In July of the fifth year of Xianning in the Great Jin Dynasty, heavy rains fell in Ruyin, the water level of the Ruhe River soared, and some low-lying areas had been flooded, and the ocean was blank.

It had been raining heavily for seven or eight days, and there was no sign of stopping, and people were hiding in their homes and worried. Now they are not worried about whether the crops will be harvested, but because they are worried that if the heavy rain continues like this, they may not even be able to save their homes and lives.

"Ah Gong, when will this rain stop?"

It rained heavily for seven or eight days in a row, and it was indeed a terrible thing. Shu Yan looked at the torrential rain outside the window and looked very uneasy. In the past, when it rained, Shu Yan liked to listen to the sound of rain, the heavy rain, the rustling drizzle, the ticking showers, falling on the ground, falling on the clay pot, falling in the puddle, the sound was different, but they were all very pleasant. But today is different, he always feels that today's rain sound is very annoying, even with a hint of horror. Shu Yan is fourteen years old, obviously much taller than the previous two years, although with a childish face, his silhouette is becoming more and more distinct, and he is becoming more and more handsome.

"Who knows? I should stop it. Although Dr. Shu said this, he actually didn't have any bottom in his heart.

The old man and the young were panicking, Shu An came back from outside in a robe, he was the pillar of the family. However, this pillar did not bring comfort to the grandparents and grandchildren, but brought worse news: "Not only us, but also the whole of Yuzhou, even the neighboring Xuzhou is also raining heavily, and many places have been flooded, and countless houses and crops have been flooded. Shu An worried, "If this continues, I'm afraid the embankment of the Ru River will not be able to hold on, and we will not be able to keep it here, and we will bear the brunt of it." ”

"The foundation of the embankment of the Ru River is solid, as long as the county sends more people to strengthen the embankment, it should be no problem if it rains for another three days or two days." When Dr. Shu said this, he sighed, "But now, the county officials are all critical to saving their lives, so how can they risk running to the river embankment." Besides, now that the whole of Yuzhou is flooding, even if the state, county, and county have the heart to take care of it, they really can't take care of it. ”

"Can we just watch our homes be destroyed by the floods?" Shu An fidgeted as he stepped out of the outhouse and watched the heavy rain on the street. Suddenly, a man dressed in a robe, wearing a hat, and holding a gong, walked in a hurry.

"Chief Xia Ting, Chief Xia Ting." Shu An saw the man clearly and hurriedly greeted him.

Xia Chun saw Shu An greeting him, so he followed Shu An into the house.

Shu An helped him remove the wet rain gear, and Dr. Shu asked him to sit next to him.

"Pavilion Chief Xia, it's raining so hard, why are you going?"

Xia Chun was over half a hundred years old and his hair was already gray, so he took off his mud-stained straw sandals and said, "Alas, what else can you do?" Patrol the embankment! Isn't it? Due to the heavy rainfall, many other places were flooded. The county issued a notice that all localities along the Ru River should be strictly inspected and reported to the authorities in a timely manner. We are the closest to the Ru River, and we are the most sloppy. No, I just came back from the embankment. ”

Shu An hurriedly asked, "How is the embankment?" Can you still stand it? ”

Due to the continuous running of wind and rain for days, coupled with the worry about the river embankment, Xia Chun's old face looked very pale, and his speech was not as crisp and neat as before: "Precarious, precarious." Other places are better, especially a dam upstream on the west side of our Shujiazhuang, which is about 100 zhang long. The embankment is very weak, and there is already a leak, and if it continues like this, I am afraid that it will not be able to withstand tomorrow. Once the mouth breaks there, the flood will directly rush through our Shujiazhuang, and not only the crops on the river bank will not be guaranteed, but the lives of the old and young villagers in Shujiazhuang will also be in danger. ”

The people present listened to Pavilion Chief Xia's words, and their expressions became even more solemn. Although they expected the danger, it was only a guess, and they still had a little luck to a greater or lesser extent, and now they knew that the danger was confirmed.

Shu Yan asked weakly on the side: "Then why didn't the imperial court and our Ruyin King Sima Jun send people to strengthen the river embankment?" ”

Xia Tingchang shook his head again and again: "Strengthen the river embankment? Hehe, even if you have the heart to prevent floods, how can you take care of it? Now the water level of the banks of the Ru River and the Huai River has exceeded the warning for hundreds of miles, and Ruyin City and Huainan City may not be guaranteed, where can the small Shujiazhuang still take care of it! Also, Sima Jun has not been our King of Ruyin since last year, and the emperor named him the King of Fufeng. Our new King Ruyin is the youngest son of our current emperor, named Sima Mo, who is only three years old! ”

"So can we just sit back and wait?" Shu Yan looked at his father and Pavilion Chief Xia.

Shu Anteng stood up suddenly: "You must not sit still!" ”

His father's impression of Shu Yan has always been the image of a scholar and a farmer. But today, this resolute sentence and this vigorous action are like a mighty and resolute hero.

Before the words fell, someone outside the door answered: "Yes, absolutely not!" ”

When everyone looked back, a man who was not wearing a coat but only a hat walked in.

"Uncle Han."

It turned out that Han Ning, like Shu An, was worried about the safety of the river embankment, and he had been restless for the past two days. Today he couldn't sit still at home and came to find Shu An. I happened to hear Pavilion Chief Xia and Shu An talking.

Pavilion Chief Xia looked at the two young wise men who had politely rejected his recommendation in the past, and asked, "What do you two mean?" ”

"Since we can't point to the county, we'll protect the river embankment ourselves!"

"Yes, Chief Xia Ting, Brother Shu is right, for the safety of the old and young villagers in Shujiazhuang, we must not sit still and go to the berm by ourselves!"

