On the Kanto Plains and Kinugawa River, as the last river bank closed, loud cheers rang out.
On both sides of the river, everyone is dressed in coarse linen clothes, but you can easily tell from the jade plaques around their waists and the flags erected on the river bank that many of them are not ordinary people.
On both sides of the Kinugawa River, there was Murong Nobunaga, the king of the Yan Kingdom who ruled the three provinces of Asahi, Korea, and Penglai. There was Zhao Kuangyin, the prince of Sendai, Wang Tingyi, the son of Wang Jing, the prince of Yuezhong, and Fang Bohai Xianzhong of Tosa.
As for other gentlemen, kings (men), patrol envoys, military commanders, and captains of thousands, there are countless others.
Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the silver and white gold sun and moon flag representing the emperor's presence.
Under the banner, a middle-aged lady who still retains her charm is standing majestically. Even Murong Nobunaga, the king of the Yan Kingdom, has to be careful to serve her.
Of course, this person was Cao Sanniang's Yannai who took almost a year to get from Luoyang, the sacred capital, to Chaori Dongning.
. . . .
The Kanto Plain in Asahi Province is a rainy area, with annual rainfall of at least 1,500 millimeters, so floods occur every year in the rainy season.
Rivers such as the Tone River and Kinugawa are winding and have limited flood discharge capacity, which often leads to floods running rampant and forming a large number of river swamps downstream.
At the same time, the offshore area of the Kanto Plain is formed by the accumulation of sediment brought by the Tone River and the Kinugawa River. The overall formation will not exceed a thousand years and is not stable.
This resulted in the Edo Bay being very low-lying in later generations. During high tide, many places would be soaked by sea water, and only emerge from the water at low tide. It looked like an endless plain, but in fact it was impossible to use it for farming.
What a headache! Compared with these two big problems, other problems such as soil acidification are small problems.
This is the reason why the Guandong Plain has had abundant rainfall, convenient water transportation, and a warm and humid climate for a long period of time, but its grain production and population have not been able to increase.
Historically, Japan has not had the manpower, material resources and technology to solve this problem until Tokugawa Ieyasu was thrown to Kanto by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
What does this look like? It feels like Xiang Yu sealed Liu Bang to Hanzhong after entering Xianyang. It is completely a simple insult.
But the old turtle is indeed very human. He stopped his retainers from trying to find Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He first spent a few years managing the Kanto Plain in an impressive manner, and accumulated a large material foundation for the unification of Japan.
After ascending to the throne of General of the Conquering Barbarians, it took him fifty years to completely build the Kanto Plain into the most prosperous place in Japan.
At this time, Murong Nobunaga was much luckier than Tokugawa Ieyasu, because he had the support of a huge country and a foster father who loved him.
Of course, being so far away, Zhang Yan's own pockets were empty and he couldn't provide much material support.
But one thing is that the talents to control this kind of flood are definitely enough.
Zhang Gao directly packed up water conservancy experts such as the right minister of the Ministry of Industry and the envoy of the capital city Chen Chengzhao and his team to the Guandong Plain.
After Chen Chengzhao made a detailed investigation of the specific conditions in the Guandong region, he adopted a method similar to that used by Li Bing to manage Dujiangyan.
That is to say, strategies such as straightening the curved river channel, digging canals to divert the water, building river embankments step by step on the seaside, piling soil to raise the terrain, and digging offshore canals to divert high-tide seawater are used to prevent seawater intrusion.
What will make everyone cheer is that the governance of Kinugawa has completely ended.
As long as the Kinugawa River stops running wild, the Kanto Plain will gain at least another seven to eight million acres of paddy fields.
Although the problem of soil quality still exists, with the amount of precipitation and the dense concentration of rivers in the Guandong Plain, it is only a minor problem.
People say that reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Madam Cao Sanniang is now intoxicated by the beautiful scenery of thousands of miles of mountains and rivers.
She finally fully believed that Zhang Yan had not lied to her, and that Zhang Shengren had really chosen a prosperous land for Nobunaga'er.
