Chapter 190 The Qi Steams Over Yunmeng Marsh
Beside the pavilion that covers the eyes.
In the drizzle.
It was clearly a scene of familiar people meeting and exchanging pleasantries, a moment that should have brought peace of mind.
But the white-haired maid's question was uttered.
A tacit silence fell over the field.
Yan Liulang noticed that several pairs of eyes were directed at him.
Wei Lai, the youngest daughter of the Su family whose given name is unknown, is a chubby-faced maid...
Besides, there was another gaze coming from behind that girl, Wei Lai.
She was a pretty and endearing girl.
Yan Liulang had a good impression of the maids and servants who brought Mei Luzhai yesterday.
She seems to be the cook at the Deer Garden. I heard Miss Wei Lai mention her once, and it seems that the Prince quite likes her cooking.
This pretty cook stayed quietly by Wei Lai's side the whole time.
At that moment, the gaze cast by those eyes, as clear as a stream, made Yan Liulang take a second look.
It seems that the Ming family treats their servants very well; even the cook is so concerned about the Ming family's safety.
Yan Liulang hesitated for a moment, then said ambiguously:
"The magistrate is dealing with urgent official business and asked me to take you up the mountain. You can rest at Donglin Temple for a couple of days. Don't go back to Meiluyuan yet, it's dangerous down the mountain now."
"What official business is Tanlang handling? It's dangerous down the mountain, is Tanlang up the mountain or not? Why isn't Constable Yan by Tanlang's side?"
Ye Weilai tilted her small face up, her cheeks covered in raindrops.
Their fingers clenched together under their sleeves.
The night before last, after Liu Ashan came to Meilin to report the abnormal water level, Tanlang rushed out of the house without hesitation and has not returned for two days.
Ye Weilai and Xiu Niang initially thought he was on Da Gushan Mountain, but after searching high and low for a whole day, they still couldn't find him.
Right now, the mountain is full of disorganized refugees, the sky is gray, and the rain is continuous and damp, so a sense of gloom naturally rises in one's heart.
"With...with Brother Ashan here, Miss Weilai has nothing to worry about."
Yan Liulang comforted him, changing the subject:
"Miss Wei Lai, how are you staying at Donglin Temple? That guesthouse is the same one where A Qing's family stayed before, they know it well... Oh, by the way, is there anything you're missing? I'll go and tell the county magistrate..."
Is Ouyang Lianghan at Digongzha right now?
Su Xiaomei, her face veiled in purple gauze, suddenly spoke, interrupting the blue-clad constable.
Yan Liulang: "..."
The atmosphere on the field suddenly froze.
The gazes of the crowd shifted, and Yan Liulang silently lowered his head, his hand unconsciously tightening its grip on the hilt of his sword.
To appease the people, they could use white lies, but how could they conceal the truth from the Ming Dynasty's family?
Su Dalang, who had been listening in the background, frowned and said:
"Brother Lianghan, what are you doing at Di Gong Sluice Gate? Didn't the people at the county government say that everyone went up the mountain just to avoid risks? The rain hasn't been heavy yet, and Di Gong Sluice Gate shouldn't be a big problem, could it be..."
He swallowed hard, and said worriedly, "If the situation is so critical, wouldn't it be dangerous for Brother Lianghan to run over there?"
Su Guo'er's chin was pointed beneath the purple veil, and her voice, piercing through the mystery, revealed the truth:
"The situation was already critical. The rain downstream is nothing. Whether it rains or not will not affect the water level. The Yangtze River is right behind us, and the water will drain quickly."
"But the real challenge is the torrential rains from the Yunmengze Marsh hundreds of miles upstream. Butterfly Creek is so narrow and winding, so how to release the floodwaters is the real problem."
"The county government's propaganda is merely to appease the people; brother, don't be naive."
Su Dalang couldn't help but open his mouth: "Sister, Brother Lianghan, he..."
Su Guo'er didn't look at her brother, but glanced sideways at the beacon tower next to Yan Liulang, and immediately nodded to the latter, confirming in a crisp voice:
“Your family’s arrangements are correct and the layout is very reasonable.”
"When the Yunmeng Marsh floods, we must either block it or dredge it."
“Di Gong Gate is the way to block, while Zheyi Canal is the way to dredge.”
