Chapter 468 The Cause of the Flood (Two chapters in one, please vote and subscribe)

Luo Chong originally wanted to go directly to the Rushui River to see it with his own eyes, but he didn't expect that he had just arrived at the East Gate and had already discovered something unusual.

Outside the East Gate is a solid wooden suspension bridge built on the moat. In previous years, in late winter and early spring, the water level of the moat was only one meter below the suspension bridge at this time, but now, with more than 20 days before the arrival of the New Year, the water level in the moat is more than one foot higher than in previous years, and there is only 60 to 70 centimeters left from the bridge deck. The

water in the moat is running water, which is connected to the Rushui River outside the city. The water level here has risen so much, so the water level of the Rushui River can be known without looking.

Just as Luo Chong frowned and thought, there was a sound of footsteps behind him. The elders and other old people from the Han tribe came over. Not only that, even Ying Rui, Shu Wu, Shu Da, and Chief She, the high-level officials of Hanyang City, came to the city gate together.

The cause of the incident had been told to everyone. When they heard that the river water might surge and cause a flood to submerge their residences and farmlands, everyone was very nervous. After coming to Luo Chong's side, they immediately observed the river surface under the suspension bridge.

"This, this water level is really much higher than in previous years, but is it still rising?"

"Yes, I think it is higher than the previous two years, but it may have just risen a little, and it won't really flood from the river."

Everyone began to discuss it, but although they were nervous in their hearts, they were still unwilling to admit the possibility of a flood, because they also knew the consequences of such a disaster. Once a flood disaster occurred, it would cause great losses to Hanyang City and even the entire Han tribe.

But it is not okay to bury your head in the soil like an ostrich when you encounter danger. That will not solve the problem, but will only cause greater losses.

Listening to the discussion of the crowd, Luo Chong had calmed down at this time. He was the leader of the Han tribe, and he couldn't panic. Now everyone was looking at him. If even the leader panicked, then the others would have no hope. Once the pessimistic mood began to spread, who knew what kind of moth would be triggered. Don't wait until the natural disaster comes before a man-made disaster.

"Elder, immediately use my name to send a letter to Liuyang County to ask about the water level there. Also, let them pay attention to the changes in the water level at all times, and send people to take turns to watch and report to me every day." Luo Chong immediately gave the order.

Since the water level in Hanyang City has risen, will the Liuyang River in the east rise? Although they are not in the same water system, the two rivers are not far away, so we have to be on guard.

"Yes, leader, I will write a letter now." The elder took the order and left.

When the others heard the leader's order at this time, they immediately reacted. Yes, the leader is still here. If there is anything that the leader cannot solve, the leader must have a way.

"Chief, what should we do now?" Dali asked immediately.

Luo Chong thought for a while and assigned several tasks to everyone.

"Dali, go to the granary to find some empty sacks, and then take a team of people to fill the sacks with soil. Prepare more and put them in the doorways of the four city gates. Once a flood really breaks out, immediately use these sacks to block the city gates to prevent the river water from flowing back in."

Dali's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this. Yes, why didn't he think of this method? Sure enough, the leader is still smart.

"Yes, I will ensure that the task is completed."

"Yingrui, you go to check the outlets of the eight main sewers in the city, and also use sacks to block them. In addition, assist the county government in doing a good job in reassuring the people, and warn each household not to discharge sewage into the sewers before the crisis is resolved.

In addition, for the domestic wastewater these days, temporarily send someone to collect it with a bucket truck, and then transport it to the outside of the city for dumping, once a day." Luo Chong continued to arrange.

"Yes, chief, I will do it right away." Yingrui also took the order and left.

As for the barrel cart mentioned by Luo Chong, it is a special vehicle used to collect human and animal feces. The Han tribe has developed methods of composting and fermenting manure. In order to collect a large amount of feces, Luo Chong asked people to make a barrel cart, which is a four-wheeled carriage chassis with a super large wooden barrel installed on it. The barrel body also has a feed inlet and a discharge outlet, similar to the tanker in the previous life.

