? Heavy rain continued, the water flowed on the Santai River, and a stone bridge spanned the two sides of the river to communicate north and south. Xu Shao, the leader of Bazhou, stood on the stone bridge in the rain to check the water situation. He looked at the water level under his feet, which was a little higher than in the morning.

"Is there any problem with the stone bridge?" Xu Shao asked. This stone bridge was newly built at the beginning of the year, which was more durable than the dilapidated wooden bridge. Not only is the bridge deck wider and sturdy, but even the heavy carriage will not worry about collapse.

"Don't be sure. I have been carefully inspecting the bridge deck and piers these days, and no abnormalities such as opening the cracks were found." A man in military uniform replied that they were soldiers guarding the bridge stationed in the camp on the south side of the stone bridge. The daily thing to do is to inspect and maintain the stone bridge.

"Be more attentive, the stone bridge costs a lot, and it is the only channel between the people of Xiyang and the north and south, and it must not be missed!"

"Yes!" The soldiers guarding the bridge gave a solemn greeting. The stone bridge was mobilized by the prefecture government to mobilize large households from all over the country to donate funds, and organized manpower and material resources. Because the stones are sufficient and there is no shortage of staff, and the construction speed is quickly completed in half a year.

Xu Shao nodded and then led his entourage down the stone bridge and turned up the river embankment. Today, he came to Santai River in the rain, not just to see the bridge. The newly built south bank embankment is the top priority. Xu Shao has been unable to sleep well since the rainy season.

In order to build the river embankment, the people were recruited for service, and there were tens of thousands of prisoners of war and soldiers, and they cost countless expenses. As the person in charge, Xu Shao worked hard day and night as the official. If the river embankment had any problems, it would be really heartbroken because he could not withstand the flood and collapsed the dam.

The heavy rain caused the water level of Santai River to soar. The river embankment had already passed through several heavy floods safely before, but this time was different from before. The officials on duty along the embankment warned several times that the danger was discovered. The state corps urgently mobilized prisoners of war as laborers to rescue and could only make up for it.

"I don't know if I can survive this time..." Xu Shao stood on the river bank and muttered to himself. The northern bank of Santai River has now turned into a vast ocean. The river water surged across the river bank, and the overflowing lake water on the north bank has flooded the ground. According to the words of the governor Yuwen Wen, the 'sea-looking mode' has been activated.

"Don't let's go. If you have the north bank as a flood discharge place, you can protect the river embankment on the south bank. We will patrol the embankment day and night. Once you find the danger, you will immediately organize a rescue operation. This will definitely be able to survive." A clerk said.

"I hope so, otherwise the south bank will be bad." Xu Shao turned around and said, looking at the direction of Xiyang City. There are two large lakes in the northeast suburbs of Xiyang City. As long as the rainfall in the rainy season has been heavy, it will inevitably surge. Not only will the surrounding farmland suffer or even endanger the city.

The water levels of these two lakes have not been lowered at the beginning of the rainy season this year. Fortunately, new channels were dug to communicate with the two lakes, dredged them, widening the original drainage ditches, and diverting the lake water to the lower reaches of the Santai River and draining the water from Bashui. This makes the lake water that has been suffering all year round this year much more honest.

However, the key is the embankment on the south bank of Santai River. As long as there is a river embankment, the surging water will rush into the south bank and flow into the lake. By then, the water level of the lake will rise sharply and it will not be cleared. If the crops in large areas of farmland outside Xiyang City are washed away, they may be completely harvested this year.

It is impossible to build a river embankment for tens of miles in half a year, but now it is "there is a reason for it". Because only half of the river embankment is built, the project volume is half reduced. This is the policy of "divide the water from the north".

The Santai River originated from the Yangtze River in the northern part of Xiyang County and flowed to the eastward direction of Xiyang City. It turned eastward and finally merged into the Ba River into the Yangtze River. Xiyang City and most of the cultivated farmland were on the south bank of Santai River, so the governor Yuwen Wen decided to protect the south bank first.

