Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1010 Trying
On the first day of November in the sixth year of Qianning, in Fangcheng County, Tangzhou, Han Jian, the governor of Ruzhou, Zhao Kuanglin, who was transferred from Suizhou to the governor of Tangzhou, and Zhao Keyu, the capital water supervisor, all arrived.

On the Bishui River, the trackers pulled the tank boat all the way north, and when they arrived at the pier, they began to unload the cargo.

"This river can't be opened." Zhao Kuanglin said firmly, looking at the Jianghan property unloaded along the way.

The goods are mainly medicinal materials, leather, silk, etc., all of which were looted and seized in Qizhou and Shuzhou by Zongzongben.

The two armies of Youguo and Weisheng continued to fight against the Huai army in the Jianghan area.

In October, they entered the city of Qizhou and were unable to attack for a long time.At the meeting, Li Shenfu sent sailors to the Wuchang area and burned hundreds of grain ships stationed at the wharf.The Xia army was terrified and retreated back to Ezhou. The Huai army pursued along the way and captured and beheaded thousands of people.

In November, the morale of the Huai army was like a rainbow, and they chased to the foot of Wuchang City. The two sides fought under Guo, and the Huai army was defeated.

So far, Yang Xingmi's expansion achievements in the Jianghan area have been destroyed.The three prefectures of An, Huang, and Qi were lost, and they expanded towards Xiangyang, and the hope of consolidating the western front was completely shattered.

Taking advantage of the new defeat of the Huai army, Zhe Zongben led a large army into Shuzhou, looted everywhere, and gained a lot.He didn't forget to give his son-in-law a share, no, all of them were shipped to Luoyang.

The ship loaded with goods entered the Hanshui River from the Yangtze River, and then went up the river against the river after reaching Xiangyang, all the way to Fangcheng County.

When you get here, you have to disembark and go overland.

Under Shao Shude's order, Dushui Supervisor Zhao Keyu came to inspect the so-called Xianghan Caoqu for the last time.

The idea of ​​Xianghan Caoqu has existed since ancient times.Especially after the earthquake made it impossible to transport goods from central Sichuan to Guanzhong by water, the excavation of this canal became even more necessary—after the goods from central Sichuan came out of Sichuan via the Yangtze River, if they could go directly to the river systems in Henan via the Han River, the loss would be greatly reduced .

Guochao once conceived it, especially after the capital Luoyang, but it was never implemented.

In history, Bianzhou, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, officially started excavation, but ended in failure.

In the third year of Taiping Xingguo (978), Zhao Guangyi mobilized Tang Deng Ruying and other people from the prefecture. The official excavation of the Xianghan Canal aims to connect the Tangbai River system in Nanyang with the Shahe River system in the Eastern Henan Plain, and then flow into Caishui to reach Bianliang.

Tens of thousands of people worked hard for a month, digging more than a hundred miles of canals, connecting the two major water systems of the Shahe River and the Tangbai River.Then build a dam at the lower mouth to stop the water, so that it flows northeast and merges into the canal, that is, artificially changes the direction of the river.

It was also at this time that something embarrassing happened.

Because the Cao Canal passes through Fangchengkou, the terrain of this pass is slightly higher, and the water volume of the Tangbai River is insufficient, "the terrain is high, and the water cannot reach it."Later, they thought of many ways, such as raising the height of the embankment, coupled with the flood season, the Tangbai River finally flowed into the Shahe River through the Shitang River in Ye County, and the Nanyang Basin was connected to the Eastern Henan Plain by water for the first time in history.

But something even more embarrassing happened.

Even in the flood season, the river barely rushed into the Shahe River system opposite the pass, but the water was shallow, "but it cannot be transported by water", and then the mountain torrents broke out, directly destroying the stone weir that blocked the water and diverted the water from the downward pass, and the project failed. tail.

The excavation of this canal in the Northern Song Dynasty was not groundless, because it was the channel of the ancient Baihe River.This is how Baihe walked in ancient times. However, after many years of vicissitudes, Baihe has been unable to cross Fangchengkou, and I don't know what happened in the middle.

