The Zhangqiu section of the Yellow River is a sandy bay, and the earthen dams are extremely fragile. A long diversion channel must be dug to ensure that the breaches will not be connected together to form a larger floodplain.

In this era without construction machinery, Chen Tao commanded tens of thousands of migrant workers and dug out a river channel more than a thousand meters long and several meters deep and wide in just ten days. It is definitely a miracle.

"Sure enough, I was right about the person. Master Chen and Supervisor Chen are making rapid progress, which is really a blessing to the people!"

Blocking the breach of the Yellow River dam as soon as possible will not only avoid the water crisis in the spring flood season, but may also allow the people of Zhangqiu Town to catch up with spring plowing.

Just as Han Yong had worried before, rebuilding towns and river engineering projects would not require so many refugees, and it would be impossible to set up porridge shacks and raise them in vain.

Most of the victims have to rely on land distribution to make them self-reliant.

Catching up with spring plowing means that one more year of food can be produced, which will not only relieve Shen Yichen's pressure on rice and grain, but also allow the victims to accumulate more wealth.

After all, Shen Yichen is not short of money for the time being, but it does not mean that he will never have to worry about the future. Once the river industry is fully launched, the salary expenditures for government officers, military households in the guard stations, and migrant workers alone will be as high as one hundred thousand taels per month.

If the river embankment is to be built for a hundred years, many dangerous river channels must be built with solid stone embankments, which was also expensive in the Ming Dynasty.

Only by allowing Yanggu County to restore its past farming prosperity and obtain reasonable fiscal revenue as soon as possible can a virtuous cycle be formed. Otherwise, it will be water without roots and we will have to constantly find ways to make money.

"In fact, flood control has made rapid progress, and most of the credit goes to Qian Xian!'

Chen Tao didn't dare to take credit, so he handed Shen Yichen a reply.

"Master Chen, I didn't expect that in addition to supervising flood control, you are also good at flattery."

Shen Yichen made a joke. Chen Tao seemed honest and honest, so the credit could be passed on to himself.

He is not a person who is greedy for credit. He has been so busy during this period that he has not even visited the river embankment. How shameless he is to take credit. "The lower official is not flattering Qian Xian, but he has never done anything about water control and river engineering over the years." There has never been such speed.'

"If Qian Xian hadn't been able to make the people trust him and be willing to work hard, no matter how eloquent he was, he wouldn't have been able to meet today's construction deadline."

Chen Tao has been the chief clerk of Zhangqiu Town for nearly 20 years, and has served under several water control ministers appointed by the imperial court. Most of the people recruited as corvees in the past were forcibly recruited, and they had to live without food and clothing. Under the whip of the overseer.

With this kind of treatment, even if they are ambitious, they cannot mobilize the enthusiasm of migrant workers.

The current situation on the river is completely opposite to that before. There is no need to use any cruel punishment, or even to mobilize yourself. The people are full of enthusiasm and enthusiasm every day.

He was afraid that he would be kicked out of the flood control labor force for being lazy and slippery. Not only would he lose his money and wages, but he would also lose his daily supply of rice and meat.

So much so that the military personnel at the guard station who originally maintained order, when they had nothing to do, also joined the civilian team of the project and contributed to the water control in Zhangqiu Town.

Chen Tao has never seen such a scene in his life. If it wasn't Shen Yichen's credit, who could do it?

Facing Chen Tao's heartfelt words, Shen Yichen smiled lightly and replied: "It is not so much the credit of my officer, but the credit of participating in the river workers and the people."

"Master Chen, please take me on a tour and talk while you watch."

"Yes, I will obey your orders!"

After that, Chen Tao led the way and introduced the current project steps on the spot.

The migrant workers who were digging the tributaries of the river saw an official in a scarlet robe approaching from a distance. Before he could get a closer look at his appearance, they all started cheering.

The reason is very simple. Except for Shen Yichen, among the fourth-rank officials in Shandong, there is no possibility that anyone else would come to the river embankment to inspect it personally.

"This red official robe must be the number one scholar here!'

"Who else can there be besides Zhuangyuan Gong? Brothers, hurry up and stand to greet him!"

