did not stay long on Wenzi Mountain, and Han Gang and his entourage soon went down the mountain to return to the county seat.

- Not to mention the devastated banks of the Yellow River, even the tinkling sound of chiseling stones that keeps coming into your ears, you can't stay on the mountain for long.

Although Wenzi Mountain is small, it is also a famous spot in Baima County, but it should not be a lime mountain [Note 1]. This mountain is emerald and rocky, the mountain has no soil, the cave and the spring are gorgeous, it can be called a masterpiece, but this kind of lime mine exposed on the surface is hidden in Baima County, where the loess thick deposit is deep in the depths, and you can't let it go when you see it.

Whether it is a sanatorium or a homeless camp, there are many places where lime is used. When Han Gang came to the bank of the Yellow River, as soon as he saw that this hill was full of caves, and he had little interest in the elegance of the literati, he knew that he had picked up a treasure. Now the lime kiln, which is only half a mile away from Wenzi Mountain, is full of smoke and fire, and can produce thousands of catties of quicklime every day.

That is, because of the shortage of coal - or according to this time, called coal - so that the scale of the lime kiln cannot be expanded, otherwise it will be no problem to tens of thousands of catties a day. At that time, whether it is building bridges and paving roads, or building houses, it will come in handy, instead of being limited to daily disinfection and simple renovation of official roads, as is the case now.

Along the official road, there were two camps of exiles. The camps are all large, but only a few of them have shacks that can be seen from the smoke. However, now that the deep wells in the county are almost completed, except for those who assemble the windmill machinery, the other homeless people have begun to dig ditches and the foundations of the shacks inside the homeless camps with their wages.

Han Gang stopped his horse at the second camp and walked in. The huge camp is divided into more than a dozen districts by the main road. In the middle of the area, there are smaller lanes. In one of the areas, there are already residents, while in other areas, people can be seen digging trenches.

On the east side of the camp is where the deep well is located. I saw a group of people beating up and down next to the high windmill. It was when the assembly was at its most intense, and the surrounding ground, due to the well water. It's just that next to the king of this abbot, he didn't care about rolling up his sleeves and wearing straw sandals in the muddy ground, and he couldn't tell that he was the son of the prime minister at all.

Han Gang didn't avoid the mud either, and walked over and said, "Zhongyuan, what's the situation?" ”

Wang turned his head and saw that it was Han Gang. He also smiled and pointed to the windmill that had been erected, "Yukun, don't worry, you can load the water at night." ”

Han Gang looked at the people who were assembling the windmills, all of them were attentive, and no one noticed his arrival. Nodding lightly with satisfaction: "Thanks to Brother Zhong Yuan." After a pause, he said: "Since it is about to be built, this place will be handed over to the people below to finish, and you will go back to the city with me later." You should also take a break, otherwise don't say that your sister will blame the younger brother for not being considerate, and I will not be able to explain to my father-in-law and mother-in-law when I go back. ”

"Yukun, you are busier than Brother Yu every day, and I don't see you resting longer." Wang looked up at the tall windmill, with a proud smile and satisfaction, "Brother Fool still can rest assured by watching the windmill draw water with his own eyes, and he won't be able to sleep well when he goes back now." ”

However, after more than ten days of hard work, Wang Bei has lost weight and darkened, but his spirit is not as depressed as in the past, and there is more brilliance between his eyebrows. As a scholar who has read poetry and books, Wang Pan finally waited for the day to show his talent, of course, he worked tirelessly.

Although there were some jokes in the first few days, he followed the rules set by Han Gang to preside over the digging of deep wells and the construction of windmills, and they were all very smooth. The key is also that in his status as the son of the prime minister, no one dares to fool him, but tries his best to show his talents in front of him, so this progress is far beyond expectations.

Wang looked at the windmill twice, and pulled Han Gang away a little. He pointed to the craftsmen who were building drinking water channels with bamboo and wood, "Yukun, is it a waste of so much bamboo and wood used?" Isn't it possible to dig a trench directly in the ground? The river water is not still drinkable, but there are many people in Tokyo who rely on the Kanami River! After all, there are still a few wells or buying water from outside. ”

"It's different." Han Gang shook his head, the groundwater drawn from the deep well should be diverted from the wellhead to every area of the camp using an aqueduct, although a lot of flood control materials were used, but it was by no means a waste: "The drinking water in the city of Tokyo depends on the Jinshui River except for the well water. And the Jinshui River is covered with stone slabs, and it is guarded day and night. If the drinking water is set up on the ground, the sewage will flow in, which will cause epidemics, and can only be built with bamboo and wood. In any case, human life is more valuable than money. ”

Although only two of the five campers are in use today, each has at least one deep well, a windmill that is placed with it, and an aqueduct has been built to ensure a clean water source for the homeless. In addition, there are a sufficient number of public toilets, and there will be no shortage of quicklime for disinfection and epidemic prevention, so Han Gang has enough confidence in preventing the spread of the epidemic in the camp.

