Blue, Red and White Dark Abyss Cauldron

Recruiting boatmen was also a serious matter. The boatmen recruited this time included helmsmen, sailors, oarsmen, cooks, supervisors, etc. A careful calculation showed that each boat would need at least 40 people. The lead boat was the largest and difficult to row, so more than 50 people had to be recruited to make up the number.

Fortunately, there were many idle people in Bingcheng, so Hu Yong only posted three notices on the street, and hundreds of people came within a few days.

Bai Yixing of course only selected experienced workers with seafaring experience. If there were not enough experienced workers, he would select young and strong men. Together with the dozens of people in the fleet, he finally recruited nearly 250 people in total.

He roughly estimated that the monthly salary of these two hundred people alone would cost about 500 gold coins, not to mention their food, drink, and toilet expenses on the road. This made his mother Dai quite distressed.

However, seeing the huge and densely packed team of 250 people standing on the street in front of the house, he couldn't help but feel excited, as if the Bai family had become the richest family in Bingcheng again, and Ling Shuxue, the third lady of the Ling family, had become his new wife.

March passed in a flash, and it was already the end of summer.

Bai Yixing had already calculated the time. If they sailed south to Cangmu Kingdom in this season, the wind direction would change from south to north soon. At that time, the sailing would be smooth and much easier.

After selling all the commercial goods and purchasing some rare goods from the Cangmu Kingdom, we should be able to return in the spring of next year. At that time, the north wind will turn into south wind, which is still a downwind direction.

Thinking of this, Bai Yixing couldn't help but feel very proud of his own arrangements. It seemed that he was born to be a good businessman.

My mother, Dai, had consulted a fortune teller in Bingcheng a few days ago using tortoise shells, seashells and other items to deduce the fortune, but unfortunately the fortune teller was unable to tell whether it was good or bad.

In Bai Yixing's eyes, if there is no "bad luck", then there is "good luck", so the plan to go to sea will naturally not be changed. Even if the fortune teller predicts "bad luck", he will not care since everything is ready.

The day before setting out to sea, Qin Gang came again as expected.

Looking at the neatly arranged large cargo ships and the newly dressed boatmen, Qin Gang could not help but praise: "The ships are like dragons and the boatmen are like tigers. The Bai family has a bright future!"

Bai Yixing bowed and said: "Thank you, thank you..."

Amid the deafening sound of gongs and drums, Bai Yixing's face was filled with excitement. He ripped off a large piece of red cloth covering the bow of the first boat with a "whoosh" and ordered loudly: "Start the boat!"

As soon as he finished speaking, two boatmen ran to the back of the ship, and one of them rang the copper bell hanging on the back of the ship's tower. The sound of the bell was loud and sharp, and it could be heard from far away.

The other held two small flags, one red and one green, and stood at the stern, waving them and giving orders. The helmsmen on the boats received the order and shouted, "Ship!"

Then four strong sailors worked together to pull up the oilcloth sail hanging on the deck. The rowers in the oar room rowed the wooden oars in their hands at the same time, and the heavy ship finally sailed out slowly.

Bai Yixing was on the first ship, No. A, which was in the front, followed by four ships, namely, No. B, No. C, No. D, and No. E. Each ship was about 20 to 30 feet apart, and although there were only five ships, it looked mighty and imposing.

Bai Yixing stood at the stern, the slightly salty and humid sea breeze blew his clothes and hair, making him look extremely handsome.

Looking at the large ships sailing against the wind and waves, he couldn't help but feel very excited. It was only at this moment that he finally understood the importance of the responsibility of the Bai family's revival and the pride of being the head of the Bai family.

The only regret is that Ling Shuxue did not come to see this magnificent view.

The big ship cut through the small waves and headed steadily towards the direction of Cangmu Kingdom. It took nearly two months to pass through Wangxing Sea, Chuanyun Gorge and Jihai.

It is now mid-autumn. There is a gentle sea breeze on the deck and colorful clouds are changing in the western sky. It is a perfect time to enjoy the sea view.

Bai Yixing saw Qin Gang also on the deck looking at the sea, so he walked over and asked, "Brother Qin Gang, what is the matter that has taken you all the way to Cangmu Country alone?"

Qin Gang nodded and said, "There are some mundane matters to take care of over there."

Bai Yixing asked again: "What mundane things?"

Qin Gang smiled and said, "Since it is a mundane matter, it is nothing more than visiting relatives and friends, taking revenge and repaying kindness, etc."

Seeing that he was unwilling to elaborate, Bai Yixing did not ask any more questions.

But it was boring for two people to stand side by side. Bai Yixing saw that although he was dressed simply, he had discovered that his speech and behavior were very different from those of ordinary people. He had a spirit that was neither exaggerated nor frivolous, neither humble nor arrogant. He couldn't help but be curious and asked again, "Brother, are you from Storm City?"

Qin Gang nodded again and replied calmly: "That's right."

Bai Yixing couldn't help feeling a little angry, thinking, I let you ride on the boat for free, and you've been eating and drinking at my expense these days, but why do you ignore me when I talk to you? If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have bothered with you.

Qin Gang seemed to be able to guess what he was thinking, and suddenly turned around and said, "To be honest with Master Bai, I am from Heshan in Storm City."

Bai Yixing suddenly jumped up and asked in disbelief: "You are...are you really from Heshan?"

Qin Gang laughed and said, "Why, doesn't it look like that?"

Bai Yixing quickly shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant. I heard that although there are few people in Heshan, they are all long-lived. Most of them can live to be over 300 years old, and some can even live to be 500 years old. But they rarely walk around where ordinary people like us live. They are almost... almost like the gods in the legend."

Qin Gang said, "You have misunderstood. We Heshan people are just a little older, but otherwise we are no different from you." He paused, then sighed and said, "In fact, living a long life is meaningless, it only adds to your troubles."

It was the first time that Bai Yixing saw the Heshan man, whom he had only heard of in stories, and he immediately became interested. He quickly sent Hu Yong to ask the cook on the boat to prepare wine and food. He wanted to drink and chat with this brother Qin Gang.

Soon, the wine and food were served under the cabin, and the two of them went downstairs together and sat opposite each other drinking.

Bai Yixing said: "I would be satisfied if I could live to half the age of you Heshan people. Brother actually said it's meaningless. This is called a full man does not know the hunger of a hungry man, haha..."

Qin Gang asked, "Master Bai, may I ask why you want to do business in Cangmu Country, which is thousands of miles away?"

Bai Yixing answered without hesitation: "That's because business in our Snow Country is getting harder and harder."

Qin Gang asked again: "Why is it becoming increasingly difficult to do business in Snow Country?"

"Our Snow Country has always been cold and poor, with a small population, so naturally our business is not as good as that of the Cangmu Country."

"The country of snow is cold and the population is small, which is one of the reasons. But you only know one thing, not the other, only know the surface, not the inside..."