Free Web NovelChapter 382: Chapter 310: Run Forward!
Fang Huai watched as two elderly people did their utmost to soothe a child, feeling a bitter taste in his heart.
The arrival of the flood might not be the hardest time; when the waters receded, and they had to restore their belongings and calculate their living expenses, that might be their biggest challenge.
They left the village and returned to the main road.
It grew wider as they went on.
On the way to Dayi Town, they finally saw a large number of displaced people moving toward the town.
Dozens of people, in a long procession, with the young supporting the old and carrying the young, seemed to be all together.
"Slow down, proceed with caution!"
Cao Yi looked at the relentless pouring rain outside, turned his head to look at the firefighting vehicle already packed with people, and as the vehicle reached the front of the line, he picked up the two-way radio and said,
"All personnel, disembark! Call the civilians to board the vehicle, leave only the drivers, everyone else, run forward!"
Four vehicles stopped quickly.
The soldiers filed out and formed a long line under each vehicle.
This time when they disembarked, not a single one shivered with cold; regardless of whether their bodies could withstand it, everyone was self-hypnotizing:
We are iron soldiers!
"Anyone going to the town, get on the vehicle! Get on!"
The soldiers beside each vehicle called out to the passing civilians to board.
"Old man, get in quickly to avoid the rain! Someone give up a seat for the old man!"
"Auntie, put the eggs at the front; let the people at the front hold them for you!"
"Which village are you from? ... Nabao Village? Are there still people in the village? Ah? ... Instructor Cao! There are still people in their village! More than ten of them, blocked by the broken road, trapped and can’t get out!"
Hu Hongzhi dragged a young man to ask for details, then hurriedly reported loudly to Cao Yi.
Cao Yi, seeing how the people had finally managed to squeeze onto the vehicle, could only helplessly scratch his head and shouted,
"Let’s talk about it after we get to the town! It’s not far, everyone follow behind the vehicles, forced march! Don’t fall behind!"
"All assemble!" Ye Jiahong yelled.
Everyone standing together in this stormy night felt their military service had become more complete.
"The three ranks at the front, look right!"
"Look, forward!"
"Left turn!"
"Run... march!"
The voice of Ye Jiahong sounded especially mighty today.
This guy, really shouldn’t be the captain, more suited to be the deputy captain, just fit for a charge, all smiles in everyday life, but the moment hardship arrives, he becomes serious.
But it’s quite rousing.
Cao Yi, on the other hand, stood to the side of the formation, calmly observing the situation of the vehicles and the people below them.
The in-unison footsteps of the entire column, running neatly in three ranks.
The vehicles moved slowly forward.
In this rain, one can’t drive fast, just twenty yards, twenty kilometers an hour.
But the soldiers underneath were running at lightning speed.
As a joke, twenty yards.
One’s legs could break at that pace in an hour.
This pacing, a five-kilometer run in 15 minutes, even in the rain.
Fortunately, the vehicles are not moving in a straight line, winding and avoiding the increasingly turbulent flow of water.
The main street was already flooded.
"Rumble..."
The distant thunder and lightning continued to build up, erupting periodically, with torrential rain washing everything in its tilt.
The storm spares no one.
Nature really has too good a temper; what people mostly see are pleasant spring days and gentle drizzles. Now, with just a little fury, it becomes a spectacle.
A gust of wind can bring about the spectacle of rain flying sideways.
Who says that the magic and sorcery in myths are imagined by humans? The person who first wrote about world-destroying magic must have found inspiration in this frenzy.
They were not creating; they were merely recording.
All of this, impossible to contend with.
But next to the formation, Ye Jiahong yelled a slogan that challenged nature:
"Suppress hunger one!"
"One! Two! Three! Four!"
Everyone’s spirits suddenly lifted, shouting in unison.
"One! Two! Three! Four!"
"One two three four!"
"One two, three four!"
"One two three four!"
The will of a soldier imbues my body, aiding my journey through heaven and earth.
There are no forefathers in this line, but there are revolutionary predecessors!
The great Yangtze flood of ’54, the Hai River flood of ’63, the Zhumadian Reservoir dam failure in ’75, the Sichuan Yangtze River upstream flood of ’81, the basin-wide flood of ’99...
Has there ever been one that halted us? frёewebηovel.cѳm
The soldiers’ chants overpowered thunder, lightning, and the pouring rain, echoing in the ears of the civilians inside the vehicles; they all leaned towards the windows, watching the troops marching alongside.
This sound, so familiar to them; every time there was a disaster, they could hear it. They had heard it the year before last, and though the mudslide last year wasn’t severe, they heard it then too.
They have come again.
Perhaps they’ve never experienced a firefighting vehicle heated to 30 degrees Celsius, but this sound, they have heard it, and it feels warmer than the air conditioning.
"It’s the National Defense Army, you are the National Defense Army, no wonder..." some who boarded the vehicle still somewhat confused, suddenly realized.
Below the municipal level, only at the county level are fire brigades established; truly many of the people from the towns and villages have never seen a fire truck.
"The National Defense Army is here, all is good..."
"Go slow, comrade, wait for them..."
The gazes of the people on the vehicle became warm, and the soldiers beside them also felt warmth.
...
"In the vast sea of people, which one am I
In the surging waves, which blossom am I
...
I don’t need you to recognize me, and I don’t yearn for you to know me
I blend my youth into the rivers of the Motherland!
The mountains know me, the rivers know me!
"The Motherland Will Not Forget"
The Motherland will not forget me!
In just twenty minutes, the soldiers were all losing heat. Ye Jiahong led everyone in singing one military song after another to warm up.
