Since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, it has been plagued by the flooding of the Yellow River, and in addition to the establishment of a central department such as the Metropolitan Water Supervision Department, the imperial court also set up a river patrol department in each prefecture and county along the river, which is responsible for patrolling and repairing the river embankment on weekdays.

The Yellow River has burst its banks several times in the Puyang area, and it is precisely because of the open river surface, gentle water flow, and large sediment deposits here that the riverbed rises rapidly.

In the past few days, heavy rain has caused the water level of the Yellow River to rise sharply, and at the same time, the sediment brought by the rain is several times that of usual.

As the water level continues to rise, the bearing capacity of the embankments on both sides of the river has also reached the limit, and the personnel of the river patrol departments of various states and counties have patrolled the embankments day and night to take precautions, but the crisis still appeared; Yesterday, when Huang Yao of the Weinan County River Patrol Division inspected the river embankment in the Lingping area, he found that the river embankment more than half a mile long had water seepage, and he couldn't help but be shocked; The Yellow River here is like a heavenly river hanging above people's heads, although there are only some small leaks, but as the saying goes, the embankment of a thousand miles collapses in the mole hole, and this leakage is not reinforced in time, and then the embankment will collapse.

Once the levee bursts, the nearby prefectures and counties will be reduced to an ocean, and countless people will die in the flood.

On the one hand, Huang Yao sent people to report urgently to Beijing, and on the other hand, he organized Zhuangding in Weinan County overnight to urgently go up the embankment to strengthen the river defense; In the inky night, the torches on the river embankment were lit, and they were soon extinguished by the heavy rain, and Huang Yao had to order to erect an oilcloth shed, or someone holding an umbrella to block the rain, which made the torches burn.

In the dark rainy night, there are anxious shouts, curses of complaints, the sound of Jiang Tao's lapping on the shore, and the neighing of donkeys and horses make Lingpingsi noisy.

The heavy rain kept falling, and the ground was trampled into mud, and Ding Zhuang carried sandbags and slipped in the mud from time to time, and quickly got up and rushed to the embankment, so tired that he staggered, and he was still gritting his teeth and persevering.

Even some old and weak women and children in the vicinity came, and those who could carry sandbags carried sandbags, and those who could not carry sandbags helped to light the way with torches; Their home is not far from the river, where once the Yellow River bursts, their family will bear the brunt, and then it must be empty of people and money, and to keep the river embankment is to save their lives, so they don't need to be forced by officials, they take the initiative to come.

In a corner of Weinan, the manpower and materials that can be organized are limited after all, coupled with the night rain, the river is surging, and the leakage is not only not blocked, but the leakage is getting bigger and bigger; Yu Cheng, the magistrate of Weinan County, as well as the county magistrate, the lord Bo, and the county lieutenant all rushed to the river embankment, and the official uniforms on their bodies were already wet, covered in mud, and if you didn't look carefully, you couldn't tell that it was an official uniform.

County Cheng Hongbin wiped the muddy water on his face, and said anxiously: "Lord Yu, I don't think it can be delayed any longer, please Lord Yu order the whole county to evacuate, and let the people quickly hide in a high place first, just in case." ”

Yu Chengyou, the magistrate of the county, looked around, it was difficult to make such a decision for a while, evacuation is just two words, but it is really difficult to do, not to mention it for the time being, this order, these people who are strengthening the river embankment are afraid to disperse in a hurry, after all, everyone has a home, who doesn't want their family to leave safely?

This is tantamount to abandoning the embankment.

Huang Yao of the River Patrol Division also ran over and said, "Lord Yu, you can't delay it any longer, order the evacuation, otherwise if the river embankment really can't be saved, it will be a disaster for thousands of lives!" ”

Yu Chengyi gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, according to what you said, you go back with the officials to evacuate the people, you must ensure that all the people are evacuated to a safe place, this official is Wei Nan's parent official, just stay here and live and die with the embankment, Lord Hong, Lord Li, you go quickly, try not to let these Ding Zhuang on the embankment know about the evacuation, until the last moment, the embankment cannot give up." ”

County Cheng Hongbin hurriedly said: "Lord Yu, you are the lord of a county, the evacuation should be up to you, the lower official stays on the embankment, Lord Yu rest assured, the lower official promises not to give up until the last moment." ”

"Lord Hong, just because this official is the chief official of a county, the berm is responsible, and he must not leave, so you don't have to fight anymore, the embankment is tight to evacuate the people, go quickly." Yu Cheng's tone was extremely firm and unquestionable.

Hong Bin and the others knew his character, and it was useless to fight, so they took a deep look at him and beckoned the officials to quickly carry out the order.

In order to encourage Ding Zhuang's courage to expand the embankment, Yu Cheng personally joined the ranks of carrying sandbags, he was a civil official, he couldn't carry much, one or twenty pounds of sandbags on his shoulders, he fell down from time to time, like a clay man; But it doesn't matter if you carry less, the key is that his behavior of leading by example is more effective than any amount of rhetoric.

The people watched their parents, like ordinary people, fighting to protect the berm in the muddy water, falling down again and again, and getting up again and again...... What he carried on his shoulders was no longer a sandbag of less than twenty pounds, but a responsibility heavier than Mount Tai, and this responsibility was the home behind them.

Many people couldn't help but shed tears and went up to help, but Yu Cheng scolded them one after another, telling them not to worry about themselves and to have the strength to carry more sandbags up the embankment.

