Chapter 270: Success or failure does not depend on me, but I will fight with all my strength
Led by instructor Fang Peijun, the materials are transported here.
Accompanied by the tank company, the logistics and reconnaissance platoons rushed closer and closer to the levee.
Everyone's heart sank to the bottom.
They carried the steel bars all the way here, supporting each other along the way and being able to hold on no matter how tired they were.
Even though the ground was shaking as they approached the levee, everyone was willing to do whatever it took to face the unpredictable terror of heaven.
Soldiers are not afraid of hardship or fatigue, but they are only afraid of having no hope and not being able to see hope.
Fang Peijun and Man Xuexue supported each other and moved forward with their loads. When they were four hundred meters away from the dam, their vision became wider.
At the same time, a more realistic problem is exposed.
That is, the sand and soil piled up at the 188th Division's dike reinforcement site is less than one thousand cubic meters.
Do you know what this means?
This means that the road has collapsed and even if more steel bars are transported up, it will not hold up because the amount of sand and soil is not enough to support the thousands of soldiers on the scene for long.
You know.
The sand and soil used to build the embankment are not just some mud dug nearby, and there is not so much mud available. These are all sands that meet the standards of viscosity and density brought in from outside.
The reason for not using mud is simple. The mud particles are too small and will flow out of the bag after being soaked in water, causing the sandbag to deform and the entire piece to collapse.
Sand is different. When it comes into contact with water, its space expands.
Fang Peijun and his team had just come from the nearest town, where there was water, bread, and steel bars, but there was no remaining sand.
It is definitely too late to make temporary transfers.
Moreover, the roads are damaged, and not enough people can carry the goods here one by one.
How could a human's speed be faster than Hong Tang's?
Rumble!
The ground is shaking.
Man Xue looked at the amount of sand and soil, then at the busy crowd of the 188th Division nearby. His face turned pale and he said, "Instructor, I'm afraid that releasing the flood in advance is inevitable."
"No matter how much we carry, we can't delay the original flood discharge time. It can only be advanced, not delayed."
"Shut up!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Peijun glared at Lao Man fiercely.
He could naturally see the seriousness of the matter, but as a team leader, he should not be pessimistic when encountering any difficult situation.
Fang Peijun was well aware that if the flood was released prematurely, the people that Captain Chen led his team to rescue, including the people who were evacuated, would be in great danger.
But no matter what, we cannot undermine morale.
"Comrades, keep moving forward, charge!"
After Fang Peijun gave an encouragement, he took the lead and rushed to the dam with the load on his back.
When there were more than 200 of them and they were more than 200 meters away from the levee, a sharp whistle finally came from nearby.
"Kyoto Demonstration Camp, gather at me!!"
In the distance, a logistics captain from the 188th Division quickly planted a red flag in the open space and pointed at it, saying, "Comrades from the demonstration camp, just drop off your supplies here."
"Rest here for a while."
Hear the call.
Among the hundreds of officers and soldiers in the demonstration camp, almost half of them felt their legs go weak and they could only barely carry the steel bars to the assembly.
More than 200 of them carried 11 tons of materials and traveled nearly 20 kilometers from the small town.
A dozen tons may not sound like a lot, but when it is distributed among each person, the average load is fifty kilograms. There is no so-called road, only mud and yellow soup.
Their team had no medical team accompanying them, and the advancement process relied entirely on personal willpower, and was completed by burning their potential and vitality.
That is a kind of forbearance and hardship that outsiders cannot understand.
Snap, snap, snap.
Bundle after bundle of steel bars were thrown to the ground.
Fang Peijun waved his hand to arrange for the other soldiers to rest, while he himself reached into his pocket with trembling hands for a cigarette, and found that it was all wet, so he threw it away.
He staggered up to the logistics captain.
"Comrade Major, thank you for your hard work."
The captain of the 188th Division spoke sincerely: "You brought more than a thousand 1.8-meter-long No. 20 steel piles. Don't worry, the dike construction will not be stopped. There are more than enough for us."
