Yi Song

Chapter 120 The dedicated Liu Erlang

Cai Ji quickly stepped forward to support Cai Jing and helped him sit down on the seat. He brought hot tea and drank it carefully while patting his back gently.

After a while, Cai Jing slowly regained his breath. After regaining his strength, he couldn't wait to teach Cai Ji.

"Of course it does matter. Wang Yan can be regarded as a veteran on the battlefield. He has served as a team general and led soldiers, and he and Liu Erlang are close friends of life and death. If he is put into the Bianhe Left Guard Camp, will he be promoted to an important position?"

"Yes, Wang Yan is afraid that he will take care of these three thousand Bianhe camp guards for Liu Erlang."

"That's right. Fifth brother, there are differences and similarities between soldiers and scholars. Scholars have classmates in their divisions, and soldiers also have their superiors and former officials. Scholars have participated in the scientific examination together, and both passed the examination, so they are considered to be on the same list. Soldiers go to the battlefield together, live and die together, and are considered comrades.

Liu Erlang also had important matters of river engineering, so he only took time to train and select soldiers. On weekdays, most of the troops and horses were handed over to Commander Wang Yan for training. Will the soldiers trained and the pawns selected be Liu Erlang's personal soldiers or Wang Yan's personal soldiers? "

Cai Ji suddenly realized, "So that's it. This Liu Erlang has a deep city and is quite scheming."

"Without the city government's scheming, he would have died a long time ago." Cai Jing sighed, "Where has Liu Erlang gone now?"

"He took the Tongzhixingsi and Zuohuying cavalry teams on the left and two infantry teams on the left and left to Gaoguan Town south of Kaocheng."

"Gaoguan Town? Where are you going?"

"Going to inspect the Suishui River. According to the planning documents he submitted to the Ministry of Industry and the Capital Water Supervision, he planned to open the gate at the Chenliu Dam and divert the water from the Bianhe River to the Suishui River, and then from Ningling back to the Bianhe River .

In this way, the Bianhe River from Chenliu to Ningling will be dry. Then he will personally supervise the battle and lead a 200,000-strong water force to carry out construction in sections, striving to dredge all the two hundred miles of the river in two months. The dredging project of this section of the river in Nanjing is almost 70-80% complete. "

Cai Jing's face became serious.

"This planning document was drafted by Liu Erlang?"

He is now dealing with important military and state affairs, and these "chores" are left to Cai Chi to practice.

"Yes, it is said that he read the maps and topographies, and then asked for advice from the Ministry of Industry and the senior construction and river engineering personnel of the Capital Water Supervision Bureau. Finally, he conducted on-site inspections four or five times in person, and finally formulated this plan."

"Do you have the planning document Liu Erlang reported?"

"Yes, my son was brought here from the Ministry of Industry."

"Give it to me!" Cai Jing stretched out his hand and said.

Cai Wei quickly handed over the document.

Cai Jing took it and took a look and said in surprise: "There is also a map."

"Yes, Liu Erlang, through Zhang Zeduan, borrowed dozens of Zhuanhou and students who were good at landscape paintings from the Hanlin Painting Academy and the Imperial Academy of Painting, and established a surveying and mapping department. Some people were responsible for field surveying, and these painters were responsible for drawing."

"open to take a look."

Cai Wei slowly unfolded the drawing, and Cai Jing lay on it, using his reading glasses as a magnifying glass, and looked at it very carefully.

"Well, this is the entire section of the Bianhe River from Chen Liu to Nanjing. It is divided into ten sections: A, B, B, D, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui. The first five sections are in charge of the Changshui Army Zuoxiang , the last five sections are in charge of the right wing of the Changshui Army. Each section is further divided into four work areas, front, rear, left and right, and each work area is allocated five battalions of civilian forces.

Each work area is equipped with a medical station, a supply warehouse, and a manufacturing and repair yard. The young men and women of each battalion are then mobilized to form a patrol team to maintain order and guard the food and supplies."

Cai Jing suddenly raised his head, "Is there a medical station?"

"Yes. When Liu Erlang left Kaifeng City, he took his people to the Imperial Medical College and the Imperial Medical College. They coaxed, deceived and robbed nearly two hundred medical officers and medical students. Several imperial officials Shidu angrily went to court to impeach, but the result was a stone thrown into the sea.

That night, several carts of tuberose were used to block the door of the censors' homes for three consecutive days, so no one dared to speak about it anymore. "

Cai Jing sneered a few times, "Liu Erlang was originally a scoundrel, how could he reason with you? Wang Fu from the Yushitai, seeing that Liu Erlang was getting favored by the Holy Family, of course he would not get into trouble and would definitely ask someone to issue the impeachment memorial. Taken away."

As he spoke, he continued to lie on the table and spent a quarter of an hour reading the entire map. He sat back in his seat and picked up the document.

""Project Document for the Dredging Project of the Bianhe River in Nanjing in the Seventh Year of Zhenghe"?" Cai Jing looked at the title and said with a frown.

"Yes, this is the name Liu Erlang gave himself in his letter. The writing is also extremely simple, straightforward and superficial, without any literary talent. It is also marked with random symbols, which is neither fish nor fowl. Several officials from the Ministry of Industry laughed at Liu after reading it. Erlang’s vulgarity and lack of talent.”

Cai Jing remained silent and continued to read the document, his expression becoming more and more complicated the more he looked at it.

After reading it, his expression became a little solemn, and he slowly put down the project document and shook his head: "Only those of you who are ignorant of practical matters would arrogantly and ignorantly laugh at Liu Erlang's vulgarity.