"Si'er, please wipe off the dirt on your face. You must have a clean face when facing the No. 1 Scholar. Don't be rude!"

"The number one scholar is like the blue sky in this world. How can you stand to greet him? He should kneel down and worship!"

Far away from this group of civilians, they were still discussing in a lively manner. When Shen Yichen actually came to them, many people were dumbfounded and didn't know what to do.

Even though many of them had met Shen Yichen more than once, they still couldn't hide their excitement. It could be said that their lives were saved by the young man in front of them!

"My fellow villagers have worked hard on the river. I have been busy with official duties recently, so I came late.'

Before the people could react, Shen Yichen held up his hands and expressed his apology.

As soon as he said these words, there were all kinds of replies like "I don't dare to take it seriously", "I don't dare to do it to ordinary people", "I would like to pay homage to the Number One Scholar", and then they all knelt down and saluted.

"Fathers and fellow villagers, please get up. This is an important river engineering site, above the illegal hall. From now on, no matter how big or small officials inspect, they will only kneel down and worship!"

In the future, the construction of new dams on the river will stretch for hundreds of miles and span several state capitals in Shandong. Various officials will inevitably come to inspect the river embankments. The Ming Dynasty abolished many bad habits of the Yuan Dynasty, but the practice of kneeling and worshiping has been retained and strengthened. A hierarchical system of superiority and inferiority.

In the past, Shen Yichen was a small official, and he came from a noble Hanlin official. Except for the emperor, it was actually relatively rare for him to kneel down to others, or for others to kneel down to him.

Now that he is serving as the censor of Qiandu, he is increasingly aware of the inconvenience of various kneeling rituals. Shen Yichen doesn't know how other officials behave. At least when he is working under his own hands, he can avoid this set of rotten etiquette.

Especially in this kind of important construction site, if an official comes to kneel down, will anything be done?

After instructing the civilians to get up, Shen Yichen rolled up the hem of his official robe and prepared to walk down the muddy river channel that was being excavated.

Seeing Shen Yichen's move, Jiang Pei, Chen Tao and other Yanggu County officials were shocked and hurriedly stood in front of him and said, "You can't do it. It's muddy down here. Don't stain your clothes."

"You fellow villagers may be covered in mud, but Chief Chen, you can do it yourself, so what can't I do?"

After saying that, Shen Yichen ignored the obstruction of Yanggu County officials and walked on the muddy dirt road to the people.

Watching Shen Yichen approaching step by step, the people working on the excavation and construction work in the river were simply dumbfounded. In the past, when they encountered high-ranking officials inspecting the construction site, they would at most just crowd around with their entourage, look at him from a distance, and then turn around and leave. Not a word was said.

Shen Yichen, despite being covered in mud, actually managed the floods with his own hands. This kind of personal practice is really amazing.

"How old is this little brother?'

Before the migrant workers in the river could react, Shen Yichen already had a friendly smile on his face and asked the nearest migrant worker.

"I am nineteen this year."

The civilian husband blurted out subconsciously, forgetting even the word "caomin".

"You are older than me.

Shen Yichen naturally didn't care about these details. He patted the other person on the shoulder and continued to ask: "You have been working hard on the river recently. Have you eaten enough?"

"When I'm full, I eat enough rice and noodles every day, and I get a piece of meat. It's much better than what I used to eat at home."

Hearing this answer, Shen Yichen nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "Is it still bearable to work every day?" "It is bearable. The laborers who built the city wall in the past had to move stones much harder than this.'

Perhaps because they were similar in age, and Shen Yichen was friendly enough, the young man who asked the question answered very naturally, without the kind of stammering caused by fear.

"That's good. If there are any problems in the future, you can inform Master Chen and I will try my best to solve it."

"I have no problem with it, Mr. Zhuangyuan. I just want to repair the river embankment as soon as possible so that I can repay your kindness!"

"good.'

Shen Yichen smiled and nodded again, then turned his attention to another old man and began to ask him about some things about river work and life.

Seeing this scene in the eyes of everyone, everyone had mixed feelings in their hearts.

