The heavy rain stopped after three days, but the flood raged for another five days. Zhang Zhong finally collapsed from exhaustion. Fortunately, there was no life-threatening situation. He lay there snoring, and no one would disturb him. Everyone looked at Zhang Zhong with special expressions.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan had also lost weight. The two of them had just woken up and were eating and drinking. They put the roasted meat into their mouths and chewed. There was also wine beside them, which they would occasionally take small sips of.
There were now more than 20,000 people living on this piece of land made up of wooden rafts. Other than the people from their own province, there were also people from other provinces who had rushed over, as well as the mountain residents. The mountain residents were not so xenophobic now. They knew who had saved them, so they helped out a little these days.
The sun came out, and the dark clouds finally dispersed. When the first ray of sunlight shone down, some of the people who had lost their loved ones cried softly, some were silent, and some were sitting there looking at the surrounding scenery in a daze.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were full. They stood on the wooden raft and looked up at the sun. Zhang Xiaobao shouted, "We made it through. When the water recedes, we will begin to build our new home. The Zhang family will pay for it. Those who are willing to stay can get a piece of land here."
With his shout, the local people were happy. Those who had been saved temporarily put down their grief. After all, they were still alive, so they could not beg others to give them happiness. After the flood passed, there was still a new life.
Most people were willing to stay. Some people even wanted to go home and see if there was anyone. If there was, they would come here. If there was no one, they would pack up their things and come back.
At this time, the mountain residents did not know how to choose. They did not speak the language here, and there were only a few people in each tribe who could speak the local language.
Seeing that the people here were preparing to rebuild, and thinking about the days on the mountain, some mountain residents also wanted to stay, but they were afraid that the people here would not agree.
According to the tribe, these mountain people gathered together and began to discuss. In the past few days, they already knew that the mountain people who went down the mountain for the first time would receive a lot of things. After some discussion, someone who was good at talking found Zhang Zhong. Zhang Zhong was still asleep when he was woken up by the mountain people. He rubbed his eyes and looked puzzled.
"Milord, we're going to stay behind. We'll also send people to look for those who haven't been washed down the mountain. Will Milord go back on his word and give us those things? Also, we don't know how to farm. Can you send someone to teach us? "
The mountain man asked Zhang Zhong. Zhang Zhong came to his senses. When he heard that the mountain man was willing to leave the mountain, he nodded. "Of course. But I can't give you those now. Wait for them to be delivered from elsewhere. As you can see, there's nothing left here. Everyone, hold on a little longer.
Don't worry about farming. This province has a lot of empty land. Not only will I send people to teach you how to farm, I'll also teach you how to speak the local language and recognize the words here. You don't have to pay any rent this year, so just live a good life here. "
"Thank you, Milord. I'll go talk to them now. It's fine if they give us fewer things first. As long as we can eat, we won't ask for so much. Milord, can you really teach us how to read and write? Others look down on us. "
The mountain people were very happy.
"You're not mountain people, you're all citizens under my rule. Go and talk to them quickly. It'll be fine when the time comes. At this time next year, I guarantee that you'll all have new houses to live in, new clothes to wear, and meat to eat every day. One year. Just give me one year and I'll be able to do it."
Zhang Zhong promised. He had the confidence that others couldn't do it. If his family wanted the money and goods, it would be very easy for them to build a new place.
The mountain people happily left and returned to their tribe to tell others. The other mountain people also came over one after another. Zhang Zhong repeated what he had just said and answered each and every one of them correctly. Only then did he eat the food that was brought over. It was very simple. It was braised pork with rice and some salted vegetables. Zhang Zhong ate very happily. He had solved a big problem.
He then looked at the higher ground and saw the traces left behind by the receding water. He said to the people beside him, "Now there's fertility. Let's first plant the rice that my family brought and see how it grows here. Then we'll plant the White Fold Seeds. As long as the White Fold Seeds grow, we won't have to worry about money anymore."
"Master is right. The things made from the White Fold Seeds will definitely be bought by people who are willing to pay a high price. The rarer something is, the more valuable it is. Also, the sea fish here can be made into salted fish and shipped over by ship. We can sell them for a good price. Not only can we eat the fish, but we can also use it as salt."
Zhang Zhong and the people around him echoed. They were full of yearning for the future of this place.
They had settled down and were only waiting for the water to recede. When the time came, they could start the construction. The surrounding provinces were not in such a good mood. One by one, the provincial governors wrote down the disaster that had happened to their province and sent a memorial to ask for forgiveness. The military couriers and horses were fast. It wouldn't take too long for the documents to be sent back. Whether they lived or died would depend on the Emperor's decision.
