Chapter 37 The Yellow River Floods, Worries for Chaoge

Great Shang, Zhaoge.

The continuous torrential rain had been falling for seven full days.

The sky seemed to have sprung a leak, with black clouds pressing down so low that they felt as if they might crush this majestic royal city to pieces.

The news of the Yellow River breaching its banks in the middle reaches arrived at the royal palace on the morning of the seventh day, accompanied by the muddy, turbid floodwaters.

Inside the great hall, the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive.

King Wendin sat on his throne, his expression as gloomy as the sky outside the window.

He looked down at the ministers kneeling across the floor, his eyes flickering with irritability and unease.

"Breached?" King Wending of Shang's voice was hoarse, revealing a sense of powerlessness.

"What I want to hear is not just two words, but a solution! Ten thousand miles of fertile land downstream have been destroyed; if the refugees flood into Zhaoge, is this world even worth saving anymore?"

There was a deathly silence in the great hall.

A moment later, an old official in green robes stepped out tremblingly and knelt on the ground, his voice carrying a hint of eerie fanaticism.

"Your Majesty, the Yellow River is the Dragon of the Earth Veins. This flood must be the Dragon God's wrath. This old subject believes we should select a thousand boys and girls to sacrifice to the River God to appease the disaster!"

As his voice fell, many officials around him echoed in agreement.

"I agree! This is Heaven's will, beyond human power."

"Only through sacrifice can we show the sincerity of Great Shang."

Chen Lie stood among the military generals, listening to these words, his fists clenching until they creaked.

He suddenly took a step forward, his military attire clashing with a crisp metallic sound in the hall.

"Scoundrels!"

Chen Lie's eyes widened in fury, and he pointed at the old official's nose, cursing:

"The Dragon God's wrath? I think your brains have been soaked to mush by the water! Thousands of lives—those are living, breathing children! As officials of the imperial court,"

"instead of thinking about repairing the dikes and dams, or finding ways to resettle the refugees, you want to rely on killing people to make the rain stop? If the water doesn't recede after the sacrifice, are you going to throw everyone in Zhaoge into the river too?"

"General Chen, you..." The old official was so scolded that his face turned red, his hand pointing at Chen Lie trembling.

"General Chen." King Wending of Shang rubbed his brow, interrupting the argument. He looked at Chen Lie with a complex expression.

"If you say we shouldn't sacrifice, do you have a better plan? The water level rises day by day. I will give you three days. If you have no better plan, the burden of flood control will fall upon your Chen family."

Chen Lie was stunned.

Flood control? He was just a brute who led troops in battle; he was good at charging into the fray, but repairing river dikes?

"Your subject... accepts the decree." Chen Lie gritted his teeth and agreed.

He knew this was not a major responsibility at all; it was King Wending of Shang using him as a scapegoat. If he couldn't control the flood, the Chen family would become the target of public criticism.

...

Chen Residence.

When Chen Lie returned home, he was soaked through, his armor covered in mud spots.

He plopped down onto a chair in his study, looking at the map of Great Shang's territory on the table, his brow furrowed into a knot.

Flood control.

How could he control it?

He spread out the map; the winding Yellow River looked like a venomous snake waiting to devour someone.

He gestured with his hands, drawing a circle here, an X there, feeling more annoyed the more he looked.

"Father, water flows to lower ground. You can block the opening, but you cannot block the momentum."

A childish voice rang out from the study door.

Chen Lie looked up to see five-year-old Chen Yuan standing at the door, holding a few black and white chess pieces, his eyes looking calmly at the map.

"Yuaner? Why are you here?" Chen Lie forced a smile.

"Go, go, go, go play with your mother. Father is dealing with something frustrating."

Chen Yuan did not move; he walked to the table with his short legs, reached out his little hand, and gently tapped the spot on the map where the Yellow River had breached.

"Father, your current chess game is completely wrong."

Chen Lie was stunned, then found it somewhat amusing: "A chess game? This is a major matter of flood control, not your stone game."

"Flood control is a chess game." Chen Yuan's voice was very soft, but carried an unquestionable certainty.

"The Yellow River is the black piece, Great Shang is the white piece. If you only think about blocking, it's like trying to use one piece on the board to capture the opponent's entire Dragon. That is called greed."

He reached out, placed a black piece on the breach, then picked up a few more pieces from the side and placed them between several mountain ranges in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.

"Here, here, and here." Chen Yuan pointed to several high grounds on the map.

"Although these places are high in elevation, the soil is loose. When the water pressure is too great, forcing a block will only make the dikes collapse faster."

Chen Lie looked at his son's fingers, his heart jolting.

These places were exactly the hidden danger points mentioned during the Ministry of Works' survey, but because the terrain was complex, they had never been given attention.

"Then what should be done?" Chen Lie asked subconsciously.

"Divert the flow."

