When Li Long went to the Water Conservancy Bureau to pick up Yang Bo the next day, Yang Bo said he was free all day. After inspecting the floodgate site that morning, they could head into the mountains to look at the bridge site.
Li Long drove Yang Bo to the township, picked up Jiang Zhiyu, who had been eagerly waiting, introduced them, and drove to Little Haizi at Fourth Team.
At Little Haizi, Yang Bo listened as Li Long explained which direction the floodwater came from. After walking along the dam, he said to Li Long:
"Your concerns are valid. This place does need a floodgate. The exact location isn't too critical, actually. The lowest end of the dam will do."
Having said that, Yang Bo picked up a piece of driftwood, scratched a line below the dam, and said:
"Your approach is right, too. During the low-water season in autumn, use a bulldozer to push some earth down this way to hold back the water and clear out a working area. Then build the floodgate behind it. Once it's finished, dig away the earth you pushed down, and the floodgate can start working.
"Also, after you've excavated and built the floodgate, you need to seal both sides tightly and compact them firmly. Otherwise, when a flood comes, the floodgate itself might be fine, but the water could break through the loosely filled sections on either side and wash out the dam. That's happened before, more than once."
"How do we prevent that?" Li Long asked at once.
"Simple. Once the floodgate is built, stack sandbags on both sides, all the way from the top down to the dam itself. If possible, the best thing would be to get wire mesh, fill it with stones, and weigh these areas