: Going to Yangzhou in a turbulent manner

(0818)

【Today's first update is delivered!】

Nanzhili, Huai'an Prefecture, near Hongze Lake.

In early autumn and July, the weather is a little hot and there is no wind. The trees and leaves on both sides of the canal are drooping and listless. The water surface is sparkling and looks very beautiful. However, if you look closely, you will find that it should be a clear water surface, obviously with a dark yellow color, as if the flood has not subsided.

In the afternoon, a huge fleet slowly sailed from the north of the canal. In front of them were five huge canal ships. This kind of ship that specializes in the canal has a very wide hull to provide enough welfare and reduce the depth of draft. From a distance, it looked like a huge crab walking horizontally.

Behind the canal ships are rows of gunboats and rows of Cangshan boats. Behind the canal ships are five large canal ships. Such a fleet combination is already very surprising. How can the canal ships be sandwiched between the canal ships? Just reversed! It is common sense to escort the canal ships in front and behind!

However, what is even more surprising is that it is not only that. What makes people feel even more surprising is that whether it is the canal ship, or the cannon ship, or the mast, there is a red flag hanging on the top of the mast. Anyone who has seen this flag knows that it is the flag of the Hu Ben Army. Next to the Hu Ben Army flag, there is a specially made triangular handsome flag with the big word "Zhang" written on it.

If you see such a flag, you can't guess who is coming. He must be an unqualified official. The military flag of the Hu Ben Army and the Shuai Banner named Zhang will report everything to the whole world. That's right, the Hu Ben Army is coming, and the boss of the Hu Ben Army Zhang Zhun is coming.

At this moment, Zhang Zhun was sitting on the deck near the bow of the boat, leisurely enjoying the scenery around the canal. He gave people the feeling that he was coming to travel around the mountains and rivers. However, the sharp artillery on the Cangshan boat and the Tiger Army soldiers who were waiting for the battle on the canal were silently telling everyone around that the governor was not here to travel around, but to ask for trouble for others. As for whom he was asking for trouble, please guess for yourself.

Next to Zhang Zhun was a group of officials from all over the Huai'an Prefecture. Zhang Zhun was sitting, but they stood upright. No matter how old they were, they stood upright. In such weather, standing on the exposed deck and enjoying the greetings of the sun was indeed a painful thing. However, no one dared to say anything.

What do you dare to say? Twelve gunships and more than a thousand Tiger Army soldiers are enough to press all your words back into your stomach. At this time, I am afraid that even if you die, I don’t know how you die. No matter how powerful you are, can you overcome Huang Taiji? Even Huang Taiji was beaten by Zhang Zhun and ran away with a blue face. If you take the initiative to go up and get stabbed, Zhang Zhun will blow your breath and you will be destroyed.

No one doesn’t think Zhang Zhun is too strong, no one doesn’t think Zhang Zhun is too domineering, no one doesn’t think Zhang Zhun is too lawless. In broad daylight, without the emperor’s edict or the court’s approval, he led the army, gunship, and his concubines to break into the territory of Nanzhili with his swagger. What is this behavior? In a normal age, it is enough to confiscate Zhang Zhun’s family and exterminate the clan, and the tombs of his ancestors of the 18th generation must be whipped out.

But isn’t this an abnormal year? In this chaotic era, the officials of the Ming Dynasty had more knowledge. They turned a blind eye to Zhang Zhun’s leadership of his troops into the territory of Nanzhili, the eunuch in Nanjing, the Minister of War, and other officials at all levels, as if nothing had happened. The above all meant that, how could the officials below dare to say something bad? It’s serious to serve this master.

"Oh, what's this all..."

Cao Wenheng sighed secretly in his heart, his face full of bitterness.

Zhang Zhun came to Jiangnan in a fierce manner. How could the officials of Huaian Prefecture dare to neglect? Yang Yipeng, the governor of the grain transportation and the governor of Fengyang, did not come back in the capital. The largest official in Huaian Prefecture was Cao Wenheng, the governor of the river.

