Bachelor

Chapter 430 Qing Jiangpu ([-])
The rain is still falling endlessly. Although I can't see the situation outside clearly, the roar of the Yellow River still makes people feel chills.

At this moment, a large official ship is sailing on the water surface of the Suining section of the Yellow River.The big red lanterns hanging on the bow had already been extinguished by the rain, and only a gleam of light came out from the cabin.

The boat was tossing violently in the wind and rain, and the boatmen shouted in panic: "Hold on, hold on!"

Everything on the ship was shaking, the tables and chairs were moving from side to side, and the deck was rattling, making people worry that the big ship might fall into a pile of debris in the next moment.

There are two people in the cabin, one middle-aged and one young, the middle-aged man is wearing a sixth-rank official uniform, and the young man is a seventh-rank official.

Such strong winds and waves are really rare, the young man was already pale with fright, stretched out his hands to grab the bulkhead, and made a retching sound from his mouth, obviously dizzy.He couldn't help shouting: "Lord Xia, the water is swelling so badly, why not lean on the dam and wait until the rain subsides before leaving."

Different from the panic of the young officials, the middle-aged man sat on a chair with a calm face and read a book.But he saw his legs spread apart, and his whole body was nailed there like a nail, as if the sound of water and rain outside had nothing to do with him.

Hearing what the young official said, the middle-aged official surnamed Xia raised his head from the book, his eyes fell on the young man, and he said loudly: "Master Fu is really confused. I came to Suining from Qingjiangpu. For inspecting the river defense here, seeing that the water of the Yellow River has grown like this, the Suining side must be in a tight spot. If we don’t go at this time, do we have to wait for the wind to calm down and the water to recede before moving on. A joke, is it really a joke? If you are really in danger, that is our responsibility. We are all officials appointed by the court, who eat the emperor’s salary, and are loyal to the emperor. If you can die in office, you will be well deserved! Fu Lin, you are a 13-year Jinshi of Zhengde, right? "

The seventh-rank official named Fu Lin replied: "If you go back to Master Xia, Fu Lin was born as a Jinshi in the 13th year of Zhengde."

"Everyone who can be a Jinshi is a well-educated scholar. After reading sage books all his life, don't they understand the truth of being a man and an official?" Lord Xia snorted.

Fu Lin was blushed by Master Xia's words, and he bowed his head for a long time before saying: "Your Excellency is right, Fu Lin is ashamed."

That Master Xia put the book on the wobbly table beside him with a smile, and said gently: "Actually, I am not blaming you. When you are young, your mind is undecided, and your courage has not yet been cultivated. When you encounter problems, you will naturally I'm a little flustered. I think I, Xia Yan, might not be as good as you back then!"

"Master Xia has a great spirit and calmness, and Fu Lin admires it." Fu Lin said sincerely: "Your Excellency is worthy of being someone who has done some things. When encountering major events, he is much calmer than ordinary people."

That's right, this person is Xia Yan, a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty. He was originally assigned by the Ministry of War, but now he has just been appointed by the court to come to Huai'an as the Prime Minister of Nanhe Hedao.A few days ago, he received an official letter from Fang Shangzu, the county magistrate of Suining, saying that the Yellow River dam in Suining was showing signs of instability. He felt uneasy and decided to come and see for himself.

Hearing Fu Lin's compliment, Xia Yan only smiled.He has been an official for more than ten years, and he has been a speaker all the time. He always teaches people to find mistakes, and his speech is also very ugly.This time I went down to be an official at the local level, and my own style of doing things was unavoidably out of tune with the local officials.

Speaking of which, this Fu Lin was considered an upright official in the Hedao Yamen, and his conduct was upright.You know, Hedao Yamen looks like a pile of gold and silver to outsiders. As long as you think about it, you don't need to say much, just look at it, and someone will send a lot of money to your door.But it happened that this Fu Lin held the power of dispatching workers and materials, but he didn't take anything. Until now, except for an official uniform, he didn't even buy a decent robe.

Xia Yan rubbed his forehead and thought: I probably expected too much from Lin, and I was inevitably harsh on him.But he didn't expect that Fu Lin was a young man after all, and sometimes he needed encouragement.

Thinking of this, Xia Yan's expression softened, and he asked, "Fu Lin, are you seasick?"

Fu Lin nodded with a blank face: "Yes, the official is originally from Hebei, and he felt dizzy when he got on the boat, and he was so dizzy that he couldn't find the north."

Xia Yan laughed: "That's true! You are an official in the Hedao Yamen, if you don't know how to take a boat, how can you do your job in the future. By the way, I will teach you a way to prevent seasickness."

Fu Linqi said: "What method, I still ask for advice."

Xia Yan pointed to the book on the table with a smile, and said: "Read a book, read a book, calm down, and naturally you won't feel dizzy. Also, this book is very good, you should read more on weekdays. Good idea."

Fu Lin picked up the book and saw that it was "Rizhilu" written by Sun Dan, and he replied: "Master Xia, Sun Jingyuan's book contains a strategy for river control. The people in the Hedao Yamen almost Everyone has a copy."

Xia Yan was a little surprised: "How?"

