knife

Chapter 488 First Visit to Danyang
A small ferry with a black awning approached the dock. When the boat was still about ten feet from the shore, the young punter planted a bamboo pole in the water and deftly leaped across the surface, landing on the embankment, drawing cheers from the passengers. The boatman, too, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to the crowd with a smile. Amidst laughter and playful scolding, the older boatman tossed him the mooring rope, which the punter quickly tied to a stone post on the embankment.

With a slight jolt, the boat finally docked. The small boat was not large, but it carried quite a few people. After traveling dozens of miles by water for almost a day, everyone was really feeling very stifled.

They finally arrived at their destination, but couldn't wait a moment longer. They grabbed their tools, came out of the cabin, and stood on the bow, urging the boatman to quickly put up the gangplank so they could disembark.

At the far end of the cabin, near the helm, a bearded man stretched lazily, crawled out, and gripped the awning of the boat, looking up at the city before him.

This is Danyang.

Built against the mountain, looking up at the clouds from the river, the densely packed houses stretch all the way from the bottom to the top of the mountain. One wonders how much more there is on the other side of the mountain.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. This is the capital of the Chu Kingdom. Although it doesn't have over a million residents like Chang'an, it's said to have four or five hundred thousand. So what we see here is just a corner of Danyang.

Jiang Ping also crawled out of the cabin and stood next to Li Dachui. However, she was only up to Li Dachui's shoulder, so when she stood there, her eyes could barely reach the top of the awning.

"Li Bao, welcome to my home!" Jiang Ping said with a smile. "What's your first impression?"

“It’s very bustling,” Li Dachui said sincerely.

Although it was only at first glance, the scene before him did give him that impression.

The dock was full of ships.

Besides passenger ships like theirs, there were many more cargo ships.

The dock was packed with people.

Aside from people like Li Dachui who had just disembarked and arrived here, there were mostly shirtless men carrying goods.

There was no road accessible to horse-drawn carriages, so the goods unloaded from this dock were basically carried on people's backs or by special vehicles.

However, it is rare to see cows, and there are no horses either. Even mules are scarce, and the livestock are mostly short donkeys.

More often than not, it's people.

These shirtless men, some with a piece of hemp cloth draped over their shoulders, and the more luxurious ones with a leather vest, carried a bamboo basket on their backs. Li Dachui had seen this kind of basket on the boat before, but the style was different.

One type has a narrow waist and a wide opening, which can hold a lot of things; locals call it a "flower-backed frame," and it's usually carried by women. The other type is the same width from top to bottom, but it's used by men.

Of course, the fact that people of different genders use them also indicates that the two types of back frames have completely different load-bearing capacities.

The men on the dock that Li Dachui saw were carrying loads of at least one or two pounds of goods on their backs, bending over as they climbed the stone steps. When they got tired, they would rest. They carried a T-shaped tool, which they called a "beating pestle." When they wanted to rest, they would place this pestle under the bottom of their baskets, forming a stable triangle with their feet. While resting, they could even chat and laugh together.

Indeed, it's a different kind of scenery. Arriving by boat, one can sense that the people here are living quite comfortably, unlike the north where in recent years, with its constant fighting and infighting among various factions, the people are suffering. The south, overall, remains relatively peaceful. Although there have been significant changes at the top, these struggles have rarely affected the most vulnerable members of the population.

Sometimes, ordinary people at the bottom of society don't even feel the impact of these things on them.

The last time the people of Chu could feel the pain of war was the Battle of Xiangcheng five years ago. That battle could be considered a battle that determined the fate of the Chu state.

That battle plunged the Qin state, Chu's greatest enemy, into a turbulent abyss, and marked the beginning of the Chu Queen Dowager's formal control over the state.

Life is much easier now that there is no more ravages of war.

Perhaps in many places below, people still live a difficult life, but in places like Danyang, what is presented is a thriving scene.

In fact, before the Battle of Xiangcheng, Chang'an of the Qin Dynasty was far more prosperous than Danyang.

In just a few short years, Chang'an has become so desolate that it is unrecognizable.

Jiang Ping had a handkerchief wrapped around her head, and her complexion looked somewhat sallow, completely different from her previous appearance. This was, of course, thanks to Li Dachui's superb disguise skills.

This was Jiang Ping's insistence. In her words, she was a celebrity in Danyang, and many people knew her. If she appeared in Danyang looking like this, their presence would be exposed within a day.

And so the two of them ended up looking like this.

"Looking like this, even if I appeared in the imperial palace, no one would recognize me!" Jiang Ping said proudly. "Li Bao, your skills are truly amazing! They're far superior to any other disguise techniques I've ever seen!"

"Maybe we can keep it a secret for a while, but it'll be very difficult to fool your cousin!" Li Dachui shook his head and said, "Jiang Jiang, we need to finish this quickly. You won't go back on your promise to me, will you?"

"Of course not!" Jiang Ping laughed. "Let's find a place to stay first, and then I'll show you some scenic spots in Danyang. We'll also visit the Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Saber Sect. Didn't you say your sect has some grudges with them that need to be settled? You won't kill anyone, will you? They have a lot of influence in Danyang. I can handle it if you cause trouble, but if you kill someone, that's another story!"

Seeing Jiang Ping's wide-eyed expression, Li Dachui laughed and said, "My master just told me that if I ever came to Danyang during my travels, I must go to Wuhu Duanmendao to seek justice for him. How could I have killed anyone? My master's greatest wish is to use the Wuhu Duanmendao sword technique to defeat Wuhu Duanmendao!"

"What? You know the Five Tigers Severing the Gate Saber?" Jiang Ping was astonished.

"That's right!" Li Dachui laughed. "So you can rest assured, my master came from here, and he's from Danyang too! He has a deep connection with the Five Gates Broken Blade, so no one will die, it's just a friendly spar!"

"Then I'm relieved!" Jiang Ping said with a smile. "Let's get off the boat first and find an inn to stay in!"

“Okay, I’m afraid if we take too long, your cousin will catch you and take you back. Then your promise to take me to the headquarters of the Demonic Cult in Cloud Mist Mountain will fall through!” Li Dachui said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)