Tang Yi had abolished the old corvée labor system, incorporating labor taxes and commutation fees into land taxes. This meant that Tang Yi’s additional conscription of sixty to seventy thousand able-bodied civilian laborers would cost not much less than assembling an equivalent scale of imperial guards or personal guard troops.

Besides large quantities of river-digging and embankment-building tools, sixty thousand able-bodied civilian laborers required sixty thousand shi of brown rice monthly in rations alone.

Contemporary meals contained extremely little oil or fat, while digging rivers and building embankments was all heavy physical labor. Three jin of daily rations per person going up the embankment could only be considered basic provision. Additionally, large quantities of pickled vegetables had to be provided. Of course, luxurious meat could not be supplied. To prevent scurvy, officials would do everything possible to provide more fresh vegetable supplies, though quantities remained extremely limited.

Fortunately, during agricultural idle periods, being able to eat one’s fill while laboring on embankments, plus receiving daily wages of ten to twenty cash—for the newly submitted people of Guang, Shou, Hao, and Huo prefectures, there was not the slightest complaint.

Those truly harboring doubts were still some officials within the Commissioner’s Office. Assembling sixty to seventy thousand supporting personnel this one time, even if the assembly period was only half a year, expenses were estimated to exceed one million strings. Yet the ultimate goal was merely to protect Shouspring city from flooding—was this necessary?

After learning of Han Qian’s decision, Han Daochang also specially rushed secretly to Shouspring to see Han Qian, discussing possible developments in the subsequent situation. He too harbored doubts about such major movements on Shouspring’s side.

Han Qian would explain as clearly as possible internally to enable unified thinking from top to bottom and improve execution capability in all aspects.

With the Yu River seizing the Huai to enter the sea, he could no longer worry about the difficulties facing the He-Huai territories—that was something Zhu Yu had to consider. But just within western Huai, not only did Shouspring city, this major town, face possible flooding, what concerned Han Qian more—or what Han Qian absolutely dared not treat carelessly—was the safety of the approximately five to six hundred thousand mu irrigation zone inside and outside Shouspring’s outer city walls and in eastern Huoqiu.

If this irrigation zone flooded, it would directly cause western Huai’s grain supply to shift directly from the hard-won relaxed situation to scarcity.

Farmland near Shouspring city seemingly only comprised five to six percent of western Huai’s total farmland area, but it was mainly high-yield paddy fields.

Other areas of western Huai currently still consisted mostly of dry land, especially the low hills and ridges in south-central Huozhou, Shouzhou, and Guangzhou, with lower average yields per mu.

East Lake, Liyang, Wushou and other areas also had large amounts of fields used for planting cotton, medicinal herbs and other cash crops.

These various factors meant grain production from Shouspring and eastern Huoqiu regions directly comprised about ten percent of entire western Huai’s grain and fodder production.

Once this region became a vast watery marsh, not only would there be no harvest whatsoever in summer and autumn, the Commissioner’s Office would also need to take out large quantities of grain to provide disaster relief for seventy to eighty thousand people in Shouspring and Huoqiu.

Calculating inside and out, in the most severe situation, this would cause western Huai’s total grain supply to tighten directly by about fifteen percent.

Given western Huai’s grain production scale, even if this year directly contracted by fifteen percent, it would not cause severe grain shortages. But they still had to continue fulfilling grain loan commitments to He-Huai Liang forces!

And once the Mongols’ poisonous scheme succeeded, a Yellow River flood zone one to two hundred li deep and eight to nine hundred li long would extremely likely form along both banks of Jialu River and Sha-Ying River. How many famine victims dying in the wilderness would be produced then? How much grain would need to be taken out for disaster relief to avoid making the He-Huai region a thousand li of accumulated white bones?

Only by desperately defending the Shouspring irrigation zone could they, on the basis of satisfying loan aid of money and grain to He-Huai Liang forces, additionally collect one to two million shi of grain to provide necessary relief for He-Huai famine victims who would be massively produced after entering summer.

