The clouds were slightly blue, and the sky seemed to be only half-clear. The heavy rain rolled up the yellow mud in the yard, beside the ruins, and in the streets into turbid currents. There were all kinds of clanging sounds immersed in the rain.
There was the sound of cleaning. A worker wearing a raincoat pushed a cart and dragged a wooden basket. He was still clearing away the ruins everywhere and transporting away the earth and rocks that needed to be discarded. This was the scene throughout the streets, alleys and courtyards.
Many sheds had been erected in the courtyard that originally belonged to the Su family in Taiping Lane. In the rain, the water droplets leaking from the eaves formed a curtain, and a small figure ran across a short distance wearing or should I say holding a bamboo hat.
Under the rain curtain, after reaching the rainless eaves, a small figure looked into a room holding a bamboo hat. This was a little girl of four or five years old, with an injury on her head and a bandage.
It was only a few days after the earthquake, and the environment was not necessarily good anywhere. 1 The room the little girl looked at at this time was a bit messy with various objects piled up, but judging from the cabinets, large bed, and waterproof conditions inside,
It was quite good. She glanced timidly at the door for a few times, and then the man inside saw her and waved to her.
"Uncle..."
The little girl yelled and entered the room. The man then checked the bandage on her head and tapped it with his hand: "Does it still hurt?"
"It hurts a little..."
"Then just stay in the room and stop running around."
"No one is in the room. It's so boring. What are you doing? Can Xiaorou help you?"
"This is very dangerous. You can't touch it yet. There's a wound on your head. I'll give you a candy to eat. Just sit aside and watch."
The man called uncle is naturally Ning Yi, and the girl is the daughter of an accountant in the Su family, named Chen Jirou. On the day of the earthquake, something hit her head and her head bled, but after checking, the injury was not serious. It was really fatal.
Big. It had only been two or three days at this time, and he was already jumping around everywhere.
Although it rained, because the shack was built solidly, there was no leakage inside, and the ground was dry. Several wooden baskets and sieves were placed on the ground in the room, large and small, and some were set up with benches. These
The container was basically filled with mixed powder. It was a rainy day and it was humid early autumn. The powder was not very dry. Ning Yi took some and laid them out in a line on the ground next to them.
"Be careful and stay away."
After he finished speaking to the little girl, he picked up the fire stick and touched the "flag" on it. The flames rose up and then turned into smoke and dispersed. 1 The little girl suddenly swooned, and her body almost shrank next to her.
A circle, but his eyes opened wide after blinking several times, trying to see the scene in front of him clearly.
Su Tan'er who came in from the door was also startled. In addition, Chan'er and Juan'er followed Chan'er and curiously poked their heads. Juan'er adjusted her position behind Su Tan'er, seeming to be trying to make herself rounder.
Trying to form a line with his uncle, Miss 1, the ultimate goal is to prevent Ning Yi from seeing him.
"Ms. sir, this is...gunpowder?"
Su Tan'er frowned slightly and walked over, picked up Xiao Jirou and looked at the bandage on her head, but her eyes still stayed on Ning Yi. When she got married to Ning Yi, she knew her temperament and knew everything. It was a sense of responsibility.
As a result, at this time, she didn't care much about what Ning Yi was going to do or what unexpected moves she made. It was Ning Yi who blew up the house, burned it down and demolished it. As long as she saw that Ning Yi did it, she wouldn't care.
If I get angry, I'm afraid I will work with my husband to study how to dismantle it quickly. But at this time, I am naturally still a little curious and hesitant. After all, gunpowder seems dangerous.
"Well, I made some while I had some time. This thing is dangerous. I will put it behind me later and let people watch it. It must not touch the fire."
Ning Yi put the gunpowder into small wooden barrels and hammered them tightly. Xiaochan squatted aside and watched, then went to help: "It's the barrel that my husband ordered to be dragged from Qian's house a few days ago."
