Fenghou

Early the next morning, [-] young and strong men joined the Caihe widening project. At the same time, [-] women participated in the logistics, mainly cooking and delivering meals. There are currently [-] people in Bianliang County, and [-] It's not easy for ten thousand strong men, and they still have to maintain the minimum manpower in shops and restaurants. In addition, about [-] women are employed in the army's workshops, making Jiangxi clothes, sewing shoes and socks, military uniforms, etc.

Women's wages are slightly lower, thirty yuan a day. After all, it is not physical labor. The folks who carry the burden of digging can earn fifty yuan a day with food and housing, and they are genuine copper coins. This is not bad in Bianliang. The construction period is estimated to be five months, that is to say, each person can earn [-] yuan, deducting the rest time, and there is no problem in getting [-] yuan.

Qiguan money is a lot of money for most Bianliang families, and it can be used for many things. Even if it is not used, it can be saved for emergencies.

Of course, if you have money but no materials, the prices in Bianliang will inevitably rise sharply. Chen Qing ordered to stockpile a batch of grain, salt, cloth, tea cakes, and briquettes in Bianliang, and supply them at a low price. Four pieces are supplied, and there is one more piece of cloth for basic necessities of life.

On the construction site, teams of peasants walked past Chen Qing carrying heavy loads of soil. In the river, hundreds of men were intensively driving piles to build a wooden fence wall, and then filled a large number of mud bags. Caihe followed If the flow is cut off, of course the river will not overflow, but will flow directly from Bianshui to the Yellow River.

The Bianliang River section is about thirty-five miles long. Dredging the silt and widening the river course required a considerable amount of work. In the Song Dynasty, which did not have mechanized operations, it would take at least half a year to complete the project.

Below is the Chenliu County section, about [-] miles away, and it will take almost half a year for [-] migrant workers to complete.

At this time, Zhang Yuanlang, the director of the river channel, was brought to see Chen Qing. Zhang Yuanlang was about fifty years old. He was granted the title of Superintendent of Water Affairs of Henan Province. This time, he was fully responsible for widening the Caihe River. Of course, he was not the only one. There were more than [-] officials under him, and hundreds of soldiers assisted him.

"See Your Highness for a humble position!"

Seeing that his big tent was not far away, Chen Qing laughed and said, "Let's talk in the tent!"

The camp covers an area of ​​half an acre, half open, and there are more than a dozen tables inside. What are the officials arguing about?
The officials got so involved in arguing that Chen Qing came in without them realizing it.

Chen Qing didn't bother them. He walked to the back and sat down. He looked at a map on the table. It turned out to be a map of the Cai River dredging plan. Chen Qing was surprised and asked, "When was this drawing made?"

"This was made by Beizhi seven years ago. At that time, Zhang Xiaochun, the Prime Minister of Puppet Qi, found Beizhi, gave me three hundred guan, and asked me to draw up a plan for dredging and widening the Cai River. Although the Bian River was entrusted by the Puppet State of Qi, the plan was beneficial to the country and the people, so I readily accepted it, and spent a whole year with more than a dozen apprentices to make a dredging and widening plan for the Cai River, drawing a More than a hundred drawings and hundreds of thousands of words of project details were written. In the end, Zhang Xiaochun regretted telling me that the puppet state of Qi was unable to afford such a large project and gave up. This set of drawings and text descriptions has been preserved until today. Thinking about it made a difference today."

"Is the construction done according to the drawings now?"

"Exactly! For example, when driving wooden piles, usually only one row is used, but here it is definitely not possible. The terrain of Bianliang is slightly higher, and the accumulated river water has the pressure of flood discharge downward. The wooden piles are shallow or less. There is a danger of the embankment breaking, so I require three rows of piles to be drilled, and the piles must be at least one foot deep."

Chen Qing nodded and said, "If you want to transport supplies from Luoyang to Xuzhou, you can only take Luoshui to the Yellow River, then enter Bianshui from the Yellow River through Biankou, and then go down Caihe River, is that right?"

"Your Highness is right!"

"Does Luoshui and Biankou need to be dredged?"

