Yang Ruoqing came out to smooth things over: "He is a general who leads troops to fight. The thing he draws the most and reads the most is the map."

"Mu Zichuan, don't compare your own shortcomings with his strengths. Everyone has their own areas in which they are good and bad!"

"Well, yes, Qing'er is right!" Luo Fengtang said quickly.

Muzichuan also smiled and nodded.

His eyes returned to the drawings in front of him and he said to Yang Ruoqing: "To provide disaster relief, we must first control the floods."

"Qing'er, you have a smart mind. I have to ask you to help me with how to control the water!"

"I wonder, do you have a comprehensive strategy in mind?"

Hearing Mu Zichuan's question, Yang Ruoqing pursed her lips and smiled.

"Of course I have strategies to control floods. But..."

She deliberately put it off: "I don't know if you want to listen to the worst policy, the middle policy, or the best policy?"

"ah?"

Mu Zichuan opened his eyes wide, and Luo Fengtang also looked shocked.

Mu Zichuan quickly said: "Listen to the best advice first!"

Yang Ruoqing said: "My personal suggestion is that you should listen to the lower policy first. Why do you want to pinch yourself? Because if you can't do the lowest policy, then the best policy will be even more useless!"

Mu Zichuan said: "Okay, Qing'er, just tell me, I'm all ears!"

Yang Ruoqing nodded and began to talk about her strategy.

"This is what I think about the next step:"

Her delicate fingers began to draw dots on the drawing in front of her.

"To control water, it is better to remove it than to block it."

"Let's divert all the stagnant water in our area from these rivers and ditches."

"Drive them to the big river in the east. The water of this big river is connected to the Wanjiang River."

"The Wanjiang River will continue to flow eastward into the sea," she said.

Muzichuan looked at the river marked on the drawing carefully and said: "The idea is not bad, but we just want to divert the accumulated water here to the big river over there. Don't we have enough channels flowing now?"

Yang Ruoqing said: "If you want to dredge the river, it's definitely not enough to just rely on the existing river channels."

"So we have to dig a channel all the way to the big river," she said.

Muzichuan thought about it for a moment: "To dig canals, we have to organize manpower. This will be a big project."

Yang Ruoqing said: "In all three of my strategies, we have to dig canals and use a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. This is inevitable."

If the soil and water could move by themselves, why would there be any need to worry about it?

Muzichuan probably thought of going with her, and he nodded in agreement.

"Qing'er, your strategy is good, why do you have to decide it as the worst strategy?" he asked again.

"I want to hear what you think are the shortcomings of this strategy?"

Yang Ruoqing smiled.

He raised two fingers: "Mainly two aspects."

"First, we dug a canal to divert the accumulated water here."

"We'll wait until the sun comes out. The summer will continue, and the land will be dry by then. We may have another drought when we plant late rice."

"The second is, let's drive all the water here into the big river over there. As a result, the water level of the river will rise rapidly."

"It has caused secondary damage to the farmland and villages on both sides of the river."

"If only half of the houses in that area are flooded now, it might be flooded up to the roof. This is undoubtedly treating the symptoms but not the root cause, so I decided to take the next step." She said.

Mu Zichuan carefully pondered the truth behind this and nodded secretly. It was indeed so!

"Well, Qing'er, I want to hear the middle strategy." He said.

Yang Ruoqing said: "The middle strategy is very simple, which is to make some changes based on the lower strategy."

"Oh?" Mu Zichuan raised his eyebrows.

If I am attracted to her in the past two years, it is because of her unique personality and her pretty face that has transformed a little bit.

So now, her wisdom also impressed him!

"What kind of changes?" he asked.

Yang Ruoqing said: "The vines grow melons."

"What's the explanation?" He became even more curious.

Next to him, Luo Fengtang also raised his ears and listened with great interest.

Yang Ruoqing said: "The canal we want to dig is made of vines. Next to the canal, we will dig some ponds about the same size as Uncle Luo's fish pond at the back of the village, which will be melons."

"We can drain the water along the river channels into the ponds along the coast. Then, the water can be drained away more quickly and the pressure of the river can be shared."

"Furthermore, Maotang can be used as a water melon to store water. When there is a drought, if it doesn't rain for ten and a half months, we won't be afraid that the crops, people and animals will die of thirst!"

"What do you think of this method?" she asked.

Both Mu Zichuan and Luo Fengtang were in deep thought.

Then, Luo Fengtang touched his palms and said with excitement: "Growing vines and growing melons, this is a good way to ensure harvests despite droughts and floods!"

Mu Zichuan also nodded repeatedly: "Yes, it is indeed a way to have the best of both worlds, but this way the amount of work will be larger."

Yang Ruoqing smiled: "One sheep is herding, and so is a group of sheep."

"Since we have to organize manpower to dig canals, then digging a few ponds to store water is just that."

Luo Fengtang said: "Forefathers planted trees for future generations to enjoy the shade. If you all put in more effort now, in the future, it will benefit the village and future generations will benefit from it!"

Mu Zichuan pondered for a while, and a firm light flashed across his eyes.

"Okay, then I will leave for the county town tomorrow and report this flood control strategy to the two imperial envoys!" he said.

Hearing this, Luo Fengtang was surprised.

"What? Aren't you sent by the imperial court to control the water? You can't have the final say on how to control the water?"

Mu Zichuan was embarrassed.

He rubbed his hands and said, "I'm ashamed."

"The Holy One has sent Xu and Zhang as imperial envoys to Qing'an County to control floods and provide disaster relief."

"I am Master Zhang's disciple, and I am a native of Wanghai, so Master Zhang will take me with him."

"He wanted to be busy presiding over the overall situation, so he left the water control issues in Qingshui Town to me."

"So, I have to go back and report this flood control strategy to him." Muzichuan explained patiently.

Luo Fengtang suddenly realized, "I see, then I will row a boat to take you to the town tomorrow. When you get to the town, you should be able to take a carriage to the county seat."

Mu Zichuan nodded: "Then I will have you, Lao Tangyazi."

Luo Fengtang smiled heartily and waved his hand: "Hey, tell me what you are doing. You are doing things for the villagers right now and seeking benefits. Of course I want to help you."

Beside, Yang Ruoqing spoke again.

"By the way, Mu Zichuan, I've heard from the folks for a long time that you were attracted by a senior official in the capital and he even accepted you as his disciple."

"That high official is the imperial envoy this time, right?" She asked again for confirmation.

Mu Zichuan nodded: "Yes, exactly."

A trace of gossip ignited in Yang Ruoqing's eyes.

"If it's inconvenient to disclose, how senior an official has he been in the capital, Mr. Zhang, the imperial envoy?" she asked again.

Mu Zichuan was startled for a moment, not expecting that this was what she was going to ask.

"My mentor is a bachelor of Huagaidian and one of the three elders of the cabinet." Mu Zichuan said.

There was another identity that he had no plans to tell Yang Ruoqing for the time being.
Chapter completed!