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“Why is it so hard?”
After staring blankly for a while, Zhaoji finally replied, “Yeah, why is it so difficult…”
Cai Yong was a renowned Confucian scholar, but after failing in the political arena, the Chenliu Cai family clearly didn’t offer him any protection. Instead, they forced him to take refuge under the Yang family of Taishan, a clan that couldn’t even save their own nephew anymore. They were anything but a prestigious household now.
If the well-known folks had it tough, what about the common folks who had been stuck with nicknames for their entire lives?
In the remote areas with such poor medical conditions, even a simple cold could be lethal or leave behind irreversible aftereffects.
Not to mention the forced conscription during times of war—that was a life-or-death situation.
Now on top of that, we had droughts, and the locust plague was expected to strike within a month.
This was certainly the last straw in an already precarious situation.
Listening to Qiao Yan’s heavy tone, Zhaoji suddenly realized—
What she had seen in Guanzhong, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou under Qiao Yan’s various measures was actually not as dire as it could be.
To assume the conditions in these three states reflected the entire Central Plains situation would be a serious miscalculation.
Those places had no one to speculate on where to find underground water reservoirs through the fans created by mountain runoff. And despite having a mechanical genius like Ma Jun, more of his efforts had to go into digging well channels instead of focusing solely on weapon development.
Now with Huang Yueying as a collaborating genius, they had created a shock-drilling device that was much easier for the public to understand and build.
Cai Zhaoji hurried to catch up with Qiao Yan’s advancing pace and added, “No wonder Lord advised me to continue documenting things in the May issue that people can easily learn from. If this knowledge can help more people survive, then the time and benefits we lost don’t really matter.”
A key piece in the May issue was about how to collect rainwater during the occasional rains in a drought.
This collection wasn’t just about putting a basin outside to catch water.
Household containers were limited; the amount of water collected this way would only be a drop in the bucket relative to what was needed during the drought.
This was about teaching people a better method to retain surface rainwater, letting some of it seep into the ground properly instead of running off quickly and pooling.
Interestingly, one of the methods was derived from controlling the flow of the Wei River.
That was the stone cage.
Learned from the Dujiangyan project, it was like a tiered control structure set up in small rivers during droughts to slow down runoff and allow the water to seep into the soil more effectively.
They already knew how large to weave it and where to place it for the best effect. The folks responsible for water conservancy projects in the three states were quite experienced.
The reason they were publishing it in the Leping Monthly Report was to prevent anyone from thinking it was a malicious act to interrupt water flow and to give people in other states the chance to learn about self-rescue methods.
Compared to when she first suggested trying out printing methods, this was actually a much better time for it to take the stage!
Everyone would just be grateful that there was a way to maximize the effectiveness of the paper medium during a time when it was crucial to raise public awareness and survive disasters. Otherwise, everyone in the painting academy would be buried in transcription work and potentially ruin valuable paper in the process.
However, few noticed that this technology had already opened up an unstoppable tide of progress.
Thinking back to the court meeting where it was decided to print a large quantity of the “Quick Learning Book” as this year’s primary text, Zhaoji couldn’t help but remember Qiao Yan’s promise to her.
Everything will slowly come together.
The “Quick Learning Book” was a primer compiled during the Former Han Dynasty, but it wasn’t just about literacy; it contained a wealth of practical knowledge for daily life. Its printing this year seemed reasonable since the articles in the Monthly Report about practical knowledge to help people survive the hardships had to be made known to the public.
While this might not be as catchy as the children’s rhymes crafted by Yang Xiu during Leping’s time, it had more official legitimacy.
If Zhong Changtong, who had come to pay homage to Qiao Yan in Chang’an half a month ago, were to see this, he might find something interesting in it.
In the “Quick Learning Book,” there was a line that said—
“Noble lords and their vassals, the knowledge they accumulate is not from gods or demons. Fengyi governs the people, being honest and just while fostering closeness.”
This seemed to reflect what Qiao Yan was doing now, emphasizing again the belief that man can conquer nature.
Zhaoji hadn’t thought this far, but as she snapped back from her printing thoughts, she saw Qiao Yan had already walked ahead a bit and hurried to catch up, “My Lord, wait for me!”
Don’t think you can walk so fast just because you’re tall!
