I

The real bitter battle is in Zhangshu Town.

Zhangshu Town is a town with the richest taxation under Zhao Han's rule. The fiscal revenue contributed by Zhangshu Town alone is worth the sum of Longquan and Yongning counties!

After the Gan River flows through Ji'an Mansion, it merges into a large river and several small rivers. When they arrived at Zhangshu Town, the Yuan River came again with floods. The two rivers converged and washed out a sharp bend, and even brought a large amount of sediment to deposit into a sandbar.

At the beginning, Wang Siren's officers, soldiers and navy had an absolute advantage, but they did not dare to sail across the river mouth. In fact, they dare not drive across the sandbar. The river is narrow and the water situation is complicated. Even if they are not attacked by fire, they will be surrounded and ambushed.

With this, Zhao Han was able to calmly confront the government and army, but now because of this terrain, Zhangshu Town has brought huge pressure to fight the flood.

"Hoo!"

The bamboo whistle sounded, and more than two thousand peasants and soldiers came running.

Thousands of young and strong were organized by the peasant association and went to the lower reaches of Zhangshu Town.

The mayor of the town took his officials and knocked on doors from door to door, recruiting the townspeople to build embankments to fight the flood.

In fact, along the entire Ganjiang River, flood embankments have been built since the Tang Dynasty.

In particular, the east bank of the Ganjiang River in the upper and lower reaches of Fengcheng, which was built from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, has been able to protect 600,000 mu of farmland. The Ming Dynasty continued to build more, but it was not until the Republic of China that the dikes on the Zhangshu Town side could be connected.

After the Wanli Dynasty, the local water conservancy was corrupted, and it all depended on the responsible local officials to call on the gentry to donate money to repair it.

As long as there are official organizations, the gentry are also willing to donate money, which is to protect their wealth. Take the dikes in Zhangshu Town as an example. Once the flood floods or breaks the dikes, it may submerge 100,000 mu of fertile land, because the banks are all low-lying areas.

The prefect of Linjiang and the prefect of Qingjiang are both in charge of the prefecture along the city, and they can't get through during the flood.

The safety of Zhangshu Town rests on the mayor Liu Tongyu.

Liu Tongyu was born as a scholar of a wealthy family, with both civil and military skills, and served as a civil servant in the army at the beginning. Together with Zhang Tieniu, he also captured Xingan County by defrauding the city. His position as mayor was not inferior to that of the county magistrate.

At this moment, Liu Tongyu was running on the embankment along the river to direct the flood fighting in the rain.

Under the organization of the government, the residents of the town joined in one after another, and the farmers, soldiers and farmers' association also took action.

No one dared to slack off. Their ancestors have lived by the river for generations, and they know that this year's situation is not right. This torrential rain has been falling for too long, and it finally cleared for two days in the middle, and suddenly there was another heavy rainstorm.

Not only the mayor took people to observe the water level every day, but the people also went to observe the water level every day. After all, it was more than 100,000 mu of land once flooded, and there was no status in front of the flood.

The medicinal material merchants in Zhangshu Town all united to take action, sending money and dispatching men to build embankments. If the embankment breaks or floods, they will suffer the greatest loss. Many people have piled up several warehouses of medicinal materials.

From Zhangshu Town to the north, there are peasant soldiers and peasant associations on both sides of the bank, organizing the masses to come to fight the flood.

If you look down from a high altitude, it looks like countless ants carrying sandbags and mud baskets to and from the riverside, performing the most grand and magnificent epic in the world.

Fei Chun was actually the one who had the most headaches. Not only did he have to allocate funds for disaster relief, but after the flood receded, he also had to reduce or exempt the people's land taxes as appropriate. Although mountainous areas are not affected by floods, the drought is extremely severe, which means that taxes will be generally reduced or exempted this year.

The money and food in the official warehouse are not enough!

