "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. Over the years, I've met many guests like you. I'm used to it, and to tell you the truth, they also charge for you when you go to take their big ship. Besides, they are cargo ships after all. Dora alone is one person. For the extra income, I recommend people, and they will give me some kickbacks, ha ha," the old man waved his hands in embarrassment.

Well, this is equivalent to an intermediary.

Then Yun Jing asked the most concerned question, "By the way, old man, since you are familiar with those cargo ships, do you know how much they charge to take a passenger to the farthest north they can reach?"

He was afraid that he didn't have enough money, and he would be embarrassed at that time.

"I know this, but that's the same thing. After all, they are cargo ships. The conditions on the ship are not good. There are three different positions to choose from, divided into upper, middle and lower. The upper class has a good environment and a good view, or a suite, and the charge is 500 taels. The amount of silver per person is not much, the medium position is a single room, the environment is also good, the fee is 200 taels per person, and the quantity is not much, and then the lower position is small, the room is small, and a room has to take several people at the same time, and the charge is 50 taels Everyone, and ah, these charges are just the boat fare, and you have to spend extra money if you want to eat and drink on the boat. It’s much faster to take those special passenger ships, but the price is more expensive,” the old man introduced in detail.

It can be heard that he is really familiar with those cargo ships, after all, they are all living on the river.

Hearing what he said, Yunjing calculated his own money. He could board the boat, but he could only sit and wait for the warehouse, and it was enough. As for the environment, it didn't matter. It's not that fancy, and it's not that expensive.

Well, the main reason is that I don’t have the money to sit in the middle and upper class...

Feeling at ease, Yun Jing nodded and said, "Then I will trouble the old man to arrange an inferior warehouse for me."

"My lord is too polite, don't bother me, after all, I also got some benefits from it," the old man waved his hands again.

This matter is so settled, and then waiting for the time, Yun Jing chatted with him for a while.

The old man didn't inquire about what Yunjing was doing in the north, but mainly talked about what he knew about the situation on the river.

According to him, many parts of the Lijiang River are not safe. In some places, the current is fast and dangerous, in some places there are hidden reefs and powerful underwater creatures, and in some sections of the river there are water bandits...

These are just his hearsay, I don't know if it is true or not. After all, he lives on this stretch of river for tens of miles. Relatively speaking, this stretch of river is peaceful, and he dare not go to other places that are not so peaceful.

Generally speaking, the Lijiang River runs thousands of miles north, and the scope is wide. Naturally, there are all kinds of situations. If you don't have some ability and means, it is difficult to travel long distances on this river to earn a living.

Half an hour passed quickly, the Jinshui Ferry was too remote, the old man didn't wait for other guests, so he had no choice but to untie the rope and set sail along the river.

The red sun is rising, dispelling the mist on the river.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Yunjing looked at the vast Lijiang River that stretched to the end of his sight. He had the urge to chant a poem, but thinking about his level of poetry, he decided to forget it.

There are several wharves along the next [-] miles of waterway, and the old man docked at each of them. A dozen or so boat passengers came up one after another. They were all common people. Maybe it was because Yunjing, a scholar, was on board, and they didn’t know each other. , They didn't meet as many people as the old boatman, they were a little cautious, and they hardly communicated with each other.

The awning boat will berth at every pier. When people come up, others will go down. People come and go, meet briefly, do not know each other, and then separate...

By the time of the sixth wharf, less than ten miles away, we would arrive at the big cargo ship going north that the old man said, and the black awning boats had all left the wharf and sailed to the river, and someone on the wharf shouted for the boat owner and so on.

The man seemed to be impatient, before the wupeng boat turned around to pick it up, the other party actually performed lightness kung fu and jumped out, tapped his toes lightly on the river, and quickly crossed tens of meters of the river and landed on the boat.

He is a martial arts practitioner, his skills are not weak, and he has cultivated late in the day after tomorrow.

Yunjing glanced at it for a while and stopped paying attention.

It was a man in his thirties, burly, wearing leather armor, carrying a long knife, and carrying a small package on his back. When he came to the boat, the black-covered boat shook violently, causing the passengers on board to panic.

This person had a resolute face, cold eyes and unsmiling eyes, but he cupped his fists and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, everyone, I heard that this boat carries passengers every day on this section of the river. If you miss it, you have to wait until tomorrow. If you don't want to miss it, please forgive me for the disturbance "

The commoner passengers on the ship saw that this man was wearing a big knife and looked difficult to get along with. How could he dare to offend him?

The other party had already spoken too modestly, so he didn't say anything more, but asked the boatman how to go to the far north, and then the boatman old man repeated what he had said to Yunjing.

Before this, Yun Jing thought that the old man of the boatman was just purely warm-hearted. Only when this scene happened again did he realize that the old man was actually trying to earn more money. There is no reason not to be enthusiastic.

After the man knew about it, he also entrusted the old man to help arrange a space for him on the big ship, and he also wanted to take the big ship to the north.

The old boatman was fine, and he didn't tell the man that Yunjing was going to the north...

The awning boat went along the upper reaches of the Lijiang River, and soon after, Yunjing saw a slightly larger pier by the river from afar.

There were people coming and going on the pier, and many coolies were stepping up to move the goods to a big ship.

It was a cargo ship nearly 80 meters long, with a deep draft. Although he didn't deliberately use his mind to observe it, but from the faint smell in the wind, Yunjing guessed that the cargo ship was mainly transporting grain and oil.

Not surprisingly, that should be his next boat going north.

Sure enough, after the wupped boat docked at the pier, the old boatman asked Yunjing and the quack who got on the boat to wait a while, and he went to discuss with the ship's steward. Soon after, someone came to take Yunjing and the others on board.

After paying [-] coppers to the boatman of the wupeng boat, Yun Jing and the Jianghu guest boarded the large cargo ship. Under the arrangement of the cargo ship, the two were taken to a cabin of only four or five square meters. This cabin is currently Just the two of them.

The person who brought them here was obviously very busy, so they only asked them to settle down by themselves first, and someone would collect the boat fee when the time came, and then left in a hurry.

"Young master, are you going to the north too? It's not peaceful over there. What are you, a scholar, going to the north for?"

When Yunjing looked at the small cabin, the quack asked curiously.

Yun Jing smiled and said: "Study tour, increase knowledge"

The other party nodded and smiled: "So that's it. I'm afraid I will live with you in this cabin for a while. I'm a rough person. If there is anything wrong, please forgive me."

"Brother is serious. It is fate to meet when we are away from home. We are considerate of each other." Yun Jing smiled, and then couldn't help asking curiously: "Why did you go to the north?"

When it came to the purpose of this trip, the man did not hide it, but said with a straight face: "Go north, kill the enemy and serve the country!"

……

(End of this chapter)