Feng Xing

"The wind is blowing, the wind is blowing." Someone shouted from afar.

Shouting the wind over there, the crowd immediately became chaotic.

Fan Jinchuan and Fang Fengsheng still couldn't react, until a yamen servant who came with them told them to find a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

"The wind is just a breeze, what is there to fear?"

The yamen servant named Ah Hu hurriedly said: "My lord, this place is different from the mainland. It is facing the sea. In autumn, there are often strong winds. The strong wind is usually accompanied by heavy rain, and it is not uncommon to destroy houses and pull trees."

"I looked at the clear blue sky in the morning, but it's too fast for God to turn his face." Xiao Qi said.

"The weather along the coast is like this. It changes rapidly. It's better to go in and hide."

Master Song is also asking Fan Jinchuan to go in to hide from the rain.

Fan Jinchuan saw that some farmers who came to pay taxes and food were in a hurry, and said to Mr. Song: "It's fine as an official. If you don't have anything to do, Song Liang should find a place for the farmers to shelter from the rain. They bring food. Once it rains, it will fail."

"Don't worry, my lord, this is naturally indispensable."

Fan Jinchuan even brought people forward to help, and the adults all helped, and the others naturally couldn't stand still. After finally waiting for this group of people to hide in the Song family's house, they heard a bang outside and heavy rain pouring down.

At this time, looking out from the house, I felt that the sky suddenly became dark, and the outside was already covered with vast ocean.

Some people sighed, some people were worried, and no one was happy.

Fan Jinchuan was puzzled by their attitude, and finally an old farmer gave an answer.

It turns out that there have been many disasters in Taizhou over the years, such as floods and droughts, or wind and locust disasters, so this year's weather was smooth, and nothing happened until the autumn grain was harvested, which surprised many farmers.

But I never expected this to be waiting here.

The vicinity of Hai'an is considered to be the Lixia River Plain. The terrain near this area is high on all sides and low in the middle, so floods are extremely prone to occur. Once the floods are rampant, the people will be in dire straits.

After hearing this, Fan Jinchuan asked a question: "The waterways here are dense and connected to the Yellow Sea, and the low-lying terrain only needs to be dredged by opening the seaport. Why do floods occur frequently every year but cannot be solved?"

This question is too profound, and no one can answer it. After all, they are all illiterate farmers. On the other hand, Master Song's eyes flashed, but he didn't speak.

Seeing Fan Jinchuan's handsome eyebrows tightened again, he said: "In autumn, once it rains, it will be cold, Mr. Fan and the younger one should go in and drink some tea to warm up."

Knowing that Fan Jinchuan is a character who loves the people like a child, he said again: "As for these folks, there is naturally warm tea supply, and the servants will come to arrange it in a while."

Only then did Fan Jinchuan bring Fang Fengsheng and others into the room with Master Song.

…

Although the Song family is a villager, they have been a big family for so many years, they have accumulated a lot of money, and the house is very grand.

There are three courtyards in total. Although it is not as magnificent as some wealthy households in the city, it is the first in this country.

Fan Jinchuan was always worried about what the old farmer said about the flood, and he was frowning. Master Song wanted to talk to him several times, but he was not interested. Seeing that the outside world was getting worse and worse, Master Song could only refuse to have a look around and stepped back. .

Only Fan Jinchuan and Fang Fengsheng were left in the house, as for Uncle Yu and others, they were in the side room.

"Brother Fang Xian, you said why there are frequent floods in this place. Could it be that the corpses of local officials are vegetarian meals? I checked the local county annals before, and I also learned that the frequent disasters here are only due to the local climate. Now it seems that it is more than that."

Fang Fengsheng sneered, and said: "The place is frequently affected by disasters, and the imperial court has repeatedly sent people to help, how could it be ignored. Since it has not been resolved, there must be some obstacles that cannot be resolved."

"What kind of hindrance is that?"

Feng Sheng shook his head: "I don't know either."

…

The rain continued until dark without stopping. Master Song personally offered to hold a banquet for Fan Jinchuan and others, but he refused, saying that the weather was abnormal and he was not in the mood.

Helpless, Master Song had no choice but to order someone to deliver some food to Fan Jinchuan and others, and of course the farmers were not ignored.

Fan Jinchuan and Fang Fengsheng had dinner, and seeing that it was still raining outside, they were extremely depressed. It was really disturbing to always stick around like this, so he asked someone to get an umbrella to see how the farmers were doing.

Unlike their high-bed warm houses, these farmers were housed in a large barn.

The ground in the barn was dry, and some quilts and straw were brought in. These people made do with it, and it was enough to get through. Fan Jinchuan also knew that he couldn't ask the Song family to entertain these farmers according to the rules for entertaining him. Seeing that they had hot food and hot water, he didn't say much.

