On the Haijing, Captain Qi Jiarong ordered: "Throw the first anchor of the boat, and each lookout should pay attention to the situation on the river." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

The Haijing's searchlight is not manual – British shipyards have long devised an electric searchlight rotation system. So when the main engine was turned off, the electric searchlight rotation system was the first to stop, but a set of batteries on the boat continued to provide power for the searchlight, so the searchlight column on the port side landed right on the reeds where they were hiding in the heart of the stone.

But then in order to save precious electricity, Qi Jiarong ordered the searchlight to be turned off, and now they were completely relieved. The lookout posts on board are specially trained by RB instructors to distinguish the waves of a ship as it sails in the dark of night or the silhouette of a ship in a dimly lit background. In this regard, the RB Navy had absolute superiority, and in the early and middle stages of the Pacific War, the RB Navy's superiority in night battles was brought into full play. Their naked eye even outperformed the SC-type coastal alert radar of the Allied Navy, so they won an overwhelming victory in the Battle of Java and the first two naval battles of Kuah. It was only later that the Americans developed a more advanced SG sea alert radar and improved tactics that the advantage in night combat shifted to the side of the allies.

However, there were no enemy ships on the Yangtze River tonight, only a small sampan hiding in the reeds.

The main engine of the Haijing is three in-line nine-cylinder aero engines developed from the "Land God" gasoline engine used in the aircraft during World War I, with a power of 1,500 kilowatts each, driving three four-bladed propellers to accelerate the Haijing to 45 knots. However, this is the indicator of a new ship, and in the 20 years since it was delivered, the Haijing has changed hands several times, there is no need to count on maintenance and overhaul, and the condition of the hull and parts is also getting worse. The torpedo launcher has long been scrapped, and the speed can only be maintained at about 20 knots, which is still an indicator that can only be achieved when the machine is smooth and normal.

The engine speed of the Haijing was 5,600 revolutions per minute, while the speed of the propeller was set at 300 revolutions per minute. A gear reducer is required to reduce the engine's high-speed output and transfer it to the propeller shaft. As an old ship, the sealing performance of the gearbox of the Haijing is getting worse and worse, and oil leakage is a common thing, if the oil in the gearbox leaks out, the gearbox will be burned out, and the Haijing can only rely on a few oars on the boat to row back - this is not unprecedented, the gearbox was burned at the beginning of this year. Qi Jiarong called on the radio for a long time and no one paid attention to him, so he could only ask his sailors to row the boat back to Dagang downstream with oars. Fortunately, the tonnage of the Haijing is small, and it is smooth water, so it arrived at Dagang safely. Since then, the engineer on the boat has taken special care of the gearbox, and immediately turned off the engine for maintenance whenever there is an abnormality, for fear of being an oarsman again.

An hour had passed, and Qi Jiarong couldn't stay on the bridge any longer, so he took off his coat and went into the cramped, hot engine room. In the engine room, the engineer officer and his two brothers were sweating and working hard.

"When will it be fixed?" Qi Jiarong asked angrily, "Are you going to row again?" I can tell you Shen Yaqin, if it can't be repaired, Lao Tzu will row back, and the three of you will swim back in the water for me! ”

Chief engineer Shen Yaqin raised his oil-stained face, and his face was squeezed out with a hard smile: "Report to the captain, it's the sealing ring of the gearbox that is broken, it has been repaired, just fill it with oil." ”

Qi Jiarong kicked Shen Yaqin's ass: "Hurry up, hurry up!" Go back and take good care of me, don't happen again like this kind of thing of falling off the chain halfway. ”

Shen Yaqin stumbled, his head almost hit the machine, and he smiled bitterly with a wry smile on his face: "Captain, it's difficult to keep such an old ship from leaking." ”

Lao Jiang on the small sampan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot: "It's almost four watches, and it will be dawn if you go down again!" ”

Mr. Wang and Shi Xin also looked at their watches anxiously: "...... at three o'clock in the morning" Everyone's eyes invariably turned to the east, but fortunately, the water antenna in the east was still jet black.

At this time, there was a sudden sound of engines on the river, and Shi Xin could even see a puff of black smoke coming out of the smoke exhaust port on the side of the Haijing. The Haijing retracted its main anchor, re-lit its searchlights, turned its bow and continued upstream in the direction of Nanjing.

The seven people on the small sampan breathed a sigh of relief, and they were finally able to cross the river.

After the Haijing turned the bend in the surface of the Jianbi River, Lao Jiang immediately jumped into the water and tried to push the sampan out of the barren reeds. But there were six people sitting on the sampan, and he could barely push it.

Without saying a word, Shi Xin jumped into the water, exerting force with both arms, and with the violent friction between the bottom of the boat and the reeds, the small boat had rushed out of the reeds like an arrow!

"True gods too!" The four women on the sampan applauded together.

The most irritated is the boatman Lao Jiang, who was pushing the sampan, but was suddenly dragged out of the reeds by the sampan and almost fell into the water! He also made a large splash and drenched his whole body.

Shi Xin jumped lightly on the sampan, pulled Lao Jiang up from the water with one hand, and already operated the stern oar with the other.

"Hey, don't move, that's a oar!" Lao Jiang hurriedly stopped him.

"You know, I'll play it, just tell me where to shake it." As he spoke, Shi Xin stood at the stern of the boat, pinching the oar rope in his left hand and holding the oar in his right hand, and the small sampan had already rushed out with both hands!

