After Zhang Heling left, Zhang Yanling sat in the back house and thought about the marriage that Zhang Heling said. The more he thought about it, the more funny he found it. It turned out that he had such a thing with Duke Dingguo, which was really surprising. I don’t know who it was.
What kind of woman was Xu Wanyi from Duke Dingguo's mansion that Zhang Yanling could never forget. However, judging from the fact that she was able to fight over the prostitute in Cuiping Tower before, Zhang Yanling's previous vision was probably not that good.
He further thought about the few maids around him, including Xing'er, Tao'er and Putao'er, who were actually pretty good-looking. Since that man was so crazy about the vulgar beauty in Cuiping House, I'm afraid none of these maids in the mansion would be able to escape.
Get rid of his clutches, right? But it doesn't look like it. Xing'er and Tao'er didn't say anything about crawling into her bed at night, and they were respectful to her. There didn't seem to be any unusual relationship, and I don't know if it was.
What's going on? Maybe the Marquis of Jianchang liked the kind of thing in Cuiping Tower before, and he has no interest in other women. But if this happens, Xu Wanyi of Dingguo Duke's Mansion may also be a crooked melon.
One jujube cracked.
After thinking about this for a while, Zhang Yanling thought of Tan Ruqing again. In fact, Tan Ruqing's elegant and beautiful image has long been lingering in her heart, and her every smile is quite memorable.
"Even if you get a wife, you should at least marry someone who is similar to Tan Ruqing. Unfortunately, Luo Hua seems to be ruthless on purpose. She has a bad reputation, and Tan Ruqing will definitely not accept her. How is that different from a scoundrel if she pesters her so shamelessly?
If I just missed it, I would feel very regretful in my heart. It would be a great thing if such a beautiful woman could stay together for the rest of my life. Maybe I should find a way to make this happen. It would be a matter of a happy life for a lifetime.
Woolen cloth."
Zhang Yanling was thinking about these things in confusion. After a while, he became drunk and lay down on the couch and fell asleep.
…
In the next few days, Zhang Yanling took Ma Quan, Huang Si and others on a large-scale purchase. All tools and materials needed to build the dam needed to be purchased, as long as they could not be obtained from local materials. Just to load the sediment
Tens of thousands of straw bags would be needed. In addition, a complete earthen embankment would not be possible. A large amount of bluestone would need to be hauled from the Xishan stone quarry to increase its strength, and a large number of logs and some iron bars would be needed to bind it as ribs.
Although Zhang Yanling believes that a dam of this size does not actually need to be so rigorous, because the water storage capacity is not too much, and the earth-rock embankment can fully bear it. But this is a reservoir dam after all. If the strength is not enough to cause the dam to break, it will still
It will cause huge losses. Water conservancy projects are a century-old project, and Zhang Yanling does not expect it to be safe for a hundred years, but at least basic safety guarantees must be provided.
With money, everything can be done easily. The efficiency of Ma Quan, Huang Si and others is quite good. They purchased materials and contacted Xishan Stone Mine for delivery, and communicated with Zhao Laoji and others at the manor to make preparations. Things were proceeding in an orderly manner. At the beginning of July
Fourth, Ma Quan came back from the manor and brought two pieces of good news.
First, the several-day pest control operation was successfully concluded. Originally, Zhang Yanling only planned for them to eliminate pests for three days, but the people carried out the pest control for five days, and on the third day, very few pests were actually caught. Perhaps
Hating these pests so much, the tenants continued to catch them for two more nights. Now, the number of rice planthoppers in the rice fields has been reduced to a handful. Because it is the egg-laying period of this generation of rice planthoppers, the number of rice planthoppers
After a large number of lice are trapped and killed, there are very few eggs under the leaves and stems of the seedlings, and it is almost certain that they will not cause the next outbreak.