Fang Peijun was silent for a few seconds, then pointed to the sandbags in the distance and said in a hoarse voice, "Comrade, the dike construction will not be stopped. Can the flood discharge be delayed?"
"this"
The captain's face darkened.
We are all smart people, so there is no need to explain many things in such detail.
"According to the latest news from the General Directorate, meteorological experts predict that the rainfall will gradually increase. There were some deviations earlier, which delayed the rescue efforts. This means that the water level at the dam is rising faster than expected."
"If the floodwaters continue to rise at this rate, we will have to release the water in four hours at most, which leaves us one hour less than the originally planned delay."
Fang Peijun's expression froze, and he looked back at the direction Chen Mo led the team away. At this time, due to the weather and distance, the walkie-talkie had lost its effect.
Looking at the more than 200 people he brought with him, Lao Fang took a deep breath and said, "I understand. The demonstration camp only needs to rest for 20 minutes. After the rest, they can join the new battle."
The logistics captain nodded and then extended his hands: "Thank you for your hard work."
"It should be."
Fang Peijun looked tired, but his expression was extremely determined.
If they hold on a little longer, Captain Chen will be able to withdraw more troops.
"Everyone!"
"Rest here for twenty minutes."
As the order was given, with a loud crash, the morale that had supported hundreds of people completely vanished, and a group of people lay directly on the ground without caring whether it was raining or there was a mud pit.
I was so tired that I almost lost my soul. I raised my head and opened my mouth to catch the raindrops to moisten my throat.
The road was blocked, and materials were more important than water resources. Those who went up the dam did not carry any other loads at all.
Fang Peijun did not rest, but just kept himself going while watching the people busy at the scene.
During the rest period, several engineering and water conservancy experts from the Shanxi Provincial Hydrological Station conducted on-site simulation calculations of the impact of the flood peak.
The first flood peak of the levee is expected to be the highest, with the water flow exceeding 12,136 cubic meters per second.
Therefore, the levee reinforcement requires adjusting the spacing of the steel piles based on the water flow of 12,200 cubic meters.
This is the same principle for reinforcing levees and building buildings.
The load-bearing capacity of the foundation determines the height of the building, and the steel piles are the load-bearing capacity of the embankment.
Fang Peijun followed this group of experts and listened carefully to their designs on where to drive piles, plant flags, and which sections needed to be installed with double-layer nets.
He didn't know what he was doing. In short, there was only one thought in his mind.
Learn more, see more, and do the follow-up work well no matter what to buy more time for the people retreating from the rear and the comrades in the camp.
Even if it's just for a second.
After reading the design of the water conservancy experts, he dragged his exhausted body and ran to the place closest to the dam.
I watched helplessly as a third-class non-commissioned officer had two backpack ropes wrapped around his waist for protection and traction. Less than two meters away from the non-commissioned officer was the roaring torrent.
The entire surface of the water exploded as if a boiling pot, with turbid waves surging and rolling logs appearing and disappearing from time to time.
How fast the water moves, how fast the debris in it moves.
If a person falls into the water at this time, it is not difficult to imagine that the danger caused by a large amount of floating objects is no less than the flood itself.
However, the protection that things like life jackets can provide is actually very limited. Once the turbulent whirlpools and waves rise, the tremendous force that hits the body can directly knock people unconscious.
Ordinary people can't even think of standing on the edge of the dam and driving piles.
Just getting close, listening to the rumbling thunder and feeling the trembling of the earth would make you tremble with fear and your legs would go weak.
Although Fang Peijun did not come from the grassroots level of field combat, he also prided himself on being brave enough. However, at this moment, his calves were a little cramped.
Then, his identity as a soldier forced him to suppress the fear in his heart.
Fang Peijun stood quietly.
Watching the flood crashing against the embankment, the splashing water was higher than a person, soaking the sergeant's pants and clothes.
But the sergeant didn't care.
