The Yellow River in this era is turbulent and restless, rising and falling at any time, and there are floods all year round.

The people who managed the river divided the flood season into nine periods: the first month of the year is called "Lingjie Water", the second and third months are called "Peach Blossom Water", the fourth month is called "Wheat Yellow Water", the fifth month is called "Gourd Vine Water", the sixth month is called "Fanshi Water", the seventh and eighth months are called "Huomiao Water", the ninth month is called "Denggao Water", the tenth month is called "Fucao Water", and the eleventh and twelfth months are called "Juling Water".

It is April now, and the wheat fields in the East China Plain are in full bloom and changing color, so the flood situation during this period is called "wheat yellow water". Wheat yellow water mainly comes from the precipitation in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. This spring, there is much more rain than in previous years, so wheat yellow water is naturally much more fierce than in previous years.

The torrential rain continued all night long and finally died down at daybreak, but the roar of the Yellow River became louder and louder.

That was the flood peak formed by the water from thousands of tributaries upstream converging into the Yellow River - the 'Maihuang Water' of the third year of Longqing had arrived!

A yellow dragon roared wildly, tumbling in the river bank with its fangs and claws bared. The water level was already level with the bank, and the situation was extremely critical!

Amid the terrifying sound of the turbulent water, countless civilians from the prefectures and counties along the river, as well as soldiers from the garrisons, were mobilized by the river government and the prefecture and county governments. They carried bags of sandbags and trotted up the 20-30-foot-high embankment, struggling to raise the embankment.

Under such circumstances, the three great leaders of water conservancy had no time to care about internal strife. The Minister of Works Zhu Heng, the Minister of Rivers Weng Dali, and the shameless Pan Jixun divided the 600-li river into three sections. Pan Jixun guarded Pei County, Zhu Heng commanded in Xuzhou, and Weng Dali went to Suqian to command.

When it comes to flood control, the most difficult place is Pei County, which suffered a major dam breach two months ago. The newly built river embankment is not yet solid, and pipe bursts and breaches continue to occur, with frequent dangers, all thanks to the large number of people filling the gap.

In order to defend their homes, the laborers fought hard, carrying sandbags and jumping into the pipe burst! They built layers of human walls at the breach to block the fierce waves and buy time for the people behind to put down the sandbags!

From time to time, laborers were washed away by the flood, but people had no time to rescue them, let alone grieve. They had to save all their strength and race against time to fight against the flood and rescue people.

Fortunately, Pan Jixun had rich experience in flood control. He calmly commanded 50,000 laborers, made the most efficient use of manpower, and adopted various simple and effective means to fight the flood peak.

But he felt a wave of sadness in his heart. These people who used their lives to protect the river bank would not know that no matter how hard they tried, their fate was not in their own hands...

At the previous flood prevention meeting, everyone agreed that if the downstream could not bear it anymore, they should light a beacon to send a signal to the upstream.

When he sees the signal smoke, he will open the cofferdam that has just been built, allowing the Yellow River to pour out from the place where it broke last time, and use Weishan Lake to store flood water, so as to minimize the overall loss.

Of course, the counties, towns and villages on both sides of Weishan Lake will inevitably be flooded again...

If it weren't for the fact that he might offend too many people here, how could Zhu Heng and Weng Dali let an idle person like him take the lead?

~~

In Xuzhou, the soldiers and civilians along the river were also fighting a desperate battle with Huang Long.

Although Zhu Heng was conservative and stubborn, he had reason to be proud. He had been involved in river engineering for many years and had commanded countless flood rescue operations, so he was very experienced.

In addition, Xuzhou was a prefecture capital directly under the Central Government, and the river embankment was more solid than that of the upstream and downstream areas. Under the command of Zhu Butang, there was no danger at all.

~~

The next day at dusk.

After a desperate struggle for a day and a night, the water level in Pei County finally stabilized, which means that the peak of the flood has finally passed!

Huang Long unwillingly rushed downstream to wreak havoc on Xuzhou...

And the dike with many holes in it is still there!

The 50,000 exhausted soldiers and civilians cheered wildly to celebrate that they had finally saved their homes!

Pan Jixun also breathed a sigh of relief, because the signal smoke from downstream never rose. Now that the flood peak had passed, it was meaningless to open the weir to release the flood.

Finally, he no longer had to do the immoral thing that had been cursed by the people on both sides of Weishan Lake for hundreds of years.

"It seems that everything downstream is safe." Pan Jixun said happily to Pan Dafu.

"Nothing happened in this most dangerous place, so nothing will happen downstream." Pan Dafu looked at his father's sunken eyes and exhausted face, and couldn't help but persuade him: "Dad, you haven't slept for two days and two nights, go back and rest."

"Well, after watching it for one more night, I'll be completely relieved." Pan Jixun nodded, but he didn't dare to be careless at all.

He and the flood-fighting soldiers and civilians mustered their remaining courage and continued to raise and reinforce the levee. It was not until the next morning when the river calmed down completely that he ordered the magistrate of Pei County, who was assisting him, to let everyone leave the levee.

With the help of his son, Pan Jixun came to the temporary residence under the embankment. After a simple wash and meal, he finally went to bed.

He was indeed extremely tired, and he began to snore as soon as he touched the pillow.

Unexpectedly, he had not fallen asleep for long when he was awakened by a burst of chaotic footsteps.

"Zhongcheng, something terrible has happened! The dike has broken!" A doctor from the River Channel Office rushed in and reported in a panic.