“Blocking is naturally not as good as dredging, but the second phase of the Zheyi Canal is only half-repaired. Forcibly opening it up could easily lead to abandonment halfway, and its flood discharge effect is also questionable before it is completed.”
"Right now, we can only pin our hopes on Di Gongzha, and Ouyang Lianghan will naturally go there to provide support."
"However, it's better to guide than to block. Even if the Di Gong Sluice is newly built, it has its limits. How high can it block the Yunmengze water level? How long will this last heavy rain of the plum rain season last? Everything is unknown."
"Officer Yan, there's no need to feel guilty. Since he asked you to stay, you and the county magistrate should just do what you need to do back home and not cause any trouble. That's the biggest help you can give."
Su Guo'er's calm analysis eased the tension on the field.
The young lady from the Su family nodded slightly towards the Di Gong Sluice Gate upstream in the distance, then turned and left first with her chubby-faced maid.
Before stepping out of the pavilion, with her back to the crowd, Su Guo'er sighed softly:
"It is truly a blessing for the people of Longcheng to have Ouyang Lianghan."
"Miss, wait for me!" Cai Shou ran forward to hold up an umbrella.
The master and servant returned to Donglin Temple on the mountain.
Su Dalang hesitated for a moment, then stayed where he was and went up to Yan Liulang to discuss the matter of the Su family raising a sum of money for the refugee camp.
Leaving the Zhemu Pavilion with Su Guo'er and Cai Shou were Ye Weilai and Xiu Niang.
The two women followed behind with their heads down, somewhat absent-minded.
Like the maids of Meilu Garden, the Su family also settled in Donglin Temple on the mountain, and the benefits of their past generous donations of incense money began to show.
Su Guo'er glanced back, slowed her pace, and walked alongside Ye Weilai. She looked ahead and offered a few words of comfort.
Although Su Guo'er wasn't good at comforting people, you could tell from Ye Weilai's forced smile and absent-minded walk.
The petite, slender figure of the white-haired maid was mostly exposed outside the umbrella. The shoulders of her narrow, light pink dress were damp, and a few strands of silvery-white liquid clung to her still slightly chubby, pale cheeks, adding to her pitiful and charming appearance, as if she had lost her anchor in life and was completely lost.
We were under the same umbrella.
Su Guo'er glanced sideways at the rare and unusual white-haired girl from another country.
Does Ouyang Lianghan like this kind of thing?
With a thoughtful look in her eyes, Su Guo'er suddenly reached out and gently pinched Ye Weilai's silver-white hair with two fingers to examine it.
Ye Weilai's face froze for a moment, and she took a half step back with a slight wariness.
Su Guo'er smiled gently beneath her veil.
At the very back, the embroiderer paid no attention to the small movements ahead. She kept turning back to look towards Di Gongzha, and at one moment she reached out and grabbed Ye Weilai's sleeve...
On the mountain path, Su Guo'er, walking at the front, had a slightly distracted expression on her face beneath her veil.
He has a lot on his mind.
This unexpected yet inevitable flood crisis forced the Su family to postpone the birth ceremony and other preparations they had made for her, and it was unclear when the crisis would be resolved.
Su Guo'er frowned slightly and couldn't help but turn her head to look in the direction of Di Gongzha.
But then, she froze.
"Hey, where's Miss Wei Lai? And where did that cook go? She was just following behind us..."
Cai Shou, holding an umbrella, looked around curiously and muttered to herself.
The mountain path behind the master and servant was completely empty.
...
Yunmengze has more than just water.
There was also fog.
The torrential rain over just five days not only caused the water level of Yunmengze to rise, but also caused water vapor to rise from the 900-mile-long Yunmengze, creating a vast expanse of misty waves that stretched as far as the eye could see.
If one could block out the sound of rain washing over the entire world, then the scene before Ouyang Rong's eyes would indeed be the magnificent fairyland described by a renowned writer of the Great Zhou Dynasty: "The mist rises from the Yunmeng Marsh, and the waves shake Yueyang City."
Unfortunately, the one currently deeply "shaken" by this beautiful scene of Yunmeng is the Digong Dam, which holds the hopes of all 6,000 officials and civilians in Longcheng County.
