In the afternoon, the sky suddenly changed and dark clouds covered the sky.
The wind on the lake became stronger and the raindrops fell.
At first, everyone thought that the heavy rains in summer would soon pass and the weather would clear up.
But this time, it was as if a hole had been poked in the sky, and the rain became heavier and heavier, and finally turned into a heavy downpour.
Xu He was worried that the island was unsafe, so he called Xue Yongzhi and the old housekeeper to go to the lake to check.
Xue Yongzhi became anxious when he saw that the lake water had surged and the dock had been submerged.
He turned to Xu He and said, "I don't know how long this rain will last. How about I send someone to call a boat and let's rush to Hailing overnight?"
The old housekeeper said seriously: "Sir, that's not right. Although it's not night yet, it's already dark. In addition, sailing in the rain and the wind and waves on the lake are too dangerous. It's better to stay on the island. Although the lake water has surged, the other courtyard The terrain is high, nothing will happen.”
Xu He frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Is there enough food in this courtyard?"
The old housekeeper frowned and said, "It's hard to store food in the hot summer. There's only two days' worth of chewing in the other courtyard!"
Xue Yongzhi breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this: "That's better. The heavy rain can't last so long. When the rain stops, even if the island pier is impassable, I can just ask the small boat to transfer everyone to the big ship!"
When Xu He heard this, although he still had worries in his heart, this was all he could do now.
At night, the rain still didn't stop.
Xu He sat by the window and recorded the last few stories of "Liao Zhai", then walked to the verandah and listened to the sound of rain in the courtyard.
The rain seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, and the raindrops hit the banana trees, making a loud noise.
Turning around the verandah and coming to the courtyard wall, Xu He looked out at the lake through the flower window. He saw that the lake in the distance looked like the mouth of a giant beast. It was so dark that nothing could be seen clearly.
Suddenly, lightning flashed overhead, and Xu He looked outside through the bright light.
The scene in front of him completely frightened Xu He.
It turned out that the lake, which was still some distance away from the other courtyard, was now only a dozen feet away from the other courtyard.
Seeing this, Xu He quickly went to the old housekeeper's residence in the outer courtyard to wake him up.
When the old housekeeper heard Xu He's description, his face turned pale under the candlelight.
"Sir, Master, this is not raining, this is Qin Lake flooding!"
"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Xu He's mind was already numb at this moment.
It turns out that from the south of Xuzhou Prefecture to the Yangtze River, this vast area is all flat and there is not even a small slope.
In this plain, next to Hongze Town in Huai'an Prefecture, there is a large and continuous group of small lakes, mainly including Fuling Lake, Pofujian, Nidun Lake, Wanjia Lake, etc.
In the fifth year of Shaoxi's reign in the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River burst its banks. The flood reached Liangshanbo and divided into two branches, the north and south. The south branch merged with the Sishui River and flowed south into the Huaihe River. From then on, the Yellow River changed its course.
Because the Yellow River diverted the Huai River into the sea, the Huai River rose sharply, turning all the large and small lakes next to Hongze Town into one. This became Hongze Lake, one of the five largest freshwater lakes in China in later generations.
This Hongze Lake was originally formed when the Yellow River diverted its course and was flooded. Therefore, the bottom of the lake is 4 to 8 meters higher than the land. It is shrinked by the shores of the original small lake and the embankments built by previous dynasties.
In summer, if the lake water surges and breaks through the river banks, the lake water will flood all the surrounding low-lying areas like a wild horse.
The lowest point of this vast plain was the legendary Lixiahe area, which was later the central part of Jiangsu Province. It started from the Chuanchang River in the west, to the North Jiangsu Irrigation Main Canal in the north, and to the Laotongyang Canal in the south. The area involved To a large number of cities such as Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong, Huai'an, and Yancheng in later generations.
The place where Qin Lake is located is the Jiangyan District of Taizhou in later generations, where floods raged.
When Xu He thought of the rolling floods and heavy rain, his scalp suddenly went numb.
Suddenly, his eyes widened. His teacher Li Zhijie went to Xinghua County this time for flood control.
Xinghua is located to the north of Hailing, just close to Huai'an Prefecture, and the terrain is lower than Hailing.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but worry about his teacher.
For now, we don’t know when the lake will rise.
If there is really a flood, the ship will not be able to catch up with it no matter what.
In other words, when foreign aid is cut off, the safety of other hospitals is related to the safety of everyone.
Xu He thought of this and quickly woke everyone up from their sleep one by one.
When Lu Heng was woken up from bed, got dressed and came to the hall, he found that even the youngest Zhang Sanrang was there rubbing his sleepy eyes.
There were candles burning in the hall. Xu He, who was standing next to the candles, said with a stern expression: "Just now, the housekeeper and I went outside the courtyard to check. If it continues to rain, the lake will probably flood up soon!"
"What……"
"how so?"
Everyone looked at each other, frightened by this sudden situation.
Xu He signaled everyone to be quiet, and then said to everyone: "The women and children will stay in the same room. If you are sleepy, take turns to rest!"
"All men..." Xu He turned to look at Xue Yongzhi and others, "We have to make some preparations, just in case!"
Xue Yongzhi frowned and said: "Xiaohe, it's so dark that you can't even see anyone outside, and it's raining so heavily. How can we prepare? Besides, people from our Hou Mansion will definitely come to pick us up when they see this situation tomorrow morning. Yes, don’t bother yourself at this late hour!”
People like Xue Yongzhi who live in a big city like Jinling may have experienced flooding, but he certainly could not have imagined the power of floods.
Xu He shook his head: "Your ship may not be able to come here tomorrow, because the problem is not that the water level is rising, but that the flood is flowing very fast, and your ship can't get close to the island at all!"
Xue Yongzhi's expression suddenly changed, and he asked: "Why is it so good that you are so flooded?"
Xu He said solemnly: "It's my fault too. Sikui's father, my teacher, just went to Xinghua County for flood control a few days ago. Before he left, he told me that Gaojiayan on Hongze Lake was shaking every day. , there is a risk of the embankment bursting. But I saw the sun was shining brightly in the past two days, so I should be fine. I didn’t expect the flood to arrive before I left!”
Gu Hengbo frowned when he heard this and said, "That day I saw Sikui and Sanrang watching the ants move, and I didn't think much about it at the time..."
At this time, everyone finally realized the situation they were about to face.
Lu Heng, who had appeared to be the most unruly in the past two days, cried unexpectedly at this time: "What should I do? Do you think the flood will reach Baiju Pavilion? What will the prince do?"
When everyone heard this, they all looked at Lu Heng in surprise.
But then I thought about it, the British government has been married to the royal family for generations, so it doesn't matter if Lu Heng, the noble daughter, is called the prince [brother].
Xu He said: "His Royal Highness, there are so many people protecting him, he should be fine! But for us, time is urgent and there is no time to delay. We have to think of ways to save ourselves!"
