Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1030 1025 [Reinforcement and Flood]

In autumn, the Ming Dynasty recovered the entire territory of Goryeo.

The main reason it took so long is that there are too many mountainous areas.

The southern Goryeo nobles were unwilling to accept defeat. Some stationed troops in mountain cities to defend them, while others fled into the mountains with their remnants to fight guerrilla warfare.

The Ming army itself had less than 10,000 soldiers, and the newly formed Korean soldiers were not strong enough to attack the city. They could only push through the mountain cities one by one, and then leave the newly formed Korean soldiers to garrison.

Although all the cities of Goryeo were captured, there are still many remnant forces.

It’s mainly a policy issue!

At the suggestion of Zheng Zhichang, Bai Chongyan promoted all the poor families and exterminated the aristocratic families at will. Moreover, it was precisely the poor families who were pushing for the extermination of the aristocratic families, and the poor scholars were extremely active in this regard.

When the news reached the south, the Goryeo nobles were terrified and gathered together, determined to fight the Ming army to the death.

They also controlled public opinion in the countryside, claiming that the Ming army relied on northerners (north of the Taedong River) and wanted to massacre all southern Goryeo people, even poor scholars in the south would be killed.

Most people believe this rumor.

The conflict between the southerners and northerners in Goryeo had been going on for more than a hundred years. The conflict between the nobles of Kaegyeong and Seogyeong was actually a conflict between the southerners and northerners, which had already escalated to the point of a rebellion by the northern nobles more than a decade ago.

The southern gentry took advantage of the regional conflicts in Goryeo and united many poor families in the south.

Of course, there were also some poor people in the south who were skeptical and sent their confidants to the north. When these poor people in the south saw Bai Chongyan, they were immediately appointed as minor officials or clerks, and secretly wrote letters back to inform their families.

Gradually, more and more poor families in the south were instigated to rebel, and some even took the initiative to lead the Ming army into the mountains to wipe out the remnants of the aristocratic families.

After taking over the entire territory of Goryeo, Bai Chongyan submitted a memorial to the court and requested the dispatch of more agricultural promotion officials.

Bai Chongyan said in the letter that the reason why North Korea's agriculture was backward was not only because of the system and farm tools. North Korean farmers did not even know how to make fertilizer, and even on the fertile land created by river alluvial deposits, they still used the fallow system of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Zhu Ming agreed to all the people and things Bai Chongyan requested, and asked the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites to discuss the rewards.

After discussing these matters, Zhu Yang, the crown prince and prefect of Luoyang, who was present at the imperial meeting, said, "Your Majesty, Luoyang is becoming more and more prosperous, and the population has increased dramatically in recent years. Please choose a time to build the city of Luoyang."

Zhu Ming nodded and said, "You discuss with the cabinet and the ministries and come up with a plan for expansion."

"Yes, sir!" Zhu Yang sat down.

The area of ​​the entire Luoyang city is about one-seventh smaller than that of Kaifeng city.

However, the Imperial City of Luoyang was much larger than the Imperial City of Kaifeng, directly occupying a quarter of the entire Luoyang City.

The layout of Luoyang City is in the shape of a "田" character, with the large area in the upper left corner being the imperial city and the palace.

Let me put it this way, the urban area of ​​Kaifeng excluding the imperial city is 2 square kilometers larger than the entire Luoyang city!

It was barely enough when the capital was first moved, but in the past decade it has been overcrowded, and even farmland in the suburbs has been occupied to build houses.

The new Vice Minister of Works was Zhao Fengji, who was extremely proficient in water conservancy and had been in charge of water conservancy in Hanzhong and Jingbei. He was also personally responsible for the great Yellow River project.

But this is the first time to build a city.

Zhao Fengji held up the map of Luoyang and said, "Your Highness, we should build more buildings to the west of the city so that the imperial city is in the center."

"Indeed." Zhu Yang thought so too.

