No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 192 Reclamation
What is undercurrent piping?

First of all, flood control dams are built of earth and rocks, which are not as strong as people imagined.

Not to mention the firmness of earth and stone buildings in this era, even the firmness of those concrete dams in Ouyang Rong's previous life could not be completely sealed.

Once the water level explodes or the flood peak approaches, the huge water pressure will seep into the dam through some tiny cracks that cannot be found normally.

And then form an undercurrent everywhere, which is called "piping".

Once the undercurrent piping continues and gathers, the dam may collapse.

Therefore, there is an idiom called the dike of a thousand miles, which collapsed in the ant's nest.

This is also something that Ouyang Rong must guard against.

Wait for Ouyang Rong to lead the people to rush down Longbei Mountain and rush to Digong Gate.

The left-behind officials and craftsmen on the embankment near the sluice are already in a state of panic.

"How's it going!"

Ouyang Rong quickly crossed the road where the crowd spontaneously parted, and rushed forward.

"Mingfu!" A senior official said anxiously:

"There should be a mudslide on the nearby mountain, and maybe some villages were washed away. Just now, a big wave swept a large area of ​​trees, bricks and tiles, and they all hit the sluice dam!

"The most terrible thing is that some of them crashed into the sluice."

Another senior official with a calmer face answered, and said to Ouyang Rong who was frowning:

"An old craftsman surnamed Chen said that on the entire sluice dam, he found two places where piping seemed to be happening. There were undercurrents and eddies in the water, and there must have been cracks.

"One is near the main gate of the sluice, and the other is on the left half, near Longbei Mountain..."

Ouyang Rong murmured: "Guan Chung... two places..." He raised his head sharply, "Chen Changli, go and call the craftsmen."

Soon, several experienced craftsmen were brought over.

"Take me to see the location of the pipe."

Ouyang Rong's expression remained unchanged, and he ordered without delay.

Under the leadership of craftsmen surnamed Chen and others, Ouyang Rong quickly located two locations where undercurrent piping might be happening.

Ouyang Rong made a prompt decision and said to the crowd:

"Stop the piping at the main gate of the sluice first! Concentrate on keeping the sluice!"

"Mingfu, look at the cracks on the surface of the water, the other gap seems to be more serious..."

"The sluice is the core of the Digong Sluice. It is located in the middle section. There are many wooden structures. It is the most vulnerable part of the whole sluice. Once the sluice collapses, it will cause the entire dam to burst, and the consequences will be disastrous."

Ouyang Rong analyzed calmly, then turned his head and ordered:
"However, we have a lot of people. Let's go and gather our people. First, we will use two approaches. We will drop sandbags and fill in gravel at the same time to disinfect the water! Stop the piping!"

Ouyang Rong turned his head, wiped the rain off his face, and said decisively:
"Ah Shan, bring the main force of the Minyong Team and follow me, let's block the main gate first!
"Changli He, Craftsman Chen...you stay here, throw sand and rocks into the water to stop the plumbing!
"Women, children, villagers, and unrelated people who delivered food and clothes evacuated the dam first, and were not allowed to surround the gate, causing congestion and hindering the delivery of sandbags..."

The current situation is extremely urgent.

Under the continuous flooding and turbulent water potential of Yunmengze, the piping may expand at any time, causing a larger-scale breach, and the consequences will be disastrous.

However, a certain young county magistrate issued precise orders one after another, and everyone seemed to have found their backbone, and their spirits were shaken, and they each took orders.

Split up and race against the clock.

Ouyang Rong and his team took the lead to rush to the main gate of the central sluice gate of the embankment, first judged the situation, and located the location of the piping.

"Look, it's here!" You Minyong shouted.

I saw below the embankment, the wind was strong and the waves were high, beating against the embankment wall.

Somewhere on the surface of the water, flowers and sand gushed out everywhere, all clearly indicating that the gaps in the dikes and dams below were being infiltrated and scoured by the turbulent water.

Ouyang Rong and other people who stayed on the gate picked up bamboo poles one after another, and worked together to wave away the debris on the water surface for the strong men who were about to enter the water.

In a short while, Liu Ashan and other ten young and strong men who are good at water in the bravery team stripped off their clothes and shirtless one after another. Regardless of the rushing water below, they each carried bamboos and fishing nets and jumped into the water one by one.

The water was turbulent, Liu Ashan and other good-water men managed to stabilize their bodies, and swam to the location designated by Ouyang Rong on the shore one after another.

Somebody dives and sticks.

Someone scattered the net.

On the sluice, some people also began to drop the sandbags and gravel that had been prepared one after another to disinfect the water potential.

Thanks to Ouyang Rong's preparation in advance a few days ago, he and everyone in the Minyong team also made corresponding deduction arrangements.

Now that the crisis is at hand, it is the first time to act, and it is barely orderly, and there is no panic...

After the efforts of Liu Ashan and other ten men who threw water, they cooperated with everyone on the shore.

