"Traveling on the River" tells the story of Ling Zhao, the daughter of a naval commander in the troubled times dominated by male dominance. After her family was wronged and her entire family was wiped out, she transformed from a desperate orphan into a "River Master" who separatized the waterways in the south of the Yangtze River.
The blood feud that destroyed her family was her initial shackles, and it was also the spark for her rise. She became a pirate but killed the leader. She gathered her forces to "rob the rich and give to the poor" and built a survival stronghold on the tributaries of the Yangtze River. From being a "lone wolf" who lives for revenge, to establishing the "Linjiang Alliance" to integrate forces, and then becoming the powerful person controlling the waterways in the south of the Yangtze River after competing with all parties, Ling Zhao steps on the edge of a knife every step of the way.
She does not hide her desire for power, nor does she avoid her inner weakness - her guilt for her brother and her responsibility to her followers. She will be confused in desperate situations but can always wake up quickly. She and Su Jiu went from waterway rivals to allies with interests, admiring each other but remaining sober; relying on each other back to back, protecting each other's kindness and accepting each other's edges; breaking class prejudice with Chu Yuwei, and joining forces with a tacit understanding of "you want power and I want wealth" to win together; even the "shadow rival" Qin Sanniang left a glimmer of hope after defeat, showing her complex human nature.
Faced with the imperial court's suppression and recruitment, and the secular prejudice against women in power, she broke through the chess game of power by following the principle of "calculate the pros and cons before encountering them, and retaliate when they are bullied." In her relationship, she got together well with Jianghu Ranger Xie Lin, reached a check and balance agreement with Prince Xiao Che, and always maintained the bottom line of "self-dominance".
This work not only depicts Ling Zhao's arc of growth from revenge to protection, but also uses a group portrait perspective to show women's survival wisdom in troubled times - non-attachment, non-female competition, and non-submission of fate. They use cooperation and sharpness to carve their own path against the sky on the barriers of male dominance. It explores the balance between ambition and human nature, as well as the eternal proposition of female self-dominance.
Purpose: to break the shackles of women's fate and write a legendary life in which the heroine takes charge of the world in troubled times and women work side by side to break the situation.