"I added some things." Ning Yi looked at Su Tan'er, and then smiled, "It's just a precaution. I hope I won't need it. If not, these won't be of much use."
Afterwards, several people in the family carefully packed the gunpowder into small barrels one by one, and then called someone to move it to a slightly side room at the back where things could be stored. Ning Yi put on a raincoat and went outside.
Su Tan'er hugged the little girl, and Chan'er Juan'er held up an umbrella and followed. On the road outside the courtyard gate, Xing'er, who was mostly wet, was holding an umbrella in the rain and directing everyone in the family to carry things from the ruins.
Even Geng Huyuan and the others listened to her instructions whether they were throwing things away or taking them in. She looked like a girl with a leadership temperament similar to Su Tan'er.
When she saw Ning Yi and others, she combed her wet hair and trotted over with her skirt in hand.
On the street, there were also people from other houses in Taiping Alley, pushing carts or carrying boxes in the rain. When they saw Ning Yi, they respectfully called him Uncle Su or Uncle Ning, and some called him Master Ning.
, this title is confusing, but it can be regarded as a greeting.
All the reasons must ultimately be attributed to the recklessness that occurred on the night of the earthquake and the next two or three days.
Ning Yi has no specific implementation experience in earthquake relief, but in later generations, he has been exposed to a lot of information and always understands many basic measures. He led everyone to figure out his own affairs, and then
I went to help other people in Taiping Lane.
Naturally, it was just a group of people at the beginning, but in such an emergency situation, many things naturally cannot be hidden. Ning Yi directed everyone to dig, rescue people, and act as an operational commander, and his ability to control the overall situation gradually showed.
When he comes out, others tend to obey his arrangements involuntarily, and then the whole scene operates very smoothly. After many people have been rescued and several disasters caused by recklessness have been avoided, everyone will naturally remember
Got him.
This is not something that can be taken advantage of, nor can it be said to be very amazing. It shines brightly as soon as it comes out. It is originally a temperament developed by being in the decision-making level for a long time. If the person present is an otaku, it is to give him a leader
In this position, this person will inevitably feel flustered and have no confidence. If he issues an order, people will automatically distrust him and feel that this person is unreliable. But even if Ning Yi casually gives an order that "this should be done", others will also involuntarily
I felt that "this man has something in his mind" and very few people would question it under the momentum that Ning Yi showed at the critical moment, so the whole scene became orderly.
After all, this is a kind of self-confidence that a person who has been responsible for a long time naturally develops. When he has truly mastered some basic points and can make people follow order, the rest of the things will seem simple.
Then they moved things, rescued people, and scolded the people who moved the rubble not to cause a second collapse. Especially with the cooperation of others, the corpses under the rubble were moved out of Taiping Alley for burning without much trouble.
In other places in the city, this was even enforced by soldiers, and major conflicts almost broke out.
Subsequently, several families in this alley were more or less influenced by Ning Yi and Su Tan'er. To be honest, when Ning Yi married into the Su family, he was originally supposed to be called uncle of the Su family, but some people knew that his surname was Ning.
, so they used the surname Ning as their name, Ning Guye, Ning Master, Ning Master, and so on. Su Tan'er and the three maids also made great efforts in that situation, but they were women, and it was natural for others who were unfamiliar with them not to take the risk.
Open your mouth and speak.
On the first day after the earthquake, Ning Yi asked people to haul enough grain from the Qian family to store it. By the way, he also asked the Qian family to get two barrels of gunpowder. Today is the third day of rain, so Ning Yi got free time.
, the large amount of gunpowder was further processed. At this time, the army was actually using black gunpowder, but it was not the best in terms of performance. Some places were equipped with firearms to defend the city, which was to hold a barrel of gunpowder and
The barrel was thrown down. Ning Yi made certain changes to the ingredients of the black gunpowder, adding, subtracting, and subtracting. After all, there was no very precise processing environment at this time, but he could always increase the performance and it would be barely usable from now on.
