Yangzhou, Zhao Garden.

Zhao Liben stood by the lotus pond, holding a porcelain bowl in one hand and a golden spoon in the other, picking up fish food and scattering it into the green waves.

However, there were colorful fish in the pond, swimming lazily among the lotus leaves, but not a single one came over to eat.

Occasionally, a big koi carp would pass by him, but would still ignore the fish food he threw and just swam away.

Ye stood aside holding an umbrella for the two of them, and couldn't help but remind them:

"Sir, even if you feed them some bran...fish don't eat sand."

"I'm feeding small fish." Zhao Liben remained unmoved and continued to put the sand in the bowl into the water, saying, "Don't they say that big fish eat small fish and small fish eat sand?"

Ye was about to say, "That's just a metaphor...", but then she realized how could the adults not know?

Just like Jiang Taigong fishing, Zhao Taigong feeding the fish must also have a profound meaning!

Jiang Ziya wanted to attract a rich man, oh no, to attract King Wen of Zhou.

What about you, sir? Are you attractive to me?

Ye couldn't help but feel shy, she looked up at Zhao Liben and said, "Your Excellency is indeed an Excellency, your every move is unfathomable."

"What have you thought of now?" Zhao Liben smiled.

"Your Excellency is as wise as the sea. How can I guess what you mean?" Ye shook her head and whispered, "Are you worried about the Second Master?"

"Humph, what is there to worry about?" Zhao Liben sneered, "That rebellious son has my good grandson, Xu Wenchang, Wu Chengen, Jin Ke, Li Zhi... and dozens of Juren students and Beijing officials busying around. Even if he is a pig, he can still become a governor."

"Your Excellency really loves me deeply and criticizes me harshly." Ye couldn't bear to listen any longer and spoke up for Zhao Shouzheng, "Second Master is a top scholar. How can he be compared to a pig?"

"If he wasn't a pig, how could he be deceived by that vicious woman?" Zhao Liben was so angry that he slammed the porcelain bowl on the railing.

Who the hell poured sand into the fish food bowl? Don’t you know I’m blind?

"No, I can't let that vicious woman reach out to my territory. Go, ask your brother to invite a few chief salt merchants over. I have something important to discuss with you!"

"Yes, sir." Ye responded gently, thinking that sir was really hard on the outside but soft on the inside, and was obviously worried about the Second Master.

~~

Nanshan Temple has been transformed into a flood control command center.

In the main hall, the Buddha sat on a lotus pedestal, gazing with compassion at the eight large characters written on the screen wall: 'We have the responsibility to guard our land and protect our homeland'!

On the side wall of the hall hangs a huge river defense map.

The map is more than ten feet long and seven feet high. It was enlarged by Xu Wei based on the map of the Wusong River and Kunshan Basin drawn by Zheng Ruozeng.

At this time, 52 small pieces of paper were densely pasted on the winding Wusong River Road. Only four names were written on the papers: "Zhao Shouzheng", "He Wenwei", "Bai Shouli" and "Xiong Xiasheng". The remaining 48 pieces of paper were still blank.

The length of the Wusong River in Kunshan County was 62 li, and Zhao Shouzheng divided it into four major defense zones, with him, He Xiancheng, Bai Zhubu, and Xiong Dianshi each leading a defense zone.

Each defense zone is divided into a dozen sections, each with a section chief.

The section chief is responsible for organizing the laborers assigned to him to build, maintain and inspect the embankments of the corresponding river sections, and report any dangerous situations to the district chief in a timely manner. He also obeys the dispatch of the district chief and the commander-in-chief, and provides support to other sections when necessary.

However, the master did not appoint the section chiefs himself, but ordered the district heads to recruit and appoint them from among the miscellaneous officials, clerks and gentry.

This allows people who have good relationships to stick together and avoid people with conflicts getting together.

Moreover, the importance of each defense zone to the gentry is completely different... For example, the Zheng family's fields and manors are all north of Nanshan Temple, so naturally Mr. Zhao's defense zone is the most important.

