The strong wind subsided, and Lin Xie ordered the ship to set sail overnight for Chongzhou. The wind direction was unfavorable, but the water current was very rapid, and the boat speed was also fast. By dawn, they arrived at the southwestern beach of Xiasha Island.

  Lin did not expect the storm to be so severe, and the damage to the vegetation on the island and along the coast was particularly devastating. The Xiasha Island is located in the core wind zone of this typhoon, which made the destruction even more tragic.

  Lin Yu did not rush to Chongzhou, but instead had the ship sail around the south side of Xi Sha Island, where the island was full of scars and unbearable to look at.

  ***********

  Lin Xiangru carefully compared the most accurate maps he could see in his time, and found that most of the areas that would become the prosperous metropolis of Shanghai in later times were either mudflats or had not yet formed land. The eastern part of Chongzhou County was still a vast expanse of mudflats, while Jiangdong Prefecture's Pingjiang Prefecture included the western part of what would become Shanghai, as well as Suzhou and the eastern part of Wuxi, among other vast territories.

  Xisha Island is not the Chongming Island of later generations. Its actual location is about one or two hundred miles inland from Chongming Island. The predecessor of Chongzhou Island was likely Xisha Island, which is actually located outside the mouth of the Yangtze River, including Mazhibin, Yaoliusha and other islands.

  Unlike Bikini Atoll, ordinary sandy islands are very unstable. When Lin and his party arrived at the southwest beach of Xisha Island, a protruding tip of the island that was still visible in late autumn last year had been washed away by the rapid flooding of the river after entering summer this year. Moreover, due to the barren land of the sandy island, except for a small number of fishermen who settled on the island, there were no large-scale migrations of people to Xisha Island over the past century.

  The Xi Sha Island has been connected to several surrounding islets over the past century, becoming the largest sand island near the mouth of the Yangtze River, only four or five miles from the north shore. It's not that there are no people on the island for farming, but under harsh natural conditions, most people who tried couldn't hold on, and only a few people and some fishermen settled down.

  A vast sandy island, with an area of hundreds of miles, can accommodate 100,000 people based on the population density of Hailing Prefecture and Pingjiang Prefecture on both banks. However, there are less than a thousand permanent residents on the island, so it's not excessive to call it a deserted island.

  The refugee tide that started before the New Year and continued until this summer has brought as many as one million refugees to Jiangdong Prefecture. The main route of the refugees' migration was along the Huai River, Hongze Lake, and Chaohu Lake water systems southward, where they were blocked at the north shore of Caotang Bay, then spread out along the north shore; tens of thousands of refugees also entered Hailing Prefecture.

  The contradictions between the large-scale refugees and the local people have always been a difficult problem to solve, just like Gu Tung County drove the refugees to the riverbank, Hailing Prefecture and Chongzhou County government intentionally and irresponsibly diverted the refugees to uninhabited sand islands, riverbanks and other places for resettlement.

  This spring, tens of thousands of refugees gathered on Xi Sha Island, and these tens of thousands of refugees were severely affected by the disaster yesterday, even to the point where it can be described as unbearable.

  ***********

  The Linmo ship sailed along the southern end of the island, and almost no intact nests or thatched cottages could be seen along the way. Along the south side of the island, a large-scale natural sand collapse occurred, and the disaster situation became more severe as it went further east.

  Before noon, we anchored on the southeast beach of Xisha Island and waded ashore from shallow water. We went deep into the island for about 14 or 15 miles, where we could see the traces left by the sea tide. As we walked deeper, along the way were the remains of huts destroyed by strong winds and waves, as well as drowned corpses. The more I saw, the colder my heart became.

  The refugees gathered on Xi Sha Island had no experience in resisting typhoons and storm surges, not even building simple seawalls or dikes. They directly reclaimed land on the beach, built sheds to live in, and even cleared large areas of naturally grown reeds and shrub forests with knives and fire, completely unaware that these were natural barriers against wind and waves. The local authorities were also extremely irresponsible, ignoring the situation and not providing guidance. Yesterday's disaster was particularly severe, how could they not suffer heavy losses?

