Xiangzhangli is located in the northwest corner of Chongzhou County, next to Xinghua and Gaocheng counties.
It was raining heavily. Riding on horseback in such horrible weather, wearing a raincoat, my whole body was drenched by the heavy rain.
The Yunyan River was completely white. Lin Fu got off his horse, held the reins and waded towards the center of the river. It was hard to imagine that the Yunyan River, which was usually only a hundred steps wide, was now so powerful. It looked like the river was even more majestic.
The green reeds were submerged by the flood, leaving only their green tips, and there were also many half-submerged elm and poplar trees, as well as scattered mud houses and tile houses soaked in the water.
There are no violent floods in Chongzhou. No matter how big the flood peak is in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, it will be absorbed and absorbed by the dozens of miles of river in the Chongzhou section. However, Chongzhou County and even the entire Hailing Prefecture are covered with sand and land, and the terrain is low and flat.
, if the accumulated water from a heavy rain cannot be drained out in time, serious waterlogging will occur.
The Yan River was originally the main waterlogging drainage channel in the north of Chongzhou County. However, because the salt transport ships of the Weiyang Salt and Iron Company mainly used the Beiguan River in Gaocheng County, the Chongzhou section of the Salt River was no longer important. It had been in disrepair for hundreds of years and suffered from serious siltation.
As soon as the torrential rain that lasted for ten months started in August, the water overflowed the dilapidated embankments of the Yanyan River.
The most important thing for Lin Fu right now is not to fight against the Donghai bandits and the She family behind the Donghai bandits, but to fight against the bad weather and the serious waterlogging disaster in Chongzhou.
It is said that Chongzhou should enter the flood season in July. In fact, before Lin Xuwen left Chongzhou, the weather in Hailing Prefecture and the sea area east of Hailing Prefecture was very mild. Lin Xuwen even took a sea-going boat to return to Tianjin Sea.
After entering August, the weather became violent, and the downpours continued for half a month. Waterlogging occurred in various places, and the total number of affected fields exceeded 400,000 acres. Although the villages had some false claims, but Lin Fu's dozen
I have been visiting villages non-stop these days, and I can see that the waterlogging situation in Chongzhou is indeed very serious.
Wu Meijiu only wanted to escape from Chongzhou as soon as possible and would not be a stumbling block for Lin Fu. However, he did not want to go to the wilderness to observe the people's sentiments in such terrible weather; Han Zai also only wanted to maintain the situation where he and Lin Fu were on the same level.
, I don’t want to be too embarrassed in front of Wang Tian and Yue Lengqiu, so in this kind of weather, I naturally hide in the courtyard of the deep house and have fun with three or five beautiful maids.
People never expect that their parents and officials can live a simple life like them, eating chaffy vegetables and wearing gedaima. However, in such difficult times, when people cannot survive it, they expect their parents to appear like a savior.
.No matter how difficult it was at this time, Lin Fu couldn't bear to hide in Zilang Mountain and enjoy peace and happiness.
"There seems to be someone over there..."
Lin Fu looked in the direction of Ao Canghai's finger. In the distance, there were several dark figures lying on the roof of a thatched shed submerged in the water. Through the vast rain curtain, he could barely see clearly that they were trapped in the water.
refugee.
The water level of the Yunyan River overflowing the river bank is still rising, and only the thatched shed is left standing on the water. Besides, it has been flooded for so many days, and it is still on the verge of collapse.
Several guards waded through the water and rescued a family of five people, old and young, from the middle of the flood.
"Master Lin, the eunuch of the capital, rescued you, so why don't you kowtow and thank me?" Li Shuyi said with some pretentiousness as he watched the people being rescued, trying to save some reputation for Lin Fu.
A family of five, young and old, kowtowed and thanked each other, but their eyes were fixed on the crumbling thatched hut submerged in the flood. For them, this simple thatched hut might be everything.
Lin Fu helped the affected villagers up and saw that they had been trapped in the flood for several days and were so hungry that they could not stand up. He took out the leftover wheat cakes and dried meat from lunch under the saddle and gave them to them to comfort them.
