The summer heat stops at four o'clock in the morning, which is the time of day when the air is cold in the air and the ground is warm.
Brother Rong sent the messenger back and walked out of the front hall, looking at the gray sky above his head. For a moment, everyone in the other courtyard felt this and entered the garden one after another.
Like him, looking up and down.
The water in the garden was blown into thousands of blue waves, and the surrounding trees were trembling, making a tidal sound in the dark sky. Everyone stood in the wind, staring blankly at the sky that was about to be blown down by the strong wind at any time that day.
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted: "Hurry up to the attic and see where the heavy rain is hitting."
Brother Rong reacted and looked towards Master Thirteen. King Zhongshun came over and hurriedly climbed upstairs. Brother Rong followed closely and reached the height of the attic.
His deep eyes could no longer see the outside appearance clearly, and everything he saw was shrouded in darkness. Looking down at the entire garden, the birds were frightened and fled in panic under the dim sky. They seemed to feel the thunder and lightning in the clouds, flapping nervously over his head.
When the cold rain passed over the eaves of the attic, it drifted into his eyes. I prayed silently in my heart that this time the heavy rain would go north for a while. He looked back again and saw that Thirteenth Master and the officials who came with him this time all had solemn expressions.
In an instant, heavy rain and strong winds covered the earth. The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be venting their anger, and the rain poured down in a steady stream.
The servants in the attic were hurriedly lighting the lamps and closing the window sill in a hurry, shining a faint light in the darkness. The glass windows kept out the heavy rain, and the sound of rain showers blurred the view outside the glass.
The Thirteenth Master and his party stood motionless behind the glass. It seemed that the rain could not block their sight, as if they could still see what was going on outside.
The gray-haired old river worker from the Water Conservancy Yingtian Mansion said: "You have to plan for the worst."
God is not in favor of man. Jia Rong sighed secretly and looked towards the Thirteenth Master. I only noticed that King Zhongshun, who was in his prime, clenched his fists and wondered what he was thinking.
There was a roar, and the terrifying lightning pierced the dark sky for a moment, causing everyone in the attic to take a few steps back.
Although the buildings in the garden were equipped with lightning protection facilities, everyone was still frightened by the ferocious and frightening lightning. This is the fear of nature engraved in human genes. No one wants to be the unlucky guy struck by lightning. Brother Rong was no exception. He took two small steps away from the window sill.
Someone said sarcastically: "It should only be a while!"
Everyone hopes that this is the case, but whoever dares to gamble will have their hearts aroused. It doesn't take a month for such strong winds and heavy rains to fall. In just one day, Huaidong will turn into a vast ocean.
There is a saying in Huai'an: heavy rain brings big disaster, light rain brings small disaster, and no rain causes drought. Faced with such heavy rain, no one would not panic. And the time is right in the rainy season, so we are most worried about the continuous heavy rain.
Master Thirteen gritted his teeth even more, he knew better than others. Huai'an has been a land plagued by floods since the Ming Dynasty.
According to "Records of the Ming Dynasty": "The Yellow and Huaihe Rivers burst their banks one after another. The Yellow River bursts at Huanggukou in Shanxian County, Shandong Province, and the Huaihe River bursts at Gaoliangrun and Tuanjiaqiao in Gaojiazun on the east bank of Hongze Lake."
“It rains continuously from May to September in summer, and the wheat and crops are not harvested... The Huaihe River rises, and the flat ground leads to boats, and the floods enter the city.”
"Thousands of miles from Xuzhou to Yangzhou, there were huge floods, and all the crops and crops in the houses were wiped out."
"The rush is surging, more than a hundred miles of land are covered in an instant, and the boat is sailing through the treetops."
Only a hundred years have passed, will old historical dramas be staged again? It’s really not the Thirteenth Master who is worrying blindly, nor is it the imagination of Jia Rong and other officials of the Water Conservancy Yingtian Mansion. Earlier, floods in the upper reaches of the Yellow River had endangered the Yellow and Huaihe rivers.
Now that it is late plum rainy season in June in Jiangnan, the situation is not optimistic.
Thirteenth Master gritted his teeth and said: "Prepare the car and return to Hongze Lake."
"Your Majesty, no!" In the attic, an official knelt down and shouted, "It's raining heavily in Huai'an, and the Hedao Yamen has sent its own personnel to patrol. Your Majesty can't take risks."
Jia Rong really doesn't want to go there. It's okay when it doesn't rain. When it rains, we'll go there. It's really too dangerous, you could end up there at any time.
King Zhongshun hummed: "There are millions of people standing under the dangerous wall in Huaiyang. How can I not leave if I die in this area?"
When Jia Rong saw this, she felt helpless and looked towards Duan Yu, the leader of the guards. Brother Yu winked at him, trying not to let Brother Rong speak at this time. The decision made by the prince cannot be persuaded by them as bodyguards.
The old river engineer of the Water Conservancy Yingtian Mansion said: "The prince is worried about the people, which is a blessing to the world. However, the heavy rain has just arrived, and the thunder has not stopped, so we can wait for half an hour."
