I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With-Chapter 1363: Side Story: Mu Bowen (1)

Mu Bowen quickly walked into the hall and took off his bamboo hat and raincoat. Looking at the sleet outside, a frown formed on his face. He slowly exhaled and asked the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, Li An, who had come with him, "What’s the situation in the north?"

Li An rubbed his hands and exhaled a mouthful of hot air. "Since Jiangnan is already so cold, it’s naturally even colder in the north. These few days, the six ministries have been drowned in memorials reporting disasters in the provinces."

With a bitter expression, Li An said, "I don’t know what’s gone wrong these past few years. Natural disasters kept happening. Fortunately, Great Qi has recuperated for nearly 20 years and has good seeds. Otherwise..."

Otherwise, the natural disasters in the past few years would make the people of Great Qi suffer unspeakably.

Although each disaster was not serious, there were a few regions that suffered from drought or floods every year. There were also snowstorms in winter. Furthermore, according to the Ministry of Revenue’s statistics, the number of disasters has been increasing every year. At first, the officials of the six ministries and the Supervisory Ministry suspected that these were man-made disasters, but after investigation, they realized that they were truly natural disasters.

The Imperial Astronomer’s predictions had also become increasingly pessimistic. The State Preceptor even said that the next 20 years would be the most difficult time for Great Qi because during this period, there would be endless natural disasters.

As expected, five years after the State Preceptor’s prediction, which was this year, the temperature had generally dropped throughout the country. In the past, it was only autumn in October in Jiangnan, and one only needed to wear a jacket. However, this October, they had already put on a thick coat. It was even sleeting now. According to the Imperial Astronomer, the temperature would drop further in the next few days. At that time, it would probably snow heavily in Jiangnan.

As the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, Li An was also under a lot of pressure. Due to the abnormal weather, most of the people’s harvest depended on the water conservancy facilities, and the Ministry of Works was in charge of water conservancy construction.

This year, the Ministry of Works had also been given the task of building a shelter. Knowing that Mu Bowen had done a lot of research on this, he came to visit at night.

Mu Bowen had been liaising with the Ministry of Works all these years, so he was very familiar with Li An. At this moment, he didn’t stand on ceremony and directly led him into the study. He asked, "Will the winter shelters only be built in the capital or everywhere?"

The servants quickly added two braziers to the study and served hot tea and snacks before bowing and leaving.

Li An took a sip of hot tea and sighed in satisfaction, then said, "The Ministry of Revenue is quite willing to pay this time. After all, it’s the second year of the new emperor’s coronation. His Majesty also contributed some money from his inner treasury, so we’re building winter shelters in all the prefectural capitals, too. The upper counties can also apply to build one, but the middle counties and lower counties will share a shelter between three neighboring counties. Not only does our Ministry of Works have to design warm and spacious relief shelters, but we also have to verify the various fees. After that, we also have to appoint officials to check if the constructions in various places are up-to-standard. In short, we’re extremely busy. As you know, our Ministry of Works has many skilled craftsmen. But when it comes to building cheap, safe, and spacious housing, I reckon I ought to come to you."

Smiling, Li An continued, "After all, you know the Ministry of Works inside out. Over the years, you’ve traveled to many regions from the south to the north. I’m afraid no one in the Ministry of Works can compare to you in terms of qualifications and ability. How about it? Are you willing to work in our ministry? If you’re willing, I’ll give up the position of Left Assistant Minister to you, and become your subordinate instead."

When Mu Bowen heard this, he could not help but laugh out loud. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "Forget it. Considering I’ve left the bureaucracy for so many years, it’s impossible for me to return to be an official now. It’s better to let the Imperial Court hire me on a project basis as usual."

Mu Bowen pondered for a moment and said, "Speaking of keeping warm, there’s nothing better than the brick bed used in the north. However, it uses up too much firewood. If the weather is indeed as cold as the State Preceptor predicted, and the entire Great Qi is heating up brick beds, do we even have enough firewood on the mountains to burn?"

"Let me think about whether we can build a relief shelter that requires less firewood. Even if we have to start a fire, we have to make use of it in multiple ways and not just for heating. Besides, safety is also of paramount importance." Mu Bowen walked to the desk in deep thought. "You might not be aware, but there are often suffocation cases due to the heating of brick beds using firewood in the north. I have to think of a way to reduce this threat."

