In the Dragon Palace not far away, His Majesty Li Er looked gloomy, as if he had been soaked by the heavy rain outside the window to the point of dripping water...
Li Junxian stood in front of the emperor with his hands tied, folded a few sealed letters and presented them, describing the situation in Jingyang in detail.
At first, His Majesty Li Er was very pleased to hear that Lin Ruofu, the former head of the Ministry of Industry, had abandoned his family and property to defend the embankment.
Throughout the ages, the structure of the imperial court has been that the central government controls the state capitals, and the state capitals lead the counties, towns, and towns. The most basic grassroots rule of the imperial court is in the hands of the gentry.
Family members, high-ranking officials, landowners, gentry, clan elders...these are all included in the country squires. They are similar to officials but different from officials, similar to the people but above the people. It is through these squires that the court achieves the purpose of controlling the country.
.
When floods hit, it was the squire who took the lead and led the people to fight on the embankment. This perfectly demonstrated the role of the squire. If this was the case everywhere, why worry about the instability of the empire?
However, when he learned that the reason why Lin Ruofu led the people to guard the dam alone was because the Jingyang County Magistrate did not care and stayed out of the matter, His Majesty the Emperor could no longer hide his anger.
The honorable person of a county is the parent who protects the people. If he can sit in the Yazhai and stand by during a sudden natural disaster, can he be expected to be impartial and honest as he always loves the people like a son?
By the time Li Junxian finished reading the secret chapter and finished speaking, His Majesty Li Er was already furious!
"Bastard! Is it possible that Wei Yifang doesn't know how to write the word "death"? When natural disasters come, he refuses to go to the disaster with the people of the county and join hands to fight the flood. He actually controls the warehouse and refuses to open it to release grain. He also has to use military guards.
Taking out military rations to help the people? This is simply unreasonable."
His Majesty Li Er was furious. The power of the emperor's anger frightened Li Junxian, and he stood aside obediently, not daring to say a word.
After losing his temper, His Majesty Li Er noticed something fishy: "Do you know why Wei Yifang refused to open the warehouse to put grain?"
Li Junxian said: "The general doesn't know, but the reason Wei Yifang said is not reasonable in the eyes of the general. It is suspected of prevarication and cover-up."
His Majesty Li Er narrowed his eyes slightly: "Oh? What are you prevaricating and covering up?"
Li Junxian said: "The last general has not gone to Jingyang in person, so it is difficult to speculate on the details... However, since Liu Jie and Liu Yushi have already announced the impeachment of Wei Yifang, and have led people to Jingyang City to inspect the situation of Yicang, it must not be long before
Then there will be conclusive news coming back.”
His Majesty Li Er nodded, pondered for a moment, and asked: "Wei Yifang...why does this name sound familiar? Could it be that he is from the Wei family?"
The emperor has the world in mind, but it is impossible to remember every descendant of Webster.
"Your Majesty, Wei Yifang is indeed a member of the Wei family. Not only that, he is also a direct descendant of the Wei family. His father is Wei Yuanzhao, the uncle of Concubine Wei."
Li Junxian replied.
His Majesty Li Er was slightly surprised: "Wei Yuanzhao's son?"
Speaking of this Wei Yuanzhao, he actually has a close relationship with His Majesty Li Er. He was the former consort of the Sui Dynasty, and he could be regarded as a "brother-in-law" with His Majesty Li Er. However, His Majesty Li Er was much older, and his martial arts
De died when he was six years old.
Moreover, he is the clan brother of Concubine Wei, and can be regarded as his brother-in-law...
His Majesty Li Er's face is getting worse and worse. It seems that all the relatives who are related to the aristocratic family have few worries in the past two years. Apart from using the name of royal relatives to show off and do whatever they want, they have not done many serious things.
pieces.
This is one of the reasons why His Majesty Li Er has become increasingly unfavorable to the aristocratic families. He was forced by Li Jiancheng to have no choice but to rely on the power of these aristocratic families. Now that the overall situation has been settled, these greedy guys are impatient.
I was so patient that I jumped out and asked for interest...
If things go on like this, the aristocratic families will become more and more powerful, and the emperor will almost become the plaything in the hands of these aristocratic families. Once the emperor cannot satisfy his insatiable desires, the Xuanwu Sect incident will happen again.
His Majesty Li Er had a sullen face and ordered: "Quickly send someone to keep an eye on Liu Ji to see what is going on in Jingyang Yicang. If there is any news, come to the palace immediately and report to me."
"Here!"
Li Junxian agreed. Seeing that the emperor had no further instructions, he bowed and left.
When the general walked to the door, he saw a graceful and beautiful woman, surrounded by maids, carrying two large oil-paper umbrellas and coming to the door of the hall. She was holding her skirt in one hand and walking lightly in lotus steps.
Go up the white marble steps.
Li Junxian quickly put his hands aside and said respectfully: "The general has spoken about the imperial concubine."
After changing into a gorgeous palace attire, and adding light eyebrow makeup and light lipstick, Concubine Wei became even more stunningly beautiful and graceful. With a smile on her lips, she slightly pulled back her train and returned the greeting: "It turns out to be General Li... But he didn't know that it was raining heavily.
