If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 340 Governing the Yellow River
The management of the Yellow River has been a top priority faced by the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization since ancient times.

As the birthplace of the Chinese nation, this mother river has been nourishing the prosperity of the Chinese nation from the mythical and legendary Yanhuang tribe era to the ancient pre-Qin period.

It is precisely because of this that the source of Chinese civilization lies in the fertile land of the Yellow River Basin.

However, since the Western Han Dynasty, the Yellow River has entered its first flooding period. Subsequent dynasties have faced the threat of Yellow River floods, and people in the lower reaches have suffered terribly because of the Yellow River floods.

There were even several dynasties that perished indirectly or directly because of floods in the Yellow River.

Of course, all dynasties have never given up on the management of the Yellow River. It can be said that the Chinese nation has been fighting against the Yellow River for 2000 years since the Western Han Dynasty.

During these 2000 years, countless people have proposed feasible or unfeasible methods to regulate the Yellow River. Some of them have achieved fruitful results, while others have caused irreversible consequences.

However, regulating the Yellow River has always been a national super project. It is difficult to effectively regulate the Yellow River in the long term just by relying on the efforts of one or two monarchs in a certain dynasty.

For example, the Grand Canal dug during the Sui Dynasty was shaped into a zigzag shape largely to control the Yellow River.

Diverting the Yellow River from Luoyang to the Tongji Canal flowing into the Huaihe River and the Yongji Canal flowing into the Haihe River will reduce and reduce the floods suffered by Henan, Shandong and other places downstream when the Yellow River overflows.

Although Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was indeed an emperor who enjoyed great achievements in history, just like Pi Rixiu's poem, "This is the river where the Sui Dynasty died, and it has been connected to the waves for thousands of miles. If there was no water palace dragon boat incident, we would discuss it together with Yu Not much merit.”

The Grand Canal dug in the Sui Dynasty indeed had a profound impact on later generations. At least the Tang and Song dynasties enjoyed the benefits brought by this Grand Canal.

Apart from anything else, the reason why Kaifeng, the capital of the Song Dynasty, was able to prosper and develop at that time was largely due to the convenience brought by the Grand Canal.

But the Yellow River is not a peaceful river. The excavation of the Grand Canal did play a certain role in regulating the Yellow River and inhibiting the water flow. However, with the siltation of the river channel and the corruption of the dynasty, the management of the Yellow River also had a certain impact. It gradually cut corners and cut corners, which resulted in frequent floods in the late dynasty.

Among them, the Yuan Dynasty is a typical case.

The Yellow River floods faced by the Yuan Dynasty can be traced back to Prime Minister Du Chong in the late Northern Song Dynasty.

On the eve of the Jin Dynasty's second attack on the Song Dynasty and the defeat of Kaifeng, Du Chong guarded Daming Mansion in Beijing. He boasted that "a handsome minister should not sit on the throne and make decisions, but should risk his own life." It seemed that Han Xin was reincarnated, not only able to strategize, but also personally lead the troops. Go into battle.

However, when Wanyan Zongwang's Jin State East Route Army arrived, Du Chong did not dare to fight with them. His only countermeasure was to order the construction of the Yellow River embankment to allow the Yellow River water to flow from the Si River into the Huaihe River, in an attempt to block the pursuing troops behind him.

Du Chong's decision to cut off the river not only failed to stop the Jin State's East Route Army, but also caused more than 20 local people to drown, and the number of deaths caused by displacement and plague was several times that.

The most prosperous and prosperous Lianghuai region in the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, and nearly [-] million people became homeless and became refugees.

At this point, the Yellow River water poured into Surabaya River. The small Surabaya River could not carry the Yellow River water that came from the Karakoram Mountains and meandered for thousands of kilometers. All the raging Yellow River water poured into the Huaihe River.

However, the Huaihe River cannot carry the huge water volume of the Yellow River. The large amount of sediment brought by the Yellow River also silts up and blocks the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, taking away the Huaihe River's outlet to the sea.

Originally, the Huaihe River could drain into tributaries such as the Yihe River, but now they are all blocked by the sediment of the Yellow River. The Huaihe River with nowhere to go has accumulated into lakes in Xuyi, which are today's Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake. In Shandong, it is blocked by the Yellow River. Si Shui, a tributary of the Huaihe River that seized the waterway, also formed Nansi Lake and Luoma Lake in Shandong.

For nearly a thousand years, the Yellow River Flood Area in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, which lasted through the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, harmed Chinese civilization for nearly a thousand years.

Since Duchong dug the Yellow River, the Yellow River took over the Huaihe River waterway and entered the sea. The Yellow River flooded every year, and the Huaihe River overflowed every year. Northern Anhui and Northern Jiangsu became yellow flood areas, creating a scene of starvation for thousands of miles.

Until the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, faced with the flooding of the Yellow River, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty had to regulate the Yellow River in order to ensure the safety of water transportation in most cities.

