The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion - Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Getting a Sheep’s Reporting on Lugou Bridge

After confirming that Wang Yan would secretly report the matter to the Court, Sun Shaozong, as instructed by him, announced in the back hall that Xu Mingtang had committed suicide because of family discord.

At that time, the atmosphere in the back hall was indeed very relaxed. Sun Shaozong could not guess how many people pretended and how many believed that Xu Mingtang committed suicide for trivial matters at home.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wang Yan arranged the “defense” on both sides of the river in one go and urged the people to call up their troops and take up their posts immediately.

In return, Sun Shaozong’s “involved section” was arranged near Lugou Bridge, next to the official road. It was very convenient to transport goods at ordinary times. Needless to say, if anything happened, it was much easier to escape than others.

Therefore, Zhou Da and Zhao Wuwei, as well as several officials of the Ministry of Public Works and the Riverway, were very happy.

Sun Shaozong was the only one who lived on the North Embankment and cared about the South bank. He thought that tens of thousands of people might be affected by the flood in a short time. However, he could only look at the ocean and sigh. He was helpless. He was depressed every day.

Although he never thought he was a good man, he could not treat human life like Jia Yucun, and even sacrificed thousands of human lives to keep his position.

—Dividing Line—

July 17.

The rainy weather that lasted for more than half a month finally came to an end this morning.

The rising sun broke through the clouds, and in less than an hour, it showed the power of the autumn tiger. The heat made everyone on the embankment “threw down their armor” directly and countless “flags” were flying at the head of Lugou bridge.

Standing at the bridgehead, he looked up and saw nothing but clothes, hats, shoes, and socks drying in the sun. Not to mention the stone lion, he couldn’t even see a few stone railings.

With the sun shining, they all came and went naked without concern. There was happy laughter and cheerful voices all over the dikes. Even the supervisor, who carried a whip all day, seemed friendlier.

Driven by this happy atmosphere, Sun Shaozong could not help but feel lucky. He secretly said that the river was only slowly rising these days and that there was still a long way to go from the warning line on the stone carving. Could it be that Xu Mingtang made a mistake in extrapolating and miscalculating this year’s disaster?

If this were the case, his suicide would become a laughing stock in the officialdom.

“My Lord!”

Sun Shaozong was standing on the bank of the river, daydreaming. He suddenly heard someone call behind him. Looking back, Zhao Wuwei rushed over with a sword in his hand.

Sun Shaozong was so nervous that he asked, “What’s the matter? Is there any danger?!”

“Your Excellency must be joking.”

However, Zhao Wuwei said with a grin, “What kind of danger will there be? It’s the Yamen who sent a lot of rewards. Look, it’s right down the slope!”

Sun Shaozong followed his instructions and found that there were eight carriages parked under the River Embankment. They were full of wine, vegetables, dried fruits, bacon, and other things, including the heads of many pigs, sheep, and dogs. These were not for reward, but sacrificial offerings to the River God.

Since staying at the riverbank, Ruan Rong and his elder brother have sent things here almost every day. Therefore, Sun Shaozong has no interest in these so-called rewards. He just rolled up his sleeves and said impatiently, “Put the three sacrificial offerings back together. You can discuss the rest with Zhou Da. Don’t ask me what I mean.”

Although Sun Shaozong didn’t care about this, these things were all fun to Zhao Wuwei, who could win people’s hearts. So he hurried to answer them and was ready to call someone to unload the goods.

At this moment, he heard someone shouting in the distance, “Look, there is a man in the river!”

“It seems that he came here riding something!”

Someone riding in the river was floating towards here?

Sun Shaozong hurriedly looked to the river and saw a white thing in the distance, which was drifting down at a very fast speed,

In the blink of an eye, the outline was much clearer, and it was a man who was tied to a sheepskin bag naked!

Those strong citizens who had been temporarily summoned were still talking, but Sun Shaozong’s face changed suddenly. He snatched Zhao Wuwei’s Saber and cut the reins on the horse. He then turned over, mounted his horse, and rode toward Lugou Bridge.

The black horse’s four hooves rose and stirred the people up and down all the way. At least four or five people could not dodge it and were knocked head-on. Sun Shaozong ignored it. Seeing that he had reached the bridge, he shouted with all his might: “Stop that ”Sheep reporting brave soldier!”

It turned out that this man, who was floating down the river with a sheep’s skin bag tied to him, was an important means of transmitting water information in ancient times. Moreover, because of its great danger, soldiers who were charged with the task of summoning information could be said to have a narrow escape, so they would only use it in an emergency.

When Sun Shaozong shouted, the naked patrolmen on the River on the bridge were flustered. They waited until Sun Shaozong arrived and still couldn’t put the hook rod into the water.

Seeing that the sheep reporting brave soldier had already entered the bridge hole along the fast-flowing water, Sun Shaozong quickly jumped off his horse and grabbed a thick and long looper. He ran to the other side in a few steps, hanging the looper on the water. When the man on the sheep rushed out of the bridge hole, he stopped him violently and shouted, “Hold on!”

Before the roar fell, he lifted the man out of the water together with the sheep’s skin bag with a violent shout from both hands!

Carefully putting it on the bridge, Sun Shaozong immediately threw away the shaft and jumped on it. He nervously helped the man up and asked, “How are you? Can you hold on?!”

“Still… Still alive.”

The man’s face was puffy, and his whole body was cold. As soon as he opened his mouth, his yellow teeth clattered, but he still insisted, “Hurry… Find the supervisor… The supervisor of the river here. I have an urgent… Urgent…”

As Sun Shaozong untied the rope around his waist, he said, “I’m the river embankment supervisor here. If you have any urgent news, just tell me!”

The man found that the man who rescued him was a blue-robed official.

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So he struggled to take out the bamboo stick covered with fire paint from the interlayer of the sheep’s skin bag and handed it to Sun Shaozong tremblingly, “Sir, the upstream… The upstream mountain collapsed. I don’t know… I don’t know when a barrier lake was formed. It was discovered by the patrolman the day before yesterday. Now the lake embankment may collapse again at any time. Please inform the Governor as soon as possible. Make preparations early!”

Damn!

No wonder the water was rising so slowly, it was due to the “natural reservoir” in the upper stream!

If the dammed lake could resist the flood and flow back, that’s fine. But if it collapses in the middle…

Sun Shaozong shuddered and hurried to take the bamboo stick. He entrusted the man to the patrolman on duty on the bridge. He then got on his horse again and sped away toward the “flood control center” where Wang Yan was.