The boats on the river. Each is adorned with a unique array of finery, showing off the arts and skills of the designers that decorated it. One boat is a forest scene, complete with lifelike woodland animals. Another is a field, with crops growing in rows. Still another is a mine scene, with workers tearing at the ground and walls with pickaxes.
Dozens of boats. Each with its own focus. And they float down the river past the spectators lining the shores.
Then, one boat blooms fire — real, actual fire. There are oohs and ahhs from the crowds watching, thinking it’s all part of the spectacle. But then another boat flares. And another. And another. Until nearly all of the boats are burning.
There are screams now, not just from the onlookers but also from the people manning the boats themselves. Several of the boatmen jump screaming into the water, alight with flames until they submerge. This floating parade has become a pyre.
The boats are fully engulfed now and are practically empty of people. At the first signs of the fires, most of the crews abandoned ship, finding safety in the cold river waters. Only one or two failed to escape. Only one or two went down with the ships.
To this day, no one knows what started the fires. The fact that it was sabotage was never in doubt. Only sabotage could light up all the boats nearly instantaneously that way. But no person or group was ever discovered to have been behind the destruction.