Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1100
Aside from the corruption and inefficiency of the entire water transportation system, it is also very difficult to maintain river transportation under normal conditions, requiring a lot of manpower and material resources. In addition to "ruling the river", the biggest expenditure on water conservancy in the past dynasties was to maintain the smooth flow of the canal.The canal is more than 2000 miles long from south to north. Numerous sluices and ponds will be set up along the way, and artificial rivers will be excavated to adjust the water level and volume.Especially after entering Shandong, it will also be affected by the changing course of the Yellow River.Every winter, the river north of the Huaihe River will freeze, and the tank boats will not be able to pass, so they can only "keep the freeze".

It takes a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain the canal facilities, and it also takes money to ensure the transportation capacity.A large number of water transport soldiers and water ships is a huge expense.The entire water transportation is difficult and expensive, and it is completely uneconomical in terms of economic costs.Purely a product of "political necessity".

Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as the capital of the Ming Dynasty instead of Beijing. It may be that there is no consideration of "getting food from the nearest place", being close to the government's financial supply place, and reducing transshipment costs.

Zhao Yingong blacked out Daming’s water transport from both economic and institutional perspectives. The facts are clear, the arguments are sufficient, and the textual research, summaries, and comments of Chinese and foreign historians since the 20th and 21st centuries are beyond Zhang Pu’s admiration.

Zhang Pu has long been aware of the disadvantages of water transport - otherwise he would not have suggested that the imperial court change the grain in Taicang to be allocated to the army on the spot.However, he has not studied this issue comprehensively, and now listening to Zhao Yingong's eloquence, it is very clear.I was secretly surprised.Although this Mr. Zhao has four books and five classics, and the collection of classics and history is extremely sparse, there is a lot of gloom in his heart!When it comes to the study of "manipulating the world and applying it", there are really few people around me who can surpass this Master Zhao.

The more he listened, the more surprised he became, until Zhao Yingong finished speaking, he said slowly: "Sir, you are a great talent!"

"Don't dare! It's just a little bit of prejudice." Zhao Yingong only felt happy and happy: this person in front of him is not the ordinary Zhang San Li Si, but the famous Zhang Pu!Such a person can praise himself as a "great talent", which is unavoidable.

"That gentleman thinks that since the corruption of the water transportation is the root cause, what should be the explanation for the suffering of the people in the water?"

Zhao Yingong's long-planned sentence was thrown out immediately.

"The only thing to do is to waste the river and change the sea!" Zhao Yingong said in a deep voice, "Water transportation has a long history of abuses, and we have to start a new one!"

These words are very shocking. Since the canal was dug in the Sui Dynasty, and the southeast became the place where the dynasty's wealth came from the Tang Dynasty, the water transport has become the main artery to maintain the operation of the dynasty.Whether or not the continuous flow of grain that goes northward every autumn is unobstructed can be said to be an important matter for the survival of the dynasty.

Zhang Pu is a well-educated man, and he knows that it is not Zhao Yingong's first idea to abandon rivers and transform them into seas.Someone said that in the past, and the water transportation in the Yuan Dynasty was by sea.

But most people are afraid of the sea—especially in a traditional mainland country like China, except for coastal residents, most people think that going to sea by boat is a near-death thing, not to mention putting hundreds of thousands of shi of grain on the sea. Across the ocean!Thinking about it makes me feel uneasy.

Zhang Pu was no exception. He had no intuitive knowledge of shipping. He said, "The sea is erratic. I heard that the imperial court's grain and salaries shipped from Dengzhou to Liaodong were drifting halfway. This rice is the foundation of the country..."

Zhao Yingong thought to himself: This drift is not so much for the Sea Dragon King, but rather for a group of officials and generals—I am afraid that the successive governors of Denglai, generals of Dongjiang, and officials of the household department... are all drifting here. I have earned enough money to spend several lifetimes. If it weren't for everyone thinking that foreign countries are "barbarian lands", I am afraid that my wife and children would have emigrated long ago.

"It's inevitable for a boat on the sea to drift, but it's not necessarily a natural disaster." Zhao Yingong nodded, and then said, "Sir, please think about it: Although the Great Yuan Dynasty was short, there are still 97 years. If there are so many drifts, Da Yuan may not be able to keep it for seven years."

The conversation with Zhang Pu lasted for almost several hours. The depth and breadth of Zhao Yingong's economic issues showed a lot of admiration for the leader of the literary world in the late Ming Dynasty.It should be said that Fushe is not a group that talks about rationality and Confucianism. It still attaches great importance to the way of "economic application".

Although Zhang Pu did not give Zhao Yingong a definite answer in the end, Zhao Yingong felt that the purpose of his trip had been roughly achieved.

In the Qianqing Palace, the lights are still on in the middle of the night.

The Drum Tower in the palace has already played three drums, but the signboards in front of the palace are still quietly cutting candles.It seemed that the emperor was going to review the memorial all night again today.

In the brightly lit warm pavilion, piles of memorials and pond newspapers were stacked neatly on the imperial case.These were all sent from the Department of General Administration just this afternoon.Almost half of the desk is full.

