Departing the capital and heading south along the Grand Canal, passing through Dezhou, Linqing, and Liaocheng, one would encounter a vast body of water. This river was yellowish-brown in color with rapid currents, constantly churning and threatening to burst its banks. Needless to say, this was the great waterway spanning northern China – the meandering Yellow River.
“The Yellow River’s waters come from heaven” – the First Emperor of Qin, Confucius, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang – all these figures were children of the Yellow River. Though the Yellow River brought countless disasters, it also nurtured countless heroes for China and created the brilliant Chinese golden age.
However, China was truly vast beyond measure… Even with the Yellow River’s ancient and far-flowing waters, it could not nourish all things. Therefore, continuing south from the Grand Canal through Jining, past Xuzhou to Yangzhou, one would encounter a second great waterway. It was wider and broader than the Yellow River, its water clearer and sweeter – a blue-green river.
“The lone sail’s distant shadow vanishes in the azure sky, only the Yangtze River flows to the horizon” – the endpoint of the thousand-li Grand Canal was the ten-thousand-li Yangtze River. It was the homeland of the hero Xiang Yu and the birthplace of this dynasty’s founder. For thousands of years, it had not only given birth to heroes capable of resisting foreign peoples, but also nurtured countless scholars and refined gentlemen who became famous throughout the world.
After crossing the Yangtze, no more heroes could be seen, for following the river downstream led to the sea.
“The rolling Yangtze flows eastward, its waves washing away all heroes” – proceeding east along the river, ahead lay a vast ocean. The East Sea, North Sea, Yellow Sea, and South Sea stretched endlessly – more vast and boundless than Dongting and Poyang Lakes, more ancient and far-flowing than the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. Yet from ancient times to the present, the First Emperor of Qin, Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Bang, and Xiang Yu were all children of the yellow earth. Who among them was born of the azure sea?
Therefore, some angrily blamed Confucius – “While parents live, do not travel far.” Because of his various tedious teachings, the Chinese only knew to cherish their land and stay put, guarding ancestral graves, never thinking to sail overseas. This caused their descendants to become closed-minded and conservative, leading to national decline and eventual ruin.
Lamenting heaven, lamenting the nation, lamenting rivers, lamenting seas – those who spoke such words were full of spittle and rage, but they completely forgot one thing: Where did the compass come from? Who invented the sea rudder? So they probably didn’t know that the Chinese had actually gone to sea long, long ago. Generation after generation, they rode the wind and broke through waves, crossing vast oceans to reach a strange place called “Malindi,” where they even caught a “qilin” and brought it back home.
This sounded like a lie, since the qilin was a good friend of the Azure Dragon. Ever since Confucius last sighted one at the end of the Spring and Autumn period, no trace of it had been seen in the world. How could someone have brought one back?
This was true, because the person who caught the qilin was lying right here – Cui Fengxian, courtesy name Zhenshan, now sixty-four years old. Currently he lay barefoot on the deck, snoring while basking in the warm sun. At first glance, this man looked like any old codger, and no one would imagine he had actually captured that “qilin” and led it through Chengtian Gate into Beijing.
When Cui Fengxian led the “qilin” into the capital for imperial audience, it caused quite a sensation. This creature was too strange – it had a long neck, big eyes, two deer antlers on its head, and most peculiarly, it was so tall and thin that when entering through Chengtian Gate, it actually bumped its head. The qilin cried out in pain while the watching crowds laughed uproariously with delight.
Whenever Cui Fengxian told this story to people, it would make his friends spit out their drinks and roll on the ground, everyone holding their stomachs and laughing wildly, taking him for a braggart. But Cui Fengxian didn’t bother explaining much, since the “qilin” wasn’t the strangest thing he’d seen. He’d also seen a nine-foot-tall two-headed demon rat – one head on top, one head on its belly – that bounced when it walked and had a big tail on its rump.
After decades at sea, he’d seen a basketful of strange things that no one would believe. So Cui Fengxian was often taken for a madman. Unable to help it, last month when passing Ceylon Mountain, he’d bought a monster to bring aboard as proof. This monster had golden fur all over, green glowing eyes, and sharp claws and fangs. If his friends encountered it, they’d be scared out of their wits.
Heh heh… Cui Fengxian chuckled coldly and reached out to pat the monster’s head. The monster opened its gaping bloody maw and let out a series of roars.
Roar… The three-month-old lion cub yawned and collapsed beside its master’s feet, looking like a drowsy kitten.
Cui Fengxian was a merchant who frequently went to sea for trade. Keeping a little lion king on board to guard the ship wasn’t bad. If thieves came aboard to rummage through things, even if they weren’t bitten to death, they’d be chased into jumping overboard to their doom. As for whether this ship could still accommodate the lion cub when it grew up – there was no need to worry about that, because Cui Fengxian’s ship was extraordinarily large. It had cost exactly thirty-five thousand taels of silver to commission and build, nearly depleting his life’s savings.