After a servant had a nervous breakdown, people on the embankment wept bitterly and cursed to the sky.

Li Bing clenched his fists and said to the guards beside him: "Come with me to move the soil." ”

He did not lash the servant, but together with his servants, he lifted the straw cage with earth that the servant had thrown on the ground, and walked towards the breach in the embankment.

Everyone on the embankment knew that Li Bing was the county guard.

When Li Bing took action, although the cry on the embankment was still there, the servants all moved. The servant, who had initially had a nervous breakdown, also got up from the ground, picked up a piece of wood and rushed to the crack.

Men and soldiers with ropes tied to them jumped down the cracks, holding hands to slow the flow of water so that the stakes could sink into the mud.

The crack finally closed, and the levee survived the first day.

Chapter 84: Pumpkins in the Juntun Field

The rainstorm eased a little by noon on the second day, but it encountered new problems.

This era did not have the logistics of later generations.

Clothes can't stop the rain, shacks can't stop the wind, and the hot rice made by the fire will be quickly cooled by the rain, and there is no time to even make a fire, so you can only eat dry food with cold water.

The servants were huddled in their huts, unable to completely dry their soaked clothes, even around the flickering fire.

Even if Li Bing arranged shifts and let the servants take turns to rest, on the second day, the servants did not have the strength of the previous day, and their physical condition dropped too much.

As a county guard, Li Bing's logistics support is much stronger than that of a servant. His tent was large, the fire was very strong, and when he returned to the tent, he was able to change into clean and dry clothes and sleep well at night.

But even he was a little lacking in energy on the second day.

And the flood peak does not know how many days it will last before it leaves the river. This anxiety that doesn't know how the future will be, gnawing at his heart like an ant.

Li Bing is the spiritual pillar on the embankment. No matter how anxious he is, he can't show his true emotions, and he has to keep telling the servant that Hong Feng is almost over, and it will be fine in another day.

And the sky was still pouring rain, as if mocking the useless struggle of the ant-like humans on the ground.

Zhu Xiang patrolled the city in the face of heavy rain on the second day and left Chengdu in the afternoon.

When the rainstorm comes, it is necessary not only to defend the embankment, but also to seize the property of the people who have been ravaged by the rainstorm and protect the millet washed by the rainstorm.

Although Zhu Xiang has already set protective measures, such as covering the millet with grass, so that the millet will not be knocked off by the torrential rain, or directly washed away by muddy water. But he was still not at ease, Li Bing and Li Mu guarded the embankment, and he patrolled around the important grain-producing areas of the Chengdu Plain to check and fill in the gaps.

Once Li Mu's side wants to give up the embankment, he will lead the people to harvest the immature millet as soon as possible.

Even if the immature millet is difficult to preserve, the seed cannot be kept. But at least the peasants can eat a month or two of full food on this immature millet, which is better than nothing.

Not everyone in Shu knows that there is a "Changping Jun", they only know that Zhu Xiang is an official of the Qin State.

Zhu Xiang will not deliberately show his identity.

He was like an ordinary Qin official, who tirelessly admonished the peasants for a while, and punished those who took advantage of the chaos with harsh means for a while.

In some places, floods or ditches and rivers are flooded, and farmers cling to rooftops and crying out helplessly for help. Zhu Xiang also had to row a small boat to rescue the peasants from the rooftops and send them to the high ground.

He brought some grain and resettled the peasants for the time being.

Although the peasants were saved, they often crouched in the muddy water and wept in despair, without the joy of survival.

Zhu Xiang didn't know how to comfort them.

He could not guarantee that the levees would not burst, that the fields would not burst, or that the rescued peasants would not starve to death in the cold winter.

He can only do what he can do now, and he doesn't look at the future.

Zhu Xiang walked and walked to the embankment where Li Mu was and said hello to Li Mu.

Li Mu's face immediately changed greatly, and he scolded: "I said to let you stay in Chengdu!" If something happens to you, what will happen to Zheng'er? What should the people of the world do?! Even if the Chengdu Plain is completely flooded, your death is not as important to the people of the world! ”

Zhu Xiang wanted to say that no one's life was more important, but he couldn't say it.

