Chapter 399 Is the ambition to divert the Yellow River
too conservative?
Hu Zongxian was shocked. Is his plan to dredge the entire Huaibei Canal conservative?
I only heard Su Ze say: "Counsellor Pan, come and tell Hu Butang the plan."
Pan Jixun took a thick document and moved it in front of Hu Zongxian, and then said:
"This is the plan prepared by the Governor's Office. ."
Hu Zongxian opened the thick information. He had not seen such thick information for a long time.
In the official circles of the southeast, a movement is taking place against the "eight-legged writing of official documents".
Any official document circulated within the officialdom must be simple and clear in wording and sentences, and must focus on the matter. Get rid of those formatted compliments and misty words. Every official document must have a clear meaning and lay out what is needed downwards. Clearly write down the work or reports to superiors.
Unlike when Hu Zongxian was the governor of Zhejiang Province in the past, most of the official documents sent by his subordinates were flattering nonsense, and the official documents he wrote himself were carefully considered word by word, while carefully avoiding taboos accumulated in the Ming Dynasty. A long list of taboos.
There are lessons to be learned from this. When Jiajing first succeeded to the throne, a minister accidentally wrote the name of Chengzu in a memorial to the emperor.
Jiajing, who had just succeeded to the throne, took advantage of the situation and severely punished the minister and expelled him from the court.
When Hu Zongxian fought against the Japanese in Zhejiang, he was very cautious in his official duties, fearing that he would be caught.
Nowadays, there is no taboo in Southeast official circles. Some officials even deliberately avoided Su Ze's name in official documents. Su Ze criticized him and opposed any form of taboo.
This is why Hu Zongxian felt very relaxed after joining Southeast Asia.
His thoughts returned to the documents. Although the documents Pan Jixun brought over were very thick, like other official documents from Southeast, the main contents of the documents were clearly listed at the outset.
"The Yellow River changed its course!"
Hu Zongxian was completely stunned.
Su Ze said: "The problem of water transportation in Huaibei comes from the fact that the Yellow River diverts Si water into the Huaihe River, and the Si water flows into the Huaihe River, causing the entire Huaibei river to silt up, and the water level rises to silt up the water transportation." "And because the Yellow River often floods, the flooding yellow sand erodes Huaibei
. The plains make it impossible to cultivate the great land here." "
So to solve the water transportation problem in Huaibei, dredging alone will only cure the symptoms but not the root cause. If the Yellow River can be diverted and re-enter the sea from the shadow of Mount Tai, then the large plains in Huaibei will be Turn it into a granary instead of a yellow flood area with siltation."
After Hu Zongxian heard Su Ze's plan, he did not immediately agree with Su Ze's plan, but said worriedly:
"This plan of the Grand Governor is not the same as Qian Yuan Tuotuo. Is it the plan of the Qianyuan Dynasty? The Qianyuan Dynasty once mobilized millions of people to rebuild the Yellow River. In the end, the repair was still not successful. They also gathered refugees and allowed Ming Taizu to take advantage of the situation and destroy the Qianyuan Dynasty." Su Ze said: "The collapse of the Qianyuan Dynasty was due to the Qianyuan Dynasty
. The atrocities that brutalized the people have nothing to do with the Yellow River." "
Besides, wasn't the siltation of the canal waterways the fault of the Yuan Dynasty himself? The people in Henan and Huaibei who have suffered from the flooding of the Yellow River are still living in dire straits because of the evil done by the Yuan Dynasty. Yes."
Hu Zongxian sighed and agreed with Su Ze's statement.
Pan Jixun asked: "What the governor said was that when the Yuan army attacked Guidefu in the early Yuan Dynasty, they cut off the river in the northwest of Guidefu, and the river water took the Suishui River and flowed into Si. Later, the Yuan army attacked in the north of Kaifeng City. When it breaks through the river, the river water seizes the vortex water and flows into the Huaihe River. The last time the Yellow River took the Si River water and entered the Huaihe River?"
