Survival skills maxed out, I feed my wife and daughter by catching fish and shrimp

The white feathers at the arrow's tail were still trembling, and the sound of horse hooves was approaching rapidly.

Suddenly, more than twenty armored cavalrymen rushed out from the huge caravan. The momentum of the charge alone was enough to scare people.

The armored cavalry was unstoppable. Although there were only a dozen of them, they were enough to break up the formation of the river defense camp on the wooden bridge.

"Disperse first! Then use the crossbow to shoot the intruders!"

The river defense camp installed crossbows on the other side of the bridge to deal with some intruders.

But the next moment, more than a dozen archers appeared from the caravan, each drawing their bows and arrows, and in just a moment they had fully drawn the longbow.

The arrow is on the string and can be fired in an instant.

"Don't even move!"

Chen Changfan did not expect that his team would react so quickly. Seeing that the war was about to break out, he roared and stopped everyone.

Lu lu lu!

The cavalrymen pulled their reins and stopped their charge before rushing onto the wooden bridge.

The archers maintained their bowstrings and not a single arrow was shot out by mistake.

What's even funnier is that the soldiers of the River Defense Battalion who had already turned around and were about to run away didn't dare to move even a step when they heard Chen Changfan's roar.

Everyone had a look of fear on their face and dared not make a sound, for fear that any unusual movement on their side would anger the other party.

Who are these people?

Why did they start shooting arrows as soon as they had a disagreement? As soon as I took out my weapon, the enemy cavalry had already rushed to the front, and there was a team of archers ready to fire.

Such reaction speed and the murderous aura emanating from the entire team definitely show that they are ruthless people who have been tempered in repeated life-and-death battles.

Chen Changfan was also a little surprised to see such a big reaction from the River Defense Camp.

He just shouted to his own troops to stop, and the river defense camp was frightened so much that they dared not move. It seems that the so-called "a foot of cold" is just like this.

He didn't even reveal his martial arts ability, he just shot an arrow from a distance to show off his archery skills.

Before their own team showed its full strength, they had already intimidated the opponent with their momentum.

Obviously this level has been passed.

The caravan passed the wooden bridge calmly, and the soldiers of the river defense camp didn't even dare to look at them, let alone collect any toll. They didn't dare to say a word.

"I heard that you have tolls here?"

When passing by the red-faced captain, Chen Changfan asked in a deep voice on his horse.

The red-faced captain shuddered and quickly shook his head, saying, "Sir, you're joking. We in the River Defense Battalion are only patrolling and guarding. How can we collect any tolls?"

"If I say yes, then yes. Don't you have a ruler? Go and measure how much my container is over the limit. How much toll should I pay you?"

Chen Changfan's tone left no room for doubt. The red-faced captain was in a dilemma. He could neither measure nor not measure. Instead, Fang Chang snatched the measuring tape from the consumer, gestured in front of the cargo box for a while, and said in a muffled voice:

"Each box is five qian over the limit. These boxes of general merchandise must pay at least 100 taels of toll."

Hearing Fang Chang's words, Shen Wanwu's mouth twitched.

Who did this kid learn this numerology from?

Even if they really paid the toll, these cargo boxes would only be worth 50 taels at most, so how did it become 100 taels?

Hearing this, the red-faced captain's expression turned into disbelief.

Why are there people who are willing to pay tolls? And why are they willing to increase the price?

He turned to look at the handsome young man on horseback and was about to speak when he saw the young man on the horse smiling and holding out his hand to him:

"Hui Cheng, one hundred taels. Do you want to pay with a banknote or cash?"

what?

The red-faced captain was stunned.

So I'm the one giving you toll?

Shen Wanwu, who was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, found it a little funny to see that the river defense camp, which usually acted like a fool, was now as scared as frightened quails.

When I was doing business before, I saw this river defense camp and begged them for mercy, but they were still relentless and wanted to suck more blood from me.

They just met today, and already this river defense battalion was so scared by their boss that they turned around and ran away?

Is this the difference in strength between the two sides?

"May I ask your surname?"

The red-faced captain's expression changed several times, but he finally asked politely with a bow.

"What? Do you want revenge?" Chen Changfan asked back.

The red-faced captain shook his head repeatedly. "We are weak now, so we will pay the money. However, I, Wang, want to know who we paid the money to today so that I can explain it to Master Mo later."

Mr. Mo?

Have not heard.

