Shao Can, courtesy name Yaopu and No. Youcun, was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province.
In Renchen, the twelfth year of Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty, Shao Can passed the imperial examination and was awarded the title of Editor of the Hanlin Academy. He served as Minister of Military Affairs and Military Affairs with the post of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. In December of this year, Yiwei was appointed as the Governor of Water Transport and also served as the Governor of River Channels.
Before leaving Beijing, Shao Can's mood was complicated. As a Han Chinese, he was ranked among the military ministers, and he basically achieved the ultimate performance of the Han ministers of the Qing Dynasty.
He has always been very low-key in his position on the military plane, lacking a sense of presence and doing his best to follow the emperor's wishes.
Unexpectedly, the emperor would push himself out this time. Jiangsu is now nominally under the control of Qishan, Beidaying, but in fact it is the territory of the Huaihai Navy.
Everyone in the capital knew about this, and there were even rumors that Qi Shan was unable to see anything due to illness, and when outsiders saw him, they had to pass the news through one of his concubines who was an actress.
Now that I am going to Huai'an Prefecture to serve as the Governor of Water Transport, I am going to seize the power of the Huai Navy. From this point of view, am I not throwing myself into the tiger's mouth?
But it was impossible for him to collude with Huai Haijun. His lifelong reputation could not be ruined here in vain.
Since the bandits invaded Yangzhou in February, the Governor of Water Transport has been taken into custody by the court for his participation in negotiations with the Taiping Army. This seat has been vacant for nearly a year now.
It turns out that the Caobiao battalion under the name of the Governor of Caoyun has long since disappeared. Although Shao Can is a high-ranking military minister in the capital, he has no one available for him.
The imperial court did not give him a single soldier, not even a penny of silver.
In this way, the lonely Shao Can, accompanied by several friends in the capital, left the capital where he had been an official for many years with five servants invited from his hometown in Zhejiang and an old servant who had been with him for many years.
Shao Can spent most of his time in the capital as a capital official and didn't know much about local affairs.
After arriving in Huai'an, he received a warm reception from the prefect of Huai'an. When he arrived at the prefect's office, he found that the sign of his Water Transport Governor's Office had already been hung up, and it was still a brand new sign.
In the Qing Dynasty, the Governor's Office of Water Transport spent most of its time in the Huai'an Magistrate's Yamen.
In later generations, the Huai'an Magistrate's Yamen was transformed into a scenic spot, and Dong Shuheng even visited it. The Yamen covers a very large area, and the back garden alone looks like a big park.
Shao Can was originally prepared to fight with the local officials, but it was of no use at all. It was like a punch on cotton.
The next day, the prefect of Huai'an took Shao Can to inspect a group of soldiers, who were said to have been sent out by the prefect's Yamen to make canal marks for Shao Can.
There are more than 1,000 soldiers in this team, all wearing brand-new uniforms. They are all in high spirits, and there is not a single one who smokes heavy tobacco.
What shocked Shao Can even more was that all these soldiers were equipped with muskets. Judging from their military appearance, they were indeed a strong army.
The leader of this group of soldiers was called Li Baowu. He was informal and very handsome. When he saw Shao Can, he gave a military salute and did not approach him with flattery. This actually made Shao Can look at him with admiration.
In fact, this group of people were militiamen drawn from the farms. The Huaihai Navy renovated the canals and Hongze Lake and established many farms around the original river beaches and lakes. These farms mainly accommodated immigrants from Huaixi. These Huaixi people lived a hard life since childhood.
, walking in the mountains, he is a good soldier.
Li Baowu was previously the militia leader of the farm. He was one of the first refugees recruited by the Huai Navy. He had already married and established a business and was very loyal to the Huai Navy.
This time, the General Staff and the General Training Department selected people from various farms to form this regiment, and Li Baowu was honored to be selected as the leader of this regiment.
Bao Wu was originally very happy, thinking that he could join the combat army, but who knew that he was just following a senior official of the Qing court to show his appearance.
Now Bao Wu was unhappy. How could he become a soldier of the Qing court? After some education from his superiors, Bao Wu realized how heavy his mission was.
In the end, the organization assigned him a staff officer who was a master, otherwise this stupid young man wouldn't know the etiquette in the officialdom.
The militiamen are still equipped with front-loaded rifles, which are not advanced among the Huai Navy, but because they are of a unified standard, they look very powerful and neat.
Shao Can always felt uncertain in his heart. The Huai'an prefect did not play his cards according to the routine, and he was not very familiar with the prefect. Why was he so enthusiastic about him?
Shao Can stayed at the Huai'an Magistrate's Yamen at night. The magistrate left the main room and hall for Shao Can to use. Anyway, the Magistrate's Yamen is now an empty shell, because there is no government affairs, and the magistrate does not even need to invite a master. Every month
Isn’t it nice to own all the money in the yamen?
Seeing that there were not even many servants in the magistrate's yamen, Shao Can still thought that the magistrate was an honest official!
"My Lord Governor, now that you have taken office, there is a place you must go to."
During dinner, the prefect of Huai'an suggested to Shao Can.
"Oh, where is this place? I just came down and I don't know much about local affairs." Shao Can asked doubtfully.
So the prefect of Huai'an introduced the three-horizontal and one-vertical project underway in Jiangsu to Shao Can.
"For such a big project, why haven't Jiangsu localities applied for funding from the imperial court?" Shao Can asked doubtfully. Generally, when river projects are started, they first approach the imperial court for money.
