Chapter 0060: Gaps of Varying Heights and Widths, River Channels of Varying Heights and Widths
On this day, Xie Chengze returned to Jiangdu Xian and sought out Liang Wan Da.
At that time, Liang Wan Da was frantically dealing with case files, all because the Shumishi, Lord Shen, had suddenly taken it upon himself to help resolve the long-standing backlog of cases in Yi Province. He even made a point of sitting by the desk every day to supervise, personally teaching Liang how to adjudicate cases.
The poor old man, nearly fifty, would wake up each day to see piles of case files towering like mountains, his vision darkening as he lost sight of his own future.
So when Xie Chengze arrived, Liang immediately latched onto him like a lifeline, tearfully throwing himself forward. “Your Highness! My Second Prince! Wuwuwu, you’ve finally come! This humble official has missed you so much!”
Xie Chengze dodged to the side with slight distaste, looking up just in time to meet Shen Yuan’s gaze. The moment their eyes met, the man’s pupils flickered briefly before he calmly averted his gaze.
Xie Chengze couldn’t help but roll his eyes, then turned to Liang Wan Da. “Old Liang, gather our people. It’s time to prepare for river splitting!”
Liang Wan Da looked up in confusion. “Ah? Second Prince, are we really splitting the river?”
“Otherwise? Did you think I was joking?” Xie Chengze waved his hand dismissively, signaling him to make arrangements immediately.
Back when Liang Wan Da was dealing with grain merchants, he had mentioned that Yi Province would be excavating mountains and rivers. Experienced merchants immediately sensed business opportunities and gained a rough idea of the supply gaps in Yi Province’s commercial goods.
Over the past two months, many out-of-town merchants had successively entered Yi Province, beginning to transport affordable, quality goods here.
Items like shovels for digging river channels, wooden boats for transporting river sand, bamboo baskets and carts for moving stones—all were essential hard goods that Yi Province would need over the next few years. These were perfect for opening trade routes, establishing a firm foothold in Yi Province, and building new merchant influence.
With supplies replenished and the monetary chain operating normally, river splitting in Yi Province was no longer a difficult task.
Hearing that river splitting was about to begin, the scholars temporarily residing in Jiangdu Xian also set aside their books and joined the villagers, making their way to the junction of the Min River and the Jiangdu Plain.
According to Governor Liang, this was the most suitable starting point for river splitting.
By the time the scholars arrived, the river workers had already rolled up their pants and waded into the water. Following the foreman’s instructions, they began digging river sand with their shovels and transporting it to the western area level with the river channel entrance of Yu Ji Mountain.
“Aren’t we splitting the river? Why is everyone digging river sand?” some scholars couldn’t help but wonder.
They had privately speculated that this so-called river splitting should involve using stones left over from the previous mountain excavation to build a high stone wall in the middle of the Min River’s channel. This would forcibly split the floodwaters into two streams, with one stream passing through the excavated channel entrance at Yu Ji Mountain to slow down, transforming into irrigation water flowing into the Jiangdu Plain. Then, several branch channels would be dug from this main channel to irrigate the fields of various counties.
But when they arrived, they found the river workers digging river sand instead of building a stone wall.
Noticing that Governor Liang was also present, some scholars stepped forward, bowed slightly, and asked, “Governor, could you enlighten us?”
Bian Yangchun and the others were also present. Ji Songhua stepped forward and asked, “Indeed, why dig for river sand? This humble scholar truly fails to see how this relates to splitting the river.”
Even now, he considered river-splitting an impossible fantasy. Even the scholars’ proposed method of diverting the river by stacking stone walls struck him as utterly ridiculous.
When mountain torrents erupted, even established Jiangdi could be washed away—how could mere piled stones possibly withstand such force?
Seeing the scholars’ numerous doubts, Liang Wan Da cleared his throat lightly, clapped his hands and called out, “Xiao Zhu, come over here.”
Xiao Zhu?
Everyone looked curiously and saw a slightly stout man carrying a large wooden bucket approaching. His face looked somewhat familiar.
Someone sharp-eyed immediately recognized him, “It’s Brother Zhu! The same Brother Zhu who previously told The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains!”
Everyone looked more carefully—hey, it really was Zhu Xiaobiao!
After two months apart, no one expected he would have lost so much weight!
“Dear friends, long time no see.” Zhu Xiaobiao walked over smiling. The formerly pale and plump man now sported a healthy wheat-colored complexion. Having inherited seventy percent of his mother’s beauty, his smile appeared refined and amiable. Combined with his seemingly innate official demeanor, he carried an air of a parental official.
“Hey, Brother Zhu, did Prefect Liang summon you here to explain the river-splitting story?” a scholar couldn’t resist teasing.
Last time when he told The Foolish Old Man Removes the Mountains, he only spoke about removing mountains but not splitting the river. At that time, Zhu Xiaobiao had said he would explain the river-splitting method when the Min River reached its dry season.
It seemed today was the day.
“Indeed, today we’ll talk about splitting the river!” Zhu Xiaobiao smiled mysteriously and showed everyone the wooden bucket in his hand. “Look, what’s unusual about this bucket?”
Everyone looked and saw that the bucket he brought actually had two rectangular openings in its central section.
These two openings were of equal length, but one was positioned high on the left side of the bucket and was much wider, while the other was positioned lower on the right side, somewhat lower than the high opening, and only half as wide.
“Brother Zhu, what do these two openings mean?” a scholar couldn’t help asking.
Zhu Xiaobiao smiled, “River channels.”
River channels?
The scholars were puzzled, staring blankly at the two openings. Zhu Xiaobiao clapped his hands, and several Yamen Runners came forward carrying buckets full of river water. Upon closer inspection, the water appeared turbid with considerable river sand mixed in.
One of the Yamen Runners lifted his bucket and began slowly pouring water into the bucket with openings on the ground.
As the water level inside rose, the lower, narrower opening on the right gradually began gushing water, while the higher opening remained dry.
Zhu Xiaobiao asked, “What have you observed, everyone?”
A scholar immediately responded, “This opening is lower, so water flows out from here first!”
Zhu Xiaobiao nodded, then signaled two Yamen Runners to simultaneously pour two buckets of sand-mixed river water rapidly and copiously into the bucket on the ground.
This time, water also flowed from the higher opening.
He asked again, “And this time? What have you observed now?”
This time, everyone was perplexed.
“Everyone may step forward one by one and observe carefully.” Zhu Xiaobiao placed a wooden basin diagonally below each of the two gaps, then instructed the Yamen Runner to continue rapidly pouring large amounts of water into the wooden barrel.
River water gushed out from the two gaps, splashing into the wooden basins on the ground.
The scholars gathered around, speculating about the underlying metaphor, yet they racked their brains without grasping what this demonstration intended to convey.
“Could it be illustrating that when water is full, it overflows?”
“Impossible. Brother Zhu said the gaps represent river channels, so this must relate to waterways.”
“The highs and lows, the narrows and widths of the river channels—the overflowing water falling into the wooden basins. What do the basins represent? What does the water in them signify? And what about the river sediment?”
The scholars felt their heads were about to smoke from overthinking. Finally, at one moment, Ouyang Jiu suddenly clapped his hands, his face lighting up with delight. “I’ve got it!”