Yunang was just a member from a modest village at the foot of Qishan.
Being at the foot of Qishan, she was indeed considered part of the Guanzhong region.
However, it wasn’t like outsiders would assume that those living in this fertile land were leading prosperous lives.
They weren’t.
Not only weren’t they, but the people here might actually be worse off than one could imagine.
During the disturbances caused by the Liangzhou rebels in the Zhangping era, Qishan was right in the mix.
Back then, little Yunang could never forget the chaos, even if she was only four or five.
The marauding bandits who stormed into the Guanzhong region didn’t seem to understand that ever since the court moved from Chang’an to Luoyang at the beginning of the Later Han, Guanzhong was no longer a wealthy land. Rather, it had become a buffer against Liangzhou, where they could wreak havoc, burn, and pillage.
Though they were soon driven back to Liangzhou, leaving the power clashes to play out there, her father died trying to protect their home from these raiders.
It was then that young Yunang found herself shouldering more responsibility at home.
With the loss of a labor force, they couldn’t farm even close to a hundred acres, and the land available in Guanzhong was far less, often leaving them relying on the mountains for survival.
Life in this state was silent and unremarkable, even the death of Emperor Ling felt like a distant and somewhat unreal news.
Then came Dong Zhuo escaping to Chang’an.
Yunang felt relieved that their family had no males, thus avoiding conscription, but amidst the chaotic sounds outside, she overheard whispers of tax increases and couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Clenching her teeth, she counted the meager coins she had saved over the years, but couldn’t even put together a single currency to ease her worries about whether this little savings could last them the year.
Fortunately, because Qishan was likely too poor, it didn’t receive much of Dong Zhuo’s attention.
No soldiers, no land requisition; just people living day by day.
Yunang thought that if they could just keep living like this, it wasn’t so bad.
Then two years later, new troops, a new emperor, and a new army came through here.
All this seemed to them like it was happening behind a thin veil, not truly reaching their front.
Until the subordinate officials under the Grand Minister of Agriculture in Chang’an gradually came to visit, they finally arrived at her doorstep…
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“This is more chaotic than I expected!”
To Yu Niang’s surprise, the visiting officer was actually a woman.
She made quick decisions about how to reorganize the farmland statistics, and even Yu Niang, who lived with her mother and sister, ended up with a total of twenty-five acres.
As the female officer was about to leave, Yu Niang couldn’t help but stare at her curiously for a long time.
Maybe her gaze was a bit too obvious, as the officer caught her looking.
When asked her name, Yu Niang replied with “Yu Niang,” and instead of just walking away, the officer asked, “Which ‘Yu’?”
Yu Niang pointed to the elm tree at the village entrance and said, “This one.”
Suddenly, the officer burst into laughter. “Then we’re quite fated! My name also has a ‘Yu’ in it, just without the ‘wood’ character. ‘Yu’ means peace, so when my lord gave me my name, it was based on that meaning. With your ‘wood’, doesn’t that mean even more peace for you?”
Yu Niang wasn’t so sure; could they really enjoy peace?
Backed by Mount Qishan, their village sat among the east-west mountain range, which hadn’t provided solace in earlier years. Instead, in the twilight, it appeared to be a place hiding countless dangers.
Fortunately, they now had land, which meant they could at least afford to eat.
Her sister soon found a job through the broad hiring opportunities in Chang’an, bringing home a relatively stable salary.
Though the two of them had to manage the planting of those twenty-five acres, Yu Niang felt it was definitely an improvement compared to their past.
At ten years old, she could push the plow distributed to them, and without cows or donkeys to assist, she helped her mother clear and sow the land. They managed to gather a stockpile of grain during the harvests in the first two years of Jian’an.
The farmland might be a bit small, but that was fine; they didn’t eat that much.
Once they had saved enough stored grain for the next year, her mother discussed selling a little of the surplus, given that the grain prices in Guanzhong were stable. If they ran short, they could buy more. This way, their savings jar had a little more jingle to it.
In Yu Niang and her mother’s plan, this money was to be used for next year’s rent on an ox for plowing. The time saved could allow them to do more sewing work and hopefully earn more than the rent in return.
It was quite a profitable deal.
Yu Niang had already made up her mind; once they saved a bit more, they would move closer to the central Guanzhong Plain, getting nearer to the Son of Heaven’s feet. Maybe they’d even run into that officer who said they were fated to meet.
