The train driver in the courtyard

"Urgent notice! Urgent notice! According to the weather forecast website, the area will be hit by a severe rainstorm. Please make emergency flood prevention preparations."

The loudspeaker on the telephone pole was blaring, and passersby on the street looked up at the blue sky and were stunned.

"How could it possibly rain on such a sunny day?"

"Is there some mistake?"

"Yes, yes, this is no joke."

"Now that we've received the notification, let's get started on preparations."

The pedestrians on the street were divided into two groups.

One group thought the weather forecast website had made a mistake.

One group felt that no matter what, since the higher-ups had ordered preparations, it was always a good idea to make some preparations first.

In a large courtyard house in the suburbs, the debate over whether or not preparations should be made was particularly heated.

The courtyard was located in a low-lying area, and it would flood whenever it rained heavily.

After conveying the notice from the weather website, Chen, the street office official in charge of the compound, asked the residents to quickly gather some sandbags and pile them up in front of their homes.

Zhou Xiaoquan slammed his palm-leaf fan on the threshold: "Little Wang, I've eaten more salt than you've walked roads! In broad daylight, you're telling me it's pouring rain? Ha, you're trying to fool a fool!"

"Uncle Zhou, this is a directive from above, it's definitely not wrong. Your house is in the lowest-lying area, and you have so much grain piled up there, you mustn't let it get flooded," Officer Wang earnestly advised.

Most of the residents in the courtyard were commune members from the suburbs. Most of their grain went to the commune, but they brought back the grain from their private plots.

With this grain, they were able to find odd jobs in the city and live a more comfortable life than the average commune member.

"Are you kidding me? Do you think I'm a three-year-old who can be fooled by you? Officer Wang, thank you for your kindness."

Seeing that Officer Wang was about to persuade him again, he turned his head and spat, "If the grain bins are really flooded, I'll write my name backwards!"

Zhou Xiaoquan was a very capable person in the compound. Just look at the hundreds of kilograms of grain in his house, and anyone would know that a small plot of land could not possibly yield that much grain.

There was nothing that Officer Wang could do, especially since there were several elderly residents in the compound who needed to be relocated.

Officer Wang called over several residents and moved the elderly and children with mobility issues to the street office.

Fortunately, most residents, despite their concerns, were willing to cooperate with the neighborhood committee.

Zhou Xiaoquan watched the busy crowd and curled his lip in disdain: "These days, the one thing that's never lacking is idiots."

boom!
No sooner had the words been spoken than leaden clouds pressed down on the city, and rain arrows, carrying the force of the Milky Way pouring down, shot towards the earth.

Bang bang bang bang
Large raindrops pelted Zhou Xiaoquan's face, and he jumped up as if waking from a dream.

The rain was heavy and torrential; in the blink of an eye, the yard was filled with water up to ankle-deep.

The murky rainwater, carrying fallen leaves and trash, swirled and surged towards the low-lying areas.

"Quick! Move the grain!" Zhou Xiaoquan finally panicked and frantically tried to stop the rain.

Without preparing sandbags in advance, rainwater poured into his door cracks like a burst dam, and in the blink of an eye, it overflowed the threshold.

The hundreds of kilograms of grain he was so proud of were being soaked by the rain at a visible rate.

"Oh dear, my grain! This is all the food I painstakingly smuggled out of the commune's warehouse, and now it's all gone!"

Seeing the grains soaking in the water, Zhou Xiaoquan's legs went weak, and he knelt down in the water with a splash, bursting into tears.

Officer Wang arrived with several young men despite the rain. "Uncle Zhou! Come out quickly!"

They waded through knee-deep water and, with much effort, carried Zhou Xiaoquan out.

Zhou Xiaoquan looked back at the flooded house, his lips trembling as he couldn't speak.

The rain intensified, and the streets quickly turned into rushing streams.

Officer Wang was organizing the residents to move to higher ground. He was soaked to the bone, but he kept counting heads: "Has everyone from Aunt Zhang's family come out? Where's Uncle Li?"

"Uncle Li has been released, but Aunt Zhang is bedridden."

