Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1606 Manuscript
The first year of Tongguang (916) came in a blink of an eye.

On New Year's Day, Shao Shude held a court meeting in Yanqi, accompanied by civil and military officials, Han officials, and foreign chieftains to attend the congratulations.

Shao Shude counted, and there were probably nearly a hundred people.

Since his expedition, he has almost recreated a set of power teams. Anxi, Beiting, Suiye, Rehai, Yili and other places are all under the rule of this team, which is basically most of the territory of the Chagatai Khanate .

The weather throughout the first month is not very good.

Shao Shude stayed in the local area with peace of mind, and almost read all the official documents of the Yanqi Mansion in the past year.

The big and small officials were sweating on their foreheads and trembling.

My great sage, hurry up and play with women, don't bother us.

Of course, adults never choose, they want.

Adie is pregnant, and Mengshi shed tears yesterday, and she is also pregnant.Shao Shude is now a little embarrassed to see these women, especially Mengshi, after all, he just got into a catastrophe.Ever since, he moved to the study to deal with official duties.

Fortunately, he is not overly harsh, just point out minor faults and problems, and verbally reprimand them and it will be over.If there is a serious problem, it depends on the severity of the matter and whether it is intentional or unintentional.

In short, his presence made the officials very uncomfortable, day and night looking forward to his departure as soon as possible.

At the end of the first month, when the weather turned fine, Shao Shude didn't delay any longer, and led a large group of people, escorted by a group of officials, returned to Gaochang in early March, and stayed in the Winter Palace.

"I heard that you wrote a book?" Shao Shude asked Wu Guangzan, the Prime Minister of the Water Supervisor, beside a newly built well outside Gaochang City.

"Returning to Your Majesty, it's not a book, it's just some manuscripts." Wu Guangzan said.

He was transferred to Gaochang after the Chinese New Year last year. His main job was to repair canals and increase the amount of irrigable farmland for Gaochang as much as possible.

Before leaving and on the way, he consulted a lot of information, even including the garrison of Gaochang and Yizhou in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty made great efforts to garrison the fields in the four towns of Anxi and the three prefectures of Xi, Yi, and Ting, but due to the war, the four towns garrisoned fields It has been repeatedly harassed and abandoned many times. In the end, Xizhou has the richest and most valuable materials.

After arriving in Xizhou, he worked tirelessly, starting with a few abandoned and collapsed wells and canals, and then asked the craftsmen who repaired the canals, the older local farmers, and even businessmen who often passed by Xizhou, as long as they could learn something. Understood, he was not ashamed to ask.

Because he is Dushuicheng from the seventh rank, he has a lot of voice in the Dushuijian. Therefore, from the governor of Xizhou to the ordinary people, he is basically given convenience, answering every question, even in the Winter Palace. He can also consult books in Chinese and Uyghur, and he is equipped with a translator—if the summer palace is not far away in Tingzhou, and the mountains are covered by heavy snow, he can even read the classics there.

After a year, Wu Guangzan, who is a senior official of the Metropolitan Water Supervision Bureau, has a considerable understanding of the well and canal system in Xizhou, and tried to sum up his experience and wrote some manuscripts for future review.

"Can I read it?" Shao Shude asked.

"Of course." Wu Guangzan beckoned, and the entourage opened the rattan box, took out a manuscript, and dedicated it to the saint.

Shao Shude stood on the ridge of the field and read word by word.

After reading it, I closed my eyes and meditated for a long time, finally opened my eyes and smiled.

Some people don't take what he said seriously, while others take it seriously.

When he was educating his son, he proposed the concept of "altitude".

When he communicated in the martial arts hall, he also mentioned the altitude.

When he visited the students in the Imperial College, he still mentioned this concept.Moreover, using altitude as an introduction, geographical terms such as plateau and basin are derived.

Wu Guangzan seemed to remember it in his heart.

He pointed out in the book that Gaochang as a whole is a basin with a relatively very low altitude, and the lowest point is Jueluohuan Lake (Aiding Lake).Traveling northward along the lake for two or three hundred miles, the altitude gradually increases until you meet a high mountain.

