This year's rain is much more than usual, and the flood prevention situation is extremely severe. Therefore, Hong Tiju did not sleep a peaceful sleep after entering the rainy season, and led people to inspect the river embankment every day, and at the same time mobilized migrant workers to increase the height and strengthen the river embankment.

He sent an urgent request to the imperial court for special funds for the repair of the river embankment, and although the emperor had approved his retribution, the large quantities of straw bags, wheelbarrows, and baskets needed were not yet available. The migrant workers he asked the household department to urgently mobilize have not been in place.

He was in charge of the maintenance of the river embankment, but in fact he did not have much power. To strengthen the embankment, he must ask the third division to allocate special funds, and at the same time, he must ask the household department to mobilize migrant workers, and then he can strengthen the embankment, otherwise it will be difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

All of this required the cooperation of the corresponding departments, but the emergency assistance he needed never came. He lay on the embankment and saw that the water of the Yellow River was slowly rising, and it was getting longer and faster, and it was already close to the warning line, which made him anxious. Several official documents a day were urgently reported to the three divisions and the household department. But the reply has always been that the purchase is being stepped up and the stock is gone.

The reply of the Ministry of Officials was that the number of migrant workers near the capital who could be called was almost exhausted, and if they still had to be called, they needed to be collected from other places, and it would take time.

In fact, Hong Tiju is fully aware that these arguments are largely prevarication. Every year, the imperial court has special silver for flood control in the capital, but this money has not been in place. Hong Tiju wondered if the money had been misappropriated by the officials of the Third Division, so that he could not get the money when he needed it.

Of course, this is just his personal speculation, and he can only appeal, hoping that it will be done as soon as possible, but in fact, such an appeal has not been able to do much. Because until now, these official documents have been like stone oxen into the sea, and there is no response.

The number of people who can be mobilized by migrant workers is far from meeting the requirements, because the Yellow River embankment stretches for hundreds of miles. Such a long distance requires at least 100,000 or more migrant workers to strengthen and raise the river embankment in a short period of time, and he has no power to mobilize migrant workers, which requires the household officials to issue official documents to various localities, and then the local yamen to recruit migrant workers to be transferred to the capital.

In ancient times, migrant workers were all volunteers, preparing their own tools and food, and volunteering to serve the imperial court. However, local migrant workers are generally recruited for labor, so they are responsible for food and housing. But now if you need to recruit migrant workers from other places to build the embankment along the Yellow River, it is not realistic to solve the problem of food and shelter by yourself, and the imperial court can only take care of their diet, which requires a lot of money.

Migrant workers also need to eat, drink, and sleep, and the three divisions need to pay for the food and accommodation of migrant workers. Each of these steps required Hung Tiju to worry about and coordinate, but progress was extremely slow. And the flood is gradually spreading upwards, getting closer and closer to the warning line.

He continued to write to the emperor, but they were all like stone oxen entering the sea. Maybe it's because the flood is still a foot away from the warning line. The cordon itself is only a line that is sufficient to raise the level of alert, and it does not mean that the levee will collapse after the warning line is reached. It's just that the danger has increased, and more manpower needs to be sent to reinforce and raise the embankment. And now that there is still a foot away from the cordon, why be nervous, maybe because of this, the emperor is not in a hurry.

Hong Tiju has many years of experience in guarding the Yellow River, and has witnessed the terrible failure of the Yellow River. He had a feeling that it would be a matter of time before the rain was so heavy this year that it would exceed the warning line. However, his multi-faceted appeals did not attract much attention, and he could mobilize only one or two thousand migrant workers, mainly responsible for the inspection of the river embankment. There are only two to three thousand people who can reinforce the embankment, and these migrant workers can only do it where Hong Tiju thinks it is most likely. And these 2,000 migrant workers are a drop in the bucket for the entire embankment.

Hong Tiju has not slept for several nights, and he patrols the river embankment day and night to detect hidden dangers such as pipe surges that directly threaten the safety of the river embankment, and at the same time monitor the rise of the river at all times.

There is one thing that makes Hong Tiju very uneasy, that is, he can't grasp the upstream rain situation at the first time, because the upstream rain and flood situation will be urgently reported to the imperial court for 400 miles, and then reported to the emperor after layers of review, and then the emperor will make a decision.

He knew that once the embankment of the capital river burst, he would be the first to be held accountable, but in fact, he himself did not have the ability to influence the overall situation. He could only beg the heavens for protection, but God didn't seem to give him any face, and the rain never stopped.

He hadn't slept properly for days, and he was so tired that he could almost fall asleep on his feet. That's when something terrible finally happened.

In the evening of that day, he was leading people to patrol the embankment of the capital river. Suddenly, he seemed to hear something coming from the ground beneath his feet. The sound was a bit like the whimper of the wind blowing through the treetops, and a bit like the legendary ghost crying wolf. All kinds of sounds were mixed in, and his scalp was numb.

