Chapter 563: Saving People in the River (Please vote and subscribe)

After leaving the territory of the Barbarian Tribe, You Fu and his party continued to move downstream to the southwest. After passing through a canyon, they finally entered a vast plain area on August 10.

The river basin in this section is very gentle, and there are no fast-flowing rapids. If it is based on the current environment, it is very beneficial for the Han tribe to engage in water transportation, but for future development, it is more difficult to engage in hydropower generation. Hydropower generation mainly uses the rapids formed by the height difference of the river. The greater the height difference, the faster the water flow rate, the greater the potential energy of the water, and the corresponding kinetic energy that can be obtained. However, there is a benefit and a disadvantage, and it is really hard to say whether it is good or bad.

After more than a month of sailing, Youfu and his team gradually understood the hydrological conditions. In this section of the river, which was about 400 meters wide, there was basically no need to worry about the large sailboat hitting the bottom due to the shallow water. Moreover, the bamboo pole towed by the single-person reconnaissance boat in front had never hit the bottom, so Youfu did a fixed-point test.

They tied an iron anchor with a rope and sank it into the center of the river until it hit the bottom. They found that the depth of the water in this section could reach hundreds of meters, and the area near the river bank was also dozens of meters deep. There was no need to worry about the danger of the large ship hitting the bottom.

Therefore, there was no need to send a small boat to the front for reconnaissance. Instead, a landing craft was sent in front for preliminary reconnaissance. A few more people could be placed on it to talk to each other, so that it would not be so boring with only one person in front. In addition, it could share the pressure of the three large ships.

The fleet originally had over 200 members, with more than 70 people on each boat, which was already full. Later, more than 80 people from the raccoon tribe were taken on board, plus the raccoon cats they raised, so each boat had to carry more than 100 people on average, making the limited space on the boat even more crowded. So sending 20 people to row the boat in front could also slightly relieve the pressure on the boat and leave more space.

It was under such circumstances that the fleet suddenly encountered a special situation on the morning of August 12.

You Zhi, a confidant of You Fu who was responsible for rowing the boat in front today, suddenly found more than a dozen people floating on the river in front while chatting with the crew members around him.

These people were all men, shirtless, holding an air bag made of animal skin in their arms, and carrying some leather-wrapped things on their backs, but it was hard to tell what they were.

These people held the air bag in one hand and paddled hard with the other hand. They swam from the west bank of the river, as if they were going to swim across the entire river to the east bank.

But some of them swam very well, while some younger boys were not so good. They could only flounder in the river. They didn't swim far to the other side, but were swept downstream by the current. They were about to be separated from their "large group". Others were anxiously calling out to him, but the boy was being swept farther and farther away.

There was a man who seemed to be the leader. He had obviously swam to the middle of the river. When he heard the cries for help from the tribesmen behind him, he turned around and swam back, trying to pull the boy back downstream.

As for the other people floating in the water, some swam downstream to help, while others suddenly found a wooden boat floating upstream with dozens of people sitting on it. They were immediately startled,

but unfortunately they did not jump up in the water. They could only stare at the wooden "big boat" in amazement. Some people held air bags and waved their arms to shout loudly to the rescuers downstream. Others waved and shouted at the people on the "wooden boat" with very excited expressions. Although they could not understand what they said, the people on the wooden boat almost understood what it meant.

"You Zhi, look at those people, they seem to be calling for help from us."

"Yes, then should we save them or not?"

The crew members on the small boat began to talk at once, and You Zhi took a look and made a decision immediately.

"Save them, of course we have to. Judging from their age, they are all men. They must be from a large tribe. If we save them, we will definitely gain their favor. Maybe we can even find their tribe to do some business and learn about the local situation. This will save us a lot of time and effort than going on our own reconnaissance. This is a good opportunity. Let's go, row faster and pick those people up, but everyone must be vigilant, don't save a group of ungrateful people."

"Yes." Everyone nodded, shouted and paddled together, and rushed downstream quickly. Downstream

, the person who was suspected to be the leader had swam to the boy's side. The boy's own air bag had been washed downstream by the water, and he could not be caught up. Moreover, the boy had obviously swallowed a lot of water, and his mind was not very clear, and he was a little drowning.

The leader first stuffed his own leather bag under the boy to support him, so that he would not sink to the bottom of the water, and then hung the things on the boy's back around his neck, and then hugged his neck and approached the large group.

But the boy was already in a semi-comatose state, and couldn't paddle at all. If he let go a little, he would sink. The leader could only drag him around like a dead person. Fortunately, he fainted, otherwise the drowning people would grab and hold him, and the leader might sink to the bottom with him.

But the situation was still not optimistic. The things the leader carried on his back and hung around his neck were very heavy. It was obvious that he was carrying two people's loads. Now he had to drag a half-dead person, who was already unconscious. It was said that it was very heavy, because dead people were really heavy, and the boy was almost the same now.

The leader was carrying two people's loads and dragging a "dead person". He was fine, after all, he was a good swimmer, otherwise he would not have been chosen as the leader, but the boy's situation was not good.

They were now on the west side of the river, about 300 meters away from the east bank. If they dragged the boy over, he might be cold by the time he got to the shore.