The other person had a serious expression, his calves bent, and his whole body was in a frog jump posture. Then he suddenly exerted force, straightened his waist, swung the wooden hammer with both arms, and smashed it down on his head.
There was a crisp "pop" sound, and the steel bar went in a little bit.
The large arc of the hammer swing is violent, masculine, and extremely fierce.
soon.
As the water conservancy experts continued to measure the location and plant flags, countless soldiers flocked in. Dozens or even hundreds of pile-driving teams started working at the same time, and the loud "pa pa" sounds were heard continuously.
Fang Peijun watched for a while, then he found two housekeeping belts for simple protection and joined the hammer-swinging army.
The instructor has taken action, so how can others still sit still?
Wang Yanjun, the platoon leader of the reconnaissance platoon, was the first to get up from the ground. He wiped the mud off his face and shouted, "Brothers, I know you are tired, but look at the brothers of the 188th Division. They have been fighting here for hours straight. They are not having it any easier than us."
"Today, the levee is our position."
"As long as the dike is standing, we are still here. If it collapses, we will all perish. Follow me! The battalion commander and his fellow soldiers are leading the villagers to evacuate. We will not let this damn flood pass through our lines even a second earlier."
"Two words, defend to the death!!"
"I won't say anything else. Officers, members of the reconnaissance company, and squad leaders from each combat squad will follow me up the dike and form a pile-breaking assault team."
"Full of learning! Liang Hongjie"
"arrive!"
"You two organize the deputy squad leaders and non-commissioned officers to form a sandbag transport team."
"Everyone, remember this! Even if sandbags aren't enough, we have to use our bodies to stop the flood."
"kill!"
“Kill!!”
The soldiers of the demonstration camp, whose legs were so exhausted that they could hardly move, stood up while shouting slogans.
Man Xuexue originally planned to follow them to drive the piles, but Wang Yanjun grabbed his collar and threw him behind.
"Go move the sandbags."
"But I am also a cadre." Man Xuexue was a little unconvinced.
Some other soldiers were also dissatisfied. Infected by this atmosphere, they all wanted to do the most dangerous work.
“Get out!!”
"The veteran cadres are still here, how can it be your turn?"
Wang Yanjun took off his hat, wrung out the water, and put it back on his head.
"Man Xuexi, you son of a bitch, don't think that I won't beat you just because the battalion commander spoils you. Do you think moving sandbags is an easy job?"
"You are now the logistics captain of our entire battalion. You will be responsible for coordinating supplies, supervising the condition of our soldiers in the work area, and boosting morale."
"By the way, the 188th Division has ginger soup and hot soup available. Don't let me freeze to death here. That's your greatest role to play."
"Follow the order!!"
After Wang Yanjun finished the arrangements, he took the wooden hammer and rushed to the flag next to the dam, which was less than two meters away from the flood.
No one mentioned the demonstration camp. The camp was established based on the reconnaissance company. In fact, the entire company has always been the type to work silently in the camp.
But once you go out and encounter something.
The reconnaissance company is still the most capable of handling things.
Countless people rushed to the levee. No one retreated, no one was timid.
Facing the flood, he remained calm!
At the decisive moment, everyone had only one thought in their mind: success or failure did not depend on me, but I just wanted to fight with all my strength.
. . . . . . . . . .
The horn of the final battle sounded on the levee.
This is the flood discharge area.
Chen Mo's job was not easy either. They met more and more people along the way, and finally encountered a large evacuating force.
The demonstration battalion provided cover at the rear.
The more people there are, the more difficult the evacuation work will be. This is inevitable.
The people we met at the beginning had left the main force, and for whatever reason, they had very little with them. The entire battalion assisted them, either carrying them on their backs or supporting them, and we were always able to cope and evacuate together.
But the evacuation of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people is simply not something that half a battalion can take care of.
On a muddy road.