Fu Lin: "Sun Jingyuan, Master Sun's book is naturally excellent, especially the method of using dams to collect water and water to wash sand has never been seen before, and it is very inspiring. For example, this Yellow River water, a ladle of river water Half a spoonful of sand. In the past, I just wanted to build the river when I wanted to control the river, but I didn’t want this area to be flat. The river slowed down and the sand in the water was silted up. As a result, the previous dams could no longer be used. We can only keep raising the embankment. In this way, the embankment is built higher and higher, and the Yellow River gradually becomes an aboveground river. If the water is larger, if the embankment breaks, the river will flow down the river, and it will be out of control. Mr. Sun said well, instead of standing on the embankment, it is better to let the water speed up and wash the sand into the sea. Hey, why didn't we think of this before!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a boatman came into the cabin covered in water and knelt on the deck: "The villain has seen the two elders."

Xia Yan asked: "Boatman, we have arrived in Suining, we seem to have been on the water for a day and a night, right?"

The boatman replied: "My lord, we have traveled from Qingjiangpu to here for a day and a night, and now we have arrived at the head of Suining, which is still fourteen miles away from the county seat. If it is normal and the wind is favorable, we will arrive in half an hour. But now..."

The location of Qingjiangpu is actually the location of Nanhe Hedao Yamen, which is located in Huai'an City.

This place is where the Nanhe Hedao Yamen and the Nanhe Water Transport Yamen are located. Therefore, in the official circles and shipping circles, when it comes to Qingjiangpu, everyone understands that it refers to the Nanhe River and Cao Yamen.

The river channels and water transport in the Ming Dynasty were different from those in the Qing Dynasty. In order to strengthen the totalitarianism of the central government, the Qing Dynasty unified the river channels and water transport in various places into two separate yamen. Six of the Shangshu concurrently.In the Ming Dynasty, the water transport of the Grand Canal and the channels of the Huaihe River and the Yellow River were divided into three sections. The northern section was from Beijing to Jining, Shandong. For Zhonghe, the Yamen was set up in Jining.From Jining to Zhenjiang, it is called Nanhe Yamen, which is located in Qingjiangpu, Huai'an.

Hearing the boatman's tone hesitant, Xia Yan asked, "But what?"

The boatman said: "The river ahead is a bit narrow, and the current is too fast. If you try to force the boat, you may be in danger. The life of a villain is worthless, and if you lose it, you will lose it. But if something happens to an adult, but..."

Just as he was talking, a wave surged in, and the boat shook violently. Fu Lin couldn't bear it anymore, and he lowered his body, "Wow!" and spit out a mouthful of jaundiced water.

Xia Yan sighed in his heart: "Forget it, let's stop the boat at the shore. After a day and a night of boating, everyone is tired, so let's take a rest."

"Of order." The boatman was probably also frightened by the wind and waves on the river. Seeing Xia Yan nodding, he was happy in his heart, and hurriedly withdrew, anchored the boat to the north bank.

Strange to say, as soon as the boat docked, the heavy rain stopped just now. When I looked up, a crescent moon appeared in the sky.

Probably bored in the boat, Xia Yan proposed to go ashore for a walk.

Fu Lin was so shaken on the boat that he couldn't find the north, and when he heard that he could go ashore, he hurriedly accompanied Xia Yan ashore as if he had received an amnesty.

Once on the shore, Xia Yan felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly shouted to the boatman: "Boatman, why are you stopping on the north bank? The rain has stopped. If it were on the south bank, it would only be a dozen miles away, and it would only take two to walk there." time."

"Walking?" The boatman smiled wryly, "I'm afraid my lord won't be able to walk?"

Xia Yan wondered: "Why can't I walk? I read in the official documents in the yamen that the south bank of the Suining section of the Yellow River was newly built last year. It is all bluestone dams. It must be very refreshing to walk."

The boatman said in a low voice: "My lord, there is a sentence that I don't know if I should say it or not?"

Xia Yan was puzzled, and said gently: "Tell me, tell me, but it's about the dam?"

Fu Lin also asked: "What's wrong with the embankment on the south bank? Didn't the river government office allocate more than 60 taels of silver last year to repair it, and the river government office also sent a special worker. There are more than 30 miles of river embankments, all built of bluestone , very strong."

The boatman smiled wryly: "As the two adults said, the bluestone is indeed bluestone, and the surface is paved with a layer. But the inside is full of rammed earth. In some places, even the rammed earth is useless to save trouble, so some sand is randomly filled on it. It's over. With such a heavy rain and such a big wave, I'm afraid that the embankment has been washed out long ago, and the devil will know when the embankment will burst. There are old and young, and the whole family of eight people can count on the little man to sail the boat. Some money to buy rice to live. If the villain dies, the whole family can only be thrown into the water of the Yellow River to die. The villain is not afraid of death, but for the sake of his family, he is absolutely unwilling to put his clothes on the south bank to die."

"What!" Hearing these words, it was like a thunderbolt exploding in the minds of Xia Yan and Fu Lin, and the two shouted at the same time: "How could it be like this, how could it be like this, more than 60 taels of silver, three Are the ten mile dams all bean curd?"

The boatman nodded: "If you go back to the two adults, I'm afraid it's not as good as tofu."

(End of this chapter)