The emperor sat behind the imperial case, his complexion was gloomy under the light, which is the unique complexion of people who stay up late for a long time and are exhausted physically and mentally.There are endless newspapers to read every day, and endless government affairs to deal with.When it comes to diligence, Chongzhen is not only more diligent than his father, elder brother, and grandfather, even in the entire Ming Dynasty, he is one of the best.

However, just like a very diligent student who always fails the exams, his diligence did not bring any improvement to the Ming Dynasty's national situation, but it went from bad to worse.

Natural disasters in various places: drought, flood, plague, earthquake, banditry... Memorials requesting relief from food and relief are flying in from all over the country like a snowflake. Even the southeast region, which has always been rich and important to the country's wealth, is constantly suffering from disasters.The already tight finances are almost unsustainable.

The pressure on the military is increasing day by day, which can be called internal and external difficulties: not only the rogue bandits in Shaanxi have gradually become popular, but the invasion of the Eastern captives who had been raging outside the pass shocked him a lot.

As if the situation in Daming wasn't bad enough, just when the She'an Rebellion finally subsided, another group of pirates from the sea came to Guangdong, once invaded Qiongzhou, and even hit the city of Guangzhou.Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Wang Zunde sent troops to crusade. As a result, He Rubin, the general of Guangdong, was defeated in Qiongzhou, and the Guangdong army was almost wiped out.Then came the report of this giant bandit killing and looting places in Guangdong like snowflakes.

Fortunately, the Kun bandits besieged the city of Guangzhou for several months, and retreated to the sea. Although the Guangdong side reported heavy losses, they did not lose the state capital. Autumn Grain Fu.This somewhat relieved his mood: Guangdong is now the second source of salary after the southeast region.If Guangdong becomes more corrupt, he really feels that this court situation will be unsupportable.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief when he received a report from Guangdong governor Li Fengjie that the bandits had withdrawn from Humen and their whereabouts were unknown.Although he knew from the faltering tone and flickering words in the memorial and the Tang newspaper, most of the local officers and soldiers had lost a few more battles, lost soldiers and generals, and the place was corrupted.

Such an ending is already very good for him: the Kun bandits finally did not become a problem, and the lost counties of Qiongzhou Prefecture have also been recovered.Daming has shed too much blood on the Eastern captives and bandits, and can no longer stand up to a new bandit.Although the Guangdong side lost troops and lost generals, it did not leave any future troubles. He is already thankful for this alone.

However, there were not many memorials that made him feel relieved, and there was always endless bad news sent to his imperial case like a stream of water every day.In recent months, Dengzhou soldiers have become the court affairs that have troubled him the most.

Mutiny was not such a big deal in the first place.Since the reign of Tianqi, the army has become more and more domineering. It has become commonplace to beat civil servants and kill generals one after another.Especially Dongjiang, since Mao Wenlong was beheaded, there has been no peace.Unexpectedly, the Liao people from Dongjiang are now rioting in Dengzhou, openly occupying prefectures and counties, and killing officials.

Things got worse and worse, and there was a report that the rebels had taken seven cities in a row—especially the fall of Dengzhou, which shocked him very much.Dengzhou is an important coastal defense center on the Liaodong front. It not only connects Dongjiang and Shandong, but also serves as a port for communication with North Korea.The imperial court has operated in the local area for many years—especially after Sun Yuanhua became a governor of Dengzhou, the imperial court spent 80 taels of military expenses in Dengzhou every year to train new troops and build cannons.Now that all of them have been wiped out, how can we not make him feel heartbroken.

When he was furious, he wanted to dismiss Sun Yuanhua several times.But every time I don't make up my mind.

After Sun Yuanhua escaped from the encirclement of Dengzhou, he is now arranging defense and campaigning matters in Laizhou. If this will take him down, there will be no suitable candidate to take over for a while.Secondly, most of the troops in the Denglai area were under the command of Sun Yuanhua. If the new governor was sent there, the morale of the army might be unstable. If something happened again, it would make things worse.

Moreover, Xu Guangqi and Zhou Yanru, two great scholars, tried their best to excuse Sun Yuanhua, and asked the emperor to let him serve the crime.

These two great scholars are respected and relied on by the emperor, and their opinions cannot be ignored.

Right now, the most troublesome thing for the emperor is the resulting heated debate.

In the beginning, it was a fierce battle to suppress and appease, and gradually, it became a concentrated attack on Xiong Mingyu and Zhou Yanru.Snowflakes of impeachment memorials filled his case.

Xiong Mingyu is fine, Zhou Yanru is capable.He is an indispensable figure in the cabinet who can share the worries of his directors.Now, because of Sun Yuanhua’s relationship, the memorials all point the finger at Zhou Yanru—it is Zhou Yanru’s operation that Sun Yuanhua became the governor of Denglai. It is no secret to the emperor.

"All the ministers said that they want to punish Sun Yuanhua for his crimes, but they are only aiming at Zhou Yusheng." He thought to himself.I have some doubts in my heart, is there a party dispute?The most taboo of the emperor is this "party struggle".

However, the recent impeachment of Zhou Yanru by Snowflakes has gradually shaken his original trust in the chief assistant.

(End of this chapter)