Divine & Bizarre: Increasing Points to Invincibility-Chapter 858 - 234: The Great Yan Trembles! Leaving the Great Yan, Heading to Shangwu!_4
Yun Jiuqing said, "Great Zhou Dynasty, eldest daughter of the Yun Clan, Yun Jiuqing."
Having finished speaking,
Yun Jiuqing took the initiative to help Fan Wu introduce himself, "This gentleman is Daoist Fan Wu from the Qiulong Temple of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"
As for the Old Blue Ox and the Destiny Coffin, Yun Jiuqing thought there was no need for introductions. After all, Old Blue Ox couldn’t speak, and the Destiny Coffin often lay inside a coffin, rarely appearing during daylight.
"So it is two Daoist priests from the Great Zhou Dynasty, along with a noble lady," said Huo Zhijin, his face showing an even keener expression, because, after all, Daoists... basically represented cultivators!
As an ordinary person, if one were to be impolite to a few cultivators, who knew if they would be stealthily dealt with by the cultivators? By that time, if one were to suffer a loss, they would probably not even know who had struck!
"Layperson Huo, I would like to inquire why there isn’t a single merchant ship at the docks of Linhai County?"
Xing Fengzi asked with a tone full of curiosity.
"Merchant ship?" Huo Zhijin was taken aback, a bitter smile appearing on his face out of instinct as he said helplessly, "In these times, which ordinary merchant ship dares to go out to sea? Without the backing of the Great Clans, there’s simply no chance to set sail."
"Why?" Xing Fengzi asked astonished, "Could it be that even such a remote and marginal county town is controlled by the Great Clans? Do they not allow you to go out to sea?"
"The Great Clans are everywhere," Huo Zhijin began to explain. "Moreover, they have not prohibited us from going out to sea."
"But..." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
At this point, Huo Zhijin couldn’t help but sigh, "On the route from Linhai County’s dock to the Shangwu Dynasty, many strange sea beasts have appeared for some reason. Those sea beasts are extremely terrifying, like demons. I once followed our family’s fleet out to sea and because of exceedingly bad luck, we encountered a very fearsome sea beast."
"That sea beast effortlessly pierced through the bottom of one of our merchant ships. Sea water gushed in, and I watched helplessly as the entire ship sank into the ocean. All the sailors aboard were sucked into the depths by the whirlpools."
"And that area of sea is the deepest along the route. If we rashly attempted to dive in to save people, we would only risk more lives. Our local mariners only have three or four ships; losing even one is a massive blow."
Having finished, Huo Zhijin offered a wry smile, "I don’t think I need to continue for you to understand, Daoist, why we, without the support of the Great Clans, have no means to venture out for long voyages."
Xing Fengzi approximately understood, even if the other party hadn’t told the whole story. He could understand, after all, with such a heavy loss and having nearly perished in the sea...
It’s not something everyone could calmly discuss. Being able to speak to this extent was already quite open-minded.
Strange sea beasts had appeared in the ocean, attacking passing merchant ships like monsters.
Ordinary maritime merchants’ ships had no means to withstand those sea beasts; encountering them meant certain death. On the typical merchant ships were just a crew of ordinary sailors.
Even though these sailors were comparatively able to fight, their abilities were only relative to other people. When compared to those unknown sea beasts, their fighting skills were insignificant.
Lacking the means to counter the sea beasts, continuing to sail would only lead to heavier losses.
Alternatively, one could try to open a new route, but doing so is no trivial matter. The labor, material, financial resources, and time required were not something one or a few ordinary maritime companies could afford.
However, the Great Clans were different. A family that could be called a Great Clan definitely had its own ancestral cultivation methods. Moreover, being a Great Clan meant immense wealth.
Having their ancestral cultivation methods meant they had many cultivators who could contend with the sea beasts of the ocean. Even if they couldn’t kill the sea beasts, they could at least drive them off.
And those Great Clans who didn’t want to take risks could spend money to open a route exclusively for their family. Such new trade routes would certainly not be shared with outsiders.
Furthermore, the size of the sea merchant fleets of the Great Clans was surely colossal, probably at least several dozen to hundreds of ships?
For such Great Clans, the loss of one or two merchant ships was negligible.
Under these circumstances...
Unless these ordinary small maritime businesses were willing to sacrifice a large amount of profit and merge into the Great Clans.
But the saying "Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix."
Is relevant everywhere.
"But if you don’t go out to sea, then won’t the remaining two merchant ships of your maritime business be idle?" asked Yun Jiuqing with curiosity. "For sea merchants like you, if the merchant ships are idle, they still require silver for maintenance, right? Otherwise, day after day, month after month, the ships would suffer from sun exposure and soaking, and sooner or later they’ll become unusable, won’t they?"
Huo Zhijin sighed, "These days, my brothers and I are discussing how to arrange for the remaining two merchant ships and the sailors in the maritime business. It’s impossible to sell the ships to the Great Clans, for they are also part of the legacy left to us by our late father."
