Chapter 31: A Boat Like a Mountain (Part 1)

  The territory of the Western Liang Empire roughly forms a triangle, with its three vertices pointing to the due east, northwest and southwest. Ganzhou is located at the northwestern vertex of this triangle.

  Xiao Ziyang had read the Records of Western Liang Geography, which stated that the Western Liang Empire was thousands of miles wide from east to west and south to north. It was one of the three major empires in the Tai Xi region.

  The three major empires of Taixi, except for the Western Cool Empire, had vassals standing in all directions, and imperial edicts did not even leave the capital.

  The Western Cool Empire has such a large territory, but it can achieve unified governance, thanks to the Nine Bends River within its borders.

  The Jiuchuan River originates from the eastern end of the triangular territory of Xiliang State, the Taichu Mountains, and passes through the Helian Mountain area before entering the hinterland of Xiliang State.

  The terrain of the Western Liang Kingdom is high and mountainous on all sides, with a low-lying plain in the center. The rivers that originate from the foot of the surrounding mountains all converge towards the center, gathering into nine large and small lakes on this central plain. Therefore, the most prosperous central plain of the Western Liang Kingdom is also known as the Nine Lakes Plain.

  The Jiǔ Qū Jiāng River, after entering the central part of Xī Liáng's Nine Lakes Plain, connects nine lakes together. Its river course winds and turns a thousand times, sometimes heading west, sometimes south, and sometimes north. Therefore, the people of Xī Liáng named it the Jiǔ Qū Jiāng River.

  The Jiuxi River is not abundant in water before entering the Jiuhu Plain, and the river surface is only a few hundred meters wide. However, after passing through the Dongyu Lake, which is located at the easternmost part of the nine lakes in the Central Plains, the water volume increases dramatically, and the river surface becomes tens of miles wide.

  This is because in the eastern part of Xiliang State, at least seven or eight rivers flow into Dongyu Lake, but when they leave, they all converge into the Jiuchuan River.

  Due to the presence of lakes as buffers, the Jiuhu Plain is flat and therefore the Jiuhu River flows very gently after leaving Dongyu Lake.

  The Jiuchuan River converges with all rivers flowing into a lake whenever it passes through one, and the water volume increases once again.

  When it finally flows into the bitter sea, its river surface has already reached hundreds of miles!

  The unique conditions of the Jiǔ Qū River created a prosperous shipping industry in the Western Liang Empire, and the convenient water transportation allowed the imperial decrees to be quickly disseminated. At the same time, the Western Liang Empire firmly controlled the fertile Jiǔ Hú Plain with its powerful navy, making it the only centralized empire in the Tai Xi region.

  The Gan Luo River in Ganzhou is also a tributary of the Jiuchuan River. In fact, throughout the Western Liang State, except for a few small rivers that flow directly into the Ku Sea along the western coast, almost all rivers are tributaries of the Jiuchuan River.

  Xiao Ziyang's destination was Chu Prefecture. If his guess was correct, it was likely that his ancestral home was in Chu Prefecture. He thought that perhaps there, he could find some clues about his father's origins.

  From Gan State's Shannan County to Chu State, there are two roads that can be taken. One is after exiting Taifu Mountain, take the southwest direction and head towards Gan State's second largest city, Ji'an City.

  Ji'ancheng is a port city located on the coast of Kuhai. Although Kuhai is vast, it is not a true ocean, but rather an enormous saltwater lake. It has the breadth of the sea, but lacks its ferocity, making it very suitable for navigation.

  From Ji'nan City, head south to the mouth of the Jiuchuan River and enter the river from there. Traveling upstream will take you to Chuzhou, a land of fish and rice in the southern part of the central plain.

  The second route goes from Ganzhou Prefecture to Shou'an City, then takes a boat along the Ganluo River downstream, enters the Jiuchuan River, and heads east to reach Chuzhou.

