7.
Starting from Yunhai, bypassing Gu Renzuo, headed southwest, and turned again after seeing Shagui Bay. Under the guidance of the Big Dipper, the Venomous Bee came to the territorial waters of the Tisu Kingdom for 15 days.
Since Amber King Abal succeeded his elder brother as King Tisu, Tisu has firmly occupied the two main transportation routes from the southern border to Dongzhou and Beimo, and relied on a powerful fleet to plunder and accumulate quickly. with wealth. There are even rumors that the pirates of the Sixteen Isles are in collusion with the Amber King. No matter how the outside world speculates, it is an indisputable fact that Tisu has rapidly risen to become the largest country in the southern border in just a few decades-if the Beihong Dynasty and the Beimo tribes in Dongzhou are not counted as one, then Tisu should be the current four The largest country in the desert.
Fang Tinglan finished writing two letters in the cabin before walking onto the deck from the cabin.
After that night, a group of people on the Dongzhou warship, led by the chief mate, escorted the prisoners back to Nanhong, while the other group changed their costumes and pretended to be pirates, and drove the Venomous Bee towards Jiumeng City. The trip went smoothly, neither encountered warships from other countries, nor met the counterparts of poisonous bees.
Right in front of the bow, you can see the continuous white buildings among the green mountains - Jiumeng City, and the capital of Tisu is close at hand.
Fang Tinglan had only heard about this city, the second largest in the Four Desolations, through gossip from his father when he was a child. In his father's description, Jiumeng is like a swan living in the lush forest.
"...their capital has a tall and large white jade stone platform, which is about the same height as Taiyan's Taiyi Building. If there is a celebration in Jiumeng City, or the royal family announces a big event, all the residents will gather in the square under the stone platform Watching the excitement. The Tisu people call it... call it... I can't remember it for a while, anyway, we all call it Qiwutai, which can stop the Phoenix."
Eight-year-old Fang Tinglan blinked: "Phoenix?"
"Yes." Father said, "Because there are many trees and flowers there, so there are many birds; there are many merchants, and there are also many poets. The Tisu people speak like birds, and they are beautiful. Especially the girl Jiumeng. , wearing a white dress, wearing gold jewelry singing in the tavern, tsk tsk tsk, those green eyes are blinking at you, you can make people drunk!"
"I want to tell mother about you secretly going to listen to the music." Xiao Fang Tinglan mercilessly.
The father burst into laughter, and pinched Tinglan's face below: "Your mother was sitting next to me!" After speaking, he picked up the wine cup in his hand and took another sip.
The summer breeze in front of the corridor is slightly drunk, and the bright moon in Beijing is just right. His father always liked to drink some wine when he chatted with him, but he would not let him taste it. "When you grow up a bit," the man smiled, and compared the height of a palm, "If you grow so much taller, let's not drink Taiyan's 'Xu Hua Chun' and 'Xi Jiang Yi', I will take you and your mother Go out to sea again, and drink Jiumeng's wine together, okay?"
Xiao Fang Tinglan nodded, and slapped his father's palm earnestly, "You are the general and Lord Zhenhai, so you have to make a deal," he said.
But in the second year after this chat, the imperial capital Taiyan City was attacked by a large army, and the emperor fled in a hurry. Dongzhou was divided into two from then on, and the north and south were split apart.
Fang Tinglan looked at his palm and pressed his lower lip hard. He struggled from the memory and turned his gaze to the man sitting in the bow.
It is said that Tisu people have brown hair and emerald eyes, but the only Jiumeng resident on board this time has the same black hair and black eyes as Fang Tinglan.
Now that the deal was concluded, the young pirate was naturally released from the prison, and no one dared to provoke him. Hai Lian was enjoying himself by walking alone. He would be dangling his calves, holding on to the railing with one hand, and carelessly playing with a coin with the other hand. The sea breeze would blow the braids on the back of his head and inflate his clothes, like a bird that might vibrate at any moment. A white gull-heron flying away.
