At noon, outside the gate of the annex in Jianghuai North City, a middle-aged man in a gray robe and a light car got out of the car and stood at the door with an umbrella.

The alley is quiet in the north city of Jianghuai, and there are only a few households living in the alley, and the yards of two of them are almost vacant all year round.

Because of this, there are only a few people passing by in the small alley on weekdays, not to mention the gloomy and rainy weather.

The steward of the other courtyard took the post and trotted all the way to the inner courtyard, and the gray-clothed man patiently guarded the door, waiting quietly

In the inner hall of the courtyard, Xiao Ning got up to deal with all kinds of letters from the two secret guards when it was bright, and at this time, it came to an end, and he was a little tired on the table.

The attendant took the greeting note handed by the steward at the door, and when he saw the words on it clearly, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then walked back to the room quickly and handed it to Xiao Ning, without even bothering to cover the door.

Xiao Ning raised his head and glanced at the greeting note handed over by the attendant, and when he understood it, he said in a low voice: "Pass him in." ”

Shen Yan stood at the door, waiting with an anxious mood.

His appearance looks calm, but in fact, starting from the Jianghuai River, this calmness is just a protective color used to cover up the anxiety and uneasiness in his heart.

The more anxious you are, the more you need to be calm.

Three months after entering Beijing, he encountered a flood that occurred once in a century in Jianghuai, and the old mother, wife and daughter of the family were still in the low-lying southern city of Jianghuai.

You know, the last letter from that place was sent half a month ago.

Hearing the heavy rain for several days, the river rose so fiercely, Shen Yan, who was born in Jianghuai, knew better than anyone else, but he couldn't leave.

It wasn't until he received Xiao Ning's order to rush directly from the capital to Jianghuai North that half of his hanging heart fell to the ground.

After rushing all the way day and night, I finally arrived at the north of the Jianghuai River, saw the turbulent river, and overlooked the southern city of the Jianghuai River was already an ocean, in an instant. Shen Yan was like being poured down from his head by a basin of ice water on a June day.

The only hope now is the letter half a month ago, when his wife told him that he would take his mother to live in the mansion in Xishan for a while.

The two sides of the strait lost contact, before receiving a letter from home. How can you be sure?

He had mixed feelings, but what was more urgent was undoubtedly the inside story involved in the Jianghuai trip.

Natural disasters may have a chance to be avoided,* but they are even more terrifying, unavoidable flood beasts!

Shen Yan stood at the door in a trance, waiting for the steward to come and give him a reply.

Under the guidance of the steward, he walked into the front yard, and after waiting for the attendant there to salute, he took Shen Yan all the way through the corridor and walked to the innermost side of the courtyard.

Pushing open the door that seemed to be closed, Shen Yan saw the future lord of Ying Tian. Sitting behind the desk with a cold face, a pair of eyes looked straight over.

With an inquiring, scrutinizing gaze.

"Your Highness."

Shen Yan suppressed the thoughts in his heart and saluted

Under the eaves of the courtyard, Shen Yan stood behind Xiao Ning. Looking at the pond that was about to be filled with heavy rain for days, we listened to the sound of rain splashing in the pond one after another. "Taifu, do you know why I transferred you to Jianghuai?"

Xiao Ning's deep gaze looked at the gloomy weather, and said in a low voice. "Your Highness, the minister is from Jianghuai." Shen Yan replied. "The Jianghuai flood, and the minister grew up here, so His Royal Highness is not afraid that the minister's handling of Jianghuai affairs will cause criticism in the DPRK and China?"

Xiao Ning glanced at Shen Yan, and said with a little smile in his eyes: "Taifu means that he will falsely report the disaster." So take the opportunity to blackmail the court's silver? “

Beads of sweat beaded on Shen Yan's forehead and said: "Minister, no, that's not what I mean, it's just that His Highness is aware that this time for the Jianghuai disaster, the factions in the DPRK and China are arguing." At this time, one of the ministers was assigned to come to Jianghuai, and His Royal Highness was not afraid" "Who said that you are the only one?" "I'm already in Jianghuai, and it's not all, what do the officials stationed in Jianghuai do to eat, and they take the court's money for nothing."

Xiao Ning said in a low voice: "Jianghuai, this mess." I didn't make it like this in my hands, but since I started, I will never allow it to go on like this. "I'm in Jianghuai North, so it's not convenient for me to come forward." "I have my own considerations, and I still have things that I can't get out of." The corners of Xiao Ning's mouth moved, "So I assigned you here, many things will be easy to do, and you can act for me here." "Your Highness, do you have any plans?"

Xiao Ning looked sideways at Shen Yan and took out two letters from his arms and handed them to him: "You just arrived in Jianghuai, and you were originally going to give you time to visit your family in Jianghuai South City, but unfortunately, now the imperial court needs to use you even more when there is something to do, and there are priorities." “

Shen Yan opened the letter, the south wind and the tide hit people, and the handwriting on the letter still carried the fresh smell of ink, as if it had not yet dried.

