In the eighth year of King Qin's reign, on the sixth day of Meng Xiawang's reign, that is, June 6, Ying Zheng and hundreds of officials stood on a high slope on the east bank of Jingshui River.
The high slope looks like a sharp mouth, so people in Jingyang call it "Jianzui Slope".
And this high slope is the end point of the east end of Guanzhong Canal.
"Open the channel!"
Ying Zheng, who was standing on the high slope, shouted loudly, and his voice spread far away with the support of his inner strength. The horns and drums on the high slope sounded in unison.
The sound of trumpets and drums spread to the distance one after another. Every few miles, there is a relay team of trumpets and drums, playing the trumpets and drums to spread the sound into the distance. After a long time, the sound of the trumpets and drums of Ying Zheng and the civil and military officials who were sitting on the pointed mouth could no longer be heard.
There were people standing on both sides of the canal. Those who pointed at the Guanzhong Canal were not out of malice, but as local people in Jingyang County, they really wanted to know about this canal, which cost the Qin State countless manpower and force. What is the role of the canal that has been built for eight years?
Far away at the mouth of the gourd, the starting point of the western end of the Guanzhong Canal, as the sound of trumpets and drums that had been relayed for three hundred miles reached my ears, more than 20 shirtless and upper-body strong men turned four rudder-like rudders built on both sides of the canal. axle. .
There are chains and gears in the axle. The sluice that blocks the Jingshui River from rushing to the southeast slowly rises under the rotation of the axle.
The suddenly released water rushed out from the gap in the sluice, rushing towards the east channel on the artificially dug channel.
The Guanzhong Canal diverts Jingshui to the west and flows into Luoshui to the east, with a length of more than 300 miles.
When the people watching the ceremony on both sides of the Guanzhong Canal saw the water rushing in from a distance, they applauded and cheered, not only for the wonderful idea of this canal, but also for the good days to come.
The Jinghe River breaks out from the mountains in the northern part of Guanzhong and flows to Liquan before entering the Guanzhong Plain. The plain stretches hundreds of miles from east to west and tens of miles from north to south, forming a terrain that is slightly higher in the northwest and slightly lower in the southeast.
Zheng Guo made full use of this favorable terrain. The Guanzhong Canal started from Hukou and stretched eastward along the foot of the northern mountain. Naturally, the main canals were distributed in the highest area of the irrigation area. This not only maximized the control of the irrigation area, but also due to the height difference of the terrain A complete gravity irrigation system has been formed.
The entire Guanzhong Canal operates very smoothly and does not require much maintenance. Only Hukou, which is the starting point at the west end, needs to open a few more canals.
Jingshui contains sediment. Maybe after a few years, the sediment may accumulate at the mouth of the gourd and fill up the mouth of the canal, making it impossible for Jingshui to enter the canal from the mouth of the gourd. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare several more inlets that can replace the mouth of the gourd. mouth.
"Brother Han Fei, I don't want to think that after nearly eight years, you and I will have the opportunity to serve as officials in the same court again." Zheng Guo was wearing a black Qin Dynasty court dress and looked at the man next to him with a smile who was wearing a distinctive purple robe. The young man couldn't help but make fun of him.
"Mother fate plays tricks on people."
Han Fei shook his head and sighed.
I think back then, Zheng Guo was the hydraulic engineer of South Korea. As Han Fei's best friend, Zheng Guo chose to come to South Korea, a country that couldn't use his talents to work, but Han Fei had to push him to Qin. country, and still as a foreigner.
On the pretext of building the Guanzhong Canal, they implemented a plan to weaken Qin, but they did not expect that the Qin State survived the most difficult period and severely damaged the Allied Forces, waiting until the day when the Guanzhong Canal was completed.
And he, from the ninth son of South Korea, became a hostage handed over to Qin from South Korea. Ying Zheng also planned to give him an official position in the Tingwei Mansion as a hostage.
Suddenly, Han Fei's wry smile stopped, and he looked at Zheng Guo solemnly: "Brother Zheng Guo, how effective can this Guanzhong Canal be?"
"I hope Brother Zheng Guo can tell the truth."
Of course, Han Fei knew that the effect of the Guanzhong Canal that Zheng Guo described in front of the open ground was definitely discounted. Otherwise, with the arrogance of Zheng Guo, a master of the Qin Dynasty, he would not have stooped to enter the Qin Dynasty and tired the Qin Dynasty. calculated.
