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墨書 Inktalez
I had the driver stop the car, worried that I wouldn't be able to see clearly, and leaned my head out the window for a better look.
Fortunately, there was no breach, and no floodwaters overflowing; just a modest stream of water cascading down from the embankment, mixed with mud. On the way here, I could still see a few farmers, likely the village guards or those training on the embankment, but there were hardly any people left on the embankment now. They must have been scared off.
But since there was no breach, I felt a bit relieved. I quickly opened the car door, waved my hand back, and shouted, "Stop the car and let people out!"
It was good to stop here; if anything happened, we wouldn't be swept away. I thought to myself.
Then I dashed towards the embankment but suddenly realized something was off—was that village official still on the vehicle?
I hurriedly turned back. "Hey! You!"
"Call me Old Lin!" The village official was carefully climbing down from the driver's seat of the iron horse vehicle.
"Old Lin, hurry up and come take a look!"
"Oh no!" I ran up to the embankment and exclaimed.
Before me was not a breach, but there was a gap about a meter wide, roughly two meters deep, with water rushing in from outside! However, since this section of the embankment curved, the water flow wasn't too aggressive on either side. I assessed that we should be able to block it!
Across the gap stood an old villager holding a shovel, staring at us in shock.
"Report to Company Commander! We have reached a critical area! There's a gap here that needs to be blocked! The current impact isn't too severe."
Soon, the Company Commander issued orders: "Use everything available to block the gap right here! There are also issues on the road; we all need to stay here. Can you manage to get through?"
"Don't worry, Company Commander! No problem!"
The technical company had been left behind by the Company Commander. I figured something similar to this gap must have occurred on the road as well. We could only rely on ourselves now!
Just after finishing my report, I heard Old Lin shout across the gap, "Old Chen, where are the others?!"
"They all ran away!" Old Chen said dejectedly.
"Old Chen, it's fine now that the People's Liberation Army is here! I've called them over!"
I turned to Old Lin and asked, "Do we have any materials? We need to block it up, but all the sandbags over there have already been used!" I glanced around and found it strange that there were still scattered sandbags everywhere.
Old Lin hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes! Look, these are all left by the villagers." He pointed at the sandbags. "Leader, do you see that village in the distance? The big house on the outer edge is where we have stored the flood control sandbags."
Following his direction, I looked past a few rice fields and indeed saw a large village across from us. Near this side of the village was a solitary yellow warehouse-like building, a bit of distance away from the village. Many villagers were moving things in and out, and vehicles were parked nearby.
"Are they all thinking about running away?! If we just throw a few sandbags in there, won't it be blocked?!" I cursed.
"Where's Sheng Xiong?!" I shouted. By this time, soldiers had started to gather, many of them instinctively picking up sandbags from the ground to throw over here.
" Sheng Xiong, send the order down! Everyone come with me to the warehouse to move sandbags. Old Lin will lead the way!"
After saying that, I pushed Old Lin and took the lead down the embankment. Flood control was too urgent to worry about anything else; I directly ran through the rice fields toward the warehouse. My shoes were already soaked, mud squished into my liberation shoes, making my socks feel sticky and uncomfortable. Running with mud-covered feet in the rice paddies felt heavy and laborious.
The soldiers behind me were in the same situation. This wouldn't do; we were moving too slowly! A thought surged in my mind: we needed to divide our tasks and relay—half would move sandbags down from the embankment while the other half waited at the embankment to block the gap.
When we reached the warehouse entrance, Old Lin shouted from behind, "No worries, no worries, push!" I pushed open the warehouse door with all my might; inside were mountains of sandbags stacked high, completely filled and surprisingly dry.
I paused for a moment. "Move quickly!"
When we finally huffed and puffed our way back to the gap with the first batch of sandbags, it seemed like the gap had widened a bit more, muddy water flowing into the embankment.
"Throw!" After about ten people gathered around me, I shouted. Everyone raised their sandbags and tossed them into the gap. Thud after thud, as the sandbags hit the water, it immediately created resistance; I felt a little relieved and turned to run back for a second load of sandbags.
However, when I returned breathless for my second trip up the embankment, I was stunned—the water flow at the gap was still just as strong. Most of the sandbags we had initially thrown in had been washed away beneath the embankment; those that fell into the water became extremely heavy and could no longer be moved. Moreover, those soaked sandbags lost much of their effectiveness against water.
It was useless! It seemed that the lack of sandbags was the problem. If there were enough sandbags at once, it wouldn't be easy for them to be washed away. This flow rate could accommodate the sandbags! I tossed a sandbag aside, hands on my hips, turning my thoughts around. At that moment, I noticed the warriors who had come up with me looking somewhat lost. Below, more warriors were frantically dragging the sandbags that had been swept down by the current.
