The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 480 Shen Le: Kill the alligator? Me?
Shen Le thought that the memory he saw would continue from the last time:

That is, he would see the little girl and boy get engaged, get married, perhaps have children, and live a long and happy life.

There may be quarrels, there may be hardships, but overall, it should still be happy? Otherwise...

Otherwise, this wedding procession should not make him feel happy and joyful, but perhaps more melancholy, anger and sorrow.

However, the tide was rising, and the light and shadows were flowing. When Shen Le regained his vision, he found himself standing by a river. In front of him was a middle-aged official with a frown on his face and his trouser legs rolled up above his knees:
"The embankment collapsed, knocking down 53 houses and destroying 6372 mu of farmland, leaving thousands of people homeless."

His brows were tightly knitted together, and a vertical mark rose straight up, almost reaching the top of his forehead:

"And this isn't the first time. This county is often hit by floods. In the past twenty years, at least ten years have seen large and small dam breaches..."

The county he was inspecting was at the bend of the river, where the upstream river flowed into the Yangtze River. As long as there was heavy rain upstream or the Yangtze River had some movement, they would definitely be in trouble.

If you are lucky, only a few meters of dike will be destroyed, and hundreds of acres of farmland will be destroyed.
Unfortunately, the entire county was submerged in water.

The scale of what he encountered this time was not large, but disaster relief, epidemic prevention, post-disaster relief, and resettlement of the people were not something that a county magistrate could handle alone, and he had to get support from the provincial capital.

——If not, why would the county magistrate write an official document crying out to the heavens and dragging him over for inspection?
“We still need to control the water…”

The middle-aged official sighed. A young military officer stepped forward with a serious expression.

"Sir, it's so difficult to control the flood! We have tried several times, and every time,

He turned and pointed upstream:

"Just when it was about to close, a monster came from upstream to cause trouble!"

"Oh?"

The middle-aged official's face turned serious. He stared at the young military officer with a deep gaze, as if to see through his internal organs:
"In this peaceful and clear world, there are some things that cannot be said carelessly - are there really monsters?"

"Really!" The young military officer was anxious. He quickly opened his official robe, ignoring the people around him who shouted "Don't be disrespectful in front of the envoy", and tore off his shirt in a few seconds:

"Look! Here! Here! I jumped into the water in a hurry, wanting to fight it, but I failed. It slapped my tail and scratched me with its claws!"

There was a deep indentation on his right thigh, and the scar was knotty and had not yet healed.

On the right side of the chest and abdomen, there are three long parallel straight lines, running from the center of the abdomen almost to the shoulders. At first glance, it is shocking:
If any one of these two scars was more serious, the person would be dead and there would be no way he could stand here!
The middle-aged official was also moved. He quickly stepped forward, held the young military officer's shoulder, and carefully examined the scars on his body.

After watching for a while, he took a deep breath and patted him on the shoulder:
"Warrior! In this world, with the Holy Emperor in power, it is time for warriors to serve! Come on, tell me in detail about the monster, and let's see what method we can use to kill it!"

He personally pulled the young military officer's clothes on, then took off his official robe and draped it over his shoulders:

"What does the monster look like? How big is it? Does it mainly move on land or in water? What does it eat?"

The middle-aged official stayed in the county for ten days. During the day, he was busy counting the losses, arranging disaster relief, and arranging for the re-counting of land and demarcation of boundaries to ensure that the people would not be forced to sell their land due to poverty.

At night, he led the young military officer to visit his fellow soldiers, local warriors known for their bravery, the elders, and the disaster victims who had witnessed the monster on the dam:

"Let me think about it. Is there any way to kill that monster? No matter what it does, we can't let it harass the people and hinder the construction of the dam!"

"This is too difficult." Everyone he interviewed, including the young warrior's master, shook their heads:
"That monster is too big... It's big and its body is hard. We can't break its scales with our swords..."

"It has the ability to manipulate water... How can we defeat it in the water? We can't defeat it!"

"Please ask Master Dragon King to take it..."

