I

  Chapter 516 513【Huanghuai Flood】

  This year, only some areas of the provinces suffered from drought, but since summer, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu have been rainy, and the water levels of the Yellow River and Huaihe River have skyrocketed.

   Zhang Guowei, who has been promoted to the right servant of the Ministry of Industry, was appointed as the governor of flood control.

   Now that the flood has receded, Zhang Guowei returned to Nanjing urgently.

  Zhao Han checked the disaster memorials in various places, and suddenly raised his head and asked: "More than 2,000 people were drowned in Sizhou, but the local officials were negligent?"

  Zhang Guowei replied: "Your Majesty, the power of heaven is unpredictable, and it is not human fault. Sizhou City is low-lying. Once the flood overflows the dam, it will flow back into the city."

   "Is the embankment not high enough?" Zhao Han asked.

Zhang Guowei said: "It can't be built higher, but the river bed is getting higher and higher, and the water level of Hongze Lake is getting higher and higher. If there is another flood that never happens in a century, once the embankment breaks, the entire Sizhou city will be submerged, and Sizhou will be destroyed." Become part of Hongze Lake."

   "So serious?" Zhao Han thought it was a big deal.

  The area of ​​Hongze Lake in the late Ming Dynasty was relatively small, but it was increasing every year, constantly turning the surrounding land into a lake bed.

  Zhang Guowei explained in detail:

"During the reign of Hongzhi, Liu Daxia was ordered to control the river. In order to ensure the smooth flow of the Grand Canal, Huanglinggang had to be blocked, and the Taihang embankment was built to cut off the flood channels of the Yellow River North River, forcing the Yellow River to flood southward, and go to Biansi, Suisi, The Guohe River flows into the Huaihe River, and the Yellow River sediment is becoming more and more silted up in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River."

"During the Jialong period, Pan Jixun was ordered to control the river, and he also had to ensure the smooth flow of the Grand Canal. After eighteen years, Pan Jixun built a thousand-mile embankment. As a result, the Huaibei flood channel of the Yellow River was also blocked, and all the sediment was swept away. Take it to the downstream. In the Qingkou area where the Yellow River, the Canal, and the Huaihe River meet, the riverbed is constantly rising. The riverbed of the Yellow River is already much higher than the Huaihe River."

   "As a result, the water of the Huaihe River was blocked at Qingkou, unable to drain, and flowed into Hongze Lake in large quantities. As a result, Hongze Lake became bigger and bigger, encroaching on the land around the lake every year."

"This situation, Pan Jixun already discovered during the third river control, and after Shushui sand attack, he also proposed to store clear water to clean up the yellow. Build an embankment in Hongze Lake, raise the water level of Hongze Lake, and use the lake water to wash away the sediment. , so as to achieve the goal of the Huaihe-Huanghe River flowing into the sea."

"But today, a large amount of sediment has accumulated in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the river bed has continued to rise. The water in Hongze Lake has been washed away. Not only can't be washed, but it is also flooded by the river. Higher, the lake is getting wider and wider. If this continues, according to my guess, within thirty to fifty years, the area around Sizhou will be swallowed up by Hongze Lake!"

   Zhao Han asked: "How to govern?"

  Zhang Guowei said: "There are two ways."

   "Speak." Zhao Han said.

Zhang Guowei said: "The first way is to build dozens of dams in various river sections, continue to collect water to attack sand, store clear water and clean up yellow. All the people in Sizhou City and the surrounding areas will be moved to other places, and Hongze Lake will be left alone. Expand and let Sizhou sink to the bottom of the lake. This method may guarantee two hundred years of peace of mind, during which it will be repaired and maintained every year."

  Zhao Han couldn't help but said: "This is not a cure for the root cause, it's purely making mistakes!"

  The Ming and Qing dynasties governed the Yellow River, their tactics were right, but their strategy was wrong from the very beginning.

   And it must be wrong, and if it is wrong, it will lose its official position.

