"This is the Henan branch river we built. It leads from Heyin, passes through Yuanwu, Fengqiu, Changyuan, Weicheng, and Zhencheng, and is connected to the Bohai River in Hebei."
Zhao Si pointed to a river and said with great interest.
This river channel is more than 40 meters wide at the bottom and more than 60 meters wide at the top. The sloping embankments on both sides are built with stones, and the main body is made of compacted soil.
The muddy yellow river water flowed gurglingly.
Looking at the river from a distance, there is a bridge connecting the two banks, high above it. Not far away, there is a gate leading to the north. I heard that it is two artificial lakes that are almost parallel to it.
John and Yin Sak paid more attention to the official family of the Song Dynasty.
This is a strange title. After struggling to figure out the actual meaning, they all felt that this title reflected the majesty of His Majesty the Emperor of the Song Dynasty - official, which in this country represents majesty and closeness to the people - home,
This is a colloquial term among the people, everyone, home, home...it conveys the intimacy of a family.
When they first met, the two were surprised by how young the official was. It was said that he was only twenty-eight years old (a virtual age), but he had already been in charge of this huge empire for ten years.
From Guangzhou to Kaifeng, whenever they talked about the official family, almost everyone would praise them.
Some say that he was wise and powerful, and in one fell swoop he wiped out the Xixia Kingdom, the evil neighbor in the northwest that had harmed the country for hundreds of years. Under the leadership of the official family, this shocking reversal only happened in four or five years. In the past, the Song Kingdom had a close relationship with this country.
When neighboring countries fight, they win less and lose more.
Then they wiped out the Mobei tribes that had been causing trouble to the Central Plains for thousands of years. The people of the Song Dynasty could not sympathize with the danger from Mobei. Separated from Xixia and Northern Liao, the pressure from these two regimes alone had already made them uncomfortable.
In the end, the Khitan people of the Northern Liao Dynasty, who had been suppressing the Central Plains for two hundred years, were willing to serve as "nephew emperors". Most people in the Song Dynasty felt a sense of happiness and pride in the hearts of serfs who had turned over and sang.
Some say he is liberal in his governance.
Encourage trade, develop industry, and create finance... Under the guidance and encouragement of various national policies, factories are rising all over the country, and businessmen are running around like crazy...
In Guangzhou, what impressed John the most was that there were many shipyards along the river, and every shipyard received orders without mercy. According to locals, in recent years, maritime trade has developed, and the demand for ships has increased several times every year. Some
People lamented that if this continues, there will be more boats than fish in the sea.
...
Amidst all the praises and praises, there are also those who sarcastically say that the official family is not good.
But John heard that they were all the lost people of the old forces. In the street tavern, these down-and-out people said incomprehensible words, such as the sages and principles were going to be lost, and the world was going to be in chaos. There was no roll call at Donghua Gate,
What’s the point of reading?
John couldn't understand, and the Song people who were listening always burst into laughter. The air was filled with cheerful laughter, an unscrupulous and vengeful laugh.
Unlike Yin Sak, John could see that this official of the Song Dynasty had extremely strong control over the entire country. The people's surrender to him, the army's support for him... all of which allowed him to have a firm say in this country.
John was very surprised. How did the young emperor do it? He wanted to find out the secret, record it, and then return to his country to tell his close friend who grew up - the direct descendant of His Majesty Emperor Alexius I.
The eldest son, Caesar of the Roman Empire.
The reason why the Roman Empire declined so severely and was bullied back and forth by the forces from the East and the West was that the emperor's authority was too weak and it was difficult to gather strength.
"Look!" Zhao's voice woke John up from his thoughts. He followed his fingers and looked over. From a distance, he saw mountains that resembled a lake.
"That's Guangwu Mountain. I originally wanted to build a reservoir there according to the mountain topography, directly using water from the Luoshui River... Several canals in Kaifeng all use water from the Yellow River. There is too much sediment, and it is easy to
The blockage requires a lot of manpower and material resources to be cleared every year. It would be much better if water from Luoshui and Yinshui rivers were used instead."
