Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) climbed up from the ditch with his feet covered in mud. In front of him was an extremely open and sparkling river section.
As Zhang Zhaojun came ashore, thunderous cheers rang out from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
If a drone could take pictures from the sky at this time, we would find that this section of the river is filled with densely packed people.
There are guardsmen from the left, middle and right guards of Guilin, patrolmen from the Inspection Department of the nine counties of Guilin Prefecture, and soldiers recruited from the nine counties of Guilin Prefecture, as well as from Quanzhou Prefecture of Hunan Province in the north and Rongzhou in the west. Civilian husband.
No matter how they dressed up, no matter the officials or the people, they were cheering heartily.
What makes them so happy is that the most important repair project of the large and small balances in the Lingqu canal has finally been completed.
This makes the North Canal and South Canal of Ling Canal finally navigable, marking that Ling Canal can once again play its role.
The Ling Canal was built in the Qin Dynasty. It is an extremely important canal project in Chinese history. Although the total length is less than 40 kilometers, it shoulders the important task of connecting Lingnan and the Central Plains.
Because the Lingqu canal connects the Xiangjiang River in the Yangtze River system and the Li River in the Pearl River system.
With its existence, in theory, a ship sailing in the Yangtze River can sail all the way to Guangzhou Bay only through the inland water system.
This cannot be overstated in ancient times when water transportation had the advantages of convenience, saving time, effort, and cost.
It can be said that without Lingqu, the Qin Dynasty would not have conquered Baiyue so quickly, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty might not have conquered the Nanyue Kingdom because Lingnan was worthless.
Because Jiaozhi does not have a river like Lingqu that can communicate with the Central Plains, it is very easy for the separatist trend to breed.
If any court wants to stabilize Lingnan, Lingnan is a water conservancy project that must be repaired. Without Lingcan, there can be no peace in Lingnan.
Amid cheers, soldiers, officers, and civilians surrounded Zhang Zhaojun and walked to the Temple of the Four Sages.
The so-called Temple of the Four Sages is dedicated to four people who have made great contributions to Lingqu.
One is Shi Lu, the censor of the State of Qin. This person is said to be from Baiyue. He has no surname and served as a censor, so later generations mostly call him Shi Lu.
It was he who designed and constructed the Ling Canal and pioneered the design of the lock-type canal, which enabled the free passage of ships in the Li and Xiang river systems with a height difference of tens of meters.
The second was General Ma Yuan of Fubo of the Han Dynasty, the third was Li Bo, the observer envoy of Guizhou in Tang Dynasty, and the fourth was Yu Mengwei, the governor of Guizhou in Tang Dynasty.
Among these four people, Lu was responsible for building the Ling Canal, and the other three made great contributions to maintaining, expanding, and improving the Ling Canal.
Originally, the Four Sages Temple was only for the people around Lingqu Canal to benefit from the Lingqu Canal, but the spontaneous worship can be seen from the nature of the temple. This is not an official memorial ceremony, but a place for people in a county or several counties. establish.
At this time, it has not been officially certified and is called Yinsi.
But fortunately, the four people whom the people paid homage to were all official figures and people who were benevolent to the local area, especially General Fubo Ma Yuan, so they were barely exempt from the category of obscene sacrifices, but they still could not Put it on the table.
After Zhang Zhaojun took office, he immediately realized that solving the status issue of the Four Sages Temple was the best way to win over the hearts and minds of the people in the nine counties of Guilin Prefecture.
Therefore, as soon as he took office, he rushed to the Temple of the Four Sages, which was basically just a thatched hut, to worship, and promised the surrounding people that if they could help clear the spiritual canal, they would report to the court to "regularize" the Temple of the Four Sages.
Before Zhang Zhaojun arrived, Lingqu had been out of use for almost thirty years.
The most recent renovation was in 868 AD, the ninth year of Xiantong in the Tang Dynasty, when Yu Mengwei, the governor of Guizhou, dredged and expanded it.
This person was not only a water conservancy expert, but also through some means, he persuaded Tang Ting, who was already very financially poor, and the surrounding Jiedushi envoys to raise funds to repair the Ling Canal.
The restoration this time was very grand. Yu Mengwei recruited more than 50,000 people. It lasted more than a year and spent an astronomical figure of more than 5.3 million guan to carry out the largest restoration of Lingqu after the Qin Dynasty. and widening.
According to historical records, after Yu Mengwei repaired and widened the Ling Canal, not only could giant ships of dozens of tons be navigable, but the canal was also so turbulent that even a large boat with a hundred dendrobiums could be waded by one man.
