Rain was falling.

The clouds were tinged with a hint of blue, the sky only half-bright, as heavy rain turned the yellow mud in the courtyards, beside the ruins, and along the streets into streams of muddy water. The sounds of clearing continued to echo through the rain, as workers in raincoats pushed carts and dragged wooden baskets, still removing debris and carrying away discarded earth and stones. Such scenes were everywhere, in every street and courtyard.

Inside what used to be the Su family's courtyard in Peaceful Lane, many sheds had been erected. In the rain, water dripping from the eaves formed curtains. A small figure, wearing—or rather, holding—a bamboo hat, ran through a short stretch of rain and then, reaching the shelter of the eaves, peered into a room. It was a girl of about four or five years old, her head bandaged where she had been injured.

It had only been a few days since the earthquake, and conditions everywhere were poor. The room the girl was looking into was cluttered with various objects, but the cabinets, the large bed, and the dryness suggested it was in fairly good shape. She peered timidly at the room, and the man inside saw her and beckoned.

"Brother-in-law Uncle..."

The little girl called out and entered the room. The man checked the bandage on her head and tapped it lightly. "Does it still hurt?"

"A little..."

"Then rest in the room and don't run around."

"But there's no one in the room, it's so boring. What are you doing, Brother-in-law Uncle? Can I help?"

"This is dangerous, you can't touch it yet. And you have an injury on your head. Here, have a candy and sit beside me to watch."

The man called "Brother-in-law Uncle" was naturally Ning Yi. The little girl was the daughter of one of the Su family's accountants, named Chen Ji Rou. She had been hit on the head by something during the earthquake, drawing blood, but later, an examination revealed that her injuries weren't severe. A stroke of luck. Only two or three days had passed, and she was already bouncing around everywhere.

Although it was raining, the sheds were sturdy, and there were no leaks inside. The ground was dry, and several wooden baskets and sieves were placed on the floor, some propped up on benches. These containers were filled with mixtures of powder. In the rain and the dampness of early autumn, the powders weren't completely dry. Ning Yi took some and spread it in a line on the ground nearby.

"Be careful, stay away."

He said to the little girl, then touched a lit fire stick to the line. With a "whoosh," flames erupted and then dissipated into smoke. The little girl gasped and shrank into herself, but after blinking several times, her eyes widened, trying to see the scene clearly.

Su Tan'er, followed by Chan'er and Juan'er, entered from outside. Chan'er curiously craned her neck, while Juan'er adjusted her position behind Su Tan'er, trying to make herself rounder, attempting to align herself with her master and mistress, with the ultimate goal of not being seen by Ning Yi.

"Husband, is that... gunpowder?"

Su Tan'er frowned slightly and walked over, picked up little Ji Rou, glancing at the bandage on her head, but her gaze remained fixed on Ning Yi. When she and Ning Yi had gotten married, she had been the type to ask about and understand everything. That was out of a sense of responsibility. At this point, she no longer questioned what Ning Yi was doing or his unexpected actions. Even if Ning Yi blew up, burned, or demolished the house, she wouldn't be angry as long as she saw that Ning Yi had done it. She would probably even study with her husband how to demolish it faster. But at this moment, she was naturally still curious and hesitant, after all, gunpowder seemed dangerous.

"Yes, I took the opportunity to mix some. This stuff is dangerous, we'll move it to the back later, and have someone watch it. It absolutely can't come into contact with fire."

Ning Yi put the gunpowder into small wooden buckets, hammering them tight. Little Chan crouched next to him, watching, and then went over to help: "It's the barrel that husband ordered dragged from the Qian family a few days ago."

"I added some things." Ning Yi looked at Su Tan'er and then smiled, "Just preparing for a rainy day. Hopefully it won't be needed, otherwise, this won't be of much use."

Afterward, the family carefully packed the gunpowder into small buckets, then called for people to move them to a slightly secluded room in the back, where things could be stored. Ning Yi put on a raincoat and went outside. Su Tan'er, carrying the little girl, and Chan'er and Juan'er, holding umbrellas, followed. Outside the courtyard gate, Xing'er, her clothes soaked, was directing the family in moving things from the ruins, deciding what to throw away and what to take inside to store. Even Geng, the bodyguard, and others listened to her instructions. She appeared to be a young woman with a leadership quality similar to Su Tan'er.

Seeing Ning Yi and the others, she pushed back her wet hair and trotted over, lifting her skirt.

On the street, other families from Peaceful Lane were passing by in the rain, pushing carts or carrying baskets. When they saw Ning Yi, they respectfully called him Su family's brother-in-law or Ning family's brother-in-law, or even Young Master Ning or Master Ning. The titles were quite chaotic, but they were greetings nonetheless.

