The river beach at the mouth of the Jicang River is wider than the river beach at the mouth of the Uzu Valley.
For tens of miles up and down, a clear and mighty river meanders through, with mountains on both sides of the river. Everywhere you see are vast primeval forests and cliffs.
Where the rivers meet, they form a sparkling gentle river surface, with thousands of birds circling and flying. Under the cloudless late autumn sky, it is like a three-dimensional landscape in crystal glass, which is so beautiful.
After the competition team arrived at the mouth of the river by horseback and boat, the tribes soon lined up on the shore. Under the leadership of the little witch, a group of witches, big and small, once again held a brief and serious blessing ceremony on the river beach.
Amid cheers, dozens of hunting teams rushed into the wild grass on the riverbank, and the hunting competition officially began.
For the sake of fair competition, all hunting teams are not allowed to ride horses.
The hundreds of riders who followed were mainly to maintain the safety of the competition. Therefore, under the leadership of officers such as Feng Helong and Lei, they were divided into more than ten teams of ten people and dispersed accordingly.
There was not much to look at for the rest of the game, because basically nothing could be seen.
So Xu Chen took a group of witches and some younger and bolder clan leaders, took his flagship ship, and went downstream along the Wulong River under the escort of a group of hunters, preparing to visit the autumn of Wulong River.
scenery.
The wooden boats were successfully built last spring, and by this autumn, seven boats were built one after another. However, only four larger boats are currently still usable.
In fact, except for this large ship that was just built in June and can carry thirty people, the other wooden ships can almost only be regarded as the products of practice.
This big ship is not only larger than the previous ones, but also more reasonable in style and stronger.
The biggest difference is that this boat has been treated with tung oil, making it much more waterproof than the previous boat.
In addition, this structure with cabins, decks and wooden sheds makes riding much more comfortable.
I remember the first time I took a wooden boat, the little witch got seasick and almost fainted from vomiting.
Primitive people not only have poor resistance to alcohol, but actually have even worse resistance to bumps. Many people get dizzy when riding in a carriage, and even more people get seasick. Even Xu Chen feels this way.
However, this time we took a big boat to visit the Fire Tribe, the little witch's condition was much better. Even the Pi Tribe witches, Mu Ba and others who had never been on a boat didn't feel too uncomfortable. They still fainted, some even a lot.
Everyone vomited, but at least it wasn't like the little witch did last time, where she fainted and couldn't stand up soon after boarding the boat. She was almost carried all the way to the Gonghuo Tribe by Xu Chen.
All the tribes have seen the wooden boat, and many people have also ridden on it, but this is the first time for everyone to see this big boat. Xu Chen wants to take all the witches and tribal chiefs to experience it, just like the witch Zhu
An entertainment item at the conference.
The big boat sailed down the Wulong River not far from the river bank.
Soon they surpassed the hunting competition team.
This river beach is very long, more than ten miles upstream, and another twenty or thirty miles downstream, because no one has ever calculated how to walk there.
Xu Chen had passed by twice on a raft and could roughly estimate the scope.
After passing this river beach, there is a relatively steep cliff and canyon area below, and further down is near the Jiazu.
In fact, when he came to see this vast stretch of river beach for the first time, Xu Chen once thought that he could develop and build a dock city here to radiate to the Ba, Wu, Yu Gong and Ji Cang people in the upper reaches.
All the tribes in the river basin and Gonghuo Basin, after some tribes in the lower reaches are also conquered, this place will become extremely prosperous in the future.
But this hope is destined not to come true.
Because of the climate of this era, Wulong River and Jicang River show great contrast in the four seasons.
Continuous heavy rains in summer have caused floods to surge, causing most of this river beach to be submerged.
If you want to build a dock city here, you must first build river embankments that are high enough and strong enough to block the floods on both sides of the river in summer.
Not only is this project impossible for thousands of people who don’t have enough to eat and don’t have warm clothes now, it probably won’t be possible even in a few hundred years.
Without large-scale construction machinery and a construction army of hundreds of thousands, it would be unthinkable.
Therefore, for a long time in the future, boat traffic in the Jicang River and Wulong River basins will have to rely on simple temporary docks.
However, although the dock and city cannot be built, the scenery of this large river beach is very charming.
It was still winter when Xu Chen passed by three years ago. His main purpose was to explore the distribution of tribes along the way, and he had no intention of enjoying the scenery along the way. But today, the crisp autumn weather gave him enough time to enjoy it, and at the same time, a group of shamans and tribal chiefs could come together.
Feel the magical charm of wooden boats.
The high and low shouts of the hunters on the river bank gradually faded away and were slowly left behind.
Occasionally, there are howling wolves and the sound of horse hooves, as if they are chasing each other.
The big ship was all the way down in the clear river water. A group of small and large witches and a group of gray-haired middle-aged and elderly women and patriarchs were all standing on the deck, watching and discussing with excited faces.
This is a magical experience that I have never had before.
No one had ever dreamed that one day they would be able to ride on such a strange wooden boat and sail on the broad river as if they were on the ground.
Nearly an hour later, the hunting team could no longer hear any movement. All that could be seen on the south bank of the Wulong River was a primitive and wild river beach, with forests of weeds, thorns, and hordes of wild animals, just like six years ago.
