The breaking of the dike caused by the pipe surge caused a break to appear in the Baimajin River section. The river water that was almost level with the dike instantly rushed to the break, carrying a large amount of mud and sand to the flat ground in the dike.

At both ends of the breach, countless people risked their lives to throw sandbags and stones at the breach, trying to make the final effort to block the breach, and a large number of tied stones and sandbags (earth bags) were thrown into the torrent.

However, the water flow at the break is extremely fast, and a large number of sandbags and stones dropped into the water were washed away instantly and disappeared without a trace.

The roaring river water was like a monster with infinite power, leaping into the crackle regardless of everything, gradually tearing the crackle apart. Now that things have come to this point, human power can no longer resist it. The officials and civilians who have worked hard for more than a month have failed, and they can't help but feel sad and angry.

It’s enough to survive tonight, but we’ve already worked very hard...

It’s over, it’s all over, the fields cannot be preserved, the house cannot be preserved, the workshops, residences, orchards, and mulberry gardens cannot be preserved!

Before many people could come back to their senses, they saw the river roaring and rushing towards the distance, and they were stunned. At this moment, the sound of a whistle came from the river, which shocked everyone's mind.

Under the night, several huge figures came from upstream. It turned out that several steamships berthed nearby rushed to hear the news. Among these ships, the largest barge was very eye-catching.

Barges with a load capacity of 10,000 hu have no power, and they all rely on towboats tow. They are used as cargo ships on weekdays. Since the Yellow River entered the flood season, such cargo ships have traveled all over the place and transported a large amount of supplies to the river embankments.

As the flood peak approached, people found that these ships were no longer moving, and they berthed on the temporary trestle berthed on the edge of the embankment. The chimneys on the steamships were smoking every day. They seemed to be "burning the boiler", but they did not move, and the coal was burning white, which made people wonder.

Now, everything is obvious: the steamship burns coal every day to move immediately at critical moments!

In the crowd on the river bank, Zhai Rang, who was covered in mud, looked at the giants slowly approaching the thief, feeling a little unbelievable. He thought for a moment and his eyes were straightened, and then blurted out:

"Oh my God, they, they are going to use a shipwreck to block the mouth!"

The people next to him suddenly realized after hearing this. Looking at the huge figure on the river surface, the already dim gaze rekindled the flame of hope.

The blocking of the mouth of a shipwreck is a very common method of blocking the mouth/sealing. This method is often used whether it is rescue or building a river dam, but the premise is that the water flow in the mouth of blocking the mouth should not be too turbulent, otherwise it will be useless to sink many ships.

Especially when the Yellow River embankment breaks, because the water flows fast, large ships loaded with stones must be blocked. However, it is extremely difficult to rely on manpower to control such large ships to block the entrance.

The heavier the boat, the more people need to paddle. Even if the boat can only barely approach the gap, the turbulent current will still make the hull turn itself downstream, from parallel to perpendicular to the river bank at the beginning. At this time, it is impossible to turn with manpower.

Finally, the ship blocking the mouth does not block the breaking hole horizontally, but "insert it" straight. Even if it sinks into the water, it will be washed out of the breaking hole by the water, and may even hit the river bank, causing a larger gap.

But now it is different. Vessels like steamers can maintain speed and direction in turbulent rivers with the power provided by the boiler, which makes it possible to block shipwrecks.

But it is only possible.

For mortals, a barge that is very huge is probably weak in the face of the surging Yellow River. If it is not operated properly, it will not only not block the mouth, but will also be carried by the water flow to impact the river bank and make a mistake.

But if you don’t take this risk, you won’t be able to stop the break!

Therefore, the almost desperate people were staring at these steamships.

......

"Let the anchor, put the anchor, lower the stern anchor!!"

Amid the shouts, the crew on the barge turned the winch and placed the stern anchor into the water to cooperate with the already-down bow anchor to keep the hull firmly in the direction of the bow facing upstream.

This is crucial. Even if the barge is large and the cargo capacity is sunk, even if two steamers push the barge's head and tail toward the river embankment gap at the same time, without the help of the head anchor and tail anchor, the barge will be "deflected" by the turbulent flowing water when it breaks near the embankment.

