The floods that year were so severe that Emperor Longqing had to send Duke Chengguo to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices and pray on his behalf:

'The recent flood disaster has brought disaster to the people. I am deeply concerned. I have sent officials to offer sacrifices and pray that the gods will bless the people forever. I hereby inform you.'

By the way, I helped Duke Chengguo get the achievement which increased the number of times the emperor offered sacrifices to heaven by one and the number of concubines by one.

Well, the Taishan girl in the black skirt is pretty good, the uniform is sexy, Chong Er!

However, Duke Chengguo did not seem to be doing a good job in his official duties. The flood still flooded the area, especially the lower reaches of Taihu Lake, which became a flood-prone area.

Among the nine counties and one state in the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang, eight prefectures and one state were flooded. The only county that was not flooded was Kunshan County, which had been flooded every year in previous years.

The 300-mile long dike built by Mr. Zhao Er with the efforts of the whole county has been a great success. He did not give the flood any chance! The great Mr. Zhao Er, he inherited the glorious tradition of the old Zhao family! Zhao Gongming, Zhao Zilong, and Zhao Kuangyin were possessed by their souls at this moment. He was not fighting alone, he was not alone! He was not a human... He had 300,000 people in Kunshan County behind him! He had the full support of Jiangnan Group! He had Mr. Zhao as a strong backing!

Respected old father Zhao Shouzheng also went all out to fight the flood this year. He led the county people in the wind and rain to raise and reinforce the levee with sandbags, keeping the flood firmly out of Kunshan County.

Even Kunnan, which used to be flooded every time the flood came, was spared. The water levels of Dianshan Lake and Cheng Lake continued to rise, but they could never be higher than the impregnable lake embankment. He and his embankment did not disappoint the people of the whole county. The fierce flood could not do anything to the rubble concrete embankment! The water receded, the game was over, and Kunshan County won! They completely defeated the flood for the first time. Great Kunshan people, great Mr. Zhao! Happy birthday to one person!

~~

But the sky seemed to be leaking, with heavy rains and fierce water coming from upstream. The swollen lake water had to go somewhere. Now the east bank was too high to reach, so the lake water could only flood to the west.

In mid-June, water from Dianshan Lake and Cheng Lake began to flow back upstream, flooding tens of thousands of acres of Jinggang paddy fields in Wujiang County.

What’s worse is that the entire Wujiang County is actually the siltation of Taihu Lake, and there are many natural lakes in the area. The lakes are connected by rivers and canals, and all rely on Dianshan Lake and Chenghu Lake for flood discharge. Once the water from these two lakes cannot flow eastward, dozens of lakes of all sizes in Wujiang County will rise at the same time. By the end of the month, the entire county has become a swamp.

Relying on the fact that they are located upstream and protected by the Taihu Stone Embankment, the people of Wujiang who always laughed at the flooding in Kunshan finally tasted the feeling of flooding in Wujiang.

It's really a matter of time, and this year it's my turn. Who the hell could have thought that water could flow from downstream to upstream, damn it!

Of course, the people of Wujiang were unwilling to sit and wait for death. Several large families organized their men and took a boat across the Dianshan Lake under the cover of night, protecting dozens of stonemasons and reaching the lake embankment of Kunshan County.

They knew that Kunshan County also built stone embankments, but they were not too worried because Wujiang County had built stone embankments for decades and was well aware of the weaknesses of this seemingly solid stone embankment - the stacked stone embankments could withstand the test of rough waves, but the glutinous rice mortar used to bond the stone strips required a long solidification period. In places like Jiangnan where there is a lot of rain, it may take two or three years to achieve an indestructible effect.

Therefore, when building a dam, holes must be drilled in the stone slabs and firmly embedded with iron ingots and iron dowels.

The embankment of Dianshan Lake was only repaired at the beginning of this year, and it has only been half a year. This year, there has been more rain than in previous years, so the solidification effect of the mortar is definitely not good. As long as the iron ingots and iron dowels are knocked off and the stone slabs are pried with a crowbar, they will definitely fall off!

The plan was good, but when the stonemasons got on the water side of the levee, they were dumbfounded. Where were the stone slabs, iron ingots, and iron dowels on this broken levee? It was just a bunch of broken stones of different sizes put together with mortar!

No wonder it was repaired so quickly.

"Beggars can really make do..." Many Wujiang County stonemasons sneered. They had heard of cement, but had never personally seen its power. Moreover, Wujiang County always looked down on Kunshan, thinking that beggars could not have any good things.

Besides, the name of cement sounds so weak, right? How can something made of both water and mud be solid?

If Mr. Zhao heard their discussion, he would vomit blood. His great invention that he was going to use to change the shape of the world was actually laughed at by a bunch of country stonemasons.

"It will be much easier without the iron dowels!" The head of the team shouted in a low voice: "Start digging!"

The stonemasons picked up their chisels and hammers, clanging and trying to dig up the embankment.

After a while, I realized something was wrong. Why was the cement as hard as stone? I could only chip off a piece the size of a fingernail with a chisel. How could I ever chip it away?

They were worried, and after a while, they suddenly saw a bright fire all around. Countless angry Kunnan people, holding swords, spears, halberds, carrying poles and hoes, surrounded them from all directions. Even dozens of boats on the lake approached.