"Maybe he is the Dragon King?"

"I can't beat you. I can't beat you at all..."

The middle-aged official refused to give up. He led a group of local officials to the county and prefectural city temples to burn incense and pray, asking for help.
The gods were silent. No matter how much incense they received, or how the middle-aged officials pointed at them and scolded them, or even pulled their statues off the thrones and out of the temples and whipped them, they showed no reaction, just like a clay sculpture or a wooden statue.

He then led the officials to the local Dragon King Temple to burn incense, but the Dragon King became even more silent and showed no reaction.

Only a temple priest with half of his teeth missing and a broken leg came up limping and kowtowed to the master:

"It's useless, don't count on it. Five years ago, the Dragon King refused to let it rain, so the Lord dragged him out to the sun and broke his golden body. This one was only built less than two years ago..."

Shen Le turned his head towards the wall, his mouth twitching. According to this, the Dragon King really has no magic power, or he really can't do anything.

Perhaps, except for the Poyang Lake Dragon King whom he had met, many Dragon Kings in remote areas either had lost their power or curled up in their water palaces, not caring about anything?
That’s right, just because you offer incense and candles doesn’t mean others have to accept them!

It was useless to pray to gods, so one could only pray to people. The middle-aged official could only pray to various temples, hoping to find a master and extraordinary person, and to go into the mountains to assassinate the monster, but to no avail;

He wrote a letter to the capital, hoping to ask for some capable people to come and kill the monster, but still to no avail.

Shen Le followed him closely, watching him frown, watching him flipping through the pages, watching him write until his ink was completely dried up, watching him sigh in frustration:
"Alas... the governor is not as virtuous as Han Wengong... Wengong's article was able to drive away crocodiles, but my article can't drive away anything..."

"It's not that you are not virtuous, it's that the imperial court is too weak to bless you." Suddenly, a thin voice sounded from the corner of the wall. Shen Le and the middle-aged official were startled at the same time:
"Who?"

"Don't be alarmed, Governor." A wisp of black smoke emerged from the small hole in the corner of the wall, swaying gently, and condensed into a human shape in a moment.

An old man with a strange appearance and wearing a blue round-collared official uniform swayed and stepped forward to bow:
"I am the judge under the seat of the local City God. My master sent me here to talk to you. I want you to know that the power of my City God is tied to the country. When the country is stable, the power of the City God is strong..."

If the country is unstable or half of the country is destroyed, the power of the city god will weaken. Shen Le silently added in his heart:

In this day and age, the Jin army invaded, and the emperor was at peace, so the city god was thankful to have 50% of the power.

Maybe, they are restricted by some rules and cannot take action. For example, "You guys fight, and after the fight, whoever sits on the throne will be my boss. I won't protect anyone now..."

The middle-aged official obviously thought of this, his face was gloomy, he shook his head slightly and smiled bitterly. He was silent for a while and sighed:

"Alas, the world is like this, it only makes the people suffer... Besides, my virtue is far from being comparable to Han Wengong..."

"Although they are far from comparable, the governor's heart for the people is exactly the same as Han Wengu's back then." The judge advised with a smile.

Shen Le stood by and rolled his eyes silently:

What does "although it is far from comparable" mean?
You are really good at persuading people. You are just telling the truth and stabbing the other person in the heart, right?
Fortunately, the middle-aged officials did not react to this and seemed to have tacitly agreed to this point - it is not difficult. When comparing one's writing with that of Han Yu, "the first of eight generations of literature", any literati can have self-awareness.

He just bowed slightly and raised his hand, asking the other party to continue. The judge poured some tea on the table, dipped his hands in the tea, and began to write and draw:
"Although my Lord cannot help, I can tell you some of the monster's weaknesses. The monster was originally a crocodile dragon, hiding in a deep pool, and has been practicing for nearly five hundred years.

It is three feet long and weighs several thousand pounds... It has short legs and a long tail, and is covered with scales. It is impervious to swords and knives, and impervious to water and fire. It eats three cows a day, and after being full, it can go without food for three months..."

