There are seven counties in Jingzhou, including Nanyang County to the north of the Han River, Nan County between the Han River and the Yangtze River, Jiangxia County in the east, four counties south of the Yangtze River, west of the Xiang River, Wuling County, Lingling County, east of the Xiang River, and Changsha

County, Guiyang County.

Yang Tinghe was the governor of Nanyang County before, and it was a county that was relatively less affected by the disaster.

Li Yunxing did not stay too long in Nanyang County. This time he was going to Wuling County, which was the most severely affected.

After resting for half a day in Nanyang County, they changed to another team of horses and continued heading south.

Lian Jirou sat in the carriage, looking at the scene outside through the gap in the window, feeling secretly in her heart.

"The Jing-Xiang Ancient Road is indeed well-deserved. My father mentioned the Jing-Xiang Ancient Road when he was young and praised the hardships of building this road."

Li Yunxing nodded without comment.

In ancient times, road construction did not rely on high-tech machinery and cement. It relied on human power.

With such a rugged road, it is not difficult to imagine how much hardship it took to transport the bricks and timber for road construction into this desolate place.

"Well, this road is indeed not easy, but it is worth it."

Lian Jirou nodded, agreeing with his statement.

This Jingxiang Ancient Road has been built for thousands of years, and successive emperors have relied heavily on it. Although it is now dilapidated, it is still an important road for traveling from north to south.

Wuling County is close to water and has the Yangtze River running through it.

Wuling has been the most severely affected by floods in the past years. Especially this year, the water level of the Yangtze River has surged, most of the villages and towns along the coast have been submerged, and dozens of counties and towns have suffered.

As soon as Li Yunxing entered Wuling County, he encountered a group of people heading to the upper reaches.

"Quick! The dam upstream has cracked again. Bring your people and we will go to support quickly!"

The man leading the army was tall and mighty, with a straight back, riding a horse, waving the flag in his hand and shouting loudly.

"Yes!" the soldier behind him responded immediately.

A group of people and horses rushed over in a mighty manner, with the sound of horse hooves.

"Huh-" The leading officer and soldier pulled the reins, stopped, raised his head and looked at the carriage of Li Yunxing and others.

The people in this team all wear heavy armor, carry swords on their waists, and have a fierce and stern temperament.

When Li Yunxing went out this time, everyone was traveling in casual clothes. They wore carriages that ordinary merchants would ride, and there were less than ten attendants.

But seeing Li Yunxing's luxurious clothes and extraordinary demeanor, the leading official guessed that they were people coming from the capital. He immediately restrained his breath, raised his hands and asked respectfully: "Excuse me, my lords, what are your names?"

Lian Jirou was about to say something, but Li Yunxing suddenly stopped her.

"We are merchants from Sili. We are passing through here and are anxious to cross the river. I wonder if you can help us?"

Li Yunxing asked politely.

The official breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. It turned out to be a business traveler. In this case, he didn't need to be afraid.

"The waterlogging here is serious and the river is so fast that we can't cross it!"

Although the leading official expressed difficulty, he immediately turned around and smiled.

"However, I can also find someone to take you across the river, but this is not an easy task and will probably cost a lot of money."

Li Yunxing saw that this man wanted to take the opportunity to extort some passing money.

It's really impressive to lead troops in a mere place and dare to ask people for money while standing on the street.

He did not rush to refute, but continued, "Money is easy to talk about."

Seeing that the other party was happy, the leader didn't say much, "Then you go to the city and wait. Now the embankment has cracked. If it is not handled well, no one will be able to cross the river!"

Lian Jirou felt even more angry when she saw that the man spoke rudely. Is this how they usually bully the people among the people?

Without waiting for their answer, the man whipped his horse and rode away, splashing a lot of mud and water.

Li Yunxing looked at the direction they were going and fell into deep thought.

"Your Highness, shall we go to the city now?" the guard beside Li Yunxing asked.

Li Yunxing finally shook his head, "Don't worry, let's go take a look at the embankment."

Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are spent every year to repair the dams and divert the rivers into canals. He wants to see what kind of "scumbag" project can make the dams crack.

At this time, strong winds were blowing by the river, and I looked up at the sky.

The sky was clear just a moment ago, but unexpectedly it turned dark in an instant.

There were bursts of water sounds in the river. Li Yunxing approached the river bank and looked down into the river. He saw a lot of sand and soil on the bottom of the river and the water level was a bit high. If a flood came, he was afraid that a landslide would occur.

Li Yunxing stood on the shore, frowning.

"You stay here and clear some of the sand and gravel to the shore first to form a hill to block the river water!" After Li Yunxing gave instructions to his men, he mounted his horse and headed towards the dike where the others had gone.

Lian Jirou also rode up and followed. She wanted to see what bad things these people were doing.

When they arrived, they saw many people near the embankment. Many officers and soldiers were standing nearby, holding long guns and pointing at the people to prevent them from escaping.

Most of the ancient dams were used to enclose and protect crops. If they were washed away by floods, the losses would be huge.

Today, there are crowds of people on the edge of the embankment. They are wearing rags and clothes, and their faces are full of panic. They seem to be greatly frightened. Some even kneel down on the ground, begging for mercy, and crying loudly.

"You all stand still for me! Anyone who dares to move will be killed by me without mercy!" One of the soldiers held the hilt of the knife and shouted viciously.

Li Yunxing and Lian Jirou got off their horses and walked over to take a look. It turned out that the dam collapsed due to the aging of the water conservancy facilities. However, the builders of the dam did not fulfill their responsibilities and were negligent, causing the flood peak to suddenly gush out, which led to this situation.

horrible disaster.

Looking carefully, a gap has opened in the middle of the embankment, and it seems that it is likely to be washed away at any time.

Looking at the sky again, it's already so gloomy that it looks like it's about to fall, and a heavy rain will hit soon.

The people on the side of the dam were obviously more anxious than Li Yunxing. They knelt on the ground and cried and begged the officers and soldiers to let them go back.

"Master officer! I'm getting old and I really don't want to die. There is an old woman at home waiting for me to go back. If I die here, what will she do?" A gray-haired old man was kneeling there to beg the officers and soldiers.

.

The government servants here are all natives of Jingzhou. Seeing the sincerity of the people in my hometown makes me a little bit intolerable.

Unexpectedly, he was kicked away by the leader who had just been talking to Li Yunxing.

"Get lost! Stop whining with me here. Either block the dam now, or I will drown you in the Yangtze River!"

Seeing that it was useless to beg the soldiers, the old man turned around and crawled towards the leader on his knees, "Master Pavilion Chief, please let me go back! My old lady lives downstream now, and it's going to rain heavily today.
Chapter completed!