Sick Man Turns Out to be a General

The sky did not clear for even a day. Several days later, what everyone was worried about finally happened.    

"Bad news, bad news, Madam, the dike is collapsing …"    

Shen Jingli was playing with a ball in his hand when Lee Qi ran in with a flustered look on his face. His back was covered in rainwater and his wet hair hung down to his sides, making him look quite pathetic.    

"What about fourteen?"    

"Master is on his patrol at the city gate." Lee Qi gasped for breath, he sat down on a chair and took some water to drink, "Second Master and Chen Jian went over to help. Ma'am, will the water flood the entire city? "    

"That depends on the circumstances." Sky Disaster was hard to predict, so he could not guarantee anything.    

Shen Jingli lowered his head and played with the child. The little fellow was completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world. It was playing around with the ball in its arms and occasionally thought of Shen Jingli and reached out to hug him.    

He stretched out his hand to touch the little guy's face. The little guy thought that he was playing with him, so it reached out its little white hand to grab his hand. When it grabbed it, it began to giggle happily.    

Soon the fields close to the river were covered by the river, followed by the nearby farmhouses, houses after houses, until at last there was only one roof, and the fields and roads below were completely out of sight.    

The flood was fierce, devouring anything that came its way. Those who did not have time to seek refuge, the poultry that did not have time to bring along, and all sorts of pots and pans … With great vigor, the flood rushed towards the city. When it met the city wall made of bricks and stones, it would break apart. The water level would rise up inch by inch and then slow down once it reached the height of half a wall.    

Prefect Liu paced around the house anxiously, his hair turning white from worry.    

The rain gradually lessened, but it was still pouring down. It did not stop for a while, and the smell of the rain mixed with the smell of mud lingered on for a long time.    

"The water is coming, the water is coming! What a big water, we're going to be washed away …"    

"Wuwuwu …" Woo woo … * "We're going to drown. Help, I don't want to die yet …"    

"We definitely won't be able to escape. The great water will flood our entire Jiang City and drown us to death …"    

"Mother! Father! I don't want to die! Come and bring me home!"    

"..."    

Yet, it was as if his backyard was on fire. There were people constantly trying to stir up trouble, secretly spreading the news about the flood, and spreading it without restraint. It caused a lot of panic among the people, causing a huge commotion.    

Liu Zungfu's wife, Lady Han, hastily tidied up her private room and secretly went to the storage room to retrieve a few good items. She nervously hid her luggage, then stomped out to the front courtyard.    

He was now like an ant on a hot pan, anxiously walking around in circles. When King Jing first came to patrol the canal embankment, he immediately cleared away the evidence of his corruption and found a few trustworthy water conservancy masters to trick him. But now that the rain had washed the embankment down, King Jing would definitely investigate the matter again.    

"Old master, what's going on outside? Will this flood really drown the entire Jiang City? " The Han Family looked haggard as they walked in with the help of the maidservant.    

She had lived for so many years, but she had never experienced such a disaster before. Her heart could not bear it. Looking at the similarly haggard Liu House, she felt even more terrified.    

"How do I know?" All of the officers and soldiers in the city had been sent away by the King Jing, so no one came to report to him on the current situation.    

After being scolded by Prefect Liu, Lady Han felt somewhat wronged. However, she didn't dare to express it out loud. With a pale face, she silently stood to the side.    

Ah!    

A scream came from the backyard. Prefect Liu's face darkened. He shook his sleeves and walked towards the backyard.    

The backyard was in a complete mess. All the aunts, maidservant s and wives were walking around, some screaming, some crying, some hugging onto their legs and wanting to run away, some sitting on the ground in fear …    

When Prefect Liu saw this messy scene, he could not help but feel anger rising.    

"Someone, come …"    

He shouted out loud, stopping the panic of the crowd. They looked around in panic and focused their gazes on him, feeling that he was even more terrifying than the flood.    

"Master …" Two attendants ran over and knelt in front of Prefect Liu.    

"Throw those people who are causing trouble out for me." He pointed at the people who had lost control and excitement, saying angrily, "This official isn't dead yet? What are you doing here? "    

Among the people pointed out, there was a doted on aunt. She ran over while crying and begged for mercy, "Old master, please spare me this once, I won't dare …"    

Now that the city gate was sealed, all the citizens of Jiang City were not allowed to enter and exit. If she was kicked out, where could she go to shelter?    

Liu Zungfu looked at the bundle in her arms and sneered, "I'm afraid the contents of this bundle will last you for the rest of your life. Scram …"    

No one dared to say anything, a few servants with stern expressions chased the nine maidservant wives out.    