Shen Le pricked up his ears and listened along. After listening for a while, he was speechless:

So this is a big crocodile, right?
Right, right?

He could lie down beside the pond, open his mouth and inhale, sucking the passing birds down (either this was the work of evil spirits or the judge was just bragging);
It can lie in the water, and when a cow comes to drink, it will suddenly jump out, open its big mouth and bite the cow's neck, drag it directly into the water, slowly bite it to death, drink its blood and eat its meat;

The force of its tail's lashing is extremely violent, and its bite is so strong that it can shatter armor and break swords and spears;
The speed of crawling on the shore is not very fast, but it can ride the tide and flood;

The most important thing is that in three years, it will be the day when it completes 500 years of cultivation. It will definitely find a day with strong winds and heavy rains, start a flood, ride the flood into the river, and rush to the sea.

That was his only chance to transform into a dragon!

“How big will the water be?”

The middle-aged official asked anxiously. The judge shook his head:

"I have been valued by the Lord of the Prefecture and appointed as a judge, but it has only been a hundred years, so my knowledge is shallow. But I heard from the Lord of the Prefecture that he has seen similar monsters causing floods, destroying city walls, and turning a county's soldiers and civilians into fish and turtles."

The middle-aged official's face turned pale instantly. The judge bowed and said:
"Heaven moves vigorously, and a gentleman should constantly strive to improve himself. If the Lord of the City is willing to eliminate harm, the City God's Office and the people above and below may be able to do their best to help.
If this is all I have to say, I hope you can make plans soon."

A wisp of black smoke quietly disappeared and went out of the house. After a long while, the middle-aged official got up from the table and rubbed his eyes:

"Did I just have a dream?"

Turning his head, he saw the flames on the candlesticks flickering gently, with a hint of green. There were two teacups in front of him, one was for him, and the other was slightly wet, as if someone had been drinking with him before.

There was a patch of water on the table that had not yet dried up. Half of it was in the shape of a crocodile, and the other half was the shape of the surrounding mountains and rivers, as well as the deep pool where the crocodile was hiding...

The middle-aged official was shocked and quickly brushed the paper and ground the ink to copy the two pictures. While copying, he repeated the old man's narration:
"The crocodile dragon... is three feet long and weighs thousands of gold... It will flood into the sea in three years..."

Shen Le watched him walk around the table with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth. While pacing, he muttered to himself:
"Three years... I have at most one and a half years left as an official here..."

Within a year and a half, the alligator may not cause trouble again; even if it does, the scale of the trouble will not be large.

Even if it is delayed for another term, at most I can find an excuse in advance and go to a place farther away; when the alligator dragon really starts to cause flooding, I will write a manifesto and have people throw themselves into the water...

Then, there would surely be many ordinary people who would watch the crocodile dragon sail away down the river.

By then, he would be the second Han Wengong, the people would be grateful to him, his colleagues would admire him, and even the emperor would look up to him when he knew about it.

Shen Le could almost figure out his train of thought. To be honest, this was indeed a way to maximize personal interests, but it was a pity for the people:

If you don't want to bring misfortune to the people, you can also relocate the residents in advance and throw the manifesto into the water.

The difference is only one or two months at most. With a little bit of effort, you can gain such a great reputation?
"No, we can't do that." The middle-aged official shuddered and shook his head vigorously to get rid of such thoughts. How can you work like this?

As parents of the people, you protect your subjects like your own babies. How could you step on the lives and property of your subjects in order to gain promotion and wealth?
"We still have to kill it?...So, how do we kill it?" Shen Le:...I don't know!

You are an official!
You must find a way, otherwise who can you count on? Me?
He posted notices to solicit people's opinions, and at the same time wrote a lot of letters to ask his acquaintances for advice.

From summer to autumn, from winter to spring, finally, the young military officer who had fought against the crocodile dragon, carrying a strange-looking gun, unveiled the notice:
"I have a friend who is good at fishing. He gave me this idea..."

