Kowloon wins

Chapter 183
With Rong Zhu's full support and Li Minquan's assistance, the third master finally agreed to Hongqing's overall plan, and in the name of the initiative, he signed the chapter on river governance. All officials above the grade are jointly signed, and sent to the capital in the form of an urgent report for presentation to the imperial court.

On July 43th of the [-]rd year of Kangxi, the memorial of the third master arrived in Beijing. As soon as the contents were announced, disputes arose between the court and China. Although there were many dissenting opinions, they never mobilized to attack, but Yushi Wan Fangmin followed the elder brother's will and came out in the court to criticize the father and son. Immediately afterwards, the prince's side also questioned the river control plan, thinking that it was inappropriate to consume too much and waste money and people, and the officials were in an uproar because of it.

In the face of repeated doubts from more than a dozen courtiers, the old man went against the normal practice of letting the courtiers discuss what they said in the past, and angrily lectured all the courtiers who were in their early years, pointing at Wan Fangmin's deceitful words to confuse the public and lie Wrong country!He was demoted six grades in a row in court, and demoted to Haikang County Captain of Leizhou (now Hainan Island). If there is no good strategy for governing the river, it can be written in the book. If there is no one, it will be the final decision. After the words are finished, regardless of how the ministers feel, they will return to the harem, and an imperial gate hearing will be announced It's over.

The old man has already had such a violent outburst, who would dare to repeat the mistakes of Wan Fangmin? As for a better way to control the river, that would really embarrass the courtiers. In Chaowenwuli, there are not many people who know how to control the river, and there are only half a bucket of water, so how can there be any better ideas to offer, so the voice of criticizing the third master has just risen , has completely disappeared, and with the pressure of paying off debts, the courtiers really can't pay attention to the practice of the third master's river control, but after a few days, the third master's river control book has passed the court. According to the discussion, the old man issued an imperial edict on July 43th, 25rd year of Kangxi, approving the request of the third father and son.

On July 43th, 29rd year of Kangxi, the old man’s edict arrived in Kaifeng, and the speed of the reply was really astonishing. Let’s not talk about others, even Hongqing, the instigator, did not expect the old man to be like this at the court meeting Those who disagreed with the outburst, after thinking about it carefully, still vaguely guessed some fundamentals - the trend of clearing debts is getting stronger and stronger, and the power of rebound is getting stronger. Now, the court is stable on the surface, but in fact it is already undercurrents. Maybe there will be a general outbreak at any time, and the reason for the old man's sudden strong and high-profile this time is that apart from really approving the third master's book, his more intention is to deter the officials and stabilize the waves that will rise of the court.

The old man's intentions were undoubtedly good, but in Hong Qing's view, it was nothing more than a waste of effort. The government's situation should be chaotic, and it will definitely be chaotic. It's not just because the old man is strong and high-profile that he can really suppress the scene, nothing else No one among the elder brothers is happy to see that the fourth master can really make things happen. Besides, the big guy owes a lot of silver to the treasury. Isn't it just taking money out of the big guy's pocket to settle the debt? It's tolerable It is unbearable, not to mention that a large number of brothers under the sect have been devastated by the wind of paying off their debts, and it is necessary for the brothers to fight back against this, otherwise, it will only be the complaints of the subordinates It was enough to annoy all the brothers to death.

The capital is bound to be in chaos, and Hong Qing also hopes that the capital will be in chaos, otherwise, how can it reflect the wisdom and ability of the third master? , the most important job is to control the river. Only when this matter is done properly can their father and son have the capital to return triumphantly to clean up the mess. Otherwise, no matter how chaotic the capital is, the old man may not be able to remember a capable The third master is outside. Obviously, only when the river control work has come to an end, the father and son have the capital to control the court. For this reason, before the master's edict arrives, Hong Qing has already started to follow the schedule With the full cooperation of Rong Zhu and Chen Qidong, in less than half a month, the preparations for blocking the breach of the Yellow River have been fully completed, and they are waiting for the third master, the imperial envoy, to sacrifice on behalf of the emperor. Tell heaven and earth, and the work can officially start.

On the seventh day of August in the 43rd year of Kangxi, it was clear, the sky was cloudless, and the time was approaching. Tens of thousands of strong and strong peasants mobilized from Zhengzhou, Kaifeng and other prefectures formed a dozen square arrays and lined up on the Yellow River outside Lanyi County. Beside the breach, on an earthen platform as high as tens of feet, flags are flying, the first is a bright yellow dragon flag fluttering in the wind, and the third master under the flag is facing the Yellow River, standing proudly first, Hongqing, Chen Qidong, Rong Zhu and other local officials are standing behind him , everyone waited silently and stood in awe, waiting for the time to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth.

"The time has come, play music!"

