Free Web NovelChapter 351: Chapter 283: Water Comes!
Beneath the cofferdam, the path towards Beichuan wasn’t dried up due to the blockage.
Instead, it was a tributary that sprung up from the side.
The water wasn’t abundant, but it had accumulated to a depth of two to three meters on the original wide riverbed.
Just this two to three meters of water flow was already enough to give everyone a headache.
Everyone had to follow the current downstream for two to three hundred meters before they could find a foothold at the base of the mountain.
Fortunately, the light Firefighting lifeline had already been tested by over 800 people, and now everyone had immense trust in it.
The rope, with its strands merged into two, was about 500 meters long for each of its doubled strands, tied around a huge rock at the cofferdam.
When the evacuation began, Fang Huai took the lead, holding the two strands of the rope, backpack on, and walked to the steep edge of the cofferdam.
"I’ll go down first!"
The descent from this point of the cofferdam was as high as eighty or ninety meters.
Quite high indeed, looking down was like the view from a diminutive thirty-story building, where the trees along the mountain below seemed no bigger than toothpicks.
Of course, with the slope built up from the earth, there was a foothold, no different from the photos they had seen before departure.
Back at Command, everyone had assessed that while climbing up was difficult, descending would be easy.
At this moment, Major General Jin, holding the 40-pound military satellite phone bristling with antennas and carried by the accompanying Signal Officer, shouted into the phone "Guarantee to complete the task," while making a "shush" gesture and waving his hand at him.
"Sir! Deputy Captain Comrade Fang Huai is now ready to lead the team for evacuation!"
"Yes!" General Jin straightened up once again, "Guarantee to complete the task! Yes! We will not let any soldier fall behind!"
Major General Jin was almost reporting at every step.
There was no choice, as today’s incoming calls were from officials of higher and higher rank.
Getting further into the calls, Major General Jin stood up while holding the handset.
Since yesterday, when Command had issued the order to evacuate the displaced people from Beichuan, the blasting of the Tangjia Mountain Barrier Lake had attracted widespread attention from superiors.
The Ministry of Water Resources had also utilized satellites to detect this area and, based on information sent back from the scene, had performed water accumulation calculations. The results were startling.
An eight-word conclusion: A cataclysm loomed, hidden in its infancy.
Therefore, while the higher-ups were worried, they were pleased that troops were already handling the situation at Tangjia Mountain, and they requested the front-line Command to race against time, quickly draining the flood to provide a steady environment for the displaced people to rebuild their homes.
Actually, the higher-ups were not omnipotent, and there were many matters concerning the disaster area – rescue, supply security, troop deployment, highway rush repairs, psychological issues of the displaced people, short-term accommodation, reporting from all parties, international attitudes, post-disaster reconstruction – everything required consideration, every matter was significant. Even with the capability to multitask, they couldn’t cover every base.
Even if reports had been submitted from below, intelligence of a certain level wouldn’t reach the hands of the busy leaders.
However, once intelligence entered the higher-ups’ view, the speed at which forces were deployed immediately became unobstructed.
In the early hours, the second troop and expert team directly commanded by the front-line General Command had already set off from a village in Beichuan towards this place.
The command authority of this troop had also been upgraded.
Fang Huai didn’t want a big accomplishment; he just wanted to deal with the disaster quietly and swiftly, preferably without causing ripples in the hearts of the displaced people. But the tide of the entire incident had already spun out of control, pushing him towards a prominence.
He didn’t want to think too much, only to act. As for the outcome, he believed in the existence of parallel universes.
Every choice made by a person generates a new parallel universe.
He wouldn’t consider which universe was more favorable to him but would steadfastly choose the direction he thought was right and accept whatever he gained or lost in that universe.
Acting, just acting.
This was the meaning of being alive.
Fang Huai quickly descended from the dam body with the two ropes.
The instant he jumped into the water, he felt as if he had returned to that morning when everyone was planting trees together.
