Chapter 155 Rainy Night
The heavy rain in Long'an County did not stop even after the dam broke. Fortunately, the county government was located on a high ground and was not submerged by the flood, but the farmland in the low-lying areas had already become a vast ocean.
The night was as dark as ink. A faint mist rose from the rain, covering the entire county government office and the busy shadows in the inner courtyard.
Li Yishen stood in the darkness, looking at the two large boxes in front of him, and repeatedly told his confidants, "Before dawn, you must personally deliver them to Lord Bi, understand?"
"Master, it's raining and flooding, I'm afraid the road will be difficult to travel..."
"Nonsense, don't I know that the road is difficult to walk on? Why didn't I see you struggling when I was getting benefits on weekdays, but you are hesitant when I ask you to work hard?
I tell you, if we don’t do this right, we’ll all lose our heads together!”
"Yes, yes, I understand!"
Li Yishen watched with his own eyes as several followers loaded the boxes onto the carriage and quietly left through the back door of the county government office. He then patted his chest and walked into the house.
He returned to the door and paused.
It’s strange. I didn’t turn out the light when I went out just now, so why is the room dark?
Li Yishen pushed open the door and fumbled to light the oil lamp again, but the next moment he was almost scared to death!
Behind the table, a man in black appeared out of nowhere!
This man had deep eyebrows and eyes, and a hooked nose that particularly attracted attention. Li Yishen immediately remembered that he had seen this man beside Bi Cong, and hurriedly said respectfully:
"Sir, last time the prefect helped me advance 700 taels of money for Mr. Yang's carriage expenses. I have just collected 1,000 taels and sent someone to return it to the prefect!"
Da Ying looked at his bewildered look and said with a smile, "I understand. I've been waiting for this. Let them do the hard labor and save so much money that I won't be able to move it myself later."
It seemed that he was not here to collect debts. Confusion flashed across Li Yishen's face. "My Lord, you came here so late at night, is it because..."
"For you." Da Ying stood up and walked to Li Yishen with a regretful tone.
"Mr. Li, don't blame Mr. Bi. You embezzled 5,000 taels of money for dam repairs, and the Emperor is furious. No one can protect you."
"What? Five thousand taels!?" Li Yishen widened his eyes. He clearly only took one thousand five hundred taels!
The next moment he realized something, his face changed drastically, and he rushed out.
Da Ying curled his lips. He was tall and strong. He extinguished the candle with one hand, and reached forward with the other hand to drag Li Yishen back, like an eagle catching a chick.
Li Yishen didn't even make a sound, he just felt the force on his neck getting tighter and tighter.
"The emperor is asking about this. You will die sooner or later. It is better to use your death to save others. What is the saying in the Central Plains? Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."
"Boom--" A dazzling flash of lightning flashed outside the door, followed by a deafening thunder.
Behind the door frame, a pair of black official boots were swinging back and forth in a regular pattern...
Da Ying closed the door again, put on his hood, and disappeared into the night.
…
Long'an County is one of the most remote counties under the jurisdiction of Jiangzhou. Starting from Zhaoping County, one should have taken the Luojiang waterway. However, after the Luojiang River burst its dike, the water level in the downstream dropped drastically, making it difficult for ships to pass. Therefore, everyone from Longchang Academy could only go there by land.
Liang Zhou made preparations in advance and made a foldable tent with bamboo poles and oilcloth, and everyone set up the tent to rest at night.
It takes about five days to get to Long'an County by land. The scenery along the way is no longer as peaceful and beautiful as before. The closer you get to Long'an County, the muddier the land becomes. The carriage got stuck in the mud countless times, but fortunately they had a lot of people, and with the help of Murong Jing, they were able to pull the carriage out together.
After struggling all the way to the vicinity of Long'an County, everyone was already covered in dust and dirt and looked no different from disaster victims.
The rain finally stopped temporarily, and Ouyang Ye seized the opportunity to let everyone take a break and make a fire to cook something to eat.
Everyone found a high ground and spread straw mats on the ground so that they could barely sit down.
It rained continuously near Long'an County, and there was no dry wood to be found in the wild. Therefore, the only firewood and charcoal left for making fires were the ones brought from the city, but they had already become damp.
When Liang Zhou and his men lit the fire, the billowing thick smoke choked everyone to tears. They could only bear it and barely cook something to eat.
After the dam broke, floodwaters overflowed and gathered into new shallow streams or puddles in the low-lying areas near Long'an.
Zhu Qingyan was helping with the cooking and was unable to open his eyes due to the smoke. He ran to the upwind side to get some fresh air while coughing violently.
"Young Master, are you okay?" Murong Jing came over from behind and handed her some water.
Zhu Qingyan recovered and said that he was fine. He was about to go back to help, but when he turned around, his eyes suddenly fell on the foot of the slope, where the flood had formed a new river, and it seemed that something was being washed over in the distance.
"Ajing, look what that is?" Zhu Qingyan pulled Murong Jing and pointed it to her.
Murong Jing looked down, a tremor flashed in her eyes, and she blocked Zhu Qingyan's sight with her body, "Don't look, let's go eat something, we still have to hurry."
“No…” Zhu Qingyan felt something was wrong and gently pushed Murong Jing away. The thing floating on the river was getting closer and closer, and she could finally see it clearly—
It's a pile of corpses!
The corpse was soaked to a pale and swollen state, beyond recognition!
Zhu Qingyan was so frightened that his face turned pale. He took a few steps back and looked at Murong Jing in panic.
"Alas, this is what happens when you encounter a flood." Murong Jing was used to it and patted her soothingly, "We can only wait for the government to send people to salvage these bodies. There is nothing we can do. Let's go back."
It was the first time that Zhu Qingyan saw so many corpses, but rather than fear, he felt more shocked and heavy in his heart.
A natural disaster could cause so much suffering!
"The vegetable porridge is ready, come and eat!" Liang Zhou greeted everyone with a spoon in his hand, while helping everyone serve the porridge.
Zhao Sicheng stood on the other side of the high ground, using a pencil to roughly record the direction of nearby mountains and rivers, with a serious expression.
Zhu Qingyan was about to go over to eat with Murong Jing, but he stopped again, with his head slightly tilted.
"Ah Jing, listen, is there any sound? It sounds like someone is crying!"
Murong Jing pricked up her ears upon hearing this, and indeed she heard faint crying sounds, which were getting closer and closer, as if they were coming from the river below.
"Look, there are people there!" Zhu Qingyan suddenly shouted, pointing upstream of the river.
I saw a wooden barrel floating there, with a thin little girl squatting inside, clinging to the edge of the barrel and crying.
"Hurry up and save people!" Murong Jing made a prompt decision and asked a few people to rush towards the river.
When everyone learned that a little girl was floating on the river, they immediately went to help, put a rope around the wooden barrel, and pulled the barrel to the shore.
The girl in the bucket looked about seven or eight years old, with disheveled hair and soaked body, and she looked obviously terrified. After being taken out of the bucket by Murong Jing, she still looked terrified and her body kept shaking.
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