Chapter 48 Chapter 48 Oh, I can’t handle it without the protagonist’s halo…
"The water is suddenly turbulent, making the embankment unstable. The governor and his men have already rushed over." Yin Shuang added.
Jiang Ci's expression tightened, and he slammed the book in his hand on the table with a bang, his expression becoming serious.
She was also involved in the drawing. It was carefully designed and reinforced layer by layer, so there shouldn't be any problems easily, unless someone tampered with it.
She said in a deep voice: "I'll go and see too."
The rain was pouring outside, and the curtains were rustling in the wind, as if they would be torn open at any moment.
Yin Shuang watched Jiang Ci tie his cloak and stamped her feet anxiously. "Miss! It's raining so hard, you'll get soaked the moment you go out. What if you get soaked and have a fever?"
Jiang Ci looked up at her, his tone gentle but with unshakable determination: "I'm worried."
She paused, put on her robe, and whispered, "Besides, if there really were a problem with the dam, I might be able to help if I were there."
"But you can't carry anything on your shoulders or lift anything with your hands." Yin Shuang was so anxious that she was about to cry. "Those jobs should be done by the soldiers. You won't be of any use if you go!"
Jiang Ci didn't look back. He just stood in the corridor, looking at the dark curtain of rain, and said quietly, "If something really happened to the dam, even if it collapsed just an inch, it would be torn apart by the water in an instant."
"When the flood comes, people in the affected area and in the city will be lost."
Yin Shuang was choked by her words and stood there, twisting her fingers tightly in her sleeves.
She knew Jiang Ci had a gentle personality, but was also the most difficult to persuade. She made up her mind and turned around to get her raincoat and bamboo hat. While wiping her tears, she muttered, "I really can't do anything about you..."
The two of them were dressed and just stepped out of the door when Jiang Ci suddenly stopped, as if he thought of something, and turned to look at Yin Shuang.
"Wait." She whispered, "The day the dam was built, the governor dismissed the civilians who came to help. If something were to happen now, the Dongyang Army alone wouldn't be enough."
She looked at the dark rainy night, her eyes bright: "At times like this, numbers mean strength."
She turned to look at Yin Shuang, her eyes resolute: "Let's go and find the people first."
The rain poured down along the eaves, wetting the stone slabs of the long street. Jiang Ci lifted the hem of her skirt and knocked on the doors of every house with Yin Shuang.
She first went to the homes of the foremen who had worked hard that day.
The first house had its door closed, but the lights were still on.
"It's me, Jiang Ci." She stood at the door, her voice broken by the wind and rain, but she called out again and again, "There might be a problem at the dam. The governor has taken people there. But if the rain doesn't stop, I'm afraid we won't have enough manpower. I'd like to ask for your help."
There was silence for a moment, and then someone responded, "Who would dare to walk on the dike on this rainy and dark night? It's already been repaired, how could something suddenly happen?"
Jiang Ci didn't argue, only saying, "If it's just a false alarm, that's best. But what if something really happens?"
"If the dam collapses, it won't just be a field or a house that suffers, but the entire Ningling City. No one will be able to escape then."
The man was still hesitating, and the woman in the room whispered to him, "Your fever has only just subsided in the past few days. You can't go out again."
Jiang Ci heard it, but just stood quietly in the rain without moving an inch.
After a long time, the door finally opened, and a middle-aged man with disheveled clothes walked out. He was the old foreman who took the lead in building the dam.
He put the raincoat on his shoulders, glanced at Jiang Ci, and said in a hoarse voice: "Young lady, you are right. We have worked for half a month and we shouldn't let it go to waste."
"I'll go with you."
He turned around and shouted into the house, "I'll go out and take a look. If everything is alright, that's the best. If there is... we need to save them."
Jiang Ci nodded at him, a hint of suppressed emotion in his eyes: "Thank you."
Yin Shuang sniffed quietly and held Jiang Ci's hand.
Then they went from house to house, knocking on every lamp and door in the rain.
Someone in the house cursed: "You're crazy to come and call for help at this time!"
Some people just took a look and then stepped back, shaking their heads and saying nothing.
But more people, after hearing the words "there is a problem with the dam" and "the whole city may be flooded", frowned and stood there for a long time - not because they were unwilling to help, but because they were afraid that this was true.
Until the foreman spoke again:
"We haven't worked in vain for the past half month, and we can't let it all be ruined by a flood."
"If we go now, it's not for anyone else, but for ourselves. Our fields, house, children and wives are all in Ningling."
"Let's go for a walk. If nothing goes wrong, come back and sleep. If something goes wrong... there's still a chance to remedy the situation."
Someone finally nodded solemnly, picked up his rain hat and followed.
Another person gritted his teeth and put on the straw raincoat.
Another person pushed open the door and clenched the wooden hoe in his hand.
