Chapter 64 of the First Part: People on the Embankment

  "What's going on?" Captain A shouted from atop the embankment.

  "The dock in Jianghai City has been flooded, and many sections of the riverbank are in danger. The commander's order is for our unit to quickly set out and head to Jianghai City for flood relief efforts." The communications officer shouted loudly while running.

  What? Still sitting, Qu Mingjun suddenly stood up, and a crisis appeared in Jianghai City? Others may not know, but Qu Mingjun knew very well that the dock and riverbank area of Jianghai City was a very famous business district throughout the country. The Qu family also had many industries here, such as large shopping malls, office buildings, and high-end hotels. Every day, tens of thousands of businessmen were engaged in various commercial activities here.

  If the dock and river embankment are in danger, then relying on the city's lower terrain than the river embankment, the flood will be unstoppable, causing irreparable huge losses to the country and the people.

  Kuang Xiangyang also heard the shout of the communication advisor, and after a moment's thought, he remembered that Jianghai City was the hometown of Qu Mingjun's family. Seeing Qu Mingjun's anxious expression, he hurried over.

  "It's okay, don't worry." Guo Xiangyang pressed down on Qu Mingjun's shoulder.

  "Hmm." With the care of his comrades and Old Classmate, Qu Mingjun's heart slightly relaxed, and he nodded.

  The team leader was a thunderous and impetuous person, who, after receiving the order handed over by the communications staff officer, didn't say another word, waved his hand and shouted "Depart!"

  The warriors had already quietly stood up one by one when they saw and heard the communication staff coming over to speak, some adjusting their equipment, others putting on their clothes. After the team leader gave the order, all the warriors were ready, carrying their equipment down the mountain to rush towards the convoy that came to meet them on the highway.

  The second squad was ordered to bring a class to cooperate with the local militia to guard this section of the dam, ensuring that there were no problems within 24 hours after the flood peak. At this time, Qu Mingjun was urgently appointed as the deputy platoon leader on the military vehicle.

  Jianghai City was not far from the first task location of Qu Mingjun and others, the fleet sped along with the police car leading the way, blowing its horn to clear the road, at a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour on the highway, it would take no more than forty minutes to reach Jianghai City. Qu Mingjun couldn't bear the anxiety burning in his heart, standing in the carriage facing the wind, trying to alleviate the distress in his heart.

  Damn, the wind is hot too. Qu Mingjun raised his head and squinted at the sky, the scorching white sun was mercilessly baking the earth. The temperature gauge on Qu Mingjun's watch showed nearly 40 degrees, as if it wanted to roast people to death? The convoy was also moving so slowly, how were they driving like this?

  The fleet finally entered Jianghai City under Qu Mingjun's anxious and unbearable situation. Familiar streets, familiar buildings, everything is familiar, but will all this be flooded by the floodwaters in a few hours, leaving only a mess?

  The motorcade entered the city without stopping, and under the escort of police cars and traffic police, it rushed into the most prosperous riverside business district in Jianghai City. This is usually a pedestrian street, but now the police have begun to evacuate the crowd, and truckloads of supplies are rushing here from another direction.

  At this time, the business district was originally in a state of panic, crowded with businessmen and tourists who saw row after row of military vehicles driving in, loaded with mud-covered soldiers. They immediately put down their fears and began to cheer towards the convoy, and then everyone cheered and left the scene in an orderly manner under the command of the police.

  No, the riverbank in front had a landslide, and Qu Mingjun immediately saw the most dangerous section of the riverbank. A three-meter-long section had been washed away by the surging floodwaters, and a shocking big hole had opened up on the riverbank. The water level was still high enough to overflow the riverbank, and the floodwaters were still roaring and washing away both banks. This area of land had long been soaked through by the floodwaters.

  The captain and the political commissar were in a cross-country vehicle at the very front, they had also seen the landslide section early on, compared to other places, this was the most dangerous place, if not handled properly, the hundreds of meters long river embankment would be completely destroyed from this entrance.

  "Follow me!" The captain shouted loudly, taking the lead and jumping into the water in the slide section. The political commissar followed closely behind him, and the cadres and soldiers around them also jumped down one after another, following their leaders. Qu Mingjun was among them.

  Qu Mingjun's right hand was Wang, the deputy company commander, and his left hand was Xiao Mao. Several people looked at each other and smiled, holding hands, shoulder to shoulder, relying on this wall of twenty people to block the impact of the river water on the embankment with their flesh and blood.

  The river water was roaring, the human wall was swaying back and forth under the impact of the water, under the loud shouting of Captain A, more than 20 people were also roaring with the waves of rushing river water, as if they could scare away the cruel flood.

