Chapter 314: Borrowing Boats

Rain outside the window, silence in the study.

Liang Qu and Yu Dayi looked at each other across the table, the candles on both sides flickering.

Lu Xinqing was sandwiched in the middle, trying his best to curl up his body and lower his breathing, reducing his presence.

Yu Dayi frowned fiercely, twisted into a "few" character, and for a time couldn't sort out his thoughts to refute.

Liang Qu guessed that the other party couldn't sort it out for the time being, because the whole story was very smooth, belonging to shrinking macroscopic phenomena onto individuals.

Is it accurate?

Generally accurate, but specifically ignores quite a lot of details, as well as the differences between people.

With the current productivity of Great Shun, no matter how hard the magistrate works, it is impossible to create a perfect "Peach Blossom Spring" where everyone is healthy.

Lu Xinqing might be a born bad seed, destined to be a water bandit, and if he doesn't, it's a waste of talent; how can it be blamed on others?

It's a pity that he understands it, but can't say it.

Saying it is "shirking responsibility," especially at the critical node of the dike break.

Yu Dayi only felt his shoulders sink.

Easing the contradiction by following it, intensifying the contradiction by going against it; both can allow Yu Dayi to probe half his body out of the quagmire.

Never expected that Liang Qu, young as he was, played a hand of shifting contradictions...

Outside the boat window, star-like ghost fires were endless like beans.

The shouts of the boatmen came from afar, echoing in the emptiness.

"Is there anyone left in the town?"

"Haven't been to the southeast corner, I see someone standing on the roof holding a fire!"

"Old man, is there anyone in the southeast corner?"

"Yes, yes..."

"Abao, you take the fleet over to take a look! If you can pick them all up, pick them up; if you can't, let them wait a while; if there is food, collect some more food; if you can throw other things, throw them! Get it done and hurry to the next place!"

Lu Xinqing stood in the study, unable to breathe from suppression, hearing the shouts of the boatmen outside, as if he suddenly opened his mind, and inexplicably offered two steps.

"Two lords, don't hurt the harmony; you can't argue out a result, but human life is at stake outside, can't wait; if there is anything, let's talk slowly later; we are all working for the Holy One, let's get through the difficulties first, isn't it?"

Lu Xinqing leaned toward the two of them and cupped his hands, his back hunched, actually having a comical appearance.

Liang Qu swept him two glances, Lu Xinqing shrank his neck, cupped his hands faster, exactly like the oolong that squats down and shakes its claws to beg for food when eating.

Under the humor, the stagnant air gradually circulated.

"Sigh..." Yu Dayi sighed long, "You, a water bandit, actually see through it better than this official."

Under the desire to survive, Lu Xinqing's IQ occupied the high ground: "No, no, Magistrate Yu is concerned about the common people, so he is worried..."

Yu Dayi walked out of the long table and pushed open the boat window.

Rainwater hit the windowsill and splashed, the lanterns with candles swaying in the wind.

"The Ghost Mother Sect is licentious, but with natural disasters raging, the common people are innocent; no matter what opinions you and I have, we should work together to get through the difficulties; don't know what Water Minister Liang thinks?"

Yu Dayi turned to face Liang Qu.

He wasn't angry in the first place, so naturally he wouldn't be confused, and he was even more worried that the other party would be young and energetic and couldn't step down, so he took the step first.

Liang Qu felt a little relieved in his heart: "It should be so, but I still want to remind Magistrate Yu that the Ghost Mother Sect is undoubtedly harmful, but at present, there is no evidence to prove that the Qiu Gong Dike break was done by the Ghost Mother Sect."

Yu Dayi's shoulders sank again.

After a while.

"Liang is right..."

As soon as this was said, there was no more sword-drawing and bow-stretching in the room.

Wind blew through the boat window, rolling up the pages of the book.

Lu Xinqing relaxed his waist and back, his whole body relaxed.

"Since Magistrate Yu has calmed down..."

