Emperor Kangxi: Yuyu Chengxiang

Chapter 1
In the autumn of the 17th year of Kangxi, the continuous rain came to the world.After the white dew, the gods became evil, and it just rained all the time, or pattering, or drifting, either heavy clouds and fog, or cold rain, and there was never a sunny day for three days.The newly built post roads in Zhili, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Henan are like mud dragons winding towards the rain curtain in the distance.The muddy yellow water flows from the fields to the ditch built by the farmers in the rain, then into the pond ditch, and then into the big ditch.Yongding, Fuyang, Haihe, Hutuo, and the canal all became furious for a while, roaring and shouting; rolling in sediment, grass roots, leaves, straw, broken purlins and beams, various melons and fruits...running in a terrible whirlpool Rising and turning, white foam like soybean milk rolled eastward.

The most frightening thing is the Yellow River.On the endless river, the desolate wind swept the white rain to and fro, turning it into clouds of water mist, and threw it fiercely into the raging turbid current, sending out a roar like thunder.Qingjiang County, Jiangnan Province is located at the junction of the Yellow River, the Huaihe River and the Yunhe River. Since Jiaoqiu, there have been 26 breaches in Gaoliangjian and Bangong in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, seven breaches in the Gaojiayan stone embankment, and Qianjiagang has been washed away by the Yellow River and Huaihe River. , poured into the rotten mudflat, and filled the Qingshuitan in Qingjiang County to a height of five feet. When you climb the city, you can see that the darkness is dim and the yellow waves have no boundaries.

Qingjiang City is a newly built small town. Because it is located in a traffic hub, the imperial court set up grain roads and salt roads, and the passing tank boats often laid their cables here, and gradually became a market town.In fact, the population is only about [-] on weekdays, but at this time it was besieged by water on all sides, and the victims crowded into the city to avoid the flood, and the population suddenly increased to more than [-].All the buildings, shops, sheds and huts in the city are full of yellow and thin people, there are two rows of wet luggage piled up everywhere, all the shops selling food in the city are closed, and a ticket only needs one big bag on weekdays My son's noodle cakes cost one tael of silver to buy.

Yu Chenglong, the county magistrate of Qingjiang, has been dismissed from his post due to a crime of infidelity in the territory. The new county magistrate has not yet arrived, and even the seal removal officer is trapped in the city.In this situation, Yu Chenglong refused to hand over the seal, and the seal picker was afraid of taking responsibility, so he was happy to let him do it himself, and hid in the large grain depot in the east gate to enjoy leisure.Yu Chenglong was originally from Shandong, and his older brother Yu Chenglong was a well-known and honest official who lived in Shandong as the governor.Yu Chenglong inherited his mother's training from a young age and devoted himself to being an upright official. Last year, Ge Li, the governor of Liangjiang, celebrated his birthday. He only gave a pair of cloth shoes as a gift, which made Ge Li very angry. There are, everyone tacitly, tampered with up and down, nothing happened.Yu Chenglong didn't know what to do, so it was reasonable to encounter this bad luck.

At this moment, the rain has stopped for a while, and Yu Chenglong and his mother Yu Fang, who is over fifty years old, are standing under the archery tower at the south gate of Qingjiang City, looking at the Yellow River embankment protruding from the water in the distance.The clothes of the two of them seemed to be unable to withstand the autumn cold, and their bodies were trembling a little.Forty or fifty yamen guards, all covered in mud, were leaning against the wall of the watchtower for a while.

"Jackie Chan," Yu Fang said after a long while, "I'm afraid it won't be sunny for a while, right?"

Yu Chenglong shook his head, there was no expression on Qing Huang's face.He took out the mansion newspaper from his arms, handed it to his mother, and said, "Mother, this is the mansion newspaper from the imperial court..." The old lady pushed it away gently, and said, "Mother's eyes don't make sense, and these days it's gone again." Tell me about it." Yu Chenglong shook the paper and looked at it, and said in a low voice: "Yes. One is the residence report that the imperial court ordered Jin Fu, the governor of Anhui, to go to Beijing to report on his work; The content is to transfer Fuyuan to serve as the admiral of Fengtian; another thing is that Zhengzhou Huayuankou has breached—since the upper reaches of Zhengzhou have breached, the water here will not rise, mother, don’t worry!"

"My god, I can die. What are you afraid of?" A gust of cool wind came, and Yu Fang coughed violently. Yu Chenglong hurriedly beat her back, but she grabbed her Pushing away his hand, he panted and said: "The most important thing is that there are 10,000+ people gathered in the city, cold and hungry, how can you bear it? You are the parent officer of this place, you have to make up your mind quickly - I heard that yesterday I starved to death twenty several!"

This incident was the most difficult for Yu Jackie!Guarding the stacks of wheat and rice in the grain depot, almost every household in the city was without food, and he felt heart-wrenching pain.But the granary is not under his control, not to mention that Liang Shouyi, the seal picker, lives there, the guards of the granary and the Daotai are all senior officials several levels older than him.

It was a real embarrassment.Listening to his mother's words, Yu Chenglong said thoughtfully: "Mother, my son knows that it hurts the common people to starve to death. I have already sent people to invite Mr. Liang, Guo Zhenshou and Han Chundaotai to check the disaster situation together. There will always be a solution." As he said that, he took his mother into the archery tower and placed her there. He called up the servants and said, "Let's go for a walk in the library together."

