Chu Nanyue knows very well that this kind of civil dispute is the most urgent, and it is often tedious to deal with it, and it takes a lot of effort to sort it out.

The top priority is to let the villagers disperse first to avoid the uncontrollable appearance of the scene.

So Chu Nanyue said: "Please believe in the yamen, and believe me, this matter allows me and Master Zhang to investigate first, everyone can rest assured, if the river water is scarce to such a point, even if I Chu Nanyue let the military fields run dry, I will not let everyone have no water." ”

Chu Nanyue's words are like a guarantee, she has always governed the army strictly, and the military order is the same, so naturally she will not violate it in this matter.

So the two gentry said: "We believe in General Chu, and everyone will give General Chu and Master Zhang a little time." ”

"Let's all disperse first, there is still farm work to be done at home, since General Chu has promised to solve it, he will definitely not lose his trust in us."

The villagers were originally organized by the gentry, and when they heard the gentry speak, they naturally stopped making trouble.

The crowd gradually dispersed, Chu Nanyue left the two gentry behind, and returned to the yamen with Zhang Song to discuss in detail and come together to understand the situation.

Although the gentry were also villagers, Chu Nanyue knew that their position between the people and the government was extremely important.

In such a water conservancy dispute, only when the gentry assisted the government and helped mediate, could the people and the government seek harmony.

In the same way, the special status of the gentry also meant that they needed to be dependent on the authority of the government.

"Pingjiang is not small, and it is close to the capital, have there been water officials in the two villages on weekdays?" Chu Nanyue asked.

"The so-called water officer is the two of us." The two spoke in unison.

Originally, the government itself had a system, and there was a special official responsible for managing the water, but because the villagers knew more about Pingjiang, after a few terms, it was finally the gentry in the village who served as the water official.

Chu Nanyue nodded: "Since it is managed by the two of you, it's okay like this." I also want to ask you, how was this matter of water decided in the first place? ”

"The upper and lower reaches of the Pingjiang River are divided into two, and each village must not take water in a slight violation." The gentry of Jiangbei Village replied.

Chu Nanyue lowered her eyes and pondered, and said again: "Dividing into two, although it sounds fair, but looking at the situation of the two villages, is it really so equal?" ”

As soon as the words fell, the people of Jiangnan Village complained bitterly: "General Chu, this is exactly where the grass people are dissatisfied. In Jiangnan Village, our downstream, has a population of more than dozens of people than upstream, and the average of that year is now long gone. ”

It turned out that the population of the two villages was about the same in the past, but now the gap is slowly widening.

"It's really not appropriate to meet today's needs by the standards of the past. If you find out about the problem early, you can tell the government and let Lord Zhang cut it. Chu Nanyue said.

"On weekdays, the relationship between the two villages is good, wouldn't it be bad to say such a thing?" The people of Jiangnan Village were embarrassed.

"Now that you are so prone to solving problems with brawls, isn't it a bad relationship?" Chu Nanyue raised her eyebrows.

If you talk about things in the township, it is also interesting, and it always makes small things become big, only to realize that it should have been prevented long ago.

"Master Zhang, what do you think?" Chu Nanyue turned her head and asked what Zhang Song meant.

"Xia Guan has already had the intention of changing, of course, since General Chu has an idea, he will bother General Chu to act." Zhang Song said respectfully.

Zhang Song had already intended to redefine the water rules, but he didn't dare to rashly raise it for fear of touching the interests of the villagers.

Chu Nanyue pondered for a moment and said: "Since this is the case, I will take the population as a rule, Jiangbei Village and Jiangnan Village, four or six waters, what do you think?" ”

Jiangnan Village received more water than before, so it naturally agreed. And Jiangbei Village was unwilling, and he didn't dare to openly oppose Chu Nanyue, so he was silent and didn't speak.

Chu Nanyue was inconvenient to force, so she only heard a sneer from Jiangnan Village, and said angrily: "General Chu's method is fair, but you don't agree." If it weren't for the dam in the upper reaches of the Pingjiang River, we wouldn't want to find an explanation today. ”

Between the upstream and downstream, the downstream is naturally weak, and Chu Nanyue heard it in his ears, and couldn't help but feel a little upset about it.

She couldn't help but explain one sentence at a time: "Even if the villagers are dissatisfied with each other, they should not do something inferior and deliberately provoke disputes, whether it is blocking the water or polluting the river as I said earlier......

Who knew that the gentry of Jiangbei Village frowned and denied: "General Chu, we did stop the water, but the matter of soiling the river has nothing to do with our upstream at all." ”

Chu Nanyue calmed down.

The gentry of Jiangbei Village mentioned this small detail for the second time, and she had to pay attention.

Compared with damging the dam, the water is not too serious at all, and since Jiangbei Village admits to damging the water, why should they deny that the river water was soiled by them?

Jiangnan Village obviously didn't believe it: "Recently, there has been a dispute between the two villages, which has summoned your revenge." If not you, who could it be? ”

Without waiting for Jiangbei Village to argue, Chu Nanyue opened his mouth: "This matter, maybe there is really someone else?" ”

Everyone didn't understand what it meant, and Chu Nanyue didn't explain much, but didn't say it.

"The division of the water is as I have just said. The rest of the things still need to be examined carefully, and I can't give you a direct answer today. Chu Nanyue finally said.

Speaking of which, Jiangbei Village no longer protested. The two villages first divided the water according to the four or six water divisions, and reformulated the water distribution regulations.

Unable to avoid another incident, Zhang Song also sent people to take compulsory measures from the government and sent special personnel to guard the mouth of the canal to prevent Jiangbei Village from blocking the water again.

Chu Nanyue mobilized his own soldiers on the outskirts of Beijing to supervise this, and the water use in Jiangbei Village and Jiangnan Village finally got a moment of respite.

And the inexplicable pollution of the river water has always been an unresolved doubt in Chu Nanyue's heart.

She summoned Qingshuang and instructed: "Qingshuang, you go to the camp on the outskirts of Beijing and ask Yuan Qi about the water use in the military field." ”

Qingshuang rode a horse to go back quickly, and after an afternoon's work, when it was dark, she had already returned from the camp on the outskirts of Beijing.

"General, Vice General Zhou said that most of the military fields were originally divided from Jiangnan Village and Jiangbei Village, and if you talk about water use, it should not be much more than in previous years." Qingshuang Road.

This coincides with Chu Nanyue's memory, she has been personally taking care of Juntian a few days ago, and she has never noticed anything unusual.

As for the reduction of rainfall, it is even more difficult to scrutinize. Now that the weather is not hot at all, the impact of rain on the increase or decrease of water volume is not so great.

"What about the pollution of the river?" Chu Nanyue pondered Qingshuang's reply.

Qingshuang recalled and said, "Vice General Zhou also found out, but the pollution was only a small part fixed, so they didn't pay much attention to it. ”

"Fixed?" Chu Nanyue said strangely.

The Pingjiang River is flowing, if someone has the intention to cause river water pollution, several times into things, it is impossible to be exactly the same position, how to "fix" the word?

When things go wrong, there must be demons. Chu Nanyue always felt that there may be an unknown connection between the pollution of the Pingjiang River and the decrease in water volume.