The Era of Hard Work

"Why am I here?"

The night shrouded the old embankment rammed with compound soil. Lu Dong pushed the switch of the tin flashlight, and the yellow circle of light fell, and the turbid river was a little more than one meter below the embankment, with sheets of water hyacinths rolling past.

This is a flood that may break the river bank at any time!

Looking back, not far behind the embankment, Lujia Village, my hometown, was hidden in the darkness.

This is not 2019!

Lu Dong remembers very clearly: Typhoon Lekima hit in 2019, and the Qingzhao River in his hometown was flooded. He went back to help fight the flood and fought by the river for three consecutive days. When he left, he drove through the expressway and got off the bridge hole. Because he was too tired, he rushed into the bridge hole Standing in water, then I don’t know…

Ninety-nine percent of accidents occurred in highway bridge holes.

In the end, he woke up outside the embankment of Qingzhao River, still young.

When climbing up from the outside of the river embankment, Lu Dong felt a change, his big belly disappeared, and his body was very strong.

At this moment, I glanced down with the tin flashlight, and my clothes were turned upside down.

There are muddy layered soles on the feet, and small windows are opened in front of both shoes, and the big brother hiding behind is extraordinarily cool-ventilated, breathable, and water-permeable!

The legs are coarse cloth pants, high-end and elegant, hand-sewn!

Further up is a light blue short-sleeved T-shirt, which is fat enough, big enough, and old-fashioned enough, with its own halo of turning ugly, with four words on the chest: Qingzhao Yizhong!

Lu Dong has the impression that the last time he wore the No. 1 Middle School uniform was in the summer after the college entrance examination.

I remember when the college entrance examination was over, the floods raged, the Qingzhao River burst its embankment, and Lujia Village was destroyed!

Lu Dong has been bombarded in the Internet age, so he has a rough guess about the current situation.

back in time? Back to the summer after the college entrance examination? young? Greasy middle-aged fat man turned into a strong guy?

Still in a trance, the tin flashlight hit his forehead, it hurt!

Lu Dong looked into the distance, there were lights flickering under the night, there were faint figures moving around, and there were people on duty every once in a while on the embankment.

More than 200 meters to the southeast, the lights are the brightest. A bridge connects the central market street of Lujia Village and Majia Village on the opposite side. This is also the closest place of Lujia Village to the river.

The gate at the bridgehead has been locked, right?

This surging river with turbulent waves runs close to the north of Lujia Village. Once the bank breaks, the consequences will be disastrous.

"Come on, come on, let's meet on nine or eight."

There was a buzzing noise in the singing voice sent by Night Breeze: "Come on, come on, let's meet in 1998..."

Behind the dimly moving flashlight circle, a person walked along the river embankment.

Before anyone arrived, a foul smell hit Lu Dong's nose.

Lu Dong is a farm boy, and he can smell the stench of chicken manure.

Compared with pigs, cattle, sheep and horses, the smell of chicken manure is more intense and pungent.

"Dongzi!" came the voice with a local accent, "I told you to patrol the river, where have you run?"

As the people got closer, Lu Dong could clearly see the people behind the halo of the flashlight.

The visitor was around forty, with the rough face of a peasant man. He held a flashlight in his right hand, a small radio on his left wrist, and a copper gong on his finger. A rag shoe was tied to the gong by a rope.

Lu Dong remembered who this was: "You are...Uncle Tie..."

Uncle Tie’s surname is Lu. He is a professional chicken farmer in his hometown.

Calling and calling, many people don't know what his tuba is called.

Uncle Tie stopped and looked at Lu Dong: "You winter melon, you don't even know Uncle Tie?"

Lu Dong suddenly didn't know how to respond.

In my memory, on the second day after the college entrance examination, the Qingzhao River broke its embankment in the early hours of the night, and the flood rushed to Lujia Village. The chicken farm in the north of the village was the first to bear the brunt.

besides!

Little Li Wenyue was on duty at that section of the embankment, but he was gone.

At that time, he was the most powerful student bully in Lujia Village, and he failed to see the 211 notice.