Cao Wenheng was actually not an ordinary official. He served as the governor of Ji Liao and once commanded 200,000 to 300,000 troops. However, his term of office was only one and a half years, and it happened to be the chaotic period after Yuan Chonghuan was killed. Therefore, he did not make any great achievements. Since then, he has been the governor of the river and made great contributions to the dredging of the canal.

Feeling that Zhang Zhun's visitor was not good, Cao Wenheng hurriedly brought people to the vicinity of Suqian to welcome Zhang Zhun. After receiving Zhang Zhun, he accompanied Zhang Zhun all the way south, both in terms of etiquette and attitude, and Zhang Zhun was also impeccable.

Of course, the airs still have to be put on. For some people, the airs still have some effect, especially under the premise of fierce protection of the army. Zhang Zhun went south to Yangzhou this time and brought twelve Cangshan boats and a full battalion of the Hu Ben Army.

Now, the Qizi Camp led by Li Jiaxi is distributed above ten Caobo ships. In Yanzhou Prefecture, the Minzi Camp is also ready to go south to reinforce at any time. The Caobo ships carry enough food and ammunition, and even if a large-scale battle occurs, they can last for a long time.

"Master, are you going to participate in the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce or attack Yangzhou Prefecture?"

Seeing Zhang Zhun coming out in such a large formation, Liu Rushi asked in confusion.

“It’s both.”

Zhang Zhun answered without any concern.

The resistance that Shen Lingfei encountered in the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce was definitely not broken by usual means, so she could only use force. Zhang Zhun went to Yangzhou in person to use his own force. If anyone dared to hit the gun, Zhang Zhun would not mind using him to attack him.

In fact, from the bottom of his heart, Zhang Zhun really hoped that the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou would all pull up their servants and fight against the Hu Ben Army for a good time. The Hu Ben Army confiscated their homes, which was enough to build more Dragon God Ships or even King Kong Ships. He did not believe that the Ming army in Jiangnan had the possibility of defeating the Hu Ben Army.

"Governor, to the west of us is Hongze Lake."

Cao Wenheng suddenly said respectfully.

Cao Wenheng's attitude towards Zhang Zhun, the plague god, was very clear, that was, to try not to offend him as much as possible. Idiots knew that Zhang Zhun had already controlled Yanzhou Prefecture, and the next step was to enter Huai'an Prefecture. Even King Lu was expelled by him, and the court did not say anything. As the governor of the river, would he still pretend to be a big-tailed wolf?

It is absolutely impossible for Cao Wenheng to be calm in his heart when Zhang Zhun openly led his troops from the canal this time. In fact, Cao Wenheng was always uneasy, afraid that Zhang Zhun would cause some trouble. However, he was not very scared.

He had only one wife and seven sons, no concubines, and his family did not have much land, which could completely meet the requirements of Juntian Ling. If Zhang Zhun raised his butcher knife, he immediately responded to Juntian Ling's call and distributed all the land under his name to his wife and children, so that he could avoid the baptism of the butcher knife.

"Hongze Lake..."

Zhang Zhun held up a thousand-mile mirror and looked at the west side of the canal.

Indeed, on the west side of the canal, there was a vast water surface, and there was no sight at all. The sea and sky were all the same color, and it was a bit beautiful. However, the water surface of Hongze Lake seemed to be a little darker than that of the canal. This made Zhang Zhun feel very unhappy, and the Qianli Mile Mile in his hand was very uninteresting.

Because the current flood situation in Huai'an Prefecture is quite serious. Once the Hu Ben Army takes over, it must invest a lot of money to renovate the water conservancy project. The Hu Ben Army needs money everywhere. Once the heavy burden of the water conservancy project in Huai'an Prefecture is added, more places will need to spend money. However, money is not the most deadly.

The most serious thing is that the floods related to the Huai'an Prefecture are related to the entire Central Plains and even the entire China. They are definitely not cured by the power of the Huai'an Prefecture or the power of the Hu Ben Army. If you want to completely eradicate the floods in the Huai'an Prefecture, you must wait until the Hu Ben Army unifies the whole country before you can fully deploy them. Before that, you can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.

