The late Ming Dynasty in the living room

Chapter 96: Flood prevention is necessary in ten years of severe drought

This is a big head that Luo Shangwen picked out from the rice warehouse with his own hands. The height of this rice can be as high as an adult's head.

This grain of rice is enough to feed Hongqi and his family for three months. If he saves a little, it can last for more than half a year.

"Hurry up! Why are you so stunned? You guys are still naked!"

The two soldiers held up their pants in their hands and urged with dissatisfaction.

Naturally, they returned to the village to protect Hong Qi and Da Mi.

Hong Qi felt excited and uneasy at the same time. He was already ashamed of giving him that little fish and shrimp, but who would have thought that the noble man would give him such a heavy gift in return.

And they didn't give him any room to refuse. They just rolled the rice in front of him and then rode away.

Hong Qi felt that this noble man would also be his benefactor in the future, and he must remember this noble man.

So he asked carefully: "Two soldiers, do you know who the noble man just now is from the new city and what position he holds?"

The two soldiers laughed, and one of them laughed loudly: "What position? He is the Fang Dong family in the new city. He is a person in the sky! He is a person who our governor and the emperor in the capital must be careful to please." "

Poor Hong Qi was immediately dumbfounded.

Fang Yu had learned to ride a horse not long ago, so the horse rode slowly and its posture was not cool.

As a result, Gao San and Luo Shangwen, who were behind, suffered a lot. They could only hold back their horses and follow them as fast as they could.

After a while, the group of them arrived at a bend in the Juma River.

After turning around, I saw a lot of people carrying water in the river bed.

Not only are there in the river bed, but there are also an endless stream of people coming down from above and carrying water up.

Fang Yu also saw many women and old men among them.

Alas, carrying water from the river is a hard job. They have to walk at least four or five miles to carry it up from here.

Carrying more than a dozen loads a day...it would be really tiring for a modern person.

Fang Yu once heard from Mr. Fan from the brick kiln that there was a man named Hu in their Shiting Village who traveled more than ten miles to fetch water from the Juma River and died of exhaustion in the end.

Fortunately, starting from the day after tomorrow, the water in the Juma River will rise significantly.

Just like the last time it rained, the water will reach their fields directly through creeks and ditches.

And it is always there and will never be exhausted.

No matter how severe the drought or the scorching sun, they can't withstand Teacher Pan's magical power.

After the wheat grain-filling period is over, they won’t actually need much water. Then they will have to work hard to repair the field dams and block water seepage...

For them, it was really the happiest trouble in the past ten years.

They don't know yet, so one by one they are risking their lives to carry water here.

Fang Yu was thinking about how to get them ashore.

Another rain will hook them up?That won't work.

Because Teacher Pan's rains are concentrated in Laishui County, such heavy rains come two or three times in a short period of time, and the rammed earth houses and city walls in Laishui County simply cannot bear it.

According to what Hong Qi said, the people here are all from Hongjia Village and Baiheba Village. Two miles downstream is Tanxi Village. It is a big village, and there will only be more people going down to the river to carry water.

However, Fang Yu did not look further downstream, but went up the river again: There is still a big problem here.

"Why are these ditches blocked?" Fang Yu asked strangely.

When Fang Yu just came from above, he discovered that several large ditches leading to the Juma River were blocked to death.

There is also a small river, the source of which is also blocked by large rocks and soil at this end.This is a severe drought. If there is water in the river, diverting water from the river to irrigate crops is a great thing. Why did you seal the ditch yourself?

In this case, last time it rained...

Fang Yu got off his horse and walked towards a nearby village. Along the way, he saw an endless stream of people carrying water.

Fang Yu didn't go far when he saw a large field of wheat and millet: a small area was green, and the rest were withered and yellow.

Those who watered the fields divided the fields into small pieces, and watered only those small pieces of land.

As for those large fields that were obviously withered and yellow, they simply were left alone.

These withered crops are either half-bent or simply lying in the ground.

It's obviously dead.

Fang Yu reached out and picked an ear of wheat. He took it very lightly and pinched it with his fingers. It was all empty inside.

"Only two-tenths of the life was saved by carrying water. How can this little food be enough?" Fang Yu thought as he touched the empty bag of wheat ears in his hand.

Old Liu also followed. He was a local. Old Liu stepped forward and explained: "A few years ago... probably five years before Chongzhen, boats were allowed on the Juma River. The government was afraid that these ditches would divert too much water. If there are too many, it will be blocked.”

"At that time, the county sent police officers to guard the canal and arrested many people who secretly dug the canal. Now that there is no water in the river, no one cares about it, but no one came to dig the canal. No one thought that a rain would Fill the Juma River, otherwise these crops will not wither..."

As Lao Liu spoke, his face was filled with sadness.

When it rained that time, he was still working as an official craftsman in the county. Not to mention that he had never seen such heavy rain, even his father had never seen it.

These farmers were too lazy to dig ditches and missed the chance to save their lives.

Luo Shangwen asked curiously: "Then why don't they dig now? If there is another heavy rain, it will save them the trouble of carrying water, right?"

Old Liu thought for a while, and finally spread his hands and said: "I don't know what these farmers are thinking..."

Fang Yu caught an old man carrying water and chatted for a while, then asked about the name of the village, and then returned to the Juma River.

Blocking water canals by the government is actually a routine operation in years of severe drought. For example, on the Grand Canal today, those caught stealing water by the canal soldiers will be beheaded.

Simply because transporting things by land in ancient times was time-consuming, laborious, and extremely dangerous.

Therefore, ensuring the smooth flow and quantity of water transport arteries is related to the life and death of a country.

The Juma River connects to the Baigou River to the south and can go directly to Hejianfu, and the northwest connects to the Laishui River to Shanxi.

Five years before Chongzhen, the Juma River was still an important water transportation channel in Baoding Prefecture. Now that it has been abandoned for so many years, it will be reused soon.

Therefore, Teacher Pan’s pouring water into the river this time will bring at least three benefits:
One, the waterwheel started turning, and the war machine of the Ming Dynasty started.

Second, in the nearby states and counties as far south as Hejian Prefecture, at least 100 million people will be able to have a good harvest (next season).

Third, the south direction of the Juma River can be navigable. Sun Chuanting will be able to transport food and troops much faster when he goes to Henan to fight in the future.

Before that, there is still something to do.

For example, troops were sent to stand by the river to prevent people from going down to the river to carry water or fish. (At least ten miles buffer distance)

And... the officials of the states and counties downstream are required to prepare for flood control. At least all the blocked ditches and tributary creeks must be dug out.

You must know that the Ming Dynasty's finances are now exhausted, and there is no money to dredge water conservancy. (There’s no need for that, there’s no water)
Many rivers have become extremely silted up. If those places are not prepared for flood discharge in advance, major floods will definitely occur.

Preparing for flood control in the year of severe drought must of course be done by Sun Chuanting. If it were anyone else, it would be easy to be regarded as crazy...

Well, there's also Empress Zhang, whose name as the Ming Emperor's Wife can also be borrowed.

(End of this chapter)