The Luoyang City built in the early Northern Song Dynasty had an extremely luxurious imperial city, but the outer city was a half-finished product.

The imperial city of the Ming Dynasty is not located in the center, but in the upper left corner of the "田" grid. How can this be?
To the west of the "田" character, a new "日"-shaped city area was built, and the Luoyang Imperial City would be located in the north and in the center!

Zhu Yang usually dealt with trivial matters in the Luoyang government office, but now he finally had something big to do.

He frequently communicated with architects from the Ministry of Works, personally led people to inspect the site, and communicated with the Ministry of Revenue and county officials. It took him an entire winter to develop a plan for building the city.

Officials from the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue, various prefecture and county government offices, and even the Five Cities Military Commander, all fully cooperated with the prince in formulating the plan.

By the way, get familiar with the prince and understand his temper.

On the day of the winter solstice, Zhu Yang came up with a plan for additional construction.

Zhu Ming ate hot pot while watching, and naturally expressed great satisfaction, because there were countless professionals to help the prince find out the shortcomings.

After the construction of the West City, the Henan County Government will move there, and its jurisdiction will be Henan County in the west of the city.

The Luoyang County Government remained in its original location, and its jurisdiction covered Luoyang County in the east of the city.

As for the urban area of ​​Luoyang (including the surrounding areas), it was naturally managed by the prefect of Luoyang.

By the way, the capital of Henan Province, as well as the three government offices of Henan Province, have been moved from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou.

Henan Province is in a miserable situation. Luoyang Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture are both directly under the central government, which has taken away the two most essential territories in Henan Province.

It happened that Huainan Province was too large, so seven counties of Bozhou were separated and assigned to Henan.

When establishing the capital of Henan Province, the ministers also debated.

Half of the ministers believed that Songcheng (Shangqiu) should be set as the provincial capital because it was the Nanjing of the former Song Dynasty, with a sufficient population, a developed economy, and a strategic location.

Half of the ministers thought that Zhengzhou should be the provincial capital because it was the geographical center of Henan Province. Shangqiu was too remote, with Shandong and Huainan next door. How could the provincial capital be so far away? In the end, Zhu Ming decided to make Zhengzhou the provincial capital.

It is mainly determined by geographical factors. If Shangqiu is set as the provincial capital, then the westernmost prefecture and county in Henan will have to pass through the entire Henan Province plus the two capitals of the east and the west when paying taxes to the province.

Zhengzhou was just right, and the prefectures and counties in the south could be transported by land and water, and taxes could be transported to Xinzheng for transshipment. The prefectures and counties in the east and west could be reached directly by water.

A canal is now being dug from Xinzheng to Zhengzhou.

Canals have been dug to connect the Bian River to the Jinshui River and Zhengshui River.

From now on, Zhengzhou will be accessible in all directions.

Zhu Ming said: "The plan is well done, but the key is how well it can be implemented in the end. Especially the relocation of residents in the western part of the city, as well as the recruitment of laborers and the transfer of bricks, stones and wood."

Zhu Yang said: "The child will keep a close eye on it at all times."

"Just do it," Zhu Ming urged. "If you make a mistake, someone will help you make it up. The most important thing is that you learn something from it."

"It's all thanks to my father's care." Zhu Yang smiled like a child.

Although I am an adult, I still have to act coquettishly when it is time.

According to this expansion plan, the total area of ​​Luoyang will be 70 square kilometers, which is larger than the Beijing city of the Qing Dynasty (62.5 square kilometers). As for the Luoyang Imperial City, it is one-third larger than the Ming and Qing Imperial City (not the Forbidden City).

Can easily accommodate a population of one million!
The above-ground and underground drainage systems must be improved first, and domestic water facilities must naturally also be improved. It is impossible for a population of one million to rely entirely on wells for drinking water.

Luoyang's water conservancy system was very comprehensive and mature during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Qianjinqiao, Qianjinqu, Qianjinwu, Wulongqu, Dailongqu, Jiulongqu, Changfenqiao, Zhangfanggou, Shixiang Water Gate, some of these facilities were used for drinking, and some were used for flood discharge and drainage, forming a relatively complete urban water conservancy system.

