Xinshun 1730

Chapter 796
enough money?

Hearing these four words, Liu Yu felt a little dumbfounded.

What is enough money?

It has been 500 years since the iron and blood strong Song Dynasty broke the Yellow River embankment and caused the Yellow River to seize the Huaihe River and flow into the sea.

In the past 500 years, the entire Lianghuai area was completely abolished.In the Han and Tang dynasties, it was a prosperous place in the whole country, a place where military strategists must contend, and a center of wealth and taxation. It has become a key area for maintaining stability in Dashun today. It is a place where bandits and gangs are abundant and where rebellions first started. An endless stream of magical lands.

The Yellow River is full of silt.

From the early Southern Song Dynasty to the present, the 500-year sedimentation of the Yellow River, coupled with the Baoyun River, Baojing City, Baonanbei rule, etc., the Huanghuai River Basin from the southwest of Shandong to the south has been in an extreme situation. in crisis.

Not counting the Mongol and Yuan dynasties, from the time when Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty to Dashun, the Yellow River has breached 73 times in the Huanghuai District.

On average, almost once every three or four years.

The emperor wanted to abolish the canal without having to consider the dilemma of "protecting the Yellow River or protecting the canal", but is the problem solved once every three or four years?

Can't solve it.

Bursting and jaundice are bound to be accompanied by saline-alkali deposits.Different from normal floods, this sudden flood, accompanied by water turning into steam, deposits a large amount of saline and alkali, which seriously degrades the land in the Huanghuai area.

Coupled with the impact of a large amount of sediment from the Yellow River, the original "upper and middle soil" in the Kyushu era has degenerated into the current lower and lower soil.The land is salinized, the loam is yellow and muddy, the water does not seep in rainy days, and you can't pull out your shoes when you step on it, and the water and soil are as hard as stones in dry days...

The emperor said that he needed money for governance, so how much money would he need to manage it?
When Liu Yu and Kang Bushao discussed this matter, Kang Bushao's idea was that "a gentleman stays away from the kitchen".

It means, don't care about anything, just wait for the Yellow River to burst.It's not the Yellow River embankment that I pulled out by myself, how many people died and how many disasters I suffered, that is also at ease, even if the gentleman is far away from the kitchen.

Now the waterway of the Yellow River has become higher and higher, and the frequency of breaches has become higher and higher.

One day, the Yellow River will change its course, instead of taking the southern route to seize the Huai River, it will go to Shandong and enter the sea from Shandong.

Because there is Mount Tai in Shandong, the whole of Shandong will not become a country.

What is pitted is only the rich and prosperous places at this time: Dongping, Pingyin, Heze, Yuncheng and other places.That is, the triangle area where the Yellow River diverts its course from north to south.

Shandong has been suffering from drought and water shortage for these years, and it didn't even start in the past few years.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Shandong was a catastrophe where thousands of miles of people ate each other.

The Huanghuai River Basin is more prone to flood disasters because it is located in a higher precipitation area.

Therefore, if there is a natural disaster, the Yellow River will burst from the north and go to Shandong...

A breach of the Yellow River would have killed at least 8 to [-] people directly, and millions of people who died indirectly or became homeless.

What Kang did not hesitate to consider was that if the Yellow River bursts, the canal silts up, and the water volume is insufficient, then the conditions for sea transportation will be more mature.

In addition, now that the Yellow River is taking the southern route, it is getting higher and higher, and sooner or later, something big will happen.

Now Dashun's water control ability has been greatly improved compared to before.

At this time, water control is not for later generations, relying on sacks, woven bags, and mechanical vehicles to reinforce the embankment with large stones.

At this time, water control requires bamboo and wood as supports, mixed with soil to control water.

Beginning in the Ming Dynasty, in order to control floods and due to serious land degradation, the government began to promote the planting of sorghum in the yellow-flooded areas.

The main purpose is to use sorghum stalks as materials for building embankments.

