Chapter 226: The Breach at the Yellow River Mouth

From dawn to dusk, the ten thousand elite soldiers brought by Chai Shao were constantly rushing back and forth across the lands, using the most violent methods to evacuate the civilians as quickly as possible.

The reason they used violent methods is that Chai Shao knows the flood expected to break out tomorrow is only a prediction.

Facing such a natural disaster, no one can say exactly when it will actually erupt.

Therefore, the faster the better, and saving a life is saving a life.

On a nearby high and spacious plain stand numerous simple shantytown settlements, all of which Chai Shao has spent a great amount of money over the past month to have the local people build.

This is also the largest temporary settlement that Chai Shao has prepared.

And around here there are also many small settlement points, all intended for civilians to live in.

These simple shantytowns are constructed from wooden stakes, bamboo poles, reed mats, and thatch.

The roofs use double slopes, coated with thatch‑mud for waterproofing.

Between each row of huts a thirty‑centimetre‑wide drainage ditch is dug, channeling rainwater to the low‑lying areas.

One could say that aside from being crude, this is already a fairly complete settlement.

In the centre of the shantytown, within a camp tent, soldiers periodically walk out, mount fast horses, and rush to various places.

More and more civilians gather around as well.

After a day of frantic running, the exhausted Chai Zhewei changes into clean clothes, returns to the tent, and faces the first man with his eyes closed, saying: "Father, after a day's work, the civilians closest to the Yellow River have basically all been brought to the settlement."

"I have also ordered the troops to hasten to the civilians farther away."

The man seated at the front opens his eyes and says sternly: "How many times have I told you? Call me by rank when you're outside!"

"Who is your father?"

Chai Zhewei twitches his mouth, nods helplessly, "Yes, General Chai."

Chai Shao's expression finally relaxes, and he pulls a food box from under the desk, "Take it and eat; there's ginger soup inside, drink more to warm your body."

"Alright, General Chai." Chai Zhewei feels a warmth in his heart, grabs the food box eagerly, opens it, and in front of Chai Shao devours it heartily.

However, before he can take a few bites, a soldier rushes in anxiously, "General, the water level at the Yellow River Mouth has already risen to the critical point; it's expected to breach the dam any moment."

Chai Shao's pupils suddenly contract, "That fast?"

"Wasn't it forecast to breach tomorrow night?"

"This......" The soldier doesn't know how to continue, and Chai Shao doesn't press him, waving him away.

Chai Zhewei can't bother eating any longer, gulps a mouthful of ginger soup, and hurriedly asks, "General, many civilians haven't been organized for evacuation yet; I'll leave now."

"Leave what the hell!" Chai Shao scolds, "Didn't you hear?"

"The flood is about to erupt; who knows what will happen then? If you get swept away by the flood, what will you do?"

"How will I explain it to your mother?"

"General......"

"Stop talking, stay here and wait for me, that's an order!" Saying that, Chai Shao stands, gives Chai Zhewei no chance to speak, and strides out of the tent.

Chai Zhewei looks at the food box in front of him, grits his teeth, and still follows.

But just as they step out of the tent, at the Yellow River Mouth, a hair‑thin crack silently spreads across the dam.

The turbid, raging waves crash over and over, widening the fissure each time.

Finally, at the instant a wave crest strikes, the crack 'crack—' shatters!

The dam is broken!!!

From a watchtower surrounding the shantytown, a soldier screams in agony.

Chai Shao whirls around, seeing a yellow‑brown wall of water rising in the distance, growing larger and more turbulent.

The flood, dragging broken beams and struggling livestock, surges outward with a force that tears down everything in its path.

However, after the flood spreads to a certain extent, it is suddenly blocked by a network of water channels that divert it toward uninhabited land.

These channels were built by Chai Shao leading ten thousand elite soldiers, spending huge sums to recruit nearby civilians, constructing them without regard to cost from last month to now.

Fortunately, these drainage channels work at this critical moment, successfully holding back the further spread of the first wave of flood.

"Gong! Gong!" Chai Shao shouts.

"All soldiers, evacuate the civilians urgently; bring out all the medicines I prepared in advance, and lime must be spread over every part of the shantytown."

"If there are sick civilians, isolate them all, move them to the corner infirmary; no one except medics may approach."

"Violators, behead!!!"

"Yes, General!!"

Chai Shao yells: "Tie Zhu!"

"The junior general is here!" A tall, horse‑like man with a fierce scar across his left cheek rushes forward.

"I order you to lead three hundred elite soldiers, maintain order at the settlement, organize the able‑bodied youths to transport supplies, and have women and children quickly weave reed mats and cook food."

"Junior general obeys!" Zhao Tie Zhu bows, then immediately carries out Chai Shao's orders.

"Chai Zhewei!" Chai Shao snaps his head back.

Chai Zhewei quickly bows, kneels on one knee, "Junior general is here."

Chai Shao slowly approaches Chai Zhewei, his expression extremely serious, and says: "I order you to take my hand‑order, secret order, and the sect's copper Fish Talisman, travel eight hundred kilometers at urgent speed, and report the situation here to His Majesty one by one!"

"Depart immediately!!!"

"Eight...... eight hundred li at urgent speed?"

Chai Zhewei freezes in place at the words.

"Any objections?!" Chai Shao roars.

"No...... none!" Chai Zhewei quickly takes the hand‑order, secret order, and the copper Fish Talisman that Chai Shao hands him.

Chai Shao whispers some instructions to Chai Zhewei, then meaningfully says, "Remember, it's a report to His Majesty."

"Junior general obeys!"

After speaking, Chai Zhewei gave his father a deep glance, then ran at top speed to a swift horse and vaulted onto it.

"Mount!"

Watching his son's departing back, Chai Shaoxin breathed a sigh of relief and then continued to arrange numerous matters methodically.

In one of the small shantytowns, Song Shuisheng's family was cramped together with two other families.

Li Chunyan, hearing the rumbling outside, whispered to Song Shuisheng, "Head of the household, we're lucky those military officers arrived quickly; otherwise, given our village's location, we'd probably have already been swept away by the flood."

At this point, Li Chunyan felt a lingering fear and clutched the sleeping infant daughter in her arms.

"Hmm." Song Shuisheng narrowed his eyes gravely and nodded, "I had already guessed a flood would break out, which is why I told you to pack things, but I didn't expect the flood to arrive so fast."

"These military officers saved our lives,"

"They indeed saved our lives, but they acted a bit too harshly," muttered an elder woman from the opposite family, as if she had thought of something.

The man beside her immediately scolded, "What would a woman understand?"

"If those military officers weren't harsher, could you have run this fast?"

"Given how you seemed eager to move the house, you'd probably have been drowned by the flood long ago."

The elder woman, intimidated by her husband, dared not argue and gave a nervous laugh.

At that moment, her husband, sounding somewhat reflective, said, "Those military officers didn't just save our lives..."

"......"