Chapter 263: If it is turbid, it is good at silting; if it is stimulated, it is good at returning

Some things want to go to heaven, some things want to fall to the ground, but no matter what, it has not yet reached the time for him to go.

To put it another way, it's called pending.

Just like the Emperor's sudden inspection of the Xuzhou water storage granaries, I don't know where it started, I don't know where it ended, I can only look up at Mount Yunlong, hoping the Emperor will start the journey quickly and continue the southern inspection.

But this pending state often makes people feel extremely tormented.

The Emperor who lingers has even affected the local officials' normal work.

The atmosphere in the Zhonghe Branch *Yamen* of the Water Department has been completely different these past few days.

The Grand Canal is divided into four sections, with the four major river channels of Hui-Tong, North, Middle, and South, each with a Water Department Physician; the river channel in the Xuzhou area is managed by the Zhonghe Water Department Physician, Li Minqing.

Because the Zhonghe Branch is located in Lüliang Hong—the so-called Hong is probably the node of the river channel, mountain rocks, reducing flow; the terrain is dangerous, blocking the water potential—leaning against the mountain and backing the shade, the Water Department *Yamen* is windy and watery, but only a little opaque.

The noon sunlight passes through the lattice windows and falls on the sandalwood official desk under the east window in the main hall.

The documents on the desk are piled high, just blocking the Zhonghe Physician who is resting at the desk from bathing in the sun.

The aide who came to collect and deliver documents was clearly a long-time confidant of Minister Li, and seeing this state of affairs, he silently shook his head.

The staff stepped forward quickly and moved the mountain of documents to the side: "Master, it's better to leave the nap until after the meal; you still have to see the light in the morning."

"Don't be like Magistrate Wu, who is not even fifty and has flying mosquitoes in his eyes."

The documents were moved away, and the Water Department Physician Li Minqing, who was making up for sleep during the day, finally showed his shape.

He is about forty-something, short and capable, with frost on his temples, three vertical lines on his forehead as deep as knife carvings, and a luxurious sheepskin blanket draped over his shoulders, vaguely revealing the patched official uniform inside.

Li Minqing was sleeping, and now seeing the light, he was still a little unaccustomed, subconsciously turning his head to block it, and the sheepskin blanket fell to the ground.

Seeing that it was his confidant staff, he woke up and asked urgently: "Back? Did the Emperor inspect the water storage granaries today? Were there any loopholes?"

The staff bent down to pick up the sheepskin blanket, folded it carefully, and put it back in the drawer.

Confirming that there was no one around, he walked to Li Minqing and lowered his voice: "The Emperor returned to Mount Yunlong early in the morning, leaving only a few censors to make a show, and they left just now." 【

"Flawless!"

Li Minqing felt the burden in his heart lift and could not help but heave a sigh of relief.

The Emperor saying the day before yesterday that he wanted to inspect the water-side granaries was truly a bolt from the blue, especially since news had come from Peixian that one moment they were talking about sympathy from the Literary Alliance, the next about investigations by the newspaper office, and there were even high monks from the Esoteric Sect making inquiries.

Li Minqing was so frightened that he truly thought someone had poked this hornet's nest in Xuzhou right in front of the Emperor, and he was terrified day and night.

Fortunately... it was just a lot of thunder but little rain.

After the aide finished reporting the matters the proprietor was most concerned about, he did not forget to report the minor details: "However, Prefect Wu says that the grain and fodder that were moved around cannot be easily returned for the time being."

"The Emperor will likely leave in these next few days. To prevent any Hai Yushi arriving in Xuzhou later from kissing up to the Emperor and coming to re-examine things, Prefect Wu asks us to be considerate and stall for two or three more days."

As the aide spoke, he secretly gauged his proprietor's expression.

No one in the local officialdom was unaware of the style of Xuzhou Prefect Wu Zhipeng; he was insatiably greedy, and he never spat back out the benefits he had swallowed.

Added to the fact that the hole in the prefectural yamen was not small, this grain lent out would likely be like a meat bun thrown at a dog—gone forever.