I gritted my teeth. "Don't panic! Split the entire unit into two parts! Relay! Old Tang, take some people to transport sandbags to the Embankment below. The rest of you come with me to block the Gap!" Old Tang had been following closely behind me; I had to give credit to the Guangxi people—they were honest and hardworking, never trying to cut corners!
Old Tang acknowledged and took his team away. Meanwhile, about thirty of us used this time to catch our breath while waiting for the sandbags to arrive. Soon, a line began forming as they transported sandbags over. I watched anxiously, my heart racing.
We needed to speed up; we could only speed up. There were only a few dozen people transporting sandbags over there. Although they were running back and forth continuously, the number of sandbags arriving at the Embankment each minute was still pitifully small. Without a steady accumulation of weight from the sandbags being thrown in, they were slowly being washed down from the Embankment.
About half an hour passed, and the Gap still hadn't been blocked; it even seemed to be widening. I grew increasingly anxious and couldn't help but urge everyone, "Hurry up! Hurry up!"
Seeing that some people were still lagging behind, I didn't care whether they were genuinely exhausted or not; I shouted, "Damn it, move faster! If the Embankment collapses, this village will be finished! Are you still soldiers? Even if it costs us our lives today, we must block this breach!"
Perhaps my words spurred everyone on; their speed increased rapidly, and the atmosphere grew more tense. In that moment, you could truly understand what it meant to fight for your life! Everyone seemed to go mad, mechanically repeating their actions: carry a sandbag—up the Embankment—throw in a sandbag! Or carry a sandbag at full speed—throw it down at the Embankment—then rush back!
Even Old Lin and Old Chen couldn't help but join this group. Perhaps it was the atmosphere that infected the villagers; before long, farmers who had fled back into the village began gathering again. Although they were only helping transport sandbags from storage, I could tell they felt that as long as there were soldiers present, this riverbank would be safe.
With the villagers' assistance, our warriors transporting sandbags were able to take a breather and rushed down to start carrying sandbags to block the leaks while the villagers spontaneously took over the task of transporting sandbags.
At this point, it was clear: there was a stark contrast between the two lines of people carrying sandbags. The line made up of farmers moving sandbags to the Embankment was slow and uneven; meanwhile, the line composed of soldiers blocking the Gap moved like a charge and mostly maintained their formation.
After nearly another hour of struggle, we finally managed to block the Gap. I let out a sigh of relief and allowed everyone to rest in place.
I collapsed on the ground but barely rested for a few minutes before jumping back up. There were still sections ahead; I feared there might be more than just this one breach. I quickly contacted the Company Commander via radio to report on the situation. The Company Commander ordered everyone to spread out on-site and conduct a thorough inspection for any hidden dangers or piping issues within and around the Embankment!
Upon receiving orders, I immediately deployed our Unit. Each squad was responsible for a hundred-meter stretch and lined up carefully as we moved through. During such extraordinary times, we absolutely couldn't overlook any corner. I instructed Xuanhua to lead one squad at the front where it met with the road while Sheng Xiong and Jinghe maintained order at the forefront—no one should dare drive on or near the Embankment at this critical moment.
Although everyone was exhausted, they understood that we couldn't afford any carelessness now. The team quickly dispersed; Xuanhua led his men running towards downtown along the concrete road on top of the Embankment.
Every time they covered about a hundred meters, they would leave behind one squad to start searching for any signs of piping as they moved from atop the Embankment down below in a row, checking meticulously for any issues.
I was at the mid-point with Old Tang, using this Gap as a boundary, one of us moving forward while the other moved back, checking for any issues as we went. This way, we could inspect more thoroughly. After blocking the Gap, the farmers from nearby villages who had followed us up the Embankment let out a sigh of relief, sitting down on the ground to watch us, who were still highly tense and busy.
The slope of the Embankment was covered with vegetation that needed to be pushed aside one by one to check for any seepage, which was quite tedious. I advanced along the Gap towards the city for inspection. I hadn't walked more than a few dozen meters when I noticed a suspicious area and was about to crouch down to see if it was a sign of Piping when I suddenly heard shouting.
"Company Commander! It's bad! Something's happened! Company Commander!"
"A Breach!?" My heart raced as I turned around to question them. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was Murong Qian from the Propaganda Squad running over, panting and looking flustered.
"No! It's... it's..."
"Calm down! Slowly!" I scolded.
After a moment, Murong Qian suddenly looked Strange and said, "Xuanhua and Sheng Xiong pushed a villager's car into the river!"
"What?!" I exclaimed in shock. Don't joke around! When did my soldiers gain such abilities?! Damn it! If I had known, I would have left them a walkie-talkie; I was too careless!
"Let's go! Hurry up and check it out!" I urged Murong Qian.
(To be continued, more exciting content tomorrow!)
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