Three large ships hit the rocks and sank one after another. When the boat next to it saw it, before it had time to react, it saw three boats rushing towards the reef one after another. Everyone's face turned pale, and their minds went blank for a while. Only the boatmen screamed and quickly drove the boat away and docked as close as possible to the shore. When the followers woke up, the huge whirlpool that had swallowed up three large ships had disappeared without a trace like a monster!
Slowly, pieces of wooden planks emerged from the river; then a human body appeared, lying flat on the river. The clever ones quickly asked the boatman to sail the boat and rushed over to retrieve it. There were some hesitant boatmen and some brave ones, so at the beginning only one boat came out. With the help of the boatmen, everyone picked up the man. The experienced boatmen turned the man over to control the water, although some water was squeezed out. , but touching his chest, the man had no heartbeat.
Human bodies continued to surface one after another, and some boatmen had the courage to bring their boats over for rescue... In the end, not only the accompanying boats, but also some surrounding fishing boats came to help. But none of the people fished out were alive... Boats shuttled back and forth between the shore and the center of the river, transporting the people they fished out to the shore, and then went to the center of the river to fish them out.
After about twelve people were fished out, no more human bodies surfaced on the river. After identification, Duan Ziqian and Shaofu were among them, and the others were followers, but the prince did not emerge.
At this time the sun was getting westward. Since all the envoys were killed, it could only be discussed by the guards leaders of Qin and Wei. The Qin people's guards were naturally led by the fifth official, while the Wei people's guards were led by a camp commander. Luoyang is still upstream. Not only might we not arrive before sunset, but we might also miss human bodies that might surface later. Therefore, everyone agreed that the Qin people sent ten people to Luoyang by land to report to Xianyang; the others rushed to Chenggao downstream first and asked Chenggao for help; the next day, the Wei people sent ship crews back to Daliang to report.
Going downstream is faster than going upstream, and the distance is also short. It takes less than an hour to get back to Chenggao. The news of the capsized mission had already reached Chenggao. Seeing the members of the mission returning, Chenggao Shou had to cheer up and try his best to flatter them. After all, neither Wei nor Qin could be offended. He promised to pull up a barrage on the river. As long as there are corpses upstream (now that there are still living people, I won't believe it) floating down, they can be stopped, but they only need to be guarded by members of the mission. Of course there is no problem.
The guards from the two countries took turns waiting beside the river rope, while the ones in charge stayed awake almost all night; especially the fifth doctor of Qin, who lost the prince and the young master. I don't know how far the Duke can go, or whether he can overcome the other sins by losing all his money. That night, there were occasional bells on the river barrage, but they were all big fish and there were no corpses.
The next day, a Wei ship carried the corpse and another carried a messenger back to Daliang, and set off back to Daliang to report the news. Wei Yingsi, who stayed in Chenggao City, led the remaining people and then left the city and never came back. The fifth doctor said to his guards: "Anyone who wants to leave can leave."
One of the guards asked: "What are the five doctors like?"
The fifth doctor replied: "I will punish the crime with a noble title! If there is anything left, I am willing to pay with my life!"
The guard said: "My family is all in Xianyang, there is no escape. I am willing to pay for my sins with my body!"
The others also said: "We cannot avoid the death of the prince. However, our family is in Guanzhong, so we cannot leave."
The fifth doctor said: "If you have entrusted me with anything, I can give it all to you!"
Everyone said: "I would like to share it with the five great men!"
The fifth doctor asked people to go to the city to find out where there was a service to fish out corpses from the river and how much they would charge. Soon he replied that there were towns three miles upstream, and they were all boatmen. They could dive and fish out corpses for a hundred coins each. The fifth doctor then borrowed five thousand money from Cheng Gao and went to that small town. There is an irregular ferry, and people who are looking for convenience and cheapness often cross the river here. If something happens, there will be family members who pay to retrieve the body.
The fifth doctor found the elder in the city and put forward his request. The elder was very embarrassed when he heard that it was the fleet that was in trouble yesterday. Because the topography of the river bottom there is very complex, the surface water flow often changes drastically, which is very dangerous. The fifth doctor repeatedly requested, and the elder also called in several people to discuss, and finally agreed to launch the water at a price of 150 yuan per corpse.
When they arrived at the site of the shipwreck, the five men with the best water skills in the town went into the water at the same time. Go diving and explore in the middle of the river. About an hour later, a body was finally fished out from the bottom of the river. When everyone looked at it, it was the prince! It is said that it was stuck between the rocks. After finding the prince's body, the fifth doctor didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Anyway, his life was completely ruined. If he could find the prince's body, he could barely do the job!
After a total of three days of fishing, four corpses were fished out, and two more people said they could not be found. It was not known whether they were buried in the sand or washed downstream. Among the four corpses, three were from Qin and one was from Wei. The two who were not found were both from Qin.
The recovered bodies were transported back to Chenggao, where they bought coffins in the city and put them away. Cheng Gaoshou did not dare to let the Qin people live in the city, so he arranged food and lodging for the counter travelers out of the city and asked them to go out to live in the city. So the people of Qin moved the spirit outside the city and waited for people from Xianyang to deal with the matter.