However, Mrs. Cao Sanniang was not satisfied yet. As a mother, there was no way she would complain that her son was missing some good things. She looked at Murong Nobunaga with a slight smile and said:
"Nobunaga, you can report the Iwami Silver Mine matter now."
After saying that, Lady Cao Sanniang summoned Chen Chengzhao to the front. As the emperor's friend in times of need and a noble concubine of Zhang Zhou's court, Lady Cao Sanniang had a stronger ability to command people from the court than Murong Nobunaga.
For example, Chen Chengzhao, as the leading water conservancy expert in Zhangzhou, his ideal was to become one of the prime ministers with the title of Counselor of Political Affairs, and then actually serve as Minister Youpushe and Minister of the Ministry of Industry. After his death, he was awarded Zhongshu Ling, Taifu, and Taibao. Wait for the glorious title, and then get a beautiful posthumous title.
No matter what the above mentioned, Murong Nobunaga, as a king of a foreign vassal, no matter how noble his status was, he could neither help nor cause trouble.
Therefore, Chen Chengzhao would have great respect for Murong Nobunaga, but he would not devote his life to him 100% and work tirelessly.
Only Mrs. Cao Sanniang, relying on Cao's influence, her relationship with the emperor and her status as a noble concubine, could truly influence Chen Chengzhao in these aspects.
This is actually the most important reason why Mrs. Cao Sanniang must come to Asahi to stay for a few years. She wants to help Murong Nobunaga drive the court officials.
After Chen Chengzhao came over, he pointed directly at the Tone River on the map and said to Murong Nobunaga: "Your Majesty, I have spent two years visiting and have determined the next treatment plan.
Your Majesty, please look here. There is only a small hill and a canyon about ten miles long between the Tone River and the Kinugawa River. If we can dig through this place and let the water of the Tone River flow through the Kinugawa River from the east to the sea, then the Tone River's influence on the lower reaches can be completely eliminated. Flooding threats in offshore areas.
By then, at least tens of millions of acres of fertile land can be opened up in this bay and millions of people can be nourished. This will be the foundation of the Yan Kingdom for eternity! "
The governance plan mentioned by Chen Chengzhao was the Tokugawa shogunate's ultimate move in history to govern the Kanto Plain.
By digging artificial canals, the Tone River flows eastward through the Kinugawa River and flows into the Pacific Ocean, turning the downstream area that was originally affected by the Tone River floods into a fertile field with a dense water network.
The price paid was just that the hills downstream of the Kinugawa River were flooded with some insignificant forest land.
Murong Nobunaga was having a headache about how to solve the floods in the Tone River. When he saw Chen Chengzhao's plan, he suddenly became enlightened. He excitedly grabbed Chen Chengzhao's hand and bowed down.
"Mr. Chen's plan is so ingenious that he deserves to be praised by a certain family!"
Chen Chengzhao didn't dare to ask Murong Nobunaga to bow down, so he quickly bowed down first and even called him "Zhesha".
Murong Nobunaga took advantage of the situation and stood up, but said sincerely: "I know that Duke Chen is determined to secure the people at the center, so I dare not use his official duties as a border vassal to retain him.
But I ask Chen Gong to leave a descendant in Guandong. I am willing to reward you with three thousand households and the title of a gentleman. "
Chen Chengzhao was greatly moved. He knew that the land of Guandong would be under the direct jurisdiction of King Yan in the future, and he was not planning to grant any vassal status.
But today, in order to reward him, His Highness King Yan is willing to make an exception and grant this title to a gentleman, which is indeed a very heavy gift.
Immediately, Chen Chengzhao called his third son who had been following him to come forward and ordered him to kowtow to Murong Nobunaga.
"Your Majesty, my third son is smart. Although he is not brave enough to go into battle to kill the enemy, he loves mountains and rivers most and is proficient in geography. Let him stay in Guandong and serve your Majesty."
Murong Xin was very satisfied when he grew up. The reason why he was willing to seal a gentleman out in the Guandong Plain was, firstly, to make Chen Chengzhao work harder.