The side result is that a large amount of sorghum has become the raw material for wine making, making sorghum wine the endorsement of baijiu. Generally speaking, sorghum wine must be more "noble" than corn wine and sweet potato burnt.

Dashun's water control ability is slightly stronger than that of the previous generation, which is also due to the large amount of sorghum stalks and corn stalks.

Under the premise of not having to worry about the flooding of the imperial and ancestral mausoleums, and with a large amount of sorghum stalks and corn stalks used as materials to strengthen the embankment, the breach of the Yellow River continued, and it was even more serious than before.

The ability to repair river embankments is getting stronger and the frequency of accidents is increasing. This can only explain one problem: I have been holding back, and sooner or later a big accident will happen.

In the current situation, the Yellow River floods come every three to five times, and tens of thousands to 10 people still die.

Of course, Liu Yu would not foolishly ponder such fantastic ideas as digging a channel of the Yellow River and taking the initiative to break the embankment. With the engineering capabilities of the world at this time, such a feat cannot be accomplished.Moreover, after the Yellow River comes out of the Taihang Mountains, the entire lower reaches of the Yellow River Plain are actually the waterways of the Yellow River, and people can go wherever they want. How can the manpower at this time be restrained?

But when it comes to weighing all kinds of things, Liu Yu thinks that the Yellow River may break through from the north and go to Shandong. From the perspective of the whole country, it seems to be better.

It's just that this is out of his control.

It is probably unlikely that the emperor would have the anti-human idea of ​​taking the initiative to open the Yellow River embankment. Although he is only a feudal emperor, he is at least a human being.

Therefore, under this premise, the emperor said "lack of money", which is worth considering.

Lack of money, how much money is lacking?

Lack of money to solve the waste water and transform the sea to the sea with millions of water workers without causing trouble?

Or is there a lack of money to thoroughly control the Yellow River and Huaihe River Basins?
The two are not of the same order of magnitude at all.

With the current national strength of Dashun, which is at the peak of a rising period, it is still capable of solving the problems of the canal and northern Jiangsu.

Although the solution may not be perfect, judging from the emperor's goal of not wanting the Huanghuai region to become a cancer of the empire, it should still be possible.

In fact, Liu Yu is also eager to solve the Huanghuai problem.

Because, in his heart, he placed the birthplace of Dashun's light industry in southern Jiangsu—at this time, Songjiang Mansion and Shanghai were also considered southern Jiangsu.

If we say that the Gyeonggi region and the Liaodong region used "military" as an excuse to ask the imperial court to fund the establishment of some government-run enterprises.

Then, the southern Jiangsu region must rely more on private capital.

The steam engine has already come out, and even light industry needs coal and iron as the foundation.In southern Jiangsu, relatively speaking, at this time, the coal and iron that are the easiest to obtain recently are in northern Jiangsu.

At the same time, steam engines first appeared in coal mines, and the initial demand was to pump water.

In the Zaozhuang area, there were coal mines in the Song Dynasty.In the stories of later generations, the railway guerrillas were also active near Zaozhuang.

Now there is no coal mining there. The reason is that after the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River was diverted and a large amount of water was flooded, causing the coal seams to be soaked in water.

In this way, the steam engine is only used for pumping water, and it can be quickly popularized.

In the long run, if the Huanghuai region can be completely governed, even if it maintains a basically stable state, it will be conducive to the start of light industry in southern Jiangsu.

He is not interested in the fact that the chaos in northern Jiangsu caused a large number of people to flee south and north to beg and become cheap laborers.

Because the working population in Dashun is already cheap enough, and the labor cost in southern Jiangsu is not high, the speed at which small farmers go bankrupt and enter the city to work is far higher than the number of people that can be absorbed by the industrial and commercial development in southern Jiangsu.

If it is said that Dashun cannot completely govern the Huanghuai area, it is almost inevitable.

Then, when it can be guaranteed that when the Yellow River is being treated, there is no need to consider the issue of the canal. If the Yellow River is properly controlled, at least the floods will not be as frequent as they are now, which is indeed a kind of progress.

