The yellow water is surging and boundless.
At this time, Emperor Hongxing of the Ming Dynasty was standing on a long embankment made of stones, looking at the boundless yellow water, helpless.
Zhu Cixi also had his moments when he was at a loss!
Because he knew that he had met a truly strong enemy this time, a strong enemy that Zhu Cixiang would never be able to defeat in his life!
This powerful enemy is the surging yellow water in front of Emperor Zhu!
This is the water of the Yellow River that comes from Xuzhou and the Huaihe River!
It has not been a year or two since the Yellow River diverted the Huaihe River and entered the sea. This incident first occurred at the time when the two Song Dynasties met. In order to prevent the Jin soldiers from going south, Duchong, the governor of Tokyo who stayed in Tokyo in the Song Dynasty, artificially broke the embankment at Li Gudu in Hua County to the west. The Yellow River flows eastward via Ligudu, through the south of Huaxian County, between Puyang and Dongming, and then flows through Juye, Jiaxiang and Jinxiang in southwest Shandong into the Sishui River, and from Sishui River to Huaihe River. It has been hundreds of years!
If the Yellow River diverts water from the Huaihe River, it would not be a big problem. At most, it would widen the river channel where the lower reaches of the Huaihe River enter the sea, which would be beneficial to the economic development around the mouth of the Huaihe River. But the reason why the Yellow River is yellow and turbid is that it is mixed with a huge amount of sediment. And these sediments will settle on the river bed of the river with a relatively gentle flow. Over time, the river will gradually rise and form a suspended river. In severe cases, it may even cause the river to be silted and change its course.
It has been hundreds of years since the Yellow River captured Si and Huaihe rivers. The amount of sediment it has brought in over the past few hundred years is probably an astronomical figure. Therefore, the Wohe River and the Yinghe River, which together served as the south flow channel of the Yellow River in the early years, have been silted up, leaving only the Surabaya River. The only place where the Yellow River enters Huai'an is Qingkou near Huai'an Fucheng.
The Yellow River, the Huaihe River and the Canal meet at Qingkou. You can imagine the huge water flow.
And the river channel heading east from Qingkou to the sea has gradually risen due to hundreds of years of siltation, and is almost disappearing!
Therefore, a large amount of water from the Yellow River and Huaihe River had to flow into the Yangtze River through canals. In order to ensure the safety of navigation in the canal, in the 32nd year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty had to spend huge sums of money to build a new river channel (Hanzhuang Canal) parallel to the old canal. However, the huge water flow during the flood season every year still cannot be divided into the sea and the river in time.
Therefore, Hongze Lake near Xuyi became a "reservoir" for storing water from the Yellow River and Huaihe River (Hongze Lake was originally formed after the Yellow River captured the Huaihe River in the Song Dynasty), and after a large amount of sediment was deposited on the bottom of Hongze Lake, Hongze Lake The water level of the lake is also rising day by day, causing flooding year after year.
As a last resort, the Ming court had no choice but to build embankments around Hongze Lake. The stone embankment where Zhu Cixi is now is the Gaojiayan Long Embankment located to the east of Hongze Lake!
This is a dam that is more than 10,000 feet (more than 30 kilometers) and more than one foot (about 4 meters) high, made of rammed earth and stones. After the completion of this dam, the flooding in Huai'an Prefecture and Yangzhou Prefecture to the east of Hongze Lake has been slightly reduced. But the west bank of Hongze Lake suffered another disaster, which threatened the safety of the Sizhou Emperor's Mausoleum.
In order to alleviate floods in Sizhou, the famous minister Pan Jixun, who presided over the construction of the Gaojiayan project, built a 40-mile-long Quiren embankment downstream of the Sui River, forcing the Sui River to enter the Yellow River (Sishui River) and intercepting the Baoling Mausoleum.
"The dam is well built! How much did it cost?"
Looking at the boundless yellow water, Zhu Cixiang sighed and asked about the silver again.
"Pan Yinchuan was in charge of the construction of more than 60 miles of Gaojia Weir, more than 40 miles of Guiren Embankment, 130 breaches, and more than 56,000 feet of remote embankments on the Xu, Huai, Pi, Su, Tao, and Qing banks. , Feng Dam, and Feng Dam respectively. The project is huge and the money spent is 160,000 yuan."
The person who answered Zhu Cixiang's question was Fang Gongyue, the newly appointed governor of the river. He had previously been governor of Hubei. At the beginning of the first year of Hongxing, Zhu Cixiang felt that he had plenty of money and was ready to regulate the Huaihe River, so he asked Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi. I recommended Fang Gongyue. Fang Gongyue did not cross the river, but the seawall built across Songjiang was also a stone pond, more than eight miles long, and very strong.
