Chapter 23 No one knows more about flood control than me
Why does Sister Xie ask such worldly questions?
The woman spoke in a clear and stern tone.
Xie Lingjiang was not surprised, as if she was used to the young woman's tone. She took off her shoes, stepped into the courtyard, opened the curtain and entered, and suddenly smelled a fragrance that filled the room.
Looking out from under the eaves of the Chaoshui Pavilion.
There was a young woman who was about fifteen or sixteen years old. She was exceptionally beautiful and pure. She wore a green hibiscus crown, a red dress with white pearls sewn into the seams, and shoes with five-colored patterns.
This woman, Rong Zhimei, has a faint plum blossom-shaped mark on her forehead, which is quite unusual.
When reading in bed, she wore a crown and Taoist robes, a style currently popular among upper-class noblewomen in the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, compared to the heroic and spirited Xie family noblewomen, this plum-blossom-adorned lady was more inclined towards the tranquil and unassuming spirit of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
Xie Lingjiang knelt down beside her, sword across her lap, "We'll be living under the same roof for the next few days, which may be a bit of a bother. Please forgive me, Sister Su."
Su Guo'er closed the book with her delicate hands, showing some interest: "Sister Xie, have you studied Xie family metaphysics?"
Xie Lingjiang shook her head and looked straight ahead. A plum petal fell into the pond. "These years, I have only followed my father to learn Confucianism."
Su Guo'er looked somewhat disappointed, shook her head, lost interest, rested her head on the back of her hand, and flipped through the book with her fingers.
Calm down.
Each of them had their own worries.
Xie Lingjiang was somewhat worried about Yingniang, fearing further retaliation from the Liu family. However, Ouyang Rong advised her not to look for her for the time being and released Yingniang, saying that the less they looked for her, the safer she would be...
Under the eaves, one lay down and the other sat, the two women with very different temperaments.
Outside the courtyard, a chubby-faced maidservant carrying a fruit platter entered, humming a tune. She paused to watch the two young ladies' backs as they walked away, finding the scene exquisitely beautiful and unwilling to disturb them. Her mistress and Miss Xie were both exceptional beauties; she wondered which lucky man would be fortunate enough to marry them.
...
Taking advantage of a midday nap, Ouyang Rong closed his eyes and flew into the Merit Pagoda in the clouds.
Just after holding a court session on the main street, he was surrounded by the continuous, clear sound of wooden fish drums, which sounded like "hearing celestial music and his ears were instantly enlightened."
It felt like a long-awaited rain after a drought.
Finally, we've made quite a bit of money.
Upon entering the ancient pagoda, Ouyang Rong immediately looked at the illusory characters above the small wooden fish, and then felt quite gratified:
Merit: 421
Unexpectedly, handling a case directly increased my merit by 271 points.
It's hard to tell whether it was because Liu Zilin was so wicked that the people who had been bullied were overjoyed, or because the silver given to the injured people was so heartwarming.
Moreover, the "aftershocks" of this incident seem to be far from over. In addition to the series of merit points that were credited to his account after the case was judged, Ouyang Rong can hear the sound of a wooden fish every now and then.
Aside from the joy of taking another step closer to the goal of "ten thousand merits," Ouyang Rong felt that the greatest benefit of these merits was that they made him clearly aware that what he was doing was on a relatively correct path—the criteria of this merit tower were not absolutely correct, but based on Ouyang Rong's observations over the past few days, they were still biased towards goodwill...
That's enough. This positive feedback is sometimes more important than the merit points themselves.
Let's move forward without hesitation.
Ouyang Rong thought to himself.
The lunch break is over.
Before noon, Ouyang Rong rushed to the county government office. When County Magistrate Diao arrived, he looked up from his desk and asked directly:
How many disaster victims are there in our county right now?
"About two or three thousand people."
“About?” Ouyang Rong frowned.
"Well, I didn't send anyone to count them. I calculated it based on the daily relief grains received. In addition, some displaced people were given porridge directly."
"Is it distributed per person?"
"Receive it by household, two catties per household, or the corresponding amount of porridge."
"How can two jin be enough?" Ouyang Rong frowned. As an adult, he ate six liang of rice every day at the temple. Moreover, the disaster victims did not have any protein, meat, or vegetable supplies, only rice porridge. "A household, including the elderly and children, would have at least five or six people on average. How can they eat only two jin of rice?"
“Hey, Magistrate, two jin is more than enough. In special circumstances, it’s enough to fill half a stomach. Our Longcheng granary doesn’t have any surplus grain.”
"How much grain is left in the granary of Longcheng County?"
County Magistrate Diao thought for a moment, "Around ten thousand shi (a unit of dry measure)."
"Is it left or right? Isn't there a definite number?" Ouyang Rong took a deep breath. "Never mind. I'll do it."
