What is an undercurrent?

First of all, the flood control levees are made of earth and rock, and they are not as strong as the world thinks.

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

When the water level rises or the flood peaks, the huge water pressure seeps into the dam through tiny crevices that are not usually found.

And then form an undercurrent here and there, which is called "pipe surge".

Once the undercurrent pipe surge continues, it converges, and the dam can collapse.

Therefore, there is an idiom called the embankment of a thousand miles, which collapses in the anthill.

This is also something that Ouyang Rong has to take care of.

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

The guards and craftsmen on the embankment near the sluice gate were already in a state of scrambling.

"How's it going?"

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

"Mingfu!" A chief official said with an anxious face:

"There must have been a mudslide in the nearby mountains, and there may have been villages washed away, just after a sudden wind, a big wave swept a large number of trees and bricks, all crashed into the sluice dam!

"The worst thing is that there are still some good people who are not dead and crashed into the sluice."

Another elder with a calmer face answered, and said to Ouyang Rong, who locked his eyebrows:

An old craftsman surnamed Chen said that on the entire sluice dam, he found two places where pipe gushing seemed to be occurring, and there were undercurrent whirlpools 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 muttered: "Guan Yong...... Two places......" he looked up sharply, "Chief Chen, go and call the craftsman." ”

Soon, several veteran craftsmen were brought over.

"Guan Yong's location, take the official to take a look."

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

Under the leadership of the craftsman surnamed Chen and others, Ouyang Rong quickly located two locations where undercurrent pipe surges may be occurring.

Ouyang Rong immediately made a decision and said to everyone:

"Plug the pipe gushing at the main gate of the sluice gate first! Concentrate on protecting the sluices! ”

"Mingfu, look at the flipping flowers on the surface of the water, the gap in another place seems to be more serious......"

"The sluice gate is the core of the Digong gate, located in the middle section, and there are many wooden structures, which is the most vulnerable part of the whole gate.

Ouyang Rong calmly analyzed, then turned his head and ordered:

"But there are many of us, let's go, go and gather people, first two-pronged, throw sandbags at the same time in both places, fill in the gravel, and sanitize the water potential!" Stop the pipe surge! ”

Ouyang Rong turned his head, wiped a handful of rain from his face, and said decisively:

"Ah Shan, bring the main force of the Minyong team with me, let's go to the main gate first!

"He Chang, Chen Craftsman...... Stay here and throw sand and rocks into the water to stop the pipes!

"Women, children, villagers, and unrelated people who deliver food and clothing should evacuate the dam first, and they are not allowed to surround the gate, causing congestion and hindering the transportation of sandbags......

The current situation is urgent.

Under the continuous rise and turbulent water potential of Yunmengze, the pipe surge may expand at any time, causing a larger-scale breach, and the consequences are unimaginable.

However, a certain young county commander issued one exact order after another, and everyone seemed to have found the backbone, and their spirits were shocked, and they each received their orders.

Split up and race against time.

Ouyang Rong and his entourage took the lead in rushing to the vicinity of the main gate of the central sluice of the embankment, and first judged the situation and located the location of the pipe surge.

"Look, this is it!" Some people chanted.

I saw that under the embankment, the wind and waves were high, and they were beating against the embankment wall.

Somewhere on the surface of the water, I saw flowers and sand gushing out everywhere, and there was no clear indication that the cracks in the embankment below were being infiltrated and washed by the turbulent current.

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

After a while, Liu Ashan and other ten young men who were the best at water in the Minyong team stripped off their shirts one after another, regardless of the rapid waves below, each carrying bamboo and wood, carrying fishing nets, and jumping into the water.

The water was turbulent, and Liu Ahan and other men who were good at water barely stabilized their bodies and swam to the location designated by Ouyang Rong on the shore one after another.

Someone dived into the pole.

Someone scattered the nets.

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

Fortunately, Ouyang Rong's advance preparation a few days ago also had corresponding deduction arrangements with everyone in the Minyong team.

At the moment of crisis, I took action as soon as possible, and I barely carried out it in an orderly manner, without panic......

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

About half an hour later.

Bamboo and wood poles are inserted into the underwater riverbed in a very orderly manner and at short intervals.

Large fishing nets are spread out between the wooden poles,

Together, they temporarily enclose a semicircular underwater space.

