On the embankment of the Suining River.

At this moment, a dull rumbling sound was suddenly heard in the distance, and occasionally there was a flash of light.

This bright light alarmed Xia Yan and Fu Lin, and the two of them turned their heads to look at the same time, but saw that the bright light was located in the direction of Suining City ten miles ahead.

"What the hell?" Xia Yan was puzzled in his heart, and he couldn't help asking.

"The levee has breached!" Fu Lin shouted hoarsely.

Xia Yan fixed his eyes on the past, and at this look, the entire three souls and six spirits seemed to be about to come out of the cavity.

I saw a red firelight rising up on the river embankment, forming a large fireball in the air, illuminating the distance brightly.

"Someone blew up the embankment!" This thought came together from his heart, and it made Xia Yan tremble.

Fu Lin also trembled his lips: "Someone blew up the embankment, someone blew up the embankment, is this a natural disaster or **." ”

A flash of anger suddenly rose in Xia Yan's chest, and he shouted loudly: "**, this is **!" To disregard the lives of tens of thousands of people in Suining, and to disregard the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Huai'an Mansion, who is so bold and reckless? As soon as he shouted this, Xia Yan couldn't catch it in one breath, and his face turned purple.

The fireball slowly rose into the air before it was extinguished.

Suddenly it was dark, as if I couldn't see anything.

But in less than a moment, under the illumination of the moonlight, an earth-shattering collapse sound seemed to come from under his feet, and the person could hardly stand still.

Another flash of light flashed, but it was the moonlight of the flood that had burst the levee.

Only "Boom! With a bang, the white water stabbed like a sharp sword towards Suining County under the embankment, and everywhere it passed, everything collapsed like a building block under this grand and majestic impact, fell apart, and had no roof.

This is still the beginning, just when Xia Yan and the others were so shocked by the power of this heaven and earth that they couldn't speak. The inverted crack kept expanding, as if it had been torn by an invisible hand, and a creepy tearing sound came in the wind, as if it had been burrowed into a human bone.

In an instant, the breach that had been blown open by someone expanded into two zhang, and the water of the Yellow River rushing out was wider and more urgent.

And this breach is still expanding, and in the water of the Yellow River, this dam is really as vulnerable as tofu dregs.

The Yellow River was originally an above-ground river, condescending, and in a blink of an eye, it rushed to the city of Suining.

Suining is a great plain, and in the face of this unprecedented flood, there is no ability to resist.

For a moment, there was only a surging yellow water in front of me, and nothing could be seen.

The breach in the levee is still expanding, and it seems that there is no intention of stopping.

The breath in Xia Yan's chest finally eased, and he coughed out a long cough, and actually coughed out a mouthful of blood. His face was white and terrifying, and he stood by the water in despair, muttering: "As the prime minister of the Nanhe River, so far the monstrous flood, what face does Xia Yan have to see the monarch's father, and what face does he have to face the people of Tianhuainan." If you die here, you won't be laughed at. ”

Fu Lin also laughed loudly: "Fu Lin is not a river official, and he has no face to live anymore." Lord Xia, you and I went to Huangquan together, but we were not lonely along the way. ”

Xia Yan said hello three times in a row, and said: "Fu Lin, this official finally didn't see the wrong person, you are really a responsible person." ”

After speaking, the two of them were about to jump into the Yellow River.

Xia Yan's subordinates had long sensed that something was wrong with these two adults, and they had already paid attention to them. Seeing that the two of them were looking for a short meeting, they shouted, and several servants pounced on them, viciously throwing Xia Yan and Fu Lin into the mud: "My lord, my lord, you can't break it!" ”

Xia Yan was originally a beautiful man, and he was very neat and tidy every day, but at this moment, he was pressed to the ground and covered in mud, and suddenly roared: "Bold, what do you want to do?" ”

The servants shouted again and again, "Don't, adults." ”

Xia Yan shouted: "Now, Huainan is unprecedentedly flooded, and lives are devastated, Xia Yan, as the prime minister, has the entrustment of His Majesty, what face does he have to live in the world?" If you die in the line of duty, you can keep your innocence. Do you try to trap me in injustice? ”

Fu Lin was also full of tears: "Fu Lin has no face to live in the world anymore." ”

A servant said to Xia Yan with tears: "Adults can't find this short-sightedness, you have only been in Huai'an for a few days, and you haven't been to the other side of the river twice." This water has nothing to do with you, does it? ”

Xia Yan was still shouting: "This official is a river, why doesn't it matter?" ”

Fu Lin was stunned for a moment, came to his senses, and said to Xia Yan: "Yes, my lord, this matter has nothing to do with you. With such a big flood, he Wang Shu has been working on the river for more than ten years, and this responsibility should be borne by him. Lord Wang didn't commit suicide by throwing himself into the river, so why should you do this, Lord Xia? ”

Xia Yan was furious: "Fu Lin, stop talking, the river yamen, each has its own responsibilities, my generation reads the book of interests, and when it comes to the big festival, why can't you hold it and be afraid?" ”

Fu Lin said in a low voice: "My lord, you also saw it just now, this unprecedented flood is **, someone blew up the embankment." Do you just watch those bad people go unpunished, do you just watch the people who have been affected by the disaster be displaced, and no one can help them? My lord, in the future, whether it is to rebuild the river defense or to provide relief to the victims, we will need you and me. Do adults want to give up their responsibilities? ”

"yes, yes!" Everyone has been persuaded by all the people.

