Lord Xinling sent someone to report to the prince that after more than a month of investigation, more than a dozen of the main thieves who conspired to kill the Qin mission have been brought to justice. The leader is the hero Zosan on the ground in Guancheng! These thieves admitted that they were motivated by wealth and intended to kill people. They followed them along the way to the village and found opportunities to strike. The reason why the attack was carried out in Xizhong was because the officials of Xizhong Post and Shansan were close friends and drugged the envoys in the post, so the envoys were killed collectively without any resistance.
The official pointed out to the envoy that this conclusion was incorrect. First of all, most of the property was destroyed in the fire, so it was impossible to commit murder. Secondly, if the officials of Xizhong Post made friends with Zhan San, they would not be killed and burned by Zhan San - this is an extremely unloyal act! Again, it is impossible for just a dozen people to kill ten messengers instantly, even if the messengers are poisoned. But the envoy explained that the dozen people had indeed been caught so far, and there were still more than ten people at large who would be pursued one after another. However, after the case was reviewed by various guilds, the facts were basically clear and there was no doubt about it, and the thieves were punished. Behead, execute after autumn.
The prince said: "Your Majesty is confused by your disciples, and you are confused by the king again. I feel sorry for you, and I am willing to redress it."
The envoy said: "The prince is aware of this! The king asked the prince to calm down the thunder and give it to Wei first. Wei will capture the remaining thieves and repay the king of Qin."
The prince said: "The King of Qin ordered the young master and his ministers to serve as envoys and go to Hedong with the great powers. However, the murder case has not been solved and the resentful spirits have not been put to rest, so why should we say this!"
The envoy said: "Although, I hope that the prince will put the relationship between the two countries first and rest his sorrow temporarily."
The prince said: "The only thing we can do about the envoy to the east of the river is to discuss it with the young master." Immediately invite the young master to meet with the envoy. The two of them finished the ceremony and agreed on a date to meet again.
Since the prince acquiesced, he put aside the case of the murder of the envoy and dealt with the handover of Zicheng first. The young master traveled to various court cases in the Wei State to discuss plans for envoys. The biggest obstacle is that the State of Wei requires the prince not to act lightly, but Shaofu insists that the prince is the envoy and he is the deputy. It is the decision of the King of Qin and must be implemented. Under the Young Master's unreasonable insistence, Wei Fang finally relented and allowed the prince to travel.
The subject of subsequent discussions was the route of the mission. Wei Fang advocated entering the Yellow River from Honggou and crossing the river would be Zhi City. But Shaofu insisted on taking the land route, crossing the river from Maojin to Anyi, and discussing with Hedong Shou. This time, the young master did not resist Wei. Regarding the issue of the prince's safety raised by the young master, the State of Wei said: "My envoy is traveling with the prince, and the safety of the prince lies entirely in our city!" Since the Wei State provided a guarantee, the young master agreed. As for the departure time, Wei Guo believed that it would be best to set out after Shangsi, when the weather is getting warmer and the wind is gentle.
The Shangsi Festival is the most popular among Zheng and Wei. It is a day for communicating with each other, harmonizing feelings, and increasing friendship. It is also an opportunity to pick green crops to supplement food during the lean period, and it is also a time for young men and women to meet. It usually takes three to five days to finish. This custom was not popular in Qin, so Prince Qin didn't care, but he just followed the local customs, so he agreed. The envoy chosen by the King of Wei was Duan Zigan, the arsenal who was sent to Zhi City as an envoy to the State of Qin. It was agreed that the prince would be accompanied by fifty people, and the Wei envoy would also be accompanied by fifty people, a total of one hundred people, divided into three large ships and ten small boats.
After the Shangsi Festival, an auspicious day was chosen, and the Wei people sent envoys to the post house to welcome the prince, and they boarded the ship together at the South Water Gate of Daliang. A grand farewell ceremony was held on the dock. The envoys of Wei and Qin congratulated the two countries for their eternal alliance and being as close as brothers!
The chief envoy of the State of Qin was the prince, so he set up deputy envoys to actually undertake specific work. The Wei envoy is a minister and has no deputy envoys. So there were three envoys in the group, and each of them took ten of his entourage to the big ship, and the other entourage got to the small boat. In the sound of drums, two fast boats opened the way in front, and three large ships sailed in sequence, namely the envoy of Wei, the prince and the young master. The three large ships were guarded by small boats in front, rear, left and right. A large fleet of ships sailed upstream. That night, the fleet docked at Putian. This is Wangtian. There is the Great Wall outside, Cangcheng inside, and military camps. It is very well defended. Everyone disembarked here, and all the officials from the field came to greet them. It was very lively. That night, the envoy stayed at Guan Si's residence, while his entourage stayed at the post. After breakfast the next day, the fleet continued sailing.
After leaving the nursery, in theory, we left the boundary of Wei State. Both sides were deserted, with some occasional farmers, but no cities. That night, the fleet anchored in Xingze. Xingyang Shou had already received the news and came in person to reward them with food, meat and wine, and falsely invited everyone to rest in the city. However, Xingyang City is still about ten miles away from Xingze, and it is Hancheng. All forces in the city are mixed, so there is no guarantee that nothing will happen. So the envoys politely declined Xingyang Shou's invitation and rested on the boat. Xingyang Shou didn't force it, they said a few words to each other and then left.
Although it was after the Shangsi Festival, it was still a bit cold at night. The envoys all rested on the big boat, but it was difficult for ten people to sleep on the small boat. Generally, only five people were left to guard the boat, and the remaining five found another sheltered place to rest.