The people who were kicked out knelt in front of the Liu Estate's entrance and cried for the most part of the day. However, at this critical time, everyone was busy protecting their lives. Who would still have the mood to meddle with the Prefect's affairs?    

Those people cried for a long time, but when they saw that no one paid attention to them, they actually asked for Mu Family, in front of Shen Jingli.    

Shen Jingli hesitated for a moment, then arranged for them to stay at the manor at the east side of the city, and sent a batch of linen over, telling them to rush and make a set of clothes. If they wanted to stay where he was, they would have to work, and he would not accept people who ate and drank for free.    

On the seventh day after the city was sealed off, the heavy rain finally stopped. Several days later, the surging flood finally stopped.    

When the flood retreated, Mu Chen and Xu Yanlin immediately ran out of the city to transport their rations. They knew that they wouldn't be rushing to the City of Hua-Yang as soon as possible.    

When people were hungry, they would start a riot.    

It had to be said that Shen Jingli was very far-sighted. He bought a large amount of fields near the Jiang City, and only sold two-thirds of all the food produced in the fields. He stored the remaining one third and waited for the next crop of food to come out, before changing to another batch to store it and selling it at a low price.    

Right now, this third of the grains had become the most important straw for their survival.    

Shen Jingli had always thought about more than them. Not only was he worried about the arrival of the flood, the people did not have any food to eat, he was more worried that after the flood, the people would not have any food to live on. To the people who had been swept away by the flood, those food supplies represented hope, and with these food seeds, there would be hope for the future.    

King Jing looked at the food and seeds that Mu Chen and had brought back eagerly. He patted Mu Chen's shoulders in gratitude, "Zi An, you did well."    

If they did not have this batch of food, the people of Jiang City would not be able to live a peaceful life in the future, no matter how well they could prevent and control the flood.    

"Fourteen, I really underestimated you in the past. You didn't just know how to fight!" Xu Yanlin rushed forward and punched Mu Chen in the chest.    

Mu Chen smiled, how was this all his effort? If Shen Jingli had not insisted on buying the land grain storage and had not made a prompt decision for people to rush out of the rain to pick up the grains, they would have been forced to wait for the imperial government to open its warehouse to provide relief, or watch the citizens starve to death.    

"Jinglee suggested that we organize the refugees to build the riverbank." He really did pick up a great treasure. "Young men with the strength to divide into groups to reorganize the flooded villages and build river banks, and women, old people and children in refugee camps to help care for the injured refugees, to rely on their own labour to collect grain and grain, would be more methodical."    

The citizens could not be allowed to rely on the relief provided by the imperial government. Sometimes, the imperial government was not reliable, and that was what Shen Jingli had said.    

Hearing this, King Jing and Xu Yanlin looked at Mu Chen in unison, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed. These two men actually didn't consider a pair in the inner chamber.    

When the King Jing appeared, they covered the entrance of the city with a shed to prepare porridge. Because the rules were being read out first, the refugees were all very obedient and no one dared to push them forward.    

"Granny, be careful, it's hot. We'll have another round of porridge in the evening." Looking at the old granny who was wolfing down her food, Lee Qi reminded her with a slightly helpless smile.    

In the end, he was still young and had never encountered such a harsh situation. He did not know what it was like to be hungry. Looking at these refugees, he could not help but feel sympathy for them.    

Prefect Liu stood in the dark, watching the orderly flow of refugees. His old face was flushed red, and a sense of uneasiness and fear assaulted him. He actually felt somewhat ashamed.    

Because of the reputation of the King Jing, many large families also covered the houses with porridge, and even sent their servants, the maidservant s, to help maintain the cleanliness and safety of the streets in the city.    

The water had washed away the farmers' hard work for a year, including their homes. Their families continued, but they were completely ruined by the flood. However, they could not bring themselves to beg for help. They were truly ashamed of themselves.    

King Jing's policy of collecting food ingeniously satisfied the citizens' self-esteem. They felt respect and not like a pitiful puppy who had to face the sympathy and pity of others.    

As a result, King Jing became a living Buddha in the hearts of the citizens of Jiang City. Every day, they would work hard to earn enough money to eat, and even earn a certain amount of food or grain. They would specially request for people to help them tidy up their homes, and half of the money to build the houses would go to the imperial government to pay for the disaster.    

The disaster relief operation was handled satisfactorily under the meticulous planning of the King Jing and the rest. The problem of the refugees was resolved quickly, and it was unlikely that they would be able to seek refuge here and there, affecting the citizens of the other cities.    

Afterwards, the King Jing made a memorial to the Emperor, stating that this time, the water disaster was the least serious, and it was all thanks to Mu Chen and his wife's suggestions. After that, they had to provide porridge to comfort the disaster and pacify the citizens, in order to overcome this calamity with the least amount of losses.