The soldiers who followed him were all frightened by the sound and did not know what was going to happen. The voice changed rapidly, and it grew louder and louder, and the trembling became more and more severe, and Hong Tiju was almost unsteady on his feet.

He looked up and around, and when he looked upstream, he froze, his eyes wide and he could hardly believe his eyes. ——In the distance, above the course of the Yellow River, there is a black line. Moving along the river to this side, because the distance is relatively far, I can't see what it really is, but after years of experience in patrolling the river embankment, Hong Tiju immediately predicted that it was the flood peak.

He had never seen such a terrible flood, and he believed that the terrible noise and violent shaking that had just come from under his feet was caused by the tremendous force of the thunderous flood peak on the embankment.

He watched as the terrible flood swooped down on them like a galloping horse.

Hong Feng was getting closer and closer, and the trembling under his feet was getting worse and worse, Hong Tiju simply knelt on one knee, supported the ground with his hands, and looked at Hong Feng rushing towards him with an almost desperate gaze.

When the flood peak approached, he finally confirmed that it was indeed a yellow wall of water more than ten feet high, and the wall of huge waves was like a mountain and a sea, moving forward along the river with the momentum of sweeping everything.

Hong Tiju soon discovered that the water of the Yellow River under his feet was rapidly descending. It should have been sucked away by that Hongfeng, and then rolled together and then shot back.

However, judging from the height of the flood peak, it should not be enough to break out of the embankment. Seeing this, his heart was a little calmer, and he watched the flood with great horror, and swept over the embankment at his feet.

The sound of the huge impact on the embankment made him feel as if his bones were about to be shattered. Under the impact of this powerful current, the riverbank trembled, like an old man in the twilight.

The flood finally went away and rushed downstream.

After a long time, Hong Tiju stood up with difficulty and walked to the embankment to watch. After the peak, the flood water swelled far beyond the warning line, less than half a foot to the top of the embankment.

His whole body was trembling, and he shouted in horror: "Quick, go and report to the emperor, and release the flood immediately." Otherwise, the capital will not be protected!"

Although the river embankments of the Song Dynasty were also piled with stones, sandbags and earth bags were added, the stones were only limited to people picking horses. The heavier stones could not be transferred to the embankment for reinforcement, and there was no levee such as reinforced concrete, so the embankment was far less robust than it is today.

Once the river is close to the top of the embankment, the embankment will become very fragile due to the huge pressure of the river water and the immersion of the river water, and the embankment will burst at any time, which is the conclusion that Hong Tiju has reached after many years of flood control. In this case, the only way to do this is to discharge the flood immediately, so that the water level can be lowered quickly. Because at this time, it is too late to strengthen the embankment.

And to discharge the flood, it can only be decided by the imperial court.

Hong Tiju is worried about time. The report to the police was reported to the capital, and the emperor made a choice, and then handed it over to the yamen below to carry out the flood discharge, according to common sense, it could not be done in two or three days. Even if it is fast, it is useless, after all, the fastest way to transmit information in this dynasty is only the horse's legs. If we add the procrastination of officials and the review of bureaucrats at all levels, I am afraid that this time will only be longer.

Hong Tiju immediately wrote a request for emergency flood discharge and sent it to the imperial court on a fast horse.

Next, he could only pray that God would let the flood waters recede, or that the embankment would be strong enough to withstand the deadly test. But he also knew that it was almost impossible.

Soon, the migrant workers and soldiers who were patrolling the embankment rushed to report to him, and found that the river had overflowed the embankment. The only way to do this was to make a last-ditch effort to prolong the time for the embankment to resist flooding as much as possible.

He immediately mobilized the only one or two thousand migrant workers to reinforce the embankment where it was most likely to burst. He himself was personally involved in transporting sandbags and loading soil. Although he knew that there was little effect, he could only make a final effort.

As night fell, no new flood peaks appeared, but the flood waters continued to rise slowly.

At this time, news finally came from the imperial court. Reports of a horrific rainfall upstream, with more rain falling in one day than in a month. Flash floods have swept away homes and flooded farmland. Huge amounts of water flow from the various tributaries to the Yellow River, causing the water level of the Yellow River to rise rapidly. Therefore, the downstream is likely to experience terrible flood peak attacks, so Hong Tiju must patrol day and night to strengthen protection.

However, there was no mention in the emergency document that the imperial court would release the floods.

Didn't he have time to report his memorabilia to the imperial court, or did he report his memora to the emperor but didn't attract the emperor's attention? He didn't know, but he could infer it from the time. It is likely that his recital has not yet reached the imperial court, and this official document of the imperial court has been issued, and I hope that after the imperial court sees his recital, it can immediately take measures to discharge the flood.

But it was too late, and in the middle of the night, what he was most worried about finally happened.