Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 1082 - 705: Fight to the Death with Backs to the River!

The flood peaks of the Yangtze River are continuous, each peak higher and more perilous than the last, with water levels rising repeatedly and historical records being broken one after another!

The seventh flood peak is even more fierce than the sixth, and before it even reaches the upper stream Shashi, hazards have already appeared on the Shishou side.

The danger is an order!

Han Yu led the engineering fleet as quickly as possible to the Diao Guan Jidi segment, where the floodwaters had already overflowed several sub-dams, pouring inside like waterfalls.

If it was only the overflowing of the sub-dams, or even a breach, the superior wouldn't mobilize the emergency rescue assault team to rescue. Here, not only has the floodwater overflowed the sub-dams, but a piping spring with a diameter of about 2.8 meters has appeared on the outer side of the sub-dam!

There's a river beach here; to be precise, outside the main embankment there's a gentle slope nearly 200 meters long, beyond which lies the river beach. In the past ten years, crops were planted on the slope outside the main embankment, but now it's all submerged under the river beach.

Because of the underwater slope, the deep-drafted engineering fleet can't get close.

Han Yu could only let 001 use the underwater survey system to quickly help the fleet find a "landing point" to dock onto the main embankment and then let the earthwork construction team detour to defend.

He then, together with Zou Xiangyu, Yao Lirong, and Sun Youyi, took an iron dinghy to the side of the sub-dam that had not been submerged by the flood, climbing the muddy sub-dam with the help of two soldiers from the 60th Army.

"Secretary Han, let's go down and have a look first."

"Alright, be quick!"

Han Yu stabilized his footing and looked forward, seeing over a dozen soldiers and civilian soldiers working together in the torrent of floodwater to block leaks with reeds, sandbags, and stones, all of which were passed over by the officers and soldiers lined up.

The water depth reached the chest, and a wave would drench their upper bodies, resulting in a sight that brings tears to one's eyes.

On the sub-dam, at least five hundred liberation army officers and civilian soldiers are stacking sandbags to raise the sub-dam, with some driving stakes outside the sub-dam, setting up scaffoldings, throwing stones to reinforce the foot, and tossing sandbags to protect the slope.

Behind the dam, liberation army soldiers and civilian soldiers quickly shovel earth into bags and transport it to the dam.

They climbed the slippery dam slope by running, and many soldiers slid back to save time. The mixture of mud and sweat soaked their clothes, clearly showing several soldiers who sprained their ankles but still got up and limped along, continuing to carry sandbags.

The soil collection point is in the farmland under the dyke, where the floodwater that overflowed is rising fast.

When a shovel is thrust down, the mud sticks and restrains it, so they go down and dig with their hands to fill the bags!

On the dam, under the dam, in the water, on the shore, wherever visible, it's all "mud people," with mud covering clothes, pants, shoes, and even faces and hands...

Sub-dam overflow is dangerous, but as long as the military and civilians work together, and as long as there are enough rescue materials, sandbags will eventually be used to plug it.

Piping springs are different; piping springs are a precursor to breaches in the main embankment and are also the key focus of government embankment stability.

Whether it is a breach in the Jiujiang Yangtze River embankment, Anzao Dam, Pai Zhou Bay, or Mengxi embankment, it was all due to piping springs not being discovered or timely rescued that led to their gradual expansion.

Han Yu stopped looking, raising his portable speaker: "Leader Qian, this is Han Yu, we've come to support you, where are you?"

"I'm here!"

Below the main embankment, a "mud man" stood upright, waving towards the main embankment.

Han Yu stumbled through the muddy slippery dam slope and urgently asked: "Leader Qian, I saw the leak, where is the piping spring?"

Leader Qian's three regiments are all on flood defense in Shishou, having worked with the "Hong Kong Garrison" for half a month. During the Mengxi embankment breach, even the car platoon was requisitioned by Han Yu.

Old acquaintances don't need nor have the time for pleasantries.

He handed the shovel to a soldier, leading Han Yu while walking in knee-deep floodwater and pointing ahead: "In the rice fields, water's gushing like a fountain, trying any well filter method is futile, we can only block it from outside!"

Seeing is believing, and watching causes alarm.

The epic "Bottling Spring" was gushing with sand and water into the embankment!

Han Yu had never seen such a large piping spring, and when he looked back at the main embankment, he saw that the floodwaters were still pouring in like waterfalls, with the dam outside, on top, and underneath all waterlogged, making it impossible to visually detect if the embankment was cracking or slowly collapsing.

This is an extremely dangerous breach involving sub-dam overflow and severe piping spring, far exceeding the hazard on Yang Liu Village's danger section that was previously handled!

The main embankment could collapse at any moment, endangering the lives of thousands of military and civilians on-site.

If the main embankment indeed breaches, everyone would be swept away by the incoming floodwaters.

Han Yu took a few deep breaths and nervously asked: "Leader Qian, where is Mayor Zhong?"

"He's on the main embankment ahead."

"It's far to walk over there, let me call him."

"Don't bother, can't get through, better figure out a plan."

Leader Qian anxiously gripped Han Yu's arm: "Salted Fish, we are doing our best, but right now doing our best isn't enough to hold the main embankment, it's all up to you guys, you're the professional rescue, you must have a solution!"

