Wei Zhi wanted to return to Beijing from here, and of course the local officials wanted to hold a farewell banquet for him. I thought Wei Zhi would refuse, but who knew he would actually accept it.
Not to mention the Inspector of Mianzhou, even County Magistrate Fu was happy and tried his best to order a few tables of food and drink in the best restaurant in the county. The county town where Master Bai arrived in the afternoon had just met Mr. Wei, and he was surprised to see He glanced at Mr. Wei, but didn't speak.
During this banquet, many people drank too much, and Master Bai's complexion was a little flushed. He didn't live in another courtyard in the county town, but chose to live in the same inn as Wei Zhi.
In the dead of night, Master Bai appeared in Wei Zhi's room.
Wei Zhi helped Master Bai who was kneeling on the ground, and said: "Since I have promised you, I will naturally do it. After you send me off tomorrow, go ahead and wait in the turn."
Master Bai heaved a sigh of relief, bowed and retreated to his room.
But he was not at peace.
When he rushed from home to the county seat this afternoon, Wei Zhi had just returned from the last village seriously affected by the disaster. He approached him to see him, but the other party didn't seem surprised at all.
With so many country gentry and local tyrants accompanying him, he not only remembered his name, but also the place where he lived now. Even when he said that he was invited to visit Qili Village alone, he smiled meaningfully and didn't ask any more questions. I agreed to come down.
At that time, Master Bai felt that Mr. Wei knew something.
Now, he is more sure.
He said that he wanted to go back to Beijing, but he wanted to go to Qili Village quietly with him. Although this is in his interest, does this mean that Mr. Wei knew everything from the beginning, even what happened in Qili Village in the past two days? See it all
Is he trustworthy
The thought just flashed by, and he calmed down slightly.
It should be credible. He is not even afraid of saints. Would he still be afraid of these officials in Yizhou
In Yizhou, the biggest one is the king of Yizhou.
Unless Wei Zhi wanted to rebel, why would he collude with magistrates and feudal princes
Master Bai comforted himself like this.
Early the next morning, Wei Zhi's team was ready to go. Wei Zhi got into the carriage and said to everyone: "The summer harvest is coming soon, and there is still a lot of work to do after the disaster. I won't waste your time. Go back."
This is impossible, the officials headed by the governor of Mianzhou must send people to the ten-mile long pavilion.
The parents and officials were all sent away, and of course the gentry and local tyrants who came with them would not be left behind, so they followed one after another.
The mighty team went on the road like this, on the official road, and then reached the ten-mile long pavilion, Wei Zhi's face became dark, and he said: "If you send it down, I won't be able to leave."
The governor of Mianzhou was a little embarrassed when he heard the words. He didn't like the plague god staying behind, so he stopped and bid farewell to Wei Zhi at the ten-mile long pavilion.
Master Bai followed the gentry and local tyrants to watch Wei Zhi go away, and then bid farewell to the governor of Mianzhou and the county magistrates.
County Magistrate Fu turned around and wanted to discuss something with him, but he couldn't find anyone.
Master Bai hurried back to the village and waited at the turning point where the county town turned into the mountain road. In less than a quarter of an hour, Wei Zhi came riding from another road with two guards.
Master Bai breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to go forward to salute, Wei Zhi waved his hand and said, "Master Bai doesn't need to be too polite, let's go on the road first."
"yes."
The two of them rushed towards Qili Village on horseback, and of course it didn't take long to ride the horses, and they arrived at the entrance of the village in less than a quarter of an hour.
At this time, Daji had just handed over the signed confession to Mrs. Liu, "Except for the person in the room on the right, the other two are willing to draw and sign the confession."
Mrs. Liu nodded, wrapped the confession in oiled paper, and put it in a box.
She was about to say something when the housekeeper reported from the door: "Madam, Master Tang has brought a distinguished guest here."
Mrs. Liu got up immediately, and said: "Send everyone to the backyard, restrain the servants, and let them not move around randomly, please come to the front hall, Mr. Tang, I will go right away."
This time Liu didn't even bring the nanny and the big girl beside her, only Daji.
When Mrs. Liu arrived, Wei Zhi was standing at the door with his hands behind his back, looking at the flowers in front of the courtyard. When he heard footsteps, he turned his head to look.
Master Bai immediately introduced, "My lord, this is my aunt, her maiden name is Liu. My cousin was a Jinshi in the first year of Dazhen, and later became the county magistrate of Shu County."
In the front hall were only Master Bai, Wei Zhi and the two guards he brought, as well as Mrs. Liu and Daji.
Liu did not speak immediately after saluting, Daji glanced at the guards brought by Wei Zhi, and stepped back first.
Only then did Wei Zhi slightly nod his head to his two guards, and there were only three people left in the hall.
"The old lady has something to say now."
Mrs. Liu knelt down on the spot.
Wei Zhi quickly reached out to help her, but Liu refused, and raised his head to ask him, "My lord, the Qianwei Weir shouldn't have burst this time, and neither should the tens of thousands of innocent souls who died under the flood."
Wei Zhi sighed, grabbed her arm tightly and helped her up, then took a step back and said, "I know."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Liu and Master Bai knew that they had made the right bet.
For six years, Mrs. Liu had nowhere to complain, and she didn't even dare to reveal her grievances. Now she finally has a mouth to confide in.
Liu couldn't help crying.
Wei knew: "The floods in Yizhou are very serious this time, and His Majesty is furious, especially since Jianwei Weir has only been repaired for two years, no, to be precise, the construction of Jianwei Weir has only been completed for one year and eight months. "
"This flood was caused by heavy rains in summer, but if the flat water tanks were not silted up, the Feisha Weir was firmer to fix water and floods, and the golden embankment did not collapse, then this would not have happened, maybe it just couldn't be stopped Floods are mostly floods, not flash floods.”
The embankment burst so quickly and violently that the people downstream were washed away before they could react.
So in Wei Zhi's view, this is both a natural disaster and a man-made disaster.
"When I investigated the construction of Jianwei Weir, I found that in the second year of Dazhen, Bai Qi, the county magistrate of Shu County, had submitted a letter, intending to hire labor from other places to repair the Jindi, but it had not yet been delivered to the capital. The governor of the state was beaten back."
Wei Zhi shouldn't have known about this, but he had to say that Bai Qi was meticulous enough, and Wei Zhi was careful enough. When he checked various account books and case files in Shu County, he found that the work diary recorded by Bai Qi contained no specific content, but wrote The date, as well as the title of the fold.
It's normal, but not normal.
It is normal that when migrant workers are urgently needed in general water conservancy projects, some laborers will be hired or dispatched from other places to support;
What is unusual is that Jianwei weir is huge, and because it has been in disrepair for a long time, the initial design period of the project is three years.
In the first year of Dazhen, the appropriation began, and it took another year and seven months for the Bai Qi to be folded up. However, it turned out that the repair work was even longer, and it was not completed until the autumn of two years ago.
For such a long-term water conservancy project, people from various counties in the prefecture usually come here to serve and work in turn, and it is rare to dispatch labor from other places so early.