Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 290 The scholar began to understand the Prince of Han.

"Uh... I got so excited I completely forgot. The token Yanhe gave me has expired. Lord Wei, please continue with your work." The old Taoist was suddenly stopped by Wei Jizhong, and he was taken aback. A look of disappointment crossed his face, but he knew that he hadn't asked his student for blood recently, so the token to approach the alligator dragon had expired, and forcibly approaching the dragon would be too dangerous. Therefore, the old Taoist wisely chose to retreat.

"You're too kind, Immortal Master." Wei Jizhong was extremely polite to the old Taoist priest. Besides being respectful to an elder, he also knew very well that this old immortal master in front of him was a crucial link in His Highness's future control over various regions of the alien races, and one that absolutely could not be lost!
"What did you see?" The soldiers who had been surrounding the training ground from a distance noticed the unusual situation in the center of the field after the dust settled. At this moment, a soldier finally asked the crucial question in a trembling voice.

"I don't know either, I've never seen this thing before! But it looks so scary! How can it grow so big!?" After a moment of silence, another soldier replied, trembling with nervousness.

"This must be the real dragon the general was talking about! It looks so fierce, will it eat people? Should we run away?" Some timid soldiers, intimidated by the terrifying image of the alligator dragon, cautiously asked everyone if they should run away in advance.

"We probably don't need to run. Look at those generals, they're so close to that monster and they're fine. We probably don't need to run." A careful soldier noticed that the generals in the camp were very close to the terrifying monster and hadn't been eaten yet, so he subconsciously felt that they might not be in danger.

"But that thing looks really scary, it must be at least twenty zhang long!" A soldier couldn't help but measure the length of the alligator dragon with his eyes, but obviously, his eyesight wasn't very good.

"What do you mean twenty zhang? I think it's at most fifteen zhang long! But it's probably one zhang tall!" Another soldier with slightly better eyesight came out to estimate the height of the alligator dragon, but his eyesight was only slightly better.

However, after the soldiers discussed it amongst themselves, their fear of the alligator dragon gradually subsided. As a result, the soldiers began to examine the terrifying beast before them more closely.

"Look at its huge mouth, it could probably swallow us whole in one gulp; and those teeth inside are probably longer than our swords." A soldier began to share his observations of the alligator dinosaur's huge mouth and sharp teeth.

"What do you mean swallow it in one gulp? It could swallow both of you in one gulp! Look at those thick limbs, aren't they as thick as my waist? And those claws, they look bigger than my head!" Another soldier discovered a novel idea and exaggeratedly gestured with his hands to his barrel-shaped waist.

"Those scales are jet black, looking like refined steel. They must be impervious to swords and spears! And look at that tail, wow, it's probably thicker than the barrels of our artillery battalion's cannons!" another soldier exclaimed.

“That’s right, that’s right, that big tail, if you touch it, you’ll get bruised and battered all over.” A simple-minded soldier immediately chimed in.

"Besides, with your fat body, if you were touched, you'd definitely get bruises all over the place! You think this is a joke?" A soldier immediately retorted to the previous soldier's words.

"Hey, look! I found that it has horns on its head! It really is a dragon!" Another soldier discovered the key detail that the alligator had horns on its head, which immediately attracted the attention of many people.

“You know what, there really are dragon horns! They look like bull horns, and I think they’re about two feet long!” Another soldier replied after observing carefully.

"Look at its eyes!" Seeing their commander showing no fear and even gathering around the terrifying beast, the soldiers grew bolder and began pointing and commenting on the alligator. "Hey, what do you think is in those wheelbarrows?" A sharp-eyed soldier noticed the wheelbarrows in the distance and wondered what was inside.

"I don't know, but look, General Qian is going to the wheelbarrow." Although they didn't know what was in the wheelbarrow, some sharp-eyed soldiers saw that Qian Zhongcai had already gone to the wheelbarrow.

"Hey, hey, look, those three kneeling men have gotten up and are taking something out of the wheelbarrow. But what I see looks like a pig's head to me." A sharp-eyed soldier immediately noticed the crucial issue.

"It's not just a pig's head, it's a pig's head! It seems the three of them want to feed the real dragon with pig's heads!" Another soldier guessed the key details and couldn't help but share it with the soldiers around him again.

“What do you mean by feeding us? That’s called offering! It’s an offering to the true dragon!” A soldier immediately refuted the previous soldier’s words.

On the other side, Wei Jizhong looked at the alligator dragon lying quietly on the ground and couldn't help but relax. After all, his purpose was to boost morale, not to cause the soldiers to riot! If the alligator dragon really caused a big disturbance, he might not be able to calm it down.

After all, he was just a dragon tamer, or to put it bluntly, someone responsible for feeding the dragons! To truly make the alligator dragon completely obedient, only His Highness the Crown Prince could handle it personally. Therefore, he was extremely nervous. If the alligator dragon caused a disturbance and triggered a major uproar, it would be a terrible matter, and he would be held accountable with death!
As things progressed, and the alligator dragon lay quietly on the training ground without causing any trouble, Wei Jizhong breathed a sigh of relief and began to unload food from the carriage to feed the dragon.

"What are you all standing there for? Come and help Uncle Wei!" Looking at the stunned Jiang Xiaohu and the group of scholars and officials around him, Hu Tian personally carried a pig's head and placed it in Wei Jizhong's hands, and couldn't help but call out to his colleagues who were standing there in a daze.

"That makes sense! We'll come help right away!" Hearing Hu Tian's words, Jiang Xiaohu, Yao Guan, and the others' eyes lit up. Although they were terrified of the terrifying, enormous, and majestic alligator dragon before them, deep down they still wanted to get close to this fearsome creature. After all, it was the first time in their lives they had seen such a majestic dragon. Even if they couldn't get close, helping to feed it would be good enough!

Moreover, judging from the current situation, this dragon might really be His Highness the Crown Prince of Han! Because, from beginning to end, no one present mentioned the Prince of Han!

No wonder the Prince of Han is unwilling! With such a powerful figure in His Highness's household, even if it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't be willing to give up the throne! This is the sentiment expressed by countless scholars for the Prince of Han.

Then, the scholars, Taoist priests, and generals lined up in long queues, all working together to pass the various ingredients from the wheelbarrow to Uncle Wei, Little Dog, and Little Tiger. Watching the three of them pile the ingredients into the alligator dragon's mouth, once it was full, the alligator dragon snapped its mouth shut, then tilted its head back and swallowed the entire mouthful of ingredients in one gulp.

"Look, those officials are actually lining up to offer food to the dragon!" The soldiers gathered around the training ground were stunned, as were the generals and high-ranking officials in the center of the ground, all queuing up to feed the dragon. After all, the dragon looked terrifying and ferocious. Weren't these officials afraid? Weren't they worried about being eaten alive?

Gradually, as the soldiers watched the alligator dragon feed, their initial panic and fear transformed into excitement and fervor. After all, seeing that the true dragon posed no threat, they too wanted to get up close and personal with it!

(End of this chapter)