The famous shirtless farmer walked in a scorched yellow crop field, his shoulders were heavy, and the buckets at both ends of the flat shoulder were full of muddy water, behind the farmer, followed by a seven or eight-year-old boy, the little boy was **, and the big mud on his body almost became his clothes, and he was holding a string of loaches in his hand, yellow, and some small fish and shrimp, but he was extremely excited, completely ignoring the hot sun on his head that can roast people, and jumped and walked.

The farmer stopped in front of him, sighed and poured spoonfuls of muddy water from the bucket on top of the growing crops, and in front of him, only this crop field of dozens of paces remained a small patch of green, and in the huge dead fields around it, from a distance, it was not even the size of a palm.

The muddy water was poured into the ground, and immediately made a squeaky sound, and the crops that had rolled up the leaves were re-stretched at a speed visible to the naked eye, but they could not be watered for more than ten steps, and the water mixed with a large amount of soil in the bucket had been used up, looking at the yellow mud half an inch thick in the bucket, the farmer sighed gloomily, and now there is no such muddy water in the canal, if the ground is not watered, this little bit of green will become the same as other charred crops in a few days, and there is no vitality, and the sweat that was shed before is completely in vain.

This is the summer of the fourteenth year of the emperor's reign, it has been six years since the Great Sui unified the world, these six years, the Great Sui has been stable, the country is prosperous, and it shows that there has been no peaceful scene for many years, because the country is peaceful, the court will focus all its energy on the people's livelihood, plus the officials are powerful, there are few cheating and tricks, and the agricultural college in charge of the prince himself is like a miracle. From time to time, more efficient farm tools are introduced, so that each laborer can cultivate more and more land, the yield is getting higher and higher, and the people are getting richer and richer. This silk dress is smoother than the yellow-faced woman's **.

Years have passed. As soon as you enter the fourteenth year of the emperor's reign, it will not work. Since March and April this year, the weather has been like an evil one, and there has only been sporadic light rain in the entire Guanzhong, and since June, most of the months have passed, and not even a drop of rain has fallen.

In March and April, most of the farmers relied on the good water conservancy facilities built by the court over the years. The crops were barely planted, but in May, when the crops were halfway up, the water conservancy facilities could no longer play any role, and except for Weishui, where you could see a white ribbon of water, all the other canals began to stop.

What if there are waterwheels, what if there are ditches, God doesn't rain. No matter how good the water conservancy is, it has become an ornament. Without water and the moxibustion of the sun every day, no matter how well the crops grow, they can only slowly die. Some diligent croppers began to use wooden barrels to carry water, but in June there was still no sign of rain, most of the farmers were desperate, and could only let the crops fend for themselves, but Li Erdan in front of him was as stubborn as a donkey, refusing to let go, holding on to the idea of keeping a little bit of water, and insisted on carrying water every day.

It's just that now there is not even the last bit of muddy water in the canal, and if you want to pick up water again, you can only go to Weishui, which is more than ten miles away, Li Erdan put down the watering spoon in his hand, looked up at the sun still hanging in the sky, and shook his head helplessly, knowing that in a few days, this little crop in his field will not be able to be saved.

At the junction of Guangtong Canal and Weishui, there is a team of more than 10 knights, Guangtong Canal is built by Kaihuang four years, it leads Weishui from the northwest of Daxing City, along the old road of Cao Canal in the Han Dynasty to the east, to Tongguan into the Yellow River, more than 300 miles long, since the opening of Guangtong Canal, this canal will undertake more than half of the material transportation tasks between Daxing City and the outside world, its importance can be imagined, but now the water flow in Guangtong Canal is already small to less than knee deep at the entrance, and the downstream is even more broken, not to say that it is to transport materials, even empty ships can not travel.

"Your Highness, the entire Guangtong Canal has been closed for a month." Zhang Qiu Taiyi said worriedly, since the eighth year of the emperor's reign, after Yang Yong returned triumphantly from Jiangnan, Zhang Qiu Taiyi finally stayed in the East Palace with peace of mind and became Yang Yong's right-hand man.

Although the whole Guanzhong is drought, but from the beginning of the emperor, the Great Sui began to build a righteous warehouse, storing grain and rice, now the country's grain storage is not less than tens of millions of stones, even if there is no harvest this year, these grain can also be eaten by the court, but there is grain must be transported in, the whole Guanzhong is affected by drought more than 2 million people, and the grain consumed every month is nearly a million stones.

