Three Kingdoms: I, Ma Su, just want to die

Chapter 676: Canal Theory

"General, as expected, civil unrest has begun in Jianye. Both the Huaisi faction and the local faction are beginning to feel insecure. Jiangdong's political centripetal force is about to collapse."

Deng Ai delivered the intelligence about Jiangdong to Ma Su and seemed to be in a good mood.

Prior to this, the factions within Jiangdong had been very stable under the control of Sun Quan. The officials of the Huaisi faction and the local faction had always maintained a delicate balance in the internal confrontation, thus maintaining the only political centripetal force in Jiangdong.

However, due to Zhuge Ke's sudden mutiny, the conflict between the Huaisi faction and the local faction suddenly intensified. The local faction was worried that the Huaisi faction would collaborate with the enemy in advance, and the Huaisi faction was afraid of being implicated. Everyone in Jiangdong was already in danger.

On this basis, the Lianghuai front had received several letters of surrender from the great families of the Eastern Wu, including both the Huaisi faction and the local faction. Sun Quan's decades of hard work in balancing the two factions was all in vain.

"Select the officials from Huai and Si and throw away the rest."

Although the situation of attacking Wu improved a lot due to coincidence, Ma Su still calmly chose to identify the surrendered factions in order to prepare for the post-war settlement.

The hatred between Ji Han and Wu was much greater than that between Ji Han and Wei. Not only did the previous emperor die because of Wu, but the young generation of Ji Han was almost completely destroyed in the Yiling Fire.

Such a deep blood feud could not be settled with just a few words. So even if Ma Su did not say anything, many people in the court were determined to settle the score.

Deng Ai was also well aware of the mess between the Han Dynasty and the Eastern Wu. So he tacitly kept his mouth shut on this matter and honestly followed Ma Su's instructions to identify the defectors.

However, although Ma Su was willing to accept the surrender of some Jiangdong factions, he did not trust them. While identifying the surrenders of Huai and Si, Ma Su still maintained contact with the Jiangdong Shanyue.

Next, Ma Su's plan was to honestly settle and cultivate the land in Lianghuai. After all, Zhuge Liang had personally spoken, and if Ma Su deliberately started a war to consume the forces in Guandong, he would really be punished.

The farming in Lianghuai was stabilized again under Ma Su and began to get on the right track.

The main limitation of Lianghuai's farming was the local water conservancy and the severely damaged roads. In particular, the dilapidated roads, even now only a few main roads can be used, seriously hindered Lianghuai's farming.

Based on this situation, Ma Su began to recruit people from Huaibei to go to Huainan to build infrastructure during the slack season.

The construction of infrastructure naturally required the use of corvée labor assigned by the court, ordering the people to work for free. This was also a burden on the people's lives, so the entire Ji Han Dynasty strictly restricted the time and scale of corvée labor.

In non-war situations, corvée labor was not allowed during the farming season. Even if corvée labor was to be imposed, large-scale conscription was not allowed, in order to reduce the pressure on the people as much as possible.

But what Ma Su did not expect was that within two days of sending out the document to recruit civilians, a large number of good families came forward to apply. In just a few days, the number of people from Lianghuai who came forward to apply far exceeded the expected number.

There was no other way. The infrastructure in Lianghuai had been destroyed by the Wei and Wu families. The local people had suffered greatly from this and were almost unable to bear it.

If Ma Su doesn't pay attention to this matter, I'm afraid many clans in Lianghuai will have to pay for the road construction themselves...

Seeing that the number of people who came to apply for the military service in just half a month was more than twice what he had expected, Ma Su suddenly felt a little amused. It seemed that his worries about corvée labor were indeed unnecessary.

Canals and roads are the two most important infrastructures in ancient feudal dynasties. The former can increase the output and fertility of cultivated land, while the latter can reduce the loss of grain and fodder.

Of course, there are more infrastructures than these two. In order to facilitate the transportation of grain and fodder, the imperial court would also build granaries at various transportation nodes to store grain and fodder, thereby reducing the loss of grain and fodder.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the Central Plains dynasties have done this countless times, and most people are already familiar with the process. So after the conscription, even without the government's instructions, the common people know what to do.

From Shouchun to Hefei, tens of thousands of people in Lianghuai were mobilized by the government to repair the roads. The Lianghuai roads, which were originally unable to support the demand, were soon repaired to a certain extent.

"It seems that I still underestimated the efficiency and diligence of the Han people..." Ma Su personally inspected the renovation project. Looking at the people who were working enthusiastically without being asked, Ma Su could not help but smack his lips.

"This is normal. After all, this is their home." Deng Ai was not surprised by this, and even complained that the work was being done too slowly.

"Many people have lived here for generations, and the damage to the road has a great impact on their lives. Moreover, the imperial court will provide food rations for those who are conscripted for corvée labor, so most good families are very happy to do corvée labor."

"What a pity! Even if all the roads in Lianghuai are restored to the scale of the Later Han Dynasty, there is a limit to how much transportation losses can be reduced." Ma Su shook his head slightly and looked at the map with a frown.

The entire Central Plains water system is connected to the Lianghuai water system, but the water power in the middle is very weak. If you want to transport food and fodder from Shouchun to the central government, you still have to travel a long distance by land, which will cause great losses.

So, when he saw that the infrastructure construction speed of the two recruited families was so fast, Ma Su came up with a new idea.

If there is a chance to dig a canal from Lianghuai to Jiangdong directly to Luoyang, it will obviously be very beneficial to the operation of the court. It can also smoothly strike the self-defense forces in Jiangdong and strengthen the court's control in the southeast.

This is the Grand Canal that was repaired during the Sui Dynasty. A canal that runs directly from Hangzhou to Luoyang was of great help to the unification of the north and the south.

But his shortcomings were also obvious, that is, it was too labor-intensive and costly. Such a huge project even required the mobilization of the people of the entire Kanto region to participate in it, and it took several years to succeed.

So, after pondering for a long time, Ma Su shook his head and put this year aside.

Although he wanted to weaken the power of Guandong, he couldn't force everyone in Guandong to exhaust everything to do such a large-scale spectacle. What's more, the Central Plains had experienced decades of chaos, and the grassroots were exhausted.

After the troubled times, the main focus is on recuperation.

"Forget it, I'll just come up with the theory of digging a canal. As for when to dig the canal, let future generations do it." Ma Su shook his head slightly and finally made a decision after thinking for a long time.

The canal does not need to be dug, but the theoretical support for excavation must be obtained in advance.

(End of this chapter)