They waited left and right but couldn't wait for Xu Ying. Just when everyone was confused, they saw a cavalry flying on horseback to report:
"General, it's time to control the internal history of millet."
"However, the internal historian insisted on going outside the city to inspect the farmland first, and asked me to come and inform the general."
Wang Jian and Yang Duanhe looked at each other and secretly thought that Xu Ying was reliable, knowing that time was running out and the farming season waited for no one.
Wang and Yang were right. It can be said that Xu Ying's trip was not delayed for even a quarter of an hour.
Xu Ying was in Pingyang (now Linfen, Shanxi) when he received the order from Yingzheng.
Without saying a word, he just took a few disciples to get some food and then got on the carriage and drove to Handan.
Farmers' style is minimalist. They usually treat themselves as ordinary farmers, so they don't have much luggage.
Pingyang is eight hundred miles away from Handan. The group of them traveled through the starry night and finally arrived at their destination on the third day.
The soldiers who came to greet Wang Jian were already waiting ten miles away. It stands to reason that Xu Ying should return to the city first to be polite and then have a meal to wash away the dust.
But Xu Ying said to the soldiers:
"Please be sure to tell the general."
"The farming season is approaching and the people are eagerly awaiting it. Xu Ying does not dare to delay it at all."
"This trip I won't go into the city and go straight to plowing the fields."
"I will apologize to the general later."
So he went straight to the farmland without even entering the city gate.
By the time Wang Jian and his entourage followed the trail and caught up, Xu Ying was already standing by the farmland, frowning and inspecting the drought situation.
Wang Jian, Yang Duan and Laoyuan stepped out of the carriage and led everyone forward to salute respectfully:
"I've met the internal historian. I'm a bit disappointed in my welcome. Please forgive me for that."
Xu Ying quickly returned the gift and replied:
"My subordinates are not polite enough to invite the general. The general is not on the same level as his subordinates."
Wang Jian was polite again and asked with some worry:
"As the internal history has seen, the drought in the three counties was so serious that it was impossible to irrigate the fields."
"Does the internal history have a way to divert water?"
Xu Ying didn't say anything. He walked to the river and looked into the distance for a while, then shook his head and replied:
"If we have time to dam the river, we can raise the water level and irrigate the farmland."
"But it's only one month before the farming season, so it's too late to build the dam."
"Moreover, if it takes one or two years to build the dam, I don't know how many people will starve to death as a result."
"No, no..."
Wang Jian quickly replied:
"What the internal history says is true."
"Building a dam means that water from afar cannot quench the thirst that is near."
Xu Ying walked forward along the river bank, and everyone followed behind.
The two bosses were holding a pen in one hand and a bamboo slip in the other. There were several servants beside them, some carrying bamboo slips and some holding ink trays. They looked very nervous for fear of making any mistakes.
No wonder they behaved like this. Even the general Wang Jian had to be careful.
Agriculture may not have a high status in modern times, but in ancient times it was everything.
Whether the country is alive or dead depends on agriculture, whether the country is strong depends on agriculture, whether it can conquer the east and west depends on agriculture.
Therefore, agricultural people like Xu Ying can almost be said to be a kind of belief in this era.
For example, if Xu Ying could solve the irrigation problem now... then I don't know how many lives would be saved.
Xu Ying seemed to be used to all this. He continued to walk ahead and said:
"For today's plan, there are only two methods that may be feasible."
"First, we can connect the ditch from the high water source to the low water source."
Everyone couldn't help but say "oh".
This is indeed a good method.
As the saying goes, "water flows downwards." If the water flows here, it means the upper reaches is higher.
So as long as you look upstream, you will always find a higher water source than the downstream farmland, and then divert it downwards.
But Xu Ying immediately shook his head.
“However, this method is also time-consuming and labor-intensive.”
"If we open canals to divert water, I'm afraid we won't be able to farm."
"If we want to farm, we can't open canals..."
Wang Jian nodded in agreement.
This is what he wanted to say, it would be okay if he had time.
If one month doesn't work, then two months; if two months doesn't work, then four months...
But now we are forced to open canals and farmland at the same time within a month. How can we have so many manpower?
So Wang Jian asked:
"What about the other way?"
Xu Ying replied:
"Another method is to use jié gāo to divert water."
Wang Jian said curiously:
"What is this orange...?"
Xu Ying replied:
"That's what I accidentally discovered while waiting to collect water in the fields."
"This device can draw water from low water levels to high fields faster and with less effort."
Wang Jian was overjoyed:
"Is there such a thing?"
"Can the internal history open my eyes to me?"
Everyone also commented one after another.
Xu Ying nodded and said:
"As it should be."
"The general can order some logs to be fetched, and I will make some oranges from upstream."
"You can also let the craftsmen make it together with us, which will save the time of teaching."
When talking about craftsman Wang Jian, Shen Bing immediately comes to mind.
So Wang Jian turned around and ordered:
"Shen Bing, where is Shen Bing?"
"Go and call the artillery engineer!"
The subordinate responded and mounted his horse to look for it, but he came back before he had taken a few steps:
"General, Shen Bing is in the river."
As he spoke, he pointed not far ahead.
Wang Jian looked in the direction indicated by his subordinates, and sure enough he saw Shen Bing and his artillery crew stripping down to their underpants, some of them even naked.
A group of people were playing in the river, not knowing what they were doing.
Cang expressed doubts about what was being done:
"Senior brother, can this thing work?"
"Can it really scoop water from low places to high places on its own?"
"Are you just making fun of me..."
Fatty Tun interrupted Cang:
"Gongcheng, when did master lie to us?"
“Every time I waited, I didn’t believe it, but in the end I had to believe it.”
"How can this trip be an exception?"
Cang scratched his head and replied:
"I also understood."
"It's just that it's unbelievable to have water flow to higher places on its own..."
Yan swung the ax and drove a wooden wedge in while cursing:
"Why is there so much nonsense?"
“You’ll know if you try it out after making it?”
Just as Shen Bing was about to explain, he heard someone on the shore shout:
"Engineer Shen Bing, the general has invited me."
Shen Bing looked up and saw that there were a lot of high-ranking officials standing on the shore.
So he quickly dropped his hatchet and stepped ashore on the river.
Hui also saw the group of people, and then said in surprise:
"The leader...could it be Xu Ying?"
Everyone was startled and stood up to look towards the shore.
After a while Cang nodded and said:
"It's true. I'm afraid I was invited here to control the drought."
No wonder they behave like this.
Among the hundreds of schools in the pre-Qin period, if the Mohist school is regarded as the representative of the craftsmen and the Yang-Zhu school is the spokesperson of the small landowners, then the peasant family stands at the bottom and speaks for ordinary people, especially the farmers.
Therefore, farmers have a great influence among the people, and even many disciples of Confucianism have switched to farmers.