Zhao Si felt a little regretful, "Unfortunately, everyone feels that the terrain is too high to build a reservoir there. Once the Yellow River overflows and breaks down the dams, it will be a huge disaster for Luoyang and Kaifeng, etc., so I will try my best to prevent it. Although I
He is the emperor, but he cannot be stubborn and must listen to correct opinions. After on-site inspections, more than a dozen water conservancy experts and geography experts said that this is a possibility, so I had no choice but to give up."
Although John didn't know where Luoshui and Yinshui were, he took a boat and took a canal all the way to Kaifeng City. This made him deeply impressed by the Song people's ability to make full use of river water for transportation. He knew that this was the Song Dynasty.
It is very important for the country to maintain prosperous blood vessels.
"If the reservoir cannot be built, we should simply build rivers. I asked them to change the plan and directly divert most of the water from Luoshui, Yinshui, Sishui, and Rongshui through the rivers to the Bian Canal. For this project, I recruited
One hundred thousand laborers, including convicts, prisoners of war, and civilian laborers, used it to split open the entire Gubai Ridge and build a forty-mile canal."
Zhao Si said to John and John excitedly: "If you have a chance, you can go and take a look."
"Your Majesty, can we really go and take a look?"
"Of course!" Zhao Si agreed, "The Roman Empire and the Song Dynasty will be allies. Of course, allies can be honest with each other."
When John heard this, he asked excitedly: "Your Majesty, is Song willing to teach us all the good things?"
"Of course, we will definitely teach each other everything we have. Moreover, I will also have close correspondence with your Majesty the Emperor. I will tell him how to enrich the people and strengthen the country, and how to prevent the civilization that has lasted for thousands of years from being destroyed by the barbarians outside."
Zhao Si's words made John and Yin Sak excited.
Standing on one side were Lu Yihao, the attendant accompanying the driver, Hu Shijiang, the envoy to the left, and Zhao Ding, the envoy to the right and the chief of the secret bureau, and remained silent.
The three of them were all speculating on why the officials were so interested in the Byzantine state, which claimed to be the Roman Empire, thousands of miles away, and decided to become an ally with it without even discussing it in detail.
Currently, this is the only country in the world that is qualified to be an ally of the Song Dynasty.
The three of them did not ask out loud because they knew that the official would explain his intention to everyone at the appropriate time.
The group continued to move forward along the river.
Zhao Si pointed to the west and said: "From Heyin to Ji County, the river bed is raised, and there is a section of the area below that is threatened by the terrain. This section is extremely prone to breaches and accidents. The flood discharge river channel has been repaired, and next we need to strengthen Heyin to the slippery area.
For the river embankments in the county, the second step is to complete the construction of two artificial lakes in Rongze, Guangwu, Xuxian and Huaxian areas for buffering."
"Although there is a flood diversion channel that can divert water and release floods, once a thousand-year flood occurs, this river will still not have time to release floods, and the river embankments in the Heyin area will still be easily washed away."
"If this area is washed away, the Kaifeng area will become Zeguo. What's even more frightening is that the Yellow River turns around and goes to the southeast. It is very likely that it will flow into the Jianghuai River along the Bianhe River and other canal rivers. By then, we will spend a lot of manpower and material resources to build rivers and other water conservancy projects.
The project is useless and we can only watch Huaidong being destroyed."
"Some sacrifices must be required of us."
John and Yinsak were stunned when they heard this.
Building an artificial lake? How much fertile land will this take up, and how many households will be involved? The officials of the Song Dynasty in front of them made the decision without hesitation. If it were placed in the Roman Empire, if His Majesty the Emperor dared to express this idea, he would
You will be scolded to death.
The courage and authority of the two are incomparable.
Zhao Si pointed to the Yellow River and said: "This is our mother river. It is as important to our Song Dynasty as the Nile River is to Egypt and the Strait of Constantine is to your Eastern Roman Empire. This river has nurtured us and given us
It has brought countless disasters. We must now restrain it and make it our true mother river!" This chapter has been completed!