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Chapter 171: The Method of Opening a Mountain

"Stones naturally can't drink water, so why not dig a river?" Lu Qing answered lightly.

"Smash it?" Bai Qihong's eyes widened when he heard this, "What a joke, Your Highness!
The rocks of the Black Stone Mountain are unusual and extremely hard. They cannot be broken by chiseling, smashing or chopping.

Unless we find a great immortal to descend to earth and move the mountain away, there is no way the water can pass through!"

After he finished speaking, he felt that his words might have been a bit harsh. After all, Lu Qing was not from the Ministry of Industry or the Ministry of Water Resources, so it was inevitable that he was not thoughtful enough. His words were too harsh and seemed too harsh.

So he slowed down his tone, sighed, and shook his head: "If we can really divert water across the mountain, that would be the best.

I originally wanted to make this canal bigger and longer, not only to solve the current flood problem, but also to go all the way from Huazhou upstream, connect the several river basins of Lizhou and Quzhou with canals, and build sluices in the middle.

Quzhou has always been rainy, with many rivers and abundant water resources. If a canal can be built there, water can be diverted to alleviate the drought in Lizhou and Huazhou during droughts, and water can be drained away during floods to avoid floods.

However, if this idea is implemented, once the water reaches Huazhou, it has always been a big problem as to where to divert it next.

I don’t know if the Luan River can even withstand the current rainfall in Huazhou, let alone connecting it to multiple rivers in Quzhou as I envisioned.

The higher-ups don’t allow us to dig canals into the territory of Shuo State…”

Lu Qing raised a finger and shook it gently: "Digging past it is against the imperial order, but if there is a hole at the bottom of the mountain and water flows through it, then it doesn't count.

The emperor only said that you are not allowed to dig a canal there, but he did not say that you are not allowed to cross the mountain."

Bai Qihong was stunned for a moment. He was a practical person and didn't know how to react to Lu Qing's statement of taking advantage of loopholes. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.

Then he came to his senses and waved his hand again: “Even so, it still won’t help.

If the Black Stone Mountain could be dug through, all the problems ahead would be solved, but the mountain is impossible to dig through..."

"I do know a way to dig through the Black Stone Mountain." Zhu Yu listened to Bai Qihong's words and spoke at the right time.

"You? Do you have a way to dig through Black Stone Mountain?" Bai Qihong looked at Zhu Yu suspiciously.

In his opinion, this young Taoist priest looked to be no more than twenty years old, with a fair complexion and a thin body. He did not look like someone who would understand these things at all.

"That Black Stone Mountain is extraordinary. Its hardness cannot be compared to that of ordinary rocks." He thought the other party was just a young man who was not afraid of tigers and did not understand the actual situation, so he continued patiently, "One of my men was curious before and wanted to carve a piece of stone to take back. As a result, he chopped it with an axe, leaving a gash in the palm of his hand and breaking the axe blade.

As a result, only a white mark was left on the stone.

This is not something that can be done just by talking about it.

Even if there is a way to split the Black Stone Mountain and divert the water here, our flood disaster will be temporarily alleviated, but the Shuo Kingdom on the other side of the mountain will probably suffer!"

"Since it is rumored that the Jie and Shuo countries are ready to make a move, Minister Bai is flooding the Shuo countries without any preparation, so that they will fall into the flood disaster. Wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?" Lu Qing said lightly.

Bai Qihong frowned and shook his head seriously: "No! If King Shuo is plotting rebellion, His Majesty will send troops to suppress him. Fighting on the battlefield, no matter how many casualties there are, is justified.

But what crime have the people of Shuo committed?
In order to solve the flood problem in Huazhou, I was forced to release water and flood the homes and farmlands of the people of Shuo State... This is absolutely unacceptable!"

Lu Qing looked at Bai Qihong and saw that his brows were furrowed, his eyes full of disapproval and a hint of nervousness, which didn't seem fake. "Do you really have a solution?" Seeing this, he ignored Bai Qihong's words and turned to look at Zhu Yu, asking seriously.

Zhu Yu nodded firmly: "Seriously."

"In that case," Lu Qing turned and said to Bai Qihong, "Please ask Minister Bai to order his men to stop what they are doing and stop digging the canal in the northwest direction. Leave a few people to dig in the east direction instead.

Minister Bai brought the others with him and went with us to Black Stone Mountain to open up the mountain.

If this matter succeeds, Minister Bai will be a great philanthropist who benefits the people. From then on, the people of Lizhou and Huazhou will no longer have to worry about drought or floods.

If that doesn't work, you can just report it to the court and say that I was using my status as King Xiaoyao to pressure you into doing this.

I will take this responsibility."

Lu Qing's words seemed to have touched Bai Qihong. He was a little hesitant just now, but seeing Lu Qing's firm attitude, he made up his mind.

"If the prince's method can be successful, then Bai will have fulfilled his long-cherished wish, and the people in these places will naturally remember the prince's kindness.

If it fails, or if there are accusations from above in the future, I, as the Minister of Works, have been ordered by His Majesty to supervise the work. I have done everything willingly and have never been forced by anyone. I will take responsibility for this!"

Yan Daoxin listened silently for a long time. He didn't know much about water conservancy projects, so he couldn't get a word in. But now, he was getting impatient and couldn't help but speak up. "Nothing has been done yet, and you're already arguing about who will take responsibility if it fails! How can this be justified?"

"Junior brother, what you said is absolutely right." Lu Qing glanced at Yan Daoxin, nodded with a smile, and stood up. "Since we are going to do this, we must be determined to make it a success. How can we lose our momentum here?

Yu Changshi, does the method you mentioned for opening the mountain require anything special? It would be best to speak to Minister Bai as soon as possible so he can prepare it as soon as possible."

Bai Qihong nodded hurriedly to Zhu Yu, waiting for her to tell him what items he would need.

The Black Stone Mountain was extremely hard, and he was worried that the other party would use some rare and difficult-to-find item, leaving him helpless.

Zhu Yu shook his head and said, "Nothing special, just prepare more firewood, tung oil, pine resin and other things.

Ask someone to prepare some more iron wedges, and the rest are the usual tools you use for cutting rocks in the mountains, so just bring them with you.

There's no need to prepare water; we have plenty of it locally."

Bai Qihong didn't bother to figure it out at this moment. He had always wanted to build a large canal that could benefit the local people, but due to various restrictions, it had never become a reality.

Now that he was suddenly told that he could find a loophole and make all this come true, his ambitions that had been suppressed for so long were rekindled.

So he made up his mind: if he doubted someone, he would not employ him, and if he employed someone, he would not doubt him.

Since he has decided to do it, he will just prepare whatever others say is needed!

He wrote down what Zhu Yu had mentioned, then strode out into the rain and told people to get ready.

(End of this chapter)