Since each relief shelter was going to house more than a hundred people, if an accident really happened, it would be disastrous.

"The relief shelter is urgent, but there’s something else that’s also urgent." Li An said, "The relief shelter is for those who don’t have the means to build houses or are homeless. We also have to think about the other commoners and see if we can reduce their burden, especially in the north. It’s said that coal has already risen to six copper coins per catty, almost comparable to the price of corn meal."

Mu Bowen couldn’t help but frown and ask, "How are we going to build relief shelters at this time with the biting cold outside? Once people go out, they’ll freeze and turn into snowmen."

Li An smiled bitterly. "That’s why I said that the Ministry of Revenue and His Majesty are spending a lot of money this time. His Majesty can’t bear to let the commoners provide labor for free, so he can only spend money to hire people. It’s said that some places in the north pay up to 50 copper coins a day, and they even provide lunch."

One had to know that the daily salary of an average person was only about 20 copper coins.

Mu Bowen could not help but worry for the new emperor.

The Emperor Emeritus suddenly abdicated his position to the new emperor last year. Although there was a natural disaster last year, it was not as serious as this year.

At the beginning of spring this year, it started not to rain in Sichuan and other places. Fortunately, they had started building reservoirs and canals a few years ago which allowed them to draw water from the reservoirs and rivers to irrigate the fields. As such, the commoners still had a pretty decent harvest.

However, in autumn, it began to rain continuously intermittently south of the Yangtze River. If the grains could not dry properly after they were harvested, they would germinate and grow roots in the ground. It was simply experiencing two extremes in a short period of time.

However, what really made people sense that a huge disaster was coming was because of the low temperatures and rain that continued to fall after winter in the south, while it started snowing in the north in mid-September.

The area around Jiangnan was still alright. It was said that there was a flash flood in Guangdong and Guangxi. There were several memorials submitted by the provinces requesting to open up the warehouses and release grain relief.

At this moment, there were faint rumors outside that the new ruler had not received the approval of the heavens, so the heavens had sent a calamity to teach him a lesson.

Since even a civilian scholar like Mu Bowen had heard the rumors, let alone the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works. This was also one of the reasons why he so anxiously came to Mu Bowen.

Firstly, Mu Bowen had a close relationship with King Rong’s estate and supported the new emperor. Such a person would definitely not cause any trouble at such a critical juncture. Secondly, Mu Bowen’s achievements in engineering and construction were probably unparalleled in the entire Great Qi.

After all, he had been learning in the Ministry of Works for six years, plus he had traveled around and studied county records all over the country. He was familiar with all the ministers who were familiar with water conservancy and master craftsmen who were capable. He was also good at learning. Over the years, he had been specially hired by the Ministry of Works to design and build a total of 28 water conservancy facilities for Great Qi. He had also participated in the Yellow River dredging project which spanned from the 18th year of Taikang to the 25th year of Taikang. For this, he had designed water conservancy facilities to facilitate irrigation, as well as reservoirs to store water.

Even their minister could only sigh about how the new generation surpassed the old when he heard his idea back then.

It was obvious how brilliant Mu Bowen was.

When the people in the capital and the ministers in the court mentioned Mu Bowen, they mostly referred to him as "King Rong’s brother-in-law", "Queen Consort Rong’s younger brother", and "General Mu’s eldest son". However, when the officials of the Ministry of Works, from the ministers to the low-ranking officials, mentioned Mu Bowen, they respectfully referred to him as Teacher Qinghe. The book authored by him titled ’Sangtian Water Conservancy’ could be said to be a masterpiece.

From this, one could see Mu Bowen’s reputation in the water conservancy industry.

When a man who possessed talent in a certain area decided to dedicate his life to working relentlessly on that matter, his achievements would be immeasurable. Mu Bowen was one such instance.

Even if Mu Bowen didn’t have an official position now, Li An was sure that he would definitely leave his name in history in a hundred years or a thousand years. It wasn’t because he was King Rong’s brother-in-law, nor was it because he was General Mu’s eldest son. It was because of his achievements in building water conservancy facilities and his contribution to the people of Great Qi.