Tokyo Bianliang was built and prospered because of the Bianhe River. It is precisely because of the water conservancy of the Bianhe River that it can support more than one million people, soldiers and civilians in the city, making it the second city after Chang'an City in the former Tang Dynasty. A historical metropolis.
However, everything has its pros and cons. The water of the Bianhe River can nourish the people, but it can also bring disasters to the people in the city. When the heavy rain does not stop and the river water surges, it will naturally affect the safety of the capital. In particular, the city also introduced river water for irrigation, drinking, and washing purposes, crossing the entire Bianjing, making this hidden danger even more terrifying.
Fortunately, Bianjing City, located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, has never had abundant rainfall. It has not encountered a heavy rain that can cause flooding in decades. In addition, various drainage channels in the city have been arranged well before the establishment of the Song Dynasty, so The past hundred years have been uneventful.
But this year's situation is very different. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, the continuous autumn rain has not stopped, and the rain in large and small sizes has continued to fall, making the water in the Bianhe River several feet higher than in previous years. It is about to overflow from the top of the river embankment in the city. This makes the relevant officials in the DPRK and China extremely nervous. They have sent many officials to guard the river early to prevent accidents. Even some villages and towns downstream have been cleared. Once the water in Bianjing City is If it is full and in danger, water will be released to protect the capital.
The Ministry of Industry, Kaifeng Prefecture, and Sub-district Department also sent officials to guard key areas of several rivers day and night to prevent breaches or other incidents. Although the Bianhe River embankment was built by the imperial court with a lot of money and tens of thousands of civilians, and was stronger than the Tokyo city wall, everyone still did not dare to slack off at all and still had to keep an eye on it.
Zhao Sicheng of the Street Department has been guarding the dam upstream of the river for half a month as an eighth-grade official. Every day he looks at the water rising inch by inch, and he gets a little frightened. At night, he goes to the nearby residential buildings. I have to wake up several times while sleeping. Because he knew very well that if something went wrong, let alone the river flooding the city of Tokyo, as long as it overflowed the river embankment and soaked nearby residential buildings in the water, he would be committing a major crime.
Fortunately, under his strict requirements these days, the soldiers and civilians on the river embankment did not dare to slack off at all, and they were finally safe. But today it rained again, and he saw that the river water was almost level with the top of the embankment. This made him panic again, but he didn't know what to do, so he could only ask someone to prepare sacks filled with sand and gravel. Okay, if something goes wrong, stop it first.
Just as he was shouting hoarsely, directing the soldiers under him to do things, a group of ten people suddenly walked towards him. Judging from their attire, they should be from Kaifeng Mansion. This made Zhao Sicheng nervous. He just thought that something went wrong downstream, so he hurriedly
After walking a few steps, he went up to meet him. Without seeing the person clearly, he asked, "But do you have any instructions from the downstream?"
The young man in front of him saluted him respectfully: "Sun Tu, the lower official, has met Zhao Sicheng. I am here to discuss important matters with you."
"Huh? Are you Sun Tu?" Zhao Sicheng looked at Sun Tu. Naturally, he had heard about this person, and he said with some confusion: "As far as I know, protecting the river embankment is not within your responsibilities. Ah, why are you here?"
"Although I have not taken on such a heavy responsibility, as an official of the DPRK, I have the unshirkable responsibility to protect the safety of millions of lives in Bianjing City." Sun Tu said something nice first, and then turned to look at the fast flowing water to the side. Bianhe River Water: "It has been raining for the past two days. The pressure on the river bank must be quite big, right?"
"That's natural. In fact, I have reported it to the court, hoping that it can be agreed as soon as possible to open the gap downstream and release the river water to reduce the burden on the city. But..." As he said this, he sighed helplessly.
Logically speaking, the capital city is almost flooded, and the downstream areas should be abandoned for flood discharge. However, because many manors there are owned by the royal family and some powerful people, this plan has not been approved for a long time. The pressure has completely fallen on them, the officials guarding the river embankment. It's just that he naturally couldn't explain this to Sun Tu directly.