No matter how good the performance of pyrotechnic powder is, it is far inferior to smokeless gunpowder that requires chemical processes. Ning Yi's enthusiasm for gunpowder is actually due to his rubbery thinking. It can be used simply for things like mines and bombs. In fact,
Sulfuric acid and other substances are already available these days. He has been messing around in Jiangning for more than a year. If he is there, he can really get some smokeless gunpowder, or the prototype of smokeless gunpowder, such as nitrocellulose.
, but the early smokeless gunpowder was indeed too dangerous, so it has been shelved. He was unwilling to leave these processes to others, otherwise there would be a lot of people in Kangxian waiting to be killed. At this time in Hangzhou, he just wanted to
If we act in a hurry, we can't do that much.
After all, it is difficult for the ancient economic system and social system to give Ning Yi a sufficient sense of security. The first thing to do when a disaster occurs is to stock up on food, and gunpowder is also just in case, not that anything is really going to happen. In the past few days,
Since then, the Hangzhou government has initially taken control of the situation in the city, but various unstable things are still happening.
Because of the accident, some people in the world took desperate risks, fought for property, and then caused various conflicts due to the burning of corpses. Fang Zheng on the Taiping Lane side has passed away in the earthquake, and the deputy Fangzheng has no backbone. He has also been looking for Zining these days.
Yi, discuss repairing the wall near Taiping Lane and organizing young people to patrol.
In the city, things like people from one street hitting people from another street have happened many times. It is usually due to small disputes caused by individuals, or friction caused by everyone organizing to dig up ruins, and then it quickly expanded.
There are also some beggars and thieves who have lost their homes, taking advantage of the night to look for money and things in the ruins.
Before it rained, everyone was given a day's buffer, but quite a few people in the city still couldn't move out the food, money and materials stored in their homes. Large households like the Qian family had the manpower of Zu Po, so Hangzhou's food storage would generally not be affected too much.
Huge losses, but due to the losses of small households, food prices in the city have soared in the past few days - even if there is a disaster, after the initial control, some people will still take the opportunity to open shops and raise prices to make huge profits.
After checking the situation of his house in the heavy rain, the deputy chief came over soon and took Ning Yi to visit some of the family members of the deceased in the alley, and Ning Yi followed him.
At the end of the alley, the mother of a wealthy businessman named Tang was crushed to death by a collapsed house, but her son was later rescued by Ning Yi. At this time, they simply set up a mourning hall, wore sackcloth and mourning, and held Ning Yi to express their gratitude while crying.
The deputy Fangzheng probably wanted to recommend him to be in charge. Then he mentioned various connections with the government, and he couldn't help but talk about his status as a bride-in-law. He made a few perfunctory remarks, and became bored. He pushed the matter back and was sent out to inquire about the city.
Dongzhu, the coachman who caused the incident, has also returned. He is taking off his raincoat and then begins to report what he saw and heard.
"I don't know why, although it's raining heavily, there seem to be more and more refugees coming from outside the city. The collapsed city wall is already being repaired, and the military men of Wude Camp have sealed the city. If it hadn't been for the post given by my uncle, I would have
I'm afraid I can't even get in. The refugees can't get in and are making trouble outside. Although the people in the government are also distributing food for disaster relief, the people in the city are not enough to eat, and the refugees outside the city are almost the same...
..." Let Dongzhu go out, mainly to observe the situation outside the city. Su Tan'er sighed after hearing this.
"There was already a war going on in the west, and the refugees were all running this way. When the earthquake hit, people from all over the country were affected."
Ning Yi thought for a while and said with a smile: "In the past, when we were in Jiangning, there were some minor disasters. People nearby also gathered in the city, right?" His words sounded a little like confirmation, but also a little like a test.
, after all, he didn’t know exactly what the situation was like in the past. Su Tan’er glanced at him, and after thinking for a while, she nodded: “Yes, in fact, there is always more money in the city than in the countryside, and there is government control. For
Fewer people will starve to death, and there will always be food supplies... What are you thinking, sir?"