In the water, the sunshine was still lovely, spirits were high, laughter was continuous, and thoughts were firm.
Fang Huai swam forward somewhat intoxicated.
The dam that had worried countless people was about to collapse.
In this natural disaster, he had finally accomplished a great deed.
A meaningful one.
...
"Go! Go! Those on shore, head up the mountain, quick!"
The ten tons of explosives could potentially trigger various effects like the void, butterfly, domino, Tyndall, or the so-called "good-for-nothing retribution" among these majestic mountains.
Fang Huai could only do his best to guide everyone to hiding spots with vegetation.
Here, the vegetation was the only shelter they could find.
Major General Jin, one hand on the rope, helped the Signal Officer carry the crucial phone as he descended as well.
Following him was the second most important thing in the troop at the moment—the Type 69 40 Fire Rocket Launcher.
"No need to hide so far away!" Major General Jin shouted as he swam over, "If it collapses, it’s better to return to the water and run downstream! It’s better to drown than to be smashed to death here!"
Fang Huai’s mouth twitched, "Major General Jin, did you come here prepared to die, never considering the possibility of success? If the drainage is successful, why wouldn’t we run uphill? If we stay here, won’t we just be waiting to get swept away?"
Upon hearing this, Major General Jin couldn’t help but look back at the imposing dam and shook his head.
"Right, right, first get to higher ground, to higher ground."
A moment ago, his mind was full of "The Party and The People are testing us," and all he could think of were heroic ways to die.
The voices of those leaders, and some retired leaders who were concerned about the situation, had reached his ears. Not just the ordinary soldiers, even as a Major General, he was extraordinarily excited.
Some of those people, he had idolized as mythic figures since he enlisted!
Brigade Captain Chen had also taken a call once. It was from the chief of their General Bureau, personally instructing him to do well. He too was exceedingly exhilarated.
Fang Huai, on the other hand, was quite sober, mainly because of his rank, he wasn’t even a Cadre, and the leaders who didn’t know him wouldn’t be calling him with any instructions.
Even if one day it came time for recognition and reward, he figured he might as well wear the Emergency Rescue Suit instead of a military uniform and police insignia, or else he’d look too fresh-faced.
One by one, the soldiers also heard they were being reported on by journalists outside, broadcasted to the entire nation, and they were filled with motivation.
Their thoughts drifted to their hometowns, to the TV screens of their parents and grandparents. They wanted to tell their families:
When the State and The People are in trouble, we are here. This soldiering, it was not in vain!
...
7:25 AM.
All soldiers came ashore, and the Sub-teams began counting numbers.
At this time, the entire team was soaking wet, and the morning breeze caused many soldiers to shiver uncontrollably.
No matter how robust the body, lack of sleep for an extended period weakens the resistance, and with no place to dry their clothes, they could only rely on air-drying today. Some soldiers would probably catch a cold.
"First Sub-team, all present!"
"Second Sub-team, all present!"
...
After confirming everyone was assembled, Major General Jin found a higher ground again and gazed at the massive dam.
"Signal Soldier, prepare the camera! Send the live situation to the expert team later!"
"Yes!"
The Signal Soldier took out a digital camera and headed to higher ground.
The mountain road zigzagged, and their current location was at a bend in the water channel. Fang Huai took this opportunity to hasten everyone to move upwards.
Once everything was ready, Major General Jin bellowed,
"Detonate!"
The soldier in charge of detonation gripping the remote control pressed down hard on the unlock button.
Everyone was swallowing nervously, their emotions taut.
But it wasn’t that fast.
The unlock key needed to be held down for five seconds before proceeding with the operation. This was a safety feature, not something that would explode with just one press.
Success in unlocking, the electric spark conducted, igniting the fuse wire.
"Bang!"
On the dam, a patch of earth suddenly burst upwards, scattering into the sky.
