The young men on the embankment scrambled to haul up the hemp rope.
A sturdy young man soon appeared before everyone, it was Da Zhuzi, who had just gone into the water.
After Da Zhuzi got onto the embankment, he spoke before he could even wipe the water from his face.
"It's dangerous on the embankment, everyone retreat, quickly retreat!"
His abrupt words stunned everyone present for a moment.
What did "retreat" mean?
Da Zhuzi was speaking in dialect, and Shen Zizhen and the Su siblings couldn't react immediately.
Although they could now understand the local dialect, in this situation, with Da Zhuzi speaking purely in dialect, it was indeed difficult to understand.
"Da Zhuzi, what do you mean?" Secretary Wu was quicker to react and immediately asked.
"Secretary, it's all empty below, empty, a big pit," Da Zhuzi said, spitting out mud and sand from his mouth, his tone filled with anxiety.
After he went down, due to the low visibility, he could only feel his way along the embankment, only to discover that a large pit had already appeared below the embankment.
And the rushing water was still constantly scouring.
After he carefully felt his way, he realized that the embankment was already precarious.
And at this moment, there were still a hundred people standing on the embankment. Such weight would likely accelerate the collapse of the embankment.
He felt that the most urgent thing to do now was to guide the people present away, to avoid the embankment collapsing due to too many people on it.
After all, it was empty below, and the embankment might have been softened by the water. Such an embankment could not bear too much weight.
Everyone present understood this sentence.
Mayor Liang and Secretary Du exchanged glances, then looked at Shen Zizhen and the others.
Unexpectedly, Teacher Shen was right, the embankment here did have a problem.
But at this moment, even though they knew that Shen Zizhen's reminder had bought them time, they had no time to say thank you.
They were anxious.
This embankment was built to block the river water at the bend and protect the people in the villages below from flood disasters.
If the embankment collapsed from here, the river would rush down, and it was unknown how many people in the villages below would be affected.
Moreover, the situation was not good at the moment. If so many people were standing on the embankment and it collapsed, these people would likely fall into the river.
Da Zhuzi was a good swimmer, and he had to be tied with a rope to go into the water. If these people fell, it was hard to say what they would encounter.
The surrounding people were already in a panic. Was the embankment really about to collapse?
No, it couldn't be, their homes were behind the embankment.
Instantly, these people began to run around on the embankment in a panic.
Such a chaotic scene could easily cause bigger problems, adding insult to injury to the fragile embankment.
"Secretary Du, please make arrangements quickly, otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable." Su Xiaotian, ignoring everything else, directly shouted at Secretary Du.
Secretary Du had no time to reply to Su Xiaotian, and directly shouted:
"You retreat from this side, you retreat from this side, everyone don't panic, evacuate in an orderly manner, abide by the order, try not to stand on the embankment, try not to stand on the embankment."
Secretary Du's voice was very loud, as if he was shouting with all his might.
The people around heard it, and several village cadres quickly began to relay Secretary Du's arrangements.
Perhaps because of these arrangements, the surrounding people calmed down a bit.
Some people on the periphery quickly got off the embankment, and those behind them followed.
"Send someone to quickly inform the villages below to take shelter in higher places," Mayor Liang also thought of this crucial issue at this time.
Most of the men were on the embankment. The remaining people at home were all the elderly, weak, women, and children. If they were not reminded in advance, any slight mistake would be a devastating blow.
Immediately, several young men responded and ran away quickly, even discarding items that would affect their speed, such as straw capes and hats, in order to run faster.
Shen Zizhen and the others also knew that it was very dangerous here and not suitable to stay on it.
Seeing that most of the villagers had retreated, Shen Zizhen shouted to the Su siblings.
"Xiaotian, Sanggong, let's go down too."
Su Xiaotian and Su Sanggong did not hesitate.
Seeing Shen Zizhen almost unable to stand in the wind and rain, the siblings, with great tacit understanding, each supported Shen Zizhen's arm and ran quickly towards the bottom of the embankment.
Before Shen Zizhen could react, he was supported by the two and ran down quickly. He even felt as if his feet had left the ground.
Su Sanggong was a strong young man, so it was not surprising that he could half-lift him. Su Xiaotian was a delicate little girl, how could she have so much strength?
But at this moment, it was not the time to ponder these issues.
Shen Zizhen cooperated with the siblings as much as possible, so that they could take him down more easily.
As for Secretary Du, Mayor Liang, and several village cadres, they were very surprised to see Shen Zizhen leaving quickly, being led by two students.
Especially Secretary Du, his feelings were mixed. No wonder Su Sanggong said at home earlier that Su Xiaotian might be the one saving people. It seemed that family members knew their own people best.
This girl was not as delicate as she appeared. Perhaps she was a real hidden master!
"Old Wu, Old Li, most of the people are gone, let's also hurry down and discuss how to repair the embankment."
This was a major matter, and Secretary Du and Mayor Liang dared not delay.
Originally, they had planned to monitor this section of the embankment tonight, and start repairs after the rain stopped in the morning.
But now it seemed that they couldn't wait until morning. No matter what, they had to try their best to protect the embankment tonight.
The group also quickly evacuated.
Just as they got off the embankment, they suddenly heard a loud noise.
Even in the stormy night, the loud noise was exceptionally clear.
With a loud noise, everyone was shocked, including those who had already gotten off the embankment and the village leaders.
Then, under everyone's gaze, they saw a crack appear in the bent section of the embankment.
Then the rushing river water surged towards the collapsed part of the embankment, making a loud noise.
After a deafening sound, it seemed to wake many people from their shock.
"It collapsed, it collapsed! The embankment collapsed!"
Someone shouted with all their might.
"There are still people in my house!"
"I want to go home and see my son."
"Oh God, what should we do? My house is in the ditch!"
The scene became chaotic again. Even though the village cadres tried their best to control the emotions of these people, their worry for their homes had overridden everything else.
Even if the cadres spoke, no one was willing to listen.
Some people wanted to rush towards the village, only to find that the water gushing out from the breach had blocked their path.
"Everyone, don't panic, arrangements have been made to notify people, they should arrive in time," Secretary Du shouted with all his might.
He was worried that someone would rush directly into the turbulent water. If someone did, it would be certain death!