Since the immediate boss is willing to take responsibility and infamous, the plan to build an embankment is quickly decided: build an embankment on the south bank, and the river embankment does not need to be too high as long as it is obviously higher than the north bank. Once the rainy season comes, the river embankment on the south bank can make the north bank a "flood discharge area".

With this plan, the project volume was naturally smaller, and the continuous increase in the prisoners of Chen Jun who acted as laborers finally successfully completed the river embankment. As long as you safely survive this year's rainy season and build the north bank embankment after winter, Santai River Defense will be considered complete.

As compensation for the "disaster disaster to the north", the prefecture has made a decision to exempt farmers from renting and transfers from this year on the north bank. Depending on the situation, whether the rent and transfers will be exempted next year. If the north bank embankment can be successfully built and then reclaimed, the farmland area in Naba Prefecture can be expanded again.

The premise is that the south bank embankment can withstand heavy water this year. Because of the Santai River trend, the south bank embankment has to be washed away by river water. Especially the river embankment at the bend eastward is the first to bear the brunt of the river, and Xu Shao is walking on this section of the river embankment.

Not far ahead is a camp next to the river embankment. The officials on duty also stay here. There is one camp at Santaihe River embankment every distance. In order to guard the dike, the prefecture has made every effort.

A man wearing a straw hat and a straw raincoat stood on the embankment, busying himself with several people around him. Seeing Xu Shao and his party coming over, he hurried forward to salute. He had been living on the embankment for half a month. Every time Xu Shao came to patrol the embankment, he saw him urging the Qingshen to investigate the embankment.

"What's the situation?" Xu Shao asked. This section of the river embankment is a high-risk area and has collapsed in the previous floods of Santai River. In view of the fact that the number of berth guards stationed is twice as high as that elsewhere, and there are many more substances used to strengthen the embankment.

"Don't do it, the situation is serious. It collapsed a little last night, but it has been blocked with wooden stakes and placed in soil bags. If I can survive these days, it will be fine."

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone has worked hard." Xu Shao patted the other party's shoulder, and the people around him smiled when they heard this. They were working hard, but the young man in front of him also worked hard. He could see him patrolling the river bank every day.

Xu Shao was about to say something to boost morale when suddenly a shrill howl came from the river bank. When everyone heard someone shouting "The dam is broken", they felt a stern and ran toward it.

I saw that the river embankment began to collapse near the water, and the outer bamboo cage stone wall was gone. The rammed earth dam body was directly exposed. This happened to be the outer bend of the bend of the river, so the dam body was constantly washed by the river water.

The continuous rain had already soaked the rammed earth. Now the stone wall protecting the outer layer had collapsed. Where can the rammed earth dam body withstand the erosion of the water flow? The turbid mud water dyed the Santai River surface yellow, and the river embankment was eroding by the river water at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It's going to collapse, block it quickly!" The shouts and gongs sounded, and many people rushed out of the camp. Some of them were holding shovels, wooden hammers, wooden stakes and other tools, while others were carrying bamboo cages and some were carrying bulging cloth bags.

"Twist the bamboo cages and throw them down quickly!"

"You guys, tie the ropes and prepare to go down to punch wooden stakes, and the others are going to throw bamboo cages and sandbags!" The officials shouted loudly, and each divided his labour and directed the rescue.

The bamboo cage was filled with heavy stones, and the cloth bag was filled with soil that had been installed long ago. These were the materials needed to fill the collapsed parts of the river embankment. Originally, it was said that the magic cement was used to make a stone embankment when the embankment was built. However, the output was too small and the stones were urgently insufficient. Only these things could be used to respond to the dam.

Originally, it was planned to use all river sand bags, that is, sand bags, but making cloth bags consumed a lot of cloth, so the quantity was insufficient. Because bamboo cage stones were used to add wooden piles and rammed earth when building the dike, the dike guards prepared a large number of bamboo cage stones for spare use.

