Ye Chuchu saw from the telescope that a motorboat was speeding towards this side in the waves, and the ice it splashed glistened in the sun, leaving a string of snow-white foam behind.

At the helm of the ship sat a strong man in a navy uniform, and an old man stood behind him with his broad shoulders, his broad, thick white beard fluttering in the wind.

"Look, there's a motorboat coming." Xiao Tiantian also saw the motorboat on the ice and said happily.

At this moment, the motorboat made a sharp turn, smashed the thin ice on the lake, and approached the dock. Sun Hui looked at his watch, and the hour hand pointed to eleven o'clock.

A broad-shouldered lad nimbly jumped from the vaporetto to the dock. He was nearly two meters tall, about twenty-five years old, and looked like he was made of bronze. walked up to Sun Hui and saluted a military salute, Sun Hui returned the salute, shook hands with him, and asked the people on the motorboat to come over to meet Ye Chuchu and the others.

"We got the news on the radio and rushed over." The young man named Pantelov said to Sun Hui, "Originally, my father was going to come to pick you up, but they had just captured an enemy pilot and were interrogating him, so they arranged for me to pick you up." ”

"I see," Ye Chuchu nodded and asked, "Have you seen the captured enemy pilot?" What kind of person is he? ”

"He wanted to run when he was captured. I punished him and knocked him unconscious. He had a cross and other insignia on his chest, and it was obvious that he should be a remarkable figure. The young man laughed.

Pantelov looked at Sun Hui and the girls' wet leather boots, shook his head, and asked them without concealing his surprise: "Why, my friend, are you going to fight in our snow in such shoes?" Freeze like a vole! ”

Without waiting for them to answer, Pantelov instructed another young man: "Sergey! Remind me when you get back to camp. I'm going to bring them shoes that don't freeze their feet in the North Pole. ”

"Yes, I'll warn you!" Sergei accepted the order, saluted and jumped into the motorboat.

Sun Hui and Ye Chuchu glanced at each other, judging from what these young men had just said, on this side of Lake Ladoga, the supply of supplies for the Soviet army was still very sufficient.

After a short time, Pantelov drove the motorboat at full speed, carrying Sun Hui and the girls, and flew away to the east coast.

"What is the situation in Leningrad?" Sun Hui asked the young man.

"I haven't been to the city, but I'm not very optimistic about it." Pantelov told Sun Hui the truth, "The enemy often bombarded the lake with artillery and sent planes to bomb it, and the grain transported from all over the country was piled up on the shore, and the transportation to the city was very limited. Things should get better, though. ”

Sun Hui knew that what he said was the truth, and with his knowledge of history, since Leningrad was completely cut off from the railway communication between Leningrad and the interior of the Soviet Union, Lake Ladoga has become the only water lifeline in Leningrad where he can obtain food and all other necessities from the outside world, but now only a section of water about 65 kilometers wide is left in the middle of Lake Ladoga, which is not within the range of German artillery fire.

With an area of 184,000 square kilometres, Lake Ladoga is the largest lake in Europe. It is more than 200 kilometers long from north to south, the widest point from east to west is 124 kilometers, the north and northwest shores of the lake are steep cliffs, the lake is up to 250 meters deep, and the south shore of the lake is low flat sand layer and sandy beach, the lake shore is also relatively flat, the depth of the lake is only more than 20 meters. Before the siege of Leningrad on September 8, 41, the water shipping operations of Lake Ladoga were mainly passenger and not cargo. There are no large, modern port facilities and berthing wharves on the east and west shores of the lake, and the throughput of cargo is extremely limited. In addition, Lake Ladoga in autumn is often foggy and the wind is roaring, and German planes hover over the lake all day long, so that many flat-bottomed barges loaded with grain often run aground and sink due to strong winds and waves and evading air raids. Therefore, how to ensure the daily necessities of the 3 million soldiers and civilians in Leningrad became the most important task facing the Leningrad Front at that time. Because if the problem of feeding 3 million soldiers and civilians cannot be solved, holding on to Leningrad will only be an empty word. In late November, Lake Ladoga began to freeze and water transport was suspended, which strained food supplies in Leningrad. In these days of hunger and cold, death can take people's lives at any time and at any time, and thousands of people die of hunger every day in Leningrad. Workers in production starved to death next to machine tools, policemen directing traffic starved to death in sentry boxes, doctors who were rescuing critically ill patients starved to death in front of operating tables, and elderly and infirm residents starved to death on the way to buy bread...... At this critical juncture, the only way out for the military and civilians of Leningrad was to firmly control the southern shore of Lake Ladoga at all costs and quickly and decisively take decisive measures to organize ice transportation.

As early as 9 November, two days after the German occupation of Tikhvin, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front decided to immediately build an ice military road along the frozen lake near the bay of Shlischelburg, from the stations of Bolisova-Griva and Lake Ladoga on the west bank to Lednevo on the east coast. However, it is not easy to build a transport road over the frozen Ladoga Lake. After a field trip to the freezing of Lake Ladoga, Leningrad scientists found that in the shallow waters near the south coast, it usually began to freeze from the end of October to the beginning of November, and that the section of the lake in the bay of Shlischerburg where the ice car transport line was to be built usually did not freeze until mid-December, and in some places even on New Year's Day. In addition, the ice surface of Lake Ladoga is uneven and there are many potholes, especially in the shallow waters, and the large ice blocks that accumulate sometimes form ice mounds up to 5 to 10 meters high, and there is a thick layer of snow around them, so the ice layer below is thin, and it is very dangerous when the truck drives through these places, and at any time there is a possibility that the ice will crack and people will fall into the ice caves. But time waits for no one, and the besieged Leningrad soldiers and civilians are dying of hunger at every moment, and they are in a hurry to bring in food, fuel, weapons and ammunition from the interior. But as of November 16, the ice on Lake Ladoga was only 100 millimetres thick, which was at best enough for unloaded horse-drawn sleighs. And to organize large-scale car transport on ice, the ice thickness needs to reach at least 200 mm or more. According to the calculations of hydrologists, when the temperature is minus 10 degrees Celsius, it takes 6 days and nights for the lake ice to reach 200 mm, and 12 days and nights for 300 mm. When the temperature is -15 degrees Celsius, it takes 4 days and nights for the ice to reach 200 mm and 8 days and nights for 300 mm.