The Beautiful County Magistrate
Chapter 145 Breach the Dam!

Chapter 145: Chapter 145 Breach the Dam!

Xu Qianli silently thanked heaven and earth that he had arrived at Qinglong Waist in time to discover the issue.

Given the current situation, there was at least a chance to evacuate the surrounding populace, so he immediately issued an order to notify the villagers of the dozen or so villages around Qinglong Waist to swiftly move all villagers to higher and safer ground.

The Qingshan Town officials who accompanied him gasped in shock upon hearing that they needed to evacuate the villagers from over a dozen villages.

After all, evacuating tens of thousands of villagers from over a dozen villages was no small feat.

If they really went through with such a massive action and, in the end, the Qinglong Waist section of the dyke didn’t have any issues, they would have to take responsibility.

Seeing that one by one they all remained silent, motionless, Xu Qianli was furious to the point of seething and forced them to hand over the phone numbers of the secretaries and village heads of the dozen or so villages.

Xu Qianli then proceeded to call each one, explaining the dangerous situation and demanding they quickly organize the villagers’ evacuation, promptly and without any delay, not even for a moment!

By the time Xu Qianli had finished making calls, several cars suddenly arrived at the Qinglong Waist section of the river.

As the cars stopped, Party Secretary Li Zhu from Qingshan Town alighted, surrounded by a group of people, and quickly made his way onto the dyke, soon approaching Xu Qianli.

It was still raining, and from nearly two meters away, Xu Qianli could smell a strong scent of alcohol on Li Zhu.

Coupled with Li Zhu’s unsteady, swaying walk that required support and his flushed face, one could see he had drunk quite a bit.

"Nonsense!"

Before Xu Qianli could speak up, Li Zhu suddenly roared authoritatively, angrily confronting Xu Qianli.

"Xu Qianli, what do you take Qingshan Town for? A place where you can just give orders as you please?"

"Don’t forget, I, Li Zhu, am the Party Secretary of Qingshan Town. I’m in charge here. By what right do you command our town’s officials to participate in some damn flood prevention work?"

"And what’s more, I heard that you forcefully ordered the villagers near the Qinglong Waist section, tens of thousands from over a dozen villages, to evacuate in the rain. Your actions are preposterous!"

"The downpour is raging, and the villagers are barely managing to take shelter at home, and here you are, ordering so many people to risk moving to higher ground. You’re endangering lives, do you understand the trouble you’re bringing upon the villagers?"

"You even spread rumors that the Qinglong Waist section might breach and collapse, which is ridiculous!"

"I’m telling you, you’d better recognize the mistake you’ve made and correct it immediately, or there will be consequences!"

Li Zhu rattled off his points like rapid-fire, directing everything at Xu Qianli.

Just a few days ago, when he faced Xu Qianli, he couldn’t be more polite, but in a matter of days, his attitude had done a complete one-eighty. Commanding, shouting loudly, he showed no regard for Xu Qianli at all.

The reason he had been so courteous to Xu Qianli before was because he thought that County Magistrate Lan was soon to be assigned to Jiang City and Xu Qianli, with such a powerful backer and being the son-in-law of Secretary Ge from the County Committee and a rising star in the Jiang City political circle, was a leg worth clinging to.

But then, that matter came to Zhang Kuisan’s knowledge who gave him a severe berating.

Subsequently, as Lan Qianrong took up her post in Jiang City and the news that Zhang Kuisan had completely sidelined her in the County Government spread like wildfire, most people in Jiang City’s political circles deemed Lan Qianrong an ’airplane Magistrate,’ likely to fail and take off soon.

As Lan Qianrong’s secretary, Xu Qianli naturally wasn’t going to fare well, either.

As long as Lan Qianrong rolled out of the way, Zhang Kuisan was bound to become the new County Magistrate, and was even more likely to be the next County Party Secretary.

Under such a change in circumstances, Li Zhu was no longer willing to take Xu Qianli seriously.

Moreover, the reinforcement work of the Qinglong River embankment had been directed by him two years ago, especially here at Qinglong Waist, where he had been directly involved. Xu Qianli saying today that Qinglong Waist might face a dam breach was like a hard slap to his face.

Taking advantage of his drunkenness, Li Zhu simply tore into Xu Qianli outright, his fury indescribable, as if he couldn’t wait to devour Xu Qianli then and there.

Confronted with this accusation, Xu Qianli didn’t say another word, but quickly strode forward, grabbed Li Zhu by the collar, and dragged him to the edge of the embankment, pointing at the holes below and bellowing.

"Open your damn eyes and look carefully, do you see those holes on the embankment!"

"This dam looks like it’s completely covered with reinforced concrete, but in reality, it’s just a thin layer of concrete. It’s already been punctured by wood to create so many holes. The mud and sand inside have been washed away by the rushing river water, and it could very well hollow out the entire embankment, leading to a potential breach!"

"If the dam breaks here and villagers aren’t evacuated in time, who dares to take responsibility, who will take responsibility? Can you bear this responsibility?"

As Xu Qianli spoke, the river swept up a log as thick as two men and smashed it against the embankment with a bang, creating a half-meter hole that left Li Zhu pale, his drunkenness fading rapidly.

"I didn’t know, I was unaware of how these problems could occur in the embankment, it must be the construction contractor cutting corners, it has nothing to do with me."

"Director Xu, now at this critical moment, I’ll listen to you. Whatever you say, we’ll do. If you say evacuate the villagers, then we’ll evacuate them."

"But what should we do about the dam here?"

Looking at those large holes, Li Zhu instantly caved in.

Although he was greedy, he wasn’t stupid. He could see the current situation clearly; perhaps it was as Xu Qianli had predicted, and there really could be a dam collapse here.

If the dam truly did collapse, the resulting consequences would be far beyond what he could handle; he had to find a way to make amends.

Xu Qianli said, "Evacuating the villagers to a safe area is the priority. As for the embankment here, we need to immediately organize manpower and material resources. It would be best to get a dozen excavators and as many trucks filled with stone and sandbags as possible over here, and quickly, we must be quick!"

"Alright, alright, I’ll go do it now."

Li Zhu had no time to concern himself with issues with Xu Qianli; he immediately issued orders, mobilizing all available forces nearby.

Xu Qianli kept a close eye on the situation of the Qinglong Waist embankment, which was far worse than he had anticipated.

After continuous collisions with logs, not only did the embankment develop holes of various sizes, but it also developed cracks, which began to connect with those holes.

In just three or four hours, a three to four-meter segment of the dam on the side facing the river had collapsed with a roar.

Fortunately, Xu Qianli had already directed everyone to prepare in advance. Using those precious three or four hours, they had reinforced the other side: stones, timber, sand, bricks, anything that could be used was utilized to build a temporary embankment on the outside to fortify it.

A dozen trucks loaded with stones had also been readied on both sides of the impending breach. The drivers started the trucks, propped the gas pedals with wood, then got out, with dozens of people pushing from behind.

The surface of the road, which appeared intact, was actually hollowed out by the raging river beneath. As soon as the front of the two trucks loaded with stones entered this area, they immediately broke through the fragile thin layer of road surface, crashing down into the river below.

The two trucks sank into the water, disappearing almost instantly.

Xu Qianli then directed two more trucks forward, desperately trying to fill the breach, attempting to plug the gap with the trucks.