The prefect has been busy with official business in the past few days, and has not been to the side of the river embankment to see, and now, he saw that the river has risen to such a high level, which he has never seen before, and he immediately panicked and kept nodding.

Leng Yi let him get on the horse again, walked up the river embankment, walked for a while, and then stopped. and let him go up the embankment. Leng Yi pointed to the embankment under his feet and said to the prefect: "My lord, please see, although this embankment is higher than the one we saw just now, the river is still about a foot away from the embankment. However, this section is the most dangerous! Because, the thickness of the embankment in this section is not enough, and the embankment has begun to seep water! There is a danger of bursting the embankment at any time! Once the embankment bursts here, the river rushes into Bazhou, and I don't know how many houses will be washed away! How many people are going to die! If you don't take any more measures, tomorrow at dawn, adults may only see one side of the ocean! ”

The prefect shook and almost fell off his horse. Hurriedly grabbed the saddle and said to Leng Yi: "What should I do?" So what do we do? ”

Leng Yi said: "Immediately mobilize the people and strengthen the embankment!" ”

"But, there's no money!"

"Gather the rich businessmen of the city, let them go to the embankment, let them know what will happen to them if the embankment bursts! Then mobilize them to donate money to save the day! ”

"Good! Just do as you say! ”

Leng Yi said: "We have to donate ourselves, if we can all come up with enough money to donate, those people can come up with more money!" ”

"Okay! How much do you say to donate? ”

"One hundred taels of silver for each of us!"

"One hundred taels?" The eyes of the prefect were round, this is equivalent to half a year of his fortune!

"Yes! Only in this way will those rich businessmen donate more! Only enough money to build the embankment! ”

The prefect understood that Leng Yi could have directly summoned the wealthy businessmen to look at the river embankment and ask for donations, but he had to bring himself here, the purpose was to make himself a benchmark in order to call on them to donate. The prefect has no choice, if the river embankment bursts and floods the whole city, and the people are killed and injured too much, he, the prefect, is afraid that it will come to an end. The next moment he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! One hundred taels is one hundred taels! ”

Leng Yi was overjoyed, and said to the soap Li who followed: "Take the greetings of the prefect and the official, and immediately invite all the rich businessmen in the city to the embankment just now!" Fast! ”

Soap Li led the order to ride a horse and gallop away on stagnant water.

Leng Yi said to the prefect again: "Let's hurry up and go back to get the money first, and pay the money on the spot to have an effect." Moreover, in order to reassure these people, we also have to think of people who will supervise the use of anti-risk money. ”

The prefect said: "Let the two people who donate the most participate in the supervision of the use of money." ”

"This is a good idea!"

The two discussed it properly, and immediately returned to their respective homes to get money, and prepared to donate money for disaster relief.

Leng Yi returned to his residence, the gatehouse equipped with the yamen opened the door, nodded and said to Leng Yi: "Master, my wife said that the wind and rain were heavy, and I was worried about you, but it happened that you came back." ”

"Where's the wife?"

"In the house!"

Leng Yi hurriedly entered the house, Zhuo Qiaoniang and the maid Caosui were in the house, and when they saw Leng Yi coming in, Zhuo Qiaoniang was overjoyed and greeted her, and said, "Official! You're back, I've heard people say that the flood is so big that the embankment may not be able to withstand it, and if the flood breaks the embankment and rushes in, what will happen then? ”

Leng Yi said: "Don't worry, we are trying to find a way to raise funds for rescue and strengthen the river embankment." I'm coming back to take the money and take the lead in donating! ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang nodded and said, "Okay, how much?" ”

"One hundred taels of silver!"

"Concubine, go get it!"

Zhuo Qiaoniang hurriedly brought the box containing gold and silver, opened it, and the silver in it was not enough, so she could only use gold! He took ten taels of gold, wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and handed it to Leng Yi.

Leng Yi took it and said to Zhuo Qiaoniang: "We are now in flood control and disaster relief, but there are unforeseen circumstances, if you are not afraid of 10,000, you are still ready to transfer at any time." It's best to move your valuables to a higher place. ”

"Heights? Where is the high place in the city? ”

"On the city walls! I will let Cheng Luoyan protect you, and if there is any danger, immediately move to the city wall! ”

"Okay!"

Leng Yi came out with the gold, called Cheng Luoyan, and asked her to take a few female catchers to protect Zhuo Qiaoniang at the residence. Then, they rode back to the low-lying embankment of the upper reaches of the Ba River.

The prefect had not yet arrived, but a few wealthy businessmen who lived nearby had already arrived, and were standing on the embankment to observe the surging floods, accompanied by Sooli. Because of the heavy rain, they didn't go out, so they didn't know where the flood of the river embankment had reached. It's really shocking to see it now. One by one, they trembled with fright.