But heaven didn’t seem inclined to favor those like them, who had worked hard to escape from perilous situations and seek a better life.
After her sister returned home for a break, she brought troubling news from the city: a drought and locust plague were expected this year.
Twelve-year-old Yu Niang and her mother opened their savings jar, staring at it reluctantly for a while before deciding to buy a stock of grain.
Not long after hearing this late news, Yu Niang realized their well indeed had less water than before.
The impending drought could dry up even the well water!
They truly needed to stock up, at least enough for another year.
This loss felt like a stab to the heart, and while biting her finger a bit, she inexplicably found herself at the bookstore in Mai County, considering whether to buy the monthly report on display outside.
Three five-cash coins was not too steep for paper and ink, but compared to the price of rice, it was nearly the price of a dou of rice, which wasn’t exactly cheap.
But the shopkeeper said it contained survival methods to cope with disasters, and it’d be better to get one or else they’d have to buy soy sauce just to get the added items.
Seeing it that way, it became a better deal.
Having moved from Qishan to Mai County to save money, Yu Niang was certainly reluctant to buy soy sauce.
Maybe noticing her hesitation while buying the newspaper, the shopkeeper even tossed in an old copy of last month’s issue—
One that was torn and unsellable.
Even though it was a defective item, Yu Niang felt like she had struck gold.
Not being able to read, she and her mother pieced together the illustrations on the paper, guessing along the way.
When they really couldn’t figure something out, they gathered the nearby dozens of households to guess together.
It couldn’t be blamed on the lack of accurate news reaching such a remote corner.
Announcing the drought and locust plague was different from counting the population and farmland.
The government’s management of disasters relied on a top-down approach, checking progressively from the main tributary of the Wei River, which meant any water well must also be followed up in sequence.
Such clusters of dozens of households in the Guanzhong region scattered all around along the slopes of the mountains, so they had to go one by one.
“We should drill a deep well!” Yu Niang pointed at the well-drilling vehicle in the monthly report.
As April rolled in, the village’s well water was drying up, and it wasn’t just affecting their family.
They needed a plan.
The oldest elder in the village asked, “Are you suggesting we build our own drilling rig?”
“Of course not!” Yu Niang’s eyes widened. “Did you see the note next to it? Thefan drill for boring big holes weighs over a thousand pounds and operates with those pulley systems. No way can we afford such a fan!”
“You said it yourself; it says here we should cooperate with the county officer to drill. There must be such equipment allocated in Qishan County City. Isn’t it reasonable for us hundreds of households to dig a well?”
Reasonable! Definitely reasonable!
Even after the chaos of Liangzhou, with the family numbers falling short of five per household on average, there were still a hundred people here. They just wanted a well for survival; that was hardly an unreasonable request.
Yu Niang firmly said, “We’ll go to Qishan County City and see if we can borrow a drilling rig. We can transport it ourselves and operate the well without consuming their manpower.”
The elder thought it over and replied, “Alright! We’ll send more people along.”
Yu Niang’s guess was correct; the drilling rig sent from Chang’an to Qishan County was still lying around waiting for the next phase of deep well drilling to save labor and assist local villagers. As soon as they showed up and made their intentions clear, the drill was handed over to them right away.
As the rig was pushed toward the small village, Yu Niang felt the report in her bag made her eyes shine brightly.
It seemed she had accomplished something incredible.
Even more exhilarating was that during their trip to borrow the rig, the folks who stayed in the village didn’t just sit around waiting.
They had already used their experience to select a good location for deep digging, leveled the well mouth, and set stone rings around it.
The counterweight and cart were secured above the well, and then they continued the tedious process of drilling through the bedrock with the fan drill.
Yu Niang didn’t understand how the lever principle worked, but she knew that with this system in place, even her mother could participate in the self-rescue work while she took charge of farming.
Thus, no matter how severe the drought might become and even as cracks appeared in the soil, in this small village of over a hundred people, things hadn’t reached a point of panic yet.
The thud of the drilling tool was a rhythm that soothed hearts.
Even more exciting was the moment a week later during dusk.
Right when the clanging of iron and rock paused, a voice suddenly rang out, reaching every ear in the village—
“Water! The well has hit water!”
