The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 876 Abnormal years, the use of non-human

Located in the center of Dongping County, Juyeze, also known as Liaoerwa and Dayeze, is also the famous Liangshan Lake in later generations. This lake occupies [-]% of the area of ​​Dongping County, which is twice as large as the [-]-mile Liangshan Mountain. It is vast and magnificent. Such as the sea, it is the existence of this large lake that makes the people of Dongping County far more prosperous than the surrounding Dongjun, Jibei, and Jiyin in the peaceful and prosperous years.

The east and north of the lake are hilly areas. The clear water from the lower reaches of Wenshui enters the lake in the east, Liuliu water in the south, the Yellow River in the west, and the Chenshankou Outlet River in the north connects with the Yellow River.

To the north of Juye Lake is Fan County in Dongping County. This county was formed by the flooding of the Yellow River. To the west of the county is a vast and infinite gravel swamp area. Many small streams flowing from Juye Lake can directly reach the Yellow River through here.

Until last year, it was still a wasteland full of reeds and unsuitable for crop growth, but since the imperial court decided to use Juyeze in the southeast as the Yellow River flood discharge area, it has become lively.

According to the design of the Ministry of Industry, this piece of gravel land with a radius of more than [-] miles will be built into a huge artificial lake, which will be used as the first level flood diversion area of ​​the Yellow River. Juyeze, and then through the canal in the southeast of Juyeze to Nanyang Lake in Lu County, and then along Zhaoyang Lake, Weishan Lake, "Weishan Lake-Xiapiliangcheng County Canal", Luoma Lake, and then converge It enters the main stream of Surabaya, then passes through the Huai River, and flows eastward into the sea.

In order to build the "one lake and three embankments" and the canal connecting the 'Yellow River-North and South Lakes-Juyeze' before the flood season, the imperial court invested 60 retired soldiers and war criminals here alone. Two hundred groups, 3000 people in each group, and one group is divided into three thousand-person teams, each team works for two hours, and then takes turns to rest. After this cycle, there are four hours to rest each day and night, and on the construction site, There are 20 people working at any given moment.

They adopted a segmented construction method. After intense struggle, the artificial lake located between the Yellow River and Juyeze has been formed. The artificial lake is long and narrow from north to south and wide in the middle. From northwest to southeast, Suozi Lake looks like a huge eye.

In the north, south and middle of the lake, there are three cement embankments running from east to west and one mile wide. Pile, pour cement, cement stone wall to form a pool, then fill in gravel and cement in the middle.If the three embankments with water gates are completed, they will be three sluice bridges that divide the artificial lake into two.

Once the Yellow River surges and the north embankment is opened, when the water from the Yellow River flows into the North Lake and fills the North Lake, it only needs to open the water gate of the middle dike to enter the South Lake, which plays a role in secondary flood diversion; if the South Lake is also filled, it can be Open the sluice of the South Dike and introduce it into Juyeze in the south, so as to realize the third flood diversion; if the water potential of the Yellow River weakens, the water of Juyeze can be released to wash the sand at the bottom of South Lake and Beihu Lake successively.

In normal times, the water from the two lakes in the north and the south that has deposited sediment can also irrigate the water-deficient Dongjun in the west and the northern part of Jiyin in the southwest through tributaries.

Moreover, in order to facilitate the passage of pedestrians and carriages, a north-south bridge was built on the lake; as for the east-west bridges, except for the central lake embankment, there are two bridges in each of the north and south lakes.Although this has increased the amount of work, it is undoubtedly the best time to build the bridge. If the two lakes are full of water, it will be difficult to build the bridge in the future, and the problem of boat traffic must also be considered, so one step is the only way at present. choose.Compared with the east-west bridge, the north-south bridge is relatively simple, because it is a solid embankment interspersed with small bridge holes. Ordinary craftsmen can lead a team to construct it in sections, so Li Chun, a bridge master, is not in charge.

His current mission is to be the chief engineer in charge of the east-west 'Three Dikes and Four Bridges'. Each of the seven construction sites is led by a bridge master.As for the two lakes in the north and the south and the canals that connect the north and the south, they are also managed by special personnel from various factions, so although there are many people involved in construction, the entire construction site is in order.

This artificial lake is a project that integrates flood control, flood diversion, sand discharge, irrigation, and unimpeded water and land. The construction requirements are extremely complicated. This one site alone accounts for more than half of the engineering volume of the "Yellow River to Huaihe River" project.

Since the construction site has been working day and night for more than three months, the width and depth of the lake have reached the requirements, and the north-south embankment running through the lake has also been completed.

When Yang Tong came to inspect the site, he saw that the entire construction site was crowded with people, busy like ants. Some people used horse-drawn carts to move soil and rocks, some dug the lake bed, some used stone strips and cement to pierce the lake embankment, and some were repairing the lake bed. Bridge, but because the allocation is in place, the construction site looks busy but not chaotic.

The [-] captives from Jiaozhou had arrived by sea, and they were divided into seven thousand-man teams to join the construction. Since they were newcomers and had no special skills, they were assigned to the bottom of the lake, where they specialized in physical labor and were busy under the supervision of soldiers. Tamp the bottom of the lake.

