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

Chapter 174

It was just after the New Year, and Suzhou was still damp and cold.

In this year, the Ming Dynasty officially entered the first year of the Jiajing reign. Yang Tinghe's retirement earlier foreshadowed the complete end of the Great Rites Controversy. Jiajing's birth mother, Lady Jiang, entered the palace and was conferred the title of Empress Dowager Xiaoci.

Emperor Taizong of Ming, Zhu Di, was officially renamed Emperor Chengzu of Ming, and Emperor Renzong, Zhu Gaochi, was removed from the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

When Yan Song and Zhang Cong arrived together, they were both shivering from the cold. The cold in Suzhou was quite different from the cold in the capital, which made them very uncomfortable.

"Chunlan, add another charcoal brazier."

Seeing the two of them like this, Zhou Chu said to Chunlan beside him.

"Mr. Jiexi, Mr. Luoshan, you must be freezing. Have a cup of tea to warm yourself up."

"It would be impolite of me to refuse."

Zhang Cong rubbed his hands together, picked up the teacup, and instead of drinking it, warmed his hands by holding it in his palm.

"Lord Zhou, the weather in Suzhou is really unbearable."

Yan Song sighed.

Zhou Chu smiled when he heard this.

"This is always the case in the Jiangnan region. It will get better in a few days. The cold days won't last too long, but in two or three months, the plum rain season will be coming. Lord Yan should prepare in advance."

As Zhou Chu sipped his tea, he looked at Yan Song with a meaningful gaze.

Yan Song looked worried when he heard this. As the newly appointed prefect of Suzhou, he was not on the same page as any of the officials in Suzhou. It was extremely difficult for him to work in the Suzhou government office.

As the prefect of Suzhou, Yan Song naturally knew that reinforcing the dikes before the flood season was always of paramount importance; otherwise, if the dikes were to breach during the flood season, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Reinforcing the dikes will probably not be easy."

Yan Song sighed.

"These officials in Jiangnan will naturally not allow Lord Yan to reinforce the dike smoothly. If the dike breaks, countless disaster victims and refugees will appear in the entire Suzhou Prefecture and even Jiangnan, which will probably cause great turmoil."

Zhang Cong immediately saw the problem. He wasn't naive enough to think that these officials in Jiangnan would care about the people; their hearts were as dirty as the next.

Zhang Cong's words were also a reminder to Zhou Chu to prevent these people from taking advantage of the situation. If the dike were breached, countless people would go hungry, and they would naturally rebel.

These are all methods commonly used by civil officials.

That is why previous emperors did not dare to push these civil officials too hard.

Even Zhou Chu could only exchange his position as commander for the previous thousand officials in the capital. If Jiajing insisted on keeping Zhou Chu's position as commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Ming Dynasty would probably be thrown into chaos immediately.

Zhou Chu was already prepared for these words without Zhang Cong's reminder. For the past two months, the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce and the officials of Jiangnan Province had all been quiet, seemingly peaceful, but in reality, undercurrents were surging. These people were probably brewing something big.

Zhou Chu put himself in their shoes. If he were in their position, he would also try to stop the reinforcement of the dike, or have someone tamper with it. If the dike were to break, and these merchants were to dismiss the original refugees from Kunshan, countless people would have no way to survive, and the only option left would be rebellion.

Zhou Chu had to be wary of this.

Zhou Chu had been preparing for this for a long time, and even specially selected more than a dozen craftsmen from the Southern Garrison to start studying the cement ratio.

Zhou Chu knew the composition of cement: limestone, clay, iron powder, and gypsum, but he didn't know the specific proportions, as he hadn't studied them.

We can only leave it to these craftsmen to keep trying, and I believe that it won't be long before they can figure out the right ratio.

Once cement is developed and combined with gravel to form concrete, it can be used to reinforce dams. At that point, even if people wanted to blow it up, they wouldn't be able to. That would truly be foolproof.