The Guanzhong Plain is known as the land of abundance, the grain has always been self-sufficient, but this year should be the harvest season, the crops have long been scorched, the people all rely on the previous grain storage to survive, the grain in the capital must all be transported, but due to the drought, the most important export channel in the capital is cut off from the canal, and the grain needed is all transported by land

Now all the official roads are occupied by horse-drawn carriages transporting grain, and the grain brought in is consumed, and the price of grain in the capital is more expensive every day.

Yang Yong is twenty-eight years old this year, close to the age of thirty, the corners of his mouth have grown a beard, and he looks a lot more mature and stable than before. ”

"Mr. Zhang Qiu, you are proficient in astronomy, can you calculate whether it has rained recently?" Lu Mulin asked.

Zhang Qiu Taiyi shook his head: "Difficult! Difficult! Poor Dao inspected the heavens day and night, and did not dare to say much, but at least it can be concluded that there will not be half a drop of rain in half a month. ”

Zhang Qiu Taiyi's words are of course convinced, starting from March this year, Zhang Qiu Taiyi has concluded that there will be a big drought in the entire Guanzhong this year, and everyone didn't believe it at first, but in April, everyone was half-convinced, and after May, no one doubted the drought in Guanzhong, if it was only half a month without rain, it would be fine, but Zhang Qiu Taiyi had said it at least ten times, all of which were half a month without rain, occasionally with light rain, so half a month after half a month, and then half a month, I don't know when it will end.

On the Weishui River, a fishing boat floated down, and there was an old man and a strong man standing at both ends of the fishing boat, and when he saw more than ten knights on the shore, the old man's eyes suddenly lit up, and he shouted loudly: "Guest officer, do you want fish?" Fresh, big live fish. ”

The water of Weishui is shallow, and the Guangtong Canal is broken, there is less boat to transport goods in Weishui, but it is a good season for fishermen to fish, there are many fishermen in the capital who rush to the city early before dawn, small to only one or two finger thick miscellaneous fish, as big as seven or eight catties of big carp, everything, but let the powerful in the capital enjoy a lot of blessings.

The people on the shore were indifferent, it was more than twenty miles away from the city, and the weather was hot, unless they went back immediately, as long as they delayed a little longer, the fish would stink when they arrived in the city, and naturally no one wanted to buy fish.

The old man saw that everyone was not moved, thinking that everyone did not believe it, so he hurriedly took out a large carp weighing several catties from the cabin, and shouted: "Guest officer, look at this fish, it can be cooked and eaten." ”

The ruler-long big carp wagged its tail desperately in the hands of the old man, but the old man tightly held the fish, and it was useless to let the big carp shake it, it was really a live fish, I heard that it could be made and eaten, and everyone couldn't help but be moved, the prince loved to eat fish, and when he conquered Jiangnan, even the koi carp used to watch in the mansion of Chen Guoquan's minister Shen Keqing let the prince order someone to pick it up and cook and eat a fine light, and it is still talked about by the guards who have tasted the taste of koi, and naturally the habit of eating fish has also been developed around him.

Lu Mulin asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, do you want to take a break and eat something?" ”

Everyone came out in the morning and drove dozens of miles to get here, and their stomachs were really hungry, although they had dry food on horseback, but there were fresh fish to eat, Yang Yong of course didn't want to eat dry food, so he nodded.

Mai Tiezhu was overjoyed, and shouted in a voice like a broken gong: "Old man, row the boat, we will eat fish." "Mai Tiezhu is a southerner, he has lived by the water since he was a child, and when it comes to eating fish, of course, he is the most heartfelt.

"Ugh." The old man responded happily, put the fish back into the cabin, beckoned the strong man on the other side, and rowed the boat to the steps where the two canals meet.

Yang Yong and his party also hurriedly urged their horses forward, and only when they reached the steps did they throw off the saddle, and when they came to the side of the father and son's boat along the steps made of large stones, the strong man had already skillfully sliced the abdomen and scraped the scales of several big fish, and the fire on the boat also rose.

Just now, the father and son only saw that the people on the shore were riding on tall horses, and they expected that it was a rich high-roller, so they would desperately greet each other, so they had to get closer, and when they saw the dress of this group of people, the father and son couldn't help muttering in their hearts, this team of people is really too strange.

There are fourteen people in this team, including a Taoist priest, a noble son, a servant like an iron tower, a young scholar, and ten people are all big men, with drums and drums, as if they are carrying weapons.