Seeing that Chen Changfan remained unmoved after hearing Mr. Mo's name, the red-faced captain's expression froze.

This guy is so strong-willed that even Master Mo is not afraid of him.

Or maybe he didn't know Mr. Mo.

Seeing that Chen Changfan didn't ask who Mr. Mo was, the red-faced captain stiffened his neck and introduced the person behind him.

"Mr. Mo's father is Prince Ning."

King Ning?

Prince Ning was one of the four great princes of the Wu Dynasty, and Yongzhou was his fiefdom.

Among the four vassal kings, except for the bitterly cold Youzhou of King Yan, the other three states are all Feng Shui treasure lands.

Although Yizhou, under the rule of the King of Shu, was far away from Wudu, it had thousands of miles of fertile plains and produced tens of millions of dan of rice annually.

There are also 100,000 looms, and brocade is exported to the Western Regions.

I heard that the soldiers of the King of Shu were also brave and good at fighting, and their notoriety spread far and wide.

Therefore, people all over the world believed that the King of Shu was the leader of the four vassal kings.

Jingzhou, under the rule of the King of Chu, also had abundant lakes and plains, and produced eight million dan of rice annually.

Moreover, the water transportation is well developed, occupying two golden waterways, with more than 10,000 merchant ships every year. The benefits of water transportation alone are immeasurable.

Yongzhou, under the rule of King Ning, also had vast plains and large rivers, lakes and swamps, but its scale was not as large as Yizhou and Jingzhou.

However, Yongzhou has rich mineral resources that are unmatched by other vassal states.

Under the rule of Prince Ning, Yongzhou's economy, population, agriculture, trade, and military were all in poor condition. It was obvious that this prince was incompetent and had no intention of managing the city.

There is no way Chen Changfan is unaware of such an existence.

Although Prince Ning was a waste with royal blood in his body, he was still a local prince after all.

If the other party really has the background of Prince Ning, then it will be difficult to collect the money today.

But the red-faced captain's next words dispelled Chen Changfan's concerns.

"Among Prince Ning's four sons, only Master Mo is the most strategic, with superb skills and scheming. Although Master Mo never acts under the banner of Prince Ning, but..."

Chen Changfan waved his hand to stop the red-faced captain from talking, "A bastard?"

The red-faced captain's expression froze. He didn't expect that the other party would reveal Mr. Mo's true identity in one sentence.

Chen Changfan has lived two lives and has seen this kind of situation many times.

As the son of a vassal king, the normal scenario should be a life of luxury, eating, drinking and having fun. Only a bastard who is not loved by his grandmother and uncle would think about scheming and manipulating things all day long.

Moreover, judging from the fact that Mr. Mo allowed his men to block the road and collect tolls, it was obvious that he had very little money in his pocket, so he would sacrifice his reputation to earn such dishonorable money.

"Okay, I know this Mr. Mo. I will give him some face today," Chen Changfan took the purse from the red-faced captain and rode his horse calmly across the wooden bridge.

Hearing this, he thought that the other party gave up on taking the money because he was concerned about Mr. Mo's background. Who knew that the other party not only took his money, but also said something that almost made him vomit blood in anger.

"For Mr. Mo's sake, I won't take this crossbow away."

Do you still want to take the bed crossbow away?

Are you a bandit from the mountains?

How can you eat and take at the same time?

The red-faced captain's face turned even redder with anger, but when he saw those men with sharp blades hanging from their waists passing by him with fierce expressions, he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

Judging from the expressions of those people, if he showed any disrespect to the young man in the lead, these fierce men would probably draw their knives and chop him into minced meat in the first place.

After watching the caravan pass by calmly, the red-faced captain finally breathed a sigh of relief after they were far away.

It’s not that he is too timid, but the oppression he feels from those people is too strong.

"Go back and report to Master Mo that a group of bandits have come to Qinghe County. Our River Defense Battalion fought bravely, but they still robbed us of two hundred taels of silver. Master Mo, please help us!"

Hearing the red-faced captain's words, the young sergeant beside him was stunned.

"Sir, didn't they only take one hundred taels?"

"Stop talking nonsense! The extra hundred taels are spiritual compensation for me!"

……

"Sir, the second of the three levels and nine dangers is ahead, the Water Dragon Gang."

Following Shen Wanwu's finger, I saw a group of men dressed as bandits squatting between two mountains in the distance.

The leader, a burly man with a blue dragon tattoo on his face, saw the caravan from afar, a glint of greed flashed in his eyes, and he shouted from a distance:

"I built this road, I planted this tree, if you want to pass this road, stay here... Shit!"