These barrel carts will collect feces from each household every day, and then pull it to the manure pit outside the city for unified treatment, adding some crushed straw to ferment it into fertilizer for farming. Now, not only is it used to collect feces, but also daily domestic wastewater is collected.

In the past, domestic wastewater was directly poured into the sewer at the doorstep of everyone's home, and then discharged into the moat through various levels of sewers, and then washed downstream by the running water of the moat.

Fortunately, domestic wastewater in this era did not have any chemical pollution. People usually used soap to wash clothes at most. The soap of this era was still the most basic stearic acid soap, and there were no other chemicals added to it, so it basically did not cause damage to the environment.

After arranging these two preventive tasks, Luo Chong looked at the moat again and continued to give orders.

"Feather, you also go and take some people to fill some sacks, and then block the two openings of the diversion river and the backwater river, temporarily disconnect the moat from the Ruyang River, and salvage the sacks after the crisis.

Oh, by the way, before throwing the sacks into the water, you can tie ropes on them, or use fishing nets to directly load the sacks and put them down, so that it is convenient to salvage them later."

"Yes, chief." Feather also immediately bowed his hands and said yes, and then went back to ask people to get tools.

Fortunately, after a winter of consumption, the Han tribe's granary has emptied many sacks used to hold food, and there will be no problem of insufficient sacks for the time being. If it doesn't work, using those cloths to make bags can also be used, but it will be a waste.

Of course, these arrangements are just passive preventive measures. When the flood comes, these arrangements can only reduce some losses, but they cannot really solve the problem.

After preparing for the worst, Luo Chong returned to the city, but he did not go home. Instead, he climbed up to the tower of the East City and sat in the window outside to look out.

He was thinking about why there was a flood in late winter and early spring. This was obviously very abnormal. If it was the rainy season in summer, the continuous heavy rain would cause the river to surge and the mountain torrents to burst. Luo Chong could understand this, but the water level was low in late winter and early spring, and the rainfall was relatively small. In addition to the meltwater from the snow in winter, where did so much water come from to form a flood?

There is no problem with the rainfall. There is not much rain and snow throughout the autumn and winter this year. There is nothing special compared with previous years. This means that the water source in the upper reaches has not increased, but the water level of the river has indeed increased significantly. Then there is only one possibility, that the lower reaches are blocked.

Once this conjecture came into being, it immediately lingered in Luo Chong's mind. Yes, in this situation, in addition to the downstream being blocked, are there any other possibilities?

Only when the outlet downstream is blocked, will there be a strange thing that the water source has not increased, but the water level is rising. There is still so much water, but now it can't be discharged, so it accumulates deeper and deeper.

While Luo Chong was thinking, in the sky outside the window, an Azuka giant eagle also flew eastward with a letter.

No matter what, let's wait until Liuyang County has a reply.

Sighing, Luo Chong tightened his bearskin coat, then went down the tower and returned home.

Just like that, at noon that day, Dashu, who was stationed in Liuyang County, received Luo Chong's inquiry. Seeing the early warning about the flood, Dashu immediately became alert. You know, Liuyang County is also a large county that only relies on the bank of the river, with a population of tens of thousands. If there is really a flood, the consequences are simply unimaginable.

Dashu immediately summoned some clan leaders to discuss the matter. Everyone went to the shore to observe the hydrological conditions of the Liuyang River. When everyone came up with the observation results, they were suddenly surprised and happy.

Surprisingly, as expected by the leader, the water level of the Liuyang River also began to surge. The happy thing was that they received the leader's early warning, so that they would not be without any precautions before the disaster came.

Dashu quickly summoned a large number of clan leaders to discuss countermeasures and asked everyone if there was any solution, but the meeting was very quiet. Some clan leaders were just afraid, but they couldn't explain why, and some said they would send a letter to ask the leader if there was any solution.

However, there were some special people in the meeting room. They had fear of the flood in their eyes, and they hesitated as if they had something to say, but they didn't dare to say it. Their expressions were very rich, which made Dashu, who was sitting in the first seat, suspicious.

