Daming: Brother, there is no future for monks, let's rebel

Chapter 1461 How about a Yue Fei?

Zhu Qiwu's heart tightened, and he quickly ran over. The crowd parted automatically, revealing a hunched old man with several broken sandbags scattered at his feet—indeed, they contained fist-sized stones.

"Speak! Who ordered you to do this?" Tang He pressed the blade against the old man's neck, veins bulging.

The old man suddenly coughed violently, his withered fingers digging tightly into the ground: "No one ordered me to just take two more liters of millet."

"Bullshit!" Zhou Dexing squeezed through the crowd, clutching a bloodstained waist tag in his hand. "We caught three masked men on the East Embankment; their waist tags were engraved with 'Tuotuo'!"

Zhu Qiwu felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Tuotuo, the Right Chancellor of the Yuan Dynasty, had just been recalled to Dadu last month; who would have thought he'd planted a spy in Chuzhou? He squatted down, picking up a pebble between his fingers: "Old man, how much more grain can you get for each sandbag mixed with pebbles?"

A flicker of panic crossed the old man's cloudy eyes: "Three liters."

"Bullshit!" Tang He kicked over a sandbag. "A normal sandbag gets you five liters, but one mixed with stones only gets you three liters. Do you think I can't count?"

Zhu Qiwu suddenly reached out and grabbed Tang He's knife: "Where is Fourth Brother? I want to see him."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood in the makeshift command tent, a yellowed map spread out before him. Hearing footsteps, he didn't even look up: "Da Zi said you're investigating the underground canals?"

"It's not just the underground channels." Zhu Qiwu grabbed a brush from the table and drew several red circles on the map. "The east dike, south dike, and north dike all have problems. Tuotuo's people are trying to flood Chuzhou!"

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed his finger heavily on the map: "So you want to breach the dike ahead of schedule?"

“Yes!” Zhu Qiwu’s eyes lit up. “Before the flood arrives, we should proactively breach the weak points in the dikes and divert the water to the wasteland west of the city. That area is low-lying and sparsely populated.”

"A wasteland?" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly laughed. "Seventh Five, do you know who lives in the west of the city?"

Zhu Qiwu was stunned. Just then, Xu Da lifted the curtain and entered: "Fourth Brother, Chang Yuchun is here."

A burly man, eight feet tall, strode in, his armor still stained with blood. "Brother Zhu," he said, "as you instructed, the Yuan army's granary in the western suburbs has been burned down. However..." He paused, "we captured a survivor who said that Toqto'a sent a 300-man engineering corps to dig a culvert leading into the city."

Zhu Qiwu felt his heart being gripped tightly. Three hundred engineering troops, plus the already deployed underground channels—Tuotuo was planning a pincer attack!

"System!" he screamed in his mind, "Sign in! Now!"

[Ding! Emergency detected, double reward mechanism triggered]

[Acquired: The complete book on water management by Li Bing and his son during the Tang Dynasty]

[Received: 50 catties of saltpeter]

[Received: 10 Steel Pickaxes]

Countless images flashed before Zhu Qiwu's eyes—the Fish Mouth Weir of Dujiangyan, the Feisha Weir, the Baopingkou (Bottle Neck)—he suddenly grabbed Zhu Yuanzhang's arm: "Fourth Brother, give me two hundred men, three days!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him for a long time, then suddenly turned around and took his sword from the wall: "Xu Da, Tang He, and Zhou Dexing, the three of you will take three hundred personal guards and be at Qi Wu's command!"

"Fourth Brother!" Zhu Qiwu exclaimed anxiously, "Two hundred is enough!"

"A hundred more people will carry sandbags for you." Zhu Yuanzhang shoved the sword into his hand. "Remember, you must be back before dark—your sister-in-law has made chicken soup."

The wasteland west of the city.

Zhu Qiwu knelt in the mud, his fingers groping through the damp soil. The complete works of Li Bing's flood control efforts flashed through his mind when suddenly he touched a smooth stone slab.

"Here it is!" he shouted excitedly. "Dazi, take the men and dig down from here!"

Xu Da swung his shovel, sending dirt flying. Half an hour later, a stone slab engraved with a dragon pattern was revealed. Zhu Qiwu washed the stone slab with water, revealing dense Khitan script underneath.

"This is..." Zhou Dexing leaned closer, "...Yuan dynasty writing?"

"No, it's ancient Liao script." Zhu Qiwu gently traced the engraving with his fingers. "That old fox, Tuotuo, even built the underground canals according to the old Liao dynasty roads!"

Tang He spat out the grass stalks from his mouth: "Who cares about the Liao or Yuan dynasties? One shovel and they're all turned to mud, aren't they?"

"No!" Zhu Qiwu suddenly stood up. "This stone slab is a water diversion gate! Forcibly destroying it will trigger a chain reaction!" He turned to Xu Da, "Da Zi, take some men to cut down twenty poplar trees, each with a diameter of at least one foot!"

"Poplar trees?" Xu Da was stunned. "What would you need trees for?"

"Build a sluice gate!" Zhu Qiwu had already started drawing design plans on the ground. "Hollow out the tree trunks, stuff the inside with hemp fiber, and secure them with iron hoops—this way, it can block the water without completely clogging the underground channel!"