They had reached the town.
Their singing also informed many people that they had arrived.
"Hey!"
Not far ahead, a group of people in raincoats were waving at them.
It looked close, but everyone slowed down. The singing stopped.
The road ahead narrowed again, entering the main thoroughfare of Dayi Town.
Although there were mountains all around, Dayi Town wasn’t situated within the mountains like Beichuan.
It was at the foot of the mountains.
The mountains were high and the valleys were deep. High up, numerous streams had formed, rushing down with stones.
Although the mountains looked stable with plenty of vegetation and no signs of landslides, the great height difference of several hundred meters made the river water entering the town flow very fast.
Moreover, the water was not flowing in one direction but spreading out everywhere.
This meant that there was no significantly lower area around them to receive the flow, it could only rely on natural subsidence to drain.
They were standing in a giant puddle.
centimeters, 30 centimeters, 40 centimeters...
From outside the town to here, the water on the main road had already flooded from the tires of the fire truck to the headlights, and the vehicle had begun to obstruct the water.
The soldiers walking by the roadside were in water up to their thighs.
The people from ahead, who came to meet them, were also visible only from the waist up.
"Comrade, which Squadron are you from?" A man in glasses, wearing a suit, ran over.
Ye Jiahong went up to meet him.
"We’re from Guiyang Firefighting!"
"Ah, comrades from Guiyang!" The man became even more polite, shaking hands with Ye Jiahong and then looking towards the fire truck.
"What are you hauling in your truck?"
"People from two villages! One is Bianwang Village, the other is Nabao Village!"
"Have you rescued the people from Bianwang Village?" the man asked loudly.
"Yes!" Ye Jiahong nodded. "The sixteen trapped persons from Bianwang Village have already been brought over. Which department are you from?"
The man immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am Dayi Town Mayor Liu Wang! Comrade, thank you! I will now take you to the school shelter to accommodate the displaced people. The county leadership is also there!"
"Mayor Liu, hello! It’s good to have a shelter! These people have suffered too much!"
As Ye Jiahong finished speaking, both men sighed at the same time, turning into a puff of white smoke that shouldn’t have been present in June.
...
Dayi Town was not large; within just a 10-minute journey, everyone followed Mayor Liu into the temporarily sheltered school.
Before Fang Huai helped the old lady off the bus, he took out the seventeen hundred yuan he had hidden inside his camouflage uniform.
While carrying the old lady upstairs, he quietly slipped the money into the deepest pocket of the old woman’s outer coat.
Inside the building, they were sheltered from the wind and rain.
The only thing that could penetrate here was the sound of thunder.
This place, meant for children to attend classes, was now filled, both inside and out, with government staff.
The dozens of villagers from two villages, along with the Second Squadron, were taken to a large classroom. Inside, there were two small stoves and a large aluminum tub, emitting wisps of hot steam rising from the tub, adding a hint of warmth to the place.
"Come, comrade, have some ginger soup."
Mayor Liu came in with a couple of staff members, carrying ceramic bowls and ladling soup from the tub for everyone.
"We won’t drink it, give it to them first!" The soldiers declined.
In the adjacent classroom, a voice was speaking.
"Yesterday, the night of May 27 to the early hours of today, there was another county-wide rainfall. According to the data transmitted to the Meteorological Bureau by the monitoring points in Dayi and Lewang Towns, within a span of three to four hours, there had been a downpour of 220 to 241 millimeters... a torrential rainstorm.
With an altitude of over 1700 meters, Dayi Town has steep river gradients, which makes it highly susceptible to flash flooding. Although Lewang Town is somewhat flatter, its river channels are very narrow, with poor flood discharge capacity. Should the rainfall continue like this, the entire Lewang Town could be submerged by the floodwaters.
The height difference between our county’s valleys and peaks is more than 500 meters. Therefore, with such a large catchment area, the floodwaters move swiftly, posing a high risk of floods..."
The soundproofing here was very poor; the voice from next door could be heard quite clearly.
Early this morning.
On hearing this, those with watches glanced down at their wrists.
It was already past 1:00 AM; now it was May 28.
The disaster caused by this heavy rainfall started on May 26 and was still ongoing.
As they listened, a gloom settled over their minds.
Had the heavens sprung a leak?
After the staff finished serving ginger tea to the villagers, they began pouring some for the soldiers. Mayor Liu came over with a bowl of ginger soup, gesturing apologetically at the wall next door and said with a smile,
"Our facilities here are not the best, and the soundproofing is poor. Secretary Deng from the county is next door being interviewed."
"It’s okay, no problem," Ye Jiahong and Cao Yi waved their hands in dismissal,
"Mayor Liu is still on the front line working hard late into the night. It’s been tough."
Mayor Liu shook his head: "Every year at this time, we dare not rest. Working here, the flood season is our alarm. You see, even Secretary Deng is working on the front line and doesn’t dare to return to the county. Emergencies can happen at any moment...
Now there’s a dam in Lewang Town where the water storage is nearing the red line. If it breaches... sigh.
It’s adding insult to injury, another big battle.
The State Fire Brigade has been sent there, and the comrades from the military district are also there shoring up the dam."
"Tsk." Hearing this, Cao Yi looked around and raised his voice,
"Then we need to hurry on! The villagers from Nabao Village said there are still more than a dozen people trapped at the river mouth. We’ll go rescue them first, then head to Lewang to see what we can do!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers around him put down their bowls, ready to head back into the storm.
Just then, in a corner of the wall, the voice of the grandfather from Bianwang Village came in a panicked tone,
"Whose money is this? Whose money?"