Upon hearing this, Officer Wang gritted his teeth and shouted, "Those who are members of the organization, come at me together!"

Several young men stepped forward, ready to follow Officer Wang into the rain to rescue people.

Suddenly, a roaring sound rang out on the street, and several Jiefang trucks broke through the rain and drove over.

The truck stopped in front of the street office, and a leader got out and saluted Officer Wang: "Comrade, we've come to provide assistance!"

"Comrade, thanks to the advance warning, only one family has not yet been brought out."

After figuring out the address, the soldiers rushed into the rain without hesitation.

As they watched the figures gradually disappear into the heavy rain, Wang, the street office leaders, and the residents of the neighborhood all felt a warm feeling welling up in their hearts.

Zhou Xiaoquan was placed in a temporary resettlement area set up by the subdistrict office, where he was squeezed together with other people.

He gazed at the torrential rain outside the window, finally bowing his head: "I was foolish."

The courtyard was in complete chaos when the heavy rain hit at the beginning.

Because preparations had been made in advance and the households that needed to be evacuated had already done so, everyone quickly came to their senses.

With the arrival of comrades from the team in the compound to provide assistance to the residents, the residents actually began to appreciate the beautiful scenery.

"Yes, son, come and see the rain! I've never seen such heavy rain in all my years."

"See that? If it weren't for the higher-ups forcing us to pile up sandbags, our house would have been flooded long ago!"

"This rain is really heavy, Dad. How did the people up there know it would rain?"

"It seems to be because of that weather forecast website. We don't understand it at all. From now on, we'll just believe whatever the loudspeaker says!"

Residents leisurely reinforced their defenses while watching the rain with their children.

The sound of rain pattering on the tiles, mixed with people's laughter, sounded particularly loud under the dim sky.

"Report: It has been raining for two hours now, with rainfall reaching 90mm. Severe geological disasters have occurred in Chengdu and surrounding areas. Fortunately, due to early warning and the dispatch of soldiers for rescue, no serious damage has occurred."

After receiving the report from Cheng Du, the leader of the local meteorological department put down the phone and walked up to Li Aiguo.

"Patriotic comrade, on behalf of the Chengdu Meteorological Department, I thank you!"

He was well aware that if Li Aiguo hadn't risked issuing the warning, his punishment would have been secondary; the key issue would have been the irreparable damage caused.

"When faced with natural disasters, it is better to be overly cautious than to be caught off guard." Li Aiguo did not mean to blame him.

After all, weather forecast websites are a new thing, and it will take some time for people to accept them. Local officials have done a lot of work after issuing the warnings.

boom!
At this point, the accuracy of the weather forecast network was confirmed, and the command center erupted in enthusiastic applause.

"Being able to predict heavy rain without any warning is amazing."

"This is even more divine than the Dragon King."

"Ahem, Xiao Chen, there's no such thing as a Dragon King. Don't talk nonsense."

"Yes Yes Yes"

The Hydrology Bureau was also very pleased.

With the weather forecasting network, they were able to provide accurate weather forecasts to the South Asian training grounds.

"Today is a day of victory. To celebrate, I'll have the cafeteria chef stew pork knuckle for everyone at noon!"

Zou Jieguang was going all out.

Cheers rang out again.

In this day and age, being able to eat pork knuckle is like eating a Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

After lunch, Li Aiguo, along with Professor Huang and others, got back to work.

The accuracy of the weather forecasting network has only been preliminarily determined at this stage.

Further efforts are needed to provide early warnings of climate disasters as quickly as possible and to disseminate weather forecasts from various regions to the entire nation via radio and television.

Li Aiguo's side has achieved gratifying results.

The rain had not yet completely stopped when Li Yunlong was frantically looking at the map in the training field.

In the middle of the river within the training ground, there is an island.

Islands in these rivers are usually small, but this island is an exception, being exceptionally large.

The island is located at a critical point in shipping; failure to capture it will affect subsequent material transportation.