"Such a big project only cost 160,000 taels?" Zhu Cihong was stunned, not to mention how greedy the officials of the Ming Dynasty were. Even if they were not greedy for a penny, it would be impossible for such a big project to cost 160,000 taels!
"The emperor doesn't know something," Fang Gongyue explained. "Huai people have been suffering from floods for a long time, and Pan Gong is famous for his water control. He has served as a river steward for four times and is known as an honest official. Therefore, the gentry in Huai'an and Yangzhou are willing to donate money and food, and farmers People were willing to work to build the dam, so it only cost 160,000 yuan, which was all money."
Zhu Cixiang said: "Even so, the money is still too little. This Pan Jixun is an honest and capable minister, and Zhang Wenzhong (Zhang Juzheng), who is in charge of him, is also the pillar of the country! Fang Qing, I know that you are also an honest and capable minister, and you are good at building embankments." , the Huaihe River will be left to you... But I am richer than the temple master, so I can spend as much as I need. Not only do I have to spend money on major repairs, but I also have to spend money on minor repairs. If you have If local breaches overflow the dam, seal it as soon as possible! If it cannot be blocked, we must prioritize protecting the Huaihe River and the food supply, and do not need to consider the canal and the Sizhou Imperial Tomb."
Emperor Zhu paused, "The canal north of the Huaihe River is no longer useful, and the Sizhou Imperial Tomb will be moved to Fengyang as soon as possible."
Fang Gongyue nodded and said: "Old minister, I understand that food is the most important thing for the people. Nowadays, there is a shortage of food in the southeast and the price of rice is high, making it difficult for ordinary people to make a living..."
Zhu Cixi also sighed: "So there can't be any loss of food in Huai!"
"Protect the tombs and protect the canals" is a principle of the Ming Dynasty in managing the Huanghuai River, which means to keep the Sizhou imperial tombs and the Grand Canal as safe as possible. And Bao Cao is above Baoling, because after Zhu Di moved the capital, more than 4 million shi of grain a year was the lifeblood of Beijing, and it must not be lost.
In order to ensure grain transportation, when the Yellow River flooded, flood control officials of the Ming Dynasty had to block the east and north directions as much as possible. At the same time, in order to protect the mausoleum, the southwest was fortified. So the water of the Yellow River gradually gathered into the Si River, and all of it entered the Huaihe River from the Si River.
As a result, the river channel in Surabaya becomes very wide, and when the river channel is wide, the water flow speed will be slow during the dry season. When the speed is slow, sediment will easily accumulate...
So the river bed in Surabaya is getting higher and higher!
The same problem also occurs at the estuary of the Huaihe River. The river bed at the estuary of the Huaihe River is getting higher and higher, gradually blocking the estuary.
In short, the Yellow River and the Huaihe River are now powerful enemies that Zhu Cixiang will never be able to fight in his lifetime.
Zhu Cixiang, who knew that no matter how much money he spent, could not defeat the Huaihe and Yellow Rivers, he left Gaojiayan with worries, mounted the short fat horse that Wu Sangui paid tribute to, and returned to his place at Bochi Mountain in Huai'an.
When the group arrived, they saw military advisor Li Yan and Jinyiwei commander Zhu Chunjie coming out from Jinghui Temple where Emperor Zhu was stationed. Both of them had smiles on their faces. In addition to greeting Emperor Zhu, they also congratulated him.
Zhu Cixiang, who was worrying about the country and the people, didn't respond for a while, and even asked: "Where does happiness come from?"
Zhu Chunjie smiled and took out the memorial that Queen Wu Sanmei asked him to bring, and handed it over with both hands, "Your Majesty, Concubine Zheng has given birth to the Emperor's eldest son!"
The eldest son of the emperor! It is indeed a happy event! Although he is not his legitimate son, he is still his successor!
But why did the commander of Jinyiwei bring this news?
Zhu Cixiang was so thoughtful. As soon as he saw Zhu Chunjie, he knew that something else had happened!
"Commander, Chunjie, you follow me," Zhu Cixiang smiled, "have a nice talk with me."
As he spoke, Zhu Cihong had already dismounted from the pudgy horse, and walked to the imperial study room in Jinghui Temple with Li Yan and Zhu Chunjie. After entering the imperial study room, seeing that there were no outsiders, Zhu Chunjie took out the intercepted imperial edict and handed it to Zhu Cihong. .
Zhu Cixiang opened Chongzhen's hand edict and read it again, remaining calm.
"Your Majesty," Zhu Chunjie said, "These days, I have also obtained many personal letters from Gao Yushun, all of which are written to governors and generals in various places to incite rebellion."
"Have you ever caught a messenger?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
"They have been caught," Zhu Chunjie said, "but they don't know anything...the people who act are quite secretive and don't reveal their lies."
Zhu Cixiang snorted: "I know who did it even without revealing the truth!"
