Shandong, Tai'an Province, Feicheng County.

At the beginning of February, a mighty convoy appeared on the official road from Tai'an to Feicheng, Zheng Fushou, who was in his early thirties, sat in the carriage and looked at the scenery along the way with great interest, the drought in Feicheng has been very serious, and a large area of land along the way has been barren, and only the places along the river can see some green full of vitality.

Although a large area of land is barren, it is not desolate, and along the way, you can see the scene of the construction site in full swing from time to time - the construction of rivers, the excavation of aqueducts, the widening of official roads, and the stepping on keel waterwheels to fight drought.

The post road of the dirt road and the oil road in Shanghai can be described as a world of difference, not only bumpy but also the dust raised is also uncomfortable, Wu Menglong, who was traveling with the car, frowned and complained: "I really don't know how to choose the demonstration area in Feicheng, no matter how bad it is, it should be selected in a place with a train." ”

Zheng Fushou glanced at him and said with a smile: "The demonstration area is not far from Tai'an, but it is only fifty miles, at most a day's journey, and the most important thing is that the head of the Song family is willing to spend ...... money." ”

"Willing to spend money?" Wu Menglong said with some surprise: "Yuan Qi is not short of money, right?" ”

"Do you know how much money the Song family paid to win this demonstration area?" Zheng Fushou said and stretched out a finger and gestured, "100,000 yuan!" ”

"One hundred thousand?" Wu Menglong said in astonishment: "Is the Song family crazy? ”

"What is crazy, people call it visionary." Zheng Fushou glanced at him and said: "The Song family is a thousand tilt cards, the land is at least more than 100,000 mu, large-scale mechanical operations, what is the income in a year?" What's more, now that Feicheng is in drought, as a demonstration area, we can't even have the ability to resist drought, right? ”

After a pause, he smiled and said: "100,000 yuan, the Song family has made a lot of money this time, I heard that for this demonstration area, Yuanqi also agreed to build a road from Feicheng to Tai'an, ........" ”

Before the words fell, I heard the sound of horses' hooves, "Report, someone in front of me greeted him, claiming to be Song Henian, the head of the Song family in Feicheng." ”

Hearing that Song Henian came to greet him, Wu Menglong couldn't help but be stunned, "Haven't you entered the Feicheng realm yet?" This is not just thirty miles away, this Song He Year is so diligent? ”

"It's true that I didn't enter the territory of Feicheng, but I have already entered the territory of the Song family." Zheng Fushou said and ordered to stop, and as soon as he got out of the car, he saw several people walking up quickly, led by a middle-aged man in his thirties wearing a long robe and a horse coat and a short beard.

When he arrived, Songhe smiled with a smile on his face: "Contemptible Songhe Year, warmly welcome you to Feicheng." ”

"Project Manager of Shanghai Agricultural Machinery Factory Demonstration Zone, Zheng Fushou." Zheng Fushou hurriedly arched his hand and smiled: "Song Yichang welcomes dozens of miles, and he will kill me." ”

"I'm not afraid of Manager Zheng's jokes." Song He Nianlang said with a smile: "On the fifth day of the first month, I learned that your factory set the demonstration area in Feicheng, and the Song family and the gentry and people of Feicheng are looking forward to you every day. ”

"Ashamed, ashamed." Zheng Fushou said a little apologetically: "The transfer of manpower and all kinds of machines and things has been delayed for a while, so that Song Yi has been waiting for a long time." ”

"Manager Zheng is polite, it's because we are in too much urgency." Song Henian hurriedly smiled: "In just one month, you can rush to Feicheng, which is beyond our imagination." ”

The two exchanged a few polite words, and Song Henian smiled: "Two long sheds have been built along the way for you to rest, Manager Zheng, please ——。 ”

"It's hard for Speaker Song to think so thoughtfully." Zheng Fushou said and turned around and ordered, "Everyone take a rest." ”

After walking into the long shed and sitting down and serving tea, Songhe sighed and said: "The north is known as 'Ruixue Zhaofeng Year', one is that Rui Xue has accumulated enough water for the beginning of spring, the other is that Rui Xue keeps warm for the crops in the ground, and the third is that the severe cold can kill some pests.

But last year, most of the northern areas were warm winters, not to mention snow, even the rain was very little, and after the beginning of spring, it did not rain, and the county order and the gentry went to ask for rain. ”

It is not uncommon for a big drought to ask for rain, usually when encountering a big drought, local parents, officials and gentry will hold all kinds of rain activities, whether it is in the north and south, Zheng Fushou smiled when he heard it, "I am afraid that I will not be able to ask for rain this year........ ”

"This year?" Song Henian's heart sank, "Could it be that the drought will last for another year?" ”

Zheng Fushou looked left and right, and Song Henian hurriedly waved his hand to hold back the few people around him, and this time he lowered his voice and said, "If there really will be a year of drought?" ”

"The Feicheng Demonstration Zone is dominated by the Song family, and I don't hide it from Speaker Song." Zheng Fushou lowered his voice and said: "Yuan Qi and the imperial court have joined forces to carry out infrastructure projects such as immigration, factories, water conservancy, railways, and highways with great fanfare, all in response to this rare drought in the north. ”

A rare drought? Song Henian said in astonishment: "Continuous drought? ”

Zheng Fushou said: "Chongzhen is in drought, has Speaker Song ever known?" ”

Chongzhen drought? During the period of Emperor Chongzhen of the former Ming Dynasty? Song Henian shook his head slowly, Chongzhen has been more than two hundred years away from now, and he usually doesn't study history, where will he know.

