Nansheng was the unluckiest of the five countries in the world. First, Nansheng was destroyed and the Nanman massacred. Then, the feudal lords rose up and formed an alliance to fight against the barbarians. After more than ten years of war. All the prefectures were in a state of waiting for development, but from time to time, mobs and bandits would cause trouble.
Jiang Pengji had the intention to govern, but it was a long project that could not be solved in two or three days.
Everything had to be done in a down-to-earth manner, one step at a time.
After dealing with Hua Yuan's matter, Jiang Pengji was not in a hurry to leave Ningzhou with her people because something was holding her back.
"The flood in Ningzhou is so serious?"
Jiang Pengji and her people temporarily stayed in the prefecture government of Ningzhou. The prefecture government had not been renovated for many years. It looked worse than the private houses of ordinary merchants.
Fortunately, the prefecture government was not a jerry-built project. It could still be lived in after some cleaning.
Jiang Pengji stayed there for two days. When she was free, she thought that the prefecture government should have the files of previous years. It was also the best way to understand the situation in Ningzhou.
She ordered people to sort out the files that had piled up in the state mansion. As soon as they opened the storeroom, they were shocked. Piles and piles of files were haphazardly piled up, with a thick layer of dust on them. The rancid air inside was so choking that it was hard to breathe. They sorted out the files in the warehouse for two days before moving them out. Many of the files had been destroyed by moths. They sorted them out and put them away. Jiang Pengji picked them and looked at them.
She did not know if she did not look, but she was shocked when she saw them.
Not only were there unjust and false cases that had piled up for many years, but there were also a large number of flood records.
After looking at them, Jiang Pengji knew that there would be floods in Ningzhou every few years. It would be fine if the floods did not come, but when they did, the mountains would be flooded. Countless people would die and many crops would not be spared. Jiang Pengji asked them to find the bamboo slips related to the flood control. In the end, she was speechless to find that there were not even 10% of such records. Many of the contents were perfunctory. Only after a lot of effort to sort them out did they come up with some useful information.
"Zixiao, send someone to find out if there are people who have lived in Ningzhou for a long time. Ask them about the flood situation over the years."
Lu Zheng asked, "Controlling the flood is not a short-term task. It consumes a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources. How long do you plan to stay here?"
She had to prioritize. The flood did not happen every year, and it would not be effective in one or two years.
Instead of wasting time here, Jiang Pengji might as well do something else and take complete control of Nansheng as soon as possible.
If she delayed for too long, Zhongzhao would recover, and she would miss the best opportunity to reclaim Zhongzhao.
Lu Zheng still did not know what Qiguan Rang and Sun Wen had done to Zhongzhao. The information was not on the same level, so his considerations were somewhat incorrect.
If he had known that these two deities were stirring up trouble in Zhongzhao, causing the entire nation to be in turmoil, he probably wouldn't have said this.
Jiang Pengji said, "It's precisely because the flood-control mission involves so much that I'm even more worried about handing it over to people I'm not familiar with. I'm afraid that they won't do a good job. At the very least … it's better to understand the details and strive to have a clear idea of what's going on. Then, I'll hand it over to someone else so that I don't have to worry about the other party deceiving me. "
There would be no more wars in the short term. Jiang Pengji wanted to buy as much time as possible to restore the livelihood of the local people and let them settle down.
He who wins the hearts of the people will win the world.
As long as the people were loyal to her, she was not afraid that the people in the rear would be egged on to rebel.
Lu Zheng saw that Jiang Pengji had her own plans. Out of his trust in her, he stopped trying to persuade her.
After two days of investigation and sorting out, Jiang Pengji basically found out the source of the flood in Ningzhou. She was angry and amused at the same time.
"The destruction of Nansheng is really self-inflicted. You can't blame it all on the four factions of Nanman. Their roots are rotten."
If they were to die, they would die later. The four factions of Nanman would just send Nansheng to heaven earlier.
The flood in Ningzhou was not about anything else. It was mainly about the blockage of the river and the officials' connivance with the gentry clans occupying the riverbed near the flood discharge channel. Some people even transported soil to make farmland. Coupled with the accumulation of silt in the downstream river, the water system in Ningzhou was becoming more and more blocked. During the rainy season, it was fine if the rain was normal, but once it exceeded the normal amount, it was easy to cause a flood. The river would flow backwards and drown the crops …
Before Nansheng was destroyed, Ningzhou would allocate a sum of money to control the flood every year and regularly send people to dredge the river. Even though there were cases of corruption and bribery, God gave face. There were occasional floods, but the scale was not large. Since the destruction of Nansheng, each prefecture and county had to endure the invasion of Nanman and face the domination of the local forces. Naturally, no one would allocate money to clean up the river.
In the eyes of many short-sighted people, cleaning up the river was like throwing money into the river. It only made a sound, but it did not make money.
The consequences of doing so came quickly. During the more than ten years of war, Ningzhou had two major floods and five minor floods. About ten thousand people died. Over the years, the value of the crops lost was nearly one million strings of coins. According to the descriptions of the villagers, the floods in the past few years were getting worse.
This year's luck was good. There was not much rainfall during the rainy season and there was no movement in the river. But next year, it was hard to say.
Jiang Pengji asked someone to take her to various blocked river channels to take a look. When she came back, she drew a simple picture.
"It's not practical to directly clean up the main river channel. We don't have enough time, money, and manpower," Jiang Pengji said. "It's better to clean up these few tributaries first and expand the river to share the pressure of the main river channel. When we have time, we can dredge the main river channel. "
Jiang Pengji circled a few more places and said, "It's better to change these few turns and straighten them so that the flood discharge will be smoother."
Lu Zheng did not have much of an opinion. "Who do you plan to hand over to, my lord?"
The original government office in Ningzhou had collapsed. Before Jiang Pengji attacked, the internal affairs of Ningzhou were controlled by the local gentry. It was almost like a local court. She cleaned up a wave and got rid of the vermin, but there was no one available …
Jiang Pengji thought about it and said, "Didn't we issue a recruitment order a while ago? The first batch of conscription has been issued. Pick a few reliable people from them … Oh right, that person called Mi Yu is not bad. I remember that one of the questions in her answer sheet was to simulate how to manage the river channel. Her hypothetical suggestion is quite feasible. It's not just an armchair strategist. It can be seen that this person is also a man of action. He's worth putting in an important position. "
Jiang Pengji never cared about the background or qualifications of the people she hired. She only looked at their sense of responsibility and ability.
Although this kind of employment system was not in line with this era, Jiang Pengji was the one who made the rules. Only others obeyed her. There was no reason for her to compromise. In a few words, Jiang Pengji decided to hand over the affairs of Ningzhou to Mi Yu, a greenhorn.
"I'll write a letter asking her to come over and take up the post. When she comes, we'll leave."
Even if Mi Yu had confidence in herself, when this letter of appointment was placed in front of her, she felt like she was dreaming.
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