The Yellow River is still in the dry season in February. Even so, the water flow is much more turbulent, faster and bumpier than the canal.
The passenger ship departed from Luoyang, passed through Bianjing, Beijing, Qizhou, and Zizhou, and sailed into Qingzhou on the morning of the third day. In another hour, it would reach Boxing Town, where it would be possible to transfer to a carriage and take the overland road to Dengzhou. Depart southeast.
Spring enters in February, and the cold is still there.
The continuous drizzle brings melancholy.
Nangong Yue has been standing on the bow of the boat since early morning, scratching her head slightly to welcome the cold wind and drizzle, looking straight at the gray sky, feeling sad at the scene.
"The wind blows away the dust and the fragrance of the flowers has faded away. I am tired of combing my hair at night. Things are different and people are not doing anything. I want to shed tears first when I want to speak."
Song Che hummed and held an umbrella on the bow of the boat. As a friend of women, how could he not step forward to comfort her.
Nangong Yue looked back for a moment and said softly: "Good poem, good poem..."
"You're so wet too, so wet..."
Song Che held the oil-paper umbrella over her head and greeted softly: "What's wrong?"
Nangong Yue wiped the rain on her face. She didn't know whether it was rain or tears, but she seemed to be blaming her: "I didn't cry in the first place. It's all your fault, boss..."
Song Che said softly: "The rain is too melancholy, and you will get sick if you get wet. If you are too depressed, you will become ill over time. Open your heart and tell your friends about your worries, which will make your heart feel much better."
Nangong Yue looked at the oil-paper umbrella above her head, was silent for a moment, and sighed softly: "It's about my life experience..."
I remember she said that it was because her father smuggled salt that the family was ruined.
"My father, a lowly official, stole and sold illicit salt with Tian Shaoqiong, the chief registrar of Bei County. Later, they were reported and found that the family consisted of more than thirty people, male slaves and female prostitutes... Of course, he deserved to be beheaded, and we deserved to suffer. But later I I know that it was his close friend Tian Shaoqiong from the same hometown who reported my father;"
Looking back on the past with infinite sorrow and hatred, Nangong Yue shook her head, "In order to save himself, Tian Shaoqiong actually used my father as a scapegoat. Now he has become the prefect of Qingzhou, and the only one left in the Nangong family... I am alone."
"So when you learned that I was going to Dengzhou, you volunteered to be my bodyguard. The purpose was to avenge your father?" Song Che pursed his lips and asked.
Nangong Yue quickly shook her head, "Let the past be in the past. I will accompany you to protect you. I am grateful to the boss for giving me freedom."
But if the past really drifts away with the wind, how can she be saddened by the scene?
Song Che said: "As the saying goes, 'The way of heaven is easy to reincarnate, no one will be spared by heaven'. Tian Shaoqiong betrayed his friends to survive and smuggled official salt. Now that I know about it, his career will be over."
Nangong Yue's beautiful eyes kept beating, and she spoke out to persuade: "Boss, you can't delay your official duties because of my affairs. Jingdong's bureaucrats are the darkest, and strong dragons cannot suppress local snakes."
Song Che smiled and said no more words.
Jingdong’s largest bureaucrat, Jinan Economic and Strategic Envoy Liu Chong, regardless of whether he colluded with King Anyang to rebel, he must die, and his followers will also be eradicated.
With Song Che's current status, if you want to bring someone to justice, you don't need evidence. You just need to label him as a "treason". Regardless of whether he is guilty or not, the emperor would rather kill someone than let him go.
"Go back to the cabin and pack your things. We are about to disembark."
But just as he turned around, suddenly a fisherman wearing a bamboo hat and raincoat quickly swung his oar upstream and shouted:
"Guanren! Officials can't go down! The Yellow River has burst its banks!"
Song Che was confused and could not react for a moment.
When the Yellow River breaks its banks, it seems to be a catastrophic disaster every time.
After hearing the news, the boatman and several crew members ran onto the deck and asked anxiously: "Fellow, don't be kidding me. It's only February and it's the flood season of the Yellow River. How can it be possible that the embankments will burst?"
The fisherman said: "Oh, can I joke with you about this kind of thing? It's just five miles ahead! Oh, now the people on the south bank are going to suffer again."
The silt of the Yellow River accumulates in the lower reaches, gradually forming an "above ground river". Once the embankment breaks, it will cause harm to thousands of miles. Why does it happen at this juncture?
"Fellow, how big is the gap this time?" asked the boatman.
"Who can say for sure? As long as it can't be blocked, it will continue to expand. In short, you should quickly find a place to dock in the north. I have to inform others!" The fisherman rowed and went.
"What a bad time! The emperor has just passed away, and something like this happened!"
The boatman sighed and looked at Song Che: "Officer, you have heard it. There is nothing we can do about natural disasters or man-made disasters. For your safety, we should dock first."
Song Che asked, "If we dock in the north, how can we get to Dengzhou?"
"To Dengzhou?" The boatman thought for a while, "That's a bit troublesome. First, you have to take a detour from Zizhou to Haikou and ship out of the Bohai Bay. But now that the coast is not peaceful, no one dares to sail. "
How can that happen?
Song Che frowned. If the flood really fermented, it would take too many days.
"You can dock at the south bank. We will disembark at the south bank." Nangong Yue said.
"Madam, are you kidding? You heard it just now. The embankment breach is on the south bank. How can you go to the south bank?" The boatman didn't understand.
Nangong Yue glanced at Song Che secretly, "I'm not a madam... I grew up in Qingzhou. I know which way to go. Just put us down."
Seeing the guest's insistence, the boatman didn't say anything more. He found a shoal on the south bank and sent Song Che and the others up the embankment in a small boat.
"Let's go in the direction of Qiancheng and Qingzhou City. The terrain there is quite high and the floods can't reach it." Nangong Yue led the way with a firm tone.
"February is the dry season for the Yellow River. How could it burst its banks?" Song Che followed and asked.
"It's indeed a bit abnormal."
Nangong Yue said: "I remember when I was a child, every May or June, whenever there was a heavy rainstorm, the water level would rise. At that time, our family would move from Bei County to a relative's house in Qingzhou for safety;
It is not surprising that the Yellow River bursts its embankments in the Qilu area. Before it was diverted, the embankments would collapse every three to five years, but the opening was not large, and if it was repaired in time, no losses would be incurred.
There are no examples of embankments bursting during the dry season in my memory. There is little rain in winter, and there will be freezing floods. The water level of the river is much lower than that of the dam - but this does not rule out the possibility that the dam is in disrepair for a long time, or that the dam is broken artificially. "
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster.
As soon as the previous emperor died and the new emperor ascended the throne, the Yellow River burst its banks. Even the fishermen who were boating just now said that this was an unfavorable and ominous sign.
When a new emperor ascends the throne, the word "unknown" is probably the last thing he wants to hear.
Nangong Yue mentioned the possibility of "man-made dike breaking".
Throughout history, there have been many strategies that deliberately opened up the dams of the Yellow River to prevent the enemy from attacking the Central Plains with floods.
Is this dike burst a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?
