The first time in history

"I'm worried that you'll be lonely without anyone to accompany you." Li Shishi twisted her body, "My little sweetheart, how can I live without you these past few months?"

"I see," Qian Mingduo muttered, "You want Ling'er to replace you and Xiao Cui, right?"

"Yes." Li Shishi kept moaning loudly, "That's good. The three women in the backyard are all your women."

"No matter how many women I have, you will always be the one I love most in my heart."

"My little rascal!..." Li Shishi grabbed Qian Mingduo's hair tightly, "You are my sweetheart."

Qian Mingduo did not go to Ling'er's room. He just asked Ling'er to move his bedding to the east wing.

Zhao Yong, the prefect of Lin'an, ordered Qian Mingduo to go to Zhuji County to handle a case. There, villagers from two villages had a fight over the canal for irrigating rice fields. Although no one was injured, Zhao Yong was worried that the large-scale fight would cause a bigger incident. Therefore, he sent Qian Mingduo to investigate and mediate.

Qian Mingduo set out early in the morning, bringing with him a dozen yamen runners. He arrived at Zhuji County Yamen in the evening of the next day. Zhuji County Magistrate Zhou Tianqiang quickly hosted a banquet for Qian Mingduo, during which Zhou Tianqiang explained to Qian Mingduo in detail what had happened.

Fifteen miles south of Zhuji County, there are two neighboring villages, one called Nanshan Village and the other called Beishan Village. An irrigation canal runs along the two villages, irrigating the rice fields of the two villages.

It has been peaceful, but this year there is a lack of rain. In previous years, the irrigation canal was full of water, and the water flowed from north to south. After irrigation, Beishan Village would block the irrigation canal that flows to the village, so that the water would flow quickly to Nanshan Village.

As there was not much rain this year, the water in the irrigation canal was less than 30% of that in previous years. Therefore, Beishan Village kept opening the gates to release water, originally planning to seal the irrigation canal after the rice fields in the village were irrigated.

However, because the water in the irrigation canal was too little, not even enough for the village, the head of the village ordered that the irrigation canal should not be blocked until the village was irrigated.

The villagers of Nanshannan Village were getting impatient. Their rice fields were in urgent need of water, but Beishan Village did not seal the canal to divert water. Seeing that the rice seedlings in the rice fields were about to die of drought, they went to Nanshan Village under the leadership of the village head.

Next, people from the two villages had a disagreement, so the young and strong villagers from the two villages met at the border between the two villages and started fighting.

Qian Mingduo rushed to Beishan Village early the next morning. He did not disturb the villagers, but went directly to the irrigation canal and saw that the water at the bottom of the canal was only one finger deep.

It would take at least ten days to irrigate all the rice fields in Beishan Village. Qian Mingduo rode his horse to the foot of Wangshan Mountain.

There is an official road in front of the mountain, and the villages on the north and south are Nanshan Village and Beishan Village. Qian Mingduo asked several villagers and learned that there is a spring on the mountain, but it is on the west side of the mountain. The mountain is not high, and Qian Mingduo climbed to the top of the mountain soon.

Under a cliff, a mountain spring flowed out slowly and had gathered into a small pool of about ten feet in size.

Qian Mingduo observed the terrain carefully and concluded that if the water could be diverted to the foot of the mountain, the irrigation problem could be immediately alleviated.

Qian Mingduo immediately went down the mountain and ordered his men to return to the county town to report to the county magistrate, asking him to arrange corvée labor and buy some thick bamboo.

The situation was urgent, so Zhou Tianqiang immediately arranged 100 people for corvée labor. According to Qian Ming's instructions, he also purchased 100 thick bamboos. On the morning of the second day, he began to dig canals to divert water. Wherever there were ditches and beams, thick bamboos were used to connect the ditches.

Since the mountain of Wangshan is mostly made of clay, a canal was quickly built.