The second thing is that Zhang Laoji has compiled a list of those who will start dam construction in a few days. Originally, Zhang Yanling thought that it would be great if more than 100 people from Xishan Manor can participate in dam construction normally, but Zhang Laoji’s list
There are nearly 300 people. In addition to more than 200 prime-age men, there are also more than 40 prime-age women. With such manpower, Zhang Yanling is relieved. Even if the people need labor in their own fields, they may not all be able to work every day, but
As long as two-thirds of the manpower is involved in building the dam, the progress will be extremely fast.
"Master Hou, the materials and manpower are basically in place. Shopkeeper Li from the Xishan Quarry said that he pulls fifty carts of stones to our manor every day. According to this progress, there will be enough stones by the time the final dam is merged.
The old blacksmith asked me to ask Mr. Hou if we can start the work in advance. He wants to start the work on the eighth day of the lunar month." Ma Quan asked Zhang Yanling for his opinion.
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "Okay, you go back and tell him that if everything is ready, there will be no need to waste more time. Ask him to allocate manpower, and I will go there personally on the eighth day of the lunar month to prepare for the start of work. Ma Quan, you also send the materials and tools
Prepare the preparations. The weather is so hot, we need to prepare some medicines to prevent heat stroke and cool down. Hire a few cooks to cook. We need to set up work sheds for rest and drinking water on the hillside of the construction site. In short, everything must be considered carefully. We spent so much money on it.
Don’t make this a mess.”
Ma Quan agreed repeatedly, thinking to himself: Mr. Hou actually considered it so carefully. He and Blacksmith Zhao had already considered these things, but he didn't expect Mr. Hou to have considered them all.
In the early morning of the eighth day of July, as soon as the city gate opened, Zhang Yanling set out with a dozen people from the mansion. The opening ceremony of the dam was naturally more grand. Originally, Zhang Yanling only wanted to go with Ma Quan and Huang Si, but after thinking about it,
He wanted to make the scene more grand, so he asked the manservant of the mansion and three nurses to follow him. He prepared some colorful flags, gongs, drums, and other things a day in advance to make it more lively when he was about to start work.
Riding fast all the way, we arrived at Zhaojiazhuang, Xishan Manor at half past midnight. But the men, women, and children in the village had been waiting for a long time. Knowing that today was the big day to start building the reservoir, the men, women, and children of the tenants of the manor all got up early and prepared to go
Watch the excitement at the scene.
When I met Blacksmith Zhao and others again, they were no longer as reserved as when they first met, and were all very enthusiastic. When they learned that their boss had arrived, the people also gathered at the gate of the manor courtyard. At one time, there were six to seven hundred men, women, and children, and the scene was full of enthusiasm.
Boiling.
"Old blacksmith, are everything ready?" Zhang Yanling was affected by the scene in front of him and asked with a happy smile.
"My boss, everyone is ready and waiting for you to come. It's getting late. We have assigned tasks today, so we can't delay." Zhao Laoji said with a cupped hand.
"Hahaha, it seems that I have delayed everyone. So what are you waiting for? Let's go." Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
"Let's go, let's go." The crowd shouted one after another, and marched out of Zhaojiazhuang toward the river bend at the foot of Wild Dog Ridge in the northwest direction.
Arriving at the river bend below Wild Dog Ridge, the place has been prepared in advance. A long grass shed has been set up on the slope above the hillside. It is a place for cooking and resting in the river. The ground is marked with white ash.
There are some huge numbers written on the line, which should be the earthwork work divided into various groups. On the wasteland next to the river, a white line about two feet wide marked the area that Zhang Yanling designated to dig out first.
A new water flow channel. This channel is the starting point of the dam project. First, the new river channel must be dug to divert the river so that the water can flow down the new river channel. Then the designated areas near the river channel and the mountainside can be excavated.
, so that you will not be troubled by the water flow.
"Ma Quan, put up the colorful flags, get the firecrackers, gongs and drums ready. Xing'er and Tao'er pull up the ribbons." Zhang Yanling ordered repeatedly.
