Just after Mao hour, Zhu Hao was escorted by the palace guards to the Han River. At this time, people sent by the palace had been busy up and down the river embankment for half a night.
Under the organization of the gentry, a large number of people came to the river embankment in a steady stream. They carried sandbags up the river embankment one by one and gradually piled them up into a hill.
At this time, the surface of the Han River was almost at the same level as the top of the embankment. A small area of the river overflowed the embankment, but it was blocked by sandbags in time.
What's even more terrible is that it started to rain at dawn, and the rain became more and more intense. The sky and the earth were covered with gray, which increased the difficulty of flood fighting and rescue operations.
"Zhu Hao, are you here?"
When I saw Tang Yin again, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was wearing a coir raincoat and a cloak. He was standing on the embankment like a pine tree. He stood there all night, making him look particularly haggard.
Zhu Haodao: "Through the relationship between merchants and gentry, all the forces that can be mobilized in the surrounding villages and towns have been mobilized. The local gentry has divided the work to ensure that the dam is not damaged, especially at several weak points, and all the additional manpower has been sent..."
Later, Zhu Hao handed a new river map to Tang Yin. Tang Yin did not reach out to take it, but motioned to the guard next to him to help him take it.
The two then entered the temporary rain shelter.
Tang Yin sat down, put his cloak aside, wiped the rainwater on his face with a cloth, and then looked at Zhu Hao: "I heard that after I left, you went to see King Xing and mentioned the government to him.
If you don't come forward to organize flood fighting, I can understand why you asked me to come to rescue you first... It seems that the government can't count on it."
Zhu Hao nodded.
"So, not only can you predict the secrets of heaven, but you can also see through people's hearts... The local governor of Xizhou has no understanding of the hearts of the people. I guess such a mediocre official will not last long."
Tang Yin sighed.
Zhu Hao shook his head: "On the contrary, it is precisely because he is such an official that he can thrive in the officialdom... If everyone were as clear as water and as clear as a mirror, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty would probably be in chaos."
Tang Yin said: "What's the explanation?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said nothing.
Feudal officialdom was a very mysterious society of human relationships. Many things could not be explained. The party was united and opposed by different parties. It was only superficial. The deeper level was maintained by a set of Confucian doctrines of moderation. I won’t tell you about integrity and integrity. Just build a strong network of relationships.
Zhang Yezheng is good at flattering people and making friends everywhere in the officialdom. After arriving in Anlu, the first thing he did was to visit the master who became an official. This is evidenced by the fact that the big tree he backed is now gaining momentum. Even if he has done something unconscionable,
Nothing can be dealt with directly, let alone a sudden natural disaster?
Perhaps after the disaster, Zhang Yezheng will be rewarded according to his merits... Even if the local government does not reward him in this way, his backers will take the initiative to ask him for credit.
"Are you trying to say that if I had taken the imperial examination in high school and entered the officialdom, I would have become like them, not caring about the lives of the people for the sake of my future?"
Tang Yin was a little frustrated.
Especially when he saw that the local officials knew that there was a disaster but did not take precautions, only waiting to deal with the aftermath and provide disaster relief and gain political achievements, he became a little discouraged.
Zhu Hao wanted to say, I am not assuming what will happen if you enter the officialdom without any accidents before, but what will happen if you enter the officialdom in the future.
I just hope that you won't be tainted by the filthy atmosphere of officialdom.
Tang Yin was a little pessimistic at this time. Seeing that Zhu Hao remained silent, he still asked for confirmation: "How did you guess that the local government would turn a deaf ear to the flood?"
Zhu Haodao: "Mr. Tang, let me tell you a story. Maybe this story does not exist in reality... There once was a disaster in two adjacent places. Officials in one place took precautions in advance and made all preparations.