The reason for all of this ultimately stemmed from the events of the earthquake night and the two or three days that followed. Ning Yi's experience with earthquake relief was limited. However, having seen many informations from his previous life, he understood the basic measures. He led the people in sorting out their own affairs, and then helped other families in Peaceful Lane.

Initially, it was just a helping hand, but in such an emergency, many things couldn't be hidden. Ning Yi directed the excavation and rescue efforts, and as his ability to strategize, command, and control the overall situation gradually emerged, others couldn't help but follow his arrangements. The entire operation ran smoothly. After rescuing many people and avoiding several disasters caused by recklessness, everyone naturally remembered him.

This wasn't something that could be achieved through clever tricks, nor was it particularly amazing, shining brilliantly from the moment it was revealed. It was an aura that had been cultivated by being in a decision-making position for a long time. If a homebody had been present and given a leadership position, that person would inevitably be flustered and lack confidence. Even a single command would cause people to distrust and feel that the person was unreliable. But even if Ning Yi casually said an order like "This is what should be done," others would instinctively feel that "this person knows what he's doing," and few people would question the aura that Ning Yi displayed in an emergency. This made the entire scene orderly.

This was ultimately the natural confidence of someone who had long shouldered responsibility. When he truly grasped some basic points and could make people obey the order, the remaining matters seemed simple.

Afterward, they moved things, rescued people, scolded those moving debris not to cause secondary collapses, and, with the cooperation of others, moved the bodies under the ruins out of Peaceful Lane for cremation as soon as possible, without encountering too much resistance. In other parts of the city, this was being forcibly carried out by soldiers, and major conflicts had almost broken out.

Subsequently, the several families in this lane were more or less influenced by Ning Yi and Su Tan'er. To be honest, Ning Yi had married into the Su family, and he should have been called Su family's brother-in-law, but some people knew his surname was Ning, so they addressed him by his surname, with Ning family's brother-in-law, Master Ning, and Young Master Ning being used interchangeably. Su Tan'er and her three maids also put in a lot of effort under those circumstances, but they were women, and strangers naturally didn't want to speak to them presumptuously.

On the first day after the earthquake, Ning Yi had people drag enough grain from the Qian family to store, and by the way, he also asked the Qian family to get two barrels of gunpowder. Today was the third day of rain, and Ning Yi finally had some free time to further process the gunpowder. At this time, the military was already using black powder, but its performance wasn't the best. Some places equipped with firearms to defend the city were just throwing barrels of gunpowder down. Ning Yi made some modifications to the black powder's ingredients, adding and subtracting some. After all, there wasn't a very precise processing environment at this time, but he could still improve its performance somewhat, so that it would be usable.

No matter how good the performance of black powder was, it was still far inferior to smokeless powder, which required chemical processes. Ning Yi's enthusiasm for gunpowder was actually due to inertia. It could simply be used for things like landmines and bombs. In fact, sulfuric acid and other substances already existed in this era. He had messed around in Jiangning for more than a year. If he had been there, he could have really created some smokeless powder, or a prototype of smokeless powder like nitrocellulose. However, early smokeless powder was too dangerous, so he had always put it aside. He was also unwilling to entrust these processes to others, otherwise, Kang Xian and others would have been waiting to be blown to smithereens. But here in Hangzhou, he just wanted to deal with an emergency, so he couldn't do so much.

After all, the ancient economic and social systems made it difficult for Ning Yi to have enough security. The first thing he did when a disaster occurred was to hoard grain, and gunpowder was also a precaution, not that something was really going to happen. In the past few days, the Hangzhou government had initially controlled the situation in the city, but various uneasy events were still happening.

Because of the upheaval, some Jianghu people were taking risks, fighting over property, and various conflicts were arising due to the cremation of bodies. The neighborhood head of Peaceful Lane had died in the earthquake, and the deputy head had no backbone. These days, he had also looked for Ning Yi to discuss repairing the walls around Peaceful Lane and organizing the young and strong to patrol.

In the city, things like one street's people fighting another street's people had also happened several times, usually because of small disputes caused by individuals, or friction caused by everyone organizing to dig through the ruins. Later, it quickly escalated. There were also some homeless beggars and thieves who were searching for money and goods in the ruins at night.

Before the rain, everyone was given a day to buffer, but a considerable portion of the families in the city hadn't been able to move out their stored grain and money. Large households like the Qian family had enough manpower, and the overall grain reserves in Hangzhou wouldn't suffer too much loss. However, due to the losses of small families, grain prices in the city still soared these days. Even in the face of disaster, after initial control, some people still took the opportunity to open shops and raise prices to make exorbitant profits.