"What? Where did the dam break?" Pan Jixun jumped up, bent down to pick up his boots, and said in a deep voice: "Let's talk while we walk!"

"Zhongcheng, it's not here." The doctor did not move, but gasped and said, "It's the Suqian section of the river that broke its dike."

"Oh?" Pan Jixun stopped what he was doing, sat on the edge of the bed, straightened up, and asked curiously, "Why didn't I see any smoke signals?"

"I don't know." The doctor had just received the news and came to report. "I heard that not only did it flood Suqian, Sihong and other counties, but it also overturned more than 800 grain ships. Not only was 100,000 dan of grain lost, but many grain workers were also drowned."

"Cao boats?" Pan Jixun was stunned. He was six hundred miles away and an idle person. He didn't know about Governor Zhao's amazing operation. "Aren't all the Cao boats in Huai'an? Even the city was flooded?"

"No, it was because the Canal Administration was eager to restore the canal transport, and when the canal boats were sailing to Suqian, the Yellow River burst its banks." The doctor told Pan Jixun the report he had seen, "The result was this disaster!"

"Misfortunes brought by heaven can be forgiven, but those brought upon oneself cannot be forgiven!" Pan Jixun sighed, not knowing what to say.

The fierce river water rushed down from the high river bank, and rushed into the lower canal like a waterfall? Not to mention the flat-bottomed canal boats, even the pointed-bottomed Fuzhou boats could not withstand it!

~~

After working so hard, they were still unable to prevent the Yellow River from bursting its banks, and the morale of the river officials was at its lowest.

However, their attitude towards Pan Jixun had undergone a fundamental change. They asked for instructions and reports on everything and were very respectful to him. They no longer treated him as an idle person.

First of all, Pan Jixun has won their respect through his actions.

Secondly, and most importantly, flood control is like defending a city. Weng Dali lost his city, and it was the second time. What's even more ridiculous is that he could have lit a beacon to let the upstream release the flood to save his section of the river, but he couldn't even make such a simple decision. Even if someone in the court protected him, he would not have the face to continue.

The person who will replace Weng Dali is most likely Pan Jixun.

But Pan Jixun was not at all happy about getting his position. He was eager to find out what had happened that day that made Weng Dali lose his mind?

Seeing that nothing happened on the dike, he handed over the command to the doctor and rode his horse downstream to check what was going on. After all, he was a non-staff member and there was no such thing as leaving his post without permission.

The next day, we arrived in Xuzhou and found out that Zhu Butang had also gone south to Suqian to inspect the disaster.

He continued riding his horse, and three days later, he arrived in Suqian.

Without bothering to go into the city, Pan Jixun went straight to the embankment.

Standing on the collapsing dam, he looked at the nearly 100-foot-wide breach on the east bank. The surging Yellow River water was still pouring down, turning everything in sight into a yellow mud soup.

You can imagine how severe the flood was at that time.

He took the telescope handed to him by his son and looked in the direction ten miles away.

There was nothing but yellow in front of me. Where was the canal? All I could see were black dots, each of which was an overturned canal boat...

"Now Zhao Kongzhao no longer has to harbor any illusions." Pan Jixun laughed sarcastically.

After two consecutive breaches, the canal's channel may be lost. In the next few years, we can forget about canal transportation.

He didn't say anything else, but just muttered to himself, could it be that the boy surnamed Zhao is God's illegitimate son, and how come God always helps him in everything he wants to do?

At this time, Zhu Heng's personal soldiers came to invite him, and it turned out that Zhu Butang was also nearby.

Pan Jixun followed him to see Zhu Heng, and also saw Weng Dali, who looked like a bereaved mother.

As soon as they met, he couldn't help but ask loudly: "Weng Rucan, what are you doing?! Why don't you light the beacon?!"

Weng Dali's face was ashen, his eyes were red, and his scarlet official robe had turned yellow. If you didn't know, you would have thought he was about to ascend the throne.

"Mr. Yinchuan, do you think I don't want to? But that bastard Zhao Kongzhao stopped me from doing this!" He answered in a crying voice, "This is his territory. If he says no, what can I do?!"

"Zhao Kongzhao?" Pan Jixun was stunned.

"Yinchuan, you may not know this yet." Zhu Heng sighed and said in a rare gentle tone, "Our governor of the grain transport industry was so anxious about the rumors about sea transport that he couldn't wait to organize grain ships to go north as soon as the canal was filled with water..."

"If the river bank in Pei County is dug up again, the river water will flow out and the canal will dry up again. His 2,000 canal boats will be stuck in the river and completely destroyed. He can't bear this responsibility."

Zhu Heng looked at Weng Dali with some resentment and said, "So, Zhao Kongzhao just forced him to reinforce the river bank and did not allow him to light the beacon fire even when danger arose. It was dark, and no one saw a pipe burst. As a result, there was a bang, and that was it. Sigh..."

Zhu Heng sighed. Although he, the Minister of Works, had no responsibility for the dam breach, he was still concerned about the country and the people. Seeing the situation artificially turned into this, how could he not get angry?

"Alas..." Pan Jixun also sighed. It was meaningless to accuse Weng Dali of irresponsibility at this time. The right thing to do was to help him shift the blame to the governor.

"Oh, Yinchuan." Zhu Heng suddenly seemed to remember something and said to him apologetically, "That method of using water to attack sand seems to really work."

ps. Please vote for the third update! There will be no more tonight.