Forced to marry, I picked up a young powerful official

After all, the predictions of some Taoists and monks and a few not-so-serious evidences alone might not necessarily attract the attention of the court. If the court rejected their advice, then all efforts would be in vain.

Speaking of this, a look of worry appeared on Zhang Tongzhi's face.

"Alas... Now is not a good time. His Majesty is still ill and cannot attend court. The regent is the eldest prince. If we cannot attract his attention, I am afraid..."

He didn't say anything more, but both of them knew what it would mean if things failed.

Gu Yichuan sighed softly, and then said: "Uncle Zhang, you have been busy these days, so go back and rest early."

......

In early April, the imperial edict came down.

Not only did the court agree to the request to dig a flood discharge channel, but what was gratifying was that it also ordered the dispatch of 50,000 garrison troops in the south of the Yangtze River to participate in the digging of the channel. At the same time, it required the local governments involved in the digging of the channel to levy labor service based on the number of people in each household.

In this way, the voluntary participation of the people was transformed into collective labor, and with the participation of tens of thousands of garrison troops, the efficiency was greatly improved.

Even Shen Nankui couldn't help but sigh that things were going so surprisingly smoothly.

If the scale and progress were kept at this level, and tens of thousands of people worked together to dig the river channel, I think they could really get everything ready before the flood comes.

Things were moving in the right direction. After being busy for many days, Shen Nankui and Gu Yichuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the evening, the two were in a good mood, so they asked the kitchen to prepare some wine and food and prepared to relax for a while.

Shen Nankui smiled and said, "I really didn't expect that the court would be so concerned about the affairs of Jiangnan. Now I feel relieved and don't have to rush to purchase food and medicinal materials."

In order to resist the impending disaster, she made preparations for both scenarios. On the one hand, she took active precautions in order to prevent or mitigate the disaster. On the other hand, she ordered her caravans to stockpile large amounts of food and medicinal materials from other places so that she would be able to deal with it when the disaster really came.

Gu Yichuan smiled, and his expression became a little more relaxed.

"Thank you for your hard work these days, my lady."

The food and wine came, and the two chatted while eating.

Gu Yichuan suddenly said, "By the way, Nankui, there is one thing I haven't had time to tell you yet."

Shen Nankui asked: "What's the matter?"

Gu Yichuan said: "Digging a river channel is not an easy task. It requires a lot of manpower and material resources. For this reason, the court specially sent an imperial envoy to preside over flood prevention matters."

Shen Nankui was drinking soup. Hearing this, he raised his eyelids and asked, "Oh, who is it?"

Gu Yichuan said: "Marquis Jianning."

Shen Nankui paused with the spoon in his hand and frowned, "Why is it him?"

His Majesty has retired in the capital due to illness, and several princes are fighting each other in the court. Marquis Jianning is a person trusted by His Majesty. At this stage, he is in charge of the defense of the capital. How could His Majesty let him leave?

She asked, "Who issued this decree, the eldest prince?"

Gu Yichuan shook his head. "No, the position of the commander of the capital guards of Marquis Jianning was appointed by His Majesty. The princes had no right to transfer him. I even heard that the eldest prince did not approve of the large-scale excavation of the river at first. He believed that the Biliu River had been stable for so many years and would not burst its banks all of a sudden. He thought that the officials and people in Jiangnan were making a fuss about nothing. He originally wanted to reject these petitions and only ordered the Ministry of Works to send people to build more dams."

Shen Nankui put down the bowl and asked, "Why did it become like this?"

Gu Yichuan said: "I heard that it was the Marquis of Jianning who made a direct suggestion to His Majesty, so His Majesty bypassed several princes and issued an edict while he was ill."

"Just give me your advice directly..." Shen Nankui looked thoughtful.

Seeing that she looked different, Gu Yichuan couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, Nankui?"

Shen Nankui came back to his senses, shook his head and smiled, saying: "Nothing, I just think that Marquis Jianning really helped us a lot."

Gu Yichuan poured her another glass of wine and nodded with a smile, "That's right, thanks to his understanding of justice."

Shen Nankui was no longer in the mood to drink. He rubbed his temple and said, "Maybe I'm tired these days. I feel a little drunk."

Gu Yichuan looked concerned, "Then I'll help you go to bed and rest for a while."

Seeing that Shen Nankui had fallen asleep, he no longer felt like drinking and simply went to the study to deal with official documents.

Shen Nankui lay on the bed, feeling dizzy but unable to fall asleep, so he closed his eyes and thought about what had just happened.

Marquis Jianning is your Majesty's confidant. Even if your Majesty attaches great importance to the disaster in Jiangnan, he may not send him to Jiangnan at this critical juncture. After all, compared with the current situation in the capital, a disaster that has not yet occurred is nothing.

If it was not Your Majesty who sent him, then he must have petitioned on his own.

Marquis Jianning gave up his omnipotent power in the capital and ran to Jiangnan to lead the disaster relief. If he was not stupid, then it must be because the benefits of coming to Jiangnan to fight the disaster would be greater than staying in the capital.

Shen Nankui smiled silently.

It is not difficult to guess that someone must have told him something.

And this person is Shen Pingwan.

Both of them were reborn. The floods and plagues that occurred in Jiangnan in the previous life shook the entire Tiansheng. What she knew, Shen Pingwan must have heard about as well.

She was able to persuade Marquis Jianning to come to Jiangnan, which seemed to indicate that she had gained the trust of the Marquis compared to a year ago.

Shen Nankui sighed softly in his heart. No matter what Shen Pingwan's purpose was, she had done the right thing after all.

After lying there for a while, she felt sleepy and fell asleep.

......

The days passed one by one, more than a month flew by, and in the blink of an eye it was mid-May.

The excavation of the river channel is also coming to an end. It will be completed within half a month, that is, before June. Therefore, considering this point, the local government did not arrange for the evacuation of the people along the river in advance.

But no one expected that the Biliu River would burst its banks before the flood.

That night, Shen Nankui was awakened from her sleep by a noise outside the door. It was Feng Ze who had something to report to Gu Yichuang.

Gu Yichuan went away for a while and came back in a hurry.

Under the warm yellow candlelight, his face looked very ugly, "The Biliu River has burst its banks..."

When Shen Nankui heard this, he sat up and said incoherently, "How could it be!"

"Although it is the rainy season now, the water level of the Biliu River is still within the controllable range. How could it suddenly burst the dam? Moreover, it is May now..."

The flood occurred in June in the previous life, so how come it happened earlier in this life?

Gu Yichuan shook his head. "Rather than saying it was a dam breach, it's better to say that a gap in the previously built dam collapsed. It's the rainy season now, and the river is surging. If the gap is not blocked in time, it will cause a breach."

Shen Nankui was shocked.

In the previous life, the Biliu River burst its banks not because of the collapse of the dam. But there was a change in this life. Could it be related to her human intervention?