At the same time that Hu Yun's ship was heading to Daxing Mansion, Chen Qing had already entered Shangzhou in a carriage. He was not coming to Shangzhou for inspection, but was passing through Shangzhou and heading to Xiangyang to take a boat. His destination was Fujian Road.
This was originally his plan last fall to take the whole family with him, but the pregnancy of his wife and two concubines forced him to change his plan and postpone it to this spring.
Accompanying him on his inspection tour of Fujian Road were his minister Zhou Kuan and more than a dozen officials from various ministries, as well as 3,000 soldiers guarding him, and of course, his family.
His two concubines, Yu Lian and Yao Mei, accompanied him there, and his son Chen Ji also followed his father to inspect Fujian Road.
In the evening, the team set up camp in Shangluo County and took a day's rest. Chen Qing heard the report before setting off. Officials from the Ministry of Industry and the Capital Water Supervision were currently in Shangzhou to study the northward expansion of the Danshui River. Chen Qing collapsed.
Quite interested.
I don’t know whether Lu Wei fully understood the essence of Chen Qing’s teaching after receiving it, but he firmly remembered some of the projects mentioned by Chen Qing. After returning, he began to re-formulate the annual plan and mentioned
Among the top ten projects in the past three years, the northern extension of the Shangluo Waterway ranks first. Although the widening of the Sanmenxia Waterway is also extremely important, after all, it has just been treated and there is no urgency to deal with it again. Therefore, the deepening and widening of the Sanmenxia Waterway can only be ranked second.
Lu Wei acted vigorously and resolutely. The plan had just been formulated a few days ago but had not yet been approved by the Internal Affairs Bureau. He sent officials from the Ministry of Industry and officials from the Capital Water Supervision to form a joint exploration team to conduct preliminary exploration of the northern extension of the Shangluo Waterway, which was a feasibility study.
Early the next morning, Chen Qing brought his sons Chen Ji and Zhou Kuan to the Shangluo County transit warehouse group. Coincidentally, Zhang Yuanlang, the capital's water supervisor, had just returned from an inspection, and Liang Ting'an, a doctor from the Ministry of Industry, was also there.
Hearing that His Highness King Yong had arrived, a group of officials rushed out to greet him. Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "I was passing by here on my way to Xiangyang. I heard that you were detecting water channels here, so I came to take a look."
"Thank you for your support, Your Highness. Please come to the big tent! Your Majesty, please! Counselor Zhou, please!" Zhang Yuanlang was equally respectful to the other two important figures.
Chen Qing took his son's hand and walked into the big tent. It was a huge tent covering an area of nearly three acres. It was also called the engineering tent. There was a sand table in the middle of the tent. When Chen Qing stepped forward, he discovered that it was the Guanzhong tent.
He Shangluo's sand table has been stored in the Ministry of War, and Lu Wei specially borrowed it.
"Why didn't you, Minister Lu, come?" Chen Qingxiao asked Liang Ting'an, the doctor in the Ministry of Industry.
"Reporting to Your Highness, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has to review the annual plan of the Ministry of Works, and he cannot leave Beijing for the time being."
Zhou Kuan next to him said with a smile: "Shilang Lu is also a little impatient. It should be after your investigation has concluded that he can submit the report, otherwise he will definitely not be able to get through to the Internal Affairs Hall."
Chen Qing nodded, "Zhou Shenzhengshi is right. First of all, the project must have the possibility of success before the project plan can be submitted. Otherwise, it would be a big joke if the project is approved by the Internal Affairs Hall only to find that the plan does not work."
Zhang Yuanlang said quickly: "According to our current investigation, the possibility of success is relatively high!"
"Okay! I'm all ears."