In other words, a large ship with a carrying capacity of six to seven tons can be driven calmly by only one sailor, which shows that the water flow is abundant.
After Zhang Zhaojun arrived in Guilin, he only did three things in almost five years.
The first thing is to establish the Three Guards of Guilin and restore the people's livelihood in Guilin Mansion, which has been left empty due to the constant war between Ma Chu and the Southern Han Dynasty.
The second thing is to transform the pro-army Zuo Shenwei who followed him south to Guilin into a river navy division that can not only fight on land, but also adapt to the Lingnan rivers.
The backbone of Zuo Shenwei Guards is composed of a small number of Helong soldiers plus the former Jin imperial guards.
When going south, Zhang Gao gave Zhang Zhaojun thousands of Ma Chu's surrendered troops. In addition, Ma Chu Jingjiang Jiedushi, who was originally in Guilin, had thousands of tooth soldiers. He had few confidants and many outsiders, and the situation was very complicated.
But Zhang Zhaojun lived up to expectations. Within five years, with only more than 2,000 confidants, he relied on his personal ability and prestige to conquer more than 10,000 other soldiers with mixed composition.
Up to now, a powerful force has been formed, mainly composed of the personal guard Zuo Shenwei Guard, the Forbidden Army Jingjiang Town and Wulue Town, plus the three guards of the Guard Army and the patrolmen of the Inspection Department, guns, sticks, and archers.
At present, there is no need for the imperial court to send troops. Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) is building a dojo in a snail shell with extremely limited resources. He has developed an army of 10,000 elite soldiers and 17,000 local troops, totaling 27,000 land and water infantry and cavalry.
And up to now, Zhang Zhaojun has captured Rongzhou (Rongshui), Pingle and other prefectures and counties belonging to the Southern Han Dynasty, and divided his troops into two groups to advance directly to Liuzhou and Wuzhou, the important big cities in the Southern Han Dynasty.
This has actually posed a huge threat to the Southern Han regime, forcing Liu Sheng of the Southern Han Dynasty to garrison troops in these two places, consuming astronomical amounts of money and food every year.
The third thing is to repair the spiritual canal.
Although it was only eighty or ninety years ago that Yumengwei last repaired and widened the Lingcanal, the situation during these eighty-ninety years was extremely chaotic, resulting in the Lingcanal not being well maintained.
Especially after Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty, the situation became even more serious. Ma Chu and Nan Han fought many times in the Guilin area. This important town in Lingnan encountered fierce tug-of-war between the two sides many times.
During the Ma Xifan period, in order to prevent Guilin from being captured by the Southern Han Dynasty again, and to threaten Ma Chu's heart Hunan through the Xiangjiang River, he ordered the destruction of the Ling Canal, which directly caused the Ling Canal, which was not well maintained, to lose most of its power. Navigation capability.
After Zhang Zhaojun arrived, he was faced with such a scene. The Lingqu Canal was in ruins and could not be used, and the Guilin Mansion was also in dilapidated condition. There were only more than 200,000 people living in the nine counties in one mansion.
One-third of the entire Hunan province's financial resources will be used by Guo Wei to restore people's livelihood in Changsha, Changde and other places and conquer the Xidong barbarians west of Dongting Lake.
The other one-third, more than that, was to be used to build the Yangtze River Navy. At that time, the Southern Tang Dynasty had not yet been captured, so establishing and training the navy was a top priority, and a lot of money had to be spent to do it.
The remaining less than one-third has to bear the salaries of civil and military officials in various places.
Under this situation, even if the imperial court allocates money and grain from Hubei every year, Zhang Zhaojun would only be left with three melons and two dates.
But in this case, Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) reduced grain in Guilin Prefecture to equalize the land, attract people who fled to the mountains to come down, punish local wealthy families, crack down on bandits and bandits, and use his connections to obtain cattle, iron farm tools, etc. To resume production.
It only took him five years to establish two Forbidden Army towns and three Guards Stations, improve the local inspection system, establish dozens of gun clubs and bow and arrow societies, and stabilize social security.
It also restored prefectural and county schools that had been suspended for decades, provided relief to local poor Confucian scholars, and rewarded people who were pure filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and brotherly kindness. This made the people of Guilin become pure and the education in the territory was greatly restored.
At the same time, he also fought against the Southern Han border troops in the south. With thousands or tens of thousands of troops, he suppressed the Southern Han Dynasty.
