All civil and military officials stood on the shore, watching the emperor's fleet go away. Their moods were hard to calm down for a long time.
Although it was uncommon for the emperor to go out on inspection tours, it was not too outrageous.
What is really outrageous is that in addition to being escorted by the army, Ju Ming only took away some eunuchs, secretaries of the Tongzheng Yuan, and pedestrians. This was equivalent to directly acting as a hand-off treasurer and handing over all the government affairs of the country to the Supreme Emperor.
What a nonsense!
When emperors of all dynasties went out of the capital, they were always accompanied by hundreds of officials. Important matters must be brought to the emperor's presence and handed over to the ministers around the emperor to handle them, so as to ensure that the imperial power is not neglected.
"Your Majesty and Your Majesty, our father is kind and our son is filial, and we are both sincere and trustworthy saints!"
Huan Guo was so moved that he even wiped tears from his sleeves.
The regular clothes he was wearing had been narrowed by a tailor, making him look more capable than before.
But there is always something nondescript.
Currently, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry are designing official uniform styles.
There is no need to change the dress. This thing is only worn during large-scale events. No matter how wide the robe or sleeves are, it won't hinder much.
Public uniforms and regular uniforms had to be well designed, taking into account the advantages of the Tang and Song dynasties, and then making changes based on the emperor's special aesthetics.
…
In early May of the lunar calendar, the water level of the Yellow River continues to rise.
Ju Ming's fleet traveled eastward along the Yellow River. There were high dams built along the way, and some dams could be seen from time to time.
When the boat arrived at Linhe County, the governor of the river, Zhao Fengji, led officials to the shore to greet him.
Zhao Fengji was the son of cabinet minister Zhao Quan and was in charge of the Yellow River control project.
There are two deputies, one is Fu Xingzhong and the other is Wang Huai.
Fu Xingzhong was from Nanfeng, Jiangxi, and his ancestor was the brother of Empress Fu of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was forced to join the Zhu family and his son in Hanzhong.
Wang Huai was a native of Yiwu, Zhejiang, and was named the "Tang God" in the Southern Song Dynasty. His achievement was that he raised his own funds to build reservoirs and dams based on the principles of Dujiangyan, and led the villagers to solve floods and droughts in Yiwu. (Wang Huai, a famous prime minister in the Southern Song Dynasty.
It's his uncle, but the uncle is much younger than his nephew.)
After accepting the worship from the officials, Ju Ming asked: "Why are you all gathered here? Go back to work quickly."
Zhao Fengji explained: "The water volume of the Yellow River is larger this year, and floods may occur. The most important ones are Lingping and Xiaowu, which are more than ten miles downstream. As long as those two places are not flooded, there will be no serious problems in the Yellow River this year.
.Once it breaks, the Yellow River may change its course."
"Is it already this serious?" Zhu Ming looked serious.
Zhao Fengji said: "The Yellow River has been flowing north for thirty years, and it still flows through its old route. The river bed has been continuously raised by sediment, and it is no longer inferior to the Ergu River flowing eastward. If it is not controlled, it will change its course within ten years, and
There is a risk of a dyke bursting every year!”
Zhu Ming was surrounded by many officials and went to the county seat. He called Zhao Fengji into the carriage and asked as he walked: "It has been surveying for a year, have you produced the charter?"
Zhao Fengji said: "We can only go back to the river and let the Yellow River change its course and flow eastward."
Ju Ming was very dissatisfied: "Is it still the same old thing as before in the Song Dynasty?"
Zhao Fengji said: "There is nothing wrong with returning to the river. What is wrong is the party struggle and the emperor's ignorance."
"How?" Zhu Ming asked.
Zhao Fengji elaborated: "There were three changes of return to the river in the former Song Dynasty. The first time was when Jia Changchao advocated returning to the old road to the east of the river to Jingdong, and Li Zhongchang proposed to open the Liuta River first, and then return to the ancient long road across the river."
"Both of these two people's ideas were strongly opposed, and it was Ouyang Wenzhong who took the lead. Fu Bi and Wen Yanbo were in favor, and Song Renzong finally listened to their suggestions. He was so confused!"