Secondly, this kind of water conservancy project definitely needs maintenance. The two sons Chen Chengzhao brought this time are both proficient in this. One of them can be left here as a vassal so that they can be maintained and expanded in the future.
Of course, Murong Nobunaga also knew why his mother, Cao Sanniang, wanted him to report the Iwami Silver Mine.
This project is easy to talk about, but it requires a lot of manpower and material resources to manage. It is not easy to just excavate the hills of more than ten kilometers.
With the current financial situation of Yan State, it is still difficult to cope with it on your own.
And this kind of large-scale project involving the recruitment of hundreds of thousands of people is likely to cause domestic instability. After all, Murong Nobunaga has not ruled for a few years, and not all the Japanese below are convinced.
But if the Ishimi Silver Mine is reported now, given the current shortage of silver in the court, there is a high probability that the court will send officials and troops over.
There are at least tens of thousands of people from the Central Plains who come to hunt for gold, which can objectively have a good deterrent effect.
And such a large silver mine was discovered. As the landowner, the Yan Fan Kingdom could obtain a loan of at least three to four hundred thousand guan by using the share of the silver mine as collateral.
No! If you are still willing to exchange these loans for supplies purchased from the Central Plains, you can get six to seven hundred thousand yuan.
In this way, money will be available to build the Tone River to Kinugawa Canal.
At the same time, people who can travel across the ocean to find gold are definitely not good people. Even if they look honest, they are still honest and ruthless in their hearts.
With these tens of thousands of people in Shijian Mansion, if there was any movement by the Japanese, Murong Nobunaga would be able to recruit tens of thousands of powerful troops with just a greeting, enough to annihilate any rebellion.
"Mom, why don't you write a letter to the court? Anyway, the most important thing for the court is not how much silver the Iwami Silver Mine can produce."
The implication of Murong Nobunaga's words is that the taxes and fees of the Iwami Silver Mine must be shared between the imperial court and the Yan vassal state. Although the majority is definitely taken by the imperial court, but in order to gain more points for the Yan vassal state, we should try our best. Fight for it.
Because as he said, although the reserves of Iwami Silver Mine are large, there are still deficiencies in the explosive power of gunpowder and road transportation.
Therefore, the annual mining volume that can be foreseen is between 150 and 2 million.
With the size of the Zhou Dynasty, even if all two million strings were obtained in one year, it would be just the same thing.
Therefore, the most important role of the Iwami Silver Mine to the imperial court was its silver storage capacity of hundreds of millions of guan, which could provide sufficient confidence and guarantee for the imperial court to issue silver notes worth three yen and five yen.
At the same time, Zhang Shengren also valued using the east wind of the Iwami Silver Mine to vigorously promote the development of navigation, gunpowder, blasting and other technologies, and to completely draw Asahi and Penglai provinces into the Central Plains economic circle.
Indeed, in the face of these two grand strategies that have a great role in promoting the country and the nation, a mere income of millions of dollars a year does not seem so important.
But for Murong Nobunaga's Yan vassal state, even if the equivalent of 100,000 guan of silver is added every year, after various processes are made into silver collars, there will be at least a dozen or closer to 200,000 guan in revenue, which is a lot. .
Mrs. Cao Sanni glanced at her son and said with a serious face: "I can coordinate this for you, and I can even increase your profit by 10%, but there are conditions.
If you only ask for tens of thousands more taxes a year, it is not difficult. Your father will definitely be willing to give it, but if you want more, Penglai Island may have to give it up. "
Penglai Island is the historical Kyushu Island of Japan. If it were eliminated, only Hojo Island (Shikoku Island) would be left in the Penglai Province under the control of Murong Nobunaga. However, Murong Nobunaga thought for a moment and nodded.
Seeing that her son agreed without much thinking, Mrs. Cao Sanniang continued:
"Your fourth brother is already twelve years old this year, but the saint is still very strong. From spring to autumn, no matter the heat or the cold, I have never seen him suffer from any illness. His good health is like a god or a Buddha.
