Fengyang was defeated, the imperial mausoleum was destroyed, and another person appeared in front of him. Yang Yipeng quickly chose to surrender.
"Father, the whole family has been taken care of by the commander-in-chief and has moved to Shandong. There is no need to worry."
Yang Changchao knelt in front of Yang Yipeng, and what he said made Yang Yipeng understand that the situation could not be changed.
Zhongdu was captured by the Northwest Rebel Army, and the ancestral mausoleum of the Zhu family emperor was dug up and destroyed. Someone must be responsible for this.
Yang Yipeng didn't need anyone's persuasion to know that he, the governor of the river, was to blame.
It's no surprise that I lost my head for this.
Now Shandong has cut off his escape route and brought his family to Shandong. This is no different from rebellion in the eyes of the court.
He couldn't explain it even if he was full of words.
At this point, Yang Yipeng had no choice.
"Commander, I will be grateful to you for your kindness in the future. I will definitely fulfill my duties and will not neglect my duties."
Zuo Mengeng was very happy to obtain Yang Yipeng's allegiance.
Yang Yipeng can definitely be regarded as a capable minister and official, and it was his hand that completely quelled the Bozhou Rebellion.
Staying in the imperial court is simply a pearl covered in dust.
"Old Friend, today the earth is turned upside down, everything is in ruins, and the great rivers and mountains, and the thousands of people, are in need of knowledgeable people to save them. The decaying and declining imperial court is not worthy of your skills."
Seeing that Zuo Menggeng was humble and polite, Yang Yipeng was very pleased and no longer felt that betrayal was unacceptable.
"My family often writes letters and talks about various new policies in Shandong, which also makes the students extremely impressed. From now on, it is a great honor to be able to work under the commander-in-chief and listen to the teachings."
Now that Yang Yipeng, the governor of the river, had surrendered happily, there was no need for Wang Changshi, the prefect of Huai'an, to abide by his honor.
His family and relatives are all in Shandong, and many of them have already worked for the new regime. He does not want to be unable to return home and become a lonely ghost.
With the surrender of Yang Yipeng and Wang Changshi, Huai'an Prefecture decided not to fight.
More than three thousand Ming troops laid down their weapons and saved their lives.
Accompanied by Yang Yipeng and Wang Changshi, Zuo Mengeng walked into this famous city of Huaizuo.
It's just that the first impression Huai'an gave him was not very good.
Ruined!
Looking around, there is a dilapidated scene everywhere.
Even the city walls that were supposed to protect the city and the people looked crumbling. Bricks and tiles are missing in many places, exposing the soil inside.
This kind of city defense does not need any artillery at all. Even if it is a battering ram, it can collapse in just a few hits.
Seeing Zuo Mengeng's unswerving expression, Wang Changshi hurriedly explained.
"It's not because the students don't work hard, but the local area is suffering from the Yellow River. The city wall has been repaired, collapsed and repaired again and again, endlessly."
“Is there a lot of water damage here?”
After hearing Zuo Mengeng's inquiry, Yang Yipeng and Wang Changshi complained bitterly.
"The commander-in-chief does not know that the two Huaihe Rivers are originally a healthy place. The only harm is the Yellow River."
After listening to Yang Yipeng's story, Zuo Mengeng had a clear understanding of the land of the Huaihe River.
In the fifth year of Jin Mingchang's reign, the Yellow River burst at the old embankment of Yangwu. The torrential floods submerged the entire Fengqiu County and invaded the Huaihe River channel below Huaiyang all the way south.
This time the two rivers merged into one, which immediately brought heavy disaster to the flat Huaizuo area.
Especially after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in order to supply the needs of the north, it was necessary to ensure the smooth flow of the canal. Because of this, we can only open our eyes and ignore the objective environment of the two rivers and let the Yellow River wreak havoc.
Especially since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, flooding has continued in the Huaihe and Huaihe areas.
[Every time when the Huaihe River is in full swing, the west wind stirs up the waves, and the white waves are as white as mountains. For hundreds of miles along the Huaiyang River, public and private people are in panic, and no one dares to rest their heads for hundreds of years. 】
This description expresses the sadness of the people in the Huaihe and Huaihe regions.
It's a pity that the rulers of the Ming Dynasty completely ignored the voices of the people and exchanged the sacrifices here for stability in the north.
Zuo Mengeng knew for the first time that the famous Hongze Lake was formed because the Yellow River took away the Huaihe River.
Floods in the Yellow River throughout the Ming Dynasty have always been an unsolvable problem in the Huaihe and Huaihe regions.
Regardless of whether it was Liu Daxia or Pan Jixun, even if they all tried their best and tried their best, they still couldn't cure it.
The reason is that for the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River was not a water conservancy issue, but a political issue.
When Pan Jitong was controlling the river, why did he adopt the strategy of constricting water and attacking sand?
It was not because this strategy was the best, but because Emperor Wanli needed to ensure the safety of Fengyang, the central capital, forcing Pan Jixun to do this.
Although the Yellow River was indeed stable for a period of time, as the river bed continued to rise, breaches on both sides of the river increased.
In the last twenty-three years of the Wanli Dynasty, the Yellow River burst eighteen times.
And each time, the Lianghuai region was turned into a vast ocean.
Only the common people suffer.
Squatting on the embankment of the Yellow River and grabbing the soft soil with his hands, Zuo Mengeng was worried.
"This river shouldn't be here."
In his opinion, the Yellow River taking over the Huaihe River is definitely a huge tragedy.
Although this seemed like a natural selection, it brought disaster to this fertile land.
The reason is that the Huaihe River originally existed in the Huaihe and Huaihe regions, so there was no shortage of water. The arrival of the Yellow River has caused the water here to exceed the local carrying capacity.
In addition to natural causes, man-made disasters are the most unforgivable.
Not only did the imperial court want to ensure the safety of the canal at the expense of the local area, but the powerful salt industry in Lianghuai River was also one of the main culprits.
In fact, if you want to solve the problem of flooding in the Yellow River, the most practical way is to find an outlet for the turbulent Yellow River to enter the sea.
Originally, this could be done through the Lianshui River in the area east of Huai'an and Anton.
However, the officials in charge of the salt industry in the imperial court and the salt merchants in the Huaihe and Huaihe areas did not agree.
It turns out that from Yancheng, through Taizhou, and then to Tongzhou, there is a very important sea weir, which is the famous Fan Gong Dike.
This dike was built by Fan Zhongyan, a famous official in the Song Dynasty, which effectively reduced the intrusion of seawater and protected the local area.
But after hundreds of years of vicissitudes, an embarrassing situation emerged.
As the sand accumulates on the seashore, the land area continues to extend toward the sea, causing Fanggong Dike to slowly move away from the seaside.
By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty, Fangong Causeway was already thirty miles away from the seaside.
Now, compared with the eighth year of Hongzhi, it has increased by twenty miles.
The extra fifty miles of land became the most important salt production area in the Ming Dynasty.
These salt fields alone brought huge tax revenue to the Ming Dynasty and made the Lianghuai salt merchants very wealthy.
The officials in charge of the salt industry in the DPRK and the businessmen in Huaihe and Huaihe who made fortunes from the salt industry are all powerful. How can they allow their rice bowls to become a place for flooding?
So under such man-made disasters, the common people near Huai'an really suffered, causing poverty here.
