The next day, Wang Lun and Xu Guanzhong, as well as Guanghui and Ma Ling, set off by boat. The rainy summer will inevitably increase the difficulty of salvaging the flower stone class, and Xu Guanzhong will not dare to slack off.

The boatman found a dock to stop the boat, and then said, "My lord, don't look at the wide water and endless water. In fact, only 300 steps to the south is a real river, and the rest of the place is full of tidal flats, and no big boats can sail. ”

Xu Guanzhong nodded, indicating that he knew, and turned around and asked the messenger who came with him: "You are a nearby villager, do you know that Huashigang fell into the water last year?" ”

The messenger smiled innocently and replied: "The villain is a nearby villager, surnamed Wang, ranked third, and was guarded by the villain after Hua Shigang fell into the water." "Where was the shipwreck that day?"

The officer looked around and said, "Seventy paces to the north, it should be about the same." ”

Wang Lun looked at the surface of the water and said to Xu Guanzhong: "When the boulder falls into the water, a vortex will be formed in the upstream direction, sweeping away the sediment at the bottom of the water and making the boulder roll upward. It shouldn't be hard to find! ”

Xu Guanzhong asked the errand officer again, and said, "You may be able to determine the location of Huashigang falling into the water?" ”

The errand officer hesitated for a moment and said: "During the flood season of the Yellow River in summer, the water potential is huge, and there will be obvious changes in the surrounding tidal flats. Subordinates can only determine the approximate location. ”

Wang Lun listened to it and suggested to Xu Guanzhong: "To determine the location, you also need to hang the rope, which requires a good underwater hand!" ”

Wang Lun's first thought was that Zhang Shun was white in the waves, but he could lie underwater for seven days and seven nights, which was a beautiful kung fu.

The officer pondered for a moment, and then said, "Your Excellency, you can ask a few water ghosts to go into the water to look for it." ”

When Xu Guanzhong heard this, he couldn't help but be curious, and asked, "What is a water ghost?" ”

Wang San replied, "Water ghosts are human beings. The Yellow River is muddy, and the underwater undercurrent is surging, and accidents have grown. Therefore, sneaking in the Yellow River is definitely a fatal act. Those good swimmers who are not afraid of death, helping people salvage property and even corpses, are called water ghosts. ”

Seeing Xu Guanzhong's intention, Wang San continued: "To find things underwater, there are at least three people. One person goes into the water, and the other two people are on board. If a person underwater is in distress, the person on board must be rescued from the water. If both are in distress, it means that rescue is not possible. The last person on board would immediately secure the rope attached to the person on the side of the boat, row back, and drag the body of the victim back to shore. ”

According to Wang Lun, this underwater deed may have to ask the Ruan brothers for help. At this time, I heard that there were still water ghosts, but my heart was missing the Ruan brothers.

Xu Guanzhong discussed with Wang Lun for a while, and finally instructed Ma Ling to follow Wang San to invite the water ghost.

Three days later, on the bank of the Yellow River in Dongkou Town, Juancheng County, the camp had been built. The water ghosts, wrestlers, and craftsmen in the camp are all here. There are 13 water ghosts, 74 wrestlers, 28 craftsmen, and more than 300 servants in Zhen County.

In the tent, Wang Lun and Xu Guanzhong arranged tasks with the leaders of each team.

At this time, Wang Lun was dressed as a scholar, as if he was Xu Guanzhong's staff. Standing in front of the stage, he said to everyone: "Before the construction starts, several leaders will report their names first. ”

The man sitting on the left was the first to stand up, saluted Xu Guanzhong and Wang Lun, and said, "The villain's surname is Luo Mingwei, he is the leader of the water ghosts, and his nickname is the immortal loach. "He has strange eyes and two whiskers, but he should be named.

The man in the middle, about thirty years old, was full of tendons and flesh. "The villain's surname is He Changfa, he is the leader of the wrestlers, and his nickname is the hornless cow."