The night rain was pouring down, tears were flying, looking at the stumbling figure of Yu Cheng in Zhixian County, the people no longer shouted bitterness, no longer shouted tiredness, one by one gritted their teeth, ran to the river embankment with sandbags on their backs, fell down, was so tired that they couldn't get up, even if they were crawling in the muddy water, they had to climb to the river embankment.

Thousands of people shouted trumpets, encouraged each other, and supported each other, one sandbag was washed away by the river, and more sandbags were immediately filled, and as the river continued to rise, the waves came one after another, and the embankment was precarious, but it never collapsed.

At dawn, looking from the embankment, the mighty Yellow River was surging, and the thousands of people on the embankment seemed so small, like a group of ants standing on the edge of the Tianhe River.

However, it is such a group of ants, putting aside their lives and constantly fighting against God, as if they never know how to compromise.

The rain finally lightened, but the river did not decrease because of this, Yu Cheng, who was so tired that he couldn't stand up, simply sat in the muddy water, and asked from time to time if the imperial court had anyone to come to support.

But he asked once and was disappointed once, although Lingpingxi was not far from Tokyo, the messenger entered Beijing to report, and the imperial court had to mobilize manpower and materials.

Although Yu Cheng was a little disappointed, he still persevered and looked forward to it.

The hour passed, the noon passed, and the people were indeed too tired to move!

"Oh no! Oh no! The levee has burst! Suddenly, a panicked scream rang out.

People followed the prestige one after another, only to see a hundred steps upstream, a crack several feet large, and the river water gushed out from the crack, like a flowing spring and a waterfall.

The surrounding people are about to jump, and everyone knows that once such an opening is opened, it will not be long before the entire river embankment will collapse, and the surging flood will pour out like a heavenly river.

Yu Cheng's face changed greatly, but he didn't run away, but shouted and rushed to the crack: "Hurry up, hurry up!" Hurry up and bring sandbags and plug the cracks, hurry! ”

Yu Cheng shouted hysterically, and he took the lead in running towards the crack with a small sandbag, and when the people saw this scene, they all stopped their steps and fled, yes, the county magistrate is still there! The magistrate is still there!

Thinking that Yu Cheng, the magistrate of the county, had been fighting with them all night, and at the moment when the river embankment was about to burst, he was the first to rush up, and the people did not hesitate, where could they flee now? If you want to die, let's die with the magistrate, this may also be an honor.

One by one, the strong men suddenly aroused all their life potential, and they ran towards the crack with sandbags, and the sandbags were thrown into the crack, and they were immediately rushed away by the rapids, but they were still desperately throwing them in.

At this critical moment, the upper reaches of the Yellow River suddenly appeared with a shadow of sails, and boats went down the river, covering the entire river.

The people on the shore looked at each other in astonishment, and then burst into loud cheers; On the boat in front, the water supervisor lifted Shen Qingzhi and kept urging the boatman, hurry up! Faster!

Yu Cheng waved the big sleeves full of muddy water on the shore, Shen Qingzhi couldn't tell whether he was an official or a citizen at all, but the crack on the shore made him understand that this was a moment of life and death.

Shen Qingzhi commanded the boat to quickly approach the breach, and the ship was filled with large bamboo cages, and the bamboo cages were full of sandbags. As soon as the ship approached the breach, it was pushed to the breach by the strong current.

"Hurry, hurry! Push the bamboo cage down and plug the crack, hurry! Seeing that the rift was constantly widening and collapsing at any time, Shen Qingzhi shouted urgently; The boatmen worked together to push the bamboo cage full of sandbags into the water, and a string of waves splashed, and when the boat was finished, the empty boat was immediately dragged away with ropes, and the second boat came to block it.

The rift is finally plugged!

Many people on the shore couldn't help but sit in the mud and cry, not knowing whether it was sadness or joy, one by one crying hoarsely, even Yu Cheng couldn't suppress the tears in his eyes, and it was difficult to suppress the feeling of escaping death.

Shen Qing couldn't comfort them, the embankment in this area still needed to be reinforced. In addition to the boats on the river, 50,000 river workers who built embankments upstream also rushed to launch a vigorous action to strengthen the embankment.

After a night of hard work, the county Cheng Hongbin and others evacuated most of the people in Weinan County to a high place, they were eager to save people, but unexpectedly this move caused a huge panic.

When the downgrading prefectures and counties learned about it, they also evacuated the people one after another, and all kinds of rumors spread like a plague in all directions.

Some are more reliable to say that the Yellow River has burst its embankment in Lingpingsi, and the flood will come soon, and it is outrageous that it is even said that the Yellow River has burst its embankment in Kaifeng, covering the capital.

The spread of this rumor is simply uncontrollable, and it spreads so well that under the huge panic, even local officials, let alone ordinary people, cannot distinguish the truth from the fake for a while.

The Yellow River has frequently burst its embankment in recent years, and every time it bursts its embankment, it will bring great disasters, and the people along the river have lingering palpitations about the tragic scene of floating corpses all over the field, and there is no need for the government to evacuate, and countless people will spontaneously drag their families and begin to flee, and the states and counties along the Yellow River are in chaos, and there are people fleeing everywhere, and everywhere is like a scene of the end of the world.

Downstream, below Guyang County, more than 200,000 party captives were digging rivers and building embankments here, and rumors of the Yellow River bursting reached here.

(To be continued)