Emperor Su He stayed in Kaifeng City, waiting for news about the Yellow River embankment.
The Yellow River embankment must pass the test of time to prove that the thousands of miles long Yellow River embankment is indeed safe and will not break.
Emperor Su He was also very busy during this time. He commended outstanding officials in Henan.
Received representatives from all walks of life including retired military representatives, parliamentarians, business representatives, and farmer representatives in Henan.
Emperor Su He wanted to understand their demands.
By talking to these people, he learned about the implementation of various policies of the imperial court.
Only by being familiar with the situation of each class can he make a clear judgment on the effect of the policies introduced by the court.
Concubine Jing Liu Rushi also received the wives and children of martyrs and the wives of officials.
Liu Rushi made some insinuations to learn about the pension payment situation.
It is confirmed that the pensions for the families of martyrs can be paid in full and normally.
Emperor Su He and Concubine Jing Liu Rushi also visited the orphaned children of the martyrs.
In order to bring some gifts to these orphans, Liu Rushi also adopted a dozen orphans with outstanding talents.
During this time, telegrams were also sent from Beijing.
Emperor Su He processed the contents of the cabinet report in a timely manner through telegrams.
With the powerful tool of telegraph, all affairs of the court were handled in a timely manner, and there was no turmoil in the court situation.
Seven days have passed, and the Yellow River embankment has withstood the test of time. Some minor problems occurred in some places, but no major accidents caused the embankment to break.
The most expensive project since the founding of the Great China Dynasty ended in a relatively perfect state.
Emperor Su He got the news and decided to leave Kaifeng Mansion and go to the next location.
The Yellow River embankment has been operating at full capacity for seven days.
It has not had any major safety incidents and is unlikely to have major safety incidents in the short term.
Emperor Su He was seen off by many officials in Henan.
He left Kaifeng Prefecture on a special train and headed to Rongcheng Prefecture, the capital of Sichuan.
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It was very hot inside the train carriage in July. The windows of the carriage were opened and hot air came in.
Eunuch Zhou Fangzhi, who was accompanying Emperor Su He, quickly took out the ice cubes.
These ice cubes are obtained through the saltpeter ice making method.
The ice cubes are placed in bamboo baskets and hung below the fan on the top of the carriage.
The fan on the top of the car is spinning rapidly, blowing cool breeze to every corner.
The cabin gets cooler.
Emperor Su He called many officials and scholars to eat watermelon and chat to relieve the boredom of the journey.
Emperor Su He and Prime Minister Wei Shiming chatted about the Yellow River while eating watermelon.
Wei Shiming sighed with emotion: "Your Majesty, just looking at the economic accounts, the cost of building a new Yellow River channel is probably more than 12 million taels of silver coins.
This cost seems extremely huge.
The previous Ming Dynasty's annual income was only four million taels of silver. They certainly could not afford such a costly project.
Even when the Tang and Song dynasties were wealthy, they could not afford more than a thousand taels of silver for projects.
Precisely because the project cost was too high, the previous dynasty was only willing to tinker with the Yellow River, and no one would go to war.
But the benefits brought by the Yellow River Project far exceed the cost of building it.
It only takes ten years for us to earn back the project money.
The problem of overhanging rivers in Henan has been solved and floods will not occur every year.
Such frequent floods not only damage money, but also cause great harm to the people.
The disaster relief funds saved in this way amount to millions of silver coins every year.
If you include the Yellow River, which brings a large amount of water to Shandong, Shandong's land will have enough water for irrigation.
The annual increase in grain production is at least one million taels of silver coins.
The Yellow River Project may seem like a lot of money, but it's totally worth it.
Floods occur frequently in the Yangtze River Basin, and provinces along the Yangtze River suffer from floods every year during the rainy season.
The minister suggested launching the Yangtze River Project to thoroughly regulate the Yangtze River and protect the Yangtze River Basin from the harm of floods.
We have managed the Yellow River well. I believe that man can conquer nature and we will surely manage the Yangtze River well. "
Emperor Su He looked at Prime Minister Wei Shiming's confident look.
The success of the Yellow River Project gave him great confidence.
Emperor Su He knew that the situation of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River was very different.
There is not much rainfall in the north, and problems arise with the Yellow River, which mainly flows through the Loess Plateau and carries large amounts of sediment.
The Shaanxi-Gansu region has a higher altitude and a large terrain gap, which causes the Yellow River to flow rapidly.
Henan is a large plain with gentle terrain.
When the Yellow River water flows here, it will slow down.
The river water carries a large amount of sediment, all of which accumulates in the river channel in the Henan section, forming an above-ground hanging river.
The Yangtze River is different. There is abundant precipitation in the south.
Especially during the rainy season, precipitation reaches its peak.
This will inevitably cause the river water to surge, and it is not a problem with the Yangtze River.
We want to protect the Yangtze River from large-scale floods.