Li Minqing knew this clearly and shook his head vigorously.

Two days ago, Wu Zhipeng was still acting like he was crying for his parents, and now he was already taking advantage of the Water Bureau yamen.

Simply a corruption of official virtue!

However, perhaps because he had escaped a disaster, Li Minqing's state of mind was much more relaxed now.

He could not be bothered to haggle with Wu Zhipeng and just joked: "Next time you go to Prefect Wu's mansion, you must take a few more Qinan pearls and swipe a few more scrolls of calligraphy and paintings."

He stood up to stretch his neck, not forgetting to tidy up the patch-covered official robe on his body.

Even so, the aide responsible for handling the dirty work seemed somewhat worried.

He pondered for a moment and reminded him: "If the proprietor wants to sell this favor, I fear you still need to be cautious."

"The Water Bureau's grain is not as abundant as the grain for the canal transport; the grain we lent out accounts for almost half of the rations for the Xuzhou river workers."

"Although it doesn't amount to much money, grain cannot be conjured out of thin air..."

As a retainer, checking for omissions and filling gaps was his duty.

Money was just a small matter, perhaps not even worth the cost of a single meal for the Water Bureau staff.

Since the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, the river works yamen would hold grand banquets for three consecutive months every year after the Frost's Descent to celebrate successfully passing the autumn flood season.

Starting the banquet at the hour of the dragon every day and eating until nightfall, the willow wood toothpicks alone would consume "several hundred thousand coins"; ingredients like sea cucumber and shark fin "amounted to even more than ten thousand."

Not only did they spend tens of thousands of gold, but they also invited famous actors from Suzhou to perform, and elegant calligraphy and paintings could not be lacking either: "Merchants from all over gathered, and there was nothing lacking in terms of calligraphy, paintings, and curios"—if it weren't for happening upon such an event, how could Imperial Consort Li have casually encountered people selling calligraphy and paintings by the roadside?

But money is money, and grain is grain; the colleagues in the yamen were not short of money, but the workers on the river dikes were the ones who suffered.

Of course, the aide was not afraid of the workers starving to death, but rather that these mud-legged fellows would not know what was good for them, gather to cause trouble, maliciously demand wages, and disturb their superiors.

Upon hearing this, Li Minqing wrinkled his nose and gave a contemptuous smile.

Having been an official for many years, he already had mature experience in dealing with such matters.

"This is easy!"

Li Minqing waved his hand grandly and said confidently: "Like this, you go and convey a slogan to those below later, requiring every worker on the river dikes and construction sites to be familiar with it."

"Just say, the entire Water Bureau, in order to support the Wanli New Policies..."

"Save one catty of grain a day!"

"With the overall situation of the imperial dynasty at stake, whoever dares to gather a crowd to cause trouble for the sake of a mere mouthful of food is opposing the New Policies and is committing treason!"

Listening to these words, the aide's mouth almost stretched to the back of his ears.

He gave a thumbs up and clicked his tongue in wonder: "High! Truly high!"

What is meant by conveying?

It means that even our Minister Li only grasped the spirit of it to have such a requirement.

As for who has such a high standing, that is up to the lowly people to think about themselves; if they can figure it out, they might even puff out their chests when they are hungry!

Li Minqing raised his chin, exceptionally satisfied with his own clever idea.

He smacked his lips as if still wanting more and said: "Just starve them for this period; once the accounts are cleared next time, I will let them eat a few more meals of meat, and they will surely be grateful!"

Starving the workers was just a minor way to balance the accounts, and Minister Li truly disdained it.

If one really wants to clear the accounts, one still has to have a Yellow River flood.

Since the founding Emperor, the dynasty would not hold minor officials and clerks accountable for natural disasters; at most, they would demote the governors, which could be called a harmless way to clear accounts.

For example, in the fourth year of Longqing, the Yellow River roared and encroached upon the canal; eight hundred grain ships followed one after another, and "300,000 piculs of canal grain" were overturned in one morning, falling into a vast whiteness along with the riddled accounts—truly clean.

