Chapter 385 "Xirang" Fights Against the Flood Demon

Captain Huang's guess was correct. This kind of matter, which was related to the safety of dozens of millions of people, naturally could not be decided by his mere statement from the captain.

But even so, the determination he and other commanders and fighters involved in disaster relief showed had an impact.

At noon the next day, after a whole morning of discussions, the flood control directorate finally formally issued the instruction "No flood diversion will be carried out until the water level rises to 45.3 meters."

But just in case, the transfer of people in the flood diversion area still cannot be stopped.

With such an instruction, tens of thousands of PLA commanders, militiamen, and cadres and masses involved in rescue operations on the entire Jiangling Embankment were all mobilized to prepare for the upcoming sixth wave of floods!

…

Also at a critical juncture is Xunyang further downstream.

Due to special terrain factors, this city located next to Poyang Lake has borne the brunt of previous Yangtze River floods.

Although the local rainfall is not heavy, when the upper and middle reaches of the main stream and tributaries flood one after another and begin to interact and overlap, the risk of flooding is actually more serious than in areas with heavy rainfall in the upper reaches.

After the decision not to divert floodwaters from Jiangling was made, the pressure of the entire Yangtze River Basin gathered here in a short period of time.

There is no flood discharge area designed in advance, so there is no other choice but to resist.

At the same time, because there is no flood discharge area, there is no place to focus on in the entire Xunyang section of the Yangtze River embankment.

This is definitely not a good thing——

Anyone who has taken the exam knows that if there are no key points, it means it is all about the key points.

The Xunyang section of the dyke was not expected to withstand such a large flood. As the previous rounds of flood peaks came one after another, it was still unable to fully withstand the increasingly high water levels.

The tens of thousands of rescue troops looked quite large, but if they were to be spread out evenly on the embankment for hundreds of kilometers like spreading beans, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to hold on even if there was a problem.

Therefore, we can only concentrate on staying at the garrison not far away and wait for orders.

And since the stratosphere above Gan Province does not meet the required meteorological conditions, and Zhejiang University does not have a second set of relay communication equipment on hand, the information transmission situation here is much worse than in the Jiangling area of ​​Hubei Province.

Fortunately, the local weather was okay, so helicopters from the Army Aviation Force continued to take off, firstly to monitor the situation, and secondly, to be ready to respond to possible communication interruptions.

"Report, there is a collapse between gates 4 and 5 of the embankment!"

In the local defense frontline headquarters, an anxious voice suddenly sounded.

The most worrying thing still happened.

"The current breach width is 60 meters, but there is a tendency to expand to both sides."

Liao Xinmin, the local head of the local defense bureau, is naturally far inferior to Niu Maosheng of the national defense bureau, but his determination at critical moments is not bad at all:

"Explain the situation to the People's Liberation Army troops and request reinforcements. The rest of you, follow me up the embankment!"

The breach at the scene was like the gaping mouth of an evil dragon, with torrential water pouring down into Xunyang City.

And there, there are 4.5 million people who have nowhere to move.

The 60-meter-wide breach itself would not cause the situation to get out of control, but as the saying goes, a thousand-mile embankment is destroyed by an ant nest. If such a breach cannot be controlled in a short time, it may even trigger the collapse of the entire embankment.

This hole must be blocked.

The specific method of blocking will have to be decided by experts from the water conservancy department.

But no matter what method is used, the first step must be to reduce the flow rate and flow rate.

Otherwise, any building materials and construction equipment will not be able to operate normally in the surging river water.

"Have you deployed according to the emergency plan?"

Liao Xinmin asked the on-site staff next to him.

"We had already deployed it when we discovered the bubble phenomenon, but the flood level in our plan was so far behind the current situation that it was a drop in the bucket."

The latter's body and face were almost completely covered with mud and water, and his tone was equally anxious:

"Just now, shipowners from near Poyang Lake rushed over spontaneously and scuttled eight inland river coal ships with a total of 10,000 tons near the breach. It had a slight effect, but the current was too fast, especially the bottom of the ship was still It can pass through a large amount of water, causing the location of the sunken ship to continue to change. If we can't continue to fill in new blocking items, I'm afraid it won't be long before it will be washed away!"

The cadres and masses participating in the rescue operation on the shore are throwing in all the gravel, rubble and coal they can collect.

But even a sunken ship with tens of thousands of tons cannot guarantee complete stability, let alone these small things, which disappear without a trace almost as soon as they are thrown into the water.

Just when everyone was almost helpless, a shout came from not far behind.

"The People's Liberation Army is here, the People's Liberation Army is here!"

Liao Xinmin turned around suddenly and saw a convoy of hundreds of trucks on the distant road, like a long winding queue, heading towards the embankment.

With the arrival of the People's Liberation Army, there is hope.

"Quickly, prepare the relevant information and the current situation of the breach, and do your best to cooperate with the comrades in the army in disaster relief!"

The first person to lead the team was Wang Hong, the commander of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Division of the Jinling Military Region.

After listening to a brief report, he went to the breach to check the situation in person.

"We have tried wrecks, gravel, and sandbags, but they all failed to hold and were quickly washed away."

Liao Xinmin wiped the sweat or river water on his face and said to Wang Hong, who was looking around to observe.

"Normally, in this case, blocking the mouth alone is not enough. You need to drive wooden piles and steel bars into the river bed to form a cage-like structure, and then throw gravel bags and sandbags inside."

Before setting off, he had already consulted with senior superiors with relevant experience, so he had already made preparations in this regard.

"But how can you push things into such a large amount of water?"

Liao Xinmin was dumbfounded for a moment after hearing this answer.

