Chapter 53: The Sixteen Nations of Tiannan
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The Heaven-Reaching River, running east to west, eternally churned with great waves and surged endlessly, dividing the land of Qingzhou into northern and southern banks. No one knew where this great river’s source lay. People only knew that the Heaven-Reaching River’s final destination was the sea, and that its tributaries spread across the wilderness.
Even the boundless Wanheng Mountain Range was merely like branches on a tree or grass in the mountains compared to this great river.
Qingzhou was boundless, and the Heaven-Reaching River was like a silk ribbon draped across this land, bringing both vitality and disaster to the people living in Qingzhou.
Every hundred years or so, the Heavenly River would burst its banks. The surging waters of the Heaven-Reaching River would flood and rage, not only submerging crops and houses but also armies and imperial cities. After each flood, the land would be desolate and the weather would become increasingly cold.
South of the Heaven-Reaching River existed sixteen nations, called the Sixteen Nations of Tiannan. Pu Nation and Qi Nation were among these sixteen.
Great Pu was fortunate, because the long Wanheng Mountain Range not only blocked the cold and enemies from the north but also formed a natural barrier that held back the flooding waters of the Heaven-Reaching River.
Where there was fortune, there would be misfortune. Qi Nation was the unlucky one.
Because north of the Wanheng Mountain Range, Qi Nation’s geographical position lay precisely between the Wanheng Mountains and the Heaven-Reaching River. It belonged to the northernmost of the Sixteen Nations of Tiannan, and also the closest to the Heaven-Reaching River. If the Heavenly River burst its banks, it could barely reach Great Pu, but could turn Great Qi into a marsh country in an instant.
This once-per-century natural disaster had continued for countless years. Thus the people of Qi Nation, deeply suffering from flood devastation, had tried every method to resist natural disasters – expanding waterways, deepening riverbeds, clearing river mud. Great Qi had basically tried every possible method. The results were good. Originally, once the Heavenly River burst its banks, all of Qi Nation would become a water country. Now the situation was that when the Heavenly River burst its banks, at least the imperial city wouldn’t be washed away. Aside from the imperial city, there would still be floods everywhere.
As for why the imperial city could be preserved in the torrent, it was because Qi Nation’s royal family had made great efforts to reinforce the city walls. The walls, five zhang wide and nearly twenty zhang high, could be called the greatest in the world. If you asked whose city walls could accommodate horse carriages, it would be none other than Great Qi – and not just one carriage. Qi Nation’s imperial city walls could accommodate three horse carriages running side by side.
Qi Nation’s imperial city no longer feared floods, but the people under its rule still suffered deeply from flooding. Thus every household developed a habit – preparing boats.
Wealthy families would certainly prepare a large ship in their rear courtyards. Small households would also keep a small boat. As for whether they could climb onto the boat during floods, that depended on whose luck was better.
Boats, ships, carriages, and horses were transportation necessities for people throughout the world. Qi Nation could be called first among the sixteen nations in this regard, because once floods came, people needed to flee. Without fast horses and large ships, two legs couldn’t outrun bursting river waters.
Qi Nation produced good horses and raised even more horse breeders.
Most of Qi Nation’s horses were tall and large with sleek coats. When pulling carriages, they could be called swift as wind and lightning. This was also a source of pride for Qi Nation’s people. In the Sixteen Nations of Tiannan, who didn’t know about Qi Nation horses?
Any pride in this world cannot last forever. The centuries-old pride of Qi Nation’s people was finally broken by a little black pig.
Little Black, racing all the way from the northern mountains of the Wanheng Range, plunged into Qi Nation’s heartland under the temptation of food. Thus on the official road, a little pig dragging a broken sled overtook countless fine horses, not only drawing sideways glances from passersby but also shaming those tall horses to tears.
A pig running faster than horses – this really hurt the horses’ self-esteem.
After more than a day of wild running, Xu Yan and Mei Sanniang finally left the snowy mountains and entered Qi Nation. When passing through a town, Xu Yan decided to stop.
The little black pig’s tireless wild running still looked energetic. The pig wasn’t hungry yet, but Xu Yan was starving first.
Young people were at the age of growing their bodies. Having eaten almost nothing for a day and two nights, Xu Yan’s front and back were already touching. Especially since the sled he had woven had long been worn to pieces – if they kept running, it would start wearing his skin.
Having rushed out of the snowy mountain danger zone, Mei Sanniang was also much more spirited. Once you see hope in a desperate situation, even the most cowardly person becomes incredibly strong.
Mei Sanniang, who already had an extremely strong will to survive, almost saw hope waving at her after leaving the snowy mountains.
No one wanted to die. Living was life’s true value. Once dead, there was nothing left.
Abandoning the sled, Xu Yan led the little black pig and supported Mei Sanniang as they entered this Qi Nation town. They requested an ordinary guest room at the town’s inn, and the two people and one pig made do with preparing to rest for the night.
It wasn’t that the inn had no rooms, but that Xu Yan didn’t have much money.
Dinner was simple steamed buns and pickled vegetables. The little black pig was clearly very dissatisfied with this food, snorting loudly, but was directly ignored by Xu Yan.
