On 15 March, the ice and snow in the deep mountains and dense forests of the Kanto region had not yet completely melted, and the ice floe on the Yalu River had just washed into the sea along the river.

In winter, open the mountain to cut wood, hold the wood to the river by the ice and snow on the ground, and then wait for the time when the river is opened, the wood will be tied into a wooden row, and then transported down the river to the wharf at the mouth of the river.

Li Yucheng, who was standing by the river, looked at the more than 100 worn-out loggers opposite.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the owner can't come in person from the Jiangkou side, so I'll preside over this year's rehearsal. Everyone has worked hard in this mountain for a whole winter, and the livelihood of a year is all directed to these woods, as long as they are transported to the shipyard at the mouth of the river, which is tired of winter, it is worth it, and when the time comes, we will go to Yiju on the other side of the river to have a good time for a few days of Korean mother-in-law, I will not say anything superfluous, incense, wine, paper yards are ready, and the cannon is fired. ”

In Li Weicheng's words, everyone is smiling, they are all from the Jin family from Shandong to the Kanto lumberjacks recruited last year, the reason why craftsmen were recruited from Shandong to cut wood in the mountains is because there are almost no people in Liaodong, after the Jin seized Liaodong, more than 100,000 Han people in Liaodong were killed, only hundreds of thousands of women and children were plundered as slaves, after the Qing army entered the customs, they adopted a border policy, built wicker edges, and forbade Han people to enter Yingdong, resulting in most of the Liaodong region has become a barren land, and you can't do without wood if you want to build ships. In order to be able to build ships with the timber of Changbai Mountain, it is necessary to recruit craftsmen from Shandong to go into the mountains to cut wood.

Throughout the winter, thousands of lumberjacks from Shandong cut down a large amount of timber in the mountains and forests on both sides of the Yalu River in Liaodong.

The riverside is also lively. A big fat pig bought from the Koreans on the other side of the river was led to the nest, and the old king who was cooking was stabbed in the neck with a knife, but he only snorted a few times and lost his breath. Then the pot is scalded with boiling water to remove the hair, and finally after the pig is cleaned up, the pig's head is cut off and placed on the table. The rest of the offerings were also arranged, and inside the incense burner, three pillars of high incense were lit, and curling cigarettes rose and swirled up.

The rules always have to be kept, although many of them are the first time to put the row, but the rules of the row can not be abolished, after the tribute, I saw a descendant take a pole to hang firecrackers, and someone next to them lit the firecrackers with a lit pine branch. For a time, the earth-shattering sound of firecrackers resounded along the riverside.

In the sound of firecrackers, the head master took all the men who were in the row, knelt in front of the tribute table, and began to kowtow and make wishes. I heard only the words of prayer from his mouth:

"Water King, please bless us this time, put it into the sea smoothly, and go down and come back safely. We'll come back and pay you a tribute......"

Next, all the people also chanted in unison.

"Water King, let's ask your old man to bless us, let us pass through the dangerous shoal and the dark post safely, and go to the mouth of the river smoothly and ......."

After everyone finished speaking, they all kowtowed to the water king three times before standing up.

Then he killed a large rooster and poured its blood into a bowl on the tribute table, which was filled with wine. The leader of the platoon took a sip first, then handed it to the next one, and then the platoon man followed, and this drink was also in order, the lower the status, the lower the lower.

The last man took a sip of the chicken blood wine from the bowl and handed the bowl back to the head of the row. After drinking, the head of the row led everyone to the river, and then everyone jumped on the river row one by one.

Although it was the first time to put the row, the master of the row was also one of the good hands, so they did not have the intention of temptation this time, because there was a lot of wood, so they made more than 30 wooden rows before and after. The head row is the largest, and the wood is tied up in the shape of a swallow's tail, and it gets wider and wider at the back. Therefore, this wooden row is also called a bird screen, that is to say, the wooden row is like a peacock opening the screen from beginning to end.

This wooden raft has one of the particulars, by dividing it into two types: hard wear and soft wear. Hard wearing, is to use a long log across the top of the wooden row, and then use a large nail to cross the top of the horizontal wood nailed, so that it is naturally very strong, and there is a soft wear, that is, to use the branches of the elm tree, into the eyes that have been laid a long time ago, or cut out the fungus, and then the wood is wound together. In spring, the branches of the elm tree are at their most flexible and strong, twisted into twine-like branches, and the wooden rows are firmly tied together. After soaking in water, it will only be tighter and tougher.

When putting the row, these two methods are often used, the front and the side are worn with the strongest hard, and the middle and the tail are worn softly. And the wood in a row must be about the same thickness, and the uniform is only done with small heads facing forward, otherwise these woods will not be tied together.

