Rebirth of the Viking King

Nature has its own set of operating rules.

In the event of continuous heavy rains, the water in the highlands will merge into the streams, eventually causing the water in the downstream valleys to rise and surge violently.

The same is true for this thick "river of quicksand" in the Black Desert.

Although the Sahara is vast, it is surrounded by sea on two sides. Monsoon winds throw fine dust like talcum powder into the sky, which slowly falls like rain.

When accumulated to a certain amount, the quicksand will flow rapidly along the terrain and finally merge into the quicksand river.

The reason why Old Hash was so upset about his decision to rest early last night was because it would be very easy to cross the Sand River in clear weather. Quicksand will only accumulate in a relatively low position, and the flow speed will not be too violent.

The quicksand river in a sandstorm will turn into a completely different scene.

When they were still several hundred meters away from the river valley, everyone in the caravan could already see a dark yellow "wall of smoke" rising not far away. As the caravan got closer and closer, everyone could intuitively feel that the thick yellow sand blocked the sky and the sun, and the visibility was reduced a lot before walking a few dozen meters.

"Hold the torch high! Find a way to let the teams in front and behind see your position clearly!"

He yelled just one sentence in a hurry, and the dry sand immediately poured into Old Harsh's mouth, forcing him to close his mouth.

Speaking into the strong winds of a sandstorm is an extremely strenuous act. Even if two people are very close to each other, they still need to shout loudly to hear each other clearly.

Old Harsh looked behind him worriedly.

At this time, he could only see two dim firelights behind him, and in the distance was another chaotic dark yellow.

(I have already given all the instructions that need to be given before departure. If there are still mistakes, this may be King Xin’s will.)

Reaching out to signal the subordinates behind him to slow down, Old Harsh took out a hard wooden stick, and like a blind man, he explored the land ahead every two steps.

The first thing you need to do when crossing the Liusha River during a sandstorm is to avoid falling into the river bed.

The closer we get to the river valley, the more violent the rushing and floating yellow sand becomes. Mortals can't tell what kind of terrain is ahead with their eyes.

On the outskirts of the river valley, there is no difference between them and the blind.

The distance of just a few hundred meters took Old Harsh nearly an hour. After making sure that the wooden stick in hand touches the hard rock, the next step is to get closer to the river bed and find a "milestone".

Caravan merchants were not the only ones who needed to cross the Liusha River.

Freedmen living in the deep desert also needed to cross this sandy river to go to Memphis to purchase food, salt, and other daily necessities that were scarce in the desert.

As commerce gradually prospered, more and more freedmen began to rely on the goods sold by the Chamber of Commerce. In order to cross the river more stably, they also need to consider the important issue of "how to cross the Liusha River during a sandstorm."

Therefore, freedmen would plant "milestones" around each river crossing.

Old Harsh groped along the riverbed, and after walking dozens of steps, he finally found a huge marble building that was as tall as a person.

There is no decoration on this huge stone pillar like a tombstone. There is only an arrow and three Greek numerals painted on it.

[Turn left and continue 122 meters]

Frequent sandstorms forced free people to think of this method. As long as they could touch the edge of the Liusha River and walk along the river bank, they would definitely encounter this kind of stone tablet marking the direction and distance after walking dozens of meters.

In this way, we can have a rough estimate of the direction of the ferry.

Fortunately, we are not far from the ferry.

Harsh once again silently recited a few words of praise to King Xin. Extremely low visibility in sandstorms often makes it impossible to discern the direction of travel. The caravan at this time was not far from the ferry. Seeing that the sun above our heads has passed the midpoint, gradually tilting towards the west.

Old Hash knew that the caravan had to hurry up.

When walking in a sandstorm during the day, although everything in the field of vision is dark yellow, fortunately, I can still clearly see about 10 meters in front of me.

Once at night, the fine sand with almost zero reflectivity is like a giant hand grasping people tightly. At that time, the human eye cannot even see 2 meters of visibility.

Walking in a pitch-black desert is like stepping into a viscous black hole.

Even the most experienced caravan traders may not be able to escape unscathed.

According to official statistics from the City of Memphis, there are 6 proven crossings on the Liusha River, but the actual number is much higher than the official statistics.

The Arab governors in the city often colluded with the bandits outside the city, which has almost become an open secret. It is well known that there are often bandits wandering around the six major ferries. This is one of the important reasons why large chambers of commerce never leave the city walls.

The bulk caravans that frequent the Black Desert each have their own crossings.

The place Old Hash chose was a chain-link bridge that looked dilapidated. In ancient times, this was a "cargo loading and unloading dock".

The buoyancy of sandboarding is much greater than that of running water.

The greatest use of this river of quicksand by the pharaohs was to carry heavy stones for the construction of palace tombs.

There are 6 huge marble stone pillars erected on the Shahe River, and the stone pillars are connected by bridge arches. When a boat floating on the Sand River floats to the center of the stone pillars, the two stone pillars on the left and right will fix the boat with iron ropes, and then the heavy stones will be slowly lowered to the ferry through the pulleys on the top of the bridge.

After the fall of ancient Egypt, most of the buildings in the sea of ​​sand have decayed, but these six hard marble pillars on the Liusha River have survived.

The merchants connected the stone pillars with iron ropes to form a simple pontoon bridge.

This is not a secluded crossing, but for decades, only a handful of merchants passed through it every year. The main reason is that this "bridge" looks very dangerous from the outside.

After walking onto the bridge, the bridge was swaying and made of iron cables. When you look at your feet, you can immediately see the violent rolling sand.

This kind of quicksand is not the same as the flowing water in ordinary rivers.

People who fall into the water will most likely float, but if they fall into the fast-moving floating sand, they will be swept underground in a few seconds.

No one knows how deep this river of sand is.

But one year, heavy rain fell continuously for a month, and a large amount of floating sand was carried away by the flowing water, exposing part of the Liusha River bed for the first time.

I saw that the bottom of the sand river was densely covered with deep caves one after another like a honeycomb, and inside each cave there were eerie white bones, large or small.

From beginning to end, there is no end in sight.