Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 41 The flood dividing Chun'an is unprecedented!
In Chun'an, the drizzle continues.

Hu Zongxian stood in the rain, on the embankment, looking at the ripples on the water, his face as heavy as iron.

The water level in the upper reaches of the Xin'an River is still rising, and a large amount of water and sand are flowing out from the back of the dam.

Hu Zongxian knew that the soil skeleton of the foundations of the embankments and sluices had been destroyed. As the channels expanded, the base soil was hollowed out, which would cause the embankments to collapse.

Eventually, accidents such as dam breach, dam collapse, and gate failure will occur one after another.

This is what the saying "a thousand-mile long dam can be breached by a single ant hole" means.

Qi Jiguang commanded the soldiers to pile up earthbags around the water hole behind the dike, and then build a surrounding well so that the bottom of the well wall was in close contact with the ground.

The well is divided into three layers: one layer is paved with sand and gravel, one layer is made of firewood and straw as filter material, and another layer is paved with sand and gravel. Bamboo pipes are installed at the well mouth to drain the seeping clean water to prevent overflow and collapse of the well wall.

However, the gushing water was so fierce and large that the coarse sand could not hold it back, so they first filled the area with gravel and stones to disinfect the water, and then filled it with sand and gravel.

Soon, Qi Jiguang noticed that the filler was sinking, and the soldiers continued to add filler to try to stop it from sinking.

All efforts were in vain soon after. The water hole caused the collapse of the dam, and a huge "wound" was formed. The river water roared, broke through the dam and rushed to the distance.

The most terrifying thing is that the river water carried away more silt, and the "wound" of the levee was rapidly expanding.

"Can't it be stopped?" Xu Wei once again quietly walked to Hu Zongxian's side, his low voice revealing pain.

Hu Zongxian's hair suddenly stood on end. Without moving his body, he turned his head almost directly from the front to the back, "Wen Chang, why are you back?"

Logically speaking, Xu Wei should have led his troops to Hangzhou Prefecture at this moment to capture the nine county magistrates who had disappeared. Hu Zongxian did not think that this sudden return meant that he had brought back good news.

An unprecedented fear surged in my heart.

"My Lord, I just arrived in Jiande County and learned that the Jiande dike was flooded. I led the soldiers to help, but before I reached the dike, I received news that the other seven counties of Xin'an River were flooded. At that time, I guessed that Chun'an was also like this, so I asked the soldiers to stay and solve the problem, and then I came back."

Xu Wei was distraught and very angry. "Sir, the flooding in one county can be explained as an accident, but the flooding in all nine counties is enough to prove that the repair of Xin'an River was shoddy last year and the river supervision office did not supervise it strictly.

There must be a huge network behind this. The sluice gates of the nine counties and the disappearance of the county magistrates are all connected.

The person behind the scenes definitely knows the details of the Xin'an River Dam. He stores water in advance just to cause the dam to overflow and water to surge.

As long as the water level rises, even if the minister orders the dams and sluice gates to be opened to release water and reinforce the river embankment, it will still not be able to stop the disaster that is brewing in secret!
In the face of a disaster, no one will notice the tiny waves that have just formed in the water!"

Conspiracy!

The water is stored in the dams and gates. There is a danger that the water level is higher than the dam and the dam will be flooded and destroyed.

conspiracy!

It is the fragility of the Xin'an River dike. The rising water level caused sand and water to burst, the dike to collapse, the dam to fall, and the gates to reverse.

People are easily blinded by the danger in front of them. Even Hu Zongxian and Xu Wei were deceived. They did not expect that the Xin'an River, which was built with two million taels of silver, would be so fragile.

Overt and covert plots are closely linked to each other, and the more overt the plot, the more loopholes it has.

If the Xin'an River continues to be closed and the sluice gates are closed, causing the water level to rise above the dike and destroying Chun'an, then the river government office that ordered the closure of the dams and sluice gates to store water, and the Chaotian Temple that issued an edict to store water during summer droughts in Zhejiang, all the government offices that have anything to do with the Xin'an River will be caught in the crossfire.

However, once the dam was opened, the gates were opened, and the water was released, the river management office had an excuse to escape punishment. The flood was too big and could not be resisted by human power. Although the Xin'an River was like a rock, it was still powerless in the face of natural disasters. If the higher-ups were really investigating, they would just abandon a few eunuchs in charge.

The "culprit", Chaotian Temple, was completely removed.

It is not one's own mistake, but a mistake that has led to a disaster. This has been the unspoken rule in officialdom for thousands of years.

The person behind the scenes even included Hu Zongxian in the scheme.

Hu Zongxian thought of the letter he had received from the cabinet a few days ago, asking him to personally draw a coastal defense map and present it to the capital.

It was because of drawing that he left Hangzhou Prefecture and went to the front line. As a result, he missed the earliest petition of the people in the nine counties and failed to open the weirs and sluice gates to release water in time, causing the water level of the Xin'an River to rise sharply during the peach blossom flood season, and the fragile Xin'an River embankment burst.

Zhang Juzheng, the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet, was a man who never interfered in the specific affairs of coastal defense and completely handed over the power to the coastal defense generals. So it was self-evident who had issued that letter.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Yan Song, Hu Zongxian’s mentor!

Think of this.

Hu Zongxian felt a salty taste in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Destroying the Xin'an River levee, flooding nine counties and millions of people, this is so atrocious that it has never happened before in history books!" A tear of blood fell from Xu Wei's eyes, but in such a world, it could not be noticed by others. "Minister, divert the flood!"

Hu Zongxian said subconsciously: "No..."

"Sir, we can't stop the flood here, and the eight weirs are even less likely to stop it. This is exactly what the people behind the scenes want!" Xu Wei interrupted Hu Zongxian for the first time and said decisively, "It's better to flood one county than nine counties. Chun'an is surrounded by mountains. If we can divert the flood water into the mountains and weaken the flood peak, even if the flood water from the eight counties is too big, we can still withstand it."

At this time, Xu Wei showed his wisdom and courage in capturing Xu Hai and luring Wang Zhi to his death after serving as Hu Zongxian's aide.

Hu Zongxian was silent, his eyes slowly looking towards the direction of the breach, his heart filled with struggle.

The people of the eight counties are people, and the people of Chun'an are also people. If we sacrifice the people of Chun'an to save the people of the eight counties, how innocent are the people of Chun'an?
Hu Zongxian was not a pedantic person. Looking at the levee that was being torn apart bit by bit, he choked up and said, "Evacuate the people."

People live in groups, especially in counties in the mountains, and the people were evacuated quickly. After working with local celebrities and elders to relocate the people according to household registration, Xu Wei returned to the levee.

Qi Jiguang and his soldiers were prepared and buried gunpowder on a part of the dike close to the mountains.

The entire levee was dead silent, with only the sound of waves and rapids.

Facing the location to be blown up, some Chun'an residents knelt down, and then all the Chun'an residents on the dike knelt down.

Under the light of the torch, Hu Zongxian closed his eyes and a few tears seeped out from the corners of his eyes.

"fry!"

The explosion resounded throughout the world.

A big hole was blown in the dike, and the flood roared out of the dike, rushed into the mountains, rushed into the farmlands and villages behind the dike, and rushed towards the farther county town.

On the hills in the distance, a group of soldiers in brocade uniforms watched this scene, immediately turned their horses’ heads, and galloped towards the north…

(End of this chapter)