Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Rain continued falling across the mountains with no sign of stopping soon.
Xie Chengze kept talking with Bian Yangchun and the others. When conversation turned to Yizhou’s floods, Ouyang Jiu became inspired and used a charred log to draw the imperial map of Yizhou on the stone wall.
His skilled hands reproduced it perfectly, proof of both artistic training and exceptional memory.
“The Min River drops more than a thousand meters. In summer, melting mountain snow and torrential rain pour down from that height. Neither the volume nor force can be underestimated. Ordinary dikes cannot withstand it.”
Ouyang Jiu pointed to the outlet in the Min River’s middle reaches. “Here is where Yizhou’s people live. The climate is suitable and the land vast and fertile. Without floods, it could house hundreds of thousands, giving everyone a home, fields, and food!”
“Perhaps far more,” Jing Ze, serving nearby, suddenly said in a calm, certain voice. “Yizhou could become Jian’an’s treasure. Its grain and military reserves could support the realm!”
Delighted, Ouyang Jiu turned. “Are you also a scholar?”
Jing Ze bowed modestly. “This humble scholar lacks talent, but does possess lofty ambitions.”
“If you can see its military importance, you are being too modest.” Appreciative of his measured speech, Ouyang Jiu conversed with him longer.
Xie Chengze stared at the map, finding it strangely familiar.
Zhu Xiaobiao came closer but understood nothing. Unable to resist speaking, he said, “The Min River looks like one channel. What if we split it in two and send half into the Jiangdu Plain? With half the water gone, wouldn’t flooding stop?”
Ji Songhua laughed. “This natural river is vast and born of Heaven. How could it be split? A mountain also blocks the way, making a new channel impossible!”
Zhu Xiaobiao scratched his head. “I don’t understand. I was only talking.”
Ji Songhua nodded. “You likely never studied. Water control has confounded every dynasty. Fighting nature is impossibly difficult. Heaven is unkind; we can only struggle to survive.”
Ouyang Jiu and Jing Ze, however, lowered their eyes in thought.
Zhu Xiaobiao disagreed, though his voice weakened before a scholar. “You said the mountain blocks splitting it. Why not level the mountain?”
“Level it?” Ji Songhua found this absurd. “Do you know how vast Mount Yuji is? Tens of thousands would have to cut at it day and night for decades, perhaps a century!”
Zhu Xiaobiao’s young-master temper rose. “If it benefits our descendants, why not work for a century? Someone must set the precedent!”
“I won’t argue with you!” Ji Songhua was furious at such uncarvable rotten wood. “Even if you level it, will the river obediently flow into the Jiangdu Plain? Do you think you’re an immortal?”
He turned and shouted at Ouyang Jiu and Jing Ze, “Listen to him! He’s infuriating!”
Jing Ze looked at Zhu Xiaobiao. Only then did Zhu restrain himself and mutter, “I was only saying…”
Seeing them quarrel, Bian Yangchun hurried to mediate. “Enough. This brother’s idea is interesting, and Brother Ji is right that leveling a mountain cannot solve Yizhou’s immediate crisis. The present problem comes first.”
Ji Songhua snorted. Zhu Xiaobiao fell silent and returned to the fire.
Listening while studying the map, Xie Chengze finally understood why it looked familiar.
Perhaps he knew how to control Yizhou’s floods.
He rubbed Zhu Xiaobiao’s head. Though much younger, he somehow looked like a protective elder brother. “Xiaobiao, I think you’re right.”
Zhu Xiaobiao smiled, eyes narrowing. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Jing Ze glanced at them and calmly looked away.
The rain stopped.
Everyone extinguished the fire, packed up, and continued.
Traveling with the scholars added elegance to the road. When inspired, Bian Yangchun composed bold poems to the scenery, Ouyang Jiu sang ringing mountain songs, and Jing Ze played melodies on a green leaf. Poem, song, and tune floated grandly through the vast, silent mountains.
Bian Yangchun’s group were not the only scholars heading for Yizhou.
Few were visible after the Qinba Mountains, but upon reaching Jiangling to descend the Three Gorges, they saw many poorly dressed scholars carrying book cases, bargaining with boatmen and pooling money to share boats to Yizhou.
“Brother Cheng, are you truly still going?” Bian Yangchun now addressed him more intimately. Tall and forthright, he had come to regard gentle, kind Xie Chengze as a younger brother and feared this innocent rich youth would suffer in Yizhou.
“As Brother Bian said, Yizhou’s people are starving. Though no official, I possess compassion and should do what I can for them!” Xie Chengze lied without preparation.
“Hahaha! I judged you correctly!” Bian Yangchun embraced his shoulders. “I have a well-off friend in Yizhou. We can stay with him first and learn the situation.”
Xie Chengze nodded. “Excellent. Many thanks, Brother Bian.”
…
The desolation of famine was palpable upon entering Yizhou.
This area lay far from the Min River and had escaped flooding, but taxes had multiplied to relieve other counties. County grain was forcibly shipped away, prices soared, and people had to labor while unable to afford food. Their faces were sallow and thin, their bodies steeped in misery.
Farther in, floodwater had swept collapsed homes, poultry sheds, and drowned corpses into houses and fields. The piled wreckage stank of rot and blood, swarming with insects. Numb-faced people cleared ruins and severed limbs. Crying children had their mouths covered by mothers afraid hunger would follow exhaustion, while they…
Had no grain left. Perhaps they would not survive winter.
Bian Yangchun sighed hoarsely, “Heaven is unkind.”
Watching, Xie Chengze’s gaze deepened. “Heaven is unkind, but humanity can emulate Heaven and Earth.”