Chapter 6:
Reirin Teaches
“LOOK, LEANNE! The blanket of ice over the river is gone! Not a trace of it left!”
“That military officer was telling the truth!”
As Leanne listened to the excited ramblings of her two childhood friends, she gazed out over the water in awe.
It was late in the afternoon, one day out from the Day of Ultimate Yin, and they were standing on the riverbank not far from their settlement. This was normally the time of day when the kids would be busy tending the fields or weaving textiles, but today they had ditched work and made their way to the river just past the forest. This river flowed from a lake to the north, zigzagged its way downstream, and—perhaps because the flow stagnated around those meanders—always froze over until early spring.
But lo, the sheet of ice covering the surface had been shattered to bits. Most of it must have been washed away soon afterward, as only a few stray chunks bobbed around the rocks jutting up from the water.
“I never imagined they could break up the ice in a single night,” one boy muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
“He said they used explosives, right? That’s awesome!” said the other, sounding genuinely impressed.
While the boys rejoiced, Leanne muttered, “I had my doubts when the military officer came by yesterday…but I guess it really is possible to break up the ice with manpower.”
As a matter of fact, Leanne and her friends had come all this way to check on the river because a military officer (his name was Kou Keikou, apparently) had come by yesterday, claiming to have blown up the river as a flood-control measure.
Two nights ago—the night after they had completed the Congee Conferment Rite and seen the Maiden and her entourage off—the locals had been fast asleep inside their ramshackle huts when they were jolted awake by a thunderous roar. The noise had been loud enough to send vibrations through the earth. With the Day of Ultimate Yin drawing near, the residents had panicked, thinking it a terrible omen, and spent the remainder of the night trembling with fear. Tou was usually the one to calm everyone down in these situations, but as luck would have it, he had run off to pick herbs.
As they were floundering about without a leader to guide them, the military officer Kou Keikou had arrived on the scene with the sunrise to his back. He was supposed to have accompanied the Maiden back to the encampment, but he had split off from her group and doubled back.
“Apologies for the lack of advance notice, friends!” he’d said. “That was actually a measure to prevent the summer floods. We blew up a section of the ice on the river east of this settlement.”
It took his audience a while to process the smooth explanation. They had blown up the ice on the river? To prevent the summer floods?
When the locals shot him blank stares, the lone military officer had elaborated without a hint of fatigue about him. He told them that there were many rivers and lakes around Treacherous Tan Peak, and some of them would freeze over during the cold season. As the cold abated, melted hunks of ice would clump together and form a natural dam. When the weather warmed up during summer and the ice dam melted, all the impounded water would gush forth. Thus, if they broke up the areas liable to turn into dams just as the ice had begun to coalesce, they could prevent the floods.
“Of course, that would be tricky to accomplish with manual labor. And so we prepared this black powder for the occasion!”
He had then proudly showed off a pot that, as far as Leanne’s people could tell, was filled with nothing but fine, dark granules. According to him, if you mixed it in just the right proportions, stored it in just the right container, and ignited it just the right way, it would cause a tremendous explosion.
“We still need to break the ice on a lake farther upstream, but that will have to wait for another day. We chose to carry out the first trial ourselves. It was the will of His Imperial Highness and his Maiden.”
His powerful assertion had the crowd exchanging glances. Had the crown prince and his Maiden—who had already graced them twice for the Congee Conferment Rite—really made the call to help them? That would be a blessing beyond measure. Compared to serving them a single bowl of congee, this would more reliably benefit a much greater range of people.
“We really should do a topographical survey and adjust the watercourses and retention basins, but that would require time and funds. While this is nothing but a stopgap measure, you should all be aware of the option to blow up the ice until we find a permanent solution,” Kou Keikou had added as a caveat, but the residents actually preferred the practical, fast-acting fix. They needed to survive the upcoming summer before they could worry about a more fundamental solution ten years down the line.
The crowd had expressed their gratitude by going down on their knees and bowing deeply. Those who had suffered from past floods were nearly moved to tears. Meanwhile, the children were split into two groups: those struggling to follow the logic, confused looks on their faces, and those who understood it but had their doubts. Needless to say, Leanne was in the second category.
As young as these kids were, they had never known a floodless summer. Although the degree of damage varied from year to year, the settlement was always powerless to stop its suffering. They had come to view their miseries as an invariable fact of life.