Chapter 686: Ice Jam

By the time spring had fully arrived and the ground had thawed, all the departments of Huaxia were set to begin construction according to the established plan. However, small fragments of ice were still scattered throughout the Dahe, so the shipping routes were not yet open; after all, traveling by water directly like this was far too dangerous.

This meant that their communication with the Xuanyuan Tribe was still interrupted. Baifeng had originally intended to hire people from the Xuanyuan Tribe this year to work on construction in Huaxia, but now he could only continue to postpone it until the Dahe had completely thawed.

Yet the Xuanyuan Tribe was feeling a massive headache right now, because more and more ice had suddenly appeared on the Dahe, and the ice had piled up together. It moved slowly and had blocked the water, making it difficult to flow, which caused the water volume downstream to decrease sharply.

If it were only a decrease in water volume, he would not be too worried, but the massive floating ice, pushed along by the current and piled together, was destroying everything in its path with extremely powerful force. The small Matou they had built on the bank was already nowhere to be seen.

Moreover, the floating ice was still advancing toward their largest port. Never mind the Matou; the riverbank could no longer be seen. No matter how thick the trees were, they were all easily pushed over and snapped by the floating ice.

Although this Matou was far inferior to those of Huaxia, it had still been built with a great deal of effort. To have it destroyed so casually was something no one could accept.

Furthermore, all the farmland along the bank had now been encroached upon by the floating ice. Xuanyuan felt a deep heartache; the destruction caused to the Xuanyuan Tribe by this inexplicably appearing floating ice was truly too great. Yet, facing this, he was completely powerless to resist, and he did not even have a solution.

All he could think of was to ask Huaxia for help, to see if the Weapon that could even blast apart rocks could help them shatter this floating ice. But with the water routes impassable, they were far too short on time.

Although the floating ice seemed to move very slowly in their eyes and was completely incomparable to a flood, it was still much faster than a person walking on the bank. If they walked to Huaxia and waited for people from Huaxia to come and help, the ice would likely have melted on its own long ago, and the Xuanyuan Tribe would have been destroyed.

Therefore, Xuanyuan could only watch helplessly as the floating ice destroyed their hard work, and he was already making plans for reconstruction. If possible, he wanted Huaxia to help them build a Matou similar to the ones in Huaxia, built with Cement. He was willing to spend grain; at least then he would not have to fear this floating ice.

Baifeng only learned of this matter after communication was restored. Xuanyuan had indeed told Baifeng about this idea, and Baifeng said to Xuanyuan: "That floating ice is called an Ice Jam. It is caused by the difference in the time the ice melts upstream and downstream. Added to the fact that the current is slow in that section of the Xuanyuan Tribe, those ice fragments that haven't fully melted pile up together. Not only will the floating ice destroy everything along the way, but the Ice Dam also carries the risk of bursting."

"Another thing is that we are completely incapable of solving it; we can only wait for it to melt on its own. Even if we used all of Huaxia's Explosive to blast it, it would have no effect. Moreover, I fear our people would be crushed into meat paste before they could even reach the floating ice. No matter how thick our Cement embankments are, they are as fragile as a bird's egg in the face of an Ice Jam."

Baifeng did not exaggerate the facts. Even the sturdiest engineering projects of later generations were difficult to withstand an Ice Jam. That was why, later on, there were many instances of using bombers and fighter jets to blast the ice surface of an Ice Jam, or otherwise, taking advantage of the time before the Ice Jam appeared to place large amounts of Explosive on the ice surface to blast it.

The place most prone to Ice Jams was the Yellow River, this mother river with a rather temperamental personality.

Zhishou had already stayed in Huaxia for over half a year. Although he enjoyed and liked life in Huaxia, his mission was basically complete. The task of teaching musical instruments had been completed very smoothly; subsequent proficiency and the improvement of skills would have to rely on the students themselves.

The musical scores and music theory now appeared very mature. At least from their current perspective, no issues were found when using them.

The development of new musical instruments was basically successful. The suona and the Zither had been corrected quite well. As for the specific fingering and musical pieces, those could not be researched in a single day. However, it was now clear that they were qualified musical instruments, even if there were no qualified musicians.

Therefore, Zhishou decided that as soon as the water route opened, he would return to the Xuanyuan Tribe. This included the musicians he had brought over. He dared not guarantee whether they would be enticed by the temptations of Huaxia and defect if they stayed here any longer, so he strictly demanded that they leave with him.

The musicians were naturally unwilling to leave. They were all waiting for Huaxia to take the initiative to recruit them. As long as Huaxia spoke up, they would immediately agree to throw themselves into Huaxia's embrace; after all, the gap in the quality of life between the two tribes was too great.

But Huaxia did not do anything to poach them. It was completely unnecessary to fall out with the Xuanyuan Tribe over a few musicians. They could not risk losing the big for the sake of the small after having worked so hard to establish a cooperative relationship. Therefore, Baifeng clearly warned Changle and Miaoyin not to have too much private contact with those musicians from the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Unable to wait for Huaxia to take the initiative to ask them to stay, the few musicians could not shamelessly linger. So, when Zhishou demanded it, they packed their luggage and waited for the day the Boat would set sail.

Zhishou had bought a total of six Slave, two of whom were cooks. A few Slave taking care of an elderly man living alone—the work could be said to be very easy. Moreover, the place where Zhishou lived and his treatment were both very good, and the Slave benefited as well. They felt they were living more comfortably than their previous Tribal Chief.

However, Zhishou said he was returning to the Xuanyuan Tribe. The Slave did not know the Xuanyuan Tribe, but they knew that the Xuanyuan Tribe was as powerful as Huaxia and had a relationship as close as brothers with Huaxia. They naturally assumed that the Xuanyuan Tribe was the same as Huaxia, so they had no worries about their future in the Xuanyuan Tribe.

But the Xuanyuan Tribe would not treat Slave as well as they were treated in Huaxia. No matter how much talent they had, a Slave was a Slave. Even if Zhishou had a high status in the Xuanyuan Tribe, these benefits would not fall upon them, the Slave. If they could have foreseen this in advance, they would likely have preferred to work in a Huaxia factory rather than go to the Xuanyuan Tribe.