Chapter 377 [The picturesque landscape]
After hearing this, the hostess of this family came up to greet her immediately, and then took the tea poured by her husband: "I happen to be thirsty." After she finished speaking, she drank it down, and her eyes suddenly brightened: "That's great!"
Fang Chang stood up, looked at the sky outside, and said to the family:
"The rain has stopped, thank you for taking me in, I have to continue on my way."
The members of this family hurriedly got up and saw them off.
Fang Chang walked into the courtyard and asked casually, "Excuse me, what is the place further south from here?"
The host thought for a while and said, "Go further south? In the distance, the south is the sea, and the official roads go from here to the southwest. If it is close, there is a town seven or eight miles ahead. We This is where I go to market on weekdays.”
His eldest son suddenly interjected excitedly: "If your Excellency goes there now, there are good things there. If you have money, you should not miss it."
"Oh? Come on."
"There was a strong man in the nearby town, who was very brave. He hunted and killed more than a dozen Jiaolongs in a row by the nearby river. In addition to giving this place great disasters, the government rewarded him. He also handed over the Jiaolong meat to the restaurant to cook and sell it at a high price in the town. , I don’t know how many people go there because of the name—"
"There is such a thing?" The host asked in surprise, "How did you know it was so far away?"
"Father, you have lost the news." The eldest son of the family said with a smile: "Yesterday, when A Niu came to ask me to borrow a hammer, he told me about it. In the past, the evil dragons were rampant, and the government issued a notice to offer rewards, which cannot be faked."
"Then the strong man in the town you mentioned...couldn't be Fan Sanhu? How could he?!" The host thought for a while, and said in surprise, "No one is so brave except him, but he is usually idle, ignorant and incompetent. , now you know how to do this kind of thing?"
"It should be him who is right. If you don't believe me, you can ask my son to go and find out."
"No way!"
The male master reprimanded, so the eldest son of the family shrank back angrily.
Fang Changgong bid farewell, walked on the official road again, and walked south with many pedestrians who had taken shelter from the rain and resumed their journey. Fortunately, the official road has been trampled all year round, and the road surface has long been solid. In addition, it is rainy from the south, so it will not be too muddy.
After walking for more than seven miles, I saw the town.
It seems to have benefited from this official road. The town in front of me is the same as the ones I saw before, with similar prosperity and similar configuration. Pedestrians occasionally rest here to eat and take shelter from the rain—Fang Chang saw that there were much more people starting from the small town after sheltering from the rain than in the previous village.
Two hours later, Fang Chang left the town satisfied.
There is indeed Jiao meat here. He looked at it, but it turned out to be just a crocodile, but the meat tasted very delicious. The restaurants here are not very good at cooking. They just replace the meat with jiao meat in the dishes they used to cook. Fortunately, the jiao meat is delicious, and such a simple method does not hide its beauty.
So Fang Chang asked for fried bamboo shoots and pork to taste, but the meat in it had been replaced with jiao meat. Seeing how happy he was eating, the shopkeeper of the restaurant there couldn't help sighing: "It would be great if the guests come in summer, our fried pork with lychees is the best, the meat is smooth and fruity, I guarantee you won't want to leave here after eating it." .”
The story of the dragon hunter is not difficult to find out, everyone in the town knows it. It's nothing more than a clichéd story of a prodigal son turning his head and repenting, and then the scholars treat each other with admiration for three days. This kind of story is common in the world, and Fang Chang is no longer surprised.
After coming out of the small town, he found a high mountain, climbed up and looked around, and got an idea.
The official road turns to the southwest and then to the west.
The landforms on both sides are constantly changing. The original red land under the feet disappeared and turned into loess again, while the mountains and rivers on both sides suddenly became beautiful.
The mountains and rivers here are like a picture scroll, with various gestures.
The water is not like the magnificent sea that Fang Chang saw, nor the tranquility of the lake, nor the turbulence of other rivers. Instead, it moves slowly in a seemingly calm but continuous flow. The water here is like emerald, but it is so clear that you can see the finest sand and gravel.
The mountains are not as vast as Yunzhongshan, nor are they tall and straight like the high mountains in the Western Regions, but they have dangerous peaks, towering strange rocks, and they are not connected and change in shape, like animals, plants, people, utensils, and buildings... It seems that the spirits of all the mountains in the world are concentrated here.
The sun shines through the clouds and shines down with a few rays, making the landscape below change light and dark, just like a dream.
Well, this is a karst landform.
Originally, there are many mountains and waters, and the texture of the mountains here is limestone, which can be dissolved by water very slowly. Over hundreds of millions of years, this landscape of peaks and forests has been formed. At the same time, Fang Chang can also sense that there are dark rivers, dark lakes and caves in the ground under his feet.
It's a pity that I have a goal for this trip, and I can't stay in a certain place for too long, otherwise it would be a pleasure to explore here.
The official road went straight along the water's edge, and Fang Chang also walked along the official road and along the water's edge.
On the surface of the water, fishermen can be seen wearing coir raincoats and slowly moving forward with small bamboo rafts. There are cormorants and fish baskets standing in front of the bamboo rafts. Sometimes cormorants will suddenly fly up, plunge into the water, and then carry The neck is back, and the fish that the fisherman sent out are thrown into the fish basket.
The so-called picturesque mountains and rivers are just this scene.
Fang Chang walked quickly, and soon he could see the city in front of him.
This is the intersection of two ancient canals, with great transportation convenience, so there is this state city. Because of the convenient transportation, it is more suitable for governing the surrounding prefectures and towns, and it is also more convenient to communicate with the imperial court. This is an advantage that cannot be ignored when choosing a city site.
The city wall of Zhoucheng is not high, but very thick. The city wall is a rammed earth structure covered with stone bricks. Due to the perennial rain, the outside always looks wet, and weeds protrude from the cracks in the city bricks. Since there was a fight here before, some traces of war can still be found.
But the people inside have returned to peace.
Fang Chang paid the entrance fee of two coppers and walked through the city.
Through the long city gate and cave, there are rows of buildings inside, the smoke is rolling, and it is full of life.
However, due to the karst landforms here, the drinking water is very alkaline, and the rainy and humid food is not easy to store, so the food is mostly slightly sour. This can not only neutralize the alkalinity to maintain health, but also prolong the edible time of the food. .
Anyway, for Fang Chang, who has a keen sense of smell, it just doesn't smell very good.
Of course, he is very interested in trying the food here.
After walking a few more steps, Fang Chang's heart moved, he turned a corner, and walked in a certain direction.
Yesterday, I had to take leave of absence and was bedridden. I really haven’t finished writing this chapter...
(end of this chapter)