Originally, the truce of recruiting security, the smooth flow of salt roads, and the financial problems have been alleviated. As long as the harvest continues this year, or an average year, the warehouses in all counties will be able to pile up like mountains.

What the hell is a sudden disaster year?

Fei Chun felt a deep malice, and felt that God was deliberately against him.

Han Chengxuan, as the county magistrate of Nanchang appointed by the imperial court, also left Nanchang County at this moment, and came to the bank of the Gan River to direct the increase and build dams.

He had already been emptied, without any real power at all.

However, his performance in disaster relief was active, and at this moment he also obtained part of the command, as if he had become an official under Zhao Han's command.

After working hard for two consecutive days and nights, seeing the water level drop little by little, Han Chengxuan was so tired that he lay directly on the embankment.

"Master Han is eating." A woman brought the food with a smile.

Han Chengxuan struggled to get up, smiled and said, "Thank you."

While eating, while observing, the embankment is full of officials and civilians lying in disorder.

Hu Dinggui came over with his job bowl in his hand, and said with a smile: "It's better to be a thief than a county honorer. You are a good official. It's a pity to give your life to the dog emperor."

Han Chengxuan couldn't laugh or cry at the title of "Emperor Dog". He had heard it countless times in Jiangxi. I was still angry at first, but gradually became numb, and I can say whatever other people like to say.

Han Chengxuan changed the subject and asked, "This flood will never come again."

Chief Registrar Liu Zirong looked at the sky, walked over and said, "If it continues to rain heavily, no amount of embankment will help."

"Why?" Han Chengxuan asked.

Liu Zirong said: "You are from the north, so you don't understand the severity of the floods in the south. We have carried the flood peak twice. It is estimated that there is no rain on the Poyang Lake side, and the flood discharge is very fast. Now the Poyang Lake is probably full. Come again." If there is a flood peak, I will directly take the people to a higher place."

Another old official came over with a job bowl: "Thanks to Mr. Zhao, if the government is replaced by the imperial court, even if there are good officials in charge, tens of thousands of acres of fertile land will definitely be flooded this time."

Liu Zirong said with emotion: "That's true, the second time Hong Feng came too fast and too violently."

Han Chengxuan understood it. This time, he was able to withstand the second wave of flood peaks, all thanks to the strong organizational strength of the peasant association and peasant soldiers. If there are no rebels here, let him, the county magistrate, mobilize the people to fight the floods. I don't know how long it will take, and he will definitely miss the best time to fight the floods.

To be honest, Han Chengxuan likes this place, even though it is a rebel site.

Any official who wants to do something likes this kind of atmosphere and popular support. After two days and two nights of fighting against the flood, Han Chengxuan was completely infected, and at the same time remembered the messy things in his hometown in Shanxi.

Comparing the two, one is in the sky and the other is underground.

The flood gradually passed, and the spirit of the people under Zhao Han's rule reached a peak.

Li Banghua felt unbelievable when the news was reported one after another from all over the country. There are so many counties and small towns along the coast, but only two towns broke the embankment, and the other flooded places were not particularly critical, at most they lost a lot of food income.

This is impossible at any time.

After careful analysis, the high-level officials of the General Military Office all believed that there are three keys to the victory against floods: first, the officials are competent; second, the peasant association leads and the peasants are active; Great work.

All officials are capable of doing things, and nepotism is definitely inevitable, but even if they are in the top position, they have to show a resume that can see the past.

In the early days of a regime, it is so dynamic.

Taking the military aspect alone, comparing the early Ming and the late Ming is simply two worlds.

In the Liaodong wars in the late Ming Dynasty, the battlefield was partially like a sieve, and the Tartar army could be interspersed at will.

As for the key battle in Liaodong in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang wrote the script directly in Nanjing, and Ma Yun and Ye Wang, two front-line generals, acted as directors and added details.

First, fortify the walls and clear the fields, lure the enemy to go deep, and stick to the isolated city to consume the Yuan army. At that time, the city wall had not yet been repaired, and many gaps were blocked with wood, and the battle was extremely fierce. The reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty rushed to the enemy's rear, completely believing that the friendly troops would not lose the city.

