Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

Being welcomed off the boat by his companions, Chu Shiyu felt that the three backpacks he hadn't seen for a few days were even more annoying! It would be fine if he had one, but he didn't have one!

He still remembered that the one on Caiyun was originally Liu Rusi's, and the one on Liu Rusi was Qin Lie's...

"Why don't we leave our bags in the inn first and then go out for a walk?" Chu Shiyu suggested sincerely. There are many inns in big cities that are specially designed to receive high-ranking officials and dignitaries. There is generally no need to worry about security. At least there will be no thieves who steal valuables.

Liu Rusi thought about it. She had come to trust Chu Shiyu a little after getting along with him for so long. At least under the protection of the guards, it would be difficult for him to get lost... But the backpack was not very heavy, so she felt more at ease carrying it. She smiled and said, "Just carry it, so we don't have to make another trip."

Coming out of Guandu is the north gate of Fubin City. When you walk to the north gate, you can see many river fish vendors. This is not much different from the previous riverside city. Living by the mountains and the water is the way of survival for the people.

However, Xiao Qinhao noticed that there were many sacks stacked beside the city gate, and he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Uncle Shi Yu, what are those sacks for?"

Liu Rusi, who was holding his hand, couldn't help but feel sad. Her son now asked Chu Shiyu about his questions instead of her, although Chu Shiyu was indeed more knowledgeable...

"Those are sandbags used for flood prevention. Summer is the season when floods are most frequent." Chu Shiyu naturally knew this, as he had also presided over disaster relief after a flood before.

After hearing this, Xiao Qinhao suddenly had an idea. He suddenly widened his eyes and said seriously, "Uncle, do you still remember the note from Baitian Temple?"

Chu Shiyu was also lost in thought after he mentioned this. 'He took this road to avoid disasters, but the river flow could not be stopped and eventually flowed into the sea.' The disaster to be avoided might refer to the flood? After they traveled on land for a few days, they still had to travel by water again. This disaster must be prevented.

"Qin Hao's worries are justified. I will go and ask the prefect of Fubin City and try my best to eliminate the worries." Chu Shiyu has never been a person who sits and waits for death.

Liu Rusi nodded. Flood prevention was of course a very important matter, so she said, "Then you go and do your work. We will separate first..."

"Let's go together!" Chu Shiyu interrupted quickly. He didn't want to be 'separated'. If he wasn't really reluctant to leave her, why would he insist on taking her with him? Besides, it seemed to be getting worse recently...

The administrative divisions of the Great Xia Dynasty were roughly divided into four levels: province, prefecture, state, and county. They were now in Fubin Prefecture, which governed three states and several counties. Fubin City was the capital of this prefecture.

The prefect of Fubin was named Li Yongren, who was 55 years old at the time. He was an official who had been promoted from a local county magistrate. He had no great achievements, but he had not made any mistakes either. If one had to make an evaluation of him, then he was just average.

Prince Duan had already sent people along the way to make advance instructions, so there was no need for a reception or entertainment. Li Yongren was quite happy about this, as he thought that seeing these princes and nobles might give him a chance to win their favor and rise to a high position, but he also might get into trouble and lose his life if he made a mistake!

When he heard that Prince Duan had summoned him to discuss matters, Li Yongren immediately felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy. It was not like he had never seen a prince before. The fief of Prince Gui, the brother of the current emperor, was not far from Fubin Mansion. But Prince Gui had never been close to that position in the last round, and the Prince Duan who was going to see him now was an outstanding figure in this round!

Even if we don't talk about the distant past, now that Prince Duan is in power, it would be easy for him to punish a small fourth-rank prefect! I'm afraid he would be executed first and reported later, and the emperor wouldn't say a single harsh word!

But after being anxious for a while, Li Yongren felt relieved again. He heard that the young county magistrate of Jinyan City was involved in the serious crime of assassinating Prince Duan. The young county magistrate was not executed directly, but his family was escorted back to Beijing for investigation. He passed by here not long ago!

Even if Li Yongren made another mistake, it wouldn't reach that point. It's better to be careful. If you are careful, nothing should happen... Li Yongren made sufficient mental preparations and also made all kinds of etiquette preparations, and then hurried to the inn where Prince Duan was.

When they arrived at the inn, a servant led Li Yongren directly to the conference room and told his servants to wait for his instructions outside the conference room with gifts. Li Yongren straightened his robe, and seeing that everything was ready, he smiled and signaled to Prince Duan's servant to pass the message.

"Mr. Li Yongren, the governor of Fubin, is here to pay his respects!"

As soon as the message was passed, Li Yongren counted to three and entered the hall at the right time. The highest courtesy for a fourth-rank official when meeting a prince was to kneel down, and Li Yongren knelt down in the hall without hesitation and bowed with an exaggerated voice.

"Your humble servant Li Yongren pays respect to Prince Duan!"

Chu Shiyu was used to it. He sat on the main seat and raised his hand casually and said, "Master Li, please get up. I want to ask you something."

"Thank you, Your Highness! I am honored to be able to help You!" Li Yongren stood up after he finished speaking.

After getting up, he discovered that in addition to several subordinates and guards of Prince Duan, there were two women and a child sitting on one side. Although he was confused, he only glanced at them briefly, for fear of bumping into the people around Prince Duan.

"How many years have you been the prefect of Fubin?" Chu Shiyu planned to understand the past situation first.

"I came to Fubin to take office in October of the eighth year of Yongjia, more than eleven years ago." Li Yongren only looked at Prince Duan's boots and acted as humble as possible.

“Has there been any flooding during this period?”

Li Yongren was a little nervous, wondering if they were here to hold him accountable. He said apprehensively, "It happened twice. One time nine years ago and one time two years ago."