Even after that, in the fifth year of Longqing, the Yellow River's great force descended on the Juning mouth; in the second year of Wanli, the river breached at Dangshan; in the fifth year of Wanli, the Yellow River breached again at Cui Town in Taoyuan... the amount of canal grain lost was uncountable.

Encountering such good things again, could Minister Li really be reluctant to share a mouthful of meat with the workers?

Hearing these words, the aide also remembered those happy days, licked his lips, and reminisced: "It's a pity that these three years have been calm; it's still the river dikes repaired by the old Viceroy Weng that knew how to be considerate."

What a good man Viceroy Weng Dali was.

He made money from water control and shared it with his subordinates, and he was willing to stand up to the Emperor even when he judged a case wrongly; with such excellent moral character of officials protecting each other, why was he executed by the Emperor?

By comparison, this fellow Pan Jixun was much worse; not only was he ignorant of human feelings, but he also spent all day engaging in strange and ingenious techniques like cement to corrupt the ancestral laws. It's just that I don't know whose connections he used, but he has actually been promoted step by step all these years.

Truly, good people don't live long, while scourges live for a thousand years!

Li Minqing's thoughts also wandered, and he swayed back into his grand armchair: "No matter, how long can the dikes repaired by river workers who can't even get enough to eat last?"

"Let us just wait to clear the accounts."

After saying this, Li Minqing had nothing else to say.

He casually took an official document and covered his face with it, once again making up for his lost sleep.

Before long, light snoring gradually sounded in this drafty, airy, and dark signing hall.

Who is the first to wake from the great dream.

After Li Minqing and the others dealt with the Emperor's inspection, they finally relaxed their tense heartstrings, and with nothing to do all day, they made up for the sleep they had missed while tossing and turning for the past few days.

Sleeping in the yamen and then sleeping at home, he drifted in and out of sleep until the day of the full moon.

As everyone knows, good days often bring good luck.

As soon as Li Minqing woke up, he heard a piece of good news and instantly became clear-headed.

"What? The Emperor is setting off for Yangzhou?"

Li Minqing called a halt to the concubine who was changing his clothes, and spat a large mouthful of mouthwash into the washbasin.

Chang Sansheng, the Vice Commissioner of the Xuzhou Military Defense Circuit, sat in Li Minqing's bedroom with a bold and unconstrained manner, not treating himself as an outsider at all.

He looked at the back of Li Minqing's concubine as she left and clicked his tongue: "Not bad."

Li Minqing could not be bothered to pay attention to Chang Sansheng's implication and kept asking: "When is the Emperor leaving?"

Chang Sansheng turned his head and looked at Li Minqing with some dissatisfaction: "Not about to, but already has; just a moment ago, I saw him off personally."

"Along with the advance officials for the southern tour, the Hanlin Academy at the temporary capital, and the Regional Commander of the Five Military Commissions' Imperial Guard, they have all boarded the ships!"

Li Minqing stared with wide eyes as he listened.

Until he finished listening, he finally could not help but open his mouth wide and laugh dryly at the sky a few times.

Li Minqing came back to his senses and immediately tore off his tattered official uniform and threw it on the ground!

"Cui'er! Bring the best silk for this official!"

When a person encounters a happy event, their spirit is refreshed; Li Minqing was grinning and raising his eyebrows even as he breathed: "Why did the Emperor leave so hastily, without even letting the various yamen send him off?"

He would certainly have been unwilling to send him off, but if he really had to, he would guarantee it would be a sincere kowtow to send him off.

Chang Sansheng lay sideways on the grand armchair, waiting for Li Minqing to change his clothes, and explained: "They say that Vice Hai Yushi-in-Chief Chen Wude remonstrated with the Emperor yesterday, advising the Emperor not to stay in local prefectures for too long, and the Emperor listened."

"However, it's mostly the Emperor gilding his own face."

"According to the monks on the mountain, Imperial Consort Li wanted to use the precious land of the Crane-Releasing Pavilion on Mount Yunlong to give herself a title, but after the Emperor heard it, he firmly forbade it for some reason, and the two of them argued until it was irreconcilable."