About half an hour later.

Bamboo and wooden poles are placed on the bottom of the river bed in a very orderly manner with short intervals.

Large fishing nets are spread among the poles,

Together, the two temporarily formed a semicircular underwater space.

This "semi-circle" covers the sluice dam and surrounds the vicinity of the main gate where the piping undercurrent occurs.

If you just insert the pole fence, it will not be stable.

But on the sluice dam, Ouyang Rong led the young men who stayed behind, and they were throwing the sandbags and gravel that had been stockpiled for a long time into the semicircular space below.

The so-called all things are difficult at the beginning,

However, due to the existence of the "semi-circle" cover surrounded by wooden piles and fishing nets, the turbulent water waves and undercurrents did not wash away the sandbags and gravel that sank to the bottom at the beginning.

They were all blocked in this designated underwater space, gradually filling the latter.

Soon, the water potential, which was originally extremely high in wind and waves, slowly diminished as the sinking sandbags and other heavy objects were buried.

After the arrangement was completed, Liu Ashan and other ten brave men went ashore vigorously like loaches under the support of bamboo poles stretched down from the embankment.

They didn't rest for a moment, they turned their heads to cooperate with Ouyang Rong and others, and continued to circle the water surface in a semicircle below, throwing sandbags and gravel.

After half a stick of incense, finally, the phenomenon of turning flowers and sand on the water surface quietly disappeared, and the original calm was restored.

On the sluice dam, Ouyang Rong and the others temporarily put down the sandbags they held up in their hands, and looked at each other while wiping the sweat on the backs of their hands.

Without further ado, Liu Ashan dropped his mandarin jacket, jumped into the water like a flying fish, and dived into the bottom of the river. After a while, he came out of the water with a "plop" and waved his hand at the people on the gate with joy.

Most of the sandbags were filled underwater, and the pipes formed by the gaps were firmly suppressed.

The dangerous piping at the main gate of this sluice has been contained!

Ouyang Rong and the Minyong team relaxed their shoulders, exhaling with joy.

However, when Liu Ashan was connected to the sluice gate, Ouyang Rong's face became serious, and he turned his head and said:
"There is one more place, let's go, let's go!"

Ouyang Rong led Liu Ashan and the Minyong team, immediately packed up their things, and rushed to the other side of the sluice where the crowd was surrounded, and rushed to support.

"How are you doing here?"

The person in charge of this place is a senior official named He. Because he has been relatively calm among his colleagues many times, Ouyang Rong asked him and old craftsman Chen to be responsible for disinfecting the water here and temporarily containing the plumbing.

Wait for them to deal with the main gate of the sluice with higher priority, and then deploy the main support.

"Mingfu, something is wrong."

He Changli turned his head, and the first sentence made everyone's hearts sink.

"What's wrong?"

Together with his colleagues, He Changli threw a bag of sand and gravel into the water with his hands. He pointed to the rushing wind and waves beating against the dam wall below and said:
"Mingfu, we have already thrown hundreds of sandbags, and the water below is invisible to the naked eye."

Ouyang Rong frowned and turned to look at Liu Ashan.

The latter tacitly stepped forward, and jumped into the water with the two brave men, and dived into the bottom against the wind and waves.

But soon, the three of them went ashore one after another, bringing bad news to the already worried people.

"My lord, it's not good. There is a deep ditch right under the pipe. All the sandbags and earth and rocks thrown down have filled the ditch."

Everyone's heart sank.

Ouyang Rong frowned, and asked about the depth of the ditch. Liu Ashan looked thoughtful, and after a while, he said a few words in a voice that only Ouyang Rong could hear, which seemed to be roughly analogous.

Everyone saw that the young county magistrate frowned even more.

Doesn't seem like good news.

The atmosphere among the crowd became more and more dignified.

Ouyang Rong turned his head and said to He Changli and the others, "How many sandbags and gravel do we have?"

He Changli and others got together, made a rough count, and reported: "Back to the Ming Mansion, one hundred and one bags have been thrown down, and there are still 120 seven bags of sandbags left. As for the gravel, [-]% of it has been used... "

After listening, Ouyang Rong took a deep breath, raised his head, and made a decisive decision:

"Continue to fill! This pipe must be contained. We have no way out, let alone give up halfway? But the ditch is a bottomless pit, and it is impossible to fill the entire ditch. We have to find another way to save materials."

At the end of the sentence, he turned his face, and gave instructions to the few members of the Minyong team who were good at water, with a dignified expression:
"Ah Shan, this time it's up to you to find the underwater dam. The hole in the upper wall is leaking, and a fence is built around it. The fence is smaller. Let's fill it with sandbags and save sand and stones as much as possible... "

There are piping surges here, even on the surface of the water, the wind and waves are high, not to mention the risk of undercurrent and vortex below the water surface?

However, Liu Ashan didn't say a word, and picked two men with the best water skills among the brave men, and with bamboo poles and fishing nets, they entered the water without looking back.