The literati and scholars of Chang'an and Luoyang were only captivated by the boundless expanse of the Yunmeng Marsh, and they relished the descriptions of the graceful and ethereal female cultivators of Yunmeng, who were often mentioned in tales of gods and ghosts.
Unfortunately, these beautiful aspirations, reminiscent of "poetry and distant places," which circulated in the teahouses of the Great Zhou Dynasty, became a nightmare for the neighboring counties of Jiangzhou.
This goddess is truly someone to be admired from afar, not to be trifled with.
Longcheng County, in particular, is nestled between the outlet of the northern gate of Yunmengze and the rushing Yangtze River, through which the Butterfly Creek flows.
They were the first to be affected.
The upstream Yunmeng Marsh is as unpredictable as the eccentric Yunmeng female cultivators within the marsh.
Moreover, there is a regular high tide every year, just like a woman's monthly red dragon, with a violent temper.
It's made everyone else suffer.
You represent poetry and distant horizons, while we're stuck with the mundane realities of life right now...
On the mountainside of Longbei Mountain, Ouyang Rong buried himself in his work, silent and withdrawn, too exhausted even to curse his mother.
He stood hunched over on the bamboo-lined hillside, wearing a straw hat and raincoat, his eyes bloodshot.
At this moment, Ouyang Rong took off his straw hat and threw it hard into the mud at his feet.
He vigorously wiped the mud off his face and continued wielding his machete, chopping bamboo alongside Liu Ashan and other able-bodied men.
Ouyang Rong felt that wearing this straw hat was completely useless.
It seemed like rain was coming from all directions.
A fierce, unpredictable wind swept in from Yunmengze.
The rain not only fell from top to bottom and from left to right, but the water droplets even hit the ground and bounced back with the mud, as if the raindrops were falling from bottom to top.
Ouyang Rong had never seen such a heavy rain in either of his two lifetimes.
If Ouyang Rong hadn't repeatedly confirmed with his junior sister that there were no celestial beings in heaven, he would have almost suspected that the water from the Milky Way had leaked down.
It's raining non-stop.
Ouyang Rong and the dozens of strong young men wielding their swords in the bamboo forest were all soaked through; apart from their parched throats, there wasn't a single dry spot on their bodies.
Liu Ashan and other men had already started splitting bamboo in the rain, shirtless.
Another gust of rain and wind lashed through the air, causing the bamboo forest on Longbei Mountain next to Di Gong Gate to rustle.
Ouyang Rong swayed and fell, his hand slipping as the woodcutter's knife nearly chopped into his shinbone.
He grabbed the bamboo pole, climbed out of the mud, wiped his muddy face, and was about to continue.
"Sir, have a drink!"
Liu Ashan licked his muddy lips and handed over the last bag of water.
Ouyang Rong took the sheepskin water pouch, opened it, took a mock sip, just enough to moisten his lips, then tossed it back to the taciturn man and hoarsely ordered:
"Give it to the brothers to drink."
After saying this, without waiting for Liu Ashan, who was shaking the water bag and looking puzzled, to ask any questions, Ouyang Rong stuck the wood-chopping knife into the ground, turned around and walked to the hillside not far behind.
He bent over, supporting himself on his knees with his hands, and gasped for breath.
During a short rest, his bloodshot eyes scanned his surroundings.
The rainwater that had been pouring down his head gathered into streams, dripping from Ouyang Rong's temples and chin onto the muddy ground beneath his feet.
Ouyang Rong had been working continuously for at least a day and a night without closing his eyes.
Except for that night when I took a short nap in the cabin after arriving at Digong Lock by boat.
Surrounded by everything, with the torrential rain pouring down, he didn't even know what time it was, busy to the point of exhaustion.
Ouyang Rong turned around, opened his mouth and shouted at the group of men, his hoarse voice barely drowning out the sound of the rain:
"We've cut most of them down. Let's send a batch of bamboo poles back to the sluice gate for repair!"
Ouyang Rong picked up the straw hat that was swaying like a boat in the mud at his feet, put it on his head, and turned around to lead Liu Ashan and the other men back to Di Gongzha, which was not far from the foot of the mountain, carrying a full load of bamboo poles.
On the way, Ouyang Rong turned his head and looked at the misty Caifeng Mountain opposite Longbei Mountain.
Over there, a group of able-bodied men he had arranged were working hard.
