Chapter 435: Qingjiangpu (3)

The rain was still falling endlessly, and although it was impossible to see the situation outside, the sound of the roaring water of the Yellow River still made people's hearts chill.

At this moment, a big official ship is sailing on the water surface of the Suining section of the Yellow River. The big red lantern hanging from the bow of the ship had long since been extinguished by the rain, and only a glimmer of light came out of the cabin.

The ship tossed violently in the wind and rain, and the boatmen all cried out in panic: "Hold on, hold on!" ”

Everything was shaking all over the ship, tables and chairs were moving left and right, and the deck lattice was rattling, and one feared that maybe the next moment the ship would be scattered into a pile of debris.

There were two people in the cabin, one was a middle-aged one and one was young, the middle-aged one was wearing a sixth-rank official uniform, and the younger one was a seventh-rank official.

Such strong winds and waves were rare, and the young man was already so frightened that his face turned pale, and he stretched out his hand to grasp the bulkhead, and his mouth made a retching sound, which was obviously dizzy. He kept shouting: "Lord Xia, this water is rising badly, it is better to lean on the embankment and wait for the rain to light up before leaving." ”

Unlike the panic of the young official, the middle-aged man sat calmly in a chair reading a book. But he saw that his legs were spread apart, and his whole body was nailed there like nails, as if the sound of the water and rain outside had nothing to do with him.

Hearing the young official say this, the middle-aged official surnamed Xia raised his head from the book, his eyes fell on the young man, and said loudly: "Master Fu is really confused, this official came to Suining from Qingjiangpu to inspect the river defense here, and seeing that the water of the Yellow River has become like this, Suining must be tight." If you don't go at this time, do you still wait for the wind and waves to calm down and the water recedes before continuing to move forward. Jokes, really jokes? Even if there is real danger, that is our duty. We are all officials of the imperial court, the food of the king, and the matter of loyalty to the king. If you can really die in office, you will get it! Fu Lin, you are a Jinshi in Zhengde for thirteen years, right? ”

The seven-rank official named Fu Lin replied: "If you go back to Lord Xia, Fu Lin is the thirteenth year of Zhengde's Tongjinshi background. ”

"Anyone who can be a scholar is a well-educated person, and after reading the sage books all his life, don't he understand the truth of being a man and an official?" Lord Xia snorted.

Fu Lin was blushed by Lord Xia's words, and it took a long time before he bowed his head and said, "My lord is right, Fu Lin is ashamed." ”

That Lord Xia smiled and put the book on the rickety table beside him, and said gently: "Actually, the official is not blaming you, when you are young, your mind is undecided, and your heart has not yet been cultivated, so you are naturally a little flustered when you encounter something." I thought that Xia Yan was afraid that it was not as good as you! ”

"Lord Xia has a heroic and calm heart, Fu Lin admires it." Fu Lin said sincerely: "Adults are worthy of doing things, and when they encounter major events, they are much calmer than ordinary people." ”

That's right, this person is Xia Yan, a famous minister of the Ming Dynasty, who was originally in the Ministry of War, but now he has just been appointed by the imperial court and came to Huai'an to serve as the prime minister of Nanhe. A few days ago, he received an official letter from Fang Shangzu of Suining Zhixian County saying that the Yellow River embankment in Suining was showing signs of instability, and he was uneasy and decided to come and see it in person.

Hearing Fu Lin's compliment, Xia Yan only smiled. He has been an official for more than ten years, and he has been a speech official, and he has been doing the work of teaching people to find fault all day long, and it is difficult to listen to his words. This time, when he went down to the local government to become an official, his style of acting was inevitably somewhat incompatible with that of the local officials.

Speaking of which, this Fu Lin is still a clean official in the river yamen, and he is also upright. You must know that in the eyes of outsiders, the river yamen is piled up with mountains of gold and silver, as long as you want to, you don't need to say more, a glance passes, and someone will send a lot of silver to the door. But it was this Fu Lin, who held the power to send workers and materials, but he didn't take anything at all, and now, except for an official uniform, he didn't even buy a decent robe.

Xia Yan "touched" his forehead, and said in his heart: I probably have too high expectations for Fu Lin, and I will inevitably be harsh on him. But I didn't expect Fu Lin to be a young man after all, and sometimes he needs encouragement.

Thinking of this, Xia Yan's expression eased and asked, "Fu Lin, are you seasick?" ”

Fu Lin nodded with a white face: "Yes, Xiaguan is originally from Hebei, and as soon as he got on the boat, he felt that the world was spinning, and he was already dizzy and couldn't find the north." ”

Xia Yan smiled: "But it's too!" If you are an official in the river yamen, if you don't know how to take a boat, how will you run errands in the future? By the way, I'll teach you a way to prevent seasickness. ”

Fu Linqi said: "What is the method, please ask for advice." ”

Xia Yan smiled and pointed to the book on the table, and said, "Look at the book, look at the book, the heart is calm, and naturally you won't be dizzy." Also, this book is very good, you should read more on weekdays, there are good ways to control the river. ”

Fu Lin picked up the book and saw that it was Sun Dan's "Daily Knowledge", and replied: "Lord Xia, Sun Jingyuan has a strategy for governing the river in this book, and almost everyone in our river yamen has a copy. ”

Xia Yan was a little surprised: "How?" ”