A peculiarly shaped arrow flew through the air and headed straight for the tattooed man, interrupting his words.

The tattooed man screamed and quickly covered his head to avoid the arrow, but the arrow exploded in mid-air, and the pungent sulfuric acid splashed all over the man.

The tattooed man howled like a pig being slaughtered, covering his festering face with his hands. Large chunks of flesh and blood peeled off, and the hideous green dragon tattoo became somewhat comical.

"Just a few bandits, just kill them."

Chen Changfan said this lightly, and the soldiers who had been unable to contain themselves rushed forward. In a short while, they killed all the bandits, who numbered dozens.

Chen Changfan covered Luo Luo's eyes with one hand and held the reins with the other, walking calmly among the corpses.

……

It was not until he had walked a long way with the team that Shen Wanwu came back to his senses from the somewhat unreal shock.

There are three gates and nine dangers, each one is difficult to pass. Who would have thought that the boss could pass it so easily.

The first level is a foot of cold, like plucking the feathers of a passing goose.

If the passing caravans had to spend money and effort, they would definitely not have been able to pass through, but the boss not only allowed it to pass through easily.

And it was the other party who paid for it.

The second level of the Water Dragon Gang is a blood-letting level with a knife at the neck.

Even if they negotiated with those bandits, there would be bloodshed, but the boss didn't waste any time talking to them and just walked straight past them.

Simple and crude.

But it’s so damn enjoyable!

An hour later.

Shen Wanwu pointed to the long river not far away and said, "This is the infamous third level, the Hanging Ice Cave."

At this time, the river was already frozen and the river was extremely wide, with several merchants' carriages traveling on it.

Fang Chang pointed at the carriages moving cautiously on the ice and asked in confusion, "Aren't there carriages moving ahead? And there's no one on this ice. What's so sad about that?"

"The real danger lies under the ice," Shen Wanwu pointed under the ice with some fear.

"There is a special kind of piranha living in the Qing River. They are very active even in winter. They lurk under the ice and can ambush passers-by.

Once they target someone, they will swarm over them, biting through even three feet of ice in a matter of seconds. Once a pedestrian falls into the water, there is no chance of survival.

It was the first time that Chen Changfan and others heard of such a ferocious fish, and they couldn't help but feel curious for a moment.

As if to confirm Shen Wanwu's words, the ice surface under a carriage not far away suddenly cracked, and both the people and the horses fell into the ice hole.

The next moment, the water in the ice hole suddenly seemed to boil, and countless red fish pounced on it.

Chen Changfan had excellent eyesight and could even clearly see the knife-like sharp teeth in the mouths of the fish. In a short while, they had gnawed the man and the horse until only the bones were left.

"That's a piranha. There are probably tens of thousands of these ferocious fish living in this Qing River. I think we should not take any risks and spend more time taking a detour."

Shen Wanwu had obviously seen the horror of piranhas, and said with some fear.

"If we take a detour, it will probably take an extra day," Chen Changfan pondered for a moment, feeling that taking a detour was too troublesome.

In such a cold winter, staying outside for one more hour would increase the danger. If you take a detour, there are also several dangerous places and there might be more accidents.

I guess the businessmen have the same idea.

It is based on these considerations that they choose to take risks.

After all, not every carriage will fall into the ice hole. According to Chen Changfan's observation just now, about nine out of ten carriages can pass through smoothly.

The vendor who fell into the ice hole just now was obviously unlucky.

"Don't move here for now. I'll go check out the situation in the water."

Without waiting for everyone's objection, Chen Changfan dismounted, quickly took off his coat, and walked onto the ice.

He just lightly slashed the scimitar in his hand and carved a smooth ice hole on the ice surface.

Without hesitation, he dived into the freezing water like a nimble fish.

With the help of the wave-walking technique, he could walk on the water as if it were flat ground.

Although the river water at this time was colder than in autumn, Chen Changfan was already a martial artist and was not afraid of the cold at all.

He stepped on the water a few times and swam towards the center of the river as quickly as a fish.

After a while, he saw a red mist in the slightly turbid water in the distance.

That was a school of piranhas. At a glance, there were probably thousands of them.

Brush brush!

Those piranhas seemed to have smelled Chen Changfan's scent and immediately turned around and swam towards this side.

The sharp white teeth gleamed coldly in the water, ready to bite someone.