Soon after, Qi Jingxuan set off. Before leaving, he asked Xu Yunchuan to take good care of Ruan Yumu, since she had recently miscarried and was pregnant again, so she needed extra care.
Before leaving, he gave all his wives and concubines a set of precepts for women, instructing them to copy them ten times per courtyard. Hopefully, this would reduce the trouble they might cause.
So he mounted his horse and rode with the eldest son to the Yellow River.
"General Qi is quite familiar with the area around the Yellow River. I heard that you became famous in the Hexi War and rose from a lowly cavalryman to a deputy general."
"Yes, it's been five or six years since then. Back then, we were young and reckless, and quite bold, unlike now where we're so timid and hesitant." Qi Jingxuan had never experienced it himself; it was the previous Qi Jingxuan who had gone through it. He could only pretend to be very serious when answering the young master's question.
"Is my sister well-behaved since marrying into your family? I heard the other day that she is pregnant and has now been entrusted with an important task by the Emperor. General Qi, you are truly blessed with double happiness."
Jiang Congzhi knew his sister's character well; she was very domineering at home, and it was good that the Qi family was not in chaos.
"Thanks to the eldest son, everything is well at home."
The two chatted and laughed, and together with a large retinue, they rode swiftly to the Yellow River.
In fact, the situation of the Yellow River floods was far more serious than the imperial court knew, with many civilians displaced and starving to death everywhere.
Upon entering the border town, they saw beggars everywhere. "General Qi, the situation is not good! It's much worse than we knew."
"Yes, even before entering the city, we saw many beggars, ragged women, and children. The city itself was even more chaotic and smoky!"
Qi Jingxuan grabbed someone at random, "Where is the border prefect?"
"I don't know anything about a prefect. I'm going to the west of the city to grab some porridge, or there won't be any left. Let go of me!" With that, the man broke free from Qi Jingxuan's grasp and headed straight for the west of the city.
"We need to find the local officials," Qi Jingxuan sighed, gazing in the direction the commoner had gone.
"I need to get my uncle to allocate some disaster relief funds," Jiang Congzhi thought of immediately upon seeing the situation.
"No rush! Let's find the prefect first and ask what's going on. Let's go and take a look at the scene as soon as possible."
Qi Jingxuan, with his decisive and efficient nature, rode his horse at full speed straight to the prefectural governor's office in the border town. He found the office tightly shut, and the entrance deserted.
After inquiring around, they learned that the prefect was leading the disaster victims to the front lines for rescue efforts. Qi Jingxuan quickly went to the riverbank with the eldest son.
The Yellow River was surging and turbulent, completely different from when we came here to fight a few days ago. The riverbed downstream was frozen solid, and the prefect was leading everyone to break through the ice.
Cold water washed over their feet, but no one felt the cold because of their concern for their home.
"Your Excellency Prefect! I am the General appointed by His Majesty to manage the Yellow River floods. Come here quickly, we have important matters to discuss with you."
"My lord, it seems someone is looking for you over there," a soldier nearby quickly reminded him.
"Is it someone from the imperial court?" The prefect quickly straightened his clothes, preparing to go forward to greet the emperor.
As he walked across the ice and drew closer to the person approaching, the prefect clearly sensed that it was someone from the imperial court, and wiped his dirty face as he did so.
"Ah! General Qi, folks, it's General Qi! General Qi is here. We're saved!" The prefect knew there was hope as soon as he saw Qi Jingxuan on horseback. Back then, during the Hexi War, it was Qi Jingxuan who led a small force of five hundred men to burn the enemy's supplies and achieve victory.
A few months ago, it was General Qi who quelled the constant harassment from the state of Bianta.
Upon hearing that General Qi had arrived, everyone present put down what they were doing and began to kneel.
"General Qi!"
General Qi, please save us!
"General Qi!"
These were all people who had heard of General Qi's reputation, and some of them had even served in Qi Jingxuan's Qi family army. So when the prefect was gathering people to break through the ice, everyone volunteered.
"Prefect, this is Jiang Congzhi, the eldest son of my Jiang Kingdom."
The prefect quickly brushed off his sleeves, knelt down, and said, "Greetings, Young Master!"
"Please rise quickly, there's no need for such formalities." Jiang Congzhi quickly dismounted and helped the prefect, who was kneeling on the ground, to his feet.
"Come, you two, follow me. The prefect will ride with me on one horse!"
Qi Jingxuan extended his hand to the prefect, who, not understanding what was going on, quickly mounted his horse.
Jiang Congzhi had no choice but to follow them on horseback, wondering what Qi Jingxuan was up to.
Once you reach the mountainside, you can overlook the entire western bank of the Yellow River.
“Prefect, I studied the terrain here before I came. You see, the snow melted upstream, causing the flow to increase. The middle section can't go down, which is why it affects the common people. Actually, the bend of the river has two sides, the shady side and the yin side. The shady side is constantly being eroded. Most of the people here live on the shady side. On the yang side, the water level is constantly accumulating silt. Once you cross this mountain, the Yellow River can flow normally.”
"Yes, people built their houses here because the terrain was low-lying and it was easy to get water to grow crops."
"Prefect, do you have any flint?"
“Yes, what do you need this little fire for? It won’t do any good. Besides, with so much water, the fire will go out in no time.” The prefect quickly took out a tinderbox from his sleeve.
"What do you think, young master?"
"You want to fill in the shady side of the river with a wall to narrow the river channel, so that the people of the border town will have no more worries!" Jiang Congzhi didn't know what Qi Jingxuan was trying to do at first, but after listening to him talk for a while, he understood.
"Prefect, open the mountain! Evacuate the people."
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