Xie Qing immediately recruited a secret guard to deliver the message to the capital. Since the emperor had already taken action, he must have his own plan. In this regard, he only needed to deliver the message.
With the previous experience in Huzhou Prefecture as a lesson, no matter how tired Xie Qing was, he refused to rest halfway. In the end, he even did not go into the post station. He asked someone to buy bedding and slept outside the city.
If they were really tired during the day, they would take turns getting into the carriage to rest. They would only have one meal at the post station and then change horses. The people would not even rest when the horses rested.
After three days of rapid travel, we were almost at Shenyang.
It was obvious at this time that the weather was dry. The road was dusty and the trees on both sides were wilted and lifeless. There was not much water in the rice fields, but it was barely enough to supply rice growth.
The further we walked, the hotter the weather became, the drier the land became, and the trees on both sides of the road were bare. It was clearly early spring, the time of year when all things come back to life, but these trees showed no signs of sprouting at all. Instead, they looked as if they were dead.
Xie Qing picked up the water bag and took a sip: "It seems the situation is serious. We must find a water source first."
In Qin Wan's previous life, she had only heard about the drought in Shenyang, where thousands of miles of land were barren, but she had never seen it with her own eyes. Now that she was there in person, she realized how serious it was.
We had just entered Shenyang territory, and it was already like this. What was the situation like in Shenyang City? Were the people around us at the point of eating their own children?
Qin Wan didn't dare to think or speak.
There is no wind now. When the horse runs faster, the hot wind will blow directly on your face. What hangs on your face is no longer sweat, but fine white particles. If you lick them, they are still salty.
Prince Du couldn't even break a sweat. He picked up the water bag and took a big gulp. He wanted to drink more, but put it back. "I don't know what the situation is in the city yet."
Xie Qing looked worried: "The people in the city may be better off, but the most suffering ones are the common people."
In my previous life, I had not harvested a single grain of rice since the winter of last year, so much so that by February, when the imperial court came to rescue me, I had to eat my own children.
Even if we deploy in advance now, we can only alleviate the situation slightly.
Thinking of this, Xie Qing immediately turned his horse around and headed another way.
Xie Qing did not take them to Shenyang City, but went straight to Qingquan Mountain, ten miles away from the west of Shenyang City.
Qin Wan looked at where he was going and fell silent. Her farm was at the foot of this mountain, nestled between the mountains and beside the water, so whether in her previous life or this life, she was not greatly affected by the drought.
However, Qin Wan did not say anything, but just followed Xie Qing to Qingquan Mountain.
Qingquan Mountain is located in southern Xinjiang, at the junction of the Qiang people and the three kingdoms of Dazhou. It is just a tiny mountain range among the 100,000 mountains.
The mountains that reached the Great Zhou were no longer towering. In the current drought, the once lush Qingquan Mountain was now deserted.
As evening approached, the group arrived at the foot of Qingquan Mountain.
Xie Qing asked Qin Wan and Master Du to leave their people at the foot of the mountain, and he also replaced his own guards and secret guards.
Qin Wan took the opportunity to have Yi Jia go to the farm and reminded him, "Last year, the steward said that someone who went to Pingyang Marquis's Mansion had strange whereabouts and asked him to keep an eye on him. Now that the Crown Prince is coming, don't let him cause any trouble."
"Yes." Yijia responded, and immediately pulled the carriage with Taoyao to the side to pack up his things. With the cover of his own guards, Yijia quietly went to the farm.
Qin Wan followed Xie Qing up the mountain. The further they went into the mountain, the cooler it became. The grass on the ground also struggled tenaciously to grow out. Not far away, they could see a small stream, flowing tenaciously down the mountain from the cracks in the rocks.
Qin Wan saw the water source and breathed a sigh of relief: "There is still water on the mountain, so the people won't suffer too much."
Xie Qing knew the situation here best, and he was not optimistic: "If the people we brought this time can't find a water source and dig a well in or around Shenyang City, the water from Qingquan Mountain won't last long."
The drought this year is not limited to Shenyang. There are no people living in the Shiwan Mountains, so no matter how dry it is, it will not affect the Qiang people.
The drought is not serious at the border between southern Xinjiang and Shenyang.
The drought was most severe in Shenyang.
As Xie Qing walked, he was thinking about disaster relief matters. After walking into the mountains for nearly half an hour, the surrounding vegetation gradually became lush and flourishing, almost lush and green.
Qin Wan listened to the gurgling of water. She followed Xie Qing's footsteps and went up. She saw a pool of water with obvious signs of artificial excavation on the side. It gathered water sources from all over the mountain and rushed into the canal on the other side.
In fact, it is an exaggeration to say that the water here is rushing. However, all along the way, Qin Wan saw and heard that it was dry and there was no water source. After entering the mountain, the little stream was still intermittent, sometimes there and sometimes not. Now, seeing such a water source rushing into the canal, how can it not be called rushing?
Xie Qing stood by the pond. Just as he took a step forward, several men with knives came out from the deserted mountains.
The young eunuch stepped forward and showed his token, and these people immediately knelt down:
"Your humble servant pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
Xie Qing raised his hand to let them stand up: "You did a good job."
"It's my humble duty!"
Xie Qing bent down, scooped up a handful of water from the pool, and drank it in big gulps. He immediately felt much better both physically and mentally. He stood up and pointed to the mountain, saying to Qin Wan and Du Shizi, "There's a dam upstream that stores water, but it's too small to save too many people."
Prince Du wanted to ask, how did you know there was a dam here? But he didn't ask in the end. He just dove into the pool and drank it down.
Qin Wan looked at Xie Qing thoughtfully, and was already certain that he must have been reborn!
Otherwise, how could a dam appear out of nowhere in Shenyang, a place that has never lacked water for hundreds of years?
Although the dam is not large, it is enough to alleviate the drought situation for the people.
Thinking of this, Qin Wan smiled and looked at Xie Qing, with a hint of inquiry in her eyes. "The people who built this dam were truly foresighted. It's a pity that the location is not so good. If they had built it a little further upstream, and built it larger, and filled it during the spring and summer rainy season last year, they would have been able to save more people."
Xie Qing said, "Building a dam takes time, manpower, material resources, and financial resources; none of these can be neglected. Building a dam on Qingquan Mountain is already difficult, not to mention that upstream we reach the Qiang people. If we build a dam right at the border with the Qiang, will the water belong to the Qiang or to the Great Zhou?"
Qin Wan was stunned. She had never thought of this. Yes, Qingquan Mountain was originally located in the Shiwan Mountains. If they went upstream to find a suitable place to build a dam, it might really be built at the border with the Qiang people.
By then, the two countries that have been at peace for a long time may have conflicts over this.
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