Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 616 About Xia Lin's Enchantment

"Eat first, the rest of the food will arrive later."

Just as Li Shimin was in a daze, someone brought them relief supplies. Because they were traveling incognito, they were dressed in plain clothes. Moreover, after running all the way here, there was no longer any emperor or wise king. Everyone looked disheveled and like refugees. Li Shimin's hair was all matted and he looked extremely embarrassed.

Li Shimin accepted the bowl of meat porridge without hesitation, squatting down to drink it. The Jingtai Emperor's reaction, however, was quite interesting. With his thick eyebrows, large eyes, and delicate skin, he was treated like a disaster victim and also received a bowl of porridge…

"Eat up! What are you looking at? Don't tell me you're going to throw it away, or you'll be cursed by the heavens!" Li Shimin squatted there, holding the bowl like an old farmer from Gansu and Shaanxi: "At this time, having this to eat is already a great joy."

Emperor Jingtai frowned as he began to drink the porridge. The taste... what could one expect from it? Besides, these disaster victims didn't care about the taste. To have a hot meal was truly a blessing from heaven.

Just as he finished drinking the bowl of porridge while pinching his nose, someone suddenly walked over, holding a small bottle, and squatted down in front of Emperor Jingtai: "Open your mouth."

Emperor Jingtai did not open his mouth, so the man directly pinched his mouth shut and poured some into it, then said, "Hold it in your mouth for a while and then swallow it."

Emperor Jingtai felt that his mouth was filled with the stench of garlic, and he was almost disgusted to tears.

Li Shimin wanted to laugh at this moment, but he couldn't laugh anymore the next moment.

"You, open your mouth."

After saying that, a mouthful of strangely garlicky juice went into his mouth...

But Emperor Taizong was tough and resilient. He wiped his mouth and said, "If I had a bowl of noodles with this, it would be wonderful."

"What is this?"

Jinlian looked troubled and asked the soldier who was feeding her the medicine. The soldier glanced at the bottle and then said coldly, "I don't know, but we're not letting you get sick. You've been drinking unboiled water these days, haven't you? Then this won't hurt. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up, there are many other people who need to drink."

They were busy until evening, and the campfire was lit, which finally calmed them down. Snoring filled the air, but hundreds of soldiers were still on patrol to maintain order.

To their astonishment, they discovered that there were women among the group. Li Shimin's eyes lit up, and he said to Jinlian, "Go and talk to that female soldier. Why do they drink that garlic-flavored stuff after meals? What is that?"

Emperor Jingtai was exhausted and fell asleep in a slightly drier place. When a person is pushed to their limit, they don't care about dignity anymore. He said he had never suffered like this in his life, but he slept better than the real disaster victims. He even hugged the man next to him.

Jinlian obediently went up to chat, and the female soldier knew from Jinlian's speech that she was an educated person, so the two chatted in front of the campfire.

"Ah, you're a medical student!? I've heard of the medical school in Fuliang, it's really impressive."

"Yes." The woman smiled and said, "We've all come out. The flood isn't scary; what's scary is the plague that follows."

"What kind of medicine were we given to drink?"

“Garlic, it’s garlic,” the woman said softly. “Because the yield of penicillin is too low, but there’s plenty of garlic. Crush the garlic, soak it in alcohol and stir well, let it stand, filter it, and then distill it at a controlled temperature. Then it’s ready for you to use. It’s for preventing diarrhea and insects.”

A bunch of technical terms came out, which Jinlian didn't understand but thought they were really amazing. After chatting for a while, she learned that Fuliang holds disaster drills every year, and people from all walks of life participate. They also have a mutual aid association. Joining the mutual aid association gives you some benefits and priority consideration when it comes to promotions. However, those who join the mutual aid association must be the first to step forward in times of danger.

When she told Li Shimin what she knew, Li Shimin was equally puzzled. He stroked his chin and said, "That scoundrel Xia Lin is always up to these strange things. What use are they?"

Hearing him slander Lord Xia, Jinlian was displeased, so she got up to take her leave and went to rest with the women and children.

Li Shimin, being a bachelor, simply lay down next to the fire and fell asleep fully clothed.

However, he found out the next day what use it was.

The heavy rain that had lasted for several days finally stopped completely on the second day. The golden sunlight pierced through the dark clouds and splashed onto the earth. The water level receded at a visible speed. At this time, the original county town was a mess. However, the subsequent supplies and reinforcements had already been transported here. Temporary settlements would definitely be built, since less than one-tenth of the houses in the county were still standing, and everything had been completely destroyed by the flood.

The main force brought various types of tents, as well as various living supplies, and a large amount of charcoal and lime.

