Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, just want to die

Chapter 690 Disaster Relief
The Wu army was defeated, and the defeat was very inexplicable.

Originally, they had only run into a lost Han army, with only 3,000 men. Moreover, the Han army commander was not Ma Su, so the Eastern Wu attacked aggressively.

Afterwards, the Han army's detachment retreated naturally, and the Wu army pursued them all the way.

However, just when the Eastern Wu was about to win the first victory, a messenger suddenly arrived from the other side. Then in the blink of an eye, the Han army, which had just been defeated, suddenly turned around and attacked back.

Then, the Eastern Wu was directly defeated, and most of the troops were killed. The leading commander hadn't even reacted before Deng Ai rushed up to him and killed him with a single blow...

There was no way, the frontline troops of the Eastern Wu were basically wiped out. The remaining cats and dogs did not participate in many battles, so it was normal for them to perform poorly in international competitions.

After quickly defeating the Wu army's pursuers, Deng Ai led his troops all the way to the Yangtze River. Thousands of Wu soldiers had no time to board the boats and were driven directly into the river and drowned.

But that’s about it.

Because Deng Ai only attracted the enemy's vanguard troops, and the main force had not yet landed. Although Deng Ai gained a certain advantage in this battle and frightened the Eastern Wu to retreat, he did not achieve the goal of severely damaging the Wu army.

But now, Zhuge Liang obviously had no time to think about these things. While Deng Ai was pursuing and defeating the enemy, Zhuge Liang began to continuously mobilize supplies and began to stockpile them in the Langya line.

The Yellow River is silent! This is the largest natural disaster that the East has ever seen!

For ancient feudal dynasties, there were generally three huge financial expenditures: military expenses, bureaucratic maintenance, and most importantly, defense against natural disasters!
The Yellow River's failure to flow was enough to cause a dynasty financial difficulties. Especially when a series of subsequent impacts were taken into account, it was common for feudal dynasties to be unable to recover for decades.

Although the Yellow River was blocked on the south bank this time, there was still the Jishui River in front of it as a barrier. But just these alone were enough to affect a large area.

Almost the entire Pingyuan County and most of Jinan County became disaster areas, with more than 100,000 people affected. If disaster relief was not provided in time, these hundreds of thousands of people would flee to any place as refugees, which would be enough to cause the local ecology to collapse.

Then there was widespread famine and refugee unrest...

Obviously, the Central Plains had been in war for too long, and the Han people could no longer bear this level of turmoil. As the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang could never allow such a thing to happen.

"How is You Chang's preparation in Qingzhou going? Is there any timely disaster relief?"

After the Eastern Wu was driven out, Zhuge Liang quickly set out to return north. When he returned to Shouchun, Zhuge Liang sent someone to inquire about the situation.

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, the general started disaster relief as soon as the Yellow River stopped flowing, and... forced the local wealthy families to contribute money and food for the relief." The person who came back to report explained to Zhuge Liang.

"It's just that the flood is too large, and the general can simply provide disaster relief to the entire Jinan County."

"Tell him to speed up the process! If anything goes wrong, I'll hold him accountable!"

At this moment, Zhuge Liang was in no mood to care about Ma Su's unauthorized escape. In fact, Zhuge Liang had to thank Ma Su for arriving in Qingzhou in time.

If Ma Su had not arrived in time, most of Qingzhou would have been in chaos by the time the imperial court arrived.

"It has to be faster!"

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While Zhuge Liang was rushing to Qingzhou and the supplies from Guandong were gradually being transported here, Ma Su was calling for disaster relief day and night in Jinan County. Floods are the most difficult to deal with after all disasters. This large-scale flood almost destroyed all the infrastructure and almost blocked the traffic. Even if Ma Su had enough supplies, it would be difficult to transport them in at this moment.

Then there was famine and people were cannibalizing each other (for details, please refer to the Thousand Miles Journey at the end of the Ming Dynasty)

Moreover, large-scale waterlogging will not only affect traffic, but will also cause plague!

Plague! Ma Su shuddered subconsciously at the mere thought of this word.

The only thing that made him sober now was that, because of the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, the population in this area was not as large as it was during its heyday, so disaster relief was not particularly difficult...

"Hehe..." Ma Su laughed at himself and felt a little sad for a moment.

"General, we have already sent people to the north of the Ji River to search for disaster victims. As for the relief supplies... taking into account the donations from the local tycoons, it is still quite substantial."

The county clerk next to him reported the existing intelligence to Ma Su. While reporting, he also added,
"Fortunately, it is the dry season of the river now, so the water flow is not that big. If it were spring or summer, Pingyuan County would most likely be doomed!"

"Hurry up and rescue them. Tell all the rescuers to wear masks. Any water that the victims want to drink must be boiled!" Ma Su nodded, and then gave a serious order.
"Send soldiers to search along the Ji River, and isolate all the victims who escaped and provide relief to them as a whole!"

"Even if it's just a mouse, we can't let it get into the counties of Jinan!"

The plague and famine caused by the flood could spread at any time. Ma Su's primary goal now was to prevent the disaster from spreading to Qingzhou.

If the whole of Qingzhou was in chaos, the situation would be completely out of control.

"General, if we do this... we may not have enough money and food."

"Don't worry about that. The Prime Minister will prepare all the supplies for us."

Ma Su was not worried about this problem at all. He believed that the omnipotent prime minister would help him solve all logistical problems.

"Let's proceed like this for now. I will personally lead people to the disaster area to provide relief later!"

Ma Su's words almost frightened the attendants around him to death. After they realized what was happening, everyone tried to dissuade him.

"General, you can't do that! You haven't recovered from your illness yet. It's too dangerous to rush into the disaster area!"

"Besides, there are dangers everywhere in there. As a general, there is no need for you to take risks!"

"It's not worth it! General..."

"Okay, stop talking to me about this. Just to set an example for my subordinates, I, Ma Su, have to go into battle myself!" Ma Su shook his head, but this time his attitude was unusually firm.

Isn't it just dangerous? I, Ma Su, have survived all these years, how could I fall in such a place? And even if I fall, wouldn't it be a good reputation in history books a thousand years later?
It’s a guaranteed profit and a win-win situation, so why not do it?

However, just when Ma Su was about to go against the public opinion and personally provide disaster relief as usual, he was suddenly stopped by a letter.

The letter was sent by Zhuge Liang, and it emphasized in very clear language:

Ma Su, you must stay in Jinan County and don't go anywhere! You don't need to go to provide disaster relief. If you dare to go north of the Jishui River, I will personally arrest you!
(End of this chapter)