Apart from the extreme inefficiency of the entire water transport system, it is also very difficult to maintain river transport under normal circumstances, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources. In addition to "river management", the largest expenditure on water conservancy in past dynasties was to maintain the smooth flow of canals. . [Full text reading].t. The canal spans more than 2,000 miles from south to north. Countless sluices and ponds must be set up along the way, and artificial rivers must be dug to adjust the water level and volume. Especially after entering Shandong, you will be affected by the ever-changing course of the Yellow River. Every winter, the river north of the Huaihe River will freeze, making it impossible for watercraft to pass, so we can only "keep in the cold".
Maintaining canal facilities consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, as does ensuring transportation capacity. The large number of water transport troops and water ships is another huge expense. The entire water transportation is difficult and expensive, and it is completely uneconomical in terms of economic costs. It is purely a product of "political needs".
Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as the capital of the Ming Dynasty instead of Beijing because he considered "getting grain nearby" to be close to the government's financial supply area and reduce transshipment costs.
Zhao Yingong investigated the Ming Dynasty's water transport from both an economic and institutional perspective. The facts are clear and the arguments are sufficient. In addition, Zhang Pu cannot help but admire the textual research, summary and comments of Chinese and foreign historical scholars since the 20th to 21st centuries.
Zhang Pu had long been aware of the shortcomings of water transportation - otherwise he would not have suggested that the imperial court change Taicang's water supply to allocate military food on site. But he has not studied this issue comprehensively. Now he listens to Zhao Yingong's explanation, which is clear and logical. I was secretly surprised. Although Mr. Zhao has four books and five classics, and his collection of classics and history is extremely sparse, he has a lot of troubles in his heart! Discussing the study of "managing the world for practical purposes". There are really few people around me who can beat this Mr. Zhao.
The more he listened, the more surprised he became. It wasn't until Zhao Yingong finished speaking that he slowly said: "Sir, you are a great talent!"
"Don't dare! It's just a little personal opinion." Zhao Yingong felt so happy and happy: the person in front of him was not an ordinary Zhang San or Li Si, but the famous Zhang Pu! It's a bit flattering for such a person to praise himself as a "great talent".
"Then Mr. Wang thinks that since the corruption of water transportation is the root cause, how can we explain the suffering of the people due to the lack of rice?"
Zhao Yingong immediately said something he had planned for a long time.
"The only way is to destroy the river and change it into the sea!" Zhao Yingong said in a deep voice, "The water transport has already suffered from serious disadvantages, and we can't do it unless we start from scratch!"
It was extremely shocking to say this. Since the construction of canals in the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, the southeast has become the source of the dynasty's wealth, and water transportation has become the main artery that maintains the operation of the dynasty. Whether the continuous flow of grain to the north is smooth every autumn can be said to be an important matter for the life and death of the dynasty.
Zhang Pu was a man of great learning and knew that it was not Zhao Yingong's idea to transform the river into a sea. Someone has said this in the past, and water transportation in the Yuan Dynasty was by sea.
But most people are afraid of the sea - especially in traditional continental countries like China. Except for coastal residents, most people think that going out to sea by boat is a matter of narrow escape, let alone throwing away hundreds of thousands of stones of food. Put it on the sea and travel across the ocean! Thinking about it makes me feel uneasy.
Zhang Pu is no exception. He had no intuitive understanding of shipping and said: "The sea is unstable. I heard that a lot of the grain and wages shipped by the imperial court from Dengzhou to Liaodong would disappear halfway. This rice is the foundation of the country..."
Zhao Yingong thought to himself: This float is not so much for the Sea Dragon King as it is for a group of officials and generals - I am afraid that the successive governors of Denglai, Dongjiang generals, and household officials... are all lost here. I have made enough money to last for several lifetimes, if not for everyone now thinking that foreign countries are all "barbarian lands". I'm afraid my wife and children have immigrated long ago.
"It is inevitable for ships to float on the sea, but it is not necessarily a natural disaster." Zhao Yingong nodded, and then said, "Sir, please think about it: Although the Great Yuan Dynasty enjoyed a short period of time, it was only ninety-seven years. If there were so many floats, it would be a disaster." , I’m afraid Dayuan won’t even be able to keep it for seven years.”
The conversation with Zhang Pu lasted for almost several hours. The depth and breadth of Zhao Yiggong's views on economic issues greatly impressed the leader of the literary world in the late Ming Dynasty. It should be said that Fushe is not a group that talks about morality, rationality and Confucianism. It still attaches great importance to the method 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 generally been achieved.
In the Palace of Qianqing. The lights remain on late at night.
The drum tower in the palace has been beating three drums, but the signboards in front of the emperor are still quietly cutting candles. It seems that the emperor has to stay up all night to review the memorials again today.
In the brightly lit Nuan Pavilion, piles of memorials and reports were stacked neatly on the imperial desk. These were all delivered from the General Affairs Department just this afternoon. Almost half of the desk is filled with books.