The island in the training ground was covered with fortifications. Li Yunlong tried several times to land on the island, but was forced back by the island's firepower.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Harbin Military Engineering Institute learned of the situation and sent a large batch of specially made equipment.

Li Yunlong was somewhat bewildered when he saw the thing in the box that looked like a mortar.

"The mortar has grown up?"

“I told you to read more books, but you wouldn’t listen. This is the Wude Chongpei Cannon that Harbin Military Engineering Institute just developed.” Zhao Gang arrived in a large off-road vehicle, worried that he would embarrass himself in front of the young professor at Harbin Military Engineering Institute, so he quickly stopped him.

"The Martial Virtue-Enriching Cannon? That's a pretty good name." Li Yunlong walked over and circled the cannon.

"Comrade, thank you for your trouble."

"My name is Zhou Mingming. You can call me Professor Zhou."

"Hello, Professor Zhou." Li Yunlong felt that this guy was a bit arrogant, but considering that he was there to deliver equipment, he didn't say much.

With Zhou Mingming's help, the ten Wude Chongpei Cannons were assembled.

"This type of cannon is best suited for amphibious operations." Zhou Mingming taught the team members all the details of using the Wude Chongpei cannon and the precautions to take.

"With this cannon, even the strongest fortress can be blasted open."

"Let me see just how powerful your thing really is," Li Yunlong said, feeling that Zhou Mingming was exaggerating.

It's just a mortar. Even if it's powerful, you can't fire it if the enemy doesn't give you the space and time to deploy it.

However, considering that the old dean had personally given the order, Li Yunlong had no choice but to arrange a team to go with the Wude Chongpei Cannon.

Before setting off, Li Yunlong called the captain into his tent.

"When we land on the island, if you see that things are not going well, retreat immediately. Do not linger in battle; preserve your strength, understand?"

"Understood!" The captain saluted Li Yunlong.

The island landing operation in the exercise area began on the morning of the second day.

The moment they started moving, the people on the island noticed them.

Upon receiving a report from his subordinates at the training ground, Lieutenant General Tata put down his coffee cup and exclaimed in surprise, "What? Li Yunlong is going to land on the island again? That kid is incredibly audacious!" "What do we do now?" his subordinates asked, panicked. Li Yunlong was invincible, already known as a god of death here; how could they not be afraid?

Lieutenant General Tata sneered, "What's there to be afraid of? We have over three hundred bunkers on our island, separated from the shore by a river. Do you think Li Yunlong can fly over here?"

"Go tell the soldiers that if they can't hold the bunker, they should prepare to swim back to their hometowns!"

"Yes, sir!" The subordinate saluted and hurried off to set up the defenses.

Lieutenant General Tata stood up and looked out the window: "Li Yunlong, do you think you can deal with me just because you can capture that idiot Dada? That's ridiculous. I'm not that good-for-nothing Dada."

Despite his tough words, Lieutenant General Tata, having enjoyed a massage from a maid, still personally came to the rear of the position.

Seeing more than a dozen ships heading this way, Lieutenant General Dada waved his hand and said, "Once the enemy is within firing range, you can open fire at will! We must annihilate all the enemies."

"Destroy the enemy!"

Those people were initially a little scared, but after thinking about it carefully, they realized that they were inside the bunker while the enemy was on the river, so the advantage was on their side!

So they all joined in shouting along with Lieutenant General Tata.

Li Yunlong stood on the shore, holding binoculars and keeping his eyes fixed on the ships, ready to shout for retreat at any moment.

It wasn't that he was afraid of death, but he couldn't let his team members make unnecessary sacrifices, like that time at sea.

Buzzing. The once noisy river surface quickly quieted down, and only the sound of boat propellers sloshing across the water could be heard.

The opponent's fingers were tightly gripping the trigger and firing mechanism, ready to fire at any moment and savor the joy of victory.

Two thousand meters. One thousand meters. Eight hundred meters. Closer, closer. Countless eyes were staring greedily at the ships, like hyenas.

They couldn't help but swallow their saliva, their mouths watering.

Just now.

boom.

The bunker next door was blown up.