The people of Kunnan cherished this hard-won lake embankment so much. When the flood came, they were worried about it. Many people would rather quit their jobs and come back to patrol the embankment, fearing that the embankment would be lost and their newly rebuilt homes would be submerged again. In the end, it was the order of County Magistrate Zhao that all factories in the county stopped working and the workers went home to fight the flood, which solved the dilemma for everyone.

Therefore, during this period, there were people patrolling the dike day and night, and the people from Wujiang County were discovered before they even got close to the dike. However, there were too many of them, so the people patrolling the dike did not dare to make a sound and could only secretly run back to call for help.

With this shout, people from several nearby villages came out in droves, and soon the dike was full of people. Young and strong people from all over the country were still rushing here like a tide.

A total of more than 200 people came from Wujiang County, which sounds like a lot, but it was immediately not enough compared to the vast sea of ​​Kunshan people.

"Kill them!"

"Kill these bastards!"

The people of Kunshan rushed forward and captured all the thieves who were hiding together. They beat and kicked them, killing several of them on the spot.

Fortunately, Xiong Dianshi, who was in charge of flood control in southern Kunming, arrived in time with Zheng Qian's inspection team, otherwise these two hundred people would have to die here.

~~

At daybreak, Zhao Shouzheng also rushed over after hearing the news. The angry people gathered around and accused Wujiang County of its heinous crimes!

Master Zhao was also very angry when he heard that several people were beaten to death. Then he calmed down a little and said, "Good death! Let them know how powerful we are!"

People will change after being officials for a long time. Even the kind-hearted Mr. Zhao started to call for killing.

If Wu Cheng'en hadn't stopped him, he would have thrown those Wujiang people who took the lead into the lake to feed the turtles.

Wu Cheng'en was mature and prudent. He knew that if he killed the man on the spot, it would be fine. If he took revenge later, the feud would be serious. He persuaded the furious Mr. Zhao to calm down, and asked the clerk to notify Wujiang County immediately to lodge a solemn protest. He also wrote a letter to Suzhou Prefecture to complain to the prefect first.

This is the experience of working in the government for many years.

Don't think that you are right and you can just wait for others to come and apologize. That would be very stupid and naive.

You should know that "the bad guys complain first" is the prevailing rule in this world. Generally speaking, the other party will not take the initiative to apologize, but will first make a specious complaint to muddy the waters. This will create an impression in the boss that both sides are bad guys, and then both sides will be punished. In this way, the other party achieves the purpose of shifting the blame, but the other party can suffocate to death.

There were even prefects who made assignments based on the noise and would even hit the victims on the buttocks with a stick.

Although considering the current status of Jiangnan Group, Governor Cai and County Magistrate Yi should not be so stupid. However, as aides, they must be extremely cautious and not be careless.

Facts have proved that Old Wu was indeed overthinking. Nowadays, in the ten prefectures of Jiangnan, no one dares to provoke the young master's father.

Soon after, Wujiang County Magistrate Yi Kejiu arrived on his luxurious official ship.

Yi Kejiu originally planned to go to the embankment to apologize to Master Zhao, but the angry people of Kunnan smashed his boat with stones, leaving it in a mess.

County Magistrate Yi had no choice but to retreat to the center of the lake and invite Mr. Zhao to come on board for a chat.

Zhao Shouzheng then called out to the people and boarded the official ship of County Magistrate Yi in a small boat.

The cabin was still as luxurious as before, but County Magistrate Yi had lost his previous arrogance. As soon as they met, he bowed deeply and said, "Mr. Zhuangyuan, please spare my life. I know I am wrong."

Although he is younger than Zhao Shouzheng, he passed the imperial examination earlier than Zhao Shouzheng, so he should be his senior. However, he now regards himself as a younger brother, which clearly shows his submission.

"Brother Fengpo, why do you say that? Did you instigate those people outside?" Zhao Shouzheng asked angrily, "Too evil, too despicable!"

"How could it be my younger brother? If it weren't for this flood, I would have resigned. How could I have gotten into this trouble?" Yi Kejiu still had the attitude of 'officials who don't serve the people should just enjoy themselves'. He smiled bitterly and said, "I am incorruptible and don't have an acre of land here. Is it worth it for me to hurt my relationship with my brother for a bunch of unruly people?"

"Hmm..." After all, Mr. Zhao was easy to fool. He calmed down after a few words and sat down at the round table and said, "So what should we do about this?"

"Of course, the top scholar can do whatever he wants." Yi Kejiu quickly poured him a glass of Sanbai wine and said, "Those country clans are too outrageous. They should have been dealt with long ago. If they had just given a heads-up to the county, I could have held them down."

As he spoke, he picked up the wine glass, stuffed it into Mr. Zhao's hand, and clinked the glasses forcefully, saying, "But these bastards dared to cause such a disaster behind my back, and they even wanted to come and rob people again this morning. They are really lawless!"

"Hey..." Master Zhao had no problem with the three white wines. He drank a mouthful happily and said with a straight face, "Brother Fengpo, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you're not doing a very good job as a county magistrate. Look at my side, all the gentry and the big clans are as obedient as little lambs. If I say go east, who dares to go west? If I say chase the dog, who dares to chase the chicken?"

In Mr. Zhao's eyes, the idea of ​​imperial power not going to the countryside did not exist. The gentry in his county all spoke well and were very well behaved. He liked the gentry in Kunshan County very much.

ps. Please give me monthly tickets during National Day!