"The rice is about to ripen. It will take a month and a half at most, and this season's rice will be harvested. Earthquakes are big things to say, but except for those who were crushed to death after their houses fell down once, the rest can always be harvested.
Find some leftover food to survive this period of time, why do you have so much at once..."
"Ms. sir, do you think there is a problem?" Xing'er over there also widened her eyes: "Fang, Fang La? What do you mean?" Ning Yi smiled and shook his head: "No, I should be overthinking. The refugees from the west were originally
Just a lot. We have only been here two months, and we don’t know how many former refugees there are. It would be irresponsible to say there are a lot without reference. I think now, but it may be because we are not locals, so
No matter how I think about it, I just feel sensitive. There is no shortage of powerful people here in Hangzhou. They should consider and take precautions against these things. But...it's a pity that the river has collapsed, otherwise I would rather get a boat and return in a few days.
After leaving Jiangning, we were prepared to leave from the beginning anyway. If we have to take the land route now, it won’t be necessary when the refugees are scattered. By the way, is there anything going on in the city?" Dongzhu thought for a while: "Oh, the Qian family,
There are several other stores in the Mu family that started selling grain this morning, and the price is three times as high as before, but it is much cheaper than others. In addition, it has been raining for a few days, and I have to dig and dig for miles.
The matter of burning the corpses was not as urgent as it was a few days ago. This morning, this person in the north of the city got into a fight with the military master who was dragging the corpses. The fight was really brutal. I heard that one of them was killed on the spot. Now they are quarreling.
It’s the government office…”
Ning Yi frowned. It was foreseeable that the big landowners would start to flatten food prices. Although most people regarded businessmen or landowners as evil, such a chaotic Hangzhou city was not in their interests at all. In the end,
A good approach would naturally be to carry out a new round of annexation and embezzlement during the entire recovery process. However, as for the corpse, "it rained so heavily, and it probably won't matter if we bury it later." Su Tan'er thought.
She also smiled. Although she also knew the need to burn corpses, as a person of this era, there is always a certain rejection of burning people directly after death. Relatively speaking, the heavy rain gave everyone a buffer.
opportunity. However, seeing Ning Yi frowning, she asked in a low voice: "Mr.
Ning Yi smiled and said nothing.
That night, the heavy rain seemed to be weakening. The couple stood by the window of the shack and looked outside. The room was simple and simple, but for Su Tan'er, it was a warm light. Occasionally there were people outside the house.
Walking by, or hearing trivial conversations. She was also tired for a day. After taking a shower, she put on her single clothes and held Ning Yi's hand: "What are you thinking, sir?"
"If the rain stops tomorrow, I want to go to the city gate to see what it's like outside. Dongzhu said there are many people, but I don't know how many people there are."
Su Tan'er rested her chin on his shoulder: "Do you still think it's dangerous for us to go together?"
"It's out of the question." Ning Yi held her shoulders. "I would think that if I were Fang La, I would take the opportunity to attack Hangzhou. But the strength and deployment of Wude Camp, the Hangzhou government's control over this area, and even Fang La's
I don’t know the situation there at all, and there is no basis for saying this. Rationally speaking, the peasant army’s command, speed, and fighting power must be problematic. It’s not that there is no talent in Hangzhou Prefecture. Lu Tuizhi
Those people are not idiots. They were able to block Fang La before, and they will definitely be more vigilant now. So from this point of view, I am more inclined to think that nothing will happen to Hangzhou, and they are just going to see... To say the least, if Fang La
If you really plan to take this place, your reaction won’t be so fast..."
Su Tan'er nodded. She was feeling a little lazy at the moment and didn't want to think too much about things around Ning Yi. Then she heard Ning Yi say: "It's a corpse, which is very problematic."
"What's going on?"
