Wang Cheng's southern expedition progressed smoothly and he soon captured Guilin.
But after the army marched south, the transportation of grain and grass became more and more difficult. The roads were difficult to travel, the weather was hot, and all kinds of poisonous insects and miasma had been plaguing the southern expedition army.
After Wang Cheng defeated the Baiyue barbarians around Guilin, he temporarily stopped and began to write to Wang Luo to mobilize more troops, money and food for support.
At the same time, Wang Cheng also discovered that the Li River and the Xiang River in Guilin were only a few dozen miles apart. As long as a canal was dug to connect the two rivers, one could take a boat directly from Guilin to Jinling.
After entering the Li River in Guilin, you can continue to go south to the sea, and all the Baiyue lands are unblocked. By then, Daqian can completely rely on water transportation to conquer Baiyue without worrying about traffic problems.
The Xiang River flows all the way north and flows into the Yangtze River, and then goes down the river and soon reaches Jiangxia. From Jiangxia, you can enter the Han River and go north, or you can continue to go down the river and enter Jinling. Daqian's supplies can go all the way south along the Xiang River to Guilin.
With water transportation, a lot of time can be saved, and transporting materials has become simple and convenient. The land route all the way south from the Hanshui Plain is too difficult. Hundreds of stones of grain and grass were transported from Jinling, eaten by people and chewed by horses. By the time they arrived in Guilin, only about 30% was left.
What's more important is that it takes a long time, at least two months. The manpower and material resources consumed are too high. On the contrary, water transportation is much more convenient, the loss is only 20% at most, and the transportation capacity of humans and animals is reduced by 70%, and the time is only one month.
As long as the canal is dug, the Lingnan land will be completely captured.
Wang Cheng carefully recorded the mountains and terrain maps along the way, and then sent people to Jinling.
Jinling, Changyang Palace.
It has been more than two years since Wang Cheng led his troops on the southern expedition. During this period, good news came frequently, and Wang Luo was very happy. In the past two years, since the imperial court was restructured, its operations have become smoother. Under the mutual constraints of the left and right prime ministers and the minister's desk, they were no longer able to threaten the imperial power. At the same time, the three parties handled affairs, which also improved the efficiency of the Daqian court.
Luoyang, the sacred capital, is also under rapid construction, and Chidao in various places is also expanding. The length of the Chidao has increased from only 800 miles at the beginning to 1,500 miles.
While building the sacred capital of Luoyang, Wang Luo also continued to increase the population of the sacred capital of Luoyang. At the same time, Daqian's noble families have also begun to move to Luoyang.
Moving the capital is already a certainty. No one dares to defy His Majesty the Emperor Wang Luo's will, so it is very important to go to Luoyang to seize the land.
Wang Luo knew very well that the noble ministers went to Luoyang to seize land. He had already ordered in advance to collect most of the land around Luoyang and sent patrol censors to inspect it. Those nobles could only go further afield to seize land.
At the same time, Wang Luo began to recruit powerful and wealthy households from all over the country to prepare for filling Luoyang. The city of Luoyang can accommodate 400,000 people, and the surrounding area can also accommodate 300,000 people. However, the total population of Luoyang and its surrounding areas is now less than 200,000. The gap is too large and it is not suitable for the status of the capital of a country.
To move the capital from Jinling to Luoyang, Wang Luo would have to take at least 200,000 people with him, or even more. The remaining gap of hundreds of thousands of people will naturally be recruited from powerful and wealthy households across the country.
The powerful and wealthy households in various places were local tyrants. Wang Luo knew very well the virtues of these people. Their existence was not conducive to Da Qian's rule at the grassroots level. Although Wang Luo's ancestors had always suppressed the powerful from the Huai Kingdom period, they If one group is moved away, a new group will appear in a few decades.
A group of the ruined nobles of the Six Kingdoms were liquidated, but the powerful ones were still there, and they just took advantage of this opportunity to forcibly move these powerful people over. Moreover, Wang Luo and the nobles of Daqian had formed a tacit understanding, and Wang Luo ordered these powerful men to be moved here.
These powerful people were local bullies and local tyrants, but when they came to a place like Luoyang where they were unfamiliar with their lives, they were like fat sheep, being cut and exploited by the founding fathers of Daqian, and finally became ordinary people. Then enrich the population of Luoyang.
Through such migration of wealthy households, the local area became easier to manage, Luoyang gained a population, and Wang Luo and the nobles also gained a lot of benefits, a win-win-win situation.
Shangshu ordered Wei Ling to step forward and said: "Your Majesty, the General of the Conquest of the South has written to ask for the construction of a canal connecting the Xiangshui River and the Li River for the conquest of Lingnan and the transportation of food and supplies for the large army."
"Dig a canal?" Wang Luo frowned, then said, "Do you have a plan?"
"Yes." After saying this, Shangshu Ling respectfully sent the bamboo slips up.
Wang Luo opened the bamboo slips, and Wang Cheng had already written down the reasons and benefits of digging the canal as well as the food and grass needed. After seeing the construction of the canal, it turned out that it was possible to travel by water from Jinling to Lingnan, and Wang Luo suddenly became interested.
Wang Cheng has already sent people to investigate. The Li River can reach Panyu, the capital of Xiou. If it can be done, the land of Lingnan will be within reach.
"According to what the emperor brother said, the canal that needs to be dug is only a few dozen miles. If it can be successfully dug, the waterway can reach Lingnan from Jinling."
"Your Majesty, the craftsman supervisor has sent people to Guilin for investigation. I believe they will be back soon."
"If the situation is true, then order the craftsman supervisor to send someone to preside over the construction of the canal, and at the same time order the Taifu to allocate grain and grass materials to be transported to Guilin."
"Yes!" Everyone agreed.
Digging a canal of dozens of miles can connect Lingnan. In the eyes of Wang Luo and the court ministers, this is very cost-effective. Although the cost of digging a canal is not small, it will gain huge benefits both politically and economically. Get a fortune.
"If Lingnan is settled, no matter how many thousands of miles I travel, barbarians are everywhere in these lands, and we need to send large armies to suppress them. If we want to have long-term peace and stability, and completely turn them into the land of our Xia, we also need to carry out royal teachings and migrate people to live there for a long time. "Sun Qian stepped forward and said.
"Your Majesty, please approve the exile of criminal prisoners to Lingnan to enrich the population of Lingnan."
"Accurate!" As Wang Luo issued the edict, from today onwards, exile to Lingnan officially became Daqian's punishment.
The resolution on the Lingnan Canal was quickly passed, and then money, food and manpower began to be allocated to Lingnan to dig the canal. Because Lingnan is located in the south, with a hot climate and inconvenient roads, Wang Luo did not mobilize many civilians.
Instead, many master craftsmen and various craftsmen are prepared to be appointed as supervisors. These people were technicians and were responsible for guiding the construction of the canal. As for the manpower used to dig the canal, Wang Cheng prepared it.
Wang Cheng sent troops to attack the Baiyue barbarians near Guilin and captured a large number of people, who were used to build the canal. Huai Guo is only needed to supply money, food, weapons, tools, and various craftsmen. The remaining physical labor can be done by these prisoners.
(End of chapter)