Amidst the heavy rain, after examining his own family's situation, the deputy neighborhood head came over and pulled Ning Yi to visit the families of some of those who had died in the lane. Ning Yi went along with him. The elderly mother of a wealthy merchant named Tang at the end of the lane had been crushed to death by a collapsed house, but his son had been rescued by Ning Yi later. At this time, a simple mourning hall had been set up, and they were wearing mourning clothes. While crying, they also pulled Ning Yi to express their gratitude. The deputy neighborhood head probably wanted to recommend him to take charge. Later, he mentioned various connections with the government and couldn't help but talk about his status as someone who had married into the family. Ning Yi glossed over a few sentences, feeling increasingly disgusted. He pushed the matter aside and went back. The coachman, Dong Zhu, who had been sent out to inquire about the situation in the city, had also returned, and was taking off his raincoat and beginning to report what he had seen and heard.

"I don't know why, even though the rain is heavy, the number of displaced people coming from outside the city seems to be increasing. The collapsed city walls are already being repaired. The military men of the Wude Camp have sealed the city. If it weren't for the pass given by the brother-in-law, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to get in. Those displaced people can't get in, and they're causing trouble outside. The people from the yamen are also distributing grain for disaster relief, but the people in the city can't get enough to eat, and the displaced people outside are about the same..."

Letting Dong Zhu go out was mainly to observe the situation outside the city. Su Tan'er sighed after hearing this.

"The west has been at war, and displaced people are running this way. This earthquake means that the disaster-stricken people from dozens of miles around have all come here."

Ning Yi thought for a moment and smiled: "Before, when we were in Jiangning, whenever there were small disasters, people from the surrounding areas would also gather in the city, right?"

His words were somewhat like confirmation, and somewhat like a test, after all, he didn't know exactly what the situation had been like in the past. Su Tan'er looked at him, thought for a moment, and then nodded: "Yes, the city is always richer than the countryside, and the government is in charge. To reduce the number of people starving to death, they always have to distribute grain... What is husband thinking about?"

"The rice is almost ripe, at most a month and a half, and this season's rice will be harvested. Earthquakes like these are big, but besides the people who were crushed to death by collapsed houses, the rest can always find some surplus grain to get through this time. How come so many people have come at once..."

"Husband thinks there's a problem?"

Xing'er also widened her eyes: "Fang... Fang La? Does brother-in-law mean..."

Ning Yi smiled and shook his head: "No, I'm probably overthinking it. There were already many displaced people coming from the west. We've only been here for two months, and we don't know how many displaced people there would have been before. It's irresponsible to say there are more without a reference. I may be thinking this way because we're not locals, so everything seems sensitive. The Hangzhou government doesn't lack capable people, and they should have considered and prepared for these things. But... it's a pity the river channel collapsed, otherwise I would have preferred to get a boat and go back to Jiangning in a few days. We were originally planning to leave anyway. Now, if we were to take the land route, it wouldn't be necessary when the displaced people are scattered. By the way, is there anything happening in the city?"

Dong Zhu thought for a moment: "Oh, the Qian family, the Mu family, and several other families started selling grain this morning, and the price is three times what it used to be, but it's much cheaper than others. Also, it's been raining for a few days, and the matter of digging and burning the bodies isn't as urgent as it was a few days ago. This morning, some people in the north of the city fought with the soldiers who were dragging the bodies. The fight was really fierce. I heard that one person was killed on the spot, and now they're causing a ruckus at the government office..."

Ning Yi frowned. It was foreseeable that the big landlords would start stabilizing grain prices. Although most people see merchants or landlords as evil, such a chaotic city of Hangzhou is simply not in their interest. The best approach is naturally to carry out a new round of annexation and encroachment during the entire recovery process. However, the matter of the bodies is...

"It's raining so hard, it shouldn't matter much if they bury them later," Su Tan'er thought, smiling. Although she also knew the necessity of cremating the bodies, as someone from this era, she still had a certain aversion to burning people directly after death. Relatively speaking, the heavy rain gave everyone a chance to buffer. However, seeing Ning Yi frowning, she asked in a low voice, "Husband?"

Ning Yi smiled, without speaking.

That night, the heavy rain seemed to be weakening. The couple stood by the window of the shed, looking out. Candles were lit in the room, and although the room was simple, it was a warm light for Su Tan'er. Occasionally, people would walk past outside, or there would be fragments of conversation. She was also tired from the day. After taking a bath, she put on a light garment and held Ning Yi's hand: "What is husband thinking about?"

"If the rain stops tomorrow, I want to go to the city gate to see what the situation is like outside. Dong Zhu said there are many people, but I don't know how many there really are."

Su Tan'er rested her chin on his shoulder: "Let's go together... Does husband still think it's dangerous here?"