  On a slightly higher mound of earth, Lin Xie encountered hundreds of refugees gathered there, crying out to the heavens without response and shouting at the ground without echo.

  "What about others?" Lin Xuan asked an old refugee who had seen the world and inquired about the disaster situation here.

  "They were all washed away by the big flood, they're all dead, their bodies have floated out to sea... and now there's just us left, who knows when we'll be fed to the Dragon King's belly..." The old man was also tearless, his eyes dull, his voice hoarse, looking at Lin and the others coming over, some people had endless hope, but the old man's heart had been numbed by last night's disaster.

  Lin was stunned, he contacted Changshan Island, and it was relayed through the southeastern beach of Xisha Island. Changshan Island also sent two people to blend in with the refugees to observe the situation. He clearly knew that there were at least 7,000 to 8,000 refugees gathered on the southeastern beach of Xisha Island. How could there be only 400 to 500 people left in front of him?

  "This is outrageous!" Zhou Pu viciously thrust his knife, scabbard and all, into the sandy mound. Lin Xie and others who had just landed, including Ao Canghai, Hu Zhicheng, Hu Qiaoyi, Hu QiaoZhong, Chen Enze, were all silent.

  Wu Qi walked around the periphery and came to the mound, shaking his head, indicating that both people arranged by Changshan Island on this side had not escaped disaster. He said: "Yesterday, the wind brought waves, and the downstream water was rushing, I heard that the huge waves formed in the southeast beach were over two zhang high, and the island was also hit by a rainstorm, such a natural disaster, it's absolutely impossible to escape..."

  "This is not just a natural disaster, is it?" Lin Xuan let out a long sigh and instructed Wu Qi, Chen Enze, Hu Qiaozhong and others: "Unload all the food, firewood, charcoal and everything that can be unloaded from the ship. We will go to Chongzhou to replenish them; if there are any refugees who want to flee to Chongzhou, they can follow our boat - you guys split up to do this, before nightfall, we set off for Chongzhou, maybe by then, the disaster relief officials in Chongzhou should have arrived on the island..."

  Apart from the rescue workers, Lin was accompanied by Ao Canghai and Hu Zhicheng to inspect the disaster situation in the eastern part of the peninsula. They roughly estimated that more than 20,000 people had drowned in yesterday's storm and tidal surge, a truly tragic scene. It is likely that even in the entire Jiangxi province and most areas of Huguang, there were not as many as 20,000 people who died directly from drowning in the great flood after entering summer.

  Apart from the large number of bodies that were carried out to sea by the receding water, there are also many drowned bodies scattered about in the affected areas.

  Lin and his party waited on the island until dusk, but the relief officials from Chongzhou did not show up. There were still 20,000 to 30,000 disaster victims on the island, who could not even get a full meal, let alone a cup of hot water.

  Lin knew that openly organizing disaster relief here was a taboo, but what did he do in Jiangning that didn't make people resent him? Moreover, he couldn't bear to abandon two or three hundred thousand refugees on the island and let them starve to death or allow the epidemic to spread unchecked.

  Lin Jue found Zhou Pu, Ao Canghai, Wu Qi and Ge Cunxin to have a simple discussion, then decided to raise the flags of "Jiangdong Prefecture Inspection Department Military Preparation Path Grain Collection Commissioner Lin" and "Jiangdong Prefecture Inspection Department Dongyang Military Preparation Path Ji Yunwei Yong", and first organized disaster relief on Xi Sha Island in the name of grain collection commissioner.

  Organize personnel to gather a large number of refugees in the northwest of the island where the terrain is slightly higher, concentrated together for two purposes: one is convenient for rescue and assistance, and the other is to transfer refugees to areas with lighter disaster conditions, isolating them from areas that may experience major epidemics, also making it easier for personnel to collect and bury bodies. The weather is scorching hot, and epidemic prevention work cannot be delayed.

  Zhou Pu, Ao Canghai, Wu Qi and Ge Cunxin had varying degrees of dissatisfaction with the official class of their time and sympathized with the refugees. Lin Xian made such a decision, they naturally supported him.

