Chapter 40: Sunset and tears of loyal ministers
It took a while for the smoke to dissipate. Ge Tiangong was the first to go out to check. After a while, he came back and said, "Teacher, everything went well."
He Xi said, "Okay, thank you very much. Let's go and take a look."
Then He Xi led everyone to the gentle slope.
A series of large pits have been blasted here. Every big hole is scattered. He Xi inserted an iron rod deeply into the soil and felt that there was empty soil underneath. This blasting might not solve all the problems, but it greatly reduced the workload of the project. The rest is based on these With the big pit as the center, it forms a river.
It is estimated that there will be no need to build a ship lock.
can pass directly.
He Xi took out a shovel from the guard beside him, rubbed his hands together, and started working. He Xi leads by example, what else can the people around him do? No matter men, women or children, as long as they could breathe, they all went into battle. Fortunately, this tool is convenient, and even children can dig in the soil.
The Liaosong Canal has reached the final stage of construction.
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The sound of the explosion here spreads far and wide. It spread all the way to the north.
Tamerlane listened carefully to the report from his men. He pondered for a long time, staring at the south in the setting sun for a long time. After a while, he said in a hoarse voice; "Pass it down, assemble, send troops, go south."
"Sir, why are you doing this? Lord Wang Baobao, you only have this little capital left, and it has been lost a lot in the last battle. Many people in the court are eyeing us. Even His Majesty, Your Majesty may not want to see us. What a joke. The south is not easy to mess with. Just let the court send someone to deal with it."
Timur's lips curled up slightly, revealing a wry smile.
Three thousand men were lost in the last battle.
If he was young, three thousand people would be nothing. It's not like he hasn't lost a battle. But now, Dayuan really cannot afford to lose. These three thousand people almost made Tuoyin Timur heartbroken. How many three thousand people are there in the Yuan Dynasty now, and how many three thousand people are there in their family?
So what if we just don’t fight?
Tuoyin Timur said: "When I was young and studying, I watched Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei, who left Qishan five times and made nine expeditions to the Central Plains. I felt quite dissatisfied. I felt that among the three kingdoms, Shu was the weakest and had the fewest registered permanent residence. How could it sustain the continuous battles? Therefore, Shu is the first to die among the three kingdoms. But now I know what Zhuge Liang's situation is, what does it mean to sit and wait for death, who is going to attack him?"
"The current situation is to wait for the court to deal with it? How will the court deal with it? Let it go, but can we let it go? It can be said that the river is 100%. The navy of Ming Dynasty can approach the royal court within two hundred miles, and the cavalry It’s just a day and night. Unless the imperial court moves to the north of Saibei, and the tribes of Oara in the north of Saibei are called Yuanchen, in fact, they are just bastards. When the imperial court arrives in the north of Saibei, it will either have a fight with Oara fire, or the court will be controlled by Oara. Is it what loyal ministers and righteous men want to see?"
"The only thing we can do now is to defeat the Ming army and destroy this canal."
"Otherwise, the imperial court will fall within two or three years, either internally or externally. Although King Yi and I have some turmoil, my family has been loyal and loyal for generations, and three generations have served the imperial court. I am getting old. I can't do that. You cannot write a single word 'yuan' on the tombstone."
Having said this, Tamerlane couldn't help but get wet in his eyes.
All his life, he felt that he was not as good as his brother Wang Baobao. But at this moment, he felt that even if his eldest brother was still there, what could he do to face this situation? Manpower is sometimes scarce. For a moment, he even secretly complained about his elder brother. You felt relieved once you closed your eyes, and instead left me to clean up the situation.
And how can this situation be rectified?
"Sir, even if we go south, so what? The canal has been repaired, can we fill it in? Even if it is filled, Ming people can dig it out. Even if we win today, but if we go back and forth like this, within three times, we will—— --" said the subordinate.
Some things don’t need to be said clearly. How could Tuoyin Timur not know what was going on under his command?
