It is precisely because of the convenience of the Bianhe River that it can feed the more than one million people, soldiers and civilians in the city, and make it the second historical super metropolis after the former Tang Chang'an City.

However, everything has its pros and cons, the water of the Bianhe River can feed the people, but it will also bring disasters to the people of the city, when the heavy rain does not stop, the river water soars, it will naturally affect the safety of the capital. In particular, the introduction of river water in the city for irrigation, drinking, and washing, across the entire Bianjing, makes this hidden danger even more terrifying.

Fortunately, Bianjing City, which is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, has always had little rain, and it has not encountered a heavy rain that is enough to bring floods for decades, and various drainage channels in the city have been arranged well before the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty, so it has been peaceful in the past hundred years.

But this year's situation is very different, since the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, the continuous autumn rain has not stopped, or large or small rain continues to sprinkle down, has made the Bianhe River water several feet higher than in previous years, and it looks like it is about to overflow from the top of the river embankment in the city, which makes the relevant officials of the DPRK and China extremely nervous, and sent many officials to guard the river in case of accidents, and even some villages and towns downstream have been emptied, once the water in Bianjing City is full, the water will be released downwards to protect the capital.

The Ministry of Industry, Kaifeng Prefecture, and the Sub-district Department also sent officials and people to guard several important places on the river day and night in case of a breach or something like that. Although the embankment of the Bianhe River was built by the imperial court with a lot of money and tens of thousands of people, and it is more reliable than the Tokyo city wall, everyone still does not dare to slack off at all, and they still have to keep an eye on it.

Zhao Sicheng of the Street Division has been guarding the embankment upstream of the river for half a month as an eight-grade official, and every day he looks at the water surface that is rising inch by inch, he will be a little frightened, and he will wake up several times when he goes to sleep in the house on the side at night. Because he knew that if something really went wrong, let alone the river flooding the city of Tokyo, as long as he overflowed the embankment and soaked the nearby houses, he would be guilty of a great crime.

Fortunately, under his strict requirements these days, the soldiers and people on the river embankment did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and they were finally safe. But today it was raining again, and the river was almost flush with the top of the embankment, which made him panic again, but he did not know what to do, so he had to have the sacks full of sand and gravel ready, and stop them if anything went wrong.

Just as he was pulling his hoarse throat and directing the soldiers under him to do things, a group of more than a dozen people suddenly walked straight towards him, judging by their outfits, they should be from Kaifeng Mansion. This made Zhao Sicheng's heart tighten, and he only said that something was wrong downstream, so he hurriedly walked a few steps and greeted him, and asked without seeing the appearance of the person who came: "But do you have any instructions downstream?" ”

The young man in front of him respectfully saluted him: "Xiaguan Sun Tu has seen Zhao Sicheng, I am here to discuss with you on an important matter." ”

"Huh? Are you Sun Tu? Zhao Sicheng looked at Sun Tu, he naturally heard of this person, so he said with some puzzlement: "As far as this official knows, protecting the river embankment is not within your responsibility, why are you here?" ”

"Although the lower officials have not taken on such a heavy burden, as an official of the DPRK and China, it is also their duty to protect the safety of millions of lives in my Bianjing City." Sun Tu said something nice first, and then turned his head to look at the turbulent Bianhe River on the side: "The rain has not stopped in the past two days, and the pressure on the river embankment must be not small, right?" ”

"That's nature. In fact, the official had already made a presentation to the imperial court, hoping to agree as soon as possible to open the gap downstream and release the river water to reduce the burden on the city. But ......" said, he sighed helplessly.

Originally, logically speaking, the capital was about to become a flood, and the downstream should be abandoned for flood discharge. However, because many of the estates there were owned by the royal family and some powerful people, this plan could not be approved for a long time, so the pressure fell entirely on the officials who guarded the river embankment. It's just that he naturally doesn't want to say this, so he will explain it directly to Sun Tu.