"The Emperor was annoyed beyond measure and decided to find Li Chunfang to mediate; in fact, he just wanted to snitch, which is why he set off south, heading straight for Yangzhou."

Li Minqing listened and chuckled happily.

It seems that the rumors in the streets about the unrest in the inner palace may not be groundless.

A moment later, Li Minqing also came to his senses from the gossip and sighed with lingering fear: "These past few days have been like walking on thin ice, terrified of any slip-ups, but at least it's over."

Chang Sansheng sighed with empathy and then said with some regret: "It would have been better if the Emperor had left two days earlier, so that fellow Zhang Chi wouldn't have escaped."

Hearing this name, Li Minqing instantly frowned.

At the time, he had been hesitant about taking action against Zhang Zhan and did not finish the job thoroughly, leaving behind such a scourge who was spreading the impeachment memorials that Zhang Zhan had been blocked from submitting everywhere.

Fortunately, he was buzzing around like a headless fly, and fortunately, Xiao Jiucheng had not lost his head and still knew how to communicate with him, and especially fortunately, everyone in Xuzhou—from the Prefect, the Water Bureau, the Military Defense Circuit, the Revenue Division, and the Censors, down to the county yamen, local gentry, and the literati—was in the same web.

Otherwise, they really would have been in big trouble because of this fellow Zhang Chi.

Thinking of this, Li Minqing's expression turned fierce: "Why not send someone to his hometown in Henan!"

You can run from the monk, but you can't run from the temple.

As he spoke, Li Minqing made a gesture with his hand, holding his palm upright and pulling it diagonally.

Chang Sansheng shook his head and pressed down on Li Minqing's palm: "Our hands can't reach Henan."

"Furthermore, although the Emperor's temporary capital has left, there is still a batch of advance officials behind; the Military Defense Circuit has to deal with the advance official for defense inspection, Li Rusong, these few days, and under someone's nose, we can't spare the hands."

"It's better to move than to stay still; let's send someone to find him first, and then settle the score after the autumn!"

Li Minqing was unwilling but had no choice: "It has to be this way."

After saying this, the two were silent for a moment.

Today was truly a good day, and Li Minqing quickly threw the extra thoughts out of his mind, returning to a relaxed and comfortable state: "Let's not talk about this."

"Don't go back to work today, Brother Chang; let's call Prefect Wu and go to the Pear Garden to listen to music together."

Chang Sansheng, the Vice Commissioner of the Military Defense Circuit, Xuzhou Prefect Wu Zhipeng, and Water Bureau Minister Li Minqing were all regular customers of the music—in fact, the three of them had invested in building this Pear Garden behind the scenes.

Besides interests, their hobbies were also compatible.

Regarding the proposal to listen to music, Chang Sansheng naturally had no objections and immediately ordered his subordinates to send a message to Prefect Wu Zhipeng to meet at the Pear Garden.

Li Minqing hurriedly dressed, impatiently grabbed Chang Sansheng, and was about to head straight for the Pear Garden, which he had been away from for several days: "Speaking of which, I just found a treasure last month and have been rehearsing it for over a month; I'll invite you two brothers to evaluate it later."

Chang Sansheng followed behind his fox friend and guessed very politely: "A treasure? Could it be Viceroy Wang's new work 'Distant Mountain Play'? I heard the troupe just finished rehearsing it."

Li Minqing changed from his shabby appearance of the past few days, dressed in gorgeous clothes, carrying a parrot in his hand, and swaggered out of the mansion.

As the group walked down the street, the lowly people sensibly cleared a path for Master Li.

"Not that; I bought an actor before autumn, and he..."

Li Minqing savored the familiar sense of freedom, lowered his voice, and mysteriously showed off to Chang Sansheng: "He is sixty percent similar to the portrait of Emperor Jianwen! Those eyebrows, those eyes, that demeanor... and his surname is Ju!"

Chang Sansheng looked at Li Minqing quite speechlessly.

