Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 308 Why is it called Water Gate Bridge?

Even Wang Gensheng was thinking that if this water gate bridge wasn't a bridge, but a dam, then a direct explosion could block the American army through the lake water.

Before Wang Gensheng traveled through time, he even made a special effort to find out what those four pipes under the Water Gate Bridge were!

There are four very large pipes under the Watergate Bridge. What are they used for? And why are there four large pipes?
To find out the answer, we first need to know why this place is called the Water Gate Bridge. In fact, it all started with the Japanese.

After the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese gained control of Chaozhou and began to colonize the Chaozhou Peninsula. In 1926, the Japanese began construction of a hydroelectric power station in the area, which took six years to complete.

Having tasted considerable success here, they later invested tens of millions of yen to rebuild the Chosin Reservoir Hydroelectric Power Station over a period of five years. The bridge that was later built is now known as the Sumon Bridge.

The Sumun Bridge can only be attacked from one side, while the other side is the water of Changjin Lake. In other words, the Sumun Bridge is actually the outlet of a dam, designed to intercept the lake water and divert it downstream.

However, the function of the Water Gate Bridge is not limited to these.

Below the four large pipes is a power plant that generates electricity by diverting water from the lake, so the true function of the Watergate Bridge is a "water diversion power station".

The principle of power generation is very simple: the water flows through these four huge pipes to the foot of the mountain, where there is a water turbine generator. Because the elevation of the Water Gate Bridge is 400 meters, the difference in terrain is quite large.

After the water is diverted down the mountain, the force of the water is enough to drive the water turbine generator, and the power is continuous.

Because the force of the large amount of lake water rushing downwards is so great that ordinary water channels simply cannot bear it, these four pipes are actually pressure-bearing reinforced concrete pipes.

Above the pipe is a pump house, where the valves that control the water flow are located. If there is any malfunction in the power plant or the water pipe, the valves that control the various operations are located here.

Because it is the main valve of the entire hydroelectric power station, it is called "water gate".

The entire Changjin Lake lies above the four pipelines. When these pipelines were being built, the Water Gate Bridge was constructed along the way for passage.

In the movie Watergate Bridge, the water pipes were blown open and the pump room was breached, but no water flowed out.

Firstly, the winter temperature at Changjin Lake was too low at the time, so the hydroelectric power station could not operate. Therefore, water could not be stored in the pipes. If the water inside froze, the pipes would burst, and the entire hydroelectric power station would have to be scrapped.

Secondly, since the two sides were engaged in battle at the time, the hydroelectric power station would naturally be shut down. Therefore, the pipeline was empty, and the Chinese People's Volunteer Army could have blown it open to carry out operations in the pump house.

Of course, compared to the first explanation, Wang Gensheng was more inclined to believe the second reason, which was that the hydroelectric power station stopped generating electricity because of the war.

After all, if water pipes were to freeze, they could only freeze stagnant water, but the four pipes under the water gate bridge are flowing, so how could they possibly freeze!
Furthermore, the Changjin Lake behind the Water Gate Bridge could not possibly freeze over. At most, a layer of ice would form on the surface, but the entire Changjin Lake would not freeze over.

However, after much thought, Wang Gensheng finally found a way to completely block the Land Warfare Lion One and Land Warfare Lion Seven.

That's right, the solution is to blow up the water gate, yes, blow up the water gate, not the water gate bridge.

It's worth noting that the mountain behind the entire Shuimen Bridge could be considered the dam of Changjin Lake.

So if the mountain behind the Sumun Bridge is blown up, the waters of Changjin Lake will not only destroy the Sumun Bridge, but also the road next to it.

Unfortunately, trying to blow up a dam made from a mountain was simply wishful thinking. Even the Japanese at the time could only think of digging a tunnel through the mountain to divert the water of Chosin Reservoir from the other side.

However, if the water gate controlling the water flow behind the Water Gate Bridge is blown up, the water in the cave will flow out uncontrollably, and in that case, it might be possible for the Dangmi Kingdom to build a bridge over the Water Gate Bridge.

Of course, Wang Gensheng himself wasn't entirely sure whether he could stop it.

However, doing something is better than doing nothing. If the waters of Changjin Lake can be used to block the US Army's One Lion Ground Force and Seven Lion Infantry Forces, it will be a huge loss for the US Army.

Of course, if you want to blow up the water gate instead of the water gate bridge, you have to be prepared, since the water gate bridge is on the outside, while the water gate is inside the water room.

Of course, before the battle, it was necessary to investigate the US troops guarding the Watergate Bridge. Similar to the story, the US forces guarding the Watergate Bridge were not many, just a reinforced company or so.

Wang Gensheng did not wait until the second half of the night to fight, but launched his attack in the first half of the night, just as darkness fell.

Although the US military had deployed many hidden firing positions at the Watergate Bridge, it was nothing to Wang Gensheng, who had a mental reconnaissance range of 700 meters.

As Wang Gensheng threw his grenade, he eliminated the American soldiers hiding in concealed firing positions.

The Water Gate Bridge, which was extremely difficult to capture in the movie, was taken down in less than twenty minutes under Wang Gensheng's leadership.

In particular, the American soldiers who were holding flamethrowers had their flamethrower fuel storage tanks blown up by Wang Gensheng's machine gun bullets.

Then they turned into moving fireballs.

As for the Pershing tank that the US military had hidden in the warehouse, it was also easily destroyed by Wang Gensheng. He simply threw a grenade into the tank's gun barrel, blowing it up.

Of course, Smith also received the news of the Watergate Bridge incident.

Smith then dispatched a company to provide support. However, although Smith was less than five kilometers from the Watergate Bridge, the road was blocked by landmines, so the American soldiers could only carry light weapons and walk up the hillside next to the road.

Under these circumstances, it took Smith's soldiers three hours to reach the five-kilometer distance. However, without tanks or trucks to transport heavy firepower, the company of soldiers Smith sent was no match for Wang Gensheng.

He was easily defeated, but what Wang Gensheng didn't expect was that while he was inside the Watergate Bridge studying how to blow it up, Smith was going crazy.

He understood that if the Shuimen Bridge was controlled by the reinforcements, then even if he broke through the minefield at all costs, it would be useless.

So after sending a second wave of troops failed to recapture the Watergate Bridge, Smith directly requested that the US military return to shelling the Watergate Bridge.

They demanded that the Shuimen Bridge be completely destroyed rather than allow the reinforcements to continue guarding it.

After all, Smith understood the capabilities of his own engineering corps in building bridges, so it wouldn't matter if the Watergate Bridge was destroyed.

(End of this chapter)