He said: "In a few days, the flood will recede. The house collapsed. Can it be rebuilt? Don't worry, the county will never see you sleeping in the wilderness..." The five members of this family were also hungry and wolfed down the food.
After swallowing the wheat cake, the dark and thin boy of fifteen or sixteen years old choked after swallowing a few mouthfuls of the cake. He lay on the ground and wanted to scoop out the water at his feet to drink.
Lin Fu stopped the young man, took off the water bag under the saddle and handed it to him: "This water bag is for you, drink it slowly and don't choke again - you have to remember it, and remember to tell others,
The water must be boiled before drinking, otherwise it is easy to get diseases..." Seeing the family knelt down with tears of gratitude and thanking them, Lin Fu supported them and told Li Shuyi, "Li Shuyi, go to the capital of Zhengjia.
Come here, the disasters everywhere are serious now, Li Jia has to do his best."
"Yes, sir." Li Shuyi nodded and said, sending the Yamen servants to find all the nearby Li Zhengjia chiefs.
Lin Fu waded in the water to look at the disaster situation nearby. Many houses could not withstand the flooding and collapsed. Fortunately, the destructive effects of the waterlogging were not so severe, and the casualties were minimal. However, there were many refugees.
Lin Fu waded through the water for three or four miles, and Li Zheng in Xiangzhang and three nearby armor commanders caught up with them wearing raincoats. It was raining so heavily and he had to walk in a hurry, so wearing raincoats was of no use.
, the man stood in front of Lin Fu, his body was soaked by the heavy rain.
"Are you Li Zheng here?" Lin Fu asked, staring at the thin middle-aged man wearing a fine cotton gown.
Ordinary villagers still believe that the county magistrate is the father-in-law of Chongzhou County, but the village chiefs know that the young man in front of them is the master of Chongzhou County.
"Reporting to your lord, I am Li Zhengluofu in Xiangzhang. I am here to listen to my lord's orders."
Lin Fu said: "The county is short of manpower, and half of the Jiangdong Zuo Army has sent out to various villages and towns to participate in disaster relief. You should also take responsibility. The relief money and food provided in advance are one copper and one grain of rice. Jiangdong Zuo Army followed
The county will not default on its debts, but if there are villagers who starve to death due to disasters in every township, every village, I, Lin Fu, will never show mercy to you!" Pointing to the dozens of disaster-stricken victims who were following him all the way, he followed
Jiuhua Lili Zhengluo Fu said, "They will also be temporarily left to you to settle..."
"There is no reason for a small person or a big family in the village to sit idly by when a disaster strikes a neighbor in the village. Please rest assured, sir," Luo Fu stooped slightly, looking into Lin Fu's eyes without much fear. After all, he could tell the villagers what was right.
, most of them are big households in the countryside and have seen the world, he added, "In the past two years, there have been a lot of refugees coming. They occupy the riverbank in groups, insisting that it is an ownerless land.
The county doesn't care, and the township has no power to expel them. This time, these people are the hardest hit. What will happen to these people? I'm afraid that if we start, refugees from the counties to the north and west will come, and the village will not be able to cope..."
Before the disaster on Xisha Island last year, there were more than 40,000 refugees gathered on Xisha Island alone, and there were not even 100,000 but 80,000 refugees stranded in Chongzhou County. When the Donglu invaded, a large number of refugees from Yannan, Shandong and northwest Zhongzhou flocked southward.
The stranded immigrant population in Chongzhou County has also further increased.
This is also the main reason why the number of registered households in Chongzhou County is just over 200,000, but the actual number of households far exceeds this number.
Although Chongzhou County is located in the Yangtze-Huaihe Plain, a land of plenty, not every piece of land is suitable for farming. For example, the riverbanks and low-lying lands that are always flooded during floods are usually uncultivated wasteland. The absolute number is still quite huge.
A large number of refugees are flocking to the south, causing Chongzhou County, which has a vast territory and rich resources, to face the dilemma of many people and few fields. The riverbanks and low-lying lands that are usually ignored have naturally become fields that can be used for farming.