During the Yuan Dynasty, a line of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was re-excavated, as well as the Jialu River dug by the famous minister Jia Lu. However, the Yuan Dynasty perished precisely because of the construction of the river.

In the summer of the fourth year of Emperor Shun's reign, a heavy rain caused the Yellow River to overflow, causing the Baimao dike to burst.This rain lasted for more than 20 days, and in June, it broke through Jindi again.Dozens of states and counties along the Yellow River were reduced to water towns, and no one was spared.

At that time, the Goryeo poet Li Gu served as a reviewer of the Hanlin Academy of National History in the Yuan Dynasty and lived in Dadu for a long time. He wrote in his "Jiating Collection": "The hungry people gathered in the capital, inside and outside the capital, calling out beggars, and those who could not afford to stand still looked at each other. "Pillow".

Since the floods occurred, hungry people and people in the disaster-stricken areas have been desperate and have revolted.

In July of the fourth year of Zhizheng, the smuggler Guo Huonechi revolted in Yidu, Shandong; in June of the sixth year, Luo Tianlin and Chen Jiwan of Liancheng County, Tingzhou, Fujian revolted, and the Yao people uprising led by Wu Tianbao broke out in Hunan; in the spring of the eighth year, Taizhou Huangyan salt dealer Fang Guozhen launched an army; in March of the same year, Suohuonu in Liaodong and Wuyan Luhuan in Liaoyang each claimed to be "descendants of the Great Gold" and launched an army against the Yuan Dynasty; in the ninth year, Cao Qiqi's uprising broke out in Jining, Pingyao and other counties...

In September of the ninth year of Zhengzheng year, the Yellow River burst again, damaging the Anshan, Jinan, and Hejian lines. It also destroyed the two Caosi salt fields, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was seriously threatened.

At that time, Prime Minister Tuotuo of the Yuan Dynasty decided against all opinions and decided that "the river must be regulated."

At that time, Tuotuo entrusted Jia Lu to manage the Yellow River, and Jia Lu lived up to his trust. He went deep into the disaster area and conducted field surveys along the river. He traveled thousands of miles back and forth, grasped the key points of the flood, and quickly came up with two sets of control measures. Plan: "First, we propose to build the north embankment to prevent horizontal collapse, which will save labor; second, we propose to simultaneously dredge and divert the river to the east, so that it can restore its original path. This will be done several times."

These two plans, whether proposed by Jia Lu himself or Tuotuo, are more inclined to the latter.

The former is simple, easy and relatively low-cost, but it can only alleviate temporary difficulties and cannot fundamentally solve the chronic problem of repeated breaches of the Yellow River.Although it is a huge project to dredge up blockages and restore the old course of the Yellow River, it will be accomplished once and for all. It is undoubtedly a move that will benefit the present generation and future generations.

However, before the plans put forward by Tuotuo and Jia Lu were implemented, they encountered strong opposition. The important argument put forward by the opponents was that "Jining, Cao, and Yun have suffered from hunger for consecutive years, and the people have no life. If 20 people gather here, , I am afraid that the worries in the future will be more serious than those of Hehe patients."

Relying on the authority of the prime minister, Tuotuo resolutely suppressed all objections. Opponents were kicked out of the central government, and the resolution on the anti-pornography project was forcibly passed.

In April of the 11th year of Zhizheng year, Jia Lu was appointed as Minister of Industry and General River Control Envoy. He dispatched 13 civilians in 15 routes including Bianliang and Daming, and 18 garrison troops in Luzhou and other places. The project is started.

The progress of the project is very efficient: it started on April 22nd, completed the dredging in July, released water into the old road on August 29th, opened the boat and started blocking the embankment in September, and completed the wood and earthwork on November 190th, and blocked the embankments. Built.The entire project took a total of [-] days.The Jialu Kaihe River became a milestone event in the history of river management in China.Due to the high quality of the river channel project that was reconstructed and opened this time, it was still known as "copper with iron bottom" until the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Hu Wei, a geographer from the Qing Dynasty, said in his article "On the River": "Jia Lu was extremely clever and intelligent, and his speed of performance was unprecedented in ancient times."

But for Tuotuo and the Yuan Dynasty at that time, this huge people's livelihood project was "a benefit for the future, but a disaster for the present."

Jialu's opening of the river was indeed a feat that lasted for a long time, but at that time, the cruel oppression of the people since the founding of the Yuan Dynasty had pushed the people into a situation where public resentment was boiling, and only someone could stand up and shout.

When Jialu dug the river, the work was tight. The officials who supervised the river digging took the opportunity to deduct the "food money" from the river workers. The river workers starved and suffered from cold, and the public was furious.

By the end of the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Yuan Dynasty, Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty decided to change the banknote method (see banknotes), issue banknotes indiscriminately, cause prices to soar, and cause inflation. In the end, "all trade with goods. The banknotes accumulated by public and private parties are no longer enough." "Opening rivers" and "changing banknotes" drained the last breath of vitality from the Yuan Dynasty.