"The drought in Chongzhen lasted for seven years, and 23 provinces in the north and south were affected, and the northern provinces were the most serious." Zheng Fushou said softly: "This drought may not be inferior to the Chongzhen drought, which is why Yuan Qi and the imperial court will be so aggressive." Speaking of this, he chuckled and said: "Speaker Song has a long-term vision and extraordinary courage, and this demonstration area at a cost of 100,000 yuan falls in Feicheng, which is not only the blessing of the Song family, but also the blessing of Feicheng." ”

Songhe was shocked by these words for a long time and was speechless, and the drought lasted for seven years! If this is the case, this demonstration area that cost 100,000 yuan is really worth 10,000 yuan!

Zheng Fushou said that he was silent after saying this, he said that these words are naturally not untargeted, meaningless display, but have a clear purpose, Feicheng Demonstration Zone can not be achieved overnight, it will take at least a year, and the Song family can not be in a hurry to affect the planning and construction of the demonstration area.

As a graduate of Jinan University, he has connections and resources that are incomparable to ordinary local gentry, and when he returned to the county, he sent several telegrams one after another to inquire.

On the third day, he received a reply, Chongzhen drought, it is true, from 1637 to 1643, from North China, Northwest China to Anhui, Suzhou, the drought is heavy, unprecedented, Shanxi Fenshui, Zhanghe are exhausted, Zhili nine rivers are dry, Baiyangdian is dry, the northern provinces are exhausted, the river is dry.

After reading the telegram, Song Henian didn't know whether to be happy or worried, and after pondering for a long time, he asked people to invite Zheng Fushou, but he had to return Zheng Fushou to the river, and was arranging people to use machines to pump water from the river to fight drought.

On the banks of the Kang River, with the roar of machinery, the river water flowed out of the thick rubber pipes, and then flowed down the drinking canal to the dry fields, and the gentry and the common people who came to watch excitedly pointed and pointed.

Machine pumping is not an uncommon thing, if the deep well drilled by the machine needs a large amount of pumping water, it must be with the help of the machine, the gentry and people of Feicheng have seen the scene of the machine pumping water from the deep well, but the machine is the first time to pump water from the river, not that no one thought of this, but because the water pipe is too short, can not absorb water from the river, that is, if you want to buy rubber pipes, there is no place to buy, there is no sale at all, not to mention Jinan City, that is, there are no rubber pipes for sale in Shanghai.

Looking at the river water flowing into the aqueduct, many gentry surrounded Zheng Fushou, asking to buy rubber pipes and pumps, and some even proposed to buy them at a high price, Zheng Fushou explained with a smile: "Everyone, it's not that we don't sell, it's really out of stock, now the northern provinces have suffered a large-scale disaster, and the pumps and rubber pipes are extremely scarce, so they can only be supplied in limited quantities by various states and counties, and please forgive me." ”

Fortunately, the personnel sent a group of people away, Zheng Fushou didn't dare to stay longer, and was about to slip away, but he didn't want to be bumped into by the county commander Hong Renshou and the speaker Song Henian who came in a hurry.

After sitting down and retiring the shopkeeper and Xiao Er, Hong Renshou said straightforwardly: "Feicheng is thousands of miles away, Manager Zheng has seen it with his own eyes, and he hopes to help him vigorously to alleviate the drought." ”

Zheng Fushou smiled bitterly and said: "It's not that I don't want to help, but Yuan Qi strictly ordered that pumps and rubber pipes should not be sold privately, and all states and counties will supply them in limited quantities." ”

"Why is that?" Hong Renshou was puzzled.

"The pumping machine is efficient, but the flow of the river is getting smaller and smaller, and if it is not restricted, there will be no water to pump downstream." Zheng Fushou explained slowly: "Feicheng is not upstream, and if it is not restricted, it is very likely that the upstream prefectures and counties will drain the river. ”

Listening to this, Hong Renshou and Songhe Nian were silent, this is the truth, if there is no restriction, there will be no water to pump downstream, continue to drought, there will be no water to pump in the middle reaches, the two people who saw it were silent, Zheng Fushou continued: "The drought is very likely to continue, the river water volume will become smaller and smaller, and there is even the possibility of breaking the flow, and the irrigated fields must be controlled within a certain range, and no senseless waste can be made." ”

Songhe learned in detail about the situation of the great drought in Chongzhen, and knew that if the drought continued, the depletion of the lake and the drying up of the river would be a common phenomenon, and he immediately said with concern: "Will the deep well also dry up?" ”

After a slight sigh, Zheng Fushou said: "Theoretically, groundwater is not endless, and excessive pumping will also deplete and cause serious harm, but the groundwater reserves are huge, as long as it is not pumped uncontrollably for many years, the problem is not big." ”

Song Henian said tentatively: "The demonstration area will mainly use deep wells to pump water for irrigation? ”

Zheng Fushou nodded, "Yes, in order to ensure the irrigation water in the demonstration area, we must use deep wells to pump water, and we plan to build a large-scale water plant in Feicheng, which will not only provide domestic water for the people of Feicheng, but also ensure agricultural irrigation in the demonstration area." ”

Hearing this, Hong Renshou couldn't help but be secretly happy, it seems that this demonstration area is in Feicheng, which can bring a lot of benefits to Feicheng, which is really unexpected, but it is necessary to cooperate more with the establishment of this demonstration area.