Xu Da stared at the design drawings for a long time, then suddenly slapped his thigh: "Brilliant! This way, the floodwaters can be buffered, and we can divert the main flow before opening the sluice gates."

"Yes!" Zhu Qiwu's eyes lit up. "Besides, poplar trees are resilient and won't be washed away by water pressure!"

Late at night three days later.

Zhu Qiwu stood before the newly built sluice gate, clutching the steel pickaxe he had been rewarded with by the system. A distant, rumbling sound like thunder echoed—the flood was coming.

"Seventh Brother!" Xu Da ran down from the embankment. "The water in the culvert is rising!"

Zhu Qiwu took a deep breath: "Dazi, take men to the east dike and blow up the breach according to plan!"

"But."

"Go now!" Zhu Qiwu kicked him in the backside. "Remember, wait until the main floodwaters have passed before detonating the sluice gates. Don't let the floodwaters destroy them!"

Xu Da and his men had just left when Tang He rushed over: "Something's wrong! There's piping on the north embankment!"

Zhu Qiwu felt a throbbing pain in his temples. Piping was the most dangerous precursor; if not dealt with promptly, the entire dam would collapse in an instant.

"System!" he screamed in his mind, "Sign in again!"

[Ding! High-risk status detected, triggering ultimate reward]

[Originated from: Water Conservancy Chapter of the Song Dynasty's "Complete Essentials of Military Classics"]

[Obtained: Improved version of gunpowder recipe]

[Received: Waterproof raincoat x50]

Zhu Qiwu quickly skimmed through the flood control chapter of the *Wujing Zongyao* (Complete Essentials of Military Classics), then suddenly his eyes lit up: "Old Zhou! Take some men to cut reeds, fresh ones!"

“Reeds?” Zhou Dexing scratched his head. “Now?”

"Yes!" Zhu Qiwu had already started taking off his outer clothes. "Tie the reeds into bundles and tie them to the bamboo raft with hemp rope—quickly!"

While Tang He and his men were throwing bundles of reeds into the piping, Zhu Qiwu was digging a pit next to the sluice gate using a modified version of gunpowder. He had adjusted the ratio of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal to the optimal level, put it in a ceramic jar, and used hemp rope as a delayed fuse.

"Seven-five!" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice suddenly rang out.

Zhu Qiwu looked up and saw his fourth brother riding a horse galloping towards him, followed by dozens of personal guards.

"Are you crazy?" Zhu Yuanzhang jumped off his horse and grabbed his arm. "Gunpowder? You know how dangerous that could be?"

"Fourth Brother!" Zhu Qiwu pointed to the rolling waves in the distance, "If we don't bring in water now, it will be too late!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him for a long time, then suddenly released his grip: "How many men do you need?"

"Twenty daredevils," Zhu Qiwu's voice trembled, "must jump into the culvert when the current is strongest, and stuff the reed bundles into the piping!" "I'll go!" Tang He immediately stepped forward.

"I'm going too!" Xu Da and Zhou Dexing shouted at the same time.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly drew his sword: "Sons of the Zhu family, heed my command!" He pointed his sword to the heavens, "If we die today, we'll still be brothers in the next life!"

Twenty guards knelt down in unison, and Zhu Qiwu felt a tightness in his throat. He turned and lit the fuse, then grabbed two bundles of reeds: "Dazi, come with me!"

The entrance to the culvert was thirty paces away, and the water was already swirling. Zhu Qiwu took a deep breath and jumped into the water.

The icy water instantly seeped into his collar, and he struggled to swim toward the piping. Through the murky water, he saw Tang He and the others battling the current, their bundles of reeds being swept about at an angle.

"System!" he roared inwardly, "Give me power!"

[Ding! Temporarily increase stamina by 200%]

Zhu Qiwu suddenly felt a surge of power within him. He swam like a fish to the piping, using his body to block the flow of water while simultaneously shoving the bundle of reeds into the opening. The water instantly found a new outlet, rushing past him and nearly sweeping him away.

"Hold on!" he heard Xu Da shout from above, "The sluice gate is about to open!"

Just then, a tremor suddenly came from beneath his feet—Zhu Qiwu knew this was a sign that the main current had arrived. He swam upstream with all his might, and as soon as he surfaced, he saw flames shooting into the sky from the sluice gate.

"boom!"

Amidst the deafening explosion, a large hole was blasted open in the sluice gate. The floodwaters rushed towards the barren beach like a wild horse, splitting into two streams before the poplar sluice gate. One stream continued forward, while the other flowed out of the city through a culvert.

Zhu Qiwu was being swept around by the current, when suddenly a large hand grabbed his collar—it was Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Hold on tight!" Fourth Brother's voice boomed in my ear, "We're about to hit the rocks!"

Zhu Qiwu clung tightly to his fourth brother's waist, feeling as if his internal organs were about to shift. After an unknown amount of time, the current finally calmed, and they were washed ashore.

"Cough cough." Zhu Qiwu spat out a few mouthfuls of muddy water, looked up and saw Xu Da and the others dragging bundles of reeds back. "Dazi and the others."

