The bear child of the Red Chamber, Jia Cong

It is said that Su Tao found a Mr. Xiong who knew how to control water, and he came to ask for advice.Since the magistrate asked for a virtuous person, Mr. Xiong graciously agreed.So he inquired about "Mr. Zhang".Su Tao only responded vaguely.Later, Mr. Xiong was naturally invited back to the government office to discuss matters.Mr. Xiong mentioned "Daguan Zhang" again.Su Tao thought over and over again, and finally ordered someone to go to Cixiang Village to call Su Cheng over.

Su Cheng has already decided to go to Dajiala to study, but his own chocolate factory has just started, so he must stay for a while.The people sent by Su Tao asked her to change into men's clothing to discuss water control. Su Cheng was in shock and couldn't guess which god said something nice to her.But pretending to be a Confucian scholar, he rode over there on horseback.

Su Cheng went into the study room of the government office, and a servant reported that "Mr. Zhang has arrived".Mr. Xiong stood up when he heard the words, and when he saw Su Cheng head on, he recognized the woman at first sight, and quickly turned his head to look at Su Tao.Su Tao coughed, pointed to his daughter and said, "This is my...nephew." Mr. Xiong hurriedly bowed, and Su Cheng bowed back.Everyone pretended to be confused with understanding.

There is a huge map on the desk, and the Gan River and a small section of the Yangtze River are drawn on it.Standing next to the map, Mr. Xiong bowed deeply to Su Tao first, and said, "Yesterday, the little official was the magistrate of Anyi County, but today he has become the official of the prefect of Jiangxi. The two are completely different, so what does the little official want to do today?" It was different yesterday."

Su Tao stroked his beard and asked, "What's the difference?"

"Whoever eats is paid, and who is loyal." Mr. Xiong said, "Yesterday, the small official only thought about how to guard a county, but today he has to think about how to guard the whole province."

Su Tao's complexion darkened: "Are there any dikes and dams that might not be able to be defended?"

Mr. Xiong said: "According to the little official, the four places that collapsed in the old year can't be kept. This year is more dangerous than the old year, and there are three other places that are hard to keep."

Su Tao was stunned: "The old year collapsed everywhere?"

Mr. Xiong pointed out: "These two places collapsed nine years ago, and the Ministry of Industry sent people to repair them." Nai pointed to the two places, "The floods in the past year, these two places also collapsed. Xie Zhifu reported to the court, But this time the Ministry of Industry is silent." He pointed to three places, "This year's flood is even greater, and these three places are also dangerous."

Su Tao sighed: "Nine years ago...the six ministries of the imperial court still left some traces of the former emperor and the Supreme Emperor." Looking at the map of the Huizi, he saw that the collapsed places were all in the steep and steep lower reaches of the Gan River. After thinking for a long time, he said, "In your opinion, if seven repairs are urgently needed..."

Mr. Xiong said: "It's already May now, and there is absolutely no way to repair the seven places in a hurry. Even if you ask the magic soldiers to repair it," he pointed to four places, "I'm afraid these places will collapse."

Su Cheng couldn't help sighing: "Is everyone in the downstream so unreliable?"

Mr. Xiong said: "In the early years, the imperial court would rebuild it according to the time. Since the Jiangxi bandit rebellion, the Ministry of Industry has not come here much. Most of the county magistrates along the coast know what is good and bad, and they will try to repair it by themselves. In addition, the water was small in the past few years. It will also wash away a few small openings, but there has never been a big one. However, last year it destroyed four large ones at once. This year, the water is even bigger. The seven places I mentioned just now are the seven places that are most likely to break the big ones, and other places are not indestructible. It’s been too long since this dike has been easily repaired.” He looked up at Su Tao, “Now that things have come to this, it’s impossible to keep everything safe.”

Su Tao nodded slowly: "I know." Su Cheng paused for a moment and didn't mention it.But I heard Su Tao say again, "Since that's the case, only the best ones should be repaired first."

Mr. Xiong said: "The three places that were not damaged in the past year are the best to repair. If you want to repair more..." He thought for a moment, and said decisively, "According to the rain this year, we can only add one more." place."

Su Tao said, "Then pick the one with the most people."

Su Cheng blurted out: "No, we should pick the most difficult part of the road." Everyone looked at her together, and she explained, "If you use soldiers to build dikes, the soldiers are all middle-aged men with much stronger feet than ordinary people. It’s cheaper to let them go into bad places to build dikes than to move people out.”

Mr. Xiong said: "Mr. Zhang, the little official didn't say that if the embankment is built, the flood can be stopped." Su Cheng was stunned.

Su Tao went on to say: "It's too late. Even if we rush to repair it, we may not be able to save it. The people must all evacuate."

Su Cheng thought about it, everyone has to go anyway, so the place with the largest population should be repaired first.He couldn't help but nodded again and again: "What your lord said is that Wansheng doesn't think well."

Hearing this, Su Tao felt inexplicably comfortable.Coughing: "You are only very old, but you have only read a few books that you don't know where to find it, so you can get a glimpse of it."

Su Cheng hurriedly made a bow to her father: "Thank you for your advice, my lord." Su Tao stroked his beard proudly.

