Chapter 30 After the Flood
In the original world, the flood had already destroyed the surrounding villages on the fourth day. In this life, under the leadership of Feng Guangwei, laborers were recruited from all over to build and reinforce the embankment along the river outside Fengxian City, and they barely survived the fourth day.
The flood in a certain place is not only caused by this place. The river water flows from the west of Fengxian City and merges into a river outside Fengxian City. If Feng'an City to the west of Fengxian City continues to rain, Fengxian City will be destroyed this year because of this flood that has not occurred in more than ten years.
Farmers are still rushing to harvest the rice in the fields. This year, due to the lack of months and heavy rains, most of the harvested grain is very shriveled. Farmers know that damp grain cannot be stored for long, and it is even possible that the grain they have just harvested will become moldy soon. However, there are still countless figures wearing straw raincoats in the fields.
What if? What if there's still hope?
While farmers in other places around Fengxian City were rushing to harvest rice, people in the villages along the river had already left the area, which could be flooded at any time, under the leadership of officials and soldiers from the prefectural government.
The people in the villages along the river were very scared when they first saw the officials and soldiers from the Fengxian City Prefectural Government. They were cut off from information and Fengxian City was some distance away. Of course, they didn't know that Fengxian City was now ruled by Lord Feng from the capital and that Lu Liang had been imprisoned.
A village is a large collective. These days, villagers keep in touch with each other and will chat with each other when they meet on the ridges of the fields. Therefore, most of the people in these villages have heard about the treatment of the laborers when building the dams, and how the officials there treat ordinary people like them very well.
They did not see the bad-tempered and domineering faces of the officers and soldiers who had come to the village to collect grain before, so they believed that Lord Feng had already arrested those people.
However, this process was far from as easy as imagined, and it took some effort to get the people to be willing to leave the village and move to a safe place.
...
In the gloomy weather, everyone felt depressed as if a huge stone was pressing on their hearts.
The most dangerous ones are the laborers who are still near the river embankment. They are facing the raging river water caused by heavy rain.
Some of the laborers were conscripted, and most of the others came voluntarily. A few of the conscripted laborers tried to escape during the chaos, but were quickly subdued by the officers and soldiers guarding nearby.
"Sir, why don't you execute them?" the officer and soldier coming out of the Fengxian City Governor's Mansion asked doubtfully.
Shouldn't disobedient laborers be put to death? Kill one or two, and the rest will behave themselves.
Feng Guangwei said nothing, only: "Now is a critical time when we need people. We can't lose even one or two laborers. I will give them a chance to make amends."
However, Feng Guangwei still arranged for several conscripted people to go to the rear to transport stones, sandbags and cut wood needed to fill the dam. He himself took those officers and soldiers who volunteered to go to the dam to the front.
The men took off their coarse linen clothes, tied them into thick ropes and tied them around their waists, and then put on the "gourd" that was distributed to each person - it was brought by Lord Feng. They had never seen this thing before. Lord Feng said that it was unique to the north of the Great Zhou. The gourd was bigger than two palms put together and could float in water. They tied the gourd to their bodies, so even if they were washed away by the flood while repairing the dam, they would have a great chance of survival.
In addition, Feng Guangwei took out some prepared sheepskin, and under his command, several laborers made a simple raft in a short time.
The men were tied together with thick ropes around their waists. Feng Guangwei led the officers and soldiers who volunteered to go to the dike and the laborers to dredge the silt accumulation, risking falling into the rushing river. When the water calmed down a little, they quickly filled the dike with sandbags and stones.
Fortunately, it is summer in Fengxian City and the weather is hot. It is also stuffy today. However, soaking in water for a whole day and coming out wet is not very pleasant. Sheds were set up on slightly higher ground, and fires were lit inside for the laborers to dry off their bodies. Taking turns to rest in the sheds for a short time is the most relaxing time for them.
Lord Feng announced to the people in Fengxian City that he came to Fengxian City on the orders of the emperor, and that the gourds, sheepskins and other supplies were all gifts from the emperor.