It turns from parallel to the hull and into perpendicular to the river bank, so that it cannot play a role in blocking the mouth.

Normal barges will not have a tail anchor. Now the barges that are loaded with heavy objects are ready to block the entrance have been renovated in advance and a stern anchor has been installed in order to block the entrance at critical moments.

Such transformation is not whimsical, but through practice: the middle reaches of the Yangtze River Ezhou from Jiangzhou, during the flood season, local governments organized people to explore how to use steamer ships to push barges to block the breach, and accumulated very valuable experience and lessons.

Now, it is time for these experiences to come into play.

Amid the roar of the machine, the barge was pushed near the thrust by two steamers. The crew on the barge turned the winch at the bow and stern of the ship to release the anchor chain, adjust the hull posture, and do their best to ensure that the hull is parallel to the river embankment.

The turbulent river water at the breakout kept pushing the ship to "change direction", and several forces fought together, causing the winch to make a creaking sound.

The closer you get to the break, the tighter the anchor chain jumps, and the stop-and-reverse mechanism on the winch begins to tremble, as if it will crack at any time.

The two steamships that pushed the barge, thick smoke came out of the chimney, and deafening roars in the cabin, and the people on the shore could hear clearly.

At this time, the river water formed a huge whirlpool at the break, and a drop of nearly two meters inside and outside the river embankment was formed. The torrent was flying and the sound was as loud as thunder. People standing on the river embankment could feel the vibration coming from their feet.

No one knows whether this huge barge can block the break and withstand the impact of the water flow in the face of such a water situation.

Under the attention of everyone, the huge barge carried countless hopes, and tried its best to maintain its parallel to the river embankment, firmly and slowly leaning towards the break.

The length of the barge exceeds the length of the break. As long as it can successfully "sink" in the gap, it will definitely block a large amount of floods and gain valuable time for people to block the mouth.

As the distance from the break was gradually shortened, the barge hull slowly sank, which was caused by the crew opening the water valve before abandoning the ship and putting water into the cabin.

Amid the huge friction, the barge was like a cover "covering" towards the break, and the water became more and more rapid. Suddenly, a violent sound of breaking came from the hull. The hull was broken in the midst of the rushing water splashes.

The barge is a wooden hull, so it cannot withstand the impact of the water flow at the break, and is torn apart by the violent river water, turning into broken wooden boards.

The heavy objects without the hull can't stay in the torrent at the break. They must be like the stones and sandbags that people had thrown into the torrent before, and were washed away by water without a trace.

The last method was still ineffective. People who witnessed all this fell into despair again. Many people collapsed to the ground with their heads in their arms, wanting to cry without tears.

And at this moment, sporadic shouts sounded, which then caused a cheer: "The water is smaller! The water is smaller!!"

Many people stood on tiptoe and looked forward and found that there was a long object at the break, blocking the break like a door panel.

This object is so strong that it forces the river water to flow into the gap from both ends, and the water potential at the gap is instantly reduced by half.

Looking at the object, the part exposed to the water surface also had the wreckage of the barge. People looked at it with the help of the flames and found that it turned out to be a large piece of cement.

A cement block the size of a barge cabin!

They actually solidified directly into a large cement board in the cabin!

People who witnessed this miracle cheered and under the command of the officials, they carried sandbags in an orderly manner, pushed up the cart, and poured a large amount of filling into the breeze.

The abused river demon was firmly suppressed by the boiler-driven steamship and no longer looked unscrupulous. Countless people shook their energy and tried hard to block the mouth, not caring about rest or complaining.

When everyone was exhausted, the broken river embankment gradually “healed”, and the flood that had previously broken the river embankment disappeared and gradually disappeared into the vast plain behind the river embankment.

I don’t know how long it took, Zhai Rang, who was sitting in the mud and napping with people back to back, was woken up by the cheers. He rubbed his eyes in a daze and found that Dongfang was white. He looked at the still rising surface of the Yellow River and asked in a daze:

"What's wrong? What's the matter?"

An official shook Zhai Rang's shoulder excitedly, and cried and laughed loudly: "The water level has dropped, the water level has dropped!"
Chapter completed!