As soon as the time came, an official from the Ministry of Rites was already full of energy and let out a wild cry. In an instant, a group of drummers lined up under the high platform immediately started playing hard. Holding the Book of Telling Heaven and Earth in his hand, he walked slowly up a nine-step step above the high platform, stood on the highest point, shook his hand, slowly spread out the Book of Telling Heaven and Earth, and glanced at the many square formations under the high platform, He took a deep breath, calmed down the tension in his heart, and waited quietly for the sound of the drums to stop.

"Heaven above, my minister Aixinjueluo? Xuan Ye has something to report. Now the Yellow River burst its embankment, and the people were killed. I can't bear it. I'm going to tell the Heavenly Emperor... as I heard!"

After a while, the sound of the drum music stopped, the third master cleared his throat slightly, breathed his breath, and began to read the scriptures for the heaven and earth document. As soon as the words were spoken, all the people present fell to their knees on the ground in silence. , only the third master's magnetic voice echoed between the heaven and the earth, and the whole ceremony was extraordinarily solemn and solemn.

"The filling of the river has begun!"

The full text of the document proclaiming heaven and earth is thousands of words, all of which are clumsy and awkward words. Thanks to the third master's eloquence, he actually read an extremely lengthy prayer in one breath, with almost no pause in the middle. After the proclamation, The third master not only had sweat on his forehead, but also his cheeks were as red as Guan Gong's, but he couldn't even take care of breathing. He exhausted his last breath and loudly announced the start of the operation to bury the ulcer.

"twitter!"

When the third master gave an order, everyone responded, and the action of filling the gap immediately began in full swing, but when the trumpets sounded, groups of civilians came to both sides of the gap with huge iron cages on their backs. Even if thousands of people who had been waiting on the side lined up and smashed the huge boulders into the iron cage, after a while, a large iron cage with a length of two feet, a width of more than one foot, and a height of half a foot The cage has been filled tightly with boulders.

"One two, pull, one two, pull!"

The iron cage was not placed directly on the ground, but placed on several wooden boards covered with iron sheets. Under the boards, there were several low wooden piles about a foot high, and several thick ropes were trapped on the piles. On top of several winches, after all the iron cages were filled, someone stepped forward to lock the iron cages completely, and then saw a local official who had already stood near the iron cages wave a small The red flag shouted loudly, and all the strong men in charge of pulling the noose worked together, and quickly pulled down all the wooden stakes near the river bank.

"Rumble..."

As the stakes below the plank fell one by one, the whole plank immediately tilted up, and immediately the huge iron cage was slowly sliding under the action of gravity. Although the speed was not very fast, its momentum was unstoppable In a short time, it was smashed into the river heavily, and there was a loud sound like landslides and ground cracks, and huge waves several feet high were splashed. After a while, several large whirlpools suddenly rose up, making a sound like howling ghosts.

"Throw rocks!"

As soon as the river slowed down, the river officials who had been waiting at the breach yelled loudly and gave the order. Immediately, amidst the surging crowd, countless lightly loaded sacks filled with earth and rocks were continuously thrown towards the breach. , Tens of thousands of people mobilized together, without stopping for a moment, the width of the gap healed at a speed that could be discerned by the naked eye. When noon was approaching, the gap that was originally more than two hundred feet wide had gradually shrunk to less than ten feet. At this time, the water flow that had been calmed down suddenly became turbulent again, and all the earth and stone bags thrown down by the people rushed away, and the landfill at the gap encountered danger again.

"Shangzhen River Divine Cow!"

The gap couldn't be closed for a long time, and all the officials standing on the high platform were unavoidably anxious, but Chen Qidong didn't care at all, probably because he had encountered such situations long ago in his river management career. I’ve been here many times, and with just a loud yell, nearly a hundred strong men either pushed or pulled a large flatbed cart, chanted, and walked slowly under the high platform, along the newly filled land. The river embankment rushed all the way to the gap, and within a few moments, as a burst of trumpets sounded, the huge bronze-cast bull was pushed into the gap by the people's concerted efforts. As soon as it disappeared, the rushing water flow had calmed down. Seeing this, the crowd of people standing beside them cheered and threw bags of earth and rocks towards the gap again.

"Closed, closed!"

"Fill it in, long live, long live!"

"God bless, close up, long live!"

……

The end of time is coming to an end, the sun is already slanting to the west, and with bursts of cheers bursting out, the gap in the river embankment that has been raging for nearly three months has finally been tamed by everyone. All the high-ranking officials standing on the ground also jumped up, clapped their hands in celebration, and cheered and laughed.

Well done, it's finally done!

In the jubilation, although Hong Qing didn't jump with joy, her face was also filled with a smile of extreme joy. Because of this crucial first step, the subsequent river control matters will have a solid foundation. But this is not the most fundamental reason for Hongqing's excitement. For Yu Hongqing, the real significance of closing the gap is that the father and son can get out of the river regulation at any time. As for the remaining specific practices, it is up to you Chen Qidong and Rong Zhu can do it, but Hong Qing's heart is no longer here, and her eyes are already on the capital where the storm is about to rise!

(End of this chapter)