Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 1036 - 679: The Real Main Force!

At 8:27 in the morning, the engineering fleet of the first assault team of the emergency rescue moved to the Fengnan Dangerous Segment of the Shishou City Yangtze River Embankment.

Captain Meng of the 402nd Army had previously seen Du Yuan handle piping hazards using grouting but had never seen the amphibious operations of the "Hong Kong Garrison".

Salted Fish gathered forces today to conduct a campaign at the Fengnan Dangerous Segment, so Captain Meng arrived at the embankment early to see how Salted Fish and others were building the breakwaters in the river.

You never know until you see it, and it's truly eye-opening.

A large tugboat, towing a floating crane and several barges loaded with rescue supplies, arrived at the designated waters. Once anchored, the floating crane, aided by the tugboat, moved into position and used a large crane to continuously lower cages filled with about a ton of sandbags onto both sides of the embankment, first constructing a landing point for the large construction machinery.

At the same time, engineering technicians like Master Xu, Master Yao, and Master Sun, with the help of the Binjiang Police 001 and Yangtze Police 110, used buoys made by the mechanical repair team to lay lines on the water.

As soon as the lines were laid and the breakwater construction area was planned, the landing point was almost completed.

A large ferry slowly arrived, and with the assistance of the tugboat and the Binjiang Police 001 boat, carefully docked at the landing point and lowered the landing deck.

Immediately, a large excavator, under the direction of a safety officer, drove from the ferry onto the just-reinforced embankment landing point, using its long main arm to dig soil and build a construction access road.

The bucket was huge, capable of scooping up at least two to three cubic meters of soil in one scoop.

The embankment had already been padded with cages of sandbags earlier. In less than twenty minutes, the gentle slope leading down the embankment was completed, allowing two large loaders, a large dump truck, and eight tractors to come ashore. But they didn't rush to build the breakwater; instead, they traveled about eight hundred meters south to construct an access road for the second breakwater.

The tugboat was equally busy, under the dispatch of the general commander of water navigation, towing the floating crane to the waters where the second breakwater was to be built and continuously deploying sandbag cages, just like before, to construct a landing point for the soon-to-arrive second team.

This was a dangerous segment registered with the Jingzhou Flood Control Command, and the next step was a major project.

The deputy commander of the Jingzhou Flood Control Command, Commander Huang of the Jingzhou Military District, hurried over by car, saluted Captain Meng, and urgently asked, "Comrade Han Yu, the dangerous section without an embankment slope or riverbank is only 1.6 kilometers long. Are two breakwaters enough?"

"Initially, I also planned to build four, but after repeated calculations, Master Xu thought two would suffice."

"From 8 p.m. last night to 6:30 this morning, we voluntarily abandoned three civil dikes, breached them to store the flood. To protect the Jingjiang Embankment, hundreds of thousands of people sacrificed their small homes for the collective, resulting in economic losses exceeding billions."

"I understand, and I heard two militia brothers sacrificed themselves yesterday afternoon."

"Two."

"Two!"

"Yes, one jumped into a breach to hold back the water, buying time for the liberation army soldiers repairing the sub-dam and was washed away. Another had been fighting continuously for nearly a month, didn't leave despite high fever, and was sacrificed rescuing a drowning child."

The loss of two basic civilian soldiers weighed heavily on Commander Huang, who clenched his fists tightly and said, "We have already paid such a huge price, suffered such great losses, so this levee must not fail!"

The reason Jingjiang's Yangtze River embankment could withstand three flood peaks was not due to the Linghai Reserve Camp, nor even the successive support from the liberation army and armed police troops, but thanks to the cadres and masses on both sides, especially the hundreds of thousands of civilian soldiers summoned by the Jingzhou Military District!

They had been on the embankment fighting the flood since before the first flood peak and continued to battle until today.

Without their day and night patrols, timely detection, and reporting of dangers, the emergency rescue assault team wouldn't even have the chance to respond, because the embankment would have already collapsed. No matter how well-equipped and prepared, it would have been useless.

Without their strict defense, the hundreds of kilometers of the Yangtze River embankment couldn't have risen with the water level during a flood peak. After all, the emergency rescue team had only so many people, and being able to defend two kilometers of embankment would be quite impressive. Though the number of supporting liberation army and armed police forces seemed a lot, they still couldn't cover such a long embankment segment and were numerically equivalent to only a fraction of the civilian forces.

Moreover, the over hundreds of thousands of civilian soldiers didn't have the logistics support like the active forces or Linghai Reserve Camp. Many civilian soldiers not only had to bring their own dry food to the embankment to fight floods but also needed to pay flood control fees because they were both soldiers and civilians.

What's more moving is that many civilian soldiers had their own homes flooded but had to obey orders to fight floods elsewhere...

Commander Huang had his own struggles.

Boss Huang called early this morning to say Commander Huang had just undergone surgery and returned to the embankment for flood fighting only three days after surgery. Even now, the stitches from the incision hadn't been removed.

The militia he assembled suffered casualties, and as a commander, he had to face the bereaved families of the sacrificed militia.

Han Yu understood his feelings at this moment and quickly said, "Building only two breakwaters is not just Master Xu's suggestion but is also backed by experts from the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission who conducted repeated overnight verifications. The experts unanimously concluded that two breakwaters can alter the flood flow's direction, and as long as the flood flow changes direction, it can protect the main embankment."