Emperor Jingtai craned his neck to watch as these people used charcoal and a strangely shaped basin to transform the murky sewage into crystal-clear water. Even he thought it was like magic. Li Shimin, on the other hand, felt that at this critical juncture, being so fussy about drinking boiled water was simply insane. But no one dared to drink raw water, because drinking raw water here would result in being whipped; no matter how thirsty they were, they had to drink boiled water…

The lime was thrown into the well, and lime was also spread in the houses. For a time, the air was filled with the burning smell of alkali, which was very unpleasant.

Food supplies began to return to normal, order was quickly restored, and the wounded and sick were gathered in the medical school tents in the distance.

Li Shimin was amazed by the efficiency of Jiangnan Circuit. Although this place was relatively close to Jiangnan Circuit, only about a hundred miles away, the reaction speed was so fast in just two days. If this were during wartime, any captain of a battalion could become a flying general. How could the battle be fought?
Of course, besides their amazing marching ability, Li Shimin, as a professional general, was even more amazed by their logistical support capabilities.

In war, no matter the time, it is not about how brave the soldiers on the front line are. When Xia Lin discussed the war situation with him, he said eight words that he remembered deeply: "The start of the war is up to oneself, the end is up to the enemy." These eight words have great strategic significance. In other words, the final outcome of a war may not be about who has the strongest army, but who can afford to wait it out.

Logistical support is directly related to the combat capability of the front line.

However, the fact that Jiangnan Province managed to reopen the lifeline and complete the supply line for tens of thousands of people in just two days is a feat that should be attributed to an immortal...

But what Li Shimin didn't know was that this was all thanks to Fuliang Academy. The academy was no longer a simple academy; it was more than ten times larger than it used to be, and the subjects it offered were becoming more numerous and detailed. Geology was one of the most important systems within it.

From small-scale projects like repairing bridges and roads to large-scale projects like moving mountains and filling seas, everything is directly related to this discipline. The Geology Department has the largest county annals database in the world, which preserves geological information from many places since the Qin and Han dynasties, including what kind of rock strata they are, the annual course of rivers, and even the continuity between mountain ranges. A vast and detailed amount of information can be obtained from it.

It was this information that ensured the safe passage of the logistics team; at this moment, the power of knowledge overwhelmed the wisdom and imagination of an emperor.

And this is just the beginning. There will be a lot of investment to come, including rebuilding homes and cultivating farmland. Each step requires very detailed technical guidance.

Fortunately, Fuliang has people with the right expertise.

Since there aren't many talented people in the world, we should cultivate them ourselves. You know, Xia Lin hasn't done anything yet since he arrived in Fuliang; his first step is to build an academy.

In the following days, more and more things surprised Li Shimin. First of all, under normal circumstances, there would be a large-scale plague within two days after the flood receded. That is why the saying that a major disaster is followed by a major epidemic has been passed down for thousands of years. In fact, the harm of the epidemic after the disaster is far greater than that of the disaster itself.

But here, among the nearly 30,000 people, whether they stayed behind or returned later, not a single person contracted the disease, except for the occasional person who caught a cold.

In other words, the strong garlic-flavored drink they had after each meal was not only useful, but extremely useful, and the prohibition against drinking raw water and eating raw food also blocked the spread of the plague.

Designated defecation points, patient isolation, and timely arrival of medical personnel quickly minimized the risks.

The vast amount of lime also became an important product for killing snakes, insects, rats, and ants—the sources of plague.

"This could not possibly be accomplished in a day."

Li Shimin said with absolute certainty.

Now it was Emperor Jingtai's turn to show off. He stood on the hilltop with one hand behind his back and sighed, "Every year, Fuliang spends far more than ten thousand strings of cash on these seemingly useless things. Yet I have simply let it go. Money is important, but the well-being of the people and the nation cannot be measured by money."

"Come on, even if you want to interfere, you can't." Li Shimin sneered, "It's fortunate that this happened in Jiangnan Circuit. If it had happened in your Jingji Circuit, the plague would probably have spread by now. Don't you know what kind of people you have there?"

"It's much better now... much better..." Emperor Jingtai's momentum weakened: "It's much better than before."

Li Shimin didn't say anything, but silently watched everything that was happening below. He knew that he might not have Xia Daosheng's foresight, but he could learn from him!
This is no longer a simple matter of winning people's hearts. If the same thing happened in the north, but the protagonist was not Xia Daosheng but Li Shimin, he dared not imagine what would happen in the end. Perhaps an eighteen-pound carp would jump out of the Yellow River with a note in its belly that read "Great Li Xing, Second Feng Wang".

Of course, what Li Shimin wanted to know more about now was the composition of Xia Lin's army, and what methods he had used to turn his soldiers into such a fearless, disciplined, and extremely powerful iron army.

No kidding, Xia Lin was a little flustered when he first met Er Feng. But now, just thinking about it makes Er Feng feel incredibly frustrated; she can't beat him... she really can't beat him anymore.

"If only I had stabbed him to death ten years ago," Li Shimin muttered to himself. "Too late...it's all too late."

(End of this chapter)