The weather is getting hotter day by day, and the meandering river is getting louder and turbid.
At noon, with a loud noise, the raging flood rushed down from the upper reaches and entered the narrow ditch dug in advance.
Because it was the rainy season in summer, the floods that had accumulated for many days were very fierce. The turbid water flow continued to wash away, gradually extending the ditch and creating a relatively wide channel.
The floods rushed far downstream. At this time, as the river became wider and wider, the rushing floods gradually calmed down, the water flow slowed down, the sediment accumulated, and the water became clearer.
Song Le looked at this power of nature with lingering fear.
He had read "Shui Jing Zhu" and knew that many rivers in ancient times were different from what they are now, and many of them changed their courses. This often happened during floods, when a new river course was washed out on the ground.
But that was formed naturally, and this was intentionally guided by them.
Dig a relatively straight trench at both ends of the river with a big bend. The trench can be relatively deep, but it does not need to be too wide. Dig square ponds at intervals at both ends of the trench. When the flood comes, the water rushes down and washes out a
New river channel.
When the Guangji Canal was built in the Sui Dynasty, a large number of natural river channels were transformed to facilitate navigation. Huaizhou did this for this purpose.
"Song Commander's achievements will last for a long time to come. I admire him very much." Wang Ban, the governor of Huaizhou, walked up to him and complimented him.
"Find some work for the people, we can't let them be idle." Song Le shook his head and said: "In one month, it will be the autumn harvest. In fact, there is not much time left."
A few days ago, another group of immigrants moved to Heyang Town, namely the tribes of Tuoba Renfu and Li Renyu from the south bank of the Yellow River.
After these two guys went to Yanzhou, they seemed to be assimilated by the warlords. Like wild horses, they entered Ziqing Town to plunder, and went to Hebei to run wild. Qibizhang sent someone to contact them, but they were rejected outright.
Well, what else is there to say? First annex the old, weak, women and children left in Henan.
Shao Shude has sent a messenger to convey the message. He has captured more than 10,000 people in Huainan and plans to send them to Heyang to register their households. The gangs of Tuoba Renfu and Li Renyu don't want their wives and children, so naturally there will be people to help you take care of them.
After counting the new arrivals, there are currently about 10,000 households with a population of more than 43,000 in Mengzhou, and more than 21,000 households with a population of 104,000 in Huaizhou. The population of Heyang has experienced a round of
surge.
In order to feed these people, basically all the grain and grass seized in the Heqing War last year were put in, and then a batch was urgently allocated from Hezhong Prefecture. The Yellow River water transportation in Guanbei continued all day long, risking harassment by the Bian Army navy.
, transport food and supplies to Heqing County by ship, and then distribute them to various counties.
Last autumn, only a small number of people sown winter wheat, and most people were still building houses and trying to restore abandoned land. By this spring, people who had not caught up last year joined in, and the area sown with spring wheat increased significantly.
The growth is so-so, and there should be a decent harvest next month.
After all, in the early years of the Later Han Dynasty, Kou Xun took control of Hanoi and "preserved more than a million arrows, raised 2,000 horses, and collected rent of 4 million dendrobium for the military", which greatly helped Liu Xiu's career.
The wealth of Hanoi County is not a boast.
"Summer harvest, autumn planting, autumn harvest, one thing after another." Song Le sighed: "After this period of work, it will be winter, and the people still have to go to the river to dredge channels and ditches."
Wang Ban doesn't know much about these things.
In fact, he is a pure warrior. Because of the "battlefield uprising" at the critical moment, he got the position of Huaizhou governor. He also knew very well that this governor might not last long, but the Xia King was kind and should make a good arrangement for him. Place to go. He has no ambitions. As long as he has a place to retire, even if he is in a leisurely position, it is enough to receive a relatively generous salary.
Su Junqing, who is currently serving as the judge of the Heyang shogunate, is different. He really has the ambition to continue to climb up. There is no right or wrong in this matter. After all, Su Junqing is a scholar, and Wang Ban is a martial artist. They are still different. .
But before he moved his position, Wang Ban also knew that he had to do the job at hand well. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it, just find someone who understands to do it. The shogunate will be happy for you to let it go.
"Commander Song, the Qinshui is turbid and has too much sediment. I'm afraid it will not be easy to straighten the channel." Wang Ban said: "In the future, every three to five years, conscripts will be recruited to dredge the river."
"This matter must be persevered." Song Le said firmly: "The abandonment of shipping in the southern section of Yongji Canal is not entirely due to the large amount of cement and sand in Qinqin, but more to man-made disasters. In the last years of Tianbao, this section was still open to navigation, and three hundred ships were transported. More than 10,000 bolts of silk and more than 500,000 pieces of armor are stored in the Beizhou treasury. After the rebellion, the banks of the Yongji Canal became a battlefield and water transportation was interrupted. After the rebellion, there were many vassal towns in Hebei, and Heyang was used by the imperial court to contain the Wei Dynasty. The bridgehead of Bozhi has endured wars and fires for a long time, and the people are poor and have no one to dredge the river. These things must be done by someone, and now I can do as much as I can."
