Do you know that it starts with Meng Tong?

The yamen servant bowed down and reported: "I only saw people coming from official circles. I don't know if they are Lord Zhizhou."

When Sun Zhuo heard this, he was so angry that he said, "You don't have any eyesight, so what use do you have!"

However, Mi County is a poor county and there are not many good horses in the county government office. Otherwise, Sun Zhuo would have asked the government officials to ride fast horses along the official road to look for them.

Just when Sun Zhuo was about to look through the autumn water, two golden fans suddenly appeared on the official road in the distance, and the sound of gongs and shouts came slowly towards this side.

Officials have their own rules when traveling. When traveling to the seventh rank, they wear black fans, when traveling to sixth rank, they smash gold fans, and when traveling to fifth rank, they wear big golden fans.

Using the ceremonial guard beyond one's rank is deemed as exceeding the etiquette and will be impeached by the imperial censor.

Looking at the entire Yuzhou City, Wei Chen, the magistrate of Yuzhou, is the only official who can travel with a big golden fan.

Therefore, Sun Zhuo recognized the identity of the person at a glance and immediately cheered up: "You are really the master of Zhizhou, please fire cannons to welcome him!"

After saying this, the sound of firecrackers went off loudly, and Sun Zhuo led all the county government officials to avoid the road to greet him.

After the sedan stopped, Zhao Ceying dismounted first, stepped forward and opened the sedan curtain, and Wei Chen, dressed in official robes, walked out slowly.

"I was delayed because of something on the way. I'm sorry you guys have been waiting for so long."

Wei Chen looked at the officials in Mi County,

He smiled and said: "I was traveling along the road, but I saw that the people in Mi County were working according to the time, and the seedlings in the fields were flourishing. This shows that Magistrate Sun is managing the county effectively."

Change source app]

Wei Chen's words made Sun Zhuo look bright in front of his subordinates, and Sun Zhuo straightened his waist unconsciously.

However, Sun Zhuo could be regarded as an old official for being able to rise from a civil servant to the position of county magistrate. Naturally, he would not know his last name after being praised by Wei Chen for a few words, and he was still silently speculating on Wei Chen's intention.

The seal official should not leave the sealing place lightly. Wei Chen is the magistrate of Yuzhou. Generally speaking, if he has anything to do, he can just give the following instructions and there is no need to go out personally.

Now that Wei Chen has condescended to inspect Mi County, he must have something important to do.

When Sun Zhuo came here, Wei Chen was probably here to inspect the education.

Since last year, Wei Chen has been working hard to promote the establishment of volunteer schools, calling on the gentry in various counties to donate money to run schools.

Of course, the state government will also purchase land for volunteer schools to support teachers and students.

Although Mi County is a poor county, with the strong subsidies from the state government, seven or eight primary schools have been opened in the past six months, housing more than a hundred students, which can be regarded as some achievements.

Sun Zhuo thought that this was what Wei Chen was here for. After all, local officials always liked to inspect schools. Firstly, they could get close to scholars and recruit talents. Secondly, it was also a political achievement.

However, to Sun Zhuo's surprise, Wei Chen did not go to inspect the newly built school, and did not even enter the city gate.

After chatting with the officials in Mi County, Wei Chen, Zhao Ceying and Gu Tingye changed horses, took their entourage and guards with them, and went to the Yellow River to inspect the river work.

Far away from the Yellow River, you can hear the rumbling sound of water. The Yellow River embankment, which is several feet high, is like a long dragon, crossing from the west to the east. It is amazing.

Looking at the surging Yellow River, Gu Tingye couldn't help but sigh: "A bowl of water, half a bowl of sand, no wonder the dams need to be raised every year!"

"I heard that someone in Daming Prefecture invented a dredging rake that can loosen the sand and let the water flow carry it into the sea. I don't know if it can be used."

When Zhao Ceying spoke, he looked at Wei Chen aside, expecting him to give her an answer.

After this period of getting along, Zhao Ceying has grown to respect her teacher more and more. No matter what doubts she has, she seems to be able to get satisfactory answers from her teacher.

"River?" Wei Chen was a little confused when he heard this. He had no idea about this thing.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Ceying immediately asked someone to get pen and paper, drew a sketch for Wei Chen, and explained to Wei Chen the principle of dredging the river.

