 Under cover of darkness and with the help of his wife, Chen climbed over the wall around his house, breaking his foot in the process.When he came upon the Meng River, he found it to be guarded, but crossed anyway and was not stopped; he later stated that he believed the guards had been asleep.Though he recollected his immediate surroundings from his childhood explorations, he eventually passed into less familiar territory; he later told his supporters that he fell more than 200 times during his escape.