A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 871 Don’t you see the water of the Yellow River coming up from the sky?

Don't you see the water of the Yellow River coming up from the sky, rushing to the sea never to return.

In August of the seventh year of Zhenguan.

In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the flow of water slowed down, resulting in serious sedimentation, forming an above-ground hanging river. It was the rainy season at this time.

Heavy rain for days,

"Qi Gong, the water on the ground in some areas can reach five or six feet. The water levels in the tributaries of the Yellow River have skyrocketed. In three days, the water in the Yellow River has surged by one foot and five feet. The Yellow River embankment is in danger."

In Qizhou, Huabuzhu Mountain is the seat of Qin Qiong.

From July 30th to August 2nd, heavy rains continued and water levels rose sharply.

As for the main stream and tributaries of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, there were continuous heavy rains even a few days earlier.

The rain is still falling,

The water of the Yellow River really comes from the sky just like what Wu Qingyang wrote in his poem.

Li Chunfeng's guess is very accurate.

But it is not a prediction. The Taishi Bureau originally observed the sky and the stars. It not only studied astronomy and calendar, but also studied weather and even luck.

Weather forecast is not something very mysterious.

Severe droughts, floods, locusts and even epidemics can often be observed in advance. Li Chunfeng calculated and predicted that floods would occur in twelve states in the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Fortunately, Emperor Li Shimin was the kind of emperor who cared about people's livelihood and was also very pragmatic. He immediately started to deploy flood control and disaster relief.

The emperor also left the empress in Jiucheng Palace and personally rushed to Luoyang to take charge of the situation and provide overall command.

Li Shimin issued an order in Luoyang that all efforts must be made to fight the disaster, and the Yellow River must not be allowed to burst its banks, let alone change its course.

Once the Yellow River bursts and changes its course, half of Henan and even Huainan will become a yellow flood zone, and the consequences will be immeasurable.

The Yellow River has changed its course many times in history. The earliest record is in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. The Han Dynasty records that in the fifth year of King Ding's reign, the Yellow River broke its banks in the Hua and Pu areas and headed north. Then it crossed the entire North China Plain and started from the tributary of the Hai River. It goes up Hebei, passes through the Cangzhou area, and enters the Bohai Sea from Jinghai District, Tianjin.

After this diversion, the Yellow River remained stable for four to five hundred years. It was not until the early Western Han Dynasty that it began to flood again.

During the Xinmang period, the Yellow River changed its course in Wei County and flowed in Henan and Shandong for decades. This was also one of the important reasons for the fall of Wang Mang's new dynasty.

Liu Xiu tidied up the old mountains and rivers and reestablished the Han Dynasty. After the Eastern Han Dynasty was stabilized, he began to control the river. He adopted the method of channeling water and dredging it to fix the Yellow River on one river course. This Yellow River lasted for six to seven hundred years.

until now.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the Yellow River began to become restless again. The key reason was that the problem of sediment had not been solved. Hundreds of years later, the lower reaches became an above-ground river again. During the rainy season, it rained continuously for days, and the above-ground river became easy to hang. Flooding.

What the imperial court is most afraid of now is that the Yellow River will break its banks and change its course. No matter it goes north or south, the damage caused by the yellow river will be unbearable.

We must protect the embankment at all costs. Even if we have to release some water as a last resort, we must ensure that it is within a controllable range. There must be no major breach of the embankment, let alone the diversion of the Yellow River.

The emperor is based in Luoyang,

Li Jing is in Puzhou, Yang Gongren is in Weizhou, Qin Qiong is in Qizhou,

Each of the three envoys was assigned two deputy envoys to patrol other states.

Now the three envoys and the six deputy envoys are all rushing to the thirteen states in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. They hold Shang Fang's horse-killing sword given by the emperor. The county is united and must obey their call at this time, with flood prevention and disaster relief as the top priority.

The first rule of water resistance is to transport the grain in the warehouses of the Thirteen Prefectures to high places as soon as possible. If there are mountains, go to the mountains. If there are no mountains, immediately transfer them to nearby states, or ship them to Luoyang, Zhengzhou, or Shipped to Qizhou and other places.

Liyang Mountain in Weizhou, Wagang Mountain in Huazhou, Yushan in Dong'e, Liangshan in Yunzhou, etc.

Although the plain is flat, there are still some mountains. Although they are not high, they are quite famous.