Mr. Xiong thought: "In terms of population, our Anyi County has the largest population."

Su Cheng looked at the map and pointed out, "Is Anyi County here?"

"good."

Su Cheng raised her eyebrows: "It's so close to Nanchang Mansion." She said seriously, "If so, Wansheng suggests that we give up Anyi County."

Su Tao asked her, "Why?"

Su Cheng arched his hands and said, "After Mr. Su took office, it is obvious that Nanchang City will be greatly expanded. I have been to Ping'an Prefecture and Taiwan Island, and both of these places have undergone major expansion-except for rich people, historic sites, and important buildings. Streets, temples, Taoist temples, and ordinary people’s houses are almost all demolished and rebuilt; the city site has also expanded several times. The book says that this is called the inevitable transformation of urbanization. Anyi County is the closest to Nanchang City, and it will be the earliest in the next few years Where it was remodeled. I dare say, even if the dikes don't break, most of the houses there will have to be rebuilt in four or five years."

Mr. Xiong frowned and said, "That's four or five years later, what about now?"

Su Cheng said: "The disaster victims are first resettled in the outskirts of the city. Feihong Mountain has such a large Taoist temple, and as long as there is enough rice and grain, many people can be resettled. And since they are close, it is cheaper to move out. Besides, after being ruined by bandits for more than ten years, can there be a lot of people?" How many people? There was a disaster just last year."

Mr. Xiong thought about it for a long time, and said with a wry smile: "Compared to more than ten years ago, the population is really small, and the fields are extremely barren."

Su Cheng said again: "The roads in Jiangxi are inconvenient. Except for a few major official roads, it is not easy to go anywhere else. The water has risen now. At any rate, Nanchang Prefecture has bought enough food. In the future, when the flood subsides, there will be refugees who are nearby. It is also affordable to stay in the camp for a longer period of time. Those who are far away and have inconvenient roads will find that their houses have collapsed and there are no livestock after returning. I am afraid it will be difficult to find food rations."

Mr. Xiong said in surprise: "My lord, I heard that the official warehouses in Nanchang Mansion are already empty. When will there be food again?"

Su Tao smiled and said, "I bought it from Wu and Lingnan."

Mr. Xiong immediately asked: "How many people can feed for how long?"

Su Tao said: "It's more than enough to deal with the flood. Just buy it after the flood. Don't worry about it."

Mr. Xiong said: "If this is the case, after the flood, it is better to use the victims as river workers and let them repair the dams, rather than recruiting peasants from all over the world. The peasants in other places let them farm well, so that they can have a good harvest this year and have no worries about food next year. gone."

Su Tao said with a smile: "This official also has this intention."

Mr. Xiong laughed and clapped his hands, then asked Su Cheng about the water control methods she knew.Su Cheng had never cured the water, he heard Jia Cong talk about it when he was in the capital in his early years, so he relayed it.At the end, he said: "There is no cement factory in Jiangxi. I have bought a lot from Lingnan because I think that there will be no need to build factories in the suburbs in the past few years, and I can just move them to build embankments."

Su Tao nodded.Staring at the map for a long time, he said, "Soldiers must be dispatched."

Su Cheng looked around: "Why didn't you invite Mr. Li over here?"

Su Tao said: "He and Master Yang are training in the countryside, and I have already sent someone to invite them."

Su Cheng pursed his lips: "Soldiers haven't learned how to build embankments, have they? Is there time to learn it temporarily?"

Mr. Xiong glanced at her: "Mr. Zhang seems to have something to say."

Su Cheng said: "Soldiers are ruffians, soldiers are ruffians. There are ruffians in the soldiers. Let people go to repair dikes, and of course they will do it, but they may not be able to see the work of repairing dikes. Who will teach them? Old river workers? They will listen Is it?"

Su Tao asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Su Cheng smiled and said, "Didn't Mr. Su invite some water doctor from the Ministry of Industry? How about inviting some old river workers to be the water doctor?"

Su Tao frowned: "I'm no more than a mere magistrate, how can I hire someone to be the doctor of the Ministry of Industry?"

Su Cheng pursed his lips: "I didn't say the Ministry of Industry invited me."

Su Tao still didn't understand what it meant.On the contrary, Mr. Xiong opened his eyes wide and said after a while, "Mr. Zhang is so courageous." Su Cheng smiled sweetly.Mr. Xiong said to Su Tao, "Mr. Zhang's intention is to use He Gong as the doctor of the Ministry of Water from the Ministry of Work."

Su Cheng said: "Make some clothes for them, imitating the official robes of the Minister of the Ministry of Water, but they are not the same, so it is not considered to be a fake court official. Even if the ruffian is not able to recognize what official robes the Minister of the Ministry of Water should wear. Besides , they are originally river workers for water control, so it’s not wrong to say that they are from the Ministry of Water.”

Su Tao was upright, he had never thought of impersonating a court official, so he frowned immediately.It was Mr. Xiong who persuaded him: "It's just to deceive a few soldiers." Su Cheng could see her father's hesitation, opened his mouth, but finally closed it tightly, as if you always listened or not .Su Tao hesitated.

