People live in the Ming Dynasty, evil spirits are soaring into the sky

Chapter 383 Civilian: We destroyed the stone bridge for the good of the world!
After the Zhaozhou Bridge in Xiawei was built, the entire capital city was blown away.

At first, no one believed that a bridge large enough to withstand a flood could be built in such a place.

Because originally there were four wooden bridges built at that location.

Some wooden bridges are actually built quite sturdily.

But why was it suddenly destroyed by the flood?
That's because there was originally a pool of water at that place, with a lot of water accumulated there.

Once heavy rain occurs, local people have no choice but to retreat, and this is the only way out.

As for the so-called holding on to the house and the fields, that is simply impossible to do.

So when the imperial court said it was going to build a stone bridge there that could withstand a flood that only happens once in a century, many people laughed.

There are even many people complaining.

They said that the court was wasting manpower and resources to build a meaningless bridge.

Many people also accused the people of Xiawei Village of making trouble and wasting the court's money and grain.

Of course, it is not a pain for those who are talking while standing.

The people of Xiawei Village live so close to the other side of the river, and some families still have some land over there.

However, it takes fifty miles to walk upstream and fifty miles to walk downstream, and there is no bridge in between. The people complained and of course they asked the court to build a stone bridge as soon as possible.

The most important thing is that as the capital becomes more and more prosperous, there are more and more businessmen from Shanxi. For them, it would waste too much manpower and resources to travel such a long way to enter the capital.

Therefore, building a stone bridge is not just the wish of the local people.

It is also the wish of businessmen.

So the civil servants saw such a good opportunity, and adhering to the reasons of "for the sake of the people" and "for the sake of economic development", they asked the students of the Imperial University to build a stone bridge within a short period of time.

He even used an open conspiracy and told everyone in the world.

It is said that there will be a stone bridge standing there in the future.

It was Sophia who led the students of the newly established Imperial University to build it.

Those students were all talented craftsmen, and each of them received very generous subsidies from the court.

This is called overpraising.

The civil servants were very good at using this kind of tea talk.

Sure enough, the people had high hopes for the construction of the stone bridge this time.

Of course, the so-called hope is also a desire to see a joke.

But I didn’t expect that it only took four months.

From the design of the bridge to its final formation, and just having experienced a major flood, the stone bridge showed no signs of collapse.

This is a flood that occurs only once in ten years.

Previously, several bridges were washed away due to the heavy floods of this season.

It is even said that three civilians from Xiawei Village were washed into the river and their bodies have not been found to this day.

Therefore, people today are very afraid of rivers.

But I didn't expect that this stone bridge could withstand such a flood.

For a while, the people were talking about it.

"Have you heard? The stone bridge was built in just four months, yet it was able to withstand the impact of such a huge flood."

"That's amazing! Otherwise, why did they spend so much money on the construction of the Imperial University? Now they are subsidizing so much for those craftsmen. It must be useful."

"I said that the Duke has a very good vision. People outside say that the Duke is just wasting money, training a bunch of useless people, and deliberately having money but nowhere to spend it to irritate those scholars. Now it seems that this is not the case at all."

"That's right. Although the person in charge of the Imperial University College is a woman and a foreigner, she does very well."

"It's not like some officials in the Ministry of Works who spent so much money to build wooden bridges, but in the end three or four bridges were washed away and many people died."

The common people are merciless in their words.

You and I started talking back and forth, and in an instant, the officials from the Ministry of Works who had built the wooden bridge were cursed as shit.

Officials gnashed their teeth in anger when they heard such discussions on the street.

The civil servants were already becoming increasingly weak at this time and had no way to compete with people like Chen Han.

In particular, the cabinet members headed by Zhang Juzheng turned a blind eye.

Although they haven't done anything out of line yet, they often have to clean up the mess for reformists like Chen Han.

The imbalance of court resources is even more unbearable.