The emperor was sitting behind the royal desk, his face dark under the lamplight, a look unique to someone who had stayed up late for a long time and was exhausted mentally and physically. There are endless reports to read and endless government affairs to deal with every day. Talking about diligence. Not only was Chongzhen more diligent than his father, brother, and grandfather, he was also one of the best in the entire Ming Dynasty.
However, just like an extremely diligent student who always fails the exam, his diligence did not bring any improvement to the Ming Dynasty's national situation, but instead worsened.
Natural disasters from various places: drought, floods, plagues, earthquakes, banditry... Memorials requesting reductions in grain taxes and relief came like a snowflake from all over the country. Even the southeastern region, which has always been prosperous and the center of national wealth, is also constantly suffering from disasters. The already dire financial situation has become unsustainable.
The military pressure is increasing day by day, which can be called internal and external difficulties: not only the rogue bandits in Shaanxi have gradually become a climate, but the invasion of Donglu, who had been wreaking havoc outside the pass, has given him a great shock.
As if the situation in the Ming Dynasty was not bad enough, just when the She'an Rebellion finally subsided, another group of giant sea pirates came from Guangdong, and once invaded Qiongzhou, and even attacked the city of Guangzhou. Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, sent troops to attack. As a result, the Guangdong general He Rubin was defeated in Qiongzhou, and the Guangdong official army was almost wiped out. Then came the reports of the giant bandits who were killing and plundering 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 to the local area, they finally did not fall into the state capital. They also issued an edict to exempt several prefectures and counties in the affected areas from Xia Autumn Grain Fu. This made him feel a lot more relaxed: Guangdong is now second only to the southeastern region. Chapter 1191 Report: The Kun thief had withdrawn from Humen and his whereabouts were unknown. He finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew from the hesitant tone and flashing words in the memorials and newspapers, the local officers and soldiers probably fought a number of defeats, lost troops and generals, and the local area was corrupted. In the end, they just "followed and escorted away" the Kun thieves.
This ending is already a good one for him: the bandits finally did not become a problem, and the counties that fell in Qiongzhou Prefecture have been recovered. The Ming Dynasty had shed too much blood on Donglu and rogue bandits, and it could no longer withstand a new bandit. Although the Guangdong side lost troops and generals, it finally left no future troubles. For this alone, he was already thankful.
However, there were not many memorials that comforted him. There was always endless bad news delivered to his case every day. In recent months, Dengzhou soldiers have become the most troubled court affairs for him.
Things like mutiny were no longer a big deal. Since the Tianqi period, the army has become increasingly domineering, and it has become commonplace to fight against pay, mutinies, and beat civil servants and kill generals. Especially Dongjiang, there has been no peace since Mao Wenlong was beheaded. Unexpectedly, the Liao people from Dongjiang actually started to revolt in Dengzhou, openly occupying prefectures and counties, and killing officials.
Things got worse and worse, and there was a report that the rebels had captured seven cities in a row - especially the fall of Dengzhou, which shocked him very much. Dengzhou is an important coastal defense town on the Liaodong Front. It not only connects Dongjiang and Shandong, but also serves as a port of communication with North Korea. The imperial court has been operating in the local area for many years - especially after Sun Yuanhua became the governor of Dengzhou, the imperial court spent 800,000 taels of military expenses in Dengzhou every year to train the new army and build cannons. Now that they were all wiped out, how could he not feel heartbroken?
In anger, he wanted to dismiss Sun Yuanhua several times and question him. But I never made up my mind.
After Sun Yuanhua escaped from Dengzhou, he is now arranging defense and suppression arrangements in Laizhou. If he is captured, 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 a new governor is sent there, the morale of the troops may be unstable. If trouble occurs again, it will be even worse.
Moreover, two great scholars, Xu Guangqi and Zhou Yanru, tried their best to excuse Sun Yuanhua and petitioned the emperor to let him serve his crime.
These two bachelors were respected and relied upon by the emperor, and their opinions could not be ignored.
At the moment, what troubles the emperor the most is the resulting heated debate.
In the beginning, it was a fierce battle for suppression, but gradually it became a concentrated attack on Xiong Mingyu and Zhou Yanru. A snowstorm of impeachment memorials filled his case.
Xiong Mingyu is just fine, Zhou Yanru is capable of doing things. 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 pointed the finger at Zhou Yanru - Sun Yuanhua's appointment as governor of Denglai was due to Zhou Yanru's operation. Sun Yuanhua had gifted mink skin, ginseng and other Liaodong specialties to Zhou Yanru. These pairs controlled Dongchang and Jinyiwei. It is no secret to the emperor.
"The ministers and ministers said they wanted to punish Sun Yuanhua for his crimes, but they only wanted to punish Zhou Yusheng." He thought to himself. I have some doubts in my heart. Could it be that there is some partisanship involved? What the emperor is most taboo about is this "party struggle."
However, the recent spate of impeachments against Zhou Yanru has gradually shaken his original trust in this assistant. To be continued
