I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 183 The first effect
It was night, the thunder was rumbling, and the sound of rain disturbed the dream.

The god damn thief, I don't know what kind of evil he has committed today, like an [-]-year-old man who can't take care of himself, and has been incontinent for more than two hours.

After two hours of heavy rain, the hearts of the people in the city were all in a mess. Even the old men and women who claimed to be used to wind and rain all their lives said that the weather was abnormal.

The heart-wrenching torrential rain had no intention of resting at all. Not only did it ruin most of the streets in the city, it also smashed the roofs of an unknown number of houses.

Looking at the capital from north to south, and from west to east, the closer to Mingshifang, the more astonishing the damage caused by the flood.

When people go to high places, water flows to low places. The squares in the west city are on a high terrain, and when the rainwater falls on the ground, it will spontaneously flow to the east city.

Clarifying Huanghua Erfang, which is a little closer to Mingshifang, can be said to have suffered from the low-lying terrain.

On the streets of Liangfang, there was waist-deep turbid water, and the surface of the water was covered with wooden tables and chairs from someone's family, and there were even wooden beds six or seven feet long.

Bai Qiliang, who was in charge of dredging the drainage ditch of Huanghuafang, stood on the roof of a residential building, looking at the still rising water, his eyes were burning with anxiety.

Although Huanghuafang is not as crowded as Qingmingfang, there are also Lumi warehouse and Baoyuan Bureau of the imperial court, both of which are important places, but they are all soaked in water at this time.

"Wang Dashan, the official asked him to dig first after Lumi Cang and Baoyuan Bureau. Where did he dig?"

"Commander, the stagnant water is really too deep. Our people have no place to step down. They can't even use three points of strength when they go down with a hoe."

Hearing the hiss, Bai Qiliang sucked in his anger, and directly drew the knife to his subordinate's neck, wanting to burst into tears, and said:
"I don't care, if the emperor handed over Huanghuafang to me, Huanghuafang must be safe and sound. You go and tell Wang Dashan that if the water doesn't fall within half an hour, I will kill him."

The roof that Bai Qiliang was standing on was nothing but thatch made of glutinous rice mortar. It had been drenched by rain for more than two hours. At this moment, it was finally overwhelmed. Suddenly, the whole thing collapsed.

With nothing under his feet, Bai Qiliang suddenly plopped into the water, gulping down a few mouthfuls of muddy rainwater, before struggling to stand up.

Staggering and standing still, Bai Qiliang tried his best to put aside the messy things around him, looked around in the darkness, and shouted angrily:
"What about people, come and help me out."

"Commander, the little one is here."

Hearing his subordinate's voice, Bai Qi's conscience felt a lot more at ease, he slapped the water surface with a knife, and told his subordinate where he was with his voice.

But at this moment, several beams suddenly fell, and one of the beams hit Bai Qiliang's head heavily.

The situation in Huanghuafang is not optimistic, and the rest of Dongcheng's workshops are not as good as outside.

Fortunately, the terrain in the north is a bit higher. Taking advantage of the favorable location, Sun Rongping, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, has successfully rescued Juxiansifang from the flood.

Although the flood problem was resolved, the heavy rain did not stop. Sun Rongping did not dare to take it lightly, and immediately arranged for his subordinates to dig deep trenches to divert all the rainwater to the south.

Whenever there is a natural disaster, the price of rice, flour, grain and oil in the city is bound to skyrocket. Only by the imperial court in Taicang can level the price of food can it kill merchants and villains from hoarding goods.

Taicang is located in Nanjuxianfang. As the old parents of millions of people in Shuntian Mansion, Sun Rongping knew the importance of Taicang. Before he had time to apply for approval from the Ministry of Household Affairs, he hurriedly prepared to open the warehouse for grain inspection.

With Sun Rongping, a high-ranking official of the third rank, taking the responsibility, the storekeeper in charge of Taicang had nothing to worry about. Holding a three-inch long pure copper key, he opened the door of Taicang without saying a word.

The barn door was wide open, and the damp air rushed in. Sun Rongping's pupils shrank suddenly, and he licked his dry lips and hissed:

"Bring the torches."

Open flames are strictly prohibited in the granary, but at this moment, it doesn't hurt to throw a few torches in. As soon as Sun Rongping said a word, a few swift-footed government officials immediately lit the torches.

With the light of the torch, Sun Rongping strode in, touched a bag of wet and sticky grains, and suddenly changed his face.

It's over, the food is all soaked.

"Pass down this official order, only half of the manpower will be left to dig ditches, and the rest will all come to Taicang to save food."

Looking to the southeast of Mingshifang, the majestic city wall has been dug out by the efforts of tens of thousands of soldiers.

The turbulent rainwater is turning over the turbid spray, and is rapidly leaking out, heading straight for the main channel of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Zheng He, who had been standing on the city wall to command, was condescending. Seeing that the stagnant water in Mingshifang finally had a downward trend, he let out a long breath, looked at Dongchang fanzi who came to question for the third time, and said:

"It's time to report to Your Majesty that the south wall of Chaoyang Gate has successfully drained the water. Within half an hour, the flood in the city will be resolved."

Fanzi Dongchang was wearing a straw coir raincoat and a bamboo hat on his head. He possessed extraordinary skills and had already turned into a soft-footed insect. Hearing this, he hurriedly clapped his hands and said yes, turned around and cheered up, and rushed towards the workshop.

Although the Guangji warehouse of the Ministry of Industry has all kinds of rain gear, there are tens of thousands of people equipped with it, so the entire Yanshan Guard, except for a few people from Zheng He, are all working shirtless.

Now that the disaster situation is expected to ease, Zheng He couldn't bear to see the soldiers drenched in the rain any more, so he turned to Zhu Bicheng, the left guard general of Yanshan Mountain, and said:
"General Zhu, the city wall has been dug up, and the disaster will resolve itself in a short time. You and General Sun lead the soldiers to the city wall to shelter from the rain. Let's go to Chongwenmen to have a look."

The four guards of Longxiang and the four guards of Yanshan were the first beneficiaries of the military training method discussed by Li Tian and Zheng He. After half a month of rigorous training, the eight guards had already changed their appearance.

Hearing this, Zhu Bicheng stood up straight with a thud, stretched out his four fingers, and turned his thumb inward, giving Zheng He a standard new military salute.

"The last will obey."

Outside the Chongwen Gate, Li Zhiliang, the official of the Ministry of Industry, was standing shirtless in the rain by the bank of the moat, suppressing his shivering, and cheering up the soldiers.

With the efforts of [-] Yanshan guards, a temporary earth embankment has been built on the south bank of the moat river. It is not very high, but it is definitely strong and effective.

The rain was like a shuttle, and the surrounding fields were vast. Thousands of soldiers chanted loudly, picked up soil on the spot with single clothes, and then rammed it on the earth embankment behind them.

In front of the soldiers was the moat whose waterline was level with the ground. The river was turbulent and turbid, like a beast that had been dormant for a long time, and would rush ashore if not paying attention.

"Lord Li, put on your clothes. If you fall here with the wind and cold, I will really have no way to explain to the general and the emperor."

Knowing that Li Zhiliang was trying to subdue people's hearts, Xu Jian, the main defender of Yanshan, was very helpless, and tried to persuade him again.

"General Xu, I am honored to have the trust of the emperor. I am here to work together with the general to fight against the flood. How can I be different?"

Li Zhiliang spoke righteously, looked at Xu Jian sincerely, and saw Zheng He approaching in a blink of an eye, and hurried forward to greet him with his hands folded, calling him General Zheng He.

(End of this chapter)