“This is Lijia Town. It’s still about seven or eight days’ journey to Fengshan City.” Mei Sanniang seemed in good spirits. Aside from her increasingly pale complexion, her breathing was much smoother.
“Walking would probably take half a month.” Xu Yan cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks without looking up, speaking softly.
Mei Sanniang’s spirits were good, but her complexion was getting worse. Xu Yan could determine that within ten days, the woman beside him would die from poison.
“I can’t walk anymore. I might as well die here.” The woman leaning against the headboard spoke in sweet tones, her eyes full of smiles, clearly teasing the little Taoist.
Xu Yan bitterly searched through his chest and found a string of copper coins – only twenty or thirty altogether. This little money could at most cover one day at the inn and two days of steamed buns. Never mind buying a horse – they couldn’t even hire a cart.
“Third Sister, if you don’t have money either, we’re in trouble.”
Xu Yan truly had no money. During his three months at Yuan Mountain Stronghold, he should have received some share, but his portion had all been pocketed by the fat chef, who only gave Xu Yan three to five copper coins per month.
“I left in such a hurry that Third Sister really didn’t bring money.” When a woman with natural charm laughed sweetly, that voice could make people’s bones go soft. Mei Sanniang smiled cleverly and said: “Little Taoist, can’t you bear to let Third Sister die?”
“What time is it now? Third Sister, stop teasing me.” Xu Yan’s brow furrowed into knots. Looking at the little black pig pouting in the corner and wagging its tail defiantly, he said helplessly: “We can’t have Little Black pull a cart again. Besides, we can’t afford to buy a cart.”
Snort snort!
Hearing the words “pull a cart,” the little black pig with its deflated belly immediately objected, snorting loudly. It wanted to make clear to its master that it was a pig, not a horse.
“Giggle giggle.” Mei Sanniang wanted to laugh whenever she saw Xu Yan arguing with the pig. As she laughed, she began coughing.
Xu Yan hurriedly patted her back, his eyes full of worry. Then suddenly remembering something, he opened the small nanmu wood box from his chest, revealing a pearl the size of a fingernail inside.
The pearl was very ordinary, like a dough ball. But as soon as it appeared, a faint medicinal fragrance immediately wafted over. Though the pearl seemed ordinary, in Xu Yan’s eyes he could see a strange aura flowing on its surface, like a thin layer of cloud and mist.
That should be a pill.
“Put it away!”
Mei Sanniang had just stopped coughing. Seeing Xu Yan open the box, her expression changed and she hurriedly stopped him: “Don’t let anyone see this thing. Liao Jiuming was once from the Ghost King Sect. His leaving Qi Nation to become a mountain king probably relates to this wooden box. This thing is definitely not simple. If those powerful people from the Ghost King Sect learn this thing is in our hands, we’ll both be in trouble!”
Hurriedly closing the lid, Xu Yan frowned and asked: “Third Sister, what’s this pill for? If it can detoxify, wouldn’t it be better for you to eat it directly?”
Mei Sanniang shook her head: “I don’t know what it is, but this thing was very important to Liao Jiuming. It shouldn’t be for detoxification. Keep it safe and never take it out again.”
Seeing Xu Yan put away the small wooden box, Mei Sanniang finally breathed a sigh of relief: “Let’s rest tonight first. Tomorrow we’ll go to the town’s pharmacy. There’s a pharmacy in town opened by my Mei family. Once we reach the pharmacy, we naturally won’t worry about silver.”
So the Mei family had opened pharmacies all the way to Lijia Town. Learning this news, Xu Yan finally became happy.
The pharmacy had not only money but also medicinal herbs. It might not be possible to collect enough varieties needed for detoxification, but Xu Yan would never miss this opportunity.
Over a hundred types of medicinal herbs – collecting one more type would increase Mei Sanniang’s chances of rescue by one more point.
It was already completely dark outside. The two people and one pig were both tired and sleepy, so Mei Sanniang decided to go to the Mei family pharmacy tomorrow. She moved inward and found Xu Yan laying bedding on the floor.
“Isn’t the floor cold? Silly Taoist, come up and sleep.”
“Men and women shouldn’t have physical contact…”
“You’re just a half-grown child. Where do you get so many fussy habits?”
“Master said people outside the world don’t get close to women…”
“Even Buddhist lay disciples can marry and have children, let alone you, a little Taoist. And women – do you even understand what women are?”
“Mercy, mercy… snore, snore…”
The little Taoist, grabbed and forcibly pulled onto the bed by Mei Sanniang, fell into deep sleep after saying just a few words.
He was too tired. Not only from the continuous travel of recent days, but the experience of slaughtering over a thousand people had also left Xu Yan’s small heart exhausted. Especially imprisoning that caged fierce ghost in his heart had left Xu Yan mentally and physically drained.
Moonlight shone through the window lattice onto the woman’s pale face. Looking at the sleeping youth, tears glimmered in Mei Sanniang’s eyes.
If Little Cheng hadn’t died, he would be about the same age as the youth before her. She had lost her younger brother and been imprisoned by bandits for five years. Finally, her great revenge was complete. This kind of bitterness really wasn’t something ordinary people could bear.
Fortunately, Heaven had given her another younger brother. At least at this moment in Mei Sanniang’s heart, this little Taoist beside her who had experienced life and death with her had already become her real younger brother.
