Chapter One: Grandparent and Grandchild, Strangers to Each Other
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In the first year of Emperor Wu’s Zhenghe era, summer brought a severe drought to the Guanzhong region, leaving the crops parched and shriveled.
The terrain around Chang’an’s eight rivers sloped downward, and as the water levels fell, irrigating the farmland became exceedingly difficult.
A young man no older than twenty, dressed in a white silk robe, had rolled up his trouser legs and gone barefoot. Together with several servants, he carried a huge waterwheel, shaped like the skeleton of a dragon, to the bank of a shallow river.
“You say this will allow the water to be lifted and carried into the fields?”
Beside the young man stood an elderly gentleman, so old that he seemed frail to the point of collapse. Several retainers followed behind him.
Judging by the old man’s attire, he was either wealthy or noble—most likely a landowner from the vicinity of the Wei River.
Common folk depended on the land for their livelihood, while landowners depended on it even more. The drought had spread across a vast area of the Han realm; otherwise, these landlords would never have come out in person to inspect the disaster.
“Yes, it will,” Liu Jin answered seriously.
The young man in white was Liu Jin. He had a handsome face and a gentle, mild disposition.
“Would you care to stretch your limbs a little, old sir?”
Liu Jin turned to the elderly man, whose beard had already begun to turn white.
“How?” the old man asked.
“Come down into the water with me and help me set the dragon-bone wheel upright.”
At those words, the few embroidered-robed attendants behind the old man suddenly changed expression. One of them was about to shout, but a sharp glance from his master silenced him at once.
“Very well!”
The old man was remarkably decisive. He removed his boots, bent down to roll up his trouser legs, and followed Liu Jin into the water.
Muddy water splashed over the clothes of the old man and the young man alike, instantly staining their clean, immaculate silk black.
The servants of both sides stood on the bank, tense with anxiety.
How could they not be? One of the two men was the Son of Heaven, and the other was the eldest grandson of the emperor. If anything happened to either of them, heads would roll when they returned.
Yet at that moment, the grandfather and grandson did not recognize each other at all.
This was hardly surprising.
Fourteen years earlier, the great general Wei Qing and the Grand Marshal Huo Qubing had died one after another. The Crown Prince’s faction had lost its most important pillars. Liu Ju, the Crown Prince who had once been entrusted with high hopes—and Liu Jin’s father—had consequently lost Emperor Wu’s favor entirely.
Then Lady Li and Zhao Jieyu each gave birth to a son, and Emperor Wu gradually distanced himself from Crown Prince Liu Ju.
During those fourteen years, Emperor Wu had rarely visited Changle Palace, while Liu Ju had not set foot in Weiyang Palace for who knew how long.
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If father and son were already so estranged, there was even less to say about the emperor’s eldest grandson, Liu Jin.
In fourteen years, Emperor Wu had paid him scarcely any attention. For Liu Jin, meeting the legendary Emperor Wu of Han had become nothing more than a distant hope.
Yes, Liu Jin was a time traveler. He had arrived in the Han dynasty less than half a month earlier, only to encounter the great drought in Guanzhong.
It was now the first year of the Zhenghe era. In another year, the second year of Zhenghe, the Disaster of the Witchcraft Curse would erupt, and the entire Crown Prince’s faction—including his father, Liu Ju, and his grandmother, Empress Wei Zifu—would be slaughtered.
That was why he had seized this opportunity, during the drought, to create the dragon-bone waterwheel and bring relief to the people, hoping that it might give him a chance to come into contact with his grandfather, Emperor Wu.
“Ah, old sir, you’ve grown accustomed to a life of comfort. The dragon-bone wheel isn’t particularly heavy, yet even lifting it seems to strain you. You ought to exercise more. That is the way to live a long life.”
Liu Jin offered the reminder with a smile. Then he heaved the waterwheel up and placed it in the river.
The old man retorted, “The secret to longevity lies in medicines and elixirs.”
