Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The satirical ballads sung by the farmers, the shady discussions of the scholars, and the common people who were as afraid of digging lakes as tigers.

All the way north from Huating County, the closer to Shanghai County, the extremely unfavorable public opinion will have a serious impact on the morale of the team.

This depressing atmosphere almost made the air freeze.

"Post a notice and ask all the people in the county to go to the city to watch the explosion of the lake three days later."

As soon as they entered Shanghai County, Huang Ziwei, the prefect who arrived in advance, had not had time to introduce the officials of Shanghai County to the Imperial Preceptor. Jiang Xinghuo immediately issued an order.

Three squads of government officials went out in full force to post large and small notices under the bulletin board of the awning, which attracted the curiosity of the people in the county.

It happened that the rain had subsided a little, and even though the streets were still wet, it still couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the people to watch the excitement.

"Tick tick tick~"

The clear rainwater fell on the bluestone floor tiles, making crisp sounds one after another.

People in Shanghai County crowded around the notice boards, craning their necks to read the contents.

The culture here is prosperous, and the literacy rate is among the highest in the entire Ming Dynasty. Therefore, not only scholars help with reading, but ordinary people can also roughly understand some words.

"Exploding the lake! It looks terrible..."

Some timid people shrank their heads after reading this.

There are also those who are brave enough to come over.

"Wow, the National Master said that the big lake in the deepest part of Dahuangpu will be blown up..."

"This... this is too cruel!"

"Really!"

When they heard the explosion of the lake, there was an uproar among the crowd.

No one could have imagined that Jiang Xinghuo, the majestic national advisor of the Ming Dynasty, would do such an appalling thing.

After all, anyone can imagine that if the barrier lake in Dahuangpu is exploded, the stored flood water will definitely leak out. If the government controls it well, it can be released to open space with little impact.

However, there were too many civilians in the county involved in strengthening the river embankments on both sides of Shanghai Pu. Naturally, the news spread like wildfire that the Imperial Army was going to blow up the barrier lake in Da Huangpu and flood the river to Shanghai Pu!

In this way, it can merge into the old route of Wusong River from Shanghai Pu.

But if we do this, what will happen to the local people’s fields?

The prefect, Mr. Huang, said that the government would compensate according to the land price, but who knows whether it will count?

Moreover, what if one is not careful and the city wall of the county town is collapsed by the raging flood?

These thoughts inevitably spread in the hearts of the people watching.

However, Jiang Xinghuo is naturally an expert in public opinion warfare, and he can easily deal with the monstrous disturbances like the Jingqing Blood Oath in Nanjing. Now that he is calculated and unprepared, he naturally has the means to arrange it.

Jiang Xinghuo knows very well that for ordinary people in this era, it will not be of much use if you talk to them about scientific principles, the righteousness of the family and the country, and the future development of the Ming Dynasty. People will not take it into their minds.

But if you start engaging in mysterious feudal superstitions, this is a popular activity in the fifteenth century.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo had already arranged the care.

The four gossiping scholars who were captured by Wang Bin on the road began to sing and make peace.

"I heard that the bombing of the lake was a religious ritual that the Imperial Master wanted to perform?"

"I don't know! But it's okay. Doesn't the Imperial Master have the ability to pray for rain? I heard that the Fertilizer Immortal has come to the world. If he really performs his magic, we can see it closely, otherwise we have to stay in the city all day long. It’s so boring.”

"Isn't that right! Now I just hope that the Imperial Master is really capable and can clean up the mud at the bottom of the lake as soon as possible, so that we can have a stable year!"

"Listen to his bullshit."

"Hush, be careful, if you offend the Imperial Master, even you will be arrested and used as coolies!"

"Anyway, no matter what this time, I will stand firmly on the side of the Imperial Master. It's best to really cure the water, otherwise I won't have enough to eat!"

The gossips and whispers of the people in Shanghai County spread to the surrounding area, and many people began to be affected.