Perhaps seeing the hope of success, ten years later, Zhao Guangyi ordered the excavation of the Xianghan Canal for the second time, but it ended in failure.

Both times came close to success, but it was this that made the canal useless.

In fact, it just lacks a lock with a ship lift.In the early years when the United States built the Erie Canal on the Great Lakes, it used a ship lift to allow ships to cross mountains and ridges and successfully navigated.

The Xianghan Canal is not long, just over a hundred miles away, and only tens of thousands of people were employed. It took a month of busy work, so it is not a big project.But it was stuck by the technology, and in the end it had to spend a huge amount of money to make Chuanzhong and Huguang goods go around for a long time before they could be transported to Bianzhou.

"Emissary Zhao, can't you think of a way?" Zhao Keyu asked.

Manpower is not a problem.It's not that Emperor Sui Yang mobilized more than a million people to build the Grand Canal, or that it took years and years.Tens of thousands of people are engaged in a month-to-month, fart-big project, and the conscription does not only go out for a few months at a time.

"Don't think about it." Zhao Kuanglin said with a bitter smile: "Gaozong and Empress Wu proposed to open this canal, but after field inspections, it was abandoned. Fangchengkou is not easy."

"However, this canal is not useless." Han Jian interjected, "Even if it can't pass through Fangchengkou, it will shorten the transportation by more than a hundred miles, and the cost will be greatly reduced."

"It doesn't make sense." Zhao Kuanglin said: "Bi Shui flows south and turns northeast. There is nothing to do on weekdays. Once a mountain torrent breaks out, it will be strange if the stone weir is not washed away."

"Maybe we can build a pond to slow down the water flow." Zhao Keyu thought for a while and suggested.

Zhao Kuanglin pondered for a while, and said: "It's not impossible, it can shorten the dry road by more than a hundred miles, and it may be worth a try."

"How many household registrations are there in Tangzhou?"

"After Xiaojiejun's family moved here, there are more than 15 households and more than [-] people."

"Is it possible to conscript this year?"

"Never."

"Deng, what about Sui Erzhou?"

"When I left Suizhou, there were [-] households with more than [-] people. Dengzhou had [-] households with more than [-] people." Zhao Kuanglin said.

"Ruzhou has 31 households and more than [-] population." Han Jianli added immediately.

"It doesn't take so many people to build a national road. Maybe [-] to [-] people can be mobilized to excavate the ancient Baihe River." Zhao Keyu clapped his fists and said, "This matter still needs to be decided by the king, and I will report it when I go back."

"Actually, if you want me to say, it's better to guide Luo into Bian." Zhao Kuanglin said: "What your Highness is worried about is that the water in Bian is small and gentle, and the sediment is silted up, which is not good for water transportation. But Luoshui is more abundant, and it may be able to communicate with Luoyang, The two major water systems in Bianzhou supplement the water of the Bianhe River."

The project of guiding Luo into Bian was completed during the reign of Song Shenzong.But during the period of Song Taizu, he actually wanted to do this.In the last year of his reign, he used 5000 people to dredge the 35-mile Caoqu Canal in Luoyang—yes, the Luoyang Caoqu Canal is a small project with 5000 people. There is no such thing as a civil uprising, and people will rebel if they are not given food.

"His Royal Highness attaches great importance to Luoyang's water, and it is impossible to divide it." Zhao Keyu said: "Yiying Huangji Bian is similar, but there is too much sediment."

Both Zhao Kuanglin and Han Jian sighed.

"You don't need to sigh. There are 850 miles between Xiang and Luo, and there are [-] miles of waterways. What else can you not be satisfied with?" Zhao Keyu said with a smile: "Your Highness has something to say. One piece."

