Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1253 South-to-North Water Diversion
In Xuanzheng Hall.

Luo Cheng found that Wei Zheng, the servant of the door, had gray hair, "Nowadays, there are many ministers and assistants in the government to patrol the place, and the burden on your shoulders in Beijing is much heavier. I heard that you are all hardworking, and you have to come here every day to do errands." On the second watch day, I also remind you that you are all the pillars of my great Qin country, you still have to know how to cherish your body, after all, the body is the capital of doing things, and it is necessary to save labor. Grasp the big and let go of the small, specific affairs , can be handed over to the Ministry of Temple Supervisors below to do it."

Luo Cheng also bestowed a lot of supplements to the ministers.

"Speaking of which, none of you are short of these things. You all have big families and great careers, so don't say I'm stingy."

Wei Zheng said with a smile, "We are blessed by His Majesty. Although our family also manages some property, it is not as precious and dignified as this reward from His Majesty. This year's catastrophe, His Majesty collected locusts to relieve the disaster, but it cost hundreds of millions. .”

"Take it from the people and use it for the people. Although the money in my internal treasury is not collected from the people's taxes, it can also be obtained from the people. Money is all outside the body. As long as it is used in the right place, it is worth spending more." In this year's catastrophe, the imperial treasury drew a lot of money and food to help the people, and the emperor's internal treasury also spent a lot of money. The purchase of tens of millions of locusts has basically wiped out the royal treasury accumulated over the years. The granaries are running out of food.

And this year, Neiku also made every effort to purchase and dispatch grain from outside the customs, Lingnan and other places, and spent a lot of money.

But Luo Cheng is not stingy, he spends the money when he should, and earns after spending it. He is not the kind of miser who refuses to spend after earning money, or an emperor who only cares about his own enjoyment.

"In any case, the catastrophe is almost over now. There are reports of rain in various places, widespread precipitation, and the drought has finally passed. Except for a few counties where locust control is not effective, large swarms of locusts have appeared. Locusts in other places Basically, almost all of them have been wiped out, and the rest are not disasters. It’s not easy, this battle was fought hard, but we won.”

All the monarchs and ministers in the palace felt extremely proud. Yes, a locust plague that had been rare for decades would sweep across the entire Central Plains. Eliminated, the loss is minimized.

"Your Majesty, the most congratulatory thing is that there has been such a severe drought this year, and there have been reports of locusts. However, after so many counties and counties failed to harvest in the first half of the year, there has still been no major famine, nor has there been any phenomenon of refugees everywhere." Wei Zhengdao .

Several other prime ministers also nodded. Just a few years ago, the year of catastrophe was followed by catastrophic famine, refugees, bandits, and then rebellion.

But this time, the efforts of the entire court finally achieved good results. There were no refugees, no bandits, and no tragedy of cannibalism.

Not to mention, the unexpected civil strife in the Xiaoxian feudal town, the imperial court still withstood the pressure at this difficult time, and finally succeeded in controlling Jingxiang and abolishing a feudal clan.

"Qin Qiong is now in Jinghu, doing disaster relief and helping the people, and also managing Jinghu. He is doing very well, and the results are gratifying." Luo Cheng is very satisfied with Qin Qiong's performance in Jinghu. Although this cousin is a military general, he went to patrol Jinghu , every move is remarkable.

Qin Qiong, who temporarily took over Xiao Xian's mess, not only did not destabilize the situation in Jinghu, but also quickly turned it into a stable one. unexpected.

"Your Majesty, Qin Qiong spends a lot of money and food in Jinghu Lake. In addition to the food needed for disaster relief, the construction of the first phase of the Jinghu Water Conservancy Project now costs a lot. Now Jinghu has a list of snowflakes every day to enter Beijing, all of which require money and food. "

Using disaster victims to build water conservancy can reduce some labor costs, but it still requires cost. After all, the imperial court will not use disaster victims to dig rivers for free, let alone make them hungry or sleep badly, otherwise there will be big troubles.

To eat well, to live well, and to have wages, this is a huge labor cost, not to mention the construction of such a large water conservancy project, even if it is only the first phase, it also needs to use many other tools and materials.

"I also know this, but the Jinghu Water Conservancy Project is as important as the Grand Canal. Its achievements in the present age will benefit the future. It can even be said to have a greater impact than the canal. It is a major event involving millions of people in ten counties. If it is really managed well, this place will become the world's granary from a disaster area that suffered nine times in the past ten years. This battle was planned by the imperial court for 30 years, and it may take longer, but I still insist on fighting, not only If you want to fight, you have to put in all your strength and fight beautifully." Luo Cheng reiterated his position and attitude, "Of course, we can't be eager for quick success like Yang Guang, and we can't say that such a large project has to be completed in one or two years, and we can't kill people. Filling it with bones is not enough, we have to plan reasonably, and we have to take into account the ability of the people to bear it.”

"People digging rivers must be paid. They cannot be recruited to dig rivers for free. The court is under great pressure and money and food are tight. Then find a way. I think we can raise part of the shortage of money by issuing new national bonds, and wait for the river to be repaired later. , You can collect special river navigation customs fees on it, the money can be used to repay the national debt, or you can sell a part of it after the polder is built in the future, and the proceeds can be used to fill the national treasury.”

Of course, Luo Cheng will definitely put in some of it himself.

Wei Zhengdao, "Qin Qiong is now in Jinghu, not only for disaster relief, digging rivers, but also cleaning up temples and temples, besieging bandits, fighting local bullies and profiteers, cleaning up land without owners, and can also raise a lot of money."

"If you have money, you can do things well. If the local people in Jinghu are not enough manpower, I think you can recruit people from other counties and counties in Jinghu, or even Bahan, Jiannan, Qianzhong, Henan, Guanzhong, Huainan, and Shandong. To dig the river and repair the embankment."