The most important project is the construction of large-scale reservoirs, especially in areas such as the Three Gorges.
The technology and skilled workers required for such a large reservoir are currently not met by the Dahua Dynasty.
The secondary project is to protect a series of lakes along the Yangtze River such as Dongting Lake and Panyang Lake.
The main function of these lakes is to store water.
They can store more water when there is a flood in the Yangtze River and prevent the flood from being too large.
When the Yangtze River Basin is in drought, these lakes can also replenish water for the Yangtze River.
Once the area of these lakes is artificially reduced, frequent floods will inevitably occur on both sides of the Yangtze River.
These two methods are to build reservoirs to cure the root cause and to manage lakes to cure the symptoms.
The technology for building reservoirs is not yet mature, especially the crucial gravity dam technology.
Now we can only guarantee the migration of the population around the major lakes in the Yangtze River.
Now border areas and overseas governor's offices need a large number of immigrants.
The prominent issue of the contradiction between man and land was alleviated because the imperial court obtained a large amount of territory.
Emperor Su He expressed his opinion.
After thinking carefully, Prime Minister Wei Shiming said: "Your Majesty, I am a little eager for quick success and quick gain, and I have not considered it too comprehensively.
He thought that if the court was not short of money, it would be able to carry out major projects.
Now it seems that technology is the stumbling block restricting our development.
This method of managing lakes is very clever.
There is now a large number of immigrants from China, and there is no need to open mountains and fill lakes to compete for limited farmland.
The major lakes in the Yangtze River Basin will not reduce their area due to human factors.
Wei Chen will also urge the cabinet to introduce policies as soon as possible to protect the mountains, forests and lakes in various places and not allow local officials to destroy them at will. "
Emperor Su He and Prime Minister Wei Shiming talked about many things.
They have traveled to so many provinces and have a relatively good understanding of the grassroots situation of the Dahua Dynasty.
Emperor Su He discussed many matters with Wei Shiming, and they listened to the opinions of other officials and scholars.
Make corresponding adjustments to some policies that are not in line with the current situation.
A short air whistle sounded, and General Secretary Zhao Wenfeng walked into the box.
He asked respectfully: "Your Majesty, the train is about to arrive at Hanyang Mansion. Will the train stop here in Hubei for a while?"
Emperor Su He ordered: "The train does not need to stop and goes directly through Hanyang Mansion to Rongcheng Mansion."
He looked through the glass at the scene on both sides of the train.
Here in Hanyang Mansion, you can hardly see much black smoke, and there are farmlands on both sides of the railway tracks.
Many villagers were barefoot and carrying simple watering cans, spraying pesticides in the rice fields.
Emperor Su He sighed with emotion: "This is such a simple pastoral scenery. I haven't seen it for a long time."
Wei Shiming introduced from the side: "Your Majesty, because the weather is still changing.
The cabinet is afraid of sudden extreme weather, which will lead to a significant reduction in food production.
The cabinet designated Shandong, Henan, Lianghu, and Northeast China as agricultural regions.
These areas have large amounts of plains suitable for large-scale farming.
The cabinet generally does not carry out large-scale industrial arrangements for these four regions, which are mainly agricultural and grain-producing areas, and only retains some grain processing plants in the local areas.
There are relatively few factories in this place, and the black smoke produced by burning boilers is basically invisible.
The Overseas Governor's Mansion is positioned to focus on agriculture, mining, and breeding industries, with a small amount of primary processing industries arranged.
Currently, the Overseas Governor's Mansion is in the process of recovering agricultural production.
After the rice of the Governor's Palace is supplied to the local area, the cabinet does not need to worry about the situation of local food. "
Emperor Su He listened to Prime Minister Wei Shiming's story.
He is relatively familiar with these situations.
We are now at the end of the Little Ice Age, and various large-scale natural disasters continue to occur.
Food production must be guaranteed. As long as the court has a large amount of food and the people can have enough to eat, they will not rebel.
Even if the overseas governor-general's grain production continues to be high, the local government must ensure a certain grain production capacity.
Be prepared for danger in times of peace. If a big country cannot guarantee food production, then it is not far from annihilation.
Emperor Su He specifically stated: "The cabinet must remember that even if the cost of producing food is higher, it must be retained locally so that no one will go hungry."
The train passed by Hanyang Mansion but had no intention of stopping.
Hubei officials who had received the news a long time ago and were waiting outside the train all looked disappointed.
The General Staff Headquarters did not mobilize troops from Hubei to protect the Holy Emperor.
They had just seen that the Qilinwei train did not stop.
There is a high probability that Emperor Suhe will not stop in Hubei.
They just wanted to have a chance to show off in front of the emperor in case Emperor Su He stopped at Hanyang Mansion on a whim.
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The railway winds and stretches to the west, and the train speeds on the railway.
People inside the train soon felt the train climbing higher.
Emperor Su He looked at the lush scene outside the train, they were about to enter the Sichuan Basin.