Otherwise, all this would require the Commissioner’s Office, when fires were burning eyebrows, to restart large-scale grain purchasing plans in Jiangdong and other areas. How much money and materials would need to be expended?

Currently, Tang Yi could purchase one million two hundred thousand shi of grain in western Huai for only eight hundred thousand strings. But to make bulk purchases from Jiangdong and other areas would require at least another million strings added.

More critically, once the Yu River seizing the Huai to enter the sea became fact, it would not be something that would stop in one or two years.

If they did not desperately defend the Shouspring irrigation zone now, as long as He-Huai Liang forces could not capture Yingyang city for one day, could not restore the Yu River’s old course for one day, then the negative impacts of this matter on areas along Jialu River, Sha-Ying River, the middle and lower Huai River, and shores of Hongze Lake would not be eliminated for one day…

With several unfavorable factors overlapping, Han Qian also had difficulty predicting in what direction Tang Yi forces’ subsequent situation would turn.

No matter what, Han Qian had to use all possible means to desperately defend the Shouspring irrigation zone, while also requiring Han Daochang, after returning to Jinling, to have Chishan Association directly launch grain purchasing plans in various areas to respond to the possible grain shortage situation in western Huai.

Of course, Han Qian’s such large-scale personnel assembly and mobilization at Shouspring caused Jinling, Huaidong, and Xiangbei—not understanding the true situation—to be unable to sleep or eat peacefully, constantly alarmed.

Indeed, before the year’s end, Tang Yi including navy, infantry battalions, and cavalry had maintained about fifty thousand standing troops. Just a few days after the new year, Han Qian suddenly departed from Liyang, rushed to Shouspring for unprecedented military mobilization and assembly. The newly organized Fourth Regiment Army alone totaled over seventy thousand personnel.

That is to say, Tang Yi’s fifty thousand active standing troops suddenly surged to over one hundred twenty thousand.

Who, lying beside Tang Yi, could sleep peacefully?

Jinling, Chuzhou, and Xiangcheng sent envoys to Shouspring every few days to see Han Qian, inquiring what had happened.

Han Qian had no intention to conceal, truthfully informing them about Weizhou rebel forces and Mongols intending to force the Yu River to change course, also reminding Huaidong to strengthen repairs to embankments, ditches and other water conservancy facilities on Hongze Lake’s eastern shore and the Huai River’s southern bank.

After the Chu-Liang peace treaty, Jinling, Xiangbei, and Huaidong all could dispatch merchants into areas controlled by He-Huai Liang forces like Xu, Ru, Song, Chen and other prefectures. They had also heard about Liang Shixiong organizing military and civilian forces east of Yingyang city to excavate embankments. But neither Xiangbei, Huaidong, nor Jinling believed the situation was as serious as Han Qian imagined.

Besides the Mongol camps on both north and south banks of Zhaotang Embankment not yet further assembling military and civilian forces, Liang army reactions in Xuzhou and northern Ruzhou were also much calmer than what Han Qian described. They lacked the urgency of impending disaster, much less organizing troops to attack Yingyang city with full force before the rainy season arrived.

Other parties did not believe—Han Qian also had no obligation to make them believe. But the many personnel he assembled at Shouspring, after entering the second month, were all used on southern bank embankment reinforcement, Longchi Mountain Dam Lake construction, and flood discharge belt clearing.

Besides over sixty thousand able-bodied laborers, Han Qian also successively conscripted nearly twenty thousand mules and horses from various areas, plus several thousand large and small carts and boats, to transport sand, stone, earth, and timber.

Embankment reinforcement and raising was one aspect. But in contemporary times, limited by materials, embankments were mainly piled earth. No matter how reinforced and strengthened, overall strength remained extremely limited and could not bear excessively high flood retention water levels. Flood diversion and discharge were key to desperately defending the Shouspring irrigation zone.

Ji Xiyao led Works Ministry water affairs engineers to designate a flood discharge belt running from southwest to southeast of Shouspring city, over fifty li east-west, varying from several li to over ten li north-south in width.

