After several rainy nights, golden sunlight rose from the end of the sky and the sea, shining on the sparkling waves on the sea. Suddenly, a man's shout broke the tranquility of the dock.
"ah-"
"My boat~~"
"Everyone, come out quickly, the boat is gone! It's all gone~~"
In the rising morning sun, the boatman who went out to check the cargo ran to the dock and suddenly burst into tears. Most of the people near the dock were sailors or warehouse guards. When they heard the crying, they rushed out and looked at the ships docked at the dock. They stood there in amazement, and some even cried along with the man who had just cried.
In front of the ferry bridges where the ships were moored, the ships were severely damaged as they rose and fell slightly with the sea. Not only were the masts broken, but most of the planks were overturned. A huge hole was smashed open on one side of the hull by something unknown. Even if it was patched up and water did not seep in, forget it for long voyages as it would not be able to withstand the impact of slightly bigger waves and would break open again.
"What should I do? I still have to send the goods to Fuzhou."
"… It's fine if you go along the coast, but I want to go to Korea. Others have paid the deposit, but what if the goods are stuck in my hands?"
"We clearly offered sacrifices to the Dragon King yesterday... What the hell is going on here!"
Amid the complaints, some people responded: "Quickly notify the Shipping Department!!"
"It's no use yelling at them. They can't even repair my boat!"
…
Most accidents at the docks were closely related to the lives of the people in the city. For a while, the noise alarmed the entire county and many people rushed over.
Yuelai Inn was also noisy. Lu Liangsheng was awakened by the merchants staying at the inn. He got up and opened the window. He could see many people running towards the pier below. He frowned slightly and glanced at the pier, which was already surrounded by people.
"Could it be yesterday's violent storm..."
Remembering what the First Emperor said yesterday, Lu Liangsheng quickly packed up his luggage, stuffed the still sleeping Toad Taoist onto the bookshelf, picked up the luggage and left the room. When he paid the bill, he asked the shopkeeper, who confirmed his guess.
Fearing that something bad might happen again, he took no liberty and hurriedly pulled the old donkey to the dock. On the way, he heard passers-by whispering from time to time.
"I heard that the Dragon King got angry last night and smashed all our boats."
"Could it be that the tribute is not satisfactory?"
"Who knows? When people at the dock woke up early in the morning, they found that almost all the boats could not move."
"Hey, I paid Lao Wang some money a few days ago and asked him to bring back dozens of Korean ginseng when he came back. Now it's all gone."
"So much, you eat it?"
"... at night... Oh, I need to nourish my body. My wife is thirty years old and very strong..."
Amid the chattering, Lu Liangsheng led his old donkey through the crowd outside. The dock was a mess, with some piled-up goods lying on the ground in disarray. There were even a few sea fish flapping their tails and jumping around in the corner, but no one paid any attention to them.
When Lu Liangsheng went over, people from the yamen were also there maintaining order. There were also four figures wearing different county official robes negotiating with dozens of boatmen and merchants. The four seemed to be forced into a corner, gesticulating randomly and talking in a messy manner.
"… What should we do? How would we know what to do? We just arrived yesterday, and we don't even know everyone in the department. You want the four of us to do it?"
"Which one... I think the boat can still be used after some repairs?"
"That's right, don't think that we scholars are easy to bully. I'm not afraid to tell you that we have no money!"
The boatmen and merchants over there were also unhappy. They had never failed to pay taxes before. At this critical juncture, if the government did not help, they would all lose a lot of money. In excitement, they surrounded the four scholars and started noisily pushing and shoving them.
Over there, Lu Liangsheng, who was standing in the crowd, looked at the backs of four people over there and felt that they looked familiar. He couldn't help laughing when he heard the voices. It was these four guys again. After Duke Yue passed away, the emperor probably didn't make things difficult for them. He gave them some official positions and sent them over here. However, they looked like they couldn't handle this matter.
His eyes then swept over the boats at the dock. If what the First Emperor said was true, then this incident was caused by him? These boatmen, merchants, and even the four scholars over there were all implicated.
Thinking of this, Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey around to the other side of the crowd, approached the nearest large ship, looked at the big hole in the hull, and came up with an idea.
Under his sleeve, he pinched out a spell with his fingers and pointed quietly. Suddenly, sprouts grew on the broken part of the wooden board and slowly closed towards the sky along the broken part. Then the magic power flowed and flew to the next ship.
Over there, four scholars with messy hair who were being pushed around shouted loudly: "Get away, if you come any closer, we will really get mad!"
The shorter scholar also spoke, pushing away someone's hand on his head.