Ma Quan and others immediately began to take action. The dozens of colorful flags they had prepared were tied with bamboo poles and quickly planted on the surrounding ground. Suddenly the scene looked different, with colorful flags flying everywhere, and it looked a bit like a construction site battle. .
Zhao Laoji and others gathered around Zhang Yanling and came to the site where the new river channel was being built. There was actually an incense case set up with some fruits on it, and a big rooster flapping in a cage under the incense case.
"What is this for?" Zhang Yanling asked.
"Please let me kill the rooster, bleed it on the ground, and worship the river god and the mountain god. This is a big project, and there are folk rules. Any major project like this that involves overturning mountains and moving earth requires worshiping the local gods. Listen to me. One generation said that for big projects like building rivers, bridges and dams, the blood of livestock must be sacrificed first, otherwise, someone will lose their life, and at best there will be a risk of bloodshed." Zhao Laoji explained.
Zhang Yanling laughed and said: "How can you say such a thing? I don't believe it."
Zhao Laoji hurriedly said: "Don't talk nonsense, my boss. There are gods three feet above your head. It's better to believe that they exist than to believe that they don't exist. Ah Xiu, catch that rooster and let the boss chop off its head with a knife." for."
Axiu agreed with a crisp voice, bent down and grabbed the rooster in her hand. The rooster struggled and screamed, and suddenly a piece of chicken shit spurted out, squirting on Axiu's hand. Axiu screamed and threw the rooster away. The rooster jumped and flapped its wings and disappeared into the grass without a trace.
Everyone around burst into loud laughter, Axiu wrinkled his nose, wiped his hands on the mud and grass on the ground, his face turned red with anger. Zhao Laoji was both funny and angry, the rooster ran away, and he killed the chicken and let blood for sacrifice It was impossible to worship the gods of the land, mountains and rivers. So I loudly asked people to go back to the village and catch a big rooster and bring it to them.
Zhang Yanling waved her hand and said with a smile: "That's all, there's no need to be serious. It's God's will that the rooster ran away. It shouldn't have died. Let's offer incense and worship it."
Seeing Zhang Yanling say this, Zhao Laoji could only nod his head, and then followed Zhang Yanling to light incense and bow to worship, praying for success, but he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.
After paying homage, Zhang Yanling picked up a shovel and walked to the excavation site. Ma Quan loudly ordered people to beat the gongs and drums. When the shovel was shoveled down, the red silk broke with a hard sound. Zhang Yanling raised his hand and a cloud of soil flew out. Firecrackers burst out all around and there was thunderous applause. This was the first shovelful of soil dug and construction officially started.
Zhang Laoji shouted loudly: "Young and old men, get to work."
In the cheers, hundreds of people rushed over quickly. For a while, shovels and pickaxes were flying, dirt and dust were flying, and the people were working enthusiastically.
Zhang Yanling dug more than a dozen times, and Zhao Laoji persuaded him to rest nearby. Zhang Yanling was only doing symbolic work, so he stopped and walked slowly to the hay shed on the hillside. He wanted to explain something to Zhao Laoji. Some things, such as the people's heatstroke prevention issues, food issues, the care of materials on the construction site at night, the recording of working hours, etc., must be done down to the smallest detail.
Just as Zhang Yanling and Zhao Laoji were talking about these things in the shed on the hillside, suddenly, a loud noise came from the construction site down the hillside. Although they were far apart, the quarrel could be heard clearly. Chu.
Zhang Yanling and Zhao Laoji hurriedly stood up and looked down the mountain. They saw a group of people struggling together on the construction site. It seemed that a fight had begun. Zhang Yanling's face immediately sank. It had only been half an hour since the construction started.
The tenant farmers started to quarrel and fight, and it was really a mess.
Zhao Laoji said quickly: "Master, sit down for a moment and I'll go take a look."
Zhang Yanling frowned and said, "Let's go take a look. Something must have happened. Just don't hurt anyone."