On May 20, the heavy rain in Gyeonggi was still pouring and falling.

The Yellow River roars outside Tokyo, the Bianhe River rushes through the city, and the water of Jinming Pond in the west of the city rises one by one, and the lake embankment may be washed away at any time, and the Bianliang River is poured into the Bianliang......

Such a dangerous scene made all the people and horses who were ordered to guard the two rivers and one lake have a spirit of 120,000 to pay attention to and guard them at all times, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry who are proficient in water conservancy are running around the dangerous river sections day and night, making correct decisions in time to turn the tide, even if they are tired and prostrate, there is no one who retreats.

At noon, Xu Hui, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, who was soaked and half muddy, came to the Jinming Pond again with two thousand soldiers and horses. After looking at the water surface almost level with the lake embankment, and the subordinates who were always swimming in front of the embankment, his brows furrowed deeply, and he immediately let go of his throat and hissed, "Ginger, where is Ginger?" ”

After shouting many times, I saw a person walking quickly from not far away, it was Langzhong Jinjie of the Ministry of Works, that is, the water conservancy official in charge of the safety here. At this time, he looked really embarrassed to the extreme, the official uniform and hat had long been lost, wearing the short clothes of ordinary people, barefoot, pale and puffy, his eyes were deeply sunken, and he was covered with bloodshots.

Because of extreme fatigue, his hands and feet were a little vain, and when he came to Xu Hui, he tripped over something, and almost fell into the water. Fortunately, there were subordinates on the side who helped him in time, so that he stabilized his figure, and then he also hoarsely clenched his fists and said: "Xiaguan has seen Xu Shangshu, I don't know what Shangshu commands?" ”

"What happened to what I asked you to do?" At this time, Xu Huo didn't care about saying some polite words to him, and asked bluntly: "The Qionglin Garden in the west, as well as the dozens of Zhuangzi people in that area, have all been dismissed?" ”

"I didn't ...... There is no ......" Jin Jie's face was suddenly full of bitterness: "The people over there in Qionglin Yuan are almost gone, but the other people in the Zhuangzi refuse to move out, but threaten the people we sent, if we dare to dig a lake and flood their Zhuangzi, their master will definitely sue the court, so that we can't eat and go around." The lower officials spoke softly, and they really couldn't convince those nobles. ”

Even though he had been prepared, after hearing such an answer, Xu Hui's face was still annoyed, and after a few heavy gasps, he said, "Didn't you explain what you said to them?" If they don't lead the lake to them, the whole of Tokyo will suffer. ”

"They refused to listen to the explanation of the humble position at all, and they also let it go, saying that it is not the responsibility of our Ministry of Industry to keep Jin Mingchi, what do they have to do with it!"

"How unreasonable!" Xu Huo suddenly trembled with anger, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

In fact, he had already found out that the dozens of Zhuangzi in the area of Qionglin Yuan in the west were indeed the property of the nobles who were ranked in the middle of the court, and it was not something he could easily offend, let alone forcibly submerge their property - even if it was time for them to move their property and population as far as possible.

Among these nobles are not only the royal children who have been around for a hundred years, but also many civil officials with high status or power. The Great Song Dynasty is indeed the most tolerant era for civil officials since ancient times, not only the officials are extremely high, but also there are always rewards for the New Year's Festival, if there is occasional merit, those officials who have passed the imperial examination can also share a well-paid Zhuangzi around the capital as a supplement. Although these Zhuangzi will be reclaimed by the imperial court after they are removed from the officialdom, as long as he is still in the officialdom, this Zhuangzi will become the private property of that official and obtain a lot of benefits.

It can be said that these Zhuangzi are not only a lot of practical benefits for the officials, but also a symbol of status, how can they easily let the people of the Ministry of Industry release water and drown? As for the possible flooding of the capital, what does it have to do with them?

Seeing that Xu Huo was angry, he was speechless for a long time, and a burly officer who had been standing behind him opened his mouth: "Xu Shangshu, since these guys are so ignorant, you don't have to save any face for them, leave this errand to our brother to deal with." "This person is Fan Qi, who is now in charge of the security of the capital, and has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, but this time he was ordered by Sun Tu to assist the Ministry of Industry to deal with the flood.

Not only the two thousand soldiers and horses at the moment, but also the soldiers and horses patrolling the Bianhe River of the Yellow River and the Jinmingchi Dam are also under his command, so Fan Qi is also a general who attaches the most importance to floods.

"General Fan, this official is just worried that once he uses his strength, it will cause even greater trouble. Why don't I go and meet with them again, explain it, and persuade them to move out as soon as possible. Judging from the water potential and heavy rain, by tomorrow, Jinming Pond will burst the embankment, so before it gets dark today, the flood must be divided! After some deep groaning, Xu Hui put forward his own opinions.