"If I were Lu Tuizhi, I would arrest people and have them stabbed today, and directly pull them out to kill a group of people. It will be announced to the public that this group of people colluded with Fang La, deliberately left corpses, provoked conflicts, and conspired to seize the city during the chaos. This incident
After the announcement, everyone in the city will no longer have any objections to the disposal of the corpse, and there will be less trouble in the future..."
"But there will be chaos in the city..."
"There can be no chaos. No one believes that Fang La will not take advantage of Hangzhou. With the power of this murder, he can legitimately strengthen the control inside and outside Hangzhou and prepare for war. In this chaotic situation, the situation in the city can be resolved faster.
Control, and secondly, prevent it before it happens and eliminate the possibility of real unrest. In this situation, a high degree of centralization and vigorous and resolute action is the best policy."
He then laughed again: "Of course, if we really want to do this, the prefect will encounter a lot of troubles. There will be intrigues in the officialdom. This extreme method of restricting power will definitely encounter great resistance. I just thought about it casually.
.
The wife said "hmm", and then said softly: "It's Xiaochan's matter that has been postponed again, and there is also the matter of the poetry meeting. My husband obviously wrote such a good poem, and in the blink of an eye there was an earthquake...
…”
Regarding this, the wife, who loves her husband's reputation as a talented man, has always been somewhat resentful.
………,……,……,……,…,
Also at night, on the other side of the city, there were people looking at the rain curtain in the darkness. There was light on the other side of the rain curtain. Among the ruins was a hastily built mourning hall, but half of the mourning hall had collapsed.
There were two people speaking.
"It looks like the heavy rain is going to stop. Once the rain stops tomorrow, the Hangzhou government will no longer be able to ignore the corpses that have not been exhumed... Haha, I'm afraid the stench will be out by then..."
"If it had been hot, the corpses would have been dug up by now. The heavy rain now has given us a helping hand. They are lucky to have this relief, but it won't stop tomorrow. It should still happen."
Will meet the next day."
"That's just in time. We are better prepared. If we wait a day longer, Fo Shuai, Xin Xingzong, and Liu Dabiao will also come. Stone cutter, you seem to have said something before, if God does not take what he wants, you will suffer the consequences, right?
Is this what you’re talking about? Haha, in my opinion, this Hangzhou should be given to us by God... It’s a pity that it was shaken like this..."
"If God doesn't take it, he will be blamed for it; when the time comes, he will suffer disaster. We were preparing to go this way, and there was an earthquake. It was probably God's will...
Once this place is captured, Brother Shi Nang, Brother Dao An and others will respond everywhere, and the matter in the southeast will be settled."
"Haha, you are always literate. I'm talking about stone chisels. You are so knowledgeable. Why did you always chisel stones in the mountains before? You might as well become a teacher."
"If the Tao is not good enough, I would float in the sea on a raft. I would rather hide in the mountains and chisel my own stones than come out and teach a bunch of boys to read their books..."
"Educated, but I don't understand. But it doesn't matter. I, Shi Bao, am a rough man. I will do whatever you tell me to do. I will kill whoever you tell me to kill. Haha, by then, as you said, the southeast will be settled. Saint
If you become the emperor, ask him to give you a chancellor, and I will become a general. When the time comes, you can go to the brothel and go whore to whomever you want. I heard that there are many beautiful girls here in Hangzhou. I hope they will all survive.
If you don’t bully them, I’ll give them money, hahahaha…”
The laughter went away a little arrogantly. The dark figure standing in front of the window looked at the rain curtain for a while and then laughed: "Oh, if it's not more profitable to chisel stones than to teach, who the hell would chisel stones? Good question."
"He sighed and cast his gaze further, the sound that shook the rain curtain was like gibbering.
"I've been waiting for this day..."
………,……,……,……,…,
The next day, the rain was still falling, but a little lighter. After breakfast, Ning Yi, Su Tan'er, and Chan'er drove a carriage, left Taiping Lane, and headed towards the city gate, ready to see this with their own eyes.