As the saying goes, the snow is not cold and the snow is cold, but the really difficult days have arrived.
The entire surrounding area of Luoyang was filled with cold wind and biting cold.
If this were left to later generations, it would be impossible to work in such weather, but it was not possible in the Sui Dynasty.
There is a huge shortage of winter clothes to keep out the cold and firewood for heating, and it is a shortage that cannot be supplied at all.
The ground was extremely hard. When the hoe was pushed down, the hoe cracked, but only a shallow mark could be found on the ground. After persisting like this for three days, the largest attrition since the construction of Luoyang occurred.
The corpses were pulled out from the construction site one by one, frozen stiff. They were not sent back to their hometowns for burial. Instead, they were dug into deep pits thirty miles away from Luoyang and buried together.
Faced with the increasing number of attrition numbers every day and the pressure from Yang Ming, Yu Wenkai had no choice but to temporarily suspend work.
Not to mention the people, even the officials supervising the work couldn't stand this kind of weather and complained endlessly.
At noon today, hundreds of officials were sitting in the hall of the Grand Supervisor's Mansion, discussing the next construction steps. Everyone was wearing a cloak, and there were more than twenty fires in the hall.
"If you wait until early spring, there should be no problems. We need to speed up the progress. The court has been urging us," Yang Da sipped the hot soup and refused to put down the soup bowl with both hands.
Liu Su, the Minister of Civil Affairs, also rushed back from Yuzhang County. He was originally responsible for the supply of aniseed to the palaces in Jing and Yangzhou. Now all the aniseed has been transported to Luoyang.
Just listen to him say: "Finally, I have lived up to His Majesty's trust. The palace city is basically completed. Although the next Guocheng is the most time-consuming, it will definitely be completed before September. The imperial court says hello. To the east of the Imperial City of Xinjing, there are a total of twenty-nine square miles, all of which are allocated to official residences. As for how to allocate them, it is ultimately decided by Your Highness. I have a plan initially proposed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, please take a look at it."
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The entire construction site stopped working, and the workers took a break, but they couldn't, as many things had to be discussed.
Luoyang, as the future Tokyo, will definitely have many officials stationed here, and the major wealthy nobles in Guanzhong will also come here to divide their territories and develop residences.
Yu Wenkai's original plan was to the north of Luoshui, with the imperial city to the west and official residences to the east. In other words, the future Luoyang would use Luoshui as the north-south dividing line, and the north side would cross the river and have nothing to do with the common people.
This is very similar to Daxing. Daxing City has passed the 93rd Line and has nothing to do with the people.
Yang Ming took the Ministry of Civil Affairs plan from Xu Jing, unfolded it on the table, and browsed it carefully.
Although Liu Su said that Yang Ming would make the decision in the end, it was actually just a formality. Now that it was decided, Yang Ming couldn't make too many changes, otherwise it would upset the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Official residences are also divided into grades. The current official residence area has not yet been built, so they must discuss a plan early so that Yu Wenkai can refer to the drawings to divide the homesteads of each family.
The first echelon, definitely the princes and princesses, will be roughly distributed among the five districts closest to the imperial city, Zhengdao, Guangdao, Huaqing, Deli, and Fucheng.
Among them, Yang Ming has the highest title and Yang Lihua has the highest qualifications, so their residences have the largest area. Among them, Yang Ming's Prince Qin's Mansion covers an area of 480 acres, accounting for almost two-thirds of the area in Guangdaofang, and the rest A third, there are three marquises.
One is named Yuanshou, who is currently the Minister of Taifu Temple and the Marquis of Longcheng County.
A man named Wei Dezheng, the Marquis of Jingxing County who had succeeded his father, Master Wei, was now serving as the minister of the province. His sister was married to Yang Yong's eldest son, Yang Yan.
The last one is Guo Rong, the Marquis of Pucheng County and the current Zuowei General.
These three people will become Yang Ming's neighbors. Yang Ming could have changed it and given himself another neighbor, but he felt that the Ministry of Civil Affairs' plan was mostly approved by his father, so there was no need to change it.
Among the second echelon, the one with the largest residence is undoubtedly Yang Su, which should now be called the Duke of Chu. There are also Dukes of Xu, Yu Wenshu, Dukes of Song, He Ruobi, Dukes of Liang, Xiao Cong, etc.
Yang Ming made only one change in the entire plan, which was to move the residence of Qi King Yang Jian from Huaqingfang to Delifang.
This kid has no virtue, so he needs to establish some virtue. I don't think my father will say anything when he finds out.
The progress of the project in Guo City will definitely be very fast. After all, the design of Lifang was created by Yu Wenkai. With the experience of Daxing City, it can be said that he is familiar with the road.
The key is to have enough civilian husbands.
The food problem was basically no longer a problem. The Sui Dynasty had unprecedented control over granaries. Although there were some corrupt officials, they had little impact.
In other words, Yang Ming will have a good life in the next days, and there will be almost nothing to worry about.
So his attention has begun to shift to the Grand Canal.
After everyone dispersed, Yang Ming left Yu Wenkai alone.
In the earliest days, it was Yu Wenkai who brought up the matter of digging the canal at the court meeting. In the future, it would be Yu Wenkai who would be responsible for digging the canal, and Yang Jian was only the nominal foreman.
"Your Majesty, besides the Huang and Huai lines, do you have any other ideas?" Yang Ming asked with a smile.
At this time, there was no need for Yu Wenkai to be in Zangye. After all, the imperial court had sent him news, asking him to be ready at any time. While supervising the construction of Luoyang, he was also responsible for supervising the construction of the canal.
