As soon as the day dawned, the prince was busy taking care of the sick and refugees all night without closing their eyes, and suddenly, only heard a loud "bang", the river embankment not far upstream actually burst, it turned out that the heavy rain in the upper reaches had increased, and the river embankment was overwhelmed, although Cui Youzhen and others were on duty overnight, they were still ruthlessly washed away by the flood.

Wang Ziqian and some of the untouchables ran out to watch, only to see the water roaring, like frightened wild horses, and like soldiers charging forward, rushing from the breach of the river embankment, unstoppable, the houses and farmland in the lower places were instantly submerged, the big trees near the shore were even uprooted, and the flood water wrapped the wood of the destroyed houses upstream, and some dead livestock that had not escaped all the way through the ocean.

At this time, several river veterans floated down from the water, but unfortunately, the flood was too fierce for people to rescue, so they could only watch as they were swept into the whirlpool and eventually disappeared.

At last the rain had lightened, and most of the untouchables ran out of their huts, knelt down before the prince, and thanked the Twelve Princes for saving their lives.

Due to the timely transfer, although there were no serious casualties, it directly flooded more than 10 counties and cities in the lower reaches of the Shenchuan River, turning more than 800 square kilometers of farmland into an ocean, and more than 200,000 people were displaced. In the three counties of Qingshui, Baisha and Yinghe alone, more than 300,000 mu of cultivated land has been submerged. The rolling torrent turned the original granary of Yunmeng Kingdom into a devastated flood-stricken area. At this time, the rice has not yet been harvested, and some counties have no harvest, and the victims are all over the field in an instant, especially the untouchables who used to live a humble life, and there are people who die of hunger every day, and some people who are sick but lack medicine, and can only wait to die.

The matter was reported to the imperial court, and the Holy King Changlongyan was furious and demanded a thorough investigation of the incident of the bursting of the embankment of the Yinghe River. Every year, the imperial court allocates tens of millions of taels of grain for flood control across the country, especially the Yinghe embankment, which is even more responsive and never stingy, but now it has caused such a tragedy, and the people involved in the case will never be disappointed, and they must be killed to make an example of each other. Since Cui Youzhen, the messenger of the Hinghe embankment, had died in the line of duty on the day the embankment burst, all the river veterans who survived the incident were temporarily detained in prison.

The person responsible for the thorough investigation of this matter is Pei Ruhai, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and at the same time, it is handled by the Duke of Hubei and Wang Ben. Pei Ruhai is a protégé of Yun Tianxiao, who works seriously and carefully, and has always been valued by Wang Chang.

Due to heavy rains and migration, the archives of the original Yinghe embankment were either damaged by the flood or disappeared during the relocation process. The junior actuary in charge of the Yinghe embankment was found to have accidentally fallen down the hillside due to the slippery road in the rainy weather, and fell to his death. After interrogating the veterans who survived the embankment, they all said in unison that Cui Youzhen was responsible for the matter alone, and he did not know about it. Cui Youzhen has already died, before the accident, his family still has his old mother and wife, as well as a child who has not yet reached the age of ten, Cui Youzhen is about forty years old before he can barely get married, so the son is still a minor. But after the river embankment burst, Cui Youzhen's family seemed to have evaporated from the world and could not be found. Pei Ruhai worked tirelessly, patiently investigating and visiting day and night, and finally a pariah provided a valuable clue, that is, Cui Youzhen often sent money and goods to a woman in her thirties in a neighboring village, and the woman also had a seventeen or eighteen-year-old daughter who had married away from home a few years ago.

Pei Ruhai was keenly aware that this message was by no means ordinary, so he sent someone to find the woman overnight. As soon as the country woman saw the majestic momentum of the lobby, she immediately confessed truthfully, saying that her family had no ability to stand up, and had been relying on Cui Youzhen for more than ten years, including her daughter's dowry. But when asked about the relationship between the two, the woman resolutely denied having an affair with Cui Youzhen.

Cui Youzhen's income is not high, why do you still sponsor an irrelevant woman for a long time? Wang Ben, the Duke of Eguo, believes that this matter is very simple, that is, Cui Youzhen has always been full of private pockets and used the money of the court to support his good friends, anyway, there is no proof of death, and it is reasonable for the woman to refuse to say that she has a relationship with him. Therefore, the case can be closed, that is, the maintenance funds of the Yinghe embankment were embezzled by Cui Youzhen, because the embankment burst, so he committed suicide and threw himself into the river to die, and the remaining money and goods were swept away by his family. Pei Ruhai felt that there was something strange about this matter, but he couldn't say why, all the evidence and physical evidence pointed to Cui Youzhen, and among the silver left in the woman's house, there was also a special mark specially issued to the messenger of the river embankment, and it seemed that the case could be closed.

"There's something wrong with that." Wang Ziqian heard that Pei Ruhai and E Guogong were preparing to close the case, so he hurriedly looked for him.

"What does the Twelfth Prince think is wrong?" While drinking soy milk, Duke E guarded the Dan furnace for alchemy, and when he saw Wang Zizhao coming, he asked without raising his head.

Yinghe County produces soybeans and mung beans, and the people here have the habit of drinking soybean milk in the morning, and after the Duke of Eguo came, he also followed the local customs and began to drink soybean milk in the morning. Eguo Gong has no intention of political affairs, and he likes to make friends with some outsiders on weekdays, and alchemy is his biggest hobby in life. No matter where you go, you can eat without meat for a day, and you can't go a day without alchemy.

"Uncle Qiyu, the little nephew has seen this Master Cui, he works very seriously and lives a very simple life, so there is no possibility of corruption." The prince replied. and told him about seeing Cui Youzhen that night, "Such a conscientious and hard-working person, how can he be guarding and stealing?" ”

"The twelve princes are too young, and there was a grandson prime minister in the previous dynasty, although he was very rich, but the clothes used outside must be ragged and old, and people should not look good. How many times has the Twelve Princes seen him? How can it be determined that he is loyal to his duties and not put on a show just by one side? When he answered Wang Zizhao's words, he forgot the soybean milk bowl he was holding in his hand, and when he sprinkled his hand, the soybean milk was splashed on a small piece of gypsum for alchemy next to the furnace. After a while, the plaster was gone, and the soy milk, which was originally liquid, turned into a white and tender thing.

This matter was too bizarre, so the Duke of Eguo no longer bothered about the prince's pious affairs, and casually called out the door, so an entourage came in to taste this white and tender thing, but he didn't expect to shout: "Delicious!" Delicious! ”

Wang Ziqian looked at his uncle with an unintentional look, and went to see Pei Ruhai again, after saluting, Pei Ruhai was just silent, as if thoughtful, when Wang Ziqian left, he got up and said: "Congratulations to His Royal Highness the Twelfth Prince."