Chapter 5: The 47th Year of Wanli
Chapter 5: The 47th Year of Wanli
“Now what should I call you, brother?”
The boat captain Huang Zhen reached out and pulled Yang Xin onto the deck as he asked warmly.
“Yang Xin!”
Yang Xin answered frankly.
Huang Zhen gave him a meaningful look…
“Quite the brave fellow!”
He patted Yang Xin’s shoulder and sighed.
He probably thought this was a fake name made up on the spot, but that wasn’t his concern. What pleased him was simply having another desperado under his command. From this situation, it was clear that no one on this boat was a law-abiding citizen. The several sailors who were busy tying up the sampan to the gunwale all welcomed Yang Xin in their own way, each of them having fierce expressions and menacing eyes. Especially after Huang Ying gave Yang Xin a pat, reminding him not to forget to tell his story, at least half of the sailors’ faces already looked quite vicious.
Huang Zhen did not say much else to him.
A work contract…
Well, did a fugitive who deserved two beheadings and a turn on the gallows need one?
Huang Ying immediately came out and tossed Yang Xin a hard, dry flatbread. She took one herself too, munching on it, while Yang Xin stood beside her and looked at the boat.
It was a standard flat-bottomed riverboat.
Or perhaps it should be called a shallow-draft boat.
Less than twenty meters in length, aside from the foredeck, which had at most four meters of open space, the rest was all covered by a semi-circular canopy. The canopy was woven from bamboo and coated with tung oil. But above the stern cabin, there was an extra, low, large wooden crate. Through its open window, one could see a bellyband hung inside…
Huang Ying followed his gaze. Blushing, she stomped on his foot.
This was her private room.
The boat’s mast was already lowered. It was a bipod mast. The boat was still being pushed along by the tide, but long oars were prepared on both sides, clearly to be rowed by manpower when needed. What puzzled Yang Xin was the sampan they carried. Usually, this kind of riverboat wouldn’t have one. This little sampan was only three or four meters long, but for such a shallow-draft boat, it was a big burden. Of course, he wouldn’t ask about such things. Whatever they were doing, he would find out soon enough.
By now, the sunset had completely faded, and night gradually fell. The shallow-draft boat, pushed by the tide, moved forward silently on the wide river.
Soon, lights twinkled on the western bank.
Then, a fairly large market town and a wide river estuary appeared.
“Where does this lead to, some godforsaken place?”
Yang Xin asked.
“To my home!”
Huang Ying rolled her eyes at him and said.
“This goes to Sanjiaodian. Pass Dingzigu and you enter Sanjiaodian, exit Sanjiaodian into the Huitong River, which is the Daqing River. Continue onward is Yuanjiakou. Go north to Bazhou or west to Qingyuan.”
Huang Zhen said with a smile.
“So where are we headed?”
Yang Xin asked.
“Tonight, we’ll first reach Yin’er Bay. If there are no major delays on the way, we’ll probably reach Zhangjiawan in about seven or eight days. Then Brother Yang can go wander around the capital, get a taste of the imperial dragon’s aura.”
Huang Zhen said.
“Ha, I don’t even know what our emperor’s name is!”
Yang Xin said with no respect.
“His Majesty has been on the throne for forty-seven years, but it’s true few know the imperial name.”
Huang Zhen laughed.
The 47th Year of Wanli!
Yang Xin finally knew which year this was!
Early summer of the 47th Year of Wanli. The weather wasn’t too hot yet. The Battle of Sarhu had just ended. Because of Yang Gao’s brainless strategy of attacking along a three-hundred-li front with four separate armies, Wild Boar Skin used his cavalry’s speed advantage to concentrate superior forces and defeat them one by one. In the end, the decisive battle beyond the Pass ended with the Great Ming’s defeat. The Ming Army’s elite field forces beyond the Pass were almost completely wiped out. Even four of the main generals, three died one after another. From then on, they completely lost the initiative on the Liaodong battlefield and had to switch to defense. Then began the nearly thirty years of bitter war between the Ming and Qing beyond the Pass…
To be precise, twenty-six years.
There was still plenty of time!
Yang Xin’s mood immediately improved a lot.
At least he was still in the Great Ming’s prosperous age. Although this prosperous age was already in its twilight, it was still much better than the sweet potato prosperity age.
Standing proudly at the bow in the night breeze, he watched Yin’er Bay ahead getting closer and closer. The number of Grain Tribute Boats along the bank also increased more and more, soon becoming densely packed again like the Tianjin docks, stretching forward as far as the eye could see. These Jiangnan boats, loaded with heavy grain, had a much deeper draft than the shallow-draft boat under his feet. They could only sail here by riding the high tide, then unload the grain into warehouses on the bank. In the following days, numerous lighter boats would continuously transport this grain to Tongzhou. These Grain Tribute Boats were different from civilian boats; they all had military escorts. Each boat had several soldiers plus hired boatmen. They had priority passage rights on any river section. Once the channel got crowded, all civilian boats had to make way for them.
This was the lifeline of the capital.
“What happens when it freezes?”
Yang Xin said.
“It freezes, of course. Which year doesn’t the Bai River freeze with thousands of boats stuck?”
Huang Ying said.
After saying that, she picked up a long oar, or a sweep, and shoved it into Yang Xin’s hands…
“Go pole the boat!”
She gave him a push and said.
