The first time I left the dock, it was pretty smooth. But Wu Zheng and the others ignored one thing, that is, how could the river surface not be frozen in the middle of winter.

It's not that the river doesn't freeze, it's just that this year's winter is relatively warm, and although a thin layer of ice forms every night, it's not enough to carry the weight of pedestrians, cars and horses. So in order to cross the river, you still have to rely on ferries. In this way, every morning there are always people rocking the boats and breaking the thin ice that has formed during the night on the surface of the river so that they can cross the river by ferry. As a result, on the surface of the river near the wharf, a navigable waterway was left less than 30 zhang wide.

The boat controlled by Wu Zheng and the three of them would be collided by the ice that washed down from the upper reaches from time to time. Whenever a slightly larger block of ice hit the hull of the boat, with a bang, the boat shook violently, which would make Wu Zheng's heart tug tightly.

Kankan reached the middle stream, even if Wu Zheng was at the helm with all his might, the boat was still under the impact of the river, and could no longer maintain the posture of facing the opposite bank, but became oblique and drifted downstream.

I thought it would be better, but although the crossing of the river was delayed, it prevented the ice from colliding with the hull of the boat from being washed downstream. But what Wu Zheng didn't expect was that after a lot of effort, the hull of the boat that drifted downstream encountered a layer of undamaged ice that had been formed on the river for many days.

Although he could barely paddle on one oar, his speed dropped sharply. In particular, when the ice from the upstream hits the hull, the boat on the other side is blocked by the ice on the river, and loses the opportunity to cushion the impact in the water. Therefore, every time it is hit by the ice in the river, it hits the boat solidly, causing a more violent shaking.

Knowing that the situation would get worse and worse if it continued like this, the boat was always facing the danger of being hit by a large block of ice and disintegrating, but Wu Zheng and the three of them could not do anything. One can only try to speed up, hoping to reach the opposite shore before the boat disintegrates.

"Lord Wu, look!"

Just when Wu Zheng was in a hurry, Gu Luan in the cabin came out and stretched out his hand in the direction of Sihuan City.

Wu Zheng and Ning Xiaoqian, who were standing on the bow of the boat and rowing hard, turned around when they heard the sound, only to see a sky-high fire coming from the Siwei City, but in an instant, the river in front of them was illuminated.

Vaguely recognizable, where the firelight started, it was probably the location of the State Guest House, Wu Zheng couldn't help but secretly thank Mo Zi for the timely warning of the Ever-changing Sky Fox for the first time in his heart. If you don't resolutely escape from the State Guest House and the Four Cities, you will definitely be trapped in the sea of fire at this time. Even if Wu Zheng has three heads and six arms, self-protection may be barely possible, but if he wants to rescue Princess Caifeng and Sister Ning Xiaoqian, it is absolutely impossible.

Bang, bang.

Just when the four of them were shocked by the sky-high flames in the city and attracted their attention, the most undesirable thing happened. A piece of ice the size of a table top slammed into the hull of the boat, and the boat could no longer bear it, and in the blink of an eye it turned into a pile of scattered planks floating on the surface of the river.

"Protect yourself and paddle to the opposite shore with your feet on the board!"

Wu Zheng shouted to Ning Xiaoqian and Ning Xiaokun, who were still standing at the bow of the boat just now, and then pulled Gu Luan, who was about to fall into the water and was standing beside him just now looking in the direction of Siwei City, into his arms. At the same time, I aimed my feet at a slightly larger board and stepped on it gently.

Fortunately, when I looked up, I saw that Ning Xiaoqian and Ning Xiaokun sisters had also stepped on a wooden plank respectively, and since they did not lose the oars in their hands, they could just be used to maintain the balance of their bodies.

Seeing that the sisters seemed to want to lean towards him, Wu Zheng hurriedly reminded:

"Leave me alone, and row safely to the other side first. ”

After saying that, he quickly bent sideways to the right, grabbed Gu Luan with his left hand, carried it high under his left armpit, and picked up another wooden board from the river with his right hand, and threw it on the thin ice on the river surface on the right side of his body. With a tap of his toes, he jumped from the water to the ice.

The reason why the plank was thrown up was to use a plank larger than the area of the feet in contact with the ice to spread the weight of the two people, so as to prevent the crushing of the thin ice from falling into the river.

After seeing Wu Zheng's intentions and feeling that Wu Zheng's method was feasible, Ning Xiaoqian and Ning Xiaokun no longer worried, and immediately stepped on the plank, rowed hard with the oars in their hands, and quickly approached the opposite shore.

Wu Zheng's plan was good, but the reality once again exceeded his expectations.

Holding Gu Luan in his arms, he could only stand on the plank with one foot, and use the other foot as an oar, and every time he moved forward, he had to tap the ice surface to borrow force and urge the plank under his feet to row forward.

As everyone knows, the thin ice on the surface of the river is completely different from the smooth and mirror-like surface of the lake, but as if the layers of waves are frozen together, so that the planks under Wu Zheng's feet cannot move forward smoothly at all.

Anyone who has seen the frozen surface of the Yellow River knows that it is not really the waves that freeze it. But every time the ice is frozen, as the river continues to flood the ice and freeze, and so on, after the ice is frozen, it looks like it has frozen layers of waves.

It is impossible to have an even thickness of the frozen river surface in this way, so when Wu Zheng encountered a relatively weak ice surface, the two of them fell into the river with a pop along with the boat plank under their feet.

In order to prevent Gu Luan in his arms from being frozen by the biting river water, Wu Zheng raised her with one hand with his left hand, kept treading water under the water with both feet, and stretched out his right hand to grasp the ice on the river surface around him, trying to return to the ice with strength.

However, because the ice layer is too thin, there were countless cracks when it broke just now, so whenever Wu Zheng wanted to borrow strength, the ice would break again with a click, and he couldn't borrow force at all.

"Lord Wu, put me on the ice first. ”

Hearing the words of Gu Luan, who was held in his hand, Wu Zheng also knew that this was a good idea. If Princess Caifeng was first lightly put on the ice in a flat lying position, Wu Zheng, who had reduced his weight, would naturally be easy to jump out of the water.

If there is another person, Wu Zheng will do it without hesitation, but the princess Caifeng with golden branches and jade leaves in her hand cannot tolerate the slightest mistake, even if she is allowed to fall into the river and get sick from the cold because of this, Wu Zheng's sin is not small.

Therefore, Wu Zheng did not take Gu Luan's suggestion, and still tried to be able to grasp a relatively solid and thick ice surface, so as to turn over and stand on the ice again.

It's not that they didn't hear the sound of the ice breaking behind them, and it wasn't that they didn't see Wu Zheng and Gu Luan who fell into the river, it's just that Ning Xiaoqian and Ning Xiaokun tried a few times to stand on the ice in order to turn over and come back to help Wu Zheng, but the scene they encountered was exactly the same as Wu Zheng, and there was no way to stand firm on the ice at all.

Knowing that they would not only not be able to help Wu Zheng if they stepped on the plank and rowed back, but it was very likely that it would also add a burden to Wu Zheng, the sisters had to row to the opposite shore first to see if they could find a suitable ferry, and then come back to rescue Wu Zheng and Princess Gu Luan. (To be continued.) )