However, they don't cut bamboo like they do on Longbei Mountain.
Caifeng Mountain doesn't have large bamboo forests like Longbei Mountain, but it has a lot of sand and rocks.
The men over there were filling sandbags with sand and stones, and like them, they were carrying them back to the sluice gate dam between the two mountains.
The night before, Ouyang Rong had just arrived at Digong Sluice Gate when he discovered that the officials left to guard the sluice gate were doing nothing.
Or rather, they simply don't know how to do it.
Some even resort to desperate measures when they are ill.
Among them, some actually believed the superstitious words of the old craftsmen of the ancient Yue sword shop who stayed behind to guard the sluice gate, and somehow brought in a group of temple priests from the Dragon King Temple.
A motley crew of people crowded onto a high platform beside the Di Gong Gate, facing the surging waves of Yunmeng Marsh, to perform a sacrificial ceremony, feeding pigs, sheep and other livestock in an attempt to quell the so-called Dragon King's rage.
Enraged, Ouyang Rong, dressed in his official robes, rushed forward and kicked the temple priests who were pretending to be gods and spirits to the ground, making them wail. He then ordered them to be forked down and, together with the able-bodied men below the sluice gate, to move stones and carry soil, undergoing a wave of labor reform.
Ouyang Rong was so angry he laughed.
However, his anger subsided quickly, and he had a slight headache.
In fact, he knew that he couldn't be too demanding of these officials and civilians guarding the gates.
When disaster strikes, it's already quite remarkable that these people were able to resist abandoning the gates and fleeing, even though they still believed in superstitions and ghosts.
However, ignorance and lack of knowledge are not obstacles to survival, but rather a helpless situation.
Afterwards, Ouyang Rong calmed down and personally took over the Di Gong Gate, beginning to direct operations in an orderly manner.
While the Digong Dam can still hold on for now, we begin preparing essential materials for its rescue.
Arrangements were made quickly.
He first ordered the militia led by Liu Ashan to split into two groups to carry out the operation.
One group followed Ouyang Rong to collect bamboo poles at Longbei Mountain.
One group was loading sandbags and stones over Caifeng Mountain.
The craftsmen from the ancient Yue sword shop stayed behind to guard the sluice gate and monitor and maintain it.
As for the remaining officials and staff of the six departments, they were assigned to sail boats to transport supplies to the Di Gong Lock, upstream and downstream, as long as the waterway remained passable.
Alternatively, they could gather villagers along the way and send them all to Dagushan downstream...
The militia currently serving as the main force in the rescue effort was actually established by Liu Ashan at Ouyang Rong's instruction when the twenty disaster relief camps were set up in the suburbs. They were similar to the militia, just under a different name to avoid violating certain capital laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At that time, these militia were responsible for maintaining order during the work-for-relief program. They also played a role in the subsequent struggles against grain merchants, the Liu family, and other forces. Together with the constables led by Yan Liulang, they were considered Ouyang Rong's right-hand men.
However, after the post-disaster reconstruction was nearly completed, the problems of grain merchants and Liu Ziwen were resolved one after another, and many disaster victims left the disaster relief camp and returned to the countryside to rebuild. Most of the militia was disbanded, leaving only a small group of elite young men selected by Liu Ashan.
They've all been brought over now.
In fact, this group of young and middle-aged people who were born and raised in Longcheng County are the ones who have the deepest feelings for this land and are the most active in disaster relief and flood control. Liu Ashan is a representative of them.
They are the children of the people of Longcheng County. Ouyang Rong brought them here, so naturally he is also responsible for taking them back.
Ouyang Rong took a deep breath.
About an incense stick later, Ouyang Rong and the militia returned to Di Gongzha with the bamboo poles they had collected.
However, what came into view made Ouyang Rong's tired face freeze.
"Why are all these villagers at the sluice gate, and why is there more and more of them gathering? Weren't you supposed to send them to Dagushan downstream?"
Ouyang Rong said with a headache.
The officials who remained behind exchanged glances, then lowered their heads and remained silent.
Waaah, finally got a featured spot! Ahem, to all the new readers, I'd like to recommend Xiao Rong's old book, "I Have a Sword Immortal Wife"! If you like Xiao Rong's style and are interested, you can check it out~
(End of this chapter)
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