The sun has risen two poles high, and the temperature has begun to rise. Gu Qian, Gu Xun and others ordered people to build a pavilion under the shade of the trees. The servants served tea and snacks, and Gu Qian and Gu Xun sat on the mats to drink tea and eat.
Watching Li Hui leading everyone to work.
"Grandpa, what is this kid trying to do? Are they going to use bamboo to make a ditch to divert water? Look, they connected the bamboos and laid them all the way to the center of the lake. It seems that they are going to use this method to divert water. Could it be that they really have to dig through the lake embankments and
Cofferdam? This is not something that can be completed in one day." Gu Xun asked.
Gu Qian said solemnly: "Dig through the lake embankment and cofferdam? These dozens of people are not allowed to dig for a month? Do you know what kind of material the lake bank embankment is made of? It is made of rammed stones and three-component soil, as hard as steel.
Our city wall in Wu County may not be as strong as the embankment. It is absolutely impossible for him to do this. Besides, even if the lake embankment cofferdam can be dug through, how can I allow him to do it? The drought will only be temporary, and it will be used to store water for defense in the future.
Waterlogging, the safety of my Gujiazhuang farmland depends on this big lake. We have a lot of rain in Wu County, and the rainwater from the high places on the east side collects into the lake. Only with Tantai Lake here can we ensure that floods do not invade. After the dam is dug through, even if it is
Filling back with soil is a hidden danger. I will never allow it."
"My grandpa is right. But without digging through the lake embankment, my son can't think of any way he can draw the water out of the center of the lake. Could it be that he knows magic?" Gu Xun smacked his lips.
Gu Qian stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "It's his business to use any method to do it. Demonic methods are naturally impossible. If he is a demon, he can just make clouds and rain. Why bother? It depends on his thoughts.
, It seems that he just wants to divert the water out. If he can do it, I will look at him differently. Just wait and see."
While the father and son were talking endlessly, Li Hui and everyone else were sweating profusely. The moso bamboos were carried to the bottom of the lake one by one, and they began to be spliced under Li Hui's guidance. The slightly thinner end of the bamboo was thinned with a hatchet.
After that, wrap them in shredded linen cloth and embed them tightly into each other, then tightly wrap the joints with fine linen ropes. Then melt rosin, rosin and other substances on the fire and apply them to the joints to seal them.
Li Hui personally guided these matters and did not allow any sloppiness. If he found that the connection was not tight enough, he would ask for the connection to be removed again.
The tenants who were doing the work originally planned to do it carelessly, but after reworking the work several times, they realized that if they continued like this, they would be exposed to the sun to death. So they all became cautious and serious.
Section by section, the pipes connected by moso bamboo are extending. After becoming familiar with the process, this simple connection work actually progresses very quickly.
Under the shade of the trees on the lake embankment, more than a dozen women were cutting and sewing cow and sheep skins according to Li Hui's requirements. The cow and sheep skins were sewn into a cylindrical pipe as thick as a bowl, and the two ends were connected with long needles.
The hemp threads are sewn densely. Li Hui will personally order people to fill the leather pipes with water and inspect them once they are sewn. Once they find any leaks, they will have them re-sewed. They are extremely strict.
Under the bright sun, the weather was getting hotter and hotter. Everyone was sweating profusely and panting. Gu Qian was also prepared. He had already ordered someone to fetch water from the deep well in the manor. The well water was cool, which ensured that no one was there.
Heatstroke ensured progress.
Gu Qian and his son, Han Yong and others looked at the busy people talking under the sun and speculated on what method Li Hui would use to divert the water from the bottom of the lake to the paddy fields outside the lake embankment. They also didn’t know what he was doing by using cow and sheep skins to make pipes.
intention.
However, when Gu Qian saw Li Hui running around with his trousers and sleeves rolled up and his bare feet sweating under the sun, it really didn't look like he was pretending to do anything. So he became even more curious and expectant.
Gu Xun didn't care about this. He looked bored for a while, opened his mouth and looked around, looking at the surrounding scenery. Suddenly he saw a group of people coming from the dirt road in the direction of the manor and cottages. He squinted his eyes carefully and recognized them.
come out.
"Aren't those Tong Yun and Qing Ning? Why are they here? They are causing so much nonsense," Gu Xun shouted.
Gu Qian raised his eyes and looked up, hehehe said with a smile: "It's really them. Last night Qing Ning asked me to come with me to see the water diversion today, but I was afraid of the hot weather, so I didn't agree. In the end, they came anyway. How did the Zhang family
My little girl is here too."
Gu Xun frowned and said, "It's Qing Ning's idea. I have to reprimand her later. She is very naughty."
Gu Qian waved his hand and said with a smile: "In my cardamom years, what's the big deal about being more lively and out-of-the-box? Is it better to be rigid and dull? Come as you like. Anyway, go and ask them to come over."
Han Yong responded repeatedly and hurried forward to greet him. It was Gu Qian's granddaughters and Gu Xun's daughters Gu Qingning and Zhang Tongyun who came.
Although Zhang Tongyun is the niece of the young head of the family, Gu Yan, she is two generations away from Gu Qian and is cousin Cong. However, because she is similar in age to Gu Xun's daughter Gu Qingning, they have played together since childhood and have a good relationship.
