Lingqu
When this name is mentioned, it is estimated that many people will find it strange, and many people may even have never heard of this name.
However, if you mention the name of another water conservancy project at this time, Dujiangyan! I guess anyone who has been to junior high school has heard of its name.
Compared with the elder brother Dujiangyan who was born in the Qin Dynasty but has been famous for centuries and is famous all over the world!
The construction date of the younger brother Lingqu was only forty or fifty years later, but its reputation was completely different!
However, reputation is not everything! As the spiritual canal connecting the north and south rivers, its role is definitely not smaller than that of Dujiangyan. In many places, it is even better!
This is because before the Qin Dynasty, the Lingnan region was a "foreign land" and was never included in the original Chinese version of the map.
In 221 BC, after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he thought that Jin Ou would be intact, so he launched the war to conquer Lingnan.
However, the Great Qin cavalry, which had traveled through the six kingdoms without encountering an opponent, stumbled for the first time on the land of Lingnan!
Due to various reasons such as terrain, climate, disease, etc., the Daqin cavalry encountered unprecedented difficulties when advancing to Lingnan!
Among all these difficulties, the army's supply of food and grass is the most critical point.
Lingnan at that time was purely an uncivilized land! The mountains and forests are steep and the roads are impassable! In many places, even mules and horses are not allowed to pass. If only people are carried, ten shi of food will be sent to the army. If only two shi are left, it will be regarded as high incense.
At that time, in order to solve the logistical supply problem of the Qin army, Qin Shihuang ordered, "The prison salary cannot be transferred to pay, and the soldiers are used to dig canals and open grain roads to fight the Vietnamese!"
It is precisely because of this that the Qin army connected the Xiangjiang River and Lijiang River by digging the Lingqu, so that grain and grass could be continuously transported from the south of the Yangtze River to Lingnan.
After the construction of the Ling Canal was completed, the Qin army received logistics and soldier supplies, and finally unified the Lingnan region in 214 BC, the year the Ling Canal was built. From then on, Lingnan was no longer a so-called foreign land, but a foreign land. It is a real Chinese land, and the role of Lingqu can be seen from this!
Of course, many people may think, why not just dig a river? It’s still only a short five-kilometer river! Not to mention compared with the Grand Canal that runs through the north and south, even some larger water conservancy projects are more arduous than this one. Why does it get credit?
This does sound reasonable, but the person who said this must have never seen the map of Lingqu.
Because among the two rivers connected by Lingqu, the water level difference between the Xiangjiang River and the Lijiang River is ten meters! If we simply and roughly dig out the two rivers, there will probably only be one end: the rivers will flow back! Flooding! There is no need for the monkeys on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to stop crying, but to run slower and stop crying!
Therefore, when Xiao Han learned that they were going to pass by Lingqu Canal this time, he went to the front of the team early and looked at this great project carefully.
It's a pity that such a great project is almost abandoned today, eight hundred years later! The mouth of the mouth and the big and small scales have long been occupied by weeds, and there are even a few white cranes pacing leisurely on them.
After walking through Lingqu with some disappointment, the team soon reached Guizhou Prefecture.
At this time, the officials of Guizhou Prefecture had already received the news and came ten miles away to greet them. Then, amid a chorus of flattery, they welcomed everyone into the city.
Guizhou Prefecture.
It is said to be a prefecture, but it is actually a small city similar to Shi'an City, and because it is located in the hinterland of Lingnan, it is poorer than Shi'an City where caravans often pass by. At least Xiao Han saw several words on the clothes of the prefect. Traces of repairs everywhere.
This is true for all government officials, let alone other residents of the city.
"Are you the prefect here?"
In the low government office in the city, Xiao Han sat carefully on the chair that could fall apart at any time, staring at the skinny prefect in front of him with suspicion.
After all, he is also a local official who has been granted a title. How can he live in such a miserable life, like a beggar? Could it be that someone is secretly...
Thinking of this, Xiao Han subconsciously raised his head and looked at Feng An over there.
"Hahaha……"
However, even though the magistrate looked almost thin and disfigured, his smile was full of energy. He cupped his hands towards Xiao Han. The old magistrate said loudly: "Master Hou is joking. How could anyone dare to impersonate this thing? Besides, Yes, it has not been a year or two since Mr. Feng met Xiaguan. If the official had pretended to be someone else, Mr. Feng would have taken me away long ago."
"Hmph, I've known you for more than a year or two." Feng An didn't notice Xiao Han's strange look just now, so he just hummed twice, shook the creaking chair under him and said: "Ten years ago, your place looked like this. Ten years later, it's still like this. It hasn't changed at all! Even the chairs are not willing to be replaced with new ones. You really live up to the name of Pixiu!"
"Ahem, where, where! These can still be used, can still be used." After being mocked unceremoniously by Feng An, the old man's face turned red, and he repeatedly cupped his hands and said: "Old man, this Guizhou mansion has always been poor. With that little salary, in addition to the whole family, I have to be responsible for the expenses of the entire county government, so I can only save a little bit, please forgive me, my lords!"
What the old man said is correct. In the Tang Dynasty, there was no public expense to repair the county government offices. It was all borne by the officials of various ministries. To put it simply, whoever lives in it spends the money!
Moreover, not only did the court not care about repairing the house, but most of the officials had to deal with the salary of the yamen's police officers and masters themselves.
This would be easier to say if it was in a richer place. A little cut from the annual taxes would be enough, and there could even be a slight surplus. Moreover, the court also recognized this method. As long as it was not excessive, no one would take care of it. Even if someone brought this matter to Fang Xuanling, Fang Xuanling would just laugh and throw it into the waste paper.
However, Guizhou Prefecture is so poor that it often cannot even pay the taxes paid to the court every year. How can it be intercepted by officials?
"In such a big city, you can't even afford a few chairs or a piece of clothing with the taxes you pay?" Xiao Han obviously didn't believe this, and even thought that the old man was deliberately misbehaving in order to win his sympathy.
However, after hearing this, the old man just shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Master Hou, I don't know. There are almost no Han people here in Xiaguan. They are all Yue, Zhuang and Miao people! These people have no idea of the imperial court at all. You want to For these people, paying taxes is simply as difficult as going to heaven!
If you say it too lightly, people won't listen. If you say it too harshly, they will throw away the things and go to the village outside the city. If the official dares to go to the village to collect taxes, he will probably get a beating, even if it is light! "