"Qin Qiong reported that the Jianghan Canal, the key project in the first phase of the project, has now started on the whole line and is making good progress. It is expected that the whole line will be completed before the end of the year."

The Jianghan Canal is a key project in the first phase of the Jinghu water conservancy project of the imperial court. It connects the Han River from Jiangling to the east, so that there is a more convenient canal waterway between the Jingjiang River and the Han River. After the canal is opened, from Jiangling to Qianjiang, Jingjiang The mausoleum (Tianmen) can be reduced from the original [-] miles to [-] miles, which is a full reduction of thousands of miles.

At the same time, this canal can also undertake the functions of flood discharge and drainage.

In fact, this canal had been excavated as early as the Western Jin Dynasty, and it was called the Yangxia Canal at that time, but by this time, most of it had already been silted up.

Therefore, although the Jianghan Canal this time partially utilizes the old course of the Yangfu Canal, it is still a brand new canal. The canal runs from Jiangling City to the south of the Yangtze River, and enters the Han River at the east of the Qianlongkou, reducing the distance by a thousand miles.

From the Qianjiang River to Xiangyang, there is another canal built by the imperial court two years earlier, which is the Baicai Canal. This river starts from Xiangyang and stores water through dam repairs. , Datianping, Shuitianping, reservoirs, etc., intercepting water from Baihe River and Danjiang River to Fangchengkou of Funiu Mountain.

This is the junction of Yingchuan County in Henan Province and Nanyang County in Hubei Province. It is also the north-south watershed between Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River. The Funiu Mountain here is the remaining vein of Qinling Mountains.

Just like the Guilin Lingqu that connects the five mountains, the imperial court dug a canal at the dumb mouth of Fangcheng. Through various canal and canal techniques, the water was raised at the dumb mouth so that ships could pass through the dumb mouth, and then connected to the north of the dumb mouth. Caihe, who dug deep.

Although there are many dams and Doumen along the way from Xiangyang to Caihe, and it is not possible to sail directly, the canal water transportation is still realized through segmental transportation, which greatly facilitates the communication between Henan and Xianghan.

Historically, the Song Dynasty dug the Xianghan Canal here, but they failed, because according to their design, the dumb mouth had to be dug seven feet lower. Although the dumb mouth is not long, even if it is seven feet deep, it will face The plight of water shortage for a long time every year.

Therefore, the last canal actually needs to get off the boat and transport it across the mountain when it passes through the dumb mouth.

However, in the later South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China, through the construction of the Danjiang Reservoir, the dumb mouth was only dug two feet deep, and the South-to-North Water Diversion was made.

It was under this kind of thinking that the court gathered many water conservancy and engineering experts according to the thinking of Emperor Luo Cheng in the past few years. Finally, through complex water conservancy and canal technology, it only dug the dumb mouth by two feet, and successfully let the The canal communicates with Caishui, so there is no need to worry about the lack of water in the Caohe River.

The communication between Luoyang and Caishui in Yingchuan has been realized, and Caishui is connected to Hanshui. Therefore, if the Jianghan Canal is opened again, then there will be a golden waterway from Jiangling to Luoyang, Jiannan, Bahan, Jinghu, and even In central Guizhou, Yunnan, and Jiangxi, it will be extremely convenient for money, food, taxes, and commercial goods to enter Luoyang in the future. Even Guanzhong can enter Luoyang through the Badancao River and the Baicai Canal.

These days, transportation still mainly relies on waterways, and if water transportation is available, the cost and efficiency of transportation will be greatly improved. This is basically the highway of this era, and the benefits brought by the opening of a canal are obvious.

"Very well, tell Qin Qiong that I have written down his words. I want to see the smooth flow of the Jianghan Canal a few years ago. In order to meet this canal, I decided to dive into the mouth of the Han River on the east side of the canal and set up a new county. Name it Qianjiang County, build a new county town, and create a canal wharf.”

Historically, the people of the Song Dynasty used 120 people to dig down the dumb mouth of the [-]-mile square city by seven feet. In the end, there was no water to pass through, so it was still impossible to navigate water transportation.

But the imperial court dug through the Baicai Canal a few years ago, and only dug two feet at the Yakou, using the water of the Danjiang River. In the past two years, there has been no water shortage and no navigable situation.

Now digging the Jianghan Canal is still digging the old canal, and the main thing is to dredge it. It can be said that it is much easier and there are no technical problems at all.

"When the Cao River in the Jianghan River is opened, it will sail from Luoyang to Yingchuan, then pass through the Baicai Canal, cross Nanyang to Xiangyang, and then from Hanjiang to Qianjiang, and then go straight to Jiangling from the Jiangjiang Cao River, and then go down to the Xiangjiang River in Baling, all the way to Wuling. It goes to Guilin, Guangxi, south of Lingnan, and then enters Yujiang along the Lijiang River, and then goes straight to Nanhai County, and arrives at Nanhai Port.” The more Luo Cheng talked, the more excited he became. The North-South Grand Canal has the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Huaihe waterways in the east and west, and there are sea routes in the east, but in the west, there is still a lack of fast communication waterways between the north and the south, especially the lack of one that can connect Gyeonggi, Jinghu, Bashu, and Lingnan. important waterway.

After the opening of the Baicai Canal, this waterway has actually been opened up, but now if the Jianghan Canal is opened up again, the waterway can be reduced by a thousand miles, which is very important.

The Grand Canal in the west is opened, and if Jinghu Lake is properly managed, then the area of ​​Jinghu Lake will take off immediately and become a real grain river in the world, capable of producing grain and easily transporting it to Beijing.

(End of this chapter)