Simply put, if you can catch big and fierce fish, you can also catch alligators. Alligators are huge, so the bait used must also be large;
Alligators are ferocious in nature, so the bait they use must be meat, such as live chickens, pigs, or cows, or large pieces of meat that have died and have become slightly smelly.

Use a huge hook, such as a three-claw or four-claw anchor, put the bait on it, and wait for the alligator to eat...

"That alligator is a monster, it has its own intelligence. What if it doesn't come to eat? Or, what if I throw the bait into the water, it takes the bait and runs away, spitting out the hook?"

The middle-aged official listened attentively and also raised his own rebuttal. The young military officer nodded seriously:
"Yes, so my friend proposed a method for catching big and fierce fish. The bait is not put into the water, but a thick rope is used -

Or an iron chain, hung on a thick tree trunk, above the water, about half a foot above the water surface..."

If the alligator wants to eat the bait, it will definitely jump out of the water. After biting something, it will sink into the water and will definitely get caught on the hook. At this time, it is suspended in the water and cannot exert any force, so it can only be killed by anyone.

"We can set up more hooks around the deep pool where it usually lurks. We can put thirty or fifty hooks in a circle and bait them all. Then, we can set up a powerful crossbow far away?"

Things like three-ox crossbows, five-ox crossbows, and siege crossbows, just put up as many of them as possible.

No matter how strong the scales on the crocodile's body are, they are just scales. Ordinary swords and knives cannot break them. Can't powerful crossbows break them?

As long as the alligator takes the bait, everyone will cock the trigger and shoot until it becomes like a sieve and is almost dead, then get closer and shoot it!
"If that doesn't work, you can also stuff a coiled-up sharp steel bar into the stomach of a pig or cow. This thing eats food raw, and when it swallows the pig or cow, the steel bar will pop off..."

This is the method used by hunters in the Far North to hunt bears and wolves. They freeze steel bars in ice and coat the outside with grease.

If you change it a little bit and use it to fight alligators, maybe it will be useful?

"That does sound reasonable..."

The middle-aged official tapped the table again and again, praising softly. After a moment, he patted the table lightly:
"Well, you wait in my house for a day. I will write your idea into an official document and report it to the City God. If the City God is willing to help, we will have another helper!"

The City God was indeed willing to help. The next night, the two of them fell into a dream again. The old judge came and praised them highly:
"The Lord of the Mansion read your document and said it was no problem and he could help.

This crocodile dragon can hide for three months after a full meal. Let’s feed it first, and then send our demons to drive away all the wild animals around it…”

While the alligator was full and sleeping, they drove all the wild boars, pheasants, big fish and small fish far away, to a place dozens of miles away where the alligator could not easily eat them.

Then, thinking that it is almost awake, we put down various baits around it and wait for it to take the bait!

"Our Lord can lead the way, drive it away, investigate the situation of the alligator dragon, and help cover up the situation. However, if we really want to fight it, we need the governor to send warriors to lead the way!"

"No problem! Leave this to me!!!"

The middle-aged official made the decision decisively. He sent his trusted aides to purchase iron anchors and make ropes and chains.
Put up signs and post notices to inform the surrounding mountain people not to enter the mountains, so as not to be eaten by alligators;
Find a skilled craftsman to create flexible, bendable steel bars;

Buy pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, hang them around the deep pool with ropes, and let the alligator jump up a little bit so that it can easily eat them...

Eat quickly!
Eat well, sleep well, then we can get started!
After feeding the crocodile once at the turn of winter and spring, when it wakes up again, it is the time of the year when there is a shortage of food. Birds and beasts hide away, and fish and turtles disappear.

The surroundings were quiet, with only a fishy smell that constantly assaulted its sense of smell:

It’s food!
It’s food!
It's delicious!!!

Rush out and fill your stomach quickly!

In the dense forest beside the pond, a young military officer and a group of his companions were sharpening their swords.

In another direction, a middle-aged official stood in front of a powerful crossbow with a serious look on his face. His hands were clenched tightly together, and the backs of his hands turned pale:
"God of Heaven and Earth, bless my people... Pray that this crocodile will really take the bait, pray that this powerful crossbow will succeed in one strike, pray that this crocodile will die under the powerful crossbow, and don't hurt my sons..."