These deserted beaches and low-lying land were originally ownerless and were considered a type of public land. However, when the refugees coming from the south wanted to farm, they naturally gave up the land that had been owned by the wealthy and powerful people from nearby villages. This was also an escape.
One of the main factors in the formation of tax hiding places and fields - Lin Fu has been asking people to check these during this period, and he is very clear about this situation.
This time of flooding, a large number of low-lying lands and riverbank fields were submerged. When each township reported the disaster, they included these fields in the report, in order to strive for exemption of more grain taxes.
Faced with Xiangzhang Lili Zhengluofu's doubts, Lin Fu did not hesitate much and said: "Lijia's priority is to help the villagers. If there are too many outsiders coming in and exceeding Lijia's relief capacity, Lijia will need to send people to help."
People sent them to Jiuhua Temple, Zilang Mountain, and Hecheng Division for centralized relief. There are relief camps in these three places. If the villagers fail to fulfill their responsibilities and people starve to death on the road, I will still hold them accountable.
Julijia is responsible for the crime!" He then asked the dozens of disaster victims who followed along the way, "How many of you are from other places? The fragmented fields that were finally reclaimed have been flooded, and the thatched sheds have been flooded. Don't worry.
You come with me to Jiuhua Temple first. Although the conditions are difficult, if you choose to settle down in Chongzhou, I will not watch you starve to death..."
Lin Fu turned back to Li Shuyi and Ao Canghai and said, "Let's go to Jiuhua Temple..."
************
Jiuhua Temple was originally a large temple in the northwest of Chongzhou County. Lin Fu used the bandit case to expel all the monastic forces in Chongzhou County. Jiuhua Temple was also taken over by the Jiangdong Left Army and became a garrison of the Jiangdong Left Army in the northwest corner of Chongzhou County.
.
After three months of transformation, Jiuhua Temple has now been transformed into a military fortress with a circumference of more than 800 steps. The garrison has also been increased from the original one post of 200 soldiers to two posts of 400 soldiers. The Chongzhou Infantry Camp
Deputy battalion commander Liu Zhenzhi is in charge, but this place is still marked as Jiuhua Temple on the map.
After the inventory of the land was transferred, more than 60,000 fields were actually transferred to the military camps near Jiuhua Temple, and there were more than 3,000 households of tenant farmers on these fields. These tenants were the first to receive rent and tax reductions after the inventory of the land was transferred.
The first batch of direct beneficiaries were also the first ordinary people in Chongzhou County to support the Jiangdong Left Army.
After the tax reduction in June, Lin Fu asked Liu Zhenzhi to organize the nearby tenants Qingzhuang for military training. This time, the entire county of Chongzhou was severely flooded, so the disaster relief camp in the northwest of the county was naturally located at Jiuhua Temple.
In addition to the tenants and refugees from other places who were severely affected by the disaster near Huasi, there were also many refugees from Xinghua and Gaocheng.
When Lin Fu rushed to Jiuhua Temple, the rain stopped for a while. Seeing Lin Fu rushing back, the people in the relief camp became excited:
"The Governor is here, Mr. Lin is here..." "Now everyone is saved. The Governor will never let everyone suffer." "Who is the Governor?" "The bloody battle in Jiyang killed Donghai.
Mr. Lin, the governor of the capital, who made Kou cry for his father and call his mother, Lord Lin, the governor of the capital who was killed by King Yan Nanqin so much that Donglu cried for his father and mother, you don’t even know about it?" "It turns out it was him, coming here in the heavy rain, wearing clothes and armor.
It's been watered thoroughly, maybe he will be a good official." "What do you mean maybe? When the governor came to Chongzhou, the summer grain harvest of the tenants here was nearly half as much as in previous years. With such heavy rain, you see
Which official is running around for the refugees? The governor is running non-stop to almost every corner of Chongzhou County. Even when eating, he sits on the roadside and eats big cakes with everyone. There are still people who are so considerate of the people these days
Mr. Guan, if you happen to meet me, just burn some incense secretly..."
