Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 937 - 627: The Plan Can’t Keep Up with Changing Dangers (Part 2)

"External transfer" cannot carry large bags of food, heavy furniture, and disobedient livestock; they can only bring small personal bags to travel lightly, making it easier for them to move compared to the locals here.

One can imagine that those undergoing "external transfer" will carry a heavier burden in their hearts than those undergoing "internal transfer," because if the levee cannot be held and floodwaters inundate the flood control area, they will truly be left with nothing...

Throughout the journey, Reporter Wang interviewed dozens of people and took over a dozen rolls of film, witnessing far too many helpless and tear-streaked faces.

He no longer wanted to conduct interviews or, more precisely, didn't want to pour salt on people's wounds.

He wanted to do something, but after pondering, he realized there was nothing he could do. The only thing he could do seemed to be calling Han Yu.

He knew Han Yu was very busy now and didn't want to interfere with Han Yu's rescue efforts. Yet, faced with the worried faces of the crowd, he couldn't resist, so he walked along the ridge to the center of the rice field and dialed Han Yu's phone.

"Uncle Wang, what's up?"

"San'er, can that dangerous section of the levee be held?"

"We're doing our best."

"Can you give me a straight answer?"

"Uncle Wang, where are you?"

Reporter Wang took several deep breaths, gripped the phone tightly, and said, "I'm interviewing the evacuation of the people."

With hundreds of thousands of people needing to be evacuated within five hours, one can imagine the tragic scenes even without seeing it.

Han Yu was silent for a moment, staring intently at the boil spring below the levee that was continuously oozing water and sand, and solemnly said, "Uncle Wang, evacuate quickly and stay safe."

"Does that mean it can't be held?"

"We will do our utmost; we won't give up until the very last moment."

"San'er, you be safe too."

"I know, I need to hang up now."

...

Plans always change faster than anticipated.

The boil spring danger was deteriorating far faster than expected.

Han Yu put down his phone and addressed Hao Qiusheng, Sun Youyi, Zou Xiangyu, along with Master Xu, Master Yao, Master Yan, and others who were anxiously watching him, gravely saying, "Everyone, since the boil spring danger can't be contained by the current rescue efforts, we won't persist on the rescue. We need to adjust our approach and race against the incoming water!"

Hao Qiusheng stared at him intently and asked, "Raise the dam as the water rises? Can we ensure the embankment height even if we can't compress it?"

"That's the best approach at the moment."

"No way."

"Master Xu, why not?"

Just as Han Yu asked, Zou Xiangyu, the project manager of the Road and Bridge Company, urgently said, "Master Xu, we have two large excavators and two large dump trucks; we have enough earthwork supply. Even if it requires more than seven to eight thousand cubic meters, we can stack up ten thousand cubic meters within eight hours if needed!"

Hao Qiusheng wasn't ready to give up either; he turned around, pointing to the embankment over five meters high: "We've already completed half of it; how can we abandon it now? Moreover, the people under the levee need at least four hours to evacuate to safety."

"Don't misunderstand; I'm not saying to give up. In fact, we can't give up now. What I'm saying is that stacking it like this, the new levee's base and waist are too loose; it might not even need the front levee to collapse before the water flooding in through the boil spring causes the new levee to fail."

"I know, which is why we need to adjust our plan."

Master Xu asked, "How do we adjust?"

"We'll build the new levee while also reinforcing it!"

Han Yu took a deep breath and turned around, saying, "Master Yan, organize the civilian soldiers to hold on for another hour. If there aren't enough people, I'll ask the liberation army to come and support. If we can hold for an hour, we can secure the base and waist of the new levee. Then, we can race against the incoming water, seeing whether our construction is faster or the water surge is."

The senior engineer from the Angong County Water Resources Bureau nodded heavily.

"President Hao, Manager Zou, don't worry about the base and waist of the levee; what you need to do now is speed up the earthwork construction."

"Understood, we'll arrange it now."

