Chapter 330

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Seeing that the speaker was Cai Xiu, Lv Zhongchang's originally somewhat gloomy face rarely cleared up.

"So it's Little Cai!" He smiled. "Where is that flat ground you mentioned? Is it far?"

Leaving aside other matters, just this 'Little Cai' — relying solely on the reputation of a Scholar of the Imperial Academy, a rising star — was enough to make people look at him with higher regard.

Moreover, this person indeed had some substance; ever since he brought a group of students to Chan Prefecture, he managed things in an orderly fashion, without causing Lv Zhongchang the slightest worry.

Of course, he wasn't without flaws.

Among the students working on the river channels, his reputation was very poor; it was said he loved to flatter superiors and bully inferiors, fawn on the powerful, act opportunistically, conduct himself very unfairly, and often steal others' credit.

But to Lv Zhongchang, these were all minor faults, amounting to nothing.

Not to be envied is to be mediocre; besides, where in this world is there any so-called fairness?

Tasks he assigned, he could complete without discount, doing them well; on the surface he stirred up no trouble; most importantly, the scions shoved in by those high-ranking personages all got good placements, and in the future could share credit and show their faces.

He was originally someone with great prospects; once back in the Capital, with this group behind him speaking well of him, winning the appreciation of those many bigwigs, why fear he wouldn't rise straight to the blue clouds?

Although Cai Xiu couldn't guess Lv Zhongchang's thoughts, he keenly felt the other's appreciation for him.

He immediately said: "Not far, right by Huihekou. Although mud and sand are piled there now, once cleared, it will be just as convenient!"

"Lead the way."

Cai Xiu agreed in one breath, leading a group of people to the mentioned place.

Before long, everyone saw a large 'flat ground' piled with timber, bricks, tiles, and mud-sand.

It was said to be by Huihekou, but in fact it was still separated by quite a distance.

"It's quite far!"

"Too much debris; it blocks the view in the end. Right now we can't even see the river channel clearly; how will we see the river opening clearly the day after tomorrow?"

Cai Xiu hurriedly said: "Right now it's because the terrain here is too low that we can't see the river channel. Since Vice Commissioner Li and that Imperial Envoy are only arriving the day after tomorrow, plus today, there's still a full day and a half!"

As he spoke, he turned to Lv Zhongchang and said: "This student is willing to share Your Honor's worries — please allocate personnel and materials; I will arrange things through the night, and guarantee the platform will be built by tomorrow afternoon!"

Lv Zhongchang hesitated a moment, then asked: "How high do you plan to build it?"

Cai Xiu said: "This student thinks we should still build a high platform, at least one zhang high. The higher the platform, the clearer the view the day after tomorrow. Otherwise, when the river opens, the banks will surely be crowded with people coming and going, running back and forth, blocking the view terribly, making it impossible to see the river's flow."

He added: "Build it with timber; once built, install steps. At that time place some armchairs on top, and set up railings on all four sides..."

Seeing he had considered things so carefully, Lv Zhongchang felt much more at ease.

He nodded and said: "Calculate how much material and manpower you need, write a requisition — build it fast, it must be finished by noon tomorrow at the latest!"

Cai Xiu immediately nodded, not delaying in the least; he at once sent someone to the shed to fetch paper and brush. While still accompanying the officials on their inspection tour, he squeezed in calculations, writing and figuring in every spare moment.

Before long, right in front of Lv Zhongchang, in a voice neither too loud nor too soft, he began asking the subordinates at the latter's side for labor, materials, and such.

The quantities he reported were actually somewhat excessive, but Lv Zhongchang had just given the word, so the subordinates couldn't say anything; they agreed with a stiff upper lip.

Striking while the iron was hot, Cai Xiu immediately went to select materials.

Before leaving, he specially sought out Lv Zhongchang, only saying he was going to verify and count the materials now, and took his leave properly with a clear beginning and end.

Watching Cai Xiu act like this, although many aspects were overly deliberate, he gave as good as he got; not only did he take the assigned task to heart twelve thousand percent, he even proactively helped solve problems. Lv Zhongchang couldn't help but secretly nod in approval.

The Liu Ta He opening was imminent; as the one managing the river channels, he was truly too busy to clone himself. Even so, upon learning that Vice Commissioner Li Zhai and a Huangmen Duzhi bearing an imperial edict would arrive, he still forcibly carved out time to personally follow up on this matter, but in the end it was impossible to watch over it every moment.

His subordinates each had their assignments, all busy with the river opening; but in this world, those who know how to do are never as valued as those who know how to speak, how to perform.

No matter how well the river opening is done, if this group isn't received well, once they return to the Capital and speak a few bad words, no matter how much effort he exerts in Chan Prefecture, it cannot be recovered.

Moreover, in recent days, Lv Zhongchang had already faintly perceived a change in the Court's, especially the Emperor's, attitude toward him.

Every three days they came urging progress, and demanding all kinds of memorials.

The most aggressive of all was the Three Departments.

The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance were bad enough; even the Salt and Iron Department came to join the excitement.

Today they asked about labor and materials; in a few days they sent inquiry letters targeting labor and materials, demanding he explain why the numbers were so high, and to compare with past data.