Chongzhou County was severely affected by the disaster. Lin Fu rushed around non-stop to inspect the disaster. Naturally, Lin Mengde, Cao Ziang, Sun Jingtang, Fu Qinghe, Hu Zhiyong, Sun Jingxuan and others could not sit still in Zilang Mountain. In addition to Liu Zhen in Jiuhua Temple, Cao Ziang
He also personally took charge of disaster relief work here.
Seeing Lin Fu coming, Cao Ziang and Liu Zhenzhi came over. Lin Fu took the slender little girl off the horse and handed it over to the guards. He sent the little girl and her family to the relief camp and said to Cao Ziang: "The rain will stop for a while.
Even if the water pours down again, we still can’t relax..."
“Originally I planned to excavate the through-channel between the Xishan River and the Yunyan River this fall and winter to connect the two waters,” Cao Ziang said. “Now it seems that we can dredge the Yunyan River at the same time... you know
How many refugees are there in the relief camps here these days?"
"How many?" Lin Fu asked.
"There are a total of 32,000 people. I did a rough calculation and found that most of them are clients who have been stranded in Chongzhou in recent years!" Cao Zi'ang replied, "If we are serious enough to identify the hidden population in Chongzhou, we can organize 100,000 young people in autumn and winter.
At the same time, building a new city and digging river channels will not be a problem..."
"Do you really want to make this determination?" Lin Fu asked, holding his chin in his hand.
"After this disaster relief work, the people's hearts should be on our side. Even if there is a backlash in the local area, it is not a cause for concern," Cao Zi'ang said. "Time waits for no one. We must check the Dingkou and the field records without delay. A large amount of public land has been given to local tyrants.
The distorted facts of occupation by powerful tribes must also be corrected. Dredging rivers, transforming floodplains and low-lying land into arable public land, and renting it to tenants from other places for farming can further solidify our foundation in Chongzhou. In fact, as long as the flood season passes,
, the through-channel between Xishan River and Yunyan River can be organized to be excavated first..."
"Okay, let's go ahead and do it." Lin Fu nodded, affirming Cao Ziang's suggestion.
Lin Fu has been thinking about the source of troops for the Jiangdong Left Army.
Chongzhou is a land of plenty. Even if the locals are poor, they can barely make ends meet. They lack the courage to struggle for survival. Although they can be recruited to defend the territory, considering that their identification with the Jiangdong Left Army is not that strong, they cannot
Treat the local people in Chongzhou as core soldiers that you can rely on.
The Jiangdong Left Army was formed based on the most untrustworthy refugees, and it also created a jaw-dropping glorious record.
In fact, for those refugees who are forced to leave their homes for survival, their desire for land and stable survival is unimaginable to ordinary people, and the bravery they inspire is also unimaginable to ordinary people.
However, refugee uprisings are often difficult to achieve, and have little direct relationship with the bravery of individual refugees. The most important thing is that the organizational strength of the refugees who hurriedly rose up is too weak, and there is not enough military logistics support, so they cannot integrate the bravery of individuals.
The sharpness needed to become an elite army.
The Jiangdong Left Army's current recruitment base is only a small population of less than 40,000 refugees placed on Xisha Island. The strong and courageous people are selected from the 40,000 small households, forming a scale of more than 6,500 auxiliary troops for the Jiangdong Left Army.
, has almost reached the recruitment limit of one soldier per household. Lin Fu's most important thing at the moment is to expand the recruitment base of the Jiangdong Left Army.
Without a solid foundation for recruiting troops, the Jiangdong Left Army cannot become stronger as it fights.
The first thing Lin Fu wants to win over in Chongzhou is the refugees who have left their hometowns and are stranded in Chongzhou. He wants to do everything possible to let them take root in Chongzhou, benefit from the Jiangdong Left Army, and become a staunch force supporting the Jiangdong Left Army. Therefore,
And there is nothing worth hesitating about offending local forces.