"Master Sun, you don't need to go; Boss Huang has arranged to send over the instruments you need. From now on, you'll join the water resources expert team and find someone to assist you in measuring the height of the dangerous levee. Compared to visual inspection, instrument measurement is much more accurate."

Using instruments to measure will reveal whether the levee is settling, how much it has settled, and whether it will collapse...

Sun Youyi realized the grave responsibility and quickly said, "Okay."

"Master Xu, the water level gauges we need have also been sent by Boss Huang; organize people quickly to install them."

"Okay, I'll go do it right away."

...

Han Yu delegated the tasks and quickly ran to the area where sandbags were being filled.

Company Commander Wu of the Third Company, 132nd Regiment, hurriedly approached and asked, "Han Camp Commander, what's the instruction?"

"The situation has changed; we need you to support the new levee."

"How will we support it?"

"Gather urgently first."

Company Commander Wu wasted no time, took out the whistle given to him by Director Ge, blew it several times, and then shouted, "Third Company, all on alert, gather urgently!"

"Yes!"

"Seventh platoon, come here and form up quickly!"

"Eighth platoon, over here, put the tools down first, hurry up!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The regular army is indeed the regular army; in no time, more than eighty soldiers had formed ranks.

After confirming all his subordinates were present, Company Commander Wu immediately turned around, saluted, and said, "Comrade Camp Commander, the 3rd Company of the 2nd Battalion, 132nd Regiment, is assembled and ready for instructions!"

"Comrades, at ease."

Han Yu returned the salute, looked at the more than eighty soldiers, and said, "Comrades, everyone should understand the principle of a communicating vessel; the seepage channel of the boil spring under the dangerous levee is equivalent to a U-shaped glass tube in a communicating vessel experiment. Only when the water level inside the levee is balanced with the Yangtze River's water level will the river water not seep back through the sand layer gaps into the levee.

The current problem is that there's a fourteen-meter difference in water level between the inside and outside of the levee. This means that if we were to deal with the boil spring danger in the usual way, we would have to keep raising the coffer dam.

If the water seeps slowly, we could use other ways to handle it. However, the river water now does not seep into the levee but floods into it through the sand layer gaps via the boil spring!

We don't have the time, nor can we build seven coffer dams up to fourteen meters high. The principle is straightforward; it's like saying it's impossible to stack sandbags into a fourteen-meter-high chimney."

The more educated soldiers could understand this.

Those with less education were somewhat bewildered.

But understanding was not the most important thing right now.

Han Yu surveyed them and continued, "After four hours of hard work, we successfully built a new levee over six meters high. Initially, we had to build construction and evacuation paths, so the speed was slow, but the speed and efficiency of earthwork operations will increase from now on.

What you all need to do next is to use sandbags to stack along the existing gentle slope outside the new levee, from the base to the top, one layer at a time. The sandbags must be placed horizontally, not vertically, and ensure that the upper layer presses down on the lower, with staggered joints."

Company Commander Wu generally understood and instinctively asked, "Camp Commander, is it like stacking sandbags upwards as if building a wall?"

"Exactly, it's similar to building a wall."

Han Yu nodded and continued, "Now the coffer dam is about to give in, and the local civil soldier brothers are doing their utmost to make sure the incoming water doesn't overflow the coffer dam.

They will win us another hour, so your task is to build a sandbag wall sixty-five meters long and six meters high within an hour!"

"Yes!"

"All of you, take your shovels and move out at a run!"

"Seventh platoon, follow me!"

Watching the paratroopers leave, Han Yu adjusted his walkie-talkie to the logistics support group frequency: "Director Ge, Instructor Yang, this is Han Yu, please respond."

"Received, what's the matter?"

"Received, Secretary Han, please proceed."

"Director Ge, aren't there many people around who don't want to leave their homes and run to the main levee? Please immediately ask the county leaders if we can organize the people to help fill sandbags. Tell them it's a matter of great urgency!"

"Okay, I'll go find County Magistrate Huang now."

"Instructor Yang, organize all personnel from the Third Company immediately to come and fill sandbags."

"Yes!"