The Xiajiang River is dangerous, the Shu Road is difficult, and it is as difficult as climbing the blue sky.

The Three Gorges Shoals are complex and changeable. The main floodplains in the Three Gorges may exhibit different waterway characteristics at different times of the year: some of the floods of the Yangtze River, some of which are during the dry season of the Yangtze River, and some of which are during the middle flood of the Yangtze River. Due to the different reasons for the occurrence of these dangerous shoals, the geographical topography of the beachhead is different, so the key points that endanger the ship are also different: some dangerous shoals have a rapid current due to the large difference in water level; Some of the rapids are swirling due to the rocky towering; Some of the rapids show the accumulation of moraine and sand and congestion of the river.

The water of the Yangtze River flows down from the upper reaches, passing through the majestic Ox Liver and Ma Lung Gorge, entering the steep Kongling Gorge, and flowing through the Zigui section of the beach, which is composed of multiple reefs, which is the creepy Kongling Beach. A boulder towering in the center of the river splits the beach in half, and the waterway is divided into south and north. The Beicao reef is lined with rocks and staggered, and the vicious waves are rolling, and the dangers are everywhere; The bubbles in the south are densely swirled, and the water flow is chaotic and strange, making it impossible to judge the location of the dark whirlpool in the river.

"Guys, is there any way to cross this beach?" Liu Shiyong took a small boat from the place where the boat was anchored early in the morning to Kongling Beach, and after going ashore, he inquired about a few local 'beach masters' he found yesterday.

"Dashuai can see the boulder in the heart of the river!" The beach division is probably equivalent to the water diversion in the water division, specializing in grasping the course and guiding the ship to cross the beach, and there are many dangerous shoals in the Yangtze River, and the experienced water diversion is called the beach division. After a moment of silence, one of the oldest men stepped forward to salute.

"Well, Ben Shuai saw it, and yesterday a warship hit the reef and sank here!" Liu Shiyong nodded and said.

"Dashuai, Kongling Beach is the palace of Hades on the water, it is rumored that the sailors who died here are more than the rocks under the beach, and the boatmen often say: Qingtan is not a beach, Kongling is the ghost gate, and it is ......very difficult to pass here," the old man said.

"Don't be alarmist and shake the hearts of our army!" Listening to what the old man said sinisterly, the guards beside Liu Shiyong shouted with glaring eyes.

"The little ones don't dare, the little ones don't da......re," the old sailor shuddered with fright, and said again and again.

"Don't be rude, step down!" Liu Shiyong frowned, his face sank and reprimanded the soldiers, and then turned to the old sailor, "Don't blame the old man, this handsome man has apologized, you can speak out!" ”

"Little old man doesn't dare!" When the old man saw it, he hurriedly replied, "Dashuai, this huge stone standing in the center of the river is commonly called 'head beads', and the lower ones are called 'two beads' and 'three beads', which are arranged in the shape of a product at the exit of the north and south rivers. Because they don't often come out of the water, they are known as Dark Chess Reefs. The tidal current is split in half and divided into the south trough and the north trough. Between the side of the head big bead stone and the reef area and the bubble whirlpool area, there is an extremely narrow channel in the north and south, at first people want to avoid the big bead and slide directly into this channel, but in the end they are still sucked into the big bead stone by the ghost, and they fall into pieces. I don't know when, the later people were so hearted that they simply went to the big pearl stone and looked for a way to survive in the dead end. ”

"This is the way to survive death!" Liu Shiyong was shocked when he heard this. He had already seen the flow of the water in this beach so strange that even the most experienced helmsman in the army could not judge the direction of the dark whirlpool in the river. Who would have thought that if you want to drive the boat to the beachhead without changing the course, and rush directly towards the big pearl stone, it will be like going to fight with the big pearl stone. And when it came to the big pearl stone, and then turned the rudder to catch the backflow, who knew that the ship would be able to pass the big pearl stone smoothly. But the opportunity is only in a moment, and if it is slow, it will hit the big bead headlong, and the whole ship will be shattered; Soon, it was dragged into the bottom of the river by the whirlpool, and the fish and shrimp were fed in a row, which was thrilling to think about it and shocked him into a cold sweat.

"That's exactly what the marshal said." Another middle-aged beachmaster continued, "The boat crosses the Kongling, thrilling, especially in the flood season, the pearls and stones are buried at the bottom of the river, the waves are rolling, and the water column is soaring to the sky, which is even more terrifying. Sailing against the current is even more dangerous, and there are many ships that sank here when it was navigable in the past! ”

"Oh, isn't it possible to travel back to the water at this point?" Liu Shiyong turned his face to look at it, frowned and asked.

"Handsome, too...... It's not that it can't, the river is dry during the period of the Nancao water flow disorder, the boat is not feasible, but you can go to the north, but it is a small boat that can only travel 100 stones, and the big ships of the official army are all big ships of more than 500 stones, and it is impossible to pass. The middle-aged Tan Master hesitated, but when he saw Liu Shiyong's fierce eyes, he didn't dare not say anything, lowered his head and gritted his teeth.

"You can only go in a hundred-stone boat?!" Liu Shiyong's heart sank when he heard this, and he muttered. The reason why the western expedition chose to march after the autumn was because it was worried that the river would be turbulent and it would be difficult to pass through the dangerous shoals. When the plan was formulated before, it was also taken into account that the warships dispatched were all medium-sized warships and small warships, and after arriving in Yiling, a number of medium-sized baggage ships were requisitioned to reduce the load of a single ship, but I didn't expect it to be still difficult to pass.

