1942, I lived on hunting

After listening to Li Hao's disjointed and incoherent narration, the old brigade commander roughly understood what those things that always collided with ships were. He became interested and asked Li Hao to go with him to the transport fleet on the river to take a look.

After the founding of New China, the state established the Yellow River River Conservancy Bureau in each province, and a shipping brigade was set up under the River Conservancy Bureau. A group of sailboat workers were recruited to work with boatmen and migrant workers to engage in the loading and unloading and transportation of flood control materials and stones.

This summer, a section of the river bank was in danger. Fortunately, with the help of the local garrison, the bank was defended. Now that the river water has receded by more than half, the river management department has quickly organized personnel to repair and reinforce the bank. The shipping team has become the main force in transporting materials. They are responsible for carrying flood control stones from the quarry to the sailboat, and transporting the stones to the bank of the Yellow River according to the instructions of the flood control headquarters. After arriving at the destination, they carry the flood control stones to the bank again. This cycle is very hard.

Considering the urgency of time, the troops sent a group of personnel to help with loading and unloading, so as to reinforce this section of the levee before the next flood arrives.

However, these wooden boats carrying stones and materials were often hit by objects in the water, and the boatmen were so scared that they dared not get on the boats and shirked their responsibilities. Strengthening the levee was an urgent task, so what could the river workers do if they were afraid to work? So the situation was reported to the flood control headquarters and the military leaders one level at a time.

The old brigade commander took Li Hao to a river bend, which was the fleet's temporary anchorage. Here Li Hao met Lao Hong, the head of the shipping brigade, and asked him for details.

Lao Hong thought that the old brigade commander and Li Hao were here to call for an explanation. He felt aggrieved when he talked about the strange things that the fleet had encountered. He said that he had done ideological work on the boatmen, but these guys were very superstitious. They insisted that the old Dragon King had appeared to take their lives and refused to get on board no matter what. He had no way to deal with it.

Li Hao asked him: "Do you usually follow the fleet? Have you encountered this situation before? Did you see what exactly caused the collision?"

Lao Hong: "Although I am a leader, I also work very hard. I always carry stones and cement with the workers, row boats and pull ropes with them. I never leave the labor. I have never encountered such a weird thing before!

Who knows what happened recently? The bigger the waves, the more likely it is that thing hits the boat, making a loud bang, and the whole boat is shaking! At first, I thought it was a reef or driftwood, but after encountering it many times, the workers got scared and insisted that it was the old dragon king appearing. In fact, I also looked and saw nothing... "

Li Hao asked: "You didn't see anything, and the other workers didn't see anything either? No way?"

Lao Hong hesitated for a while before speaking: "A few people said they saw a dark shadow, but I think they were dazzled. It might be a tree trunk that was washed into the river. After all, the thing they said was a bit too big, weird, and unbelievable..."

Li Hao: "How big was the thing they said they saw?"

"The waves in the rapids were so high, and they said they didn't see the whole thing. The part they saw was two or three meters long, and no one knew how much more was underwater..."

Li Hao laughed and said: "Why don't you offer a pig's head or something? Isn't it said that offering a pig's head will be fine?"

Old Hong shook his head like a rattle, "Huh? How can that be? Isn't that feudal superstition? We don't do that. Besides, we workers don't have much money. How can we afford to buy pig heads and throw them into the river? What a waste!"

"Do you have any transport missions recently? Are you still sailing today?"

"We won't do it today. We will go to the quarry tomorrow to transport some stones..."

Li Hao: "How about this, can I go with you guys tomorrow?"

"Okay, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that riding on a boat is not a comfortable thing. It's not safe, but you have to be mentally prepared for it!"

Coming out of the shipping brigade, the old brigade commander looked at Li Hao with a half-smile: "What's wrong? Are you interested? I knew you were interested in these weird things, but you don't appreciate it!"

Li Hao laughed and didn't respond.

Since I'm here, I can take this opportunity to complete my mission, so I don't have to run the downstream Henan section again. I told the old brigade commander and asked him to send a car to go with me to prepare some things, and introduce me to the water conservancy experts of the River Affairs Bureau. After all, I can't deal with that big guy with my bare hands or a gun. At least I have to use some explosives. I can't ignore the severity of the situation. If I damage the already fragile river bank, I will be blamed for my death.

The old brigade commander found a driver and a truck for Li Hao, and took Li Hao to the surrounding villages. Li Hao exchanged supplies with the villagers for a few pig heads, specifically requesting that they must be uncastrated pigs, and drove them back to the flood control headquarters.

I asked a water conservancy expert to draw a danger zone on the map for me, so I knew where I could use explosives and where I had to be careful, and I felt relieved.

That night, Li Hao exchanged some remote-controlled detonation equipment from the space, and asked the troops for some explosives, and made several sealed small explosive barrels. Then Li Hao split the pig's head, took out the pig's brain and some pig bones, stuffed the small explosive barrels in, and finally sewed the pig's head together with hemp rope, and then took the time to rest.

The next day, Li Hao said goodbye to the old brigade commander and drove to the temporary anchorage of the shipping brigade. With the help of the truck driver, Li Hao lifted the large sack of pig heads onto the boat, and then followed the boatmen to the quarry.

The sailboats of the day were not motor-sailboats, and were powered by rowing, swaying or pulling. The quarry was upstream, and the wind was not in the right direction today, so the boatmen could only pull the long ropes, drag the heavy sailboat, and measure the land under their feet step by step. They were bare-backed and bare-footed, shouting slogans, bending their bodies, and leaning forward at a 40-degree angle to the ground, so that they could barely drag the boat forward in the rapids.

When they arrive at the quarry, the trackers become porters, carrying heavy stones on their backs and stepping on the gangplank to load the boats. This is how boatmen work, repeating these heavy physical labors over and over again for years. They often sail up and down the river in wind and rain. When the wind and water are favorable, everything goes smoothly, otherwise they rely on everyone to pull the boats. During the flood season, when there are rough waves, there are dangers everywhere; during the dry season, it is even more difficult for ships to sail, and when the water is shallow, it is all up to the boatmen to go down to the river to pull the boats.

After the boatmen had loaded the boat, they were reluctant to get on. Some even asked if they could walk back along the river bank. Old Hong was so anxious that he was jumping up and down.

"Walk back? How long will it be when you get there? The flood came without warning. What if the levee breaks if the levee is not reinforced? Once it breaks, have you ever thought about the consequences? How many people and fields in the county will suffer!"