Time flies, and the wheat harvest season is here in the blink of an eye. Because many soldiers in the army went to the southern part of Zhengyang County to build irrigation canals, there were only 30,000 soldiers in the army camp.

Thirty thousand soldiers were more than enough to harvest several thousand acres of wheat. The soldiers finished harvesting the wheat in just half a day, and then dried and threshed it.

After the wheat was dried and stored away, it started to rain a few days later.

Judging from the timing, there are still half a month until the rainy season, but judging from the amount of rain, the rainy season should have arrived. It seems that this year's rainy season has started half a month earlier than in previous years.

This rain lasted for more than ten days, with some breaks, but it rained most of the time.

In previous years, most of the farmland in Shuixian Village would have been flooded, but that's not actually the case.

When Zhao Xian built the canal, he chose a small waterway leading to Yingkou Town. Because the waterway was located in a low-lying area, most of the rainwater from the fields would collect here.

Once the riverbed is flooded, the farmland on both sides will suffer, a large amount of crops will be submerged, and farmers will suffer heavy losses.

But once the canal was built, the situation changed. A large amount of rainwater flowed through the canal to the main river in Yingkou Town, thus protecting a large amount of farmland around Shuixian Village.

Because this canal is fifty or sixty miles long, it has a good drainage effect on both banks, protecting a large amount of farmland from flooding.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, showing no signs of stopping. Zhao Xian looked at the heavy rain outside, his brow furrowed with worry.

Just then, Li Guang arrived wearing a straw raincoat, and Zhao Xian was stunned upon seeing him.

Given the heavy rain, Li Guang must have come all this way for something important.

Seeing Zhao Xian looking at him with a puzzled expression, Li Guang spoke up:

"Brother Zhao, the soldiers who participated in the construction of the irrigation canal have all returned. According to the soldiers, the rain in the southern region was even heavier, and large areas became a vast expanse of water, so the construction of the irrigation canal had to be suspended."

To prevent any accidents, Magistrate Wang ordered all the soldiers to return and to resume construction after the rainy season.

Zhao Xian breathed a sigh of relief. This situation was due to concentrated rainfall causing waterlogging, not a major flood, so there shouldn't be any major problems, only some damage to the crops.

"It seems that the southern region still needs to strengthen its water conservancy construction; simply building canals is not enough."

The next step is to consider deepening the waterways to prevent flooding. If it weren't for this canal, Shuixian Village would have suffered a disaster long ago.

"That's right. The returning soldiers said that Magistrate Wang also had the same idea. When the canal was built, he only considered how to solve the irrigation problem in the southern region where water was scarce."

"The considerations for flooding in the southern region under extreme circumstances were not adequate. Fortunately, this recent flooding has occurred, allowing Magistrate Wang to address this issue when constructing the irrigation canals in the future."

"This is a very good idea; it can prevent problems before they occur."

Li Guang took off his raincoat; perhaps because the rain had been too heavy, his clothes were quite wet.

Li Guang had some dry clothes here, so Zhao Xian asked Li Chun'e to find them and let Li Guang change into them.

“Brother Zhao, I heard from the soldiers who came back that Xunzhou area has been hit by a once-in-a-century rainstorm. Many areas have been flooded, and residents in some low-lying areas have all moved to higher ground to escape the flood.”

These are nothing compared to the fact that the Xunjiang River's water level has surged. If the dikes breach, hundreds of thousands of people in the Xunzhou area will face catastrophic loss of life; countless lives will be lost.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xian was also shocked. In the original owner's memories, the Xunjiang River had once breached its banks, drowning tens of thousands of people. Could history be repeating itself?

At that time, the river dams were built by people using piles of earth, which were not sturdy enough. Once the water level rose to a certain height, the earthen dams would be useless, and the final result would be the collapse of the river embankment.

“It’s currently the rainy season, and judging from the situation, it will last for another ten days or so. If the rain continues, it’s highly likely that the Xunjiang River will breach its banks,” Zhao Xian said.

"Yes, the river embankment will collapse in an instant. There are tens of thousands of people in Xunzhou City alone. They won't even have time to escape. It will be a disaster."

"I don't know if the local government has arranged for the residents of the city to evacuate from Xunzhou. We should make plans for this as soon as possible and not take any chances."

Li Guang remained silent for a moment before speaking:

“Brother Zhao, Xunzhou is only 300 li away from here. I want to rush to Xunzhou to urge the local government to evacuate the people in the city to a safe area.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xian couldn't help but feel a little worried and said:

"That won't do. The heavy rain will impair visibility, and the roads are all muddy and very slippery. Riding a horse at high speed in these conditions would be extremely dangerous. I don't want you to take the risk."

"Brother Zhao, don't worry. I have observed the celestial phenomena last night. Although this rain will last for more than ten days, there will be no rain in the next two days."

After that, there will be continuous rain, and the breaching of the Xunjiang River will be inevitable.

I plan to take a team of men to Xunzhou over the next two days to oversee this matter.

Li Guang was well-versed in Guiguzi's "Gu Chan Ce" and was knowledgeable in astronomy and geography. Predicting the weather conditions within ten days or so was no problem for him.

Now is the best time to go to Xunzhou to oversee the evacuation of the people.

Zhao Xian was still a little worried. Although Li Guang was a god of war, he was not on the battlefield after all. Water and fire are merciless, and no matter how powerful a person is, he is still made of flesh and blood.

Seeing that Li Guang was waiting for his reply, Zhao Xian knew that this matter was of great importance and that he could not stop it.

Thinking of this, he asked, "Li Guang, how many soldiers do you plan to take, and when do you plan to depart?"

"I will lead a hundred soldiers out tomorrow morning. Brother Zhao, you don't need to worry about me. Besides, I'm a pretty good swimmer."

Li Guang's words reminded Zhao Xian of something, and he spoke up:

"Water and fire are merciless. If the flood is too big, even the best swimming skills will be useless."

For your safety, I have prepared a life jacket for each of you and the soldiers. When you arrive in Xunzhou and encounter floods, you must wear the life jackets. With a life jacket, you will basically be able to save your lives.

Upon hearing this, Li Guang immediately became happy.

"Brother Zhao has such a treasure, so what are we afraid of about the flood?"

"Wearing a life jacket is just a precaution; the most important thing is to be aware of the risks."

In addition, I will prepare an extra hundred life jackets for the soldiers to carry, so that they can be used by others in need in case of emergency.

Remember, a life jacket can save your life in a flood; don't take it off easily, even when you're sleeping at night.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhao. My soldiers and I will keep your instructions in mind and will not easily take off our life jackets."