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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, nor was there flooding. Just a stream of water, not too large, gushing down from the embankment, mixed with mud. On the way here, I had spotted a few farmers who seemed to be guarding or training at the embankment, but there weren't many people around now; they must have been scared off.
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 us out!"
It was fine to stop here; if anything happened, we wouldn't be swept away. I thought to myself.
I rushed towards the embankment but then realized something was off—was that village official still on the vehicle?
I turned back and called out, "Hey! You!"
"Call me Old Lin!" The village official carefully climbed down from the driver's seat of the iron horse vehicle.
"Old Lin, hurry up and come take a look with me!"
"Oh no!" I exclaimed as I reached the embankment.
Before me was not a breach, but there was a gap about a meter wide, lowered by less than two meters, with water rushing in from outside! However, since this section of the embankment curved, the water wasn't rushing too fiercely on either side. After assessing the situation, I figured we could block it off!
Across the gap stood a local man 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 enough, the Company Commander issued an order: "Use everything available to block the gap right here! There are issues on the road as well; we all need to stay here. Can you manage to get across?!"
"Don't worry, Company Commander! No problem!"
The technical company had been left behind by the Company Commander. I guessed something similar to this gap must have happened on the road; we were on our own 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 in!"
I turned to Old Lin. "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 outskirts is where we stored the flood control sandbags."
I followed his gaze and saw a large village across several rice fields. Near this side of the village was a yellow warehouse-like building, standing alone a distance from the village. Many people 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, won't that block it up?!" I cursed.
"Where's Sheng Xiong?! Where's Sheng Xiong?!" I shouted. At that moment, soldiers began to gather, many of them instinctively picking up sandbags from the ground to throw over here.
" Sheng Xiong, relay the order! Everyone come with me to the warehouse to move sandbags! Old Lin, lead the way!"
After I finished speaking, I pushed Old Lin and took the lead down the embankment. I couldn't care less about flood control anymore; I directly ran across the rice fields toward the warehouse. My shoes were already soaked through, mud squelching inside my liberation shoes, making my socks feel sticky and uncomfortable. Running with mud-covered feet felt heavy and laborious.
The soldiers behind me were in the same situation. This wouldn't do; we were moving too slowly! The thought surged in my mind that we would have to divide our tasks—half would move sandbags down from here while the other half waited at the embankment to block the gap.
When I 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, all dry and ready for use.
I paused for a moment. "Quickly move!"
When we finally arrived at the gap with our 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 lifted their sandbags and tossed them into the gap. Thud after thud, as the sandbags hit the water, they immediately blocked some of it, causing a momentary halt in its flow. I felt a bit relieved and turned to run back for another load of sandbags.
However, when I gasped for breath and reached the embankment for a second time, I was stunned—the water flow at the gap was still as strong as ever. Most of the sandbags we had initially thrown in had been swept away downstream; those that had entered the water became heavy and impossible to move again. Moreover, the 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 to wash 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 looked somewhat confused and helpless. Below, more warriors were frantically trying to drag the sandbags that had been washed down and were rolling in the water.
I gritted my teeth. "Don't panic! Split the whole unit into two parts! Relay! Old Tang, you take some people to transport sandbags to the Embankment below, and the rest come with me to block the Gap!" Old Tang had been following closely behind me. The Guangxi people were truly commendable; they were honest and hardworking, never taking shortcuts!
Old Tang acknowledged and took his team away. Meanwhile, dozens of us took this time to catch our breath while waiting for the sandbags to arrive. Soon, a line began transporting sandbags from that side towards us. I watched anxiously as time passed.
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 non-stop, the number of sandbags arriving at the Embankment every minute was still pitifully small. Without a steady accumulation of weight from the dropped sandbags, they were slowly being washed down from the Embankment.
About half an hour passed, and the Gap still wasn't blocked; it seemed to be widening. I grew increasingly anxious and urged everyone, "Hurry up!"
Seeing that some people still couldn't keep up, I didn't care whether they were genuinely exhausted or not; I shouted, "For God's sake, move faster! If the Embankment collapses, this village is 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 dramatically, and the atmosphere grew tense. In that moment, one could truly understand what it meant to fight for one's life! Everyone seemed to go mad, mechanically repeating their actions: carrying sandbags—up the Embankment—throwing sandbags! Or carrying sandbags at full speed—throwing them down at the Embankment—and then sprinting back!
Even Old Lin and Old Chen couldn't help but join this frenzy. Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, farmers who had fled back to 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, we warriors transporting sandbags were able to take a breather and rushed down to start carrying sandbags to plug the leaks while the villagers spontaneously took over the task of transporting sandbags.
At this point, it was evident: there was a stark contrast between the two lines of people carrying sandbags. The team made up of farmers moving bags to the Embankment was slow and uneven; in contrast, the team of soldiers blocking the Gap charged forward in 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 for just a few minutes before quickly getting back up. There were still sections ahead; I feared there might be more than just this one breach. I hurriedly contacted the Company Commander via radio to report on our situation. The Company Commander ordered everyone to spread out immediately and conduct a thorough inspection for any hidden dangers or piping issues within and around the Embankment!
Upon receiving orders, I quickly organized my unit; each squad was responsible for a hundred-meter stretch as we lined up carefully to inspect every inch. During such critical times, we absolutely couldn't overlook any corner. I assigned Xuanhua's squad to handle the area where we intersected with the road at the front while Sheng Xiong and Jinghe maintained order at the forefront to ensure no one foolishly drove onto the Embankment during this time.
Although everyone was exhausted, they understood that we couldn't afford any carelessness right now. The team quickly dispersed as Xuanhua led his group running along the cement road on top of the Embankment towards downtown.
Every time they covered about a hundred meters, they would leave behind a squad to start searching for any signs of piping as they moved from above to below along the Embankment in a single file line.
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 everything thoroughly. After we blocked the Gap, the nearby farmers 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 Embankment was covered in vegetation, and we had to carefully push aside each plant to check for any signs of seepage, which was quite tedious. I advanced along the Gap towards the city for inspection. After walking just a few dozen meters, I spotted a suspicious area and was about to crouch down to see if it was a sign of Piping when suddenly I 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 rushing over, panting and looking flustered.
"No! It's... it's..."
"Calm down! Take your time!" I snapped.
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. Are you kidding me? 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! We need to check it out quickly!" I urged Murong Qian.
(To be continued, more exciting developments tomorrow!)
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