For example, if the Hongze Lake in front of us is to carry out large-scale governance, it involves the two major basins of the Yellow River and the Huai River, three provinces including Shandong, Henan, and Nanzhili, with more than twenty prefectures and a population of more than ten million. Such a vast project can only be completed by the whole country. At present, it must be more willing but less capable.

Zhang Zhun was silent for a long time and said thoughtfully: "I heard from Duke Miaoshan that the Governor has a complete strategy for restoring Huai. I wonder if it can be explained one or two?"

Cao Wenheng said with a bitter expression: "It's just some of the imaginations of the officials, and it's a joke."

Zhang Zhun looked around and said slowly: "If you can really restore the Huai River, you will definitely be able to keep your name in history. Your imagination is best to seriously discuss it. Maybe three to five years later, or ten years later, your imagination may become reality."

Cao Wenheng's eyes suddenly had a strange look. Zhang Zhun's words obviously moved him. To be honest, after staying in the position of the river governor for several years, Cao Wenheng was quite eager to manage the river. His ideal was to completely eradicate the floods in the two major basins of the Yellow River and the Huai River before he was buried.

However, the current chaos in the court obviously cannot support his ideal. Only Zhang Zhun, and only after Zhang Zhun unifies the whole country, can this ideal be realized. Zhang Zhun's words unconcealedly show his support for the management of rivers. If he can really get Zhang Zhun's support and mobilize the whole country to completely manage the Yellow River and Huai River, Cao Wenheng can indeed be famous in history forever.

However, it is not easy to re-Huai! Even if you get the full support of Zhang Zhun, even if you have the strength of the whole country, it is a very difficult thing. Cao Wenheng has been the governor of the river for five years and is really clear about the difficulty of controlling floods. In this position, it is easy to waste time, and it is indeed too difficult to do things.

Just controlling the Hongze Lake in front of you almost exhausted all Cao Wenheng's efforts. Hongze Lake is just a node with the floods of the Huai River. It seems that there are at least twenty or thirty such nodes. Some nodes are even worse than Hongze Lake.

The biggest problem with Hongze Lake is that the water level is raised, which seriously exceeds the surrounding area, causing bad consequences for the above-ground lake. Once the dike is missing, the consequences are very serious. Some people have calculated that once the Hongze Lake completely lacks dikes and floods pour out, enough to turn hundreds of miles into white land, and even Huai'an Prefecture cannot be spared.

However, the causes of flooding in Hongze Lake involve many aspects. To thoroughly manage Hongze Lake, we must consider all aspects, and then take multiple measures to start from multiple aspects. If we only start from one aspect or two or three aspects, it will not be able to eradicate the flood. It has no meaning to press down on the gourd and start from the scoop. Among these reasons, the most important thing is that the Yellow River seizes the Huai River and enters the sea.

The lower reaches of the Huai River are low and flat, and the fields are fertile, so grains are suitable for planting. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the fields in the world were divided into nine levels, and the fields in Jianghuai River were the upper middle (second level). Except for some areas in Guanzhong at that time, it was unparalleled. Geological examinations in Lianshui and other places proved that the black silt layer that has been deeply hidden underground was still exposed to the surface of the land.

The ancient working people took advantage of these superior natural conditions and worked hard to make the Huaihe River Basin prosperous and prosperous. Before Suzhou and Changzhou were developed, Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture were the hometown of fish and rice. "The Jianghuai River is ripe, and the world is full." "Walking thousands of walks is not as good as the two sides of the Huaihe River." Proverbs such as Suzhou and Changzhou are vivid portrayals of this scene.

In the Song Dynasty, grain production in Lianghuai accounted for almost 30% of the national grain production. The rice yield per mu in Lianghuai had reached a maximum of more than 300 kilograms. It can be seen that agriculture in Lianghuai was quite developed. However, since an uninvited guest, the Yellow River, the agricultural production in Lianghuai has been seriously affected. The flooding of the Yellow River has brought great harm to Huaian Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture.

