Near dusk, the rain actually stopped, the clouds dispersed a lot, and the setting sun shone through the gaps on the west wall of Wujiang.
Zhao Mengqi sat alone on the wall, staring blankly at the endless lake to the west, with a faint sadness on his face.
At this time, the shore of the lake was less than one mile away from the city wall, but in later generations, eight or nine miles west from here had become land, and this was how the sea changed.
There were thin footsteps behind him, and there was no need to look back. Zhao Mengqi also knew who was coming, "Are you done?"
"Sister Gu has been laid to rest. Kochi County has invited Taoist priests and monks to perform rituals." Wanwan walked up to him, her voice a little hoarse, "Sister Gu lamented that her life was miserable before her death, so she believed in both Buddhism and Taoism to pray for salvation in this life. I didn’t know how to choose to be liberated in the next life, so I let them go together, but the scene was a little noisy, so I came out.”
"If gods and Buddhas have spirits, everything in the world will be peaceful..."
Zhao Mengqi's tone was neither salty nor cool, but Wanwan could hear his depression. She looked up and saw his haggard face, and she became worried, "Have you stayed awake these past few nights?"
In front of Wanwan, Zhao Mengqi took off his disguise and said bitterly, "How can I sleep like this?"
Wanwan's mind changed and she understood the crux of the matter. She raised her hand and took off the veil. She also looked at the lake, took a deep breath and said leisurely, "On July 4th, the first year of Yuanfeng, there was a strong wind and rain, and the water of Taihu Lake was more than two feet high. , Flooded the bank of the pond... In the fifth year of the main road, there was a flood in July. Those who operated the boat market for months, many people drowned. The following year, there was another flood. In the cities east of the Yangtze River, there were more than ten feet deep, and people drifted away from their cottages and flooded their fields. Farms, dikes were destroyed, and many people fled... Last year, there was a heavy rain, and the Tianmu landslide destroyed Anji and Wukang. People drifted and drowned, Taihu Lake overflowed, and the water in the counties of Pingjiang Prefecture was about ten feet deep. , went to Lin'an and Huainan to take advantage of the food, and countless people starved and drowned..."
Zhao Mengqi was horrified and turned to look at Wanwan in surprise, "Ruochu, what are you doing?"
"I want to tell you that floods in Taihu Lake have always existed. Especially after the country moved south, there will be an average of about once every seven or eight years, and the consequences every time are very tragic."
Wanwan turned her head and looked at Zhao Mengqi seriously, "This time, if you don't do anything, the disaster will be the same as before, but if you choose to do it, the worst will not be worse than that."
"Well, your words seem to be saying that I am a living horse doctor..." Zhao Mengqi laughed at himself, but his eyebrows were not so heavy anymore, "Well, you did succeed in comforting me...actually, I understand I understand, I always feel a little uncomfortable when I think of how many people have been displaced and even their lives are at risk with my order."
"The king's destiny, isn't it?" Wanwan put her hand on the back of his hand and squeezed it softly, "Once you have made a decision, don't think about it too much. There is no perfect strategy in this world. You have to give up when you gain. ...You should go. Have a good sleep, you will be busy after tomorrow."
Zhao Mengqi showed his face and said, "Speaking of which, Old Man Wu is doing most of the things. I'm just telling you. This old man hasn't slept for several nights, but he is very energetic. I suspect that he has secretly practiced some magical skills..."
Wanwan raised her hand and slapped him, and said angrily, "How can you arrange for an old minister like this? Prime Minister Wu has a heart for all people and is willing to work hard."
"Yes, yes, my lady is right." Zhao Mengqi said confidently, then he jumped down from the wall and took Wanwan away. "We will talk about sleeping later. Let's go to the east of the city to have a look."
Wanwan asked doubtfully, "What's in the east of the city?"
"You'll know when we get there."
As Zhao Mengqi spoke, he pulled Wanwan and walked directly from the city wall to the east.
Wu Qiong and others were guarding them from the front and back, but kept a certain distance to give the two of them some privacy.
At this time, most of the huts had been erected at the top of the city. This was to store food supplies and accommodate people in case the water was too strong.