Hu Zongxian nodded and said: "The Yellow River changed its course four times. Although the river course changed in the first two times, it still entered the Bohai Sea." "
Yes. In the third Song Dynasty, in order to resist the Jin soldiers marching south, Tokyo garrison Du Chong artificially opened the Yellow River embankment in Huazhou, causing the Yellow River to be exhausted and branched southeast from Si River and Jishui into the sea. The Yellow River now flows from the north to the Bohai Sea and then to the south. Yellow Sea."
"The fourth time was that the Yuan army deliberately dug up river embankments, exacerbating the yellow flood in Huaibei, and eventually causing the Grand Canal to be silted up many times." Su Ze nodded. The two pairs of sleeping dragons and
phoenixes in the Song and Yuan Dynasties wanted to take advantage of it. The tumbling Yellow River achieves its own goal, but the result is that nature does not care what kind of emperor you are, and in the end you swallow the bitter fruit.
Because the Song Dynasty did not have the Yanyun Sixteenth Prefecture, it wanted to divert the Yellow River to resist the Liao Kingdom in the north, and blocked the project of diverting the Yellow River three times, which was the "Three Returns to the River".
Three times of returning to the river failed to stop Daliao, and Daliao was destroyed by the Jin. The Jin army went south, and the Song Dynasty dug up the Yellow River, which led to the third Yellow River diversion. From then on, the Yellow River no longer flows from Shandong to the Bohai Sea, but from the Huaihe River to the Yellow Sea. .
Floods were rampant, people were in dire straits, and plagues were spreading. Famine and plague once again caused a sharp increase in the number of deaths along the Yellow River.
The prosperous Jianghuai area also died tragically under the floods of the Yellow River bursting its banks. The place where singing and dancing once took place has become a hell on earth.
In the following decades, "it was either decided or blocked, and the migration was uncertain."
When the Jin State took over this mess, the Jin State invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to control the river, and shouldered a serious financial burden.
The frequent floods caused by the diversion of the Yellow River have dealt a devastating blow to the agriculture of the Jin Kingdom along the way.
By the time the Yuan Dynasty also used the Yellow River to deal with the Jin Kingdom, causing the fourth Yellow River diversion, the Yellow River's tendency to seize the Huaihe River and flow into the sea had become irreversible.
The Yuan Dynasty had its capital in Dadu and relied heavily on the Grand Canal to transport food to the north.
In order to control the Yellow River, Prime Minister Tuotuo of the Yuan Dynasty recruited millions of civilians, and finally launched the Red Turban Army that destroyed the Yuan Dynasty.
The reason why Hu Zongxian hesitated was because of Song's lesson.
The dynasty that was overthrown by super-projects that exceeded the capacity of the people also had the founder of the Grand Canal, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty.
Going forward, the Qin Dynasty, which fell after its second generation, was also destroyed because of multiple super projects that were started at the same time.
Therefore, after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty also saw the huge disadvantages of the Yellow River flowing from the Huaihe River to the sea, it was still unwilling to organize major projects to repair the Yellow River, that is, to do some patchy dredging projects.
In the historical timeline before Su Ze crossed over, the Yellow River project presided over by Pan Jixun during the Zhang Juzheng period was actually just a repair and dredging project, and it did not change the pattern of frequent flooding of the Yellow River.
Finally, in the fifth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, the Yellow River burst at Tongwa Xiang on the north bank of Lanyang, Henan.
The yellow water first flows to the northwest, then turns to the northeast, taking the Daqing River in Shandong and flowing into the Bohai Sea.
Finally, relying on the Yellow River's own power, it returned to the Bohai Sea and entered the sea. This solved the problem of the Huaihe River's long-term yellow flooding.