Zhang Yuanlang shook his head, "The dredging was done during the Xuanhe period, and a humble job was responsible for it. A big ship with three thousand shi is no problem."

"Speaking of the three thousand stone ship, I thought of the new course of the Yellow River. Why did Zhang Dujian think that the new course of the Yellow River is not conducive to navigation?"

Zhang Yuanlang smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness, whether a river has shipping value depends not on the river, but on people. Hundreds of years of shipping have formed a lot of experience, and all shipping people know how to navigate this river safely. A mature channel will emerge, and after a hundred years, the water flow of the new Yellow River channel will be the same as it is now, but there will definitely be many cargo ships sailing in the new channel of the Yellow River, and this is the channel accumulated through experience."

"I understand what the supervisor means."

Zhang Yuanlang said again: "I have been to see the Yellow River change course in Jianyan for three years. I have visited it seven times, and there is basically no change. From my point of view, it is no different from the Yellow River in Zhengzhou. Why do you say boats?" The difficulty of reaching the shore is actually not a problem of water, but a problem of the shore, the banks of the river are too smooth, and there is no deep enough bay, and the pier needs this kind of bay.”

Chen Qing nodded, this is what the experts say, and he suggested: "After the capital inspector finishes dredging the Cai River, go to Tianbao River to have a look. There is intestinal obstruction of Guanzhong Shipping! If it can be dredged, The connection between Jingzhao and Luoyang and Bianliang will be greatly strengthened."

Zhang Yuanlang readily agreed, "When this is over, I will definitely go to the humble job!"

As the Jin soldiers retreated to Shandong Road, the imperial army of the Northern Expedition retreated to the south of the Yellow River in embarrassment, and Chen Qing's Central Plains war situation was officially over. Chen Qing immediately appointed Yang Zaixing as the soldier and horse envoy of Henan North Road, and led an army of [-] to sit in Bianliang. He also ordered Liu Cui to be the envoy of soldiers and horses on the East Henan Road, leading an army of [-] to Guide Mansion. Si Sanzhou.

There are also [-] scattered troops stationed in Bozhou, Yingzhou, Tangzhou, and Dengzhou, with [-] people in each state, and one commander is responsible for guarding.

The dredging and widening of the Cai River is still in full swing, and Chen Qing returns to Jingzhao with an army of [-]. , silk, pig iron, copper and other materials, but the copper coins, grain and cloth were all left in Bianliang.

Zhang Xiao also stayed in Bianliang as the appeasement envoy of Henan Road. Although Chen Qing did not set up the Shangshu Xingtai on Henan Road for the time being, in fact, Sima, the appeasement envoy of Henan Road, was the Shangshu Xingtai, but they had different names and had the same power.

Five days later, the [-] troops arrived in Jingzhao. Chen Qing agreed to the suggestion of holding a triumphal ceremony in the Internal Affairs Hall. The ministers and tens of thousands of people went out of the city to welcome the return of the victorious army. Chen Qing immediately held a grand triumphal ceremony outside the east city. .

The grand entrance ceremony held in Bianliang was to show the great significance of recovering Bianliang, while the triumphant ceremony held in Jingzhao was an explanation to the subjects of Jingzhao, as well as a sacrifice and comfort to the [-] soldiers.

On the wide field outside the city, the [-] troops lined up neatly, with flags unfurled, swords and guns shining, on the high platform, Chen Qing paid homage to the [-] soldiers who died in battle, and then ordered the [-] troops to enter the city.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the city lined the streets to welcome the return of the triumphant army. The people sang and danced, cheered enthusiastically, and clusters of ribbons were thrown at the soldiers.

Compared with the poor and thin people in Bianliang, the people in Jingzhao are completely different. Everyone has plump faces, healthy and lustrous complexion, and almost everyone wears brightly colored fine linen or silk.

But there is one thing that the people of Bianliang and Jingzhao are exactly the same, that is, each face is filled with joyful smiles, cheers from the heart, and excitement from the heart.

As night fell, the [-] troops returned to Bashang Barracks to rest, while Chen Qing returned to Yongwang Mansion with more than a hundred soldiers.