This is a good thing for the court and the world, but it may not be a good thing for your fourth brother. This represents thirty or even forty years of hard work! "
The fourth brother Cao Yannai refers to is Zhang Xianjing, the fourth prince who is not actually a prince but is being trained as a prince.
Murong Nobunaga sighed empathetically. He had actually thought about the possibility of changing his surname to Zhang and becoming a prince.
But the moment this thought arose, it was immediately shattered by another thing, and I never thought about it again.
That was Murong Nobunaga and his adoptive father Zhang Shengren, but they were only seven years apart!
It seems now that it was right to suppress this desire in my heart at that time. Not to mention the age difference of only seven years, even the fourth brother Zhang Xianjing, who is twenty-one years apart, will most likely not be able to survive until he succeeds to the throne.
Murong Nobunaga asked in a low voice: "Is Penglai the escape route chosen by Aunt Nineteen for Fourth Brother?"
Mrs. Cao Sanniang nodded, "Yes, Yanxi has decided that if things don't change after she reaches the age of twenty-five, she will write to the saint and request that Brother Jing be sealed to Penglai."
"That's fine!" Murong Nobunaga took a deep breath, "Although the Japanese country is divided into two provinces, it is still very closed internally. There will definitely be no problem if there are children here, but what will happen to the future descendants is really difficult. Anticipate.
If the fourth brother can go to Penglai and join the vassal state, it will be like opening a sect in the Japanese country. Maybe future generations can save the lives of the Murong family's descendants. "
Mrs. Cao Sanniang looked at Murong Nobunaga with joy, "My son is indeed a good boy favored by the saint. Seeing you so sober, I feel relieved."
Murong Nobunaga grinned, "That's right, Nobunaga'er was taught by Ye Ye step by step.
A little personal loss can benefit the country and the nation, and incidentally, it can help future generations eliminate disasters and solve problems. Why not do it.
When my mother-in-law went back, she asked the boy for her. He thought that after a hundred years, Hutou would be named Zhang.
It will become a custom in the future that among the children's descendants, the branch that succeeds the king of Korea and the king of Yan will all have the surname Zhang, and the descendants of the clan will have the surname Murong. "
Lady Cao Sanni nodded with tears in her eyes. At this moment, the biggest worry in her heart was finally completely eliminated.
. . . .
Above the pitch-black sky, lightning suddenly tore the world apart.
A splendid electric light suddenly shot from the nine heavens to the ocean in the distance, which seemed to be the end of heaven and earth.
The long-lasting white light in this Taoist's eyes seemed to be guiding believers to the other side.
"What a thief, what a thief! It's just thunder but no rain, right? Just thunder but no rain, right! I'm going to die of thirst, right?"
Where the waves undulated on the bow of the ship, an almost naked strong man raised his head and roared toward the sky.
His two thick legs seemed to have taken root, no matter how the ship shook, they were firmly nailed to the deck.
Cursing and cursing, the strong man suddenly pulled out the long sword that had been inserted into the side of the ship, and then pointed the weapon weighing more than ten kilograms at the sky with one hand. The several-foot-long blade was gleaming in the light of lightning. glow.
"What a thief! If it doesn't rain, you're such an idiot, I'll kill you!"
Helian Hailong is now almost as tanned as his former partner Yan Kunlun. His lips have dried up and become as pale as lead powder, with deep and shallow scars covering them.
He tried his best to turn his head and look at Master Cixian, who was already furious. His face showed a bit of neurotic madness due to the extreme pain.
He looked at the mage he admired most in the past and chuckled, his voice as strange as if it came from the bottom of the sea.
"Master, Zhao Siwan is crazy, he is going to poke God in the ass, hehehehe!"
Plop! Some people were frightened by the weird laughter and knelt down, and their whole bodies began to tremble.
This was not because of Helian Hailong's laughter, but because Zhao Siwan's triangular eyes symbolizing death were looking at this person.
Everyone on this ship knows why this crazy guy still has the strength to roar when everyone is about to die, because he is eating people!
Cannibalism is actually not uncommon. Among the eighty-eight people on this boat, thirty-nine were brought by Zhao Siwan from beggars. They have all eaten people to some extent.
