Chapter 563: Surrender
The governor of Hezhong County no longer cared about providing relief food for the drought.
Hezhong County is rich in water resources, and its flood prevention tasks are much stronger than those of other states and counties when faced with floods.
If the dam breaks, the flood will not recognize anyone, even if he is a governor, he will not be able to escape!
Therefore, the governor and the prefect of Hezhong County concentrated all their efforts to protect the dam.
The two of them went east and west, and left the city to supervise personally.
As for Hezhong Prefecture, it was handed over to Li Mingde.
At this critical moment, Li Mingde no longer hid his selfish motives. With the help of his fellow apprentices, he also urgently mobilized the employees of Baida Express to work together to fight the flood and provide disaster relief.
The more turbulent the times, the more the evil of human nature becomes apparent.
What's more, the prestige of the Hezhong County government is not enough to convince the people.
A rumor came out of nowhere that the governor and the magistrate all ran away when they saw that the flood could not be stopped.
Stimulated by such rumors, the Hezhong Prefecture became more and more chaotic.
"Sir, on the banks of the Wu River, the victims who were responsible for clearing the irrigation canals were having their food withheld."
Li Mingde: "Arrest the people, check the accounts, dismiss all the clerks involved, recover the stolen money and impose fines."
"But the one in charge of this matter is Lao Si, and he is the governor's brother-in-law."
He is not a biological brother-in-law, but the fourth brother has a beautiful sister who is very much loved by the governor.
Li Mingde slammed the table and said, "My godmother is the Duke of Yun! Am I showing off? Am I proud? Just arrest people if I tell you to. What are you afraid of? I'll take care of it!"
With Li Mingde's words, the clerks felt confident and worked boldly.
Not long after, someone else came to report: "Master Li, there are ruffians making trouble. They don't want to queue up to buy grain, and they think the grain they get every day is not enough, so they are instigating the people to rob the grain store."
When Li Mingde led a group of people to the scene of the trouble, the grain store had already been robbed.
Many people squatted on the ground to pick up scattered rice grains.
That group of hooligans were like robbers, they would rob the people who had more.
The whole scene was in chaos.
Li Mingde was a little hesitant, not knowing whether to hold the common people accountable as well. After all, these people were deceived, so they did wrong things.
"Senior brother, the dean once said that severe punishments should be used in troubled times." A student from Baichuan Academy whispered.
Li Mingde's eyes were clear. Yes, that's what his godmother had said!
Li Mingde became ruthless and surrounded the looting people and the hooligans.
When the ruffians saw that Li Mingde was serious about it, they wanted to escape with the food and instigated the people to continue making trouble.
Li Mingde drew his sword on the spot and killed five people in a row, regardless of whether they were hooligans or civilians, which shocked the situation.
Li Mingde glanced around coldly: "Find the rascals causing trouble and beat them to death!"
"Yes, sir!"
Li Mingde's decisive action made those with ulterior motives in Hezhong Prefecture fearful and they dared not act rashly.
However, in private, everyone said that Li Mingde's words were unpleasant.
"You are just a bully. Do you really think you are a great ruler?"
"Wait till the governor comes back, there will be something to see!"
"No wonder he is the adopted son of Duke Yun. He is just like Duke Yun, killing people without hesitation."
…
Some people actively participated in disaster relief efforts like Li Mingde, while others completely laid low and gave up like the Pingyang County Magistrate.
"Sir, the gentry in the county are unwilling to pay for food and are unwilling to send people to maintain the levee. They said that this is something our county government should take care of, so why should we go to them?"
The Pingyang County Magistrate came to the window. It was a gloomy day with continuous drizzling rain. "Is it raining in Wudu County?"
The clerk didn't understand why the county magistrate asked this question, so he answered obediently, "It was said that it rained a few times and the ground was wet, unlike here, where it seemed that the Dragon King Temple was flooded."
The clerk scratched his head and said, "This damn heaven is really interesting. If you stand at the intersection of the two worlds and look up, the sky seems to be divided into two halves, one half is cloudy and rainy, and the other half is sunny."
The clerk chuckled and then quibbled over the words: "This is what the poem says, the sun rises in the east and the rain falls in the west."
The magistrate of Pingyang County said enviously: "Duke Yun is truly God's own daughter. All other prefectures and counties in the Great Zhou were hit by disasters, but Yunzhou and Shuozhou were not affected at all."
The clerk disagreed: "I think this is the will of heaven. Duke Yun has finally gotten what she deserves. Back then, she fought against hundreds of thousands of troops with the strength of a single state. The casualties in Yunzhou were so heavy! If God allows Yunzhou and Shuozhou to suffer such a disaster again, it would be truly blind!"
"Does God have eyes?"
The clerk thought of the houses that had collapsed due to the heavy rain and the people starving on the roadside, and said unconfidently, "There should be eyes."
The Pingyang County Magistrate waved his hand and asked the clerks to leave.
The clerk said unwillingly, "Sir, are you really not going to care? Our river bank has not been repaired since the last county magistrate. If the heavy rain continues, the river will burst the bank, and our Pingyang County will be finished!"
The Pingyang County Magistrate patted the documents on the table and smiled bitterly: "I want to manage it, but how can I manage it? There is no money, no people, and no food."
The clerk said anxiously, "Then go ask the governor for it!"
The Pingyang County Magistrate threw the documents on the table into the arms of the clerk: "The court has limited capabilities and can only protect the area south of the Yangtze River and around the capital. Our governor has limited capabilities and can only protect the area around Hezhong Prefecture. As for our Pingyang County, we can only hope for the best."
The clerk left with a dejected look in his eyes, feeling extremely regretful. Why didn't he follow the refugees to Shuozhou?
The Pingyang County Magistrate ate and slept as usual, but he did not sleep well that night and had nightmares.
When he woke up from the nightmare again, he heard a dull roar in a trance, which seemed to come from a very far distance, making the listener feel uneasy.
Suddenly, panicked footsteps and the frantic shouts of clerks were heard outside the door.
"My Lord, it's bad! There's a flood! There's a flood!"
The Pingyang County Magistrate opened the door barefoot without even putting on any clothes, his eyes full of shock and helplessness: "Impossible! The rain stopped at sunset! The dam was still intact at that time!"
The clerk cried with tears streaming down his face: "Sir, the dike in Hezhong Prefecture has burst and the flood is spreading!"
The Pingyang County Magistrate was like being struck by lightning. He thought that the river bank would collapse, causing a flood. He also thought that heavy rains would continue, causing the river to overflow to both banks.
But he never thought that the governor would release the floodwater and inundate Pingyang County in order to protect Hezhong Prefecture!
The key point is that the governor did not even notify Pingyang County before taking action!
The Pingyang County Magistrate asked hoarsely, "Where has the flood reached?"
"Xishan Village and the five villages nearby are all flooded! The water is still spreading towards the county town!"
If the flood hits the river bank and causes the dam to burst, the entire Pingyang County will become a vast ocean!
Pingyang County took a deep breath, turned back to the house, took out a pen and paper, and said, "I will write a letter, you must hand it to Duke Yun!"
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