However, these farmers are worried. They are blocked by the rain, and they don't know what happened at home, so they can't sit still.

"Father, there are only his mother and a few children at home, why don't you wait here, and I'll go back in the rain?"

"It's like this outside, how do you go back? It's getting dark again, you don't want to die?"

"But this way, who knows when it will go down."

The old man sighed: "Wait a little longer, we will go back when the rain doesn't stop tomorrow."

There are many conversations like this. It seems that farmers are naturally very sensitive to changes in the weather, making them feel that the rain may not end so easily.

It wasn't until the next day that everyone knew what happened last night.

Many trees outside have been uprooted. Standing on a high place and looking down, the low-lying place has become a swamp country. The farmers couldn't sit still, and would rather brave the heavy rain than hurry back.

No matter how much Fan Jinchuan persuaded him, he couldn't persuade them. He could only watch helplessly as these people fell into the heavy rain.

On the third day, the rain was still falling, and Fan Jinchuan couldn't sit still.

He asked the Song family for a bamboo hat, and said he wanted to go out to see what was going on outside, but Fang Fengsheng couldn't hold him back, so he could only accompany him. In addition to bringing a yamen servant, the two of them also brought Uncle Yu, together with the people the Song family was worried about following, and a group of people left the Song family's house in a mighty way.

Fan Jinchuan went to see places with water, besides the river, there are also nearby ponds.

The water in the pond has already overflowed, and the water level in the river has risen visible to the naked eye.

"Come on, my lord."

In the heavy rain, even the voices of people talking became extremely small.

Fan Jinchuan refused to leave, but was finally dragged away by force.

…

"How to solve this situation?"

Everyone was silent, Mr. Song laughed beside him and said: "My lord, don't worry, this place is used to flooding, and the local people have experience. If it rains heavily, they will definitely take the villagers to higher places to hide from the rain. , and every village has houses for shelter from rain and water, so you don’t have to worry about killing people.”

What about the farmland? What about the house? What about the livestock? What about food? After all, not every family can build a house on a high place like the Song family. Standing on the high **** of Song's house and looking down, it makes people have a condescending feeling of being out of the way, but it also makes people feel hopeless.

Fan Jinchuan gave Master Song a hard look, and walked away.

"What did I say to offend you? This is also the truth, the truth!" Master Song seemed very wronged.

Feng Sheng pursed his lips, and said: "My lord is anxious, don't take it to heart."

After leaving these words, she hurriedly followed out.

After the county government and his party left, Master Song slapped the ground hard, showing a sarcastic smile.

…

Fan Jinchuan stood under the eaves in front of Song's house, looking at the water outside.

Suddenly someone approached, he just turned his head and glanced at the other person, without speaking.

"Aren't you wondering why there are so many waterways here, yet there is a flood every year? Let's go, I'll take you to find out why."

It was an old farmer whose name is not known. He had stayed at Song's house since it started to rain. The other farmers had rushed back, but he did not leave.

He was very old, his face was full of dimples, his skin was copper-colored, and his back was curved, which was the mark of a lifetime of hard work.

"You know?"

"I know!"

After a pause, the old farmer smiled desolately: "In fact, everyone here knows it, but no one dares to say it, no one dares to tell you! I am old, and my whole family is dead. They all died in the flood, and I am the only one left. I'm not afraid of death, let me tell you!"

After finishing speaking, he fell into the heavy rain, and Fan Jinchuan didn't stop calling.

At this time, Feng Sheng, Uncle Yu and the others chased after them. Fan Jinchuan took the bamboo hat from them and hurriedly chased after them.

"Uncle Yu, you follow too!"

Fang Fengsheng took a bamboo hat and chased after him.

…

There is rain everywhere between the entrances, and it is difficult to distinguish the southeast from the north.

My feet were numb, but I was still walking, and no one made a sound.

The old farmer who had been walking in front suddenly stopped and pointed to a suspected abandoned gate not far away.

"Did you see that? That's the reason. The Yellow River moved south, took the Huai River into the sea, and the canal bed kept rising. In order to prevent the river from leaking down, we had to build high embankments, but once the embankment broke in the upper reaches, the people in the lower reaches would be flooded. The terrain of Taizhou is in the southeast. It is high and the northwest is low. This is the northwest. The waterway here is connected to the Chuanchang River and the Yunyan River. It is easy to dredge the seaport, and the water can be released from the sluice. The water level is not enough. How can the salt boat be transported from here to the canal with the raised river bed? Taizhou Private Salt is flooding. In order to prevent private salt dealers from using the waterways to pass through, the imperial court built gates to block them. If the dam could not be built, the waterways were blocked.

"It's all blocked, how can it be sparse? The world is not benevolent and treats all things as dogs, so this is why God wants to kill the people here!"

It was impassioned, but at the end of the sentence, it returned to calm.

But it was this kind of calm that made people shudder.