"It's not that," Ning Yi put his arm around her shoulder, "I think that if I were Fang La, I would take advantage of the opportunity to attack Hangzhou. But I don't know anything about the strength and deployment of the Wude Camp, the Hangzhou government's control over this area, or even the situation on Fang La's side, so there's no basis for saying that. Logically speaking, the peasant army's command, speed, and combat power must all be problematic. The Hangzhou government isn't lacking in talent, and people like Lu Tuizhi aren't incompetent. They were able to stop Fang La before, and they will definitely be more vigilant now, so from this perspective, I'm more inclined to think that nothing will happen in Hangzhou. I'm just going to take a look... To take a step back, if Fang La is really preparing to take this place, the reaction shouldn't be so quick..."

Su Tan'er nodded. At this time, she was feeling lazy, and didn't want to think about things by Ning Yi's side. Then, she heard Ning Yi say: "The bodies, on the other hand, are a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"If I were Lu Tuizhi, I would arrest people tomorrow and make an example of them, dragging out and killing a batch. Announce to the public that this group of people colluded with Fang La, deliberately left the bodies to provoke conflict, and secretly plotted to seize the city during the chaos. After this matter is announced, everyone in the city will no longer have any objections to the disposal of the bodies, and there will be much less trouble in the future..."

"But the city will be chaotic..."

"It won't be chaotic. No one believes that Fang La won't attack Hangzhou, and by using the power of this killing, they can legitimately strengthen the control of Hangzhou inside and out, and prepare for war. In this situation, a high degree of centralization and decisive action are the best policy..."

Then, he laughed: "Of course, if he really did this, the prefect would encounter many problems. There is infighting in the officialdom, and this extreme method of consolidating power would definitely encounter great resistance... I'm just thinking about it."

His wife said "Mm," and then said softly: "Chan'er's matter has been postponed again, and the poetry meeting, husband clearly made such a good poem, and in the blink of an eye, there was an earthquake..."

Regarding this, the wife, who loved her husband's reputation as a talented scholar, had always felt resentful.

******************

Also at night, on the other side of the city, there were also people in the darkness watching the rain, and on the other side of the rain, there was light, in the ruins, there was a hastily erected mourning hall shed, but the mourning hall had already half collapsed.

There were two people talking.

"The heavy rain looks like it's going to stop. Once the rain stops tomorrow, the Hangzhou government will definitely not be able to ignore those bodies that haven't been dug out... Haha, I'm afraid the stench will come out by then..."

"If it had been hot all the time, the bodies would probably have been dug out one by one by now. This heavy rain has helped us. This urgency and slowness means they're taking chances... But it won't stop tomorrow, it should rain for another day."

"That's good, so we can prepare more fully. Another day of delay, and Buddhist Commander, Xin Xingzong, Liu Dabiao, and others should also be here. Zao Shitou (Stone Carver), you seem to have said something before, 'Heaven bestows, but you do not take, and you will suffer the consequences.' Is that what this is about? Haha, in my opinion, Hangzhou should be what heaven has given us... It's a pity, it's been shaken up like this..."

"Heaven bestows, but you do not take, and you will suffer the consequences; the time has come, but you do not act, and you will suffer the calamity... We were just preparing to come here, and it had an earthquake. It's probably really providence... Once we take this place, and Master Nang, Brother Daoan, and others respond everywhere, the matter of the southeast should be settled."

"Haha, you're always so literary. I say, Zao Shitou, you're so well-learned, why were you always carving stones in the mountains? You could have come out to be a teacher."

"The Dao is not practiced, I would rather hide in the mountains and carve my stones than come out and teach a bunch of kids to read their books..."

"Well-learned, but I don't understand. But it doesn't matter, I, Shi Bao, am a rough man. I'll do whatever you say, and I'll kill whoever you say. Haha, when... like you said, the southeast is settled, and Sage Duke becomes the emperor, let him give you a prime minister's position, and I'll be a great general. Then, in the brothels, I can sleep with whoever I want... Tsk, I heard there are many beautiful girls in Hangzhou, I hope they all survive. I won't bully them, I'll pay, hahahaha..."

The laughter faded away somewhat arrogantly. The dark shadow standing by the window watched the rain silently for a while, then laughed: "Heh, if carving stones didn't make more money than teaching, who the hell would carve stones? Good question..." He sighed, casting his gaze further, a murmur vibrating in the rain.

"I've been waiting for this day..."

******************

The next day, the rain was still falling, only slightly lighter. After breakfast, Ning Yi, Su Tan'er, and Chan'er still took a carriage and left Peaceful Lane, heading towards the city gate to see the situation outside the city with their own eyes... (To be continued.) Please vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Please support (Complete Book Gods) to share this site with those who need it! Leave a message if you can't find a book!