The south gate of the capital.
Lu Qi and Lu Jue were waiting in front on horseback with a thousand soldiers.
On top of the city wall.
Li Yuheng looked on coldly, his eyes full of jealousy, "Father actually agreed to let Princess Che bring a thousand troops to Nancheng, all of them cavalry."
You Zhicheng, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, stood aside with his hands behind his back. As a result, it would be difficult for King Heng to take action on the road.
Beside the carriage.
Li Junche held Wen Jinhe's palm with one hand, and carefully adjusted the hat behind the other person's back with the other hand, "Remember to write to me, remember to miss me."
Wen Jinhe stood on tiptoes and kissed Li Junche on the cheek, took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Li Junche, "You must strictly abide by every clause above."
Li Junche stared at the blank envelope, opened it and glanced at it. When he saw the first item, his eyebrows rose and he hugged Wen Jinhe, "Don't worry, I will definitely leave no woman within three steps."
Looking at the shadow of the carriage and the army leaving, Li Junche turned around and stared at Li Yuheng standing on the city wall. He was a little too idle.
Mu Mingqian, Song Zhiyuan and Fei Yi were sitting on a carriage, feeling the different speeds of the carriage. The three of them gradually felt that their throats were a little stuffy and they wanted to vomit.
After driving for two hours, the three finally couldn't hold it back and quickly stopped the soldiers driving, ran out of the car, squatted on the roadside overgrown with weeds, and vomited.
"Princess, Master Mu, Master Song and Master Fei can't stand the bumps on the road, so they may need to slow down a bit." Lu Jue rode over from behind the team.
Wen Jinhe opened the curtain and said, "The three of them are civil servants. Ask them if they can ride a horse. If not, send someone to teach them all the way. We have just left the capital and the road conditions are not bad. I heard that there is poverty in the north. It’s even more bumpy.”
After traveling non-stop, the group finally saw the gate of Nancheng before the end of September.
Standing on the carriage and looking at the dilapidated city wall in front of her, Wen Jinhe sighed deeply.
Since entering the north, the scenes I have seen along the road are truly unheard of. This place is so poor.
The people were so skinny that the bones on their faces were clearly visible.
Not long after the flood, the soil along the way was very muddy, the weather had not cleared up, and there was a lot of water vapor in the air.
All of them were wrapped in tattered clothes to keep out the cold, with their backs hunched over and shivering.
Mr. Wang, the magistrate of Nancheng, received the news about the inn in advance and waited at the city gate with his people early.
"I pay my respects to Princess Che." If the ground hadn't been cleaned deliberately, there wouldn't be any mud on the official uniform.
Wen Jinhe looked at him and said, "Get up."
The common people walking by the road had never seen so many people before. After asking, they found out that it was Princess Che who had come to Nancheng.
As Wen Jinhe's fiefdom, Nancheng was supposed to have a palace for Princess Che that belonged to Wen Jinhe.
Unfortunately, the actual situation is that the tax revenue is too low and the government cannot spare the money. The Wang Prefect has no choice but to renovate the Nancheng Station, otherwise these people will have no place to live.
Man Dong looked at the simple furnishings in the inn, feeling that there was a big difference between this day and the palace.
"Lü Qi, take someone to hand over to the generals guarding Nancheng. I see there are not many people at the city gate." According to the information found before arriving, there are only fifty officers and soldiers guarding Nancheng, which is not the five-man limit stipulated by the court. Hundreds of people are far apart.
There is no money to support so many people, and there are not even many government servants, only thirty.
Mu Mingqian stared at Mr. Wang, who had a patch on his official uniform. He was going to take his place. If he suffered like this, how would he live in the future?
Wen Jinhe took a sip of the still steaming tea and said, "Tell me, how was the situation in Nancheng after the flood?"
Master Wang sat on a chair, rubbing his hands nervously on his legs, "This time the cross-river flood hit Nancheng and Huyue City the most seriously affected, and the surrounding cities were affected to some extent. There was no food planted by the people. The harvest has been harvested, and now we are relying on the food sent by the princess during the drought. If we save food, we can survive for a month at most. "
Half of the one million taels of silver spent on previous disaster relief was wasted.
"Mu Mingqian, you first follow Mr. Wang to understand the situation in Nancheng and surrounding cities. Have a rest today and talk about anything tomorrow."
Wen Jinhe frowned slightly. The labor force to build the cross-river dam must be recruited in Nancheng. If the number is not enough, they will have to be recruited from surrounding cities.
Life is so hard now, so it must be easy to recruit workers.
Several people left the hall silently. Such a mess was left in the hands of Princess Che by the emperor. It would be strange not to have a headache.
As soon as they left the hall, they saw He Shi walking over with a man and a woman.
The prefect stared at the two people, who were the shopkeepers of Princess Che's store in Nancheng.
When Lu Yebai left Nancheng, two shops were opened in each of the thirteen northern cities to sell imperial merchant supplies.
"How is the income of the Thirteenth City Shop in the North?" Wen Jinhe had someone send them the news before coming. Su Huaizhi's large quantities of grain purchased from Shuonan City were also transported to the warehouse of the Thirteenth City Shop in the North.
Now that they have arrived in Nancheng, Wen Jinhe has no intention of just solving the problem of the river crossing dam. The sky is high here and the emperor is far away, and they are all their own people. The capital really has no control over what they want to do.
"Back to Princess, the profit is really not very good. After the drought, every family was not rich, so only some wealthy businessmen bought some. After the flood, they couldn't sell it anymore." The two men bent down and replied.
Mu Mingqian and the three of them sat on the stools at the dining table, holding chopsticks in their hands, "This food is really hard to get used to."
Song Zhiyuan took a bite of a white steamed bun and choked, so he had to drink a mouthful of water. "We should pray to gods and worship Buddha if we have meat and vegetables. I heard that people in Nancheng only eat one meal a day now. This dish is still the same." Mr. Wang deliberately arranged the kitchen arrangements at the inn.”
Fei Yi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, enjoyed the most delicious food. Of the three people present, he was the only one with no background.
At night, candles were lit in Wen Jinhe's room.
There were several dam design drawings on the table, and the book in his hand was almost torn by Wen Jinhe along the way.
"Why didn't you choose engineering when you were choosing a major? If you want to build a water conservancy project, it won't be so strenuous now." Wen Jinhe rubbed his sore eyes with one hand.
The next day, Wen Jinhe led people to the edge of the Yue River. After the flood receded, thick mud was left on the ground. A bamboo pole went down, two or three meters deep.
You can still vaguely see the shadow of the original dam built here. When you step on the soft stone bricks, bricks and sand fall out.
Wen Jinhe has a black hair, and if it is of such quality that it can block the flood, even if a wild boar hits it, it will break a big hole.
Fei Yi followed Wen Jinhe to the right and behind him, holding a booklet in his hand while reading through the records.
"Master Fei, what are your thoughts on the construction of the cross-river dam?" Among this group of people, Fei Yi was the only one who was professional.
Fei Yi originally thought that Wen Jinhe didn't understand, and even if he told her, he would still be confused. But after a few words, he found that Princess Che seemed to understand a little bit, and even had some very surprising ideas.