The mountains are covered with snow all the year round. After spring, the ice and snow melt, seep into the coarse gravel in the ground, and then gather in the lower places step by step. This is the significance of the construction of wells and canals. Rivers flow and are used by humans.

In addition, he also pointed out that mountain meltwater does not always seep into the basin, and may be blocked by rocks along the way.The evidence is that the underground springs gushing out of the Flaming Mountains, when they have nowhere to go, converge into rivers and pour down from the surface-this can also prove his theory in turn.

"Walk around more, read more, and continue to improve your theory." Shao Shude said: "Do you know what this book means to the Western Regions if it is completed?"

"It's more accurate when choosing the site?" Wu Guangzan said.

"It's far more than that." Shao Shude laughed out loud, feeling extremely happy.

It doesn't matter who invented the Karez, what matters is what it does.

The lowest point of the Turpan Basin is Aiding Lake, which is 154 meters below sea level. It is the lowest point in China and the second lowest in the world after the Dead Sea.

80% of the entire Turpan Basin is below sea level, and 40% is below 100 meters above sea level.The northern edge of the basin is closed by peaks, the snow on the top of the mountain does not melt all year round, and the altitude difference reaches 5600 meters.

After the warm spring, the snow and ice on the mountains began to melt. Affected by the terrain and gravity, they gathered in the low-lying areas in the middle of the basin, which gave people an opportunity to take advantage of them.

The water source of Karez is in the underground river below the surface, which avoids strong evaporation and retains water to the greatest extent.

People in Turpan have many years of experience in excavating Karez, but they have not put forward a perfect theory, which is a great pity.

The inheritance of experience is easy to lose shape, and there is no progress.If there is a war, the inheritance is even more likely to be broken.

To put it simply, when the Han Chinese controlled the Turpan Basin for the first time in history, the local aborigines were still white.But white people are also different from white people, and they are also divided into races and nationalities.

Has the human race in Turpan been changed in the millennium?This possibility is very high.

Not to mention, during the later period of Mongolian rule, because of the war between Haidu Khan and Kublai Khan, people in Turpan and Hami suffered heavy casualties.The once glorious achievements of civilization were destroyed, and the people quickly became ignorant and primitive.Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the level of civilization in the Tang Dynasty was not restored.

This is civilization dating, which is a concept related to the periodic clearing of population and culture in Northeast China.

Therefore, the things created by the working people with their own wisdom must be summed up and published in books.Even if the local area is devastated by war and the level of civilization is regressing, as long as the books are still preserved, it is not really a regress, because future generations can learn from it, and even innovate and make continuous progress.

It is Shao Shude's consistent attitude to be guided by theory rather than driven by experience.

"If the manuscript is completed, why should I begrudge the officials? You must be the first of the two envoys of the Dushui Supervisor." Shao Shude said: "From now on, maybe a discipline can be derived from it. The more people who study it more, the faster the development of the Western Regions will be."

"Your Majesty, is there a basin similar to Gaochang in the Western Regions?" Wu Guangzan was a little surprised.

"Of course there are." Shao Shude said with a smile: "It's just not as outrageous as Gaochang, but wells and canals can still be used. If Wu Qing goes to the west, he will know that most military towns in prefectures and counties use river water for irrigation. Farmland. And the summer sun in the Western Regions is so poisonous that a lot of river water evaporates in vain, which is a pity. To the south, there is a larger basin. On both sides of the Tianshan Mountains, it is also necessary to build wells and canals."

In Khotan in southern Xinjiang and Urumqi in northern Xinjiang, there are also hundreds of Karez wells in later generations.

Farther away, in the Fergana Basin in the river, the locals have also overhauled the Karez wells, all of which use the terrain for self-flow irrigation.

"Your Majesty's heart and soul are all about the common people, I admire you." Wu Guangzan said.

"If I don't think about the common people, how can I enjoy this colorful world with peace of mind?" Shao Shude said with a smile: "It's the first year of Tongguang, once the year name comes out, you should know what I'm going to do next."

