"What do you mean?" asked chief Zhao curtly.
He was obviously looking down on Bai Jingfei when he asked this question. Bai Jingfei had just woken up so he assumed she was just babbling nonsense.
Bai Jingfei rubbed her eyes with her tiny palms and yawned again. Then with her doe-like eyes she stared at him innocently. She had the charm of a fluffy little bunny that made everybody unable to hate her.
Even if she said the most grating dialogues.
"You don't even understand this much? Who put you in charge here?" she said in a sweet and melodious voice, still smiling.
Sun Mei let out a gasp and a chuckle before staring at chief Zhao, who appeared to be pissed at being talked to that way.
Bai Jingfei reached out to Sun Mei, and Sun Mei helped her up, dropping her slowly on her feet. Bai Jingfei then slowly walked closer to chief Zhao, waddling like a penguin.
"Build a blockade. Block the river off to control its flow." said Bai Jingfei, slowly, enunciating every word she said, "Do I need to explain any more?"
It was a very basic idea, and one that would nip the problem at its root. Simply building a dam would allow regulation of the flow of the river. It wouldn't be too hard to build either. The imperial troops were enough, and money was never a problem.
If the water was diverted through canals, a dam could be built and even infertile lands to the west could be dealt with and water could be supplied.
Sun Mei stared at Bai Jingfei in awe. She wouldn't have thought of doing that but it definitely was a good idea. Sun Mei was never shy about accepting a good idea. Even if it was from the tiny, naive looking Bai Jingfei.
Bai Jingfei sneezed.
She ran her hand through her hair like a gangster but the impact was ruined by her innocent face. If Sun Mei had done the exact same action it was likely that chief Zhao would break down.
A servant ran up to chief Zhao to finally rescue him. He whispered something in chief Zhao's ear before a wide grin reappeared on chief Zhao's face.
"Where exactly can we block off the river, child? The mountains are far too unstable and uneven for us to even attempt to construct anything there!"
Chief Zhao was obviously unable to come up with his own ideas but it wasn't surprising he had remained in power in the region. He had some very competent servants who couldn't be called dumb.
However, competent servants couldn't help one with everything.
There was a reason chief Zhao's wife and daughter had left him. In a country where divorce was uncommon and remarriage was even more uncommon, his wife had been excused and allowed to remarry, simply because she was married to the greasy man.
It definitely wouldn't kill him to take a bath, so the question was, why didn't he?
There certainly wasn't a shortage of water in his region.
Maybe a shortage of brains in him.
Bai Jingfei fell silent for a second.
She really had no clue of the geography of the country. She had never bothered to study any of it. Why would she? Geography was boring, studying was boring, this country was boring. Not one good reason to study.
Plus she was occupied studying medicine. Making pills meant a constant source of income and it was a highly valuable and respected skill.
At the end of the day, though, knowing medicine wasn't going to help her with geography.
However, Sun Mei came to her rescue.
She had been studying geography since a young age. As the general's daughter, that was the least of her worries and studies. When faced with men with swords, geography is boringly easy.
"The northernmost part of the district is perfect for a blockade. Do you not even know the landscape of your own district?" she spat. She hadn't liked him looking down on her, let alone looking down on Bai Jingfei.
Bai Jingfei had now achieved the status of a particularly cute pet. One that Sun Mei was fond of. She wasn't going to let a greasy bastard like chief Zhao mess with her cute FeiFei.
Chief Zhao laughed again.
"That part belongs to the jianghu. You cannot touch it!" he said, throwing his head back laughing at Sun Mei. He even thumped his table a few times as he laughed.
The jianghu really did own that part of the district. Owned as in, they controlled it. No one could enter or exit without their explicit permission and all trade and business was monitored quite strictly.
Their area of control even spread into neighboring countries and their field of influence was even larger. They were much like a kingdom of their own but they didn't bother announcing themselves as a kingdom.
'If they want to claim the land is theirs, let them. If they dare enter we will take their heads' was the Jianghu's motto.
"Tsk- Tsk- Why are you so proud of your territory being taken over by the jianghu?" whispered Bai Jingfei, "If I were you I would bow my head in shame."
Sun Mei nodded vigorously, agreeing with Bai Jingfei.
"What's so fierce about the Jianghu? We have the imperial troops with us!" said Sun Mei, full of passion. She had great pride in the troops considering her family had been the ones training them.
Chief Zhao however, laughed again to her dismay.
"If the imperial guards could deal with them, do you think they would exist? They are the strongest force in the kingdom as of now."
Bai Jingfei yawned.
"We can go talk to them. I'm sure they don't want their region flooded either."
Chief Zhao grinned, this was exactly what he had wanted. To rid himself of having to take responsibility for anything these two did.
"Sure. But don't expect any help from me."