Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 1059 - 692: Heard by the Emperor (Part 2)

The room of Deputy Mayor Shen is next door. Tonight, he will share a room with Old Wang. The conditions there aren't as good, as it's a four-person room with two bunk beds.

Of course, it can't be compared to a hotel, but given we are on the front line of flood resistance and rescue, the conditions couldn't be better.

Vice Mayor Qin asked curiously, "President Qian, where is Salted Fish staying tonight?"

Just as President Qian was about to speak, Han Yu walked in and said, "I'll be staying in the meteorological support room tonight, sharing a room with my dad."

"Is everything done?"

"All done. The three leaders, let's eat. The meal is in the duty room next door."

Vice Mayor Qin, feeling a bit hungry, immediately called Deputy Division Commander Tao, and together they headed to the former Port Supervision duty room.

The late-night snack was quite good, featuring four dishes and one soup.

Considering the hot weather, President Qian personally had the cooking team send over a keg of chilled beer.

Deputy Division Commander Tao didn't hesitate, opening a bottle and downing half of it in one go, he put down the bottle, grabbed his chopsticks, and asked, "Salted Fish, the breach at Mengxi Embankment in Angong, you mentioned earlier that it might flood the area near Yang Liu Village, where you previously conducted rescue efforts. According to your earlier reports, that area is within the Jingjiang Diversion Area. Now that there's a breach, doesn't that equate to a diversion?"

"There is still a difference, and it's a significant one."

"What difference is there?"

"Mengxi Embankment is a large embankment composed of several civil dikes, stretching from south to north, with a wide south and narrow north. The breached section is in the south. Angong has been fighting on three fronts recently, resisting the Jingnan floods and securing the Nanping Dahu, not far from the breached section."

Han Yu doesn't like drinking beer or tea, only plain boiled water.

Worried that Deputy Division Commander Tao wouldn't understand, he used his finger to dip in water and drew a map on the desk: "From south to north, there are tens of kilometers between small civil dikes, with partitions in between, so even if it floods Yang Liu Village, it would take two to three hours.

During these hours, Angong County would surely mobilize forces to secure the partitions, and minimize the loss within a limited scope.

Also, the breach isn't at the Yangtze River embankment, but at the Hu Du River leading to Dongting Lake. Due to sediment accumulation, Hu Du River has long become a land river, with many sections dry during droughts, and not even visible water, meaning the water level is high, but the quantity is not large."

Vice Mayor Qin asked, "Does this mean that, despite the breach, it's not very dangerous?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"It's still very dangerous because Hu Du Port not only connects to the Yangtze River at Angong but is also linked to the Songzi River. The upstream of Songzi River is Songzi Port, which also connects to the Yangtze River. The breach at Mengxi Embankment could cause significant loss to Angong and pose a threat to Xiang'an County in Nanhu Province because further south is the Dongting Lake District."

Recalling Deputy Division Commander Tao's earlier question, Han Yu continued, "Mengxi Embankment covers over 300 square kilometers, and the entire Jingjiang Diversion Area is about 1,440 square kilometers in size, with an effective capacity of 5.4 billion cubic meters. The concept of 5.4 billion cubic meters might be abstract, but as Master Xu puts it, if it were activated, it could hold the equivalent of 385 West Lakes."

Deputy Division Commander Tao pondered, "You said that even if Mengxi Embankment is flooded, the current water level isn't as high as when diverted?"

"Although that's the case, for the hundreds of thousands of people within the embankment, it makes little difference."

"They need to organize the evacuation of over three hundred thousand people here, and a large civil embankment is flooded there, how difficult for those leading party and government efforts!"

"The finances of surrounding counties have already been exhausted in the fight against the floods. Director Ge said Guang'an County alone owes banks tens of millions in loans."

"Salted Fish, the breach at Mengxi Embankment, why don't you seem very worried?"

"What good would it do for me to worry? Besides, this isn't the first breach of a civil embankment."

Having finished the food, Han Yu sighed lightly, "In a longitudinal comparison, although this year's floods are larger than in previous years, the losses are far less than in 1996. It's said that in the 1996 floods, 145 embankments in the Dongting Lake District alone were breached, including 26 embankments larger than 10,000 acres, with 1.138 million disaster victims, 177 people drowned, and over 50 billion in direct economic losses.

According to the Yangtze Flood Control Headquarters' latest report, as of four o'clock yesterday afternoon, a total of 87 embankments had been breached in the Dongting Lake District, but only 7 embankments larger than 10,000 acres, with 170,000 disaster victims and less than a hundred deaths, and direct economic losses of over 20 billion, much better than two years ago."

Han Yu paused, added, "Moreover, our company's main task is to patrol major emergencies on the Jingjiang Embankment, assisting military and civilian efforts on the Jingjiang Embankment in ensuring the safety of the Jianghan Plain."

Any civil embankment here is larger than the Jiangxin islands in Binjiang.

Whether the Jiangxin islands in Binjiang can withstand the floods has impaired the sleep of Secretary Lu and Mayor Wang. If there were as many civil embankments here as there are here, could it be possible for Secretary Lu and Mayor Wang to survive?

Vice Mayor Qin secretly sympathized with the party and government leaders of Beihu and Nanhu Province, when suddenly the office's landline rang.

Shishou City had helped set up a telephone line, the phone installed in the first-floor duty room was an extension.

Someone in the command and dispatch room quickly answered, and the ringing stopped.

Han Yu was ready to urge the three leaders to eat more when Zhao Jiang's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Secretary Han, Director Ge is looking for you, please answer, and I'll hang up once you connect."

"Alright."

Han Yu intended to answer directly, but seeing Vice Mayor Qin and Deputy Division Commander Tao look up, he could only press the speaker button, "Director Ge, you're looking for me."

"Salted Fish, the Mengxi Embankment's breach at Angong has happened!"

"I know, Director Huang called to inform me, instructing the Third Company to quickly search and evacuate the people."

"Has the Third Company set out?"

"They set out early."

"That's a relief then." Old Ge was awakened in the middle of the night, looked up at Master Xi, who had just arrived at the riverbank from the command center, and said into the phone, "Salted Fish, Vice President L has arrived."