“If they truly could prolong life, why did the First Emperor of Qin die so young?” Liu Jin asked.
The old man replied earnestly, “Because some villain deceived the First Emperor. If the true medicine were found, immortality would certainly be possible.”
Liu Jin had no desire to argue further. Their beliefs were different, and they were strangers to each other; there was no meaning in quarreling.
Once the dragon-bone waterwheel had been assembled, the old man was already panting heavily with exhaustion. With Liu Jin’s support, he made his way back to the bank.
Liu Jin brushed the mud from his hands, climbed onto the dragon’s head, and began pushing down hard with both feet against the wooden treadles joined into a continuous belt.
As the belt revolved, water from the low-lying river was carried upward, leaf-shaped wooden paddles lifting it higher and higher.
The river seemed to be inhaled by a dragon, its water flowing unceasingly toward the elevated fields.
The old man’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“It really draws the water up?”
“What a marvelous device!”
With Guanzhong suffering from such a severe drought, irrigating the crops had become a desperate problem. Carrying water by bucket was painfully inefficient. By the time the fields had been watered, the crops would likely have withered and died.
The dragon-bone wheel was entirely different. Once the water had been lifted, it flowed rapidly along the ridges and into the fields.
“Young man, you truly have talent. This thing is extraordinary—it will benefit countless people!”
Liu Jin replied casually, “I merely did what was within my abilities.”
The old man lowered his voice mysteriously. “The people say this drought has come because the Son of Heaven has exhausted the nation through endless wars, and Heaven is sending him a warning.”
“If you present this device to the emperor, it will surely earn you high office and great wealth.”
Liu Jin shook his head. “A natural disaster is a natural disaster. It has nothing to do with anyone else, and certainly nothing to do with the current emperor.”
“Nor do I intend to exchange it for rank and riches.”
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The old man looked perplexed. “Then why did you make such a device? Simply because your heart is devoted to the people of the realm?”
Liu Jin shook his head and sighed softly.
“I have not yet set my sights so high.”
“I only want to meet my grandfather.”
“Your grandfather? From the sound of it, you haven’t seen him in a very long time.”
“More than a decade, I suppose.”
“Is your grandfather dead?”
Liu Jin fell silent.
Had the old man not been advanced in years—and had the Han dynasty not governed the realm according to filial piety and fraternal duty—Liu Jin would truly have reported those treasonous words to Chang’an’s three judicial offices.
But the ignorant could not be blamed. Liu Jin let the matter pass.
He shook his head. “No. He simply doesn’t want to see me.”
The old man snorted. “Then your grandfather is a complete bastard! Our Han dynasty is founded on filial piety and respect for elders. The young should honor the old, and the old should cherish the young—that is the virtue by which society is governed. What kind of grandfather behaves like that? An old man with no respect for his own station!”
“Please, don’t say such things,” Liu Jin replied.
“I’m only speaking the truth. If you ask me, you might as well disown that grandfather of yours!”
Liu Jin was rendered speechless.
“Perhaps he has his own arrangements and plans,” he said at last. “He should be… perhaps he is not a bad man. I truly don’t know, so I cannot judge him.”
“Very well, I shall not keep you any longer. I would trouble you, old sir, to tell everyone within ten miles that they should trust the government. Before long, this device will be put into widespread use. The farmland will not go without irrigation this summer, and the people of Guanzhong will not face a harvest of empty granaries.”
The old man smiled. “So we still have to report it to the authorities? A moment ago, you spoke with such righteous conviction that I took you for a truly selfless young man.”
“And now you’ve spun me a tale about an estranged grandfather, just to toy with this old man’s feelings, have you?”
Liu Jin bared his teeth in a smile.
“Remember to exercise more when you return, old sir. Your constitution is rather weak. And stop putting your faith in all those elixirs. Nothing is better than regular exercise.”
“I shall say no more. Perhaps we will meet again if fate allows.”
“Farewell.”