I

  Chapter 223 221【Common Will】

  At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Shangyou County and Ningdu County were the areas with the most serious conflicts between natives and tourists, mainly because the two sides were evenly matched.

  Chen Maosheng personally sat in Shangyou County, and sent Liu Huan to sit in Ningdu County.

  The Shangyou River is not long, and Shangyou County is located in its middle reaches. In addition, it was dry for half a year, and the water level was dry and shallow. Therefore, although many farmlands along the river were submerged after days of heavy rains, overall no major floods were caused.

  Chen Maosheng asked the magistrate of Ganzhou to issue a disaster relief mobilization order, and at the same time led people to rescue the disaster in Shangyou County. He thought this was a good opportunity to ease the conflict between natives and tourists.

   "Director, the mountain has collapsed, half of Shixi Village has been buried!"

   "Follow me!"

  Collapsed mountain is landslide.

  Chen Maosheng led people to set off overnight and arrived the next morning. This place is further upstream from Jilong Village, where all the Hakka people live. Due to the massive felling of trees and the reclamation of hillsides for arable land, the vegetation has been severely damaged.

  A flash flood came the day before yesterday, followed by a landslide. A whole mountain wall collapsed, directly burying half of the village.

   This situation was very common in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. It was not until the Qianlong period that the local people completely changed their minds and changed a large number of grain-growing mountainous lands to plant economic trees. Before that, neither the Ming Dynasty government nor the Qing Dynasty government would listen to any persuasion, and had to correct after frequent disasters and suffered losses.

  Wherever he could see, Chen Maosheng could only see howling, countless Hakka people were digging up mounds of earth and rocks, trying to dig out their neighbors and relatives.

  A local official said: "Director, this must be dredged, otherwise there will be another heavy rain, and a barrier pond may be formed. Once the barrier pond accumulates water and breaks its embankment, the entire downstream will be flooded!"

  Chen Maosheng went back immediately, and called the people who were fighting for water some time ago, and asked them to see the situation upstream.

   Immediately thereafter, an order was issued to organize the upstream, downstream, and nearby local peasants.

  The forced formation of peasant associations played a huge role at this time. The peasant association organized the villagers, and several village chiefs were in charge of mobilizing supplies. More than 4,000 people quickly started working, completely abandoning previous conflicts and enmity.

  After explaining the truth clearly, no one dares to slack off, because it is related to everyone's wealth and life.

  Of course, if there is no official lead, it is estimated that the village next door will just stand by. Someone must stand up and be convinced by both forces in order to blend them together.

  The sky began to rain again, and the rain gradually became heavier.

   "Director, here comes the umbrella." An official held an umbrella for Chen Maosheng.

  Chen Maosheng threw away the umbrella: "The people here are working in the rain, what do you think I'm holding an umbrella alone? You rush to eat, don't make people work for half a day, in the end you don't even have a mouthful of hot food!"

   Immediately afterwards, Chen Maosheng directed again: "Dig over there first, and don't let the mountains and floods accumulate!"

  The flag of the Peasant Association was quietly planted on the mound of soil, not fluttering in the wind, but was constantly beating by the rain, surrounded by people digging soil and rocks in the rain.

   "Boom!"

  Suddenly, another mountain collapsed.

  The villagers working nearby fled one after another, but several people were still buried alive.

   "Dig people, dig people quickly!"

   Chen Maosheng shouted.

  Dozens of people rushed over, digging soil and moving stones quickly. Three people were dug out in a row, and all of them died.

   "I still have gas, this one still has gas!"

  The fourth person was very lucky, and a large rock rolled to a stop next to him, leaving enough gap space. He even suffered only minor injuries all over his body, and was temporarily unconscious due to lack of oxygen.

   It was enough to save one, and everyone cheered.

  The village chiefs of the upstream and downstream villages lead the women, girls and children to deliver the freshly prepared meals.

   "Young man, eat first." A middle-aged woman handed the clay bowl to the young man.

   "Thank you, Auntie."

  The young man took the job and blurted it out before realizing that the woman was speaking Hakka.

   Both parties were a little embarrassed, smiled at each other, and walked away.

  Before coming in a hurry, no one was wearing rain gear. Two village chiefs thought of it, so they sent a lot of coir raincoats and bamboo hats, and they didn't care about the difference between men and women at this time. Let the women who deliver meals help put the clothes on for the young and strong men who are working while everyone is eating.

  When I saw those women, they each looked for acquaintances, and walked around the ground with coir raincoats and bamboo hats. Chen Maosheng shouted immediately: "What time is it, and there are relatives and estrangements, which one is not working hard for everyone?"

   After finishing speaking in Jiangxi dialect, Chen Maosheng shouted again in Hakka dialect.

  His Hakka dialect is really bad, and many tones are wrong, but everyone can barely understand.

  Women finally let go of their prejudices, and put on coir raincoats and bamboo hats for the people around them, regardless of whether they have feuds with them or not.

  Chen Maosheng also put on a bamboo hat and squatted by the river to eat.

  Suddenly, an official from the county government came rushing in despite the rain, shouting excitedly: "Chen Zhangsi, Chen Zhangsi, Mrs. Chen is born, she is a daughter!"

  Chen Maosheng stood up holding the bowl, looked at the situation behind him, and said to the soap official: "Go back and tell my wife, and I will go back to see her in a few days. If you haven't eaten yet, you can go and eat to fill your stomach."