Xia Yan let out a sigh: "Okay, I, Xia Yan, will be cheeky and live for a few more days." When this is the case, I will go back to Beijing and ask for my guilt in front of Your Majesty. Help me up. ”

Only then did everyone help Xia Yan, who was covered in muddy water, to get up from the ground, and the boatman who had stood on the embankment for a long time trembling shouted: "My lord, get on the boat quickly, the breach has collapsed." ”

Everyone raised their eyes to look over, and the section of the embankment collapsed faster, and in a blink of an eye, it had become a two-mile opening, and the entire Suining had also become an ocean, and it was impossible to distinguish where the river was and where the bank was.

In the moonlight, there was turbulent yellow water everywhere, and there were sounds of help everywhere.

"Get on the boat, get on the boat." Xia Yan drank.

Then the people hurriedly ran to the boat.

Fu Lin asked, "Lord Xia, do you want to go to the disaster relief victims?" ”

Xia Yan had already calmed down and said, "We only have one boat, how many people can we save, and we can return to Huai'an City." ”

"My lord, are we going to die and not save us?" Fu Lin's tears fell: "My lord, this is not you!" ”

Xia Yan glanced at Fu Lin deeply: "Fu Lin, do you think that this official is greedy for life and afraid of death, and refuses to go to disaster relief?" ”

Fu Lin: "The lower officials don't dare." ”

"No, no, no, you really misread this official." Xia Yan said: "As I said just now, we only have one boat, how many people can we save." Twenty or thirty, or a hundred. But there are tens of thousands of people in Suining, how can they be saved. Suining's terrain is high in the north and low in the south, and soon, this flood will pour down, sweeping the Yellow River for a year, and the entire area north of Hongze Lake. When the time comes, there will be more people who will need us for a long time. Besides, as river officials, you and I have our own responsibilities. Our duty now is to prepare to immediately return to Huai'an to requisition all the ships, prepare money and food, and prepare for the relief of the victims. That's what we should do at the moment, save a hundred people, one official is enough. Fu Lin, can't you tell the difference between the importance and the severity? ”

Fu Lin was scolded by Xia Yan, and immediately understood, and said, "My lord is reasonable, but Fu Lin is also in a hurry?" ”

Because of the smooth water, Xia Yan's boat also traveled extremely fast. Along the way, he was also very puzzled in his heart: the explosion just now was clearly man-made, who was so bold as to dare to blow up the river embankment? Aren't they afraid of death?

When he told Fu Lin about the doubt in his heart, Fu Lin was silent, and only let out a long sigh: "Who knows?" ”

Seeing that Fu Lin was inexhaustible, Xia Yan was puzzled, but it was not good to ask any more. He had more important things to attend to, and after a day on the ship, he stayed until the afternoon, and finally returned to Huai'an City. Along the way, Xia Yan had already thought of countermeasures.

As soon as he entered the city, he immediately ran to see the prefect of Huai'an. When the prefect of Huai'an heard that the Yellow River in the Suining section had burst, he fell to the ground in shock. It was Xia Yan who comforted him for a long time before he came back to his senses. did not dare to delay, the prefect immediately took people to recruit people's husbands, collect food and clothing, and prepare to save people.

However, to save people, you need a boat. And Huainan's ships are all in the hands of Wang Shu and Gan eunuchs, and ordinary people can't move them.

Unfortunately, Lord Wang went to Gaoyou early in the morning to buy salted duck eggs, saying that Huang Jin's father-in-law likes to eat this kind of thing, and he can't come back in three or five days.

"Duck eggs, duck eggs, ducks can float on the water when the water comes, but the people have to feed fish and shrimp?" Xia Yan was so angry that his hands and feet were cold, and he asked if Gan Bida was there.

The people from the river yamen said that Gan Gonggong had not seen anyone for two days when he had gone out on business, and it was not clear when he would come back.

"Corpse vegetarian meal, corpse vegetarian meal, I want to write a recital to impeach these two mediocre officials!" Xia Yan was so angry that he almost vomited blood, but for a while, he didn't know what to do. Nothing can be done without a ship.

At this time, Fu Lin, who had been stomping his feet beside him, suddenly shouted: "My lord, I know where there is a boat." ”

Xia Yan grabbed his sleeve: "Say it quickly, say it quickly." ”

Fu Lin: "In addition to the river, there is also a boat in this Huai'an city, my lord forgot, there is a big river guard ten miles east of the city." There were thousands of garrisons and a hundred and a dozen boats. Now is the time to bring them to use. ”

Xia Yan was overjoyed: "I forgot, let's go, go to Dahewei to transfer people and boats." ”

Fu Lin hesitated a little: "My lord, according to my Ming law, the army will be regarded as a rebellion if it moves for a hundred miles without an order, but it can be exterminated on the spot, but I am afraid that they will not agree." ”

Xia Yan was furious: "When is it, who can still care about this?" ”

When I arrived at Dahewei, I heard that it was the Prime Minister Ha Daoxia, who came, and a person who looked like a military attache came out to receive him, and his attitude was respectful, but he said that Lord Qianhu was not there, and no one dared to leave the camp without his order, which was the rule of the army.

Xia Yan immediately became angry: "What bullshit rules, no matter how wordy, this official will not be polite." ”

The military attache was also angry and sneered: "What can you do if you're welcome, don't think that we are ordinary garrisons." To tell you the truth, our general is Feng Zhen, and General Feng is the family of Lord Sun Dansun. Hugh said that you have a small Liupin River, even if the Governor of Nanhe comes, you have to be polite. ”V

[Dedication]