Xu Ding is one of the few old bachelors in Shangxu Village. Their lineage has never been very popular. For several generations, it has been passed down to a single person. When it was passed down to his generation, he was thirty-five and still unmarried. Last year, with the help of a matchmaker, Married to a widow from Xiayuan Township, the two families were extremely poor. The widow also brought a small tow oil bottle with her when she came to the house. Xu Ding let the child take their family name and became a cheap father. I thought I would be a bachelor for the rest of my life, but as I got older, I finally got a taste of what it's like to be a man.
Their family lives on the edge of Xinghua City, and they can be considered half of the county. Otherwise, the widow would not marry anyone, so why marry him. There is also a great talent Xu Yang nearby who is well-known far and near. He is one of them who went to Xucun. He is a famous person in the village. He does not have to work in the fields or carry things on his shoulders and hands. He can even talk to the bosses in the county and treat him with courtesy.
Shangxu Village is close to Nanxi River, and there is a high earthen dam on the side, which has blocked the stream for more than ten years.
Xu Ding used to have enough food for himself and the whole family was not hungry, but recently two more people were added to the family. If he did less work, the family would starve. Whenever he had something to do, he would wander around the city and outside the city to see if he could get it. He has one or two jobs, but he doesn't know how to farm. The fertile fields on the south bank belong to landlords. Most of the fertile fields are divided up by the Zheng family and the Xue family. An ordinary young man like him only has a few acres of paddy fields. The family is broken down and there is a shitty paddy field. He could only do some hard work. It rained continuously for nearly half a month. From the Ghost Festival to August, there was no sign of stopping. It was rainy and gloomy, and there was no work to be done. Damn it, my family was in a hurry. Food is out.
He passed by the county government notice board a few days ago and saw many government officials posting new news on a rainy day. A few days ago, it was said that there was another wave of bandits making trouble in Xinghua, but it calmed down for a few days. Xu Ding was illiterate, so someone read to him that there might be floods recently, and if the family had money, they should prepare food quickly, for fear that food prices would rise.
He sneered in his heart, hum! These government officials colluded with profiteers and used this method to trick people into buying rice. A few months ago, he saw hundreds of clerks from Zhengji Rice Store transporting rice from a large rice warehouse from nowhere. It was probably that the rice could not be sold and was stored in the warehouse to become moldy. In the past few decades, the price of rice has been getting worse day by day. I have caught up with the good times and don't have to worry about the price of rice. How can it be more expensive no matter how expensive it is?
We also need to worry about floods. It’s been a drought and it’s only rained for a few days. Are we worried about flooding? What year doesn't this scene happen every day? In the past years, I saw your government servants carrying sandbags on the river embankment every day, but I can't see it this year. What does it mean? It means that the dam is very stable this year. What a worry!
On the third day of August, it had been raining for more than half a month. Xu Ding was still sleeping soundly in his arms with his widowed wife and cheap son in his arms, when suddenly someone banged hard on the door of his house. The two panels of the wooden door have almost fallen off after decades, and the beating method like beating a big drum can't even dismantle the door!
Xu Ding was annoyed when he heard this. As soon as he got off the ground, his feet splashed directly into the water. The cold water suddenly brought him back to reality from his dazed state. Looking around, half of the edge of the bed in the entire house was already covered with water. It was full of water, "This... this damn thing is really full of water!"
Xu Ding tried his best to wake up the two people who were still sleeping on the bed. He opened his trunk and found various valuable items, including soft gold, silver, and edible rice. He picked up the cloth and wrapped it tightly, and carried it on his shoulders. Xu Ding was about to cry in his heart. It seemed that the notice he saw a few days ago was true. Xinghua was so fucking furious!
The family packed up quickly, not caring about other big things. There was actually nothing valuable in the house. When they opened the door, water rushed into their dilapidated house crazily, almost knocking down their son who was a cheap man. . Looking around, everything as far as the eye can see is water. Every house is crying and wailing, and everyone is busy packing their things and preparing to escape. Many dilapidated old houses collapsed under the water, and some people are still buried under the ruins. Everyone only cares about themselves, who has time to care about others.
The dam on the south bank of Nanxi River broke.
After entering August, the rain became even crazier. It rained heavily for three days in a row. The rushing water of Nanxi River surged and roared like a wild horse running wild. Under the mixed power of rain and river water, the river embankment on the south bank suddenly opened up. The river water was like a wild beast emerging from a cage. The embankment mixed with yellow mud, red soil and sand collapsed with a bang, and the mud slide slid into the river and splashed. Water splashes of ten feet high poured into Shangxu Village first. The flood soldiers rushed to report the flood situation. The government officials were quite competent. Wu Renyi led a team to block the breach, and Li Chengfu led another team to organize the evacuation of the people. If the government officials knocked on the door a little more, Xu Ding would have probably slept I would never have to wake up again. After finally tasting two days of happy life, I would have to lift my fetus and go to hell.