The lowest rank boatman, or you could say coolie Yang Xin, together with those sailors, used the long sweeps to pole the shallow-draft boat, which had a draft of only a little over three chi, to the bank and stopped. Huang Zhen sent sailors ashore to buy wine and meat from a familiar restaurant. Huang Ying personally cooked several fish. This counted as Yang Xin’s initiation ceremony. But Huang Zhen did not specify exactly what they did. Although he was delivering a batch of goods to the capital this trip, it was clear that a law-abiding merchant would not take in a fugitive. As for the goods they were transporting this time, they were all very ordinary things, mainly barrels of rapeseed oil—some had already been unloaded in Tianjin—and a small amount of miscellaneous goods like dried pagoda tree flowers and such.
These came from Hejian.
From Hejian, they took the Yudai River waterway into the Huitong River, which was the Daqing River, then passed Yuanjiakou, continued downstream into Sanjiaodian. At this time, Sanjiaodian was a huge lake; the entire area west of Tianjin was part of it. This lake, which has disappeared in modern times, received the inflows from the entire Daqing River system and the Yongding River system. The latter was still called the Hun River and split into two branches: one entered Sanjiaodian directly, and the other joined the Daqing River at Yuanjiakou. Eventually, almost half of Northern Zhili south of Beijing, all its rivers, converged into Sanjiaodian, then entered the Northern Canal, or Bai River, at Dingzigu. This inland water transport system extended all the way to Qingyuan, covering a vast area from Zhuozhou in the north to Zhengding in the south. The Baiyangdian Lake familiar to modern people was also part of it.
But only a part.
Baiyangdian Lake was much smaller than Sanjiaodian.
However, Sanjiaodian’s period of prosperity was only around the late Ming and early Qing. By the time of the Kangxi Emperor, because of the Yongding River embankment construction, all the sediment carried by the Yongding River poured into Sanjiaodian, gradually filling it up with silt deposits.
But at this time, it truly rivaled the Water Margin’s Liangshan Marsh.
Having eaten and drunk his fill, Yang Xin fully demonstrated the qualities of a good crew member. He didn’t ask what he shouldn’t. When it was time to sleep, he slept. After all, he was a bit tired from the day’s events.
The next day.
“Aren’t we leaving yet?”
Yang Xin, holding the flatbread in his mouth, asked.
“Don’t rush. Let’s wait a bit!”
Huang Zhen maintained his friendly, smiling face as he said.
But he definitely wasn’t a good-natured fellow. The guy was covered in muscles and scars, and one of his arms looked slightly thicker and stronger. This was clearly the result of frequently pulling a strong bow. Yang Xin didn’t believe this man hadn’t taken lives.
“You’re still not full? Like a starving ghost!”
Huang Ying hit Yang Xin and said.
“If he can eat, he can work. Better to be full to work well!”
Huang Zhen said with a laugh.
As he spoke, a familiar-looking passenger boat slowly came from downstream. Huang Zhen immediately called out, and Yang Xin and the others quickly poled their boat into the channel. Because there were so many Grain Tribute Boats here, the originally narrow channel was blocked into a watery alley. Their boat and that one happened to meet. The Wang family’s Elder Steward came out of that boat’s cabin, looked at them, then smiled and greeted Huang Zhen on the deck.
“Captain Huang, what a coincidence!”
The Elder Steward said.
“Steward, please go first!”
Huang Zhen said with a beaming smile, bowing slightly.
“We’re going the same way anyway. It’s good to have mutual support on the journey. Little Si, fetch two lanterns for Captain Huang. Put ours up too!”
The Elder Steward said.
Clearly, this was Huang Zhen’s objective.
Sailing on the Grand Canal wasn’t easy. One faced many troubles along the way, especially the Customs Checkpoint at Hexiwu up ahead, which specifically collected tolls. But no matter what trouble, with these two lanterns, they could basically fend it all off. This Wang family was that of Wang Keshou, who served as the Left Vice-Minister of War and concurrently the Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief, holding the position of Governor-General of Ji-Liao, Baoding, and other areas for military affairs. He was a trusted old minister of the Wanli Emperor. Even the defeat at Sarhu hadn’t shaken his position. This stretch of the Northern Canal was all under the Tianjin Right Guard. Besides official granaries, Yin’er Bay also had the Yin’er Bay Shallow Draft Station, which was Military Households specifically tasked with dredging the river channels. All of these were under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Ji-Liao. It could be said that with these two lanterns and the Elder Steward’s boat leading the way, no one would dare give Huang Zhen trouble on this journey.
Huang Zhen quickly moved closer, constantly thanking him as he received the two lanterns.
“This young brother looks familiar. Why didn’t I see you on the boat yesterday?”
The Elder Steward said, looking at Yang Xin with a half-smile.
“I suppose the Steward is senior and has seen many people. There are always a few who look alike. Just as this junior finds the Steward familiar, like an elder from my hometown!”
Yang Xin said.
“Ah, there’s some sense to that. Speaking of which, I also remember who you resemble. But that person’s scar was on the left side of his face, while yours is on the right. Besides, he had a very large scar on his body. Your body seems quite smooth. Looking now, you don’t resemble him at all. Next time, if you see someone who looks somewhat like you but has a large scar on his body and also a scar on his left cheek, you must remember to report him to the authorities. That person is a fugitive criminal. Please be careful.”
The Elder Steward said with a laugh.
“Thank you for the warning, Steward!”
Yang Xin said earnestly.
Just then, from a window behind the Elder Steward, a sleepy little head poked out. A pair of wide, watery eyes stared, with a completely bewildered expression, at these two people telling such obvious lies.
But then her gaze shifted to Huang Ying.
“Elder Sister Huang!”
The young lady of the Wang family waved excitedly and called out.