Chapter 549: Continuing Forward
Chapter 543 of "The Great Ming in the Box" opens introducing the plot: The excavated canal mud couldnât be wasted. Li Daoxuan shoveled it onto the open land... Continue exploring!
The excavated canal mud couldnât be wasted. Li Daoxuan shoveled it onto the open land beside the canal and spread it out. After it dried, it became very fertile land, perfect for growing crops.Those living along this section of the canal wouldnât miss out on this good resource.
Xing Honglang and her companions watched dumbly as the shovel dug noisily in the canal. It didnât stop with just one scoop but kept digging along the canal, one shovelful after another, quickly widening, deepening, and dredging a long stretch of the river.
This was the confluence where the Fen River met the Yellow River. Once the Fen River widened and the riverbed was dug lower, the water level naturally dropped. Water from the Yellow River immediately flowed back in, quickly raising the water level in this section.
The original narrow canal, only twenty meters wide, suddenly became forty meters wide. Also, the water deepened, allowing larger boats to sail.
Xing Honglang and the others paused briefly, then suddenly understood: âAh? The Deity is widening the canal so we can sail boats on this river in the future.â
Old Nan Feng said: âUh, I just claimed this river couldnât handle boats. Is the Deity mocking me?â
Zao Ying scolded: âWhat merit do you possess? Would the Deity mock you?â
âThat⌠thatâs true.â Old Nan Feng smiled awkwardly: âThe Deity has no time for big deeds just to mock me. This is to benefit the common people and make it easier for us to reinforce Pingyang Prefecture.â
They saw the Deityâs sacred shovel digging continuously upstream along the canal, soon vanishing from everyoneâs sight.
The water in the Fen River briefly reversed its flow! It wasnât the Fen River pouring into the Yellow River anymore, but the Yellow River water surging back into the Fen River. This backflow lasted a long while before stabilizing.
Of course, that was because Li Daoxuan had gotten tired!
Even if the Fen River shrank by two hundred times, it would still stretch endlessly. After digging over ten kilometers, Li Daoxuan needed to stop and rest.
He wasnât in a hurry. The Fen River was very long and couldnât be finished in one day. Since his view hadnât expanded to Pingyang Prefecture, he dug slowlyâabout ten kilometers daily for a smooth transition. This prevented too-rapid backflow from causing problems.
But after his digging, the canal section from the Fen and Yellow Riversâ confluence to Hejin County suddenly widened significantly. Now, somewhat larger cargo ships could navigate it.
Xing Honglang pointed at the dilapidated Hejin County town ahead and smiled: âOnce our cargo ships reach here, this broken town will soon be rebuilt brilliantly.â
Everyone looked up reverently at the sky. The Deity wasnât there nowâperhaps heâd returned to the heavenly realm after finishingâbut their admiration for him wasnât affected.
This was truly a mountain-moving supernatural display!
âSpeaking of that, this rain⌠is a bit too heavy,â Old Nan Feng piped up: âItâll harm our firearms. If we meet bandit troops like this, our firearms wonât fireâthatâs dangerous. In melee fights, our edge isnât big. Weâd just rely on superior numbers.â
Those words jolted everyone. They all exclaimed: âBad! We need a rain shelter, fast!â
âRush into Hejin County town! Find cover in residential buildings.â
Meanwhile, at Pingyang Prefecture,
A large group of bandit troops advanced threateningly toward Pingyang Prefecture.
The handsome Fan Mountain Hawk was back once more!
Last time heâd attacked Pingyang Prefecture, he was driven off by Wang Xiaohuaâs firearms. But now, with the sudden downpour, Fan Mountain Hawk sensed his chance returning.
Firearms donât work well on rainy days.
Yet, he forgot one thing: Pingyang Prefecture was a major prefectural city, not the wilderness.
The troops garrisoned inside had bountiful logistical support.
On Dou Wendaâs command, townspeople ran up the walls using every rain-sheltering item: some held big oil-paper umbrellas over the firearm soldiersâ heads; others crafted awnings from oilcloth and raised them on the walls to shield the soldiers from rain; some swiftly built small wooden rain sheds and lugged them onto the walls.
Instantly, all kinds of odd rain shelters popped up on the walls of Pingyang Prefecture.
Two hundred firearm soldiers took cover beneath these rain shelters, raising their firearms to unleash furious volleys at Fan Mountain Hawkâs armyâŚ
The bandit army instantly erupted in pained screams. Only a few fierce bandits managed to charge through the rain and gunfire all the way to the wallâs base. Yet before they could even begin to climb, a large stone flung down by Wang Er, who was guarding the battlement above, crashed squarely onto a skull.
Large groups of militia local gentry hefted stones and hurled them down chaotically.
Fan Mountain Hawk was defeated and retreated once again!
âWeâve won again!â
âAnd Heaven has granted us rain.â
The common people cheered: âOnce we drive these bandits back, we can farm the land! Hahaha, finally, life can return to what it was in past years.â
While they rejoiced triumphantly, Dou Wenda arrived at Wang Xiaohuaâs side with a gloomy expression: âCaptain Wang, how much ammunition do your men have left?â
Wang Xiaohua shook his head: âAfter this wave, not much remains.â
Dou Wenda asked: âWhatâs to be done then? Without firearms, we absolutely cannot hold Pingyang Prefecture!â
Wang Xiaohua replied: âDonât worry! Reinforcements will arrive soon.â
Dou Wenda looked anxiously beyond the walls: âThis deluge⌠it will slow the relief column too⌠I fear this downpour might delay their march significantly.â
Indeed, the heavy rain seriously hindered the relief columnâs progress.
The reinforcements, two thousand strong led by Cheng Xu, had now arrived at Chezhuang village.
The distance remaining to Pingyang Prefecture was only forty li.
So close!
Yet the closer they got to Pingyang Prefecture, the higher the chance of encountering the bandit army while still on the road.
Caution and vigilance became ever more paramount.
Cheng Xu knew his two thousand men excelled primarily with their firearms. But the sudden rain drastically hampered their effectiveness.
Grenadiers would be completely useless â while a slow match might stay lit in lighter drizzle, a downpour like this guaranteed it would be doused.
Firing rifled firearms also became exceedingly difficult, as every step â from loading to firing â ran a high risk of moisture ingress. Reliable operation required cover from the rain, impossible during a field engagement.
Cheng Xu lifted his head to scan the road ahead, a shadow of worry darkening his mood.
The sky wept endless streams of rain, seeming to shatter into myriad tiny fragments of grandmother hurtling earthward at terrifying speed. Each drop struck the ground with a sharp plink, exploding into even tinier droplets scattering like countless shattered grandmothers across the earthâŚ
âCheng Xu muttered somberly: âForcing a march in this rain⌠if we clash with the bandits now, we stand an eighty percent chance of meeting our grandmothers.â He stroked his chin, lost in grim contemplation.
Just then, the Captain of the breech-loading firearm soldiers approached: âReport! Our Sharps Rifles remain unaffected by the downpour. Normal loading and firing proceed unimpeded.â
Cheng Xuâs spirits soared: âOf course! How could I forget that? Then thereâs nothing left to fear! Increase the paceâforward! Only forty li to Pingyang Prefecture!â