Unparalleled Duo

In our universe's twenty-first century, one could drive from Hangzhou to Xuancheng City in just over two hours.

But in the Great Ming era, even if you galloped on a fast horse, it would take a whole day to arrive.

Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai were delayed in Nanyuan Village for a day and a night, and when they set off on horseback again, it was just dusk. The villagers had wanted them to stay another night, but they were anxious about their schedule and hastily departed.

In those days, there were no streetlights; nighttime visibility depended entirely on the moon's phase.

If the weather was clear and the moon full, then the light was passable; but if dark clouds covered the moon, one was virtually blind, even if carrying a lantern or a torch—the light it provided was extremely limited.

Fortunately for Sun and Huang, it was a night with clear skies and a bright moon, bathing the landscape in an almost silvery glow.

Even then, they could not travel as swiftly as they might by day; keeping to the official road at varying paces, by midnight they had covered only about ten miles.

As fatigue began to set in, they fortuitously came upon an inn and quickly called to have the door opened. After slipping the attendant a "tip," they settled in for the night.

Without further ado, they set off again the next morning and finally managed to reach Xuancheng City by late afternoon.

Although Xuancheng was not as bustling as Hangzhou, it was still a rather large county town, naturally home to a branch of the High-Speed Train Gang.

This time, Huang Donglai learned his lesson and didn't let Sun Yixie go to buy tickets alone. He accompanied him, but alas... there were no direct tickets available from Xuancheng to Luoyang.

After deliberating back at the inn, they decided that since the horses they had "borrowed" from the bandits were still in good spirits and could run for several days and nights, they might as well ride to Wuhu, then take a boat to cross the Yangtze River and continue on to Lu Zhou.

The journey from Xuancheng to Wuhu was quite short and only took half a day, so Sun and Huang only stayed one night in Xuancheng before reaching the banks of the Yangtze River the following day.

Though Sun Yixie had been in this world for some time, this was his first encounter with the Yangtze River. In fact, in his former world, he had never stood so close to its banks either.

They say that the mighty river that flows westward from Min Mountain has done so since which year unknown.

In front of such a grand view stirred by such a perpetual breeze, Yixie was overwhelmed with emotion, a burst of poetic inspiration hitting him, but alas, he had no ink in his chest; all he could muster was: "Mother clucker, the Yangtze really is wide."

This earned him nothing but a round of scorn from Huang Donglai, beginning with a contemptuous "Nonsense."

In short, the two were not short of funds and casually hired a large boat at the ferry crossing, ready to cross the river.

However, what they didn't know was that they had already been marked by someone before they even boarded the ship...

...

On a serene and gently undulating afternoon.

A sailboat glided smoothly over the surface of the river.

This boat was used exclusively for ferrying passengers across the river; it was quite large, large enough to even bring horses aboard.

Apart from the steersman and some workers, there were about thirty passengers, including Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai.

Normally, this segment of the journey wouldn't take very long; with a favorable wind, it would only be about half an hour, but accidents... still happened.

When the ferry reached the middle of the river, a commotion suddenly arose from one side of the ship. Subsequently, that side's passengers began to scream and shout, causing pandemonium; Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, curious, went to take a look and found that four swift, small boats were rapidly approaching from the direction of the disturbance.

These vessels, with their sharp bows and tight sails, light hulls and numerous oarsmen, were no fisherman's nor passenger boats. Someone like Sun Yixie, who was well-acquainted with water, could tell at a glance—these were most likely the specialized robbery boats used by river bandits.

Of course, even if one were not an expert, regular river travelers could also recognize that this group was no good; otherwise, they wouldn't have reacted the way they just had.

As the boats drew near, the sound of clanking chains filled the air. Following that, several "cross-chain hooks" were thrown onto the larger vessel, gripping the railing tightly.

These hooks not only served to secure the smaller boats to the larger one but also provided the seasoned river bandits with a means to board the ship.

And true to form, in a moment, the men from the smaller boats began clambering aboard.

These men, some bare-chested, others wearing only a short tunic, with trousers cropped to their calves and tied with hemp rope or belts, all had bare feet (facilitating the need to dive and swim at any moment).

At first glance, none looked particularly burly, but each had well-defined muscles, temples bulging, cheeks puffing out, all holding short, curved knives (ideal for gripping in the mouth while swimming)... In comparison to the bandits from Zouma Village, these river pirates seemed much more formidable.

"Quiet down!" Having secured his footing, the leader of the river bandits took two steps forward and barked a command, silencing the wailing passengers, "Your grandpa here robs the rich to help the poor, a righteous bandit carrying out Heaven's will. I do not kill the innocent without cause. If you know what's good for you, all of you kneel down. We will leave once our business is done, otherwise, don't blame me for being rude!"

Hearing this, everyone on the boat, workers and passengers alike, hurried over to kneel before them. The boat's steersman was at the very front, leading the pleas, "Spare our lives, heroes! We boatmen live hard lives and earn our keep through toil. Taking into consideration that I have an eighty-year-old mother to care for and a nursing child at home, please be merciful..."