The man was carried in sitting on a chair. Not only that, his eyes were covered with a white silk cloth, revealing only his smooth jawline.
After being placed on the ground, the man raised his hand and saluted, saying, "I am unable to walk, please forgive me, Your Highness."
Before Liu Tan could ask, the Wuyuan County Magistrate beside him said carelessly, "He can't see either."
Liu Tan was completely dumbfounded, blind and lame. How could such a person be good at flood control?
He asked, "What's your name?"
"Xu Lin."
The surname Xu. Liu Tan felt a flicker of doubt in his mind. He felt that it sounded familiar, but he couldn't put it into words. So he simply put it aside and asked, "I heard from the Wuyuan County Magistrate that you have quite a few insights into flood control?"
Xu Lin said calmly, "I have studied this art for twenty years. No one in the world is better at it than me."
Liu Tan was shocked. "How can you be so arrogant? Have you ever asked me before?"
He asked curiously, "How old are you?"
Xu Lin replied, "I am thirty-one this year."
Liu Tan laughed and said, "You mean you've been working on flood control since you were eleven?"
The other county governors nearby also smiled. Xu Lin didn't seem to care and said calmly, "Whether it's true or not, Your Highness will know after you try it."
Liu Tan suppressed his smile and said, "Water control is no different from other things. It can't be solved by playing tricks. If I don't think it's feasible, don't blame me for kicking you out."
Xu Lin raised his chin slightly. "Then who can be the judge? What if Your Highness doesn't understand what I'm saying?"
The people nearby couldn't help but gasp. Although everyone was relatively restrained, there were so many people around that it was particularly noticeable.
Liu Tan laughed and said, "You haven't told me yet, how do you know if I understand? Besides, no matter what the situation is, I have to be the judge. If you can't convince me, it means you don't have enough knowledge. You should keep practicing."
His words were a bit unreasonable, but Xu Lin nodded good-naturedly: "Your Highness, you have a point."
Liu Tan had the map brought over and said, "Let's not talk about anything else, let's start with..."
Liu Tan originally wanted to let him look at the map, but when he turned around, he saw that the white silk on Xu Lin's face was stuck there - asking a blind man to look at the map is like poking someone's wound, isn't it?
As if he knew what Liu Tan was going to say, Xu Lin said softly, "Your Highness, just name the place. All the rivers in the world are in my heart."
Liu Tan was increasingly puzzled, unable to understand how a blind man could have done this. He then said, "Well, let's not start with the specific location. Let's talk about the overall situation. Tell me what you think."
In fact, Liu Tan already had a plan in mind for what to do, and he asked this person just to test him.
Xu Lin said, "If we want to alleviate the flooding in the Hetao area, the first thing we need is forests, the second is canals, and the third is lakes."
Liu Tan's eyes lit up. Although his words were brief, they hit the point. Liu Tan asked again, "Tell me in detail."
Xu Lin said, "Since Your Highness has inspected the Yellow River, you should have noticed that it carries a large amount of silt, which causes the water to become turbid. Over time, this silt accumulates and silt builds up, causing the riverbed to rise, causing the water to flow freely. It can even clog the river channel, forcing the Yellow River to change course. Because the Yellow River carries so much water, every time it changes course, it creates a disaster."
Liu Tan asked, "So we need to plant trees?"
Xu Lin said: "That's right, there are many trees along the Yangtze River. They can absorb a lot of water and stabilize the soil, preventing it from being completely washed away by the water."
Everyone on the side was a little shocked, looking at Liu Tan and then at Xu Lin.
For a moment, I didn't know whether I should be shocked that Xu Lin and Liu Tan had the same views, or that Liu Tan and Xu Lin had the same views.
But either way it's scary.
If Xu Lin is really as he said, he is a genius in water control, and His Royal Highness the King of the Northern Territory is also very proficient in this area, which is even more unacceptable than Xu Lin.
First, how old is Xu Lin, and how old is the King of the North? Secondly, the King of the North knows so many things. If he can even control floods, wouldn't that be the legendary ability to fight on horseback and govern the people on foot?
The mayor of Wuyuan County was a little nervous. He didn't know much about flood control, and he didn't understand what Xu Lin said. He instinctively thought that Xu Lin was a liar who came here to cheat people. If he agreed, he would definitely hand the matter over to Xu Lin. Flood control would cost a lot of money, and a large amount of money would be transferred to him. This was what Xu Lin wanted.
It turned out that he was not a liar, but had some real skills.
After hearing what Xu Lin said, Liu Tan simply said, "You stay!"
Xu Lin had already prepared a long speech, but after hearing this, he couldn't help but feel a little confused: "Your Highness, don't you want to continue listening?"
Liu Tan smiled and said, "The fact that you can say all this means you've done research. There's no need to waste your time on this. If you have that much time, you'd better study how to solve the problem as quickly as possible."
Xu Lin was silent for a long moment before he said, "Your Highness is indeed a man of few words. In that case, I won't keep you in suspense. If Your Highness wants to move quickly, then send people to plant trees and dig a lake at the same time."
"Hmm?" This was different from Liu Tan's idea. He asked curiously, "Why not dig a canal first?"
Xu Lin explained, "The canal requires precise calculations and will take a long time to construct, which doesn't meet Your Highness's requirement of solving it in the shortest possible time."
Liu Tan laughed and said, "Isn't digging a lake the same thing? Creating a lake is even harder, isn't it?"
"But we can choose a suitable oxbow lake to expand." Xu Lin tilted his head slightly, as if thinking: "Wait until the lake is formed and then divert water from it. This is safer than diverting water directly from the Yellow River. If the Yellow River floods, there is still the lake as a buffer."
Liu Tan was stunned for a moment, then thought for a while and said, "What you said makes sense. I didn't expect that. Then what?"
Xu Lin paused, as if he hadn't expected Liu Tan to admit his shortcomings so readily. After a moment's thought, he said, "It would be best to plant trees around the lake, gradually moving them toward the riverbed. This will prevent the trees from being destroyed by the Yellow River's diversion before they've even grown."
Liu Tan propped up his chin and said, "Well, I haven't really thought about what kind of trees in the Northern Territory are suitable."
Xu Lin immediately said, "We can't use trees!"
Liu Tan was a little surprised: "Can't we use trees? Why? What else can we use if not trees?"
Xu Lin said, "It's not that they can't be used, but if you don't use them at the beginning, trees will grow too slowly and take too long to stabilize the soil in a short time. So it's best to choose easy-to-grow plants at the beginning."
Liu Tan: You have touched upon my blind spot in knowledge.
He leaned forward slightly and asked, "Do you know any plants that can grow quickly?"
Since Xu Lin was able to say this, it meant that he must have thought about it and might have the answer.
As expected, Xu Lin said, "Saltwood."
"Saltwood?" Liu Tan was slightly stunned. He couldn't figure out what this thing was for a moment, but... since it's called "wood", doesn't it also mean a tree?
Xu Lin heard his confusion and said, "Saltwood is very special. Its seeds have a very short lifespan, but with just a little water, they can germinate within two hours. It's the fastest-germinating plant I've ever seen. It's also not very dependent on water, so it doesn't require a lot of manpower to irrigate the edges of lakes or dry riverbeds."
Liu Tan frowned, feeling that this plant sounded familiar.
Xu Lin tilted his head to listen, and when he saw that Liu Tan didn't say anything, he continued, "Another advantage of saltwood is that a very precious medicinal herb will parasitize on it."
Liu Tan asked, "A very rare plant? What is it?"
"Goblin."
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