Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 450 Iron Bull
Hedong County, Hongnong.

After Yu Jin inspected the city wall, he returned to his government office. The heavy rain that swept across Henan finally stopped.

But the rainstorm stopped, and the heart-wrenching things were still to come.

Reports came one after another from subordinate officials, and just as everyone had expected, an epidemic had occurred after the heavy rain and had spread throughout Hedong County.

Thanks to the fact that Guanzhong was well prepared and sent medical officers and food in time, and Yu Jin ordered disaster relief, the epidemic in Hedong was suppressed.

But Yu Jin knew very well that Hedong County itself was not the worst hit by the disaster. The entire county and county at all levels had made preparations, yet so many things still happened.

The Jingji area near Luoyang was the area hardest hit by the rainstorm.

The government system near Luoyang was already on the verge of collapse, and after the heavy rain, no one organized disaster relief. So how bad was the situation in Luoyang?
Hedong County is right next to Luoyang. When such a great disaster occurs in Luoyang, the people of Luoyang will certainly flee to Hedong County for safety. How will they respond then?
The diseases brought by the fleeing crowds are the most terrifying. According to medical officers, these diseases are all caused by the poisonous insects that are bred among thousands of people. They are often highly contagious and extremely pathogenic. Once they spread, it will be quite terrifying.

Yu Jin has already set up an overseas county in the eastern part of Hedong County in accordance with the instructions of the Government Affairs Hall, in order to keep the people fleeing from Luoyang out of the core area of ​​Hedong.

But so many people will not be obedient. If they have no food to eat, they will become a terrifying army of refugees.

Today, Pubanjin's garrison commander Guo Shoutao rushed to Hongnong to report to Yu Jin on the grain transportation situation.

Wang Sizheng, who originally came to Yubi City to build the city, was worried that the epidemic would spread among the laborers who built the city, so he stopped the casting work of Yubi City. Today he also returned to Hongnong City to report the situation to Yu Jin.

Guo Shoutao was a little nervous. His main task in Pubanjin was to assist the craftsmen in building a floating bridge. Originally, the project was progressing smoothly, but the heavy rains in recent days disrupted the plans.

A temporary floating bridge had been built in Pubanjin before, but as soon as the Yellow River rose, the bridge would be washed away. Su Chun, a bridge builder sent by Duke Su, came up with a solution: cast iron oxen at Pubanjin and on the opposite bank, and use the iron oxen to hold the floating bridge so it would not be washed away by the water.

According to the plan, two iron bulls were cast on both sides of the pontoon bridge, with a total of four iron bulls pulling the cables of the pontoon bridge.

All the iron smelters in Pubanjin started working together, and only one iron ox has been cast so far.

The Government Affairs Hall ordered the grain to be transported out of the country at Pubanjin. In order to transport the grain to Hedong County as quickly as possible, Guo Shoutao decided to use this iron ox to pull the floating bridge and put the temporary floating bridge into use.

No one had underestimated the severity of this rainstorm. The rising water destroyed the temporary floating bridge. Although the floating bridge had been out of use when the water rose and no casualties were caused, the bad thing was that the Iron Ox was washed into the Yellow River!
In order to cast this iron ox, the people of Pubanjin worked day and night and even donated their kitchen utensils to the government. Now one of the bulls is lost before it is even built. How can Guo Shoutao report to Yu Jin and the local people?

After the rainstorm subsided, Guo Shoutao ordered the soldiers who were good at swimming to dive to the bottom of the river to search for the lost iron ox.

The good news is that the iron ox was so heavy that it sank to the bottom of the Yellow River after being swept into it. It was not carried downstream by the flood and remained on the riverbed not far from the river bank.

The bad news was that the iron ox was too heavy. Guo Shoutao organized people to pull the iron ox out from the bottom of the river, but they still couldn't pull it up.

Guo Shoutao had no other choice but to report the matter to Yu Jin today and ask him to help find a way to drag Tie Niu up.

Wang Sizheng, who was standing by, suddenly said after listening to Guo Shoutao's story about his troubles:

"Governor Yu, General Guo, I have a good friend who may have a solution."

"Friends?"

Wang Sizheng said truthfully:

"When I was in Luoyang and had not yet entered the government, I once made friends with Zhen Luan, a descendant of the Zhen family in Zhongshan. This Zhen Lang was good at extraordinary skills and had clever ideas in his mind. He could solve many problems that others could not solve."

Guo Shoutao immediately asked anxiously:

"I wonder where this Zhen Lang is now?"

Wang Sizheng smiled and said:

"It was in Hongnong City, before the rainstorm in Luoyang, that Zhen Lang observed the sky at night and discovered that a disaster was coming. He resigned from his position as the Imperial Astronomical Office in the Luoyang court and fled to Hongnong City."

"Zhen Lang came to visit me yesterday and is now at my house."

Guo Shoutao immediately said, "Please ask Wang Lang to quickly invite this Zhen Lang here to help me with this urgent matter!"

Yu Jin was also a little curious, because it was Wang Sizheng who brought him to Hedong County, and he knew the talent of this young man.

Anyone who could be praised by Wang Sizheng must be extraordinary. He also wanted to hear what good ideas this Zhen Lang had.

Wang Sizheng called his servant and asked him to call Zhen Luan from his own mansion to the governor's mansion.

Zhen Luan received the message from the servant and came to Yu Jin's governor's mansion trembling with fear.

