The frozen "dykes" upstream are unable to block the accumulated river water. They rely more on the force of the miles of frozen river water below to block especially large corners.
This is easy to understand. If the river water at the big bend freezes and loses its fluidity, the pressure from the river water will act directly on the bank instead of the ice layer downstream of the river channel.
What he did was to cut off the ice layers one by one, which actually made them unable to borrow strength from each other.
It is not difficult to imagine that as long as enough is cut, the upstream ice will collapse because it cannot withstand the pressure of the stored water.
He may not know these theories, but he has been engaged in icebreaking for a long time and knows these rules through experience, so he "cuts" particularly intensively at big corners...
In other parts, the "knife" is cut every 30 steps downstream, especially at big bends, every 10 steps.
Another reason is that the big bend is a "heavy disaster area" that blocks the water flow. If the broken ice blocks and freezes the river water again here, all the previous efforts may be in vain or even more difficult to freeze again.
I say "more difficult" because after the ice is broken and then blocked, many places will be in a mixed state of ice and water. Not only is it difficult to operate, but the ice cubes are more likely to collapse and are difficult to predict, adding many dangers.
Therefore, it is not enough to "cut" every ten steps at the big bend, but also to use a few "knives" vertically.
Moreover, the horizontal and vertical parts must be cut at the same time. When the "iron box" is insufficient, it may even have to be divided into left and right halves or even three parts.
Wang Jian was a little confused and asked me why. She replied:
"If you 'cut' it horizontally and then 'cut' it lengthwise, the melted water will flow into the horizontal ditch and freeze again."
"There will be a lot of trouble if you repeat this."
"Only by operating horizontally and vertically at the same time, water will be continuously discharged from the ditch."
Wang Jian couldn't help but nod his head when he heard this.
Each profession has its own proficiency, and it is true to say that each profession is as different as a mountain.
After struggling around the big bend for two days, I was very careful when I "cut" it up again.
Every time, all preparations are made, all the people waiting are evacuated, and then a few fast-moving people are sent to quickly light the fire.
After taking a final look at the situation, I reported to Wang Jian:
"General, it's the last moment to break the ice and divert water."
"Should we divert the blood now or wait a few days?"
This question is whether the military and civilians downstream have been notified to make full preparations.
You must know that the lower reaches of the river are also blocked by freezing at this time. It is no joke to let down the water that has been stored for more than a month.
Wang Jian thought for a while and then asked:
"Will there be any problems if the drainage is delayed for a few days?"
I replied:
"I can't guarantee that."
"The reason is that it's hard to predict whether the weather will be warm or cold."
"If the cold suddenly turns cold and the upper reaches of the river freezes over a large area again, I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort again."
Wang Jian can understand this.
Wang Jian is not worried about time.
Because the food supply in Daliang and Handan can last for several months.
What Wang Jian is worried about is that if he misses this opportunity to divert traffic, there may be no next time.
For example, a cold wave suddenly comes and freezes three miles. After the Qin army has been tossing for a few days to "cut" these three miles, it freezes another five miles...
The weather will definitely get colder as time goes by, and you can imagine the freezing speed will be faster.
If the ice cutting speed cannot keep up with the freezing, all the work will be in vain.
But if we talk about preparation... the downstream is definitely not ready.
It doesn't matter much in Handan.
A beacon tower has been set up in Handan. As soon as a flood is detected upstream, an early warning will be issued and the troops will withdraw to high places where food has been stored.
The problem is the beam.
Previously, Ying Zheng agreed with Daliang for two months in order to have enough time.
But now it only takes a month to divert water, I'm afraid...
Wang Jian made a trade-off in his mind:
If you don't release the water now, you may never be able to release it, so you will lose everything.
Now, Daliang City may suffer losses due to lack of preparation, but it is obvious that the losses of the Chu army surrounding the city will be greater, and there is basically no suspense about the Qin army's victory.
Wang Jian thought that this comparison should not be delayed any longer, so he immediately issued an order:
"Drain water now!"
He responded and waved a small flag to signal to his subordinates.
With a sound of "teng", fires were ignited everywhere.
The ignition this time was different from the previous ones. Before, there were neat "cuts", but this time it was concentrated in several places on the embankment.
He explained:
"This is like cutting a few gaps in the dam."
"The cracks in these gaps will connect to each other, causing the entire ice bank to collapse!"
Sure enough, just as I said, not long after the fire was lit, there were bursts of "crack" sounds from the ice surface.
It sounded for a while and then fell silent. Just when everyone was confused, several huge pieces of ice suddenly shot up into the sky. The scattered ice fragments even hit Wang Jian's hiding place dozens of steps away on both sides of the strait, frightening all the guards.
He quickly stepped forward to protect Wang Jian.
This situation was obviously beyond his expectation, which only frightened him and hid behind a tree.
Then the ice layers were stacked one on top of another like dominoes, and the sound of collisions was endless.
Soon there was only a sound of "teng", and a river of water poured down like a fountain. The water column became larger and larger, and soon it was mixed with the debris. It was unclear which ones were water and which ones were ice.
The water line spread rapidly towards both sides of the river with debris, which only frightened the soldiers and fled in a hurry. Some of the slower runners were swept in and disappeared instantly.
After a while, she came back to her senses and reported to Wang Jian in shock:
"General, it's done, it's done!"
Wang Jian nodded.
As the saying goes, people make plans and God makes things happen. Now it depends on whether the rushing river water can work.
Of course Shen Bing on the other side didn't know that the river water had arrived.
At this time, the morale of the troops was much better than before.
This is a kind of inertial thinking of people.
During the initial change, when the Qin army was first surrounded by the Chu army, they would be nervous for a while.
But as day by day passed, they realized that being surrounded was just like that, and they took it for granted that the days to come would be similar, so they quickly stopped caring about it.
Only Shen Bing knew that this was the beginning of the crisis.
Fortunately, I have found a solution, but I don't know how Wang Jian's ice cutting upstream is going.
In order to prepare in advance, these engineers are making rafts again... The previous rafts were dismantled to build trebuchets due to lack of wood, and now they are dismantling collapsed buildings in the city to make rafts, which is a bit of a fool's errand.
Cang asked strangely:
"Brother, why do you want to make a raft again?"
"Could it be that the Chu army cannot attack Daliang by water?"
Shen Bing did not tell him the answer, but just confessed:
"Do your job well and don't worry about the Chu army."
"You are already an engineer, with more than a hundred people under your command, and they all look up to you."
"If you neglect your duty... I'm afraid even the Chu army won't be able to see you!"
Cang responded and didn't dare to say anything more.