Zhu Qizhen placed the hand of the Empress Dowager on his palm.

I just felt that although the skin of the Queen Mother was very delicate, it was withered. It was like a piece of skin covering the bones of the hands.

There is no sensuality at all.

The Empress Dowager said: "Emperor, I dreamed about Emperor Renzong. He said that he had been waiting for me below for a long time. Without me, what would the King of Han do if he bullied him? I also dreamed about the second son."

"The second child has been a sick boy since he was a child."

"What will he do when he gets down there?"

The Queen Mother's words were almost as if she was talking to herself.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Mother, can you let go of your grandson? Don't think nonsense, mother, you will get better."

The Empress Dowager finally came back to her senses and said: "Don't worry, I haven't met my great-grandson, so I absolutely can't go to see Emperor Renzong. I can rest assured that this country and the country are in your hands."

Zhu Qizhen said: "Mother, please don't say anything depressing. My grandson will invite the most famous doctors in the world to come here."

The Empress Dowager said: "Okay, I know your filial piety. How is the situation outside?"

Zhu Qizhen said: "Jin Ying has been outside, and news has been sent. Although the rain is not light, the old people say that it will not rain for a few days."

"Yu Qian did his job well, the flooding was not serious, most of the people were assigned to temples, and some went to the palace. Jin Ying made all arrangements, and there will be no epidemics."

Zhu Qizhen unintentionally achieved the result that his efforts were worse than his efforts. Jin Ying was working very hard outside. Generally speaking, the situation in Beijing was still under control.

Zhu Qizhen served the Empress Dowager and drank the medicine, and then put the Empress Dowager to sleep.

As soon as I came out, I found that Wang Zhen was on edge and restless.

Zhu Qizhen asked: "What happened?"

When Wang Zhen saw Zhu Qizhen coming out, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Lugou River has burst."

"What?" Zhu Qizhen was shocked.

As the saying goes, good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes alone.

Zhu Qizhen had previously ordered the reinforcement of the Lugou River embankment, but he did not want it to remain a gap.

"The cabinet members are waiting for Your Majesty in Wenyuan Pavilion." Wang Zhen said.

Zhu Qizhen walked into the heavy rain without saying a word. Wang Zhen quickly put an umbrella on Zhu Qizhen's head. But even so, when Zhu Qizhen arrived at Wenyuan Pavilion, there were many places on his body that were covered by

Got wet.

Zhu Qizhen first changed his clothes in the side hall, then came to the main hall of Wenyuan Pavilion and asked Yang Shiqi directly: "What happened to the Lugou River? Is the embankment bursting from the south or the north?"

Yang Shiqi said: "The Marco Polo River is connected to both the north and the south. The south of Beijing is already a vast ocean."

Zhu Qi Zhenzheng said: "What's going on?"

Yang Shiqi said: "The damage of the Lugou River has been around for a long time. The Lugou River is often called the Unfixed River. In ancient times, after the Lugou River came out of the Xishan Mountains, it flowed endlessly. There was no fixed river course at all. Today's river course is that of the Yuan Dynasty.

With Dadu as the capital, the embankments in the Shijingshan area have been reinforced. But even so, the Marco Polo River cannot be stabilized."

"This is also the characteristic of the Lugou River. Every July and August, it will surge and overflow the previous river channel."

"Furthermore, since the capital was moved, the western mountains have been cleared of vegetation, and sediment has accumulated in the rivers, raising the riverbed, which has intensified the frequency of the Marco Polo River's diversions."

"After the first year of Hongxi, the third and ninth years of Xuande, and the first year of Zhengtong, there were floods, and more repairs were made, but they only treated the symptoms but not the root cause."

Zhu Qizhen recalled that in the first year of Zhengtong, he vaguely remembered that there was such a memorial.

But not very impressed.

After all, no matter how many floods there are, they pose no threat to the Forbidden City.

The Empress Dowager took care of it for him at that time.

It was only now that he was in charge that he knew about the dangers of the Lugou River.

Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath and said, "What should we do now?"

Yang Shiqi immediately came up with a series of plans, opened warehouses to store grain, closed the city gates of Nancheng, and emptied the official buildings to entertain the victims, and ordered the transportation of grain from Tongzhou to the capital.

A series of commands.

Everything is clearly thought out.

Zhu Qizhen got it right immediately.

Zhu Qizhen felt a deep sense of powerlessness. Sometimes he had to admit one thing: Yang Shiqi was indispensable to the Ming Dynasty, not him.

