It's okay for Zhou Bai to hear the previous sentence, because it does make sense.

Any of the dragon boats in the river is more than one hundred meters long and twenty or thirty meters wide, with a special dragon-shooting crossbow riding on the bow. Ordinary small dragons would not dare to do it.

The Dragon Shooting Crossbow is very famous on the Ningjiang River. Almost every year, dragon boats are capsized by evil dragons, but every year there are also several evil dragons that are directly nailed to death by the Dragon Shooting Crossbow.

Zhou Bai could only attribute the fisherman's last sentence to a mortal's perspective. The immortals and dragon gods were probably the Taoist priests of the second and third realms and some of the descendants of the Dragon King.

Zhou Bai had heard similar stories in his previous life.

A certain dragon god arbitrarily changed the rainfall for that month, and made a splash in the Tianjiang River. In the end, the waterspout affected a dragon boat filled with tens of thousands of people.

The Taoist priest on board the dragon boat happened to be a Yangshen-level Taoist official working part-time at the imperial court. Seeing this, he was furious and beat the dragon god half to death. The rainy day cleared up immediately.

Afterwards, the heavenly court investigated and found that this dragon god was just the most inconspicuous among the many descendants of a certain dragon king. Not only did he not have the title of Shaojun, he also had no official position in the heavenly court. He could not be called a dragon god at all.

If it is a real dragon god, it must be a real dragon. Ordinary immortals cannot suppress it at all, let alone the heavenly immortals who can escort mortal ships.

As for the evil dragon who caused the trouble, even if he recovers from his injuries, he will still be punished by the Heavenly Court, or else he will be cleared out by the Dragon King.

Under the description of the old boatman, the eyes of the two brothers were full of yearning. How majestic the dragon god, the immortal, the thousand-meter dragon boat, and the Tianjiang River that cut off the Daxu Dynasty for thousands of miles were.

Zhou Bai listened with great interest and added a few words from time to time, which made the old boatman give him a thumbs up.

It can be said that he is a scholar and has seen great scenes.

Because he had to board the ship and sail, he would inevitably encounter wind, rain, and fatigue along the way, so Zhou Bai took off his scholarly Qingjin. Unexpectedly, the old boatman could still recognize his identity at a glance.

Having lived on the river for many years, among other things, I have developed a good eye for sight.

With such talk, the sword on his waist, and the fact that it happened to be late June, the old man was very sure that this young man in plain white was going to take the scholar examination.

Of course, he welcomed many people and was able to be neither humble nor overbearing.

But the seventeen or eighteen-year-old brother next to him didn't dare to talk too much. He was a talented scholar and had great fame, so he was a big shot to them.

The younger brother, on the other hand, was looking at Zhou Bai secretly with his big, smart eyes. Is this the scholar the storyteller calls a scholar?

There was no conversation all the way until we connected to the dragon boat. Zhou Bai let the two of them get on first out of politeness.

He has never been stingy with his kindness to this kind of country boy who is afraid of life and wants to live a better life on his own.

After a while, another hanging basket was lowered, and Zhou Bai stood firmly on it.

The more than 30-meter-wide deck was crowded with passengers. Some were leaning on the railings to enjoy the breeze, some were chatting in groups, and there were also vendors selling various goods. The oncoming smoke and smoke almost made Zhou Bai think he had arrived.

In a lively market.

"Hello, sir, I'm paying the shipping fee here. Where are you going? Our ship's destination is directly at Tianjiang Port, passing through Dingzhou along the way." Soon, a maid guided Zhou Bai to a cabin and pointed to the price list hanging in the middle.

It lists the ferries where each county stops, basically two or three per county, and a price list for reaching each ferry.

Of the eight counties in Dingzhou, only Bei'an County does not have access to the Ningjiang River.

Before reaching Zhoucheng, we need to pass through three counties and thirteen cities including Ruinan County, Longfeng County, and Dingzhou County. The journey is thousands of miles away.

However, the price is not expensive. Zhou Bai bought a single first-class cabin for only ten taels of silver from the nearest ferry in Dingzhou City.

Moreover, these 10 taels of fare include food and drinks. If you need anything, first-class passengers will have priority in the services on board.

The journey from Bei'an to Dingzhou City cost more than ten liang just to change horses, not to mention the leisurely concession carriage to catch the exam.

It takes more than three thousand miles of waterway and can be reached in half a month with a smooth journey.

After paying the money, Zhou Bai simply registered his information. At this time, the Central Plains Dynasty Baona Haichuan did not implement any strict travel rules.

Even ordinary civilians can travel to various places with identity documents, but as a scholar, Zhou Bai is not afraid of being stopped even if he passes through ordinary passes.

Zhou Bai looked up and saw that there was another floor above, so he climbed up the stairs. He would be able to enjoy the broad view of the top deck. He could lean on the railing and have a panoramic view of the Ningjiang River.

The top deck was full of first-class guests, either wealthy businessmen or well-known scholars. There were occasionally a few officials who occupied a corner under the protection of their attendants.

These officials were all wearing regular uniforms, but their manners and bearing could not be hidden, and no one was so discerning as to get close to them.

Zhou Bai's spiritual consciousness has carefully explored the inside and outside of the dragon ship. There are no Taoist priests accompanying the ship, and there are no other abnormal supernatural powers.

There was only one official in his forties or fifties, with a red aura lingering around his body and a faint flow of magic power within his body.

