Chapter 206 Worry
Manbao and Bai Shanbao turned around and glared at him, wanting to beat him up, but since the master was there, they were smart enough not to do anything.
Mr. Zhuang came back to his senses and looked at the three carefree children. He couldn't help but sigh.
Manbao asked with concern, "Sir, what's wrong with you?"
Mr. Zhuang looked at her for a long moment, then said after a long silence, "The Minjiang River has burst its banks."
"Where is the Minjiang River?"
Mr. Zhuang thought for a moment before spreading out a large piece of paper. He called his three disciples over and drew a picture. "The Minjiang River is above Yizhou..."
Although the children are still young, Mr. Zhuang would occasionally talk to them about geography, and when he talked about geography, he would always start from the local area.
For example, above Qili Village is Baimaquan Town, and above that is Luojiang County. Luojiang County is under the jurisdiction of Baxi County, Mianzhou, Jiannan Road, and the capital of Jiannan Road is in Yizhou.
So apart from the distant capital where the emperor is, the top of Qili Village is Yizhou.
As for how far Yizhou is from Qili Village, Mr. Zhuang said that it would take a whole day to ride on horseback. If you set out before dawn, you might be able to enter the city when the city gates are closed.
If he walks, it will probably take three or four days. The walking speed is calculated based on that of an adult. If Manbao walks with his own little arms and legs, it will probably take seven or eight days.
It is said that it is a very prosperous place with countless people and countless delicious food.
Of course, this is said to have been said by Mr. Zhuang and Mr. Bai, because these two are the only ones in the entire village who have been to Yizhou. The farthest place Old Zhou has been to is Luojiang County, so he cannot tell Manbao any stories about Yizhou.
The Min River is the largest river in Yizhou, and even in the entire Jiannan Road. Mr. Zhuang drew a diagram of the river's flow on paper and sighed, "The Min River flows swiftly, especially around Yulei Mountain. Because of the steep slope, the current is extremely turbulent. In the pre-Qin period, the Min River often flooded, bringing devastation to the people below Yizhou. That's why Shu is also known as the Marshland."
Not only Manbao and Bai Shanbao, but even Bai Erlang became serious and listened with great interest.
Mr. Zhuang pondered for a moment. Considering their young age, he could only tell them the story. "It wasn't until the Qin Dynasty, when Li Bing, the governor of Shu, built the Jianwei Weir on the Minjiang River, that the situation improved."
Then Mr. Zhuang told them about the Jianwei Weir. He had always wanted to be an official, and since he was from Shu, he had not only read relevant books, but also made a special trip to see the Jianwei Weir when he was traveling for study.
Even now, he still admires the people who built this project more than 900 years ago.
Manbao and Bai Shanbao had visited the construction of a water conservancy project, but that was the simplest one, just digging a ditch. The most complicated one was the dam built last year, but compared with the Jianwei Weir, it was not worth mentioning.
In those days, in order to divert the Minjiang River, Li Bing specially built the Jin Dike and Baopingkou to divert the Minjiang River water, and also built the Pingshui Trough and Feishayan for flood control and irrigation. Since then, there have been very few floods and droughts in the downstream area.
This is because the Jianwei Weir not only prevents floods, but also ensures the irrigation of thousands of hectares of fertile farmland downstream.
As a man who once had ideals and ambitions and had always paid close attention to the court's policies, Mr. Zhuang was now as anxious as fire, because: "The last major flood in Yizhou was in the 17th year of Dade, which is only eight years ago. And the Feisha Weir was only overhauled in the 5th year of Dazhen, which is only two years ago..."
Mr. Zhuang had a lot to say, but he didn't know who to talk to, so he could only talk to the three little kids who couldn't understand him.
Bai Shanbao didn’t know whether Bai Erlang understood or not, but he understood the master’s subtext. He looked at Manbao with shining eyes.
Manbao's eyes also sparkled, and he turned to look at Bai Shanbao.
More than an hour had passed since Mr. Zhuang finished talking about the Jianwei Weir. The servants of the Bai family came to invite Mr. Zhuang to dinner, and Mr. Bai was waiting for him in the front hall to drink.
Manbao and his friends had their lunch in the study. They had more than half an hour of rest time. If Mr. Bai and Mr. Zhuang drank and chatted for a longer time, they might have another hour or two.
This is how the special classes have been conducted these days, and the afternoon class times are very irregular.
As soon as Mr. Zhuang left, the servants brought up the three children's meals. Just like in school, in order to prevent them from being picky eaters, the rice and vegetables were all prepared and each person had a bowl, but each person also had an extra bowl of soup.
Manbao didn't think there was anything wrong with eating at the Bai family's. She dragged her bowl over to Bai Shanbao and whispered to him, "Is it like what's in the storybook?"
Manbao has already mastered the usage of the system. Apart from wandering around the mall, his favorite thing is to exchange storybooks with Keke.
Some books require a lot of points, but some require very few. Manbao’s favorite books are those with strong stories but not many points required.
Not only did she read it herself, she also lent it to Bai Shanbao. After all, they always exchanged books. So Bai Shanbao understood everything Manbao said.
Bai Shanbao nodded vigorously and whispered, "There must be a corrupt official."
"What a bad guy!"
Bai Jilang sat across from them, trying to listen, but he couldn't hear anything. However, he was convinced that they were saying bad things about him, so he slammed his chopsticks on the table and asked angrily, "Are you scolding me?"
The two men who were discussing this happily looked up at him, tutted at the same time, and one of them asked, "Are you an official?"
"Do you have what it takes to be a bad official?"
In their opinion, being an official requires great ability, and being a bad official requires even greater ability, because the bad guys in the books, especially the bad officials, are usually very smart, well, smarter than good officials.
Of course, the bad officials will fail in the end, but Manbao and Bai Shanbao have done statistics and found that it takes many good officials to defeat the other side. Usually, it takes seven good people to defeat one bad guy.
So in the two children's little minds, bad officials are usually smarter than good officials.
So the two of them looked at Bai Erlang critically and said, "Maybe you can't even be a good official."
Bai Shanbao: "You need to take an exam to become an official. I think you may not even be able to become an official unless you study hard from now on."
Bai Erlang's eyes widened as he asked, "What are you talking about, good officials or bad officials? Did I ever say I wanted to be an official?"
"We're talking about the Minjiang River bursting its banks. It could be a natural disaster or a man-made disaster." Manbao pointed to the dark sky outside and said, "A natural disaster is this, and a man-made disaster is a corrupt official."
Bai Shanbao said, "I don't know who the bad official is."
Based on his "many years" of reading experience, Manbao analyzed, "Generally speaking, bad officials are high-ranking officials. Repairing a water conservancy project is such a big thing, so it must be a high-ranking official who takes the lead. So, the governor of Yizhou?"
Bai Shanbao: "And the Jiedushi of Jiannan Road."
Manbao: "There is also the King of Yizhou in Yizhou."
Bai Jilang was confused, "What are you talking about?"
How come he doesn't understand a single word?
I heard that the book review section might be released today. I finally ended the days of single-player. To be honest, I missed you so much during these days without you. I missed you so much.
Because I can't see your comments, I have no motivation to write, just like playing a single-player game.
(End of this chapter)
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