The Yellow River Canyon has steep mountain walls on both sides of the north and south. The originally wide river channel suddenly narrows here, resulting in rapid flow and dangerous reefs and shoals, which makes the passing boats overturn if they are not careful.

There are many people gathered on a gentle hillside on the southern bank of the mountain. Many of them are dressed in official uniforms. They face the bitter north wind, use a thousand-mile mirror to see the river in front of them, and look at the mainstay.

"Shui Jing Zhu" says: Dizhu is the name of a mountain. In the past, Yu controlled floods and the mountain tombs were dug to the water. Therefore, he broke the mountain to open the river to open the river. The river water diverted and surrounded the mountain and passed by. The mountain saw the water in the water, which was like a pillar, so it was called Dizhu.

After the three passes and clear, the water flows and divides, and the fingers are like the three gates.

The so-called "Three Gates" are in the upper reaches of the main pillar, and two stone islands in the river (Shenmen Island and Guimen Island) divide the rapids into three streams.

From north to south, it is "Renmen (North Road, North Bank Renmen Peninsula and Hezhong Shenmen Island)", "Shenmen (middle Road, Shenmen Island and Guimen Island)", "Ghost Gate (South Road, Ghost Gate (South Road, Ghost Gate and Guimen Island)" and "Ghost Gate (South Road, Ghost Gate and Guimen Island)".

Among the three gates, the "Ghost Gate" is the most dangerous. Not only is the river curvy, but the water is densely covered with reefs, the water flows are turbulent and vortexy. If you are not careful when passing by this, you will be buried at the bottom of the river.

The "Shenmen" is slightly better, but the risk of sailing is still very high. Only the "Manmen" in the north is relatively easier to walk, but the water flow is still turbulent.

Less than half a mile below the Three Gate is Dizhu Mountain. When the boats walk here, they also face torrents, vortexes, and reefs. If they can pass through Dizhu Mountain safely, they will still be in peace.

It is also not easy to sail from the river section downstream from Dizhu Mountain. "Shui Jing Zhu" says: From Dizhu below, there are more than five households (sands), and there are 120 miles between them. The stones in the river are coming out, and the momentum is connected to Xianglu...

...There are turbulent flows, the rocks are rippling, the thick waves are overflowing, and there are nineteen beaches, the water flows rapidly, and the three gorges of the (Yangtze River) are damaged, and the boats have been affected since ancient times.

This 120-mile dangerous shoals are the "Three Gorges of the Yellow River". There are 19 dangerous shoals. Since ancient times, many ships have sunk in danger. Together with the danger of Sanmenxia (the danger of Sanmen and the main pillar), it constitutes the most difficult section of the Yellow River canal transport.

If the canal ship goes upstream from the downstream and exits three gates, the rapids and dangerous beaches along the way rely on fiber-pulling, and the whole process usually takes about three months.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, all dynasties have used their brains in this section of the river for the smooth transportation of the Yellow River. However, whether it is digging the cliffs on both sides of the shore to broaden the river, trying to dig down Dizhu Mountain, or digging a plank road on both sides of the shore to pull the boat through the dangers, it consumes countless manpower and material resources, but it has achieved little success.

More than ten years ago, the imperial court set up docks in the dangerous upstream and downstream areas of Sanmenxia Dizhu, and implemented land-to-land transportation, allowing goods from east to west to bypass the dangerous downstream of Sanmenxia Dizhu by land, greatly enhancing the transportation capacity of the Yellow River canal transport.

After fierce explosives appeared, the nineteen dangerous shoals downstream were removed one after another, allowing the canal ships to calmly go up from Luozhou and arrive at the downstream transit terminal of Dizhu safely, greatly alleviating the bottleneck of canal transport.

However, there have always been several additional links in land and water transportation, which increased the cost of transportation. With the emergence of steamships, many people hope for such ships that sail with the power of machines, hoping that steamships can overcome the dangers of Sanmenxia's main pillars.

However, the paddle-wheeled steamer has insufficient "power" and its countercurrent speed is still insufficient, so it cannot ensure safe navigation in the danger of Sanmen and the pillar.

Therefore, when everyone thought that the danger of the three pillars could not be overcome, a new challenger appeared.

The sound of water flowing, the harsh whistle attracted people's ideas. The "audiences" on the mountain picked up the mirrors and looked at the river downstream of the pillars.

I saw a pillar of black smoke, a steamship was moving upstream against the current, facing the rolling river water, towards the upstream Dizhu Mountain.

This steamer ship is a bit strange. There are no paddle wheels on both sides of the side of the ship, nor sails or oars at the rear, but it can move forward quickly in the river.

The official holding a thousand-mile mirror can see the big word "Lichuan" written on one side of the bow of the ship.

......

