Tanhualang

In the early years of Tongde, autumn and August, the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River has just ended.

As the world's granary, Jiangnan has just experienced a bumper harvest.Hundreds of thousands of newly harvested grains were transported to the capital and the north continuously, either by sea ships, water transport, or land transport.

And for the past half a year, the silence that has been guarding the water control construction site is mixed at this time.

Fortunately, the matter of water control is now moving forward in an orderly manner.

The most critical step in flood control in the south of the Yangtze River, the diversion of the Wusong River, has not yet been implemented.Considering that it is the rainy season, Zhuo Dajiang and Shen Jing estimated the amount of rainfall this year. From April to July, only the two ports of Liujia and Baimao were dredged, and the upper river channel was widened to prepare for the next step of diverting water from the Wusong River. The second port is ready.

So in this year's rainy season, although the Wusong River still flooded, the flooding of the Wusong River was much better than in previous years because the upstream rivers of the two ports diverted the water flow of the Taihu Lake.

Worryingly, seeing the end of the rainy season and the critical period of water control projects, after a continuous autumn rain, Zhuo Dajiang fell ill.

From the beginning of the project, Zhuo Dajiang was in charge of the water control yamen after the recruitment of civilian workers in the early stage was over, and was in charge of liaising with the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and various prefectures and counties. At the same time, he even dug the soil with a hoe and picked stones with a pole on his back.Once he was shoveling the soil with a shovel, and Cao Xiaoyu, who came to deliver meals to him and Wei Zheng, bumped into him, and shed tears on the spot in distress: "Since you were young, how have you ever suffered so much?"

Shen Jing didn't take it seriously at all: "The people already have complaints in their hearts, if I don't work together, won't they be even more unconvinced?"

But now that Zhuo Dajiang was ill, he ran quietly between the construction site and the yamen, and soon he was exhausted.

House seemingly endless rain.

Around the 20th day when Zhuo Dajiang fell ill and was bedridden, the Ministry of Household Affairs began to stop allocating salaries for flood control works.

Shen Jing wrote to ask, and the Ministry of Household Affairs wrote back, first accusing the slow progress of the water control project, and then accusing the labor cost and cost. In short, after reading the whole article, it can be summed up in two words, that is, "no money".

Shen Jing had no choice but to take the letter and show it to Zhuo Dajiang on the hospital bed.

Zhuo Dajiang glanced at it, put the letter aside, turned his head and took out another letter from under the pillow, and handed it to Shen Jing: "Look at this, you will know."

Shen Jing took the letter, read it at a glance, and put it down.

It turned out to be a letter from a close friend of Zhuo Dajiang's court and China, saying that some people in the court and China impeached Zhuo Dajiang for his failure to control the water because of the flooding of the Wusong River again this year.

Zhuo Dajiang sighed: "The city gate is on fire, and it will bring disaster to the fish in the pond."

Quiet and silent.

Ever since Zhao Ming ascended the throne and Zhao Heng became the regent, Duke Ming De secretly colluded with the ministers under his command, repeatedly causing disturbances and attacking Zhao Heng everywhere.

First, in April, when the Holy Majesty's bones were not yet cold, some clan relatives pointed out that there was no precedent for an emperor's uncle to be a regent in this dynasty. Zhao Heng's regent was unreasonable on the one hand, and suspected of seizing power on the other. He hoped that Zhao Heng would give up the title of regent and change The queen listened to the government behind the curtain.

Fortunately, Shang Maoshi stepped forward in time, united a group of veterans, quoted scriptures, and refuted the other side, temporarily suppressing the turmoil for Zhao Heng.

At the beginning of May, the Tatars took advantage of the national mourning and suddenly invaded the northwest with a tangled army.Gansu was unable to resist due to its weak force, so it abandoned the city and retreated [-] miles into the pass.Although most of the people fled with the army, more than a dozen cities were looted by the Tatars, which severely damaged Gansu's vitality.

As soon as the news came out, Shangshu, the minister of the DPRK and China, reprimanded the Ministry of War and used this as an excuse to force Zhao Heng to conscript himself.

Zhao Heng had no choice but to cut off his own arm, ordering his confidant, Minister of War Zhu Run, to take the blame and resign; at the same time, he ordered Sun Ping and Cao Feng to lead the army to Gansu for rescue.

In short, everything is directed at Zhao Heng and the young emperor.

Now that the Wusong River is flooding, it has provided an excuse for Ming Degong's subordinates; even though Zhuo Dajiang is not from Zhao Heng's people, it does not prevent those people from being far-fetched, and they can't wait to put any shit on Zhao Heng's head.

Zhuo Dajiang put away the letter, and sighed helplessly to Shen Jing: "You have seen it too. Don't say that I was sick. Even if I am not sick, I am afraid that this seat will not be stable."

Shen Jing got up and handed a bowl of hot tea to Zhuo Dajiang, and after he drank half of the bowl slowly, he asked in a low voice, "I don't know what Master Zhuo's plan is now?"

"I called you here, just to tell you, so you know what you're doing." Zhuo Dajiang handed the tea bowl to Shen Jing, and sat up again while leaning on the head of the bed, "I'm going to hand over the booklet to the cabinet, begging for illness Home."

Although he had expected it, Shen Jing still couldn't help feeling cold for him: "If my lord is like this, I would be too wronged myself—"

Zhuo Dajiang waved his hand and interrupted him: "This time the Wusong River is flooding again, someone must stand up to take this responsibility. No one else can take this responsibility except me. I am old and have old qualifications. They You can't do anything to me. Two things. In the past six months, you have learned a lot. Now you are familiar with these water control projects. Without me, the project can continue."

