Yuan Fangtai had the experience of the first time, so the second mission was not a big problem for him. At the moment when the truck was about to fall into the water, he quickly jumped from the car and fell into the surging river like a small bomb.
In an instant, he felt his brain go blank. Before he could react to what was happening, he only felt that his body had been dragged to the shore.
He choked on water a few times in the water just now, and when he returned to the shore, he couldn't help but gasp for breath.
"Platoon leader, are you okay?" Comrades quickly gathered around.
Yuan Fangtai took a few deep breaths and then spat out a mouthful of muddy river water. "I'm fine. You guys hurry up and cooperate with the old squad leader."
"Okay." After seeing that the new platoon leader's military qualities were indeed strong, everyone quickly put down the safety ropes in their hands.
Yuan Fangtai glanced at Li Fuping who was already prepared, and saw that he looked calm and composed.
He and Li Fuping were not familiar with each other. He only knew that this veteran had won two second-class merits and five third-class merits in his more than 20-year military career, and was often mentioned as the "King of Soldiers" by the soldiers in the regiment.
"Come on, old squad leader." After climbing up from the shore, Yuan Fangtai walked quickly towards the top of the dam. As he spoke, he gave Li Fuping a thumbs up.
Li Fuping looked at the new platoon leader with a dark face and couldn't help but smile. This mission looked very dangerous, but in fact it was much safer than the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. In his more than 20 years of military career, he had participated in countless transportation missions that were much more dangerous and difficult than this one. For him, this was nothing at all.
"I'll come to have a drink with you later." Li Fuping smiled slightly, his right foot already on the accelerator.
After the guide gave the "drive" gesture, Li Fuping drove the large truck, which he had purchased less than half a year ago, and rushed into the pipe burst at a rapid speed.
The moment the front of the car touched the water, Li Fuping jumped out.
The team members quickly pulled the safety rope, but after they pulled it twice, they felt something was wrong.
Why is there no weight on the other end of the rope?
Soon, everyone was dumbfounded. Where was Squad Leader Lao Li?
Yuan Fangtai was also stunned for a moment. It was obvious that the end of the safety rope had broken.
"Old squad leader." Yuan Fangtai suddenly panicked and staggered into the turbulent river.
Several comrades behind him who were good at swimming quickly jumped in.
After they jumped in, they discovered that the life jacket on Li Fuping had floated up.
Yuan Fangtai grabbed the life jacket, but unexpectedly there was no one under it.
Upon closer inspection, the straps on the life jacket were also broken, just like the safety rope.
"Old squad leader." Yuan Fangtai dived down, but the water was extremely turbulent and the visibility was very low, so he could not see Li Fuping at all.
The comrades in the water hurriedly started searching, but after working for a while, they still couldn't find any trace of Squad Leader Li Fuping.
A dark-skinned guy burst into tears the moment he emerged from the water.
"Squad Leader Lao Li can't swim at all."
When Yuan Fangtai heard this, he was shocked. If Squad Leader Lao Li really couldn't swim, it would be really dangerous if this continued.
"Let's expand the scope." Yuan Fangtai said after thinking about it.
As soon as he finished speaking, the regimental chief of staff strode over.
"Where is Li Fuping?" he asked loudly.
"Chief of Staff, Squad Leader Lao Li is missing." A young man said, trying hard to hold back his tears.
"Find it for me. I don't believe I can't find that damn bastard." The chief of staff took off his coat and was only wearing his underwear. He was also ready to go into the water.
A soldier who couldn't swim quickly handed him a life jacket.
The chief of staff put on his life jacket and dived into the water.
However, his underwater experience was no different from that of Yuan Fangtai and the others. The water below was muddy and fast, and he could not see clearly at all.
After staying underwater for less than a minute, he surfaced.
"Those of you on the shore, quickly get the safety ropes over here. Brothers in the water, tie up your safety ropes. I don't believe I can't find his son of a bitch." The chief of staff's brows were tightly twisted into a knot. Li Fuping was from the same place as him. They both joined the army in the same year, but one was promoted and the other became a senior sergeant major. Thinking that his old comrade who looked familiar just now was in front of him, but now was nowhere to be seen, he couldn't believe the fact in front of him no matter what.
Soon, the comrades on the shore threw safety ropes into the water. Under the order of the chief of staff, everyone tied the safety ropes around their waists, and then began to search for Li Fuping in the water like white sharks in the waves.
The news of Li Fuping's disappearance soon reached Zhang Guangsheng and the commander of the provincial military district, who also rushed over after hearing the news.
"Has Li Fuping been found?" The provincial military district commander was very familiar with this soldier king.
The soldiers around were silent and just shook their heads.
"Search all around." the commander shouted.
Zhang Guangsheng saw this scene and said nothing. Based on his many years of experience, it was very likely that Li Fuping had returned to the earth.
At this moment, the heavy rain that had been pouring down just now suddenly stopped, and rays of sunlight broke through the barrier of dark clouds, revealing rays of rosy clouds.
All the people around were not cheering because the weather had improved. At this moment, their hearts were all moved by a hero.
Everyone on the dam began to search for Li Fuping, but after an hour of searching, they found nothing.
The officers and soldiers under the water were exhausted and were pulled back to the shore with safety ropes.
As soon as the regiment chief of staff came out of the water, he no longer cared about anything else and burst into tears.
Suddenly, there was crying all around.
Even veterans like Zhang Guangsheng and the commander of the provincial military district had tears in their eyes.
The crying, wind and water sounds on the entire dam formed a tragic symphony.
At eight o'clock in the evening, after expert appraisal, it was determined that flood discharge was appropriate.
However, before releasing the flood, the command center issued an order requiring the downstream to make every effort to search for Li Fuping's body after the flood receded.
At 8:30 in the evening, the dam gate valve slowly opened, and the flood poured down from the gate valve like a giant yellow dragon.
At this moment, hundreds of thousands of people in the entire Shuangyang City have been safely evacuated.
The entire flood discharge operation lasted until after 1 a.m., when it ended. The water level dropped by about three meters, but it was still five meters away from the safe water level.
At this time, the streets of Shuangyang City were already one meter deep in water.
"What will the weather be like tomorrow?" Zhang Guangsheng couldn't help but turn his head and ask the meteorological expert next to him.
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