"What are you going to do, then?"
Ye Zi'an replied, "This spring, I had people negotiate with the owners of the nearby fertile lands. Each household volunteered some land to dig a deep drainage canal, and it still hasn't been completed. Just yesterday, I heard that the water level had risen again and was about to surpass the warning line. Once it passes that line, the villages below will definitely suffer. I wanted to see how much the water had risen today, but then this afternoon, a torrential downpour started. I worried that if the downpour kept up, the water from the reservoir could break through. So, I mobilized the Land Officer from the village closest to the reservoir to lead the people to shelter elsewhere. That's why I returned late," he said.
"How big is that reservoir, anyway? Can the overflowing water really flood an entire village?" And who had the idea to dig the reservoir uphill from where people live?