The most frightening thing is that Ma Shacai was a bandit from Hexi and a rough guy from the northwest who couldn't read a lot of Chinese characters. When he arrived in Lingnan, he quickly became an expert on water conservancy. He only used the 210,000 yuan specially approved by Zhang Xian to complete the project. repaired the Ling Canal.
He conscripted 130,000 people from nearly 16 states and counties to serve as corvees. Not only did it not cause major turmoil, the number of people lost within five years was also controlled to less than 500.
You must know that in this era, people doing this kind of corvée work is almost like going to the gate of hell.
Take Yu Mengwei as an example. He was considered to love the people. He recruited more than 50,000 people to repair the Ling Canal. The number of victims in the end was incalculable.
It is estimated that at least several thousand people were killed, and the death rate was probably close to 10%, while for Zhang Zhaojun, it was less than 0.4%.
Therefore, although Zhang Zhaojun imposed large-scale corvee labor, he was not regarded as cruel, and was regarded as a living Bodhisattva by the people.
If you don't agree, every great emperor who can start from a humble beginning in history often has a heavenly group around him.
For example, the Peixian brothers of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty and the Huaixi brothers of Zhu Hongwu.
There are also Zhang Yan. He took the 108 yuan to the west and produced more than a dozen general talents like Yan Jin, Ma Yaozi, Ma Shacai, Fan Quan, and Yin Yaozi. As for famous generals and brave generals There are countless more.
Even when Zhang Yan sent Zhang Zhaojun (Ma Shacai) to guard Guilin Mansion, he didn't expect him to do such a good job.
Who would have imagined that a bandit from the northwest who could not read a single word would go to Lingnan to mount a horse to lead the army and dismount herdsmen. Not only did he do extremely well, but he would also become a water conservancy expert in a short period of time. What is even more exaggerated is that he was also good at doing things with small money. event.
This is also the reason why Zhang Yan would not accept the land donation from the Southern Han Dynasty. Zhang Zhaojun sacrificed so much in Guilin Mansion. As a famous founding general and the emperor's sworn brother, he stayed here for five years.
Even after the next generation Murong Nobunaga, Li Cunhui, and even the next generation Zhao Kuangyin began to make great contributions to destroying the country, Zhang Zhaojun still did not complain and completed his task perfectly.
If this doesn't lead to the destruction of the country, it's really unjustifiable.
. . . .
In front of the Four Sages Temple, as soon as Zhang Zhaojun arrived, lions were dancing in front of the temple, dragon boats were speeding on the river, gongs and drums were ringing, and crisp and thick firecrackers were popping in the fire.
Zhang Zhaojun, officials, soldiers and civilians were so excited that they even took off their robes and went bare-chested to beat the drums and cheer for the dragon boat athletes in the river.
Everyone played until Shen Zheng (four o'clock in the afternoon), and the smell of the food prepared on the running water mat began to be heard. At this time, Tang Ma from the central guard of Guilin Prefecture in the distance arrived on horseback.
Officials from the Imperial Taichang Temple finally arrived.
Along with the Taichang Temple officials came a Zhongguan and an official from the Ministry of Rites.
Officials from Taichang Temple arrived and brought with them a decree from Taichang Temple, which manages world religions, allowing the establishment of a temple beside Lingqu Canal for worship and upgrading the Temple of the Four Sages to the Temple of the Four Sages.
The officials of the Ministry of Rites came specifically to pursue the title. Lu, who presided over the construction of Lingqu Canal during the Qin Dynasty, had great merit. However, because the Qin Dynasty perished too quickly, his contribution was not taken seriously by the court at that time and later by the court.
Up to now, most of the names for Lu are Jian Lu or Shi Lu, without even a surname.
Therefore, Zhang Gao specially issued an edict to grant the surname Zhang of Lu State, named Zhang Lu, and was granted the posthumous title of Duke of Ling State.
What the Zhongguan brought was a gold (bronze) statue of Qingyuan Miaodao Erlang Xianshengzhenjun. Who does this statue look like and who it refers to, so everyone is naturally of good knowledge.
Zhang Gao did not want the Six Methods Sect to spread in the Central Plains. At the same time, he had made an agreement with Ma Xizhen, the old Taoist Taoist, to praise Taoism more in Hunan, Lingnan and other places.
This is of course no problem. Anyway, I, Zhang Shengren, have already blocked the position of Erlang Shen. According to the Taoist narrative, Zhang Yan is not at a loss.