After the Yellow River seized the Huai River, water flowed from the upper and middle reaches of the Huai River. Under the top of the Yellow River, the drainage was not smooth and gradually accumulated between Xuyi and the ancient Huaiyin City, making the Pofutang, Baishuitang, Fuling Lake, Nidun Lake, Wanjia Lake and other ponds connected to the small lake and expanded into the vast Hongze Lake. Once the flood surged, the Huang and Huai River merged, and the prosperous ancient Sizhou City, the Ming Dynasty’s ancestral tomb and many villages along the lake were swallowed up to the bottom of the lake.

Because Huang is strong and Huai is weak, the Yellow River often flows back into the lake. The silt and sand is silted, and the lake bottom is high. In addition, in order to maintain the smooth grain transportation of the north and south canals, the imperial court adopted a water control method of storing the Huang, Huai and transport strategies to control Huang, Huai and transport. Therefore, the Gaojiayan, which was used to increase the plateau to defend against Huai River floods, made it the current Hongze Lake embankment, and Hongze Lake became a famous "hanging lake".

"If Gaojiayan falls down, Huaiyang will not meet." This rumor is not a joke. The high-level situation of Hongze Lake posed a serious threat to the entire Lixiahe area. In order to prevent large-scale sleep, the river yamen actively cleared the passage between Gaoyou Lake and Shaobo Lake from the reign of Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty to lead Huai River into the river. However, during the Zhengde period, the flood of Huai River broke through the Jiangba Hongze Lake embankment, seized the road into the river, and fixed the Huai River flow from the Sanhe River to the Yangtze River through Yangzhou.

In fact, the serious consequences of the Yellow River seizing the Huai River into the sea are not just Hongze Lake. To the north of the Huai River, the Yellow River seizing Si and Huai River invaded Yishui, Sishui and other rivers gradually accumulated and formed Luoma Lake, Huangdun Lake. Yishui and Si Hongshui lost the flow path into Huai River, and then poured into Liutang River below Luoma Lake and entered the sea through the Guanhekou.

The lower reaches of the Shu River accumulate into Zhabu, Pingdun, Qingyi Lake and other lake depressions connected to the sea, and diverted from the Qiangwei River and Linhong River to the sea. The sea estuary of the original Huai River forms a new Yellow River Delta, and the coastline extends eastward from the original Yuntiguan and becomes the current coastline.

Huai'an Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty was not as good as today's Xiangshui, Binhai, Sheyang, Dafeng and other towns. The coastline was close to today's Yancheng area. It was precisely because the Yellow River seized the Huai River and entered the sea, which brought about a large amount of silt and silt, gradually forming land, and the coastline continued to expand eastward, and finally today's map was formed. According to estimates, after the Ming Dynasty, because the Yellow River seized the Huai River and entered the sea, the increased land area was at least 20,000 square kilometers.

After the Yellow River seized the Huai River, floods suffered year after year, seriously damaged the development of the agricultural economy of the Huai River. Due to the high silt of the riverbeds in the lower reaches of the Sishui River and the Huai River, the Yellow River was not leaking smoothly, and it broke down year by year, and even diverted the route. Yishui, Shushui, Sishui, etc. also lost the road to Huai River and flowed everywhere, which became a flood, which expanded the area of ​​the flood to Fengyang Prefecture and other places.

"When talking about Fengyang, singing Fengyang, Fengyang is a good place. Since Emperor Zhu appeared, it has been nine years of waste for ten years." Behind this familiar lyrics of Fengyang Flower Drum, there is actually a tragic scene caused by a large number of floods. In the Fengyang Prefecture area, when the grain is dry, there is no harvest in grains, and when it rains, floods are flooded, and when it is still no harvest in grains.

The local people were repeatedly affected by drought and flood disasters, and they really couldn't survive, so they had to go out to famine in large quantities and beg for food everywhere, and at the same time brought the lyrics of this section of Fengyang Flower Drum to the whole country. Because the government's poor management of the rivers, the people naturally blamed all their sins on Zhu Yuanzhang.

