A few more days passed.
As the foot-thick freeze on the river began to thaw, Zhu Di once again dispatched four sea ships to start fishing for marine fish in the Bohai Sea.
However, this time Xu Xiang returned to Beiping Prefecture not even a day after he took out the fleet.
Then, Guo An and Zhu Fu were hurriedly called over by Zhu Di.
"I am here to meet you, Your Highness!"
"Everyone, get up."
Zhu Di waved his hand solemnly, and without waiting for Guo An and Zhu Fu to ask, he said directly: "Now, the fish in the Bohai Sea should have recovered a bit after a winter of rest.
We want Xu Xiang to lead the big ship in the palace and go to the Bohai Sea to catch more fish before the imperial navy fleet reaches the Bohai Sea.
However, despite all the calculations, we never expected that at the beginning of spring and winter, the hydrology of the Tonghui River would drop and large ships would not be able to pass.
I wonder if Guo Qing and Zhu Qing have any good ideas? "
Zhu Fu frowned slightly. He was sensitively aware that his status in Zhu Di's heart was somewhat lower than that of Guo Thief.
A monk left, and a thief came!
No, the monk didn't leave either, he was just suppressed by Guo Thief's light.
Thinking about it, Zhu Fu's mood suddenly improved inexplicably.
As for Guo An, he didn't think as much as Zhu Fu. After hearing Zhu Di's words, he immediately became anxious.
He, Guo An, is also involved in catching sea fish. If he misses fishing for one day, he will lose dozens of taels of silver.
Thinking about it, Guo An quickly asked: "May I ask, Your Highness, if there are any big ships outside Beiping Mansion?"
Zhu Di glanced at Guo An helplessly and said, "I only have a few big ships in Prince Yan's palace, how can there be other ships outside?
What's more, any large ship that wants to go into the sea for fishing needs to undergo extensive engineering modifications. Otherwise, we can just find someone to buy a few boats. "
Guo An was stunned. He was so anxious that he forgot all this.
Seeing this, Zhu Di looked directly at Zhu Fu who was aside, "Does Zhu Qing have any good ideas for this matter?"
Seeing that Zhu Di finally thought of him, Zhu Fu felt moved in his heart.
However, he had no clue about how to solve the problem of water flow in Tonghui River and could only shake his head helplessly.
"Your Highness, Wei Chen is not familiar with water conservancy, but Wei Chen believes that this matter is the responsibility of the Beiping Prefecture Magistrate, and it should be resolved by His Highness urging the Beiping Prefecture Magistrate."
Hearing this, Zhu Di's eyes lit up, "Zhu Qing's words make sense."
Because the city of Beiping Prefecture is crowded with the Palace of Prince Yan, the Chief Envoy, the Inspection Envoy, and the Commanding Envoy, all of whom are the superiors of the Beiping Prefecture’s Yamen, the Beiping Prefecture’s prefecture is like a little transparent, sometimes even Wan Wan The existence of Ping County Government Office and Daxing County Government Office are not as good as each other.
Therefore, Zhu Di had somewhat forgotten that the Beiping government office was still there.
Zhu Di then ordered Zhu Liang below: "Go quickly and summon the prefect of Peiping for us."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Zhu Liang responded and walked away quickly.
Soon, Yu Rentian, the prefect of Peiping, hurried in.
"Yu Rentian, the magistrate of Beiping, has come to see His Highness King Yan. I wonder what important business His Highness King Yan has come to see me?"
"Prefect Yu, please take a seat."
Zhu Di had a gentle face, and after Yu Rentian sat down, he said: "Prefect Yu, there has been less spring rain this year, and the water level of the Tonghui River has dropped, making it difficult for large ships to travel together, and water transportation has been blocked. Many merchants have complained. I wonder if Prefect Yu can solve this problem. ?”
"this……"
Yu Rentian glanced at Zhu Di in surprise, and then stood up quickly, with a look of fear on his face.
"Please forgive me, Your Highness, I have never heard of this matter. However, please rest assured, Your Highness, I will definitely send someone to investigate in detail and try my best to solve it when I get back."