In the dead of night, a few people swam up from the water. They dived far away from the ship, holding reed pipes in their mouths. They quietly approached the ship, fiddled with it underwater for a while, and then left quietly.
The next day, after breakfast on the field, the group set off. Today’s itinerary is from Yingze to Jishui, into the Yellow River, and to Chenggao on the bank of the Yellow River. Rest there for a night, then go up the river, cross the Yellow River from Mengjin, and enter Zicheng.
After leaving Xingze, entering Jishui and the Yellow River, we enjoyed the scenery of the two rocks and arrived in Chenggao when the sky was getting dark.
Chenggao was built on a mountain and a river, with a dangerous terrain. There were also two passes, Fanshui and Hulao, built next to it, which jointly guarded the passage into the Yiluo Plain. This is also the boundary of South Korea, but it is an important trade route, and the inspections of business travelers are not strict. The fleet arrived at the shore and docked one by one. The city guard had also been notified in advance and made a special trip to the shore to greet him. Due to the complicated hydrological conditions of the Yellow River at night, all ships rushed to return to port before the sun went down. At one time the harbor was filled with ships.
The city guard arranged for members of the mission to live in several places in the city. As expected, commercial reverse travel is different from government-run inns, and the services are very good; if necessary, they can even provide various special services, as long as they can afford it. The prince did not ask for any other services, but just took a bath in the adverse journey. The water was boiling very hot, and the service provided by the shop assistant who was hired to help with the washing was also very good. After the prince took a bath, he felt relaxed all over, and he was given an extra five dollars by the shop assistant. The storekeeper went there with great gratitude.
It was night, the waves in the Yellow River were turbulent, the wind was howling, like thousands of horses galloping...
Get up the next day, have breakfast as usual, and head to the port. Everyone found that many boats had not left the port. After asking for the reason, it turned out that the river was calm but the waves were endless, and there were many more whirlpools than usual, so the boats did not dare to leave the harbor.
The mission had no choice but to find a place to rest on the shore and wait quietly for the waves to subside. About an hour later, ships were seen leaving the port one after another, but most of the ships still did not move. I asked the boatman to find out whether the boat leaving the port was big and could withstand the wind and waves, or the boatman was experienced and could sail on the waves. Since there is still more than a hundred miles of upstream waterway from Chenggao to Mengjin, if you want to reach Mengjin before dark, you can no longer wait, otherwise you may not be able to get there. It's dangerous if you can't find a place to park after dark. The three envoys discussed it and decided to take advantage of the size of the ship to hoist the moorings and set sail.
Two boats cleared the way ahead. This so-called small boat is only relative to a big boat. A boat that can carry ten people is actually not small. Three large ships drove in one after another, squeezing a channel through the ships, leaving the port and entering the Yellow River.
There is not much wind on the river, but there are some white foam or white lines here and there, which are very eye-catching in the muddy yellow water. The ships formed a formation outside the port. Three large ships were sandwiched by ten small ships, bumping upstream.
After traveling for about an hour, it seemed from a distance that the waves were much smaller, the bumps of the boat were also reduced, and the boat was basically traveling smoothly. The prince felt proud and thought to himself: Finally passed the level. Otherwise, if we wait until now to leave the port, we will miss the journey anyway and might have to stay in Chenggao for one more day. Although Cheng Gao is a good place, he is a mixed bag of good and bad people. For someone with a mission like himself, it is best to stay away from him, so as not to cause trouble and be difficult to deal with.
Thinking of this, the prince slowly walked out of the cabin and came to the bow of the ship. He leaned on the railing and looked far away, seeing green mountains on both sides and turbid water. Since the mission’s fleet was in formation, there were no other ships within sight, and I just felt relaxed and happy!
At this moment, suddenly the big ship in front started to spin. The prince hurriedly took two steps forward to watch carefully, but the boatman yelled: "Get back quickly!"
Before the prince could figure out what was going on, he saw the big boat in front of him suddenly split into pieces while spinning. The people on the boat fell into the water. For a moment, their heads were no longer visible. The prince was shocked and rushed forward involuntarily, shouting: "Help!" Before he could finish his words, the bow of his boat sank, and the boat rushed towards the center of the whirlpool as if downhill. The prince was horrified to see that there was a huge reef in the middle! Before the prince could cry out, the boat's hull jolted violently. The prince lost his balance and somersaulted from the bow of the boat and fell into the water. The followers screamed: "Prince!" Before they could stop shouting, the big ship hit the rocks violently and immediately broke into pieces.
The third large ship was farther away and saw the danger ahead. It fought for the rudder in an attempt to avoid the whirlpool, but heard a "collapse" sound. The rudder tail fell off and the rudder head fell weakly on the ship. The boatman shouted: "The rudder is lost! Hold the pole!" The three boatmen all picked up the bamboo pole on the boat.
Without the rudder, the big ship entered the whirlpool irreversibly with the current and began to spin. There was no room for support on all sides. The boatmen watched in despair as the ship rushed steadily towards the reef in the center of the whirlpool, and the ship almost became vertical! A boatman shouted: Take action! "The three boatmen pushed the bamboo poles against the reef. However, the three flesh and blood bodies were completely unable to withstand the heavy ship. The ship swayed slightly and the bow went around the reef, but all three boatmen fell into the water, and the three people His head swayed and he disappeared. Before the young master and his entourage on the boat had time to be frightened, the boat tipped over and hit the rocks, and it was also torn apart!