  "Ah——ah——" Qu Mingjun shouted twice, and was immediately filled with a mouthful of water from the oncoming river. Wang Deputy Commander and Xiao Mao were the same, and several people nearby who had suffered the same fate couldn't help but burst out laughing. They laughed in the midst of this torrential flood that made the heavens change color and brought catastrophe to humanity.

  The team leader got into the water, and the cadres and soldiers on the shore did not have a single busy movement, but entered the work in an extremely orderly manner. With Qu Mingjun and others forming a human wall to block the direct impact of the flood on the dam, some people were driving piles, some were carrying sandbags, and some were transporting stone materials. Soon, the breach was gradually narrowing.

  "Report! Look over there——" A hoarse voice came through, and in the sound of the wind and waves, Qu Mingjun saw a staff officer on the shore pointing vigorously to the side of the river embankment. Something like a fountain was bubbling up "gurgling" bubbles on the surface of the water. It's not good, it's a pipe burst, there is a pipe burst under the river embankment!

  As the saying goes, a dike of a thousand miles is destroyed by an ant hole. If the landslide earlier could still support the river water flushing for some time, then the pipe would be after a period of time, the foundation of the big dam will be softened by the river water, and the whole big dam will make a loud noise, collapse into a big hole, the consequences of which make people think about it with fear.

  The scorching weather, although in the river water, didn't make people feel cold, but Qu Mingjun still couldn't help but shiver. Before coming, he had already heard some introductions and disposal plans about anti-flood in Lian, but when these situations appeared in front of him, they always made people's hearts fearful.

  At this time, the human wall was no longer needed. The team leader of Team A called for the twenty or so people who had formed the human wall to come ashore and prepare to send someone else to check on the pipe.

  At this time, Deputy Commander Wang shouted loudly, "I'll go and check the pipe outlet." After finishing speaking, he turned around and plunged into the water, diving down.

  Heaven, he hasn't even tied the safety rope yet. Qu Mingjun was startled, and at this time, the team leader on the shore was also scolding loudly: "You little devil, hurry up and get out of the water, damn it, first tie the safety rope, I know you're a good swimmer, but do you think you're a merman?"

  The wind is strong and the waves are high, I estimate that Deputy Commander Wang cannot hear in the water. At this time, the team leader of Team A was anxious and turned around to give orders to find another person to bring an insurance rope down.

  "I'll go, Captain." Qu Mingjun volunteered and stood up.

  "You? You're not good enough." The team leader took one look at the red-tagged trainee who had come for practical training and immediately shook his head. No kidding, he was worried that these military geniuses, future officers, would get into trouble.

  "Squad leader, I believe no one on site can swim better than me." Qu Mingjun requested strongly.

  "Is your swimming good?" The captain hesitated a bit.

  "Yes, Captain. He's a southerner, grew up by the water since he was young." Guo Xiangyang volunteered to speak up.

  "It's still not possible. Someone, go and get the third squad leader of the engineering company for me." The regiment commander shook his head again, there were others who were good at swimming too, besides, trainee recruits didn't count as their own subordinates, it wasn't worth letting them dive in.

  "Squad leader, just let me go down." Qu Mingjun couldn't help but take a step forward, "I am the one from Jianghai."

  The captain listened and was taken aback for a moment, then fell silent before asking: "You're really good at swimming?"

  "Yes. I've swum in this section of the river before, and I'm very familiar with the situation below." Qu Mingjun was clearly lying, as this section of the river was obviously a busy shipping route, how could it possibly allow people to swim underneath?

  But the team leader didn't have time to think about these things anymore. Watching as several minutes passed, Deputy Commander Wang was still struggling in the water.

  "Bring over the safety rope and tie it on him." The team leader shouted loudly, and several soldiers rushed over to tie Qu Mingjun tightly around his waist.

  "Remember, just tug on the rope twice and we'll pull you back up." The team leader was almost yelling in Qu Mingjun's ear, then handed another safety rope to Qu Mingjun. "Get into the water and find that guy, have him tie it around his waist too, then you come back up, got it?"

  "Yes!" Qu Mingjun took off his top, ran a few steps, and jumped into the water from the deeper side of the dock. This was clearly showing off, but it did make the team leader, who had been watching him closely, let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that this little guy was indeed quite skilled in the water.

  With a splash, Qu Mingjun dove into the water. The wind was strong and the waves were urgent, and the underwater currents were surging. Moreover, the river water was very yellow, especially on this side of the dock, it was so dirty that he couldn't even open his eyes.

  Qu Mingjun had no choice but to swim upstream, sticking his head out of the water to look for Deputy Platoon Leader Wang Hongsheng. After a while, he indeed saw Wang swimming up to breathe. This guy was also quite good at swimming!