The slogan "The Imperial Master blew up the lake to do something religious" was spread inadvertently.

"You bastards! If you guys keep talking nonsense, don't blame the whip in my hand for being rude!" the government officials around the notice board shouted in a deep voice.

But the more this happened, the more energetic the people became.

"Sanwazi, your aunt watched you grow up wearing diapers. Why are you showing off your prestige here?"

"That's right, fellow villagers, we are not allowed to talk anymore?"

The government officials were silent, but the people believed this statement more and more.

A scholar carrying an empty bookcase stood beside him, his face changed slightly and asked: "Why did the Imperial Master suddenly think of blowing up the lake? What kind of ritual can be done by blowing up the lake?"

The scholar leading the stubborn donkey suddenly said: "Of course it's because the barrier lake hinders Feng Shui. It's really bad."

Feng shui?

The eyes of the people watching suddenly lit up.

However, many people may have read books or listened to books and heard some Feng Shui metaphysics, but not everyone can become an expert in this field, let alone have any skills that can change the Feng Shui pattern.

"Could it be that... there's really something sinister about it?" the scholar carrying the bookcase murmured in a pretentious manner.

"Haha! You are indeed a smart person."

The stubborn donkey scholar glanced at him appreciatively and continued: "I know a little bit about it. I have deduced it carefully on the way here."

"This place is the blessed land of cave heaven. If there are no accidents, the blessings will continue and the generations will be prosperous. Unfortunately, the Feng Shui division of this city is now blocked by the barrier lake. Is it a good thing to have wind but no water? And it has been there for days. Due to the heavy rain, the streets were filled with filth, and coupled with the low-lying terrain, the feng shui pattern has been completely destroyed.”

Hearing what he said was clear and logical, the people who fell into a blind spot of knowledge remained silent.

Feng shui pattern, as the name suggests, actually uses the earth's veins and the surrounding environment to arrange the feng shui of events to form a trend of gathering wealth and prosperity, thereby absorbing blessings and fortune from all parties and making the overall situation stable.

However, from what I heard, it seems that the Feng Shui pattern here was affected by the Great Huangpu Barrier Lake?

In this way, the Feng Shui pattern will not only fail to gather wealth, but will also cause damage to the earth's veins, so that the luck of this place will plummet.

If we let it continue, I am afraid that our future wealth and glory will cease to exist.

"So the Imperial Master saw that there was something wrong with the Feng Shui pattern here, so he had to forcibly blow up the lake to drain the air?"

"That's exactly it!" The stubborn scholar became more and more eloquent, "It's not just like that, if the feng shui is good, everything will go smoothly. The root cause of the floods in the south of the Yangtze River is that the feng shui of the entire south of the Yangtze River is not good. The national master only needs to adjust the luck of the mountains and rivers. The flood will naturally subside!"

With the help of people with good intentions and Feng Shui theory, and Songjiang Magistrate Huang personally disbursing compensation in advance for the farmland on both sides of the strait that was destined to be flooded, the people began to feel at ease.

The idea that the national master wanted to do something to change the Feng Shui pattern gradually became a generally accepted view among the people due to the ambiguous attitude of the government that did not explain or acknowledge it.

As a result, the people began to look forward to the day when the national master bombed the lake.

After all, they are both from Nanzhili, but many people have heard how people near Nanjing City were lucky enough to watch the Imperial Master pray for rain with their own eyes!

Since the Imperial Master didn't miss last time, he won't miss this time either, right?

Some shrewd businessmen even started to open up their joints and go to the city wall in advance to occupy space in order to sell the gadgets at a good sales volume.

——————

There was still light rain falling in the sky, but it couldn't bear it. The embankments on both sides of Dahuangpu and Shanghai Pudong were in full swing.

The peasants were shirtless, wielding shovels and pickaxe handles, and worked hard to strengthen the dams on both sides.

At this time, some projects had to recruit civilian workers to work harder.