To ensure Shouspring city’s communications with interior areas would not be cut off, post road sections located in the flood discharge belt needed to be widened and raised. But where post roads passed through the flood discharge belt, sufficient flood discharge culverts had to be reserved.

Also to save time, Han Qian directly ordered iron beam bridge components prefabricated elsewhere to be transported directly to Shouspring for first use, rushing to construct a total of one hundred twenty meters of continuous arch iron beam bridges where post roads crossed the flood discharge belt. Bridge piers were also excavated with foundations and poured with reinforced stone-cement-river sand mixture.

Weizhou rebel forces breached the embankment east of Yingyang in early second month.

However, during the ice-locked period, the Yu River’s flow was very small. Plus the Yu River’s Yingyang section riverbed had not completely suspended above ground level, and terrain east of Yingyang city was rugged and uneven. Throughout the entire second month, no substantial impacts from the Yu River embankment breach on Jialu River and Sha-Ying River were seen.

The Yu River upstream began thawing in late second month. The Yu River upstream flow increased. Large quantities of ice fragments discharged southward from the breach, invading low-lying areas west and south of Yingyang city, on the west bank of Jialu River, turning there into a vast sea, also thoroughly blocking the passage for He-Huai Liang forces to attack Yingyang from the eastern foothills of Mount Song.

However, Jialu River (Honggou Ditch), since the Qin and Han dynasties, had served as the core canal waterway connecting He and Huai, with relatively complete water conservancy facilities. Not only were there water gates and ship locks built between it and the Yu River, but embankments were also built on both banks.

Floodwaters carrying large quantities of ice fragments discharging southward from the breach were blocked by Jialu River’s western bank embankment, mainly flowing and accumulating into Yingze Marsh and other areas between Yingyang city and the Jialu River embankment. Until before the end of third month, Yingzhou territory became a vast sea, yet still had not caused severe impacts on areas along both banks of the middle and lower Sha-Ying River.

At this time, Weizhou rebel forces and Mongols no longer concealed their sinister evil intentions. Tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel were driven to both banks of Zhaotang Embankment east of the breach, daily transporting hundreds of thousands of dan of sand, stone, and earth into the river channel to build a river-blocking dam.

Different from over four hundred years ago when the Southern Liang state built Fushan Dam in the middle Huai River—an adventure action destined to fail—the Yu River near Zhaotang Embankment was extremely seriously silted. At the same time, the vast majority of upstream Yu River waters discharged southward from the western breach, making the Yu River waters near Zhaotang Embankment, in mid-to-late third month, actually flow across a surface less than two hundred meters wide, with maximum depth only slightly over one meter.

Also roughly at the end of third month, Mongols at Zhaotang Embankment extremely quickly successfully blocked the Yu River flow. Subsequently they only continuously widened and raised the river-blocking dam, even attempting to build a highway directly crossing the Yu River to the southern bank, so Mongol forces in Huai, Wei and other prefectures could directly enter Wuzhi and other southern bank areas or attack areas on Biangjing’s western flank.

If Tang Yi had delayed until this time before belatedly reacting to all this, they would have missed nearly three months of extremely precious response time. Besides withdrawing tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel from areas east of Shouspring and Huoqiu, abandoning Shouspring city and nearly five to six hundred thousand mu of surrounding irrigation zones, there would be no other better choices.

Entering fourth month, the Wei River plain upstream of the Yu River, plus areas further north and west in the northwest regions, as well as Xu, Ru, Chen, Song, Qiao, Ying on the western flank, and mountain ranges like Funiu Mountains, Mount Song, Baitong Mountain and Huaiyang Mountain on the north bank of the upper Huai River, all successively entered rainy seasons.

Roughly entering fourth month, flood retention formed upstream of Xiashi Pass, with water levels rising higher daily. By mid-to-late fourth month, the Huai River water level west of Shouspring city rose above the newly built overflow stone weirs on the southern bank embankment.