Sun Tu didn't dwell on this matter too much, but smiled and said: "Zhao Sicheng and the generals are really hard, but the lower officials think that you don't have to worry so much, this river still has a way to lead to other places, so as not to pose a threat to my Tokyo." ”

"What do you mean by that?" Zhao Sicheng immediately became interested, now in addition to giving up a large area of manor land downstream, is there a better countermeasure?

"Si Cheng, please look there!" Sun Tuyi pointed to their side ahead, where there was originally a rainbow bridge spanning the Bianhe River, but due to the excessive water potential, half of the bridge had already been overflowed. Zhao Sicheng looked at it for a long time and couldn't see any clues: "Is there anything wrong with the bridge?" ”

"Not on the bridge, but under the bridge. Isn't there an entrance to the canal? It was only because it was blocked by the gate that the river could not enter. If the sluice gate is opened, the river will naturally flow to the bottom, and the situation here in the embankment will be greatly relieved. Zhao Sicheng, what do you think? Sun Tu patiently explained.

Zhao Sicheng was stunned thoughtfully, and he quickly calculated it in his heart. In fact, as the secretary of the street, coupled with the fact that he was transferred to control the river this time, he naturally had some understanding of the underground culverts in the city.

However, it is said that the underground culverts of Tokyo City extend in all directions and hook up the entire city, and in the eyes of ordinary people, it is a ghost fan building, a worry-free cave, and a good place for those bad thieves to escape and hide. But in fact, when this capital was built, the government and the imperial court were used for sewage and drainage. Otherwise, the millions of living beings living in the city would have been filthy.

However, for some reason, the court only used these ditches and culverts for daily use, but threw aside the use of discharging river water. This may also have something to do with the fact that the city of Tokyo has not encountered a flood in decades, and no one has mentioned opening the sluice gates of the ditch below to relieve the pressure on the river above.

Zhao Sicheng certainly saw this, but he couldn't speak at all, so the matter kept dragging on. It wasn't until today that Sun Tu broke through this layer in front of him, which lifted his spirits. But then, he hesitated again: "It is the Ministry of Engineering that controls the gate of the ditch, and unless the Ministry of Industry nods, the official can order the gate to be opened and the water discharged." ”

"Si Cheng's words are wrong, and he should be in power urgently. Now that the embankment is in jeopardy, if you ask the Ministry of Industry for approval again, or even report it to the government office, so that you can discuss the result, I am afraid that the river will flood the city of Tokyo. In my opinion, it is better to quickly let the upstream and downstream open the gate at the same time and release the water into the canal. ”

"Although there is some truth in what you say, but ......" Zhao Sicheng was still embarrassed, but then, his face changed again, and he looked at Sun Tu with suspicion: "No, why did you make such a suggestion to this official, but there is something else?" I remember, there were quite a few people running into the ditch from the gate there, and you wanted to flood people! ”

The unusual behavior of the Pink Swallow people who rushed down the river and entered the gate in a panic was also under their attention. However, the other party did not mean to destroy the embankment, and they had other responsibilities, so they did not stop it. At this time, thinking of the identity of Sun Tu as the head of Kaifeng Mansion, Zhao Sicheng finally turned the corner and stared at the other party vigilantly.

Sun Tu didn't deny it, and immediately nodded: "What Si Cheng said is right, Xia Guan has this intention." These thieves have done a lot of evil, but now they have run into the underground culverts and people are helpless, and they can only be caught by attacking them with water. And doing so can also solve the urgent need for river flooding, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. ”

"Nope." Zhao Sicheng immediately shook his head and objected: "If you don't mention the Ministry of Industry, you may not be willing to agree, and the official can't afford to deal with something when something happens." The lives of those people in the ditch alone are not something you can decide at will with a single word. This official will never agree to such a thing! ”

Looking at the other party's resolute look, Sun Tu's eyebrows quickly raised: "Is Zhao Sicheng really unwilling to make a decision for my Tokyo people?" ”

"Although this official has the heart to serve the people, he has no right to give this order."