"It's alright," Zhu Yuanzhang patted his back. "I've sent Zhou Dexing with men to meet him."

Cheers erupted in the distance. Zhu Qiwu turned his head and saw the city walls of Chuzhou standing majestically under the moonlight, while the floodwaters that were about to submerge the city were flowing westward in a mighty torrent along the new river channel.

“We won,” he murmured.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly burst into laughter, the sound echoing through the night sky: "Good! As expected of my brother, Zhu Chongba!" He pulled Zhu Qiwu to his feet, "Come on! Let's go home and have some chicken soup!"

When they returned to the command tent, it was already dawn. Madam Feng was ladling chicken soup into a bowl when she saw them enter. She immediately put down her spoon and rushed over, saying, "You're finally back! Quick, drink it while it's hot."

Zhu Qiwu took the bowl, his hands still trembling. He secretly glanced at the system panel—his experience points had increased by a full 5000, and he was only 2000 points away from the next level up.

"Seventy-five," Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly spoke, "Toqto'a will not let this go so easily."

Zhu Qi nodded: "I know. If he can dig hidden channels, he can dig tunnels too. The next thing to guard against is..."

"Fire attack." Xu Da lifted the curtain and entered, soaked to the bone but in high spirits. "I inspected the west side of the city and found several areas of scorched earth—the Tuotuo people are definitely planning to use oil."

Zhu Yuanzhang tapped his fingers on the table: "Therefore, we must strike first."

"Yes!" Zhu Qiwu's eyes lit up. "Fourth Brother, give me ten days, and I can turn Chuzhou into an impregnable fortress!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him for a long time, then suddenly laughed: "Good! But this time..." He paused, "I want to go with you."

Ten days later.

Tuotuo stood three miles outside Chuzhou City, looking at the endless camps before him, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

"Prime Minister," the deputy general rode up, "Our scouts report that a moat three zhang deep and five zhang wide has been dug around Chuzhou City, its bottom paved with sharp stones."

Tuotuo gripped his riding whip tightly: "What about a water attack?"

"The Huangni River has been diverted," the lieutenant said, wiping his sweat. "Now the floodwaters are flowing westward to the wasteland, posing no threat to the city."

"What about fire attack?"

"That won't work either," the lieutenant's voice trembled. "There's a clay pot every ten steps on the city wall, filled with..."

"What's in it?"

"It's filled with black water!" the lieutenant suddenly raised his voice. "The scouts say that yesterday, Yuan soldiers tried to attack the city with fire arrows, but they were doused in black water and their entire bodies caught fire!"

Tuotuo felt a throbbing pain in his temples. He turned to look at the old man beside him—a Liao dynasty remnant whom he had hired at great expense, who was in charge of the underground canal project.

"You said Zhu Yuanzhang had a younger brother," the old man's voice was hoarse, "who could control floods?"

"He's more than just good at controlling floods!" Tuotuo gritted his teeth. "He's practically a monster!"

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from afar. A fast horse galloped in, and the messenger on horseback waved a command flag: "Prime Minister! Urgent report from the capital!"

Tuotuo took the letter tube, unfolded it, and his expression changed drastically: "What? The Emperor wants to summon me back to the capital?"

"Prime Minister!" the deputy general exclaimed urgently, "If we retreat now, all our previous efforts will be for naught!"

"Shut up!" Tuotuo kicked his deputy in the chest. "The Emperor has ordered me to return to the capital immediately; there are important matters to discuss!" He turned to look at Chuzhou City, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Qiwu—I will settle this score with him sooner or later!"

On the city wall.

Zhu Qiwu, holding his binoculars, watched as the Yuan army began to break up their camp, and let out a long sigh of relief: "Finally, they're gone."

"Don't be too happy yet," Zhu Yuanzhang said, standing beside him. "Tuotuo is narrow-minded; after this setback, he'll definitely come back for revenge."

Zhu Qiwu put down his binoculars, a smirk playing on his lips: "Then let him come. Fourth Brother, I have another plan."

"What plan?"

"Build a water fortress." Zhu Qiwu's eyes lit up. "Build a water fortress on the shore of Chaohu Lake, and train a navy. When Tuotuo comes again..." He made a chopping gesture, "he'll never return!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him for a long time, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Good! We'll do it your way! But," he paused, "this time I want to supervise it personally."

"Fourth Brother, are you also going to learn about flood control?" Zhu Qiwu joked.

“No,” Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, “I want to learn how to be a good older brother.” He put his arm around Zhu Qiwu’s shoulder, “Come on! Let’s go home, your sister-in-law has made chicken soup again.”

Zhu Qiwu followed with a smile, when he suddenly heard a system notification:

[Ding! Host's prestige has reached 10000, unlocking a new feature: Summoning historical figures]

He paused, a flicker of excitement in his eyes. Summon a historical figure? He wondered who he could summon.

"Seventy-five?" Zhu Yuanzhang turned around.

"They're here!" Zhu Qiwu quickly caught up, already plotting in his mind—next time he encounters Tuotuo, perhaps he should summon Li Bing for help? Or... Yue Fei? (End of Chapter)