Yu Wenkai said: "In the seventh year of the founding of the Emperor, the Supreme Lord ordered to change the entrance to Huaihe from Mokou to Shanyang on the basis of Hangou in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, at that time, we, the Sui Dynasty, had already prepared our army for war and mobilized the whole country to attack Nanchen. , so this river channel has not had time to be perfected. Now it is very narrow, with accumulated silt, making it difficult for small boats to navigate. When I and your Majesty visited Luoyang, Your Majesty hoped to re-excavate Shanyangdu and expand the width of the channel to forty paces. , willow trees were planted on both sides of the river to strengthen the river embankment."
Yang Ming asked again: "The canal along the Huanghuai River and Shanyangdu is 1,500 miles in total. How many people do you think this project needs to recruit?"
In fact, Yu Wenkai was very happy to work with Yang Ming, although he already knew that the person in charge of the canal would be Qi Wang Yang Jian.
If he could change it, he would rather have Yang Ming come to the Governor's Canal, not only because the other party was sincere, but also because Yang Ming had never interfered with any of his arrangements for the project.
Not to mention the heavy snowfall, the emergency stop was also out of consideration for the overall situation.
I only heard Yu Wenkai say very patiently: "On the Huanghuai line, from Xingyang to Xuyi, we need to recruit 600,000 civilians, and Shanyangdu needs 200,000. In addition, we will build palaces along the way and build the water palace dragon boat for His Majesty's southern tour. In total, more than one million are needed."
Yang Ming hugged his shoulders and said with a smile: "Where can I recruit from?"
Yu Wenkai smiled sheepishly: "They should be recruited from Hebei and Henan."
"The war in Hebei has just ended, and Henan is trying its best to build Luoyang. How to recruit them?" Yang Ming said with a smile.
Yu Wenkai said: "It can only be a forced conquest. I know that Your Highness cares about the people. However, this canal is related to our Sui Dynasty. The south is now a fertile land with abundant food and prosperous industries. However, the people's hearts are unstable. This river Connecting the north and the south will promote exchanges, integration, and trade between the people of the north and south. In the future, the north and south of the Sui Dynasty will return home, and the three-hundred-year division of the Han Dynasty in China will be completely ended with this dynasty."
As he spoke, Yu Wenshu couldn't help but sigh: "Your Majesty's far-sighted vision and grand ambition are astonishing to me."
Yang Ming nodded.
In ancient China, the real development of the south actually started when the Jin Dynasty moved southward, that is, the Yiguan crossed south. Before that, it was basically a barbaric land.
A large number of Han people entered the south, naturalized the local minority, and taught farming, textiles, water conservancy and other technologies. Only after three hundred years did the south become as wealthy and prosperous as the north.
Yang Guang, who had worked as the general manager in Jiangdu for eleven years, had long understood this, so the opening of the Grand Canal was actually to achieve the integration of the north and the south.
The south has a small population, many acres of land, and a large output, which is exactly the opposite of the north. Therefore, the Grand Canal also uses the south to supplement the north.
Many people in later generations criticized this river, saying that the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty had been abandoned during the Song Dynasty, and that it was nonsense to say that its merits would be beneficial to the present day.
In fact, what they said was nonsense.
What would have happened if the Sui Dynasty did not have this river? What would China be like without the foundation for the integration of the north and the south laid by the Sui Dynasty?
Although Yang Guang borrowed this river to visit Jiangdu three times and was extravagant, it is undeniable that this river is a bridge related to the exchange and integration of Chinese nationalities.
Its attributes are not just a canal.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration at all to describe the canal, but it cannot be used to describe Yang Guang.
This is why Pi Rixiu said: Even though the Sui Dynasty was over, this river has been used for thousands of miles to this day. If there was no water palace dragon boat incident, Gong Yu would not have much merit.
He was actually wrong. The Sui Dynasty was not destroyed because of this river. Genjie was still involved in the three conquests of Goguryeo, which unprecedentedly consumed the national power of the Sui Dynasty, so that the Sui Dynasty Zuo had no possibility of continuing.
"I hope that Minister Yuwen will remember those sixteen national policies when he dug the canal," Yang Ming said.
Yu Wenkai nodded: "It concerns the country and the people. I dare not forget it for a day."
Yang Ming added: "If King Qi makes trouble, we must report it to His Majesty truthfully and must not cover it up."
"How did your Highness know that he was the Director of King Qi?" Yu Wenkai asked blankly.
Yang Ming smiled: "I know everything you know, and I also know what you don't know."
Yu Wenkai smiled and said: "Am I stupid? I heard that after the New Year, Yue will return to Beijing to recuperate?"
Yang Ming nodded: "The canal matter should be discussed in March or April next year. Then the King of Qi will come to Luoyang first to discuss arrangements with you. There are no major events in Tokyo at the moment. At that time, the King should I will be transferred back to the capital, so everything here will be entrusted to you."
"Alas..." Yu Wenkai sighed. In his heart, working with Yang Ming and Yang Su was like a duck in water. One was willing to delegate power, and the other was an expert in his own right. Together with Yang Da, the four of them cooperated this time. It was actually very successful.
He knew that Yang Ming was right. The two princes had been very unhappy earlier because of the food supply, so His Majesty would not let them stay in the same place at the same time. When King Qi came, King Qin would definitely leave.
But King Qi...
Sigh...it's hard to put into words, I hope he won't hold my hand.
