Tiger Guards

Chapter 388 Jianghan Rainstorm
When Zhang Hong arrived in Xudu, he was resting and washing up at the guesthouse in the eastern suburbs.

Suddenly, a strong wind howled outside. Curious, Zhang Hong pulled open the door latch, and a gust of wind rushed into the room, instantly blowing away the thin garment he was wearing.

A cool breeze swept over me, while outside, a fierce wind howled and whipped up dust, leaves, debris, and other such things.

Before Zhang Hong could close the door again, hailstones of all sizes suddenly began to fall from the sky.

Along the banks of the Ying River, hailstones fell in dense heaps, some larger than pigeon eggs, tearing through the cloth curtains.

Zhao Ji's tent was made of stitched leather. He stood at the tent entrance, listening to the sound of dense hailstones pounding down.

At this moment, a dozen steps in front of him was a guard on duty holding a shield, his body hunched over. The sound of hail hitting the shield and the guard's shouts could not reach Zhao Ji's ears.

The tent where Zhao Ji was located was square, with a large amount of hail accumulated on the top of the tent, heavy with snow, and then poured down from the ventilated roof like a white torrent, cascading into the fire pit inside the tent.

Soon the hailstones accumulated and spread, sliding out of the fire pit and covering the ground.

Zhao Ji was not afraid of such celestial disasters. He believed that one should avoid high places during thunderstorms and leave low-lying areas during heavy rain, thus avoiding weather disasters.

With such a massive hailstorm, protecting your head will ensure you're safe.

What truly terrifies Zhao Ji is the thought of a volcanic eruption or a massive earthquake occurring beneath his feet, suddenly swallowing him whole and then closing up again... That would be terrifying.

As he watched quietly, a layer of white hail covered the ground in his line of sight. The hail rolled and gathered into a stream, which actually surged towards the lower riverbank.

As he was observing, Guan Shang approached him, holding a large shield. Seeing Zhao Ji standing calmly at the tent entrance, Guan Shang dropped the shield and hid inside the tent as well: "Grand Marshal?"

"No problem. Go to each army later to relay the order and collect statistics on the disaster situation; then send out scouts to investigate the disaster situation in each county within a radius of two hundred miles."

Seeing the hailstones flowing down the ground spreading towards him, Zhao Ji grabbed a handful, squeezed them into a firmer ball of ice, and placed it on his forehead to dispel the heat that had accumulated over the past few days.

Guan Shang looked on with lingering fear, staring in panic at the sudden white rain.

Zhao Ji, however, thought it was normal. There was an average total rainfall each year, so either you were lucky and the weather was favorable, or it would accumulate over several months and fall all at once, or if you were extremely lucky, it would accumulate over two years and fall all at once.

You can't just despair and commit suicide because of frequent natural disasters and poor harvests.

If something has already happened or is about to happen, and you can't stop it, all you can do is adjust your emotions and deal with it.

Anyway, for now, even if there is a food shortage, he and the people around him will not go hungry.

It's simply that if one's conscience and compassion run rampant, one will feel worse; if one is more ruthless, one can handle these problems calmly.

More and more military officers came to Zhao Ji with their shields in hand. The hail came suddenly and left quickly.

In less than two minutes, a layer of white was spread all over the campsite.

Zhao Jian's trousers were stained with mud and water, and he was feeling a bit cold. He leaned close to Zhao Ji and said, "Grand Marshal, the Yuan family is rebelling. This is a celestial sign to warn us."

Zhao Ji still clutched the ice ball in his hand, and smiled upon hearing this: "If the gods and men are in harmony and the celestial phenomena can provide warnings, why not send down a huge iceberg, several miles in circumference, directly to Chen County and smash Yuan Shu and his treacherous ministers into mincemeat? If the gods are compassionate towards the suffering people, why not send down mountains of rice and mountains of meat to relieve their distress?"

Zhao Jian was taken aback, and the other captains looked at each other, none of them daring to speak on this topic.

Zhao Ji looked around at everyone and said, "Go back and tally the casualties among the officers and soldiers in the camp, carry out disaster relief in an orderly manner, and do not panic. Also, anyone in the army who makes irresponsible remarks about celestial phenomena will be demoted three ranks."

"Follow the order."

The crowd bowed deeply and then dispersed.

Zhao Jian stayed where he was and waited until everyone had dispersed before saying, "Grand Marshal, a long drought is sure to be followed by heavy rain. Heavy rain will bring floods and epidemics, so we must be on guard."

"Yes, I will abolish the military market, and the armies shall not arbitrarily provide relief to or incorporate disaster victims. If disaster victims flock in, they must be rescued. There may not be enough manpower in Gan Ning. When more disaster victims arrive, please arrange for them to go to Gan Ning to help build dams in exchange for food."

Zhao Ji also made arrangements. He had only been in Xudu for less than five days when powerful figures and commoners from the surrounding counties organized caravans to come to Xudu to participate in the military market and provide various services to the army.

They also attempted to accompany the army in order to facilitate the cheap acquisition of the soldiers' personal spoils of war.

He doesn't even pay military salaries here, so the military market is barely surviving.

However, as long as the military market exists, and there are opportunities for buying and selling, and officers and soldiers have other channels to monetize their spoils of war, it will be detrimental to their own resource integration and will also greatly increase the chances of military intelligence being leaked.

I've wanted to dismantle the military market for a long time, and now the opportunity has come.

