Xu Lei wasn't depressed about the failure of the treasure hunt at Jinming Lake. He turned his gaze to the Baitiao River outside the city. Although the current Baitiao River was less than ten feet wide, its deepest point was only nearly ten meters. However, this was not the case in ancient times. According to the records of the KP, the Baitiao River was very wide." By the river, the river is wide and clear, and the boats can reach the Great Wall."
It eventually flowed into the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. When land transportation was not developed, it was a very famous and convenient passage for water boats. A considerable number of ships transporting grain to the north would take a shortcut here and then turn into the canal again. Therefore, the two banks of the river were particularly prosperous. At that time, they were called "Little Qin Huai".
The Baitiao River had been navigated for nearly 800 years through the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Liao, Xixia, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties. Regarding the prosperous scene on both sides of the river, someone once summarized it in this sentence: " The prosperity of a prefecture within ten miles lies in this river."
However, due to the change of course of the river and the abnormal weather, the water flow upstream dried up. Only then did the Baitiao River slowly narrow, and the number of boats on the river decreased. The two banks along the river gradually became barren, and it was no longer as prosperous as before.
In 1958, he had no equipment or technology to train in steel, so he could only rely on the masses. At that time, several small steel factories were built in the city of HF, and the subordinate counties and towns also built small furnaces. Some even used primitive small crucibles to make iron.
In order to provide the fuel needed for the large-scale smelting of steel, the surrounding forested hills were all cut down. At that time, the words were "mountain fire, village smoke".
The trees were cut down, and the soil on the mountain was washed into the river. In more than ten years, the Baitiao River had been completely blocked by sand and became what it was now.
It was fine if it was sunny, but when it rained heavily, the mud at the bottom of the river emitted a stench that choked the nose from two to three hundred meters away. Therefore, other than some fishing enthusiasts, very few people came here to play. The city government had long wanted to clean up the river and turn the banks of the Baitiao River into a tourist area. However, the cost of dredging was too high, and in the end, the plan was shelved.
Xu Lei had heard from his father that when they were young, they often went to the Baitiao River to catch fish and prawns. (This chapter was uploaded by 79 Literature Network. Please strictly abide by the laws and regulations of the country. The website forbids all illegal text from being uploaded.(If you find illegal content, please contact the website to delete it. Thank you.) Every time the river rises, some jars, pots, copper coins, and so on will rush to the riverbank. One time, a friend even found a small silver ingot in the sand.
From this, it could be seen that there were definitely many antiques in the Baitiao River.
What really made Xu Lei determined was that a few years ago, when someone was catching fish in the river, they found an ancient sunken ship. The newspaper had reported that the ship was seventeen and a half meters long and six meters wide. There were many broken blue and white porcelain bowls, stone hammers, carved city bricks, and a basically complete Song Dynasty glazed pottery pot in the cabin.
According to experts, there should be many shipwrecks in the Bajo River. However, there was too much sand in the river now, and most of the sunken ships were buried less than two meters below the river bed, making it very difficult to excavate. If they wanted to continue digging, they had to intercept the river, build a dam, and then remove the silt at the bottom of the river. In this way, digging up a sunken ship would cost at least a million. Therefore, the excavation of the sunken ship could only be left unsettled.
Those experts had no way, but it didn't mean that Xu Lei couldn't. He was not a cultural relic worker, so his considerations were very simple. As long as he could find the antiques, he did not care about the harm caused.
Just like the treasure hunt in Jinming Lake, he prepared a few large plastic bags and tied them to his body before he went into the river. He was prepared to store the things he found later.
In the water, a dog's nose was useless. After Xu Lei dived into the water, he could only rely on his eyes to look around. Fortunately, the visibility in the water was much better than at night. He could see more than ten feet away. He swam for more than 200 feet in a single breath, but he did not find anything.
For the whole morning, Xu Lei had been swimming in the river for seven to eight miles, from the south of the city to the hills northwest of the city.
The hills were no more than 100 meters above sea level, and the plants on them were very lush. From afar, one could vaguely see a few villas hidden in a patch of green. There were no big trees on the mountain. These were all newly planted during the 1910s.
Xu Lei had not gained anything in the morning. He was so hungry that his stomach was growling. He planned to go ashore and find a shade to rest for a while before going back downstream.