"How big is the Liuta River? How can it accommodate the floods of the Yellow River! Once the diversion is completed, the banks will burst and Hebei will become a vast country."
"The second return to the river has been mixed with party disputes."
"Both the old and new parties agreed to return to the river, but after Sima Guang conducted an on-site inspection, he believed that the return should be delayed. Wang Anshi thought that Sima Guang wanted to delay deliberately, so he insisted on an urgent return."
"Before Wang Anshi made the decision, he did not go to the Yellow River to check it out in person. He only listened to the information reported by his generals. He even thought of immediately blocking the north flow and turning all the wasteland into fertile farmland, and did not consider the danger of the Yellow River at all.
Take it seriously!"
"Wang Anshi acted too hastily, which directly caused the Yellow River to divert the Huai River and flow into the sea. The floods affected 45 counties and destroyed more than 30 million acres of farmland."
"The third time Huihe turned into a party struggle. When the new party gained power, it listened to the new party. When the old party gained power, it listened to the old party. Whatever the new party supported, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, the old party completely rejected it. Whatever the old party supported, regardless of whether it was right or wrong.
Wrong, the New Party is also opposed to it. How is this river management?"
Zhu Ming was silent after hearing this.
Wang Anshi worked really hard. Before returning to the river, he had been diverting the Yellow River to release silt. He used the sediment from the Yellow River to improve the soil, built more than 700 supporting water conservancy projects, and developed and irrigated 10 million acres of land.
But the party struggle was too fierce at that time, so Wang Anshi always considered the party struggle when considering problems.
Sima Guang did not even oppose his opinion, but after on-site inspection, he proposed a step-by-step approach, which made Wang Anshi's plan more stable.
Wang Anshi subconsciously thought that Sima Guang wanted to do something bad, and his intention was to delay time and finally ruin the matter.
In order to suppress Sima Guang, Wang Anshi chose the most radical method of river control.
In the end, it will lead to endless disasters, causing the Yellow River to go wherever it wants in the next few decades.
At that time, Su Shi was working on flood control in Xuzhou, thanks to Wang Anshi. He was so angry that Su Shi wrote a letter and cursed - if the water level continued to rise, Su Shi and the people in the city would all die.
Ju Ming asked: "What are you going to do?"
Zhao Fengji said: "Carry this year's flood of the Yellow River over, and recruit 300,000 people to dredge the Ergu River next year or the year after that. Then use Sima Guang's method to slow down the Yellow River and divert it to the east. Of course, Wang Anshi's diversion
We also need to use yellow soil to cultivate and irrigate tens of millions of acres of fertile farmland in Cangzhou, and improve the saline-alkali lands in Cangzhou."
Ju Ming smiled and said: "It's a trick of yours to use Wang Anshi's and Sima Guang's methods together."
"We can go hand in hand without conflicting with each other, so why can we only choose one or the other? The Yellow River is the Yellow River, and it has advantages and disadvantages. We must never choose it in black and white," said Zhao Fengji.
Ju Ming suddenly asked: "Is it possible to use water to attack sand?"
"Bound water to attack sand?" Although Zhao Fengji didn't understand it, he seemed to have caught something.
Ju Ming said: "Block up all the gaps in the Yellow River and let the river wash the sediment into the sea."
Zhao Fengji shook his head and said: "If we plug all the gaps, the embankment will definitely burst within three to five years."
Zhu Ming said: "During the critical flood season, of course floods must be discharged."
"This matter is serious, I would like to discuss it in detail with my colleagues," Zhao Fengji said.
Ju Ming expressed his attitude: "You know how to control water. Follow your own methods. I am just making suggestions. Whether it is feasible or not is up to you."
Several dams from Linhe County to Puyang were reinforced last year and are continuing to be reinforced this year.
Zhao Fengji built an overflow dam to allow excess river water to flow to the old Ergu River.
There shouldn't be much of a problem in withstanding this year's flood peak.
Of course, if the water volume of the Yellow River is too large and seriously threatens the safety of Kaifeng, then we can only choose a suitable section of the river to burst the embankments and release the flood.
Before the flood can be released, people must be relocated.