, to minimize the losses caused by the disaster; the other place was completely ignored and did not start vigorous relief until the disaster occurred... Guess who was rewarded by the court after the disaster passed? "
Tang Yin shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I understand, disaster prevention is worse than disaster relief. Disaster relief can gain merit. Besides, the cost of disaster prevention is too high, and disaster relief... sigh!"
Tang Yin, who was already very disappointed with the officialdom, became even more depressed after hearing the story told by Zhu Hao.
"Mr. Tang, I've seen it. As long as the defenses are in place, there should be no major problems in Anlu after this wave of floods passes. Now we need to be prepared for piping in the dams."
Zhu Hao didn't want to talk to Tang Yin about officialdom anymore. It was more practical to talk about disaster relief.
Tang Yin was puzzled: "What is Guan Yong?"
As the "frontline commander" of flood fighting and disaster relief, Tang Yin can be said to be a layman and knows nothing about flood control.
He was just trying to catch up, and he didn't know what else he could do besides assigning people to carry sandbags to block the overflowing river.
Zhu Hao said: "It's just sand and water. This is a sign of embankment collapse... Once a pipe surge is found somewhere, additional manpower must be sent as soon as possible to throw sandbags at the place to fill it. In the next few days... it may be possible on the river embankment.
One person must be on duty every ten steps to observe the water conditions, take shifts day and night, and increase patrol manpower until the flood passes."
"Um."
Tang Yin nodded.
It was useless to talk any more. Zhu Hao stood up and said: "Mr. Tang, you are the one directing the disaster relief now. I have told you all the ways I can think of, so... I will go back first! Persistence is victory. You have to believe in your own abilities.
We will definitely be able to lead the people of Anjun and Army to win this battle against floods and disaster relief!"
Tang Yin's face was full of bitterness: "I never thought that I, Mr. Tang, would spend half my life wandering around and reach old age... Haha, Zhu Hao, no matter what, I still want to thank you. Just think of it as my thanking you on behalf of the local people."
…
…
A massive disaster relief effort was carried out in an orderly manner.
Local merchants and gentry, as long as they had local property, tried their best to fight floods and provide disaster relief. Even the Zhu family sent people to the river embankment... But their focus was not on the weak points of the river embankment, because only those on the ferry side were
The water conditions are enough to give them a headache.
It was already two o'clock when Butler Liu arrived, and there was a vast ocean at the ferry end. He almost waded into the water up to his waist to get to the ferry market. Many people rowed their boats directly on the road.
"Master Liu, something bad happened. Our goods were basically flooded... Two of our warehouses collapsed, and all the goods inside were washed away by the flood. The other several rooms were basically flooded, and the losses were extremely heavy!"
When the shopkeeper stationed at the ferry told the situation, Butler Liu felt his head buzzing.
He only had one thought in his mind, how should he explain this to the old lady?
"Quick, quick, quick, the south dike is in danger again, everyone who can move should go south and seal it in time!" At this time, someone called people to go to the dike to rescue, and soon a group of boats were rowing south, but Butler Liu had no idea.
He wanted to go back and report to the old lady as soon as possible.
"By the way, the Third Madam also sent someone over today. I heard that her subordinate, Shopkeeper Ma, mobilized local merchants to fight against floods and disasters. It seems... Prince Xing's Mansion took the lead."
The shopkeeper continued his report.
Butler Liu was startled: "Third Madam?"
He was a little puzzled. Fighting floods should obviously be something the government should do, but why did Zhu Niang take the initiative? Shouldn't it be the government that takes the lead?
"It's the Third Madam, but she didn't show up... Do you want to ask her for help and see if you can organize a group of people to go to our warehouse to rescue her?"
The shopkeeper was completely helpless, with a look of despair on his face.
Butler Liu glanced in the direction of the warehouse with only a steeple left, shook his head and said: "We can't save it, so we'd better move our people to a safe place quickly. This loss... is nothing. The Zhu family can completely afford it."
At this time, he could only break his teeth and swallow it in his stomach, pretending to be calm to appease people's hearts.
…
…
The heavy rain stopped abruptly at noon.