Liang Qu took off the "Liang" waist token from his waist, patted it on the table, took out the ink box, and unfolded the volume.

"Liang Qu, building bridges and accumulating water channels, from Pingyang, Huaiyin.

Regarding the Qiu Gong Dike break, I still have many questions to ask Magistrate Yu."

On one side of the large ship, Ling Shixiong and other martial artists who had nothing to do sat in a large covered boat, drinking small wine around a small table.

Water shield rice stir-fried shrimp, steamed silver fish, deep-fried peanuts, osmanthus chestnut chicken, taro braised pork ribs... all were seasonal delicacies at the moment.

Magistrate Yu invited a few martial artists to help; not saying how much reward, good food and drink was the minimum.

But the martial artists' minds were not on the food at all, their eyes drifting outside from time to time.

"Still arguing on the boat? Shixiong, you have the highest strength, can you hear what they are arguing about?"

Ling Shixiong shook his head: "The rain is too heavy, the sound behind is too small, can't hear clearly."

"Don't know when the flood will recede; my son went to Pingyang County, wanted to take me with him, but the old house has been lived in for decades, passed down to me for three generations, where can I bear to leave?"

"Who says not, I am seventy-six this year, don't know anyone outside, a pile of old bones, really don't want to toss, heart tired."

"Took root, want to leave but can't; eh, Old Song, you are the oldest, remember how many times the Black Water River has flooded?"

An elderly martial artist with age spots on his face shook his head: "Didn't go to remember, basically every year in the past, after Qiu Gong came, it was much less, probably two or three times? If you want to know, you can go to the county annals to see."

"Don't think so much, old brothers can at least live another sixty years! Come, come, eat vegetables, eat vegetables, haven't eaten dinner yet today!"

"Pity the vegetables, Old Li won't be able to eat them."

The sound of bowls and chopsticks colliding rang out in the covered boat, not long after.

"Eh, eh, out, out!"

The martial artists looked up and just happened to bump into Liang Qu leading Lu Xinqing out of the door, Yu Dayi following closely behind.

The three came to the deck, occasionally with voices drifting in the wind.

"Magistrate Yu thinks someone deliberately destroyed the dike?"

"It must be done by external force! The water level stele is broken, and the people at the hydrological station have been missing until now; I suspect they have already perished."

The Qiu Gong Dike was a big mine in Huazhu County; suddenly exploding, Yu Dayi undoubtedly had to send someone to investigate, naturally knowing that the water level stele was broken.

Furthermore, the people in the hydrological station were not ordinary people; by logic, they shouldn't have died in the dike break.

The two overlapped, definitely not a coincidence.

Yu Dayi said firmly: "It must be the Ghost Mother Sect!"

Liang Qu: "..."

Yu Dayi couldn't leave the Ghost Mother Sect in three sentences, treating it as a life-saving straw.

Liang Qu could roughly understand the mood.

The flood is ruthless, human life is at stake, the imperial court will definitely punish heavily.

Decades of hard work turned into nothing, and it is even more likely to lose his life; Yu Dayi can stand and organize language, his psychological quality is already quite good.

"Hydrological station, water level stele..."

Liang Qu stared at the volume, unable to sort out the clues.

He is not a criminal investigator, discerning everything, invincible in reasoning.

Fortunately, it doesn

Having obtained several pieces of basic information, Liang Qu prepared to leave, but before departing, he wanted to ask Yu Dayi to lend him a fleet of ships.

The top priority of Xu Yuelong's three major tasks—saving people.

Nothing can be done without ships.

Unexpectedly, Yu Dayi refused point-blank.

"It's not that I don't want to lend them, it's truly that I cannot; the fleet is stretched too thin, and I cannot spare more manpower to help Magistrate Liang, but... Magistrate Liang actually still has another path."

Liang Qu narrowed his eyes: "Which one?"

Yu Dayi reached out and pointed to the north.

"The Shahe Gang!"