After Xu Mingxuan left, Chen Lan didn't stay home to look after the children. Instead, she took the main force from the valley, excluding pregnant and nursing women, to the riverbank outside the valley. They continued the excavation work that Dong and Erhu had started, which was less about digging a river and more about digging a lake.
Everyone in the valley was quite confused. They didn't understand why Chen Lan was having them dig an artificial lake outside the valley when they had plenty of water. However, no one asked her why.
Even Qian Yingzi, who was usually quite curious, didn't ask this time. She had been too scared to ask questions after her previous inquiries had led to frightening consequences.
Besides, the people in the valley had become accustomed to Chen Lan's various peculiar work arrangements. No matter how she organized things, the benefits always went to everyone living in the valley. They all knew that Chen Lan's actions were for the good of the valley and for everyone, and that she wouldn't harm them. Therefore, following her instructions was always the right decision.
So, even though Chen Lan asked them to dig an artificial lake, they did so without complaint. It seemed that habit, when used well, was a good thing, but its misuse could be problematic.
Chen Lan, of course, knew the exact reason for all this. But how could she explain it to everyone? She couldn't just tell them about what was going to happen in a few years.
If she were to tell them directly about the widespread, three-year-long drought that would begin with the spring planting of 1958!
It wasn't that Chen Lan was being alarmist. In her previous life, during her research, she had consulted relevant historical data. Drought signs began to appear in Northeast China from the spring of 1958. By the summer of 1958, over eight million mu of farmland in the Northeast were affected by drought. In Jilin province alone, more than 260 small rivers and over 1,300 reservoirs had dried up.
By 1959, the drought had become even more severe. The previous winter had seen very little rainfall and snowfall. Heilongjiang province also had over 1.5 million hectares of cultivated land severely affected, with the dryness reaching depths of more than two inches, and in some places, up to four or five inches. This was a great drought unseen in nearly thirty years, with unprecedented severity and affected area.
Even the Yellow River, our mother river, had been dry from Shandong to Jinan for more than forty days, illustrating the severity of the drought. It could be considered a century-level disaster. By 1961, the drought's scope had continued to expand southward, reaching the Huaihe Plain.
If she were to tell the people in the valley about these future events, the result would be that they would live in fear and anxiety for several years beforehand.
Chen Lan felt it was best not to. She would bear the burden herself. It wasn't that she was overly altruistic, but she knew the final outcome. If she started now and prepared everyone thoroughly, Chen Lan believed that life in the valley would not be much worse when the time came.
The valley's commitment to supplying the border camp with grain would not be interrupted due to severe drought.
Since she couldn't say anything, Chen Lan could only pretend to be oblivious, acting as if she knew nothing of their thoughts. Every day, she tirelessly shuttled between the valley and the dark river with the women.
The artificial lake was easy to dig. With six excavators, they could clear a large area each day. The difficult part was preventing the artificial lake from leaking. They couldn't afford to fill a lake with water only for it to seep into the ground when they needed it.
After repeatedly consulting relevant materials within the system, Chen Lan ultimately decided to use natural clay to prevent water seepage from the lake. This was to protect the natural environment and prevent the lake water from being polluted.
Chen Lan knew that clay had cohesive properties and could prevent seepage to some extent. Although it couldn't completely stop the natural leakage of lake water, it would ensure the two-way regulation of surface and groundwater. For example, rural wells in some areas relied on clay layers to retain water.
Furthermore, clay had strong filtration and purification capabilities, which could also purify water quality. Because of these two properties of clay, its use in preventing water seepage was widely applied in traditional Chinese architecture.
So, Chen Lan instructed Lin Mai to lead everyone in excavating the lakebed soil while she searched for clay along the direction of the dark river's flow.
Although she eventually found it, the soil containing clay was not abundant enough to meet the immense demand for building the artificial lake. Chen Lan then embarked on a journey to continue searching for clay in the mountains.
While passing through a wild grape grove, Chen Lan suddenly remembered that not far from another wild grape grove, there was a large area of clay soil covered with wild daylilies.
Chen Lan immediately took action, turning and heading rapidly in another direction. She soon found the area of clay soil. She immediately opened the system warehouse with her mind, took out a hoe and a shovel from the system warehouse, and began to dig. She would dig for a while, then rest, then load the soil into snake-skin bags from the system warehouse, and finally store them all back into the system warehouse.
The six excavators worked continuously for over a month, finally digging an artificial lake that was over 300 meters long, 200 meters wide, and 15 meters deep. Chen Lan decided to test it this year and, if successful, dig a larger artificial lake downstream next year, connecting it to this one. If this method proved feasible, she would dig an even larger one the year after that, aiming to store as much water as possible in preparation for the three-year drought of 1959.
Of course, the soil excavated from the artificial lake was not discarded. Chen Lan had everyone load it into snake-skin bags, and then she used the system warehouse to fill it all back into the clay soil area where the daylilies grew. As a result, this area transformed from a slope into a small hill. Su Dan Novel Network.
Next, they compacted the lakebed and the embankment. Once all the preparatory work was done, lining the lakebed and embankment with clay became much simpler.
Chen Lan mobilized all the students at the school to participate. It took them three days to complete the task. To be safe, after the first layer of clay dried, Chen Lan had them apply another layer. Then, the year's lake-digging work was concluded.
She could only hope that this winter would bring heavy snowfall, and after the spring thaw and the land unfroze, the artificial lake would fill with water on its own.