Originally, they wanted to use the fact that the stone bridge was destroyed by the flood as an opportunity to immediately impeach the Imperial University of Peking, as well as the officials who supported the reform movement, headed by Zhang Juzheng.

But I didn't expect that they did these things so well, which made the people on my side look incompetent.

The conspiracy turned into a plan to enhance the reputation of Imperial University of Peking.

Who could have thought that the Imperial University of Peking was established only half a year ago, but the students it trained are so useful and capable. What is their secret?
Could it be that he is seeking a master with his skills?
That doesn't make sense. If these students really had this ability, they would have shown it among the people long ago.

But people have never heard of such a good stone bridge being built anywhere.

What these civil servants certainly didn't understand was that because Chen Han and Sophia gave these craftsmen enough respect, the craftsmen themselves also had self-esteem.

With his self-esteem overflowing, he created such a miracle.

These civil servants would never think of it.

Because of this respect, these craftsmen burst out with extraordinary strength.

They are hardworking and they enjoy the respect.

In order to gain more respect from others, they completed the construction of the stone bridge at all costs.

They even stood guard in front of the stone bridge day and night.

It is just to let everyone see how good this stone bridge we are building is.

After hearing this, the civil officials went to the Imperial Observatory and asked, "Are you sure about the astronomical phenomena? This flood is not big enough!"

The supervisor felt very wronged. "My Lords, have you ever gone outside to take a look and feel how big this flood is? How heavy is this rain?
Don't talk nonsense. We at the Imperial Astronomical Observatory have never made a wrong prediction. If we make a wrong prediction, we will lose our heads."

The people in the Imperial Astronomical Observatory are all experienced stargazers and have in-depth research in climatology.

Only such talents can enter the Imperial Observatory.

Just as the Supervisor said, as the Supervisor, he had to meet with the Emperor every day.

Since the emperor had to know the climate changes at all times, if they made a mistake in monitoring, it might be a matter of losing their heads. How could they dare to do that? Especially recently, the weather changes have been very frequent and irregular, so the people in the Imperial Observatory have put more effort into observing the climate to ensure the accuracy of the climate as much as possible.

Not to mention such heavy rain.

So when other officials told him that he did not monitor correctly, the supervisor was very angry.

The governor of Shuntian Prefecture was very dissatisfied with the results of the Imperial Observatory.

In his opinion, there must be a bigger flood. Even if an accident occurs, he may be held jointly responsible. However, he would rather have a few more lives on his head than destroy the Imperial University of Peking.

Just because he was humiliated by those two women at the door of Chen Han’s mansion.

At that time, Guo Feixue and Sophia were so delicate and artificial, so gossipy, and so sarcastic.

They say they are doing it for the country and the people, not for anything else.

What a bullshit! If it weren't for fame, would you do such a thing?

Especially that woman named Guo Feixue.

She was just a so-called saint from the White Lotus Sect, yet she dared to show off in front of such high-ranking officials.

He is just relying on Chen Han's authority.

What made them angry was that Chen Han was such an evil person who liked to kill and burn people. They were scared to death, but there was nothing they could do.

But why did the two women around Chen Han dare to be so rude to them?

Even make sarcastic remarks.

This was very unacceptable to them.

It was also because of this that, as soon as they heard that Guo Feixue and Sophia were in charge of the work of Imperial University, they immediately went to find trouble, wanting to make Guo Feixue and Sophia suffer a great loss.

But what they didn't expect was that not only did they not suffer a big loss, but they won the hearts of the people, especially when they heard the discussions of the common people.

They said that these craftsmen from the Imperial University had never received any education, were peasants, and wandered around among the people.

But what they did was so earth-shattering.

Those scholars say every day that they have studied hard for ten years and become officials in order to help the world.

But what was done?

Corruption and bribery, using power to oppress others.

After this comparison, everyone has a better impression of Imperial University of Peking.

These officials were so angry that they thought one Buddha ascended to heaven and another Buddha was born.

Then someone came up with some unorthodox ideas.