The heavy rain was still washing away the dirt. Chen Mo was biting a flashlight in his mouth, carrying a sixty-year-old man on his back and holding a little boy of seven or eight years old in his hand.
These were people who had strayed a little further away from the team. Chen Mo brought them back to the main group, put them in the crowd, and protected them as they moved forward in the mud.
In the late 1990s, concrete roads were rare in the countryside, let alone asphalt and pitch.
Never heard of it.
Normally, the road becomes difficult to walk on when it rains, let alone at this time.
The people in the demonstration camp were dispersed and escorted in combat squads. As the battalion commander, Chen Mo could relax a bit and was only responsible for command.
But too many are left behind.
Some have to find their families, some have to bring supplies. Moving forward is not difficult, but calming the people's collapsed emotions is the most difficult part.
The soldiers of the reconnaissance company and the armored infantry helped the villagers push the carts and moved forward step by step.
The whole process.
No one complained of being tired because they had no strength left.
No one complained because they were soldiers.
Slip, stand up, slip again, stand up again.
The soldiers, officers, party members, non-commissioned officers of the demonstration camp, these elite forces, starting from Chen Mo and including all the people below, seemed tireless, as if they were perpetual motion machines, as if they were made of iron, as if they were born to prove that the army will always move forward and that the flag of the soldier will never fall.
This is the battlefield.
That's right.
It is the battlefield of the field army.
In peacetime, a torrent of camouflage marches towards danger.
The American army doesn’t know how to provide disaster relief, nor does the Kangaroo army, nor does the Russian army, but the People’s Liberation Army knows how to do all of them.
Maybe some people usually sneer at and look down on their own heroes, always deliberately belittling and smearing them at will.
But we always encounter earthquakes, floods, mudslides and wildfires.
Wherever there is a disaster, you will always see them.
The so-called field army.
You think this is a war? A war every day?
No, it's not.
This was an invisible bloodbath. In the face of an out-of-control wildfire, the company commander, in order to protect the recruit, pressed himself on him, and the two of them died in each other's arms.
It was the front line of flood control, and after his death, he didn't even have water to wash his face.
During the earthquake, supplies could not be delivered and people had to starve while trying to rescue the victims because their superiors had issued a strict order not to allow them to search for food in the collapsed houses.
The soldiers were so hungry that their eyes turned green, and they dared not accept gifts from the victims. Anyone who was discovered would be dealt with.
Because they have discipline, and no one can guarantee that this discipline will be relaxed. They can tell whether the things are taken from the common people, so they would rather starve than eat.
Discipline! Iron and blood! Faith!
There is no retreat, everything is for the motherland.
That's why the levee broke and an entire platoon of soldiers was washed away.
Therefore, there will be a port explosion, and the lonely surviving soldier will walk into the smoke with a lonely back.
Therefore, there was also the tragic ice sculpture company in Changjin Lake.
Liu Min, the captain of the medical team, kept shuttling back and forth among the team, even though all the squads in the battalion had been dispersed to carry out the task of assisting in the evacuation.
She still didn't give up on the soldiers in the camp.
This captain, who is usually a little invisible in the camp and a military doctor with a literary style, has been shuttling back and forth on the front line all night, constantly searching for the wounded.
In fact, it didn't take much effort because there were wounded everywhere.
However, the demonstration camp fully demonstrated the meaning of not leaving the front line even if slightly injured.
They were bruised, bruised, their hands and feet were scraped, and their shoulders were bleeding, but no one was willing to stop.
Cheng Dong originally followed behind to provide the last layer of protection for the entire battalion. Since they were dispersed to carry out their mission, he rushed to the front.
Old Cheng is truly worthy of being the company commander of the reconnaissance company, a man of iron will. His camouflage uniform was soaked in blood, and he himself didn't even know how he got injured.
When Liu Min found out.
The camouflage uniform on Cheng Dong's chest had long been torn, and the cut on his chest, two fingers wide and one finger long, looked particularly creepy under the light of the flashlight.
