“Wearing such heavy armour into the water, no one could swim!”
The first squad leader shouted up at the passenger ship. “Hurry and strip off the armour, smash up the boat. Each man grab two big planks!”
The soldiers escorting the Ninth Princess this time were all hand-picked elites from the Imperial Forest Army, hence their excellent discipline.
Their issued armour was the finest too, one could say impervious to blades and spears.
But such armour had a drawback: it was far too heavy, every set weighing several dozen catties.
When Qin Ming and his two men boarded, the lifeboat sank a full section deeper.
The best way to transport salt ore to Twin Camel Peak was by water, so the escorts guarding it were all selected by Zhang Liang for their swimming skills.
The first squad leader hailed from a fishing family and could swim a round trip on the Jialing River before age ten; his watermanship was exceptional.
Even so, he had no confidence of surviving the raging Jialing River in a set of armour weighing dozens of catties.
Let alone those guards who knew nothing of swimming.
Thus the best course now was as the first squad leader said: shed the armour and seek buoyant objects. Perhaps a slim chance of survival remained.
To a true warrior, armour was as vital as a battle blade. Most of these guards were on their first sea voyage and had never considered such things.
To lose such a band of elites to the Jialing River made the Ninth Princess’s heart bleed.
Yet years of cultivated calm let her grasp that the sinking was inevitable, and the lifeboats were packed shoulder to shoulder, near their load limits. It was impossible to fit everyone.
All she could do was preserve the most vital among them.
But hearing the first squad leader now, she felt it a viable plan. Forgetting decorum, the Ninth Princess turned and called to Qin Ming. “Captain Qin, do as this hero says!”
Qin Ming snapped to and shouted up. “All men, by order: shed your battle gear, dismantle the ship for planks. Lash them to your arms! Survivors, rendezvous at Jinchuan Ferry!”
“Yes!”
The guards sprang into action at once.
“Save us!”
With the guard team’s barrier gone, boat hands and servants surged to the deck’s edge. One bold boat hand even leapt straight for the lifeboat.
But by now the lifeboat had pulled away from the passenger ship. The man missed, plunging into the river with a splash.
The first squad leader sighed and had someone untie the rope linking them to the passenger ship.
Jin Feng had said the lifeboat could hold at most eight. Now there were nine aboard; one more might capsize them at any moment.
Heart aching as it did, the first squad leader was out of options.
Those he could save were aboard, and he had warned what he could.
The lifeboat’s drift was too swift. When they reached it, the first squad leader tossed a line up, letting the guards secure the lifeboat to the passenger ship’s railing.
Once the rope came loose, the lifeboat swept downstream with the current.
“Third, Fifth, make way to the side.”
With the river so vast and furious now, the lifeboat had only two oars; paddling upstream to the cargo ship was impossible.
The best was to steer to the bank, wait for the cargo ship to pass, then board it.
Behind them, the water neared the passenger ship’s deck.
Chaos reigned on deck. The guards had shed their armour and were busy dismantling the ship for timber.
Those with planks already helped one another lash them to arms.
Boat hands and servants flailed in panic, or copied the guards, or snatched valuables from the ship.
Soon the river overflowed the deck, sinking faster still.
Guards, boat hands, and servants on deck were swept away one after another by the waters.
The prepared fared better; the unprepared vanished into the waves in moments.
Qin Ming and several guards clenched their jaws. Even the ever-calm Ninth Princess paled somewhat.
The river knew no princess from servant. Without chancing upon the Zhen Yuan Escort Agency, she too would now be a dark speck in the waters.
All on the lifeboat fixed their gaze on the passenger ship sinking behind them. No one noticed the band of masked men on the distant bank, watching them intently.
These were the pirates who had fled earlier.
Save for the two leaders, the dozen-odd pirates hacked frenziedly at trees.
The Jialing River bent slightly ahead. Though the curve was gentle, the current raced.
Fearing their skiffs could not withstand it, the pirates, like the first squad leader, chose the bank.
They had just come ashore when they spied the lifeboat drifting down.
When the lifeboat was still five or six zhang from shore, a vicious glint flashed in the lead masked man’s eyes. He barked coldly. “Loose!”
Splash!
The pirates hefted five or six felled trees and hurled them into the Jialing River.
The great trunks tumbled and rolled downstream in the rapids.
“Squad leader, look ahead!”
An escort spotted the trees and roared.
“Quick, evade!”
The first squad leader sprang to the lifeboat’s stern, snatched a spare oar, and paddled madly.
But the bankside current outpaced the midstream, making swift turns near impossible.
Raised on boats since childhood, the first squad leader soon judged they could not dodge the collision. He yelled at once. “Cannot avoid!”
He tossed the oar aside, grabbed a hog bladder from the side, and thrust it at the Ninth Princess. “Your Highness, lash this to your arms quick!”
“You overstep! Her Highness is nobility incarnate. How can she touch such filth?!”
Qin’er blocked him with a face of disgust.
“I scrubbed it myself several times over. Boil it and eat; how is it filthy?”
The first squad leader thrust out his neck.
Qin’er opened her mouth, but the Ninth Princess took the hog bladder herself.
“Your Highness…”
“Qin’er, at such a time, no room for niceties. You bind yours too!”
The Ninth Princess passed the hog bladder to Zhu’er, then raised her arms.
Zhu’er hastened to lash it to the Ninth Princess’s arms.
“Captain Qin, you shed your armour too!”
The first squad leader bound a hog bladder to his own arms and warned. “Your gear is too heavy. The bladders cannot bear it!”
“Right!”
Qin Ming assented. Seeing belts too slow to unfasten, he drew his blade and sliced the straps.
Fortunately, the lifeboat carried plenty of hog bladders. Each person bound one, with one left over.
The first squad leader had Zhu’er bind the last to the Ninth Princess’s other arm, then took a coil of rope and tied it to his waist.
On the other boat, the escort best at swimming did the same, roping his waist.
Preparations done, the trees loomed mere zhang away.
“All squat and grip the gunwales!”
The first squad leader warned, then crouched first, hands clamped tight on the side.
The Ninth Princess and maids had just squatted when the first tree struck.
The lifeboat spun wildly in the water. Before the first squad leader could act, the second tree rammed it.
This time the lifeboat capsized outright, hurling everyone into the river!