Cao Wenheng, as the governor of the river, is naturally very clear about the disasters caused by Fengyang Prefecture for years. According to statistics from the river yamen, since Chengzu moved the capital to ***, there have been more than 250 major floods in the Huaihe River Basin, on average, once a year.

The floods in the Yi, Shu and Si river basins were also very serious. In the Ming Dynasty, more than 180 major floods had occurred. Wherever the floods went, they flooded farmland, swallowed up villages, and even destroyed the city walls. Nowadays, Linhai counties such as Guannan and Lianshui, sometimes the water depth of the plains was more than 1 zhang deep, and even the streets could sail.

When floods flooded, in the Lixiahe Plain area south of the Huai River, "Since Zhengde, when the Huai River is in full swing, the west winds are gustling, and the white waves are like mountains. In the hundreds of miles of Huai River, public and private people are in panic, and no one dares to rest for hundreds of years." It can be seen that the seriousness of the floods is.

The turbid water flows everywhere not only causes agriculture to lose its harvest year by year, and the people live in poverty, but also destroys the original superior natural conditions of this area. Many lakes with abundant aquatic resources and rivers that can be drained and irrigated are silted into plain land, and large areas of fertile fields are covered by quicksand gravel. In some places, the quicksand silt in some places is more than two meters deep. Due to the capture of the Yellow River, many rivers have poor drainage, which has also salted salted in large areas of land and become sand-brown and barren.

After the Sishui River and the lower reaches of the Huai River were captured by the Yellow River, the canal river channel north from the two Huai Rivers (Huaiyin and Huai'an) was actually north from the Yellow River. The continuous overflow and divert of the Yellow River caused the canal river channel to change continuously. The continuous silting of the river body also led to insufficient water volume of the canal, narrow banks and shallow water, and there was no heavy load. The river yamen consumed a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources every year to clear the river channel. The court naturally felt deeply embarrassed, and the people below were also complaining.

It takes money and food to clear the river channel. Without robbing the grain, nothing can be done. The Ming Dynasty court now lacks the most money and food. Moreover, managing the river channel requires mobilizing a large number of civilians. Hundreds of thousands of civilians gather together, which is a huge powder barrel, and there is danger of explosion at any time. Once Mars falls in, the world will be in chaos immediately.

Of course, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty would not forget the painful lessons at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, they demanded that the number of civilians should not exceed 50,000 each time, so as not to cause uncontrollable ***. Of course, there is no limit now. Shaanxi bandits often have hundreds of thousands or even millions, what are the tens of thousands of civilians in the river?

Zhang Zhun asked calmly: "What is Lord Cao's basic philosophy?"

Cao Wenheng answered cautiously: "To cure Huai, we must first cure yellow."

Zhang Zhun nodded thoughtfully, expressing his approval of Cao Wenheng's philosophy.

Cao Wenheng's idea is indeed correct. To clear the canal, the first thing to do is to rectify the Yellow River. To eradicate the floods of the Huai River, the yellow roaring dragon of the Yellow River must be suppressed tightly. It is better to lose weight than to block the canal, and it has always been like this.

Even in later generations, the New China handled it in this way. In the upper reaches of the Yellow River, it took a huge amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources to finally hold the Yellow River down.

As long as the Yellow River is held down, the Huaihe River itself will be much easier. The Huaihe River itself does not have much mud and sand. As long as appropriate measures are taken to wash away all the mud and sand in the river, the Huaihe River basin can gradually restore its former richness. Without the accumulation of a large amount of mud and sand, Hongze Lake will not become a hanging lake, and the threat to the surrounding areas will be lifted.

Zhang Zhun said cautiously: "What do Lord Cao have any ideas about the treatment of yellow medicine?"

Cao Wenheng said slowly: "Planting trees and afforestation, returning farmland to forests, building dams and silt land, and building terraces, four-pronged approaches, a century-old plan."

Zhang Zhun frowned and said slowly: "How much money does it cost to completely manage the Yellow River according to Lord Cao's wishes?"

Cao Wenheng said deeply: "The initial investment is estimated to be no less than 5 million taels, and at least 500,000 taels will be spent every year in the future."
Chapter completed!