People who were working along the way saw King Yan passing by. They were supposed to step aside and salute, but they saw that he was holding Wanwan, who was even more beautiful than a fairy. They were all stunned by this stunning appearance, and most of them stood there with their mouths open. Stunned like a piece of wood.
Wanwan then remembered that she had taken off her veil, and couldn't help but feel ashamed. She quickly put it on, but was stopped by Zhao Mengqi, "Stop wearing it. Are you going to wear a veil when your mother honors the world in the future? No." You look ugly, are you still afraid of people looking at you?"
"What mother-in-law, you're talking crazy again!" Wanwan said coquettishly. Although she knew that Zhao Mengqi was coaxing her, she was still very happy.
When King Yan left, these civilians and soldiers woke up.
"Heizi, pinch me."
"What? Lin Ba, are you stupid?"
"Am I dreaming... I seemed to have seen an immortal descending to earth just now. Please pinch me quickly!"
"That was not a dream, I saw it too."
"Tsk, tsk, she's so damn good-looking, it's worth a lifetime just to take a look..."
"If I can marry a wife who is one ten thousandth better than that, I will be blessed to the heavens."
"You are just dreaming. Wake up quickly and wipe the scratches on your mouth..."
"Hey, His Highness Prince Yan is really brave. He saw that the flood was coming. Not only did he stay here to lead us to fight against the disaster, but he also brought such a beautiful wife with him."
"So, no matter how powerful the flood is this time, don't be afraid, King Yan will definitely keep us safe."
"Work, work! What did His Highness King Yan say... We must unite as one to overcome the flood!"
Following Zhao Mengqi to the east city wall, he looked outside and saw that on the canal outside, there were densely packed boats, which were gathered into long queues according to their size.
The long dragon consists of more than a dozen or twenty ships, linked end to end, and vaguely seen to be tightly connected by cables.
"This is it?" Wanwan was surprised.
"Hey, this is like Prime Minister Cao, and a boat can be used to build a city." Zhao Mengqi said with a little pride, "If the water level rises sharply, then we can connect them together and turn them into a water city, which can accommodate 100,000 people. "
Wanwan thought for a while and said, "Although Wujiang County is higher than the surrounding area, last year there was no precaution and more than six feet of water was poured into the house. The water in the house was like a flowing spring. Not only could no one live in it, but a lot of food was soaked. This method of yours , but it can solve many problems.”
"Many of these are watercrafts, so food is basically not a problem. Even if the city of Wujiang is flooded, we can survive the storm relying on this floating city."
After seeing his masterpiece, Zhao Mengqi led Wanwan around the city before heading to the county government office.
In the past few days, he had been showing up in front of the people more often, intentionally or unintentionally, so although the people in the city were nervous, they were not panicked, and they were more obedient to the government's orders and arrangements.
Lin'an City, Da Nei Funing Hall.
Zhao Yun sat with one hand on the case and pinched his stinging forehead.
The main culprit that caused his headache was the Wujiang Jizo on the case.
This urgent letter arrived in the morning, so Zhao Yun, who had been lazy and hadn't been to court for more than ten days, had to convene an impromptu court meeting.
It was nothing more than disturbing the happy life of Zhao Guan's family. When the contents of the memorial were announced, the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty exploded and began to criticize King Yan one by one.
This one wants to investigate the crime of King Yan's selfish departure from Lin'an, and the other one wants to punish King Yan for arrogating power and meddling in local affairs indiscriminately. The people from the Ministry of Punishment are clamoring that King Yan interferes in criminal cases and hastily convicted and executed, which is inconsistent with the law and must be retried.
The Minister of Etiquette, Xu Shilang, was even more excited. He kept saying that his grandson was of pure nature and would never do anything rude or illegal. He must have been framed. He asked the officials to issue an order to stop King Yan's misbehavior immediately.
The Ministry of War also expressed dissatisfaction with King Yan's private deployment of Xiang troops, because this was originally the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.
As for the Ministry of Revenue, it was even more angry because the water transportation was intercepted. Not only would the supply of grain be cut off, which would have a huge impact on Lin'an, but the salaries of the officials and the army were also waiting to be paid out from the taxes paid by various roads.
In short, Zhao Mengqi became a street rat in the court, and everyone shouted for him to be beaten.
