Chapter 28 31. It Is Difficult to Remove the Huge Rock in the Water

The next day, Xiao Pingtai still slept until he woke up naturally, and lived a very comfortable life.

As expected, people may succeed if they work hard, but they must be very comfortable if they don't work hard. But I decided to go to Kitabatake University yesterday, and I don't know if he is busy, so it's better to go early.

Besides, this is his direct superior, who is the official Yamanouchi clan samurai, the general town magistrate. He is considered a senior samurai of the Yamanouchi family, and Xiao Pingtai himself is just a small Tongxinshu. Although he is a senior Tongxinshu who can face the emperor, he is still a Tongxinshu.

Besides, it's the first time to meet the leader, you have to arrive earlier than the leader, how can you let the leader wait for the subordinates. This face must be given to the leader, right?

As a result, Xiao Pingtai just put on his clothes, walked out of the house, stretched, and looked at the rising sun in the distance. The golden light fell in front of the door, on the floor, and on Xiao Pingtai's face and body. It was such a beautiful picture, which made people sigh that the weather was really good today and the mood was very beautiful.

But before he could utter any poetic words, he heard a subtle but clear chewing sound. Xiao Pingtai thought to himself, was it hallucination in the morning? He wasn't so hungry that he fainted. Why did he feel like someone was eating?

He looked around and saw Aji squatting under the corridor chewing rice balls with a thin body through the thick pillar. Xiao Pingtai thought to himself that he was really a starving ghost reincarnated. This little boy was eating me to death. Sure enough, in ancient times, if you want to raise a growing boy, you must have enough food. Otherwise, he would be like Aji now, a skinny bamboo pole. He only ate a few days of full meals at Xiao Pingtai's place, and at least his face looked a little fat.

Aji saw Xiao Pingtai get up and go out, so he quickly stuffed the last few bites into his mouth, and choked all of a sudden. He grabbed his neck and beat his chest with his other hand. Xiao Pingtai was scared, so he quickly took a bucket of water from the bucket for him to drink, and told him why he was in such a hurry since no one was competing with him.

After drinking the water, Aji recovered, giggled a few times and quickly gave the straw sandals to Xiao Pingtai. Xiao Pingtai then went to the kitchen to wash up first, and then poured a large bowl of hot tea from the kettle on the stove, soaked it with some rice, and drank it down with a slurp. Finally, he picked up a piece of pickled radish to eat breakfast. (When we watch Japanese dramas now, the quality of the breakfast is quite good, but it was in ancient times, hahahaha)

Taking advantage of the morning sun, the two went to the magistrate's office in the town together. As a result, Kitabatake University had arrived long ago. He was planning the harvest and drying of summer wheat. Several like-minded people surrounded him and discussed something with him.

Xiao Pingtai did not disturb them and listened to their discussion. For example, where there is not enough drying ground, people need to be transferred to where to dry. Another example is that the flails for beating drums need to be made and sold to farmers quickly. Another example is that there are many slopes in a certain township, and it is not easy to harvest. In order to harvest quickly, it is best to transfer a team of people to help.

After they finished talking, Kobayata stepped forward to greet the magistrate. After introducing his name, he looked at Kitabatake University. This Kitabatake University was called Kitabatake Akinaga. University means the head of the university (this is not a small official. During the Taika Reform, he was considered a senior central bureaucrat, in charge of the university and the Japanese imperial examinations). He is nominally the president of a national university, but everyone just listens.

Kitabatake University looked at Kobayata, thought for a while, and suddenly said jokingly: "My salary is still paid by the money you minted."

Kobayata knew that this person was easy to get along with, and quickly agreed: "You are overpraising the university. It's just a little bit of work. It's not worth praising."

I have been away for a while recently, and the counterfeit coins minted by the Yamauchi family are now enough to pay the salaries of the samurai of the main family. It seems that this counterfeit coin industry has developed very well. Hehe, then I will definitely get more.

Putting aside the idle chatter of the first job, Xiao Pingtai came to do business. He naturally began to ask about the situation of Lianchuan during the flood season after the summer harvest.

Kitabatake University was not surprised and introduced the situation to Xiao Pingtai in a very easy manner. Lianchuan originates from the mountains of Beixin, flows into the plains of Nanxin, and finally flows into the sea. The water in the mountain section is turbulent and the river channel is narrow. If there is continuous heavy rain, mudslides will occur. But the impact is generally not great, after all, there are only sixteen villages in the entire river valley, with a population of less than 2,000.

But after leaving the mountains, the river channel widens, and the stones and mud washed down from the mountains cause siltation, causing serious flooding during the rainy season. But with him, a famous water conservancy expert, right? Xiadi is good at playing, so there is generally no problem.

There is only one problem that has troubled him for a long time. There is a huge rock somewhere downstream of the river. Xiao Pingtai thought to himself, which river has no rocks? Why don't we go and take a look? Kitabatake University was no problem, and the two of them rode their horses and trotted there.

When they arrived at the river, Xiao Pingtai realized that it was really amazing. There was probably a huge rock that weighed tens of thousands of pounds or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. It was basically impossible to move it by manpower. The water flowed to this place and formed many swells. The river channel here was obviously wider than other places.

Kitabatake University's solution was also great. It widened the dam here and set up a diversion weir. When the flood came and could not be discharged quickly, it was diverted to the surrounding flood discharge area.

But there was still a problem. Because the water flow could not push the boulder when it washed it, it would form a backflow to sweep away the fine sand and gravel under the boulder, which was equivalent to hollowing out the foundation where the boulder was. So the boulder moved upstream every year, and the dam had to be rebuilt every year, so it was forced to set up 300 water stock members to manage and maintain this dam.

This not only costs a lot, but also makes it impossible to develop a large area of ​​flat land around it into paddy fields, and loses thousands or even tens of thousands of koku of income.

Kobayata asked if there was no way to destroy it? Kitabatake didn't mind Kobayata's talkativeness, and said that they had spent a lot of money to buy gunpowder, and then drilled holes in the boulder to prepare for blasting, but the effect was very poor. Kobayata estimated that the quality of gunpowder today was not good, and the amount they used was not enough.

Kitabatake saw Kobayata's thoughtful look and became interested, so he turned around and asked Kobayata: "What do you think?"

Kobayata said: "Now let's change our thinking. Wouldn't it be great if we could make the stone sink?"

Kitabatake is worthy of being a master of water control, and immediately came up with a plan. During the dry season, a dam was built on Lianchuan to completely drain the riverbank around the boulder, and then a deep pit was dug on one side of the boulder, and finally the boulder was moved into the pit.

Kitabatake got excited when he thought about it, and even praised Kobayata for his quick thinking. Xiao Pingtai waved his hand and said, don't bother, the project is too big, and it requires a lot of conscription, he has a simpler way.

I was surprised to find that this week's recommendation is the seventeenth in the foreign history category. I was so excited that I couldn't say anything. Although the foreign history category is almost as niche as it can be, I am still very happy.