As they waited with bated breath, a huge shadow appeared under the water and crept quietly. In an instant, everyone became nervous:

coming!

coming!

"It's so big!"

Next to the young military officer, a young man was slightly shocked. He reached out and pushed his companion:
"At the beginning, you just..."

Is he going to escape from this thing's mouth?

This is amazing!

"Shh!"

The young military officer clenched the spear in his hand and hushed softly, signaling his companions not to speak.

Around them, the shadows of the trees swayed, shading their figures perfectly;
The leaves and weeds gave off a fragrance that masked the smell on their bodies. Even if they stretched out their hands and smelled the back of their hands, they could not smell the sweat on their arms.
The branches and leaves rustled slightly. If you were a little further away, you probably wouldn't be able to hear their low voices...

Is this the City God blessing them?

Must be!
The swords and guns in their hands had been offered in the temple of the City God for three days, and the blades and gun tips were smeared with lamp oil and dipped in incense ash.

It is said that it was the City God who blessed them, allowing them to pierce the monster's scales with a single strike of a sword or a spear.

However, the power of the City God is limited and cannot be wasted casually. Otherwise, why doesn't the City God fight the monster himself?

coming!

The monster is coming!
There was a splash of water, and then another splash of water. In a moment, a figure jumped out and bit a slightly smelly dead pig hanging on an iron hook!

Jump up, fall down. Then, the pool was turbulent, huge waves rolled up high, and then fell down with a bang:

"bingo!"

“It’s a hit!”

"Hurry up!!!"

Muffled exclamations rang out from four or five directions around the pond. Then, there were the sounds of gentle rotation, the sound of wheels crushing fallen leaves, and low urging voices:

"Can you aim?"

"No, the tree is blocking the way! We need to move to another location!"

"Go down a little! Down to the edge of the pond!"

"Too dangerous……"

With the rank of a middle-aged official, he only borrowed five powerful crossbows from the local garrison. First, the garrison did not have that much equipment, and second,...

You are a prefect, not a military officer, so why do you need so many powerful weapons?

Do you want to rebel?
What? Killing monsters? Are you kidding?

In other words, he had a good relationship with the local garrison and their ancestors were friends, so he was able to borrow five planes.

At this time, the five powerful crossbows were busy adjusting their positions and directions.
Wisps of black smoke and shadows swirled around these powerful crossbows. It was obvious that the City God also made a great effort:
At this time, covering them up is the most important thing!
The crossbow cannot be discovered!

Oh, and I also need to help adjust the crosshairs to ensure accurate shooting—

After a busy period, the crisp sounds of "clang", "clang", the crisp knocking sounds of mechanisms, the sound of strings, and the violent sound of breaking wind finally rang out one after another.

Five consecutive shots were fired from a powerful crossbow that was about the size of a spear and had a blade three feet long. Three of the shots penetrated deeply into the crocodile's body, and two missed. One of the shots penetrated the wall of the pool, almost to the handle.

The crocodile dragon was suspended in the air and struggling violently. The water in the pond was whirling and swirling around it, and pieces of water blades were flying around:

"Hide!"

"Get down quickly!"

"Everything will be fine once it dies!"

There was a commotion around the deep pool. However, the crocodile was very patient. Even after being shot three times, it continued to struggle for a quarter of an hour, and the bright red water blades did not stop.

With a loud rumbling sound, large trees and thick branches were felled one after another. At the edge of the deep pool, cries of pain gradually rang out:
"Get out of the way!"

“The tree is falling!”

"My Lord! Be careful!!!"

Suddenly there was a loud crackling sound, and the tree trunk that was hanging the iron chain and anchor and holding the crocodile was cut in half and gradually broke apart.

Seeing that the crocodile was about to escape and fall into the deep pool, the young military officer gritted his teeth, grabbed the steel gun in his hand, and rushed out!

(End of this chapter)