On the embankment, Ouyang Rong and others saw this, holding their breath and concentrating on it, only the sound of rain around them.

I don't know how long it took.

Just when Ouyang Rong was in a bad mood and his face changed slightly.

Finally, Liu Ashan and others came out of the water and waved to Ouyang Rong and others!
Successfully, they found the crack in the underwater gate dam.

Maybe luck.

It may also be that the cracks on the dam at the bottom of the water have spread very deep and are obvious.

But no matter what, everyone acted quickly,
More brave men went into the water and narrowed the area. At the crack of the dam, just like they were at the first main gate, they proceeded step by step and surrounded a semicircle of water with wooden stakes and fishing nets.

On the sluice dam, Ouyang Rong, He Changli and others, without stopping for a moment, immediately picked up the sandbags piled up at their feet, and threw them down one by one as if they didn't need money.And stored gravel too.

Until... everything is lost.

"What to do, Mingfu, our sandbags are all gone! The stones are also used up, and we still can't fill them!"

Even He Changli's lips trembled, looking at the still churning water below, he quivered and asked.

How to do?
Facing the panic-stricken people on the gate, Ouyang Rong looked down at the water surface, his bloodless lips were tightly pressed into slits, and only one word was uttered between the slits:

"fill!"

Under the eyes of everyone, Ouyang Rong stood up first, took off his clothes, and threw relatively heavy things such as jade belts and head crowns into the water below.

Then I went to dig out a wet water-green official uniform, shoveled sand and mud, wrapped it with silk official uniform and knotted it to make a "small sandbag".

Without raising his eyelids, he threw it behind his head and fell into the water below the dam to act as filler.

On the embankment, in the wind and rain, Liu Ashan, He Changli, Chen Craftsman... Minyong, the chief official, and craftsmen present all showed blank expressions.

Immediately, as if a switch had been flipped by Ouyang Rong's silent action, they reacted, moved around, and followed suit.

Some people threw earthen pots, shovels, benches, bamboo poles and other sundries into the water.

Some people worked tirelessly between Caifeng Mountain and Digong Gate, running wildly in the rain, carrying gravel to fill the river,

Some people also collected the clothes that everyone took off, wrapped them in soil and sand, made them into sandbags and threw them into the river.

The villagers settled on Longbei Mountain and Caifeng Mountain did not know where they learned about the movement on the sluice dam. Under the call of the old man with white hu, they descended one after another and ran to the Digong sluice regardless of the danger. Heavy objects such as rattling pots and pans, jewelry hairpins, children's toys, etc. are thrown into the water...

All kinds of weird but familiar things were thrown into the surging water below and sank to the bottom.

The enthusiastic enthusiasm of the villagers stunned Ouyang Rong, who was shirtless and only had a close-fitting skirt knife left on his body, along with the militia team, chief officials, and craftsmen.

In fact, there are many things that the villagers don't need to throw down. If they throw them down, they will float on the surface of the water and will not sink to the bottom, so they are of little use.

But Ouyang Rong didn't say these words, just stood there silently, opened his mouth, and closed it again.

The voices around him were chaotic, the old man with white beard and the villagers seemed to have said a thousand words to Ouyang Rong, but he didn't know how to reply, so he just nodded in response.

The young county magistrate also has a thousand words.

Ye Weilai got out from nowhere, stood on the edge of the dam, pulled out a hairpin she liked to tie up her silver hair, and threw it into the river below, along with other accessories, one by one.

After throwing away these extraneous things, the plain-clothed Ye Weilai relaxed, her waist-length silver-white hair fluttering in the air, walked to Ouyang Rong without looking back, and gently pulled his finger that was holding the handle of the knife.

At this moment, the only heavy object on this white-haired maid's body is probably the black lacquered porcelain bowl that she carried all the way down from the mountain in her hand.

Ye Weilai held the bowl in both hands, the soup in the bowl shook slightly, her big blue eyes were full of caution;
"Tan Lang, take a sip of ginger soup, the eldest lady said that you have the root cause of the disease, and you are prone to cold..."

Ouyang Rong came back to his senses, turned to look at her, this time he did not refuse, took the soup bowl, and drank it down.

Immediately, an empty bowl was thrown out and sank into the water with a "plop".

He didn't know what ginger soup tasted like, his mouth was a little numb, and he had lost his taste buds after eating a lot of muddy water.

Ouyang Rong also didn't want to know that at this moment, like his colleagues and surrounding villagers, all his attention was on the bottomless water below the dam.

The crowd had nothing to lose, and the crowd quieted down, looking down one after another.

I saw that the tumbling waves on the water surface at the pipe surge became much smaller. It seemed that many fillers sank and stabilized the pipe surge at the crack.

The atmosphere among the crowd on the gate fell silent, and then there was a burst of jubilation: "It's blocked!"

Ouyang Rong, who looked tired, also let out a long sigh of relief.

(End of this chapter)