When Li Yuanji arrived with his young servant at the private ferry crossing on the southern bank of the Wei River, it was already past noon. The sun hung high in the middle of the sky, its reflection on the water’s surface dazzling to the eye.
This ferry crossing was hidden beneath a low earthen cliff in a depression along the riverbank. Two wooden boats were moored in the water, and a thatched shelter open on all four sides stood on the shore, now empty. Achen pointed at the short earthen platform in the shelter and said: “Early this morning when Yang Kuzhen and I found this place, an old boatman was sleeping there. As soon as he saw we were strangers, he started mumbling and pretending to be deaf and mute. Yang Kuzhen asked if he’d seen any foreigners crossing the river with a young lady, but he wouldn’t give an honest answer. Only after several hard slaps did he finally confess the truth. Now who knows where everyone’s gone!”
No wonder everyone’s hiding after being terrorized by you lot… Li Yuanji sighed. Now they’d have to find their way across the river.
He found a punt pole in the thatched shelter, and the two of them cut the mooring rope and boarded one of the small boats. Then they looked at each other helplessly—
Neither knew how to punt or row a boat.
“Hehehe, Fourteenth Prince,” Achen laughed awkwardly, “with such a wide river and deep water, capsizing would be no joke. Why don’t… Your Highness return to shore and ride to the bridge crossing instead?”
Li Yuanji turned to look at their two horses left on the shore, calculated the time it would take to ride to the bridge crossing, and shook his head.
There was no direct path along the shore; they would need to make a detour downstream and ride over ten li to reach the bridge. Moreover, he thought crossing by boat from this point would make it easier to find where Yang Xinzhi’s group had landed and their tracks, allowing them to quickly join forces in tracking his Seventeenth Sister’s whereabouts. If they crossed the bridge on the opposite bank, how would he find Yang Xinzhi from such a distance?
It was just rowing a boat. He had gone boating with his father and brothers in the palace lakes and even raced with his equally curious and active siblings. Though the Wei River was broad, it was still in its low-water period in early spring. Judging by eye, the current seemed gentle and not too deep… He decided to proceed with crossing by boat.
About an hour later, he regretted it desperately.
The small boat managed fine when first pushing off from shore, with one person manning the pole and the other the oar, barely controlling the small wooden vessel. But soon rapid currents surged forth, and when the waves hit, the boat rocked wildly from side to side. Forget steering—the two couldn’t even stand steady. Panicked shouts and cries echoed across the river surface:
“Steady! Hold steady! We’re going to capsize!”
“Left! Go left! Left, left, left!”
“Ahhh, Your Highness! Don’t go that way! We’ll crash!”
“Fool! Crouch down! Crouch down! Go to the right!”
“That’s a rock! Don’t—Young Lord don’t—”
It turned out that while the Wei River appeared calm on the surface, it was full of hidden currents and whirlpools beneath. The small boat crashed left and right on the river surface, spinning in circles as it drifted downstream, completely out of control. Li Yuanji held the long pole, struggling to keep his footing and not fall into the river. Seeing the boat’s bow heading toward a clump of reeds, he quickly extended the pole to push against it, hoping to push the boat away. Unexpectedly, there were hard rocks among the reeds, and with his misplaced force, there was a loud “bang” as the lower half of the pole snapped off, leaving him with a remainder too short to reach the riverbed, rendering it useless.
Both youths let out a great cry. Li Yuanji was filled with regret, while Achen simply opened his throat and began wailing:
“Help—!”
“Shut—” This was too embarrassing, Li Yuanji wanted to berate him, but had barely uttered one word when the boat violently shuddered, throwing the young prince onto his bottom in the cabin. The young servant had already abandoned the oar and was clutching the gunwale for dear life, continuously crying for help.
This section of the Wei River’s middle reaches was broad, with many reefs, shallows, and sandbars in its bed, its currents unpredictable. Fortunately, though narrow and crude, the flatboat was very sturdily constructed, remaining intact despite repeated collisions. Li Yuanji made several attempts to control the car but to no avail. The rapids of great rivers were vastly different from the still waters of palace garden lakes—they were not at all the same thing.
Who knows how long they drifted with the current? Achen’s voice had gone hoarse from shouting, and Li Yuanji was exhausted when the boat suddenly jolted heavily, running aground on a sandbar in the middle of the river.
Survival was now paramount. Achen scrambled out of the small boat, using both hands and feet to push through the reeds and water plants, splashing his way to the center of the sandbar. Li Yuanji didn’t think twice and followed, abandoning the boat in an equally undignified manner. Achen collapsed onto the rocky beach, retching uncontrollably.
Both were soaked through and through, and Li Yuanji was also dizzy and nauseated. But having eaten nothing since the previous night, his stomach was empty with nothing to bring up.
Another large wave surged forth, and Li Yuanji heard something amiss. Looking back, he saw their small boat had been swept away from the sandbar by the rapid current, carried away in the waves. He called out and took two steps in pursuit, trying to grab the stern, but how could he catch it? He could only watch helplessly as their sole means of transport disappeared into the billows.
This was quite a predicament. He turned again to look at the Wei River’s north bank, still just a hazy line of cold mist and green trees. This reed-covered sandbar must be in the middle of the river, and he couldn’t tell whether it was closer to the south or north bank. They had nearly lost their lives, only crossed half the river, lost their boat, and were now stranded on this shallow bank unable to move.
“Your… Your Highness, don’t worry,” Achen clumsily tried to comfort him, “Someone will surely come looking for the Fourteenth Prince, maybe they’ll find us tomorrow or the day after… This servant… can try catching fish to eat…”
You’re certainly thinking long-term… Li Yuanji gave him a sideways glance: “Stop dreaming. You think this sandbar will last through tonight?”
“Huh?” The young servant gaped stupidly.
“Mid-February is when the Wei River rises! The snow melts in the mountain streams upstream, and the water gets higher each day, faster each night!” Li Yuanji irritably surveyed the shallow bank barely above water level. “Before sunrise tomorrow, you’ll be calling the fish, shrimp, and turtles at the river bottom your brothers, you fool!”
He had studied military texts with his teachers, and hydrology and geography were essential subjects, particularly regarding the Guanzhong region’s terrain. But while nodding along in the classroom, he never imagined this knowledge would one day be used to predict his death…
Nonsense. Impossible.
He still had so many urgent and dangerous matters to attend to—how could he die here?