It is said that more than 300 people dredged for more than half a year, but in recent years, when the canal reaches the lower reaches of the river, the terrain is low, the water flow is slow, it is easy to accumulate, there are many rivers, and the muddy water is easier to accumulate, and it is much more laborious to clean up the river than in previous years, and it is difficult to complete this task by relying on more than 300 people alone.

Li Hang looked at it for a while, then walked back, sighed, and said, "Third Uncle Liu, the silt in the canal is piled up, and it is difficult to clean up the river with these people's strength alone, so I think it's better to talk to the county magistrate, right?"

Liu Laosan inhaled dry tobacco by himself, because the river was windy, he took a sharp breath, choked on the smoke, and coughed nonstop.

Li Hang hurriedly stepped forward and patted Liu Laosan lightly on the back, and after a while, Liu Laosan wiped a handful of tears, sighed and said: "People are old, and it is not okay to be dissatisfied, this canal has been opened since the faint king Yang Guang consumed people's and material resources, and since the opening of the dynasties, it is either extremely important to it, or the barbarians and Tartars also attach great importance to the canal, after the capital Yanjing, in order to connect the north and south, no longer detour to Luoyang, it is necessary to dig a canal to transport grain from the south to the north.

To this end, three sections of the river were dug successively, and the horizontal canal of the Sui Dynasty with Luoyang as the center was built into a longitudinal Grand Canal with Dadu as the center and went south to Hangzhou. In this way, it took the Tartar court ten years to excavate the "Luozhou River" and the "Huitong River" successively, connecting the natural rivers and lakes between Tianjin and the Qingjiang River in Jiangsu, and connecting the Hangou and Jiangnan Canal to the south of the Qingjiang River to Hangzhou.

The old man complained, took a puff of cigarette, coughed twice, and said: "The siltation of this Jiangnan river is so bad, it is naturally impossible to clean it up close to three hundred migrant workers, but those who are officials don't care about this, the old man has approached the county magistrate two days ago, and people don't see me at all?"

"Hmph, don't you see it, or don't you dare to see it?" Li Hang snorted, a trace of resentment shooting out of his eyes.

Liu Laosan said: "Most of them don't want to see it, right?"

"Damn corrupt official, he doesn't treat us as human beings, how can such a long canal be cleaned up with this little people's power alone, doesn't he have long eyes?" Li Hang scolded.

"Be quiet, be quiet, are you saying such things, aren't you afraid of being heard by the county order?" Liu Laosan was taken aback and pulled Li Hang over.

Li Hang snorted and said, "What are you afraid of, I can't do it yet, he can kill me!"

Liu Laosan held down Li Hang's mouth, looked around vigilantly, and said angrily: "You can't say a few words, the county magistrate can't kill you, but it's not easy to catch you and eat some cells, it's nothing if you go in by yourself, but don't you have an old mother at home, do you want her to worry about you?"

Li Hang's father died early, there is only one mother, he is extremely filial, if it is not for his mother, with his temperament and ability, he may not be able to find a better job to do, after listening to Liu Laosan's words, Li Hang's voice was a little smaller.

"That dog official doesn't gather the people, relying on these hundreds of people alone, I'm afraid it won't be able to finish, and then you and I won't be scolded to death by these people?" Li Hang said anxiously.

Liu Laosan looked around left and right, and said, "It's not that there is no method, but it's a little troublesome to use?"

Li Hang was slightly stunned, followed by his eyes lit up, pulled Liu Laosan's wrist, and said happily: "Uncle Liu, you are really, even if you have a way, you didn't say it earlier, so people are so worried!"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Liu Laosan's face was a little nervous, he looked around, and said in a low voice: "Silly boy, what do you know, although this method is good, it is also a little troublesome to use?"

Li Hang raised his eyebrows and said, "What's the trouble?"

Liu Laosan took a hard puff of cigarette, muttered for a while, and said, "Hey, it's a blessing or a curse, it's a disaster that can't be avoided!"

"Oh, Uncle Liu, you want to kill me in a hurry, when is this happening, don't think about it anymore, these people are just afraid that they want me to wait for my ancestors?"

Liu Laosan turned his head and glanced at the canal, because the river was rising, the water flow was slow, the perennial accumulation of silt, the yellow sand was more than one person high, and several people were struggling to dig up the accumulated silt from the river, and then transport it to the farmland thousands of meters away.

Liu Laosan looked at it for a while, some light flashed in his eyes, he reached out and touched it, gritted his teeth and said: "That's it, that's it, the court doesn't care if we live or die, why should we care?"

Liu Laosan retracted his gaze, the expression on his face became stern, and he stared at Li Hang and said, "Silly boy, have you heard of the Maitreya Sect?"

Li Hang was stunned for a moment, and looked at Liu Laosan with a surprised mouth, Li Hang had also heard of the prestige of Maitreya Sect, but he really didn't have a good impression of these unsightly churches, and he always felt that those words about the birth of the Ming King and so on were just fooling the ignorant people, so he didn't have a good impression of these unsightly churches.