Vice Mayor Zhong is the chief commander for flood prevention at Shishou's Yangtze River embankment, Han Yu had witnessed how busy Vice Mayor Zhong was.

Especially when facing flood peaks, Vice Mayor Zhong's two mobile phones rang alternately, with flood reports converging on him: where dangers emerged, where lacked sandbags and stones, where houses collapsed injuring people, where officials fainted on the dam being rescued...

Vice Mayor Zhong must command and deploy manpower and resources, directing ongoing fierce battles, and indeed, his phone was hard to connect.

Urgent to the extreme!

Even a minute's delay could render the efforts of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians futile.

Han Yu couldn't afford to hesitate any longer. He looked around and asked, "Leader Qian, including your team, how many people are here?"

"About six thousand now, with the 127th Paratrooper Regiment and Jingzhou Second Detachment of the Armed Police on their way."

"How many people are in your division?"

"The division and two regiments total two thousand eight hundred and twenty-six people, including me!"

"Deploy five hundred people to assist with our construction."

"No problem," Leader Qian immediately agreed, then couldn't help but ask, "Salted Fish, how do you plan to defend?"

"The seepage hole is so large that the floodwater and piping have likely hollowed out the area beneath the embankment. Even if we plug the outside leak, we can't ensure absolute safety. We can only fight back with our backs against the water, building a cofferdam, but we'll need you and the civilian soldiers to buy us some time!"

"Are you planning to bring in engineering equipment worth tens of millions?"

"I can't think of a better solution, and compared to the entire Jianghan Plain and Hanwu, what do our few machines count for?" Han Yu didn't want to take risks either, but there was no other way.

Leader Qian didn't expect even a penny-pincher like Salted Fish to go all out. He patted him on the arm, "Well done. I'll fully support you, even if it costs us both regiments to buy you time!"

"Thank you."

Han Yu took a deep breath, raised the radio, "Captain Wu, Captain Wu, this is Han Yu, do you copy?"

"Copy, copy, Secretary Han, please speak."

"Have you found a landing point?"

"Found it, just found it. We're placing sandbag cages, and equipment will take about twenty minutes to shore up."

"Too slow, I can only give you ten minutes. Move quickly!"

Han Yu turned to look at the precarious embankment and continued, "One more thing, the officers and soldiers of the 60th Division are outside the embankment plugging seepage leaks. The sandbags and stones for leak-stopping are being passed by hand, which is too slow and inefficient. Think of a way to have the transport fleet unload some materials and see if you can quickly move in to throw them from the river."

Wu Hai Li realized the urgency and instinctively responded, "Yes!"

"President Zou, President Zou, gather more people ashore, quickly survey the detour route for engineering machinery and transport vehicles. There's no time to consider construction roads. The danger won't wait for us, we now only have one option, we must, we can only work in the water!"

"Understood!"

"Master Sun, there's no other way, quickly lay out the lines on the water, prepare to build the sub-dam!"

...

The engineering fleet is carrying out defense tasks, while the logistics support fleet remains anchored at the "base."

Secretary Wang and Zhao Jiang received news from the front lines and fell silent.

Master Han learned that his son-in-law was leading a team to fight desperately, and hesitated to speak.

Deputy Mayor Shen received a call from Huang Yuanchang and was startled. After a moment, he gravely said, "This is not just a desperate struggle; it's a fight for survival from a hopeless situation."

Old Ge pulled out a lighter to light a cigarette, but his hand trembled uncontrollably, and it took him three tries to light it.

He took several puffs in a row, looking at the raging flood outside the window, he whispered, "Master Xi said the Military Commission ordered all troops along the Yangtze River to climb the embankments. The first-line troops on the embankment have reached 178,000, the largest deployment in the Yangtze River Basin since the 1949 Crossing the River Campaign."

Deputy Mayor Shen couldn't miss the implication in Old Ge's words. He slowly sat down, his face full of concern, and said, "At this point, we can only fight with our backs against the water!"

"Don't worry, Salted Fish and the others will be fine."

"Yes, they will definitely be fine."

Though Deputy Mayor Shen said so, his heart was filled with anxiety.

The fleet of the First Team has over sixty Linghai Soldiers. It's better to be safe than sorry. What if something happens, how could he explain it to their families afterward?

He thought of Han Xiangning, of Zhang Lan, of Han Ning who was transferred to East Sea, and immediately lifted his head, picked up the landline, and quickly dialed the Water Commander's mobile phone.

"Mayor Shen, sorry, I'm a bit busy..."

"Captain Wu, I know you're busy. I only have one sentence: quickly find out if Dongdong has come ashore. If Dongdong went ashore with Salted Fish, immediately get him back on the boat for me!"

Wu Hai Li paused, then suddenly realized what Deputy Mayor Shen was worried about and quickly replied, "Yes!"

One wouldn't know if no one was sent to find out, but the question brought a shock.

Over eight hundred meters of the sub-dam ahead were flooded in more than ten places, with two breaches. Parts of the embankment were hollowed out by the river and could collapse at any moment.

More than two thousand soldiers of the 60th Division had been battling the flood demon for over two hours. Some warriors had their feet pierced by nails on the boards beneath them, some fell on rocks and their knees were exposed, and some fainted from continuous combat.

Dongdong was with three medics from the 2nd Battalion of the 132nd Regiment, carrying the injured and sick to the fleet under Liang Xiaojun's command.