The summer sun blazed, though a little breeze still stirred beside Dalu Marsh in the upper reaches of the Turbid Zhang River. The entire White-Stepping Cavalry, which claimed to range across Great Ming's hundred commanderies and prefectures, had assembled there and was now at a small lake on the marsh's edge... well, draining the lake to catch the fish.
They were truly draining it to catch the fish. They built earthen barriers to block the lake's waterways, then diverted the enclosed water into a new channel dug beforehand, letting it flow out through fishing nets and rattan baskets. Once most of the water had drained, Zhang Xing stepped in first. His dazzling Radiant Light True Qi lashed out from afar like a golden rope flying through the air, coiling around a bighead carp everyone had already spotted, weighing a full four or five pounds. He hoisted it high and flung it into the large wooden barrel behind him, sending up a great splash.
Countless soldiers and civilians watching nearby raised a shout together, actually cheering and leaping for joy over a single bighead carp.
Then, at a wave from Chief Zhang, gray-haired elders and children with dangling locks all rushed into the mud to catch fish and feel for shrimp.
This draining of the lake lasted over two hours. Once the sun slanted westward, everyone moved to the woods beside a village road at the marsh's edge, where cooking pits and stoves had already been prepared, along with firewood and wild greens. There they stewed the fish together.
While the fish stewed, Zhang Xing, wearing only a single-layer garment, personally carried a large bucket around, ladling chilled sour plum soup for the local elders and children seated nearby. For entirely imaginable reasons, once the elders received their bowls, they passed