Does the general have something to report to your majesty?"
Li Junxian's mouth twitched slightly, and he said respectfully: "That's right, the last general still has the emperor's orders, so he will retire for the time being."
After saying this, he bowed and saluted, and left in a hurry.
This Concubine Wei is really a woman of beauty and beauty, but she is a loser. I have something to report to Your Majesty... But is this something you can ask?
It’s no wonder that despite being the first of the “four ladies”, she is not favored by His Majesty...
Concubine Wei stared bitterly at Li Junxian's back as he disappeared into the rain, biting her teeth secretly, and almost cursed.
what!
They are just the emperor's minions. Do you really think you are a person?
He actually dares to scorn me!
She knew that Li Junxian's control of "Hundred Cavalry" was His Majesty's eyes and ears, so she couldn't believe that the news from Jingyang was still reaching the palace at this moment, so she wanted to find out the news, so that she would have an idea, so as not to beg for mercy in front of the emperor later.
Sometimes mistakes were made.
Unexpectedly, Li Junxian didn't give her face at all...
He stamped his feet angrily, cursing Li Junxian in his heart, and then put on a bright and charming smile, swaying his waist lightly, and walked into the Dragon Palace in a style.
*****
It was stormy and rainy on the Jinghe River Embankment, but thousands of people and soldiers braved the wind and rain and were in full swing. Countless earth and rocks were transported up from under the dam and filled into the gaps opened by the flood. The water flow was fast, and the earth and rocks dumped were swept away in the blink of an eye.
The floods washed away the water, but no one felt depressed and continued to work with determination...
"This is not the way to go!"
Fang Jun looked at the growing gap in front of him with a worried look on his face.
The raging river water swallowed up the dumped earth and rocks at the gap, and carried it to the deep water in the middle of the river. The unyielding work of the civilians and soldiers did not yield any results. Instead, the gap became larger and larger because of the gradual turbulence of the water.
The bigger.
Cheng Yaojin stood by Fang Jun's side with his hands behind his back, looking at the turbid river water with worried eyes, and said at the top of his voice: "I'm afraid this gap cannot be blocked. Once this place is washed away, the entire embankment will be destroyed."
Cut it off in the middle, and then the flood will release from here, and it will be unstoppable... Erlang, if we don't give the order now to retreat and abandon the embankment, I'm afraid we won't be able to evacuate even if we want to after a while..."
This is not because Cheng Yaojin is afraid of death, but because he knows that he cannot do anything and should avoid it.
Once the levee here is broken down and the floods rush down, the entire levee will collapse in an instant. At that time, the flood will be raging, and everyone on the levee will become a target for fish, turtles, shrimps, and crabs to feed...
He didn't want his sons and sons not to die on the battlefield, but to be buried in the belly of a fish instead.
Lin Ruofu on the side was very anxious when he heard this, his red eyes widened, and he said in a hoarse voice: "My lord, you must not do this! If we give up, the embankment will burst, Jingyang will be devastated by floods, and our homes will be destroyed.
, life is in ruins..."
"fart!"
Cheng Yaojin's eyes were even bigger than his own, and he said angrily: "Is it possible that by continuing to carry rocks and fill the soil so stupidly, we can prevent the dam from collapsing? Youwuwei is not afraid of death, but he died in vain here.
It’s meaningless, you feel sorry for your Jingyang, and I also feel sorry for my subordinate Erlang!”
The two immediately started arguing, and Nuo Da's voice made the people on the embankment look at each other with heavy hearts, not knowing what to do.
Lin Ruofu was naturally unwilling to retreat, even if there was a glimmer of hope. Because once he retreated, it would mean that the entire Jingyang would be abandoned, and tens of thousands of Jingyang people would become homeless refugees.
And in this era of living off the land, without land and without a home, the final result is nothing more than becoming a slave of a wealthy family, or a lowly slave...
This is something Lin Ruofu and all the people in Jingyang would rather die than face.
Cheng Yaojin was responsible for the soldiers under his command. Since there was nothing he could do, why should these soldiers suffer the disaster of being wiped out by the flood?
Erlang in the army is not afraid of death, but he cannot die like this meaninglessly!
The movement of the five thousand Youwu guardsmen slowed down, their faces heavy and hesitant.
Although they hope to evacuate from such dangerous places as soon as possible, they cannot bear to see the Jingyang people who are fighting side by side losing their homes. Since then, they have been displaced and become refugees, and their ancestors will become slaves and humble status for generations...
Since ancient times, the people of Guanzhong have been renowned throughout the world for their unity and fearlessness of death. How can we see such tragic disasters befalling our fellow villagers now?
For a moment, it seemed that the heavy rain had extinguished the previous enthusiasm, and there was silence on the embankment, leaving only the ruthless play of the wind and rain.
Fang Jun looked around and wondered: "I just said that filling the gap in this way is not enough. When did I say that the gap cannot be filled, and when did I say that the embankment cannot be defended?"