To put it simply, Heyang, Henan and parts of Hebei are the grain bases of Luoyang.However, Jianghan and Nanyang should not be neglected, especially in the area of ​​Xiangyang and Ezhou, where the land is sparsely populated, swamps, and forests are densely covered. If it is well developed, wouldn't it be a big granary?

"Xiangyang is still in Zhao Kuangning's hands." Zhao Kuanglin reminded.

His cousin has a lot of thoughts.In recent years, Jingnan has been continuously invaded. In mid-October, Zhao Kuangming, the commander of the Zhongyi Army Yamen, led his army to break through the Jiangling Mansion, captured Xu Cun, and ended the long tug-of-war.

After Jiangling, the Zhongyi Army defeated Ximen Daozhao and others who came to rob them, Kexia Prefecture, and chased all the way to the city of Guizhou.

Hearing that Zhao Kuangning had personally arrived at Jiangling Mansion, he planned to send more than [-] Yamen troops and [-] Tutuan peasants to the south to attack Lei Man who had formed an alliance with Ximen Daozhao.

Lei Man panicked and formed an alliance with brothers Deng Jinsi and Deng Jinzhong in Yuezhou, and sent envoys to contact Ma Yin in Hunan for Austrian aid.

The war in Jingnan may continue in depth.

"Your Highness may not want the Zhao brothers to lead the two towns at the same time." Zhao Keyu said vaguely.

What are you kidding?Can't you see that King Xia is vigorously cutting down the feudal clan?Zhao Kuangning has a deep brotherhood and wanted to take over the Jiangling Mansion many years ago to find a piece of land for his younger brother Zhao Kuangming.Now, taking advantage of Li Kan's death and the serious infighting in Jingnan, these important towns were taken down. After King Xia noticed it, he would definitely take measures.

Brothers Zhao Kuangning and Zhao Kuangming can only choose between Xiangyang and Jiangling, there is no other possibility.

No, not even a chance to choose.King Xia most likely wanted to get Xiangzhen and take Xiang, Ying, and Fu into his pocket. The best result for the Zhao brothers was to go to Jiangling Mansion and serve as the governor of Jingnan.

Thinking of this, Zhao Keyu glanced at Zhao Kuanglin.

Zhao Kuanglin's expression was as usual, nothing unusual.After taking refuge with King Xia for so many years, his interests have long been inconsistent with those of his cousins, so there is nothing to say.

This is actually the survival wisdom of the local Tu people. Don't put all your eggs in one basket and bet on multiple positions, which can better ensure the continuation of the family.

In Zhao Kuanglin's view, it may not be a bad thing for the cousin to take the Jiangling Mansion.Xiangyang is too important, can you hold it?It's better to hand it over early and take up the post in Jiangling Mansion.

But alas!Zhao Kuanglin sighed silently, Jingnan Town will also withdraw its domain sooner or later, after all, it won't be able to hold anything.

"I heard that after Li Maozhen conquered Dongchuan, he swept away the remnants of the enemy and built a large number of ships at the same time. It seems that he is going to go east?" Han Jian asked suddenly, "I'm afraid he is putting on a show?"

"After having both the east and the west, if you don't go north to get the dragon sword, ghosts will believe you." Zhao Keyu said with a smile: "However, there are many people, money, and soldiers in the middle of Sichuan. Who can say for sure. Send a partial division out of the gorge It is not impossible to give Ximen Daozhao and others some hope."

Zhao Kuanglin nodded with a smile, but his mind was still on his cousin.As the same clan, he really didn't want brothers Zhao Kuangning and Zhao Kuangming to end badly.When he thought about it carefully, Kuang Ning seemed to be quite loyal to the Li family sage, and he kept paying tribute to him, which was ridiculed by many people.

Du Hong in Ezhou was captured by Zhe Zongben's sneak attack and seized the territory. Everyone in Jianghan Zhuzhou was in danger.Now he is really worried that Kuang Ning and Kuang Ming will be overwhelmed. Alas, King Xia is also a person who can't fill his desires. If he doesn't give others a way out, isn't this forcing rebellion?
(End of this chapter)