Several bamboo cages were thrown to the collapsed place of the river bank with heavy stones. The most urgent task was to stop the rammed earth dam body from collapse. After a round of throwing, several young and strong men held hammers in their hands and slid down the edge of the bank with wooden stakes to the collapsed place to drive piles. The other end of their waists was wrapped with hemp ropes and pulled them by their companions on the shore.

They started to drill wooden stakes in a group of waist-deep mud. They ignored the rushing river water and each person supported the pile and worked hard to drive piles. When a row of wooden stakes began to take shape, the others were about to put sandbags when the bamboo cage suddenly sounded.

A whirlpool appeared at the collapse of the river embankment. The turbid river water rushed into the cave that suddenly appeared on the dam. The huge force sucked the young and strong who were driving the piles towards the cave.

"The pipe is gushing!!" "Pipe the sandbag quickly, throw the bamboo cage quickly to block the mouth!" "Tighten the rope and don't let the water suck it in!"

When the people on the dam saw the danger of pipe rushing, they quickly put the prepared sandbags and bamboo cages into the vortex. The sandbags that were thrown in first were swept away by water and disappeared into the vortex. After a while, they rushed out from the other side of the dam. Fortunately, the bamboo cages containing stones were tied together, but they were not swept away by the water after throwing them down.

The piling driver was holding the wooden stake hard, while the people on the shore tried their best to pull the hemp rope. Fortunately, they tied the hemp rope around their waists as safety ropes, otherwise they would have no way to survive if they were swept into the whirlpool. Even so, the young and strong people were still in a mess by the water flow.

"Tug them up, pull them up quickly!"

There were shouts one after another, some were saving people and some were blocking leaks. The sound of gongs rang like the sound of firecrackers, and more people ran out of the camp and held everything that could block leaks.

"Ah!" A loud scream came out, and a man who was pulling the hemp rope on the dam suddenly slipped. The fall in love led several people behind him to fall to the ground. The sudden rise of the accident made the young man who had just climbed up from the pipe rush back.

The hemp rope tied to his waist swam away like a long snake. Seeing that the man was about to be rolled into the whirlpool, suddenly one of them rushed forward and pulled the hemp rope and pulled it hard. Everyone looked at him and said that they didn't want to take Xu Shao.

However, the vortex was too suctioned, and the young and strong were dragged in, and Xu Shao was dragged forward, and the officials and followers who were so scared that they were scattered came up. Some people rolled and crawled around Xu Shao's waist, while others grabbed the rope and pulled it backwards.

"Tight, pull hard!!"

Everyone worked together to pull the young and strong back from the gates of hell, and someone directed the people who caught up to put the sandbags and bamboo cages into the pipe rush. Thanks to the timely response and preparation, the pipe rush that had just appeared was blocked.

"Put the other end apart and put two rows of wooden stakes in the middle of the wooden board!"

"You guys go to patrol somewhere else and take the gong to knock it right away if there is any danger!"

"What are you doing while standing there? Take your clothes and don't put them on. If you are late, you will catch a cold!"

"Go and cook ginger soup now!"

The officials were on duty for a long time and had rich experience and arranged all work in a busy and unconfused manner. Xu Shao, who was covered in mud, stood up with the help of his followers. One of the middle-aged men took off his hat and put it on him.

Xu Shao just now didn't care about anything to save the person, and was busy with the turtle hat no longer knew where to go. When he saw the middle-aged man trying to give up the hat, he raised his hand to stop him: "It's okay, just get wet in some rain."

"It would be a bad thing if the young master caught a cold..." The middle-aged man forced his hat to Xu Shao's head. He was a servant sent by Xu Shao's family. He was almost frightened by the scene just now. When he came from Yuezhou, the boss told him to keep a close eye on it, but something almost happened.

