mtl008 Chapter 147 Disaster
Chapter 147 Disaster
From then on, Xu Siyu always brought Lin Cuiwei with her when handling official business.
After a year of discussion, the civil engineering team submitted a document to Xu Siyu stating that Lezhou could not build large-scale dams.
After Zeng Ziang, the head of the Du Shui Department, submitted the document on his behalf, Xu Siyu smiled.
"How wonderful! If you can do it, do it. If you can't, change direction."
Zeng Zi'ang and other old foxes probably meant the same thing, but since they received the order to build flood control and conservancy projects, they only dared to talk about building them and did not dare to say no.
This is to use the students to explore Xu Siyu's intention.
Seeing that Xu Siyu was willing to accept this result, Zeng Ziang still had some backup plans.
He said, "Lord, we won't build a main weir, but I think we can still build diversion weirs and canals at the upper and lower reaches of the three rivers. It would only take up a small amount of farmland, but it would ensure centuries of peace and stability."
"Oh, can we control the flood by diverting the canal?"
"If the amount of water does not exceed the amount recorded in historical records, I think it is acceptable."
It was rare for Zeng Ziang to answer so confidently, so Xu Siyu listened to him patiently.
Zeng Zi'ang proposed a four-pronged approach for the three rivers: "The Jin River is the largest, so we need to expand its channel, especially in the uninhabited mountainous area opposite Lezhou. The Mujin River, flowing down from the southern mountains, is swift but shallow, so we could create curved channels instead of straight ones to slow its flow. Of the three rivers, the Qingshui River experiences the most pronounced peak-valley fluctuations. We should dig channels to the left and right, the more the better, to reduce the flow and control it through sluice gates. Finally, for the downstream area where the three rivers converge, we should draw inspiration from the design of the Lijia Weir and divide it into inner and outer channels to accelerate peak flow or maintain Lezhou's base water level during dry periods."
"But..." Zeng Ziang's plan had a fatal problem, and he paused.
"However, the problem in Lezhou has been solved, but we have transferred the crisis to the lower reaches. Yicheng and Changjiafu may not be able to hold on."
"The city lord is wise."
"Couldn't the downstream area also be dredged or embanked? I'll make a suggestion to clear it, but it's too late. I'll send it to the Southwest Palace in my name."
Xu Siyu's intention was to prioritize Lezhou. She should first do her duties well, then manage others.
"Yes." Zeng Ziang received the useful information and knew that he should take the next step.
"Please teach these students your Sanshui case studies. Also, I want to see the budget and plan as soon as possible."
There is not much time left for the next flood to come, so Xu Siyu still puts pressure on him, hoping that the project can be started as soon as possible.
However, when Xu Siyu planned to control the disaster, the disaster came in another form.
As the city lord, her first disaster test was not a flood, but an unexpected snowstorm that occurred once in a century and the subsequent plague.
Lezhou is not a snowy city.
It snowed on the day Xu Nianxue left, and Xu Siyu wanted to think it was God's pity. However, since the beginning of winter, Lezhou has been hit by continuous heavy snow. The snow was three feet thick, turning the pine-green southwest into the white northeast. Xu Siyu knew that something was wrong.
Immediately, she sent more people to purchase a large amount of coal briquettes from Sanxi Township. In addition, she specially approved the trees within a ten-mile radius from the city gate in the three mountains surrounding Lezhou as public forests, allowing the citizens to cut down and store firewood.
Standing on the city wall, Xu Siyu and Mr. Du picked up the telescope to survey the scenery inside and outside the city.
"City Lord, is this okay? These are all top-quality building materials." asked Judge Du Tong.
He knew Xu Siyu was generous, but he didn't expect her to be so generous.
According to the city records, these timbers can bring in more than 20,000 taels of revenue to Lezhou every year, which can be counted as the city lord's personal income. Xu Siyu just let people use them as firewood?
"Mr. Du, living people are more valuable than these pieces of wood." Xu Siyu said this without hesitation.
“Even untouchables?”
Xu Siyu saw through the telescope that the busy people all over the mountain were the foundation of this city.
She put down the telescope and said, "There are no untouchables in Lezhou."
Using modern words to describe Xu Siyu's governance style, many of them are idealistic.
Mr. Du didn't ask any more questions, but he could understand that Xu Siyu's approach was in line with the interpretation of "Datong".
The more he helped with government affairs, the more he suspected that this Xu Siyu was still the crooked girl he had taught?
When will I understand the teachings of these ancient sages and use them so freely?
If Xu Siyu knew that Mr. Du was putting a filter on her again, she would definitely say: "No, no, no, I'm just worried that the cattle and horses will die and no one will take on the hard work of developing Lezhou."
In winter, there is no farming work to do, and Lezhou has sufficient food reserves.
The people of Lezhou will never starve to death.
As long as we keep warm, we can survive the snowstorm.
Inside the city, Xu Siyu asked Xu Nianyue to speed up the production of duck down quilts and assigned a group of defenders to sell them on South Street, where the poorest people were. Those who had money could buy them, while those who had no money could sign up for two months of corvee labor in the following year.
Next year, there are so many canals to be opened in Lezhou. Xu Siyu is not afraid of too many people and too few jobs, but only of too many jobs and too few people.
But even so, there are still reports of people freezing to death in Lezhou every day.
Some people did not freeze to death, but the low temperature triggered illnesses that could not be cured.
Just like in Ci'en Hall, typhoid fever and blood stasis took away more than half of the elderly people.
Because of the snowstorm, Xu Siyu requested a simple funeral and had the city guards drag the bodies to a designated cemetery in the north of the city for burial.
A large amount of lime is laid on each grave pit, and the number plates are simply divided by wooden signs. The number plates are then returned to the relatives for their future worship and tombstone erection.
If it weren't for her limited ideas, Xu Siyu really wanted to promote cremation.
But these people did not die from infectious diseases. At this time, it is better to have less trouble than more. Xu Siyu was still worried that she would act too drastically and arouse opposition from the citizens.
The fact that public burials could be implemented was enough to satisfy him.
Life in the southwest was like this, and Xu Siyu was often worried about Ninghai Prefecture in the north, Pingliang Prefecture in the northwest, and Zhong'an Prefecture.
These places have her properties and subordinates, and Xu Siyu doesn't want them to live a bad life.
The accumulated snow cut off the connection between these places and Lezhou.
When news came back in late spring four months later, the people there told her that they had experienced four full months of freezing temperatures exceeding five feet, and that the people were short of food and clothing, suffering from hunger and cold, and resorting to cannibalism to survive.
In fact, Xu Siyu could probably guess the news before she received it.
Because the magistrate of Yicheng County, who was closest to her, asked her for help.
The person Xu Siyu met was a governor from the Yicheng camp who helped him convey the message of asking for food and medicine.
"This doesn't have the approval of the King of Southwest?"
It’s not that Xu Siyu is embarrassing anyone, but her position as Anlebo is actually quite awkward.
The imperial decree specifically ordered that everyone in Lezhou must obey her orders.
Outside of Lezhou, as a leisurely lord, she dared not do anything inappropriate that would arouse people's speculation.
"The King of Southwest has gone north to Yuanzhou. It is said that half of the people in the city have frozen to death!" The chief of Yicheng camp still regarded Xu Siyu as a fellow official, and naturally shared with her the information they had about the snow disaster in the southwest.