In the depth of winter, the Yellow River is desolate and cold, with slow flow, low water level, and almost no flow. Looking down from a high position, one can feel the thickness of the river bed.
Floods are always frequent in the middle and lower reaches of the river, and Huazhou is one of the most frequent areas. Donglin Dike is a dike in the Huazhou River section. It is not large in scale, but it is an important part of the Huazhou river defense system. .
Over the past two decades, with the support of Emperor Liu, the imperial court has invested generously in various water conservancy projects. From the files of the Financial Secretary, we can find that starting from the second year of Qianyou, the imperial court carried out water conservancy-related projects across the country. The investment amounted to more than 50 million yuan, which is definitely not a small amount.
The Huang, Huai, and Bian rivers in the north are the top priorities. In terms of dredging, canalization, soil consolidation, and embankment construction, special policies and indicator assessments have been formulated.
But even so, it only reduces the possibility of some floods, but it is not a permanent solution. Take the Yellow River as an example. For almost five years, every year, the state capitals along the coast have reported that there is nothing wrong within the territory and the water conditions are good. However, in fact, it is impossible to be completely calm.
Just because frequent and serious flood disasters like those in the early Qianyu period were indeed controlled, but minor disasters continued all year round. As for the so-called He Qing Haiyan, there were no major disasters, or the local government was able to control the impact of the disaster well and the losses were not large. Therefore, in the past few years, the imperial court has received many petitions for merit.
But this autumn is different. In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the rivers in Hua, Bo, and Qi prefectures burst, and floods surged southward, invading more than ten prefectures and counties on the south bank, destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, and killing more than 100 people. This means that the imperial court has systematically and comprehensively sorted out the water veins and rivers of the Central Plains. Otherwise, the yellow flood area will continue to expand.
As the flood in the Yellow River has the most widespread impact and devastation in the past ten years, the imperial court naturally attaches great importance to it. Fighting disasters and rescuing people is its duty, and the accountability for the aftermath is also followed without mercy. More than 20 prefectures Relevant officials from the, prefecture, and county, as well as officials from the Ministry of Industry and embankment protection officials were punished. In serious cases, they were even punished with death or exile.
After October, the Ministry of Revenue once again allocated funds and recruited people to rebuild or strengthen the embankments in Yanhe Prefecture and County. This was also the largest project of the imperial court in the entire ninth year of Kaibao.
Prince Liu Yang left Beijing for a tour this time. He heard reports from below that most river defense projects in various places had been completed and many people had returned home. So he thought about it and led several ministers and officials to the east along the river.
Due to geographical and transportation reasons, the third stop of the inspection, after Zhengzhou, was Huazhou. The original itinerary was to inspect the Liuhe Embankment in Huazhou. It was the largest embankment in the territory and also served as a reservoir. It had solid soil and water and a strong embankment. It was a major representative of the imperial water conservancy projects in the Qianyou era. Over the years, it has been both a tourist destination and a project to benefit the people. Even in the previous flood, the embankment was not washed away. It still stood firmly by the river and guarded the hometown.
Liu Yang naturally had an impression of Liuhe. When he was still young, he accompanied Emperor Liu on a tour here and played there. Therefore, Liu Yang is also happy to return to his old place and browse around.
If we just inspect Liuhe Embankment, it will naturally have a happy ending, and we will not see any problems or faults at all. When facing inspections from superiors, what local officials fear most is that leaders will not follow common sense, make temporary decisions, and make temporary preparations.
Liu Yang was the same. He did not stay at Liuhe Dike for too long. Instead, he directly ordered people to lead the way and inspected other sections of the embankment. Finally, he arrived at Donglin Dike. Things just like this were out of control and turned toward the Huazhou officials. Willing to face the direction to develop.
The north wind whistled, raging on the east forest embankment. The sparse trees around the embankment seemed to be infinitely desolate. Along the embankment, there were many guards, and a group of accompanying officials and Huazhou officials were guarding the prince. They all had serious expressions, and the atmosphere was a little awkward and a little depressed.
Everyone watched helplessly as dozens of river workers struggled to take out some stone bars and sandbags and arrange them scatteredly in a row. The stone bars are very brittle and can be broken without much effort. There is more silt and soil in the sandbags.