"Well, how did you fight floods during that period? Does Fubin have any methods to prevent floods in advance?" Chu Shiyu asked further.

Li Yongren was really nervous now. After both floods occurred, he sent some city guards to assist the victims. Because the disasters were not serious, he did not ask the court to provide disaster relief. He only submitted a memorial requesting the exemption of taxes for the victims.

Chu Shiyu knew he was unsure when he saw him hesitate, but he was not here to make achievements, so he said calmly: "Don't worry, just tell me what you have to say, does Fubin have any water conservancy facilities?"

Since Prince Duan said so, Li Yongren had no choice but to answer. He was not completely ignorant. At least he knew that there were two flood storage reservoirs connected to the river in the Fubin Prefecture, and he also remembered the low-lying areas that were easily affected by disasters.

"Well, there has been a lot of rain in recent days, so we should make plans early. You should first send people to various places downstream to notify them to prepare for flood discharge, and then open the gates of the two reservoirs in two days." Chu Shiyu gave the order after a little thought. There is a lot of rain in the summer, and there will be no shortage of water near the river. There are only benefits and no harm in discharging the reservoir in advance.

"This... this is not appropriate. What if the flood discharge causes damage to the downstream areas..." Li Yongren raised the objection tremblingly. It was not that he was not afraid of Prince Duan, but he would also be held responsible if anything went wrong during the flood discharge!

Chu Shiyu narrowed his eyes and stared at Li Yongren, and asked coldly: "Do you know when these two reservoirs were built? What are their functions?"

Li Yongren's forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he stammered in his answer: "One seems to have existed in the previous dynasty, and the other was built in the early years of our dynasty... The reservoir is usually divided into channels for irrigation, and water is stored and diverted during floods..."

"That's it. The Yangtze River suffers from floods of varying sizes all year round. You have never done any water storage and diversion upstream. Can the disasters downstream be blamed on you to some extent?" Chu Shiyu's tone and eyes became increasingly cold.

Li Yongren fell to his knees with a plop and shouted, "I am terrified. This flood downstream has nothing to do with me!"

Chu Shiyu didn't care whether he knelt or not. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Okay, write a memorial later and say that Prince Duan was worried about the flood when he came here, and ordered you to open the gate to release the water. After this report, if there is any damage downstream due to the flood discharge, it has nothing to do with you."

"When the memorial is submitted, I will send people to notify all places downstream to prepare. You don't need to intervene except to recruit people to open the gates. I will stay in this city for a few more days and leave after the gates are opened."

"I am incompetent! I can only follow the prince's teachings!" Li Yongren agreed immediately. As long as the responsibility was not on him, he would support Prince Duan in his rebellion!

Li Yongren was still kneeling on the ground, and then he shouted loudly: "Prince Duan is wise and brave. I admire you very much. I sincerely hope that the prince will live a thousand years!"

Chu Shiyu watched him singing exaggeratedly with cold eyes, and then saw a servant coming in from outside the hall, holding a tray in his hand, bending forward, walking to the side and behind Li Yongren, then kneeling down, and then holding the tray high with both hands.

"I heard that the prince likes famous paintings and calligraphy the most. It happens that I have a calligraphy by a master of the previous dynasty. I am ignorant and cannot tell whether it is real or fake, so I present it to the prince for identification!" Li Yongren said this very fluently.

Chu Shiyu looked calm and raised his head slightly. The guard beside him took the tray and handed it to him. He reached out and picked up the scroll on the tray, and he saw a silver note underneath.

Unhurriedly opening the scroll and taking a quick look at it, Chu Shiyu nodded and signaled his servant to put it away. Then he picked up the banknote, glanced at it and said, "One thousand taels of silver. Sun Zhizhao, please make a note of it."

Li Yongren was stunned for a moment. How could someone accept a gift so blatantly? But he was relieved immediately. Everyone here was Prince Duan's people, and with the status of a prince, he probably didn't need to hide the gift. He immediately said loudly, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for appreciating my calligraphy!"

"Hurry up and write the memorial and hand it over. I have other things to do and will not keep you here." Chu Shiyu ordered him to leave.

"Then I will not disturb Your Highness any more. I will take my leave." Li Yongren was eager to leave immediately. He knelt down and kowtowed again. Feeling that he had passed the test, he left with peace of mind.

The hall was silent for a few seconds, and Chu Shiyu turned around and said, "Sun Zhizhao, send someone to inform the downstream area to hurry up and not to delay. The sluice gates will be opened within ten days."

After saying that, Chu Shiyu stood up and went to Liu Rusi, unable to hide his smile and said, "It just so happens that we can play here for a few days."

Liu Rusi didn't know what expression to make. If he hadn't just arranged something important that benefited the country and the people, she would have thought that the person in front of her was an idle and dissolute prince.

Since he had a relatively legitimate reason to stay in Fubin City for a few days, Chu Shiyu began to plan his trip for the next few days with great interest.

In the afternoon, they strolled around Fubin City as planned. The city had developed shipping and thriving trade, so the city was naturally prosperous. Few of the people walking around had patched clothes on their bodies, and their faces looked more energetic.

Liu Rusi and her friends bought some local snacks and went to a civilian restaurant to eat the famous burning noodles. Although she had encountered a bully when eating at a small restaurant before, which made her feel that the experience was very bad, Chu Shiyu would encourage Liu Rusi to continue eating at a new place every time.

As for how to eat at such a small restaurant without embarrassment, Chu Shiyu also had a plan. He first sent four guards to choose a suitable table, and then when there was a vacant seat, one guard would go to take it, order the food and eat slowly, and when all seats were occupied, he would send another guard to inform them to go over.

Then the guards who hadn't finished eating took their bowls to the door to eat, and Chu Shiyu, Liu Rusi, Qin Hao and Caiyun could sit down and eat together~