The Thirteenth Master cast a strange glance at the old river worker. This old man held a lot of weight in the prince's heart. After listening to his advice, Thirteenth Master temporarily stopped the idea and ordered: "Go and prepare the car. Wait until the thunder stops after half an hour, and drive to Hongze Lake at night."
King Zhongshun also led several old river workers and important officials from the Water Conservancy Camp to deal with the Hongze Lake issue.
Jia Rong and Duan Yu were naturally standing by, while the other guards were checking the carriages and horses, and patrolling the river governor's Yamen annex.
"This heavy rain may not stop for a few days." In the courtyard of the Governor's Water Transport Department, the Governor of Water Transport and his colleagues were also looking at the rain outside.
"Why are you worried, sir?" someone said with a smile, "A heavy rain swept away the sediment in the canal, which saved the trouble of dredging. There is no need to pay money from the yamen to open the river for King Zhongshun."
The Governor of Water Transport nodded and said: "That's right. We still have 20,000 mouths waiting for food, and we are also very poor. I'm afraid that if something happens to the Hongze Lake embankment, we will have to live in two years of poverty."
The man said again: "Well, whenever something happens in the court, we Lianghuai will come to us. We will also arrange extra classes for cleaning, and all the money that our yamen can collect in the past will be included in the salt class. How many times a year will it be paid? One hundred thousand taels were sent to the palace. Alas... if there was really a disaster, King Zhongshun would not have to ask the salt merchants to donate money according to the old calendar. Each salt merchant donated tens of thousands taels to King Zhongshun. Where is the money to honor us?"
The Governor of Water Transport glanced at this man and said: "Don't open your mouth about this kind of thing. Guarding against walls has ears. The only way to make money in silence is to make money."
The man added: "It's provincial. Let's just complain to your lord. The governor of the river, Qi Shule, is the closest to King Zhongshun. Even when he came to the south of the Yangtze River, he stayed in his yamen courtyard."
The Governor of Water Transport felt depressed, why did this bastard talk about this, asking for trouble? Now that Qi Shule has joined the Ministry of War, the real power in his hands is equivalent to that of him, the governor of water transportation.
There is no room for two tigers in one mountain, except one male and one female. The Governor of Water Transport was higher in rank than Uncle Qi, and he also had military power. Originally, the Governor of the River Channel wanted to take the Governor of Water Transport as his leader. Unexpectedly, Qi Shule relied on King Zhongshun, and this year he served as an official, and he was on par with him.
The miscellaneous taxes on river transportation were settled into the salt class, and Qi Shule might be responsible for this.
Blocking people's way of making money is like killing your parents.
The Governor of Water Transport has not forgotten this grudge.
He said: "No matter what, we also sent people to patrol the river affairs. We only plan to do the work but not work hard. The canal affairs are still troublesome, and life is getting harder and harder. We don't have the time to do the trick of opening the river with King Zhongshun. If we really get into trouble with him, we won’t be able to go to the sea to have a good time in the future. We won’t make much money, and we’ll be taking huge risks.”
Who doesn't want to be quiet and earn more than 100,000 taels of silver while lying down? It is much better than wasting time and effort, risking the dangers of the sea and only getting the court's meager salary of one hundred and eighty taels. Of course, he did not include the 18,000 taels of silver issued by the court every year as his salary.
…………
Half an hour later, the thunder in the sky gradually became smaller. Occasionally, I could hear a few sounds, but they were still some distance away.
The sky was a little clearer, and the rain wasn't as heavy as before, but it didn't stop raining either.
All the way out of Huai'an City, the carriages and horses headed southwest through the rain, heading straight to Hongze Lake. Driving in the heavy rain was extremely difficult, and there was water dripping from the pipes outside the city. But he still couldn't stop King Zhongshun and his party from rushing on their way.
At night, the team of carriages and horses arrived at Hongze Lake. We first patrolled the east bank and then around the south bank. It was already late at night and early morning.
Qi Shule, the governor of the river course, naturally followed. This guy was a famous water control expert during the Guangxi period, no worse than the several old river workers hired by King Zhongshun in the Water Conservancy Yingtian Mansion.
Qi Shu said happily: "Looking at the intensity of the rain, I'm afraid it won't stop tonight."
King Zhongshun held up lanterns to look at the water of Hongze Lake in the dark of night. Question: "You should have done the inspection earlier, but don't think about how long the levee can last under such heavy rain."
Qi Shule smiled bitterly and said: "It's really a dilemma between the north and the south. I hope the rain will go eastward in these days. If it stops south, Hongze Lake will be in trouble; if it goes north, Surabaya and Lema Lake will be in danger."
After hearing this theory, Jia Rong cursed in her heart. This damn thing is actually not only in one place, but also in the Sishui River. He could imagine that King Zhongshun's face must be very dark at this moment.
The Thirteenth Master asked: "Why not open the river channel early and clear out the silt and consolidate the embankment?"