He also knew that if he lived and lived until Zheng'er ascended the throne, it might be better for the people of the world.

But it's one thing to know, it's another to stay in Chengdu and do nothing. He can't sit in Chengdu and sit on the sidelines under the pretext of "I'm important to the world".

"Don't worry, I carry ginger soup with me, and I will take a hot bath when I go back, and I won't get sick." Zhu Xiang stretched out his arm and said, "I have coated my body with garlic oil, smeared with water-blocking grease, tied several strips of cloth, and parasites can't help me." ”

Li Mu took a few deep breaths, and said with a loud voice: "You hurry back, you are not needed on the embankment." ”

Zhu Xiang nodded again and again, and left the embankment at the urging of Li Mu.

He settled in a village and town, took a hot bath, drank hot soup with green onions, ginger and garlic, and sweated. On the second day, he smeared garlic oil and grease on his body again, tied it with a cloth, and continued to patrol the Chengdu Plain.

This time, he passed by the embankment guarded by Li Bing and saw Li Bing with a hoarse voice on crutches.

Li Bing also scolded Zhu Xiang, Zhu Xiang carefully apologized and made amends, and then built a shanty to help cook hot ginger soup for the servant to ward off the cold.

Another day, the rain finally stopped, but the flood still did not recede.

However, there was no rainstorm to hinder them, and the servants moved with ease. The exhausted physical strength relied on a breath of spirit and hope for the weather to clear up, and they were able to hold on for a while.

Zhu Xiang got busy.

The flood peaks of the big rivers have not yet receded because of the water coming from the upper reaches, but the water from the small ditches and small rivers has quickly receded after the weather clears, and the farmers can return to their homes.

When the rain stopped, they didn't have time to renovate their flood-damaged houses and threw themselves into rescuing the fields.

Dig ditches to drain excess water, straighten lodging stalks, and remove rotting weeds. Farmers are constantly busy in the fields, and many people can't eat a bite of food all day.

Zhu Xiang looked at the snails exposed in the mud and his heart was strained, but he swallowed the words to stop them.

Sure enough, heavy rains once again spread the plague. After the great plague there will be a great plague.

But he had seen the signs of the pandemic, but he could do nothing. He couldn't stop the farmers from going to the mud to clean their millet and their family's hope of survival, and he couldn't prepare the farmers to prevent schistosomiasis.

Because he can't get so much garlic, so much oil, so much cloth, and it is impossible for the farmers to replace it on time.

The peasants had very few clothes, and in order not to be soaked by the rain, most of them were covered in mud and went into the fields naked, and in the case of women, they might tie a little grass to cover them.

Some women don't care about that, what the men do in the fields, they also work in the fields. No one is judging their bodies.

This scene is not because this era is so enlightened and friendly to women. It's that this era is too bitter, so women who work in the fields are not human beings like men.

Even at the end of feudalism, when the shackles of etiquette and religion were strong, the same was true for women who cultivated the fields.

After observing the busy situation of the peasants, Zhu Xiang came up with a compromise solution.

He taught the peasants to wrap their bodies in mud, which was relatively dry and devoid of living organisms, barely enough to isolate some of the parasites.

But the feet and legs that stepped into the mud had no choice but to resign themselves to fate.

Zhu Xiang could only ask people to prepare herbs with all their might, and wait for the flood to recede and the grain to be harvested before controlling the epidemic.

Even if he knew that at that time, it would basically be a placebo effect, and it would not be of much use.

On another day, most of the old, weak, women, children, and peasants on the highlands returned to their fields, and the water in the river gradually receded.

This year, God did not seem to have driven Li Min to a dead end, and Li Bing finally withstood the pressure, and with the help of Li Mu, he defended two important dikes, protecting both the city of Chengdu and the main grain-producing areas of the Chengdu Plain.