Several bald men walked to Xu Shao, one of them was the person who had just been dragged into the vortex. Fortunately, Xu Shao quickly pulled the rope and rescued him. Seeing Xu Shao thanking him, he was about to kneel down but was supported by the other party.

"What are you doing? I should thank you for your hard work in guarding the dam." Xu Shao said sincerely. The young and strong men who went down to drive piles on the opposite side were bare-headed, which means that Chen Jun, who had been captured before, was in a hurry to rescue the situation but didn't remember this.

"We, we..." The bald green man choked up a little. Xu Shao patted his shoulder and looked around everyone present and said, "Preventing the dike is to fight the river dike, the defense line. Standing on the dike is to be soldiers. Whether it is officials, citizens or others, they are all comrades. They will not be saved by death!"

Seeing that everyone nodded silently, he continued, "This river bank was built for a long time. If the river bank collapses and lets the flood wash the crops, then the harvest this year will be completed. If there is a collapsed dam, everyone must block it. If it cannot be blocked, I will chop it first and then jump in and block it!"

"What will happen if you are busy for a year? You can only drink the northwest wind! Who would like to drink the northwest wind for the whole family? Do you think about it?!"

"I don't want to!" Everyone shouted loudly, and even the bald green and strong man clenched their fists. How many people's hard work has been spent on this river bank, not to mention that the people present have put in a lot of effort. The river bank on the south bank of Santai River has condensed the sweat and hard work of countless people.

This is not something that can fool people by cutting corners. Whether it is pile driving, stone building or ramming earth, it is all practical and hard to do it. If the rainfall in previous years is based on the rainfall in previous years, there will be no danger. The heavy rain this time has been rare for many years, but as long as it can be overcome, it will be fine.

"Everyone insists on the rain for a few more days, and the river bank will be as solid as the rain will be after the rain will be raised by the state government!

After a while, he finally got rid of danger and boosted morale. Xu Shao looked at the river embankment and felt a little calm. The danger just now made him rush into his heart. He really wanted to jump in and block it. Others may not know, but he knew very well what this river embankment meant.

Bazhou has few land and sparse populations. Because there are many lakes, floods will overflow during the rainy season. If you want to attract people to settle down, you must have fields. If you want to have fields, you must open up land. If you want to open up land, you must build water conservancy. Otherwise, all of them will be done when the rainy season comes.

To repair water conservancy, there must be someone. It takes a lot of people to quickly repair water conservancy in a short period of time. After a while, it will return to the starting point. This is a vicious cycle, so the governor Yuwen Wen wants to break the situation by taking a different approach.

To expand the army and prepare for war, advance the grain and raise soldiers in the prefecture warehouse and then go to Jiangnan to grab people and grain. Whether the prisoners or the people brought back, they all organized to repair water conservancy. The tens of thousands of people who were extra to eat were to feed the state's stock and the stolen grain, that is, pre-supported grain.

The water conservancy and this river embankment are consumed greatly, and the total amount of money and grain consumed has already put Bazhou to the limit. The grain reserves in the prefecture can only last until the end of the year. If the river embankment breaks, Xiyang County's crops will fail or even lose their harvest this year, then Bazhou will not last until the fall of next year, and famine will follow.

Of course, you can find other states to transfer grain, but Bazhou has also gone bankrupt. The borrowed grain has to be returned, and the rent and transfer of the year has to be handed over. If you have to mobilize manpower to build water conservancy, you can no longer raise so much money and grain. Bazhou is still a small state with less than 20,000 households and can no longer afford so many soldiers.

Without the ambitions of soldiers, it turned into a bubble. In order to maintain the fragile balance of income and expenditure, Yuwen Wen tried his best to find projects to "create income". The left-behind Xu Shao and Hao Wubo were also worried, fearing that floods would cause a failure to lose.

The key is whether the river embankment can hold on. If it holds on, it can ensure a good harvest in autumn. If the autumn grain is stored, then this level will be passed.
Chapter completed!