Fortunately, the Songjiang Mansion's treasury is quite generous. Mr. Huang has been diligent and frugal in running the family for so many years and has saved some money. Now that the court's money and food cannot be transported, Mr. Huang has temporarily used the treasury to survive.

Therefore, the peasants have never been short of wages and food, which means that the temporary reinforcement of the earthwork in these two or three days will be more difficult.

The main project here includes the waterway between the two banks of the levees from Dahuangpu to Shanghai Pu.

Although this section of the waterway is not completely guaranteed to prevent water leakage, thanks to the previous workload and temporary reinforcement, it is still 89% certain that it will not cause an unexpected disaster. People on both sides of the strait have been evacuated. .

After all, this waterway is the key to quelling the White Lotus Rebellion, so it must be navigable, and its integrity and stability must be ensured.

Before this, although no one had taken care of the Greater Huangpu, it had naturally formed a barrier lake. With the coming of heavy rains, the water level became more and more alarming, but the Shanghai Pu section was under management. In the past, every six months, the magistrate of Shanghai County The city organized the people to build this section of the canal.

Since this flood is quite special and involves the safety of their homes, the people on the embankments on both sides of Shanghai Pudong worked even harder.

Of course, in this tense and busy state, it is inevitable that some people will cheat and play tricks.

Among them, the military cadets responsible for maintaining order were patrolling back and forth with their teams.

"What are you doing? Did I hire you to make you lazy?"

Zhang Anshi looked at the dark and thin young civilian husband in front of him, who was staring blankly at the rising water level of the Dahuangpu Barrier Lake in the distance, and asked displeasedly.

This person was none other than Ye Zongxing, Ye Xiucai, who had walked away angrily from the Huating County government office before.

Ye Xiucai realized that he had misunderstood the Imperial Preceptor since he knew that the Imperial Preceptor was not planning to dig out the dangerous barrier lake without manpower, but to directly explode it with gunpowder, regardless of the lives of the people.

But this person just wanted to save face, and he refused to recommend himself again, admit his mistakes, and did not want to miss this event. Yes, in Ye Zongxing's eyes, using a large amount of gunpowder to blow up the barrier lake was indispensable in the history of water conservancy. buckle event.

There is nothing like this for the first time in the world.

In the past, it was always necessary for the peasants to dig with a shovel, a pickaxe, and a shovel!

If one is not careful, everyone will be submerged by the torrential floods accumulated on the barrier lake.

This kind of thing is really not uncommon.

When Ye Zongxing was young, his best friend, a distant cousin, was washed away by an out-of-control flood. From then on, Ye Zongxing not only determined to become an official and build water conservancy projects for the people, but also studied it all the time. This knowledge may come in handy one day.

Moreover, judging from the temporarily reinforced embankments on both sides, this national master, or the people around the national master, must understand water conservancy, not everything.

This also made Ye Xiucai's initial anger subside a lot.

At first, Ye Zongxing thought that the Imperial Master was just like those people, a group of fools who made decisions based on their heads!

However, Ye Zongxing's daze made Zhang Anshi mistakenly think that this person looked down on him at all.

This is a very fatal thing for Zhang Anshi. Because Zhang Anshi relies not on his father but on his sister among the nobles. It is because his sister is the first wife of the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi that he has a domineering status, so he usually I felt that I was a head shorter than Xu Jingchang and Zhu Yong.

Zhang Anshi became more and more impatient and was about to whip him down when he was stopped by a voice.

"Ye Xiucai? Why did you become a civilian husband?"

Zhang Anshi turned around and saw that it was the national master Jiang Xinghuo, accompanied by Song Li, Zheng He, Sun Kun, Wang Bin, Cao Song and others, inspecting the embankment.

PS: [Important reminder (there is no charge for this content)] Chapters 316 to 356 are about the rectification of officialdom and the suppression of rebellions in Jiangnan. They do not contain any theoretical knowledge. They are all practical content. If you are not interested, you can jump directly to Chapter 366. "Class" will contain theoretical knowledge content from now on.