They first drained the water in the lake, then emptied the silt, spread gravel evenly on the lake base with a horse-drawn cart, and then tamped it inch by inch with huge logs. After tamping, the bottom of the lake became high in the north and low in the south. The slope is so that when the flood is discharged, the sediment can rush into the Yellow River through this slope and be discharged to the sea.The lake foundation in front of the three main embankments is a concrete floor at an angle of almost [-] degrees. This is to prevent the flood from damaging the lake foundation during flood discharge.

It was almost noon, and it was time for civilian workers to change shifts. Compared with Jiaozhou prisoners who worked all day and worked three shifts at night, the war criminals in the Civil War were obviously much happier. Once they retired from the construction site, it meant that they could rest for four weeks. hour.

Yang Tong and Yin Mingyue, under the protection of Xuanjia Army and Shura Guards, inspected the long embankment from north to south. After a while, some soldiers invited Wei Zheng, who was in charge of supervision, over.

What Wei Zheng supervised was not the migrant workers, but the logistics; after all, there are too many people here, if the supervision is not in place, it is inevitable that criminals will wantonly deduct food.If these tens of thousands of people suffer from hunger and cold, are seriously ill and are forced to work, they are very likely to become rebels who will harm the world and cause the Central Plains to revive their weapons.Because of this, Yang Tong sent the stern and selfless Wei Zheng to be the supervisor, and led a large number of law enforcement teams to supervise the construction site day and night.

"My minister sees His Majesty." Wei Zheng stepped forward and saluted.

"Exemption!" Yang Tong looked at Wei Zheng, who was much thinner, and said with a smile, "No problem, right?"

"Returning to the Holy Lord, there are no other problems, except that the construction period is a bit tight. Fortunately, the emergence of cement has shortened the construction period a lot and consumed less. If it is like before, quarrying stones to build embankments, mixing eggs and glutinous rice with rammed earth, not only the construction The speed is slow, and the consumption alone is an astonishing amount."

"Can it be completed before the flood season?"

"It's not certain!" Wei Zheng shook his head and smiled wryly, "Because no one knows when the heavy rain will come."

"This is what I'm worried about." Yang Tong sighed.

Last year, there was heavy snowfall all over the world. Everyone thought that this year would be a good year with plenty of rain, but today, the whole north is experiencing a strange phenomenon of drought and little rain.If the imperial court had not paid attention to water conservancy construction in recent years, built a complete water conservancy network, and had bobbins and overturned carts to draw water for irrigation, I am afraid that the loss of spring grain would be heavy.

This weird celestial phenomenon gives people the feeling that it is accumulating a heavy rainstorm.If the heavy rain comes early, the project here has not been repaired, and it may not be able to regulate the water level; if it comes late, its power may be even more shocking.

"Your Majesty, please relax." Wei Zheng comforted him while introducing the progress of the project, "Here, the Great Lake has adopted a strategy of first going north and then going south, and it has been built step by step. The section of the Yellow River embankment used to break the embankment, and the section that connects it to here The canals in the northern part of the lake and the North Lake dike have been completed. These three projects are all poured with cement slurry; especially the new dike of the Yellow River and the three major lake dikes are all dug to the bottom of the stone, iron piles are driven in, and then the cement is poured. The upper and lower sides are integrated into one, solid as a stone body. Although the middle embankment and the south embankment have not been completed, the foundations have been repaired. If the heavy rain comes before the overall project, the lake can already play a role in flood diversion. It's just the bridge and the bottom of the lake."

"Let everyone hurry up, if it really doesn't work, we have to hastily divert the flood." Yang Tong pondered for a while, and then asked, "Who is in charge in the south?"

"The person responsible for the construction of the South Embankment, the Juye Ze Embankment, and the canal connecting the two is named Yan Lide, the son of Yan Bi, the young supervisor in the front hall, and the grandson of Emperor Yuwenyong of the Northern Wu Dynasty. He was born in a family of engineers and was good at architecture, crafts, and painting. Yan Lide was in charge of excavating the northern section of Yongji Canal with his father Yan Pi, that is, the section from Zhuojun to Juma River, and also built the Linshuo Palace, so he is very familiar with this aspect." Having said this, Wei Zheng said: "His younger brother Yan Liben is also an expert in this field. He is currently learning bridge repair skills from Li Shilang and has given many valuable suggestions."

Yang Tong was taken aback, he didn't expect that these two great painters actually started building, and it was right under his nose, and then he ordered an accompanying official beside Wei Zheng: "Go and find Yan Liben."

"Here."

The man jumped on his horse and galloped away.

Yang Tong looked forward, and saw ten sturdy peasant men walking forward, talking and laughing, their bodies were covered with mud, obviously they were people who had just been replaced from the construction site.

Seeing that they were all about fifty years old, Yang Tong's heart moved, and he said to Qin Wei: "Invite those people here, and don't reveal my identity."

Several personal guards got off their horses and ran towards those peasants. After a while, this group of peasants was invited over and saluted together: "Xiaomin sees the envoy!"