Amid the roar of the machine, the propeller pushed the experimental steamship Lichuan upstream, breaking through the waves and heading towards the mountain of Duzhu in front. In the cab, the old shipman Liangting looked at the mainstay in front, feeling unbelievable.

If it were the past, when a boat sailed here, it would be necessary to rely on a boatman to pull the fibers on the shore so that the boat could break through the rapids and move upwards.

We have to be careful throughout the journey. The boatmen try their best to pull the boats on the shore, while the boatmen try their best to hold the oars and row the boats to ensure the direction of the boats. Together with the people on the shore, the boats avoid the reefs in the rapids and move forward with difficulty.

If something happens accidentally, either the boatman falls into the water, or the boat falls into the reef and sinks. As soon as a person falls into the rapids, he will be swept away instantly. No matter how good the water is, it is useless.

But now, this strange steamer is "full of power" and sails against the current in the rapids. The bow is very stable and the speed of progress is very fast, which is much faster than the boats that used to rely on fibre-pulling to advance.

Seeing the familiar river channel right in front of people, reefs distributed everywhere in the river channel unforgettable, Liang Ting didn't care about his feelings and shouted to the technician who was driving the ship so that the other party could drive the steamer to avoid dangers everywhere.

Like many boatmen, Liang Ting has lived by the Yellow River for generations and relied on the Yellow River to make a living, so he is very aware of the dangers of the Sanmen Dizhu. Since he was a child, he has been full of fear of Dizhu Mountain.

Since ancient times, ships that dare to pass through the danger of the Sanmen Piercing are basically relying on luck. Even if a boatman with experience is driving a boat, he will not dare to pat his chest to ensure that the ship will be able to pass through the danger of the Sanmen Piercing.

Every time he ventured through the danger of the three pillars, the boatmen would burn incense and pray in advance, and afterwards he would burn incense to fulfill his wishes. This was his ancestors, his fathers, and ancestors would do so.

But there are still many boatmen who overturned their boats while driving through the dangerous pillars of Sanmen. Liang Ting's grandfather, father, and many relatives and friends, even veterans who have been sailing for many years, have died in Sanmenxia in accidents again and again.

There is no way to keep your shoes wet when you often stop by the river. The shipping risk of Sanmenxia is extremely high. No one can guarantee that there will be no accident during the boat trip. Liang Ting, the old shipkeeper who was going to repeat the fate of his father, has survived to this day because of the emergence of water and land transfer.

The court adopted the method of land and water transportation to bypass the danger of the three gates, so that many ship workers no longer had to risk driving through this section of the river, so Liang Ting and his son lived to this day.

His grandson didn't need to be like he did back then, either pulling his fibers on the shore or passing through rapids and dangerous shoals with the boat, and then he might not be able to come back on one occasion.

"Note, go left, go left! There is a reef on the right!!"

Liang Ting shouted at the top of his lungs. His first reaction from years of experience was that if the ship did not turn, he would definitely hit the reef ahead. However, the technician who drove the ship was very calm because he had seen the navigation marks erected in the river ahead and knew that there were reefs there.

He held the steering wheel steadily and sailed to the left in the fireboat, easily avoiding danger.

Liang Ting watched the tall Dizhushan "pass by" by his side, but the ship's course has been very stable. Its "power" is more than enough to deal with the torrents, and soon left Dizhushan behind.

This steamer ship without paddle wheels (steam ship) breaks through the danger of the mainstay, which looks easier than expected, and is so relaxed that Liang Ting can't believe it.

The Three Gorges of the Yellow River, which is more than 100 miles long, used to drive a ship with full cargo and it took two or three months to walk the entire journey with all their strength. But now, it took more than two hours to set off from the eastern end of the Three Gorges to reach the Dizhushan River section.

Although the steamship will sink when it hits the reef, or it may be "pushed" by the torrent because it cannot control the direction, Liang Ting feels that with the power of a machine, the ship can sail much more calmly than before when sailing in this dangerous and complex section of the river.

He opened his eyes wide and looked at the "Sanmen" river section in front of him. It was the place where countless boatmen were buried in the belly of fish. Liang Ting did not dare to take it lightly and loudly reminded the technicians who were driving the ship to control the ship to sail at the "people's door" on the right (north).

"Manmen Gate" is the safest channel among the three gates, but the water flow is still turbulent. If the ship is not properly sailing, even the steamer will sink. At this time, not only the members of the ship are hearted, but the people on the North Shore Renmen Island are also extremely nervous.

Among them were officials and local people from shipbuilding. Today they gathered on Renmen Island to witness the miracle.

In front of everyone, I saw the Lichuan squirting thick smoke and roaring, fighting against the torrents in the human gate, steadily upstream and slowly passing through the human gate channel.

All of this was done without the straits and was entirely driven by the Lichuan itself. People who witnessed the miracle saw the Lichuan pass through the three gates safely, and cheers burst out like a tide.
Chapter completed!