He should be a seventh-grade official who has been taught Taoist scriptures. Now he is actively practicing in his old age. He is probably the type who uses his luck and luck to force his way into Taoism.

In Daxu, those who were elected to the imperial court were qualified to teach the exercises. At this time, those who had no hope of becoming a scholar would usually start learning Taoism.

But if there is a substitute with a serious official position, Juren will give priority to becoming an official. After all, Juren cannot go far in practicing Taoism and Dharma. It is better to serve as an official for one term and have the opportunity to become an ancestor after death.

Tong Jinshi also saw clearly that they knew there was no hope of everlasting life and would spend most of their energy in officialdom in the first half of their lives.

If you can climb up, climb up. If you can't, take advantage of the opportunity to practice Taoism when you are about to retire and return home, try to live longer, and then you can enter the spiritual realm or the Dragon Court after death.

Those who have made contributions to the dynasty and humanity have the opportunity to be posthumously named gods, which is also a different kind of immortality.

Needless to say, as for the second-level and first-level Jinshi, most of them will accept some leisurely official positions and then concentrate on pursuing the Tao.

If you are listed in the heavenly register, you can be taken to heaven even after death. However, whether you can be selected as a heavenly official later depends on your destiny.

At this time, the sun was already three poles high.

The bright sun reflected the river surface into a hot golden lake, with thousands of waves overlapping and dotted river sails.

The gentle river breeze with a bit of heat aroused the pride in people's hearts, and some enthusiastic scholars even composed impromptu poems.

This made people on the upper and lower decks applaud and applaud, most of them watching the fun, but they were unable to express themselves. Now that someone can express their feelings, they will not be stingy in their appreciation.

"Thinking about the past, I crossed the river and watched the green moths reflected on the mountains."

Among them, the poems of two scholars were the most cheering. They stood proudly on the bow of the boat with their hands behind their backs, pretending to be as cool as a scholar can do.

"Falling flowers and running water are light and dark red, and sails are flying in the embroidered waves all day long."

"Good, good poem!" Zhou Bai was among the people around him praising and praising it. Of course, he really thought it was good.

If there are a few more sentences to form two complete poems, it won't be a big problem to enter the red poem level.

Maybe it was because Zhou Bai shouted too loudly, or maybe it was because his unique temperament was difficult to hide, but the two scholars noticed him immediately.

One of them, while bowing his hands in greeting to everyone around him, walked up to Zhou Bai and asked with some dissatisfaction: "My dear brother, he must be famous for his fame. Isn't there a good improvisational sentence for this situation?!"

"Oh..." The cheers started immediately.

The two brothers who started to board the ship together also saw Zhou Bai leaning on the railing on the lower deck.

"Brother, look, it's the scholar who knows more than you. He seems to be writing a poem."

"No way, I heard people say that you need to be talented to write poetry, but that young man is a good man, I know that."

"Master, please say a few words..."

As more and more people called out, Zhou Bai could only sigh: "I won't write poems anymore. Let's just write a few random verses."

“Dive into the steep peaks of Kunlun and emerge from the craggy rocks… Viewing the majesty of hundreds of rivers, there is nothing more beautiful than Ningjiang.”

Although it is not as heart-wrenching as the previous poems, it is a eloquent expression of more than a hundred words, but in the eyes of those who understand it, it is a manifestation of a deeper foundation. 81 Chinese website

Even a few officials standing under big umbrellas cast surprised glances, and some whispered to the attendants beside them, perhaps asking for information about Zhou Bai.

"I'm Yuji, a native of Ruinan County. This is Ma Liang, who is from the same hometown as me. We are both talented scholars this year."

"Brother Ma didn't mean to target him. He has a rough personality and likes to discuss literary skills with his colleagues. He definitely didn't mean to force the young master to write essays on the spot."

Soon, another scholar came forward to apologize, and his words were sincere.

But in Zhou Bai's opinion, this man was a little too smart. He obviously wanted to test him, but he just sat on the Diaoyutai and watched Ma Liang offend him.

Now that he has met Zhou Bai's literary talents, he immediately apologizes to him, pulls Ma Liang to show his magnanimity, and tries to make friends with him.

Ma Liang's face turned red with embarrassment at this time, and he said to Zhou Bai sheepishly: "I could tell at a glance that your brother was unusual, so I got a little reckless. Don't take it to heart. Otherwise, I'll treat you to a drink."

?”

He looked at the commotion around him, and only then did he realize that he had put Zhou Bai on the fire.

If this person is not thinking smoothly and has no inspiration, wouldn't it be a big loss because of him?

Zhou Bai understood everything in his heart, but he remained calm and bowed his hands in greeting: "Zhou Bai, a native of Bei'an, both of whom are of the same age, it's a pleasure to meet you."

After careful observation, if Ma Liang is not really scheming, then his behavior is that he is outspoken.

"Zhou Bai? Could it be that this year's Bei'an County trial case is the first? That really comes to light." Yu Ji was stunned and asked in surprise.

Before Zhou Bai nodded in recognition, Ma Liang had already taken a seat under the pergola not far away, with two jars of unopened wine on the table.

"Raise anchor, hoist sail, and set sail!"

Woo~buzz...

Powerful horn sounds sounded one after another at Shuiyang Ferry.

At this time, there was a favorable wind, and the old captain who was familiar with the celestial phenomena immediately ordered to set off, and more than a dozen dragon boats set sail at the same time.

The broad, sparkling river suddenly became cloudy, as if man-made dark clouds were shielding the midsummer heat.
Chapter completed!