Chapter 255 Covering up the truth
He Yanxiu also frowned, signaled the Third Prince to calm down, and then asked, "Before the gods get angry, there will be signs to wake up the world. Since the old man said that it was the anger of the heavens and the River Dragon King, then he must have seen some omen?"
“It’s natural.”
The old man nodded and took two steps forward with his cane. "On the night of the flood, it was raining heavily, with lightning and thunder. The lightning seemed to cut a hole in the sky, which was terrifying. The thunder was so loud that it seemed to deafen the ears."
"I couldn't sleep at night, so I put on my raincoat and went to the yard to see if the wall would be washed down by the rain. Then I saw a flash of light from the direction of Honghe River, redder than other lightning, followed by rumbling thunder, duller than other thunder, and then the flood came."
"That red light must have been caused by the Heaven and the River Dragon King asking the Lord of Thunder and the Lady of Lightning to let the water of the Hong River wash all living things and punish the people! That night, there was only a loud thunder, but there was such a monstrous flood. Today, there are so many muffled thunder sounds in succession. Although no lightning was seen, the flood this time must be no small one."
"My Lords, I think you should stop trying to stop the breach in the riverbank. Instead, you should quickly find a way to evacuate all the people in Hongzheng Prefecture and even the nearby prefectures and counties. It would be better for you to leave this dangerous place as soon as possible..."
The old man was in tears as he spoke, but the Third Prince and He Yanxiu looked solemn as they listened.
Especially He Yanxiu asked in a deep voice, "Old man, is the muffled thunder you heard today really the same as the one you heard on the night of the flood?"
"Of course." The old man nodded. "My lord, even though I am already in my eighties, my ears are not deaf, my eyes are not blurry, and my memory is very good, especially my ears. The calls of chickens and sheep from different households are quite different. I can tell whose poultry it is just by listening to the sound."
"The sound of this muffled thunder is quite different from the usual thunder. It is deeper, lower, and more deafening. It is a sound I have never heard before. I think this sound only exists in heaven. Once people on earth hear this sound, there will be trouble!"
That probably wouldn't be wrong.
Someone took advantage of the thunder and lightning on a rainy night to blow up the river bank, which caused this flood! He Yanxiu clenched his fists in his sleeves and gritted his teeth.
Then he took a deep breath and bowed to the old man, "Thank you for clearing up my doubts."
"Your Excellency is too polite. I don't deserve it." The old man knelt down hurriedly, but he still reminded, "Your Excellencies should evacuate the people as soon as possible, lest the heavens and the river dragon king get angry..."
"Don't worry, old man. We will do it." He Yanxiu nodded in agreement.
However, what we need to do is to find out the murderer who blew up the river embankment!
With such a thing happening, the Third Prince did not even bother to rest, but returned to the river bank again to check the gap where the river bank had burst.
The flood washed away the riverbank for several days and now it has been completely repaired. Just looking from the outside, there are no traces of the original dynamo bombing.
"These black-hearted villains are really good at scheming!" The Third Prince was so angry that he smashed his fist on the tree next to him that was tilted by the flood. "They took advantage of the lightning and thunder and heavy rain that night to do such a heartless thing. They also calculated that it would not be easy to leave any traces if they did so."
He Yanxiu nodded, "But what I care about is, what is the purpose of these people doing this?"
What kind of person, and for what purpose, would do something like blow up the river embankment and cause flooding to submerge Hongzheng Prefecture and the surrounding prefectures and counties.
What benefits can they get by doing this? Moreover, the amount of explosives needed to blow up the river bank is not small, and the cost is not small. At present, the imperial court has strict management of the quantity of ironware and gunpowder. If you want to get such a large amount of explosives, you need great skills.
There is no such thing as a quick rise without profit. If you spend so much effort and take so much risk to accomplish something, the benefits it brings will be even greater for that person.
The imperial court has always attached great importance to disaster relief. Even if money and grain are allocated, if local officials want to embezzle them, they need to collude with the people sent from the capital to supervise the matter.
However, every time the court provided disaster relief, the officials sent by the imperial court were uncertain, and there was no way to be sure whether these people were honest or greedy. It was obviously not worthwhile to pay such a huge price for an uncertain result.
After careful analysis, the person who must do this can only be...
The Third Prince also figured this out and said, "I'm afraid someone wants to cover up something."
Use this flood to wash away all evidence.
Or use this matter to suppress another matter so that it won't be noticed.
"Yeah, that's probably the case." He Yanxiu agreed and nodded, "I just don't know what this person wants to cover up."
"This is probably not an easy matter to handle. We need to investigate carefully to see if we can find any clues. Then, we can unravel the mystery and find the answers we want."
"Sir Zheng, the relief grain will arrive today. The Third Prince and I will probably have to be busy distributing the grain and providing porridge. Sir Zheng is the prefect of Hongzheng Prefecture and is familiar with the situation here. I'd like to trouble you to send someone to investigate carefully and find out if there were any suspicious people or things that happened nearby before and after the flood broke the dam that night."
"We must investigate thoroughly and not miss any detail." He Yanxiu emphasized.
"Yes." Zheng Yakun bowed in response.
He had just checked the water volume in the depression and inspected this section of the river bank when he was called here. After hearing about this from the Third Prince and He Yanxiu, he was extremely indignant and secretly vowed in his heart that he must get to the bottom of this matter.
The black hand behind this must be caught and severely punished, so as to give an explanation to the people affected by the disaster in Hongzheng Prefecture! The three people talked until almost noon, and someone came to report that the first batch of coarse grains of the Su family had arrived, and asked the Third Prince and He Yanxiu to go and check the quantity and quality of the coarse grains.
The Third Prince and He Yanxiu went there together and saw Su Wenxuan leading a long team escorting grain.
Su Wenxuan was exhausted at this time. His brocade robe and boots were covered with dust. His eyes were dark circles and even his chin had a layer of stubble, which was obviously due to days of traveling.
"Mr. Su, you have worked hard on the journey." He Yanxiu bowed.
"Lord He, you are too kind." Su Wenxuan returned the greeting. "I heard earlier that someone wanted to exchange fine grains for coarse grains. I was very surprised at first. First, I doubted where the fine grains came from. Second, it would be difficult to collect such a large amount of coarse grains in a short time. I wanted to refuse the matter, but later I learned that it was Lord He's idea and it was for disaster relief. So I went back to my father and asked my uncles and other relatives in the clan to help collect the grain."
These few chapters will focus on Erye's career. Tomorrow the lovely heroine will appear~ (End of this chapter)
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