Queen of the Lin family in the Red Chamber

Lin Ruhai was startled, but still kept silent in front of his wife and children, took a sip of soup in a leisurely manner, and hummed to show that he knew.

"It's this time, why do you still have to go out?" Jia Min complained in a low voice. He had already had dinner, and it would be dark in one and a half hours, and the road was muddy and difficult to walk.

Lin Ruhai put down his chopsticks and stood up, "You guys have a good rest, I'll go back as soon as I go."

Wanyu looked up at him and said, "Father brought two kerosene-lit glazed palace lanterns last time, those are not afraid of rain."

"My daughter is still careful. Hurry up!" Jia Min urged her to pack her things.

Lin Ruhai got into the carriage and went to the Governor's Mansion, feeling more and more heavy along the way.

It's definitely not good news to be able to call at this time.What happened to Lenovo in Jiangnan recently, apart from the rain for almost a month, there really was nothing else.Even if there is no grain harvest, it must not be a matter of the river embankment, Lin Ruhai prayed secretly in his heart.

When we arrived at the Governor's Mansion, there were not many people in the house.Unlike them, Governor Li is in charge of the whole of Jiangnan. After this heavy rain, there is no good news from the grain to the river embankment to the house leaking. He has not slept much for almost half a month. , with a disheveled look on his face, he lost the strength to speak.Seeing Lin Ruhai coming, he bowed and said, "Master Lin, sit down first, there are still a few people who haven't arrived, wait for a while, and we'll talk together when the time comes."

Mr. Li's mind is [-]% on the river embankment, [-]% on the food, subconsciously thinking about whether his black gauze hat can be kept this time, and whether his head will be moved this time Wo, I didn't even remember to order tea.

Sitting there, Lin Ruhai only thought about his wife and children, and stopped talking after greeting the adults.After about a stick of incense, a few more people came to Mr. Li's study in the Governor's Mansion.

The governor, the magistrate, the county magistrate, the chief soldier, and two eunuchs from Zhizaofu. Besides, there were two other people whose clothes were half wet, whose trousers were stuck into their shoes, and there was a lot of mud on them. It's all a little loose, it's all stuck on the scalp, Lin Ruhai won't recognize it for a while.

"The two of them are in charge of supervising the construction of the embankment, and they just got off the embankment." Master Li explained, but didn't speak for a while.

Lin Ruhai felt a chill in his heart, and heard the two people covered in mud say: "My lord, the embankment is fine at the moment, and the river workers are reinforcing it, but if the river water rises another half a foot, I'm afraid it will overflow the embankment." .”

It's not too bad at all, Lin Ruhai thought to himself, the rain had already lightened a lot when he came out just now, and it might have stopped by tomorrow morning.

Master Li sighed, and said: "I received a report from Jinling this morning, saying that it was raining upstream, and that Hongfeng might arrive at noon tomorrow, and it will not be afternoon at the latest." As if he was afraid that the news would not be scary enough, he added He said: "The embankment of Zhenjiang City opposite... the river has overflowed."

"My lords, what are your plans now?" Master Li stopped talking after finishing this sentence.

Except for the two eunuchs, the rest of the officials all had family members in the city. When they heard the news, all of them changed their expressions. The two eunuchs were counted, and none of them spoke.

The man in charge of the embankment said: "Perhaps the situation is not that bad. The rain has already lightened a lot. As long as there is another drop before the flood peak arrives tomorrow, it may pass."

Master Li stood up, pointed to the map hanging on the wall and said: "The Jinling City above, the Hedi was repaired earlier than us. I reckon they are all right. Our place is the Heti of Zhenjiang City on the other side of the river." It is no longer useful, when the peak reaches this place..." It was also flooded to the other side first, Master Li paused for a while, letting the rest of the people understand what he didn't say, "Our place is a lake in the north and a lake in the south. It's several miles away from the river bank, so it probably doesn't matter."

It's just that the flood is coming, and the water is just the first wave of offensive. There are still many problems to be faced next.In terms of time, the first is disaster relief, the second is to burn all the corpses before they rot, and then there are victims who have no land to live and no food to eat. As for grain grains, there are at least two It's a month later.

Master Li fell silent again after speaking, the room was quiet, only the sound of raindrops falling on the eaves outside could be heard.

"It's raining heavily again!" In just a quarter of an hour, the light rain that had been pattering just now turned into moderate rain again, hitting the eaves particularly oozing.The person in charge of the embankment exclaimed, stood up straight away, and said to Mr. Li: "My lord, don't worry about this, go to the embankment to have a look!"

As soon as these words came out, it was the two eunuchs who couldn't hold back, and the older one looked at him and said: "Master Li, our family is from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It's up to you." After speaking, he took another eunuch and left directly.

