Chapter 605 - 592: Dilemma

Chapter 605: Chapter 592: Dilemma

“This thing is called a waterwheel.” Zhuang Jingye said from the side, “This was thought up by Miss Zhuang, she drew the blueprints. Our county magistrate then hired skilled craftsmen to specifically make it for watering the farmlands.”

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“It’s not just our village, but all the nearby villages will gradually install waterwheels. From now on, our crops here will be truly spared.”

“Yes, truly spared!” The villagers were also tremendously excited. They all gathered around the incredibly magical waterwheel to take a look, with many trying to step on it to test it out.

Seeing this, Zhuang Jingye hurriedly began to recruit those willing to operate the waterwheel every day, and promised to provide adequate wages.

The source of these wages was contributed by each household according to the size of their land, handed over to him, for him to distribute.

This way, it ensured that everyone’s farmland in the village could be watered without disrupting the normal operations of the village workshops, accomplishing a balance between the two.

Upon hearing Zhuang Jingye’s announcement, young workers volunteered to operate the waterwheel. Elderly women also stepped forward, volunteering their time to cook the meals, and even guaranteed to provide enough flour, rice, and eggs.

Others, upon seeing this, also took out their chickens, ducks, fish, and meat from home to add a nutritious dish for those operating the waterwheels.

Seeing that they couldn’t help much, the children came forward with cattail leaf fans to cool down the ones working hard, making them feel more comfortable.

In short, everyone was thinking about what they could do, and doing their best to overcome this difficult time together.

Zhuang Jingye felt extremely relieved seeing this.

Indeed, the villagers of Enji were truly admirable. At critical times, they never failed to come together and push forward as one.

Zhuang Qingning and Chu Jinnian also exchanged smiles, helping Zhuang Jingye and the officials to secure the waterwheel properly. Then they divided the tasks among themselves. Once decided, they didn’t waste time and began the waterwheel’s round-the-clock operation.

While Enji village was busy, the nearby villages weren’t idle either. With the help of the officials, they each set up their waterwheels to start watering their farmland.

The county’s carpenters were rallied by Xu Zhengping in light of the waterwheel’s success, working relentlessly according to the blueprints to construct waterwheels, ensuring each village had at least two for irrigation.

With the drought situation beginning to be alleviated, rumors about the drought faded away, and Xu Zhengping and Ding Gaochang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After the success of the waterwheel experiment, Chu Jinnian immediately sent people to Lu to open water channels for irrigation. Even though some villages didn’t have rivers to supply water, the alleviation of the drought in most areas was already a great achievement, enough to put people’s hearts at ease.

The drought in Lu was relieved and several county towns also escaped from drought, all thanks to a magical thing called a waterwheel.

This waterwheel was the brainchild of a girl surnamed Zhuang.

For a time, the words ‘waterwheel’ and ‘Miss Zhuang’ were on everyone’s lips, spreading everywhere.

Even in the capital city, they were often brought up.

Upon hearing this, the old Mr. Wei furrowed his brows and immediately made his way to Chu Yunhe’s mansion.

At this point, thanks to old Mr. Wei and other ministers pleading, Chu Yunhe had his confinement lifted.

Seeing it was Mr. Wei who had come, Chu Yunhe quickly invited him into the study and ordered tea be brought to him.

“Mr. Wei, you’ve come at a good time.” Chu Yunhe spoke respectfully, but anxiously, “These days, although the emperor has lifted my confinement, he hasn’t given me anything to do. I can only run errands in the Ministry of Revenue. Meanwhile, Chu Yunzhao has been diligently working at the Ministry of War and has gained credit for suppressing bandits in Lu. His prestige is rising.”

“The emperor has been highly praising Chu Yunzhao recently. I see that the fence-sitters in the court are becoming restless. If it continues like this, it will greatly disadvantage me. Mr. Wei, do you have any solutions to my predicament?”

“The First Prince is a little too anxious.” Mr. Wei took a sip of tea and said quietly.

Chu Yunhe sat down next to Mr. Wei with a disgruntled look, “The emperor has always favored Concubine Hui and her son. Now, he can’t stop talking about Chu Yunzhao. How could I not be anxious?”

“Moreover, there are rumors about the peril Chu Yunzhao and Chu Jinnian faced in Lu. It’s being said that someone wanted to get rid of a potential rival, hence the assassination attempt. When the assassination of Chu Yunzhao failed, they tried to take Chu Jinnian’s life in anger.”

“Aren’t these accusations pointing to me?”

Wei gave Chu Yunhe a glance and put his teacup aside, “Is it done by you, the First Prince?”

Chu Yunhe was taken aback by the question and quickly averted his gaze from Mr. Wei, muttering, “This matter, this matter …”

This matter was indeed his doing. More accurately, it was done at his mother’s suggestion.

His mother said that the emperor’s heart was drifting to Chu Yunzhao. If things went on like this, he would have no chance of being the crown prince. The only way to reverse this situation was to kill Chu Yunzhao when he and Chu Jinnian were suppressing bandits in Lu.

If Chu Yunzhao was dead, among these princes, he would be the only one qualified to be the crown prince, and the throne would be his.

At first, Chu Yunhe was somewhat apprehensive about this proposition, even reluctant. But thinking about how he was the legitimate eldest son and rightfully should be the crown prince, yet the position was being snatched away because of Chu Yunzhao’s emergence, he was filled with resentment.

So, he decided to make Chu Yunzhao disappear.

Chu Yunhe quickly arranged for someone to follow Chu Yunzhao and Chu Jinnian secretly and pass on a secret message to Zhu Shisan to set a trap. He wanted to use Zhu Shisan’s hand to kill Chu Yunzhao and Chu Jinnian.

To ensure that nothing would go wrong, he even sent a top-notch archer to lie in wait for the opportunity to assassinate them.

Initially, everything went according to plan and Chu Yunhe was sure that Chu Yunzhao would be killed. However, the plan failed. Chu Yunzhao was not successfully assassinated, although Chu Jinnian was seriously injured. In the end, Chu Jinnian was saved by a local famous doctor and fully recovered.

Chu Yunhe was extremely annoyed. However, he knew that since the plan had already failed, there was no use discussing it further. Thus, he simply instructed his men to retreat and cleaned up the evidence to ensure there would be no suspicion from others.

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