Su Ze pointed at the map and said: "It does not require too much people's power. We can use the old Western Han Dynasty route in Shandong to lead the Yellow River into Daye Ze, and then connect Daye Ze with the Daqing River. The Yellow River can be diverted into the Bohai Sea." Su Ze added
: "As long as the Yellow River and Sishui can be separated, the Huaihe River will not be prone to flooding, and the sand content in the Huaihe River will be reduced a lot. If we clean up the water transportation at this time, we will get twice the result with half the effort!" Pan Jixun, who was present, also became excited
.
This plan was drawn up by Su Ze himself, but many details were perfected by Pan Jixun.
Controlling the Yellow River can be said to be the highest dream of all water conservancy officials.
For Hu Zongxian, compared with his achievements in controlling the Yellow River, controlling the Qiantang river and pond disaster is nothing at all.
And Su Ze's goal is not only to dredge the Yellow River, but to change its course! What Su Ze wants to manage is the Yellow River, not the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal!
Suze was well aware that the canals would become less important after the advent of railroads.
And the vast plains in Huaibei, if not troubled by the flooding of the Yellow River, would become a large granary with thousands of miles of fertile land!
Instead of regulating the canal, it is better to directly regulate the Yellow River!
Hu Zongxian calmed down immediately. He raised his head and looked at Su Ze and asked, "Grand Governor, you want to divert the Yellow River, but now Shandong is still under the control of the Ming court?" Hu Zongxian raised his head and looked at Su Ze. Could it be that the southeast has
already Are you ready to attack Shandong?
Shandong is the barrier to the capital. If Su Ze really attacks Shandong, can the emperor of the capital still sleep peacefully? Su Ze said with a smile: "This is of course a long-term plan, and to divert the Yellow River, we need to start in the middle reaches of the Yellow River in Henan." "The current plan of the Metropolitan Governor's Office is to conduct a hydrological survey first to divert the sediment from the Surabaya River.
" Hu Zongxian breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried that Su Ze was too young, acted too hastily in military and civil affairs, and made mistakes like Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. He always wanted to do in one generation what could only be accomplished in several generations. Not only Hu Zongxian, but also Pan Jixun also persuaded Su Ze that it was too difficult to divert the Yellow River. But Su Ze also knew in his heart that such large-scale projects are often easier to do sooner. In the early period of the country's reform, manpower mobilization costs and management costs were the lowest. At this time, officials were relatively honest, people were willing to obey the government's orders, and prices were relatively low. As time goes by, interests will become entrenched, and management costs and labor costs will rise exponentially. At that time, it will be difficult to do anything again. For example, in the Song Dynasty, the problem of the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures was not resolved, and the northern defense line was never at peace, and eventually perished at the hands of the northern nomads. Believe in the wisdom of descendants, and in the end the descendants believe in the wisdom of descendants, and things will completely fail. Of course, Su Ze also wanted to end the domestic war as soon as possible, but now the Southeast is really unable to expand. Lin Mojun's First Brigade has to maintain a huge maritime territory, not only to maintain the security of the southeastern coast, but also to control northern ports such as Tianjin and Dengzhou. In addition, it is also responsible for organizing immigrants to Dazhuang Island and Qiongzhou Island. Although the number of ships seems to be large, it is just a drop in the ocean. In addition, Qi Jiguang had already arrived in Guangxi and was preparing to recruit troops to attack Annan, which also required the ships of the First Brigade to escort the landing ships. But the Navy cannot be created through large-scale conscription. The training system of Fuzhou Naval Academy is very complete, but even training maritime officers in this way is a long-term process. In addition to officers, there is also a huge gap in sailors. Su Ze plans to establish a naval academy in Guangzhou to train sailors to fill the growing gap in the navy. You must know that the Second Brigade currently only has a total of 5,000 people and only 200 warships at its disposal. Among them, there are less than 30 ocean-going sailing ships that can fight in the open sea. At this time, Europe's