  In terms of status, power and even ambition and ability, there are countless people who surpass Lin Xie, but it is precisely Lin Xie's style of dealing with the world, his bravery in taking responsibility, and his magnanimity that have brought together a group of heroes like Cao Zi'ang, Qin Chengzu, Fu Qinghe, Lin Mengde, Zhou Pu, Ao Canghai, Wu Qi, and Ge Cunxin, who could stand alone anywhere else, under his command without leaving.

  Any faction has its core elements that gather people's hearts, the simplest way to put it is "like-minded and sharing the same goal"; there is no loyalty without reason in this world, loyalty comes from a high sense of identity. If Lin Xie wasn't like this, even if he was more intelligent or capable, at most he would only be someone else's strategist or subordinate, just like Qin Zitan or Zhao Qinnian.

  Lin tied up and let someone bring Hu Zhicheng over, saying to them: "Mr. Hu, I have a task that I'd like to entrust you with..."

  "Please instruct me, Lord Lin," Hu Zhicheng said.

  Hu's family is different from the Western River Association, the Western River Association has a lot of power, and Lin Xuan's influence is even greater. However, they are just guests at Gu Wu Chen's door. Without Gu Wu Chen, there are countless people in Jiangning who have higher status and power than Lin Xuan. The Western River Association cannot stake the future of its 2,000 members, which has been passed down for four generations, on Lin Xuan alone.

  The Hu family was different, the Hu family was originally injured by the two sons who were worth 2,000 taels of silver to redeem their lives, and this time they lost a boat of sugar, which hurt their tendons and bones. Moreover, Ninghai Town Deputy General Xiao Taoyuan's threat of destroying the Hu family at any time made the Hu family have very limited choices.

  Hu Zhicheng had already thought it through: Lin Xie not only had twice helped the Hu family in times of need, and besides, he couldn't find anyone else who could be entrusted with the safety of the entire Hu family of over twenty people.

  Qingliu saw Lin Xie as a different kind, Hu Zhicheng was a businessman's family, with practical and not paying attention to fame characteristics, originally had no special prejudice against Lin Xie, last night with his nephew Qiao Zhongbing talking all night, even felt that many of Lin Xie's ways were in line with their business family temperament.

  He didn't have a chance to discuss with his brother, and Hu Zhicheng wasn't ready to make a statement at the moment. However, Lin Xie was determined to rescue the disaster on the island, and since there were things that needed to be entrusted to him, Hu Zhicheng naturally took on the responsibility without hesitation. In his heart, he thought: Only when Lin Xie can take on such responsibilities can I feel at ease entrusting the safety of the twenty-odd members of the Hu family to him.

  "I cannot leave 20,000 to 30,000 disaster victims stranded on the island and do nothing," Lin said. "I will send a boat to take Mr. Hu to Chongzhou tonight. Firstly, I want to ask Mr. Hu to bring a letter to the county magistrate of Chongzhou, as Xiasha Island belongs to Chongzhou County, and the disaster is severe, so Chongzhou County has the responsibility to provide relief. The county magistrate cannot ignore this. Secondly, even if the county magistrate agrees to provide relief, I'm afraid there will be delays due to time constraints, but disaster relief cannot wait. I hope to ask Mr. Hu's family to help me purchase relief supplies in the county overnight and transport them here for emergency relief tomorrow..."

  Most of the troops stayed on the island, and "Ji Yun 1" and "Ji Yun 2" were led by Ge Cunxin to follow Hu Zhicheng and Hu Qiaoyi to Chongzhou to purchase disaster relief materials and inform the Chongzhou County authorities.

  Furthermore, Lin Tie also wrote two urgent letters and sent people to ride horses overnight to Jiangning and Dongyang to deliver them to Gu Wuchen and his superior, Procurator Xiao Xuanchuo. He only said that due to the wind and waves, he lost direction while navigating at night on the river and drifted downstream until he anchored at Xisha Island. Coincidentally, a great disaster occurred on Xisha Island, and as the only government official on the island, he could only stay behind to rescue first and wait for Chengzhou County to send someone to take over before he could leave for Pingjiang Prefecture to prepare grain supplies.

  As long as he is given a nominal title from the imperial court, Lin Xue can organize disaster relief on Xi Sha Island without being restricted by Chongzhou County.