He thought it was a beauty, but it turned out to be this; he didn't understand what was so precious about this and perfunctorily said: "So what if his surname is Ju?" Li Minqing was immersed in his own fun and laughed: "Brother Chang has never been to the southeast, so you don't know; in the Guangxi dialect, Ju and Zhu are indistinguishable."

"The troupe has already arranged the play for him, making him the supporting lead, and today he is singing the play of Cao Mao."

Chang Sansheng shook his paper fan in winter, looking like an elegant Confucian scholar: "That's fine; by chance, I recently purchased Wang Yeyun's 'Dragon Boat Painting' and would like to ask you, brother, to take a look."

"'Dragon Boat Painting'!? It must be worth a fortune, right?"

"Talking about money is vulgar; it was just two thousand three hundred taels. The main thing is that there are thousands of people in the painting, and not one of them has the same face. In terms of technique alone, it is even above Qian Gu's 'Wanli Discussion of the Dao Painting'!"

"..."

The two talked back and forth, either about opera, calligraphy, and paintings, or about jewelry and gold, fully displaying the boring official life of a "three-year clean prefect."

Just as they were talking, a four-bearer sedan chair came from across the street.

The two recognized the person by the sedan chair, smiled, and stepped forward, cupping their hands in greeting: "Prefect Wu has such a grand display; riding in a sedan chair during working hours, aren't you afraid of being heard about by the Censors?"

Unlike the thirty-two-bearer sedan chair in mythological arrangements.

For gentry, military, and civilians, traveling in a four-bearer sedan chair was already a grand display; riding in one during working hours was especially eye-catching.

As the two approached, they saw a person poke his head out of the sedan chair; it was indeed Xuzhou Prefect Wu Zhipeng.

However, Wu Zhipeng's expression was not very good, and he hurriedly waved his hand, signaling the two to get into the sedan chair to talk.

Chang Sansheng and Li Minqing looked at each other, not knowing what was going on, but still got into Wu Zhipeng's sedan chair.

Once inside the carriage, Wu Zhipeng could not wait to speak: "You two, we can't go to the Pear Garden; Viceroy Pan wants us to go to Mount Yunlong for a meeting."

The two did not react for a moment and were stunned for a while.

A meeting?

Chang Sansheng was puzzled and asked a series of questions: "Viceroy Pan? Summoning us? To discuss what?"

Pan Jixun could naturally summon meetings across various yamen such as the Water Bureau, the Military Defense Circuit, the Prefectural Yamen, and the Canal Transport.

After all, as the Viceroy of River and Canal Transport and concurrently the Provincial Military Commander, he held both military and political power; as long as they were along the two rivers, they were nominally subordinates of the Viceroy of River and Canal Transport—even local officials like County Magistrates and Prefects were under the jurisdiction of the Viceroy of River and Canal Transport because they concurrently held the positions of Lake Chief and River Chief.

But the strangeness lay in the fact that this did not quite fit Pan Jixun's habits over the years.

In the second year of Wanli, Pan Jixun submitted the "Memorial on the Strategy for the Two Rivers," which, in addition to the six matters of river control, also included eight matters concerning the official conduct of river works.

Chang Sansheng, who was then the Director of the Sluice Gate, was the quickest to see the situation and immediately contacted the local officials of Xuzhou, Huai'an, and Si prefectures to jointly submit a memorial impeaching Pan Jixun for excluding dissenters and appointing people based on favoritism.

During the Ministry of Works' deliberation, perhaps because Zhu Heng and Pan Jixun were at odds, they only adopted the six matters of river control for court deliberation.

In the third year of Wanli, Pan Jixun again submitted a memorial impeaching Lin Shao, the Vice Commissioner of the Xuzhou Circuit, for incompetence in river control.

Lin Shao reacted even faster, immediately spreading rumors that Pan Jixun was corrupt, incompetent, and arrogant; if it hadn't been for Zhang Juzheng taking sides, Pan Jixun would have been dismissed from his post at that time.

For this reason, Zhu Heng even wrote a letter personally, stating that the official conduct of river works should be left to the Hai Yushi-in-Chief of the River Circuit to worry about, and let Pan Jixun focus on the project to avoid delaying the major task of water control.

