Otherwise he will die without a place to be buried!

  He will die without a place to be buried!

  "Dying without a place to rest!"

  This sentence kept echoing in Chen Ke's mind, causing him to lose sleep again: 'Damn it, I'm here to take an exam, not to be Jesus!'

  That prophetic pain, along with the feeling of powerlessness, made him feel suffocated, he really wanted to escape this bustling city and return to his carefree hometown of Qing Shen.

  Lian Chen Xiliang also noticed his abnormality and asked anxiously the next day while resting at home: "Sanlang, are you ill?"

  "No." Chen Ke laughed and said: "I can beat a cow to death!"

  "How come you look so bad?" Chen Xiliang said, "No, you must have something on your mind!"

  "I'm just a bit troubled." Chen Ke lightly exhaled and said: "There are some things that I strongly want to do in my heart, but they far exceed my ability..."

  "What kind of thing?" Chen Xiliang asked.

  "The Liuta River will definitely force the Yellow River to burst its banks." Chen Ke rubbed his temples with both hands and said in a hoarse voice, "This feeling of watching helplessly is really terrible."

  "This matter,"... Chen Xiliang said in a low voice: "At the early court today, the King of Runan reported the results of the investigation."

  "What did you say?"

  "The Liutiao River is indeed located in the northeast of Bianjing, and its location will not hinder the sacred body." Chen Xiliang snorted: "Let the King of Yuzhang go to investigate, there can't be a second result."

  "Why?"

  Even for his son, he wouldn't dare offend you gentlemen.

  Chen Xiliang sneered.

  "Yes." Chen Ke let out a long sigh and said: "So, no one can win against anyone else?"

  "Wei Ru" Chen Xiliang said lightly: "The official did not make a statement on the spot, but only took down the memorial... But don't hold any hope, it's still that sentence, the official sent Wang Junan to investigate, which itself explains his attitude."

  "What should I do?" Chen Ke looked at Chen Xiliang with a hesitant gaze.

  "Search your heart!" Chen Xiliang also looked at Chen Ke, his eyes shining brightly: "If you feel that it must be done, and if not doing it will make you uneasy for the rest of your life, then go do it!"

  "I'm afraid I'll implicate you all," Chen Xiao said in a low voice.

  "Haha", ... Chen Xiliang laughed and said: "At that time, I was in Hengyang investigating the military supplies case, and I thought about whether it would implicate you all, but I still went ahead with it."

  "You were so careless that time." Chen Kaibai glared at him and said, "How dare you say that."

  "You little scoundrel, no respect for your elders!" Chen Xiliang gave him a slap on the head and said seriously: "At that time, I thought that even if you were the worst, you would at least have food and clothing in Meizhou, so I had no reason not to uncover that dark secret! Pausing for a moment, he continued: "Now it's the same with you. Although as your father, I don't want to see you take risks, but since you're already an official, you won't die anyway. So go ahead and do what you need to do boldly!"

  "Of course I don't mind," Chen Ke said with a bitter smile: "I'm afraid of affecting your future."

  "If the imperial court makes it a habit to invert black and white, even those who speak the truth can't be tolerated. Such officials aren't worth serving!" Chen Xiliang said resolutely: "At worst, we'll just return to Sichuan, enjoy our family bliss to the fullest, and won't feel uneasy about living!"

  "Good attitude!" Chen Ke gradually revealed his long-lost bright smile, he suddenly hugged Chen Xiliang, and with a burst of strength said: "Thank you, old dad!" Then let go of his hands, laughing loudly as he ran away.

  "Stinky brat, with such great effort..." Chen Xiliang rubbed his chest and smiled bitterly: "Be careful, okay?"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chen Ke let his guard Lao Qian follow him and bring Zhao Zongji over from the Wang mansion, rushing to that teahouse in one breath.

  As soon as they met, he asked directly: "Have you given up?"

  "No." Zhao Zongji shook his head and said in a deep voice, "As you said, we will never give up until the last moment!"

  "I think so too." Chen Ke nodded and said: "So we still have to fight again!"

  "This is no problem, but go..." Zhao Zongji's breathing was a bit heavy as he said: "My last memorial, I already said what needed to be said. This time, rehashing the same old tune, what effect can it have?"

  "You're right, we need to come up with something new." Chen Ke said in a low voice: "I reflected on the last memorial, why didn't it move the officials"...it was all just theory and speculation, no real evidence!"

  "Yes." Zhao Zongji nodded and said: "Everyone has their own reason, we just use reason, can't overwhelm others' reason...... let alone the great reason of two prime ministers."

  "So this time, we will speak with facts!" Chen Ke lowered his voice and said: "Request to measure the elevation of the terrain from Shanghu Kou to Hengling Ancient Road!"

  "Rise,"..." Zhao Zongji smiled bitterly and said, "If you say that measuring the distance is no problem, I can do it with a rope. But how can we measure the height of this terrain?" If this can be measured, there's no need for everyone to argue. As long as it can be proven that the horizontal ridge ancient road is higher than the Shanghu mouth terrain, even if it's only three or five feet higher, it would be enough to make the government stop the Liu Ta River project.