Natural disasters in Yanzhou and Yuzhou were not severe. Although hail and strong winds occurred frequently, only in places where hail broke out would rice, spring wheat and other crops be almost completely destroyed.

In Nanyang, Nanjun, Jiangxia, and even the four prefectures of Jingnan, dark clouds had already obscured the daytime, making it seem like night.

The torrential rain fell relentlessly, causing the Yu River, Dan River, and Han River to swell and overflow. Even the Nie River basin, which was usually dry during the hot summer months, had become a vast expanse of water, navigable by boat, due to the accumulated rainwater and floodwaters. The Li River and Tang River on the east bank of the Yu River, being at a slightly higher elevation, drained water more smoothly and fared somewhat better.

The entire city of Wandu had been without drainage channels for years due to the war, causing rainwater to accumulate and flow outwards through the city gates. The yellow mud layer plastered on the city walls softened and collapsed in large sections.

Located north of the Han River and on the west bank of the Yu River, Fancheng was completely submerged in water, and soldiers and civilians could only take refuge on the city walls and rooftops.

The Han River overflowed and the floodwaters could not be drained quickly, accumulating in the ancient Yunmengze area east of Jiangling and Dangyang and south of Hanjin. Here, large areas of broken marshes and lakes with interconnected waterways were reconnected.

Not to mention the rice paddies, the bodies of people and livestock that drowned and were swept here were kept company with the surviving men and women on boats and sampans.

The Xiang River also overflowed its banks, flooding rice paddies on both sides, and the water level of Dongting Lake also rose significantly.

Zhao Ji, Yuan Shu, and Sun Ce, who were in Yuzhou, were still able to maintain contact with their respective armies; however, the vast land of Jingchu had become a series of isolated cities that could not communicate with each other in the short term, let alone calculate losses.

The people of Jingchu are good swimmers and adaptable to floods, able to quickly escape.

The most pitiful were the refugees from Guanzhong and the disaster victims from Yan and Yu who migrated to Nanyang, especially the northern soldiers and civilians who were settled by the government in military and civilian settlements near the river. They lacked awareness of disaster prevention during the torrential rains and were often swept away along with their simple houses.

Inside the Wandu prison, filthy floodwaters poured in, and Yang Biao, who had been tortured, and other prisoners were submerged in the water, at a loss, and could only cry for help in panic.

The magistrate of Wandu appointed by Lü Bu was Man Chong from Shanyang. When Man Chong tortured Yang Biao, he received many letters of pleas for mercy from high-ranking officials and famous scholars, but Man Chong still tortured him severely, to the point that even Lü Bu had no objections.

At this critical moment, the tall and strong Man Chong led more than a dozen county officials across the water and managed to rescue Yang Biao and other prisoners of all ranks.

A log floated on the water, and Yang Biao, supported by other prisoners, lay on the log.

Man Chong led the way, using ropes to escort the prisoners to the rooftops one by one. Only then did Man Chong lead the county officials up the slippery walls to avoid the water.

Wherever the imperial court was located, scholars like Man Chong who had not yet taken up an official post would flock there.

Man Chong was filled with lingering fear. If Yang Biao had really drowned, his life would have been over.

Inside the imperial palace, the torrential rains and natural disasters awakened the nightmares of many former officials who had been relocated eastward.

During Dong Zhuo's reign, the Three Auxiliary Regions suffered a severe drought for three consecutive months, and all methods of praying for rain were exhausted.

After Dong Zhuo was killed, a sudden downpour washed away all the mass graves outside Mei Wu where the Dong family was buried.

It is said that even Dong Zhuo's coffin was washed away by the rain... or more likely, it was dug up by someone.

The rain that was about to hit them had thrown the high-ranking officials and their entourage into a panic.

As for Liu Xie, he remained indifferent; it was impossible for him to stop the torrential rain that had lasted for several days simply because he was the emperor.

It was precisely because of this that the sense of powerlessness that originated from the depths of his mind and body entangled and bound him, leaving him with no choice but to deal with it calmly.

The general's mansion was flooded by rainwater, and Lü Bu could only live on the pavilion to avoid the water.

Reduced grain production is not terrible; what is terrible is... massive amounts of grain being submerged by floods!

It's not that you can take out the grain to dry in the sun after the weather clears up, and then it will be able to barely fill your stomach.

The floodwaters were filled with human and animal carcasses and excrement. No matter how much the grain was dried after being soaked, eating it would still kill people.

Now, not only is food scarce, but even firewood is nowhere to be found in the city for cooking.

At this moment, Lü Bu could only drown his sorrows in wine; only by drinking more wine could he feel better and avoid being overwhelmed by all sorts of negative thoughts.

This level of torrential rain was something Lü Bu had never seen before in his life.

He simply couldn't imagine that one day he wouldn't even be able to find firewood to cook a meal.

After several days of rain, the humidity has increased, and even after dismantling the attic rafters and building materials, it's impossible to find decent dry firewood.

Helpless, they could only send people to cut the fat from the drowned horses to start a fire, so that they wouldn't be without even a sip of hot water.

As for the vast majority of soldiers and civilians, men and women, who had no access to hot water or well water, they had no choice but to drink rainwater.

An even greater food disaster and an epidemic that would spread throughout the counties of Jingzhou were about to break out.

As for the Eagle Flying Army and the Five Battalions that Lü Bu painstakingly trained, or Dong Cheng's troops, they will also suffer heavy losses.

(End of this chapter)