Of course, this is only one aspect, on the other hand, Li Hang has also read a lot of history books on weekdays, and the accusations of resisting the imperial court under the banner of Maitreya and "Son of Heaven in White" are endless, these people use the people who are kind in their hearts to satisfy their personal desires, and in the end they are still suffering from the people, so they have an indescribable disgust for Maitreya Li Hang from his heart.

Li Hang glanced at Liu Laosan and said in a low voice, "Uncle Liu is a member of the Maitreya Sect?"

Liu Laosan shook his head and said, "I'm an old man from the countryside, how can I be favored by them, this Maitreya Sect wants a young and strong young man, I'm such a sick old man, isn't it a burden?"

Li Hang said: "Where I ascended the throne of Taizu, I explicitly banned the activities of various folk sects:" Zhongshu Provincial Ministers: ...... The White Lotus Society, the Mingzun Sect, and the Baiyun Sect are forbidden to help Luan pray for the holy book spell water arts. Shu Ji left road is not prosperous, and the people are not confused. After the edict was revised, it was clearly stipulated: All teachers and witches pretended to be evil gods, wrote talismans and spelled water, prayed for saints, called themselves Duangong Taibao Shipo, and vainly claimed to be Maitreya Buddha, White Lotus Society, Mingzun Sect, Baiyun Sect and other associations, should be left to the right way, or hide images, burn incense to gather people, gather at night, and feint to cultivate good deeds. incite the people, hang the leader, and each of the servants have a hundred rods, and flow three thousand miles.

In the first month of the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu once again ordered the Ministry of Rites to show the world: "Those who are called White Lotus, Lingbao, Huoju, and Monks who do not follow the ancestral style and discuss the frustration of the order in vain will be punished for serious crimes." The attitude of the imperial court, over the years, has not weakened in the slightest, I heard that over the years, the imperial court has been particularly strict in its investigation of the Maitreya Sect, that is, the Jinyi Guards have all used it, once the Maitreya Sect is discovered, the White Lotus Sect disciples are all killed!"

Liu Laosan nodded and said, "I don't know this, it's just that the court doesn't care about this matter at the moment, you and I have no way, except for borrowing Maitreya Sect, what other good way can I do?"

Li Hang's brows furrowed slightly, and he couldn't make up his mind for a while.

Liu Laosan glanced at Li Hang and said: "Actually, this Maitreya Sect is not so terrible, I heard that the new sect leader is extremely strict with the disciples in the sect, and there has never been any action to harm the people.

Li Hang said: "How many of them are there?"

Liu Laosan took a puff of cigarette and said, "More than four hundred?"

"More than 400 people, in this case, nearly 800 people, cleaning up these rivers, presumably it will not take a few months, and then the migrant workers will also have some leisure time, to earn some meager income for themselves before the year, better than a good year?"

"With them to help us, it won't take long for these rivers to be cleaned up, so that the dog officials of the imperial court can't say anything, they only care about whether the rivers are dredged, how can they care about our life and death, but it is Maitreya who comes to help us-?" Liu Laosan squinted at Li Hang beside him, and said without hurrying or slowing, for this descendant who he watched growing up since he was a child, how could he not understand, there is a bit of wildness in his temperament, but he is kind-hearted, and he has to be peaceful, if not, why worry so much about the cleaning of this river? To put it bluntly, I just can't see these 300 people suffering!

Li Hangwu hesitated, he had to say that this was indeed a good method, four hundred people came at once, not only so that these three hundred people could have enough time to earn extra income, but also to complete the task of cleaning up the Dao with one stone!"

"It's just that there is no good thing in the world that is not earned for nothing, and this Maitreya Sect has taken such great pains to help clean up the river, which really makes him suspicious!"

"Okay, don't think about it, what is the purpose of this Maitreya Sect, we don't know, and we don't want to know, in short, relying on these three hundred people, want to clean up these thousands of meters of rivers, I'm afraid it's a bit laborious, it's rare that Maitreya Sect can help with this, if you and I don't agree, they won't come, I don't think so, in this case, why don't you and I do it? Use them to clean up the river, save the three hundred people, so that they can have free time, earn some broken silver and rush home for the New Year, isn't this the purpose of you and me, as long as this goal is achieved, what does it matter what Maitreya Sect and White Lotus Sect do you have to do with me?"

Li Hang was stunned for a moment, and then thought for a moment: "Yes, our purpose is to clean up the river and save these three hundred migrant workers, whether you are the White Lotus Sect or the Maitreya Sect, what does it have to do with us?"

"Besides, many of these Maitreya sects are ordinary people in the Jiangnan area, and the imperial court may not know their identities, we use them to clean up the river, and from then on we are strangers, and the imperial court will ask questions, and we may not be able to implicate you and me!" Liu Laosan continued.

Li Hang sighed and said, "What Uncle Liu said is extremely true!"

As soon as Li Hang's words fell, he heard a noisy sound from the crowd, and the two followed the voice, only to see a lot of people rushing to the other side of the canal, all carrying farm tools, slowly rushing to the canal, and even many people jumped off the riverbed to help clean up.

Li Hang and Liu Laosan looked at each other, and said in their hearts: "Is this Maitreya?"