Moreover, these days he followed Ying Zheng and visited Jingyang County. Although he did not know much about the art of water control, he could vaguely feel that the effect of this Guanzhong Canal was far more than what Zheng Guo described as improving the land of 20,000 hectares by three times. of yield per acre.
Zheng Guo, who has been exposed to the scorching sun all year round, has long lost the appearance of the handsome young man he once was. A sly smile appeared on his dark cheeks, which indirectly confirmed Han Fei's guess.
"Brother Han Fei will know about it sooner or later anyway, so there's no harm in telling you."
"During this period, Zhi Su Neishi and I were surveying together. If our survey data is correct, then this Guanzhong Canal will irrigate more than 40,000 hectares of fertilized land."
"As for the yield per mu...if there are no natural disasters, the average yield per mu can barely reach one bell."
Zheng Guo gently stroked his beard under his chin, looking like nothing more than that, but Han Fei couldn't calm down no matter what.
One bell per mu means a yield of nearly six and a half stones per mu (approximately over one hundred and seventy kilograms). What is this concept?
In this era, the average yield of a field per mu is only one and a half stones, the lower field is one stone, and the upper field is two stones. The yield of six and a half stones per mu is more than three times more fertile than the upper field!
In fact, the example of one hour per mu has already existed.
When Ximen Bao was in charge of Ye, he encouraged people to dig twelve canals to divert river water to people's fields. The "Twelve Canals to Divert Zhangzhou" he built could also turn those lands from fields into fertile land with a yield of one minute per mu, but the scope of irrigation Only one hundred thousand hectares.
When Guan Zhong was in charge of Qi, there were cases where river silt was used to irrigate the land, so that the yield of the land was one minute per mu, but it was only a few hundred thousand hectares.
The Guanzhong Canal built by Zheng Guo was able to turn more than 40,000 hectares of uncultivable land (saline-alkali land) into fertile soil with a yield of one minute per mu.
Thinking about it now, I'm afraid they thought they were sorry for Zheng Guo and allowed him to be a high-ranking disciple in the family, but they didn't expect that they had already thought of expressing their ambitions in Qin Guo.
Therefore, knowing that it was a plan to weaken Qin, he still dared to take a gamble. Not only did he not execute Zheng Guo as an intermediary, but he gave Zheng Guo more power to build the Guanzhong Canal, and named the Guanzhong Canal "Zheng Guo Canal" after it was opened. ".
This is Ying Zheng's courage.
Ying Zheng's courage also laid the foundation for Qin to dominate the world.
With this Zhengguo Canal, unless there is a locust plague, the Qin State will never have the problem of food shortage again.
If there is another Changping War, Qin will be able to mobilize millions of troops without worrying about logistical pressure.
With a powerful treasury, coupled with the Qin people who are not afraid of death, and the assistance of famous generals, Qin can live and die at the expense of other countries to dominate the world.
As the news of the Qin and Zheng Guo's opening of the canal spread throughout the world, a piece of news from the Wei State also shocked the world.
In the thirty-eighth year of King Wei of Wei, the king died, and his posthumous title was Anxi. Prince Zeng was established, and he was named King Zeng of Wei.
(Sima Qian's grandfather was named Sima Xi, so he avoided all posthumous titles with "Xi" in "Historical Records" and changed them to "Li")
King Xi of Wei An, who lived four years longer than in history, was praised by Han Fei in the book "Han Feizi" as "attacking Yan to save Zhao, taking the land east of Hedong; conquering all the lands of Tao and Wei; adding troops to Qi, privately The capital of Pinglu; the attack on Han and the removal of the canal was better than Qixia; in the Suiyang incident, the Jing army was old and left; in the Cai and Zhaoling incidents, the Jing army was defeated; soldiers were spread all over the world, and they were powerful in the country with the crown. "King Anxi died and Wei died." The master of ZTE finally fell on the road to ZTE.
As for King Chu Wan who was far away in Huainan, his life was about to come to an end.
A conspiracy surrounding King Wan of Chu, Prince Han, Li Yuan and Lord Chun Shen is also brewing in the palace of Chu.
(2236 words)
(End of chapter)