In the past he often perfunctorily brushed them off, but since summer began, likewise in the Jingji Two Circuits, all were opening rivers and repairing embankments. Wang Jinghe went smoothly, finished in less than two months, and even the silver and materials used were only a very small amount.

Hearing of its completion, although river water occasionally flooded out, the situation was promptly controlled each time.

Not only that, during the river opening, they also dug many embankments and ditches along the way to divert and store water. As a result, the people along the river drew water for irrigation, and in the end actually increased a good deal of farmland.

And the local merchants — even Weizhou participated. Grain, materials, cloth, medicinal herbs, construction, etc., transport and convergence; Hua Prefecture was already a thoroughfare, and taking advantage of the situation, even the docks and river channels were increased and expanded.

Last time the Prefect of Chan Prefecture came over, ostensibly to check progress, but as they talked, the conversation turned to Hua Prefecture, and his tone was so sour it could almost wring out juice — right now it's only autumn, yet there commercial taxes have increased by multiples. The Liu Ta He is only larger in scale; Chan Prefecture has contributed and coordinated more. When will we see such feedback?

Lv Zhongchang barely managed not to give him a hard time to his face, and didn't curse in his reply letter to the Court.

How shameless!

Such a trifling water matter in Hua Prefecture — how can it be mentioned in the same breath as the Liu Ta He??

How much river channel did Wang Jinghe dig? Heard it was only a few li!

How much river channel does the Liu Ta He need to dig? How much labor and material?

Just the personnel arrangements, the material transport and allocation, getting things to arrive in full and in batches — is already enough to make one drink a pot!

But these things are inexplicable.

Back then, to persuade the Court to agree to his plan, Lv Zhongchang naturally used some Spring and Autumn brushwork.

Regarding the difficulty of the Liu Ta He opening, the labor and materials were correspondingly reduced, making it look much simpler. Now the Three Departments hold the old plan and use Hua Prefecture's expenditures to question him, leaving him momentarily with suffering he cannot voice.

— No embezzlement, no collusion, it just cost this much!

And because his progress was truly excessively slow, not only was the Emperor increasingly impatient, even Chancellor Cao and Vice Commissioner Li, who had always supported him most, had sent letters questioning him.

Cai Xiu's "Biography of Lu Zhongchang" had already been sent to Jingcheng earlier, and he naturally knew of it; though he did not push the matter, he had tacitly consented.

But once the article was sent out, it stirred no small reaction among the literati, while the Imperial Palace showed no reaction at all—strange indeed.

Both were articles, both were biographies, both were written by Taixue students: one surnamed Han wrote about an ordinary Censor who, apart from catching a thief and solving a few cases, had achieved some merit but was ultimately only a minor matter—yet the Empress Dowager and Emperor summoned him, praised him, and even bestowed gold and rewards.

Whereas one surnamed Cai wrote about himself managing such a great undertaking of water affairs for two routes—water affairs being state affairs, affairs of all under heaven—and not only did it bring him no benefit, but the inquiries received on the riverways had instead grown increasingly numerous, leaving him with a hidden unease in his heart.

After bringing a group of people to inspect the riverways up and down, uncovering many problems, and assigning people to make corrections, Lu Zhongchang then returned to his room.

He had just sat down and taken two sips of tea when a messenger arrived to report news.

The man entered through the door and said: "Sir, someone has come from outside, claiming to be an old friend of yours from before, surnamed Li, living outside Tianbo Men, and he has an urgent matter to request an audience."

Lu Zhongchang was first stunned, but soon thought of who that person might be, and hurriedly said: "Quick! Quickly invite him in!"

Not long after, one person hurriedly slipped in.

Seeing the person, Lu Zhongchang's first reaction was to smile, he greeted him, and then asked: "Why have you suddenly come to Chan Prefecture? Is there some great urgent matter?"

The man opposite first set down the bundle in his hand, looked left and right, then went to the door to check thoroughly, making sure no one was eavesdropping outside, before hurrying back and saying in a low voice: "Brother Lu, I have come to deliver a letter to your elder brother—this time Li Canzheng and that Huangmen Du Zhi have come to Chan Prefecture not for anything else, but to ask you to delay the river opening by three months."

Lu Zhongchang's face still bore a smile, but upon hearing this he was greatly shocked, grabbed the man's hand in one grip, and asked urgently: "What?? What did you say?? Could there be a mistake?"

The man said: "It is precisely because I received this news that your elder brother worries Brother Lu has no defenses here; when Li Canzheng arrives, and that Heavenly Messenger brings the current imperial edict, the wood will already be made into a boat, and there will not even be time to respond!"

Lu Zhongchang felt it was utterly inconceivable.

He said: "The last time the two gentlemen wrote to me, they were still urging me to open the river here as soon as possible—how could it suddenly change so greatly overnight? There is no reason for it!"

"It is Vice Minister Fan—the Liu Ta He project has cost too much, and the Ministry of Revenue has kept harping on it; Vice Minister Fan has from time to time selected previous memorials, manuscripts, and plans to compare, and compared them with Hua Prefecture's expenditures, saying that for the same thing, the quoted price here at Liu Ta He is more than double that of Hua Prefecture, suspecting there is some foul play inside..."