When everyone came to the sand table, Zhang Yuanlang picked up the wooden pole and introduced it to Chen Qing: "We are considering dividing the northern extension project of the Shangzhou Waterway into three phases. The first phase is to extend to Shangluo County, which is about a hundred miles. This
This is the easiest step. This section can be used by small boats with hundreds of stones. If the river is dug and widened, cargo ships with thousands of stones can move. The second section is from Shangluo County and continues north to Lantianguan Town at the southern foot of Zhongnan Mountain. This section
You can still borrow Dan Shui for a section, but it is more troublesome. You need to take detours to slow down the rapid water, and you also need to use iron fire mines to blow up many boulders along the way. This is also a hundred miles long, and it is estimated that it can be completed in one year.
The third paragraph is the most difficult.”
"There is a third section?" Chen Qing was a little surprised. What he told Lu Wei was to end at the southern foot of Zhongnan Mountain, that is, the second stage would be completed, and the rest would be the expansion of the Guanzhong Waterway.
"Is the third section the expansion of Ba River?" Chen Qing asked.
Zhang Yuanlang smiled slightly and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, the widening of Bashui is only part of the third stage. The third stage I am considering is to build Danba Waterway to connect Danshui and Bashui."
Zhou Kuan said in surprise: "This is not an ordinary project. Can it be successful?"
Chen Qing smiled and said nothing. He also felt that it was too difficult. Danshui and Bashui were actually only a dozen miles apart, but there was a mountain ridge in between. It was unimaginable to lift the water up the ridge and then flow it down.
"Let's talk about the widening of Bashui first. Is it feasible?"
"Of course it's feasible, but you need to take a detour and try to level it to make the water level as low as possible. I inspected it last year and found that it would take about fifty miles of water channel digging and it would take a year to complete."
"Fifty miles, this is no small project!"
"Your Highness, the construction of water transportation in the past dynasties has been extremely expensive and expensive, but we still did it without hesitation. It is really because the benefits are so great. Although the Sui Dynasty perished by digging the Grand Canal, it will benefit the future. The humble work of digging waterways is not only for water transportation, but also for irrigation of fertile fields.
It also has great benefits.”
Chen Qing nodded, "I understand everything you said, let's talk about Danba Waterway!"
Zhang Yuanlang saluted and said calmly: "When the Tang Dynasty established its capital in Guanzhong, it considered connecting the Dan River and the Ba River. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty considered taking the Baoxie Road to connect the Baoshui River and the Wei River, but the Baoshui River Valley was too fast and failed.
Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty began to consider the Danba Waterway. It was not until the time of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty that Cui Shi, the governor of Xiangzhou, organized tens of thousands of people to dig the mountain. Half of the people died before the tunnel was successfully excavated. However, shortly after the success, a flash flood broke out, destroying the hard-fought tunnel.
The Danba Waterway was destroyed and completely failed. Later, Emperor Zetian moved the capital to Luoyang. During the Kaiyuan Tianbao period, Pei Yaoqing and Wei Jian successively managed the Sanmenxia and Guanzhong Cao Canal. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, no one mentioned the Danba Waterway again."
Chen Qing nodded and smiled: "Although the governance of the Tang Dynasty failed, Zhang Jianling is full of confidence. Why is this?"
"Your Highness, the confidence in this humble position comes from our sharp weapon that breaks mountains and blasts rocks!"
"You mean Iron Fire Thunder?" Chen Qing said with a smile.
"Exactly, with it, Beizhi can blast a passage on the mountain ridge between Danshui and Bashui, and the foundation laid by the Tang Dynasty is still there. The passage is only blocked by mud and rocks, not the whole
With the help of the power of iron fire thunder, it only takes 10,000 people and half a year to dredge the large mountain rock. The narrow channel will be dredged again. We will continue to improve and reinforce it so that it will no longer be destroyed by floods. We will strive to open it from the ground in two years.
A thousand-ton cargo ship can pass between Xiangyang and Chang'an."
Chen Qing said happily: "If you can realize the opening of navigation between Xiangyang and Chang'an in three years, I will give you the title of Duke of Shangluo County!"
