Today's first update.

  The second one is around 7 o'clock in the evening.

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  Three days and two nights, the bumpy road they had traveled seemed as long as three months. When the half-dry earth appeared before everyone's eyes, both newbies and old hands let out a sigh of relief.

  The boat stopped with a thud, and it wasn't until the purple ink had hung in the air for several days and nights that his heart was truly put at ease, but only halfway. The other half would have to wait until the return trip. If heaven didn't allow people to live a good life, no matter how improved or innovative they were, they could only contribute to laying a solid riverbed.

  They pulled the cargo boxes up from behind the olive boat. Turning back, they saw Bai Yu and six others huddled together looking at a large map.

  "This place is called Zhēn Xiá Lǐng, and heading south for fifty miles will bring you into the territory of Nán Dé Yáng City. You should know that if you disembark from Píng Jiāng, you can directly reach Yáng City." Mò Zǐ saw that he had attracted their attention, and continued to say, "If you look at a map of Dà Zhōu, it's better to save your energy, because on there, the only place name is Jīng Yú Tān. No one disembarks here, so how can they draw a map?"

  Having gone through life and death together, they could say anything to each other. One of the three men who followed Bai Yu asked, "Is there a nearby town where we can buy horses?"

  "The Jingyu Beach is a hundred miles without a single soul, I told you to bring enough dry food." Mozi shrugged, indicating that he didn't.

  "Fifty miles without a horse, how many days will it take to walk? We must arrive in Yang City within two days." Shi Lei regained his loud voice.

  "If you keep walking without stopping, with your pace, there's still hope to arrive in two days. The weather is good tonight, with many stars, suitable for traveling." What Mozi meant was, don't waste time, get a clear direction and hurry up.

  Yangcheng is the nearest big city, and your private goods can only find suitable buyers there. How do you plan to transport them? If we make a deal here, the buyer will have to drive over. We can discuss sharing a ride. Bai Yu's words were not polite, but they made perfect sense. They had no horses, nor did the other party. They had no luggage, while the other party had such a large trunk.

  With a purple face and a sullen expression, this kid is hard to deal with, it's not easy to fool him.

  "Never mind, I see you're quite generous with your ship's fare. I'll also show some kindness. Later on, someone will send a horse carriage for us, and you mustn't say a word. Just follow us into the city then." Actually, she had already thought of this inevitable outcome when she didn't let them bring their horses onto the boat. This is what it means to stick a dog skin plaster - although 600 taels of silver were involved, there's also more trouble that comes with it.

  Just then, from far and near, came the sound of wheels rumbling and horses galloping.

  "Mo Ge, could it be that they've arrived?" Xun Er's face showed a joyful expression.

  "Two wheels, five horses." Shi Ke reported the numbers and said to the three people behind him, "Be careful."

  The three men's hands immediately pressed on the left waist knife handle, ready to draw their swords and fight to the death at any moment.

  Another typical bureaucratic tone, Mu Zi saw it and calmly said, "Don't scare away my friend."

  A tall grassy mound suddenly parted, and three horses and a two-horse carriage galloped to the empty space in front of the moored boat. One of the horses was panting, with an old man sitting on its back, wearing a light green uniform of the Southern German Navy, with a helmet slanted on his forehead, looking like a sly soldier.

  "Old soldier, I thought you weren't coming." Mozi clasped his hands together and stepped forward to take the reins of the unmanned horses, and also let Chouyu drive the carriage.

  "There's good stuff to take, how could I not come?" The old soldier flipped over and hugged a fist, "Moke, you little boy, this body shape always looks like a little girl, speaking without making a loud fart, elegant as a bird." After finishing, he showed off his mouthful of yellow teeth, foolishly happy.

  Bai Yu frowned upon hearing his coarse language towards others.

  Mozi burst out laughing, "Old soldier, my body may be as slender as a woman's, but my capacity for liquor is not like a woman's. Have you forgotten the last time we had a drinking contest? You even lost your pants! Old Guan, bear witness."

  "Old soldier, just brag about it verbally." Old Guan patted him on the shoulder, and the two brothers were fine.

  "This time, wait for you to finish your business, and we'll have another match. I'm a heavy drinker, but I still can't outdrink you, you little brat." The old soldier retorted to Old Guan, "Less nonsense, I'll take my silver and leave, not bothering you with your serious matters."

