Chapter 387: Chapter 315: Protect the Reservoir!
A serving of buns, fresh from the steamer, not only filled the stomach with scalding hot steam but also the heart.
Yet it seemed to empty Old Cao’s smile.
Just kidding.
Since joining the Second Squadron, Instructor Cao had treated everyone for the fourth time.
Sun Jingwu remembered quite clearly.
The first time was when he had just joined the Second Squadron, the second was when his daughter scored double hundreds on an exam, and the third was when he was promoted to deputy battalion commander—he didn’t want to treat then, but everyone forced him to.
But Chen Zhenghai said that Old Cao hadn’t treated them that many times, because, although he hadn’t kept a count, he remembered Luo Ye saying that one could count the number of times Old Cao offered to treat on one’s fingers.
Sun Jingwu immediately said, "That’s probably because Luo Ye wasn’t around for the time when Old Cao first led a team on police dispatch and treated everyone to a bowl of cold noodles."
Everyone said that today should be treated like a holiday, and they must eat Instructor Cao out of house and home.
At seventy cents a piece, with big buns going for two yuan and three each, including Old Cao they were only twenty-three people in total, eating beside the big steaming baskets at the bun shop. They managed to eat 156 buns, costing Cao Yi a total of 106.7 yuan.
The bun shop owner was quite crafty; she insisted on including that extra seven cents.
Moreover, after they had finished eating, the owner called into the back room with a phrase that broke Cao Yi’s heart into pieces,
"Xiao Hong, have the buns for those soldiers at the dam been steamed yet? If they’re ready, hurry up and deliver them!"
Old Cao was stunned, "Ma’am... you’ve steamed buns for the dam?"
"Yep! Ordered by the government! All the nearby shops have sold out their buns! They told us to deliver them up to the dam!"
"The ones for the dam... they don’t have to pay?"
As soon as he said this, the owner’s gaze turned wary:
"What do you mean don’t have to pay! The government paid for them!"
Saying this, she quickly put the 107 yuan from Cao Yi into a drawer, considering that she still had to give back three mao, she picked a vegetable bun from the steamer, packed it, and handed it to Old Cao.
"Here, you bought a lot, this one’s on the house," she said, handing him the triangular change in the form of a vegetable bun.
Old Cao gazed vacantly at the vegetable bun, then picked it up and stuffed it into Han Yong’s arms.
"Eat!"
Everyone nearly died of laughter.
After eating their fill of buns, they got into the vehicle and left the street, heading towards the river dam. The sky was beginning to lighten, and it appeared completely relieved of any anger, with the weather looking so clear that a big sun might emerge.
The timing of the daylight seemed like that of a normal June, not like last night at all when they were amidst thunder and buffeted by wind and rain.
Speaking of, June was indeed strange, when it was cold, there was actual snow, and when it was hot, the ground turned so hard that it felt impossible to step on.
The people of Guiyang said there was no spring or autumn in Guiyang, only winter and summer; although without extreme cold or intense heat, when that sun no longer warmed, and suddenly turned cold, it felt as if the sun had been shut off.
In fact, this was the case in many cities.
Fang Huai remembered when he was a child, back in the nineties, there were spring and autumn.
In spring, the greenery was lush, the rain was fine, it was popular to wear those sleeveless thin vests, with a short-sleeved or long-sleeved shirt underneath while going out to play with friends – you could see the gentle breeze and sun showers.
In autumn, the leaves were very red, there was an autumn breeze, a thin coolness, and even ’autumn tigers’ - unseasonably hot weather. Even though it was autumn, you still needed to wear a coat; and when the big wind came, people knew that late autumn had arrived and would switch to wearing thin pullovers.
At that time, his mother would take out the summer clothes to air them, put them away in the closet, and take the cotton-padded jackets downstairs for a beat, getting ready to wear them.
When he was a child writing essays, he always wrote, "Spring is green, Autumn is golden yellow."