This "semicircle" is enclosed on the sluice embankment, surrounding the main gate where the pipe gushing undercurrent occurs.

If it is just a pole fence, it is not stable.

But on the sluice dam, Ouyang Rong led the young people who stayed behind, and they were throwing the sandbags and gravel that had been hoarded into the semicircular space below.

The so-called everything is difficult at the beginning,

However, due to the existence of a "semi-circle" cover surrounded by wooden stakes and fishing nets, the turbulent water undercurrent did not wash away the sandbags and gravel that had sunk to the bottom at the beginning.

They were blocked in this designated underwater space, and the latter was gradually filled.

Soon, the water potential, which was originally extremely windy and rough, slowly subsided as the sinking sandbags and other heavy objects were filled.

After the arrangement, Liu Ashan and other ten brave men went ashore like loaches under the response of the bamboo poles stretched out on the embankment.

They didn't rest for a moment, turned around and cooperated with Ouyang Rong and the 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, the sandbags raised by Ouyang Rong and the others were temporarily put down, wiping sweat on the backs of their hands, and looking at each other.

Liu Ashan didn't say a word, dropped his coat, jumped into the water like a flying fish, dived to the bottom of the river, and let the "plop" drill out of the water, and waved it with one hand at the gate with a happy face.

Most of the sandbags and rocks were filled underwater, and the pipe gushing formed by the cracks was steadily suppressed.

The danger of pipe surge at the main gate of this sluice has been contained!

Ouyang Rong and the Minyong team loosened their shoulders and exhaled with joy.

However, when Liu Ashan was connected to the sluice, Ouyang Rong's face turned grim, and he turned his head and said:

"There is another place, let's go, in one go!"

Ouyang Rong led Liu Ashan and the Minyong team to immediately pack up their things and rush to the place surrounded by the crowd on the other side of the sluice and dam, and quickly supported.

"How's it going on your side?"

In charge of this place was a chief official surnamed He, because he had repeatedly shown relative calmness among his colleagues, Ouyang Rong asked him and Old Artisan Chen to be responsible for sanitizing the water here and temporarily curbing the pipe surge.

Wait for them to deal with the main gate of the sluice gate with a higher priority, and then send in the main force to support.

"Mingfu, something is wrong."

Chief He turned his head, and the first sentence made the hearts of everyone who rushed to sink.

"What's wrong?"

Together with his colleagues beside him, He Chang threw a bag of sand and gravel into the water, and he pointed to the rapid wind and waves that were beating the dam wall below:

"Mingfu, we have lost hundreds of sandbags, and the water potential below is not suppressed by the naked eye."

Ouyang Rong frowned and turned his head to look at Liu Ashan.

The latter stepped forward tacitly and took two people to jump into the water together, braved the wind and waves, and dived to the bottom.

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

"Master, it's not good, there is a deep ditch directly below this pipe gushing, and all the sandbags, soil and stones that have been thrown down have been filled in the deep ditch."

The hearts of the people sank.

Ouyang Rong frowned, and asked about the depth of this ditch, Liu Ashan thought about it with a complexion, and after a while, he said a few words in a voice that only Ouyang Rong could hear, as if it was a rough analogy.

Everyone saw that the young county commander's brows were even more furrowed.

It doesn't seem like good news.

The atmosphere among the crowd became more and more solemn.

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

He Changguan and the others got together, roughly counted, and said: "Back to the Ming Mansion, one hundred and one bags have been thrown, and there are still one hundred and twenty-seven bags of sandbags left, and as for the gravel, sixty percent ...... have been used."

After listening to this, Ouyang Rong took a deep breath, raised his head, and immediately decided:

"Keep filling in! This pipe gushing must be contained, and we have no way out, let alone give up halfway? However, the ditch is a bottomless pit, and it is impossible to fill the entire ditch, so we have to change the method and save materials. ”

When the words fell, he turned his face and instructed a few people in the People's Warrior Team with a dignified face:

"Ahsan, this time it's up to you to find the underwater dike. The hole in the wall is bubbling with water, and the fence is built around it, the fence is smaller, and we can fill it with sandbags, which can also save sand ......and gravel as much as possible."

The pipes are surging here, and even the wind and waves are high on the surface of the water, not to mention the risk of undercurrent whirlpools below the water surface?

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

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

I don't know how long it took.

