A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

Chapter 60 Vice Minister of Rites

The official was thin and had a scraggly beard. His official robes were neatly worn without a single wrinkle. When he looked at Lieutenant Li, who had been traveling for more than ten days and had hardly taken a bath, he had a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

"Why are you so late? Never mind, hurry up and take your people onto the ship. We'll take the ship to Jingzhou."

"Are you Lord Liu, the Vice Minister of Rites sent by the imperial court?"

"Yes."

Lieutenant Li asked, "Why are we going to Jingzhou? The Prince's orders are for us to go to Fuzhou to provide support."

Vice Minister Liu said disdainfully, "The water has risen so high, what's the use of going to Fuzhou? We should go upstream and control the water as soon as possible."

Lieutenant Li asked, "Is the flood situation severe?"

Vice Minister Liu nodded, having no patience to explain further, as if saying another word would diminish his own standing, and turned to go into the cabin.

This is the Central Plains region. Since we've come to provide support, we'll leave it entirely to their arrangements.

Commander Li ordered all the soldiers to board the ships, but there were too few ships and too many people, including horses, to fit them all.

He sent someone in to ask Vice Minister Liu if there were any more boats.

Vice Minister Liu said, "At a time like this, where would we find any extra boats? These boats were all cleared out with great difficulty. Once we get there, there's nowhere to ride horses anyway. You can board the boats and leave the horses behind, right?"

Wutong asked, "What should we do?"

After thinking for a moment, Lieutenant Li ordered, "Leave three teams here to watch the horses. The rest of you, board the ship and try to keep your luggage as light as possible."

If we leave the horses behind, won't we have to carry all the materials by hand when we build the dam in the future?

Wutong thought about it but didn't say it. Li Duwei couldn't possibly be unaware of this. Disaster relief was an urgent matter, so they could only send the soldiers over first.

It took nearly half an hour for 2,910 soldiers to board the ship. The remaining three teams, or 90 soldiers, with over a thousand horses, were ordered to remain in place and wait for the others to return.

Wutong was not part of the official organization and did not have his own team, so he handed Fufu over to the soldiers, carried his own belongings, and rode on the same boat with Lieutenant Li.

Nanxing naturally followed him, as did Zhao Sanyang.

He can use Fei Nu; Lieutenant Li needs him to deliver messages.

The fleet set off, with nearly a hundred fully loaded boats covering the water's surface, sailing forward like a swarm of locusts crossing a river.

The sky was gray, the water was gray, and the sun occasionally peeked out from behind the clouds, reflecting white light onto the water, so bright that people couldn't open their eyes.

Wutong had never been to a place like this before. She felt as if she were on the sea, with no boundaries in sight. It was hard to imagine that this place was a field just a few days ago.

After nearly an hour, something finally changed in the water.

As far as the eye could see, there were occasional structures resembling rooftops, and many pieces of furniture floated on the water. Some of the furniture had poultry on it, either chickens or ducks, all staring blankly at the passing fleet of ships.

The boat carrying Vice Minister Liu was just ahead of Commandant Li's boat when it suddenly veered slightly off course and headed toward a large wooden boat floating on the water with a hen standing on it.

Upon approaching, the guard handed over a long-handled ladle and swiftly scooped up the hen, bringing it aboard the boat.

When the soldiers behind saw this, they followed suit and scooped the poultry onto the boat.

After catching them, whether we feed them or raise them, it's better than wasting their resources and letting them starve to death standing on top of it.

Lieutenant Li was busy writing letters and didn't have time to deal with those things.

Wutong had been running around all morning and was so tired that all she wanted to do was lie down. She leaned against the deck of the boat and didn't move.

Nanxing had never been interested in eating or drinking. He lay down next to her, holding their bundles in his arms.

Only Zhao Sanyang saw the chickens and ducks as if they were his saviors, his eyes shining. He asked the boatman for a slingshot and worked non-stop, quickly scooping up two big roosters.

The rooster was soaking wet, probably from being hungry for a long time, and looked a bit dazed.

Wutong opened the package, grabbed a handful of dry food, crushed it, and fed it to the dog.

The rooster lowered its head to peck, making a clattering sound on the wooden planks of the boat, like a pile driver.

Zhao Sanyang suddenly stopped, pointed into the distance, and exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, what's that?"

Wutong stood up, ran to his side, clung to the boat, and looked up. She saw a large, dilapidated wooden plank in the spot Zhao Sanyang was pointing to. She couldn't tell if it was a bed plank or a door plank. It was shaking incessantly, and there seemed to be some screams coming from it.

Such a loud commotion couldn't possibly be caused by chickens, ducks, or geese.

Could it be a person?

Wutong's heart sank. She went to call Li Duwei. Li Duwei put down his paper and pen and came over. When he saw this, his expression also became serious.

That place is quite far away, about a hundred meters away, not within easy reach.

Lieutenant Li ordered the boatman to change direction and head in that direction to check the situation.

The boatmen were disaster victims from both sides of the river. They were extremely grateful to the soldiers who came to their rescue and immediately obeyed their orders.

They hadn't gone very far when Vice Minister Liu's boat suddenly stopped, and the entire fleet behind it stopped as well.

The guards lifted the curtain, and Vice Minister Liu poked his head out, asking, "What are you doing?"

Zhao Sanyang said impatiently, "We think we see someone ahead!"

Vice Minister Liu said, "Nonsense. This place was evacuated long before the flood came. How could there be any survivors?"

He exuded a gloomy aura, and Zhao Sanyang, just an ordinary soldier, was so intimidated that he dared not speak, scratching his head and saying, "Perhaps I'm seeing things..."

Wutong said, "Let's go and see if they're alive or not."

Vice Minister Liu glanced at her displeasedly: "Who are you?"

“I am General Abdo’s bodyguard.”

"How dare a mere guard be so insolent? Commandant Li, keep your men in check. The disaster is raging rapidly. If you delay important matters, the court will hold you accountable."

Wutong thought he was crazy. It was only a hundred meters away, just a few minutes' walk. Was it really necessary to come and stop him?

She glanced at Lieutenant Li's expression, then at the man's arrogant face, and suddenly understood.

Whether we go or not is unimportant; that person is trying to intimidate Commander Li.

The soldiers were brought by Lieutenant Li, but he was a rank-holding official, so he naturally had to establish his authority in front of a mere captain and make the other party obey his orders.

With all the soldiers watching them, what was Lieutenant Li supposed to do?

The other party doesn't seem like someone to be trifled with; their open defiance might implicate Abudu and get him punished as well.

But should we just stand by and watch them die?

Wutong looked left and right, and suddenly spotted a thick wooden plank. He immediately said, "Why don't you continue forward, Commander Li? I'll use the plank to slide across and see if it's a person. If so, I'll save them."

"Use wooden planks? Is that safe?" Lieutenant Li looked at her with concern.

Wutong smiled slightly, stood up, stepped onto the wooden plank, carefully steadied herself, and then stomped her foot.

The wooden plank was quite stable.

"See, it's fine."

End of this chapter