With this in mind, Liu Yu didn't ask the emperor to what extent he planned to solve the Huanghuai Canal issue, but first talked about the "money" issue.

"Your Majesty, the systems of the Celestial Dynasty and the Western Yi are very different. Confucius said: "Three people must have my teacher. Han Changli said that Confucius was taught by Lao Dan and Chang Hong. It is not that he is not as good as this generation. Some methods of the Western Yi, It’s not impossible to learn.”

"If you choose the good ones and follow them, it's not a simple business matter. There are still many laws and regulations that need to be tried and implemented."

"The ancients said that if you are not in the position, you will not seek the government."

"Since I have been an official, I have been taught by His Majesty, and I know the reason."

"Your Majesty sends ministers to promote business, and ministers should not intervene in other civil and military affairs. At least they should not interfere in local affairs."

"However, if the minister is a local governor, he will have too many things to manage, and he will not be able to devote all his energy to business affairs... The ancients also said that if the name is not correct, the words will not be smooth. If the words are not smooth, the government will not be smooth. What kind of capacity does your Majesty think the minister should take to preside over the matters that His Majesty has given to you? This is one of them."

"Secondly, although Su, Song and other places are rich and have prosperous industry and commerce, they are not enough. Among them, rice, grain, cotton, indigo, etc. are produced here, only rice mills. If I'm afraid it will be inconvenient for the minister to go out of the town with honor and honor to save a place."

"Thirdly, although the industries, family businesses, companies, etc. of many merchants are located in Songjiang Prefecture, their businesses are distributed in various places. There are those who cultivate and catch fish in Ezo; Nanyang reclamation miners... If they are limited to one place, if there are negotiations, it will be inconvenient to deal with."

The emperor waited for a while, seeing that Liu Yu had just said these three points for the time being, he couldn't help laughing and said: "How can I not think of what Aiqing said?"

"Nanyang's great achievements have been accomplished, and they should be dukes based on their military achievements. With the dignity of a duke, if you go out of the town, how can it be considered a place? Besides, when Aiqing goes out of the town, I am also afraid, and I am afraid that there will be big troubles." , the gentry is fierce."

"Furthermore, trade and business matters are closely related to Nanyang, Xiyang, and Dongyang. If the Dutch succeed in the future and undertake the Western Trading Company, there must be military and political affairs during the period, and someone needs to be the link between the court and merchants. "

"That's why, in my opinion, it is to form an industry and commerce bureau to coordinate and manage all matters related to emerging industry and commerce, as well as the academy of sciences, new studies and other affairs."

"It's just that the Bureau of Industry and Commerce is inconvenient to be under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. Since Ai Qing said that if the name is not correct, the words will not be right, so I will give you a right name."

The emperor spoke very grandly, and gave Liu Yu the right to govern new things in a legitimate manner.

In fact, the other half of the meaning of these words is to say that the name is right and sound, and you should be a good advisor in military matters in the future, and you should stop touching military power.

If you have any questions, I can ask you. Of course, you can also write a letter to Chen Zou, but you are not justified in the matter of the army.

Moreover, as far as it looks now, it seems that there are no wars such as the Tang Conquest of Turks, the Han Conquest of Dawan, and the Sui Conquest of Goguryeo, where famous generals must lead the army.

However, the emperor did not answer a question asked by Liu Yu: what should be done when there is a conflict between his own policy and local policy?
The emperor's intention was also very clear, that he would not give Liu Yu a justifiable power in terms of this power, or give the new Industry and Commerce Bureau a justifiable power.This is just a department for attracting business and coordinating business and localities, not the imperial industrial planning committee of Dashun...

Instead, he used his personal favor and the grace of the southern tour to show the officials to resolve the possible conflicts between Liu Yu and local officials-local officials generally would not be so blind to you, but this is not due to Your formal power comes from my grace.

Once the future is not favored, all changes can be easily abolished locally.For something unprecedented, it is better to be able to die.If it is useful, it will not let people die.

(End of this chapter)