  "I have a plan." Chen Ke Xin said sorry, Shen Da scientist, I'll borrow your invention for now, at worst we can settle it when we meet again.

  I'll give you the physics and chemistry book I've been quietly writing. You won't lose out on this deal. And so he relaxed: "The river's drop can be measured!"

  "Really?" Zhao Zongji suddenly moved and said: "There is such a method, why didn't you say it earlier?"

  "If the final result comes out and proves that both of you are wrong, where will they put their faces?" Chen Ke's words still had a second half... The Liu Ta River project was personally approved by the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. If it is proven to be fundamentally incorrect, where will the officials' faces go?

  "We can't afford to care about that anymore!" Zhao Zongji said resolutely: "Is the lives and property of the people in several states important, or is someone's face important?"

  "Good, this method is called 'stratified dam construction'!" Chen Ke then explained the method to him.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "The Yellow River's water has always been three parts water and seven parts mud. A large amount of silt deposits in the lower reaches, causing the riverbed to rise gradually due to years of neglect. From Shandong province downwards, many riverbeds have become higher than the surrounding land by 3-4 zhang (about 10-13 meters), forming a 'river on top of the ground'. Water flows downhill, but if the lower reaches are higher than the upper reaches, the water flow will slow down, stop or even reverse."

  Then, in the upper reaches of the low-lying area --- Shanghu Kou burst again! When Zhao Zongji met with the emperor again, he requested to reconsider the "Liuta River" and said loudly: "So I think that previously, the water minister did not clarify the river's drop, and it was extremely irresponsible to lightly talk about returning the river!"

  "Heh heh", ... The official smiled and said: "Why didn't you measure it? Before each project, they would use a measuring rod to measure the height."

  "Standing on the mountain, how can we use a marker to measure the height of the mountain?" Zhao Zongji said: "The riverbed is also a principle, using the tree marker method, it is impossible to measure the height and depth of the terrain!"

  "Oh..." The official smiled and asked: "How did you hear it? It seems like you have a way?"

  "Somebody taught the child a way." Zhao Zongji nodded and said: "The child feels that it makes sense."

  "Tell me about it." said Guan Yajia with interest.

  "It is possible to use the natural horizontal surface of the water as a measuring scale to measure the height difference in terrain. I know that on some river sections with large drops, people will build multiple locks for ships to go upstream against the current. After a ship enters one lock gate, the gate closes, the water rises, and the ship is lifted up; then behind the ship, another lock gate is closed, the water level rises again, and the ship can continue sailing upstream. This process repeats, with the water surface rising step by step from one lock to the next. Can't this method be used to measure the height difference between each section of the river from Shanghu Kou to Hengling Old Road? By adding up the height differences of each section, we can get the total drop between the two places."

  "......" The official pondered for a moment, nodded and said: "The reason is not wrong, but the Liu Ta River is narrow, it's also 40 steps wide, you want to build so many locks, isn't that unrealistic?"

  "As far as the child knows, repairing the dike requires a large amount of soil and stones. The laborers often take the soil from the nearby riverbank, forming a basically continuous ditch that doesn't require much effort to open up and form a small canal parallel to the Liu Ta River. Then, at one end of Shang Hu Kou, build a dam to block the small canal." Zhao Zongji explained as simply and clearly as possible:

  Then, from the downstream of Liu Ta River to Li Guan water, make the water flow towards Shang Hu Kou area. When the river surface is level with the dam, build a dam at the bottom of the ditch that has just been exposed to the water in the upstream, and then irrigate again, and then build a dam in the downstream... In this way, the height of each dam blocking the water adds up to be the elevation difference from Shang Hu Kou to Heng Lian Old Road.

  The official carefully considered it for a while, then nodded his head and smiled: "This is a good idea, who thought of it?"

  "It's a friend of the child." Zhao Zongji said: "His name is Chen Ke, a student at Tai Xue." He and Chen Ke discussed that what happened in the capital city couldn't be hidden from the official family's ears, it was better to confess honestly.

  "Chen Hui", Officer Qi said: "Could it be the one who compiled the dictionary?"

  "Yes." Zhao Zongji nodded and said.

  "No wonder." The official smiled suddenly and sat up straight, saying: "It's hard for you to come up with such a plan, I agree!"

  "Thank you, Uncle!" Zhao Zongji exclaimed.

  "Since it was your idea." The official smiled with narrowed eyes: "Then let you two do it, I'll give you 2,000 imperial guards, and get the results back to me in the shortest time possible."

  "Yes sir!" Zhao Zongji shouted in a loud voice.

  "Good boy..." The official let him get up, looked into his eyes and said in a warm voice: "Do you know that this will offend several masters?"

  "Uncle, I'm not afraid of offending them." Zhao Zongji's eyes were clear as he said, "Even if I offend all of them, I can still be my wealthy and leisurely self, right?"

  "Oh...... haha", The official laughed and said with a louder voice: "Not bad, not bad, that's the right way to think!"

  The eunuch Hu beside him thought, "It's been a long time since His Majesty has smiled like this..."

  （）