Don't say it three times, even once, he can't afford it.
At this moment, Yuan Ting was most afraid of fighting a war of attrition with the Ming Dynasty. Compared to the more than 300 health centers in the Ming Dynasty. An army of millions. Even if Yuan Ting adds the various grassland tribes that are nominally attached to Yuan Ting, the number will not exceed one million. Now, even if Yuan Ting desperately recruits troops, there will not be 200,000.
The strength and weakness are so obvious. The gap between Shu and Wei was much larger than that of the past.
A war of attrition, regardless of victory or defeat, is the rope that strangles Yuan Ting.
It's just that things have reached this situation, even if there is no fight. Could it be that the imperial court would not perish?
The signs of Yuan Ting's demise are no longer present. They were already confirmed back then when Yuan Ting withdrew from the capital city without a fight.
But now his brother fights to the death to force Xu Da back and extend Dayuan's life for more than ten years. Now it's time to retire.
Tuoin Timur knew very well that he did not have the ability of his brother and could not turn things around in such a critical situation. But he was even more unwilling to watch Dayuan perish. His only thought at the moment is that every point he can make is a point. Every delay is worth a point.
It was really no longer possible, so he just wanted the Yuan Dynasty to perish after his death.
The dead have nothing to do with the living.
Tuoyin Timur said: "I have devoted myself to death. As for success or failure, it is beyond my control." Then he slowly closed his eyes, two lines of clear tears slowly fell, and the sun in the distance also He put away his last light and sunk below the horizon.
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Changchun Fort.
Changchun Fort is the northernmost point of the entire canal. It was built where a tributary of the Songhua River merges into the Songhua River, and the channel of this tributary has now been borrowed by the canal.
Today's guard is peace.
Ping An pays attention to one thing every day, and that is how the canal is being built. He got the news a few days ago. The most difficult section has been repaired, and all that is left is to connect all the rivers.
In order to meet the construction deadline, He Xi started construction and divided more than 200 miles into 13 construction sections. Construction started at the same time, and now it was time to connect the thirteen sections, which was considered the last step of the canal project. I have to mention an episode here.
Although He Xi tried his best to train many people who were proficient in arithmetic. But the project was too big and urgent, so problems arose during the measurement. The river channel constructed in sections was found to have a huge error at the last moment. The most outrageous thing is that there are two rivers that don't match up even by a centimeter.
He Xi got angry, but it was of no use.
After all, there are very few people in the Ming Dynasty who are literate, and even fewer people are reading. When they are reading, even fewer people understand the mathematical system taught by He Xi. I can only use it reluctantly. As a last resort, a small lake was dug on the spot as a joint connecting the two rivers.
He Xi felt very uncomfortable about this matter. He even felt that the small lake here was simply mocking him nakedly.
He thought to himself: "When there is time in the future, we must rebuild this canal and repair it. It cannot be like this."
Unfortunately, there are too many things to do in the world. He Xi did not have time to do this until his death. Later, as the Northeast became prosperous, this hastily constructed canal was simply not enough. After many discussions, it was decided to rebuild it. But why did Mr. He Xihe want to build a small lake here? It becomes a mystery. Many experts have thought about it repeatedly and cannot figure it out.
After all, He Xi had already ascended to the altar at that time, and he didn't even think about it. It was just a miscalculation.
Later, after much discussion, it was decided to retain the lake and even expand it. Although I didn't understand why, what Mr. He Xihe decided was correct. I don’t understand, it doesn’t matter. It's fine to keep it, but if the changes go wrong, it could be a big problem.
This is not the only problem with this canal.
After the whole line was connected, there was still a big problem.
This problem was discovered even by Changchun Fort. They found that the flow of water in this tributary was significantly reduced. The following people immediately came to report to Ping An. I don't know what happened.
He Xi knew that it was because all the water from the Liao River, a tributary of his river, flowed into the canal. That is to say, the water of this river was taken away by the canal to the Liaohe River.
This raises a minor problem.