Hearing Han Gang say this, Wang Bi didn't insist, just asked. "Even so, the foolish brother will take care of them more and urge them not to be lazy and slippery."

"Then I'll leave it to Zhong Yuan here, wait for the windmill to be assembled, and go back to the city to rest early." Han Gang said, and ordered the entourage next to the king to take care of him, and then took his leave and left.

Leaving the camp, Han Gang looked back and could still see the figure of the king standing under the windmill. He shook his head and sighed at the change in his second uncle: "After all, you still have to come out to do things, otherwise you will be bored at home, and of course you will have psychological problems." ’

All the way back to the county office, the county marquis greeted him. If it weren't for the official robes, almost no one in Baima County would remember that in addition to Han Gang, there was also a county official in the county office.

Han Gang is a seven-rank court official, and there are only three or five hundred civil servants in the court who are on the same level as him or above him. It's just that the county marquis who chose people has the ability to compete with him, and he has been suppressed so much that he has no sense of existence at all for several months. Now when it comes to the county official, it is Xiao Han County Zun, as for Hou Xiancheng, he just shook his head, who is he?

However, the reputation of the county lieutenant Ran Jue has grown a lot in the past few months.

In order to behave in front of Han Gang, County Lieutenant Ran took the archers in the township every day, went out with the stars, wore the moon and returned, and inspected the county inside and outside. Some of the so-called heroes who were originally rampant in the township, Ran Jue also beat them all as a precaution. Those who have an industry and a family are to be reprimanded and threatened. And the proletarian scoundrel went directly to the prison, regardless of whether he was justified or not, he was beaten first, turned out his past sins, and asked Han Gang to try it, the exile who should be exiled, and the army who should be confiscated are not tolerant at all. Ran Jue's ruthlessness made a group of strongmen in the county, chickens and dogs jump, wolves and pigs rushed, all of them died down, and they didn't dare to do anything. All of a sudden, Baima County gave a rectification out of the house that did not close its doors all night.

Hou Yi is a middle-aged man in his forties, who was born in the shadow and has been up and down in officialdom for 20 years. He is very steady in his work, and he doesn't like to be in the limelight, and he helps to fill in the gaps in the county government on weekdays, and he is diligent and hardworking.

They are all smart people, when the boss is busy and has no time to sit down to eat, how many subordinates dare to sit on the Diaoyutai and bask in the sun lazily? It's just as busy as a dog. Not to mention that both of them have another mind.

Bowing to Han Gang, Hou Yi immediately said, "Zhengyan, Shenglin Township Dabao Zhengfang just sent someone to report that in the morning, there were Hebei refugees crossing the river from Yedu and had entered the county. ”

Yedu is the ferryhead of private ferry, and the official ferry port is called Guandu - not the official ferry of the Three Kingdoms - Baima Ferry belongs to Guandu, and there are several wild ferries in this section of Baima County. However, crossing the river through Yedu is far less safe than Guandu. The reason why the ferry can be established is also because of the superiority of geography and hydrology, otherwise why would people and merchants from all over the world gather here to cross the river?

When Han Gang heard this, he asked, "How many are there?" ”

"There are more than seventy of them."

Hearing that the number of people was not large, Han Gang was also relieved, and said with a smile: "They are also anxious. A few days ago, I have asked the Son of Heaven to waive the ferry fee for the White Horse Crossing, so that the displaced people will not be able to cross the river. ”

"This ......" Hou Yi hesitated, and carefully reminded: "The ferry capital of Baima is almost 100 times a day, and the captain on the ferry also relies on the ferry money to support his family. ”

"The county will make up for the salary of the captain, but the ferry fee must be waived." Han Gang insisted: "It is not a blessing for the imperial court to let them go to Hebei and suffer from hunger, if they all move to Yedu, or even build a raft to cross the river in private, I don't know how many people will have accidents." ”

"Speaking of benevolence, Hou Yi admires it." Hou Xiancheng did not hesitate to speak, picked up the opportunity, and began to slap Han Gang's ass.

Ran Jue is not a stupid person, how can Hou Jue be blind? Although there are only more than 2,000 of the five homeless camps today, the scale of each one can arrange at least 10,000 homeless people. It's not for Tokyo's worries, but for what? Now Han Gang made it clear to face, and let Hou Yi, the county magistrate, understand his intentions, this toss is to keep the homeless people in Baima County.

Since he knows what his boss thinks, the smart official certainly knows what to do. In the battle in the court, they didn't have to intervene in the fight, and although the status of the person in front of him was not high, it was obvious that his future would not be too affected by his father-in-law, his thighs were not hugged now, so when would he wait?

Ran Jue cleared the scoundrels and strongmen in the county, while Hou Yi was conscientious and worked closely with Han Gang's three staff, so that Han Gang could display his talents freely.

Note 1: Wenzi Mountain, later named Purple Mountain. At this time, Jushan [later known as Phoenix Mountain], which was located in the center of the Yellow River, was a limestone mountain, which has now been dug into a pit by a quarry and no longer exists.