Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 617 Big Scene

Xia Lin had been working for three days straight, but still hadn't slept. Compared to those closer to Jiangnan Road who could receive timely rescue, those further away ultimately had to rely on themselves.

However, self-rescue is obviously not so simple, because the area is mountainous, with different accents and customs every ten miles, and most of the local people are resistant to and fearful of the government troops. Even though almost all the government troops have been mobilized to carry out emergency disaster relief, the progress is quite slow because the residents are scattered, the terrain is complex, and there are many rivers.

The 72-hour window is the golden time for rescue; after that, the mortality rate of those trapped by the flood will increase exponentially.

Therefore, Xia Lin dared not sleep for even a minute at this critical juncture, and could only take a short nap during the gaps between delivering missions and receiving intelligence.

Although the torrential rain outside has subsided, it is still drizzling. However, there are many landslide-dammed lakes in the mountainous areas, which will break and erupt one after another in the following days. The water, mixed with silt and debris, will flow into the river from above, blocking the river channel and causing secondary damage after the disaster. There may even be a risk of dam failure.

The local magistrate, Chen Zhongping, hadn't slept for three days. He stood on the embankment, his ankles shoved in mud, the raindrops on his raincoat glistening like silver threads in the torchlight. He wiped the rain from his face, grabbed a brass megaphone, and roared at the dark mass of people: "All county officials, listen up! Wang, the head constable, take twenty men and dismantle the doors of the teahouse on West Street; bring them over within half an incense stick's time to plug the breach! Li, the registrar, open the granary and fetch sacks; those who fill them with sand will be rewarded with ten coins each!"

Amidst the thunder, the yamen runners kicked through the mud and rushed about relaying orders. Magistrate Chen suddenly grabbed a stumbling courier: "You! Ride your horse upstream, and when you see the water level rise above the old locust tree branches, fire three fire arrows!" Turning to the huddled crowd of people, he roared: "All men over sixteen years old, come and collect your baskets! Carry ten baskets of soil in exchange for half a bushel of rice! Women and children, retreat to the higher ground of the City God Temple!"

The turbid waves outside the dike crashed and shattered three stone slabs, and several local militiamen were knocked off their feet. Magistrate Chen threw off his raincoat and jumped into the gap. His official boots sank into the mud and he couldn't pull them out, so he simply picked up sandbags barefoot and shouted, "The garrison troops will be divided into three teams to rotate shifts. As long as we are here, the dike will stand!" His shout, mixed with the smell of blood, pierced through the rain, and more than twenty strong men responded by carrying wooden stakes to push the dike up.

"Report! Liu, the village headman downstream, is leading three hundred tenant farmers to our aid!"

"Have Old Man Liu guard the Three-Arch Bridge! And send someone to invite the monks from the temple to bring their bronze bell to suppress the flood!" Magistrate Chen tore half of his official robe to cover his bleeding hand, then suddenly pointed at a man wearing a square scarf: "That doctor! Take your apprentice and boil five barrels of ginger soup, mixed with strong liquor!"

Torches flickered in the wind and rain as thousands of workers moved like ants, their steps echoing the rhythm of the dike-building chants. As dawn broke, the county magistrate, covered in mud, slumped on a pile of sacks, staring at the barely closed dike. In a hoarse voice, he ordered, "Leave thirty men to take turns keeping watch at night... the rest... cough... go drink..." Before he could finish, he leaned against a broken log and fell into a deep sleep, still clutching half a soaked command flag in his hand.

The shouts outside startled Xia Lin. When he went out, he saw Magistrate Chen lying on the ground, surrounded by a group of people trying to pry his mouth open.

Xia Lin stepped forward and pushed through the crowd to check on the magistrate. He found that the magistrate had fainted due to overwork. He waved his hand and said, "Carry him to the main tent first. Report any piping in the dike immediately, quick!"

At this time, there are no generals or commanders. Once on the dam, they are all like dead dogs in front of God. If the dam collapses, everyone will perish. No matter how powerful a person is, they are no different in the face of this raging torrent.

As dawn broke, the rain finally stopped, but seeing three fireworks shooting into the sky upstream meant that a landslide dam had collapsed upstream, causing a chain reaction.

Now it remains to be seen whether the dikes they have been reinforcing in recent days can withstand this impact.

The saying "do your best and leave the rest to fate" means doing what you should do and leaving everything else to destiny.

The river water swelled visibly, and the mud and rocks mixed in crashed against the embankment. Standing on it, you could even feel the rumbling vibrations.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't panicking; Xia Lin was trembling slightly. After all, with this water flow speed and this volume, if the dam broke, he would be nowhere to be found within five seconds. Unless he really had the ability to stay airborne indefinitely, the result would basically be death.

The waves crashed against the embankment, and soon the water reached their feet. Behind them lay Guizhou Prefecture, which was significantly below the water level, and the hundreds of thousands of people who lived there.

Time passed slowly, and apart from the roar of the river, there was no other sound. Ahead, everything was shrouded in mist, making it difficult to see clearly. Occasionally, the carcasses of large animals would float by in the water, a sight that filled one with dread.