The Gu family's assets are all in Yaojia Weir upstream, so even if Nanshan Temple breaks, it will not flood the Gu family. So Gu Dadong will definitely choose Bai Zhubu's defense area.

Only each person knows these subtle differences best, so it is better to let them mix and match freely so that they can do their best.

After the groups were formed, Zhao Shouzheng asked everyone to write their names.

Then he took them to burn incense to the Buddha, and they swore an oath together in front of the Buddha.

"Never leave your post without permission or be careless! Never shirk responsibility or shirk responsibility! Never fail to report something you know about or fail to help someone in need! Never disobey orders or desert the battlefield!"

"If you break this oath, you will be struck by lightning and fall into the Avici Hell after you die!"

Before he finished speaking, a magical scene happened.

Everyone saw the Buddha’s golden body shining brightly, making the entire hall glorious!

"Ah, the Buddha has appeared..."

He Wenwei, Gu Dadong and others exclaimed in surprise.

Looking at the colorful lights that appeared and disappeared and were projected all over the roof of the hall, the officials and gentry were either terrified or bowed down in worship.

Now no one dares to take their oath lightly.

The Buddha has already listened to the visions. If you violate the oath you made before the Buddha, you will be struck by lightning and sent to hell...

When the strange phenomenon disappeared and the hall returned to normal, Zhao Shouzheng led the officials and gentry to stand up. Then Mr. Zhao turned around and said to everyone with a serious expression:

"Everyone, the Buddha has compassion and cannot bear to see the people of Kunshan continue to suffer. With the Buddha's blessing this time, we will definitely be able to defend the river bank and protect our homes!"

"As long as people are there, the dike will be there. If the dike is destroyed, everyone will die!" The emotional gentry shouted slogans more radical than Mr. Zhao's.

"As long as people are on the dike, it's there. If the dike collapses, people will die!" Everyone shouted.

The atmosphere in the hall immediately changed.

Everyone looking at the river defense map with their names written on it suddenly developed a sense of sacredness and responsibility that was closely connected to the river embankment.

In his excitement, Mr. Gu immediately announced that he would donate 300 dan of grain to provide food for the workers!

Zheng Ruozeng also followed suit and announced a donation of 200 shi for disaster relief.

Dai Gao, the old man of the Dai family, also donated 200 shi. The other two families, the Mao family and the Zhou family, also pledged 200 shi.

This is destined to be recorded in the county annals, and most likely a monument will be erected and a biography will be written. How can we lag behind others?

What's more, the donation is made in front of the Buddha, which will bring great merit and blessings.

The other eighteen families also donated generously, some gave one hundred and some gave fifty.

All the families donated a total of 2,300 dan of grain. Although it was still a drop in the bucket, it was more or less a contribution.

His attitude is completely different from his previous stingy attitude.

The Buddha looked at everything in front of him with a smile.

~~

When everyone came out of Nanshan Temple, they were all in high spirits. They shouted loudly to their followers and rushed to their respective defense areas.

He Wenwei and Bai Shouli walked down the embankment side by side.

As County Magistrate He walked, he looked back at the dilapidated Nanshan Temple.

As a result, when he was about to get off the embankment, he accidentally slipped and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Bai Shouli supported him.

"Damn it, this is really weird." After He Wenwei stood firm, he said with a wry smile, "It's fine if he brings one or two hundred good men with him, and even the Buddha is here to keep him in check."

"Yes, Wenquxing's backers are really strong. I originally thought that they drove us out of the county in order to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Alas, I really overestimated myself." Bai Zhubu also agreed and said, "In their eyes, what kind of tigers are we? We are not even as good as kittens."

"I am convinced. I am really convinced." County Magistrate He gave up his unnecessary pride and accepted his fate. "The master is like a god descended to earth. What can ordinary people like us do to fight him?"

ps. The third update is here~~~ Please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~