"No matter how you help us, you have to let us see the boat first!"
The group of boatmen and traders were stunned for a moment, as if they had really not allowed the people from the Shipping Company to inspect the damaged ship, and they had been surrounding it until now.
"Well... well, the four of you come over and take a look at the boat first."
Someone waved his hand and led the way. When they reached the ferry bridge, he looked at the four behind him and pointed to the damaged area: "It's right here. Look, so we don't have to make trouble."
The four embarrassed people who followed followed the direction pointed by each other, looked at the ship, looked at each other, and gathered in a circle, whispering to each other.
“It’s like calling a horse a zebra.”
"Well, it's not broken at all. These guys must be trying to cheat us!"
"What should we do then?"
At this time, the boatman who was pointing at the hull shouted in astonishment: "It's obviously broken, what's going on? Come and have a look."
Hearing the old boatman's shout, a group of people rushed over and looked at the flat hull in horror. Some of them ran to their own boats and shouted in surprise. In less than a moment, shouts of surprise came one after another, and even the city residents who had gathered outside to watch the excitement ran over here.
When they saw the intact ships, their eyes widened in surprise and their mouths opened wide, unable to close.
"How strange! They were all broken when I came here just now. How come they are all fixed now and look exactly the same as before?"
"Could it be that the Dragon King has appeared?"
"Let's go to the temple and worship."
Many such words were heard at the crowded dock. The people who had come to watch the excitement rushed to the side of the dock close to the street. In an instant, the dock was filled with people and there were only a few left.
Lu Liangsheng stroked the old donkey's mane, put away his magic, smiled and walked past a ship. Just as he was about to ask whether they were going out to sea as usual, the bright morning sun suddenly dimmed in his sight.
call-
A strong wind blew in from the sea, and the large ships docked at the pier creaked and swayed on the water. The boatmen, vendors, and the four scholars on the shore raised their sleeves to cover their heads.
Just as one of them shouted, "Hey, what a strong wind!" Lu Liang suddenly turned his head, and a powerful magical power rose into the sky from the direction of the Dragon King Temple.
"It's coming for me!"
As Lu Liangsheng murmured, the magic power that soared into the sky turned into a huge long shadow. Ordinary people seemed to be unable to see it. They only felt that the wind was too strong. They squatted on the ground to resist the strong wind. Above their heads, they did not notice the giant shadow swinging its five claws and twisting and sliding past.
The wind caused by the long shadow became even stronger, and some people were even lifted up from the ground. The wooden boxes containing goods on the ground were also shaking, and then they were suddenly lifted up, and the things inside were blown out and flew all over the sky.
In an instant, Lu Liangsheng cast a wind-proof spell on the people over there. Seeing the black shadow heading straight over here, he did not dare to stay here. He pulled the old donkey to a ship, kicked off his feet, and flew onto the deck with the donkey. He quickly rushed to the bow, changing his finger gestures rapidly to touch the sea water.
The next moment.
Under the huge hull, the sea water began to flow, lifting the hull slowly forward and away from the dock, and the tied ropes broke in an instant.
"My ship! My ship!"
A boatman at the dock raised his head to take a look, and without caring about the strong wind, he rolled and crawled towards the ferry bridge. Something flew towards him from the drifting boat, and he instinctively put out his hand to block it. A bag hit his arm and fell to the ground. It was a purse, and when he opened it, it was full of white silver bars.
It was more than dozens of taels, enough to buy a new ship.
Before they could be happy, a strong wind blew and they vaguely saw a huge black shadow coming from a distance and flying over the boatmen and merchants over there, and then everyone was thrown to the ground.
"Brother, save me!"
Among the four thin scholars, one was rolled up into the sky and subconsciously reached out to pull the person next to him. Then, the second scholar pulled him up and flew up as well.
"Third brother, save me!"
Then another voice came: "Second brother, save me!"
"Save your mother, I'm flying too..."
…
Wow!
The waves were rolling, and the large ship that was seven or eight feet away from the dock seemed stable without the bumps of the strong wind. Lu Liangsheng was still holding the magic spell, trying to keep the ship's speed and get away from the magic wind blown by the black shadow as soon as possible. However, the next second, several shouts of "Ah--" were heard from the sky.
Lu Liangsheng looked back and saw four figures in mid-air, holding hands and falling down from the deck together. They hit Lao Lu heavily not far away, making a dull bang.
Lao Lu tilted his head and saw one of them raised his face, wiped the blood from his nose, and muttered, "Finally landed... So solid." Then, with a thud, he passed out.
These four guys...
The corner of Lu Liangsheng's mouth twitched as he was pinching the spell.