Just after he came out, he saw Liang Shouyi, Guo Zhen, and Han Chun leading a few masters up the city with their robes.Because Han Chun is a Daoist, with the highest position and both civil and military affairs, he walked in front. When he saw Jackie Chan standing on top, he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Brother Jackie Chan, you have worked so hard! Oh, I haven't seen you so thin for a few days. What do you need?" Find me something!"

"Han Guan, Mr. Liang, and Mr. Guo," Yu Chenglong saluted, and while letting them into the hall of the watchtower, sat on a stone bench, he said: "This morning, I sent my family to Yu Lu to present a letter to the mansion. Must have read it already?"

The three of them looked at each other, and Han Chun said with a smile: "The big book has been read. Brothers are well aware of the heart of love for the people. However, it is unusual to open a storehouse to help disasters...Ah, ah, Brother has been here for more than two years, and you still don’t know this rule? Brother, there’s nothing you can do to help!” Liang Shouyi laughed and said, “That’s what I said. These few days we’ve been chatting about my brother in my spare time. Qingjiang City is safe this time After the flood, the water finally did not enter the city. It was all thanks to my brother who led people to protect him day and night. Report to Lord Xiantai, I'm afraid I have to add more protection!"

Yu Chenglong listened, pondered what they said, and said coldly for a long time: "I am originally a scholar of Xiao Ran, and I would like to be a scholar of Xiao Ran. Mr. Liang has not removed the seal, and the brothers are still guarding the city at this time, and the court is preparing food. I was originally a commoner, and several adults know that more than [-] people have starved to death in the city in the past three days. If there is a civil uprising and there are no soldiers inside and no aid outside, who will take responsibility and how will the aftermath be dealt with?" "We arrived This is why we are here to visit your county." Guo Zhen said anxiously, "The people in the city are already discussing gathering people to grab grain. To tell you the truth, three troublemakers were killed at the gate of the grain depot yesterday..." Yu A contemptuous smile flashed across the corner of Jackie Chan's mouth, and he said: "It's just making trouble, one kills one, two kills one pair, how refreshing! They make trouble in Curry, it's your responsibility to take care of it, brother, what can you do?"

Guo Zhen was born in Wumang, so he couldn't hear the teasing meaning in Jackie Chan's words, he said with a dry smile: "If thousands of people make a fuss, brothers will be beyond reach, not to mention that the soldiers guarding the treasury are all locals, and they don't want to do it. Who the hell Is there a way?"

"That's why we came here to borrow money from Gui County." Liang Shouyi couldn't help frowning when he heard Guo Zhen's rude words, leaned forward and said, "We have seen in the past few days that even though things have happened, brother, he is still popular. , the people here are willing to listen to you. Brother, if you come forward and tell me, if you suppress it, you will definitely restrain yourself. After the disaster day, won’t Shangfeng come to help? — that’s about ten days.”

Mrs. Yu Fang in the back room couldn't bear it any longer, leaning on his crutches, he came out a few steps and said loudly, "It takes more than ten days. Do you know what happens when there is no food for more than ten days? That's thousands of lives!" She stood at the door, her white hair trembling.

"Who are you?" Everyone was discussing in full swing, and they were startled when they heard someone outside the office speak.Seeing that she was a poor old woman, Liang Shouyi shouted, "This is where you talk? You—" Han Chun knew that it was Yu Chenglong's mother, so he hurriedly stopped Liang Shouyi and said, "This is Mr. Yu's high hall.  … Old lady, you are an elderly person, you should take a rest, aren't we discussing a solution?"

Mrs. Yu Fang snorted, did not back down, pulled a stool and sat down, leaned on a staff for a while, thought for a while, and said eloquently: "Women should not interfere with political affairs. Don't I understand that I have been studying since I was a child? But now I am pleading for the people. , I can’t even say this rule—everyone advocates chaos, and everyone responds to it. How many lessons have been learned in ancient times? The water outside the city can be blocked by soil, and the water inside the city can overturn the boat. Once a civil uprising is stirred up, the old woman dare to ask who will bear it?” He shook his head lightly, tapped the bamboo stick to the ground, although his eyes were dull, his face was like severe frost.

Several people were dumbfounded, the old lady's upright words, calm demeanor, and everyone's demeanor, all of a sudden stunned several officials.

"Then, according to the old lady's opinion?" After a long time, Han Chunfang came back to his senses and asked.

"My son's idea is right," Yu Fang said coldly. "Nowadays, there is no other way but to open warehouses for disaster relief!" "There is food," Han Chun said with a sneer, "but it is neither mine nor Yu Fang. Jackie Chan’s, it’s the royal rations of the imperial court, and I still owe 100 million shi this year and haven’t had time to ship it to Zhili—” Yu Fang said with a smile: “That’s great, it’s just used to save the urgent need——Jackie Chan, you owe me an IOU, borrow it 100 million catties of grain to relieve the victims, and return it after the incident.”

"Yes!"

"Slow down!" Liang Shouyi waved his hands, walked towards Fang with a grin, bowed his hands behind his back and said, "Old lady, one million catties is ten thousand shi. Calculated at five renminbi per shimi, it is 100 taels of silver. My lord has nothing in his pocket. Hee—where does Shouyi come from for this expense?"

(End of this chapter)