Xia Tingchang felt a burst of emotion in his heart. These two people no longer look like scholars at all, not like farmers and scholars in Shujiazhuang, but more like combat heroes on the battlefield. Remembering that the imperial court had ordered the counties to be drowned, Xia Tingchang wanted to recommend these two people, but these two people were not moved by fame and fortune and did not respond. And now, when the fathers and villagers are facing danger, they have to stand up!

"Okay, two, Shujiazhuang has people with lofty ideals like you, and we are proud of it. If all the officials of the court are like you, the people of the world will be blessed. Speaking of this, Pavilion Chief Xia was in good spirits. He stood up and put on his mud shoes, "This berm is not something that the two of you can do, it's not okay if there are fewer people, you two prepare first, I'll go to the street to greet the young man in Shujiazhuang, and everyone will go to the berm together!" ”

Xia Tingchang put on rain gear, picked up the gong, went out of the door, and shouted while knocking: "Folks, folks, the heavy rain does not stop, the upstream embankment will not survive tomorrow, the lives of the old and young in Shujiazhuang are in danger, all the young and middle-aged men with hoes and baskets follow Shu An and Han Ning to the berm on the bank of the Ru River." He walked around several villages near Shujiazhuang, shouting incessantly, hoarse.

Shu An said to Dr. Shu: "Ah Weng, Xie Bo, you are old and can't stand the wind and rain, don't go out, stay at home with peace of mind." He turned his head to his wife Zhou again, and somehow, Shu An lingered a little inexplicably: "Look at Yan'er." As he spoke, he turned and went to get the hoe.

"Let's go together, I don't worry about you going alone."

Without saying too many words, Shu An knew his wife's decision.

Shu Yan tugged at his sleeve: "Ah Weng, I'm going too." ”

"You're still young, stay at home with your grandfather!"

Shu An picked up the hoe, and Zhou carried the basket on his back and ran to the river embankment. Han Ning was already walking in front with a hoe. His wife Liu also wanted to go, but Liu was weak and sick, and there were two children at home, so Liu led Zhixin and Ruoxin, and the three of them stayed at home.

When Shu An and the others came to the embankment, they saw that the previously gentle and gentle water of the Ru River had become turbulent and turbid, and the water was flowing rapidly, at least ten times faster than usual, and made a loud noise. A large amount of sediment upstream, broken branches, firewood and grass were washed downstream along the current.

For the berm, the workload of these three people is simply a drop in the bucket. It was easy to dig a basket of earth, and I had to put down the hoe, and two people carried it to the embankment, and then came back to continue digging. Fortunately, not long after, the young adults near Shujiazhuang heard the call of Pavilion Chief Xia, and they all rushed over one after another with tools. Xia Tingchang made a simple division of labor: there were spare stones used for flood control on the side of the embankment, some people carried stones to the embankment, some people were responsible for digging the soil, and some people were responsible for lifting the excavated soil to the embankment with baskets to fill the gaps in the stones.

The rain was still falling, and it didn't get any lesser, but the wind was getting stronger. Although people were wearing robes and hats, their bodies were still wet from the rain, so everyone simply took off their coats and hats, so that they could work more flexibly. People are racing against the rising water level for time.

Shu An kept his head down, the hoe in his hand kept turning, a basket was just carried away, and a basket came again. He was so busy digging that he didn't have time to pay attention to which villager was carrying the basket. However, he always felt that there was a pair of basket bearers who were obviously very difficult compared to the rest of the group. It wasn't until he looked closely that he suddenly realized that this weak pair was his wife and children.

The combined strength of Zhou and Shu Yan is about the same as that of a man in the prime of life, and it is of course laborious to carry a basket full of soil up the river embankment, and it is difficult to walk. Fortunately, the woman's feet had not been destroyed at that time, and although her strength was a little smaller, she still walked steadily.

It turned out that Shu Yan saw that his parents had gone up to the embankment, and he was restless at home, so he greeted his grandfather and ran to the embankment. Dr. Shu hadn't decided whether to let him go or not, and in a blink of an eye, Shu Yan was gone.

Everyone saw that the women and children of the Shu family participated in the berm, and they were excited. In the wind, in the rain, in the mud, up, down, down, up. People are going crazy like digging for treasure, doing this dangerous and unpaid work, but no paid job has such motivation.

In the evening, the berm work was almost completed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, all of them were exhausted. When people do heavy work, they often don't know that they are tired at the time, but only when they finish the work that they know that their physical strength is overdrawn. Shu An, Han Ning, Zhou Shi and others dragged their tired bodies, stepped on the slippery mud and climbed the embankment, watching the turbulent flood being blocked under the solid embankment, the hearts of the three people finally let go - the people of Shujiazhuang were saved.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew from behind the people, and Han Ning instinctively flashed back, but his tired body was shaking, his feet slipped, and he fell into the flood. Shu An didn't see it well, and hurriedly reached out to pull Han Ning, he grabbed Han Ning's hand tightly, and at the same time, Zhou Shi quickly grabbed her husband's hand on the side and pulled it up. The three of them did their best, but no matter how slippery the ground or slippery mud hands, there was no focus point, and they couldn't use force at all. In an instant, all three of them fell into the turbid waves, and by the time the people around them reacted, the three people had already disappeared into the distance with the flood and disappeared from view.

Shu An and the others grew up by the river, and there are many people who can swim in the water here, if it is in normal times, this soothing Ru River water can not stop Shu An and Han Ning. But the flood is different, the river becomes turbid and turbulent, the water flow is unusually fast, the depth and breadth have increased several times, and the impact has become a large and small whirlpool. With such a rapid current, it is impossible for anyone to go down and come up.