The ensuing battle was just like watching "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The Yuan army retreated in panic. When they encountered hundreds of crossbowmen in the valley, they were so frightened that they immediately changed their escape route. As a result, the Ming army built an ice wall several miles long overnight. The cavalry of the Yuan army could only run along the ice wall. After finally running to the end, they fell into the trap dug in advance.

During the war in Liaodong, Zhu Yuanzhang played micromanagement in Nanjing in advance, and arranged the Yuan army's troops clearly.

This battle made Zhu Yuanzhang very happy, and after that, Ma Yun and Ye Wang were responsible for the entire Liaodong theater.

Zhao Han's employment is the same as Zhu Yuanzhang's, no matter whether it is a scholar or a general, he must be able to do things!

This flood fighting and emergency rescue also allowed Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua and other senior officials to strengthen the principle of employing people in the future: the prime minister must start from the state department, and the fierce general must be sent to the army!

Zhao Han's land successfully resisted the flood, and even the place infiltrated by the peasant association was not affected by the flood. On the other hand, the territory of the imperial court can be described as a mess.

Let me talk about the drought first. Due to the failure of water conservancy facilities, guarding the huge Poyang Lake, the land a little far away from the lake is all withered and yellow.

Let’s talk about floods. I saw the water level of Poyang Lake rise rapidly, and even the Yangtze River water flowed into the lake due to the heavy rain in the upper reaches. But officials from all over the country didn't take it seriously. Instead, local gentry organized themselves to build embankments. However, the lack of organizational power of the gentry led to the collapse of many embankments along the Poyang Lake.

A large area around Poyang Lake was flooded. At the same time, the mountainous area only a few dozen miles away from the shore of the lake was experiencing a very severe drought.

Including Jingdezhen, the water level of the Changjiang River has dropped to an extremely low point, and the water from Poyang Lake is pouring back into the river.

Two consecutive years of severe drought and the government's continuous tax urging have resulted in a large number of hungry people in Northeast Jiangxi.

These hungry people went west and south one after another, fleeing famine along the way to beg for food, and countless starved to death along the way.

By the Longkou River.

Ding Jiasheng, a poor scholar who had been hungry for a whole day, approached some friends in the same village and said, "There was a severe drought along the way, and the small households had no food left, and the big households were closed and refused to give food. If this continues, Sooner or later you will starve to death, I think it is better to rebel."

"Can we succeed in rebelling?" asked a friend.

Ding Jiasheng took out a copy of "The Collection of Datong" from his arms, and said: "There is a King Zhao in the south. I found it at the door of Master Zhou's house."

The other friends had never read a book, so they asked, "What is this book about?"

"How rebellious it is written," Ding Jiasheng said, "I have been reading every day for the past year, and I can recite everything written in the book. Let's kill a few landlords first, open warehouses to release grain, and recruit more people. Divide the land I'm afraid it will be difficult, so let's lead people to attack the county seat directly. After the city is taken down, we will invite Zhao Tianwang to be the master, and we can also be heroes. Remember, Zhao Tianwang is benevolent, forbidding to kill people, and forbidding to rape women .These two rules cannot be broken, if anyone breaks, I will turn my face and deny anyone."

On the same day, Ding Jiasheng instigated hundreds of people to break into the landlord's house. While opening the warehouse to release the grain, he also killed a few Liwei who had bad manners.

They engulfed hungry people along the way and robbed landlords to raise food for the army.

The troops were divided halfway, and the large force headed for the capital city of Raozhou. Ding Jiasheng personally led a small force and went straight to Duchang County, disguised as civilians, and seized the county seat in one fell swoop.

At the same time, the banner of Zhao Tianwang was unfurled, and countless hungry people came to seek refuge.

This person also selected talents, and even started to distribute fields to the people around the county town.