  The soap official was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "I'm going to eat."

  The people around were all looking at Chen Maosheng at this moment, without saying a word, filling their stomachs and going to work separately.

  Until now, they didn't really recognize this official, and felt that he was different from the previous officials. This is one of his own, not a high-ranking official.

  …

  The area around Ganzhou Fucheng is also fighting against floods. Due to the half-year drought, it is very upstream and has not been greatly affected.

  The first place to be tested was Wan'an County. After the Suichuan River flowed into the Ganjiang River, the water level of the Ganjiang River increased sharply.

   Although Ouyang Shu, the magistrate of the county, was born in a wealthy family, he can stand out and be in charge of a county, which is naturally outstanding. Two days before the arrival of the peak of the flood, he had already sensed that something was wrong. He summoned the officials to rush to build the dam in advance, and notified the county mayors and peasant associations to make preparations.

   There was no danger, Wan'an County was only flooded with some riverside farmland.

  In Taihe County, which is further downstream, the pressure on flood control has doubled. Not only are several rivers merging in, but the county seat is built at the sharp bend of the Gan River, which is very prone to bankruptcies.

   Not only the peasant association organized farmers to mobilize, but also the residents of the entire county came to help.

  Due to the sharp drop in the population of Taihe County due to the rebels, many people in this county moved from other counties, including one-third of the residents in the county seat. Migration of people is a complicated project, and there are many chaos in it. However, officials at all levels, from the county head, town head to village head, have been tempered.

   It can be said that even if Taihe County does not launch a peasant association, these officials alone can respond quickly.

  Taihe County was also not in danger, but more farmland along the river was flooded.

  In addition to keeping the county seat, the government and the people have to be organized to go to the countryside to help farmers. Help the farmers on the riverside to transfer and rescue those people trapped in the water.

  The city of Ji'an, where Zhao Han is located, is really dangerous. From Taihe County to this point, three big rivers flow into it!

  Officials, civilians, and soldiers were all dispatched, and Zhao Han sat directly on the pier wearing a bamboo hat.

  The meaning is very clear, if the flood cannot be stopped, Zhao Han will be washed away.

   Two-thirds of the entire Ji'an Prefecture City is outside the city, and there are many government offices in the city, and 60 to 70% of the residents live outside the city. It must not be flooded here, otherwise the losses will be incalculable.

  The stores are the most active. The government sent people to recruit people, and the bosses encouraged the guys to sign up, and there were extra rewards for the salary. When the flood flooded in, their shops would be destroyed, and they were as anxious as Zhao Han.

  The students of Bailuzhou Academy have been transferred to the city ahead of time. The place is too easy to be flooded, and the academy was destroyed several times because of floods.

  Many scholars from wealthy families neither served Zhao Han nor fled from their hometown. So with an ostrich mentality, they hid in Bailuzhou Academy to study all day long. They called it research knowledge, but they just didn't want to face reality.

   They lived temporarily in several inns, observing the situation outside through the windows.

   I saw countless people moving soil from the outskirts of the city. Some pick, some carry, some carry, and some push with a trolley. The bearers who usually work in Fucheng to earn hard money, as well as the coolies on the docks, as well as many lower-level people who work hard, have become the main force in moving the soil.

  Grain merchants donated a large number of sacks, all of which were used to hold grain, and are now used as sandbags to build embankments.

   There were not so many sacks of soil, so we made bamboo cages out of strips.

   Very simple bamboo cage with sparse grids, even beginners can learn it quickly. Bamboo craftsmen near Fucheng made a large number of bamboo strips, and the government sent people to transport them outside the city. Many women and old people learned how to weave them now.

  All the soldiers in Fucheng were dispatched, including Zhao Han's personal guards.

   At this time, if there are bad guys, they can easily sneak into Zhao Han's inner house, and they can also easily get close to Zhao Han himself.

  However, even the secret agents sent by the government have joined the flood fighting team at this moment, doing what they can.

  Fei Rulan came forward to convene all the women in the city to deliver food and meals to the frontline flood fighters. At this moment, he is wearing a bamboo hat and a coir raincoat, shuttling around the embankment to ask for his health, cheering for the officers, soldiers and common people who are fighting the flood.

  Wang Tiaoding observed all this silently, and suddenly said to the scholars beside him: "This is not a holy master? If this person is not a king, who else in the world can do it?"

  Everyone was silent and speechless.

   Ji’an Mansion suffered floods in the past, most of which were abandoned outside the city. After the flood receded, the magistrate would come forward and persuade the big households to donate money and food, and then repair the stone embankment by the river.

   No official has ever been able to mobilize the people in this way to fight against the flood.

  Wang Tiaoding pointed to Fei Rulan who was running on the embankment again: "This mother is a man of the world!"

  A scholar named He Qiliang suddenly said: "Masters, today I know that there is a sage master, and I am willing to serve him. Although Bailuzhou Academy is good, it is better to go out to save the common people. Goodbye!"

  He Qiliang left the inn and walked towards the embankment in the rain. Not long after, more than 20 scholars followed.

  These people came to Zhao Han's side and bowed together.

  He Qiliang said: "Sir, we all want to serve, please send me an errand."

  Zhao Han got up and bowed his hands in return: "You can go to the government office and follow the arrangement."

  All the scholars bowed again, and headed towards the government office in unison.

  (end of this chapter)