Obviously, this flood was not caused by sudden local heavy rains, but indeed came from the upper reaches of the Han River.
The peak of the flood came very suddenly, catching people off guard. However, because of the foresight of Prince Xing's Mansion, he organized people to man the river embankment in advance to strictly guard against it. At the same time, merchants made great efforts. After learning about the situation, various gentry families sent people to defend the river embankment, so it was not until
This afternoon, there was no major danger on the river embankment in the Anlu section.
At this time, tens of thousands of laborers have gathered on the river embankment, and a steady stream of strong men are transporting sandbags to the river embankment.
At this time, each of the guards in Prince Xing's Mansion is equivalent to a squad leader in charge of dozens of people. As long as they give an order, everyone around them will cooperate and work together.
Tang Yin looked at the endless river bank, which was densely packed with people and working in full swing, and couldn't help but feel a bit of pride in his heart.
"Sir, you are very tired from staying up until now. Now that everything is under control, why not go down and find a room to rest." Lu Song came over to persuade.
Tang Yin shook his head: "It's okay. I stay on the embankment, which is a silent encouragement to everyone... Hey, why does it feel like it's more like a tough battle here than fighting bandits?"
Lu Song thought to himself, isn't it? During the war, you only need to stand at the top of the city and watch from a distance. When we finish the war, we will report to you.
But now you have the river water almost level with the embankment in front of you, which is like being there. If the embankment under your feet breaks, you and the people around you will be buried in the torrent... Only when you truly feel it
Danger makes everything feel so real.
"Thanks to Master Zhu. If he hadn't insisted... to prepare after getting the news this morning, I'm afraid it would have been too late!"
Lu Songwu was a little scared.
Tang Yin nodded.
At this moment, a carriage was approaching from a distance, but when the carriage approached the embankment, it could no longer move, and the water overflowing from the embankment formed a pool.
The people on the carriage got off, waded through knee-deep water, and went up to the river embankment. It was Yuan Zonggao, the chief minister of the palace.
"Yuan Changshi."
Tang Yin hurried over to greet him and gave him a hand.
Yuan Zonggao looked at Tang Yin with a smile: "Bohu, I just received the news that it rained continuously for a day and night in the mountainous areas of southeastern Shaanxi and northwest Huguang, causing flash floods. In addition, it also rained along several tributaries of the upper reaches of the Han River at the same time.
, the river surged this night...
"The Xiangyang Prefecture in the upper reaches should have been aware of the disaster in advance, but failed to prevent the disaster in time. The embankments burst, and floods engulfed large areas of villages and washed away fields... The situation downstream was not much better."
Lu Song said: "So, Anlu is the only place that is peaceful?"
Yuan Zonggao smiled bitterly and nodded.
The Han River suddenly surged. Except for the Anlu area, which was prepared, Xingwang Mansion mobilized tens of thousands of people to defend the river embankment. Upstream and downstream Xiangyang, Jingzhou and other prefectures had no time to react. By the time they were discovered, it was too late and the flood overflowed the embankment.
Head, there is a vast expanse of ocean all around, and every family is trying to protect themselves. Who has the heart to protect the embankment? They can only run for their own lives and let nature take their fate.
Later, when the river embankment was washed away, everything was over.
"King Xing asked me to commend you, and Zhu Hao... where is Zhu Hao?" Yuan Zonggao looked around, but did not see Zhu Hao.
Lu Song said: "Master Zhu came over early in the morning to guide the disaster relief work, and then went elsewhere. Several dangerous places marked on the river map he drew have indeed become the focus of disaster prevention today... Fortunately, extra manpower was dispatched in advance to carry out reinforcements in time.
, there is no big deviation now.”
"Rare, rare."
What else could Yuan Zonggao say at this time?
Even Yuan Zonggao was a hindsight on the matter of fighting against floods. Before, he had ridiculed Zhu Hao and Tang Yin for making a fuss out of a molehill.