Soon, the prefect and other wealthy businessmen also arrived one after another, Leng Yi first let them see the flood situation, looked at the embankment under their feet, and then said in a loud voice: "Everyone, you are all people in the city who have a family business and a business, think about it, if the flood bursts the embankment and rushes into the city, what kind of scene will it be?" What will be the result of your life's hard-earned family business? Are you willing to accept such an outcome? ”

A fat-headed and big-eared fat businessman stood up, it was the last time the transfer envoy came, and the prefect arranged for him to receive the richest man in Bazhou at home, surnamed Jin, who was the largest rice merchant in Bazhou. At that moment, he said loudly: "Master, of course we don't want to, let's ask the Lord to preside over the flood fight!" We have the money to contribute, and we have the power to contribute! Isn't it true that everyone said? ”

"That's right!" "It's all for everyone!" "The last time I ate wine and raised money to fight the flood, the general judge has made it very clear! Needless to say, everyone understands it very well. "Hurry, the water is rising too fast! If you don't strengthen and increase the embankment, I'm afraid that the embankment will burst! "Yes, yes! Donation! I'll donate ten taels! "I'll donate twelve taels!"

These people are talking nonsense.

Leng Yi mentioned the voice and said, "Everyone be quiet! The official has already asked the secretary of the Yamen room to calculate that such a flood will require a lot of money to strengthen and increase the embankment. If everyone still donates so much taels, it will be a drop in the bucket. The amount of donations must be increased! Here, our prefect has set an example for all of us! - Governor, please tell me! ”

All eyes were on the prefect.

The prefect was already soaked with rain, and he threw away his umbrella and said in a loud voice: "Everyone, the flood has reached our necks!" All of us are already facing the most serious threat to our lives. Now, the time has come to save our Bazhou, and the people who can save our Bazhou are all of you, at this time, if you still can't give up your money, when the flood washes away your wives and children, your family's wealth, money and food, and then you want to donate, it's too late! ”

Hearing this, everyone nodded frequently.

The prefect said: "Here, this government takes the lead in donating!" We will ask the two people who donate the most as a supervisor to participate in the use of the funds and materials throughout the rescue to ensure that the donations can be used for disaster relief first! ”

The prefect paused, raised the volume to the highest, and almost hoarsely said: "In order to keep our Bazhou City, this official, donate one hundred taels of silver!" With that, he lifted up the small bag he was carrying in his hand and opened it, revealing the white silver inside.

The field was quiet, only the sound of rushing rain.

Leng Yi also took out the package, opened it, and said, "This official also donated ten taels of gold!" That's one hundred taels of silver! ”

The field continued to be quiet, when Leng Yi was worried about whether they were stumped and refused to donate so much money. The fat-headed and big-eared rice merchant Jin shopkeeper finally took the lead and said loudly: "The two adults have donated so much, what else can we businessmen retreat from?" I donate...... Seven hundred taels! ”

There was an uproar in Changzhong.

The prefect and Leng Yi were overjoyed and thanked them.

As a result, the rest of the wealthy businessmen all reported their numbers one by one, and almost all of them were more than one hundred taels. The secretary of the household next to him made a record by himself. The Treasurer of the Treasury accepts donations.

After everyone finished speaking, the gold shopkeeper donated the most, and in addition, there was a jeweler Zhu shopkeeper second, and these two became the supervisors who supervised the use of donations.

Yamen soap immediately followed these rich people who pledged to go back to get the money. At the same time, all the people of the Yamen were mobilized and began to load sandbags to strengthen the embankment. The prefect and Leng Yi respectively commanded the reinforcement and elevation of the embankment at the lowest and weakest parts of the embankment. The head catchers and catchers of the Yamen were divided into several teams and went to the streets to mobilize, so that the young and middle-aged people in the city could go to the river embankment to help rescue the people. I heard that the prefect of the Yamen, the general judge, and the officials all went to the river embankment to rescue the flood, and the wealthy businessmen in the city contributed money, and many people went to the river embankment to help load sandbags and strengthen the embankment.

All of a sudden, the embankment was crowded with people, and the river flowed endlessly.

By daybreak, the low embankments had been raised by an average of a foot, and the weak sections of the embankment, which had begun to seep water, were also strengthened to block the seepage.

Leng Yi, Cheng Luojie, and Yin Eagle didn't close their eyes all night, looking at the heightened and reinforced embankment, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, the heavy rain has not stopped, and Leng Yi has received urgent reports from almost all counties under the jurisdiction of Bazhou. In all counties, the rain that lasted for a month barely stopped. The rivers are rising sharply, and reports of flash floods washing away fields and houses are coming.

Leng Yi did not have the money and food in his hands, and the last donation had already been used for more than half of this stage of the rescue. I can't spare the extra money for the following counties.

After the discussion between the two prefects, they urgently reported the disaster to the imperial court and requested the allocation of disaster relief materials and food. At the same time, the Yamen adjutants such as Shishi and Zhaoma were dispatched to various counties to guide rescue and disaster relief, mobilize donations and materials, and understand the disaster situation at the same time, so as to take corresponding measures.

Leng Yi is most concerned about the rainfall in several counties located in the upper reaches of the Ba River, and what makes him frightened is that the rainfall in these counties has not stopped, although it is not very heavy, but due to the heavy rainfall, the water of the Ba River continues to rise, and it is approaching the height of the river embankment again! And under the huge high pressure of the water volume, there are many places where there is water seepage and even pipe surge!

The sandbags used to reinforce the raised embankment have been rapidly reduced, and the money collected has run out. However, there was no movement in the disaster relief funds of the imperial court. This made Leng Yi anxious.

(To be continued)