After receiving the imperial decree approving the establishment of the Temple of the Four Sages, and seeing the emperor granting surnames and posthumous titles, the people of Guilin were extremely happy.
The four people in the Temple of the Four Sages, especially Lu, who was most likely from Guilin, received such praise from the emperor. In an instant, their relationship with the imperial court was drawn into it.
Later, the Zhongguan also announced that the emperor knew that the people in the nine counties of Guilin Prefecture, as well as Rongzhou and Quanzhou Prefectures had worked hard, so he decided to waive the accumulated debts of the people in these two prefectures and one prefecture starting from Ma Chu.
They were also exempted from five years of corvee and hard labor. Today's celebration banquet was also a banquet hosted by the emperor with internal funds.
As soon as the news came out, cheers of long live resounded throughout the world. The people thought that the emperor was inviting them to a drink, and they were so excited that they almost showed off on the spot.
Well, I, Emperor Zhang, am still the same as before, best at winning people's hearts with small favors.
During the banquet, Zhang Liecheng glanced several times at the senior official in the distance. He knew this person, the head of Shang Baojian, whose surname was Zhou.
Originally, when he was in Tokyo, the boss did not flatter him, but treated him with respect, and he called Mr. Zhang from afar.
But now, even though he saw it, he didn't even come up to say hello.
"It seems that you are still angry with me!" Zhang Liecheng, who had suffered a lot in the past few years and had become dark and thin, sighed and walked up to Zhang Zhaojun with a wine bowl.
"Fifth Uncle, now that the people's hearts have returned, Murong Erlang's Eastern Expedition is basically over, and there is no shortage of money and food, should we prepare to go south to Xingwang's Mansion?"
Zhang Zhaojun glanced at Zhang Liecheng and knew in his heart that he was eager to perform meritorious service and seek Zhang Yan's forgiveness, but it was obvious that his nephew had not yet tempered himself enough and was still very impetuous.
Taking a sip of the wine in the bowl, Zhang Zhaojun shook his head and said, "Now is not the time. Although the Han Dynasty has a weak military, it is relatively stable internally. Although Liu Sheng is cruel, he can control his subordinates well. He kills his brothers and enemies. Did not kill people indiscriminately.
Although our army is strong, we have just dredged the Ling Canal and are tired up and down. The imperial court has sent troops from far away. They cannot adapt to the humidity and heat here for a while, so it is not the time to attack them. "
Zhang Zhaojun is not trying to evade this, it is just the fact.
Historically, it was extremely easy for the Northern Song Dynasty to conquer the Southern Han Dynasty. That was because Liu Yun, who succeeded Liu Sheng after his death, was still considered a heavyweight among the faint kings in thousands of years of history. He was also very special among a group of bastards. The shining one looks like a gorilla.
The most bizarre policy of this king is that he believes that ministers who have young families will be selfish and are far less reliable than eunuchs who are childless and infertile.
So he ordered that anyone who wanted to be an official in the court must become a eunuch. The famous eunuch dynasty was formed in his hands.
As for other brutal and indiscriminate killings, like dressing up as pirates and going out to sea to rob, or leading an army to rob his own subjects after failing to rob merchants, these can only be regarded as childish in front of his brilliant idea of forming a eunuch dynasty.
It was under the rule of this heavyweight that the Southern Han Dynasty was divided and the people in the country were in dire straits.
At this time, the Southern Han Dynasty had 200,000 households and more than 1.3 million people. By the end of Liu Yuan's reign, there were only 170,000 households and less than 1 million people left.
Under such circumstances, when the Northern Song Dynasty conquered the Southern Han Dynasty, almost the entire Southern Han Dynasty rushed to lead the way. Pan Mei easily defeated the Sixth Army and Twelve Guards of the Southern Han Dynasty in just one battle.
At this time, although Liu Sheng was cruel, his methods were not bad. Under his governance, the people of the Southern Han Dynasty were able to live well.
It can even be said that because of the prosperity of maritime trade, at least the people in the Pearl River Delta region are living a good life.
If you want to attack and destroy such a country with only 20 to 30 thousand people, you can only call it a dream.
Zhang Liecheng left in disappointment, but Zhang Zhaojun looked at his back and sighed.
Zhang Liecheng still didn't understand, and he still didn't understand why he had reached this point. This was not because of his merit, but because of his heart.
If Zhang Liecheng still couldn't figure it out when it came time to conquer Han, he would never be forgiven by the emperor in his life.
I'm on a business trip recently, and I can only have time to type at night after get off work.
(End of chapter)
