Book 1: Chapter 55: Casualties and Gains |
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Wang Shouzhe immediately picked up his strong bow and sword and rushed out.
On the deck, Wang Dinghai held a fishing spear with spikes and ropes, commanding the boatmen to quickly beat the water surface with long bamboo poles. Wang Zhong and Wang Yong, two family generals, also drew their strong bows, ready to shoot at any time.
"Shouzhe, you came just in time." Wang Dinghai's expression was solemn, but he couldn't help but show joy, "It's a lone East Sea Arrow Flag, which should have been washed into fresh water by the tide. It's not too difficult to deal with. When you see it expose its weak point, shoot it with an arrow."
Overall, the difficulty of dealing with aquatic beasts is not worse than that of land beasts. When they are underwater, they are often powerful and fierce, and it is common for them to overturn and smash ships.
Wang Dinghai has been an "old fisherman" for more than ten years and naturally has his own set of methods for dealing with aquatic beasts. The sound of bamboo poles beating the water surface can disturb the judgment of aquatic beasts, making them reluctant to easily attack the ship, while also arousing their anger.
Except for a few fish species, most fish, even the ferocious ones, have lower overall intelligence than land beasts.
As soon as Wang Dinghai finished speaking, a large water splash suddenly exploded about four or five feet away from the left side of the ship. A nearly two-foot-long aquatic monster suddenly leaped out of the water, fiercely rushing towards the ship.
With Wang Shouzhe's dynamic vision, he could only see that the aquatic beast had a front spike as sharp as a sword and a dorsal fin like a triangular flag, resembling a sailfish on Earth, but it was far from being comparable in size or ferocity.
Three shocking string sounds almost sounded at the same time, and the arrows shot into the beast one after another. The difference was that the arrows shot by Wang Zhong and Wang Yong were only three or four inches deep into its body, while the arrow shot by Wang Shouzhe went straight in for more than a foot.
The difference did not come from the different bows and arrows, but from the fact that Wang Shouzhe's quality of Xuan Qi attached to the arrow was higher.
"Beast, how dare you."
As the most ferocious old fisherman, Wang Dinghai's entire body swelled, and his Xuan Qi burst out to the extreme. He threw out his fishing spear specially used to hunt large fish, and it pierced the beast's side more than two feet deep with a "pu" sound.
At this time, the beast's front spike pierced a boatman, and it continued to fall into the water with undiminished momentum. At the same time, its tail swept, and two more boatmen were swept into the water.
"Boom!"
With the sound of a huge water splash, the beast, along with the boatmen, fell into the water.
But it carried Wang Dinghai's fishing spear, which was tied with a specially made thick rope at the tail.
Before it swam more than ten feet away, the rope was pulled to the extreme and suddenly tightened with a "creak" sound. This medium-sized merchant ship was tilted to one side, and the bow was swung over by the strong pulling force.
This is the experience and skills of humans dealing with large aquatic beasts on ships. This East Sea Arrow Flag obviously made the wrong decision. This wrong decision naturally led to its death.
The pulling and tearing of the fishing spear and the spikes made it painful and tumbling, wanting to desperately break free but unable to do so. The more it struggled, the more serious its injuries became, and the specially made rope was entangled more and more on its body.
Following that, it was the long-range attack of Wang Shouzhe and others' strong bows.
Even so, Wang Shouzhe and others missed a few arrows before the East Sea Arrow Flag gradually stopped struggling and turned over. The boatmen all went up and slowly dragged it back.At this time, the body of the shipworker who was killed by the front spike had already been thrown away and washed away by the tide. The shipworker who fell into the water was only saved one, and the other was probably swept away by the underwater undercurrent and could not be found.
Although killing a second-order aquatic beast was considered a smooth victory, it also took two lives, which cast a shadow over Wang Shouzhe's face.
The morale of the shipworkers was also low, after all, those who died were their companions who they had been with day and night.
"Shouzhe, fighting against a second-order aquatic beast today was already a great victory. Even if blood relatives and family members die in battle, it is not impossible," Wang Dinghai came over and patted Wang Shouzhe's shoulder, comforting him.
Wang Shouzhe understood that although the second-order beast was of the same level as the high-level Qi refining stage, it was still much stronger overall.
Moreover, this world was different from Earth. Humans have always been fighting for survival with beasts. Because humans live on land, land-based beasts have long been wiped out in human habitats, making it relatively safe.
However, the number of casualties from hunting and clearing out beasts was unpredictable.
But the situation in the water was different.
Humans do not live in the water. For example, the An River, which has a wilderness source and many tributaries, some of which lead to some unexplored dangerous waters, where aquatic beasts thrive.