Magistrate Diao chuckled awkwardly:
“The magistrate needn’t go to such trouble and be so particular. The imperial court has regulations that the annual grain distribution to the poor cannot exceed 10,000 shi. In years of disaster, it is sufficient to provide relief to the poor for three months. We must follow the rules. The disaster relief grain from above has not yet arrived, and our yamen only needs to distribute 10,000 shi. I calculated it a few days ago, and 10,000 shi in the granary is definitely enough. If we are frugal, it should be enough to feed two or three thousand disaster victims for half a year.”
Ouyang Rong looked at him and nodded: "Lord Diao's calculations on this matter are quite accurate, without any ambiguity."
County Magistrate Diao, of course, sensed the sarcasm, but lowered his head, drank his tea, and pretended not to understand.
Ouyang Rong stared at the documents on the table without speaking. The hall was silent for a moment before the young magistrate calmly said:
"I have studied the topographical map of Xialongcheng County and the records of floods over the years in the county annals."
“Our Longcheng County is located between the Yangtze River and the Yunmeng Ancient Marsh. Butterfly Creek is the main waterway through which the water of the Yunmeng Marsh flows into the Yangtze River.”
“The middle reaches of the Yangtze River have always been prone to floods, especially during the flood season in May and June. The main stream is particularly swift, and the water in Yunmengze is difficult to drain. This is why the floodwaters in Yunmengze rose and the dikes broke, causing the Butterfly Creek to overflow its course and easily flood our Longcheng County for several days, because the Yangtze River next to it is difficult to discharge floodwaters.”
“In previous years, the flooding of Yunmengze usually occurred during the plum rain season that began in June, but this year it is particularly unusual!”
"It's not even the rainy season yet, but the strange floodwaters in Yunmengze have already breached the Digong Sluice Gate, the most important flood control barrier!"
Ouyang Rong propped himself up on the table, his eyes serious, and said:
"There's an 80% chance this year will see more than just this one major flood. Once the heaviest rainfall of the plum rain season arrives, there will be an even more intense one!"
County Magistrate Diao paused, his teacup still in his hand, staring blankly at Ouyang Rong. "These were all deduced by the county magistrate from looking at maps and county records?"
Isn't it obvious?
County Magistrate Diao was somewhat shocked. "This... I am foolish and don't quite understand, but I feel that what you said makes some sense. I didn't expect that you, at such a young age, would be so knowledgeable about water conservancy. There are very few water conservancy experts like you in our Great Zhou Dynasty."
This time it was Ouyang Rong's turn to be stunned. He frowned and asked, "Then how did you prevent floods before? Longcheng County has experienced so many major floods, don't you know the reason?"
Magistrate Diao was somewhat speechless:
"This flood can come at any time, and who can control it except the Dragon King? However, before the Di Gong Dam was built, Dragon City was flooded once a year and once every three years. After the Di Gong Dam was built, there is only one major flood every four years."
"So every four years during the plum rain season, we are extra vigilant. But we never expected that the floodwaters in Yunmengze would come so early this year. So everyone was unprepared, which led to the current situation."
"According to the pattern of 'a major flood every four years,' there has already been one major flood, so the next one should be in four years... Is it no longer accurate?"
Ouyang Rong: "..."
Good grief, I'm trying to explain science to you, and you're just spouting rhymes?
However, he quickly came to understand. After calming down, he realized that almost no one can transcend their own era, unless they do not belong to that era in the first place.
Ouyang Rong waved his hand:
"Let's not argue about that anymore. Listen to me. From today onwards, I will take full responsibility for all matters related to disaster relief and flood control."
"If we don't want the whole city to be submerged again in the next flood, we must repair the flood control works as soon as possible. And to repair the flood control works, we must first provide disaster relief and appease the tens of thousands of displaced people inside and outside the county."
He stated firmly, "The two are not contradictory. I will organize the people and provide work relief, but the 10,000 shi of grain in the granary right now is not enough. This is the food line for the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled disaster victims, and it cannot be touched. I need more grain. You must immediately send someone to Jiangzhou to urge them to release the disaster relief grain from the imperial court as soon as possible. There can be no delay!"
County Magistrate Diao glanced silently at the energetic young magistrate in front of him, thought for a moment, and said, "The memorial has already been delivered by fast horse. I expect that the imperial court's disaster relief grain will be drawn from the nearby Jiangzhou Jimin Granary."
"Jimin Granary?"
"These are the granaries that the imperial court stores on a regular basis to prepare for natural disasters. They are set up in all the provinces. The closest one to us is the Jimin Granary in Jiangzhou. According to regulations, it stores hundreds of thousands of shi of grain."
"That should be enough."
Ouyang Rong breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. It seemed that the Great Zhou Dynasty was quite reliable and had some complete systems. He had underestimated it before.
Just then, Magistrate Diao suddenly glanced outside the door, turned his head and whispered:
"However, Your Excellency, if you are truly worried about the people and eager to control the floods, there are other ways... You might even be able to control the floods without using the imperial court's disaster relief grain, and be commended and promoted by the court."
Ouyang Rong asked curiously, "What method?"
County Magistrate Diao smiled, "The Liu family."
...
Happy Lunar New Year, my brothers!
(End of this chapter)
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