girl let me check

Chapter 406 Long Yuan
The mighty Great Zhou fleet, along with the Eastern Palace Guards, led the entire army and numerous sophisticated equipment and headed south. Half a month later, they arrived at Jiangling, known as the Jade City on the Water.

The noble families here are all partners of the Chenjun Xie family, and even many of the Chenjun Xie family members are still here. Fang Weihan came to Jiangling with the East Palace Guards and was welcomed with great fanfare.

The supply of food and fodder exceeded the standard, and the noble families in Jingzhou voluntarily subsidized the soldiers' salaries. Even the barracks needed by the Eastern Palace guards were built by the local county magistrate.

During the interval of reorganizing the army, Chen Yuxian found Fang Weihan and said:
"Wei Lieutenant, after our unanimous decision, the brothers have no objection to you marrying Miss Xie."

Fang Weihan slapped him and told him to get back to work.

He knew why Chen Yuxian had such an attitude. In addition to updating the weapons of the officers and soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Xie Lingwan also customized a weapon for each senior general of the Eastern Palace Guard.

Miss Xie has great connections, so it is not difficult for her to find out which weapons each person is good at.

For example, she knew that Chen Yuxian had the "magic mace" in the past, so she asked Shen Chengyong, the head of the Wuxing Shen family, to personally make a handy iron mace for him.

Chen Yuxian now holds the iron mace in his arms all day long, and he even wishes he could sleep with it in his arms.

Fang Weihan did not hide the matter of Xie Lingwan. In the past few days, the Eastern Palace Guards and the entire army basically had a good impression of the generous eldest lady of the Chenjun Xie family.

I have to say that the money ability is easy to use.

After arriving in Jingzhou, Fang Weihan immediately convened a combat meeting to discuss the specific implementation strategy for the bandit suppression.

"After Lord Tao's several campaigns to eliminate the evil sects and bandits in Jingzhou, there are only a few left, and most of them are scattered around."

Fang Weihan pointed to the complete map of Jingzhou hanging on the wall and said.

"There is basically no sign of cult activity in the Nanjun where we are. According to current intelligence, the strongholds of the Fire Worship Cult are scattered in Wuling, Tianmen and Jianping counties. It would be time-consuming and labor-intensive to mobilize the entire army, and the efficiency is too low. It is no longer the best strategy."

"I plan to divide the troops."

Everyone nodded in agreement and had no objection to Fang Weihan's decision.

Although dividing the troops is a taboo in military strategy, it depends on the circumstances. Fu Ke, the chief of the Fire Worship Cult in Jingzhou, died in the battle of Xunyang, and their power was greatly reduced in the attack of the Changyuan Iron Guard. Jingzhou, which was originally the headquarters of the Fire Worship Cult in the Great Zhou, has become the weakest area in a short period of time.

Xuan Chongwei had received news a long time ago that the Zoroastrianism was planning to move the Great Zhou headquarters to Jiaozhou, which was adjacent to the Shiwan Mountains and was safer.

"Guardians General Chen Yuxian and Guardians General Yang Fengqi."

Fang Weihan threw out two command arrows.

"You two will each lead 10,000 soldiers and be responsible for suppressing bandits in Tianmen and Jianping."

"Yes!"

Yang Fengqi and Chen Yuxian were ordered to walk out of the military tent and take a group of generals with them.

Fang Weihan looked at the remaining people and said:

"Follow me, we're going to Wuling County in the far south."

Master Zhao leaned on the side, holding his spear, and said, "Your Highness, the road to Wuling County is difficult to pass. How can we get there?"

Fang Weihan turned his gaze towards the huge fleet anchored on the river not far away.

The sun shines obliquely over the river, the waves sparkle, the ships stand tall, and the flags fly.

"Take a boat over there." Fang Weihan said.

……

……

Jiangling City, fish market.

Jiangling is a city on the water, where nine rivers converge and the thousand-mile Dongting Lake is just a stone's throw away. When it comes to cooking river food, Jiangling is second to none in the world.

And when it comes to the most delicious fish, it has to be the boatmen moored at the fish market on the riverside.

They would often select the best fish from the river and ship them to the major restaurants in Jiangling. But after all this trouble, the fish meat lost its fresh taste.

The local boatmen were born and raised on boats. Boats are their means of transportation and also their homes. The days spent on the water are particularly long, and they have long learned how to cook a fish to its best taste.

On a small boat anchored in the bustling fish market, a small stove was steaming and bubbles were bubbling in the pot of thick white fish soup.

A man with a short beard put down his chopsticks and wiped the oil stains from the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief in a very meticulous manner.

"The fish in Jiangling is really delicious."

The boatman was an old man in his sixties, wearing a straw hat. He sat on the edge of the boat and was washing water shield and water shield he had caught with river water.