  "Alright." Xian Er ran over quickly and presented a handbag with both hands.

  The old soldier took it over, weighed it, and found no broken silver. There were fifty taels of gold in one ingot. He was so happy that he grinned from ear to ear. "Alright, according to the old rules, the other half will be collected when you come back. Don't say I just take the silver without helping. Let me tell you, recently the wind is tight, and there are imperial convicts being exiled to the north from Yangcheng. There are heavy troops guarding, so be careful not to run into them and have your goods confiscated. Also, hide your boat well. A high-ranking official has come to Yangcheng, and our superiors are afraid of getting in trouble, so they make us patrol the waters every day as a show, exhausting us underlings."

  "What crime did Qin commit, and yet he was exiled and heavily guarded?" Mozi asked casually after responding.

  "We're talking about Nan De, the most corrupt official in history, the prime minister of the previous dynasty." The old soldier raised his thumb to the sky and spat on the ground, seemingly admiring yet despising him.

  The first greedy official - Mozi has no interest. In her opinion, Nan De's officials are all corrupt to the core, even those as small as a sesame seed.

  "Huh? These few, mother's... unfamiliar faces." Actually, the old soldier had seen them a long time ago and only spoke after receiving the silver, "Moke, if you're bringing merchant guests, I'll have to charge differently."

  "Yes, yes." Mu Zi still had a large batch of goods that hadn't been sold yet and didn't want to provoke the little ghost at this time. He turned his head and forced a smile at Bai Yu, "Bai brother, this old soldier is our guardian Buddha. One hundred taels of gold for the golden armor, fifty taels coming and fifty taels going, it's the most fair price."

  As the saying goes, "Yan Wang is easy to pass, but small ghosts are hard to entangle." Bai Yu couldn't help but understand human feelings and worldly affairs, so he immediately let Zhong An present fifty taels of yellow gold.

  The old soldier clicked his teeth and scrunched up his face with a multitude of black wrinkles, "Just to give your brother a bit of face."

  The cunning and crafty ghost, the old soldier straddled the crab-like step, mounted his horse, and shouted to disperse.

  "We'll just go back and forth, borrowing his car and horse, and he'll make two hundred taels of gold." The stinky fish sniffed its nose, rolled its eyes, and couldn't bear to look.

  "So he said that the first corrupt official, I'd like to see what it's all about." Xian Er also couldn't bear to look at it and had no choice. Smugglers can't afford to be seen, so they have to spend money to bribe their way out.

  Mozi was busy assigning tasks, having left Shuishan on the Yongfu ship, and leaving Lao Guan and Fei Xia to guard the olive boat. The goods had been loaded onto the cart, she sat with Chouyu in the driver's seat, giving Xian'er a horse.

  "See that? The back of the carriage can seat two, inside can squeeze one more, and there's a horse, at most you four can enter the city." Mozi finished assigning and asked Baiyu while sitting on the carriage.

  "Unhitch one of the horses from the carriage and we can bring another person." Shi Ke thought to himself, with six people it's still uncertain if they'll be enough, how could they afford to lose two helpers?

  "A horse pulling a cart of goods with five people would probably be dead tired halfway through." Mozi naturally couldn't agree.

  "Or you can leave one behind." Shi Lei persisted.

  "Is that the way it is? You're sitting on my boat, using my connections. I'll be a bit harsh, let you go as infantry." Mu Zi hummed three times, impatiently saying "Have you decided or not? If you don't leave, we can leave."

  Shi Ke took another step forward, his aura surging with a fierce and overbearing momentum.

  White Feather stretched out one arm to block, and with the other hand pointed for two attendants to stay in the olive boat. Let Shi Lei ride a horse, and he sat at the back of the carriage with Zhong An. The attendant who had asked where to buy horses squeezed into the carriage behind Mozi and Chou Yu.

  The smelly fish shook its reins and the carriage started moving.

  "When we arrive in town, we'll go our separate ways. Let's meet again two days later at noon at the dock where the boat is moored; don't be late."

  The road is uneven, the cart's rear board is narrow, and Bai Yu grabs onto the cart shaft, careful not to fall off. Hearing the private trader's words, he is unsurprised by the cold, detached tone that sets boundaries in his voice.