This matter in the southern section of Yongji Canal is indeed a pity.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the southern section of the Yongji Canal was located in Heyang and Weibo. To be precise, it crossed Huaizhou and Weizhou. This happened to be the front line of the war. And because most of Hebei's rents and taxes were intercepted to support the army, the court did not It was necessary to transport a large amount of equipment, goods, grain and grass to Youzhou. There was no need for shipping. In addition, Qinqin had a high cement and sand content and was prone to siltation, so it was gradually abandoned.
Of course, man-made damage cannot be ignored.
In the third year of Emperor Dezong's reign, three towns in Hebei rebelled. Zhu Tao "Yongji Canal" near Weizhou entered Wang Mang's old river, cutting off the official's army food route and their return route. Tomorrow, the water will be more than three feet deep." At that time, the rebel officials were quelled. The army transported grain and grass to Weizhou through the southern section of the Yongji Canal. This move by the rebels could be described as draining the fuel from the bottom of the cauldron, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy losses.
Later, although Weibo, Chengde, Henghai and other towns also built water conservancy facilities, most of them were minor repairs within the town. For the Yongji Canal across the vassal towns, the things involved were too complicated and they were powerless. .
The only joint water conservancy project between the towns was in the spring of the ninth year of Emperor Xianzong's Yuanhe year. Because the Yellow River overflowed and threatened Huazhou City many times, Xue Ping, the governor of the Yicheng Army, submitted a report and coordinated by the imperial court. Tian Hongzheng, the governor of Weibo, came to Liyang, Weizhou. A canal was opened in the southwest to divert the yellow water, which is the so-called "Weihua River Diversion" project.
Song Le has not yet had the energy to dredge the southern section of the Yongji Canal that connects the Qingshui (Wei River) River. It has been completely silted up, and the overflowing river water has formed several huge swamps. No one has cleaned it for many years.
What Song Le wants to do now is to straighten out the shipping in Qinshui River first, including but not limited to cutting and straightening the river channel, dredging and widening, planting elms and willows, rebuilding the wharf, etc.
The supporting irrigation ditches that lead to the river also need to be re-maintained. The irrigation ditches are actually there, but they are either overgrown with weeds or blocked by siltation, and the utilization rate is appallingly low.
Song Le really couldn't stand it, so he used his old business of running Sui, Yin and Shengshi, and even transferred many old officials from these three states who were familiar with river management to help him regulate Qinshui River.
From the middle of last year to now, more than 100,000 people have taken turns to work after finishing their farm work, and some results have been achieved, which makes him very pleased.
But how can the illness that has persisted for many years be cleared up in one day? This is a long-term project, and he knows it well.
The debts incurred by the warriors from fighting and killing must now be repaid one by one.
After having lunch outside at noon, Song Le and his party rode horses and headed south along the Qinshui River, passing through Huaizhou City and heading directly towards Wude County.
Some shipping vessels can be seen along the way, loaded with grain, grass, equipment, and transported downstream.
Song Le knew that Fu Cunshenzheng, the envoy of the returned army, was commanding a large army to besiege the Liang people's Guanghe Town, which was very costly and had to be transported by river.
"Wang Shijun, you can't be careless about the pasture." Song Le suddenly remembered something and said.
"Don't worry, Commander Song. The 12,000 horses were all very skinny when they were delivered, but now they have become fat and strong." Wang Ban responded: "We picked out the horses carefully and took care of them carefully. There are agricultural students looking for us. When some donkeys come over and try to breed them, the subordinates send people to follow them. Whatever is needed, they are dispatched immediately and there is never any shortage."
Song Le nodded in approval.
Draft horses are not only used for pulling carts, but are also needed for shipping.
This will be a flood season. Although the river has not been dredged for many years, the water is deep enough and there will be no problem moving downstream.
But if it's the dry season, a ship of average size often needs at least two draft horses to tow it, which is downstream. On the return trip, if the ship is fully loaded with cargo, it will need more than eight draft horses to tow it.
Of course, you can also change people to pull fiber. Last year, the Liang people transferred materials from the Yellow River to Hanoi and pulled fiber manually. However, under the rule of King Xia, it may have been more difficult in the early days, but now there is really no shortage of livestock. Those who can use animal power to solve the problem will try their best. Use draft animals.
Two days later, the group arrived in Xiuwu County.
There are patrol envoys from the Sixth Northern Army and some soldiers and horses from the Second Tibetan tribe in Hengshan stationed here. There are a total of 2,000 infantry and cavalry, guarding 3,000 Liangjun prisoners.