   No matter who is the governor of the river, how many people are drowned, how much land is submerged, it is not their real duty. Their first priority is to ensure the smooth flow of the Grand Canal and ensure that grain can be transported to the capital by water transport.

  Keep water transportation, this is political correctness.

   Governance of the Yellow River is based on politics. How can it be managed?

  Therefore, Pan Jixun knew he was wrong, but he could only let it go. The Qing Dynasty knew that the Ming Dynasty was wrong, so it could only make mistakes, which eventually caused the Yellow River to divert again.

  Zhang Guowei explained these reasons, got up and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the new dynasty of Datong does not need to consider water transportation. It is a great opportunity to control the Yellow River. The second method is to artificially divert the Yellow River, and the water of the Yellow River flows from Shandong to the sea!"

   Zhao Han asked: "How to force the Yellow River to flow from Shandong into the sea?"

Zhang Guowei explained: "On the north bank of the old course of the Yellow River, there are many flood channels that can discharge floods and accumulate sediment brought by the Yellow River. In order to ensure water transportation, the officials of the Ming Dynasty blocked all the flood channels on the north bank of the old course of the Yellow River, and blocked the flood channels in northern Jiangsu. All the flood channels of the Yellow River were blocked, resulting in the continuous accumulation of Yellow River sediment in Hongze Lake and Huaihe River. The method of the minister was to mobilize the people to dig through the old channels of the Yellow River, and also dug the flood channels of Henan and Shandong. At that time, the current river course was blocked, the Taihang embankment was demolished, and the Huanglinggang was dug to allow the Yellow River to flow to Shandong from the old course."

  Zhao Han said, "This is a big project!"

Zhang Guowei said: "The old course of the Yellow River and the flooded course, the local people have to migrate. Now, the population of Shandong and Henan is not large, so it is a good time to migrate. If it continues to drag on, in another ten or twenty years, the population that needs to migrate will be just More."

  Zhao Han nodded and said, "Indeed."

Zhang Guowei continued: "If this method is used, at least 300,000 civilians should be mobilized, and at least one million taels of silver will be spent. This still does not pay wages to civilians. If wages are paid, the cost of silver will have to increase. There are too many disadvantages." It is too deep, and there are too many projects to be done. In addition, after the Yellow River is diverted, manpower can be mobilized to dredge the Huaihe River. The sediment in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River has made it impossible for large ships to pass. If the Huaihe River can be dredged, the Huaihe River’s mouth can also be dredged. With the construction of ports and cities, the counties and counties along the coast will also flourish in commerce."

  Zhao Han sighed: "There is money, but it is not easy to organize 300,000 people, and it is not easy to buy food with money."

  Zhang Guowei stopped talking, he waited for Zhao Han to make a choice.

  Zhao Han called all the cabinet officials, and after some discussions, he finally issued a decree:

  First, select various project sites, and select old roads and flood roads that need to be embanked and dredged. It will take a year or two.

  Second, where embankments and dredging are required, no immigration will be made to those areas.

  Thirdly, use the slack season to mobilize local people to dredge in sections. This link is tentatively scheduled to take ten years to complete.

  Fourth, ten years later, complete the projects in Shandong and Henan. This link is tentatively scheduled to take three years.

  Fifth, force the Yellow River to divert!

   That is to say, the entire Yellow River treatment plan is expected to last for 15 years. If it doesn't work, it will be postponed to twenty years.

   This is the largest government project since Zhao Han's uprising.

   When things are done, Zhang Guowei is probably going to die, or he will die halfway through.

  Zhao Han said to Zhang Guowei: "Zhang Aiqing, you will spend the rest of your life managing the Yellow River."

  Zhang Guowei got up and walked to the center of the hall, knelt down and kowtowed: "If the Yellow River can be managed perfectly, I will die on the embankment!"

  Zhao Han did not ask him to stand up, nor reprimanded him for kneeling down, but said: "During the river governance period, Shang Fang will be given a sword, wherever he goes, it will be like my presence, and the local officials must fully cooperate."