It turns out that the so-called dredging rake is to install wooden teeth on a giant tree to make a big wooden rake. It is sunk to the bottom of the water under the weight of huge rocks, and then connected to the winch of a big ship. In this way, it can sway back and forth on the bottom of the river to achieve The purpose of dredging the river bed.

Wei Chen figured out the principle of the dredging harrow, and immediately shook his head and declared: "This thing is useless!"

"Why?"

Gu Tingye asked in surprise.

He had just heard Zhao Ceying's description of the dredging harrow and thought it was very reasonable. He just didn't understand why Wei Chen said this thing didn't work.

"This is just a matter of asking for fish!"

Wei Chen explained in a deep voice: "If you dig loose the sand today, it will be deposited again tomorrow. Even if you do it every day, it will not be as fast as the sedimentation speed of the river. It is just a waste of labor."

After hearing this, Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying suddenly realized, and then couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.

I thought dredging was a good way to dredge the river, but it still didn't work. Should we just let the Yellow River continue to flood as usual?

Seeing the dejected looks of the two of them, Wei Chen couldn't help but laugh. He had heard too many stories about water control in the Yellow River in his previous life, and he could only briefly describe the effective plans.

The fifth strategy question in the original examination was about river management, and Wei Chen basically wrote down all the river management strategies he knew.

It's a pity that this examination paper was shelved after the examination, and no one really took the content above seriously.

Wei Chen was also quite depressed about this.

Now that Wei Chen is in charge, he can finally take action himself and put these river control strategies that have always been on paper into practice.

Chapter 224

The Great Zhou Dynasty has been suffering from the Yellow River for a long time!

How did Liangshanbo come from?

After the Yellow River burst several times, the floods surged eastwards in a mighty manner, and finally ended up at the ancient Juye Lake, where they converged into an eight-hundred-mile water bank in the Liangshan Mountains.

History books record the scene at that time: "The bank was destroyed by [-] steps, overflowing the city, passing through Chan, Pu, Cao, and Yun, and ending in Liangshan."

Later, Liangshanbo had a vast water surface, rich products, and was also an important water conservancy and transportation hub.

But we must never forget that in the process of forming Liangshanbo, how many cities were submerged and how many people were displaced.

River defense is a major issue related to the country, but the Yellow River is so untamed that it forced everyone from the emperor to the common people to study water conservancy intensively.

Even a former playboy like Gu Tingye could casually tell a story.

The same is true for Zhao Ceying.

In fact, Zhao Ceying has always paid great attention to collecting the policies and strategies for river management in counties along the river for his own reference. The dredging rake mentioned to Wei Chen earlier is one of them.

However, today's strategies to regulate rivers are like laying earth on walls, patching roof leaks and tiles, regulating rivers every year, bursting embankments every year, and there is no end to it year after year.

Every summer and autumn, when the river water rises, the people along the river become very nervous. It is common to have three surprises in one night.

Zhao Ceying originally had full confidence in dredging rivers, thinking that this move was quite innovative and might be able to solve the dilemma of river defense in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But after hearing Wei Chen's explanation, Zhao Ceying realized that compared with the previous method, this dredging rake was just a change of soup without changing the medicine, and it was equally useless.

The hope that was finally born was shattered, which made Zhao Ceying feel a little depressed.

However, Gu Tingye noticed the look on Wei Chen's face when he spoke, and saw that he looked confident. His heart suddenly moved, and he immediately asked: "Does Xingyun have any good ideas in mind?"

After hearing Gu Tingye's words, Zhao Ceying, who was lowering his head and sighing, also became energetic. He quickly looked up at Wei Chen, with hope in his eyes.

"The method is actually very simple."

Wei Chen's eyes were bright and he said loudly: "Four words, follow the trend! Since the water of the Yellow River can bring sediment, it will naturally take away the sediment."

"Can you bring it or take it away?"

Gu Tingye felt that Monk Zhang Er was confused and did not understand what Wei Chen meant.

Zhao Ceying on the side frowned and seemed to be thoughtful, but after thinking about it over and over again, he still couldn't get the point.