An official said angrily, "If we can't get rid of those two women, Imperial University of Peking and Guo Feixue and Sophia, we won't even be able to survive in the future, let alone fight Chen Han.

It would be better to accomplish the goal in one fell swoop and send someone to get the stone bridge directly.

Didn’t they say that the stone bridge could withstand a flood that only happens once in a century?
Then let's cut off the source of their trouble and make the stone bridge collapse.

If this collapses, it won't just be the stone bridge that collapses.

Also collapsed was the Imperial University of Peking and the little credibility that the two women had worked so hard to build up.

By then, even Chen Han would not be able to save the situation.

In particular, they had promised to complete the construction of a stone bridge within five months, but now they found that the stone bridge had collapsed. They had no choice but to close down the Imperial University.

Even if I just close down the Imperial University and cannot bring down Chen Han, I can still vent the anger in my heart.

Otherwise, I will never be able to rest in peace for the rest of my life."

After this was said, many officials agreed.

This was especially true of the humiliated Shuntian prefect.

They were already very angry with Chen Han, especially after being humiliated by Guo Feixue and Sophia, they wanted to eat their flesh and drink their blood.

Although this practice is indeed a bit excessive and really dirty, they are willing to do such evil things for the sake of their own status and to vent their anger.

Some officials even volunteered, “I’m willing to go!”

"Yes, never mind. I'm willing to find someone. I'm looking for someone who understands engineering, knows how to undermine their skills, and knows how to make a stone bridge collapse."

The Left Censor-in-Chief and the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture looked at each other. Although they were the leaders, the Left Censor-in-Chief was still a little hesitant when he heard about such a big thing.

Because the stone bridge had just been built, if it suddenly collapsed not because of a flood but because it was caused by human factors, it would be a disaster if it was discovered.

Not to mention that the emperor would definitely order their execution, even if the common people knew about it they would be so angry that their spines would be broken.

So when they heard this, the Left Censor-in-Chief and the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture hesitated and were not brave enough to make this decision.

But just as he was hesitating, other officials said, "My two lords, you are the ones leading this time, and we work hard for you, so you will be the ones who will benefit the most in the future.

Why are you still unwilling? Have you two forgotten the humiliation you suffered at the gate of Chen Han's mansion?"

Then another person stepped forward and said to the Left Censor-in-Chief, "Old Sir, you are the head of the literati in the Censorate, you should be more angry than us.

Old man, you are almost seventy years old. It is said that you have been a child prodigy since childhood. You were famous in the countryside and had a successful career in officialdom. You have been respected everywhere along the way and you are also famous in the literary world.

Among the people, your reputation is even as great as that of Justice Bao. But now, as an elder with high moral character and high prestige, even the Emperor should respect you.

But he was humiliated by two little women like Guo Feixue and Sophia. What kind of people are these two women?
Let’s not talk about Guo Feixue, she is a demon from the White Lotus Sect, and Sophia is a foreign woman of Frankie.

These two things were originally trampled in the mud in our eyes, but we didn't expect that they would fly onto the branches and become phoenixes, and they are still not satisfied.

How dare you speak ill of us and be sarcastic to us? Can you bear this?"

When Zuodu Yushi thought of this, he was very angry. When he heard what the official said, he slammed the table, stroked his gray beard and shouted: "Okay, today I will gamble my future and reputation and bring them down.

This is not for myself, nor for us, but for the sake of the world.

If we allow these individuals to disrupt the world, what will the people do? What will the world do?
The Ming Dynasty cannot be disturbed by two women."

These old guys and pedantic scholars talk about being righteous and upright, but in fact they are doing nothing but dirty and despicable things.

But even so, they claim that they are doing it for the sake of the world.

It seems that the mouths of civil servants are just like their pens, sharp, unforgiving and selfish.

They never thought that I was doing this for myself.

They don’t think so, because they always give the good name of “I am thinking about the world” when doing everything…

(End of this chapter)