"In the capital of 'Birds on the Sea', thousands of treasures gather thousands of visitors, and it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times." Fang Tinglan walked to Oulu, looked at the sea level, and sighed.
Hailian looked back at him, but didn't answer.
The two have been together for more than half a month, and the number of times they have talked can be counted on the fingers. Although the other party always smiles and treats him politely, Hai Lian still instinctively doesn't like this Dongzhou officer very much, and he will not be so stupid as to think that this A fox-like employer suddenly wanted to get along with him on a whim.
Fang Tinglan didn't care about the other party's indifference, and continued: "I've always wanted to ask, judging by your appearance, you don't seem to be from Tisu?"
"Tisu has everyone, big and small, yellow-haired and red-haired, white-faced and black-faced, blue-eyed and green-eyed." Hailian obviously has no interest in chatting with the other party, his voice is weak, "You don't care where I am from. If you fart, just let it go, don't come here."
"Don't be so alienated," Fang Tinglan smiled, "We still have to be alone for a year, it's always good to know each other better."
Hailian frowned, grasping the key word: "Alone?"
"Well, alone. When we land, only I will go to the city with you." Fang Tinglan replied calmly.
"You are brave."
"Because I have you."
"..."
Fang Tinglan looked directly at the other party, without blinking his eyes when he said nasty words: "In the coming year, the only person I can trust is you."
"We're companions, Helen," he said.
Fang Tinglan's words were extremely sincere, and there was even a hint of coquettishness in the ending. When he was in Nanhong back then, his tone and expression could fool his classmates in Wulong Palace and the old emperor in Zichen Palace, and naturally he could also fool the simple-minded little pirate in front of him.
Sure enough, Hai Lian fell silent in his gaze, and after a while he turned his gaze back to the sea, and said softly, "... I'm just like you."
The pronunciation of these five characters is clear, and they are Dongzhou dialect with a correct accent. Fang Tinglan couldn't help being taken aback.
"I'm from Hongchao just like you. I fled from Dongzhou to Tisu with my family on the eve of the War of Splitting the Nation fifteen years ago, and I never went back after that." Hai Lian stroked his forehead and let They tried not to touch the scabbed wounds, and when their fingers brushed through the hair, their palms were covered with moist mist.
"Then your family..."
"They're all dead."
Fang Tinglan's smile stagnated: "Sorry."
"It's been so many years since I've been dead, there's nothing to apologize for." Hailian supported the railing and returned to the deck. He was about to arrive at Hongliu Port, "Don't take me for Dongzhou, I don't recognize it."
8.
The port was crowded with ships, and the poisonous bees could only stay on the periphery for a while. Fang Tinglan finally ordered a few words to the men on the ship, and then carried a wooden box and Hailian transferred to a small boat and moved forward. The two passed through rows of masts, sails of different styles, and the hideous Poseidon statue stood on the bow of every merchant ship, looking down at every visitor with cold eyes. Fang Tinglan kept looking forward, but the smell rushed over faster than the sight.
He held his breath.
— Before entering Jiumeng City, you have to smoke a cigarette first.
The most experienced old sailor on Yunhai would say this to every newcomer.
Tobacco from Longxi Castle in Beimo, spices from Chijincheng in Dongzhou, fine wine from Lanlisai in Westland, all kinds of smells are mixed with the salty sea breeze and rich fragrance of flowers, forming a strange and delicious scent. Another intoxicating taste. The customs chased the smugglers in a panic, the Bolang merchants returned with full loads, the dark porters and the short foremen gathered together, the pirates flirted with the whores—whether they were leather boots, cloth shoes or bare feet, there was only mud. Splashes on everyone's feet and trousers. People chatted about bills in Dongzhou dialect, cursed in southern dialect, and sang ditties in Beimo dialect. The silver coins coated with bright skylight flowed from everyone's hands and scattered to the dotted taverns near the port.
This seaport named Hongliu is much more vibrant, bustling and savage than all the ports Fang Tinglan has been to.
