Chapter 292: Transcendent Qing (29)
As they rode the wagon toward the Sangbang district, the scene of chaos gradually faded away, and, surprisingly, a perfectly intact cityscape unfolded before them.
“It’s... fine?”
“Nakha River floods every year, doesn’t it?”
Nakha River, for a tributary of the Yellow River, was unusually straight and narrow, and thus suffered annual floods. For that reason, most Sangbang merchants and Wuguan agents made their homes on the high ground of the adjoining Gam Mountain ridge. By now, even riverside shipping warehouses would have been emptied and relocated to higher ground.
“And they still went ahead with flood control work?”
“That’s not such an easy task, you see.”
The river is straight, the channel narrow, and the water volume high—so the current is ferocious, wild, and brutal. With deep water and heavy flow, it’s always been a waterway damn near impossible for humans to tame.
“The authorities finally opened the coffers to perform a public good, and it ends up like this. Mm. Though really, one should question whether it was a public good at all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“A project like that swallows mountains of gold and silver. There were bribes flying from the moment the contracts were announced. With rumors that Henan’s provincial commissioner is about to be replaced, some say he wanted to line his pockets one last time before retirement. Of course, it’s all hearsay. Some claim the commissioner is a clean-handed official, but—well, who really knows what lies in a man’s heart?”
The Imperial Court might be stingy, but when it does loosen the purse strings, the size of its hand is Buddha-like. Wagonloads of gold and silver would stream down like a parade.
Even after the bureaucrats skimmed their take, there was still an obscene amount left. They handed off the rest with the blueprint and said, "Build it just like this." So the construction firms did what they wanted, kept the surplus for themselves, and called it done.