Since then, Pan Jixun had devoted himself to the project and no longer paid attention to the official conduct of river works.

Why did he act contrary to his usual behavior today, taking on the airs of a chief official and summoning a meeting?

Wu Zhipeng glanced at the two and knew that they had not returned to the yamen at all.

He lifted the carriage curtain to look outside, and seeing that they had already entered a quiet alley, he slowly said: "Nominally, it is said that the Emperor left instructions, and Viceroy Pan wants to give us earnest advice on behalf of His Majesty."

Hearing this, Li Minqing immediately sneered: "I heard that Pan Jixun, Hu Zhili, and their lot were called over by the Emperor a few days ago and scolded roundly; now they are afraid they want to regain face at our expense."

That was not strange, and Chang Sansheng nodded in agreement.

He looked Wu Zhipeng up and down, becoming increasingly puzzled: "This is not a big deal either; why does my brother look so terrified?"

Could it be that Viceroy Pan wasn't allowed to occasionally throw his official weight around?

Canal transport was not salt administration, and Pan Jixun was not Hai Rui; what was there to be afraid of?

Wu Zhipeng was hesitant to speak.

He hesitated for a long time before sighing and stating his hidden worry: "I just feel that something is wrong; the Emperor's anticlimactic inspection is strange, and this summons by Viceroy Pan is also strange."

"What's even stranger is that just this morning, Governor Deng took the route back to Henan and specifically came to the prefectural yamen."

"He took Zhang Guoxi away with an official document."

As soon as this name was mentioned, Li and Chang showed looks of realization; no wonder Prefect Wu was so distraught.

Zhang Guoxi, courtesy name Junlü, was the 97th in the third rank of the imperial examination in the second year of Wanli, the same cohort as Wu Zhipeng, but ranked about a hundred places higher.

The grievances and grudges between Wu Zhipeng and Zhang Junlü were too deep.

Back then, the two were sent to Henan together; Zhang Junlü served as the Magistrate of Yifeng County, and Wu Zhipeng served as the Magistrate of Kaocheng County, governing adjacent areas.

Unfortunately, their luck was bad; as soon as they took office, they encountered the Yellow River flooding in Yi and Kao.

Wu Zhipeng had many crooked ideas and didn't care about harming neighbors; he secretly opened the sluice gates in the middle of the night to divert the flood to Zhang Junlü's area, keeping Kaocheng safe but causing Yifeng to be flooded. Since then, an unbreakable grudge had been formed between the two colleagues of the same cohort.

Over five years, the two sides fought all the way from Yifeng to Xuzhou, and it could be said that they hated each other to the bone.

Now that Wu Zhipeng had finally managed to completely defeat Zhang Junlü and throw him into prison, Deng Yizan had intervened, so it was no wonder he was not comfortable.

Li Minqing looked at Wu Zhipeng with a strange expression and gloated: "Brother Wu, I advised you back then; the man is a fellow jinshi after all, how could he be easily tattooed and exiled by you."

"How is it now?"

"Forget it, forget it; just treat it as selling Governor Deng a favor and spare that fellow's dog life."

Don't look at the rumors saying they are corrupt officials; they know how to measure things better than the 'pure stream' officials.

If a 'pure stream' official without a background came to Xuzhou, they could be dealt with however they wanted.

But if someone with a background came, they naturally had to sell a bit of face, try to integrate and get a share of the profits, or if they couldn't integrate, part on good terms.

As long as they weren't like Zhang Zhan, who shouted about being irreconcilable and wanting to perish together every day, everyone impeaching each other in memorials with painless words was enough to maintain their persona.

Therefore, strictly speaking, Zhang Junlü only had a private grudge with Wu Zhipeng and was not a madman like Zhang Zhan who bit everyone he saw.

Li Minqing did not take it to heart at all.

Wu Zhipeng glanced at Li Minqing, almost unable to suppress the irritability in his heart: "I'm afraid Deng Yizan has ulterior motives!"