Guo An looked at Magistrate Yu with wide eyes.
Zhu Di's expression turned cold, "Yu Rentian, do you think this king is lying to you?"
Yu Rentian's face turned pale, he quickly stood up, saluted and begged for mercy: "Your Highness, please forgive me, I have no such intention.
However, river engineering and water conservancy matters have always been handled by the government's Tongzhi and Tongpan, and the lower officials do not know much about the Tonghui River water conservancy matters. "
Zhu Di's face became solemn, and he turned to Zhu Liang and shouted: "Go quickly and summon the magistrates and magistrates of Beiping Prefecture to me."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Zhu Liang responded and walked out quickly.
Zhu Di snorted coldly and sat on his chair, slowly sipping tea and ignoring Yu Rentian.
In this regard, Yu Rentian could only lower his head and did not dare to act rashly.
However, in his mind, he had already guessed a dozen possibilities for the purpose of Yan King Zhu Di's actions.
After waiting for Yu Rentian's legs to feel numb from standing and his forehead to sweat, Zhao Jie and Tongpan Dangfuzhong finally arrived.
"I'm going to see Zhao Jie, the magistrate of Beiping Prefecture, to see His Highness King Yan!"
"The official Beiping Prefecture Tongpandang will see His Highness the King of Yan again!"
As the two of them greeted each other, Zhu Di raised his head slightly.
"Today, we summoned you two because the hydrology of Tonghui River has dropped, which affects water transportation. I wonder if you and two of you can come up with any good ideas?"
Zhao Jie and Dang Fu were both stunned, and subconsciously glanced at the prefect Yu Rentian beside them.
Unfortunately, I only saw Shangguan who was pale, sweating on his forehead, and looking stiff.
This made the two of them even more panicked. Could it be that King Yan wanted to use this to accuse them?
However, since they took office, apart from accepting the appointment rules, Tan Jing, Nian Jing, Men Jing, and some Zhuang Jing and Wen Jing from several subordinate officials, they have never been greedy for ink.
Could it be that someone in his yamen had offended His Highness Prince Yan?
However, after thinking about it, the two of them hurriedly replied: "Reporting to His Royal Highness King Yan, since the end of the Yuan Dynasty, some dignitaries and monks in the upper reaches of the Gaoliang River, Lugou River, and Jinshui River have secretly diverted canals to irrigate farmland and vegetable fields, resulting in the intrusion of traffic. The flow of water in Huihe River is decreasing day by day.
Nowadays, every winter and spring, water cargo ships from the south dock at Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou, and no longer enter Beiping Prefecture. "
Zhu Di asked coldly: "I asked you about a good solution, why are you telling me this?"
Zhao Jie and Dang Fu looked anxious, "Reporting to Your Highness, water transportation along the Tonghui River has been inconvenient since ancient times, and there is nothing I can do about it!"
"No way? There is no way!"
Zhu Di snorted coldly, "My father appointed you and others as magistrates, co-prefects, and magistrates of Beiping Prefecture. They are all officials of Beiping Prefecture. As a result, you are like this?"
"Your Highness, calm down."
Tongpandang trembled again, remembering that he had talked with some officials about the Tonghui River before, and said quickly: "Your Highness, the water transport of the Tonghui River was originally diverted from the Gaoliang River by Guo Taishi of the previous dynasty.
By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Gaoliang River alone was not enough to support the water supply of the Tonghui River, so in the First Yuan Dynasty, the Lugou River and the Jinshui River were diverted from the south of Dadu to the Tonghui River to facilitate water transportation.
Nowadays, the Tonghui River has begun to be in short supply again. The only way forward is to send officials to strictly inspect the irrigation in the upper reaches of the Gaoliang River, Lugou River, and Jinshui River. This may bring some water to the Tonghui River. "
"Your Highness, what the Party General Magistrate said is absolutely true. It is necessary to strictly investigate the people's irrigation of farmland in the upper reaches of the Gaoliang River, Lugou River, and Jinshui River."
