Heshanzui Village.
Several villagers rushed to the village chief's house, carrying hoes.
"The village chief has even lost the last stream. What are we going to do now?"
"Are we really going to have to fetch water from the well to irrigate the fields?"
"So much land, but the village only has two wells. When will we be able to hand it over?"
The village chief squatted on the chair, his brows furrowed in a knot. These were all minor issues. The most important thing was that after the rice planting was finished, many of the young and middle-aged people in the village went to Longtan County to find work. Now, those who remained in the village were mostly the elderly, women, and children, with very few young and middle-aged people.
The village chief puffed on his pipe, his sorrowful face shrouded in smoke.
This was a gift from his youngest son, who bought it in Longtan during his vacation. The taste was incomparable to any tobacco leaf. This was the last one, as it was for watering the rice seedlings in the fields.
Seeing that he didn't speak, the villagers were getting anxious and pounding their heels.
"Village chief, say something! Shouldn't you come up with a plan soon?"
"Why don't we go find Lord Yun and Young Master Hu? I heard they're in Chi'an."
Just as the people inside the house were at their wits' end, a villager shouted from the courtyard.
"Village chief, the village chief of Wujiawan has arrived."
Everyone looked up and saw a villager leading a middle-aged man in, who was in his forties and about the same age as their village chief.
This man was the village chief of Wujiawan Village.
Upon seeing him enter, the village chief of Heshanzui Village immediately asked, "Is your village also without water?"
"That's right, I came here to discuss some ideas with you, brother," the village chief of Wujiawan said with a worried look on his face.
The village chief of Heshanzui sighed, "We're worried about this too!"
"What can we do? The only nearby places are our two villages. I've searched everywhere we can find, and we've done everything!"
A quick-witted villager immediately chimed in, "There's also Xinyuan Village. When we went to the fields this morning, we saw from afar that their irrigation ditches seemed to still have water."
"real?"
"You're not seeing things?"
“My eyesight is good, even though I was far away, I saw with my own eyes them digging openings to let the irrigation water flow into the fields.”
The two village chiefs' eyes lit up immediately.
If there is still water in Xinyuan Village, could we dig a canal to bring the water here for irrigation?
They have been in Longtan for more than two years, and the weather has been favorable for the past two years. No one expected that a drought would occur.
When the land was first divided up, the irrigation ditches were simply repaired, and no one ever imagined that they would dry up and stop flowing one day.
Everyone chimed in with their opinions, and the more they talked, the more they felt that this was feasible.
So the two village chiefs immediately went to Xinyuan Village to negotiate with the village chief about digging a canal and borrowing water.
After hearing their proposal, the village chief of Xinyuan Village refused without hesitation.
"No, we don't have much water left for irrigation. It's barely enough for our own village, so we can't supply it to your two villages."
“Brother, we all fled from the north. We should help each other out. If there’s no water, all the rice in our two villages will dry up.” The village chief of Wujiawan persuaded him with both emotion and reason.
The village chief of Heshanzui Village also pleaded, "It hasn't rained for more than three months since spring. The rice in the fields needs water the most at this time. Please help us, brother."
“It’s not that our village doesn’t want to help you, it’s just that there’s no water. The weather has been bad this year, and there’s not much water in the irrigation canals. The fields further away from our village still need to be irrigated by people carrying water.”
No matter what the two people said, the village chief of Xinyuan Village refused to agree.
He pondered that if the two villages diverted the water, who knew when it would rain? If even this only source of water was cut off, their village's rice would surely be ruined.
This year, grain taxes will be paid, and income will not be as high as in previous years. These days, who wouldn't want to stockpile more grain?
The two pleaded with the village chief of Xinyuan Village, "We all come from the north, we should unite as one, please have mercy and save our crops!"
The villagers who were waiting outside heard what the two were saying, grabbed their hoes and rushed in, staring at them menacingly.
They have a kind of attitude that says, "If you dare to dig an irrigation ditch, we'll fight you to the death."
Fearing conflict, the two had no choice but to get up and say goodbye.
Before leaving, the village chief of Wujiawan said earnestly, "Brother, please reconsider our proposal. You can't just watch us die, can you?"
On their way back from Xinyuan Village, the two of them made a point of visiting the irrigation canal they had been using.
The stream flowed gently and looked quite deep. The village chief of Heshanzui rolled up his trousers and went down into the stream. The water had already reached his calves and was almost up to his knees.
The two looked at each other, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.
Good heavens! Is this what that old codger from Xinyuan Village meant when he said he was barely enough for himself?
"Hey, who are you two? What are you doing there?" A villager patrolling the fields in the distance spotted them and shouted sternly.
The village chief of Wujiawan bent down and helped the village chief of Heshanzui up, then smiled at the villager and said, "The paddy field ridges were too slippery, and he accidentally fell into the irrigation ditch. Let's go now!"
The villager, still worried, carried a hoe and walked towards them, causing the two to quickly leave.
After returning, Heshanzui and Wujiawan each sent one person to Chi'an to invite Yunyu and Hu Shao back to uphold justice for them.
The fields in both villages were completely dry, and no one dared to slack off. Food was everyone's lifeline, and they got up before dawn every day to fetch water from the well to irrigate the fields.
Every day, under such intense labor, everyone's shoulders are red and swollen.
The village chief and villagers of Xinyuan Village saw this but did nothing. Every day, they even sent more villagers with farm tools to guard the irrigation canal, fearing that people from other villages would come and dig the canal and divert the water away.
As time went on, the water levels in the two wells in Wujiawan Village dropped faster and faster.
The villagers began to worry that if things continued like this, they would have no water to use.
The villagers of Wujiawan and Heshanzui villages have accumulated a lot of resentment after several days of continuous watering.
It's just a matter of digging a ditch, but the people in Xinyuan Village are really dishonest.
So, the villagers from both villages carried hoes and tried to forcibly dig the irrigation ditch.
What are you trying to do?
The villagers of Xinyuan Village also carried hoes and shovels to block the crowd.
The villagers of Wujiawan said angrily, "We are here to dig a canal today. Whether you agree or not, we have to dig it. This water doesn't belong to your village, so why can't we use it?"
The villagers of Xinyuan Village said, "It's all because this water flows through our village."
The villagers of Xinyuan Village are taking a very tough stance; they had already discussed their countermeasures a couple of days ago.
If the two villages insist on diverting their water, they can make some concessions.
The village chief's son smiled and said, "You can have water, but you have to exchange it for grain. Give each household 100 catties of rice, and we will agree to bring the irrigation canal to your village!"
His words immediately provoked great anger from the villagers of both villages.
"Why don't you guys just rob it?"
"Wrong! We're doing this to avoid robbery!" The people of Xinyuan Village were incredibly arrogant.
"Robbers! You are robbers!"
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