But the only one who can still be so lively after eating it is Zhao Siwan.
Along the way, due to the shortage of firewood, everyone had been eating raw food for at least half a month. From raw meat to raw fish caught directly from the sea, everything was raw.
When you are thirsty, you drink the fish blood along with the almost stinking water. When you are hungry, you just hold the live fish and chew them.
As they ate, some people's teeth began to fall out, their eyes bulged, some people's bodies were covered in ulcers until there was no good skin left on their bodies, some people had vomiting and diarrhea, were in coma due to high fever, and lost their lives in panic and convulsions.
Only Zhao Siwan has nothing wrong with him. He is better at drinking fish blood and eating raw fish than a civet cat.
And like him, his subordinates who chose the simplest way to solve the problem soon began to go crazy inexplicably, and even jumped off the ship.
Up to now, the only one who could choose to be as 'trouble-free' as Zhao Siwan was him.
At this moment, as Zhao Siwan turned around, a stronger bolt of lightning split the sky again, followed by the roar of huge thunder that resounded across the sky.
Helian Hailong suddenly felt a gentle touch on his face. He suddenly opened his eyes and raised his hands to the sky.
The moist feeling came, and Helian Hailong stuck out his tongue and licked the air. It was not bitter, astringent, or salty. It was not splashing sea water, but real rain.
"It's raining! It's raining!" More than 30 people on the ship seemed to have come alive in an instant. They got up from all corners of the ship.
Helian Hailong also saw many sailors who he thought had died long ago also appeared on the deck.
Everyone has the same posture, that is, looking up at the sky with their mouths open, like plants enjoying the moisture of rain, greedily sucking in the small raindrops.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, as if someone suddenly reached out and pushed behind the warship. The warship, which was originally walking leisurely along the Cangming River, rushed towards the extreme east like an arrow.
As the wind came, heavy rain also fell, and even Master Cixian, who was extremely thin and out of breath, came back to life.
"What's over there? What's over there? It seems like a mountain! It seems like a mountain!" In the strong wind and heavy rain, the sailor who climbed onto the mast howled crazily.
boom! Lightning illuminated the sky again, and suddenly, in the far distance, the mountainous mountains and the dark seaside cliffs were so clear that they appeared in everyone's eyes as if they had just flown over.
"It's here, it's here, Dongsheng Shenzhou has arrived, Dongsheng Shenzhou has arrived!" Helian Hailong howled wildly, and his tears splashed everywhere along with the rain.
Countless people threw themselves at the bow of the ship, then cried and hugged each other.
Three and a half months, three and a half months, a full hundred days! They finally arrived and finally found Dongsheng Shenzhou.
"The Supreme and Merciful Dharma King knows my heart well. He knows how painful I am and how injured I am. He takes pity on my difficulties and points out all the dharma for me."
Loud chants rang out, the sound was so loud that it drowned out the cheers of everyone.
Helian Hailong looked back and saw that the person chanting the Compassionate Heart Mantra of the Great Merciful Dharma King was none other than Master Cixian who he thought was about to pass away.
But looking at this moment, except for the beard and hair that almost concealed his appearance, Master Cixian still looked like he was on the verge of death.
On the contrary, when he sang and recited sutras, his voice was extremely majestic, and he seemed to be healthier than all of them. The beard and hair that covered his entire head and coiled like a horned dragon made him full of mysterious majesty.
Of course, Helian Hailong and the others would not know that Tianzhu has an ascetic turtle breath method called yug, which can make people as breathless as a turtle, unable to move, thus greatly reducing consumption.
They only felt that the Supreme Heaven was indeed guiding them. When Dongsheng Shenzhou was in front of them, even the dying people were resurrected.
"Lower the sails to half, and the lookout quickly looks for a bay. Don't let the ship hit the cliff. Light the pear blossom gun flame to tell the ships behind to follow!"
In an instant, Helian Hailong regained all his vitality.
Dongsheng Shenzhou has finally arrived, but I don’t know if I will see Master Yanshou who has arrived in the Buddhist kingdom.
(End of chapter)