What he wrote was an official document, not a strategy for the Jinshi examination, nor a parallel prose to be announced in front of the palace. What kind of literary talent is needed? What he handed over was an extremely complex official document on construction practices, but it was easy to understand, accurate and concise. Even people who have never been exposed to river engineering practices will understand it clearly and understand it clearly. "

Cai Jing slowly walked to the window, held his hands behind his back, and looked out the window.

What started out as sandy snow has now turned into catkins-like drifting snow.

"This Liu Erlang, I really appreciate him more and more. He is really a talented person who can do things and is willing to do things. If there were no fetters and restraints, maybe in three months, he would have dredged the Nanjing section of the river and established this rare great merit."

Cai Chi's face changed, and he rushed to Cai Jing and said angrily: "Dad, are we just going to sit back and watch Liu Erlang's achievements?"

Cai Jing turned around and replied kindly: "Fifth brother, keep calm. In less than three or five days, when Zhang Tie arrives in Nanjing, Liu Erlang will encounter his first examination question. As a father, he will see it. How to answer this important question!" South of Kaocheng, by the Suishui River, Liu Guozhang was riding a horse, wearing a leather armor, a large cloak, and a hat, standing on a hill.

Behind him are Zhou Zhuan, Zhang Meng and Yue Fei. Behind them are forty or fifty cavalrymen of the Qianqi Army, now the cavalrymen of the Bianhe Left Guard Camp.

It was windy and snowy, and the Suishui River not far away looked a little blurry.

In the distance, there are groups of people busy in the dry river.

"Which branch of the Surveying and Mapping Department is this?" Liu Guozhang asked.

"If I go back to the control, it's the surveyors and draftsmen from the seventh team of the Surveying and Mapping Department, leading 27 surveyors and painters, who are surveying and mapping this section of the Suishui River." A clerk next to him answered.

"You tell the survey team to continue surveying and measuring the depth and width of this Suishui river channel, and record it in detail.

In five days, the dam at Chenliu will be opened and the water from the Bianhe River will flow through here. We must know the water level and the width of the river so that we can allocate cargo and passenger vessels to pass. This matter is very important and must be completed on time, otherwise I will engage in military law! "

The clerk looked serious and responded immediately.

"It's freezing cold, and the surveying and mapping team is working very hard. Have your logistics caught up? Is the place where you live warm? Do you have enough food and clothing? Is there a doctor accompanying the team?"

"When we returned to the government, we rented three yards and eleven rooms two miles away. They were very spacious and could accommodate people and equipment. We brought seven coal stoves and four carts of lotus root coal. There were people living there. Each of the seven houses is equipped with a stove, and there is enough coal for burning. There is no shortage of food, clothing, and bedding. There is a doctor and a nurse with the team."

"Okay!" Liu Guozhang nodded with satisfaction and said to the clerk: "Go down and do your work."

"Yes."

The wind and snow were blowing in and out, blowing constantly and hitting Liu Guozhang's face from different directions.

"Commander, the wind and snow are getting heavier and heavier now. If it snows heavily in the next few days and the weather is freezing, it will be even more difficult to dredge the river."

Yue Fei's voice came over, and Liu Guozhang turned around and saw his face full of sorrow.

"You will grow old easily if you worry so much about the country and the people at a young age. Learn from Qu Ji and Da Yan."

Yue Fei turned around and saw that Zhou Juan was as silent as water, sitting on his horse like a mountain.

Turning around, Zhang Meng next to him was eating something. It seemed to be the beef-filled Hanjia buns recently launched by Brother Erlang. They were as thick as a castle and were also called Bao Pancakes.

Looking at the oil flowing from the corner of his mouth, yes, that's right.

"Controller, aren't you in a hurry?"

"I'm anxious, of course I'm anxious. I made a promise to the officials that dredging the Nanjing section of the Bianhe River before spring will only take three months. The snowy and freezing weather will definitely make the construction more difficult. It's time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it's hard to guarantee that. Construction period.

But there is no point in being anxious. We have to ask God if he will give us time. "

Zhang Meng just finished eating and sucked his oily fingers clean. After hearing Liu Guozhang's words, he immediately asked: "Brother Zongzhi, do you want to do something like this?"

"I'm doing this? What's the purpose of doing this?"

"Ask God."

Liu Guozhang smiled, "Haha, I'm just asking the old farmers in this area."

"ask them?"

"Old farmers have been cultivating the land all their lives and relying on the sky for their livelihood. Of course, they have also pondered God's thoughts all their lives, and they are very familiar with it. I asked fourteen experienced farmers over 70 years old in Gyeonggiju County. They all agreed that , there was too much rain this autumn and summer, so there will be less snow this winter.

According to various signs in late autumn and early winter, this winter will not be too cold and the freezing period will not be too long. And the snow in these two days may be the heaviest snow this winter. "

"Is it true?" Yue Fei asked in surprise, "If so, then our task of dredging the river can be successfully completed."

"Not necessarily. God gives us face, but not others." Liu Guozhang said pointedly.

Just as he was talking, a group of people came galloping from the southeast despite the wind and snow. Soon, the two messengers rushed to Liu Guozhang.

"Liu Tongzhi, Deputy Envoy Zhang sent an urgent message from Nanjing."

"When was it issued?"

"Last night at midnight."

Everyone's expressions changed and they asked in unison: "So urgent! What's the big deal?"

(End of this chapter)