In addition, there were wealthy families and people with ill intentions in the city who were dissatisfied with Feng Guangwei's leadership and tried to gather a group of people to cause chaos in the place where the disaster victims were resettled. They finally calmed down after hearing that Feng Guangwei came to Fengxian City on the order of the emperor. Feng Guangwei was not polite to them at all. He beat them when he should and drove them away when he should. If there were people who were willing to help and donate money at this time, he would of course accept them.
With the gourd and the simple sheepskin raft, the people guarding the dam felt a little relieved.
Fortunately, God was merciful and the sky was no longer as gloomy as the previous few days. It turned into a drizzle and it was showing signs of stopping.
Just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief and thought they had survived the rainstorm, the dams along the river near Fengxi Village and Xiaoan Village in Fengxian City broke without warning.
The flood still rushed towards the two villages.
Fengxian City is located in the lower reaches of a large river that runs across the south of Da Zhou. This flood came from Feng'an City, and Fengxi Village and Xiao'an Village are located at the junction.
Fortunately, the residents of Fengxi Village and Xiaoan Village had been taken away by soldiers long before the flood came. Some of those who refused to leave were forcibly taken away. Otherwise, when the flood came, even their bodies might not be found.
Feng Guangwei didn't care whether the people who were forcibly taken away would feel resentful. He now had only one thought in his mind, which was to live up to the emperor's trust and save the people who were suffering from the flood as much as possible.
There were riots in Fengxian City because Fengxi Village and Xiaoan Village were flooded. Many different voices appeared, trying to arouse the dissatisfaction of the people of Fengxian City towards him. For a time, Fengxian City was in chaos.
Feng Guangwei became increasingly busy, he didn't even have time to close his eyes. He arranged for the laborers to guard the embankment, and led people to search for refugees in the flooded areas.
The people of Fengxian City were very resistant to letting the refugees enter the city. Feng Guangwei had never thought of asking all the people to squeeze into Fengxian City. The villagers who were originally taken away from the village were temporarily resettled outside the city. There was still enough food for the time being. Many people outside the city were in a state of panic.
In order to prevent unrest among the people outside the city, several officers and soldiers were sent to patrol in turns.
The sky is high and the water is vast. Yan Xuanyu, who was far away in the capital, had just learned about the recent situation in Fengxian City. He immediately wrote down some precautions at this stage and possible situations that might happen in the future and sent them to Fengxian City as soon as he could.
...
Fengxian City.
Feng Guangwei delivered a passionate "speech" as Yan Xuanyu said in the letter. Yan Xuanyu told Feng Guangwei in the letter that the most important thing to do now was to repair the dikes and prevent floods from pouring into the plains. The second thing to do was to mobilize the wealthy families in the city and appease the refugees outside the city.
Originally, Feng Guangwei asked them to donate grain voluntarily, and only a very small number of wealthy households donated some.
The next day after Feng Guangwei received the letter, he posted a large notice outside the prefectural government office and found a literate person to read it aloud to the people.
The meaning is probably that Fengxian City is suffering from floods now, and everyone should do their best.
Those who donated grain and supplies will have their names inscribed on a monument and be rewarded in the future; ordinary people who made contributions to this flood disaster will also be rewarded.
Even if it weren't for these reasons, if Fengxian City suffered a flood, their homes would no longer exist.
Mrs. Han organized many women to distribute porridge and clothes outside the city, and Feng Guangwei called on the people outside the city to make hemp ropes and rafts together.
The laborers were connected by long ropes tied around their waists and braved the turbulent water that was strong enough to knock people underwater.
During this process, people kept falling down and people kept coming up.
If the hearts of the trapped and suffering people in the previous floods were filled with despair and numbness, then now the people outside Fengxian City who were clinging to driftwood or trapped in trees by the floods had a little more thoughts of survival in their hearts.
Because Lord Feng in Fengxian City will bring people on a raft to rescue them. Even if the raft can no longer accommodate people, they can get something called a gourd and use it to slowly swim to a safe place under the traction of the raft.