Just when Ouyang Rong was feeling bad and his face changed slightly.

Finally, Liu Ashan and the others came out of the water and waved at Ouyang Rong and the others!

Succeeding, they found the crack in the underwater sluice dam.

Maybe it's luck.

Or maybe the cracks in the sluice dams at the bottom of the water have spread deep and obvious.

But no matter what, the crowd quickly moved,

More of the brave men went into the water, narrowed the area, and at the crack of the sluice dam, as they had just done at the first main gate, they followed the steps and used stake fishing nets to enclose a semi-circle of water.

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

Until...... Throw it all away.

"What to do, Mingfu, our sandbags are all gone! The stone has also run out, and it still can't be filled! ”

Even Chief He shook his mouth, looking at the splashes that were still churning on the water surface below, and asked in a trembling voice.

What to do?

Facing the panicked crowd on the gate, Ouyang Rong looked down at the water, his bloodless lips were pursed into slits, and only one word came out of the crack:

"Fill!"

In front of everyone's eyes, Ouyang Rong stood up first, untied his clothes, and threw the jade belt, crown and other relatively heavy things into the water below.

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

Without lifting his eyelids, he threw them back of his head and fell into the water beneath the dam, which served as filler.

On the embankment, in the wind and rain, Liu Ashan, He Changyi, Chen craftsman...... The people, officials, and craftsmen present were all stunned.

Immediately, as if the switch had been flipped by Ouyang Rong's silent action, they reacted, acted everywhere, and followed suit.

Someone threw crockpots, shovels, benches, bamboo poles and other debris into the water.

Some people worked tirelessly to run at both ends of Caifeng Mountain and Di Gong Gate, running wildly in the rain, carrying gravel to fill the river water,

Others gathered the clothes that the people had taken off, wrapped them in dirt and sand, made them into sandbags, and threw them into the river.

Under the call of the old man with a white beard, the villagers who settled on Longbei Mountain and Caifeng Mountain did not know where they learned about the movement on the sluice dam, and ran down the mountain one after another, regardless of the danger, and threw the tinkling pots and pans, jewelry hairpins, children's toys and other heavy objects into the water......

The same strange but familiar things were thrown into the water below and sunk to the bottom.

The positive enthusiasm of the villagers made Ouyang Rong, who was shirtless and only had a close-fitting skirt knife left on his body, and the people's brave team, chiefs, and craftsmen were stunned.

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

But Ouyang Rong never said these words, just stood silently in place, opened his mouth, and closed it again.

The voices around him were chaotic, and the white-bearded old man and the villagers seemed to have said a thousand words to Ouyang Rong, but he didn't know how to reply, so he had to nod as if in response.

The young prefectural order also has a thousand words.

Ye Weilai didn't know where to get out, stood on the edge of the sluice dam, plucked a hairpin that she liked to tie up her silver hair casually, and threw it into the river below, as well as other ornaments, one by one.

After throwing away these things outside his body, Ye Weilai, who was dressed without makeup, was relaxed, her waist-length silver-white hair flew in the air, and she walked to Ouyang Rong's side without looking back, and quietly pulled the fingers that were holding the handle of the knife.

At this moment, the only heavy object on the white-haired girl's body is estimated to be the black lacquered porcelain bowl that she held all the way down from the mountain.

Ye Weilai held the bowl in both hands, the soup in the bowl shook slightly, and her big blue eyes were full of cautious looks;

"Tanlang, take a sip of ginger soup, the eldest lady said that you have a sick root and are prone to wind and cold......"

Ouyang Rong came back to his senses, turned his head to look at her, this time he didn't refuse, took the soup bowl, and drank it all.

Immediately, an empty bowl flew out and sank into the water with a "poof".

What the ginger soup tasted like, he didn't know, his mouth was a little numb, he ate a lot of muddy water, and some lost his taste buds.

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

The crowd had nothing to lose, and the crowd fell silent, and all eyes looked downward.

I saw that the churning waves on the water surface at the pipe gushing became much smaller, and it seemed that many fillers were sinking, stabilizing the pipe gushing at the cracks.

The atmosphere in the crowd on the gate was quiet, and then a jubilant voice sounded: "Blocked!" ”

Ouyang Rong, who had a tired face, also breathed a sigh of relief.

(End of chapter)