Chapter 254 God is angry

"Very good." The Third Prince heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "I have also submitted a memorial to the Emperor, explaining the situation. I also mentioned that the incident happened suddenly and I did not get the Emperor's approval in time. I acted on my own and I hope the Emperor will punish me."

"If I explain the whole story in advance, even if some villains accuse me of bad intentions, I will have something to say, so I won't be completely defenseless when the time comes."

If he had a little better luck, he might be able to turn the unfavorable situation around and make the emperor feel that the Third Prince was acting according to circumstances and was wholeheartedly serving the people.

He Yanxiu nodded repeatedly, "Your Highness has considered everything very carefully."

"At present, the breach in the river bank that can discharge floodwater from Honghe River to the depression has been selected. The bank will be opened to release water at noon. We need to block the breach here. Whether it can be done or not depends on this afternoon."

"Yes." The Third Prince nodded.

There was a layer of anxiety on his face.

Hope everything goes well.

In a blink of an eye, it was almost noon.

The rain stopped in the morning, but the sky was still gloomy and windy. The weather was not as hot and humid as in summer, but rather felt like a cool autumn day.

But such coolness could not blow away all the sweat on everyone's forehead.

This was a critical move and there could be no mistakes. Everyone held their breath and dared not slack off in the slightest. Everyone's face was tense and their backs were soaked from all the busy running around.

The Third Prince, He Yanxiu and Zheng Yakun were also doing the same at this time, checking the situation back and forth.

At noon, three cannon shots were fired as a signal, followed by a series of loud "boom" noises, and several shallow gaps were blown in the river embankment. The surging river water flowed through the gaps in the embankment towards the depression.

The water flow at the breach point was visibly weakened, and the yamen runners, soldiers, craftsmen, and laborers nearby all dropped huge stones from the embankment at the same time.

Huge stones were piled together to form a temporary stone wall, blocking most of the river water. Only a small amount of river water gurgled out from the cracks in the stones like a trickle.

Such water flows are negligible compared to earlier floods.

“It really works!”

He Yanxiu was overjoyed to see that things were going as planned, and hurriedly said, "Get off the stakes quickly!"

As soon as the words fell, those people hurriedly drove the extremely thick wooden stakes connected by extremely strong hemp ropes as thick as a baby's arm into the mud along the outer edges of the stones that blocked the water flow, then filled it with stone strips, and finally poured in mud mixed with lime, rice paste, tung oil, etc.

I was busy like this until midnight, and from midnight to the early morning of the next day.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the original breach had been basically repaired and experienced craftsmen had checked that there were basically no problems. It only needed some reinforcement as a safeguard and everything would be fine.

The Third Prince, who had been holding his breath and had not slept for a whole day and night, and He Yanxiu looked at each other and smiled.

It's done.

Yes, it’s done.

As long as the flood can be stopped and no longer continues to wreak havoc, the flooded areas can return to normal as soon as possible.

It can be said that this is the first step in completing the disaster relief, but it is also the most critical step.

The Third Prince felt relieved and asked in a hoarse voice, "How is it going with Prefect Zheng?"

How much water that depression could store and how much of the riverbank needed to be blown up to release water were all calculated by many experienced craftsmen, but theory is one thing, and actual implementation is sometimes another, and there are always variables.

For everything, you can only feel at ease when the results are truly certain.

"Don't worry, Third Prince. Just now, Prefect Zheng sent someone to report that the water volume is stable, and the water volume was estimated conservatively at that time. The lake formed in the depression is smaller than expected. Let alone another rainy day like this, even if it happens a few more times, the water in the depression will not overflow."

He Yanxiu replied, "In the future, if Hongzheng Mansion repairs and cleans up the area around the depression, the flood disaster in the area will be more favorable. In a few years, it will probably become a place for the people around to survive."

"Then it can be considered a blessing in disguise for the people around here. They will have more places to eat in the future." The Third Prince had a smile on his face as he spoke.

This was the first time he smiled since he had been close to the Hong Zheng Mansion in recent days.

But his smile was full of fatigue, and even his smiling eyes were filled with red bloodshot.

"Your Highness has not slept all night. Now that everything is stable, you should go eat something and rest for a while." He Yanxiu suggested, "I will call Your Highness after the Su family's disaster relief grain arrives."

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Since arriving at the Hong Zheng Mansion, the Third Prince had been unable to sleep almost every night. He was really very sleepy at this moment. Now that the flood had stopped and relief food would arrive soon, he could feel a little relieved and take a rest.

"Then please trouble Lord He to keep a closer eye on it." The Third Prince nodded, yawned, rubbed his sore eyes, and followed He Yanxiu to the Hongzheng Prefecture City.

Most of the Hongzheng City was still submerged in water, so Zheng Yakun ordered people to set up simple houses on the top of the city wall as a place for the Third Prince and He Yanxiu to stay. It was relatively clean and safe.

The group had not walked far when they saw many people on a high place, kowtowing to the Hong River and chanting something.

The Third Prince stopped and said to those who were kneeling, "The breach of the Hong River has been blocked and the flood has stopped. You don't have to worry anymore."

Among those kneeling, the one leading the group was an old man with a white beard, who seemed to be an elder of the clan. He was helped up by the others and tremblingly bowed again and again to the Third Prince and He Yanxiu.

"Although the adults said this, I still want to remind them that there will be more floods, and they will be bigger and bigger!"

Perhaps because of fear, the old man's voice trembled as he spoke, and even tears streamed down his cheeks. He choked up and said, "This must be the River Dragon King who is angry and wants to punish the people. This is God's will, God's will!"

Upon hearing this, the Third Prince and He Yanxiu and his companions all looked at each other in surprise.

"Why do you say that?" The Third Prince asked in confusion.

"What's the matter between God and the River Dragon King? Someone must have done something extremely sinful and offended the gods, which is why this happened."

The old man's face was full of fear, and he bowed again in the direction of the Hong River, "Now I just hope that God and the River Dragon King will show some mercy when they are angry this time, and at least take into account the lives of so many people."

"I haven't seen these people a few days ago. How come the breach in the Hong River has been blocked? It should be a happy thing, but why are they acting weird again?" The Third Prince became more and more puzzled.

Today we welcome the God of Wealth~ 　　I hope all the little cuties will have a prosperous new year~ 　　 　 (End of this chapter)