As soon as this result came out, the weather seemed to be a little colder again, and the atmosphere on Donglin Embankment became more tense. Several officials in Huazhou Prefecture were trembling, but they were definitely not blown by the winter wind.
Liu Yang looked relatively calm, but his face was swollen a little red under the cold river wind. His eyes were as cold as the winter wind. He looked around, pointed at the rotten stones and sandbags on the ground, and said coldly: "Is this the material used to solidify embankments to prevent floods? I see that these rotten stones are not the stones. Sandbags are the dirty hearts of those!”
"Your Highness, please calm down. I will investigate this matter thoroughly and give you an explanation!" Huazhou Zhizhou trembled, feeling nervous and frightened, but still able to hold his own.
Liu Yang didn't even look at him or speak, which made people even more uneasy. Liu Xi, who was still following him, waved to Zhizhou, and then looked at Liu Yang: "Second brother, this embankment is not the place to talk. It's already dark, the wind is blowing and cold, so we'd better go back and talk later. ! Now that this matter has been discovered, I think there will be a result!"
Liu Xi, as a representative of the Ministry of Industry, accompanied Liu Yang on the tour. Compared with Liu Yang's coldness, Liu Xi's reaction seemed more "normal", even calm, with a smile on his lips, and he was always unhurried.
As for Liu Xi, when he encounters trouble, he often has this kind of reaction and attitude, which makes people helpless and anxious. Listening to his words and observing his attitude, Liu Yang stretched out the cotton robe on his body and said in a stiff tone: "You are always so calm. There may not be hands and feet of officials from the Ministry of Works involved in this matter. People from your Ministry of Works, There may not be any responsibility!”
"That's what the second brother said!" Liu Xi's smile faded, and he finally tightened his posture. He cupped his hands and said, "Relevant officials from the Ministry of Industry, I will check and I will give you an explanation!"
After hearing what Liu Xi said, Liu Yang finally nodded, and then looked at another middle-aged minister, the newly appointed Henan transit envoy Lu Duan.
In the Han Dynasty, there were many cases where fathers, sons, and brothers served as officials in the same dynasty, such as the famous five Dou brothers, Wang Pu and his son, and Lu Duoxun and his son. In the past five years, the Lu brothers also began to become famous.
There is no need to say much about his elder brother Lu Yin. Anyone with certain political knowledge will understand that sooner or later he will become the prime minister. Lu Duan, as the younger brother, seems a bit mediocre in comparison, but he was born as a Jinshi and served as an official for more than ten years. Although he did not have any dazzling political achievements, he never made any mistakes. The prefectures and counties he served were clean and calm. , The government is friendly and people-friendly, and the reputation is good.
He has a rich resume, has been promoted through the ranks, is solid and stable, and with Lu Yin's care and Emperor Liu's appreciation, he has become a high official in the party after more than ten years.
This time, he was transferred to Henan Province as the transfer envoy, went to Beijing to report on his duties, and accepted the appointment. Liu Yang was touring east, so he called him up and sent him to Qizhou to take office. However, Lu Duan did not expect that he would be involved in such an incident.
I saw Liu Yang saying to Lu Duan: "Lu Qing, you have served as the magistrate of Huazhou for a short period of time. I will leave the matter of Huazhou to you for investigation. Do you have any objections?"
The prince has said this, what else can Lu Duan choose? There is no strangeness on his face, he just cupped his hands and said: "Yes! I will do my best!"
Although there were some inappropriate things, as the prince, Liu Yang was on tour again, and he already had the power to depose local officials. He only needed to make a report and complete the procedures after returning to the court.
"Come back!" He was probably really freezing. Emperor Liu looked around at the Huazhou officials again, said lightly, turned around and left, just brushing his sleeves.
Liu Xi glanced flatly and kept up with his steps steadily. As for Lu Duan, his beard was trembling in the winter wind. He looked at the officials, many of whom were familiar figures, and the deep city, and he almost couldn't stand it at this time.
"Lu Shijun, I am really unjust!" Huazhou Zhizhou obviously knew Lu Duan. Looking at the retreating figures of the prince and the king of Jin, he couldn't help but said to Lu Duan with a sad face.