maritime powers had more than this number of ocean fleets. It can be said that the construction of the navy has a long way to go. In addition to the navy, the army is also severely short of vacancies. Lin Liangjun's second brigade is currently attacking Jiangxi. These prefectures and counties in Jiangxi are not difficult to attack, but the bandits in the mountainous areas around Jiangxi still have a period of security war to fight. Lin Liangjun writes to Su Ze every three days, complaining Short staffed. Lin Deyang's third brigade has entered Wuchang and has begun a long-term confrontation with Zhang Juzheng's Ming army in Hanyang. Next, they have to free up their hands to penetrate the Hunan area. Lin Deyang also wrote to Su Ze many times complaining about the lack of manpower. Yu Zigao's fourth brigade was still busy suppressing bandits and quelling rebellion in Guangxi, and had to divide its troops to suppress the Ming army in Shaoguan. Yu Zigao had written to Su Ze many times to complain that the newly established sixth brigade had to start from his third brigade. The fourth brigade was drained of its cadre of officers, and their fourth brigade was about to be sucked dry by Qi Jiguang. But Qi Jiguang and Yu Zigao's father, Yu Dayou, were the same generation, and the fourth brigade was originally reorganized from the Qi family army. When they heard that Qi Jiguang was going to establish the sixth brigade, many officers took the initiative to apply for transfer. Yu Zigao could only complain to Su Ze secretly, but did not dare to tell Qi Jiguang in person. Chen Lin's fifth brigade was the only one that did not ask Su Ze for help, but Su Ze knew that Chen Lin was under considerable pressure. To suppress the bandits in Huaibei, we still need to face the pressure from the Ming army in Shandong. Gao Gong was training new troops in the capital, and the drills he used were all copied from the southeast. It’s not that Su Ze doesn’t want to keep it secret. To put it bluntly, the infantry drill is nothing complicated. It’s just about marching in formation and the like. There are no complicated secrets about musket shooting. After entering modern times, the training of musketeers is simple and unpretentious. Four words - "Only if you are familiar with it". Soldiers who are disciplined and able to obey the commander's instructions, and then throw in enough training pellets and gunpowder, there is no shortcut to the training of musketeers, just spend time and money. The Ming Dynasty still occupies the north, so it is not difficult to recruit qualified soldiers. As long as they are given adequate treatment, there are still many people willing to join the army. The process of making muskets is not difficult. Under Gao Gong's day and night supervision, the first batch of muskets produced by the rifle workshop has passed the standard. Although it is not as good as the spring-loaded flintlock guns installed by the Southeast New Army, the performance is considered acceptable, and the probability of the chamber exploding is much smaller. Gao Gong established the Ming Dynasty's new army in three towns in the capital. Each town had 5,000 soldiers, all of whom were young generals promoted by Gao Gong himself as chief officers, and their positions were town commanders. There are five cooperatives of one thousand people under the town, and the leaders of the cooperatives are the Qianhu of the Ming army. The Biao camp was set up under the association, and the commander of the Biao camp was from a hundred households in the Ming army. If a team is set up under the Biao camp, the captain will be the lowest officer in the Ming army. The officers in the three towns had all studied at the Imperial Military Academy, and the soldiers were recruited from good families who could read and write as much as possible. These three towns are full of musketeers, plus a small amount of mixed cavalry. Gao Gong also wanted to make cannons, but casting cannons was different from making muskets, which involved various technologies such as ironmaking, metallurgy, and forging. The cannons produced by Mingting Cannon Factory were either too bulky and could only be installed on the city wall for passive defense. Either it was too easy to explode, and the soldiers refused to use it. As a last resort, Gao Gong could only ask officials in coastal areas to find ways to contact Western businessmen and purchase their artillery. Now the new armies of the three towns of the Ming Dynasty are all in Jinan Prefecture. Although the new army of the Ming Dynasty does not have artillery, due to its large number, it also puts a lot of pressure on Xuzhou's fifth brigade. At this time, in a team of the fifth brigade, Kinoshita Tokichiro looked at his comrade Yi Sun-shin with a pained face. "Li Jun, are we going the wrong way?" (End of Chapter)