Yu Rentian and Zhao Jie nodded repeatedly as if they were grasping for life-saving straw.
Zhu Di asked coldly: "Strictly inspect the people's irrigation of farmland? Just ignore those gentry families?
The people's farmland relies on that little water to irrigate their farmland. If you block that ditch, wouldn't it mean that the people's livelihood is cut off? Where do you leave the people along these rivers? "
Dang Fu hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, the Gaoliang River is related to the water transport capacity of the entire Tonghui River. No matter what, we cannot allow those people to divert water from the Gaoliang River, Lugou River, and Jinshui River to irrigate farmland.
Otherwise, with more and more ditches on both sides of these rivers, the flow of water in the Tonghui River will become less and less. "
Zhu Di's expression softened slightly, but he continued to ask: "In this way, can the spring water transportation problem of Tonghui River be solved?"
"this……"
A trace of hesitation flashed across Dang Fu's face, "Your Highness, please forgive me. There are tens of thousands of households dependent on these three rivers. It is extremely difficult to completely cut off the irrigation canals. There has never been such a precedent since ancient times. Therefore, I have to Not sure!"
Zhu Di was furious, "Are you trying to use the Tonghui River water transport at the expense of tens of thousands of people's livelihood?"
"This is the only solution."
Dang Fu muttered.
Guo An couldn't stand it anymore and asked directly: "I dare to ask the party general judge, how do you plan to prevent tens of thousands of people from using ditches to irrigate their farmland?"
Zhu Di also stared at Dang Fu coldly.
Dang Fu's face turned stern and he said, "This is the order of the Beiping government. The people must carry it out even if they don't follow it."
Guo An asked again: "What if all the gentry collectively block it?"
The party froze, thought for a moment, and then said slowly: "The gentry has less land. If anyone refuses to obey, we can handle it as appropriate."
"Hmph, that's a good decision."
Zhu Di asked coldly: "We have just given the people of Beiping Mansion some hope, and now we are going to push them all to a dead end?"
Dang Fu's face turned pale and he said quickly: "Your Highness clearly knows that this official has no such intention."
Zhu Di said sharply: "But you are doing it."
With a plop, Dang Fu knelt down and begged for mercy again and again.
"Your Highness Mingjian, I just want to solve the water transportation issue of Beiping Mansion and don't think about that much at all."
"Okay, okay, get up, we didn't say chop your head off, why are you so scared?"
Zhu Di waved his hands a little irritably.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Dang Fu slowly stood up.
Zhu Di looked at Yu Rentian and Zhao Jie again, "One of you is the magistrate of Beiping Prefecture, and the other is the co-prefect of Beiping Prefecture. Do you have any good ideas?"
Yu Rentian and Zhao Jie quickly expressed fear on their faces, "I am ashamed of myself."
"snort!"
Zhu Di's face became even more irritated.
At this time, Guo An thought of something and suggested to Zhu Di: "Your Highness, why not build a road?"
"Building roads?"
Zhu Di was stunned and full of doubts. What does water transportation have to do with road construction?
Similarly, Zhu Fu, Yu Rentian and others on the side also looked puzzled.
Guo An explained, "Your Highness, Tongzhou Zhangjiawan Wharf is not inferior to Haizi Wharf. Every spring when water transportation on the Tonghui River is inconvenient, the water transport ships are docked at Zhangjiawan, and then a flat road is built from Zhangjiawan. The wide road leads directly to Wanping County.
Nowadays, these merchants will complain because although the road from Tongzhou to Beiping Prefecture is not far, it is rugged and difficult to navigate.
If a smooth road was built for them so that they could walk in rainy or snowy weather, those merchants would not complain. "
“A road that’s feasible in rain or snow?”
As soon as Guo An said this, Yu Rentian, Zhao Jie, and Dang Fu all looked surprised.
They had never heard that such a road existed.
Unless these roads are paved with smooth and smooth bluestones like streets in the city.
But how is this possible?
…
(End of chapter)