Large water gate construction difficulty was still too great. With only three months construction time, Han Qian did not break open the embankment to build large water gates between the Huai River and the flood discharge belt. Instead, he dug槽 openings in the embankment, used concrete to pour deep pile foundations, then laid stone slabs, building overflow stone weirs to direct Huai River waters that reached warning levels into the flood discharge channel on the embankment’s southern bank, making turbid floodwaters mightily flow around Shouspring city from the south toward Wabu Marsh, always maintaining water levels in the flood retention zone west of Shouspring city below safe levels.

At this time, the North Fei River channel connecting the downstream Huai River waterway north of Wabu Marsh was still being urgently widened. Wabu Marsh’s flood storage capacity was also limited—floodwaters still had to be timely discharged downstream to the Huai River.

Water conditions within Shouzhou territory were temporarily still not severe.

Summer grain harvest in the Shouspring irrigation zone proceeded as scheduled in late fourth month, mainly beans and wheat, with harvests of about five hundred thousand shi. Afterward came autumn grain planting mainly of rice, which currently appeared unlikely to suffer severely serious impacts.

However, by the end of fourth month, Xu, Ru, Qiao, Ying, Chen, Bo and other prefectures along both banks of Jialu River and Sha-Ying River fell into a vast sea, with countless people forced to leave their homes.

From the north bank of the Yu River east of Yingyang where Jialu River and Sha-Ying River originated, winding southeast to enter the Huai forty li west of Shouspring, the main channel totaled nearly nine hundred li.

Even if Emperor Liang Zhu Yu had seen through Liang Shixiong and the Mongols’ evil scheme at the beginning of the year, never mind the current He-Huai Liang forces—even at Liang state’s peak, it would be impossible in such short time to reinforce embankments on both banks of Jialu River and Sha-Ying River before entering summer to standards capable of resisting floods three to four times higher than previous years.

Emperor Liang Zhu Yu also had not thought of attacking Yingyang city before the rainy season arrived to争取 争取 control over Yu River embankments in Yingyang, Wuzhi and other areas.

Not only was warfare too hasty, but attack positions could be flooded by floodwaters at any time. There was really no visible chance of victory—they would only fall into schemes and traps Liang Shixiong and Mongols had already arranged.

Emperor Liang Zhu Yu delayed until late fourth month before taking action.

At this time, floodwaters along both banks of Sha-Ying River reached to the heavens. Western areas of Ruzhou, Caizhou, and western portions of Xuzhou, Yingzhou, and Chenzhou had been cut off from eastern Song, Qiao, Biangjing and other areas by towering floodwaters. The flood zone still continuously expanded toward both flanks, likely lasting until eighth month before the rampaging floodwaters would possibly diminish.

At this time, He-Huai Liang forces were again cut into eastern and western parts.

Emperor Liang at this time led western flank elite light troops, abandoning large war machines and supplies in the rear, directly passing through dangerous narrow passages between Shaoshi Mountain and Funiu Mountains northwest of Ruzhou, killing into Song County, Yichuan and other upper Luo River areas that currently had also temporarily become isolated islands.

Shaoshi Mountain, Taishi Mountain and other Song Mountain ridges geographically counted as remaining ranges of Funiu Mountains.

Even though northwestern Ruzhou had some gorges and slopes that could be crossed to enter the Heluo region, terrain was extremely steep and precipitous. During rainy seasons, mountain paths were slippery, with mud slopes constantly sliding and collapsing.

Weizhou rebel forces in Song County, Yichuan and other southern bank areas of Heluo also could not possibly neglect defenses. They had long secured dangerous positions with fortified camps, defending extremely strictly. For Liang forces to launch attacks from this region, they could only fill in with soldiers’ lives. Large war machines also fundamentally could not be sent across.

To necessarily attack from this region—nearly a desperate gamble against Weizhou rebel forces occupying the Heluo region—they had to wait until this moment.

On one hand, time was needed to build and widen mountain paths in eastern Song County.