Jiang Ci stood in the rain, watching the figures coming out from the alleys, behind the walls, and under the eaves, wearing straw raincoats, stepping through mud and water, and gathering around her step by step.
She looked at them, her voice not loud but very clear:
"Thank you."
The rain got heavier and thunder rumbled across the sky, like a long warning.
Jiang Ci looked back at the dark sky and stepped forward.
A group of people followed closely behind him and walked towards the dam.
There was wind and rain on the dam front.
The night was dark, and the wind-swept raindrops lashed my face like a knife. The few oil lamps by the river flickered in the wind, illuminating only a short distance. I could only vaguely see the reeds swaying on the embankment, and a group of black-clad figures slowly advancing through the rain.
Ji Yang, wearing a dark cloak, stepped into the waterlogged mud, sinking deeply into the ground with every step. The soles of his boots made a dull, heavy sound.
"It's just ahead." Du Mengqiu walked in front of him, holding a lantern, his voice buried in the wind. "Just now, a few brothers found mud rising from the bottom of the dam. It's suspected to be cavitation."
Ji Yang did not answer, but just glanced solemnly at the water in the distance.
Luoqu and Ningyu Rivers meet here. The water flow is already complicated and rises quickly during the rainy season. Now that it has rained all night upstream, the water level has submerged the boundary marker in the river, and the water surface is more than twice as wide.
The embankment beneath my feet was shaking slightly, as if the force of the distant water veins was pushing towards me inch by inch.
Du Mengqiu was the first to lean over and check that section of the dam foot. He saw mud slowly seeping out from the cracks in the embankment stones. Mixed with rainwater, the mud was no longer clear, but a dark brown turbid color.
"Look," he said in a deep voice, "this isn't surface water, it's mudswell from below. The ground underneath has become loose."
Ji Yang half-knelt down, pushed aside some gravel, and placed his palms on the embankment. It was cold and slippery, but he could clearly feel the slightly trembling soil.
That's not wind shock, it's water pressure.
"Ba feels guilty," he said.
The sound of rain grew faster and the wind grew stronger, as if the whole river was swelling and gasping in the dark night.
"The water is coming in too fast from upstream." Ji Yang stood up and looked at the river further away. "The Ningyu River is connected to several small canals. At this rate, if the water level rises another half a foot within an hour, even if this part doesn't collapse, the water will overflow the top of the dam."
Du Mengqiu's expression changed slightly: "Should we send someone to seal the sandbags? I'm afraid that the few of us on our own will—"
Ji Yang nodded: "You go first."
He whispered, "It's better to be prepared."
He stood in the wind and rain, watching the waterline rise little by little. His cloak was soaked by the rain and stuck to his body, making him cold to the bone.
But he didn't move, he just stood there quietly, like a stake stuck in the mud.
The soldiers behind him lowered their voices and said, "The governor has come in person..."
"The rain is falling so fast, if the water level is half a foot higher—"
Before he could finish his words, a muffled sound suddenly came from the river in the distance, as if something heavy had collapsed into the water.
Everyone paused, and Ji Yang turned around abruptly: "High fire."
Du Mengqiu held up the light and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a stone slowly sinking in the river in the distance. The soil and stone that originally fixed it had been hollowed out by the water.
"It is indeed a sign of a landslide." Du Mengqiu gritted his teeth.
Ji Yang turned around and ordered, "Pass my order to immediately transfer fifty men from the dike defense camp to the west dam."
"Prepare sacks, seal stones, and secure stakes. Don't make a big noise. Complete the defense quickly."
"yes!"
At the bottom of the West Dam, there was a loud muffled sound, almost as if it had exploded from the ground.
Then, the entire embankment section trembled violently, and the rocks and soil slid outwards as if they were falling off bones. The originally stable embankment base, under the combined impact of water pressure and mud surge, suddenly collapsed into a deep hole!
"It collapsed!" someone shouted.
The next moment, the water of Luoqu rushed in from the gap like a beast out of a cage, and the waves mixed with mud, sand, broken rocks and dead branches slammed against the embankment fiercely, and the sound of water roared like thunder!
"Hurry! Block it!"
Ji Yang stood ten feet away from the cave-in, the coldness on his face even harsher than the wind and rain. He stared at the gap where the water roared, his throat aching, but he forced himself to suppress the uneasiness in his heart.
He knew he couldn't panic first.
The rain came earlier and more violently than he expected.
He forced himself to remain calm and ordered in a cold voice, "Order all Dongyang troops to rush in and block the west dam collapse."
"Bring the hemp ropes in batches, tie one end around your waist and the other end to a stake. No one is allowed to move alone."
"yes!"
The soldiers didn't have time to think. They wiped the rain off their faces, turned around and ran towards the carriage, carrying sacks and stones like crazy.
Someone tied a thick hemp rope around Ji Yang's waist and shouted as he put it on: "Commander-in-Chief, watch your step!"
