Chapter 65 (please read) The flood season is coming
The eighth year of Tianqi, early summer.
Half a year has passed and everything is as usual without any disturbance.
Chen Ping studied hard in the academy day after day, and his life was simple and boring.
As the old saying goes, you will understand the meaning of a book after reading it a hundred times, and it is indeed true.
The article that I thought was difficult and obscure at the beginning has gradually improved after half a year. I no longer feel awkward and can quickly understand the meaning.
Maybe it’s because of the blessing of studying in a previous life.
Nowadays, although the articles written by Chen Ping cannot be said to be excellent, they are definitely higher than the level of ordinary children. It can be said that they have made rapid progress.
Mr. Ye, however, had no leisure and became even busier than before.
After the beginning of spring, many roads started construction at the same time, and County Magistrate Wang needed to discuss many matters with him.
This also includes the problem of excessive rain in summer.
Yongshun County has been experiencing heavy rain for five consecutive days.
The rainwater hit the river surface like thousands of horses galloping, and the water surface of the river rose more than three feet visibly to the naked eye.
Summer in the south is already rainy, and the water level keeps rising, which is really alarming.
Not to mention anything else, the last time the river embankment outside the county town was fully renovated was ten years ago.
In ten years, even iron lumps soaked in water can be smoothed out.
The dams in Yongshun County have long been overwhelmed and may not be able to withstand the impact of several flood peaks.
This summer’s flood season has just begun.
Magistrate Wang originally planned to use the remaining money and grain for river embankment repairs after the road was repaired.
But these heavy rains that came in advance caught him off guard.
After he checked on the river embankment a few times, the smile on his lips completely disappeared.
Facing Zhao Jin, he said in a deep voice: "The river embankment has been in disrepair for a long time and is in critical condition. In the past few years, the imperial court has never allocated any funds for river construction. I can only ask the people to build a little bit of it every year while they are doing labor. But,
This won’t do much at all.”
"This year's rain has come too fast, and I'm worried... that some river embankments may not be able to hold up!"
Night, Yongshun County Yamen.
The room is brightly lit, and the rain is pouring outside.
A python-like thunder sounded, making everyone look heavy.
Magistrate Wang is very worried, not only about the collapse of the river embankment, but also about this year's grain harvest.
Most of the farmland in the county is scattered near the water. If the river embankment collapses, the rolling flood will directly wash up the farmland on both sides of the bank, and the losses will be immeasurable!
Because the roads are open and the lives of the people have just improved, they are afraid that they will soon fall into even more hardship.
Mr. Ye folded his sleeves and thought carefully for a moment, then drew lightly with his pen.
After a while, the entire Yongshun County and the surrounding mountains and rivers geography were drawn on paper.
Then he pointed at the simple map and said comfortingly: "Don't be anxious, County Lord, things haven't reached their worst yet."
"The rivers in Yongshun County are indeed in disrepair, but this is not the responsibility of the county magistrate alone. Now we should find a remedy as soon as possible, and we will make other plans in the future."
Magistrate Wang quickly asked, "I wonder if Mr. Ye has any good ideas?"
Water conservancy is also a civil engineering construction, and it has been under the control of the imperial court in all dynasties.
Magistrate Wang knew that Mr. Ye was proficient in arithmetic and had participated in several large-scale water conservancy projects for the imperial court, so he was quite experienced in this area.
Mr. Ye gave everyone a calm look, stretched out his index finger and slowly traced it on the map, and finally stopped on the west side of the county.
"Does the county magistrate know that before the Cang River enters the plain, the river channel is not wide, only about a hundred steps?"
"And at the intersection of the valley and the plain, the riverbed dropped sharply by more than eight feet in less than three miles!"
Magistrate Wang looked at the map carefully and quickly frowned.
Immediately he looked up at Mr. Ye, his eyes widening, "In other words, we can dig a temporary ditch there to drain away the flood that may break the dam!"
Mr. Ye smiled and said nothing, waiting for him to finish.
Magistrate Wang knew everything, and then murmured: "As long as the dam does not collapse, the flood water diverted by that canal will at most submerge less than 10% of the county's fields."
"And after the rainfall stops, it can be quickly reintroduced into the river, and flood losses can be reduced to a minimum!"
Magistrate Wang stared at the map and became more and more excited as he spoke. He clapped his hands excitedly as if he had seen a life-saving straw.
As long as this method works, this year's flood season will be able to be passed safely.
As for those people whose farmland was damaged due to the digging of flood discharge channels, the county government can fully compensate them.
There is still a lot of money donated for road construction, and now even without the government's funding, it is more than enough to handle this matter.
In this way, wouldn’t everyone be happy?
Magistrate Wang had a clear mind and did not want to stop for a moment. He jumped up and said, "Zhao Jin, prepare the carriage quickly. Let's go to the place where the flood discharge is prepared to take a look."
"If it is feasible, we will summon the civilian workers tomorrow to move over the remaining materials and tools for road construction, and then dig the drainage channel!"
He was so furious that he wished the ditch could be built immediately.
Mr. Ye waved his hand calmly and said to the excited Magistrate Wang: "Wait a moment, Lord County Lord, the water conservancy matter is extraordinary, and even the slightest oversight may cause a hole collapse."
"On-site measurements need to be carried out first, and then the height and depth of the water channel must be calculated in detail. The location of the spillway must also be accurate to within a few steps, and it cannot be excavated hastily."
"Time is tight and the calculation amount is large. Therefore, I also ask the county magistrate for permission to let my disciple come to help."
Upon hearing Mr. Ye's request, Magistrate Wang hesitated and asked: "The disciple Mr. Ye mentioned is not that boy Chen Ping, right?"
Chen Ping indeed left a deep impression on County Magistrate Wang. He also recognized that the boy was quite intelligent and his mind was not inferior to that of an adult.
But the dams and weirs in a county are agricultural and related to people's livelihood.
Water conservancy is different from road construction. Floods are more severe than tigers. Even a slight difference may lead to unimaginable consequences.
If Chen Ping is involved in such a delicate and complicated calculation, if his colleagues or superiors find out about it, and leaving such an important matter in the hands of a child, he will definitely be derelict in his duties.
The risk is too great.
Seeing that Magistrate Wang was hesitating, Mr. Ye reminded him with a smile: "Could it be that the magistrate doesn't remember Chen Ping's behavior in front of the teaching?"
"When it comes to arithmetic skills, no one in the entire Yongshun County can match my disciple."
"Your age will not affect the calculation results, let alone just coming to help."
Magistrate Wang pondered for a moment and then said: "How about this? Let's just say that we are asking the disciples to come and serve us, not to mention that they are here to participate in water conservancy projects!"
"Mr. Ye still needs to be more careful when it comes to county bachelors and business accounting offices."
"If they learn the details of this matter, someone will definitely gossip about it."
Mr. Ye was very pleased with Magistrate Wang's caution and nodded with a smile.
After receiving the award from the imperial court last year, Magistrate Wang became noticeably calmer in less than a year.
Perhaps you know that you are very likely to be promoted after your term expires, and you will have greater responsibilities and greater risks.
So you must let yourself grow up quickly.
Especially the weird bandit incident that happened in the twelfth lunar month of last year when he was in high spirits.
He was given a heads-up, and now he has softened his edge and become more cautious in his actions.
After the two reached an agreement, Mr. Ye immediately wrote a letter to Chen Ping and asked Zhao Jin to send it to the academy as soon as possible.
The letter clearly explains the situation we are facing now in a concise and concise manner.
After summarizing, the central idea is just one sentence.
"I've got my hands full. My dear disciple, come and help!"