Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 596. River Crossing Boat
However, the biggest problem facing the group was how to cross the river. The Yellow River was one of the mother rivers, and it was in danger of flooding from time to time. It was not a river that could be crossed by human bodies or small sampans.

Normally, there are quite a few boatmen who make a living by ferrying people across the Yellow River, especially in Pingyin County, where there are large and small boats for customers to choose from.

But that was before. Now Zhang Nan personally led the Han army navy upstream from the Bohai Sea and blocked the connection between Henan and Hebei in a short period of time.

Sima Yi actually felt a little regretful. If he had known that the Han navy would arrive so quickly, he would have crossed the river from Hongnong at that time. At that time, the Han army probably had not yet reached that area, and it would not be so easy to block the waterway to Hedong County.

But Sima Yi couldn't abandon his two sons. After all, if he had no descendants, what would be the point of being in a high position? So this back and forth actually delayed the opportunity to cross the river.

However, if Feng Xi knew Sima Yi's worries, he would probably laugh at him. Sima Yi in the original timeline had more than two sons, but he was still strong and healthy. There was a difference of more than ten years between the second son Sima Zhao and the third son Sima Yi. Then Sima Yi gave birth to a total of seven sons, with the eldest son and the second son making a total of nine.

But even in the original timeline, Sima Yi was born next year. But now, because of Feng Xi's interference, Sima Yi was transferred away from Luoyang by Cao Pi early, and he had no time to be intimate with his wife and concubines, so the birth of Sima Yi was still a long way off.

In other words, if Sima Yi had been born on time, Sima Yi would have been very angry.

So the result of Sima Yi's excessive worry about his two sons is that now the Han army has blocked the Yellow River, and they can't cross the river even if they want to.

"Sir, you can ask the guards to ask the boatmen who used to go there to find out what the current situation is. If it's just the Han army that has a ban, then we can spend a little more money to let the boatmen force the boats to sail."

Sima Yi thought about it and finally decided to try to bribe some ferrymen who were willing to take risks for gold and silver. As the old saying goes, people die for money and birds die for food. Even if it was a ban by the Han army, there would surely be brave men under the heavy reward.

"Father, I asked them, and they said that the Han army has ships patrolling day and night, and if they find any ships leaving the port in violation of the ban, they will sink them directly."

That night, in the inn, Sima Shi informed Sima Yi of the news he had heard, which made everyone fall into deep thought. If they were to force their way across the river, not to mention whether anyone was willing to drive the boat, it would be a question whether they could even cross the river by chance. The worst result would be sinking to the bottom of the river.

"Sima Yi, what should we do now? If we continue to stay in Pingyin, maybe the Han army will come to search us later."

Cao Rui has been in such an uneasy state since he left Chang'an, and he is extremely nervous at this moment.

"Your Highness, please be patient. Most of the Han army's energy is now in Luoyang. It is impossible for them to think of our existence in a short time. Even if they think of us, we did not leave any traces when we came, so it is impossible for them to find us immediately."

Sima Yi comforted Cao Rui with a few words to calm him down, and then he could only arrange for his sons to take a few guards to see if there were any ships in Pingyin County that could leave the port freely.

Sima Yi didn't believe that the Han army would really ignore the lives of the people and not allow any ships to pass. If so, it wouldn't take long for the order in Henan Yin to collapse because of the war and the lack of merchants. Pingyin, as an important node, must shoulder this responsibility.

As expected, Sima Shi took his younger brother Sima Zhao and several guards out early and came back late every day and finally found some flaws.

It seemed that every two or three days, a large ship would come from the other side, unload in Pingyin, stay for half a day and then leave. The things unloaded on these ships were also various daily necessities that Sima Yi guessed. Under Sima Yi's instruction, a guard disguised as a guard of a wealthy family went to contact the other party to see if he could persuade the other party to make an exception and take his group on board, no matter what their identity was.

This guard was quite capable and soon found out the other party's identity. The other party claimed to be from the Huang family of Jizhou. Knowing that Henan Yin had been captured by the Han army, he wanted to deliver goods to his family's property in Henan Yin to make more money.

Sima Yi thought about it for a moment and confirmed that he had heard of the Huang family. They were a medium-sized family in Jizhou with some industries, and their identity should be reliable.

So Sima Yi disguised himself as a housekeeper and negotiated with the other party in person. After some communication, Sima Yi successfully extracted the secret of the other party's free travel: it turned out that Yan Gui, the naval commander of the Han army who was in charge of this section, was a surrendered general of the Eastern Wu and was very greedy for money. Therefore, he accepted bribes from the Huang family and turned a blind eye to the Huang family's behavior.

As for Sima Yi's request to sneak into their fleet and cross the river, the Huang family's manager was very straightforward and offered a price of one thousand taels of silver.

"Don't you think this price is too high?"

Sima Yi frowned. In fact, he asked himself honestly that no amount of money would be as important as the current situation. As long as they could return to Hebei, they would be like a tiger returning to the mountains.

"Look, there are no other boats that can take you there now. Only our Huang family can take you there. The price is this, it's up to you to accept it or not."

The Huang family's steward held his head high, as if he had made up his mind to defeat Sima Yi.

Sima Yi had a blank expression on his face, but he was still very unhappy with the other party's mercenary and obvious behavior of taking advantage of the situation.

"Okay, one thousand taels is one thousand taels."

Sima Yi nodded. Although this amount of money was not a small sum, Sima Yi could still afford it. When Sima Shi and Sima Zhao fled from Luoyang, they took out all the property they could. They had at least two or three thousand taels of cash.

"Hey, wait, if that's the case, then you're raising the price temporarily. Now it's 1,200 taels."

Seeing Sima Yi so happy, the Huang family steward immediately raised the price, which made Sima Yi's face darken. Although he could endure it, it was only for those important officials in the court. How could Sima Yi endure it for these common people?
"One thousand taels. I know you'll have to hand over a lot later, so I can give you a hundred taels as your reward."

Sima Yi was born into a wealthy family and had been involved in officialdom all his life. How could he have used the bargaining tactics of those crude merchants? He could have bargained down a hundred taels, which was considered as him seeing through the other party's thoughts.

"Well... okay, if that's the case then it's a deal. Just bring your people to the dock to find us before noon."

The Huang family's steward finally agreed to Sima Yi's price, and it seemed that the two parties had reached an agreement.

(End of this chapter)