AWB Chapter 354: Grain Cargo Ship Encounters Flood, Difficult to Advance or Retreat
Chapter 354: Grain Cargo Ship Encounters Flood, Difficult to Advance or Retreat
Eastern part of Da Zhou.
Cargo ships came down the river from the southwest, creating ripples on the water surface.
As the cargo ship passed by, the ripples spread out and the scenery on both sides slowly receded. Before getting close, one could see that the river in the distance had become much narrower.
A sturdy, bearded man in his early thirties stood on the deck, gazing into the distance, and muttered, "It looks like... it shouldn't be far away."
Luzhou is mountainous and the rivers here vary in width, so the ships that pass through here are basically small ships. Large ships seldom pass through here because they are afraid of emergencies. It is not convenient for the ships to dock and it is difficult to turn around.
And what greeted them in front of them now were the mountains on both sides of the river.
The soldiers behind him quietly retreated from the deck and came back to report after a while:
"Boss, the boss said that if we drive another twenty miles, we will reach the border of Luzhou Prefecture."
The worst-hit area in the east was not Luzhou Prefecture, but Changnan Prefecture under Luzhou Prefecture.
Before they set out, they predicted that the current in Changnan Prefecture would be turbulent and navigation would be difficult, so they had already sent someone to write a letter to the Luzhou Prefecture. They would stop at Luzhou Prefecture to unload the grain, and then use the convoy to transport the grain to Changnan Prefecture. In their opinion, this was the safest way.
The burly man Hu Dan did not move when he heard this. There was no joy of reaching the destination in his eyes. Instead, he stared straight ahead.
"Let the leader take a look. The further we go towards Luzhou Prefecture, the faster the river flows. The current situation is much worse than we expected..."
Rapid water boating?!
The soldier gasped and was about to look forward like Hu Dan, but was knocked to and fro by the successive waves of the river.
In a panic, he used his hands and feet to grab the fence and barely managed to steady himself.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead and slid down his face to his collar. "Boss! Something is wrong! The water is deep, blue and muddy. We can't go any further!"
Even as an outsider, he knew that sailing in rapid water in dangerous places was a big taboo!
He suppressed the sour feeling that was rising up and said in horror:
"Boss, this place is not like ours. There are many mountains on both sides of the river, and the water is fast. If a big wave hits us or a river merges into us, we will crash into the cliff! We can't go any further!"
Hu Dan was aware of the seriousness of the situation, and its current severity was much higher than they had expected.
——While they were talking, seven or eight rapids came crashing down. If a person did not have a solid object at hand, he would not be able to keep his balance!
But if we don’t move forward, what else can we do? Should we turn back against the current?
"It will take at least four days to get back to the last dock. Even if we turn around upstream, we may not have enough people on the boat. And the disaster victims in the east... can't wait."
Hu Dan was suddenly faced with a dilemma and felt he was stuck in a dead end.
But he also knew that he had little experience in sailing, and whether to grit his teeth and move forward or turn back upstream was not up to him.
Just as he was walking towards the cabin, the captain rushed out of the cabin in a panic.
"Guan Ye!"
He looked at the turbulent river, wiped the sweat off his face, and said with a pale face:
"Sir, the situation is worse than we expected. We are unlucky... The waters are coming together because of the flood discharge from the surrounding areas. We can't go to Luzhou Prefecture right now, let alone Changnan Prefecture further down."
Hu Dan clenched his fists and asked with the last glimmer of hope:
"Captain, you said there are still 20 miles to Luzhou. Can we sail carefully and make it through these 20 miles? As long as we can make it through, and then call on the convoy to transport food to Changnan Prefecture, we can save tens of thousands of disaster victims!"
"No!"
He directly rejected his proposal with a look of horror on his face.
"Sir, if it were on our side, we could still take a gamble, keep the rudder steady, and withstand the rapids, and there's a chance we could get through! But, but the terrain here is steep, as you can see, there are cliffs on both sides ahead, if we don't keep an eye on them, at best we'll crash into the cliffs, at worst the ship will leak and sink, sir!"
Hu Dan stared at him intently, trying to detect any sign of fear of death on his face.
But there is no head.
He was not backing down because he was afraid of death, but as long as they went there, the probability of an accident would be at least 90%, if not 100%.
Seeing the mountains on both sides getting closer and closer, Hu Dan gritted his teeth and asked him:
"Captain, you are experienced. Are we really helpless right now? What awaits us are millions of victims."
The captain became anxious upon hearing this, and his tone was no longer polite:
"The lives of millions of disaster victims are lives, but the lives of you, me and my brothers are not lives! It's not that I'm afraid of death, but God doesn't even give us a chance to gamble our lives! The river ahead may be narrow. If there are boatmen pulling on both sides, I will gamble my life with you!"
Pulling boats across the strait?
Cross-river towing is different from unilateral towing. Unilateral towing is only for simple operations such as stopping the boat and turning around, while cross-river towing relies heavily on the experience of the trackers on both sides. If either side has too little or too much strength, it will not work. What matters is the balance to help the boat keep its direction steady.
Hu Dan looked to both sides.
There are still places for towing on both sides, but there is a cliff ahead. Even if people go up, how can they be towed?
Totally impossible.
An idea suddenly flashed through his mind, and he stepped forward, grabbed the leader's arm, and asked him:
"Can we go back a little and find a flat shore to stop? I'll go ashore to look for people, and we'll start walking by land!"
More and more people came to the deck. They looked at Hu Dan and shouted:
"Send a message to the ships behind us, hoist the sails! Row the oars! Slowly return to the voyage! We will think of another solution!"
This move of his was a complete gamble with the physical strength of the people on the boat.
The experienced boatman recalled the two banks on the way here and frowned:
"Boss, we have reduced our manpower in order to bring more food. If we want to pull the boats to the shore, our boats will need at least a hundred strong men to pull them. We still have to go back fifty miles. I remember there are boatmen on the shore there."
It would take at least two days to go back several dozen miles relying on manpower alone.
I feel that today is the biggest challenge of my career.
They were cautious enough, guessing that the flood in Changnan Prefecture was turbulent, so they chose to dock in Luzhou Prefecture upstream. But who could have imagined that the disaster in the east had not yet eased, and the flood had started to discharge again!
What to do… I raised my head and my breathing became more rapid, and my fingers trembled slightly.
Right now it seems... we have no choice but to let the brothers work hard for two days and then hire trackers at a high price when we return.
"Hey! Boatman!"
The boat was turning around, and a young man's voice came from the distant shore:
"Your ship is carrying food? Are you turning around? Where are you going?"
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, but because the boat was still some distance away from the shore and was moving, they could not see the boy's face clearly.
All they could see was the tall horse under the young man, the silver armor on his body, and the ponytail fluttering in the wind behind his head.