Chapter 43 The Yellow River Floods
Chapter 43 The Yellow River Floods
A few months later, news came from the capital. It is said that Ding Yuan, Lu Bu’s father, had outstanding achievements in fighting against the Huns. Received special commendation from the emperor. He paid homage to Zhi Jinwu, led the governor of Bingzhou, and stationed in the west of Hexi.
As Ding Yuan was promoted to governor, Lu Bu was also appointed as chief secretary by Ding Yuan and moved to Hexi with Ding Yuan.
This year, the water in the Yellow River surged, threatening the capital. In order to ensure the safety of Beijing, the imperial court ordered the construction of river embankments to divert water from the Yellow River into the countryside.
The order was sent to Dingyuan Mansion in Hanoi. Ding Yuan picked up the imperial order and frowned, unable to make a decision for a moment. This order was a secret order from the imperial court. Ding Yuan did not dare to make it public, so he went to Lu Bu and Gao Shun to discuss it at night.
Soon he saw a tall, handsome young man walking into Ding Yuan’s study. This young man is about seventeen years old, and he is Lu Bu.
Lu Bu entered Ding Yuan’s study and held up his hands to Ding Yuan and said, “How are you, father? I wish you well, my son.”
When Ding Yuan saw Lu Bu coming in, the sadness on his face flashed away. Hehe smiled and said: “It has been raining heavily these days. My son led people to patrol the river embankment. Thank you for your hard work.”
Hearing Ding Yuan’s praise, Lu Bu hurriedly smiled and said: “Father, your praise is ridiculous. It is natural for a child to eat the king’s salary and share the king’s worries. Has the father forgotten that the child is already a general in the army? A little trouble is not enough. Hanging teeth.”
Ding Yuan smiled at Lu Bu, but when he heard Lu Bu say, “Eat the king’s salary and share the king’s worries,” a trace of incomprehensible sadness flashed across his face.
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As soon as Lu Bu arrived, Gao also came to Ding Yuan’s study. This Gao Shun was Ding Yuan’s favorite general. He was well versed in the art of war and was a prudent man, so he was highly appreciated by Ding Yuan.
As soon as Gao Shun entered the door, he hurriedly saluted Ding Yuan and said: “Well, sir, why are you still busy so late at night? Although the water in the Yellow River has surged, it seems that a disaster will happen soon. But you must also take care of yourself, otherwise how can you have energy? , how about managing the Yellow River well?”
Gao Shun’s words were so true that they made Ding Yuan sigh.
“It would be great if these great men in the court had half the public-spiritedness you have.”
Ding Yuan lamented and handed a piece of paper to Gao Shun to look at. It was exactly what Ding Yuan had just seen, the secret decree requiring the digging of the Yellow River to protect the important land of Beijing and Zhao.
After Gao Shun took it, he looked at it briefly, his face became serious, and he said nothing. He also passed the secret decree to Lu Bu on one side.
Lu Bu saw that Ding Yuan and Gao Shun had solemn expressions and felt suspicious, so he quickly took it and took a closer look. After watching it, Lu Bu’s face became filled with anger.
Although Lu Bu has some scheming, he usually only shows it to outsiders. But when he is one of his own people, his happiness and anger are completely displayed on his face.
Lu Bu saw that Ding Yuan and Gao Shun were both silent, so he sighed and said first: “My grandma’s imperial court only cares about its own enjoyment. It doesn’t think about the life and death of the people. I don’t believe that the Yellow River has burst its banks and the flood will still return.” Can it flood up to the Jinluan Palace? But how can those thatched houses in ordinary people’s homes withstand the erosion of the Yellow River? According to me, the river embankment near Jingzhao should be dug.”
After hearing Lu Bu’s inappropriate words, Ding Yuan stared at Lu Bu with bull’s eyes and wanted to curse. But looking at Lu Bu standing there with a playful expression. Ding Yuan understood that Lu Bu was not so ignorant, he was just joking to liven up the atmosphere.
However, Ding Yuan still had a straight face and criticized: “You are so old, you have to be careful when speaking. Are you able to discuss the court’s decision?”
Seeing Ding Yuan’s reprimand, Lu Bu quickly admitted his mistake to Ding Yuan and said, “What father taught you is that the child will remember it.”
Ding Yuan looked at Lu Bu’s smiling face just now and felt relieved. Recalling the first time I met Lu Bu, Lu Bu’s eyes were red and his whole body was full of murderous intent, like a fire of revenge. Over the past two years, I can actually joke. It seems that Lu Bu has slowly been freed from hatred. But Ding Yuan didn’t know how many years Lu Bu could live such a happy and carefree life.
Seeing that the atmosphere on the court had relaxed, Gao Shun stepped forward and asked Ding Yuan: “This matter is of great importance. How will the governor make a decision?”
Only then did Ding Yuan bring his thoughts back. He sighed and said: “As the saying goes, the emperor’s orders are difficult to deal with? We ministers naturally have to share the emperor’s worries.”
When talking about the emperor, Ding Yuan did not forget to arch his hands in the direction of Luoyang to show respect for the emperor.
At this time, Gao Shun also spoke.