Today, the newly built area has reached one half of the original area, and some water conservancy systems that have been abandoned since the Five Dynasties have to be restored and put into use again.

By the way, the water conservancy around Luoyang will be improved again. The canals used for urban flood discharge and drainage can be used by nearby farmers to irrigate fertile fields.

Most of the people living in the western suburbs of the city did not need to move, and the few who did were simply unlucky. Their existing houses were located in the area of ​​the newly built city walls and moats, or in the location of new official institutions, or were demolished to make way for main streets.

Winter passes and spring comes.

Thirty thousand laborers from Henan and Luoyang counties were conscripted, some to dig sewers, some to dig moats, and there was no need to rush to build the city walls.

The excavated earth can be used to tamp the inner wall layer.

These laborers not only have food provided, but also receive wages.

The relevant money and grain were allocated by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, and some more by Luoyang Prefecture, Luoyang County, and Henan County.

Since winter wheat is the main crop, not much land is needed for spring plowing, so conscripting laborers in spring does not delay farming too much.

As long as they are given money and food, the laborers will be very happy.

The Ming Dynasty was established less than 20 years ago, and it launched several anti-corruption cases. No one dared to mess around under the emperor. Even if officials embezzled money, it was just a minor incident.

It stopped working in the middle and late stages of the dynasty.

Just like the Ming Dynasty in history, after only a hundred years, the water conservancy project in Beijing was subcontracted layer by layer. Finally, it was taken over by a private person. Probably because the profit was too thin, they had to cut corners. The river bank collapsed in less than half a year... A lot of people died!
When Zhu Yang was building the city of Luoyang, the north was experiencing a period of good weather and harvest.

There was a slight spring drought in some areas, but overall it was satisfactory.

But after all, we have just entered a warming period, and the power of the Little Ice Age is still there.

After the beginning of summer, more than 20 prefectures and counties in Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi suffered from floods. Thousands of people were drowned in Jianzhou City (Jian'ou) alone. Due to the continuous heavy rains, the water levels of Jianyang Creek, Song Creek and their tributaries upstream rose sharply. The peak of the flood submerged the river embankment and flowed back into the city half a day after it arrived.

A lot of officials and generals died in Jianzhou. At that time, they were leading the army and civilians to build the river embankment!

The situation in Yanzhou City was even worse. There are only five words about it in history books: "The flood came suddenly and submerged the city."

Even the Shenquan Prison in the east of Yanzhou City was flooded. It was the second largest copper coin foundry in the south.

It seemed as if a hole had been poked in the sky in the southeast, with torrential rains falling endlessly across three provinces, causing heavy economic and human losses.

The real danger of the Little Ice Age was not the cold, but the unpredictable climate change and many extreme weather events.

Disaster report documents flew to Luoyang like snowflakes, and Zhu Ming looked helpless as he watched.

The only option was to urgently transport relief supplies and exempt the affected counties and cities from taxes, and also exempt the arrears of taxes from previous years.

As for those who have made contributions to disaster relief, they will all be rewarded.

Compensation for the victims.

Those who died in the line of duty, such as the officials and soldiers of Jianzhou who were drowned while reinforcing the river embankment, were all given generous compensation.

What a terrible climate!
Zhu Ming went up to the west city tower to relax and silently watched the civilians outside the city digging the moat.

In Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces, at least 100,000 people were drowned, and an estimated one million people were displaced. The flood came too big and too fast, and neither the government nor the people were fully prepared. Who could have imagined that the flood would directly submerge the city?

The treasury, which had been gradually replenished with great difficulty, was deflated again by this incident.

(My son has infected me with whooping cough these past two days... I don’t think my grandmother will survive. She had one infection in the morning and one in the afternoon. It may only last for the next two or three days.)
(End of this chapter)