The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 237

Before the construction of the dike in Suzhou Prefecture, Yan Song specifically sought the opinions of the officials in charge of water conservancy in Suzhou Prefecture.

However, most of these officials were incompetent and lacked real ability. Even Yan Song could see that their suggestions were not feasible.

At this time, Yan Song also consulted Zhou Chu, who knew nothing about water conservancy. So Zhou Chu told Yan Song to build the existing dikes.

As for Kunshan, it will have to continue to serve as a flood discharge area.

This reminded Zhou Chu of someone: Pan Jixun, the most famous water conservancy expert in the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, this person is the same age as Xu Wei, having just been born last May, so he is destined to be of no help now.

However, Zhou Chu was very clear about one thing: no matter how the river channel changes, when the flood season arrives, there will always be places that need to serve as flood discharge areas. With the technology of this era, this is unavoidable.

Let Kunshan serve as the flood diversion area for now, and then hand this problem over to Pan Jixun when he grows up.

As for the refugees in Kunshan County, Zhou Chu had his own arrangements.

Soon, a new notice excited the displaced people who had participated in building the dike.

The proclamation was simple: any citizen who had participated in the construction of the dike for two months could purchase good farmland from the Embroidered Uniform Guard at a price of ten taels of silver per mu.

If you don't have enough money, or no money at all, you can exchange your land deeds in Kunshan County for arable land equivalent to 80% of the original land.

As for these lands, Cui Wenshan's family alone can solve most of the problem, and the remaining amount can be covered by the hidden fields measured out from the entire Suzhou Prefecture.

Zhang Heling ultimately couldn't resist the temptation and secretly began plotting a rebellion.

To put his mind at ease, these gentry members specially arranged a large training ground for him in the relatively remote Chongming County.

Chongming County is an alluvial plain. It was officially established as a prefecture during the Yuan Dynasty, and was changed to a county during the Hongwu period.

Nowadays, bandits roam the entire Chongming County, and many gangs that make their living off the water have established themselves here. It can be described as a truly lawless area, and it is quite chaotic.

Many of these gangs were supported by these gentry, making this an excellent training ground for Zhang Heling.

"This place is destined to be the place where the Duke will rise to power in the future."

Chen Jing's words instantly got Zhang Heling excited, and he even started to fantasize about ascending the throne and changing the dynasty.

At this moment, his younger brother Zhang Yanling was also present. Even if he wanted to oppose the rebellion, he couldn't think of a reason to do so. Since he was going to die anyway, he might as well take a gamble.

In this respect, he was much more decisive than Zhang Heling.

Seeing that the Zhang brothers had agreed, the gentry of Jiangnan contributed money and manpower. Each gentry family contributed between ten and fifty people, while the wealthy merchants of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce contributed between one hundred and two hundred people. In a short time, they managed to gather more than ten thousand people.

These people were private soldiers or vicious slaves kept in their homes.

Chu Huizu then arranged for more than a hundred Tiger Legion soldiers and Chu Liu to be included in the plan.

The original plan was to use the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but with more than a hundred of them, it was inevitable that they would run into some people they knew in Suzhou Prefecture, which would easily expose their mistake.

The Tiger Warriors, on the other hand, did not have this worry, as no one in the entire Suzhou Prefecture knew them.

Zhang Heling's so-called military training consisted of only one or two hours of loose training each day. Both Zhang Heling and his brother found it tiring and couldn't stand it, so they simply handed it over to their subordinates while they went off to enjoy themselves.

Neither of them cared, and the people below cared even less. They would slack off whenever they could. These were all wicked servants from various households and courtyards, each with many vices. Many of them were proficient in eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring.

Chu Liu was like a fish in water among these people. With more than a hundred elite soldiers secretly protecting him, Chu Liu could recklessly gamble and wreak havoc on all sides.