Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 948 - 632: Outstanding Contributions! (Part 3)

"I'm sure it can hold, I'm confident in my engineering quality."

"Your confidence is useless."

"We can't just let the excavators and loaders sit idle."

"Let's wait a bit more. Now we need to be careful, careful, and even more careful. Let the comrades take a break; many haven't even had breakfast yet. Those who need to eat should eat quickly, and those who need to use the restroom should hurry."

...

The loudspeakers in each village in the evacuation area blared loudly.

Li Shousong promptly led his subordinates and the local officials conducting inspections to a higher ground dam, counted the numbers, and looked towards the direction from which the floodwaters were expected.

But after waiting and waiting, there was no sign of any floodwaters.

The news of the breach in Yang Liu Village's dam quickly spread throughout the county, reaching all corners.

The townsfolk, carrying baskets of vegetables, bags of rice, and oil jugs, headed to the nearest market to stock up on grain and other foods.

This led to an unusual boom at grain stores, shops, vegetable stands, and meat stalls, with prices skyrocketing. Vegetables like water spinach and bok choy, once just a few cents per pound, soared to over two yuan per pound, and meat prices nearly doubled.

In stark contrast, live pig prices plummeted.

A live pig weighing over three hundred pounds could be bought for just three hundred yuan.

Nearby village residents were desperately transporting their pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks into town, causing the agricultural market to overflow and creating a stark contrast between live pigs and pork. They no longer had time to slaughter them; safety of life and other property took precedence.

Reporter Wang saw a villager transport four pigs, each over two hundred pounds, to town to sell them all at once for a thousand yuan. He couldn't help but ask, "Comrade, how much did you spend on buying the piglets?"

"Two hundred and thirty per head."

"Isn't that a loss?"

"A huge loss, bleeding money."

The villager took the cigarette offered by Reporter Wang, frowned, and said, "The piglets are more expensive than the pork. I bought them as large piglets, which are more expensive than small piglets. I fed them for over three months, consuming more than a thousand pounds of grain, and didn't even recoup the cost of the piglets, losing dozens more on top of it."

Listening to this, Reporter Wang felt a pang in his heart, lit his cigarette, and asked, "Can you think of a way to keep them a few more days and sell them later?"

"What can I do!"

The villager sighed deeply, helplessly saying, "I have to transport thousands of pounds of grain, furniture, and the TV to the safe zone. I have a cow and two kids to look after. I can't worry about these; selling them cheap for some money is better than having them all drown."

There are all sorts of rumors flying around town now.

Some say there was a breach at Yang Liu Village, others say it wasn't a breach, but that the liberation army was ordered to blow it up to let the floodwaters in and divert them to the opposite bank, causing panic among the populace.

Reporter Wang was both anxious and worried about the safety of Salted Fish and the others. He walked into an alley, pulled out his phone, and dialed Han Yu's number again.

It was worse than not calling—he got even more worried because no matter how much he tried, the line was always busy.

Han Yu was on a call with Master Xi.

Rather than Master Xi asking about the situation, it was more like Vice President L, who was comforting the people, asking questions.

"Master Xi, how can I put this? The cofferdam is newly built and was constructed so hastily that the nearly ten thousand cubic meters of soil piled up weren't compacted layer by layer. I truly don't know how long it can hold."

"Are you reinforcing the cofferdam?"

"Yes."

"The Commander wants to know when it can be reinforced properly."

"Master Xi, we not only need to reinforce the cofferdam but also desperately protect those two small uncollapsed segments of the dry levee; otherwise, no matter how solid the reinforcements are, they'll be useless."

"I know those two small uncollapsed dry levee segments are more important than anything else, but the Commander is asking now!"

Han Yu, busy directing the rescue efforts, couldn't be bothered with the Commander and impatiently asked, "Ask what?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Master Xi could imagine how busy Salted Fish was, and pressed on, "The Commander wants to know when the evacuated people can return home."

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, deeply impacting agricultural production, industrial production, and commercial operations.

If they could return home even slightly sooner, more losses could be mitigated. Additionally, having so many people gathered in the safe zone could affect social stability.

Han Yu knew exactly what his superiors thought, and after weighing the situation, said, "Another 24 hours, Master Xi. We've barely managed to hold on now; it's not 100% safe. The safety factor is even below 50%. Since the superiors made me the field rescue commander, I must ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands!"

"Alright, I'll report it to the Commander like that."

Master Xi, still uneasy, reminded him again, "Salted Fish, the more critical the time, the more cautious you must be. Not only do you have to secure those two small uncollapsed levee segments but also pay attention to the junction between the cofferdam and the dry levee; these areas are where problems can easily occur."

Han Yu took a deep breath and wryly smiled, "I know, Master Xi. Believe it or not, I don't dare raise my voice when speaking now and walk tip-toed on the levee!"

The young man has made a great contribution this time, but it's not entirely a success yet.

Only when the large breach, having turned from a big water pit to a small harbor, is filled, and the junction between the new levee and the dry levee is patched, can everything be considered perfect.

Nevertheless, Master Xi was still quite pleased.

After all, the "barely holding" as mentioned by the young man had saved tens of thousands, if not more!

Master Xi turned and glanced at Vice President L, who was comforting the people from a distance, and laughed, "Salted Fish, Vice President L was quite shocked when he received the warning. Later, he confirmed it was just a dangerous levee breach and your emergency repairs on the cofferdam successfully stopped the flooding water. He finally breathed a sigh of relief. Before the Head of the Military Region, he praised you all, saying you were indispensable!"

"What's the use of praise, better send more rescue supplies."

"Why can't you see the good in this, child? Don't you know how high the evaluation of being indispensable is? I won't say more, I'm off to report to the Commander."