A few days later, someone came from Xianyang. What was unexpected was that the person sent was Yiren, the son of King An Guo. Now, the alien has grown from the body of a child to almost an adult. His voice has become hoarse, and he has velvet whiskers on his lips. He is completely different from his image in Handan.
Accompanying the foreigner were officials from the Zongzheng Mansion, retainers from the Prince's Mansion, and passers-by from the Dianke Mansion. Ke Qing Zhang Lu sent his disciple Zheng Anping to come, mainly responsible for administrative and logistical matters; in addition, Tingwei Mansion sent two Judge, the Guowei Mansion has sent two of the Fifth Doctors, who are responsible for investigating the responsibilities of everyone in this incident and holding them accountable!
Even though more than ten days had passed and the bodies had rotted under the temperatures at the turn of spring and summer, with disgusting shapes and an unpleasant smell, the two judges still examined all eleven corpses very carefully and made detailed inspections. The land is recorded on wooden tablets. The work lasted three days. During these three days, the prince's bodyguards, either in groups of two or three, or in groups of five or six, or in groups of seven or eight, led the five doctors who came to investigate to the scene of the accident, and introduced in detail what they saw at that time. The investigators recorded everyone's words and asked them to confirm by making a signature. After examining the body, the judge visited the surrounding towns and asked them what happened that day. Although Chenggao is from Korea, the local people speak the standard Zhou Yin, which is closer to Qin Yin, so there is no barrier to communication. The judges also recorded the statements of the people one by one.
After the investigation was completed, the coffin was resealed and a fee was paid. A pedestrian, accompanied by the five doctors and public servants who accompanied the prince, and two swordsmen, hired a boat, put the body of the Wei man in a coffin, and went to Daliang to return it to the State of Wei. At the same time, he notified the prince of the accident. After that, all the prince's entourage will return to Xianyang. The rest of the people loaded the ten coffins into the car and returned to Xianyang by land.
The pedestrians took a boat and arrived in Daliang three days later. They first reported to the post station outside the city. The inn immediately reported them to each level. The next day, Dr. Xu Jia came to receive him in person. He recognized him as the fifth doctor accompanying the prince, and asked in surprise why? The fifth doctor informed Dr. Xu Jia about the death of the prince and his party, and said that the bodies of the dead Duan Ziqian and others had been returned first by Wei soldiers. The other Wei soldiers were afraid of punishment and had already fled collectively in Chenggao.
When Dr. Xu Jia heard this, he clapped his knees anxiously and said, "It's urgent, it's urgent. We haven't been repaid... We will report it to the king first!" The pedestrians asked Dr. Xu Jia to receive the coffin, and then went to Liangxi Station. Because the prince died, Liang Xiyi could only withdraw. Doctor Xu Jia agreed to let the Qin people return to Liangxi Post, leaving the coffin in this post and giving it to the post officials to take care of. He hurriedly drove into the palace and reported the shocking news to the ministers.
Prince Qin and Wei envoy Duan Ziqian sank into the Yellow River together, and the transfer of Zhi City failed. The news quickly spread among Wei's political circles.
With the efforts of Xinling Lord's disciples, the bodies of Duan Ziqian and others who had been quietly abandoned were recovered, returned to their families, and buried according to their titles. Duan Ziqian is a Korean, but he did not disclose where he lives. He has not settled down in Wei State, so he is considered to be homeless. Everyone thought that Duan Ziqian felt that the King of Wei was highly respected, and he died in a royal affair, so he should be given a generous burial no matter what. But the King of Wei did not say anything, so the ministers who handled the matter found a place in a cemetery in Wei State and buried him hastily.
Some officials in the DPRK proposed to arrest Wei soldiers who escaped without authorization, so they issued arrest lists to all counties and counties. Since there were as many as fifty people to be arrested, and most of them were nameless common people, it was impossible to find these people because they were already beyond recognition when the list went to various counties. The only solution was to detain their family members.
On behalf of the King of Wei, Doctor Xu Jia hosted a banquet for Qin Xing and the Five Doctors. He expressed his gratitude to them for returning the coffin of the Wei people and expressed his sorrow for the death of the prince. Dr. Xu Jia generously took the initiative to say that in view of the serious blows suffered by the two countries, the matter of Zhencheng would be put on hold for the time being. Pedestrians announced that all the Qin people in Liangxi Station would be withdrawn to Xianyang in the near future; Xu Jia said that he would come to see them off in person.
On the day before leaving, it was drizzling. The Qin people in Liangxiyi all wore a piece of coarse white linen around themselves to show their mourning for the prince and other victims. Only the necessary items were picked up and loaded into two carts, and the remaining large and small belongings were distributed to the towns in the four villages. The fifth doctor even went to the camp guarded by the Wei army to express his gratitude to the camp commander! Dr. Jia came in a car to give gifts to all the Qin people. All the gifts he brought were politely declined by pedestrians and the five doctors, and none of them were accepted. A group of Qin people left Liangxi Station and embarked on their way home.
Doctor Xu Jia watched the Qin people drifting away and whispered unconsciously: "The Qin people are back!"
(End of Volume 2)