Arriving at Linhe County, Zhu Ming temporarily moved into the county government office, while the county magistrate and his family moved out.
Zhao Fengji called Fu Xingzhong and Wang Huai over and gave a rough outline of the idea of condensing water to attack sand.
This idea is completely opposite to current water management.
At this time, the management of the Yellow River means continuous diversion. If it can no longer be diverted, the Yellow River must be diverted artificially.
Fu Xingzhong analyzed: "The water of the Yellow River usually has four sands and six sands, but in autumn, there are two sands and eight sands. If the water is diverted blindly, the water will slow down and the sediment will inevitably stagnate. If the water is restrained by embankments, the hydration will be fierce.
You can brush away the sediment from the river bottom. The official method should be feasible."
Wang Huai said: "Of course it is feasible, but it is extremely dangerous. We must find ways to deal with annual floods."
Zhao Fengji said: "The north flow is too slow, so we have to flow east to attack the sand."
Wang Huai said: "If it flows eastward, Ergu River is the first choice. This does not conflict with our plan."
"But the channel of the Ergu River is too narrow. The two rivers must flow together to accommodate the water volume of the Yellow River," Fu Xingzhong said. "But if the two rivers flow together, the water potential will slow down, and the effect of condensing water and attacking sand will not be achieved."
.”
Zhao Fengji said: "Choose the north channel of the Ergu River, which is straighter. The south channel will be used as a backup. When the flood is too large, the south channel will be used to divert the water and release the flood."
Fu Xingzhong said: "To do this, the North Road must be widened, and the amount of work will be huge."
Wang Huai said: "There are too many cities passing through the North Road, Qingping, Gaotang, Pingyuan, Dezhou, Leling, Wudi... all the administrative offices have to be relocated. Once this plan is proposed, it will drive the Ministry of Households crazy. These prefectures and counties
All the officials must also go to court to oppose it."
Zhao Fengji said: "We just raise it and let's see what the officials decide in the end."
"Then we have to make this method properly," Fu Xingzhong said. "The existing embankment building method is used to contain water and attack sand, and the embankment will definitely burst every year."
Zhao Fengji thought carefully for a while: "Building an embankment outside the embankment requires multiple guarantees. We also need to build other different types of embankments according to the actual terrain. Contain water when it is time to contain water, and release water when it is time to release water."
Wang Huai said: "Beyond the levee, build a remote embankment far away. Usually, the levee is used to contain water to attack the sand. When the water volume of the Yellow River increases, it will overflow the levee and automatically enter the remote embankment. In this way, the water can be restrained
It can attack sand and safely release floods."
"This is not safe," Fu Xingzhong said. "You can build a number of transverse dams between the remote embankments and the thread embankments to turn the area into squares, just like the watertight compartments of sea ships. It is the thread
If the embankment breaks, the horizontal embankment can also buffer it and prevent the distant embankment from being destroyed by the turbulent force."
Wang Huai said: "In places where the terrain is dangerous or the dams are weak, dikes to divert water should be built to ensure nothing goes wrong."
Zhao Fengji said: "Next year, we will first dredge the south channel of the Ergu River as a diversion channel for the north flow to carry over the past few years. At the same time, we will dredge and widen the north channel of the Ergu River, build various dams, and relocate the prefecture and county offices along the way.
When the Erguhe North Road project is completed, the Yellow River will be diverted to this side to divert water and attack sand, while the South Road will be used to divert the flow during floods that only occur once in a century."
Fu Xingzhong exclaimed: "According to this method, I am afraid that half a million civilians will have to be mobilized and hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent. So many prefectures, counties and cities will have to be relocated..."
Zhao Fengji was extremely bachelor and said: "It's the same sentence. We just put forward feasible strategies. As for whether to do this, it all depends on the official decision. If there are too many officials who oppose it and the officials feel embarrassed, then we will still use the old method to control the river.
."
The method of confining water to attack sand is not a one-and-done solution.
Over the years, sediment will gradually accumulate and the river bed will slowly rise. However, the rate at which sediment is deposited and the river bed will rise will definitely be much slower than before.
Maybe it can last for decades.
If it is well maintained, it will last for hundreds of years.