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

Chapter 64 The Prefect of Jingzhou

A rattle drum, painted in bright red, was washed ashore by the waves. After being soaked in water for a long time, it became somewhat mottled.

Wutong reached out to pick it up and found the water rippling. Looking up, she saw a boat approaching them in the darkness, with a lantern hanging on its bow.

Startled, she forgot about the rattle drum and got up to call Lieutenant Li.

Before long, Lieutenant Li, her, and many soldiers gathered on the shore.

The ship docked, and a man rushed off.

He wasn't wearing an official hat, and his official robes were half off, loosely tied around his waist. The sleeves of his inner clothes were rolled up high, and the skin below the cuffs was white and wrinkled from being soaked in water.

"you are?"

Lieutenant Li took over the conversation and introduced himself.

The man was overjoyed, grasped Lieutenant Li's hand and shook it tightly, saying excitedly, "With the help of all you brave generals, the disaster will surely be brought under control. I am deeply grateful! I am deeply grateful!"

Looking at the unfamiliar and disheveled face, Lieutenant Li asked, "I don't know who you are..."

The man quickly introduced himself: "I am Tian Weitang, the Prefect of Jingzhou."

Lieutenant Li addressed him as "Lord Tian".

Tian Weitang waved his hand and said, "No need to be so polite. The disaster situation is critical, and we will have to trouble the soldiers more often in the future."

Wutong heard that he spoke frankly and without airs, and that his manner of speaking was different from those officials who only knew how to drink and eat meat. So she mustered up her courage and asked, "Did you just come back from the front, sir?"

Tian Weitang looked at her: "Who is this brother...?"

Lieutenant Li introduced, "General Abdo's bodyguards have come with me to lead the troops."

Wutong was hardly a leader; he was just a shameless companion.

Lieutenant Li's introduction was far too complimentary of her.

She blushed with embarrassment, and Tian Weitang patted her on the shoulder, praising, "A promising young man!"

Lieutenant Li asked again, "Why does Your Excellency visit so late at night?"

Tian Weitang said, "The flood situation at the front is severe, and many houses have been destroyed. I led a team there to carry out rescue operations for a whole day, but many people still could not be saved. I was worried that you should have arrived by now, so I had to visit you late at night. I hope I did not disturb you."

Lieutenant Li frowned slightly: "Still rescuing people?"

Judging from the way those officials looked before, it seemed that the situation was under control and all that was needed was to dredge the floodwaters.

Tian Weitang sighed heavily: "That's right. As the saying goes, 'pulling one hair affects the whole body.' The dam has been in disrepair for many years. Once one part is breached, breaches will occur everywhere. Blocking one side will break the other side. It's really impossible to know where to start!"

Lieutenant Li glanced at the brightly lit and bustling hilltop and said, "It is said that the officials sent by the imperial court are all experts in water management. I wonder if they have any solutions?"

“Them, hehe…” Tian Weitang followed his gaze, smiled, and said nothing.

Everyone understands.

Tian Weitang clasped his hands and said, "It's late tonight, all soldiers, please get some rest. You'll have a hard time in the next few days."

Seeing that he was about to take his leave, Wutong was anxious and secretly tugged at Li Duwei's sleeve.

Li Duwei understood, cleared his throat, and said, "I have another matter to discuss with Lord Tian."

"What's the matter?"

"Please come into the tent with me, sir."

The two entered the tent one after the other, while Wutong and the others waited outside.

As a prefect, Tian Weitang himself was in a sorry state, and his guards were in no better shape, looking as if they had been pulled out of the water.

Zhao Sanyang raised his elbow and rested it on Wutong's right shoulder, glancing at the figures peeking out from the tent and asking, "What are they going to talk about?"

Wutong pointed to the area where the disaster victims were gathered, and he instantly understood.

Before he could say anything, a force pushed him from behind, and Zhao Sanyang was caught off guard and fell forward, landing face-first in the mud.

It was so sudden that everyone looked at him. He turned around and glared at the person who had pushed him: "What are you doing?"

Nanxing wrapped his arms around Wutong's waist, like a protector of treasure: "Don't touch her."

Zhao Sanyang angrily pointed at Wutong and complained, "Look at him!"

Wutong tugged at Nanxing's hand shyly, trying to get him to let go, but he immediately hugged her even tighter, leaving her with a helpless smile.

A moment later, Tian Weitang came out, bid farewell with his guards, boarded the ship, and left.

Lieutenant Li escorted him to the shore, gazing intently at the ship that sailed further and further away into the night.

Wutong asked, "Sir, what did he say? Can he send some food over to those people?"

Lieutenant Li sighed and said pessimistically, "We will send supplies, but he doesn't have many resources on hand, and he has to focus his energy on flood control and rescue. We can only take it one step at a time."

Something is better than nothing, and Wutong breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone returned to their tents to sleep. Wutong picked up the rattle drum and gave it to the girl.

Standing among the disaster victims, listening to their painful groans, she could see the hill where Vice Minister Liu and the others were by simply raising her head slightly.

Lanterns were still lit there, and occasionally shadowy figures could be seen moving about, but it was unclear what they were doing.

The two hills are separated by a deep river, and there are no boats, making them seem as far apart as the sky and the earth.

This was her first impression of the Central Plains court—a group of people.

The next morning, Lieutenant Li ordered someone to call a boat, intending to go closer to the dam.

Time is of the essence. With so many of them, sitting idly for a whole day wastes countless amounts of food without contributing anything.

Moreover, they need to return to Yuemen Pass to guard it as soon as possible.

Coincidentally, just as the ship carrying the soldiers arrived, Tian Weitang's ship also arrived, inviting everyone to join him in rescuing people from the villages and towns ahead.

Without hesitation, Lieutenant Li immediately ordered his men to follow their ship.

Just like yesterday, Wutong took Nanxing aboard Li Duwei's boat, and Zhao Sanyang, yawning, followed along, carrying his pigeons on his arm.

Lieutenant Li wanted to send a letter by carrier pigeon to inform Abdo of the situation.

Unfortunately, Abudo is illiterate and detests anything involving reading, so sending it would be a waste of time. Perhaps we'll have to wait until Wutong returns before we can copy it and read it to Abudo.

The group continued onward.

After a night of settling, the water surface seemed cleaner than yesterday, there were fewer corpses, and the stench had lessened considerably.

Of course, it's also possible that those things drifted down with the current.

Having learned from yesterday's lesson, they stood firmly in the middle of the boat like sycamore stakes, their eyes fixed only on the front, never looking left or right.

The boat navigated through the mountains, or rather, the islands, and after about half an hour, it finally arrived at the place where the rescue was needed.

It is close to the dam and is located at a very high altitude. In the past, people who lived there could only descend to the town below by rope. Now, it has become the only flat land exposed in the surrounding dozens of miles.

Not far from there, there is a newly added gap in the dam, nearly ten meters wide.

The waters of the Dingjiang River surge forth from within, cascading down in a rushing torrent, creating a spectacle more magnificent than many waterfalls.

The falling water was impacting the land, so the situation was not optimistic.

End of this chapter