The first explosive point was quite shallow with a smaller charge and was also far from the real blast point. This was to prevent the explosives from accidental ignition, leaving them time to escape.
A plume of thick smoke rose from the body of the dam.
After about ten seconds, the real explosion came.
"Bang bang bang boom rumble..."
Hundreds of explosive points, like fireworks at a festival, the sound of explosions stretched on unceasingly.
The later ones, the louder the sound.
Clearly, earth and rock were being blasted open, turning the muffled blasts into loud reports.
The ground, too, began to tremble as if hammered from beneath, the pounding growing fiercer, and everyone retreated further back.
"Boom!"
A thunderous blast, the last very deep explosive point, was ignited.
The mountain above started to fling rocks into the air. freewebnøvel.com
"Take cover behind the trees! Find shelter!"
Fang Huai was shouting, but he dodged the stones, rushing uphill to observe the dam’s condition.
The opposite side of the riverbank was raging with boulders, one huge rock dislodged, bringing a cascade of flying stones with it.
Luckily, the spot they chose to settle was relatively safe; the mountain was sandwiched between two others, exceptionally stable, and the shaking soon stopped.
Everyone was also very tense, reaching with their eyes.
The explosion had gone without a hitch, the dam’s body cut in half as they watched, pockmarked and collapsing, but they had yet to see any water emerge.
In Fang Huai’s mind, chants began to form.
Water, come!
As long as there was water! If water could pass through, all would be well!
If water started flowing, even a tiny stream would be enough. It would erode the breach, enlarging the gap, eventually creating a vast outlet.
The term "dam burst" was used to describe exactly this phenomenon.
"Is water coming down?" Major General Jin shouted as he began to climb higher to observe from an elevated position.
"Still collapsing! Still collapsing! There is hope!" Fang Huai said, his eyes riveted on the dam body.
A hundred meters high, the dam already had a significant gap knocked into it.
Mud and rocks continued to fall from the dam body, appearing so fragile.
Despite no water flowing yet, no one was disheartened.
In fact, they had already won.
At least most of the battle: with such a large gap, the dam’s three-hundred-million-cubic-meter water storage capacity had been halved by their efforts. The downstream city of Mianyang, 60 kilometers away, was no longer in grave danger.
Unless both sides of the mountain collapsed, and precisely closed up the gap.
The likelihood was low.
But what about the 4 kilometers to Beichuan!
At such a height, when water storage was at its max, Beichuan would still be in great danger!
With a calmed focus, everyone stared intently at the dam.
"Hurry up!" Major General Jin was growing impatient, shouting, "Type 69 40 Fire, fire a shot up there! Quick!"
But Fang Huai promptly tugged at him:
"Hold on! Ammunition is limited! Let me go over and take a look!"
Listening to Fang Huai, Major General Jin felt anxious and yanked him back hastily, "Go over there? Dangerously close! It’s far, and if the dam bursts, that’s going to be a landslide!!"
Now, everyone couldn’t see exactly what was happening on the opposite slope of the dam body. Though the rope tied to the other end of the explosion point was still there, allowing someone to swim over, that rope didn’t look very reliable anymore.
Mainly because the rock that the rope was tied to couldn’t be trusted at this point either.
Moreover, if Fang Huai pulled himself up the dam with the rope, and if the rock loosened, bringing everything down along with the rolling stones on the dam...
There was also the risk of the dam breaking at any moment.
Going over there now was fraught with danger.
However, Fang Huai grew even more agitated being pulled back by Major General Jin and turned to say:
"We can’t see what’s happening, how are we supposed to attack? Fire blindly? What’s the effective range of the Type 69 40 Fire? Where do we target now?"
"Captain, let me go! I have a good aim. I’ll take the ammo and report back from up there! You tell me where to fire, and I’ll hit it!" a soldier shouted at once.
Yet Fang Huai turned, pointing at the Type 69 40 Fire carried by another soldier and chuckled:
"This thing? I know how to handle it."