But except for the rich people in Chengdu, the other civilians did not have a smile on their faces.

Because they kept two dikes, and only two dikes.

In addition to the Chengdu Plain, there are many hills and mountainous areas in the Sichuan Basin, which have been abandoned.

Fucheng, where they lived temporarily, as well as the place near Chengdu City and later known as Jintang, all became an ocean.

Zhu Xiang thought that maybe they could hold the embankment, but their own efforts were actually very small, and God did not open their eyes, but other places where the river spread played a role in discharging floods.

Because they could only hold two important dikes.

There is no harvest in the important grain-producing areas of the Chengdu Plain, and about eight or nine out of ten grains can be harvested.

But the broader area can only be described in six words, "autumn water, grass without seedlings".

These are the six words that often appear in "Spring and Autumn", and now they appear in Shu County.

"I'm going to Ba County to borrow food." Li Bing said, "Zhu Xiang, you are temporarily acting as the county guard." ”

Zhu Xiang said: "Ba County may have also suffered from floods. ”

Li Bing smiled bitterly: "The main city of Ba County is on the mountain, they will be much better." Moreover, Ba County is full of powerful people, and there is basically no place for civilians to stand. So their food will be a lot, a lot. ”

Zhu Xiang pondered for a while and understood Li Bing's words.

Because Ba County is basically in the mountainous area and is rich in mining, it is even more closed than Shu County. Although Ba County has also been abolished as a national county, it is more like an independent kingdom than Shu County.

In such an independent kingdom, even if there was a flood, Li Bing could borrow food, because their civilians were equivalent to slaves, and they were not counted as human beings at all, so they did not need to eat food.

Li Bing's move is to only care about the civilians of Shu County, ignoring the civilians who may be worse than Shu County.

Zhu Xiang disagreed in his heart, but he couldn't say anything to stop it.

It's good that people can take care of what is in front of them, even if they are also from Qin, Li Bing is the official of Shu County, so he has to give priority to the civilians of Shu County to starve to death.

What's more, Li Bing didn't lead troops to rebel and rob Ba County's grain.

He just went to borrow grain and asked the county guard of Ba County to take the lead for him and Ba County Haoqiang and sell his face. As for whether others will give food or not, and how much food they will give, it is up to others to decide.

But Zhu Xiang knew that Li Bing would definitely be able to borrow food.

Even if there is no Dujiangyan in the Chengdu Plain, it is also the richest place in the southwest. Among them, the goods of Shu brocade and the north and south are all luxury items that Bajun Haoqiang wants.

They curry favor with Li Bing, and Li Bing will make it convenient for them on the trade route.

There was an official from Ba County in the county guard's office, and he introduced Li Bing to the main heroes of Ba County.

Haoqiang of Ba County took Ba as his surname and was once respected by the King of Qin as the leader of the Ba people. Now, after the establishment of the county, although they no longer have this honor, they are still as honorable as kings in Ba County.

After they discovered the Dan sand mine, their financial resources were even better. Two-thirds of the county where Bashi is located are their clansmen, and the rest depend on them for survival. They had independent armies, forged towering fortresses, and the county seat where they were located basically became their fiefdoms.

If you want to borrow grain, it must be the most appropriate to borrow from Pasteur.

Zhu Xiang heard the Ba Shi introduced by the official, and had a familiar feeling.

When Li Bing was about to leave, he remembered the familiar reason.

The Naba clan may be the family of the famous Ba County widow Qing. This is the case with the widow Qing's family, who quickly became rich after monopolizing the Dansha mine, established their own armed forces, and turned the county seat into their own "fiefdom".

This is also the reason why Qin Shi Huang commended the widow Qing.

Qin Shi Huang commended two merchants, one was a widow Qing, and the other was a livestock merchant surnamed Wu. The common characteristic of the two of them is that they already have independent weapons, and the place where they are located is like an independent kingdom.

Qin Shi Huang used them as a commendation to let the two of them go to Xianyang to receive the reward, and then moved their people to Xianyang.