Crying, there are cries of families being broken up and people dying everywhere, and the wailing sounds resound throughout the world. Some people are reluctant to leave their homes swallowed up by the floods, and some people are grieving that their relatives have been swept away by the floods. The stable life accumulated over decades of peace evaporated in this moment. The living people are exhausted, and although the people working on the dam are desperately trying to rescue the people, the manpower is limited, and the few sandbags are like mud thrown into the sea, which is of no avail. The water level is still rising, and if the world continues to develop, Shangxucun will definitely become history.
Li Chengfu and Wu Shiyi received orders to die from Song Magistrate this time. If they don't save the people and protect the river embankment with all their strength, then they will be dismissed from their posts as governors. Anyway, the queue for those who want to be governors will be as long as Fengshan. . The two men risked their lives, charging forward with a desperate attitude, carrying and carrying, but one was carrying the sandbags and the other was carrying the common people, working together to fight against this once-in-a-hundred-year catastrophe. .
The common people saw in their eyes that these hungry wolves who usually wore tiger skins turned out to be life-saving bodhisattvas today. They saved many people's lives. Not to mention the people who went from house to house to warn, many huts were washed away by the water. It was they who lifted up the roof beams and dragged the people out. Some people's feet were crushed, and it was these government officials who carried them to escape from the water.
Song Guangdou received an urgent call from flood soldiers at the county government office. His hands were shaking with excitement. Master Lu thought he was frightened and lost his composure. Song Guangdou was so happy. This was exactly what Liang Chuan had arranged. Everything went as expected by Liang Chuan. He got what he said. First it rained and then there was a flood. If he really seizes this opportunity and performs well, Fan, set up a good sign for yourself, I'm afraid this will really be your own fortune in the end.
He summoned the two capital leaders and demanded in an unprecedentedly strict manner that they must put the safety of people's lives and property first and join the tide of rescue and disaster relief. If anyone is perfunctory, he will personally supervise the battle in the county government. Once the crime of dereliction of duty is verified, he will be dismissed first and then punished, without any penalty. Both of them have never seen such a scene before. They all know Song Zhixian's methods. The most unreasonable thing in reading is that they can do whatever they want when their tempers arise. No one can do anything about it. There is nothing they can do. They just bite the bullet and There is a scene in the morning.
Not only Shangxu Village, but also Xiadi, which is next to Shangxu, was also affected by the disaster. The water flooded over the large paddy fields on the south bank as if it was free. The rice that was about to be harvested was all soaked in the water, and it could not be harvested even if it was rushed. Several nearby villages were in a state of emptiness, and the displaced people all poured into Xinghua City.
The gatekeepers guarding the gates of Xinghua City received an order from Magistrate Song. No matter where they were, the victims who were homeless were allowed to enter the city for shelter and were not to be blocked without reason. Where else to go now is Xinghua. Homeless people are like refugees, pouring into Xinghua City with their luggage. The rich can stay in restaurants and inns, while the poor can find a place to live. I fell asleep when the eaves of the roof to keep out the rain fell down. After running around for a day, I was cold and tired, and I couldn't think of anything anymore.
Xu Ding was so poor that he only had one pair of trousers. He had no money for his wife to stay in a hotel, so he found a dilapidated ancestral hall to hide under the eaves of someone else's house to take shelter.
"My dear, it's okay. The water will go away soon. Let's go home when the water recedes. I'll see if there's any work to do in the next two days. I'll make some money and you guys can find a hotel to stay in first." Xu Ding is a good person. A good and responsible man, although it was very difficult to get a job because of the rain, he still managed to smile to comfort the widow and her cheap son.
Eating is really a problem right now.
Refugees poured into Xinghua city one after another. If you step down, you could accidentally step on a refugee. They are all villagers from all over the country. The water is too big. Xinghua is located next to Dafu Mountain and the terrain is relatively high. , on the edge of Nanxi River, the river embankment here is also the strongest, so there is no need to worry about the water flooding into the city.
The small team led by Wu Renyi was completely unable to stop the erosion of the flood, and the river embankment fell. The group consulted the magistrate of Song County and then met with Li Chengfu, and the two groups worked together to search and rescue the people in distress. But most of those who escaped went to Xinghua, and those who didn't escape were basically soaked in the water.
Both of them rescued many people along the way. Seeing that the water was too strong and they had no water tools such as sampans in their hands, they could only look at the ocean and sigh, and retreated to Xinghua City. The two of them returned to the city and met many people along the way. The people saw it clearly today. Many people burst into tears of gratitude, and many people knelt down to thank the Xinghua Yamen officials for their life-saving grace. What does that sentence say? A wicked person will immediately become a Buddha when he puts down his butcher knife. A good person will do good things throughout his life, but if he does one bad thing, he will become a bad person. Today, these government officials are the incarnation of God, synonymous with justice.
Wu Renyi accepted their gratitude and felt that it was a matter of course. Li Chengfu was very sophisticated and would say to everyone he met: "This is all arranged by Magistrate Song. I will do what I am told." Gradually word spread among the people that he was the biggest savior of this disaster. , or the county magistrate of Song Dynasty, Xinghua’s parents!
