Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

After stopping in Jingyuan County for five days, the river management department came to inform us that the silt in the Xuanhe River had been cleared and we could continue northward.

"The Xuanhe River leads directly to the capital and is an important waterway connecting the north and south of Wuzhao. It is also the most important waterway for transporting grain from the south to the north. Don't underestimate this waterway; it has supported millions of grain transport workers along the way."

When Ding Shizhen introduced the relevant achievements of Xuanhe to Ban Dingyuan, he stood up straight and his face was full of pride.

Little did Ding Shizhen know that his words would cause him great trouble.

The so-called speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention.

Rivers are like the lifeblood of a country or a region.

Ban Dingyuan had heard this story countless times when he was studying under Shen Lian, and he understood why those powerful dynasties suddenly became weak and vulnerable.

The most critical reason was the huge problem with the river, which was crucial to the survival of the people. The decline and eventual demise of the Luchuan Dynasty was also caused by the Chu army cutting off the river.

Now that Ding Shizhen had described the importance of the Xuanhe River, Ban Dingyuan naturally made a silent note of it.

The Xuanhe River has a rapid current and a narrow channel, making it difficult for larger vessels to pass side by side in many sections, which is much more difficult than navigating in the near sea.

Because the monsoon winds are blowing south at this time, going against the current makes navigation more difficult.

After two days of travel, Ding Shizhen noticed that the sailing speed was not as expected and feared that it would delay the arrival date in Beijing, so he ordered his subordinates to hire boatmen at the mouths of the river along the coast.

The boat trackers were also an important part of ensuring the smooth transport of goods on the Xuanhe River. Tens of thousands of boat trackers waited in shallower areas along both banks of the river, using their own strength to pull the boats and prevent them from running aground.

In just a quarter of an hour, the north bank was filled with boatmen preparing to tug the boat.

Ban Dingyuan looked closely and saw that the boatmen on the shore were all shirtless and barefoot, standing numbly behind a leading soldier.

They were all listless, some old and some young. The long-term dragging and pulling had left the marks of time on their shoulders and backs.

What's even more noteworthy is that there were women among the boatmen, also naked, but using a few scraps of cloth to cover their most private parts.

Although the weather in February is not as cold as in the dead of winter, it is still very cold when it blows.

It wasn't that these boat trackers weren't afraid of the cold, but rather that they were afraid the tow ropes would wear out what might be their only piece of clothing, leaving them with nothing to wear.

Ding Shizhen was negotiating the price with the leading soldiers, and finally settled on a deal of five coins per person per mile.

The next ten miles of waterway will be towed by the twenty boatmen behind them.

Back on the ship, Ding Shizhen, puffing on his pipe, said to Ban Dingyuan, "It's settled. The price for going against the current is really high, five copper coins per person. At this time last year, it was only four copper coins."

Ban Dingyuan was shocked upon hearing this: "You mean, for this ten-mile journey, each of these boatmen will only receive fifty copper coins? Twenty people will only need to contribute one tael of silver?"

Such cheap labor is surprisingly low.

Ding Shizhen's next words completely shattered Ban Dingyuan's worldview.

"Foreign envoy, what are you thinking? This price was set by the river management office. These boatmen only get one and a half coins per mile, and the rest belongs to the office."

"Only fifteen coins per person?"

Ban Dingyuan was dumbfounded. Ten miles was a long distance. In the Great Chu, even a porter carrying a few dozen kilograms of goods would be charged one or two hundred coins, but this boatman only charged fifteen coins.

Are laborers so cheap? They're even less valuable than the natives in the Southeast Asian colonies.

Ding Shizhen laughed and said, "What's so surprising about this? It's always been this price. Sometimes, human life is just that cheap."

Ban Dingyuan felt a fire burning in his heart. Looking at the boatmen on the shore who had begun to tie ropes as thick as an adult's arm to themselves, he couldn't help but marvel at how strange this world was.

"Yohoho—"

With a loud slogan ringing out, all the boatmen were ready.

"Brothers, time to make a living!"

“Yoho——”

The boatmen responded in unison, then bent down, gripped the tow ropes tightly, and began to pull forward with all their might.

With the help of the boatmen on the shore, the boat that Ban Dingyuan was on immediately began to move slowly and orderly.

The water flow was exceptionally rapid, and going upstream put immense pressure on the boatmen.

But none of them said anything more, and they walked forward with difficulty.

Ban Dingyuan witnessed several teenagers climbing forward with all their might, almost on all fours.

Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but think of the transportation model of the Chu State's Grand Canal.

In fact, the state of Chu also had the profession of boat trackers, but it was definitely not as tiring as this. Their job was simply to help stranded boats to be pulled into deeper parts of the river. During this process, there would be dedicated tugboats on the river to pull the large boats, so it was not as tiring as this.

The boat continued its slow journey. Ban Dingyuan, unable to bear it any longer, and seeing that it was nearly noon and lunchtime, immediately instructed Ding Shizhen:

“I have some canned meat. You should immediately tell someone to cook it into a soup and send it to them. How can you survive on this kind of work without enough savory ingredients?”

Unexpectedly, Ding Shizhen said, "Foreign envoy, our Wuzhao Kingdom has a rule that foreign subjects are not allowed to have any contact or communication with ordinary people of our dynasty."

Similarly, you cannot give them any money or valuables. If you do that, it will put me in a difficult position. If you set this precedent,

What will happen if these boat trackers start asking passing boat owners for food?

Besides, these people make a living by physical labor; there are tens of thousands of boat trackers on both sides of the strait, including men, women, young and old.

Does the envoy intend to send them canned meat? Please, envoy, leave them alone.

That's just fate. They're just unlucky. Right now, they're lucky they can even put food on the table by working hard.

Ban Dingyuan was speechless for a moment, unable to find the right words to describe his feelings.

Soon it was noon, and the boatmen secured the rope to a rock on the shore before preparing to eat.

The boatmen's meals were very simple, consisting of a bowl of mixed grain rice with some homemade pickled vegetables, which they ate while sitting on the shore.

Ban Dingyuan wanted to go ashore and talk to them, but Ding Shizhen repeatedly stopped him.

After lunch, the boatmen continued to pull the rope to clear the way.

Compared to the morning's journey, the afternoon's journey seemed easier, at least the boys who were originally crawling on all fours were now able to walk on their own two feet with their backs bent.

Ban Dingyuan observed the boatmen through his binoculars. At this moment, many of them had their backs, arms, and even soles of their feet chafed raw, and bloodstains were left on the ropes as they dragged themselves.

"careful!"

Suddenly, a gasp came from the shore. Ban Dingyuan and Ding Shizhen looked in the direction of the sound.

On the north bank, an elderly boatman slipped and fell into the swift current, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Hurry up and save them!"

Upon seeing this, Ban Dingyuan immediately roared and instinctively summoned his subordinates, Shan Shui, to rescue the people.

But Ding Shizhen quickly stopped him: "Foreign envoy, are you out of your mind? The water is so fast, anyone who jumps in will die!"

"But, they..."

“This is fate!” Ding Shizhen’s eyes were red. “Countless boatmen die on this river every year. Two years ago, when the river was being repaired, more than four thousand bodies were retrieved.”

Ban Dingyuan stared blankly at Ding Shizhen, then asked through gritted teeth, "So, the person just disappeared like that?"

Ding Shizhen turned his face away, sighed, and shouted again to the shore: "Keep going, don't stop, the government will come to handle it, there are still three miles left, give it your all!"