More importantly, Zhu Yu had to wait until Liang forces from mid to high-ranking officers down to底层 底层 soldiers all fully recognized that currently this was a backs-to-the-water battle concerning their life or death before they could have a few more chances of success.

There was another factor—the Mongols building a river-blocking dam at Zhaotang Embankment directly built the river-blocking dam into a highway connecting Huaizhou city and Wuzhi city on both north and south banks of the Yu River. Mongol forces’ main strength was mainly deployed on the eastern side, intending to launch offensives toward areas on Biangjing’s western flank.

As floodwaters further spread, areas east and south of Yingyang city, continuing to northern Xuzhou, all became vast seas. This not only restricted Mongol cavalry or infantry forces from quickly reinforcing the Heluo region defended by Weizhou rebel forces, but also cut off the possibility of Mongol cavalry units quickly penetrating southward into the heartlands of Xuzhou, Ruzhou, even Caizhou, attacking western flank cavalry’s rear flanks and sides.

Even Xu Mingzhen’s Shouzhou forces were currently mainly isolated in Qiaozhou, Bozhou and other areas on the eastern bank of Sha-Ying River.

Only by dragging until this moment would Emperor Liang Zhu Yu not worry about possibilities of Xu Mingzhen’s thoughts being unstable, could he confidently take the fifty thousand troops assembled on the western bank of Sha-Ying River, with full force and everything they had, kill from dangerous narrow valley paths on the southern side of Shaoshi Mountain into the Heluo region that currently had also temporarily become an isolated island.

However, Jinling, Xiangbei, Huaidong and other areas did not know He-Huai Liang forces’ movements.

After entering fifth month, Jiang-Huai territories also successively entered the plum rain period, with continuous rainfall. Chu, Yang and other areas suffered severe waterlogging, with river ponds, streams, and canals all overflowing.

This made floodwaters from the upper Huai River flow downstream even more slowly. Water levels within Hongze Lake also rose higher daily.

Hongze Lake’s western shore had somewhat higher terrain, but Dragon Travel Lake and Hongze Lake in Zhongli County territory had already merged into one body.

Shiliang County south of Hongze Lake, fortunately having only moved in over ten thousand civilian households these two years—even with waterlogging everywhere, actual disaster conditions were not severe. What truly faced severe tests were areas east of Hongze Lake—lowest-lying Chuzhou and northern Yangzhou areas west of Fanliang Lake.

The military prefecture reclamation system established in earlier years by Qinghe, Shanyang, and Jinhu counties formed an organic whole with Hongze Lake’s eastern bank embankment. The embankment had six large water gates connecting six main canals. The main canals had sixty-eight branch民渠 extending to every corner of a total of seven to eight hundred thousand mu of military reclamation fields.

The six water gate main canals not only ensured irrigation water for the reclamation zones, but once Hongze Lake water levels rose, could also ensure quick, timely directing of floodwaters downstream.

Chuzhou in earlier years had approximately one hundred fifty to one hundred sixty thousand soldiers’ dependents and family members residing and laboring in this reclamation zone, annually submitting over six hundred thousand shi in land rent to the military prefecture.

The Five Fangs Army water forces’ main strength suffered disastrous defeat on Hongze Lake. The eastern bank embankment was subsequently damaged extremely severely by Liang forces. Over the following two years, Huaidong sought help from Tang Yi before having surplus capacity to repair the eastern bank embankment anew.

However, Huaidong currently only had capacity to repair two water gates. But clearing silt and dredging the two main canals connected to these two water gates and the eastern Shanyang Canal (northern section of Han Ditch) had not yet been undertaken.

That is to say, the military prefecture reclamation zones between Shanyang, Qinghe, and Jinhu counties at this time had barely restored some irrigation capacity but had not restored flood discharge capacity.

On the day Wang Wenqian was ordered to rush to Jinhu County to supervise water conditions, toward evening the embankment north of Jinhu County city experienced a breach, catching Wang Wenqian completely off guard and helpless.