For example, Liyang Mountain, also called Dagong Mountain and Lishan Mountain, is a majestic, beautiful and quiet mountain. It was famous during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. In the Han Dynasty, Liyang County was established at the foot of Lishan Mountain and on the bank of the Yellow River. It was named after the mountain because the water was drawn from its Yang. Called Liyang,

During the Sui Dynasty, a large granary was built in Liyang. Li Mi sent Li Ji to lead his troops to capture the Liyang granary, seize the stored grain, open the granary, release the grain, recruit 200,000 troops, and provide relief to the surrounding people.

Liyangcang was built at the southern foot of Lishan Mountain and is still used in the Tang Dynasty as a state official warehouse.

Liyang is harvested and Jiuzhou is consolidated.

Liyangcang is adjacent to the Yongji Canal to the west and the Yellow River to the east, making water transportation extremely convenient. Starting from the Sui Dynasty, the rice collected from the fields in Hebei was first concentrated here, and then transported to Luoyang and Chang'an via the Yongji Canal or the Yellow River. When troops were deployed in the Northeast, the military rations transported from the Jianghuai River were first stored here and then transported to the Northeast. It was the only important granary in Hebei.

In the Sui Dynasty, the Sui government built many granaries in various places, among which the famous ones are Xingluo granary, Huiluo granary, Changping granary, Liyang granary, Guangtong granary, etc. The amount of grain stored is more than one million dan.

Facing a major flood this time, the court wanted to fight the disaster and rescue the people, and the key was food.

Liyangcang, Xingluocang and Huiluocang are all related to this disaster relief.

Xingluocang is in Gong County, Luoyang, and Huiluocang is in the suburbs of Luoyang.

Fortunately, Li Chunfeng had given early warning this time, and the court had more time to prepare. It was also able to transport the grain from the warehouses in the thirteen prefectures for preservation, and even issued an early warning so that people could evacuate in advance.

Grain from official warehouses, grain from voluntary warehouses, grain from social warehouses, grain from common people, and grain from merchants must be transported and preserved as soon as possible.

The old, weak, women and children were also the first group to be mobilized and evacuated, resettled to higher places and to the rear.

The young and strong men were recruited to repair and strengthen the Yellow River embankment and transport grain.

This is a battle for time,

The emperor personally directed it in Luoyang. Two former prime ministers and one current prime minister, together with six purple-robed ministers, presided over the ceremony.

Even Youzhou, Yangzhou, Yuzhou and other rear areas are sending troops and migrant workers to provide disaster relief.

The hearts of the people are united, and the mountains move.

The imperial court's thunder attack did buy a lot of time.

When the Yellow River Basin continued to flood for days and nights, and water levels began to rise across the board, the people were not so panicked. Many villages in the lower areas along the river had already evacuated, and even many county towns had evacuated in advance.

There are people managing and presiding over each temporary resettlement site, there are township corps to maintain order, and there are even people distributing food and medicine, but the conditions are still quite difficult.

The heavy rain continues, and the people's sheds and tents are swaying in the wind and rain, but even if there is water leakage, it is better to wash it off than to soak it in the water.

Even if it rains too much and there is a lack of fuel, you can still persevere even if you chew a handful of flour or a handful of wheat.

"The water is rising again,"

"It's still raining,"

In the face of God, human power is small, but no one is willing to give up like this.

Damn it, I'll fight him even if I'm in a hurry.

Qin Qiong mobilized many officials, soldiers, township regiments, people Zhuang, etc. to form teams one after another, and asked them to continue mobilizing to help the people evacuate.

Many people came to their homes when the water was submerged and refused to evacuate.

The only thing I can do is to persuade him hard and force him to evacuate at the same time. If he really won’t leave even if he is rolling around, then I won’t care about him anymore.

Everyone has to take responsibility for themselves. Those who are still stubborn after notification and persuasion are none of other people's business. Everyone is very busy, protecting the embankments, transporting food, and helping others who are willing to evacuate. Countless people move like ants.

It rains heavily,

They had no choice but to carry as much of their belongings as possible, carry the family's pots and pans, bedding and clothes, carry the family's food, and support the old and the young.

If you still have livestock at home, you will definitely be reluctant to give them up. You will drive the cows and pigs, and even the chickens and ducks will be put in cages and taken away.

Like an escape.