Chen Yuan picked up a white piece and drew an arc next to the Yellow River's course.

"The Yellow River's water is high because the downstream riverbed is silted and the flow is obstructed. Instead of desperately guarding this one breach, it is better to open diversion channels in the upper reaches to lead the water toward the wasteland. Give the water a path, and it won't slam into your walls."

"Divert?" Chen Lie's eyes widened.

"That would mean flooding the wasteland of several counties downstream, and even relocating many villages! This..."

"Compared to flooding the entire downstream plain, or even striking Zhaoge, these few pieces of wasteland are the discarded pieces of this chess game."

Chen Yuan looked up, his pure eyes reflecting the lightning outside the window.

"Father, a chess player must know how to sacrifice. To protect the Dragon, abandoning a few small pawns—this trade-off is worth calculating."

Chen Lie gasped.

He looked at his son before him, feeling a chill surge from the soles of his feet to his crown.

How is this a five-year-old child?

This is clearly a cold and ruthless chess player standing on high ground.

Overlooking this land, treating thousands of living beings as chess pieces, conducting a precise game!

"You... where did you learn all this?" Chen Lie's voice was somewhat dry.

Chen Yuan tilted his head, revealing an innocent smile: "Didn't Father teach me? Warfare is the Dao of deception. Water is the same."

Chen Lie fell silent.

He looked at the diversion route Chen Yuan had drawn on the map, then thought of those mediocre officials in the imperial court who only knew how to pray to gods and buddhas.

An unprecedented ambition ignited in his heart.

If he could do as Yuaner said, this feat of flood control would surely shake the entire imperial court!

"Good, good!" Chen Lie grabbed Chen Yuan and lifted him up, the worry in his eyes swept away, replaced by fanaticism.

"Yuaner, you really are Father's lucky star! If it succeeds, Father will hire the best teacher for you and buy you the best jade!"

Chen Yuan was held in his arms, but his gaze crossed the window lattice, casting toward the gloomy sky.

"The chess game has only just begun."

He thought silently to himself.

...

Meanwhile, above Zhaoge City.

Daoist Qingping stood with his hands behind his back, hidden in the clouds. He watched the scene of the father and son in the Chen residence, a flash of surprise in his eyes.

"Using the momentum of a Mortal to implement a flood control policy, and being able to make the right trade-offs, unbound by the name of benevolence and righteousness."

He sighed lightly, shook his head, but a smile curled the corners of his mouth.

"Ziyuan, oh Ziyuan, although you have undergone Reincarnation through shedding your Mortal body, this Way of Chess in your bones has not changed at all."

"You have set up this flood control chess game well, but have you considered that on this chessboard, there is also the royal power of Zhaoge City, and that invisible Karma of the Heavenly Dao?"

The green bamboo staff in his hand tapped lightly, causing a ripple in the Void Realm.

"Fine, since you have already made your move, then this Daoist shall protect this game for you."

Daoist Qingping's figure moved slightly, turning into a breeze, quietly merging into the rolling thunderclouds.

The next morning, Chen Lie strode into the royal palace.

He brought no gift lists, nor any flood control craftsmen, holding only a map covered in lines.

King Wending of Shang looked at him, his brow slightly raised: "General Chen, three days have not yet passed, and you are already here?"

Chen Lie didn't waste words, directly spreading the map out on the dragon desk.

"Your Majesty, your subject will not control the flood; your subject wants to—divert the course."

Once these words were spoken, the great hall was in an uproar.

Those officials who had proposed the sacrifice yesterday all scoffed.

"Divert the course? General Chen must be mad!"

"The Yellow River is a natural vein of the earth; how can it be changed by human power?"

"This is simply nonsense!"

Chen Lie turned a deaf ear, pointing to the lines on the map, his voice like a great bell.

"Your Majesty, please look. Instead of desperately guarding this place, it is better to dig diversion channels here. Your subject has calculated that with only thirty thousand laborers, within half a month, the flood can be diverted to the wasteland, protecting a thousand miles of fertile land downstream!"

King Wending of Shang looked at the map, then at the resolute Chen Lie, a trace of hesitation inexplicably arising in his heart.

"Thirty thousand laborers?" King Wending of Shang mused.

"If the diversion fails, these thirty thousand laborers will become my sinners."

"Your subject will sign a military pledge!" Chen Lie stepped forward, knelt, and kowtowed, "If the flood control fails, your subject is willing to present his head!"

The great hall fell into a deathly silence once again.

Everyone was waiting for King Wending of Shang's decision.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard of the Chen residence, Chen Yuan was sitting by the stone table, placing the last two black and white chess pieces on the board.

"Clack."

A crisp sound of a piece being placed.

The game was over.

He looked up toward the direction of the royal palace, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, as if the game concerning the Luck of Great Shang was already under his control.

"Father, I have helped you make this move steadily. Next, it depends on whether His Majesty dares to be this chess player."