Liang Du is a young foreman at the Linqing wharf, born into a family of grain-transport laborers.
His father spent his life hauling grain by canal boat, while his mother supported the family by washing clothes at the wharf. Liang Du only wants to save enough to buy a small boat, get married, and slowly pay off the family’s grain-transport debts.
In the Xianfeng era, the Linqing granary opens for grain distribution.
Driven by poverty, father and son take on a boatload of grain whose origins are riddled with suspicious details.
The authorities demand the boat depart, the grain merchants demand their seals, and the transport guilds guard the locks. Once the grain leaves the bank, any trouble will fall on the people aboard.
The Taiping Rebellion cuts off the northward shipment of grain from the south. As storms gather, everyone along the old canal route grows fearful. Tax substitutions, sea transport, militia groups, guilds, and starving refugees: one problem after another weighs on Liang Du.
The Tongwaxiang breach sends the Yellow River flowing north, and the old route is diverted.
Where should Liang Du go now?
