Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 753: Funny Prefect Cheng

Bao, the governor of Xi'an Prefecture next door, wrote a letter of thanks and told Hualei about the corn planting situation in Xi'an Prefecture.

Because local officials in the government office could not leave their places of work without permission, Hua Lei sent people from his own farm to Xi'an to help guide corn planting.

They had been growing corn in Shangjing City for several years in a row and had considerable experience, so the initial growth of corn in Xi'an Prefecture went very smoothly.

Therefore, Prefect Bao wrote a special letter to thank Hua Lei, and Rong Jin's uncle also wrote a similar thank-you letter.

On the one hand, he wanted to thank Hualei for lending him 300 kilograms of corn seeds. On the other hand, he wanted to thank Hualei for giving him suggestions on the books to be printed in the Imperial Examination Hall.

Not long ago, he received an official notice from the Ministry of Rites that the Ministry would send the books for the imperial examination to Chengze Prefecture in late August this year.

Because of these two things, recently, Han Dajiu’s immediate superior Zhang Zhizhou has also been very appreciative of Han Dajiu.

At the end of this year, Zhang Zhizhou's term of office in Chengze Prefecture will expire. If nothing unexpected happens, Uncle Han will most likely be promoted again.

After reading the letter, Hua Lei also wrote back a letter. Just a few days after sending the letter, Hua Lei received an expedited letter from Cheng Zhifu, the governor of Xining Prefecture.

In the letter, Prefect Cheng said that Xining Prefecture had not seen any decent rain for more than two months. During this period, the river water level in Xining Prefecture had dropped sharply.

If this continues, Xining Prefecture is likely to suffer a drought this year. Prefect Cheng asked Hualei if there were any extra water trucks to send him a few.

Also, let Hua Lei send a few technical personnel from the imperial ministry of industry to Xining Prefecture to help repair and make some water wheels.

Looking at the letter in her hand, Hua Lei was somewhat speechless. In the letter, Prefect Cheng's words were very rude, and it felt like Hua Lei was his subordinate.

Not to mention that there is no waterwheel in the warehouse of Xichang Prefecture. Even if there is one, if you in Xining Prefecture want it, you should at least ask the price in a tactful way.

Even if your government office has not set up this budget in advance and has no money to pay, you should at least express that you will go through the approval process. You will return it after the money comes in, right?

However, Prefect Cheng had no such intention at all. How shameless is he? You know, the cost of making a waterwheel is not low.

What made Hua Lei speechless was that Prefect Cheng actually asked Hua Lei to send a few technicians from the Ministry of Industry to Xining Prefecture to help repair and make the waterwheel.

These technicians were specially assigned by Emperor Shengwu through the Minister of Works, although their official positions were not as high as Hua Lei's, who was of the fourth rank.

However, they were only temporarily seconded to Xichang Prefecture and were not subject to Hua Lei's transfer order. Hua Lei was always polite and cautious in front of them.

Now, Prefect Cheng actually asked her to send them over. Hua Lei thought that her face was not that big, and even if it was, Hua Lei did not want to use it here.

What made Hua Lei feel even funnier was that at the end of Prefect Cheng's letter, he hinted that the reason why the water level in Xining Prefecture dropped so quickly this year was because of this.

This was caused by Hualei's vigorous digging of wells in Xichang Prefecture. In previous years, such a thing had never happened in Xining Prefecture.

Looking at the weather outside, Hualei couldn't help but sigh. Indeed, the weather this year is a bit abnormal, and it seems to be hotter than in previous years.

Since several heavy rainstorms in April and May, Xichang Prefecture has not seen any decent rain for almost a month and a half.

If this continues, there is a high possibility of a drought. The fact that Prefect Cheng had this foresight actually reflects his ability.

However, Hualei was not happy to be blamed. Hualei looked through the map of Xichang Prefecture, on which the excavated ponds and wells were marked.

Although the groundwater is indeed the same and Xichang Prefecture is indeed next to Xining Prefecture, the drop in the water level of the Xining Prefecture river may really have something to do with the well she dug, but Hua Lei does not want to take the blame.

In the first half of the year, thanks to these excavated ponds and wells, irrigation of crops in Xichang Prefecture was relatively sufficient.

From now on, as long as I use it sparingly, it should be able to last for a while. But it can only last for a while. After all, the flower buds don't know when it will rain.

Looking at the bright sun, Hualei sighed, hoping that there would be no drought this year. Although she was worried, she was also upset when she saw the letter from Prefect Cheng.

However, Hualei did not delay in replying to the letter. In addition to expressing sympathy for the situation in Xining Prefecture, she also said that she was indeed powerless.

There are no extra water trucks in the warehouse. Generally, after the water trucks are made, they will be sent directly to where they are needed and installed.

However, although Hua Lei was not qualified to delegate the technical personnel of the Ministry of Industry, she still conveyed Cheng Zhifu's intention and the current predicament of Xining Prefecture to several personnel of the Ministry of Industry.

Fortunately, Mr. Fu, who was in charge of the Ministry of Works, was also a good official who was dedicated to serving the people. After listening to Hua Lei's message, he considered the importance of the waterwheel and took a few people and Hua Lei's letter to Xining Prefecture the next day to help repair the waterwheel.

For the next period of time, Hualei also paid close attention to the weather conditions and issued a notice to alert the state and county towns below.

On the one hand, we need to ensure the basic irrigation needs of crops, and on the other hand, we need to pay attention to water conservation. In the end, if we really cannot ensure the irrigation needs, we will focus on corn first.

There is no way, corn is still relatively precious, and also has a high yield. The sun hangs high day by day, baking the earth and tormenting the hearts of the flower buds.

Even more tormented than the flower buds was the prefectural governor Cheng of the neighboring Xining Prefecture. It had been nearly three months since it had rained in Xining Prefecture. Many crops in the fields had already turned scorched.

However, due to the low water level in the rivers of the entire Xining Prefecture, the water transported by the waterwheels could not be transported to further places.

Many people carry their own buckets of water to irrigate the fields, but it is just a drop in the bucket and it is difficult to meet the irrigation needs of crops.

A drought struck Xining Prefecture. The neighboring Xi'an Prefecture was also affected. Xichang Prefecture was still struggling to survive because of the last struggle of a few wells.

Originally, I thought this was a pretty bad situation. Unexpectedly, when Hualei and Rongjin were patrolling the fields early in the morning, they found some insects flying in the air.

"Sister Hua, these look like locusts." Rong Jin, who was following behind, was startled and called out to Hua Lei.