"Can you play? Can you? Lao Jiang muttered in a low voice, but when he saw Shi Xin's standard posture and skillful skills, he immediately swallowed his suspicion back: "It turns out that the little brother is also doing this." ”

Shi Xin stood firmly at the stern of the boat, and with a jack of weight under his feet, the bow of the small sampan immediately rose up! He rocked the oars vigorously and frequently, and the small sampan was like a speedboat, breaking through the waves, drawing a herringbone wake and heading straight for the opposite shore.

Lao Jiang never dreamed that his little sampan could run so fast in other people's hands! His mouth was wide open in surprise, and he even forgot to show Shi Xin the way, which was the first time in his life that he experienced a high speed of 30 knots.

Mr. Wang gave Lao Jiang a lot of face: "Lao Jiang, you let the young man go up and rush first...... and the rest of the female compatriots did not hide their reverence for Shixin. Jiang Lanping was smiling, Qi Bing was smiling like a flower, and the melon seed-faced girl looked at Shi Xin blankly, as if she was looking at a god. Mu Yulu clapped wildly, clapping her little hands red.

The surface of the river was still dark, except for the pillars of the Haijing's searchlights on the upper reaches of the sky, swaying aimlessly.

Shi Xin's clothes below his waist were originally soaked in water, but at this moment, he used his internal strength to turn the water into water vapor and evaporate it! In the dark night, it looks like the whole person is wrapped in a cloud of white mist, like an immortal.

Everyone looked up at him with an extremely admiring expression, Qi Bing, who had said that he wanted to "help each other in the same boat", forgot to ask everyone's names again, and even Lao Jiang forgot to tell Shi Xin which waterway to take. Shi Xin was not familiar with the Yangtze River waterway in the Zhenjiang section, he only knew to bypass the Jiangxinzhou in the middle of the river, and did not notice that there was a sandbar hidden under the river surface of Heigu Longdong. There are several small sandbanks at the east and west ends of Jiangxinzhou, which are hidden under the water at high tide and exposed at low tide.

Among them is a sandbar called Fox Sand.

Today's tide had just risen, and it happened to flood the fox sand on the west side of Jiangxinzhou, and Shi Xin shook the small sampan and drove straight towards the fox sand at a high speed of 30 knots without knowing it. He was still immersed in pride, and any man would be a little fluttering when he was looked at with reverence by four beauties at the same time. What's more, Shi Xin didn't know that there was danger hidden under the surface of the water.

Lao Jiang was the first to wake up, because he felt the river suddenly become shallow, and the sound of rushing waves came from the bottom of the boat. It was the sound of the waves from the hull of the boat reflecting off the bottom of the river and then hitting the bottom of the boat again.

Shi Xin also heard this unusual sound, and at the same time noticed that the color of the river in front of him suddenly darkened.

"Watch out for the shallows!" Lao Jiang yelled, "Turn left!" ”

Got a shoal? Shi Xin's heart sank, and the small sampan had no rudder, and it all relied on the oars to control the direction. It was too late to make a turn, so he shook the oar a few times and increased the speed to 40 knots! At this moment, the bottom of the boat brushed the fox sand, and under the action of great inertia, the small sampan was immediately lifted out of the water and glided in the air! Almost all of them let out an exclamation: "Ah......hhhh

Shi Xin lowered the center of gravity as much as possible to keep the hull stable, one hand had already lifted the penny on the boat, and the moment the hull fell back to the water, his penny was pointed back, turning the fall of the sampan into a forward impulse to prevent the hull from disintegrating under the impact of the water. Penny dots are in the shallows, crushed into an arc by the huge weight. With a loud "bang", the small sampan fell back to the water, splashing a large splash, Shi Xin could even hear the wooden keel because of the impact and the deformation sound of "squeak", his heart was raised to his throat, for fear that the small sampan would have a comminuted fracture.

Luckily, the boat did not disintegrate, not even a single plank was damaged, and the strength of the hull was ensured by the fine timber and the traditional Chinese tenon joint structure without a single nail. The heart of the stone shook the oar again and sailed to the unknown shore. Lao Jiang stayed by his side intently, pointing out the direction of his voyage. Passing the fox sand is equivalent to bypassing the west head of Jiangxinzhou, and it is already very close to the north bank of the Yangtze River.

The stone core still maintains a high speed of 30 knots, and the small sampan is like a real speedboat jumping on the crest of the waves. The river breeze ruffled everyone's hair. Qi Bing's long hair floated up, fluttering in the wind, her soft hair brushed Shi Xin's face behind her, and Shi Xin's heart moved. Out of the corner of his eye, he swept over her beautiful face, and suddenly there was a sense of déjà vu.

"A little to the right, yes, now straight ahead, it's almost there!" Lao Jiang's words interrupted Shi Xin's thoughts, and at the same time lifted everyone's spirits.

Shixin rowed straight towards a large field of reeds on the north bank, and everyone's eyes widened, but they only saw the white reeds of the reeds faintly dancing in the wind. Shi Xin once again felt that the river at the bottom of the boat was getting shallower and shallower, and he was about to go ashore! He shook the oar a few times, and the little sampan leaped out of the water, and rushed straight into the reeds, shaking down the flying reeds in the sky.

There was silence all around, and for three or four seconds everyone was silent, as if they couldn't believe that they had passed the Yangtze River natural danger. Suddenly, Mu Yulu turned around and asked Shi Xin, "Big brother, is this the flower of the reed?" Stone Heart didn't squeak, his ears scanning every suspicious sound wave, to see if there was danger. Mu Yulu continued: "This is my first time in Jiangbei. ”

"We're here!" Lao Jiang was also a little excited after experiencing today's river crossing horror, he jumped into the water and walked to the shore.

At this time, the eyes of the four women all fell to Shi Xin, after all, no one wanted to give water again in such a cold weather.