Chapter 400: Deluge Of Mountain Flash Flood
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
As Su Ying stood on the grand-looking dam and looked at the mountain stream illuminated by the rays of golden light, her mood also improved.
Zhu Lin did not dare to delay on his side and quickly ordered workers to rectify the locations that needed to be repaired while the weather was good.
In order to speed up the process, Zhu Lin gathered all the craftsmen and workers he could find in the city of Jing Prefecture. For a while, the dam was bustling with activity.
The weather remained clear for two consecutive days, and it coincided with the first day of the Lunar New Year.
On the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, the people in the city would go out of the city to the mountains to offer incense. Due to the good weather, there were more people going to offer incense than usual on this day.
Halfway up the mountainside near the dam, there was a temple. It was the largest Buddhist temple in the city of Jing Prefecture. All the commoners staying inside and outside the city came here to offer incense.
Zhu Lin said that the work had gone very smoothly over the past few days due to the good weather. If nothing unexpected happened, the basic repairs could be completed in the next two days.
“This dam is clearly still usable after repairing, so why was it abandoned?” Su Ying stood on the dam and murmured to herself.
From what she knew, dams could exist for hundreds of years, let alone decades. This was not some small house that could be easily built at will with simple tools. The new dam had been under construction for such a long time, but now that such a problem had occurred, it was really unknown how much manpower, material resources, and financial resources the state had lost. Even if Yi Kun and those other beasts were skinned alive, this punishment was still insufficient.
Zhu Lin frowned. Fie was also asking himself the same question after learning about the situation at the old dam. The old dam was clearly still usable. Under such circumstances, building a new dam would be a blatant waste of manpower and money. “This new dam was proposed by Prime Minister Su back then. Later, the late Emperor also sent people to Jing Prefecture to check on the situation. Those people came to the unanimous conclusion that the old dam might not be able to hold on for long. They had to build a new dam, or Jing Prefecture would be in danger.”
Su Ying’s brows furrowed. This kind of idea that was totally lacking in moral ethics was actually proposed by that old fart Su Yulun. However, now was not the time to investigate whether this old fart had benefited greatly from it. She had to get the dam repaired first.
“You guys carry on. I’ll go upstream to take a look.”
“You have to be careful, Your Imperial Highness.”
Su Ying nodded. She wanted to understand the terrain upstream, and also see what level the flood waters in previous years reached. After getting some understanding, she would then evaluate whether she could make some improvements to the old dam.
After giving some simple instructions, Su Ying went upstream with her two secret guards.
It had to be said that the scenery along the river was really beautiful. If it wasn’t for the mission on hand now, Su Ying really wanted to look for a place to go hunting.
The three of them walked to the foot of a mountain. The secret guard’s sharp eyes noticed a line of high-water marks on the cliff near the mountain.
“Your Imperial Highness, the water level in previous years probably reached that height. From the looks of this high-water mark, this should be a relatively common level the waters reached. If we look higher up, the marks are a little faint, so they are probably not the high-water marks of last year or recent years.”
Su Ying climbed up to take a look, then reached out to touch the rock surface. From the dampness of the rock, she could determine whether the secret guard’s words were correct or not.
“Let’s walk on the top to avoid any accidents.”
There were usually no warning signs before mountain flash floods occurred, so it was safer to walk above the high-water marks of previous years.
The three of them ran upwards and soon reached the level above the high-water marks.
Su Ying took out her binoculars to survey her surroundings. She saw a yellow stream of water gushing rapidly toward them from afar.
Shocked, Su Ying increased the magnification of the binoculars. This time, she was sure she saw a mountain flash flood.
Judging from the path of the mountain flash flood, it was coming in their direction. The mountain flash flood was getting bigger and faster too.
“The mountain flash flood is coming. Hurry! Quickly, go back! Hurry!”
When the secret guards saw Su Ying’s expression change, they quickly turned to run. Su Ying also ran in the direction of the dam without looking back.
As it was too far away, Su Ying was not sure how powerful the mountain flash flood was and whether the old dam could withstand such an impact when it had not been completely repaired.
Su Ying practically flew back to the dam.
“Zhu Lin, the mountain flash flood is gushing down. All of you must move faster.”
Zhu Lin was startled by Su Ying’s sudden shout.
He ran to her with uncertainty and asked, “What did you say, Your Imperial Highness? The mountain flash flood is going to gush down? But why would there be a mountain flash flood when the weather had been so sunny over the past few days?”
Su Ying’s expression was unprecedentedly stern. “Mountain flash floods are different from ordinary floods. Even if it doesn’t rain, they can still occur suddenly. So, the people on the dam must move quickly. Before the mountain flash flood rush down, we must evacuate everyone. Send people downstream to disperse the crowd that may be there. We must move quickly. Hurry!”
Zhu Lin didn’t dare to delay for even a moment. He quickly turned around and sent two workers who could run the fastest to run downstream.
“What the hell! Today is the first day of the first lunar month. There are many people who go to the temple to offer incense. After those people offer incense, they will go to the lower reaches of the river to play. They mustn’t go there today!” The minor official nearby heard the conversation between Su Ying and Zhu Lin, and his face turned pale. If this dam couldn’t stop the mountain flash flood, they would all die, not to mention those people!
Now, they could only pray that the mountain flash flood was not big and that the dam was fine.
“Hurry up and disperse the crowd.”
Su Ying took out her binoculars and stood on a high point to see where the mountain flash flood was. Her expression darkened at once with one look.
“Get up here. Get everyone on the dam up here.”
Zhu Lin immediately ordered the workers and craftsmen to leave the dam and go to a safe place.
However, just as they came up, a crack suddenly appeared in the middle of the dam.
Zhu Lin’s expression changed drastically when he saw this. That was the most important beam. If something went wrong, a big opening would appear in the dam. It was hard to say whether the dam could withstand the onrushing flood waters at that point.
“Damn it! Why did it break there! Go. Bring me the rope. I’m going down to repair it. All of you, go to the side,” Zhu Lin shouted and turned around to run toward the crack.
Su Ying looked at the cracked beam and her face tensed up.
The materials they were currently using to do repair work wouldn’t be of any use in such a short period of time. Su Ying suddenly thought of something and quickly turned away from the crowd and entered her interspatial store.
She searched for something on the shelves, but she still couldn’t find it after a round of searching. She swore under her breath. Then she raised her head and saw two transparent covers. These glue suction pads had a strong binding force after they were opened. In the past, Su Ying’s comrades used them to repair their base when it was damaged by zombies.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of using this before, but the quantity was limited. She intended to use it only when it was needed the most. It seemed that it was time for this item to be deployed.
Su Ying took the glue suction pads and left the interspatial store. At this time, Zhu Lin was already suspended on a rope and heading down the dam.
Suddenly, there was the sound of tremors coming from under their feet. Everyone raised their heads and saw a towering mountain flash flood rushing towards them..