"And the Water Supervisor has again and again cited examples; besides the Water Supervisor's official Wu Chang, there is also a Taixue student surnamed Han—namely Han Li—both of whom returned from Hua Prefecture with Wang Jinghe."

"The two kneaded mud and stuck wood, took the Liu Ta He 【data】 to Jingcheng to memorialize and simulate calculations, saying that with the current water volume and the width and depth of the Liu Ta He channel, if the river is opened, the water will surely overflow..."

"The two used that kneaded-and-stuck device to test it, and indeed the river was destroyed and the water overflowed; Li Canzheng saw it and was greatly alarmed, memorialized the Emperor, and only then received the heavenly mandate to come here; if it is indeed as Wu and Han have inferred, then the Liu Ta He here must temporarily delay opening the river, make other arrangements, have new people take over this place, and wait until late autumn and early winter, when the sky is dry and the water is low, to undertake the river opening!"

The expression on Lu Zhongchang's face was extremely ugly.

If we wait until winter, and there are long nights and many dreams, and we drag it on until it comes to nothing, what then?

Even if it does not come to nothing, after all my hard work these days, if someone else comes to take over, it would be making a dowry garment for another—how could I accept that?

"My elder brother and Brother Lu are grasshoppers on the same rope—one suffers, all suffer; one prospers, all prospers. I am specially sent to ask—yet I do not know whether what Wu and Han said has any basis, or is merely empty talk? In any case, I beg Brother Lu to respond well!"

Lu Zhongchang did not answer immediately.

The opposite person's elder brother was an official under Li Zhai, worthy to be called a right-hand man, and was also Lu Zhongchang's former classmate.

Back then, there were many opponents to the Liu Ta He project; if not for Li Canzheng and Lord Cao jointly advocating it, it could never have been realized.

And to persuade Li Zhai, besides Lu Zhongchang's profound family learning and indeed having some skill, this classmate of his in Li Canzheng's faction also exerted great effort.

If the Liu Ta He project encounters setbacks, he will certainly be implicated.

"Rest assured, I will not make your elder brother's position difficult." Without thinking much, Lu Zhongchang first gave the other man a guarantee.

He made a series of assurances, also gave some figures, and had his subordinates take the opposite man to walk around the riverways once.

The other man did not stay long, not even eating a meal, only leaving behind the copied memorials written by Wu and Han, carrying many manuscripts, and while it was still light, hurried back to report the news.

After seeing the visitor off, Lu Zhongchang first looked over the copied manuscripts.

There was nothing much to say; they were all just hypotheses, with different standards and different calculation methods, so the results were naturally different—only there was indeed no way to refute them.

He had no confidence he could persuade Li Zhai, so he simply did not waste time trying to persuade, but instead summoned his subordinates and made new arrangements.

"Li Canzheng and the Heavenly Messenger will arrive tomorrow; before they come, let us first do a rehearsal. If there are any problems, discover them early and fix them in advance, so that on the day itself we are not flustered."

Someone listened with suspicion and asked how the rehearsal should be conducted.

Lu Zhongchang said: "Just pretend the river is opened today—try it once, then tomorrow morning close the water gates and stop the sweeping work, block the river water, pretend the river has not been opened, and then reopen it the day after tomorrow to show Li Canzheng and the Heavenly Messenger."

Hearing that the river would be opened today, no one dared to be negligent; each received orders and hurried off.

After Lu Zhongchang finished assigning the others, he finally called Cai Xiu over.

"You also have an extremely important matter here—order those students to measure the depth and current of Jia River and Jian River and all water conditions as quickly as possible." He looked at the time: "It is now the Wu Hour, there is still time—before the Shen Hour the results must be reported back, so Xiao Su and the others can use them to compare with past figures, and thus decide whether the river can be opened."

Cai Xiu immediately said: "Sir, rest assured, leave it to the student! I will certainly handle it properly and carefully, without the slightest negligence!"

He promised readily and cheerfully in Lu Zhongchang's presence, but upon returning to the shed on the riverways and seeing many Shiyi disciples who had just moved in, he dared not say a word carelessly.

Everyone had just brought in their luggage and such, complaining that the conditions here were poor, that it was damp and hot, stuffy, and full of snakes, insects, rats, and ants; when Cai Xiu entered the door, he naturally exchanged greetings and inquiries, and then relayed Lu Zhongchang's instructions.

"The time is indeed rather tight; I beg all of you to find spare time to measure quickly, so that Little Brother can take it to submit my report!"

A group of people who only knew how to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves—where would they know what to measure or how to measure—and they all began asking questions at once.

Cai Xiu thought of the many letters and files lying in the inner room of Lu Zhongchang's house, their wax seals not yet broken, and said: "You all handle it as you see fit—I only take care of coming to collect it when the time comes; as for how to write it or how to revise it, I don't know!"

After saying this, he hurried away.

When he returned in the afternoon, although no one in the room had gone out, they were all gathered around the ice to cool off, but a new set of water conservancy data had already been placed on the desk, waiting for him to take it.