Sun Tu did not dwell on this matter, but smiled and said: "Zhao Sicheng and the generals have indeed worked hard, but I think you don't have to worry so much. There is still a way to divert the river water to other places. It does not pose a threat to our Tokyo."
"How do you say this?" Zhao Sicheng immediately became interested. Apart from giving up the large manors and fertile land downstream, is there any better solution
"Sicheng, please look over there!" Sun Tu pointed in front of them. There was originally a Hong Bridge across the Bian River, but due to the excessive water, half of the bridge had been covered. Zhao Sicheng looked at it for a while but couldn't find any clues: "Is there anything wrong with the bridge?"
"It's not on the bridge, but under the bridge. Isn't there just the entrance to the canal there? Only because it is blocked by the gate, the river water cannot enter. If the gate is opened, the river water will naturally pour down, and the situation here on the river embankment will be Great relief. Zhao Sicheng, what do you think?" Sun Tu explained patiently.
Zhao Sicheng was stunned for a moment, and he quickly made a calculation in his mind. In fact, as the Street Secretary Sicheng, and being transferred to manage the river this time, he naturally has some knowledge of the city's underground culverts.
But it is said that the underground culverts in Tokyo City extend in all directions and connect the entire city. In the eyes of ordinary people, they are ghost towers, worry-free caves, and those with many bad deeds.
A good place for thieves to escape and hide. But in fact, when the capital was first built, the government and the court used it for sewage and drainage purposes. Otherwise, these millions of creatures living in the city would already be extremely dirty.
However, for unknown reasons, the imperial court only regarded these ditches and culverts for daily use, but ignored the purpose of discharging river water. This may also be related to the fact that the city of Tokyo has not encountered flooding in decades. Anyway, no one has mentioned opening the gate of the ditch below to reduce the pressure on the river above.
Although Zhao Sicheng noticed this, he was too humble and could not speak at all, so the matter was postponed. It was not until today that Sun Tu broke through this layer in front of him that he was refreshed. But then, he hesitated again: "The Ministry of Works is in charge of the gate of the ditch. Unless the Ministry of Works nods, I can order the opening of the gate to release water."
"Sicheng's words are wrong. If the matter is urgent, you must obey the authority. Now the river embankment is in danger. If we ask for approval from the Ministry of Industry again, or even report it to the political hall and let all the ministers discuss and come up with a result, I am afraid that the river will be destroyed. The city of Tokyo is submerged. In my opinion, it is better to open the upstream and downstream gates at the same time and release water into the canal."
"Although what you said makes sense, but..." Zhao Sicheng still looked embarrassed, but then his expression changed again and he looked at Sun Tu with suspicion: "No, why did you ask me?" The officer made this suggestion, but he had other intentions? I remembered that many people ran into the ditch from the gate there before, and you want to release the water to drown them!"
They were also paying attention to the unusual behavior of Pink Swallow's people who hurriedly climbed down the river and entered the gate. However, the other party had no intention of destroying the river embankment, and they had other responsibilities, so they did not stop them. At this time, thinking of Sun Tu's identity as the head of the Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhao Sicheng finally turned around and stared at him warily.
Sun Tu did not deny it, and immediately nodded and said: "Sicheng is right, the official has this intention. These thieves have done many evil things, but now they have run into the underground culvert and left people helpless. Only by attacking them with water can we defeat them. They catch them all at once. And by doing so, they can also solve the urgent problem of river flooding, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone."
"No." Zhao Sicheng immediately shook his head and objected: "Let's not mention that the Ministry of Works may not be willing to agree. When something happens, I will not be able to bear it. Just the lives of those people in the ditch are not something you can decide at will with just one word. .I will never agree to such a thing!"
Seeing the determined look on his face, Sun Tu raised his eyebrows quickly: "Is Zhao Sicheng really unwilling to make a decision for me, the people of Tokyo?"
"Although I have the heart to serve the people, I have no authority to issue this order."