This time, Gu Xun and his daughter Gu Qingning came back from their posts to visit their father Gu Qian. Zhang Tongyun came all the way from Wuxing to Wu County to meet Gu Qingning. When the two girls heard about today's water diversion for irrigation, they both felt it was new.
Meet and run around to play.
Two girls stood in front of Gu Qian and Gu Xun with their faces flushed. One was bright and the other was charming and naive. They were both extremely beautiful girls.
Gu Qian pretended to be angry and said: "You two, why are you running around in such a hot day? What should I do if I get heat stroke? What should I do if I encounter an accident?"
Gu Qingning smiled and said: "Ah, we are just curious to take a look. Where did we get heatstroke? We brought chrysanthemum and jasmine tea."
Gu Xun said in a deep voice: "What's the use of that thing? Qing Ning, it's okay for you to go crazy on your own. You dragged Tong Yun here too. You really deserve to be beaten."
Zhang Tongyun said hurriedly: "Uncle, it was Tongyun's idea. If you want to blame me, blame me. Before I came, my brother told me to take a look at the drought here, so I thought I would come and take a look. I might as well tell my brother when I get back."
Report back."
Gu Qian chuckled and said: "I see. But there is no need to run around in the hot weather. Just ask us and you will know. If nothing else, if you are exposed to the sun, you will get a tan. Now I am not in the Jin Dynasty
Do you all think fair skin is beautiful? You two will not look good if you are tanned."
Gu Qingning groaned, quickly put on the veil, and said worriedly: "Tongyun, am I tanned? I don't want to be tanned. If I had known this, I wouldn't have come."
Zhang Tongyun pursed her lips and smiled sweetly: "Qing Ning, it's too late for you to regret it now. You are already as dark as a Kunlun slave."
Gu Qingning knew that she was joking, but he still screamed in cooperation and hid under the shade of a tree.
Gu Qian and Gu Xun laughed. The little girl in this family is very naughty. The two little girls often bicker and tease each other. They are still two children who have not grown up.
While the nobles of the Gu family were joking under the shade of the tree, the progress of Li Hui and others entered a critical moment. After the long bamboo connection was laid to the center of the lake two or three miles away, Li Hui returned to the lake embankment with his legs full of mud.
They began to order people to set up a gentle bamboo ramp, and began to connect the sewn leather tubes with the bamboo tubes. One end of the leather tubes was tightly tied to the mouth of the bamboo tubes, and dozens of them were tightly tied with hemp ropes, and then used rosin grease.
Carry out sealing.
In this way, the soft leather tube can go around the lake embankment close to the ground. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the moso bamboo to form a circular angle.
After calculating the length, all the work was in place. The long bamboo channel stretched for several miles, from the inside of the lake embankment to the water in the middle of the lake. The twenty-foot-long leather pipe was like a big snake hovering on the lake embankment.
Up. So far, two hours have passed and everything is ready.
Li Hui came to Gu Qian and others barefoot, bowed and reported: "Everything is ready, Dong Weng, do you want to watch the process of water being discharged? If not, I will start to divert the water."
Gu Qian was talking to two young grandchildren. Hearing this, he turned around and said, "Of course I want to see your methods with my own eyes."
The two girls behind Gu Qian burst out laughing. Li Hui looked up and recognized one of the girls. It was the girl from the Zhang family whom he saw yesterday. But at this moment, she was covering her mouth and
Another girl covered in gauze chuckled.
Li Hui knew what they were laughing at. His head, face, and bun were covered in mud, his feet were covered in mud, and his clothes were wrinkled and dirty. He must have looked very embarrassed. They must be laughing at his appearance. In their eyes,
Isn't a dirty young man of low status the best joke?
But Li Hui didn't take this to heart. No matter in the past or now, he and these people are from two different worlds. How can these women from wealthy families have any empathy for ordinary people? What's more, these are just two people.
She's just a fifteen-year-old girl, so what's the point of arguing with them?
Li Hui turned around and walked back, loudly giving instructions for the last step, which was to use an ox cart to pull water to the center of the lake. When Gu Qian and others heard this, they were stunned. After working for a long time, they actually had to use an ox cart to pull water. Is this so easy?
Is this the young man's method of fetching water? Are all the bamboo pipes he's been working on useless?
Gu Xun, Han Yong and others looked a little ugly, and Gu Qian frowned, suspecting that the young man was really teasing him. Could it be that he diverted water into the fields in one day, or that the young man used the method of pulling water into the fields with oxcarts as a sophistry?
?
Gu Xun raised a question, and Li Hui quickly explained.
"The purpose of pulling water by oxcart is to pour water into the pipe. When the entire pipe is filled with water, the air inside will be exhausted, and then the pipe is dragged to a low point outside the embankment, which can connect the lake and the ditch, and the water flow will continue.
.”
Gu Qian, his son and others did not understand this explanation at all.
Gu Qian said in a deep voice: "You mean, the water flows to higher places? How does that make sense? The middle section of the lake embankment is so high above the center of the lake, so how can the water cross the embankment from a low place to such a high slope?"
Li Hui said in a deep voice: "Water flows to low places, but it can also flow to high places. It all depends on human beings."
Gu Qian said no more, thinking in his heart: Let you talk nonsense, if it doesn't work out for a while, then don't blame me for being rude.