The carpenter leader on the right is an old man who has never seen an official. trembling and trembling: "The villain's surname is Jia Mingrafter, he is the leader of the craftsman, and he is called Jia Carpenter." ”

Wang Lun smiled: "Carpenter Jia is not a nickname. ”

The carpenter was embarrassed, bent down and said, "The villain really has no other name!" ”

Everyone in the tent laughed when they heard this.

"The boulder is in the water, so the first step is for Luo Wei to lead someone to find out the specific location of the boulder, and the second step is to fix it with a rope, try to get it out of the water, and finally move it to the boat and transport it to Tokyo."

The next step is to schedule tasks.

At this time, Luo Wei said: "Please also ask the son to tell me the approximate location of the boulder, and the villain will take people there immediately." ”

Wang Lun nodded, and instructed Guanghui to say, "Master Guanghui, you and Luo Wei will investigate the location of the boulder first. Then he looked at He Changfa and Jia Rafter, and asked, "How to salvage the boulder from underwater, do you two have a good plan?" ”

He Changfa thought for a moment and said, "Childe, have you ever heard of the iron ox fishing in Hezhong Mansion?" ”

Wang Lun was a little impressed, and motioned for He Changfa to continue. "I've heard a little about it, but I don't know how?"

He Changfa said: "One year, the flood in Hezhongfu broke a pontoon bridge outside the city, and the eight big iron oxen that fixed the pontoon bridge rushed into the river. When the flood waters receded, the state capital rebuilt the pontoon bridge, but the iron ox was stuck in the river. When people had nothing to do, a master with the Dharma name Huai Bing came. ”

"The master took two large ships and connected them side by side with hardwood. The cabin is then filled with gravel. When the underwater iron oxen were roped to the wooden frame between the two boats, people began to shovel the sand and gravel from the cabins into the river. As the sand and gravel receded, the boat slowly floated up, and the taut rope slowly pulled the iron ox out of the mud and sand. ”

Wang Lun remembered that later generations had read this story and immediately felt that it was feasible.

At this time, Xu Guanzhong, who was sitting, pondered for a moment and said a question: "The boulder is heavier and bigger than the iron bull. The existing ships may not be up to the task, and how to load them and transport them to Tokyo will also have to be considered. ”

Everyone was silent, and after a while, Wang Lun said: "In my opinion, four wooden boats with extremely deep drafts can be placed in the four directions of the boulder, southeast, northwest, and north. The east-west and north-south ships were fixed with wooden frames. Iron rings are attached to the ropes that bind the boulders. First, the rope is fastened to the east-west boat, and the boulder is dragged away from the sediment in the same way as an iron ox. ”

"When the boulder rises to a certain height, the hardwood is passed through the iron ring underneath to further raise the boulder in the same way. When the boulder is close to the water, we use a large wooden cage to enclose the boulder in the wooden cage. If the cage is properly made, we should be able to ship it directly to Tokyo. ”

Two hours later, Luo Wei successfully determined the location of the Ashylon. Wang Lun and Xu Guanzhong took a boat together to the place where Huashigang sank and asked, "How many feet is Huashigang underwater?" ”

Luo Wei was very respectful to Wang Lun, and replied respectfully: "Thirty-seven feet underwater." ”

Wang Lun thought for a moment and said to Xu Guanzhong: "The size of the Huashi Gang is huge, and if you want to successfully salvage it, you must wrap it around with ropes. Otherwise, once the flower stone is dragged out of the water, it is very likely to swing violently under the undercurrent. At that time, the boat on the water will lose its balance, and Mo said that if he continues to salvage Huashigang, he is afraid that he will be in danger of capsizing. ”

Xu Guanzhong found Wang Lun this time, and he also knew that he was resourceful and could help himself, so he asked: "That makes sense!" But don't know how? ”

Wang Lun already had a draft, and opened his mouth to say: "The iron cable is more than strong, but its own weight is too large, so it is not suitable to be used." If you can make seven into hemp and three into silk, it can be made into a rope with the thickness of a baby's arm. The rope is fixed under water in the southeast, north, and west of the four positions of the Huashi class. Then it goes vertically up to connect the salvaged ships. Ropes that rise vertically, with iron rings fixed at dead locks every two feet. ”

Wang Lun made a suggestion, and everyone acted according to the plan.