“Actually, if you think about it carefully, there is nothing wrong with what you said in the secret decree. The important place in Beijing is naturally more important than ordinary people. But in this way, the officials who did this will have to bear a bad name. This is a real scapegoat. Not small.”
After listening to Gao Shun’s analysis, Ding Yuan nodded and said: “General Gao Shun is right. Your Majesty raises us veterans just to be useful one day. In this case, let me bear the responsibility for all this.” Bar.”
Upon hearing this, Ding Yuan was confused. Lu Bu hurriedly opened his mouth to stop Ding Yuan and said: “Father, don’t panic. Although the water in the Yellow River has surged, it has not yet reached the time when the dike must be breached. Maybe this time it is just a surprise. There will not be a big flood.” ”
Although Lu Bu said this, he had other thoughts in his heart. Lu Bu felt that the court’s secret orders would not be sent to Ding Yuan alone. There might be other officials who also received the court’s secret orders. In this way, as long as you wait a few days, other officials will respond. If others have dug up the Yellow River and eliminated the flood, then there will naturally be no need to dig up the river embankments in Bingzhou.
Having said that, if Bingzhou dug up the Yellow River and other states and counties also dug up the Yellow River, wouldn’t it mean that too many people would be harmed, and the world would probably be in chaos soon?
Thinking of this, Lu Bu suddenly thought of something: the Yellow Turban Uprising. I thought to myself: Is the Yellow Turban Uprising related to what happened today? It seems that the so-called destiny is not false at all.
After listening to Lu Bu’s words, Ding Yuan nodded and said: “My son is right, this method of breaking the dike is indeed a last resort. This matter is related to the livelihood of millions of people, so we officials must be extremely careful. .”
At this point, Ding Yuan ordered Lu Bu and Gao Shun: “From today on, the three of us will eat and live on the river embankment and observe the water level of the Yellow River at any time.”
In the next few days, Ding Yuan, Lu Bu and Gao Shun, set up camp on the Yellow River embankment. They observed the water flow of the Yellow River all day long. Patrol soldiers could be seen everywhere on the Yellow River embankment, observing the situation on the embankment. It’s different from the past few days. Now the people guarding the Yellow River embankment are gone. Since receiving the secret order, Ding Yuan has ordered people in several nearby counties to evacuate. Strive to minimize the losses caused by the embankment breach.
But the strange thing is that it has been raining heavily these days just like the previous days. However, the water level of the Yellow River not only did not rise, but also dropped a little. This actually surprised Ding Yuan. But at the same time, it also added a lot of doubts to Ding Yuan.
On this day, Lu Bu and Ding Yuan were discussing the river embankment in the tent. Gao Shun burst in with an angry look on his face and a piece of paper.
This man, who had always been steady, couldn’t help but complain when he saw Ding Yuan and Lu Bu while presenting the documents to Ding Yuan.
“These officials in the imperial court are so outrageous. I think this good Han Dynasty will be ruined by them.”
Seeing that Gao Shun had such big complaints, Ding Yuan hurriedly opened the document and started reading. You never know the full extent of things until you see them. Ding Yuan had just finished reading the paperwork. He couldn’t hold back and shouted: “I have always served my country wrongly. I have always served my country wrongly.”
It turned out that it was to protect Sidi’s safety when the water in the Yellow River surged. The imperial court ordered several states and counties along the river to dig embankments and release water to ensure the safety of Beijing.
When the ministers of the imperial court made this decision, they naturally had Jingzhao’s safety in mind. But when this decision reached Shi Changshi, Shi Changshi was not only thinking about Si Di’s safety.
You must know that Shi Changshi has been through various channels over the years. He obtained a lot of property, which naturally included a lot of fields near the Yellow River. Once the Yellow River bursts, the safety of Jingzhao must be guaranteed. But the property of these ten princes must also be guaranteed.
In addition, Shi Changshi had no idea about water control. Secret orders were issued not only to the prefectures and counties upstream of Jingzhao, but also to the prefectures and counties downstream of Sidi.
At this time, the powerful people from various places who were related to the bursting of the embankment also used their connections to protect their fields.
Ever since, strange phenomena occurred on both sides of the Yellow River. Wherever people live together, the Yellow River bursts one after another. This natural disaster, which was already a serious disaster, was artificially magnified many times.
And it goes without saying that all these disasters have happened to the poorest people in the Han Dynasty. For a time, the entire Han Dynasty was starving and dying everywhere, and it was terrible to see.
At this time, in the land of the Han Dynasty, both sides of the Yellow River were busy. In addition to the people fleeing everywhere, there were also some people wearing yellow scarves, distributing talisman water everywhere to cure diseases and save people.
However, this natural and man-made flood is not the most serious. Not long after the flood, a rare plague began to spread on both sides of the Yellow River.
The ancients had poor medical standards and were very resistant to this highly contagious disease. As a result, a campaign of strangulation targeting plague patients slowly began in various places. However, local governments ignored the killings of plague patients. Instead, various methods were used to drive these patients away. Undoubtedly, it also facilitates this kind of killing.
However, where there is oppression there is resistance. When the hordes of refugees and plague patients were desperate, they had the same thing in mind, which was rebellion.