  Taking the road via Shuo'an, following the Ganluo River southward, is quite fast and shortens the journey by several times. Many people choose this route when leaving Ganzhou.

  The Ganluo River flows very fast, and it is naturally pleasant to go downstream, but if you want to go upstream, it is extremely laborious. Therefore, when merchants transport goods into Ganzhou, they often choose to take the route from Kukun to Ji'an City.

  The cargo ship sailed east, and on the fifth day, it arrived at Jiang'an City, Qingzhou Prefecture. Jiang'an is located on the northwest corner of the Jiuhu Plain, on the shores of Baiyuan Lake. Baiyuan Lake has a circumference of over 600 miles and is one of the two smallest lakes in the nine-lake region.

  A cargo ship sailed into Baiyuan Lake in the mist of early morning, slowly approaching Jiang'ancheng South. As the boat approached the dock near the entrance of Ganluo River, a giant ship made him stare with his mouth open.

  A huge sailboat as big as a mountain was docked at the pier. Compared to this giant ship, the cargo ship that Xiao Ziyang was on at the time was like a stone under a giant's foot!

  According to his visual measurement, this giant ship was at least 100 meters long and more than 20 meters wide. The part exposed above the water surface was as high as 7 or 8 meters. On the seven masts, each over 30 meters high, nearly a hundred sails were tied up. On both sides of the giant ship, there were two rows of dozens of paddle wheels!

  The giant ark rested on a special dock. The dock was a huge platform made of massive wooden beams. The top of the platform and the hull of the ark were level, while at the back of the platform there was an earth-and-stone ramp for easy loading and unloading of cargo.

  Xiao Ziyang guessed in his heart that this giant ship was probably the legendary Dragon Vessel! He had been to Jiang'an Dock before and had seen that special berth, but he had never laid eyes on the Dragon Vessel itself.

  Seeing Xiao Ziyang's stunned expression, a sailor approached him and said, "Sir, is this your first time seeing the Great Dragon Ship?"

  Xiao Ziyang nodded. He continued, "This great dragon ship is indeed intimidating. Our cargo ship, the Fengyun, is eighteen zhang from bow to stern and is considered a top-notch vessel in the Gan Luo River, but compared to this great dragon ship... it's not even worth mentioning, not even worth mentioning!" As he spoke, he shook his head.

  "What a huge ship! Is it really possible for human beings to build such a thing?"

  The sailor sighed and said, "I have a distant relative who is a partner in the Longjiang Shipyard in the capital city. This shipyard is under the Ministry of Works of the imperial court and is the only one in our Western Liang country that can build such a large dragon warship. It's said that the keel and seven main masts of this warship are made from thousand-year-old black dragon wood, while the hull is made from hundred-year-old cold iron wood. Both types of wood only grow deep within the Tai'an Mountains and the Miroku Mountains. They say that in order to harvest these two types of wood in the depths of the mountains where monsters roam, the imperial court had to invite the revered immortal masters to escort them!"

  Xiao Ziyang was shocked and asked: "Respectful Master Xian! How did you know?"

  The sailor laughed and said, "I've been traveling south and north for decades, I'm not talented, but I've seen a lot and heard a lot. These are all things that I've heard from guests coming and going from the south to the north."

  Xiao Ziyang asked again: "Are there many such large dragon ships?"

  "The crew member said, 'How is that possible? Not to mention other things, the thousand-year-old black dragon wood is extremely rare. I heard that the Longjiang Shipyard has not built a large dragon ship in over ten years because they can't find suitable black dragon wood. Our Western Liang Kingdom only has twenty-eight large dragon ships! Fifteen of them are warships of the Western Liang Navy, and the remaining thirteen belong to the top ten largest merchant houses in Western Liang Kingdom.'"

  He pointed to the giant ship and said, "This large dragon ship is called Heshun Hao, belonging to Heshun Business House in the capital. I heard that the boss behind Heshun Business House is the Weiguo Gongfu!"