Chapter 139 Repairing the Dam
Upon hearing this, Li Yayi's jaw almost dropped and he stammered in reply.
"Are you serious, Mr. Gu? Flood control is a torturous job these days. If it weren't for the prince's respect, you would have gone to the dam to move sand long ago."
Gu Yanqing's expression remained calm, and his tone was light and composed.
"Your Excellency, there is no need to say more. I went there voluntarily, and the prince will not blame me."
After saying that, he even cupped his hands.
Li, the yamen runner, dared not accept such a salute, so he had to take him to the team of able-bodied men.
Most of the able-bodied men in this group were from the same village, and they all greeted Gu Yanqing when they saw him.
"Teacher Gu is here."
"Hello, Teacher Gu. My kid said a few days ago that he wanted to come to your place for classes."
"Can your body bear it? Why don't you pay some money and go back?"
Whether it was questioning or concern, Gu Yanqing treated them all equally and ignored them.
At this time, there was another familiar figure in the team, Minister Shen.
When the yamen runners went to the Thirteen Villages to ask for able-bodied men, Boss Liu didn't want to offend the government and didn't want to hand over anyone, so he immediately dragged Minister Shen out to take the blame.
Minister Shen had been doing hard work for so long and thought he could finally relax, but when he heard that it was a life-threatening job to fight the flood, he almost fainted.
Now that he was mixed up in the flood fighting team, he saw Gu Yanqing dressed neatly and had a certain grace, so he naturally hated him and approached him while the people around him were not paying attention.
"I say, Mr. Gu, how could you have fallen on hard times and come here to help with the flood? Could it be that my rebellious daughter was unwilling to pay you the fifty taels of silver for disaster relief and pushed you out?"
Minister Shen had a gloating look on his face. After all, the regulations stated that one could be exempted from corvée labor by paying fifty taels of silver. As soon as he saw Gu Yanqing, he knew that Shen Jinan had not paid him the silver.
"My wife doesn't need this money. I came here voluntarily. But in your eyes, it's normal not to have a sense of justice for the people."
Gu Yanqing's voice was calm, but he could not hide the contempt and disdain in his tone.
Minister Shen was so angry that he was fuming. He wanted to take action but was pushed away by the yamen runner.
"Whatever you want to do? Want to cause trouble?"
The yamen runner looked ferocious and vicious, so Minister Shen no longer had the courage to cause trouble. He quickly put on a flattering smile and returned to his team in shame.
After the team was gathered, the yamen runner named Li led everyone on a journey to build a new dam on the Ming River next to Puzhou.
When they arrived at the riverside, there were already a hundred men carrying sandbags and wading into the muddy river, building a defense line bit by bit. However, the water flow of the Ming River was very turbulent, and if you were not careful, you would fall in and be gone in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this scene, everyone who had been mentally prepared began to back off, and a few timid ones even wanted to run away.
But he was immediately caught by the yamen runners and severely beaten with a whip.
Li Yayi glanced at everyone with a serious expression, "This place is not like you being the boss at home! Everyone, be careful. If anyone is so foolish as to fall into the river, I'd be embarrassed to feed them to the fish!"
After the lecture, everyone was driven to the dock like cattle and sheep, and each person was given a sandbag.
Gu Yanqing naturally took one as well. He picked it up and weighed it, and it wasn't too heavy.
Just when everyone was carrying sandbags and dared not move forward, Gu Yanqing was the first to walk into the muddy river carrying a sandbag.
The water carrying mud and sand gradually covered his waist. There was a look of determination on his cold face. He placed the sandbag on the dam that was just taking shape, and quickly went to get the second bag.
Everyone looked at him in a daze, then slowly reacted and their eyes gradually became firm.
Since Gu Yanqing can handle it, why can't they?
More than twenty men seemed to be encouraged and carried sandbags in and out quickly.
The man from Li Chunhua's family was carrying two sandbags and walking with his head down when he suddenly slipped and was about to fall into the river.
Everyone exclaimed, but the river was flowing too fast and no one reacted.
Just when he was about to be swept away by the river, a big hand grabbed him tightly.
"Brother Xiong, hold on tight!"
Gu Yanqing stood in the river, his clothes were soaked into a mess by the muddy water, and his body swayed with the waves, but his hands did not move at all.
Xiong Wei also reacted at this time, and stood up little by little along Gu Yanqing's arm. When both of them were standing steadily in the river, a layer of sweat broke out on his forehead, he was so scared.
The people around them also breathed a sigh of relief for the two of them, and then began to praise Gu Yanqing. They talked to each other and forgot what they were doing.
A commander named Qiu who was in charge nearby was immediately unhappy when he saw that they had stopped.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Not working, just chatting!"
Commander Qiu was already in a bad mood after receiving such a difficult task, and now he was even more irritable.
Seeing him waving the whip in his hand continuously, everyone did not dare to say a word and continued to move forward with difficulty while carrying the sandbags in silence.
More than a hundred people worked on the river bank for a whole day and finally took a break to have dinner. However, the weather was not good and a huge wave came over, destroying the dam they had worked so hard to build.
Everyone's mood became heavy, and Gu Yanqing was naturally worried. Building a dam like this was completely useless. Even if it was built, it would be half the effort. When the rainstorm came, the crops would still be flooded.
His mind was racing. The water conservancy theory he had read before mentioned that if one wanted to control water, one must first start from the source, curb the middle stream, and dredge the lower stream.
Now that Puzhou is downstream, it should be dredged first, but the government only wants to block it, which is not a solution at all.
At this time, Commander Qiu wiped his mouth, stood up and cursed something, then cracked his whip at everyone, "What are you all standing there for? Didn't you see the dam collapsed? Go fix it, everyone! You can't go to bed until it's fixed!"
It was inevitable that everyone would feel resentful of his command, but they were forced to not resist due to his tyranny.
More than a hundred people worked until midnight and finally repaired the dam. Commander Qiu took a look and was satisfied, so he let everyone go to rest.
The so-called resting place was just a straw hut, dark and damp. Gu Yanqing frowned, picked up some clean straw and spread it under him, wrapped himself in his clothes and reluctantly lay down.
Many people fell asleep on the floor due to excessive fatigue during the day, but Gu Yanqing rested his head on his small bag, touched the clothes that Shen Jinan had prepared for him, and felt a warmth in his heart.
I don’t know if Shen Jinan has fallen asleep at this time.
At the Gu family's side, Shen Jinan was afraid that Suisui and Huanhuan would be scared to sleep alone, so he took the bedding and went to their room to sleep.
After comforting the two children to sleep, Shen Jinan couldn't fall asleep. She was always thinking about Gu Yanqing.
The moon in the sky was unusually bright, and its silver light shone through the window lattice onto Shen Jinan's slightly sad face.
But it was useless to think more, Shen Jinan sighed and fell asleep holding the child.
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