Sand splashed in, and the guys with scarves wrapped around their heads were still a bit bewildered. What happened? Had they accidentally lit the explosives?

This kind of thing happens frequently on the enemy's side, and sometimes it can kill up to half of their personnel.

boom.

Another bunker next door was blown up.

The men with scarves wrapped around their heads then realized something was wrong and immediately picked up their binoculars to look at the river.

Suddenly, a huge mortar was erected on the ship, and the shells were flying out of the mortar barrel.

Ordinary mortar shells might at most leave a dent, but this monstrous iron pipe spews out demolition hammers!
With a single shot, the reinforced concrete bunker was torn to shreds like a paper house.

"My God, what a huge mortar!"

"It's unbelievable that a single shot could destroy a bunker."

"Run, everyone, run! We're no match for them!"

Using the Wude Chongpei Cannon on the ship was the second tactic that Zhou Mingming and Li Aiguo devised based on the characteristics of the Wude Chongpei Cannon.

The Wude Chongpei Cannon can be deployed quickly, launching a surprise attack before the enemy can react.

Its power is comparable to that of a ship-mounted cannon, and the defensive fortifications in the exercise area are simply no match for it.

As plumes of black smoke billowed, the bunkers were demolished one by one. Li Yunlong was dumbfounded. If he had had these things back then, he might have already successfully landed on the island.

But it's not over yet. We'll have to clean this up first and then we'll have more time.
After Zhou Mingming recorded the data in detail, he was shocked to discover that the enemy had already escaped.

Small boats appeared on the river as the enemy desperately fled to the shore.

Li Yunlong noticed this situation and immediately ordered his men to arrest the people.

"Professor Zhou, should we stop for a while? The enemy has already surrendered anyway." The captain suggested when he saw the white flag hanging on the island.

"Continue the attack. This time, our objective is not this island, but to test the Wude Chongpei Cannon." Zhou Mingming put away his pen and waved his hand. "Once we reach the beach, immediately execute Plan Two."

Watching his team members jump off the boat with submachine guns in hand and quickly deploy the remaining Wude Chongpei cannons on the beach, with shells whistling out, Zhou Mingming wrote in his notebook: "After experimental testing, the Wude Chongpei cannons are fully capable of fulfilling the heavy responsibility of beach assault operations."

Lieutenant General Tata was holding a white flag, waiting for the other side to take over, but he almost got hit by a cannonball instead.

"Fine, you won't even let me surrender? Then I'll show you my true strength!"

Tata, having won the prize, handed the white flag to a man wearing a headscarf, turned around, got on his motorcycle, and sped off to the cliffs behind the island.

There is a secret dock here, where a small fishing boat is moored.

Tata won the lottery, picked up the clothes he had prepared beforehand, changed into them, and instantly transformed into an honest and simple fisherman.

"Hehe, my escape skills far surpass Dada's. Li Yunlong, you better remember this: my name is Tata, and I will never let you go."

On the shore, Li Yunlong rubbed his ears, wondering, "Who's calling me? Why does that voice sound so much like Dada's?"

The staff officer replied, "Impossible, Dada is currently smashing rocks."

The battle lasted only two hours before it ended.

The Wude Chongpei Cannons were all recovered by Zhou Mingming's men and were prepared to be packed into boxes and transported away.

Li Yunlong, growing anxious, stopped him: "What are you doing? This is my stuff. Are you trying to steal it?"

"How is this yours?"

"This is my territory. What isn't mine is yours, isn't it? You little professor, you look so refined, how can you be so unreasonable?"

"."

"How about this, I'm a very generous person, I'll give you half, okay?"

"."

"What? Half isn't enough? You're too greedy. I'm a good person, just three doors, is that alright?"

"."

Zhou Mingming had heard rumors of Li Yunlong's domineering style before, but this was the first time he had witnessed it firsthand.

The two sides argued for a while, and in the end, Zhao Gang pulled Li Yunlong aside.

"This weapons test plan was personally designed by the old dean. You don't want to get a spanking from him, do you?"

Upon hearing the old dean's name, Li Yunlong abandoned his plan to seize the cannon, though the real reason was that he didn't need it for the time being.