The Ba Valley that Xu Chen saw and the Gonghuo Basin four years ago.
The river beach ahead gradually narrows and is finally blocked by a steep mountain ridge.
Continuing down through the canyon, not far away is the mouth of the Jiazu River.
"Chen Ga, are you still going down?" Mo, who was in charge of the helm, asked loudly from the bow.
Xu Chen saw that it was still early and the game was still far away from the end. He thought that nothing would happen anyway, so he nodded and said: "Continue down, reach the vicinity of the Jia clan and then return."
"Follow the order!" Mo cupped his fists and commanded the accompanying hunters to prepare poles and oars, and slowly rowed the wooden boat into the center of the river.
This section of the river narrowed by nearly half under the attack of mountains on both sides, so the river suddenly became turbulent.
After the wooden boat rushed into the middle of the river, it began to shake violently. Xu Chen was afraid that some of the group of witches and clan leaders would fall into the water, so he asked everyone to gather in the middle of the cabin and hold on to the wooden shed and railings tightly.
In less than ten minutes, the wooden boat shook violently in the turbulent river water and rushed out of the canyon. In front of it was another flat and wide water area.
The group of witches and clan leaders all recovered from their fright with pale faces, and slowly began to chatter and communicate with each other in excitement.
"Look, ahead is the mouth of the Jiazu River!"
Some hunters who had been here before shouted loudly, so everyone rushed to the side of the boat to watch.
Sure enough, just three miles downstream, you can see the entrance of a small river, and you can also see several rafts going back and forth near the mouth of the river. It seems that there are still people fishing.
"Sure enough, we arrived at Jiazu Ga so quickly!"
A group of clan leaders shouted excitedly.
Even the gray-haired leader of the Jia tribe looked blank and in disbelief.
It takes at least two days to walk from the Jia Clan to the Gonghuo Clan, but the journey by boat only lasts for one meal.
Although the distance along the Oolong is slightly shorter, it is still very limited.
The land route from the Gonghuo tribe to the Jia tribe has to cross the Jicang River, then go east through the basin, and then climb over three low mountains. The winding distance is more than 80 miles. In the past, I had to walk by foot, so I had to find a place to walk along the way.
Just stay in a cave for one night.
And if you take a boat down the Jicang River and then take the Wulong River, the distance is actually about 60 to 70 meters.
However, the speed of the boat is much faster than feet, even faster than horses. If we don't stop on the road, it will only take three hours at most from Gonghuo Clan to Jia Clan.
Although the Jia people can now make rafts, they have never walked along the river. They are still unfamiliar with it and are afraid.
"Blow the horn and say hello!" Xu Chen ordered with a smile.
Gu quickly blew the horn.
In fact, before the horn was blown, the Jia people who were fishing in the downstream river mouth had already discovered the big boat of Xu Chen and others. They were already shouting and rowing rafts to welcome the big boat.
Although they have never seen the big ship, the dragon flag and king flag hanging high on it have already shown the identity and origin of the ship.
Soon the big boat and the raft met, and both sides cheered enthusiastically. Even a group of witches were no exception. They excitedly waved to several Jia hunters on the raft, which only made a group of guys so excited that they almost suffered a collective brain hemorrhage.
Squatting on a raft and saluting a group of witches.
"Chen Ga, do we want to go to the Jia clan?" Mo walked up to Xu Chen and asked.
"I won't go. The river beach here is too shallow and it's difficult to dock. Just turn around at the mouth of the river and go back!"
"Okay!" Mo turned around to make arrangements.
Soon the big boat followed a few rafts and arrived near the mouth of the Jiazu River.
The situation here is similar to that at the mouth of the Jicang River upstream. Except for a simple dock made of wood and stone at the mouth of the river, everything is no different from when I came here three years ago.
The river beach is overgrown with thorns and weeds, birds are flying, and wild animals are running around, giving it a primitive and wild look.
Xu Chen stood on the bow deck of the slowly turning ship, looking at the lower reaches of the Wulong River with a fixed look in his eyes.
A few miles downstream, where the water and the sky almost met, I actually saw a raft.
"Look, is that a raft downstream?"
In order to confirm his judgment, Xu Chen loudly asked Gu Heju next to him.
The two guys have now grown into powerful barbarians, but their identities have not changed at all. They are still Xu Chen's personal tools, one holding the trumpet and the other holding the flag.
The two of them took a closer look and confirmed that it was indeed a raft.
Everyone else on the boat also stood on tiptoe and looked downstream. Almost everyone saw it, and some even said they saw someone above.
"Ask the hunters of the Jia tribe if they have any companions who have gone downstream?" Xu Chen ordered with some curiosity, but also some worry.
But the result of the quick inquiry surprised him. A group of Jia tribe hunters who were fishing at the mouth of the river on a raft said that no one else in the tribe went downstream. They were the ones who fished every day, basically near the mouth of the small river.
, everything is here right now.
Xu Chen was stunned for a moment, and a thought flashed through his mind.
The only people closest to the downstream are the Cicha tribe who have not yet surrendered. If the raft is not from the Jia tribe, it must be the Cicha tribe.