Fu Lin: "Sun Jingyuan's book is naturally excellent, especially the method of using dams to restrain water and using water to wash sand has never been seen before, which can be very inspiring. For example, this Yellow River water, a scoop of river water and half a scoop of sand. In the past, we waited for the river to be controlled, and we blindly built it, but we didn't want the terrain in this area to be flat, and as soon as the river came here, it slowed down, and the sand in the water also silted up. As a result, the previous embankment could no longer be used, and the only way to "force" it was to continue to raise the embankment. As a result, the dikes were built higher and higher, and the Yellow River gradually became an above-ground river. If the water is stronger, if the embankment breaks and the river flows downstream, it will be uncontrollable. Sun Daren said well, instead of standing on the embankment, it is better to let the water speed up and wash the sand into the sea. Hey, we didn't think of that before! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a boatman walked into the cabin covered in water and knelt on the deck: "The villain has seen two great masters. ”

Xia Yan asked: "Boatman, but we have arrived in Suining, we seem to have been on the water for a day and a night, right?" ”

The boatman replied: "My lord, we have been traveling from Qingjiangpu here for a day and a night, and now we have reached Suining, which is still fourteen miles away from the county seat. But now ......"

Qingjiangpu is actually the location of the Yamen of the Nanhe River, located in the city of Huai'an.

This place is where the Nanhe River Yamen and the Nanhe Caoyun Yamen are located, so in the officialdom and shipping circles, when it comes to Qingjiangpu, everyone understands that it is a special guide to the river and the Cao Yamen.

In order to strengthen the centralization of the central government, the Qing Dynasty unified the rivers and Caoyun into two separate yamen, and the governors were all second-rank officials, often served by the governors of a province or the six Shangshu of the court. In the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Canal and the Huai River and the Yellow River were divided into three sections, the northern section from Beijing to Jining, Shandong, and the Yamen was first set up in Tianjin, and later transferred to Tongzhou, which was called the North River; The section from Jining to Zhengzhou is called Zhonghe, and the yamen is set up in Jining. From Jining to Zhenjiang, it is called Nanhe Yamen, which is set up in Huai'an Qingjiangpu.

Listening to the boatman's tone, Xia Yan asked, "But what?" ”

The boatman said: "The river in the front section is a little narrow, and the current is too fast, if you force the boat, I am afraid that it will be dangerous." The villain's life is worthless, and if it is lost, it is lost, but if something happens to the adult, it ......"

As he was talking, a wave surged, and the boat shook violently, Fu Lin couldn't hold back any longer, and lowered his body, "Wow!" He spit out a mouthful of jaundice water.

Xia Yan sighed in his heart: "That's it, let's stop the boat on the shore, after a day and a night of boating, everyone is also tired, rest for a while." ”

"Yes." The boatman was probably also frightened by the wind and waves on the river, and when he saw Xia Yan nodding, he was overjoyed, hurriedly withdrew, dropped anchor and leaned the boat on the north bank.

Strange to say, as soon as the boat landed, the real rainstorm just now stopped, and when I looked up, there was a crescent moon in the sky.

Probably bored from staying in the boat, Xia Yan proposed to go ashore for a walk.

Fu Lin had been shaken so much that he couldn't find the north on the boat, and when he heard that he could go ashore, he was amnesty, so he hurriedly accompanied Xia Yan to the shore.

As soon as he arrived on the shore, Xia Yan realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly shouted to the boatman: "Boatman, why did you stop on the north shore, the rain has stopped." If it is on the south bank, it is only a dozen miles, and it is only two hours to walk. ”

"Walking?" The boatman smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid that the adults won't be able to go?" ”

Xia Yan wondered in his heart: "Why can't I go, I read in the yamen that the official document says that the south bank of the Suining section of the Yellow River was newly built last year, and the bluestone dam with a clean 'color' must be very refreshing to walk." ”

The boatman said in a low voice: "My lord, I don't know if I should say a sentence or not?" ”

Xia Yan was suspicious in his heart, and said gently: "Let's say, let's talk, but about the embankment?" ”

Fu Lin also asked: "What happened to the embankment on the south bank, didn't the river yamen allocate more than 600,000 taels of silver for maintenance last year, and the river yamen also sent special workers." There are more than 30 miles of embankments, all of which are made of bluestone, and they are very strong. ”

The boatman smiled bitterly: "Back to the two adults, the bluestone is indeed bluestone, and it is paved with a layer on the surface." But it was full of rammed earth, and in some places it was useless to save trouble, and even rammed earth was useless, so they filled in some sand and dirt to get things done. With such heavy rain and such a big wave, I am afraid that the embankment has already been emptied, and the ghost will not know when the embankment will break. The villain is old and young, and the whole family of eight people can count on the little silver from the villain's boat to buy rice to live. If the villain dies, the whole family will have to die in the water of the Yellow River. The villain is not afraid of death, but for the sake of his family, he will never put his clothes on the south bank to send them to death. ”

"What!" Hearing these words, it was like a thunderbolt exploding in Xia Yan and Fu Lin's minds, and the two of them shouted at the same time: "How can it be like this, how can it be like this, more than 600,000 taels of silver, thirty miles of embankment, are they all tofu scum?" ”

The boatman nodded: "If you go back to the two adults, I'm afraid it's not as good as tofu dregs." ”