"This weapons test must be kept secret. These powerful cannons have a great use in the future," Zhou Mingming added.

Li Yunlong, who was initially somewhat disappointed, suddenly became excited. This was clearly a sign that he would be dealing with those guys on the island in the future.

"Come on, let me help you move it."

Seeing that the men were struggling, Li Yunlong rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.

His fingers touched the emblem under the cannon barrel, and he looked down, puzzled: "A five-pointed star? Hey, I know someone who really likes to draw five-pointed stars on the things he makes."

Zhou Mingming pretended not to hear anything, loaded the boxes onto the truck, and hurriedly left.

He needed to report the test results to the old dean as soon as possible.

Watching the truck disappear into the distance, Li Yunlong scratched his head: "Could the 'Martial Virtue Full-Power Cannon' be another one that Aiguo (patriotic hero) invented?"

"It shouldn't be. I heard that Aiguo has been studying weather forecasting recently. Maybe we'll be able to receive weather data here soon."

As soon as Zhao Gang finished speaking, the communications company commander ran over quickly and saluted the two men.

"Report, we have just received a telegram from the General Staff Hydrological Bureau. Heavy rainfall is expected here in three days, and the rain will last for a week."

"What you say comes true!"

Weather conditions are crucial to the battle plan. Li Yunlong had Zhao Gang pick up the map and pointed at it with his finger: "If it rains, the roads will become muddy, making it impossible to continue the advance and greatly affecting supplies. We must seize this position before the rain arrives."

"I agree." Zhao Gang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, there was a weather forecast; otherwise, these people would probably have been stuck here for a while longer, which could have jeopardized the entire plan.

"Let's go!" A loud shout rang out, and the team regrouped.

"Patriotism, the weather forecast for the exercise area has been sent over by telegram. Because of the lack of weather stations, the accuracy is not as good as that in China, but it can still play an important role."

Inside the headquarters, Li Aiguo clenched his fist excitedly upon hearing the good news from Zou Jieguang.

"Next up is the domestic weather forecast. We've already contacted Beijing TV."

After learning that weather forecasts could be broadcast domestically, Beijing Television was exceptionally proactive, establishing a dedicated department.

Director Liu will be responsible for communicating and coordinating with the headquarters.

Li Aiguo discovered that Director Liu was an old acquaintance; he was the one who helped coordinate the equipment when they filmed the short film last time.

"Director Liu, hello." Li Aiguo stood up and poured himself a cup of tea.

"It's Comrade Aiguo! I didn't expect to see you here." Director Liu is a long-time member of the organization and knows what to ask and what not to ask.

After a few casual words, they started discussing the weather forecast program.

According to the TV station's plan, the weather program would be broadcast at noon, presented by a news anchor.

"Director Liu, I'm a layman when it comes to television programs, but as a viewer, I have a few thoughts." After listening, Li Aiguo handed Director Liu a cigarette and lit one for himself.

Director Liu took it in his hand: "Aiguo, we are all one family. You can speak frankly about anything."

"Weather forecasts are crucial for guiding people's production and daily lives, and I suggest that the program be placed after the evening news. This way, more people can see it."

Regardless of the era, evening news programs are always the most-watched programs, although the concept of viewership ratings didn't exist back then.

"That's a good idea." Director Liu immediately realized the benefits.

People who don't care about the news might watch news programs because they are interested in the weather forecast.

As a result, more people watched the news programs.

"Do you have any other good ideas?" Director Liu took out his notebook and wrote them down.

"We could put a national map on the wall, write the local weather conditions on slips of paper and stick them on the map, and then have a presenter announce the weather conditions."

"This will be more intuitive and make it easier for people in different places to keep track of local weather changes." Director Liu nodded repeatedly: "The host needs to have extensive meteorological knowledge."

“We can help with the training,” Li Aiguo paused and said, “I remember the reporter at the switch station last time was quite bold, and his Mandarin was very standard.”

Director Liu nodded: "I also think it's quite suitable."

(End of this chapter)