Only Prime Minister Dong Huai remembered the business, but he also opposed Zhao Mengqi's move to open the floodgates and asked Zhao Guan's family to stop immediately.
But how to stop it, not to mention whether it was too late, based on the Zhao Guan family's understanding of their son, I am afraid that even if they are awarded eighteen gold medals, they will not be able to get back what he has decided.
Originally, Zhao Guan's family was counting on these people to discuss a suitable way to deal with the aftermath, but after struggling for a long time, no results were given, so he was so angry that he had to give up.
In the morning, he returned to the harem and was sulking alone.
At this time, Lin Yaoban wandered in, dragged a chair to himself, sat down opposite Zhao Guan's house, and crossed his legs leisurely.
Zhao Guanjia was disturbed by the sound of dragging chairs. He looked up at Old Man Lin and said angrily, "Can't you just leave me alone?"
"Hey, are you angry?" Old Man Lin said coyly.
"Aren't you asking questions knowingly? Are there things in the palace that you don't know about?"
"Well, actually, in my opinion, there is no need for you to be so angry. Is it possible that the sky will fall? Since the flood discharge was the idea of Duke Chong, it naturally makes sense. Even if you think that This guy is unreliable, so you should trust Wu Qian."
"I'm not angry about this!"
"Oh...so you're angry because that boy abducted your daughter?"
"You're such a shameless old man. You don't know what to say anymore. What do you mean by abducting my daughter? It's confusing!"
"Well, you just feel sorry for your daughter anyway."
"This bastard, you can just run around by yourself. Why did you take Miniang there? You were actually bandited on the road, and you are still in the flood discharge area. If something goes wrong, then I will lose all my children, and I will lose all my children." Have you become a widower?"
"Haha, I see you are no different from those bandanas. Shouldn't you, the king of the country, be more concerned about floods?"
Zhao Guanjia shook his head slightly, "Why bother with this? Didn't you already tell me that Wu Qian is reliable? Ninety percent of the solution in this report was made by him. That bastard was just used as a weapon by him. I will make a plan based on the above later. If those bandanas don’t have a better way, they can only pass. They are all a bunch of people, but they are just unwilling to do something with unpredictable consequences. It’s just to take responsibility, so everyone cares about other things.”
Seeing that Zhao Guan's family had already made up their mind, Lin Yaban didn't need to persuade him anymore, "Then let me tell you about the secret report."
"What secret message?" Zhao Yun frowned.
"That boy said that the Liu family in Wujiang, that is, the family of Liu Xiuyi, a member of the household department, was involved in many illegal activities. They secretly organized private armies, annexed land, had liaisons with Japanese businessmen, and controlled military affairs, so he planned to pick this abscess."
With that said, Lin Yaban handed the secret memorial to Zhao Guan's family.
Zhao Yun suddenly became nervous. After browsing quickly, his face turned dark. "This bastard is so brave. He doesn't even know how many pounds he has!" If everything is true, the Liu family can mobilize nearly 10,000 troops. The hundreds of people around him are not enough to put pressure on someone! Send him a message quickly so that he cannot act rashly!"
"How can the Liu family have so many soldiers? The Taihu water bandits can stand up to two or three thousand people. As for the Anji Prefecture's forbidden army, Liu Xiuli can at most use the Xiongjie Eleven to command part of them."
"I remember that the full command quota for Xiongjie Eleven was more than 4,000, right?"
"Four thousand eight hundred and forty positions."
"What's the difference between this and Jinwan?"
"No matter what excuse Liu Xiuli uses to mobilize troops, Anji Prefecture allows him to bring out at most two thousand."
Zhao Guanjia's brows did not relax at all, "That's a full five thousand! Even if those young guys from Dongwei arrive in time, they won't be able to defeat..."
"Isn't it written in the secret note that the boy has other arrangements to ensure that nothing goes wrong?"
"It sounds so vague and unreliable. No, we can't let him do whatever he wants. We immediately sent a secret envoy to order him to stop his actions. In addition, we mobilized reinforcements to meet him!"
Lin Yaban nodded slowly, "I'll let the Sanya make arrangements. However, in order to avoid alerting others, we can only send out 10,000 people at most in the name of assisting in disaster relief."