Although Prefect Wu's words were startling, Li and Chang looked at each other, their eyes revealing a faint sense of pity.

To be bitter rivals to this extent, aren't they just a pair of miserable lovebirds.

Chang Sansheng coughed lightly and still expressed concern: "Deng Yizan is a Henan Governor; what reason did he use to come to Xuzhou to take someone?"

Wu Zhipeng's expression was not very good, but he still remained calm: "Deng Yizan said that the people of Yifeng County repeatedly went to the Governor's yamen to jointly petition, hoping he would come forward and give Zhang Junlü a good ending."

"He was so annoyed that he requested a warrant from the Ministry of Justice."

Li Minqing interrupted: "Brother Wu thinks this is an excuse? That fellow has absolutely no such reputation?"

Wu Zhipeng hesitated upon hearing this.

A moment later, he shook his head: "This matter should be true."

After Zhang Junlü was imprisoned, the clerks, people, merchants, and cooks of Yifeng County would even pool their travel expenses to come to Xuzhou to visit him; there were even bizarre cases of whole villages pooling money to select gentry to visit on their behalf.

Outside the prison, there were farmers all day long, holding fried dough sticks and sesame cakes, kneeling and shouting and crying, insisting on seeing Zhang Junlü.

According to Deng Yizan's temperament, it was hard not to soften his heart when encountering this scene—Wu Zhipeng had used this trick to gain Deng Yizan's trust back in Henan.

Li Minqing gauged Wu Zhipeng's expression and was even more convinced that Wu Zhipeng was being overly suspicious.

He patted Wu Zhipeng on the shoulder and comforted him: "Brother Wu, we don't compare our reputation with the 'pure stream' officials, and it's not worth our jealousy."

I thought Governor Deng was going to overturn the case for Zhang Junlü; it turns out it was just a matter of convenience.

Wu Zhipeng was extremely irritable, suddenly shook off Li Minqing's hand, and gritted his teeth: "Zhang Junlü is a 'pure stream' official we defeated after all, and added to the Emperor's inspection of the water-side granaries and Pan Jixun's unusual summons for us to meet, don't you think it's suspicious!?"

Chang Sansheng looked at the panicked Wu Zhipeng and then at Li Minqing, who did not take it to heart at all.

He pondered for a moment and still said a fair word: "Brother Wu, the public case of you opening the sluice gates in Henan was judged by Governor Deng; wouldn't he be asking for trouble if he wanted to overturn it?"

"Let's ask ourselves, if it were us, would we do such a thing?"

"In my opinion, it's nothing more than Deng Yizan seeking fame and reputation, catering to the people of Yifeng, and doing it as a matter of convenience."

"Besides, regarding the water-side granaries and Viceroy Pan, if the higher-ups had really found something, wouldn't the Emperor have known long ago?"

"Not to mention the Imperial Guard immediately taking action to arrest us and throw us into prison, at the very least, the Emperor wouldn't have asked nothing and headed straight south to Yangzhou."

"Now that the Emperor is heading south, doesn't that just show that we are safe and sound?"

Wu Zhipeng paused.

This argument really left him unable to refute it for a moment.

But the warning in his heart still reminded him that there was something strange and he could not afford not to be on guard.

After mumbling for a long time, Wu Zhipeng could only vaguely retort: "Perhaps the Emperor is wary of our deep-rooted influence and is afraid of shaking the foundation of the river and canal transport, so he set up a false trail..."

By the end, he was not very confident himself and could not continue.

Chang Sansheng comforted him: "If Brother Wu is worried, we can inform everyone later and be more vigilant."

Li Minqing hummed: "Alright, Brother Wu, don't worry about nothing; just send me back to the Water Bureau first, and after I change into my shabby clothes, I will go to pay my respects to Viceroy Pan."

Wu Zhipeng was still reluctant: "Do we really have to go?"

Li Minqing waved his hand and replied decisively: "We are going to a meeting; what can Pan Jixun dare to do to us!?"

At the same time, a group of uninvited guests arrived at Li Family Well.

After driving away the idlers, the group stood on a dike, pointing at the surging river water.