Except for the northernmost part of the Qingzhao River that flows into the Yellow River, the rest of the Qingzhao River is within the territory of Qingzhao County, Quannan City. Quannan is famous for its spring water, and Qingzhao County is no exception. Many springs in the southern mountainous area converge into the source of Qingzhao River, all the way to the north shed.

The river is not too big, and it will stop flowing during the dry season in winter. During the normal rainy season, it is only more than ten meters wide and more than two meters deep. The river water is lower than the flat land outside the river bank.

The river flowing through the north part of Lujia Village is an "S" shape with a length of several hundred meters. The impact of the water flow caused by several consecutive sharp bends makes the pressure on the embankment increase sharply.

What collapsed was the last sharp bend embankment.

The embankment in the Lujia Village section is nearly three meters above the ground. The wide part can run light trucks, and the narrow part can also pass agricultural tricycles. It is rammed with three-component soil. It was built in the late 1950s, but Lu Dong has never seen maintenance and repair since he was a child. .

This is related to the fact that there has been no flood in Qingzhao County since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the upper and lower levels did not pay attention to it, and they lacked experience in dealing with it.

Before this flood, no one would associate Qingzhao River with flood fighting.

Guesses turned into reality, and what Lu Dong had seen and heard gradually merged into a picture in his mind: the raging river roared, the soaked compound soil fell in pieces, constantly stirring up water splashes, accompanied by a burst of splashing sound, the river The embankment collapsed and created a huge gap, and the turbid waves rushed out.

The flood peak rushed thousands of miles, rushed into the village behind the gap, and swept across a large area of ​​farmland or orchard.

Most of his home, his uncle's home, the apple orchard contracted by his family, and even all the homes in the entire Lujia Village were washed away by the flood and collapsed!

The village where he was born and raised has suffered the greatest disaster since the founding of the People's Republic of China!

The trance in Lu Dong's heart dissipated quickly, and he made a final confirmation: "Uncle Tie, what's the date today? Gregorian calendar!"

Many people in rural areas are accustomed to talking about the lunar calendar first.

Uncle Tie seemed very surprised, and shone the flashlight on Lu Dong: "The tenth day of the Gregorian calendar!"

"Ninety-eight?" Lu Dong asked.

Uncle Tie was surprised: "Can you still succeed in 1999? You just came back from the college entrance examination yesterday! Did you forget? I haven't asked you yet, how did you do in the exam? Forget it, your grades, pretend I didn't ask."

Lu Dong didn't care about what happened next, he just bought it in high school, and spent three years in a mess, even if he didn't mention his grades.

His mind is completely on the other side. The college entrance examination ended yesterday? Today is... July 10, 1998!

Lu Dong understood, he really went back to 1998!

But no time to think about it.

This embankment, the section that collapsed, is at 3:30 in the morning tonight!

The turning point of Lujia Village's fate!

Lu Dong didn't have time to say anything, he stepped forward and snatched Uncle Tie's gong, and ran towards the north.

Uncle Tie was caught off guard, and shouted at Lu Dong: "It's eighteen, and you still messed up? Keep the gong!"

The man was running so fast, he had no choice but to shout again: "Dongzi, slow down! Don't fall into the river, this big water, your water skills are not good enough!"

Lu Dong didn't look back, he didn't have time to explain to others, and he didn't have time to think about other things. He lit the river bank with his flashlight, stepped on the uneven hardened concrete, and ran towards the north.

Uncle Tie shook his head in disappointment: "Jianjun is a hero, why did he give birth to a bastard? He only has a lot of strength, and nothing else matters. Sooner or later he will become a bastard..."

The river bank was not in a straight line, and it was night. Lu Dong was so anxious that he couldn't run fast even if he ignored the other watchmen he met.

With the flashlight in his right hand, and his left hand trying to push away the jujube branches protruding from the outside of the river embankment, Lu Dong simply hung the rope that tied the gong to his shoes around his neck.

On the left is a gong, which is larger than the ones used by sesame oil vendors.

The cloth shoe on the right had dry black mud on its sole, and the wafting smell indicated that it was a worn-out shoe worn by Uncle Tie at the chicken farm.