"Using a little force to lift a lot?"

"Almost, but the construction quality of the breakwaters must meet standards. If they can't withstand the flood impact, they will fail, rendering previous efforts useless."

"Can you guarantee the quality?"

"Rest assured, Commander. Once the two landing points are completed, our engineering ships will start piling on the water, driving one stake per meter on both shores of the breakwater. After the earthwork construction is completed, the remaining stones will be thrown to the protective slope on the upstream side. Once completed, we can ensure it won't collapse for at least a month."

"Only guaranteed for a month?"

"The main body of the breakwater is earthwork, and the outer side is sandbags. Although the outermost has stone protection, the stones are far from sufficient. Under the repeated battering of floods, we can only guarantee the breakwater for a month."

"Lasting a month would be fine; the water should recede in a month."

Captain Meng, knowing Commander Huang had just had surgery, reminded, "Old Huang, take care of your health."

"Thank you for your concern, Commander, I'm fine." Commander Huang took a deep breath and asked urgently, "Comrade Han Yu, how long will it take to build these two dikes?"

"24 hours of non-stop construction, we should be able to build it in one day and night."

"That fast?"

"The two breakwaters are just relatively wide, but not very long. This side only needs to be built thirty meters into the river, the other side needs only twenty-five meters."

"Thirty meters is enough?"

"Still the same statement, as long as we can change the flood's direction and ensure it doesn't directly scour or impact the main dike."

"You're the expert, if you say it's okay, then it is. What do you need us to do?"

"We have Captain Meng assisting here, no need for support from the Military District for now."

"Okay, I'll rely on you."

"It's hardly relying, this is the task of our assault team."

"Shall I leave now?"

"Commander, you just had surgery, you need to take care of your health."

"I know, thank you." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The third flood peak may have passed, but the water level at Jingjiang, instead of falling, has risen due to the pressure from downstream floods.

Flood risk looms over both banks of Jingjiang. To ensure the safety of Jingjiang Embankment, several areas and counties on the opposite shore have had to mobilize citizens to abandon personal safety for the greater good, resulting in the abandonment of nearly ten civil dikes, the disappearance of a township and dozens of villages from the map, and hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes.

As the Deputy Commander of the Jingjiang Flood Control Command and the frontline commander of the Yangtze River embankment, Commander Huang dared not linger here any longer. He raised his arm to salute Captain Meng, pressed his stomach with a hand, and struggled to climb onto the jeep and depart.

Captain Meng saw it all and felt heavy-hearted. After a moment of silence, he said, "Salted Fish, let's build three breakwaters instead."

"Commander, if we had the time and conditions, I wouldn't want to build even one."

"What do you mean?"

"If we truly had the time and conditions, would I need to rush to build breakwaters? I would directly repair the dike! The problem now is we lack time and conditions; there are too many dangerous sections waiting for us to rush to protect, and we can't waste too much time here."

"Forget I said anything."

"Commander, I'm sorry."

"It's nothing, no matter how high my position is, it's not higher than Vice President L's. You not giving me face doesn't make me feel disgraced."

It's true that good news doesn't travel far while bad news spreads like wildfire. Now everyone knows I didn't give Vice President L face...

Han Yu was at a loss on what to say when the familiar voice of Director Ge came through the walkie-talkie: "Salted Fish, Salted Fish, can you hear me?"

"I can, Director Ge, where have you reached?"

"We're almost there; have you arrived at the construction site?"

"We arrived a while ago, the landing point has almost been prepared for you."

"Good, good, good, I'll have Xiao Gu speed things up too."

"Uncle Ge, it's important to be fast but also to pay attention to navigation safety."

"I know."

Old Ge dislikes sitting on sluggish tugboats, just as he dislikes taking the ferries requisitioned by Jingzhou Port Supervision Bureau.

Seated in Supervision 48, he looked at the river surface, holding the walkie-talkie and smiling: "Mayor Shen has arrived, he came overnight, bringing seventeen trucks worth of supplies from his hometown. It's been a tough journey for him, I've asked him to rest in my office first, and I've brought the First Team's supply materials over for you, loading them onto a whole ship."

Seventeen trucks of supplies sound like a lot, but in fact, all together they wouldn't exceed two hundred tons.

Han Yu instinctively asked, "Loaded a whole ship?"

"It's not just rice and equipment parts, but also some instant noodles, sausages, biscuits, canned food, pickles, and mineral water like comfort items. Especially instant noodles, though not heavy, they're large and take up space."

"You startled me, I thought it was pulled using the Port Authority's large flatbed trucks."

"Mayor Shen did want to bring more supplies from his hometown. He said the city has mobilized cadres and citizens to donate money, the cadres citizens donated a considerable amount. Rather than handing it over to Binjiang for them to funnel it to the disaster area, it's better to purchase more urgently needed materials locally and use donations where they matter most."

Old Ge paused, then continued: "But transportation is a problem, water transport is the most economical. Like the ships your father had, one ship can transport fifteen hundred tons, but water transport is too slow. Although the Port Authority's large flatbed trucks can transport a lot, we should avoid affecting their production and operations if we can."