A few days later, the sky above Fengxian City cleared up again. This was the first sunny day that the people of Fengxian City had seen in more than ten days.
The turbulent and ferocious river ditches became quiet again. If it weren't for the half-person-high mud and water accumulated in the riverside area, they might even have thought it was a dark dream.
Some families who had survived the disaster cried with joy, repeatedly knelt and kowtowed in gratitude; others wept as they hugged the swollen bodies of their deceased relatives, their mournful cries echoing far away...
Feng Guangwei looked at it for a long time.
He now looked nothing like the calm and reserved Lord Feng from the capital. There was a dark spot under his eyes, his lips were pale, his hair was messy, and his clothes had not been changed for several days and even had a strange smell.
His Majesty said that prevention and control work after the flood was also very important, so boiling water was boiled outside Fengxian City for several days to provide it to the people, and a stove was set up to boil medicine to distribute to the people.
"Sir, now that the flood is over, you can go back home and have a rest." The officials around him felt sad when they saw Feng Guangwei's appearance.
The flood disaster is over, but there is still a lot to do.
Thanks to the timely rescue efforts, the crops in Fengxian City's fields were barely enough for the people to feed themselves. After a short rest, Feng Guangwei reappeared in the streets and alleys of Fengxian City. Almost every day, he could be seen with a group of soldiers and officials following him around. After this severe flood, Feng Guangwei's status in the hearts of the people of Fengxian City suddenly rose to a new level. The people almost regarded him as the prefect of Fengxian City. The saying gradually spread among the people: "If you have any difficulties, go to Master Feng; he will always have a solution." This trust and reliance was very rare in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.
For the first time, they understood why the "parent official" was called the "parent official". Even several wealthy families in the city who had been suppressed by him came to find Lord Feng, hoping to contribute to the reconstruction of the village proposed by Feng Guangwei.
...
Zhu Cheng's home is in Fengxi Village, which has been devastated by the flood.
Zhu Cheng is one of the hardest-working laborers among those fighting floods and repairing embankments. Because the work done by laborers is the most dangerous, they will all be rewarded after the flood is over.
When Zhu Cheng's wife was resettled outside Fengxian City, she twisted hemp ropes with others, and later joined the team that took care of the people who had just been rescued.
The wife choked up and said, "I heard that several people were washed away on the embankment..."
Both of their eyes were red when they met, and there was no need to say more.
...
The speed of Fengxian City's reconstruction exceeded everyone's imagination. In the few months after the flood, the destroyed villages were quickly rebuilt, the people's houses were built with the help of the government, and the originally messy fields were transformed by the hardworking farmers, and even looked more fertile than before.
After the emperor learned that Fengxian City had suffered such a severe flood, he ordered the exemption of Fengxian City’s grain tax for one year. The people, who had been worried about this, began a new round of farming with full enthusiasm.
...
When the news of the severe flood reached the capital, the flood in Fengxian City had already passed. Because of timely flood prevention and a series of measures taken after the flood, the losses in Fengxian City were not great.
This is very surprising, whether in previous dynasties or in the Zhou Dynasty.
For a time, everyone praised Feng Guangwei for his remarkable political achievements.
Yan Xuanyu said in the Golden Palace that Feng Guangwei's merits this time were used to atone for his sins - everyone then remembered that Lord Feng was demoted to Fengxian City.
Some people felt sour and thought that Feng Guangwei just caught up with the opportunity to show his face, so let them go...
Feng Guangwei wrote a memorial detailing the events of Fengxian City and submitted it to the capital. Yan Xuanyu circulated it directly in the Golden Palace for everyone to read. These officials, feeling jealous, thought that if it were them... they would never be able to do it.
Yan Xuanyu immediately ordered Feng Guangwei to take over the position of prefect of Fengxian City.
Countless officials were amazed. Although he was no longer in the capital, Feng Guangwei was promoted directly from the fifth rank to the fourth rank!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
