Chapter 548: It Started Raining Inside the Box
Chapter 542 of "The Great Ming in the Box" unveils: At noon, Li Daoxuan was holding a bowl of wood ear fungus and shredded pork... Continue the story!
At noon, Li Daoxuan was holding a bowl of wood ear fungus and shredded pork rice and eating in front of his computer, so he didnât âsenseâ into the box to play pranks.The boxâs perspective was locked onto Xing Honglang and her group.
Because Xing Honglangâs group was getting closer to the battle zone and might engage with bandits at any time, he of course needed to pay more attention to this side.
Xing Honglangâs forces were just then arriving at a small river.
Li Daoxuan, looking from outside the box, saw this small river was very, very thin and pitiful, with only a tiny bit of water in it. He thought to himself, âThis should be an unnamed small river, right?â
Just as he was thinking that, he heard Xing Honglang point at that little creek with its tiny bit of water and say, âThis is the famous Fen River, the mother river of us Shanxi people.â
Gao Chuwu said, âHuh? Just this little bit of water? That can be a mother river? How many people are there in Shanxi?â
Xing Honglang responded, amused and frustrated, âThis river used to be very powerful, but unfortunatelyâŚâ
Li Daoxuan took a bite of rice and chewed it, freed his hands, and typed the words âFen Riverâ on his computer to searchâŚ
Information arrived!
In ancient times, the Fen River was indeed a huge river, with many tributaries, blessing the entire Shanxi region, so it was called the mother river of the Shanxi people. This riverâs shipping capability was also very strong, once having a grand scene of âten thousand rafts descending the Fen River.â But later, with deforestation on both shores and loss of soil, the Fen Riverâs water flow greatly diminished. By the Ming dynasty, on the river, people could only âuse boats in autumn and summer, and earthen bridges for crossing in winter and spring.â
Whatâs more, now in the Little Ice Age at the end of the Ming dynasty, the world was in a drought, with even less rain.
In addition, it was the winter of Year Four of Chongzhen, almost Year Five of Chongzhen, and this season was the dry season.
With multiple factors combined, this poor Fen River was left with just a tiny trickle of water, painfully awkward.
Xing Honglang pointed at this little ditch and said, âDonât look at how small it is, but it starts from the banks of the Yellow River, first passing Hejin County, and then all the way to Pingyang Prefecture. In summer when the water is plentiful, we can use this river to transport goods to Pingyang Prefecture to support Wang Xiaohua.â
Hearing this, Li Daoxuan made a âyiâ sound and said, âLeads to Pingyang Prefecture? Thatâs a bit interesting.â
He opened a map app to check and saw the Fen River did truly lead to Pingyang Prefecture.
But his boxâs view hadnât reached Pingyang Prefecture yet, so he couldnât see it for the time being.
This secretly gave Li Daoxuan a little idea in his mind: Currently, the only officials stationed in Pingyang Prefecture were Wang Xiaohuaâs group, with no others, so it was actually under Gaojia Villageâs control.
Wang Xiaohua had been diligently trying to build a good reputation there.
Gaojia Village had been transporting grain over land to help Wang Xiaohua, but land transport was clearly not as effective as water transport. However, this Fen River resembled a small ditch, only navigable in summer, not in winter or spring, which was very awkward.
It seemed some tricks had to be used to let boats sail on this river.
He took out a ruler and measured the Fen River inside the boxâŚ
Ten centimeters!
The downstream section of this river was actually under ten centimeters wide.
After conversion, in the late Ming era, it was only about twenty meters wide.
And this was downstream; he imagined the middle and upstream sections would be even narrower.
Li Daoxuan walked to the balcony, fetched a small shovel used for planting flowers, and gestured toward the inside of the box⌠âOne dig from me would at least double the riverâs width.â
But only widening the river channel was useless; there needed to be water!
In the Ming dynastyâs disasters, with water scarcity, merely expanding the channel served no purpose; if the channel didnât hold water, it was pointless.
Li Daoxuan was pondering this problemâŚ
Suddenly, he sensed something was amiss.
Inside the boxâŚ
It was raining!
It wasnât rain he himself had caused; it was real rain falling.
âEh? Eh? Eh?â
He had guarded the box for years, and all he saw were great disasters across the land, with the people suffering; this was his first time seeing rain inside the box.
From Li Daoxuanâs viewpoint, the rain inside the box was very amusing.
The rain âsuddenly appearedâ from the boxâs lid, drifting down towards the ground inside. It wasnât light rain; it poured heavily, rattling fiercely.
Xing Honglangâs forces were walking along the Fen River when, suddenly, a downpour fell from the sky, startling these people who had endured drought for so long.
Their first reaction was: âThe Deity comes to bring rain?â
But when they looked up, they didnât see the dragon heads of the Four Sea Dragon Kings.
Gao Chuwu exclaimed: âWow, this rain wasnât the Deity inviting the Dragon Kings to bring it.â
Zheng Daniu said: âHow rare!â
Old Nan Feng rolled his eyes: âItâs so strange that all of you finding rain rare. Did several years of drought make everyone foolish? Rain is a common thing, okay.â
Zao Ying retorted: âIâd believe you if you werenât dancing around while saying that.â
After trading barbs, the group burst into laughter towards the sky: âHahaha, itâs raining.â
At that moment, Li Daoxuan was swiftly shifting his perspective, scanning various spots within his view.
Rain fell; this time it was genuine rain, and it was a large-scale downpour. In Shaanxi, Shanxi, the upper reaches of the Yellow River, multiple places were receiving rain.
He then realized that although the Little Ice Age was harsh, it wasnât completely devoid of rain; it still rained occasionally.
With this rain coming, the Fen Riverâs water volume⌠seemed likely to increase.
His little shovel appeared ready for use.
Li Daoxuan chuckled at the Fen Riverâs pitiful, 10-centimeter-wide water channel.
At that moment, Xing Honglangâs group trudged slowly along the riverbank under the heavy rain. As they walked, Xing Honglang complained: âIf the Fen River regained its former shipping ability, we wouldnât have to walk so hard. We could sail a boat, eating hotpot and singing songs, easily reaching Pingyang Prefecture.â
Old Nan Feng laughed: âHahaha, all just joking, how could it? This awful riverâs banks have had trees cut down for years, with all the sediment flowing into the riverbed, silting up, blocking everywhere⌠with this state, how can boats pass?â
He had barely finished speaking when he felt the rain on his head seemed to suddenly ease.
Old Nan Feng asked: âEh? Is the rain lessening?â
Xing Honglang countered: âNo! Itâs something blocking the rain, not the rain getting smaller.â
Zao Ying urged: âLook up at the sky!â
Everyone looked up together and saw in the sky the clouds parting, as a golden hand gripping an enormous shovel descended.
This hand and shovel were both tremendously huge, covering the rain above all their heads.
âWhat is the Deity planning?â
âSuch a big shovel must be a celestial shovel.â
Right there before everyoneâs eyes, the large shovel dug swiftly into the water channel far ahead of them. With just a light scoop⌠the sediment clogging the riverbed beneath was dug out, a pile as large as a small mountain.