So, in order not to affect his pushing the cart, he took some of his fellow villagers to evacuate and had no intention of dealing with it at all.
A little bleeding wouldn't kill him, so the tough guy didn't say a word.
"Chief of Staff Cheng, you are injured."
Liu Min chased after him, and with trembling lips, she warned loudly: "Cheng Dong, as a military doctor, I order you to stop."
"Get out of here!"
Cheng Dong roared, and his whole body fell into rage and anger.
He was not targeting the medical team, but he knew very well that in his current situation he dared not stop. Once he stopped, all his limbs and organs would rebel.
He no longer had the strength to maintain it.
Cheng Dong may have realized that his words were unpleasant, so he shook his head and glanced at Liu Min: "Sorry, I can't stop now. If I stop, I will become a burden."
Looking at Chief of Staff Cheng's back as he continued to move forward, and looking at the dark crowd that continued to move forward.
Liu Min stayed where she was.
After a while, another female soldier from the medical team came running over to report: "Captain, many people are unwilling to bandage their wounds and are even scolding us."
"The battalion commander was also injured, but he refused to get bandaged."
"What should we do, Captain?"
what to do?
Liu Min was confused for a moment, shook his head, and said seriously: "I don't know what to do either."
After saying that, she took down her medical kit, handed it to the female soldier beside her, took a deep breath, and rushed towards the slower-moving people in the distance.
She is an officer and the captain of the demonstration battalion.
Officers, regardless of gender.
Glory is integrated into the bone marrow and blood.
Since no one in the camp needs her ability to save lives and heal the wounded anymore, she has to do something.
Maybe she is not very strong, far inferior to the veteran, but at least her passion is still there, her uniform is still there, and her military mission is still there.
People in the flood discharge area continue to evacuate.
When the time came to three o'clock in the morning on September 6th.
The first flood peak has arrived.
At the Gaoyang Dam upstream, accompanied by the order to "open the floodgates and release the floodwaters", the whole audience was shocked in an instant by the loud sound like hundreds of bombs exploding.
A torrent of water rushes down.
On the levee, thousands of main personnel looked extremely serious.
Compared with the flood discharge time notified, they fought for a long time, but it was really difficult to sustain, and it was fifty minutes earlier than expected.
Fortunately, the road from the town to the levee was open, so they were not unprepared.
"What are you all standing there for? Are you looking for death?"
"Everyone, prepare your backpack ropes and watch for any pipe leaks. If you find any, immediately surround it with sandbags. 188th Division's main assault company, check the condition of the vehicle."
"For large breaches, use vehicles; for small breaches, use people. Everyone else, don't just stand there. Check your life jackets. If they are broken, replace them immediately."
Near the levee, officers kept giving reminders.
For the first flood discharge, we must be fully prepared.
The dirty floodwaters from Gaoyang Dam rushed down, and the originally muddy and dilapidated road turned into a thousand-mile swamp in an instant.
The flood was moving at a very fast speed.
In just over ten minutes, they caught up with the retreating position of Chen Mo and his men.
Fortunately, Chen Mo heard the noise in advance, and since he was already dozens of kilometers away from the dam, the flood was not so scary here.
He organized people in advance to use various carts to block the rear, and all the soldiers held each other's arms to form a human wall to block the first round of attack.
Afterwards, the search and rescue, and the search for people, operated like a machine.
No one knows when the day will break, and no one knows where the end is.
In short, the demonstration camp used a human wall to block the direct impact of the flood on the evacuation team.
Time passes by little by little.
Chen Mo himself didn't know how long they had been soaking in the water or walking.
In short, when the sky began to turn pale in the east and he was almost unable to hold on.
The water beneath my feet is getting shallower and shallower.
On the distant avenue, rows of people appeared, with cheers, honking horns, and encouragement mixed together.
Hearing these sounds, even though Chen Mo was too far away and couldn't see over there.
But he knew.
The day finally dawned.
The demonstration camp completed the rescue and lived up to its mission!
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