"Everyone is welcome!" Seeing that they were trembling under the gaze of Xuanjia Army and Shurawei, Yang Tong smiled gently and said, "Don't be afraid, everyone. I invite you here to ask you a question."

An elderly civilian husband bowed and said: "Your Majesty, just ask, the little people know everything, and they can talk endlessly."

Yang Tong asked, "Where are you from?"

The man replied: "Master, we are from Weicheng, Dongjun."

Yang Tong smiled knowingly: "Is it Li Mi's soldier?"

The faces of these people turned pale all of a sudden, the person who spoke hesitated for a moment, nodded nervously and said: "Exactly."

Yang Tong asked with a smile, "How many years will you be in reform through labor?"

"Hui Shijun, we used to be brigade commanders in Li Mi's army, so we were punished for four years!"

Labor reform is also divided into time and length. Ordinary soldiers, corporal commanders and fire chiefs are punished for three years, brigade commanders for four years, and school captains for five years. The higher the official rank in the rebel army, the more punishment they will receive. , was executed directly.Of course, there are also special categories, such as Xu Shiji and Bing Yuanzhen. Although they are the main force of Li Mi, they are reused by Yang Tong because of their talents and meritorious deeds.

Yang Tong asked again: "Looking at your age, you should have built the Tongji Canal before, right?"

"Why Tongji Canal!" The man sighed, "Xiaomin has built Luoyang City, Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal, and participated in the first emperor's battle of Goguryeo twice. I became a rebel, followed Wang Bo, Zuo Xiangcai, and Xu Yuanlang, and then became Li Mi's soldier in a daze, and now I am a prisoner in a daze."

"Your life is really big enough." Yang Tong laughed. In fact, there are many such soldiers in troubled times, but this is the first time Yang Tong has heard of someone who has survived as much as he has experienced. .

The person who spoke said with a naive smile: "I also feel that my fate is hard."

Yang Tong pondered for a moment, then asked again: "Since your experience is so rich, let me ask you another question."

"Your Majesty, just say hello." Seeing that Yang Yu was full of vigor and kindness, he immediately fell in love with him, his fear disappeared, and his tone of voice became much more casual.

"What do you think is the biggest difference between the construction of Luoyang, Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal now?"

"Enough food and rest, no one has died yet."

"Didn't the first emperor give you food?"

"The first emperor asked us to work, of course for food and wages, but in the end they were all embezzled by corrupt officials. Not only did we have no wages, but even the food was thin soup."

"So, is it because the late emperor's court supervision was not in place?"

"Yes!" The man sighed: "The current officials are not greedy for this food, but those officers who oversaw the work had such a hard time getting this fat job, can they not be greedy? First, they made money by embezzling food, and second Get rich on ransom..."

"Wait!" Yang Tong interrupted him, "I understand the embezzlement of food, but what's going on with the ransom?"

"I don't know that, in the past, in order to get ransom, the officers who supervised the work used different methods to torture the civilians. The easiest way was to work day and night, and tortured everyone to death. Then they notified the family of the civilians to redeem people. The civilians When the family members heard the news, selling land and houses also had to redeem their relatives, or their relatives’ corpses. If the civilian husbands live well, how can those hateful military officers get rich? So many people die in every project, and they are really exhausted. There are actually not many people who died of illness.”

"Now everyone not only has enough to eat, but also has enough time to rest. If you can use water transportation and animal power, try not to use people, so that you don't need too much labor!" People who are good are good, and they generally don’t object. But for ordinary civilians, as long as they are fed and paid, they will work hard and don’t need supervision at all.”

Yang Tong nodded suddenly. He always felt strange. It is true that Yang Guang did not care about people's strength, but when Luoyang, Tongji Canal, Yongji Canal, Zihe Great Wall, and official roads were being built, the Great Sui Dynasty was in its heyday, and the people passed by During the reign of Emperor Wen, he was recuperating, and his physique and health were very good, but every project would kill more than half of the civilians.

It was not until now that I figured out the shady scene inside. It turned out that the black hole that crazily devoured the lives of the civilian husbands was the army ordered to oversee the work.

It is no wonder that the Sui Dynasty was so chaotic. First, Yang Guangda was engaged in projects, and second, the army took the opportunity to crazily squeeze the peasants, forcing them to sell their fields and houses, and buy back seriously ill relatives or corpses.

In the final analysis, the use of inhuman beings led to the loss of money and food from the court, the death of civilian husbands, the inability of the people to survive, and the reverse of the world.

At this moment, a soldier rushed over, "My lord!"

Yang Tong turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Someone came to you from the capital, saying that you are the old man of the Holy One."

"Understood, let him come here." Yang Tong turned to look at these war criminals, but saw that they all knelt down with ashen faces.

"Since the imperial court has stopped prosecuting you for the serious crime of treason, I will naturally not go back on my word. Everyone, get up."

"Thank you, my lord, for your innocence."

"Everyone works hard. If you win a model worker, you can go home and reunite with your family."

"Here." These war criminals stood up one after another.

(End of this chapter)