The corners of Xiao Ning's mouth raised: "The first letter was sent by the secret guards in the south of the city, just to make you feel at ease." ”

"Ling Tang has been transferred to the villa behind the Xishan Temple, safe and sound, Ling Zheng and Ling Ai are with him."

Xiao Ning said: "The second letter is to ask you to rush to the important town in the upper reaches of the river dozens of miles away, where there will be a secret guard waiting for you." ”

Shen Yan pinched a handful of sweat in his hands, slowly breathed a sigh of relief, and was still immersed in the mood of getting the good news, and then heard the second letter, and had to order to leave Jianghuaibei, and his heart suddenly sighed, but it had just arrived, and this arrangement was unavoidable

Xiao Ning turned around, not looking at him, but as if he expected him to have questions.

"Taifu's trip to Jianghuai, the most urgent task is to send silver to the imperial court."

"As for going to the upstream town, the Secret Guard will inform you as soon as you arrive."

Xiao Ning's face sank and said, "The flood will eventually pass, and the rest of the things are more important than the flood in front of you." ”

As soon as he heard this, Shen Yan was a little puzzled by Xiao Ning's plan next, he listened intently, thought carefully but didn't ask.

"Don't worry, I will order someone to take care of your family on the mountain."

Xiao Ning did not intend to explain too much

After a night of heavy rain and heavy water, more than half of the pontoon bridge that the victims had worked hard to build was washed away on the waterfront side of the West Mountain.

Master Chen and I came here when we heard the news, and when we saw this unexpected scene, we didn't know how to comfort them for a while.

A thought crossed my mind, and I stepped forward and called out the temporary leader elected by the victims in charge of the matter.

"It's just one side's contribution, I'm afraid it won't work." I pondered for a moment and said, "Why don't you take a canoe to the other side and find the victims on the other side of the mountain to help?" ”

"Dr. Lin," one of the victims replied to me, "according to our estimates, there should be no less than two or three hundred people on the opposite hill. ”

"But for two days in a row, we started to build the bridge in full swing, but there was no movement on the other side, so we discussed and discussed in private, is the original estimate wrong, and the opposite side did not accommodate so many victims?"

"No, it won't." I thought about it for a while and looked at the hill across the river, and frowned, "It has been raining heavily for many days before the disaster in Jianghuai South City. ”

"You have all lived in Nancheng for a long time, and many of you must have concerns about the safety of the dam."

"According to this inference, before the river burst its banks and overflowed the city, many residents of the city would have gone to the mountains for refuge."

Some of the victims who heard me say this were stunned, and then nodded in agreement, seemingly agreeing with me.

"I heard from Mrs. Shen, the old lady who lives in the villa behind the temple, that on the day they entered the mountain, they met many people in the city who went up the mountain on the road."

This is true, I went to the villa three times to see her, except for the first restraint, the next two times I talked about the disaster victims, Mrs. Shen seemed to be very concerned about the disaster situation in Jianghuai, and took the initiative to provoke the topic.

Especially the third time, she knew that several doctors who stayed in the temple helped the victims here, and somehow, she also asked the people on the other side of the mountain, and asked me if there was any news about connecting there.

"Some of them parted ways with them at the foot of the West Mountain."

"At that time, the other party was worried, worried that the temple on this mountain might not be able to accommodate too many people, so he turned to the opposite mountain."

"You've probably heard that there were originally mountain people living in the mountains, plus the people in the city who took refuge from the disaster, I think the estimate you said is too conservative, and it is too small."

"I speculated with Old Madam Shen that it is expected to be at least three or four hundred people."

"Except for the elderly women and children among them, the rest of the people are afraid that they will not be able to assemble a bridge construction team with only a dozen people to start construction."

"Both sides can be docked, and this pontoon bridge can be built as much as possible."

"Doctor Lin, what you said is very reasonable, but no one has appeared on the other side of the strait these days, I don't know what is going on?"

"I speculate," I hesitated, "that there is a shortage of doctors and medicines on the other side, so it may be that the doctor needs to go there first and find out." ”

"How can the young adults I am talking about who can contribute go up the mountain alone to take refuge, most of them are dragging their families, or they are people who need to be taken care of at home."

"The mountain on the other side doesn't know that we have four doctors here, and if they do, they are afraid that they will send people to cross the river and come in danger."

"I'm going to go and see if any of you can steer the boat for me, and we'll go around and see."

Master Chen, who was standing beside me, quickly pulled my sleeve when he heard this, and I turned to Master Chen and said, "Teacher, the victims here, there are three of you doctors on the mountain, I will walk away for half a day, it will not have much impact, but if I don't leave this time, I feel uneasy." “

Master Chen looked at me helplessly and said, "You insist on going, and it's not easy to stop you as a teacher, but you have to go safely and return safely." ”

I nodded, and then turned my eyes to search the crowd, and a few victims stepped forward to me and said, "Doctor Lin, the person who sent something a few days ago left a small boat in the back mountain. ”

"Compared to the temporary ones we set up here, they still use their boats to cross the river."

"Without further ado, one of you will be able to get out." "Cross the water, go to the other side!"