Ji Yang took the rope and wrapped it around himself, then twisted it around his back and tied the other end tightly to an old tree on the far bank. The rain was so heavy that the rope was slipping. He gritted his teeth and held the knot tightly, instantly rubbing the skin on the back of his hand.
Du Mengqiu shouted at him: "Commander-in-chief, I will handle such matters——"
"Shut up." Ji Yang whispered, "One more person means Ningling will be one foot less flooded."
After he finished speaking, he had already picked up a sack of sacks, his feet sank into the mud, and he stepped into the heavy rain and mud.
The water was still roaring, and the gap in the embankment was getting bigger and bigger.
The Dongyang army lined up in a row and delivered sandbags one by one along the narrow embankment. The soldiers on the front line almost lay down at the edge of the water, holding the bags on their shoulders and then using their bodies to push against the cave-in!
"Hit the pile! Hit the pile quickly!" There were constant shouts from behind. Someone held up a long wooden stake, and three people carried it and smashed it down into the mud and water.
"Bring another stake! It's missing!"
"Tighten the rope! Someone's fallen over there—"
"Quick! Go save them!"
The sound of the water was too loud and the orders were washed away by the wind, but everyone was running, shouting, moving, and pushing.
A soldier slipped and was swept away by the rapids. He only had time to scream before he was submerged in the black water.
Another person jumped in to try to save him, but was almost swept away. It was his companion who gritted his teeth and pulled the rope, and the three of them fell into the mud before being pulled out.
A young soldier's leg was trapped under a rock, covered in blood, but he still gritted his teeth and said, "Hold the dam first... Don't worry about me!"
Everyone in the Dongyang Army gritted their teeth and held on, not taking a single step back.
Their feet were stuck in the mud, their shoulders were against the wind, the backs of their hands were rubbed by the sacks, and their mouths were full of mud and rain, but no one retreated.
Ji Yang was covered in rain and mud, his armor had long since fallen off, and he was moving sandbags with both hands while giving orders.
"Team One, go around to the left, it's starting to get loose there too!"
"Hurry up and move the raft and push up the west entrance."
His voice was hoarse, but there was no panic in his eyes, even though he was actually very worried.
No one can predict how long the rain will last or how much the water level upstream will rise; no one can be sure how long the dam can last.
He only knew that if the dam collapsed that night, the whole city would be doomed.
The rain was still falling, and the sound of water was like thunder.
The embankment had just been blocked a little, but the water did not recede. Instead, it continued to gnaw at the mud and rocks on both sides of the embankment, and the collapse slowly expanded.
"Quick, quick, right side! Hammer two more stakes into me!"
"Where are the sacks? Hasn't the truckload of sacks been delivered yet?"
“We don’t have enough manpower!”
A series of shouts came one after another. The oil lamps in front of the dike were blown to and fro by the wind, illuminating figures struggling for their lives in the mud and water.
Du Mengqiu ran over and whispered in his ear, "Commander-in-Chief, all those who can be replaced have been replaced. The remaining ones are seriously injured and have not recovered yet. There are also two who just woke up after having a fever yesterday."
"If the river collapses another ten feet, the water will turn from the left bank and enter the village, and Ningling will be undefendable."
He looked up and saw the gleam of water on the river creeping closer to the top of the dike, already swallowing up the branches of the several willow trees just outside. Sandbags were carried up one by one, but they were also swept away by the turbulent current.
The hemp rope was pulled straight, and the soldiers were like ants biting their lifelines, trying their best to suppress the water head in the turbulent flow.
A Dongyang soldier was hit by a driftwood, his head bleeding, but he clung to the sandbag tightly. His comrades carried him ashore while crying, shouting, "Commander-in-Chief, our men are almost gone! We can't hold on any longer!"
Ji Yang stood there, and at this moment, he truly understood that no matter how elite the Dongyang Army was, they were not gods.
The dam was already crumbling, all the stone piles under it were submerged, there was not enough manpower to rotate, sandbags were in short supply, hammers were lost, ropes were broken, but the collapse was still going on, swallowing up their efforts bit by bit.
His voice was hoarse, his fingers trembling as he pressed against his chest, his voice so low it was almost hoarse: "How many people are left?"
Du Mengqiu hesitated: "Less than two hundred."
Ji Yang gritted his teeth and said word by word: "Then hold on tight."
The sound of water by the dam almost drowned out the human voices, and at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the distance.
The light of the oil lamp pierced through the wind and rain, like a star lighting up in the night, but gradually brought out the rows of fires and human figures behind it.
Ji Yang suddenly turned back——
In the rain, Jiang Ci, dressed in a straw raincoat, held a lantern and trudged through the muddy water. Behind him were hundreds of villagers, carrying hoes, hemp ropes, and even wooden stakes.
He stood there, his eyes suddenly sore from the wind and rain.
Someone whispered beside him, "It's...it's the Madam who brought people here!"
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