After saying this, he paused for a while, took a short break, and continued: "Three things, if I don't stand up with the cheek, the Jiangnan water control project will be abandoned halfway; if this happens, the people will continue to suffer from disasters year after year, Grain harvests are bound to fail year after year. Is it not my fault that the national fortune is damaged?!"

Tears welled up in Shen Jing's eyes, and she said in a low voice, "My lord is so noble, yet I want to be used as a sharp sword by those villains. I really don't think it's worth it for your lord!"

"I know it's villains who are causing trouble, but I still have to play tricks. In life, there is always a choice; if you have righteousness in your heart, you will inevitably suffer some grievances in many things." Zhuo Dajiang sighed, patted Shen Jing's arm, "Jiangnan water control, success In the present age, there are benefits for thousands of years. Although there are some difficulties, I still hope that you can withstand the obstacles and continue to complete this fortification well."

Shen Jing heard the words, got up and took a step back, bowed deeply to Zhuo Dajiang who was on the hospital bed and saluted: "Thanks to the high expectations of the adults, Shen Jing will do my best to live up to the expectations of the adults."

At the end of August, Zhuo Dajiang, who was unable to wake up because of Shen Jing's illness, rushed to the capital in a hurry under Wei Zheng's secret escort.

Although she has made a promise to Zhuo Dajiang, Shen Jing has been depressed along the way.

Even a highly respected veteran like Zhuo Dajiang couldn't stand the turmoil, how much can the soft-spoken self save the situation?

At the beginning of September, it was already cool in the capital.Along the way, Shen Jing changed from summer clothes to autumn clothes, and when she arrived in Beijing, she still felt the coolness.

Because she was afraid of giving people a false impression, after entering the capital, Shen Jing did not dare to visit Zhao Heng at Prince Yu's mansion, but Wei Zheng escorted him into the capital, leaving two guards by his side, and secretly went back to the mansion to report to Zhao Heng.

On the day of his arrival in Beijing, Shen Jing went to the Ministry of Industry to hand over Zhuo Dajiang's letter of pleading guilty and begging for the elderly, and then at home that night, he had a small gathering with Yu Zhijing and Lu Meng who had turned to help him clean up the dust.

Since they had their own affairs the next day, the three of them did not dare to let go of their drinks. They just took advantage of a banquet delivered from outside, sipped and drank slowly, and chatted slowly about the situation between the two countries.

Speaking of the current situation in the DPRK and China, naturally Zhao Heng cannot be avoided. Yu Zhijing and Lu Meng talked about the inside and outside, talking about the various conflicts between Ming Degong and Zhao Hengming, and listened quietly without saying a word.

As he was talking, Lu Meng seemed to be full of melancholy, so he put down his wine glass and sighed: "We are also unlucky, and we entered the court at such a precarious time. We should have shown our ambitions and served the court, but who would have met us?" Going to fight with the gods, and now in the yamen, I am really aggrieved, trembling every day, Hua dare not speak too much, and dare not breathe too much, for fear of causing some trouble."

After a pause, he patted Shen Jing on the shoulder again: "Zhi Jing and I are better off. In an insignificant Ministry of Rites, we don't encounter any strong winds and waves. The most unlucky one is you. You were sent to control the water in the south of the Yangtze River. In the past half a year, I have seen people lose a lot of weight and lose two layers of skin, but they still have to be pulled out by those villains, and they will be blamed for this, alas!"

Shen Jing was already full of worries, but after being poured over by Lu Meng's drunken words, her worries became even more worrying. She didn't know how to open her mouth to tell them, so she raised the jug and wanted to fill up the wine for the three of them.

Unexpectedly, Yu Zhijing who was next to him held down the flagon bottle: "Xiao Shen, you don't want to use wine to drown your sorrows at this time."

Yu Zhijing took the jug over, put it aside, patted the table in front of Lu Meng lightly, and reprimanded gently: "You are becoming more and more ignorant. This is to relieve Shen Jing's troubles. The drunken talk is simply adding fuel to the fire, making people even more annoyed."

After finishing speaking, he paused, turned his head to Shen Jing, and said earnestly, "Xiao Shen, don't be distracted by Lu Meng's complaints. Now that the government is in turmoil, you and I will inevitably be affected, but you must not And fell into despair."

He patted Shen Jing's arm, and continued: "The ancients said that if you are poor, you will work, and if you are poor, you will see righteousness. If the country is prosperous and the people are safe, and the government is stable, how can I have a chance to be the first? Since ancient times, there have been great generals in wars. , It is the time when Qianlong comes out of the water. You and I were selected by the imperial court, and it is time to govern the country and assist the emperor and the people. If we are discouraged and extinguished our ambitions because of this small study, then we should return What is the use?"

After Yu Zhijing finished speaking, before Shen Jing could respond, Lu Meng who was beside him patted the table and praised loudly: "Brother Yu's words are well said! I'm not from Penghao!"

He turned his head and pulled Shen Jing's sleeves, and apologized again and again: "I was reckless just now, and I shouldn't have said those depressing words. Don't take it to your heart, you still have to cheer up and move forward tomorrow!"

The three of them chatted freely through drinking, and it was not until midnight that Yu Zhijing and Lu Meng left.

After seeing off the two of them, Jing Jing returned to the room but couldn't fall asleep.

He thought of Yu Zhijing's words of encouragement, and after careful recollection, the meaning contained in these words coincided with what Zhuo Dajiang told him before leaving.

At such a juncture, he must not just give in and fall down with Zhuo Dajiang.

If he really fell down, he would not only be sorry for Zhuo Dajiang's cultivation and protection, but also for his hard work in the past half a year, and for the hundreds of thousands of people in the south of the Yangtze River who had shed blood and sweat.

...I'm even more sorry for Zhao Heng, who lives in the capital and is struggling alone, and for the promise I made to him when I left the capital.