The weather was just as Zhu Ping'an had expected. After the sun set, the east wind picked up. The trees in the courtyard began to sway, and the leaves rustled and danced wildly. The dark clouds in the sky were like an endless black curtain, gradually pulling over from the eastern horizon and soon covering the sky above Jingnan.
To be precise, it covered half of Jiangnan.
After dark clouds covered the sky, the earth suddenly became dark. The phoenix gradually grew bigger and roared, making sounds like ghosts howling and wolves howling, as if the devil had blown the horn to conquer the world.
"The storm is coming."
Zhu Ping'an stood in the courtyard, his clothes fluttering in the wind and his hands clasped behind his back. He felt the howling wind in the courtyard and looked at the dark clouds that were getting lower and lower in the sky. He could not help but sigh.
As soon as Zhu Ping'an finished speaking, bean-sized raindrops began to fall from the sky. Da! Da! Da! The sound of raindrops hitting the ground was like the sound of a machine gun.
"Master, it's raining outside, please come in quickly." The voice of Hua'er, the chubby little maid, sounded at the door. She was about to go out holding up her skirt, as if to say, "Master, if you don't come in, I will drag you in."
“Here I come.”
Zhu Ping'an nodded and walked into the house.
When Zhu Ping'an just walked into the house, the sound of rain outside had changed from "da da" to "hua hua".
It's raining heavily.
Zhu Pingan stood at the door and looked out. It was pitch black outside. He couldn't see clearly from a distance, but he could vaguely see the heavy rain forming a curtain of rain, which hit the ground fiercely. A layer of white mist splashed on the roof and the courtyard wall. Only when the rain is heavy enough can this flying mist appear.
The small puddle of water in the yard grew wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon it turned into a river.
While Zhu Ping'an was paying attention to the rain outside, many people were also paying attention to this heavy rain.
"Why is it raining again? And it's raining so hard. This is not a good sign."
An old man in the countryside of Jingnan was standing under the eaves, leaning on a cane, looking at the pouring rain outside and frowning.
"Yes, it has been raining for more than ten days and it has only stopped for less than two days, and now it is pouring again. Fortunately, our county magistrate prepared for the rainy day and urged us to repair the dam in front of the village."
Another old man nodded and said with lingering fear when he thought of the dike that was full of holes before.
"Yes, fortunately, our county magistrate has foresight. Those idle young men in our village don't know shit. Yesterday, they were still talking nonsense to the county magistrate and blindly commanding the people to work. If it weren't dark now, I would have gone to their house on my crutches to see if they still have the nerve to do it. I would have pointed at their noses and scolded them." The old man on the crutches couldn't help but knocked the crutches twice in anger when he thought of what happened yesterday.
The neighboring Taiping County Government is holding a banquet to celebrate the new magistrate's one-month tenure in Taiping County.
The new magistrate sat in the main seat, and all the clerks of the yamen gathered together. On the table were carefully cooked dishes of chicken, duck, fish and meat, and two jars of Zhuangyuanhong Shaoxing wine had their corks opened, emitting a mouth-watering aroma of wine.
This banquet was held after the government office was closed. The weather was good and the fish-scale clouds in the sky were magnificent, which inspired the new magistrate to write poetry. He composed an eight-character quatrain on the spot, "Autumn Topic: Flying Fish Clouds in Taiping", which everyone present applauded and praised, which made the new magistrate look proud and the banquet became a great success.
Before three rounds of drinks had been served, the weather outside suddenly changed. First, an east wind blew, and then dark clouds came over the sky. The sky suddenly darkened, and then bean-sized raindrops began to fall from the sky. Soon, the bean-sized raindrops turned into heavy rain, which came down in a loud noise.
The new magistrate looked at the heavy rain outside. The wine and food on the table suddenly lost their flavor and he became irritable.
Everyone present was puzzled as to why the county magistrate suddenly became depressed, and only his staff knew the inside story.
The banquet ended hastily, and the new Taiping County Magistrate looked at the heavy rain outside with a gloomy face, wondering what he was thinking.
"Mr. Dong, should we take action to prevent and control floods?" After the aide hesitated for several times, he finally couldn't help but asked cautiously.
It had been raining for twelve days in a row, and now it was pouring again. This was not a good sign. The staff knew that the boss did not like this, but out of duty, they still risked bad luck and warned him. The water towns in the south of the Yangtze River were also prone to floods, so they had to pay more attention to it.
"It's too late now. Let's see the situation tomorrow." The new Taiping County Magistrate said expressionlessly.
Seeing this, the staff said no more.
Not long after the heavy rain, Tan Lun, the prefect of Taizhou who was in charge of military training in the new army barracks, could no longer sit still. Worried that the heavy rain might cause floods, he handed over the affairs of the new army barracks to Zuo Zhen. He took several of his followers and rode back to the Taizhou government office in the rain and darkness to take charge of the flood prevention and control work.
However, when the troops were being trained, in order to avoid disturbance and to provide better training, the new army’s barracks were chosen to be located in the mountains.
It was dark, the road was slippery, and it was raining heavily, making the mountain road difficult to walk on. When Tan Lun hurried back to the Taizhou government office, it was already late at night.
This was a heavy rain that stretched across most of the south of the Yangtze River. The torrential rain fell quickly and heavily, and it continued on the second day. The river systems in various parts of the south of the Yangtze River were flooded, and some rivers overflowed the riverbed overnight and overflowed towards the embankments.
The rain was falling fast and heavily, with no sign of stopping. Even the most insensitive people were worried that if it continued to rain, it would cause a disaster.
There were only some children, barefoot and carefree, chasing and playing in the water, jumping and singing nursery rhymes: The sky is dark, it's going to rain. Grandpa raised his hoe to dig taro, digging and digging, digging and digging, he dug a scorpionfish, Grandpa wanted to cook it salty, grandma wanted to cook it light, the two fought and broke the pot.
Zhu Pingan got up early, put on his raincoat, led his horse, and went out with Liu Dadao and others to inspect the rain conditions in the towns and villages. Along the way, Zhu Pingan clearly felt the power of the heavy rain.
The wind was strong and the rain was heavy, the sky was dark and there was no end in sight. The heavy rain seemed like the sky was leaking.
The surfaces of rivers, streams and lakes are all expanding. Every body of water in Jingnan is rapidly expanding its power, swelling its body, becoming wild, flooding the riverbed, and hitting the embankment, testing the embankment's bearing capacity.
Although he had made flood prevention and control preparations in advance and found that the flood prevention and control conditions in various places were good after visiting several places, Zhu Ping'an still couldn't help but worry about the endless heavy rain. In front of nature, human beings are so insignificant that we can't prevent floods in modern times, let alone in ancient times.