In the morning, the Zhengshi Hall, the Emperor Yuwen Wen, the Prince Yuwen Weicheng, and the three high-ranking officials were all present. Each of them held information in their hands, and there was also a thick stack of information on the table in front of them. There was a huge sand table in the center of the Zhengshi Hall, with mountains, rivers, and small houses representing the prefectures and counties.

There are many small flags in the sand table, representing different meanings. The officials of the Ministry of Works are now telling the severe flood prevention situation of the Yellow River to the emperor, the prince and the officials of the Political Affairs Hall.

Since the beginning of summer, rainfall in the Yellow River Basin and its tributary basins has increased significantly. The imperial court has set up star-stage observatories in various places, and undertakes the task of observing rainfall. There are detailed observation records to support this statement.

The substantial increase in rainfall will inevitably lead to the Yellow River water level starting from the Guanzhong River section and transmitting to the downstream, and the water level will only be higher.

Based on the observation of the water levels of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in the past two months and the observation of the water levels of its main tributaries, it shows that the water levels of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River have exceeded the normal water levels of the same period in previous years.

what does that mean?

This means that since the first year of Mingde, the lower Yellow River basin faced the threat of flooding for the first time - a large-scale flood is likely to occur.

It is expected that the affected areas will be affected by disasters, including the downstream coastal areas starting from the Yingzhou River section and ending at the mouth of the Yellow River. At the same time, the main Yellow River tributary basins in the downstream will also be affected to varying degrees.

In terms of geographical terms, most of Henan, central and southern Hebei, and northwestern Qingqi, will probably be affected by more than 40 states.

By then, once the water level of the Yellow River soars, the above areas will inevitably turn into vast oceans, a large number of farmland and villages will be destroyed, which will not only lead to poor harvests this year or even out of harvests, but may not be able to ease in the next few years.

But the most deadly thing is not the end. Once the affected areas turn into a vast ocean, millions of people will be displaced. If they are not properly disposed of, the victims will either die on a large scale due to plague or be incited by ulterior motives for various reasons, and then large-scale unrest breaks out.

Once such a thing happens, it will inevitably shake the foundation of the country.

Although all this has not happened yet, and the rising water level of the Yellow River is still within the safe range, various signs indicate that a major flood is likely to occur in the future. How could Yuwen Wen, who received the urgent report, sit still?

The Ministry of Works received an urgent report that night, and the next day, today the magistrate and officers immediately convened to discuss countermeasures.

The most urgent task is to do a good job in flood prevention and make advance deployments so that areas along the Yellow River can be mobilized immediately, mobilized manpower and material resources to prepare for flood prevention. The governments along the coast must immediately inspect the dam to see if there are any hidden dangers.

If hidden dangers are found, they must be remedied immediately.

Secondly, it is the deployment of flood control work. Although the best way is to rely on the embankment to block the flood, such a wish is generally difficult to realize, or all of it is realized: there will always be dam breaks along the river area, causing floods to rush in and some areas to suffer from disasters.

Therefore, all prefectures and counties must do a good job in flood control after the flood hits.

This includes transferring food, materials and important property to higher terrain, then reserving disaster relief materials in advance, and immediately issuing flood warnings to the people in the country, so that the people can know what they want, prepare for flood prevention and disaster relief in advance, and reduce losses as much as possible.

The third is disaster relief. The Yellow River has flooded. Such natural disasters are basically difficult to stop. It is nothing more or less disaster-affected areas. So when the disaster occurs, the court must carry out disaster relief, mobilizing grain and materials from various places to provide relief to the victims in the disaster-stricken areas.

Fourth, reconstruction. When the flood recedes, the reconstruction work of the disaster area must be carried out quickly, and agricultural production will be resumed as soon as possible to help the victims rebuild their homes. Otherwise, the victims will be homeless and have their livelihoods cut off, which will lead to disasters sooner or later.

Fifth, epidemic prevention, as the saying goes, "After a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic." The flood recedes, the ground is messy, a large amount of well water is polluted, a large number of animals and human corpses rot and smelly, which are all potential sources of epidemics.

If epidemic prevention is ignored during reconstruction, once a large-scale plague breaks out, it will inevitably lead to a tragedy on earth.

There are so many things to do, and it is impossible to delay, so it is urgent, but even so, it cannot be messed up, otherwise you will only lose your own position and get half the result with twice the effort.

Yuwen Wen convened the sect to discuss the matter today, and he did not expect to come up with a perfect solution that day. Such meetings will inevitably be held several times. Each time there are problems that need to be solved. Finally, it will be summarized to be a complete solution.

Therefore, the purpose of today's meeting is to understand the status quo, let the priests unify their opinions, and first of all, to "know themselves and their enemies."

The so-called "knowing the enemy" means to realize that a major flood broke out in the Yellow River this summer and autumn is inevitable, and also to know the approximate disaster-stricken areas and scope.

