The Comeback of the Charming Farmer's Wife

"What are you going to do, then?"

Ye Zi’an replied, "This spring, I had people negotiate with the owners of the nearby fertile lands. Each household volunteered some land to dig a deep drainage canal, and it still hasn’t been completed. Just yesterday, I heard that the water level had risen again and was about to surpass the warning line. Once it passes that line, the villages below will definitely suffer. I wanted to see how much the water had risen today, but then this afternoon, a torrential downpour started. I worried that if the downpour kept up, the water from the reservoir could break through. So, I mobilized the Land Officer from the village closest to the reservoir to lead the people to shelter elsewhere. That’s why I returned late," he said.

"How big is that reservoir, anyway? Can the overflowing water really flood an entire village?" And who had the idea to dig the reservoir uphill from where people live?

"That reservoir?" mentioned Ye Zi’an, not sure whether to cry or laugh, "It’s about as big as our Yangshu Village. So do you think it could flood the village?"

"Mianyang isn’t a place short of water, so why dig such a big reservoir?" Isn’t that a very strange thing to do?

Upon hearing this, Ye Zi’an’s face was full of helplessness.

Yang Chuxia could tell there was a story behind it.

Then she heard Ye Zi’an say, "My predecessor, you know, had been in Mianyang for ten years. Mianyang has always been difficult to govern, and in recent years, a flood would occur every two to three years. There was one just last year. But over ten years ago, there was a drought here that lasted for half a year without a drop of rain. After the drought had passed, the County Magistrate at that time thought his moment for achieving great deeds had arrived. He thought that if there was a drought, it meant there was a lack of water, so why not store it? He then ordered people to start digging the reservoir, which took a whole five years!..."

At this point, Ye Zi’an felt that the County Magistrate’s luck wasn’t all that great.

Because the year after the reservoir was completed, torrential rain began to fall on Mianyang, and that year, a flood also occurred in Mianyang. As a result, the County Magistrate was dismissed and replaced by Ye Zi’an’s predecessor.

And that predecessor surely loathed the former County Magistrate, because in the near ten years since then, Mianyang had excessive rainfall, and being close to rivers, it would experience floods every two to three years. The town where the reservoir was located was not originally in the disaster area, as they were far from the river.

But because of the reservoir, whenever there was torrential rain or a flood, it would cause problems.

Now, think about it, below that reservoir are villages, and where there aren’t villages, there are fertile fields. Those fields must be planting grain, so who would provide drainage? Indeed, they grow rice, and rice needs water, but surely not the amount that gushes out from the reservoir.

Ye Zi’an thought about requisitioning some land from each household to dig a ditch and redirect the water elsewhere. Speaking of ditches, he felt even more critical because, back then, none were dug. If the villagers needed water from the reservoir, they had to carry it themselves.

And land at that time was simply the lifeline of the people; every bit of it was valuable. Which family would willingly give theirs up? So the only option was to buy it! But Mianyang County didn’t have the money, so where would it come from? Apply to the government? Don’t even think about it. That’s considered an extra expense on water resources for Mianyang County; the government has no money for that, so you have to figure it out yourself.

With no other choice, Ye Zi’an called together the Land Officers from each village to analyze the situation. In the end, he persuaded each household to contribute a little money, with some subsidy from the county government, to buy the land for digging the canal.