Zhao Ta returned to the imperial boat and sat on the deck for a long time, thinking about what Zhao Yong said just now, even if he can destroy the embankment outside Liaoyang City and divert water into the city. But now, compared to the beginning of the levee, the flood has lost its impact, tends to flatten, and cannot break through the wall as a second line of defense. And now the river is still leaking into the floodplain, and the walls will not collapse until the flood waters recede, and they will not be able to attack the city and open the way to the north.

Thinking about it, Zhao Ta felt that there was only one way to block the breach, if the breach was blocked, the water in the pan area would soon be discharged, and now it was summer, and it would not take long for the remaining water to evaporate, and the mud was also sunburned into a hard road, which could be passed with a little cleaning. As for how to block the breach, Zhao Ta hasn't figured out a way yet, but in his previous life, the Yangtze River breach could be blocked, and there was no reason why the 'small' mouth on the Liang River could not be blocked.

Zhao Ta thought that he couldn't do it to block the break, and the generals would have no problem letting them make another opening, but they would definitely not be able to do it, and it would depend on those civil servants, so he immediately summoned Zheng Qiao, the attendant of the Ministry of Works, and others to discuss the matter.

"Zheng Aiqing, today you inspected the water situation with me, the situation is already clear, I wonder if the situation can be blocked?" Zhao asked after taking a seat.

"Your Majesty, the minister thought that he could block the breach." Zheng Qiao replied respectfully.

"Oh, what can you do?" Zhao Ta was very surprised to see that Zheng Qiao said 'yes' without thinking about it, because he knew that although he had a wide range of knowledge and was proficient in miscellaneous arts, water control was a very professional thing, and his answer so simply made him suspicious.

"Your Majesty, the minister doesn't know, but someone can." Zheng Qiao can be said to be half a student of the emperor. The two spend more time together and talk more casually. Smiled and winked.

"Oh, who are you talking about. Can you be in the military? Zhao asked anxiously.

"Your Majesty, this person is Zhao Lin, the supervisor of the capital, and your Majesty has an impression." Zheng Qiao said with a smile.

"Of course, he spent three years of hard work to control the Bianhe River, save the capital from flooding, and ensure the smooth flow of Cao Yun, how could he be in the army." Zhao Ta thought of this person after a little hesitation, and asked with some confusion.

"Alas, this is a mistake. When the entourage was selected that day, the minister thought that there were many rivers in the Liaodong region, and once they were recovered, they would need to be developed and utilized, so they might as well take this opportunity to investigate and use them later, so he took him with him. Today, after patrolling the river, the minister and His Majesty knew that they would inevitably ask about blocking the break, so they went to ask Zhao Jiancheng first. Zheng Qiao said with a smile.

Zhao Ta also laughed when he heard it, it seems that God is still standing by his side, otherwise how much time would it take to transfer him from Bianjing! He immediately summoned the generals and Zhao Lin. He was asked to preside over the project of blocking the breach of the Liang River, and the necessary materials and personnel should be dispatched first, and all armies should fully cooperate, and no one should refuse for any reason. The current action is to focus on blocking the breach......

Zhao Lin was appointed as the commander-in-chief of water control, and his first order after inspecting the water situation was to cut down trees and mobilize the artisan battalions of various armies and heavy brigades to make flat-bottomed boats. The armies were ordered to send men to dig a large number of stones and transport them to the shore. And make people make a wooden cage and weave ropes. Prepare earthen bags and tie wooden rafts. Collect twigs, straw, etc. At the same time, soldiers were recruited from the baggage brigade and sailors to serve as river workers, and a series of training was carried out. Then Zhao Lin sent another army to dig several east-west trenches, and the depth was fixed.

Although the Great Song Dynasty had a tradition of governing the military with literature, a group of high-ranking generals let a civilian official who was no more than a four-grade commander run east and west, and if he could not complete the tasks assigned by him on time and quality, he would have to be reprimanded, and he could not help but feel resentful, but he did not dare to attack because of the emperor's strict orders. But they all held their breath, once the gap was blocked, they must rectify it well, and this evil breath came out.

At this time, the bank of the Liang River became a large construction site, all kinds of materials were constantly transported, and the required boats of various styles were also constantly launched, and countless people were engaged in this battle. The emperor also came to inspect many times, and the Dragon Boat Festival was spent on the construction site with the army. Of course, the hardest thing is Zhao Lin, who not only has to monitor the water situation from time to time and adjust the plan, but also has to urge all departments to step up the manufacture of various equipment and hoard the materials needed.

"Zhao Jiancheng, when can we start blocking the break?" Of course, what Zhao Ta is most concerned about is how to plug the gap, when to plug the gap, hundreds of thousands of horses here The money and food consumed by people eating and feeding horses are calculated in tens of thousands, and it takes one more day is a huge loss, so he decided to ask what happened.

"Your Majesty, when the required materials are ready, you can start to block the breach, and it will take three or five days according to the current progress." Zhao Lin said politely, many days of busyness made him feel tired, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"What are these boats for?" Zhao Ta asked, pointing to the dozens of boats that were rushing to be made.