Of course, the people didn't need to say much. Many of those who were selected by Shen Yichen for questioning were already full of tears. Even if they were not asked by Shen Yichen, they were still excited when they saw it in their eyes.

They never imagined that the No. 1 Scholar Guild would care about the food, clothing, housing and transportation of untouchables like themselves. If it hadn't happened to them, no one would believe it.

At this time, the officials and servants of Yanggu County put aside the last barrier with Shen Yichen and were completely impressed by his words and deeds. Serving as an official and benefiting the whole country was once the ideal and ultimate goal of these people-friendly officials. Now Now it seems that the distance between himself and the people under his rule is far greater than that of Shen Yichen, an expatriate official in the capital.

This is truly people-friendly!

After asking seven or eight people, it happened that lunch time came, and hundreds of women who cooked rice came with baskets and barrels to distribute food. "Master Chen, today you will do your best to serve as a landlord and treat me to a meal." How about a meal on the Don River?"

"Since Qian Xian is so elegant, the subordinates should be respectful rather than obey orders!'

Chen Tao said yes, and he gradually let go of his nervousness and fear of Shen Yichen, understanding that the other party didn't care about formalities and trivial matters, and truly valued the people of the world.

Another point is that Chen Tao is confident that Hegong’s food is definitely comparable to the dietary standards of middle-class families in the Ming Dynasty.

Soon several baskets and wooden barrels were placed in front of Shen Yichen. He opened the lid and took a look. The baskets contained steaming steamed buns, steamed buns and multigrain rice.

Several wooden barrels next to it contained seasonal side dishes and egg soup respectively. More importantly, Shen Yichen also saw a barrel of fat pork belly!

The quality of the food is not only related to whether the people can have enough to eat, but also related to the integrity of the entire river engineering. Think about a construction site that eats chaffy vegetables. Can it ensure that the project is not greedy or cut corners?

"Very good. It seems that the food standards issued by my officer have been implemented very well.'

"I dare not disobey the orders of Qian Xian.'

After Chen Tao finished answering, a look of worry appeared on his face.

"However, the daily expenses for this kind of working and food standards are huge, and it is not easy for Qian Xian to raise water conservancy and silver.

Chen Tao had been living on the river embankment during this period. Naturally, he didn't know that Zhang Qiuzhen had received the water conservancy bank from the court and had made a big deal with salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In his understanding, Shen Yichen still relied on forcibly collecting grain taxes from large households. Holding on.

Now that refugees from other places have joined in, the number of people has soared to close to one hundred thousand, and the daily expenses for work and food alone are as high as hundreds of taels, not counting the cost of river construction materials. Chen Tao is really worried that the money in Shen Yichen's hands will not be able to support him.

"Master Chen, you don't have to worry about me. Money matters are never a problem. You can just supervise the work and control the floods with peace of mind.

Shen Yichen waved his hand with a look of indifference on his face.

It's just that his image is quite different in the eyes of Yanggu County officials.

It is true that money is not a problem. Shen Yichen has already begun to rob salt taxes and customs duties in Shandong Province. How could it still be a problem? If there is a real problem, Shen Yichen's next step is to rob the richest Lu Prince's Mansion.

Shen Yichen didn't know what the local officials thought. If he knew, he would probably agree deeply. He really always had Prince Lu's house in mind.

Of course, Prince Lu's Mansion is also thinking about him at this moment.

At Prince Lu's Mansion in Yanzhou, the staff sent by Zhang Ji took only half a day to gallop nearly a hundred miles to see Prince Lu.

The current King of Lu Jing, Zhu Zhaohui, is the second King of Lu and the only son of King Zhu Tan of Luhuang. He took the throne early in the first year of Yongle. Counting carefully, it has been forty-two years since the orthodox tenth year. It can be said that he is in the fiefdom. ingrained.

It was precisely because of more than forty years of hard work that Zhu Zhaohui controlled half of the senior officials of the Chief Secretary of Shandong. After all, as long as the smooth officials and the iron-clad King Lu were willing to make friends, they could eventually help their own people to rise to power.
To be continued...