Now, it seems to have changed; that feeling of changing seasons has faded, people’s dress codes are also more mixed. During special seasons, you can see people wearing short sleeves and down jackets at the same time on the main street.
In the past, one of the two would have been referred to as a "freak" by everyone.
The scent of flowers and rain belonging to spring is gone, and the tranquility and golden yellow of autumn, the redness of maples, are also gone.
Fang Huai wasn’t exactly sure.
Industrialization made him lose whether it was the spring and autumn or his youth.
Actually, things weren’t so exaggerated now, after all it was only 2008, and everyone was still longing for true industrialization. Most of Fang Huai’s sighs stemmed from a soul 15 years down the line.
It’s just that thinking of these things made him greedily gaze at the surrounding scenery, because the past was the current youth, and the present would be the future youth. It’s uncertain when amidst people’s joyous celebrations, what they once complained about will change, and what they longed to change becomes a thing of nostalgia.
...
"Hey! Fire trucks do not come through! Make way for the cargo trucks!"
As the fire truck approached the dam, a lieutenant of the People’s Liberation Army ran over to stop them.
Fang Hongliang, who was driving, rolled down the window and stuck his head out, "We don’t see any cargo trucks!"
"They went out to haul rocks and will be back soon!"
"How is it up on the dam ahead?"
"The water level has surged again! We can’t keep it back! But as the water level keeps rising, we can only continue to pile it higher!"
"They haven’t started to release water?"
"The old reservoir has a too small discharge mouth, serious sediment, and is always getting blocked! The amount of rain collected on the mountain is too much, even though the rain has stopped, water is still flowing down, and the inflow is too fast! The valve was almost ruined just now!"
Having said that, the lieutenant waved his hand, indicating for a few vehicles to back up, then ran behind to stop another vehicle trying to enter.
The fire truck could only slowly reverse back towards the road entrance to make room for the cargo truck.
During this process, Cao Yi rubbed his chin while observing the reservoir.
Based on what he had heard over the phone on their way here, this reservoir had only six million cubic meters of water and an average depth of twenty-six or twenty-seven meters, which could only be categorized as a small reservoir.
"The flood discharge mouth is too small... Fang Huai..."
Once again, when in doubt, they turned to Fang Huai for answers.
Fang Huai quickly gestured with his hands, "Don’t ask me, there’s no way around it. This is just hard labor. If the sluice can’t be dug out, you can only pile up the dam."
I’m not Doraemon, I can’t just pull out whatever I want; there’s always a limit to what I can do.
There are so many solutions against the force of nature.
If there’s a breach, there indeed are many ways to block it: piling with construction vehicles, dividing the water to reinforce, using geotextiles or tarpaulins, or even in critical situations, sinking vehicles or ships as fill.
But if the entire dam face raises the water level, then apart from building up the dam body, there is no other solution.
It’s easy to blow up a dam, but hard to defend one.
The principle is pretty much the same as when they blew up Tangjia Mountain, as long as the water level exceeds the dam top and creates a massive flow, a complete dam failure is just a matter of time. No dam can withstand the test of overtopping. Once overtopped, there’s only one thing to say: you’re being pounded into submission.
Fang Huai could already see from afar the earthen dam crowded with people, which would simply not withstand a hit.
The underlying problem is poverty.
If you can afford to build a fully functional, modern-designed dam, why would you need to store water in such a reservoir?
Filling sandbags...
In this situation, even us professional firefighters loaded with equipment can’t escape the fate of carrying sandbags and operating in an assembly line.
Cao Yi, looking at the 13 tons behind him, felt a bit regretful, "All of our vehicles except for Car No. 2 can pump water; why not just go in and help them pump? Every little bit helps."
Fang Huai quickly did the math, then his mouth twitched.
"This reservoir has six million cubic meters of water; this truck pumps over 2,000 liters a minute, just over two cubic meters. Even with three trucks working non-stop for a minute, that’s just over five cubic meters, and they also need to discharge the water. It would be good if they could pump out 200 cubic meters in an hour, a drop in the bucket.