"Your Majesty, due to the shallow water, our existing warships are unusable, and the newly built boats are all flat-bottomed and not afraid of shallows, which is convenient for transporting materials and personnel." Zhao Lin explained.

"What's the use of those bales?" Zhao Ta asked puzzled as he watched the many soldiers roll up branches, straw, grass, and earth and stones into huge bales dozens of steps long.

"Your Majesty, this is 'Si', which is used to build a revetment and block the breach." Zhao Lin replied while asking people to demonstrate to the emperor.

"Oh, I see." After reading it, Zhao Ta understood that this was to use Si to retreat into the river when the breach was about to close, use its own weight to sink to the bottom of the water to block the water flow, and then add a gap to complete the blockage.

"Those wooden cages are used to fill the stones and throw them into the water first, so as to reduce the impact on the bottom, so as to prevent the bottom of the embankment from being hollowed out by water and seeping water and bursting the embankment again." Zhao Lin saw that the emperor was very interested, so he introduced them one by one.

"I think I can speed up the progress of a big ship that can sail into the gap, cross the breach, and sink itself." Zhao Ta remembered that in his previous life, when the Yangtze River broke out, because the water flow was too strong, he finally used a boat full of stones to sink himself into the breach to block the opening, so he proposed to build a road.

"Hey, no one has ever used the method that His Majesty said, but His Majesty thinks it is feasible. If the water potential is too large, the silicon, the silicon, can not sink itself, and will break and be swept away by the water, often failing, but the big ship is not loaded with earth and stone on it and as a whole, and it will not be swept away by the water when it sinks at the breach. The emperor's method is novel, but it is reasonable, and he thought for a moment and said.

"I'm just thinking about it, it's up to you to weigh whether you can use it, and you must not let me affect your decision." Zhao Tayan said that he understood that there had already been a complete and mature set of water control norms and regulations in ancient times, and if he could not block the breach because of his own mentions, he would not be shooting himself in the foot.

"Your Majesty understands that he will consider carefully before making a decision, and if His Majesty's method is available, it will benefit all people!" Zhao Lin gave a deep salute and said, adding a few points to the emperor's admiration, he could come up with such a clever plan just by chance, if he was in charge of water control, wouldn't there be another great Yu in history......

…………

Wan Yanyong now wakes up every morning and the first thing he does is not to poop and pee, but to inquire about the water outside the city first, and when he hears that the water has risen a few points again, the embankment is safe and sound, and he is more happy than anything else. Although the Song army saw through their plan on the day of the embankment and failed to calm the enemy soldiers with the water, it also forced them back for more than ten miles, so that Liaoyang City could be preserved from the flames of war.

Now more than ten days have passed, and the people in Liaoyang City have also been relieved from the original panic under the sanitation of the big water, and Wan Yan Yong understands that Zhao Erli has traveled all the way to here and will never give up lightly, and he doesn't know when the city will be besieged, so he strictly controls the food in the city, but all the fields outside the city have been flooded, all the workshops have been destroyed, and many people have lost everything.

The common people received four litres of rice per day, and only the soldiers were able to receive the full amount. At the same time, Wan Yanyong severely cracked down on lawlessness, soldiers patrolled day and night to maintain law and order, and anyone who had misdeeds was immediately suppressed. Under his combination of soft and hard, the lives of the people in the city are quite stable, and they look forward to the Song army retiring as soon as possible. But the city was besieged by water, and all the news outside was cut off, and there was no idea whether the Song army was leaving or staying, and what they were doing.

This kind of comfortable life did not last long, and the soldiers who defended the city for two days reported that the water outside the embankment had not only not risen, but had dropped considerably. At first, he didn't care, thinking it was because of the decrease in the amount of water coming upstream, but today he reports that the water level has dropped by more than two feet and is still declining. At noon, he was even more disturbed by the return of the soldiers who sailed to inspect the Liang River, and most of the openings in the Liang River were blocked by the Song army.

"Could it be that Zhao Er really has the ability to throw a whip to cut off the flow, and he actually blocked two of them overnight, so that the water will quickly recede, and the city will fall into a crisis again." After getting the news, Wan Yan Yong immediately convened the generals to discuss how to deal with it, and Kong Yanzhou, who offered the plan, said in surprise when he heard it, Zhao Er has shown his magic skills several times since he was born, and he has also heard about it in the Song Dynasty, and he didn't think about it.

"Zhao Er is a human being and not a god, if he has such magical powers, he will not wait until today, he must be a capable person in his army who controls the water, and came up with a way to block the breach." Li Qiong's face twitched a few times and said.

"The matter has come to this, whether Zhao Er has great magical powers or a capable person in the army, the top priority is how to find a way to stop him from blocking the breach." Wan Yan said in a deep voice.

Everyone here understands that without the protection of the great water, it is impossible to stop the Song army close to the city, and only by trying their best to come up with a way to crack it can Liaoyang Mansion be saved, but how to crack it for a while No one has a good plan, and there is a dead silence above the handsome hall...... (To be continued......)