It is precisely because of this interconnected water system that aquatic beasts continue to appear in human habitats. Otherwise, the hunting behavior of humans would have long wiped out all the aquatic beasts in their habitats.
This East Sea Arrow Flag was obviously a sea beast. In unlucky circumstances, it was washed into the freshwater river. And it had no experience in dealing with humans. The vast sea hides how many terrifying and fierce species, which humans have yet to fully understand.
Therefore, sea merchant ships not only have to be large but also very sturdy, and they also have to carry some weapons such as siege weapons. The walls on Jinsha Island are not just a device to prevent humans from wandering around...
The sea beasts inside the sea are also not vegetarian.
After regaining his senses, Wang Shouzhe said, "Sixth Uncle, compensate those who need to be compensated and reward those who need to be rewarded."
"That's natural. According to the high standard tradition, each deceased shipworker will receive 30 Top Gold in compensation, which is 60 Top Gold in total. I will personally handle this," Wang Dinghai said calmly. "The remaining 20 shipworkers will receive a reward of 2 Top Gold per person, which is 40 Top Gold in total. We need to spend 100 Top Gold."
100 Top Gold was not a small expense, and the compensation for shipworkers was usually quite high.
But Wang Shouzhe was happy to pay the money and gave Wang Dinghai 100 Top Gold to handle it.
When the surviving shipworkers heard that they would each receive 2 Top Gold, their morale suddenly rose. Although the overall income from working as a shipworker was not bad, the pure profit of 2 Top Gold per person was still a huge sum.
Their emotions were joyful and excited, and they helped Wang Zhong and Wang Yong pull the beast's body onto the deck bit by bit.
"We need to quickly set sail. Wang Zhong and Wang Yong, drag the prey into the cabin and speed up the cleaning of the deck. It is not suitable to stay here for long," Wang Dinghai immediately issued the next command and explained to Wang Shouzhe, "This area of water is not our hunting ground but belongs to the Left Clan of Donggang. We need to leave as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary trouble."Undoubtedly, Wang Dinghai was a man who had been making a living on the water for a long time, and his decision was very wise.
More than a moment after the ship set out, they encountered the fishing fleet of the Zuo Clan from a distance. At this time, the tide was rising, making it the best time to fish in this area.
They saw a passing medium-sized merchant ship, but they were busy seizing the golden time for fishing and had no intention of approaching to ask questions. In An River, it was not uncommon for merchant ships and passenger ships to come and go.
Next, they passed through the Zuo Clan's territory without any incidents.
"Congratulations, Clan Leader." Wang Zhong and Wang Yong, who had temporarily dealt with the East Sea Arrow Banner, happily reported, "The arrow banner is estimated to weigh more than a thousand jin, and after removing the inedible parts, there are at least more than seven hundred jin left. We made a fortune."
The meat of a second-order fierce beast is several times more expensive than that of a first-order fierce beast, and its effect on replenishing blood and Qi is better. The pure fish meat alone is worth several hundred Top Gold.
The skin of the arrow banner also has great value. After being tanned with a special technique, it can be used to make high-end water-resistant gear, which can enhance the water escape technique and defense of Xuanwu practitioners.
All edible parts, even the fish intestines and liver, will be eaten.
The remaining inedible bones and spines can be dried and ground into spirit fish bone powder, which can be used as fertilizer for spirit fields.
In short, such an expensive and rare spirit fish will not be wasted in any way.
Moreover, the fish swim bladder of the spirit fish is also a very expensive item. After special treatment and drying, it becomes the famous spirit fish glue.
This is the most expensive part of the spirit fish, which can prevent postpartum bleeding and replenish blood and physical strength for women after childbirth.
Of course, only the women of Xuanwu noble families would have the chance to consume such precious items during childbirth. Ordinary women would not have the opportunity.
"Remember to note down the fish glue in the account book when it is stored in the clan treasury, and give it to my sister as part of her dowry when she gets married," Wang Shouzhe instructed.
"That's natural," Wang Zhong smiled and agreed, "The spirit fish glue from the Redtail Spirit Carp hunted by the former clan leader is also saved, and it will definitely be part of Miss Luoyi's dowry."
Wang Luoyi, as the legitimate daughter of the Wang Clan, would naturally have the best spirit fish glue as her dowry when she got married.
At the same time, under normal circumstances, Wang Shouzhe would not need to consider this for the daughter of the Liu Clan.
Because when the legitimate daughter of the Liu Clan married Wang Shouzhe, she would naturally have high-quality spirit fish glue as her dowry. It was a token of love from her family, hoping that she would recover her health after giving birth.
The customs and traditions of the Xuanwu noble families were deeply ingrained in every aspect of life.
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