Turbid floodwaters like thousands of troops and horses discharged from the breach. Not only were over a hundred military and civilian personnel guarding the embankment caught unprepared and swept into the torrent, several garrison villages below the embankment were also quickly submerged by the great flood. Military household families simply had no time to evacuate.

Wang Wenqian, surrounded by Jinhu County Magistrate Wang Yuan, stationed military commander Cai Jing, Yin Peng and others, climbed in wretched disarray onto a gentle slope. They could only watch the embankment breach get washed larger and larger. In just a short time, the breach was ripped open by floodwaters to twenty zhang wide. Several black-canopied boats filled with sand and stone could not even be scuttled in time to block the breach.

With such great water force, such a large breach—in contemporary times it was already impossible to organize military and civilian forces for blockage.

Besides first withdrawing military and civilian personnel from the embankment, currently all they could do was collect more boats to rescue as many people besieged by floodwaters as possible.

“In the first month, the Marquis of Qianyang assembled tens of thousands of civilian laborers at Shouspring, saying barbarians had vicious hearts intending to引 引 Yu River waters to inundate Jiang-Huai. Yet Prince Xin’sMansionMansion Mansion failed to give sufficient attention, instead suspecting the Marquis of Qianyang harbored异动 异动 intentions. They反而 反而 employed extremely scarce manpower and material resources to build over ten garrison villages and fortresses west of Jinhu, also digging several north-south deep moats, yet did not conscript military and civilian forces to repair embankments and water gates or dredge flood discharge canals. This is truly too regrettable.”

Jinhu County Magistrate Wang Yuan was Wang Wenqian’s cousin Wang Hangxing’s son. With no outsiders around, he spoke without reservations before Wang Wenqian, unable to restrain himself from complaining.

Yin Peng stared worriedly at the rolling turbid floodwaters carrying large quantities of miscellaneous trees and grass. He could even faintly see villagers struggling in the floodwaters. He pretended not to hear Wang Yuan’s words.

Although Wang family people at this time still habitually acted cautiously and timidly before outsiders, especially after word传 传 that Wang Jun was about to give birth and several physicians had diagnosed a high probability of a male child, internally they had become increasingly unable to restrain themselves.

Yin Peng could understand this.

Wang Wenqian currently was in a semi-retired state in Huaidong, usually convalescing at home sick. Only during emergencies like this would he be summoned to handle affairs.

Besides Wang Wenqian, among Wang clan descendants, Wang Yuan held the highest official position. But as an upper county, Jinhu County magistrate’s rank was only正 正 sixth grade. Others were mostly eighth or ninth grade or had not even entered the ranks—petty clerks.

Those who married into Tang Yi with Wang Jun—in how much time had passed? Wang Yan currently already served as Guangzhou Chief Administrator concurrently Huangchuan County Magistrate under Zhou Dan, also正 正 sixth grade. Wang Zhe served as正 正 sixth grade Commissioner in the Military Intelligence Staff Bureau. Even Huo Xiao, who混 混 worst, served as从正 从正 seventh grade Secretary in the Capital Office Bureau.

As military officers, Huo Li and Wang Tang had even more promotion opportunities in Tang Yi. At this time both served as commanders. Particularly Huo Li serving as commander in Tang Yi Guard Cavalry Bureau held status一筹 一筹 higher than ordinary commanders.

This time, Han Qian’s timely reaction at Shouspring, conscripting seventy to eighty thousand able-bodied laborers three months in advance for flood prevention and disaster preparation, suffered almost no惨重 惨重 losses. Whereas Huaixi Huaidong delayed until mid-fourth month when confirming the situation was不妙 不妙 before transferring able-bodied men to the embankments to protect them. But in the most remote counties, corvée laborers had not even been transferred up before the embankment collapsed with such a large breach. Over the next two years, Huaidong’s situation would be dire, comparable to years three and four of Yanyou.

Comparing both sides, how could Wang Yuan, just past thirty with a temper not yet thoroughly ground down, remain calm?

Wang Wenqian’s expression was gloomy as he remained silent…