Yang Shiqi already knew what to do before meeting him, but he was just waiting for him to give the right word.

After he left Wenyuan Pavilion, he did not immediately return to Qianqing Palace. Instead, he went to Wenhua Palace and was immediately informed of Yu Qian's visit.

After half an hour, Yu Qian came.

As soon as Yu Qian came in, he saluted Zhu Qizhen and said, "I ask your Majesty to apologize."

Zhu Qizhen hurriedly helped Yu Qian up and said, "This is a natural disaster. What is your fault, sir?"

Yu Qian said: "I am the prefect of Shuntian. The Lugou River burst its banks and threatened the capital. I cannot absolve myself of the blame."

Zhu Qizhen said: "If I say that you are not guilty, you are not guilty." Zhu Qizhen helped Yu Qian up and said: "Sir, when he took office in Shuntian Mansion, he couldn't use his hands and feet at all. He couldn't do anything he wanted to do. , it’s not sir’s fault.”

"How could the people deserve this disaster?"

"I don't want to happen again with the Marco Polo River incident."

Yu Qian said: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Qizhen said: "Before, I always thought that Beijing was the capital and the foundation of this dynasty. Even if the food supply is not enough to support itself, we cannot rely entirely on the canal."

"It's just that if the damage caused by the Marco Polo River is not eliminated, Beijing will be in trouble."

"Mr. Yu, can you give me some advice?"

Yu Qian was silent for a while and said: "Your Majesty loves you so much that I should try my best to serve you. It's just that I am not a water control minister. I don't know how to control the Lugou River."

"I just believe that the management of the Marco Polo River is by no means limited to the Marco Polo River itself. The entire Hebei water system must be considered."

Zhu Qizhen said: "How do you say this?"

Yu Qian said: "Is there a map of Zhili here?"

Zhu Qizhen immediately said: "Wang Daban."

When Wang Zhen heard this, he immediately took out the map of Beizhili from the Wenhua Palace and spread it on the imperial desk. Yu Qian stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, please see, Hebei's river network is densely covered and connected to each other. It should be a land of plenty. But with such a river flowing into the sea, it’s not very smooth.”

"Therefore, the land of Hebei is densely covered with lakes and swamps. Many wastelands appear to be wastelands, but during the rainy season, they are occupied by rivers."

"If there is water but cannot use it, it will cause water damage."

"And the Marco Polo River is just one of them."

Yu Qian pressed his fingers on the Lugou River, and Zhu Qizhen's eyes followed the curve of the Lugou River, only to find that the Lugou River actually divided into several rivers in the lower reaches.

It seems that other rivers have countless tributaries flowing into one river, but the Marco Polo River is an exception.

It divides and merges with other rivers in Hebei.

This phenomenon, which is contrary to common sense, itself shows that the Marco Polo River is different from other rivers.

This area will be the Haihe River Basin in later generations.

But today, there is no river in Hebei called Haihe.

Zhu Qizhen didn't know that the situation in Hebei was actually directly related to the Yellow River's capture of the Huaihe River, as most of the rivers and lakes in Hebei were.

It used to be a tributary of the Yellow River, and many lakes were the old course of the Yellow River. The Yellow River took over the Huaihe River and flowed south, causing permanent damage to Hebei. This water system has been disordered for hundreds of years.

This is also the case. During the Han and Tang Dynasties, the richest people in the world were in the Hebei area. By the Ming Dynasty, it would decline to this state. You must know that in Hebei during the Han and Tang Dynasties, it could send hundreds of thousands of troops.

If Hebei remains the same as before, Jiubian will never run out of food.

The Hebei Zhu Qizhen faced was the devastated Hebei since the Jin and Yuan Dynasties.

We must know that the construction of water conservancy is never the result of one generation. The prosperity of Jiangnan can be traced back to the time of King Wu and Yue. The construction of water conservancy is definitely not the accumulation of one generation.

Zhu Qizhen looked at this map. He had never thought about it from the perspective of studying water conservancy, but now it seemed that it was enough to give him a toothache.

Zhu Qizhen asked: "Mr. Yu, if I want to rectify Hebei's water conservancy, how much manpower and material resources will be needed?"

Yu Qian said honestly: "I don't know. It just takes ten years of work."

Zhu Qizhen sighed and said, "Let's talk about Beijing first. How is the situation in Beijing?"
Chapter completed!