The huge wooden raft floats down the river, and the scenery on both sides of the Yalu River is even more in view. At this time, it was just the middle of March, and the trees on the mountain had not yet completely turned green, and even the mountain was faintly covered with residual snow, which made the tender green very conspicuous.

In the early spring, the Yalu River is turquoise and clear, and it is precisely because of this that it will be called the Yalu River. Walking in the clear water of a river, if you ignore the danger, it is really a bit poetic. Xu is because at the end of the day, there seems to be nothing to do, the people in the row formed a pile and chatted there, Li Weicheng found in front that these people began to gather in a pile, chatting there and smoking cigarettes, he immediately shouted loudly.

"Hurry up and guard your own place, is it fun for you to be on the river? All cheer up Lao Tzu, if he encounters a dangerous beach, when the time comes, the year will be in vain. ”

Several platoon commanders heard his reprimand, and they all hurried back to their positions. After all, everyone knows that there are many risks on these hundreds of miles of waterway, and where the river is shallow and narrow and turbulent, I don't know how many undercurrents, dangerous shoals and reefs are hidden.

In case if you are not careful, the platoon is knocked apart, when the time comes, the wood is scattered, everyone has done it in vain, not to mention, the river water in this spring is the snow water on the mountain, it is the coldest time of the water vapor, people fall into the river, it is an iron man, can also soak out of the problem, if the body bones are almost there, it is difficult to protect the life of the uncertain. In previous years, the wooden gang on the river put a row, so that how many brave men never returned, and became a livelihood of nine deaths and a lifetime. People can't afford to be careless.

The wooden raft placed on the river is down the river with the river, and it can't go far in a day, usually only thirty or forty miles. Hundreds of miles of waterway, from Changbai to Jiangkou, if it is smooth, it will take a month, if the water is shallow, it may take longer. This trip in the beginning of spring is not bad, at this time the river is turbulent, the current is also rapid, and the nature of walking is faster than usual. As the wooden platoon rises and falls, the people standing at the platoon leader also sway up and down. Some of the platoon commanders who went back to the upper row for the first time couldn't adapt to this kind of bump, and some couldn't help but vomit. Just as they were spitting, there was a shouting sound on the opposite side of the river, and in the midst of that shouting, you could vaguely see a group of people worshipping God there.

"Boss Li, you see, the North Koreans on the other side also have a platoon."

A junior student who followed Li Yucheng pointed to the North Koreans who were worshipping God on the other side of the river and said, the reason why he could recognize at a glance that these people were releasing rows was because he could see several long rows that had been tied up on the river.

"If you rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, we will put them in the row, but we will not let them put the row?"

Li Weicheng just glanced at it, but he was also puzzled in his heart, he was different from others, he grew up in Liaodong when he was a child, and his father was in the river to put the row for a living, and later Jin seized Liaodong, and his father fled back to his hometown in Shandong with them, and later he also made a living from logging in his hometown. The reason why the third young master found him was because he knew the water nature of the Yalu River.

The Yalu River from the upper river to the lower river, 7749 whistles, although it has been decades, but he also remembers it in his heart, but he just doesn't remember, when the North Koreans also put a row on the river, in previous years, there was no North Koreans who rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, they just know to go into the mountains to dig some Korean ginseng, this work of the row, where they can do it?

"It's a wooden row from the Qing people!"

Cui Muhua, who was in Yiju, watched dozens of open-screen rows converge into a giant row on the other side of the estuary, and thought to himself in his heart.

"This Qing people, how can they put shipbuilding here?"

If it weren't for the fact that the Qing people had started logging and building ships in Changbai Mountain last winter, Cui Muhua would not have come to Yizhou at all, after all, there was his cousin as the town, as long as he guaranteed that after the river was opened, the oak trees cut down in the winter would be loaded on the ship and transported to Haizhou.

But he never imagined that Suo Lu would do the same thing now, and they even built a shipyard at the mouth of the river, and built ships there.

"Fifth brother, can you find out any news?"

Cui Muhua asked sideways Cui Andong beside him, he is his cousin because of his concubine relationship, so he has been following him now, and he is quite shrewd in doing things.

"Back to the eldest brother, a few months ago, the younger brother asked the golden shopkeeper of Anle Building to take some prostitutes to the other side, and I heard those people on the other side say that the boats they built are all Western ships, and there are Westerners in the shipyard, but the golden shopkeeper did not see the Westerners,"

"Western Ships, Western People......"

His brows were tightly locked, and Cui Muhua's heart was full of doubts.

"Do you know why they built Western ships? Could it be that they want to go south by sea? Fifth brother, I'll write a letter later, you let the boat that left today take it, and also, try to inquire about as much news as possible, don't be afraid to spend money, understand? ”