"One eye of the stone man stirred up rebellion in the world." The stone man was dug out of the construction site of the Yellow River embankment. Han Shantong, the leader of the White Lotus Sect in the north, and his disciple Liu Futong launched an armed uprising.

When the news spread, the fire of resistance suddenly ignited across the river.

Then, there is the legendary life of the monk who came out of Huangjue Temple from a broken bowl to the nine-five supreme king who rules the world.

Similarly, the responsibility for regulating the Yellow River naturally fell into the hands of Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, because of the Jialu River opening in the Yuan Dynasty, flooding in the Yellow River was not a big problem in the early Ming Dynasty. Although the court needed to invest a certain amount in this area every year, it was still within an acceptable range. The Yellow River has never burst or major floods.

But this does not mean that the Yellow River does not need management.

When Zhu Di took over the throne, he considered overhauling the Yellow River. However, due to the Battle of Jingnan, Shandong and northern Jiangsu were reduced to ashes, resulting in extreme poverty in the local area and unable to support the great project of building the river.

Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, conservative strategies were basically adopted to manage the Yellow River. It was not until the Hongzhi period of later generations that a large-scale renovation of the Yellow River was carried out.

During the Hongzhi period, Liu Mansion, the imperial envoy to the capital, presided over the river management. He dug the Yue River in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, opened the river, and diverted water into the tributaries of the Huaihe River, blocking the entrances of Huanglinggang's dangerous works and blocking the flow of water to the east.

Build a long dike from east to west in Huanglinggang, from Wuzhi in Henan, through Xinxiang, Yanjin, and Caodan counties in Shandong, to Dangshan, with a total length of 180 kilometers to prevent overflow to the north.

The great work was completed in the seventh year of Hongzhi. From then on, the entire Yellow River took the Huaihe River and flowed into the sea.

The management during the Hongzhi period kept the Yellow River safe for decades, but during the Jiajing period the Yellow River flooded again due to lack of management.

Just like the previous dynasties, with the flooding of the Yellow River, the Ming Dynasty also came to its destined demise.

But now, with Zhu Zhanju's influence and intervention, the Ming Dynasty has obtained a large amount of silver and gold from the Japanese country, which has greatly alleviated the court's financial problems. Now the Yongle court has the money to manage the river.

But how to treat this is still a problem facing everyone.

After all, if you want to renovate the entire Yellow River, it is no less a super project than digging a grand canal. Even if the Ming Dynasty can afford this astronomical level of expenditure, it cannot be easily started. .

It was precisely because the investment in one-time governance was too large and there was a lack of effective maintenance in the later period that Zhu Zhanquan proposed to turn yellow governance into a long-term task, asking the court to invest part of the money and food every year to do this, turning it into a long-term task. policy.

In fact, only in this way can the Yellow River be effectively managed.

As for the strategy for regulating the Yellow River, Zhu Zhanqi referred more to the experience of later generations in regulating the Yellow River, including planting trees to prevent soil erosion and reduce the sediment content of the Yellow River; narrowing the width of the river channel, speeding up the water flow to impact the river bottom and depositing sediment; Renovation of river embankments on both sides, etc...

Although these are small repair strategies, as long as they are persisted in for a long time, they are still very effective in improving the Yellow River floods.

And in addition to these small actions, Zhu Zhanqi also has two big plans.

The first big plan is naturally to restore and dredge the Tongji Canal and Yongji Canal built during the Sui Dynasty, so that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal can once again play the role of diverting the Yellow River water.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River has flooded and silted up, and these two once wide rivers have gradually been silted up and obliterated. To make them function again, the amount of work is basically equivalent to another excavation.

If it was purely to control the Yellow River, Zhu Zhanqi would not say that he would carry out such a large project. However, in addition to diverting the water of the Yellow River, the Grand Canal also plays an important role in connecting the north and south economies.

Now the Ming Dynasty's economic center of gravity is in the south. The Battle of Jingnan almost wiped out the north. Coupled with the division between the north and the south caused by the Song Dynasty's southward migration, the gap between the north and the south can now be It is said to be very huge.

This is why the famous North-South Bang case occurred during the Hongwu period, and why the Ming Dynasty later moved its capital to Beijing.

Bridging the north and the south is a historical mission that today’s Ming Dynasty must complete.

And a grand canal connecting the north and the south is undoubtedly an effective means.

Although the canal rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty is still in good use today, especially since it was dredged just before Yongle years ago, this canal of the Yuan Dynasty went through Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and other places, and did not pass through Henan and Anhui.

And there is a more important point. The canal in the Yuan Dynasty was a horizontal line and did not play the role of diverting the water of the Yellow River.

That's why Zhu Zhanyu hopes to reuse the old Sui Canal to make the Yellow River floods less serious, and at the same time, it can also improve the economy and people's livelihood of Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces.

(End of this chapter)