In this way, we can carry out preparations for flood prevention, flood control and rescue, disaster relief, post-disaster reconstruction, and epidemic prevention so that everyone can be targeted.

The so-called "confidant" means knowing what steps the court can do when facing such natural disasters, how much manpower and materials are there at hand, that is, how strong is your mobilization ability in the face of the upcoming natural disasters.

And, where is the bottom line for your own losses?

Now, there are relevant contents in the information provided by the Ministry of Industry. Although the content can be roughly explained in a stack of paper, it has condensed the efforts of countless people for more than ten years.

So, how rich is the court’s current family?

First, a complete rainfall and hydrological observation system.

Observation of rainfall can initially predict droughts and floods, and observation of water levels can predict how likely the floods are to occur. This observation system has been established by the court, so it is timely issued an early warning.

Second, large-scale water conservancy projects.

This includes water conservancy projects in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River basin areas and major tributary basins, mainly the Yellow River embankment, as well as the river embankment of the main tributary water system, and even a series of large and medium-sized dams (reservoirs).

These dams are responsible for regulating water storage during flood water and water release during drought. They can play a huge role in flood control and flood control in the Yellow River.

Since the first year of Mingde, the imperial court has promoted water conservancy, and has built many large and medium-sized dams, whether it is the Yellow River embankment, various river embankments, as well as various large and medium-sized dams. Now that it is at a critical moment, it will be useful immediately.

Not only that, the two huge artificial canals, Yongji Canal and Tongji Canal, actually also have the role of dividing floods in the Yellow River. If the flood discharge capacity of Yongji Canal and Tongji Canal can be ensured, not only will the areas along the canal not be affected by disasters, but it can also reduce the risk of dam breaking in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Because a large amount of river water from the middle reaches is diverted by two canals, the water level in the downstream will not rise so quickly, the pressure on the Yellow River embankment will not be that great, and the area of ​​the affected area will inevitably become smaller.

Of course, if the handling is not done properly, not to mention flood diversion, the water level of the two canals will increase sharply, resulting in floods along the coastal areas.

Third, food and material reserves for flood control and disaster relief.

There is no need to worry about this, because after more than ten years of hard work, the grain output of Zhou State has increased significantly. Several major official warehouses in Henan and Hebei have stored a large amount of grain and cloth. In the event of disaster, you can open warehouses on site to provide relief.

These large official warehouses were carefully surveyed when selecting their locations. Although they were built in places with convenient water transportation, they were all built in places with higher terrain. Even if they were surrounded by a vast ocean, the warehouse would be safe and sound.

There is abundant grain storage, while there is also abundant foreign grain: because there is a huge grain production area adjacent to Henan, that is the Han Mian area in Jingxiang, Shannan.

The large-scale development of the Han Mian area has been going on for more than ten years. The large amount of farmland opened up back then has now changed from raw fields to mature fields. It is the time when grain output is growing rapidly. A large amount of grain is exported every year and sold to Henan.

This year, rainfall in the Yangtze River Basin is normal, and the same is true in the Han Mian area, so there will be a bumper harvest in autumn. At that time, a large amount of grain can be imported into Henan and Hebei (southern region) on a large scale through the Yewan Canal.

At the same time, the official warehouses in Jingxiang area also store a large amount of food, which can also be used for disaster relief if necessary.

Not only that, the food in Dongting Lake District and Pengli Lake District has a surplus, and it can also be imported into Henan with convenient water transportation. Therefore, in most of Henan and southern Hebei suffered a large-scale disaster and the grain was almost out of stock, the court also had the ability to transfer food to provide disaster relief.

The local official warehouse grain storage in Henan and Hebei, grain from Jingxiang (including the Han Mian area), and the support from Huainan and Jiangnan (including Pengli Lake District and Dongting Lake District) is at least judging from the paper figures, they are fully capable of supporting the victims of Henan and Hebei.

It will last until next autumn harvest.

Such confidence comes from more than ten years of land reclamation and farming, and from the already large-scale fleet of steamships.

Not to mention that there are also Jiaozhou rice that can be transported north to provide relief to some victims in Henan, eastern Hebei and Qingqi (the lower reaches of the Yellow River).

The court had abundant food and sufficient transportation capacity in its hands, and had strong disaster relief capabilities.

Countless numbers were listed in tables and presented to the priest. Looking at these dense numbers, the priests suddenly felt a little surprised.

Although the relevant numbers are not confidential to them, and the development of national strength over the past decade has been obvious to all, if you really look closely, you will find that it is a little different.

Just like my own child who meets him every day, he doesn’t think he is growing fast, but when he compares his height and size from different periods, he suddenly realizes that his son is so tall!

Now, looking at the statistics provided by the Ministry of Works, the culprits have the same feeling:
Chapter completed!