These people were none other than the chiefs of the small tribes who had poured into Liuyang County in late autumn this year. Their tribes were not large, with a few dozen people at least and two or three hundred at most. The largest tribe had only four or five hundred people. But now these small chiefs heard the news of the flood, and they all looked panicked, which made people suspicious.

Dashu narrowed his eyes and looked at the people who took action, and asked directly by name.

"Chief Hua, I see you are hesitating, do you have anything to say? Now is the time for everyone to think of a solution. Anyone can speak directly if they have something to say. You don't have to be afraid, just say it directly."

The middle-aged man called the chief of the Hua clan was suddenly startled, stood up tremblingly, and then looked around. Seeing that everyone's eyes were looking at him, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

He hesitated for a while before saying, "Sir, let's run away, flee upstream. We can't stop the flood."

As soon as he said this, everyone in the room started to talk about it, and Dashu frowned. Now they were asking for a solution, but you just asked everyone to run away. Isn't this disturbing the morale of the army? Damn it.

"Why do you say that? We have tens of thousands of people living here, and we have plenty of manpower. Why can't we stop the flood? You sound like you've seen how powerful the flood is." Dashu scolded immediately.

Unexpectedly, the Hua clan leader really nodded. He seemed a little excited and immediately shouted loudly.

"I've seen it, I really have seen it. The flood is so terrible. It can break down the rocks in the blink of an eye. Countless mountain beasts have been washed away by the flood. Even many people in our tribe have been swept away by the flood. Otherwise, we are living well, why should we migrate upstream?"

All of a sudden, everyone at the meeting was stunned. The amount of information in this sentence was a bit too much.

Everyone present here knows that a large number of immigrants poured in from the south in late autumn, but no one knows why these people suddenly migrated north to join the Han tribe. At first, Luo Chong and Da Shu thought that this was the influence brought back by the tribes who came to work, which made more tribes in the south know the wealth of the Han tribe, so they decided to join the Han tribe and live a better life.

But they didn't expect that the real reason for their migration to the north was indeed because of the flood in the lower reaches of the south. The flood destroyed their homes, so they had to migrate upstream.

Moreover, from his words, it can be known that this means that there was a flood in the lower reaches last year.

"Are you telling the truth? Why didn't you say it earlier?" Da Shu immediately asked angrily.

"I, I, since I have joined the Han tribe, what else can I say about the past? I just didn't expect that now even the Han tribe upstream has also..." The head of the Hua clan muttered in a low voice, and finally didn't dare to say anything more.

Dashu's cold eyes swept over the people who had attacked. The leaders who had just joined the Han tribe in late autumn all lowered their heads, not daring to look at Dashu.

"Among the tribe leaders present here, are there any whose tribes migrated here because of the flood downstream? If so, stand up." Dashu said coldly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the people who had attacked stood up. These were all small tribes that had come from the south in late autumn. The total population was over 10,000, and there were more than 70 small and medium-sized tribes involved. Among these people, 40 to 50 stood up. In other words, many tribes downstream had witnessed the ravages of the flood, forcing them to migrate northward and finally join the Han tribe.

"I was wondering where so many people came from. The labor market in Liuyang County was established for a year, and the total number of people who joined the Han tribe one after another did not exceed 10,000. But in the one or two months at the end of autumn, more than 10,000 people came to join them. It turned out that the downstream was hit by a disaster. They had nowhere to go and lacked winter reserves. Therefore, on the way to the north, they met those labor tribes and learned from them how powerful the Han tribe was. That's when they decided to join the Han tribe." The tree suddenly realized.

"Then who of you can tell me what the flood in the downstream is about, when did it happen, and how many places were flooded." The tree continued to ask the young chiefs who stood up.

"I know, it was in the summer. It rained heavily in our place for several days, and there were big thunders, knocking down all the trees on the mountain. Then there was a flood, which not only knocked down many trees, but also washed down the mountain. Many boulders were washed down by the water. If we hadn't lived in a relatively high position on the mountain, we would have been gone." A young chief immediately recalled in horror.

(End of this chapter)