Do some great things that will benefit thousands of years and shine with the sun and the moon!Wu Guangzan seemed to have realized something.

In fact, this is the meaning of changing the year name in ancient times.It shows a certain attitude of the monarch, which is a true political signal.

"I want to compile a book, including everything, everything, tentatively named "Tongguang Quanshu"." Shao Shude said: "After Wu Qing's manuscript is completed, it can be compiled into this book. Work hard, I wait."

"I obey the order." Wu Guangzan bowed and said.

This is sincere and sincere, for the great cause that will benefit thousands of years.

******
"Zhou Jingxian, Erding, owes Changtian eight mu and peach half mu."

"Bai Liu, Yi Ding, owes Chang Tian four mu, twenty steps, and peaches, half mu."

"Mr. Zhang, one Ding, owes Chang Tian six mu."

"Kang Ajiong, Erding, owes Changtian seven mu and twenty-four steps, and peach one mu."

……

After Shao Shude and Wu Guangzan finished speaking, they did not leave, but continued to stand there, looking at Tianmu.

Not far away, a small official quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead and loudly reported the number of acres of land.

This is to grant land to the six thousand town soldiers who came to settle in Xizhou.

The soldiers of the town are professional warriors. With the money and food equivalent to [-]% to [-]% of the forbidden army, after the family moves to Xizhou, they will naturally be granted land.

The fields were planted for their families.

When the situation was unstable in the early stage, it was necessary to garrison troops to suppress the local area, and Wufu's family members were natural immigrants.In order to secure their livelihood, land must be granted.

The standard given by Shao Shude is [-] mu per household, but to be honest, it is not easy to achieve - isn't this owed?
In the Tang Dynasty, the amount of land for a household in Gaochang was less than ten mu, and some slaves even had only two or three mu of land. Four dendrobium grains (about 433 catties) are consumed in one year.

In the Uighur era, Gaochang developed.The amount of cultivated land has changed from less than 1400 hectares in the Tang Dynasty to more than [-] hectares, but the local population has also increased. After all, a large number of Uighur soldiers and generals have come.

This year is the third year that Daxia has occupied Gaochang, and the number of cultivated fields has increased again, reaching more than 1700 hectares.

The extra [-] hectares, plus the confiscated Uyghur officials’ and wealthy households’ fields, add up to less than [-] hectares, which is enough to give [-] sergeants complete land grants, so there must be a large amount of arrears. urgent matters.

But as long as this is done, the situation in Xizhou will be completely stabilized.

There are 3 households of Wufu in the Central Plains, with a population of almost [-]. The average wealth is the highest in the entire Gaochang, and they belong to the undisputed local ruling class.Gaochang natives with little or no land in their families will even be reduced to their slaves and depend on them to live. This further increases the strength of this group and the speed of assimilation will be greatly accelerated.

"Some people in Gaochang are farming a few acres of Susukida, and they are hungry and full. It's really hard." After the granting of land was completed, Shao Shude called an official and said, "Ask them if they would like to go to Liaodong. It’s better to go to Liaodong to be a tenant, and you can plant at least [-] acres of land, as long as you are willing to endure hardship, life will definitely be better than now.”

"The minister obeys the order." The official responded immediately.

Shao Shude continued to walk along the field ridge.

The town soldiers who had just confirmed their fields fell to the ground one after another, shouting "Long live".

"It's the third year, and the people of Helong are still suffering." Shao Shude sighed, and said: "The decree is that Hexi and Longyou will confiscate [-] men and transfer grain and beans to Yi and Xi. Erzhou. After the grain is delivered, wells and ditches will be dug on the spot and the fields will be leveled.”

"Long live!" The warriors had sharp ears and cheered enthusiastically after hearing it.

Shao Shude laughed.

When the interests of Wu Fu and the people conflicted, he decisively chose Wu Fu without any hesitation.

The means of a high-end ruler are so simple and unpretentious.

(End of this chapter)