Two days later, all the special ropes were made, and Guanghui and Ma Ling led people to salvage the flower and stone.

Lowe divided the water ghosts into three groups, one group of five and the other two groups of four. Lowe tied the rope around his waist and dived into the water with his head. After a few moments, the rope no longer falls. The other four dived into the water one after another along a rope tied to Lowe's waist. Just as the last man dived into the water, Lowe happened to surface.

Wang Lun on the shore pulled it ashore and praised: "What a good skill!" Luo Wei slumped on the deck, gasped and said, "The pressure of the thirty-seven feet depth is too great, and the muscles and bones of the whole body are extremely painful. Coupled with the cold underwater and the ineffective flow of qi and blood, the three-breath time is already the limit. ”

When all four ropes were fixed, I saw four wooden boats with huge cabins slowly sailing, two of which had an extremely deep draft and the other two had an extremely shallow draft. The two ships with a deep draft are parked at a position of one south and one north, and the two ships with a shallow draft are parked at a position of one east and one west.

The water ghost handed the four ropes to the two wooden boats and quickly left.

The wrestlers on board thread two pieces of hardwood the thickness of adult calves through the iron rings above the ropes, taut them and place them on a special fixed wooden frame on the deck. Soon the drums sounded, and the wrestlers began to move bags of sand and gravel in the cabin into the empty boat.

Wang Lun observed for a moment and found that the rhythm of the two boats removing the sandbags was exactly the same.

As the load of the two ships decreased, the draft gradually decreased, and the hardwood passing through the hoops became more and more laborious, even slightly bent. With a huge fluctuation in the surface of the water, the Huashi class gradually broke away from the sediment at the bottom of the water and began to rise with the boats.

After about two feet of climbing, the wrestlers on the east and west ships again took out two hardwoods that were almost identical and passed through the iron rings below. The drums paused for a moment, then restarted. At this time, the sandbags from the east-west ships were returned to the north-south ships.

As the east-west ships ascended and the north-south ships sank, the ropes above began to relax, and the wrestlers on the north-south ships soon pulled out the hardwood that had passed through the hoops. When all the sandbags from the East and West ships are moved into the North and South ships, the wrestlers on the North and South ships pass the hardwood through the iron rings further down, repeating the previous cycle.

One rises and one falls, and after more than 20 cycles, the flower stone class emerges from the water. He Chang waved his banner, and the men on standby on the shore received an order to put the huge wooden cage prepared in advance on the boat and sail in the direction of Huashigang. The ships on the east side moved 10 feet sideways to make way for the wooden boats loaded with wooden cages.

Coming to the east side of the flower stone gang, the wooden cage is fixed by a rope and placed in the water. More than a dozen sandbags hang on the outer walls on both sides of the wooden cage. When the wooden cage reached the bottom of the flower stone gang, Lux used a sickle to cut all the hemp rope that held the sandbags on the wooden cage. Without the gravity of the sandbag, the wooden cage quickly floated up, loading the entire Huashi class.

The east and west ships returned to their original positions, connected to each other by hemp ropes, and then pulled down by hemp ropes to the east and west sides of the wooden cages. The wrestlers threaded four pieces of hardwood through the wooden cage and fixed them in their predetermined positions on the decks of the east and west ships.

Xu Guanzhong was overjoyed when he saw Hua Shigang salvaged it, "Haha, this is it!" ”

Wang Lun and Xu Guanzhong looked at the Huashi Gang closely, and they were not only impressed by the momentum of this Huashi Gang. The sun is shining, and the Yellow River is golden for thousands of miles. Above the golden light, two wooden boats support a strange rock that does not belong to the Yellow River basin at all. The murky river water above the strange rocks keeps dripping, adding to the mystery.

Seeing that Wang Lun could see it, Xu Guanzhong said: "If you like it, you can go to Yuncheng to have a look, and there will be flowers and stones in the south in a few days." ”

Immediately, Xu Guanzhong ordered, "Kill chickens and sheep, and reward all heroes." "The wine and meat are full, the money and food are not owed, and the people cheer.