Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 146 The beginning of drought
Taking advantage of the chaos to attack Huainan? Bai Tu was not the kind of person who would kick someone when he was down.
Especially now, the water levels in the wells in Huainan... have dropped!
It is June now, and Jiangdong and Huainan are unusually hot this year. It should have been the plum rain season, but the rainfall this year is obviously much less.
In the northern part of Jiangdong, only the impact has been felt, but in Huainan... it is basically certain that this year's harvest will definitely be greatly affected!
And amid the anticipation of countless people, the worst situation began to happen - after mid-June, God seemed to be particularly stingy , and it had not rained in Huainan for more than a month...
In the northeast of Jiangbei, the sound of the rain was like a handkerchief that had been wrung out to wipe the tears of the people of Huainan, and it only dripped occasionally.
Even Xuzhou and southern Yuzhou have been affected. Obviously, this year's harvest... is no longer a matter of reduced production. If this continues, Huainan will probably have no harvest, and the southern Central Plains will also be affected. It would be good to have a 20% harvest in a good year.
However, at this moment, a brilliant word, along with the drought, came to life in the hearts of the people of Jiangdong - deep well disease!
In Wu County and Danyang County, deep wells that were previously considered "useless" and "for pleasing the governor" became full of hope of life after some small canals began to dry up.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also been paying attention to the drought situation. When the rainfall and soil dryness dropped to critical values, the Ministry of Civil Affairs immediately ordered the use of deep wells!
At the same time, troops stationed in various places have also received new tasks - to fight drought and disaster relief and walk with the people.
With the deep well, at least there is no need to worry about the people dying of thirst. There is enough water for both humans and livestock. Moreover, every time they draw water, everyone will think of the governor with gratitude. Thinking about the previous discussions about the "deep well disease" behind his back, everyone feels ashamed.
There were even righteous folks who swallowed charcoal out of shame because of this incident. Local officials reported this to Bai Tu as a positive example of "people's hearts can be used". Bai Tu deeply felt that the people at that time were still very simple. Although they were easily controlled by emotions, they were different from some keyboard warriors in later generations who only cared about talking and were irresponsible.
Of course, Bai Tu severely criticized this self-harming behavior and said that there will be a large number of recruitments in the future, so please use your energy in the right place!
The problem now is agricultural...
Obviously, these deep wells alone could not meet the same irrigation needs as in the past, so the Ministry of Civil Affairs immediately dispatched a large number of grassroots officials to explain to the people the importance of "reasonable irrigation."
It is impossible to keep the entire harvest. Instead of irrigating all the farmland, it is better to give up part of it and keep at least half of the harvest.
This standard is the judgment of the "doctors" of the Ministry of Civil Affairs hired by Lu Su according to Bai Tu's opinion, that is, those experienced old farmers who can even give some effective suggestions...
Of course, the water systems in different places are different, and the number of deep wells is different, so specific problems still need to be analyzed specifically, and the people who need to do the analysis... are the grassroots officials hastily trained by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Originally, there was some opposition to the Ministry of Civil Affairs recruiting officials from farming families, but now it is time for them to prove themselves with practical actions.
Since the battle of Wancheng, Jiangdong has stopped all military operations except for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu who were "trapped in the city". However... there are still countless "warriors" like the civil officials who are still "fighting" on the front line.
The disaster situation in various places was quickly transmitted to Jinling through signal towers, so that relief forces could be deployed as quickly as possible.
The place that won the most damage in this disaster was undoubtedly Wujun Fuchun County...
In theory, Fuchun is a good place with abundant water systems and developed transportation. No matter what, it is impossible for Fuchun to be the worst hit!
But they couldn't stop the Xu family in Fuchun, who directly destroyed many "deep water wells" - according to what the Xu family spread among the people, this was a protest against the "hard drive deep well disease"!
Even the local officials of Fuchun County were not enthusiastic about digging deep wells. After the officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs went there to assist, the local officials instead encouraged the people to cause trouble.
When the Ministry of Personnel wanted to dismiss these local officials, a farce of thousands of people signing letters in blood was staged - after Bai Tu found out, he simply let them go.
The deep wells that were dug with great difficulty were all dug by the Ministry of Civil Affairs during the slack season, hiring the people to dig. The pay was even... higher than that from other places!
Bai Tu admitted that it was not Xu who destroyed the deep well in the beginning, but... a boring person who did not want to reveal his name. He just let Xu take the blame so that he could settle the score with him in the future.
Anyway, Bai Tu was sure of it. Given Xu Gong's character, he would not deny the matter as long as the rumors spread. Instead, he would regard it as a very "face-saving" thing.
However, what Bai Tu never expected was that Xu Gong not only did not deny it, but even got inspired, as if he could really show his ability as long as he could make things difficult for Bai Tu in this matter. After that, he really intensified his efforts to obstruct and sabotage the deep well excavation.
The "boring people who wish to remain anonymous" only destroyed some unnecessary deep wells when destroying them, and calculated the remaining deep wells. At most, they just made everyone work harder. However, when Xu Gong took action... he really did it in every way!
There are many villages in Fuchun County that are the only places in Jiangdong that cannot even guarantee their own water supply for civilian and livestock use. Now the people can only be concentrated in the county town and other large towns, waiting for water to be transported from the surrounding areas to maintain their livelihoods...
Public resentment!
Irresistible public resentment has accumulated in Fuchun County, and the target is not Bai Tu, but the Xu family and the officials who had done nothing before!
Xu Gong used to be in the local area, and he used this as a means of "hype" for his image of not fearing power, so everyone knows who is to blame now... Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor, and his reputation, which cannot be shaken off, has become sore.
Even after the drought began, the Xu family seized some of the remaining deep wells - as large buffalo owners, they needed a lot of water for their livestock.
At some point, rumors began to spread among the affected people that "Xu had seized the well to feed the cattle, causing the villagers to die of thirst"...
Before, it was only because Xu Gong had offended other noble families that he seemed to be "outstanding" among the noble families. However, now... the Xu family should be the only noble family that is despised by other villagers in their hometown.
As a representative of greatness and justice, Bai Tu personally issued an order to rescue the people of Fuchun with all his strength. Soldiers brought water from the surrounding areas and worked overtime to dig deep wells for Fuchun before the battle.
Just like transporting grain, or even more wasteful than transporting grain, it was equivalent to spending countless water resources to dig a deep well for Fuchun to live in, but the damned cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and dying farmland were basically beyond saving...
At this time, Wang Lang and Yu Fan personally led the officials from to Fuchun to thoroughly investigate the hidden households, hidden fields, and other possible illegal activities of the Xu family!
In fact, the major families today, even if they cooperate with Bai Tu, will certainly not be able to withstand such an investigation. The Lu family and the Yu family also have problems with hidden households and hidden fields, and they even sell private salt in truckloads.
However, if other aristocratic families were to be investigated, it would definitely cause local public resentment and even riots. As local prominent families, any of them could easily stir up local public opinion.
But at this time, the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice who went to Fuchun were warmly welcomed by the people.
In addition, the Xu family usually behaved badly, so there was plenty of evidence. The troops that assisted in digging the well had not yet withdrawn and were stationed near the Xu family's land...