After crossing the river to reinforce Banzhu City, these people were surrounded and captured by the Xia army while pursuing pursuit out of the city.
They have new jobs now.
Xiuwu County introduced Lingxia's brick and tile wheel kiln technology and built a large-scale earthen kiln specifically for firing bricks and tiles for local construction.
The fuel used in the wheel kiln is undoubtedly coal.
Xiuwu County has large-scale and abundant coal resources, which are not buried deep. In the late Qing Dynasty, the people of Huaiqing Prefecture mined coal here by hand-cutting kilns and carrying them in baskets. The British Fu Company next to it obtained "
After Huaiqing obtained the right to mine and make iron in the mountains north of the Yellow River, coal mining was mechanized, and the high-quality anthracite produced was supplied to the British royal family.
The entire Shuofang military and political system knew that King Xia was obsessed with the use of charcoal. Heyang has been deserted for many years, and there are large bamboo forests and woods. Except for digging rivers and ditches, felling is prohibited in principle. The army uses charcoal for cooking.
, officials were given salaries, and charcoal was also changed to charcoal.
As for the people, they may not be able to control it very well, so they certainly can’t stop them from chopping firewood secretly, but how much can the people consume?
After Song Le stopped his horse, he looked at it from a distance. Suddenly he got off his horse, walked quickly to a carriage, and saluted: "Why is Mrs. Chen Guo here?"
"It turns out to be Situ of the Song Dynasty." Wei Cailaimei returned the gift and said with a smile: "The Wei family has set up a blacksmith shop in Xiuwu to make ordnance. I will come and take a look today."
I see!
Song Le did not dare to underestimate this Qiang and Hu woman who was born in the grassland. In fact, among the wives and concubines of his King Xia, she was probably the richest.
Wherever the King of Xia went, the Wei family's blacksmith shop opened, and now it has even expanded to dig charcoal.
"How many soldiers can the blacksmith shop produce this year?" Song Le asked.
"Fifty collars of armor, three hundred swords, and three hundred swords." Wei Cai came to Mei with numerous family treasures, and was obviously very aware of her family's production capacity in Xiuwu County.
Song Le understood.
The ordnance produced by Wei is usually made of charcoal and iron. Although it cannot be said to be sophisticated, it is not inferior either. It is of medium quality and the level is very stable.
The Yeli family's blacksmith shop has also developed in recent years, but their family made a big mistake. It seems that they misheard the words of the King of Xia and used coal to make iron. As a result, they produced a batch of low-quality weapons, which were directly rejected.
The knives made are thin, brittle and easy to break, so no one wants to use them.
"This area is still too short of people, otherwise we can produce more armor and swords." Wei Cailaimei looked at the smoke billowing from the wheel kiln and the large expanses of barren meadows around it, and said, "Your Majesty intends to build a new factory in Heyang Guangzhou."
He kept good horses, produced more grain and beans, and built a large amount of ordnance. Song Situ worked hard."
"It's all within one's duty." Song Le said with a smile: "The king's ambition is to conquer the world. Heyang is adjacent to Shangdang and Luozheng. It is very important to go south and north. I know it well."
To put it simply, Heyang’s geographical location is great and its endowments are also great.
First of all, it is very suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry. Secondly, there is a lot of coal and iron ore. If the Qinshui River and Yongji Canal are well organized, the transportation will be very convenient. For an offensive regime, it is indeed a very good base for advancement.
For now, the top priority is to use Heyang to supply grain, grass, war horses, and ordnance, and then cross the river south to attack Zhu Quanzhong.
Although Song Le was the military governor of Heyang, he did not care about military affairs and only took care of these trivial logistical matters.
He still remembered that the last paragraph of Shao Shude's letter to him quoted the "Book of the Later Han": "Today Hanoi has a river as a solid foundation, with a well-established household registration. It is connected to Shangdang in the north and Luoyang in the south."
There is another saying: "Hanoi is extremely rich, and I will rise because of it. In the past, our great ancestors left Xiao He to guard Guanzhong, but now I have entrusted the public to Hanoi to guard the transportation and provide sufficient military rations."
There is a lot of earnestness in the words. Song Le asked himself that he should work hard to accomplish these things.
"Heyang is getting better." Wei Cailai said with a beautiful smile: "The king wants to send 10,000 Huai, and Liang sent people here to mine and make bricks, cut down trees and build ships, repair post roads, and dredge ditches. There should be no shortage of people."
"It's not enough, far from enough. It would be great if the high commander could capture some more people from Henan. The more, the better." Song Le shook his head and said, "Where is the king now?"
Wei Cailaimei's face turned gloomy, she sighed and didn't answer.
Song Le was thoughtful, vaguely knowing where Shao Shude was.
Thinking of this, I became a little annoyed and shouted: "I have worked hard for the Shao family, but he... No, I have to go to Wangwu Mountain to find the king."