After a while, Li Guopei came from the outskirts of the city.Su Tao's master then recounted what their master and lady had discussed with Mr. Xiong, including Su Cheng's suggestion to use the river worker to pretend to be the doctor of the Ministry of Water to deceive the soldiers.After hearing this, Li Guopei actually agreed, saying: "I can't control the people below. If the river workers don't have a name, they might not be willing to listen." Su Tao then agreed.Su Cheng covered her mouth and smiled - this was her father's first step of ignoring the court.

Su Tao originally only wanted to ask Su Cheng to talk about the water control methods she had heard, but unexpectedly she could come up with some useful ideas.Later, when everyone discussed water control, they acquiesced that the master would call her up every time.For dozens of days, people were dispatched while discussing.How to persuade people who may be affected by disasters to leave their homes, how to drive those who refuse to leave, where to resettle the population, how to transport food, who to watch the granary, how to repair dams, how to transport cement and other materials, how many soldiers and horses to send there Where, Su Cheng didn't understand these things.She just listened silently and occasionally gave some suggestions, which benefited a lot after many days.But what happened on the embankment was beyond her knowledge—no one dared to let her go.Su Cheng sighed: "I'm still talking on paper." Yang Guotai said: "You are content, at least I let you talk."

On this day, it was almost midnight when several people finished their discussions.Mr. Xiong let out a long breath and sighed: "Master Su is really rich. I don't worry about Jiangxi's underdevelopment in the future."

Su Cheng smiled and said, "Mr. Xiong's compliment is really not on point."

Mr. Xiong said: "It's not a compliment, so it's not on point. If you don't have money to support these things, none of them can be done. Where did Mr. Su get so much money?"

Su Tao smiled and said, "It's not mine. The money came from confiscating Xie's family and his followers."

"The money from Xie's family and relatives has been brought into Beijing, and what is left is just some property. Even if your lord has done several auctions, you can't get so much. Counting back and forth, it is more than 60 silver at least. Well, I don't know if there will be other big expenses in the future. Where did Xie Jing keep so much?" Su Tao couldn't help laughing out loud.

In the old year, King Yan knew about the fact that Dingchenghou's Mansion secretly sent the Seventh Prince to Rongguo Mansion for hiding.The King of Yan sent Feng Ziying to Dajiala for a detailed investigation, and Jia Congzhi gave the seven princes' birth mother Xie Guiren the pot of stealing the token.Although King Yan was angry in his heart, seeing that their daughter was unwilling to listen to their busy work, and that the strategy of hiding the dragon could not succeed no matter what, he felt a kind of joy in his heart like watching the fire from the other side.So all the official titles of Xie's family were exempted, but nothing about Dingchenghou's mansion was taken seriously.

But the Xie family knew, how could the prosperity of the family be maintained with just a signboard of the Hou Mansion?Then he wanted to vote for another prince.It is very troublesome for the big family to move, and Xie Jing has been with King Yan for many years, so it is not so easy for others to trust him.In this way, the only way to clear the way is to take money.Fortunately, Xie Jing has made a lot of money in Jiangxi and is a very rich man.It is not cheap to walk with money, so he went to the HSBC bank in Beijing to open a savings account, and wanted to walk around with only his passbook.

Unexpectedly, Su Tao checked the accounts last month and found out that Xie's various properties owed countless taxes in Jiangxi, so he gave the book to the capital.At that time, Jia Cong and Chen Ruijin were all there, so Feng Ziying was asked to act in a play.Feng Ziying ostentatiously went to the Beijing HSBC bank, saying that Xie's family owed heavy taxes and wanted to seal up their family's accounts for investigation.It's a small bank, how dare you not listen to King Yan as the leader?Then according to the words, Xie Jing's account was sealed - King Yan didn't know about it at all.Even if other people heard about it, they would not dare to ask if they saw that Feng Ziying was on the scene in person.Xie Jing's more than 3000 million silver in the HSBC bank was all frozen, and the freeze could only be unfrozen after Su Tao found out the accounts and deducted the due taxes.Xie Jing wants to cry but has no tears.

This time to control the water, Su Tao doesn't have to worry about money—just deduct it from Xie Jing's account.So generous.Su Cheng secretly clapped his hands and laughed, "That's what it's called. If you come out to mess around, you'll have to pay it back."

In early June, the rain intensified.The adventurous dike patrols have returned one after another, and two dikes are about to fail.On June [-], Anyi County took the lead in breaking the embankment.This year's water is bigger than last year's.Except for the fields that were flooded in the old years, Anyi County has also been flooded and covered.A few days later, two more dikes burst.Unexpectedly, as Mr. Xiong said, he broke the three dikes that he thought were the most dangerous.Fortunately, all the people in the three places were forcibly driven away by the officers and soldiers, and no population was lost.As for houses, livestock and crops, there are so many people who don't care about natural disasters.

There were many Taoist temples on Feihong Mountain in the suburbs of Nanchang.The Taoist priests and bandits conspired to attack the city a month ago, and now they have all been dispatched to North America with the Mei family, and the Taoist temples left behind have become temporary refugee camps.Pan Xigui was among the refugees.