"... I have long wanted to come to the Yellow River to take a look and receive an education; the history of governing the Yellow River for thousands of years is the history of the struggle of our hundred million Chinese descendants."

After Zhu Yijun finished this sentence, he withdrew his gaze from the Yellow River and looked at Sun Jigao: "Have you finished recording?"

Sun Jigao was writing furiously in the Diary of Activity and Repose, and after being urged, he hurriedly finished the last stroke—'The people worked hard, and the masses were exhausted'—and then hurriedly stopped writing.

Seeing this, Zhu Yijun nodded, signaling that Pan Jixun could talk about the main business.

Pan Jixun had no nonsense and said right away: "Since history began, the Yellow River has breached over a thousand times, with major changes in course over twenty times; there are almost two breaches every three years."

"Overall, the changes in the lower reaches of the Yellow River can be divided into three periods: the northern flow, the eastern flow, and the southern flow."

"Before the third year of Wang Mang's founding of the dynasty, it was the northern flow, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River entered the Shao Sea through the present-day Dagu River."

Zhu Yijun waved his hand to interrupt Pan Jixun: "Say Bohai."

Pan Jixun was stunned for a moment before realizing that the Shao Sea had been bestowed the name Bohai by the Emperor.

He followed the trend: "In the third year of Wang Mang's founding, the Yellow River breached in Wei Commandery and flowed freely for many years; after Wang Jing governed the river, the Yellow River changed its course to the east, passing through present-day Shandong and entering the Bohai Sea."

"Until the eighth year of Qingli in the former Song Dynasty, it was once a period of eastern flow."

"After the second year of Jianyan, the Yellow River gradually encroached upon the Si and seized the Huai, passing through the Si River to the south via the Qingkou to join the Huaihe, and entering the Great Ming Sea... er, the Yellow Sea at Yuntiguan in Huai'an..."

"Until today, it has been a period of southern flow."

Zhu Yijun had a concept and summarized: "That is to say, for thousands of years, the Yellow River has gradually shifted from north to south."

Pan Jixun weighed his words and explained patiently to the Emperor: "The changes in the middle and upper reaches of the river are not so orderly; for example, the Ningxia section moved west and invaded east, the Hetao section swayed north and south, and the Yongji Tongguan section was frequently chaotic."

"However, speaking only of the lower reaches, it has indeed moved gradually from north to south."

Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and asked an amateur question: "If the 'binding the water to attack the sand' fails, is it better for the Yellow River to seize the Huai and move south, or to change back to the Bohai?"

Pan Jixun frowned and subconsciously retorted: "Your Majesty, 'binding the water to attack the sand' has already been effective; since the fifth year of Wanli, the Yellow River has had no more disturbances, so how can one lightly say it has failed?"

What was the situation before the fifth year of Wanli?

In the fourth year of Wanli, it breached Feng and Pei; in the third year, it breached Dangshan; in the second year, the Huaihe overflowed; in the first year, the river breached at Fang Village; in the fifth year of Longqing, it breached at Wangjia Mouth; in the fourth year, it breached at Pizhou; in the third year, it breached at Peixian...

It was almost breaching every year.

But since 'binding the water to attack the sand', the work was completed in the fifth year of Wanli, and the Yellow River instantly lowered its flags and ceased its drums, and it has been calm for several years!

How can this be called a failure of 'binding the water to attack the sand'?

Seeing Pan Jixun's unconvinced expression, Zhu Yijun hesitated to speak.

He really wanted to say that the effect would only last ten years and would return to the old state by the fifteenth year of Wanli, but these words were without beginning or end, and he really didn't know where to start.

Zhu Yijun could only change the subject: "The hidden dangers of the river and canal transport are deeply planted; how can one not take precautions."

Pan Jixun was speechless.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Junlü has been brought."

Everyone turned their heads in unison.

They saw Deng Yizan walking onto the dike, covered in dust, and cupping his hands in salute to the Emperor.

Zhu Yijun nodded slightly: "Let's go; let him take us to see what the Xuzhou river and canal transport has been ruined into."