"Boatman, what kind of fish is this? In my opinion, its taste is comparable to the dragon meat in the sky!"

Hearing this, the old man put down the mizuna in his hand and wiped his face.

"Sir, go ask around in Jiangling. The fish here must be the freshest!"

He said this quite complacently.

"These are all fresh fish caught at midnight every day. I caught them from Jiangxin Island. The current there is the fastest. I dare to fish there. Do you think the fish won't be fresh?"

"If it didn't have any skills, how could it brave the turbulent water and venture into the center of the river?"

The man looked at the boatman in surprise and laughed out loud, "Boatman, you speak with great meaning. What did you do in the past?"

"I was born and raised here. I am a native of Jingzhou. I just sit here and read a few pounds of books for the sake of good fortune. Please don't take it seriously, sir!"

The man shook his head and couldn't help but sigh: "This is how a great hermit should hide in the city."

"Grandpa, the clothes are done!"

A young girl opened the boat's curtain and walked into the cabin holding a pile of wet clothes. She was in her teens, her figure had just developed, and her face was still covered with freckles.

She noticed the weathered but still handsome face of the guest in front of her, lowered her head, and her face gradually blushed.

The old man's voice brought her back to reality: "Put it in front to dry."

The old boatman put down the work in his hands, wiped his hands and walked into the cabin. He glared at her sternly, and the girl was so scared that her face turned pale in an instant.

She lowered her head, walked quickly across the cabin, ran to the front of the boat, and hung the clothes one by one.

"My granddaughter has no manners. I'm sorry to make you laugh."

"It's okay, the little girl is very cute."

The short-bearded man didn't care.

The old man sat down opposite the man, took out a jar of wine, filled his own glass and filled it up.

"Sir, would you like to have a drink with me?" asked the boatman.

"It's impossible."

The two clinked glasses and gradually started talking over the fresh fish stewed in the pot.

"Sir, are you coming to Jingzhou to look for someone?" The boatman asked with a smile after taking a sip of wine.

"Oh?" The man was obviously interested. "How did the boatman know that?"

"The Mandarin the guest spoke was not a Jingzhou accent, but rather sounded like someone from Changming."

"In these peaceful years, every family can at least have a home to live in, even if they don't have a stable job. If it weren't for looking for someone, why would you travel thousands of miles to another place?"

The short-bearded man laughed loudly: "You really guessed it right. I came to Jingzhou just to find someone."

"Who are you looking for? Is it your beloved?"

The fisherman girl outside the cabin put her ear close to the door and held her breath.

The short-bearded man groaned for a moment: "Sweetheart...what does it mean to be a sweetheart?"

"Of course it's someone you care about."

"In that case... then I really am here to find my sweetheart."

There was a sound like wet clothes falling to the ground. Outside the cabin, the girl cried out softly and knocked something over in panic, making a loud clanging sound.

"Whose lady is she?" the old boatman asked tentatively, "Since you are so generous, your sweetheart must be no ordinary woman, right?" "She is definitely not."

The man paused for a moment.

"He's not even a woman."

"... Sir, you..."

“Hahahaha, no more jokes.” The short-bearded man waved his hand and said with a smile, “He’s my nephew. He just left home to make his own living this year. I was worried about him, so I came to follow him and take a look.”

"Oh...so that's how it is." The boatman smiled bitterly.

For a brief moment just now, he actually thought that this guest had some abnormal hobby.

"What does your nephew do?"

"He...is a guard at someone's house." The man said after thinking for a moment.

"So, he has some kung fu skills?" the boatman asked again.

"Alas, what good is a little Kung Fu? In the Great Zhou, success or failure depends on background. No matter how good you are at fighting, can you beat the masters of the older generation? Even if you can, can you fight two at once?"

The short-bearded man sighed, picked up another piece of fat fish and put it into his mouth.

"My eldest nephew is young and hot-headed. He thinks he is invincible just because he has some kung fu skills. He doesn't take heroes and heroes in the world seriously."

"Hey, young people are all like this. Which young man in Jingzhou doesn't want to go to Changming to make a career for himself? But after going around in circles, until they are no longer young, they realize that it is best to guard their own little boat."

"Yeah, who says it's not..."

The short-bearded man agreed wholeheartedly.

He seemed to be reminiscing about something, with a myriad of emotions passing through his eyes, but ultimately turning into a sigh.

“The golden light of Tai Chi is dazzling, but it has nothing to do with ordinary people. The scenery on the river is boundless, and you can take pictures alone in a small boat.”

"You are right, sir. I will toast you again."

The two men clinked their glasses again, and the boatman asked again:

"Sir, you said you wanted to look after your nephew, so I guess your martial arts skills are very strong, too?"