"Then give them another half day, and they can't delay it any longer." Fan Qi immediately nodded and said, "I'll go with you to talk to them, so that you won't be hurt by these guys who don't know what to do." ”

"Okay, without further ado, we'll get over here." The situation was urgent, Xu Huo nodded immediately, supported his tired body, and hurried towards Zhuangzi in the west. He believed that if he could persuade three or two of them to move out, the others would also leave.

But then the facts made his hopes disappointed, Xu Huo went to seven Zhuangzi in a row, said a few baskets of good things, and reasoned with the facts, but the other party did not enter the oil and salt, and refused to agree to move out. Even the steward of the last Pei's Manor was even more sneering: "Haven't you Xu Shangshu always been proud of your understanding of water conservancy?" Now I can't cope with this little thing, so it's better to resign from the official and let someone who has the means to do it. ”

"You ......" Xu Hui was not good at words, and he was so squeezed by others, he was even more speechless, he could only gasp there, and there was no way to do it.

At this time, Fan Qi finally couldn't stand it anymore, and his eyes glared: "Come on, tie up everyone in this Zhuangzi for me and drag me away!" "Since the other party refuses to cooperate, then the only way to use force is to use force.

Now, Xu Hui looked at the sky and knew that it was impossible to give himself more time to persuade and tempt, so he could only remain silent.

The soldiers who had been watching the annoyance for a long time were immediately energetic after receiving the order, and decisively rushed into the Pei family Zhuangzi and dragged them away. After a burst of chickens and dogs, a surprising scene appeared, there were only three people up and down this Zhuangzi, this is clearly an empty manor!

"What do you do? Dare to arrest people indiscriminately, don't I really have a royal law in the Great Song Dynasty? I'm going to the court to sue you, my master ......" The person in charge still looked very arrogant at the moment, chattering loudly, which made Fan Qi even more annoyed, and immediately stepped forward, shook his hand and gave him two slaps: "Shut up!" ”

This immediately shocked the other party, and the steward honestly shut up, and his body began to tremble a little. Fan Qi took a step forward, stared at him and asked, "Say, what about the other people in this Zhuangzi?" Don't you want to hide from me, say that they have something to leave, can there be only two or three people left? If you dare to tell lies again, I will tie you up here later, and wait for the flood to come and see if you die! Say! ”

The strong killing intent made this one suddenly break his courage, and immediately told the truth: "Yes...... It was my master's order two days in advance, so that we could transfer all the property and population in the village at night, leaving only a few of us to take care of the delay......"

The other party's confession made Xu Hui's face change even more, these days, because of the constant attention to the water potential, it is impossible for the people near Jinmingchi to pay attention to the movement on the Zhuangzi not far away. Under the cover of darkness and heavy rain, they were naturally able to evacuate this dangerous place without knowing it, and then use only a few people to entangle with them......

It's ridiculous that he has been dragging and not daring to call people to dig the embankment because he is worried that it will cause many casualties, and he has survived until today! A wave of anger mixed with grievances rushed straight to his heart, making his mouth sweet, and he vomited a mouthful of blood with a wow, shocking everyone around him, and hurriedly stepped forward to help.

And Fan Qi's face was even more gloomy to the extreme, he had already understood, this must not be the Pei family's behavior like this, I am afraid that all the Zhuangzi here have gone to the Zhuang, leaving only two or three people to deal with the delay. And their purpose, in addition to wanting to keep their own property, is afraid that there is a deeper and more vicious reason, in the final analysis, it is to come to the imperial court, that is, the ruling Sun Tu and them.

"Xu Shangshu, we will definitely investigate this matter to the end, and Taiwei will not let them go so easily!" Fan Qi soon came to Xu Hui and said comfortingly: "The court will not just settle your grievances. However, the most important thing at the moment is to get through the current predicament first, I will take someone to take all the remaining people away, and then wait until it gets dark, we will divide the flood and drain the water to reduce the burden on Jinming Lake. ”

Xu Huo calmed down after vomiting blood, so he hugged his fists and said: "Everything is General Lao Fan, I will go to the lake to keep an eye on it, as long as you clean up all the people and release the signal, we will open the embankment." ”

Next, they split up, and by the time Xu Hui returned to the embankment, there was chaos in the Zhuangzi to the west. As they had guessed, there were not many people in all the villages, and their belongings and even livestock had been emptied early, and they had already left a way out for themselves.

But this is also good, saving a lot of hands and feet such as Fan Qi's subordinates, and in just over an hour, he took down all the people left behind in these dozens of Zhuangzi, and then decisively shot an arrow to inform the people on Jinming Pond that they could open the embankment.

At the turn of Shen You, with a period of busyness, a corner of the embankment on the west side of Jinming Pond began to slowly collapse, and then under the continuous impact of the lake, the gap spread, and a large amount of lake water rushed forward with a rumbling thunder - Qionglin Yuan and the large manor fields around it suddenly became Zeguo......