The dam is now experiencing some surging and leakage. Although people immediately went to reinforce it, this was clearly a drop in the ocean.

Xia Lin watched as the wounds slowly began to break down, her heart rate soaring to 180 beats per minute, but she knew she couldn't afford to panic.

"Quickly, evacuate the people on the embankment, quick!" Xia Lin immediately ordered, "Evacuate to the higher ground on both sides, don't worry about anything else."

Everyone was evacuating, and at that moment someone came up to Xia Lin and said, "General, you should evacuate too. The dam might not be able to be saved."

Xia Lin waved his hand and said, "Of course, I won't leave."

It wasn't that he was showing off or that he was confident; rather, he knew that in this situation, he didn't have the ability to run 8,000 meters in five minutes. So, whether he retreated or not made no difference. They say that water and fire are merciless, but only those who have actually witnessed a dam collapse know just how fast the water rushes in.

However, perhaps luck was on Xia Lin's side. Just when the dam was about to collapse and many parts had begun to crumble, the flood peak passed, and the water level began to drop rapidly. It was about to return to a safe water level. At this moment, the people who had been building the dam returned, and cheers resounded throughout the entire dam.

The joy of surviving such a catastrophe truly overwhelmed all other emotions, and when they looked back at their hometown, an unprecedented sense of honor surged forth. Some couldn't help but burst into tears, while others, more reserved, embraced and wept. Xia Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief, but with that relief, he was even a little unsteady on his feet. His personal guards quickly helped him up and asked in a low voice, "Commander, wouldn't you like to rest?"

Xia Lin nodded, and then he was helped into the tent. Although the conditions were a bit harsh, it was already good to have a place to sleep at this time. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The flood peak has passed, but there are still many things to deal with afterward, and not all dikes can withstand it. However, relatively speaking, there are fewer people and less farmland in the downstream areas, so the losses are very limited, which can be considered a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

Of course, there is another big problem now, which is that the food supply in the city is about to be disrupted. After all, the supplies that Wei Changsheng had stockpiled had been handed over as spoils of war, and now that disasters have struck various places, many people have flocked here.

Xia Lin had witnessed firsthand how terrifying it was for starving refugees, so for now they could only temporarily implement wartime control measures, with all food being uniformly distributed.

As the saying goes, even a skilled cook can't cook without rice; no matter how brilliant the distribution system is, it's useless without the necessary resources.

Wei Changsheng was not idle at the moment. He went from house to house to communicate with the wealthy households in the city, hoping that they could provide some supplies to help them get through this difficult time.

But the outcome is predictable. It's already good enough that they don't hoard goods and speculate at this time. How could they possibly take out things to share with the poor? That would be worse than killing them.

Wei Changsheng was seething with anger. He came to Xia Lin's place to discuss what to do, but as soon as he got outside the tent, he saw his personal guards waving at him.

"Is Master Xia asleep?"

"Yes, Lord Wei, I apologize, but the commander is too exhausted."

"Then I'll come later."

He turned to leave when he heard Xia Lin's voice from inside the tent: "Brother Wei, please come in."

When Wei Changsheng entered, he found Xia Lin to be extremely haggard, clearly having worked too hard these past few days. So he didn't want to disturb him and said, "Please rest first, Mr. Xia. I'll come back later."

"Is it because of the food situation in the city?"

“Yes,” Wei Changsheng sighed. “I went to discuss it with the wealthy families in the city, and they all said they didn’t have any. But everyone knows in their hearts that even if they did, they wouldn’t give it up.”

Xia Lin smiled and said, "I understand. How many days' worth of food does the city have left?"

"The main reason for the three days was that there were too many people fleeing from outside, nearly 300,000 in total, and they all had to get their food, clothing and other necessities from the city."

"Okay, I understand." Xia Lin nodded and said, "Tomorrow, I'll handle it tomorrow."

"Lord Xia, this is not a good matter. They always cite the law of the country, but at present they have neither hoarded goods nor engaged in speculation or disturbances, making it very difficult to deal with."

"It's alright." Xia Lin waved his hand and said, "I'll handle it. And please trouble Brother Wei to host a banquet for them tomorrow."

"Having a banquet?"

“Yes, a banquet.” Xia Lin chuckled. “The best food and wine.”

Wei Changsheng paused for a moment, then said, “Alright, then I will do as Lord Xia says and go make the preparations.”

At this moment, Wei Changsheng could roughly guess Xia Lin's thoughts, but he wasn't entirely sure. However, he knew in his heart that it wasn't easy to eat Xia Gong's food, especially the best food and wine. He just had to ask those officials in the capital if they dared to eat this meal.

Whether they dared to eat it, Wei Changsheng didn't know, but the wealthy families in the city certainly would. What would happen afterward, however, was up to fate.

Xia Lin fell back asleep and remained motionless, as if he were dead. He was too exhausted to sit up.
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Both chapters were approved today, but I could only revise one of them. The other chapter should be released tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)