Today, Li Xiu finally did not go to the Ministry of Agriculture. After sleeping in a nap at home, he walked to the river. He would definitely bring a fishing rod when he came here, but today he came empty-handed, and his face was not as leisure as before. Instead, when he came to the river, his face showed a bit of sorrow.

The yellow canal in front of me is a semi-artificial river, mainly composed of streams flowing from the branch of Zhongnan Mountain. Usually, the water volume of the stream is very large, which also makes the water level of the yellow canal very good all year round. For example, the water truck built by Li Xiu is very suitable for use on the yellow canal.

However, compared with the yellow canal that used to surging rivers, the yellow canal now has become a stream. Most of the riverbed has been exposed, and the cracks like tortoise shells are exposed under the sun. Only a thin stream of water at the bottom of the river is left, but it seems that the flow may be cut off at any time. The only remaining fish float on the water surface, opening their mouths and spitting bubbles constantly, and the riverbed is full of fish and shrimps that are sunburned.

Li Xiu walked along the yellow canal while thinking about the current situation. The locust plague was not over. After the last locust left Chang'an, it swept across Guanzhong all the way. Wherever it passed, it was thousands of miles away, and many crops that were about to mature were also swallowed up by them.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture began to plant a lot of sweet potatoes in various parts of Guanzhong at the beginning of this year, so after the locusts, these sweet potatoes became life-saving food in Guanzhong. Although they were not full, they would not starve to death. What's more, the imperial court also prepared a lot of food for disaster relief, so eating is not a particularly big problem in a short period of time.

However, locust plagues have always been accompanied by drought. Since last winter, it has not rained much. In early summer this year, it has rained two light rains, but it stopped just after wetting the ground. Moreover, the sun is particularly poisonous this year, and people can't stay in the sun. The blue smoke on the river can be seen by the naked eye.

Under this scorching heat, the drought is getting worse and worse. For example, the Yellow Canal, one of the eight waters in Chang'an, is about to dry out. The Qujiang Lake downstream of the Yellow Canal has also dropped by nearly half due to water shortage. The pleasure boats in the pond have been stranded on the shore. I heard that the singers on the boat have already gone home to rest because no one has ever been idle to go to the boat to listen to music.

In addition, it is not just the Yellow Canal. Almost all the eight rivers near Chang'an are in this state of about to be cut off, and even the water volume of the Yellow River has been greatly reduced, which further aggravates the spread of drought.

The locust plague just passed, and droughts followed one after another, which made the Tang Dynasty court frown and the burden on the Ministry of Agriculture was also heavy. Mainly because of this drought, the Ministry of Agriculture needed to organize governments in various places to give priority to the irrigation of sweet potatoes so that sweet potatoes can survive. In this way, in autumn, at least there will be food to be harvested. These sweet potatoes will allow the victims of Guanzhong to have food to eat in winter. Otherwise, God knows how many people will die of cold and starvation?

Thinking of the continuous natural disasters this year, Li Xiu was worried about Li Shimin. In fact, Li Shimin was about to go crazy during this period. It was okay to have locust plagues and droughts. The key was that many people in the court were clamoring for him to issue a self-criticism, but Li Shimin insisted on it. As a result, many people in the court and the people were quite dissatisfied with him. In addition, in order to prevent civil unrest, Li Shimin simply put the troops in Guanzhong on guard. For example, patrol soldiers could be seen everywhere in Chang'an City.

"Brother, what are you thinking?" Just as Li Xiu was thinking, a crisp voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and someone patted his shoulder. Without looking back, he knew that the only one who could get close to him without letting the guards around him warn him was naturally his good sister Qi Niang.

"Why are you so idle today? Don't you have to learn boat building with your husband?" Li Xiu turned his head and looked at Qi Niang and smiled. He found that Qi Niang was in a good mood during this period, and he did not go to Yuwen Yu to study every day like before. It seemed that he had returned to his previous cheerfulness, and he was not even as rebellious as before, which made him very relieved.

"Mr. said, he had nothing to teach me. The rest depends on me to accumulate experience and my understanding of shipbuilding. Today is cooler than usual, so I came out with Sister Hen'er to take a walk!" When Qi Niang said the last thing, she pointed to her behind her. At this time, Li Xiu realized that Hener was not far behind, and she also showed a shy smile when she saw him.

"Brother, you haven't answered my question yet. What were you thinking just now?" Qi Niang asked again at this time.

"What else can I think? Look at the drought this time, and I don't know if the sweet potatoes grown in various parts of Guanzhong can survive. I'm almost worried now!" Li Xiu said with his hands spreading, although sweet potatoes are drought-resistant, they are only relative. In fact, when sweet potatoes grow vigorously, they also have a great demand for moisture. In addition, the vines were gnawed away before, so water was even needed to grow.

"So it's this. I remember you said before that there is a method called artificial rainfall that can make it rain. Why don't you use this method?" Qi Niang tilted her head and thought for a while, then asked, "The artificial rainfall was mentioned casually when Li Xiu talked about physics to them, so she remembered it.

"Artificial rainfall is not something that can be done now, and you see that the blue sky cannot even find a cloud. Even with this technology, it may be difficult to make it rain!" Li Xiu smiled bitterly when he heard this. Artificial rainfall can only play a greater role when the clouds are already or about to rain. However, there are no clouds in the sky now, and secondly, he does not have this technology, so it is simply a fantasy.

"Sir, since you can't let the rain fall from the sky, you might as well borrow water from the earth. You can let the court dig wells everywhere and take out the underground water to irrigate the land!" At this moment, Hen'er also suggested that as Li Xiu's oldest student, she learned more. Although she cannot compare with a little genius like Qi Niang, her knowledge is not comparable to that of ordinary people.

"This is a solution. In fact, what the imperial court has started to do this is that it only takes time to dig wells, and there is too much land that needs to be irrigated. It is impossible to irrigate it by relying on water wells alone. In addition, I heard that some places are difficult to even draw water, so even if you dig wells, you may have to give priority to the supply of drinking water for the people." Li Xiu couldn't help but sigh again when he said the last thing. Even though he had knowledge far beyond this era, he was helpless in the face of such natural disasters.

"Stop!" Just as Li Xiu was talking to Hen'er, he suddenly heard someone shouting from the guards not far away, and then he saw someone surrounded by the guards, and he didn't know what happened?
Chapter completed!