It was very difficult to swim to the east bank, and he might die even if he got there. Now it was only about a hundred meters away to turn back to the west bank. If he swam back, he might be able to rescue him, but that

would mean he would be separated from the team, which would affect their mission. Just when the leader was in a dilemma and finally made up his mind to swim back and save the boy's life first, something in the water suddenly bit his leg, and he screamed in pain. Then there was another bite, this time on his other foot. The thing in the water was still biting and refused to let go. The leader was so painful that he broke out in a cold sweat. Even his treading action was confused. He and the boy began to sink. The only air bag left in the two of them was also loosened, and they were soon washed downstream by the current.

Seeing that the two were about to drown in the water, the team leader was flapping his hands to save himself when he suddenly heard a burst of shouting from upstream. It sounded like there were quite a lot of people and it was quite rhythmic, like they were singing a song. Then he saw a strange thing floating towards them with dozens of people sitting on it.

Twenty wooden oars rowed together, pushing the landing craft to the leader and the boy at a very fast speed.

Then some people on the boat paddled to both sides to stabilize the boat, while others quickly reached out to pull the two people in the water onto the boat. As a result, the two people just got on the boat and lay in the boat. Everyone on the boat was dumbfounded.

The unconscious boy had a big belly, obviously he had drunk a lot of water. The most important thing was that he was covered with wounds, and many wounds on his upper body were still bleeding. There were two palm-sized flat pomfret hanging on his legs

, biting his flesh tightly. The strong leader next to him was not much better. When he was pulled onto the boat, there were five similar pomfret hanging on his back, arms, thighs, and feet, biting his flesh fiercely, and blood mixed with river water kept flowing out.

"Quick, quick, get the fish off, don't throw it away, this kind of fish is the most delicious."

You Zhi immediately shouted and commanded, and the others on the boat immediately pulled out knives, daggers and other things to get the fish off without hurting anyone.

However, You Zhi soon realized that something was wrong. Everyone was getting the fish, and no one was in charge of the boat.

"Don't just get the fish. Two people are responsible. Each person saves one. The others row back and rescue those people in the water. There are man-eating fish in this water. If they stay in the water for a while, they may all get hurt." You Zhi ordered everyone again.

"Yes, everyone go and save people." One person joked and immediately picked up the oars and started paddling.

The others also laughed, and then paddled quickly to the other people swimming in the water.

After the leader was pulled onto the boat, he finally saw what was biting him in the water. Seeing that it was a palm-sized flat fish, he was so angry that he grabbed a fish that was biting his arm and pulled it off fiercely, throwing it directly into the water. However, this time the fish tore a piece of flesh off his arm.

When You Zhi saw this, he was also shocked and quickly stopped his violent behavior with his hands. Then he took a sharp knife and took the fish off one by one.

The leader saw that these people had no ill intentions and came to rescue them. He let down his guard a little, but he still protected the animal skins on his body tightly, as if he was afraid that You Zhi and his men would snatch them away.

After all the fish on his body were taken off, he immediately went to see the unconscious boy and found that he also had many bite wounds on his body and had swallowed a lot of water. So he immediately dragged the boy to his side, let him lie on his legs, and scratched the boy's throat to induce vomiting. The boy vomited a lot of water and coughed while vomiting. It seemed that he was choked. It took a long time for him to recover, but he still looked very weak. He squinted his eyes and had no reaction.

Just when these two people were saving themselves, the wooden boat had already rowed to the side of the others. The crew also pulled them up one by one. The people soaking in the water saw that their leader was also on the boat and nodded slightly at them. They were relieved to get on Youzhi's landing craft. In the process of pulling these people, they found several people who were bitten by fish and treated them quickly. The others who were fine were under the protection of the leader and vigilantly protected the weights they carried.

After they rescued everyone, the three large sailing ships behind them had also caught up. You Zhi immediately raised the flagpole to signal the lead ship, and then asked the others to row closer to the lead ship.

The people who had just been rescued on the boat were also confused. They didn't expect that there were several larger monsters behind these people, carrying hundreds of people. The leader immediately gestured to You Zhi.

"Thank you for saving us. Please put us on the other side of the river." The leader said while speaking the local dialect and pointing to the east bank of the river.

You Zhi shook his head and pointed to the wound on his body that was still bleeding.

"Go to our big ship. My uncle has medicine that can heal your wound."

Looking at the wound on his body that was still bleeding and accompanied by severe pain, the leader hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded. It's better to cooperate with the treatment now, otherwise he will really go back to the other side. It's the first half of the first month of autumn, and the weather is still so hot. Maybe he will really get a fever and die on the shore.

On the head boat, You Fu soon saw that his nephew on the boat in front of him raised a flag signal, asking to join the big boat and return to the team. You Fu also immediately noticed the abnormal situation, that is, the boat was packed with more than a dozen people. Fortunately, the oars were still in the hands of the people of the Han tribe, and they still had control over the boat, otherwise You Fu would have thought that they were hijacked.

But a question immediately appeared in You Fu's mind, "Where did these people come from? ! ! "

The two boats were heading towards each other and soon met. The crew on the big ship threw a rope and was caught by the people on the small boat. Both sides fixed their boats, and then the people on the small boat began to board the rear deck of the big ship one by one, and pulled up the people who had just been rescued. You Zhi found You Fu as soon as possible.

"Uncle, these are the people we just rescued from the river. There are piranhas in this part of the river, and many of them have been bitten by the fish. Let's get some medicine to treat their wounds.

They are all from the same tribe. The leader told me that they were going to the east coast. They were carrying a lot of heavy packages, so they must be transporting something. But they got into trouble halfway through their journey. I thought that saving their lives might help me build some connections, and I could learn a little about the local situation from them, so I decided to rescue them."

(End of this chapter)