   "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhang Guowei became more confident.

   This is the first time that Zhao Han bestowed the Shangfang sword, mainly because he was afraid that the local officials would be disobedient, because it would inevitably disrupt the local people's livelihood and economy.

Zhao Han said again: "Zhang Aiqing, you are still the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, with the title of governor of the river, and a rank higher than the minister. One day the Yellow River is cured, and one day you will go straight to the cabinet. If you say something that is not pleasant, even if you die on the river bank Come on, I will chase after you as a cabinet minister!"

   "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" Zhang Guowei said excitedly.

  When the ministers of various ministries heard the words, they were envious of Zhang Guowei, and felt admiration and regret at the same time. Because this person doesn't have to do other things, just wait for the rest of his life to work hard, and it is very likely that he will die in office.

  Zhao Han said: "Get up, don't kneel from now on."

   "Follow the order!" Zhang Guowei smiled and stood up.

  Zhao Han warned: "During the governance of the Yellow River, we should train more officials who can control the river."

  What do you mean?

  Cultivate more people who can do things, even if Zhang Guowei dies halfway, he can immediately select officials to make up.

  Death is not enough, sooner or later an accident will happen, and it will affect water transportation.

  Decades ago, the water depth of the Huaihe River was 6-13 meters, but now it is only 3-8 meters. Historically, until the fifteenth year of Kangxi, the water depth of the Huaihe River was only 1-3 meters, not to mention large merchant ships, fishing boats may run aground.

  Why did Kangxi frantically manage the river?

   It's not that he cares about the people, the root cause is that the water transportation is blocked. If the Huaihuang River is not governed, the children of the Eight Banners in the capital will be hungry.

  The management of the Yellow River in the Kangxi Dynasty purely followed the methods of the Ming Dynasty, and continued to fool around. A series of 39 dams were built to artificially raise the water level of Hongze Lake in order to increase the ability to store clear water and clear water.

   What's more nonsense is that after artificially raising the water level of Hongze Lake, Sizhou may be submerged at any time, but the Manchu officials did not organize the people to transfer.

  In the year of completion, water transport was smooth.

  But the entire Sizhou sank to the bottom of the lake, countless local people were drowned, and few escaped!

  The evils committed by the Manchu Qing court were passed around, but they became Zhu Yuanzhang's pot.

   According to legend, the Huaihe Water Demon, called Jellyfish Empress, took the form of a human, married at the bank of Hongze Lake, and lived a life of men farming and women weaving. Zhu Yuanzhang arrested civilian husbands, built the Ming Zu Mausoleum, and exhausted the husband of the Jellyfish Empress to death. Because the Zhu family is the son of the real dragon, the jellyfish empress couldn't bear it.

  During the reign of Kangxi, the jellyfish lady liked a scholar again, and Zhang Guolao acted as a hindrance, and instigated the scholar to beat the jellyfish lady with magic weapons.

  In a rage, the jellyfish flooded the city of Sizhou, drowned the scholar, and flooded the mausoleum of the Ming ancestors, avenging the old hatred and the new hatred. Even if the souls of the drowned souls in Sizhou went to the underworld to complain, it was Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Guo who killed them.

   Anyway, drowning a city of people has nothing to do with my Qing Dynasty.

  Zhang Guowei left Beijing with a difficult task. He had to go back to his hometown first and reunite with his family for half a month. Next, it is estimated that there will be no chance to go home, and I will have to travel between Shandong and Henan provinces all year round.

   All the ministers dispersed, Fang Yizhi, who had been waiting for a long time, was finally brought by the female officer to have an audience.

"Your Majesty, the hot air balloon experiment has been improved many times, and there is no problem," Fang Yizhi said. "In three days, Jinling University will organize a grand launch ceremony, and all the teachers and students of the school will participate. If your Majesty is free, you can also go to watch it." .”

  Just as the regulations for governing the Yellow River were drawn up, Zhao Han was in a bad mood, but he became happy when he heard this: "I will definitely go!"

  (end of this chapter)