Sorting Out the Yangtze River Waterways. After ten o'clock that night, the water flow in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin began accelerating strangely.
In many cities still far from the danger line, countless residents were strolling along the riverbank to cool off. At that moment, they heard the sound of the river flowing nearby gradually growing louder.
"Whoosh... whoosh..."
"What's going on?"
"What a strong wind!"
"The wind's picking up?"
"Not sure. I don't feel anything. Is the wind rising over the river, or is it about to rain?"
The sounds came from the river. One curious resident after another walked to the bank and looked out over the water, only to find nothing but pitch-black darkness. They could not make out the accelerating current at all.
"Whoosh... whoosh..."
"Feels like the wind's pretty strong?"
"The wind's up. It might rain—hurry home!"
Before long, the residents along the riverbank dispersed and returned home, while the Yangtze's strange acceleration went unnoticed by everyone.
Very soon, starting from the waters around Poyang Lake in the lower Yangtze, the current along nearly two thousand li of the main channel began to accelerate. The water levels of Poyang Lake, Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake, Hongze Lake, and Gaoyou Lake also began slowly dropping.
Before Lu Zheng began sorting out the Yangtze River waterways, Si Lingxi had already arrived in the Pearl River basin, while Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying had reached the Yellow River basin.
Compared with the Yangtze's average flow rate of over thirty thousand cubic meters per second, the Pearl River had only a little over ten thousand cubic meters per second, while the Yellow River had only a little over two thousand. Naturally, they were much easier to handle.
Si Lingxi had it easiest. Though she was not