Qi Shule said: "My ministers have also made several reports, and even asked the governor of the Water Transport Ministry for countermeasures. However, when it was regarded as a matter for the government to calculate shipping matters, everyone from top to bottom of the Water Transport Ministry refused."
Nowadays, there is heavy rain downstream, making it difficult to open the gate and even close the gate to build the river. The Thirteenth Master was furious and helpless, so he asked: "Where is the prefecture and county magistrate here? Come and ask."
Qi Shule sighed: "The magistrate of Xuyi County has been following behind. This person only came to Shenjing in the past two months. He just took office not long ago. He doesn't know much about the southeastern area of Hongze Lake."
Forehead……
Master Thirteen was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Question: "The county magistrate doesn't know, so the county magistrate should understand. Is it possible that the county magistrate hasn't come over?"
Qi Shu said happily: "The Prime Minister of Xuyi County is a shrewd person. He has been more diligent than anyone else these days. After hearing that the Thirteenth Master was coming, he personally found a place nearby for the Thirteenth Master and the other masters of Shuitian Mansion to rest for the night."
"What a shrewd county magistrate." The Thirteenth Master gritted his teeth and said, "Over there, go to the resting place found by the magistrate."
Uncle Qi said happily: "President of Xuyi County, have you seen the Thirteenth Master again?"
This river governor is also a stubborn guy. Brother Rong rolled his eyes helplessly. He had only been here for a month or two. What was the use of coming here? I'm afraid the population of the area and the topography of each town may not be clear, so it would be better not to see them.
It's just that the place name Xuyi sounded familiar to him, as if he had heard it there before. This familiar feeling definitely does not come from the memory of a previous life, but from hearing the place name there recently. It was only for a while that I couldn't remember it.
It stands to reason that he has always been in Shenjing and usually has no contact with people from Jiangnan. How come I suddenly heard the place name Xuyi? It was also very strange.
The magistrate of Xuyi County was really shrewd. He found a big courtyard in the place. The magistrate who arrived soon after took a look at this shrewd man.
King Zhongshun asked about the situation in various places in the southeast of Hongze Lake, but the county magistrate only gave a general outline and did not give details. Just because the east bank of Hongze Lake belongs to Baoying and the south bank belongs to Xuyi. In desperation, he just sent the county magistrate away.
Not long after, Brother Rong's guards heard that the magistrate of Xuyi County from outside came to see the Thirteenth Master.
Duan Yu sneered and said: "These local officials were very diligent when they met the people who came from Shenjing. First, there were the small county magistrates looking for a place for the Thirteenth Master, and then the county masters who just took office took the initiative to ask for an audience, but they didn't Wrong idea. Who can meet the Thirteenth Master if he wants? If there is nothing important, even the prefect and prefect may not be able to meet him."
The announcement from the front hall came to several guards, but Duan Yu was about to refuse. Suddenly a memory flashed in Brother Rong's mind. A few months ago, he had heard Duan Lang say that he was going to Xuyi to take office.
Could it be that the unlucky magistrate of the Hongze Lake area is Duan Lang?
The informant quickly asked: "Do you know the name of the county master?"
The man replied: "The county master's surname is Duan, but I don't know the specific name."
It's really possible that he's this lucky guy. Brother Rong laughed and said: "The local county master and Uncle Yu have the same surname. It is impossible to say that they were in the same family hundreds of years ago. Why don't we meet him first and listen to what kind of flower he can tell. If it is beneficial, that's fine. Let the Thirteenth Master know; if there is no use in coming to camp, just break the legs and throw them out."
Duan Yu glanced at Brother Rong, nodded and said, "Brother Rong is right. If the county magistrate really has important information, we can't turn him away."
After the messenger returned, he went to Brother Rong and asked, "What are you planning on doing?"
Brother Rong said: "How can we have any ideas? Even though we are guards, we have to share the worries of the Thirteenth Master, right? The Thirteenth Master is tall and has a high position, so naturally he will not meet with this sesame official. Since we, the guards, have listened to the request, we have to Check the bottom line. As Brother Yu said, what if there is urgent information? "
Duan Yu curled his lips and said: "We brothers have traveled all over the provinces with the Thirteenth Master. What kind of local officials have we not seen? Brother Rong needs to know that there are many prefectures in one prefecture and several counties in one prefecture. If everyone wants to see you, we will work all day long. They’re all annoyed.”
Brother Rong also knew it, but Duan Yu's approach seemed a bit lazy to him. Said: "I hope this magistrate can make some differences. Even if he can get some useful information, it would be good."
Not long after, a haggard middle-aged man came over. There were big dark circles on his face, and most of his clothes were wet.
Duan Yu frowned and was about to send the visitor away before he could speak. Doesn't this appearance ruin the image of court officials?
Brother Rong laughed. Who else could it be if he wasn't Duan Lang? However, he looked quite embarrassed and said first, "I was just thinking about it in my heart, but I didn't expect that the county master Xuyi is really you."