"Exactly, even small boats have to unload their cargo, either in small boats or by manpower to the beach, and then reload them when they are empty!" The middle-aged beach master had the courage to return again.

"If you can lead the official and military warships across the beach, the commander will reward him heavily, and they will all be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver!" Liu Shiyong thought that there must be a brave man under the heavy reward, and loudly opened the reward.

"The big handsome, the small ones also hope that the officials and troops can recover Sichuan and Shu, but this is really difficult to obey, although the reward is high, there is no life flower!" Several beach masters looked at each other, all shaking their heads and smiling bitterly, no one dared to answer.

"In the book of this commander's book, in the past, it was possible to pass through a big ship, but now it can't? It must be that you are collaborating with the enemy and deliberately blocking the official army from entering Shu! Liu Shiyong's face changed suddenly when he heard this, and he pointed to a few beach masters and shouted.

"The handsome man spares his life, it's not a small one who can't do his best!" When several people saw that the soldiers drew their knives and guns, they were so frightened that they knelt down and shouted wronged, and they were in a state of mourning for a while.

"Dashuai, the little one knows that there was indeed a boat of 500 stones in the autumn season, but it is also necessary to unload heavy objects and sail empty." At this time, a young beach master was frightened and said loudly.

"Oh, you get up and talk back!" Liu Shiyong's face softened slightly when he heard this, and he pointed to his words.

"Xie Dashuai's grace of not killing......" The beach master hurriedly kowtowed, but after walking between life and death, his legs were also weak, and two personal soldiers picked him up, but his legs were also shaking like chaff.

"I remember that the water level of the river was about the same as this year, and there was a huge businessman who was in a hurry to go home, and he was also in a big boat, so he took the risk of sailing in a hurry, although it passed, but the boat gang was also scratched by the reef on the shore, and it could only be done after repair!" The young Tanshi paused before speaking.

"Li Gou'er, don't talk nonsense if you don't understand, that year it was still an old beach with a boat, and the water level was almost the same, but there were no few big rocks in the river. If you miss the handsome thing, how many heads do you have! When the old tanshi heard this, he tilted his head and rebuked loudly.

"Master Qian, at this time, it is also death if you say it, and if you don't say it, you will die, you can only try!" Li Gou'er said with a sad face.

"What the hell is going on when you get up and talk?" Liu Shiyong knew that the matter was important and there could not be the slightest mistake, otherwise the army could only return in vain, so he pointed to Lao Tan Shi's words.

"Alas, what the marshal just said is true, but that was decades ago." The old beach master sighed before he could say anything, "The little one was still in his childhood, and he used to sail on the river with the old man, and at that time, even a thousand stone boats could be unimpeded, but later the river bank collapsed, and countless boulders fell into the river to block the river. It wasn't until more than 20 years later that the boulder was washed away by the river, and it was barely able to carry a small boat. What he said about the boat that can barely pass 500 stones is also true, but two years ago, there were rocks that slipped and blocked the waterway, but the little old man was unwilling to do his best! ”

"In your opinion, as long as you remove the few boulders that dock in the waterway, you can pass the big ship?" Liu Shiyong's eyes lit up.

"If the boulder can really be removed, Xiao Lao'er dares to guarantee with his life that the king's ship can pass." The old beach master patted his chest and said, but his face turned gloomy, "Dashuai, that boulder is so heavy that it can be done by manpower, even if it is used to burn the stone by fire, but the river is turbulent." ”

"Ben Shuai has his own way to remove the boulder, and if you can bring the fleet safely through the dangerous shoal, the bounty that Ben Shuai said will also be cashed out at the beginning, and you will never lose your word!" Liu Shiyong was happy at the moment, and said with a smile.

"The little ones dare not do their best!" Several beach masters looked at each other, still in disbelief in their eyes, but their fate was finally saved, and they saluted in unison.

But they were quick to believe it. Of course, Liu Shiyong knew that even if it was feasible to expand the waterway by digging rocks with manpower, it would not be possible to complete it in a short time, but now that they had gunpowder in their hands, it was different. He immediately mobilized the baggage army engineer battalion to go into the water to dig cannon holes in the boulders, and then filled them with gunpowder to blow up the stones to open the way.

With the arrival of the sappers, the work began immediately, and even so the amount of work was still not small, in order to ensure that the blasting could be successful, more than a dozen blast holes were dug on each boulder, the deepest of which was several feet, and the caliber was also several inches. Liu Shiyong knew that the water situation would change quickly, and once the water level dropped again, it would be difficult to pass even if the boulder was removed, so he ordered that it must be completed tomorrow morning.

As a result, the bonfire on Kongling Beach was bright, and the sound of stone chiseling continued until midnight. At dawn, with the continuous sound of explosions resounding through the valley, more than a dozen huge stones in the waterway turned into a rain of rubble, and headed east under the influence of the river. When the explosion stopped, the smoke dissipated, and the boulders that blocked the water were removed, the waterway suddenly opened up, and the water flow became relatively stable, and a new waterway five zhang wide was formed on the surface of the Beicao water.

However, the three pearl stones are still there, and they still pose a great threat to the ship, and although the boulder also makes the situation under the water uncertain, whether the warship can sail safely still makes everyone feel bottomless, and their faces can't help but have a touch of sadness......