Pumping water... you think this is Hungary... with a large turbine."
Fang Huai wanted to say Hungary’s behemoth.
Big wind.
In future generations, the fire truck with the most powerful water spray in the world would still be a Hungarian tank fire truck, tank treads combined with a Russian Mig-27 jet engine, two giant water outlets, used for oil well fires, truly the king of brute force, with a discharge rate close to one ton of water per second. In an hour, it could dry up a small lake.
But with that power, it wouldn’t last an hour, and if it went on continually for an hour, the truck would probably explode.
Thinking this, Fang Huai did more calculations.
"However... there’s the Southwest Guizhou Detachment inside, why don’t we go in and ask? How many water supply trucks do they have? I remember they have two high-spray vehicles, right? We don’t have any yet!
If we call all of them for water suction, plus some water pumps, perhaps we really could stabilize the flow."
Cao Yi listened and nodded, "We’re here now, let’s go in first."
After speaking, he picked up the two-way radio and said, "Number 2 vehicle, Number 2 vehicle, move out, other vehicles go inside, stop by the reservoir side, pump the water to help with flood draining."
...
The arrival of the three fire trucks attracted the attention of many.
But the trucks didn’t stop in front of the dam; they kept going inside.
A firefighter dressed in an emergency rescue suit immediately came over to warn them, "Hey! Don’t go any further! The cargo trucks will be coming soon, and you won’t be able to get out!... Are you from the Provincial Special Duty Team? You can stop outside; I’ll take you there, park next to our vehicles!"
Sprayed on the side of the fire truck was the identification of the big team, and when the non-commissioned officer approached, he immediately saw the striking "Guiyang Special Duty."
It was eye-catching.
This identification, among all the provincial firefighting forces, undoubtedly represented a high standard.
"It’s fine, we’re not going out, we’re here to help pump water!" Cao Yi stuck his head out and said,
"Is your detachment leadership here?"
"Using vehicles to pump water?" The non-commissioned officer was taken aback at first but then said, "Yes!"
Cao Yi nodded, opened the car door, and directed everyone to go to the side of the reservoir to help with water draining.
Of course, before getting out of the vehicle, he naturally waved at Fang Huai.
Fang Huai felt like he’d become an "in three meters" messenger, just like being favored by Commander Long in Meng Fan’s case.
The only problem was this "Commander Long" was not a clever one.
He actually thought about using fire trucks to pump out a reservoir...
...
minutes later.
The leadership’s attitude caught Fang Huai by surprise.
Cao Yi only proposed the idea with slight hesitation, but the leaders around actually nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I think this plan is feasible! Comrades from the Guiyang Regiment have come to help pump water, it’s just getting light, I’ll immediately call all the nearby squadrons’ fire trucks over!"
Detachment Captain Li from Southwest Guizhou actually didn’t think too much before agreeing to the plan.
Before this, although it was said that fire trucks could pump water for flood control, no one had actually done it before. To put it bluntly, even if you threw the fire truck’s volume into this reservoir, it wouldn’t stir up a splash.
Is this... crazy?
On his way over, Fang Huai had already seen many damaged water pumps of various sizes; in the face of natural disasters, human efforts seemed exceedingly trivial.
Once Detachment Captain Li nodded, the mayor also agreed, "Thank you, Detachment Captain Li! We’ll continue to bring in more water pumps!"
Another leader immediately set off,
"I’m going to arrange for all the available water-spraying trucks to come over as well!"
Not far away, a leader in a thinning white shirt also came over and said solemnly,
"I’ve already consulted with Governor Zhou, he said that when it comes to the people’s livelihood, we must act decisively. If we need vehicles, call for vehicles; if we need people, call for people! We must spare no effort to protect this reservoir!"
Hearing the resolute voices around him, Fang Huai’s mood also grew serious.
What’s going on here?
(I’m back late, the second Chapter will be late, before one o’clock)