“As for me…” The short-bearded man smiled, “I know a little bit, mainly because I’ve been around for a long time, so people in the underworld will give me some respect.”

"Oh!" The boatman stood in awe, "I guess you must be a famous figure in the martial arts world."

"Famous? Not really. At least in the eyes of my nephew, I am still an uncle who lives a life of debauchery all day long."

The short-bearded man shook his head helplessly.

"how could be……"

The two men drank a few more glasses of wine, and while they were talking, the boatman also noticed a sword he had carried with him by the side of the cabin.

The sheath is made of white wood and decorated with green jade. The sword is placed in the sheath, and the blade is three inches out of the sheath. Looking down is like looking into the abyss from a high mountain, and looking straight ahead is like a giant dragon lying down, majestic and murderous, obviously not an ordinary item.

"Sir, your sword is a good one!" said the boatman, staring at the sword.

There are many martial artists coming to his place, and they carry a variety of weapons with them.

There were all kinds of weapons, including swords, spears, halberds, and even some unconventional weapons like meteor hammers. But the most common ones were swords.

The sword is the pursuit of scholars and it is also something that is ingrained in the Zhou people's bones.

But he had been looking at swords for so many years and had never seen such a magical sword.

In an instant, his admiration for the man in front of him reached a new level.

How could a man with such bearing and conversation, and carrying such an extraordinary sword, be an unknown person?
"Oh... this is a high-end imitation I bought from the market. It's not worth much," said the man.

"Does it have a name?"

"Long Yuan." The short-bearded man said casually.

Long Yuan... I seem to have heard this name somewhere before...

The old boatman secretly noted down the name and revealed the matter very naturally.

The passionate sound of suona rang out from outside the cabin, piercing through the clouds and splitting the rocks, dispersing the mist covering the river surface.

With warships leading the way, fighting ships in the middle and towering ships reaching into the clouds, the huge fleet raised anchor and set sail, attracting the attention of everyone in Jiangling.

"This is the Dajiang Navy on the move."

The boatman had obviously seen this kind of scene before.

"I heard that recently His Royal Highness Prince Guangling led his army to Jiangling to replace Lord Tao's Changyuan Iron Guard to wipe out the remnants of the Demon Cult. The Great River Navy may be the army led by the Eastern Palace Guards."

"It sounds like you admire His Royal Highness Prince Guangling very much?" asked the short-bearded man.

"Of course, sir, you should say that in the current Great Zhou, who would not admire His Royal Highness Prince Guangling!" The boatman said admiringly, "Whether it was Changming beheading the son of the Wang family, or Shangjun defeating the foreign race King Kong, His Royal Highness Prince Guangling is simply a hero of the empire!"

"I am old, you may as well ask the young men in Jiangling. They are the ones who admire Your Highness the most! This time the East Palace Guards came to Jiangling, and many of them are ready to join them. Even if they cannot be soldiers, they can be laborers."

The short-bearded man listened to his words with a smile, and occasionally uttered a few words of praise in agreement.

Only fish bones were left of the fat fish in the pot, and the muddy wine in the jar was almost gone.

The man stood up and prepared to leave. The boatman escorted him out of the cabin and all the way to the shore. The boatman's granddaughter also looked at him reluctantly, wanting to keep him, but she was timid under her grandfather's stern eyes.

"No need to send me off, boatman. I have to hurry to find my nephew, or I'll miss him."

The short-bearded man waved his hand.

"The storm is coming, so we might as well go home. We will say goodbye now."

In just a blink of an eye, the man's figure disappeared out of thin air, as if he had never appeared.

"It's better to go home..."

The boatman pondered over this sentence and felt uneasy.

Seeing that his granddaughter was still looking at the place where he disappeared, the old man couldn't help but pat her head in annoyance:

"What are you still looking at? Everyone has left!"

"You don't really think you're worthy of him, do you? He looks like a big shot from Changming, and he has a murderous aura, and he's obviously killed many people. Be careful, if you make him unhappy, he might kill you too."

The little girl was frightened by him.

"Go, go, go and get that famous sword manual I found last year."

The girl obediently took out the famous sword manual and handed it to the old boatman. He touched the cover with great care and blew away the dust on it.

This is a banned book of famous sword manuals from the Kaiwu period, and it is much more complete than the current famous sword manuals.

"Long Yuan..."

The old man looked down from the first position.

The holy one by the abyss, the bright sky.

The divine Zhou Dynasty established its throne, Xuan Yao.

Devour the darkness and kill the Tao, light the night.

"The fourth one, Seven Stars Falling to Earth, Long Yuan..." The boatman stared at the line of words and did not speak for a long time.

"It's better to go home..."

After a while, he said to his granddaughter with a serious expression:
"Pack up, we'll go to Yunmengze to live in seclusion later."

(End of this chapter)