As soon as the boat touched the shore, Hailian was the first to jump off the boat. He turned his head and said to Fang Tinglan, "You'd better follow me closely, or you might be left with only your underpants when you walk out of the port."
Fang Tinglan smiled and agreed. However, the crowd was crowded, and the other party had no intention of waiting for him. After Fang Tinglan walked a few steps hurriedly or hurriedly, he simply grabbed the wrist of the person in front of him.
"It was you who asked me to follow you closely." Fang Tinglan said confidently.
Hai Lian glanced at Fang Tinglan, who made a pitiful expression at him.
"... Is it disgusting?" The young man muttered, but he didn't shake off Fang Tinglan's hand, and slowed down his pace.
The port was huge, and the two of them were struggling to move forward in the cracks. When they were about to leave the port with difficulty, Fang Tinglan was suddenly interrupted by a sharp cry.
The cry came from a boy, his left arm was gone from the shoulder down, and the only remaining hand was holding the hem of the clothes of a one-eyed strong man, and he was just trying to explain something to the other party inarticulately. The strong man was obviously impatient to listen to the boy's explanation, and wanted to shake him off. After the man yelled and scolded a few times, the boy didn't let go. The strong man was furious. He grabbed the child's only arm and shoved him vigorously. The boy staggered a few steps , fell into the muddy water with a plop, and his front skirt and half of his face were immediately dirty.
Hongliu Port is too busy, and no one will take a second to look at the little dirty ghost in the mud. The crowd will automatically separate from him who is crying loudly, like a river encountering stubborn stones. The boy's wail is just like The most dissonant note in the tumultuous tune. His arms were bruised, and his legs and feet seemed to be inflexible. The boy struggled for a long time but failed to get up, and tears washed the dust on his face into streaks.
Fang Tinglan watched, and couldn't help but clicked his tongue: "What kind of skill is bullying a child."
After that, he handed the luggage to Hai Lian and walked straight over. Hailian glanced at the wooden box in his hand, then at the crying boy, but didn't move.
"Can you still stand up?" Fang Tinglan leaned over and asked in Southern Language.
The boy pursed his mouth, sucked his nose several times and finally stopped sobbing. He hummed a little: "I... my feet are broken."
Fang Tinglan sighed, he stretched out his hands towards the boy, wrapped his arms around the boy's armpits, lifted him out of the mud, and put him carefully on the side of the road. The Dongzhou native asked him gently, "Where's your master?"
The boy bit his lip, shook his head and refused to speak. Fang Tinglan asked a few more words, but the other party was still unwilling to speak, so he didn't bother anymore. He straightened the child's wrinkled collar and told him with a smile, "Don't provoke such a person in the future."
The boy nodded slightly, he hesitated, and stopped the young man when Fang Tinglan took two steps away. The child tried his best to suppress a smile amidst the snot and tears: "Thank you, uncle."
Fang Tinglan also smiled.
"I can't see how kind you are." Hailian handed the wooden box back to him.
"It's because you people are too indifferent, letting a child cry on the side of the road." Fang Tinglan sniffed his cuffs, wrinkled his nose, "I have to wash it when I get there, even the mud here A fishy smell...”
"Touch your chest." Helian said.
"What?" Fang Tinglan was taken aback, but followed his words and put his hand into his bosom, and his face immediately changed after such a touch. Fang Tinglan looked back abruptly, there was no sign of a one-armed boy with bad legs.
"This..." He was dumbfounded, and understood what the boy meant by "thank you".
"Use a child with severed arms and legs to win the sympathy of the old women, walk along with their jewelry and money bags when they wipe their tears, and leave a black handprint on the white skirt before leaving," Hai Lian said. He spoke slowly, "I reminded you to follow me closely, I never thought you would take the initiative to fall for such a low-level trick, Fang Qianwei."
The young man finally smiled at Fang Tinglan, with undisguised gloating in his crooked eyebrows.
"This is a meeting gift from Tisu." Hailian said, "Welcome to Jiumeng City, stranger."