Zhang Zhong also wrote a memorial, but he didn't ask for forgiveness. He didn't think that he was guilty. He had just arrived and didn't have time to do anything before the flood came. If he was given half a year, he would definitely be able to fix the irrigation works.
He only wrote down the disaster situation here. At the same time, he also wrote down the preparation work this time in the memorial. In the whole province, after the flood, the statistics showed that only 121 people died. Those who went missing were considered dead. His subordinates searched a large area, but they still couldn't find them. Basically, there was no possibility of survival.
When they were washed into the sea, even if they didn't drown, they would die of dehydration or even be eaten by some fish. This loss made him very sad, but there was no other way. He had done what he had to do.
His family also suffered a lot of losses. 12 of the 18 ships were damaged. Fortunately, they didn't sink. They were all stranded. A lot of water entered some of them, which was because they hit the reef. Some were stranded on the beach. This was easy to deal with. He just had to ask someone to get them into the water.
The money borrowed and the materials paid for in installments couldn't be recovered. A lot of the things on the ships were also consumed. Including the repair of the ships, in half a month, his family lost more than 50,000 strings of coins.
If it were an ordinary rich person, they would have gone crazy. However, the Zhang Family and Wang Family were indifferent. The loss was bad, but it didn't affect the foundation of the family. The profitable business was in the capital.
The reaction of the two families made Liu Shaoqing and the other three very depressed. They hoped that more people would die, but only a hundred or so died. They hoped that the Zhang Family and Wang Family would be sad about the loss of money, but the two families didn't have any reaction. It was as if the loss wasn't tens of thousands of strings of coins, but just a few copper coins.
What made them even more uncomfortable was that the family's money was all gone, and they still owed a lot of debts. The least owed was 3,000 strings of coins, and the most was more than 4,000 strings of coins. How were they going to pay it back? It seemed that they could only slowly pay it back from the Yongye Field. There was also the salary that should be given. Zhang Zhong said that only enough money was left for their family to eat and wear clothes. The rest was to be collected in debt.
As for the servants in the family, they could be sent out to do some work outside to support themselves. They wanted to see if they could still be as arrogant as before.
The four of them didn't dare to say anything. Now was not the time when they threatened the Provincial Governor's life. Now that their lives were in danger, no matter what Zhang Zhong said, they nodded and agreed.
After another two days, the water receded, and all the wooden rafts fell to the ground. Zhang Zhong began to get busy. He had people dismantle the wooden rafts and some trees that had washed down. He began to build houses. The ground only needed to be plowed a little. He planted the rice seedlings and cotton seedlings that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan sent out.
Li Xun also got busy. He first wrote a letter to his father to report that he was safe. He also sent 150 guards to help, leaving only 50 people to be responsible for the safety of Zhang Family and his family.
After a few days of work, the second batch of 10 ships sent out from the capital arrived. When they arrived, they didn't know about the situation here. They didn't carry any food. They only carried some handmade products, cloth, and some frozen mutton.
There was still some food in the local area. The ships that could move had already sailed along the sea to Zhejiang and Hangzhou, preparing to buy food there. The mutton from the new ships became good food here. The handmade products could also be used, and the cloth could be used to build tents.
The flood had caused the other provinces to suffer heavy losses. It had increased Lu Zhou's population to more than 20,000 people. Some of them were sent to the seaside to dry the salt. This was the first time the people in charge of drying the salt had seen such a method. All they had to do was dig some ponds, and they would be able to produce a large amount of salt if there were any crystals in them.
When they found out that they could produce a large amount of salt quickly, they became more confident about the future. With salt, there was money.
This matter couldn't be kept a secret. Lianzhou, Su Maozhou, and Xin 'an Province, which was further west, also found out about this matter. They were surprised and sent people to inquire about it.
Zhang Zhong received the people from several provinces and told them the method of drying the salt in detail. He had already written the method in a booklet and sent it to his superiors.
"Xiao Bao, it seems that many of the plans have to be postponed. At this time, there was a flood. Wait for us for a few months. By then, everything will be stable. Seriously," Wang Juan said sullenly as she put the plan she and Zhang Xiaobao had prepared on the table.
The flood had disrupted the rhythm of the two of them, and people had died. This kind of thing was very difficult to accept.
Zhang Xiaobao was also depressed. Although it was only a few months, the overall delay was much more, especially the construction of the docks. They had to start from scratch. Naturally, it was the same for the docks. Everyone was building houses and farming. How could they have time to build docks?
"I can accept the delay. However, when several provinces are affected at the same time, it will be difficult to sell our goods. How can we have spare money to buy goods from the capital? In a while, I will ask people to form a large number of caravans. If we can't sell them, we will buy as much as we can.
After buying the goods here, we will ship them to the capital to sell. We can also sell some in Kaifeng. When the surrounding provinces have money, won't they develop faster? "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