Seeing the two people's confused looks, Wei Chen explained with a smile: "For a long time, the methods used to control floods in the Yellow River can be roughly summarized into two types. In addition to building high embankments and dams on both sides, the other method is to divert the river water. to slow down the water.”

"Concentration makes it urgent, and division makes it slow. This is the characteristic of water flow. Is there anything wrong with making the best use of the situation?" Gu Tingye asked curiously.

Wei Chen smiled and shook his head and said: "Specialization leads to urgency, and separation leads to slowness. Of course this is true, but everyone knows there is another saying, quickness leads to smoothness, slowness leads to siltation!

The water will be slow, the sand will stop when the water is slow, and the river will be full when the sand stops.

The Yellow River carries eight buckets of sand with two liters of water. Once the water slows down, a large amount of sediment carried by the river water will be deposited in the river channel, causing the river bed to become higher and higher.

As a result, the embankment was also forced to be raised, and eventually it became a suspended river above the house for boating, like a sharp sword hanging on the edge.

On the heads of all the people in the river! "

"It turns out that this is how the Xuanhe River came to be, and the strategy of dividing the water flow to control the river was actually wrong at the root!"

After hearing Wei Chen's incisive analysis, Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying suddenly realized.

“There is nothing wrong with water-dividing potential as a method of water control.”

Wei Chen promptly corrected him: "During the autumn floods of the Yellow River, the river water will experience a surge. If the water flow cannot be diverted in time, it is likely to cause the embankment to burst. In order to prevent severe floods, planned flood diversion is necessary.

However, from the perspective of long-term management of the Yellow River, river management is sand control. In normal times, we should still build embankments to contain water and use water to attack sand. This is the strategy of concentrating water to attack sand! "

"Beaming water to attack sand?"

Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying were confused for a moment when they heard this new term coming out of Wei Chen's mouth.

"It means building another embankment within the existing embankment to narrow the river channel, speed up the water flow and take away the sediment." Wei Chen explained patiently.

As he spoke, he picked up a branch and sketched it on the sand beside the river embankment to demonstrate it to Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying.

"The river water is restrained by the inner embankment, so it will naturally flow down the river bed. The deepening of the river bed is equivalent to the heightening of the embankments on both sides. If things go on like this, the river embankments will naturally be stable, and the situation of the river hanging above the ground will also be greatly improved."

Wei Chen's words were unique and completely different from the accepted views on river management in this era, which made both Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying think deeply about it.

The two of them thought for a long time based on the schematic diagram Wei Chen drew on the sand, and finally felt that Wei Chen's method was unique and could fundamentally solve the problem of the Yellow River's bed rising year by year in one fell swoop.

Zhao Ceying was once again impressed by Wei Chen's erudition and talent, bowed deeply to Wei Chen respectfully, and sincerely praised: "Sir, you are really the reincarnation of He Bo!"

Gu Tingye said with emotion: "Xingyun, you are from the south of the Yangtze River, but you know how to manage the Yellow River better than us northerners who grew up on the banks of the Yellow River. It's really shameful!"

Facing the compliments from the two of them, Wei Chen just waved his hand modestly.

He knew very well that the water-attacking sand attack that amazed both Gu Tingye and Zhao Ceying was actually just a temporary solution.

The real solution is to clarify the Yellow River so that it no longer carries so much sediment.

In fact, the sediment carried by the Yellow River comes from Guanzhong and Guanxi. Further up, it is as clear as a spring all year round.

The reason is that Guanzhong and Guanxi have suffered from excessive deforestation for thousands of years, leaving barren mountains everywhere.

Whenever there is rain, the sediment will flow into the Yellow River along with the water flow, causing the current situation of the Yellow River where one bowl is filled with water and half is filled with sand.

To cure the root cause, we still need to restore the ecological environment upstream so that the mountains can be covered with lush vegetation again, so as to avoid soil erosion.

To achieve this, the manpower and material resources required are astronomical, and the time consumed is extremely long. If you persist for 100 years, you may not see much results. This requires several generations or even more than a dozen generations to complete it. career.

However, one of the characteristics of the feudal dynasty is that when people die and political power ceases to exist, it is no more than wishful thinking to expect the imperial court to work together and consistently complete a major plan that will last for thousands of years.