Who will spend their own money to repair the river?
"Sir, we Jiangsu people know that it is not easy for the imperial court to suppress bandits and that the national treasury is empty. Therefore, the local gentry, people and the government raise funds on their own so that the local area will no longer suffer from floods."
Since your Excellency is in charge of the river, it is now the dry season, which is the best time for river construction. Why not go to the construction site and have a look. The people working on the river will definitely have a boost in morale when they see the imperial officials coming to express their condolences." said the prefect.
Officials of all dynasties like to control floods because it is a matter of celebrity history. For example, the Fangong Causeway and Bai Causeway currently in use are named after the person in charge.
When the prefect of Huai'an said this, Shao Can was really moved. He had reached the age of retirement, and the official position did not attract him. Instead, he valued his posthumous reputation very much.
Most Chinese scholar-bureaucrats pursue the realm of "earning fame during and after death."
Shao Can came all the way from the canal and didn't see much chaos. After entering the Shandong river section, he saw a prosperous scene.
Many tugboats with smokestacks tow a row of wooden boats behind them, transporting cargo across the canal. These are cargo ships transporting ore southward.
Huaihai Navy vigorously developed industry in Jiangsu and carried out several major projects at the same time. It required a large amount of industrial raw materials. Except for Xuzhou, most of Jiangsu did not produce ore. Therefore, it was necessary to import ore from Shandong in the north. The products produced also had to be transported to Shandong.
Collect and distribute to the north.
In fact, the crux of the canal is now in Tianjin, but the emperor insists that Shao Can go to Huai'an. Does he want to manage the river transportation himself or control the Huai Navy?
Early the next morning, the prefect of Huai'an helped Shao Can assemble a "Caobiao" team. He also thoughtfully prepared rice and noodles to express condolences to the river workers.
Shao Can was very satisfied. The prefect of Huai'an was loyal to the court. Who said that Jiangsu was controlled by the Huai Navy? Shao Can didn't feel it at all.
The team rushed towards the east of Hongze Lake. The speed was very slow, so that the elderly Shao Can did not feel a trace of fatigue.
What they are going to is the construction site of the Jiangsu North Main Canal. This is the largest project among the three horizontal lines. The other two horizontal lines are to reconstruct and strengthen the original river channel. They mainly use cement stones to strengthen the embankments of some important river sections.
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It is also necessary to build some branch irrigation canals along the river bank and install steam pumps.
The prefect of Huai'an took Shao Can around for a while, saying that he was taking care of the old man's health. He would also visit nearby villages along the way.
Shao Can discovered that the villages under Huai'an Mansion were also a peaceful and peaceful scene.
The villagers in the village are all rosy-cheeked and obviously have enough to eat.
Shao Can and the prefect of Huai'an came to a village incognito under the protection of several soldiers. At the entrance of the village, several old people were squatting and sunbathing.
Shao Can randomly found a seat, grabbed a handful of straw and put it under his buttocks and sat down.
"Brother, I see that the people in the village are living a good life!"
"It's okay. The main reason is that there are no taxes this year. Everyone only needs to hand over a part of the grain they collect. There is no need to sell the grain at low prices for silver, pay taxes, and be exploited by profiteers in the middle."
This rule of using silver taels to pay taxes can be traced back to a whipping method of Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty.
However, Huai Haijun abolished this system in Jiangsu. Landlords and farmers only needed to pay grain as tax. Just like farmers in previous lives, they only needed to pay public grain after the busy farming season.
The reason why he dares to do this is because Huai Haijun has no shortage of cash. Through commercial tax, domestic and foreign trade, and banks, Huai Haijun has a large amount of cash in his hands.
What gave Dong Shuheng a headache was how to turn the money into materials and into strength in the hands of the Huai Navy.
Food is a scarce resource in the Qing Dynasty and for a long time to come. Before there is a fundamental improvement in agricultural technology, China will always be a food-scarce country. This has a lot to do with China's cultivated land area and population.
While chatting with the old farmers in the village, Shao Can was shocked that the Huaihai Navy's taxes were so low. You must know that other warlords tried their best to plunder the people and expand their armies.
Even a capable man like Zeng Guofan imposed heavy taxes on the people of Hunan.
In the later period, the Hunan army was even more indulged in looting. To put it bluntly, the problem of military expenditures could not be solved.
After walking for several days, we finally arrived at the east bank of Hongze Lake. This is the interface between the main irrigation canal and Hongze Lake. What comes into view is a dam built of reinforced concrete.
Through this dam, the runoff of the main canal can be controlled.
As the name suggests, Hongze Lake is prone to flooding. The reason for this is that Hongze Lake does not have a suitable outlet.
Just like a pool, the place where water enters is large and the place where water comes out is narrow. Then the water in this pool will soon fill up and overflow.
The current main canal is to install an outlet for Hongze Lake, and it is also a controllable outlet.
Shao Can also knew something about water conservancy, and the imperial examinations sometimes involved river management, so most civil servants knew something about water conservancy.
When he saw the dam in front of him, Shao Can was stunned by what he saw. No one had ever used this kind of reinforced concrete structure to regulate the river. Mainly because there was no such condition before.
The dam in front of us seems to be a mythical beast standing there, embracing Hongze Lake.
"This is a project that will go down in history!" Shao Can murmured in his mouth.