However, before he could get close to the shore, he suddenly felt danger coming from the bottom of the water.
Xu Lei hurriedly moved his limbs to swim towards the shore, but after swimming two steps, he felt his two hind legs being pulled by something. The force was so powerful that he was dragged into the water before he could even resist.
Caught off guard, Xu Lei gulped down a mouthful of slightly fishy river water and then spat it out from his nostrils.
However, he couldn't care less about the problem of watering himself. He hurriedly turned his head to look at the thing that attacked him.
What was this? When he saw the animal pulling him, Xu Lei was completely stunned. The animal in front of him looked very strange. He had never seen it before.
This guy looked like a fat rat, but its reddish-brown fur and arm-thick tail made him overthrow this conclusion. Moreover, this guy was about the same size as Xu Lei, and his body was much thicker than his. Unless a rat became a spirit, it was impossible for it to grow to such a size.
What made Xu Lei feel even more incredible was that this guy's strength was astonishing. The two front claws grabbed his hind legs and dragged him into the deep water. Xu Lei felt as if his legs were caught in a trap and he could not break free at all. He turned his body in shock and wanted to attack with his front claws. However, this guy was unusually smart. He did not give him a chance to fight head-on. He only hid below and dragged him to the bottom of the river.
"F * ck, what the hell is this?”It was beyond Xu Lei's expectations. He had never thought that such an ordinary river would actually hide an aquatic creature that he had never heard of before. More importantly, this guy didn't play by the rules, so he couldn't fight back at all.
Everything happened in just a few seconds. By the time Xu Lei had completely reacted, he had already been dragged into the water. He wanted to grab something with his front paws to stop himself, but the bottom of the water was filled with 40 to 50 centimeters of mud, so he could not do anything. " Cuckoo!" As his sharp claws scratched, a series of bubbles rose in the water.
If this went on, he would suffocate to death underwater!
Just as Xu Lei was panicking, he suddenly felt something hard under his claws, as if he had grabbed something. He was delighted and hugged it tightly with his two claws. Xu Lei finally heaved a sigh of relief when he stopped retreating. He saw clearly what he was carrying. It was a wooden plank about three inches thick.
However, before he could rejoice, the pulling force behind him increased again." Gah…Gah…" In the water, Xu Lei could clearly hear the dull sound of his bones being pulled. His limbs and joints were almost dislocated by this thing.
Bubbles kept rising around him. Under the pull of the unknown water beast, the wooden board he was holding was actually pulled by force. What made Xu Lei excited happened. It turned out that it was not a piece of wood, but a part of a sunken ship. Amidst the noise, the ship that was more than ten meters long was pulled out of the mud alive.
Xu Lei was completely stunned, how strong was this strange thing? Although the buoyancy in the water reduced the effect of gravity, this boat weighed at least a few hundred pounds. It was unbelievable that it could be pulled up so easily.
He turned his head and saw that the guy's body was almost completely submerged in the mud. On the head that was exposed, his cheeks were puffed up high. It was obvious that he was pulling with all his might.
Xu Lei's heart skipped a beat, and his front claws suddenly loosened. Under the pull, his body flew out like a cannonball and smashed straight at the monster. That guy was caught off guard and had no time to dodge. He was smashed heavily on the head by Xu Lei's body. The reverse force was about 700 to 800 pounds. The monster screamed and then lay motionless in the mud.
"He fainted? No way.”Xu Lei did not expect such an outcome.
After staying underwater for so long, the oxygen in his abdomen was almost exhausted. He did not dare to delay at all. He stretched out his front claws to grab the monster out of the mud and then swam out of the water.
When they reached the shore, Xu Lei realized that his two hind legs had been scratched by this guy until they were bruised. However, it didn't hurt him at all. He should be fine after resting for a few days. After resting, he carefully sized up this unknown fellow in front of him.
This thing looked rather strange. It had a short head and a few whiskers as thick as steel wires on its chin. His eyes were protruding forward, his ears were small, and his fur was shiny. He had been in the water for so long, but there was not a single drop of water on him. After looking at its four limbs, Xu Lei found the reason. This guy had webbed toes on its four limbs. It was obvious that it had lived in the water for a long time.
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