The cloth shoes held the gong on the other side of the neck, and the layer of dried chicken manure weighed heavily.

Lu Dong didn't care about the smell, he glanced at the turbid river not far from the top of the bank, and only hoped there would be time!

Nobody wants to be homeless!

From 1998 to 2019, in 21 years, he has been mixed, tired, cried, and fought hard. Although he was not very successful, and even became the best leftover in the sky, he also understood his hometown and responsibilities.

The painful lumps of sandy soil under his feet, and the painful jujube branches hanging on the outside of the river embankment all told Lu Dong that this was not a dream!

More and more memories of Lu Dong emerged. The north-central part of Qingzhao County hadn't rained since the college entrance examination, but the southern mountainous area had continuous torrential rains. Several large reservoirs couldn't bear the pressure and released floodwater downstream, causing a full-scale emergency in the middle and lower reaches.

Inexperienced in flood control, the forecast of the water potential is seriously insufficient. Tonight, there are only a dozen people in Lujia Village who are scattered on the river embankment on duty, and they have paid a heavy price.

Running along the embankment to the last sharp bend, Lu Dong saw Li Wenyue.

This delicate big boy was born with a lack of talent. When he grows up, he will be tall but very thin. Sitting on the corner of the curved triangular dam close to the river, he asked in surprise, "Dongzi, why are you here?"

Lu Dong didn't respond, he crossed the Triangle Dam and continued north, the flashlight fell down the river, searching for possible anomalies.

Li Wen is getting more and more strange, he has always been unreliable, what is he doing?

Before he could think clearly, Lu Dong had gone out for nearly twenty meters, and Li Wenyue hurriedly followed.

Plop——

Seems like something fell into the water? Lu Dong hurriedly stopped to check, except for the muddy river water, there were some water hyacinths mixed with various garbage.

"Dongzi, I seem to hear something?" Li Wenyue was also looking carefully.

The sound is not loud, and you can't hear it at a distance.

Another vague sound came from below, and at the place lit by Li Wenyue's flashlight, a piece of soaked Sanhe soil broke and fell into the water.

"It's all right?" Li Wenyue took two steps back: "This bend has the thickest embankment, and there is a triangular dam..."

Combining some memories, Lu Dong's expression turned ugly.

I once heard someone mention the analysis of water conservancy experts as to why this section of the embankment collapsed.

Under normal circumstances, this bend has the thickest embankment, and the sharp corner of the triangular dam cuts through the torrent, so there shouldn't be any problems.

However, according to water conservancy experts, the triangular dam splits the torrent, reduces the direct flow of the water, and forms a buffer zone on the north side of the dam. The water flow outside the area is faster and more complex, posing a fatal threat to the old embankment.

Of course, the biggest reason is old disrepair.

Lu Dong pulled Li Wenyue up, quickly retreated to the solid triangular dam, and said, "Wen Yue, go find the third grandpa!" The third grandpa was a high-ranking village official: "Tell him to come and have a look!"

Li Wenyue looked at Fa Xiao as if he was a different person, and after confirming that it was not a mess, he immediately got off the river bank and ran towards the southeast.

This river bank once swallowed Li Wenyue's life, and now he is finally gone.

When Li Wenyue disappeared into the night, Lu Dong took off the gong hanging around his neck, held the gong in his left hand, and grabbed the heel of the rag shoe with his right hand, swung his arm vigorously, and the sole of his shoe slapped the gong fiercely.

Bang——

Countless black debris flew up and fell into the river, the river bank, and Lu Dong's body.

Bang——

More black debris flew up, and the smell hidden inside stimulated people's spirits!

Lu Dong rang the emergency gong!

In the past two months, I have been preparing a new book, but the new book was difficult to produce, which led to it being released now.

This book is not an entertainment article. To be honest, since the code word, this is the most carefully prepared and meticulous book. I won’t talk about the outline. When it comes to the detailed outline of the chapters, I have planned about 600,000 words.

Much of the flood fighting in the first few chapters of this book comes from what I saw and heard in my hometown in Lekima last August.

Finally, ask for support!