Although they were very embarrassed in the rain, at least they were lucky.

It was not until the water suddenly destroyed the house in the middle of the night, washing away the wife, children, chickens, ducks, pigs and dogs, that everything was submerged. Only then did we know that the flood was coming.

If you have time to evacuate in advance,

They were just caught in the rain, but they couldn't take away many of their broken belongings. At least the whole family was safe, and most of their belongings could be taken with them.

The most important thing is that my life is still there and my family is still there.

Even in the rain, there were officials and soldiers leading the way for them, guiding and helping them to the evacuation settlement.

The water overflows the golden mountain.

Countless officers and soldiers fought hard on the long embankment of the Yellow River, patrolling day and night and constantly reinforcing it.

But the water was too big and began to spread to both sides.

"Can't break the dike, hold on."

This is the final bottom line,

Even if the flood is released, it must be controlled. It must not burst the embankment and cause a big breach of hundreds of feet. Otherwise, it will really have to divert the flow and change its course, and it will no longer be controllable.

The flood peak passes through,

The embankments in many river sections began to overflow with water.

At this time, on both sides of the river, the huge amount of rainwater brought by the heavy rain continued to accumulate, causing serious waterlogging.

Qin Qiong went up to the embankment and moved sandbags herself.

Li Jing also personally commanded on the Yellow River embankment in Puzhou.

hold fast,

There must be no major breach of the embankment.

As long as we can hold on, even if it overflows both sides of the bank now, and heavy rains and internal waterlogging will flood many states, counties and villages, only some areas will be seriously affected.

But once the embankment breaks, whether it is diverted to Hebei or diverted to the southeast,

It will increase the disaster situation tenfold, and even turn Hebei or Henan and Huainan into a tragic yellow flood zone.

We must continue to restrain the rolling Yellow River water and continue to rush along the Yellow River into the Bohai Bay.

Luoyang,

In the simply restored Luoyang Palace,

Li Shimin looked at the rain curtain outside, his face pale. He turned around and knelt down in front of the statue of Supreme Laojun in the Laojun Hall in Luoyang Palace.

Pray to the ancestor of the Li family.

I hope the heavy rain will stop,

I hope the Yellow River embankment can be held,

The emperor knelt down and prayed in Laojun Hall for a whole day and night.

The fifth day of August,

The rain in Luoyang finally stopped,

The long-lost sun appeared in the sky,

"Saint, the rain has stopped!"

Zhang Ananda, the eunuch in charge of the chamberlain, walked into the Laojun Palace and announced the good news to the emperor who had been kneeling in prayer all night.

Li Shimin raised his head,

His eyes were red, his lips were chapped and peeled, and he looked very haggard.

He hadn't had a good night's sleep in days.

"Has the Yellow River embankment been defended?"

"There is no news of dike breaching and diversion,"

If there is no bad news, it is good news. Although the news may be delayed, heavy rains and floods may delay the news.

But Li Shimin still had the best expectations in his heart.

Zhang Ananda helped the emperor who was numb in his legs,

Quickly pass on the breakfast.

The emperor only wanted a bowl of millet porridge. At this time, countless people in the thirteen states were affected by the disaster. How could he have the appetite to eat those exquisite breakfasts?

Li Shimin had been waiting for news this day, and he was anxious.

until night,

News was sent to Luoyang one after another.

Yang Gongren from Weizhou, Hebei, Zhang Liang from Xiangzhou, and Cheng Yaojin from Youzhou patrolled the north bank of the Yellow River and sent back urgent reports. The rain stopped, the flood peak passed, and the embankment was saved.

Then Li Jing and Qin Qiong also came with good news from the south bank of the Yellow River.

The levee was saved. Although overflowing and waterlogging also affected dozens of counties, fortunately, the court gave early warning and made preparations. Most of the people evacuated and resettled in advance, and the food was transferred early. So it was a blessing in misfortune.

This flood was severe, but not many people died and the losses were acceptable.

"Call Li Chunfeng. I want to know whether there will be heavy rain, whether there will be floods, and whether the Yellow River embankment is still in danger!"

Li Chunfeng came and told the emperor that there would be rain again, but there would not be such heavy rainstorms.

Hearing this, Li Shimin finally breathed a sigh of relief, it was okay.

This time the thirteen states of the Yellow River withstood the flood.

(End of this chapter)