"The provincial capital was washed away by the flood?"
Standing outside Yizhou City and looking at the muddy ground beneath her feet, Du YueYao asked in disbelief.
Generally, the location of a provincial capital would be chosen with geographical considerations in mind. Especially if there were great rivers nearby, it would be built on slightly higher ground. Unless a nearby embankment collapsed or the floodwaters were truly immense, floods rushing down from upstream alone would basically never reach a provincial capital.
Yet under such circumstances, the provincial capitals of both prefectures in Zhiyang Province had suffered flooding. There could only be one reason: the embankments had collapsed—specifically, the stretches of embankment by the provincial capitals.
And the Da Jing Law stipulated that local embankments were to be inspected and maintained by the local authorities, while the Zhongjing court conducted irregular inspections across the realm at unpredictable times and places.
Logically speaking, provincial capitals were the wealthiest places in their respective prefectures, and their embankments should have been the strongest in the entire prefecture. Even if embankments elsewhere broke, those around the provincial capital should not have. What was more, because the court had acted in advance this year, the flooding might not even have been worse than it was five years ago.
Yet now, the provincial capitals of two prefectures in Zhiyang Province had collapsed first, while the embankments in the other counties had held.
Thus, there could only be one reason for this: corruption and shoddy, tofu-dregs construction.
"They are treating human lives like blades of grass!" Du YueYao said bitterly.
Wang Xiaowan nodded as well. "The harm caused by corrupt officials like these is greater than the harm caused by a hundred demons and ghosts."
The casualties and property losses that a hundred ordinary demons and ghosts could