The profession of eunuch is dedicated to serving the emperor. In other words, it depends on the owner to beat a dog. Ordinary people really have no right to punish them.

Mr. Li's face became more and more ugly, looking at the magistrate and county magistrate on the opposite side, he said: "You are the parents and officials, appease the victims, arrange to open warehouses to release food, and now you can go back and do it. I only have one request, everyone with the imperial salary Adults, regardless of whether the embankment is here or not, you must stay in the city!"

This is about a county magistrate in a small county upstream who followed the path of a certain dignitary in central Beijing and went to Jiangnan to be a small seven-rank sesame official.

In the three years of Qing Zhifu, one hundred thousand snowflake silver, if it is placed in the south of the Yangtze River, this amount can be doubled several times.But this man is basically a poor man, timid and afraid of getting into trouble. When the flood passed by his county seat, he was scared and called the yamen servants in the yamen, as well as the servants at home, and they abandoned the city and escaped with their family.

The river did not rush into the city, but this person is still locked up in the prison of the Governor's Mansion. When the matter is over here, he will play the Ming Dynasty together.

Natural disasters are unavoidable, and we can only do our best to obey the destiny. Mr. Li arranged for government servants and strong men to take turns to reinforce the embankment, and piled some sandbags and other things at several major intersections in the city, which can also block one or two. Be sure to It is necessary to finish the work before the flood peak comes tomorrow.

Mr. Li didn't rest well for several days, and he didn't eat much dinner. After giving the order, he felt dizzy for a while, and his face became paler and paler.

When things were almost arranged, Mr. Li left Lin Ruhai behind.

There are a few things to pay special attention to when being a governor in Jiangnan. One is to maintain a good relationship with all parties, and the other is the salt tax.

The salt tax can collect nearly 1000 million taels of silver a year. Especially since last year, the salt tax has increased, and the crackdown on illegal salt has also been strengthened. This figure is likely to rise by another liter.

Salt tax is the bulk of the national treasury, of course it will not be collected for a year and then handed over, basically once a season.Now at the end of July, the cash is probably no less than 200 million taels.

"Master Lin, just in case, do you think we should send a team of soldiers to guard your place?" Master Li asked.The granary is under his control, and the soldiers have already been dispatched. For the salt tax, he still needs to say hello to Mr. Lin first.

Lin Ruhai nodded. If the embankment really burst, the bank would not be the most dangerous place. At that time, the victims were displaced, looking for houses and food, and had nowhere to buy food if they had money.At this time, those who can come to rob the bank are not the real disaster victims, but people with aspirations in disguise, who come to take advantage of the fire.

The two discussed for a while, and Lin Ruhai led a team to the bank. By the time the arrangement was completed, it was already dark.The rain was getting heavier, and the umbrella on my head was just like a decoration, and it didn't work at all.

Lin Ruhai went back in a carriage, stepping on muddy soup.On this trip, I got such news. Although I said that I had to prepare for the worst, but looking at the flooded Zhenjiang City on the other side, Lin Ruhai really couldn't calm down.

At home, Daiyu and Lin Ping had already fallen asleep, Wanyu yawned and insisted on staying with Jia Min, seeing Lin Ruhai drank two bowls of thick ginger soup in a row before she felt relieved, and said: "Father, madam, I'm going back to sleep. "

"It's raining so much, I have to freshen up when I go back. I don't know how long I will be able to sleep. If I catch a cold in the rain, I have to drink medicine." Jia Min saw that Lin Ruhai's clothes were soaked, and after waiting so long I didn't come back until late, I was not very comfortable, and my tone was not very good. "It's all like your father. Wanyu goes to your sister's bed to make do with it for the night, and we can talk about it tomorrow morning."

"Don't pull your sister to talk."

Wanyu went to sleep in Daiyu's room, and Lin Ruhai tossed and turned all night, and got up just after dawn.

He must stay in the city, but Madam still has children, especially his son who is only two years old from several generations of the Lin family, should he be sent to the capital?

Lin Ruhai went to check on his son first, with a round face, sleeping soundly, Wanyu had already woken up in his daughter's room, and Daiyu was still asleep on the bed.

Lin Ruhai sighed, and said, "Wanyu, you've grown up so big, you haven't seen your grandmother in Beijing, right?"

Is this not nonsense, Wanyu subconsciously complained, and immediately felt that something was wrong, since she was born, she had devoted herself to dying in the Lin family, why did the wings fan the wrong wind, they actually had to go to the capital so many years in advance!

"Father!" Wanyu was shocked, "You want to send us to the capital!"

Lin Ruhai nodded slowly but solemnly.