He fled to Hongnong City before the heavy rain, and heard that his old friend Wang Sizheng was in Hedong County, so he hurried to visit him.

He was lucky. When Zhen Luan came to visit, Wang Sizheng had just returned to Hongnong City to report on his work. The two had a very pleasant conversation. Wang Sizheng asked Zhen Luan to stay overnight at his house and recommended him to study in Chongwen Pavilion.

Although Zhen Luan had Yuan Yu's recommendation, Wang Sizheng had been a teacher in Chongwen Pavilion, so it was safer. Zhen Luan thanked Wang Sizheng profusely and was about to go to Yongle City after Wang Sizheng finished his report, but was suddenly called to the governor's mansion. Zhen Luan knew the governor, who was an important official under Su Jungong. He had known Su Jungong when he followed Li Chong to the north to fight against Rouran, and he was also Li Chong's grandson-in-law.

Zhen Luan was a little nervous to meet such an important official. She was led to the Mingtang by her personal attendants. After seeing Wang Sizheng, Zhen Luan was pulled to salute Yu Jin and Guo Shoutao.

Then Wang Sizheng told Zhen Luan about the problem Guo Shoutao encountered and asked:

"Zhen Luan, you are always ingenious, do you have any way to salvage this iron bull?"

Zhen Luan thought about it briefly, and then asked Guo Shoutao:
"Excuse me, General Guo, how heavy is this iron bull?"

Guo Shoutao reported the weight of the iron ox, and Zhen Luan said to Yu Jin, "Excuse me, Governor, do you have any paper and pen? Counting sticks will also do."

Yu Jin was a little confused. He didn't know why paper, pen and counting sticks were needed to salvage the iron ox, but he still asked someone to provide these two things.

Zhen Luan wrote and drew on the paper, and finally said:
"I have an idea."

Guo Shoutao immediately asked:
"any solution?"

Zhen Luan said:

"General Guo, please prepare two boats and load them with this much earth and rocks."

“Drive the boat to the place where the iron bull sank, send someone who is good at swimming to dive under the water and tie a rope to the iron bull.”

"Then order the boatman to throw the dirt and rocks on the boat into the river. Once all the dirt and rocks on the boat are thrown away, the iron ox should be able to be pulled out from the bottom of the river."

"If we tighten the rope now, we can drag the iron bull ashore."

What's the solution?
The three people present did not understand the principle behind it, but this method sounded simple and feasible.

Wang Sizheng said:

"Can Zhen Luan accompany General Guo to Pubanjin and give on-site instructions on how to salvage the iron ox? If we can salvage the iron ox, it will be a great achievement."

Zhen Luan nodded and said:
"I am a commoner. Since General Guo wants me, I will accompany him. After we salvage the iron ox, I will enter Guanzhong from Pubanjin."

Guo Shoutao was overjoyed. After reporting the progress of the grain and medicine transportation to Yu Jin, he hurriedly took Zhen Luan back to Pubanjin.

After Guo Shoutao left, Yu Jin started talking about business with Wang Sizheng.

"Luoyang has suffered a great disaster and epidemic. It is impossible for Erzhu Rong to attack before the epidemic subsides. God has given the Luoyang pseudo-court time again."

Wang Sizheng also nodded. With the epidemic rampant, Erzhu Rong did not dare to march rashly. Throughout history, countless famous generals had been killed by the four light words "epidemic in the army". The army is a place where people gather, and every major epidemic means the death of a large number of soldiers.

For example, in Cao Cao's Battle of Chibi, although the allied forces of Sun and Liu used a fire attack to burn Cao Cao's fleet, the severe epidemic in the army before the fire attack was the reason why Cao Cao hurriedly marched south despite the fact that his soldiers had not yet completed their training.

Erzhu Rong was well versed in military tactics, so it was naturally impossible for him to advance hastily at this time.

Wang Sizheng said:

“It also gives us more time.”

Yu Jin nodded. To some extent, he was grateful for the flood, which also gave Hedong County, the future frontier, time to build fortifications.

Hedong County is the passage out of the country, and it must be controlled at all costs. This is why Su Ze sent Yu Jin to Hedong County.

"That monkey Hou Jing has already conquered Shu, and the Duke of Jun has also recovered Dingzhou. Si Zheng, what do you think of the current situation in the world?"

Wang Sizheng thought for a while and said:
"We have conquered Shu, but the people are not loyal to us. General Hou Jing has to stay in Shu to stop the counterattack of Southern Liang. He can't help much for the time being. He even needs the support of Liangzhou officials and soldiers."

Yu Jin nodded. Since the division of Shu into the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it has always been controlled by the southern government.

Moreover, many people were still dissatisfied with Hou Jing's surprise attack and conquest of Shu. Not to mention those far away, Wang Sengbian in Baidi City was a huge threat.

The chaos of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties lasted too long. If we want to win the hearts of the people, we will have to work hard for a few years.

Wang Sizheng added:
"The people of the north are in the hands of the county lord. Youzhou and Dingzhou are easy to deal with. As long as the county lord is in the north, the two states will soon regain their hearts. But the two states are in ruins and need half a year to recuperate."

Yu Jin stood up and said:
"That is to say, if Erzhu Rong wants to contain Guanzhong, after dealing with Luoyang, he will definitely face our Hedong County."

Wang Sizheng said with a worried look on his face: "That's right. I just hope Luoyang can hold Erzhu Rong back for a little longer."

(End of this chapter)