Honeysuckle, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, said with emotion: “The railway to Sichuan is very difficult to build, especially in areas with high mountains and lofty mountains.
For every meter of construction in this complex mountainous area, a railway worker loses his life.
Fortunately, we all use death row prisoners and foreign slaves to build these difficult and dangerous railways.
Only in this way can the railway delivery schedule be guaranteed.
If they are built entirely by their own people, safety expenditures will skyrocket. Sichuan is now unable to connect railways. "
As soon as the words of Honeysuckle, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, fell, the train carriage fell into darkness.
Only some figures could be seen with the help of the faint candlelight in the tunnel.
The train had entered a long tunnel. Father Zhou Fangzhi had quick eyes and quick hands and immediately turned off the light switch in the carriage.
In the carriage, the brightness returned, and everyone expressed their opinions.
In the carriage, some scholars suggested that this approach was harmful to the harmony of heaven and earth.
Emperor Su He supported Jin Yinhua, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, saying: "With the current technical conditions, building a railway with such complex terrain must use human lives.
I don’t want to use the lives of Han people to fill the hole, I can only use the lives of foreigners.
Just the construction of two railways into Sichuan resulted in the death of more than 80,000 Japanese slaves.
If these were more than 80,000 Han people, it would be so heartbreaking.
For example, tunnels where trains are traveling are prone to collapse or water seepage.
Once an accident occurs, it is almost impossible for tunnel workers to survive.
The railways from Hubei and Hanzhong into Sichuan are very easy to build.
The railway from Sichuan to Yunnan is the real railway of death.
There are mountains and canyons everywhere, and there are many tunnels that need to be opened.
The imperial court previously imported 300,000 Japanese slaves. After working, their average life span was less than one month.
After the railway from Rongcheng to Tengchong was built, of the 300,000 Japanese slaves, only 666 remained.
The price paid was negligible, but the railway supplied supplies to the frontline armies.
We easily conquered Burma, and this railway was indispensable.
I think it's worth it to kill some Japanese in exchange for such an important railway. "
Scholars saw that Emperor Su He had a clear-cut stance and supported this method.
Do not manage foreign slaves as human beings.
Instead of blaming the method, they discussed the role of railroads.
After the train came out of the tunnel, everyone clearly felt that the train was speeding up.
It soon left the mountainous area and entered the Sichuan Basin.
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A high-pitched air whistle sounded, and the special train Emperor Su He was riding stopped at the Rongcheng Railway Station.
Feng Kuang, the governor of Sichuan, and Zhou Wenhua, the governor of Sichuan, both rushed to the train station to greet the emperor Su He.
Qin Shanshui in the Qilin Guard command room looked sharply and looked at a large number of workers moving more than 900 meters in front of the platform.
He and the Qilin Guard soldiers under his command immediately became nervous and looked for suspicious persons.
Zhou Wenhua, the chief envoy of Sichuan, felt that the soldiers of Qilin Guards were extremely oppressive.
He was Wang Zhongce's earliest master, and he had some understanding of the powerful combat effectiveness of the Qilin Guard soldiers.
Emperor Su He stepped out of the train, and Governor Feng Kuang and Chief Envoy Zhou Wenhua immediately came forward to see him.
Governor Feng Kuang invited: "Your Majesty, I will serve as your guide..."
Before Feng Kuang finished speaking, Emperor Su He immediately interrupted: "Feng Aiqing, I know Rongcheng better than you.
This is the first big city that I led my troops to attack.
If you don't understand the situation of this city, how can you win the battle? "
Emperor Su He glanced at the loading and unloading workers in the distance who were still busy.
Other places chose to clear the place while waiting for his arrival.
Chengdu is more pragmatic and just isolates large safe areas.
Emperor Su He said casually: "Rongcheng Railway Station is relatively busy, and the development here is very good!"
Governor Feng Kuang looked a little confused. He didn't know whether Emperor Su He was praising or speaking sarcastically.
The chief envoy Zhou Wenhua knew more about Emperor Su He.
He immediately stood up and replied: "Your Majesty, the Rongcheng Railway Station is just an ordinary railway station in the interior.
The army conquered areas such as Burma and Siam, which required a large amount of supplies.
Shipping by sea requires a long circuit, which is low-cost and time-consuming.
Transporting it to Tengchong by train and then converting it to horse-drawn carriage can save a lot of time.
Our place has now become the southwest hub. "
Emperor Su He said happily: "You have done a very good job in this matter. We need to strengthen the connection between the local government and the major governor-general offices.
Only through frequent exchanges can these areas be assimilated as quickly as possible. "
Governor Feng Kuang felt a little regretful. He thought about things too much and too complicatedly.
Zhou Wenhua reacted too quickly and seized his opportunity to perform.
Governor Feng Kuang decided to attract the attention of Emperor Su He again and gain a chance to perform for himself.
