Ten thousand miles of water form a canal, and two thousand years of fields form a pond.

As the boat sailed on the Wusong River, Wu Chengen explained to Zhao Hao:

"Originally, the flow rate of Taihu Lake was very fast, and there was almost no siltation at Guajingkou and the upper reaches of Wusong River. But after the construction of the Grand Canal, Suzhou's population grew and commerce flourished. Many long bridges, long embankments and evacuation roads were built in the downstream water system, which greatly slowed down the flow rate of Taihu Lake. As a result, siltation became serious, and the low-lying southern bank became a tidal flat."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded and listened very carefully.

"Later, people transformed the tidal flats into polder fields." Wu Chengen pointed to the river bank.

"They first dug a ditch in the muddy ground, and then built two permeable retaining walls with bamboo and wood on both sides of the ditch. In this way, the water in the mud seeped into the ditch through the bamboo and wooden fences, which is the so-called 'Linggang'."

"The excavated soil was piled up on the lake shore to form a river bank, and new land appeared on the south bank of Lake Tai."

"This is a good idea. The land enclosed is extremely fertile. There are many people and little land in the Suzhou and Songjiang areas. Who wouldn't be jealous? So the counties rushed to build embankments and occupied the tidal flats. [零零看书00ks]" Xu Wei sneered and took over the conversation:

"For example, Wujiang County on the south bank was only two miles away from the lake a dozen years ago, but now it has increased to three miles. The extra mile is the river channel that has been occupied."

"In fact, this Guajingkou is also called the South Taihu Lake. The vast lake is directly connected to the Dianshan Lake and Chenghu Lake in Kunshan. After hundreds of years of siltation and erosion, there is only a trumpet-shaped river bay left. How can it have any water storage function?" Xu Wei slapped the railing and said angrily:

"If I were Lin Run, the first thing I would do would be to demolish all these polder fields."

"Don't be too extreme." Wu Chengen smiled bitterly and said, "In fact, there are sluice gates in all the Linggang ports. There are 18 sluice gates in the 18 Linggang ports in Wujiang County. Now, as long as the sluice gates are opened, there will be 18 flood discharge outlets, and the pressure of the downstream water will naturally be greatly reduced."

"But if this happens, all the thousands of acres of polder on the south bank will be ruined. Wujiang County will certainly not agree to this." Wu Cheng'en said, pointing to a group of people patrolling in the rain on the south bank embankment:

"That's the pond protection team from Wujiang County. They patrol day and night during the flood season, fearing that something might happen to the stone pond they built and flood their own polder fields."

"Stone pond? Isn't it made of mud?" Mr. Zhao interrupted.

"Mud is not as solid as stone." Xu Wei laughed and said, "They have already replaced it with Baili Stone Pond!"

"Baili, such a big deal?" Master Zhao took a breath. Could it be that a certain magistrate of Wujiang also has the same money ability as my son?

"It took several successive county magistrates several decades to build it." Then Xu Wei sneered and said, "This is a great thing to preserve the peace of the county. It will be built into a monument and a shrine for local celebrities. It can also make money from it legitimately, so of course no one is willing to miss it."

"They themselves are not flooded, but all the water from Taihu Lake has flowed to our downstream." Wu Cheng'en sighed and said, "This is what Mencius said, 'using your neighbors as a pit'."

"Kunshan County just watches them harm their neighbors? The government doesn't do anything about it?" Zhao Shouzheng asked angrily.

"People fight over this issue countless times every year. Otherwise, how could Wujiang County organize a pond protection team?" Wu Chengen said with a wry smile, "The magistrate of Kunshan also went to the government office to complain. Not to mention demolishing the stone pond, they even refused to open the gates to release floodwaters during the flood season."

"Their reasons are very good. The purpose of building the stone embankment is to prevent flooding. How can they open the gates to release the floodwater and flood themselves?" Wu Cheng'en spread his hands and said, "There is another fundamental reason. When Xia Yuanji managed Taihu Lake 200 years ago, the polder fields belonged to the government. With an order from above, they could directly open the gates to release the floodwater and flood the polder fields for flood diversion."

"But in the past one or two hundred years, the government's polder fields have long been divided up and embezzled by powerful families. How could they sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the people of other counties?"

Zhao Hao nodded silently. There were too many polder fields along the lake, and the polder fields themselves could not bear the flood discharge function, so the downstream area was naturally severely affected.

"People in Wujiang County still argue that building dikes to control flooding is natural and that Kunshan can also build a dike, and no one is stopping them." Wu Cheng'en sighed.

"Then why not repair it?" Zhao Shouzheng asked.

"No money." Xu Wei thought his boss was very cute. "We can't even get enough food, how can we afford to build a dike? Besides, Wujiang only needs to build a single dike. How complicated is the situation in Kunshan? The Wusong River twists and turns throughout the whole area, with two lakes hanging overhead and the Lou River below. The terrain is low, and you still want to build a dike? Dream on it."

"Alas, our Kunshan has released floodwaters for the entire prefecture, but the neighboring counties are not only not grateful, but are taking advantage of them and mocking us in every way. The world is really going downhill." Master Zhao sighed and couldn't help but speak up for the people of Kunshan.

~~

As they were talking, the official ship entered Kunshan County.

The scene of a ten-foot-high stone embankment guarding the land of fish and rice has disappeared, replaced by a vast expanse of yellow mud.

That was the water that overflowed from Cheng Lake a few miles away, flowing slowly along the terrain to the Wusong River. There was also a larger Dianshan Lake in the southeast, and the overflowing water from the two lakes could cover three-quarters of Kunnan.

The vast rice fields, mulberry trees, roads and villages before my eyes were all soaked in yellow water.

In the heavy rain, groups of people carried shoulder poles, pushed carts, brought their families, and led oxen, and trudged through the mud along the high ridges in the fields.

They have to leave their homes and seek refuge in Kunbei or neighboring counties before the flood arrives.

In the yellow mud beside the ridges, there was garbage, weeds, wood, and the carcasses of drowned small animals floating.

There are also rats that use it as a refuge and are running around in it.

Although the villagers were accustomed to this, the atmosphere of this escape was particularly solemn.

In the fields beside the ridges, rice that had already begun to ear fell down in the yellow water...

There is no need to wait for the flood to submerge the crops. Just soak them in water for a few days and this year's crops will be a total failure.

The people wanted to cry but had no tears, and they numbly followed the people in front of them and continued forward.

Only the children were shivering in wooden barrels and on carts, crying loudly with hunger.

The crying sound reached the official ship, and everyone found it extremely harsh.

No matter how serious the problem was described before, it was not as heavy as seeing it with my own eyes.

From this moment on, this troubled land and these suffering people became their unshirkable responsibility.

"Where are these people going? How are they going? Why are there no officials to guide them?" Zhao Shouzheng held the railing and looked at the people fleeing along the Wusong River with a serious expression.

"Some of the victims went south to Suzhou or Wujiang, but most of them went north. There is a wooden bridge ahead that can take them to Kunbei."

Wu Cheng'en was well versed in geography, and replied bitterly, "After all, in my own county, I can still be regarded as a Cheng Ren. Outside Kunshan, I am just a beggar or a refugee... As for the officials, I will know only after I get to the county government office."

"Yeah." Zhao Shouzheng nodded and said nothing more.

ps. Fourth update, please give me a monthly ticket~~~~