  Qu Mingjun secretly admired the heroic Wang Shouzhi, but his hands didn't slow down at all. He quickly swam over and grabbed Wang Shouzhi, who was about to dive into the water again, and loudly gestured for him to understand his intentions. He tightly tied the safety belt around Wang's waist.

  Then I go up? No way, one more person, one more share of strength. Qu Mingjun started following Wang Hongsheng to dive down and feel the pipe burst.

  "I said Xia Qu, this won't do. Let's feel our way from both sides towards the middle. We'll definitely find it before we bump into each other. Whoever finds it will go ashore and direct them to block the hole. How about that?" Wang Hongsheng and Qu Mingjun took turns going down to feel for it several times, but couldn't find the hole due to various reasons. At this point, Wang Hongsheng was getting anxious, afraid of delaying too long, so he loudly expressed his idea to Qu Mingjun.

  Qū Míng Jùn thought for a moment, after all, they couldn't just grope around blindly like a blind man feeling an elephant. Although the bubbles emerging from the water surface seemed to be in a mess, as the water surface flowed, these bubbles were not actually at the position of the hole at the bottom. Flanking from both sides towards the middle was absolutely a more convenient method.

  The two separated, starting from 10 meters apart on both sides of the air bubble, and began to grope along the riverbank towards the middle. Twenty minutes later, Qu Mingjun was the first to discover the entrance, and he hastily shouted loudly to call the team leaders on the shore.

  The squad leader was overjoyed and immediately ordered the small team that had been ready to pick up the bundles of sandbags filled with stones and sink them in the direction of the cave, then add more sandbags again. Soon, this dangerous pipe was blocked.

  Although the danger has been temporarily eliminated, the river embankment is still too low to face this flood that occurs only once every few decades. Every time the river water hits the shore, a lot of river water overflows the embankment and flows into the commercial area. So the captain again commanded all the cadres and soldiers of the whole regiment to work together for three hours, using sandbags and stones to build a 200-meter-long, 1.5-meter-wide, and 1-meter-high secondary embankment. The river water, as fierce as a wild beast, was thus defeated by the People's Liberation Army.

  The cadres and soldiers of the regiment can finally take a breath, they dropped their equipment, sat down on the spot, waiting for orders from their superiors. At this time, the regimental commander had gone to find the communications advisor to communicate with his superiors, preparing to contact the garrison location of the regiment.

  Qu Mingjun also lay half-reclined on the dike, half-closing his eyes to savor the sense of satisfaction in his heart. He had defended his hometown with his own hands, and protected his loved ones.

  "Hey, young man, come and have a drink." A voice sounded in his ear, Qu Mingjun opened his eyes in surprise to find that the cadres and soldiers of the squad were surrounded by the masses.

  What? What's going on? Didn't the police disperse the crowd?

  Qiu Mingjun looked at the dark-skinned uncle standing in front of him with a smile, holding a large bag in his hand, which was filled to the brim with various drinks, seemingly just taken out of the refrigerator, with water droplets condensing on the outside of the bottles.

  It's really hot and thirsty, I want to drink a mouthful. Qu Mingjun couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva with a "gulp".

  "Haha." Hei Da Shu was delighted, "Young man, you're exhausted, quick, quick, I've already opened it for you." After saying that, he unceremoniously stuffed the drink into Qu Ming Jun's arms.

  It's really cool, but it's really comfortable. As soon as the drink bottle entered his hand, Qu Mingjun felt a wave of icy coolness spreading from his hands, and instantly a lot of fatigue on his body was relieved.

  However, the army has discipline and cannot take things from ordinary people one by one. Qu Mingjun looked around a bit awkwardly, the cadres and soldiers of the detachment were thanking and declining repeatedly. The fellow villagers were also thanking the troops repeatedly, insisting on giving their belongings to the soldiers.

  "Alright, big brother." Qu Mingjun smiled wryly, savored the cool feeling in his hand for a moment, and then handed it back to Hei Da Shu, "We don't need this, we have our own water with us."

  Hei Da Shu was originally just going to force down a bottle of Qu Ming Jun, but seeing other soldiers dodging and running away, he was worried about how to give it to others. As soon as he heard Qu Ming Jun say this, he immediately started blowing his mustache and glaring with his eyes, "What's yours is mine? It's just one broken drink, and you're pushing and shoving each other! You've worked so hard to help us keep our industry, drinking a little bit of drink is nothing! What kind of nonsense is this, it doesn't even sound like a soldier!"