If you want to construct in water, you need to rely on blocking materials to reduce the flow rate. And to reduce the flow rate, you need to drive wooden piles and steel bars into the water first?

"Leave it to us."

After Wang Hong finished speaking, he asked for a wrist-thick rope from the staff behind him, tied it around his waist, and then took the loudspeaker used for shouting from Liao Xinmin.

"All cadres above the company level, come out!"

Soon, the few hundred selected commandos tied themselves into several strings with ropes, and the people who stayed on the shore held on to the other end of the ropes.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Hong took off the hat on his head and jumped into the river first.

Under the obstruction of several human walls, the turbulent water finally slowed down slightly.

Others who came up with reinforcements began to throw sandbags into the middle of the human wall.

Although most of it will still be washed away, at least it has begun to have some effect.

It is impossible for trucks transporting supplies to drive directly onto the embankment, so the last section of the road can only be completed entirely by manpower.

Half an hour later, the first wooden pile was successfully driven into the bottom of the river bed, finally giving the nearby crumbling human wall a new support point...

Although progress has been made, efficiency is still not high.

Moreover, the risk is high.

It was fine when everyone had plenty of energy at the beginning, but as time passed by, everyone's energy was rapidly drained from being immersed in the flood for a long time.

Already, some weaker warriors were almost washed away.

Of course, the people on the shore and in the water are also rotating, but due to the tight manpower, even on the shore, they have to be responsible for carrying disaster relief materials, which cannot guarantee adequate rest...

Two days passed like this.

The breach was initially under control, but the flood was still pouring outward at a flow rate greater than 130 cubic meters per second and a velocity of 5 meters per second.

According to the plugging plan, after the breach is initially controlled, a half-moon-shaped cofferdam should be formed in the area to prepare for the subsequent filling and embankment work.

But because Wang Hong and others used ropes to secure themselves when they first went down, it was really difficult to make the cofferdam into a half-moon shape.

It can only expand outward little by little on the basis of a straight line.

However, after two days of continuous high-intensity work, the commanders and fighters of the three regiments participating in the flood fight had almost reached their limit.

Many people have fallen into coma or even gone into shock due to overexertion, and have been sent to makeshift field hospitals nearby.

The on-site commander was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do.

In fact, he had already sent his own sons who were serving as company commanders.

A division has no reserves.

"Deputy Commander Dong, the leader of the 2nd Regiment just reported that a new batch of strange relief supplies will be sent later."

The deputy chief of staff of the Jinling Military Region came over and whispered the report in his ear.

"strangeness?"

The long-term lack of sleep caused the commander-in-chief to be stunned for a moment before he reacted:

"Let's go and have a look."

When he arrived at the disaster relief supplies distribution center near the embankment, he saw Wang Hong communicating with a man in casual clothes opposite.

Next to it were two large bags unloaded from the car.

Made of tarpaulin material.

One of them has been opened, and inside is...

Something that looked like a sack.

"what's the situation?"

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, this is a new batch of disaster relief materials. Comrades from the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Science and Industry are introducing us to the precautions for use."

Wang Hong came up, saluted, and replied.

"that's it?"

The commander-in-chief picked up a corner of a bag from the side and weighed it.

It's flat, takes up almost no space, and seems to weigh less than one-tenth of a sandbag.

The casually dressed staff member next to him nodded:

"Yes, this is a flood-proof expansion bag that we rushed to produce. The first batch now totals 10,000, and more will be produced and transported in the future."

"Although it looks very small now, as long as it is thrown into the water, it will become slightly larger than a standard sandbag within ten seconds and weigh about the same, which can greatly reduce the physical burden on the soldiers."

"In addition, there are prefabricated steel plate beams on the vehicle, which can be transported to the site and assembled with bolts. Their ability to resist water flow impact is much stronger than ordinary steel cages..."

After hearing these last words, the commander-in-chief thought of the young faces that had fallen in front of him in the past two days, his eyes turned red, and he quickly turned his head slightly.

"Captain Wang, let your troops try it!"

"yes!"

In fact, after hearing the other party's introduction, Wang Hong was still a little doubtful.

Mainly because this description is so amazing.

When people encounter particularly big good news, their first reaction is often to doubt its authenticity.

But anyway, these expansion bags are very easy to carry, and he can carry a dozen of them by himself, so it doesn't hurt to give them a try.

In case it is useful.

He called a few people and took out a total of 100 expansion bags from the first waterproof bag.

The sharp-eyed warrior noticed that the word "Xi soil" was printed on the surface of the bag.

Wang Hong had read some books and knew that this seemed to have something to do with the legendary Dayu.

The jackpot is pretty good.

But if we dig deeper, Dayu and his elders used dredging methods to control water, and now this thing is obviously used to block...

The group quickly returned to the vicinity of the breach.

Wang Hong personally threw the first expansion bag into the current.

Then, amid the stunned expressions of several people, this thin bag that was expected to be washed away in an instant actually expanded rapidly as the person from the Science and Industry Bureau just said.

Finally, it was blocked by two wooden stakes placed behind it, which perfectly acted as sandbags.

"TMD...is it really useful?"

Wang Hong's shock instantly turned into ecstasy.

Even if we do not consider the steel plate beams that have not yet been tested, this expansion bag alone is enough to increase the rescue efficiency by 10 times!

"Quick, send someone to move some more, and we'll speed up the progress!"

After reacting, he directly threw the remaining ten expansion bags into the water, then turned around and shouted an order to the staff officer behind him.

"In addition, according to this efficiency, we can block the hole before nightfall today and tell the engineers to prepare to fill the pond and consolidate the embankment!"