Chapter 253: The Su Family

"Prefect Zheng, please stand up quickly."

The Third Prince helped Zheng Yakun to stand up. "Father is worried about the disaster here, so he specially ordered us to come and supervise the disaster relief. The relief grain allocated by the court is on the way, and the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works are also on their way. Lord He and I are worried about the disaster here, so we traveled light and hurried day and night to get here first."

"Without further delay, Governor Zheng should tell us about the situation here first, and take me and Lord He to check the current situation of the flood river."

"Yes, yes." Zheng Yakun stood up, asked someone to prepare a small boat, and took the Third Prince and He Yanxiu to check the current situation, while explaining the current disaster situation to them.

The Third Prince and He Yanxiu listened for a long time.

The disaster was more serious than they had imagined.

The breach of the Hong River was huge, and the flood surged out at night, first destroying several villages closest to the Hong River, then several neighboring county towns, and then the Hongzheng Prefecture...

The flood raged and came in waves, spreading to most areas of Hong Zheng Prefecture overnight and spreading rapidly to the surrounding areas.

On the morning of the second day after the flood, Zheng Yakun hurriedly ordered the government officials and soldiers in the city and nearby counties to go to Honghe River to try to repair the river bank. However, due to heavy rain upstream and raging floods, it was extremely difficult to repair the river bank.

Even if it was possible to repair it slightly, the water pressure would increase as the river bank closed, making it more difficult to repair. Several attempts ended in failure.

The Third Prince and He Yanxiu both frowned when they heard this.

If the river bank cannot be repaired, the flood cannot be stopped, the affected area will only get larger and larger, and more and more people will be affected.

"Is there no other way?" asked the Third Prince in a deep voice.

Zheng Yakun also responded sadly, "We have tried many methods, but none of them worked. We did think of throwing boulders to stop the flood so that the riverbank could be reconnected, but the boulders that can stop the flood are beyond the reach of ordinary manpower, so we had to give up."

"After thinking about it, I think we can only wait until the people from the Ministry of Works arrive and then they can figure out a solution."

However, having said that, it will take a few days for those people from the Ministry of Works to arrive here. Disaster relief is urgent and cannot be delayed any further.

The Third Prince had a gloomy expression on his face. "Send someone to urge them to hurry up and have the Minister of Works and others rush here as fast as possible!"

"Yes." Someone received the order and left, but his expression was a little ugly.

Although the Third Prince's anxiety is understandable at this moment, Minister Qian of the Ministry of Works is on the First Prince's side, and this disaster relief matter has obviously given the Third Prince an opportunity, so the First Prince's people will certainly not cooperate too much.

Going there to urge them this time probably won't have any effect. Not only will it have no effect, but I think I'll be criticized a lot and won't get much favorable response...

He Yanxiu also knew that the Ministry of Industry probably could not be relied upon, so he just frowned and looked at the blueprint in his hand, staring at the direction of the Hong River and the terrain near the Hong Zheng Mansion for a long time.

"Lord Zheng, what is this?" He Yanxiu pointed to an area in the north not far from the place where the flood broke through the dam on the map.

"There used to be several villages and towns here," Zheng Yakun replied. "In the early years, the land was fertile and there were many people living here. Later, the land became hardened and salt and alkali seeped in, making it no longer suitable for farming. People gradually moved away, and now there are not many people living here."

"Speaking of which, this area is not small, and the terrain there is a bit concave, and it is adjacent to low mountains to the north. I originally thought of diverting water from the Hong River to make a lake, and then stocking it with fish fry, so that the people there can have more livelihoods."

After Zheng Yakun finished speaking, seeing that He Yanxiu remained silent, he raised his eyebrows slightly and asked tentatively, "What does Lord He mean by that..."

"Yes, open the dike and release the water."

He Yanxiu replied, "Let the Hong River water pour into the depression to reduce the water pressure at the breach site, and take the opportunity to repair the breach. In this way, the breach can probably be repaired."

Zheng Yakun's eyes lit up immediately. "This is a great idea. If the depression is filled with water from the Hong River, it will become a natural lake that can alleviate the amount of flood water. After it is connected to the Hong River, silt can be dredged and lake embankments can be built during the dry season every year, which can also ease the flow of water during heavy rains in the summer."

Moreover, after the formation of lakes, the water in the lakes flows much slower than that in rivers. By digging a few holes at the edge of the lakes, it is easier to irrigate and drink water on a daily basis than in rivers.

It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Zheng Yakun felt that He Yanxiu's idea was good and nodded repeatedly, "Mr. He is indeed a young talent with a quick mind. He can think of things that others cannot think of..."

"Without further delay, I will send someone to do this right away!"

To dig up the river bank along the saline-alkali depression, and to seize the time to plug the previous breach when the water flow momentum changes, this must be coordinated properly without any deviation! Zheng Yakun felt the pressure, and he also carefully planned the details in his mind, assigning different tasks to his subordinates, striving to achieve the greatest achievement in the shortest time.

On this side, we need to divert the water flow and repair the river embankment, and on the other side, we need to open the granaries to store grain and set up sheds to provide porridge.

Although the relief grain has not arrived yet, each prefecture has a certain amount of food reserves in case of emergency.

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In order to cope with droughts, floods, wars, etc., food reserves are generally not placed in the city, but stored in relatively remote high places. The food reserves of Hong Zhengfu are in a cave dug in a low mountain west of Hong Zhengfu City.

Although the water level was high during this flood, the cave was located at a high altitude and was not affected, and the food inside was also spared.

The grain reserves are managed by the prefects of each prefecture, and are checked by the Ministry of Revenue every year. No losses are allowed. After this flood, Zheng Yakun ordered people to transport grain in batches to places near the prefectural city that are slightly higher in terrain and have not been flooded for the time being, and to make porridge for charity to help the victims.

However, the amount of reserve grain was limited. In order to hold out until the relief grain arrived, the porridge stalls set up each day and the amount of porridge cooked were both limited. It was common for people to queue for half a day and find that there was no porridge left by the time it was their turn.

So many people had to queue from the first day to the next day, just hoping to get a bowl of porridge to fill their stomachs.

As a result, the queues waiting for porridge became longer and longer, and the waiting time also became longer and longer. From being able to get a bowl of porridge in one day, it now takes two days to get a bowl of porridge.

If your luck is even worse, you might not get even one bowl in two days.

On both sides of the team, people left one after another, trying to find another way out, and gradually some people fell down, unable to get up again...

A line of people getting porridge actually saw life and death at the same time.

When the Third Prince saw this scene, his nose felt a little sour, "Has the grain exchange been completed?"

He Yanxiu nodded, "There's a letter coming over there, and we've already agreed with the grain merchant Su family to have the coarse grains delivered here in sequence. The fastest batch should arrive tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)