  Sweat, Qu Mingjun cried and laughed, it turned out that this old brother was just a small boss in the business district, but we were soldiers and couldn't drink.

  At this time, the team leader came back, and a group of people holding drinks and food rushed up to him. While handing over drinks and cigarettes to the team leader, they also blamed the team's cadres and soldiers for not accepting their gifts, saying that whether it was condolences or labor support, these things were meant for the soldiers today, and asked the team leader to order them to accept them.

  The captain seemed to have received praise from his superiors and was in a good mood, but his face still looked somewhat stern, as the next task was also quite daunting.

  Having heard the scolding of the common people, the team leader burst out laughing, "Alright, since we have a deep bond between the military and civilians, we won't be polite to you anymore. Comrades, everyone take some, this is a token of our appreciation from the common people. However, after drinking this beverage, you must remember to defeat the flood demon and give the common people a safe world."

  "Yes!" This was the warriors' declaration.

  "Good!" This is the applause of the common people.

  Soon, the team leader gathered all the cadres above the company and took out the topographic map to start the deployment of the next phase.

  This time they had to defend a long dike, which was so long that it could only be defended by dividing the troops. The area guarded by the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment was a flood diversion dam that needed to be blasted open when the flood came and became unstoppable. Behind them were several towns, more than a dozen villages in the flood diversion zone, with tens of thousands of people inside.

  The task is to hold on to the dam and not withdraw without orders from superiors, in order to win precious time for the evacuation of the people.

  ……

  "Comrades, to ensure the safe transfer of people's lives and property, our superiors have ordered us to defend this section of the embankment with our lives! We must not leave without orders, we must ensure the safety of the embankment."

  It's been five days and five nights, due to the long-term consumption of only instant noodles, pickled mustard greens, and bread, all the soldiers including Qu Mingjun have started to turn yellow, not a single person has intact skin on their body, with burst skin and wounds everywhere. Many people just fainted while working and were dragged to the side for treatment with oxygen bags, intravenous drips, and heart stimulants, after regaining consciousness they pushed away the doctors blocking them and stumbled back onto the dam to continue working.

  As the flood peak is about to arrive again, they should evacuate according to the original plan and let the engineering troops prepare to blast the dam for flood discharge. However, the people in the flood discharge area were moving too slowly, and the company commander had no choice but to continue giving orders to the soldiers to hold their ground after receiving the order from his superiors.

  Qu Ming's eyes were also somewhat distracted, and there was no great danger for the time being. They all sat weakly in the muddy water, leaning against the embankment and staring out at the turbulent river.

  No one said anything, and time froze at this moment.

  Stillness, extreme stillness, so quiet that you can't hear a single breath or heartbeat.

  To die means that the situation has developed to a very critical moment. All warriors are clear, clear about the responsibilities they undertake and what kind of "battle" they will face!

  Suddenly, a weak and small figure struggled to get up from the muddy water, slowly moving in front of Lian Chang, with an innocent gaze and a faint voice asking: "Lian Chang, if I...if I sacrifice myself."

  The one who spoke was a famous singer, Xiao Mao. After saying "sacrifice", he fell silent for a long time before continuing: "If, if, if the floodwaters washed away my uniform, would the people find me? Would they know that I am a Liberation Army soldier?"

  At this moment, Qu Mingjun's hot tears burst out and slowly slid down his face. Xiao Mao was only 19 years old, just entering the prime of youth, and in many people's eyes, he was still just a child, a little brother who needed to be taken care of. But when he put on this military uniform, he had to face the ruthless floodwaters and the cruel mission. Meanwhile, children of his age were still sitting quietly in the peaceful campus, absorbing knowledge and enjoying their youth.

  "... will, will... will! Must be! !!! We are on the embankment!" Lian Chang's eyes also turned red, he hugged Xiao Mao tightly and held him in his own arms.

  Whether they were cadres or soldiers, whether they were old or new recruits, all the people in the third battalion and first company slowly but firmly stood up. They looked at the surging floodwaters and shouted in unison with the company commander: "As long as the embankment stands, we stand!"

  The man is on the dike!!!

  (PS: Having written to this point, my emotions are surging and I am unable to contain myself. To the heroic troops who participated in the 1998 flood relief efforts and to all levels of commanders, I once again express my deepest respect. It was they who stood out at a time of crisis, it was they who remained unknown in times of peace. Brothers, let us give our military a round of applause, for it is so glorious yet lonely!)

  Today's 6,000-word chapter is presented to all book friends. Tomorrow is the eve of the Lunar New Year, but tomorrow's chapter is a bit sad. The angel is considering whether to take a break tomorrow. Sweating, if you have any opinions, please speak up, no criticizing behind my back allowed.