Section Three Hundred and Forty-Three State Administration
Apart from the extreme inefficiency of the entire water transport system, maintaining river transport under normal circumstances is also very difficult and requires a lot of manpower and material resources. In addition to "river management", the largest expenditure on water conservancy in past dynasties was to maintain the smooth flow of canals.
The canal spans more than 2,000 miles from south to north. Countless locks and ponds must be set up along the way, and artificial rivers must be dug to adjust the water level and volume. Especially after entering Shandong, it will also be affected by the ever-changing course of the Yellow River. Every time you arrive
In winter, the river north of the Huaihe River will still freeze, making it impossible for watercraft to pass, so we can only "preserve the freezing".
Maintaining canal facilities consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, and ensuring transportation capacity also costs money. A large number of water transportation troops and water ships are a huge expense. The entire water transportation is difficult and expensive, and it is completely uneconomical from an economic cost perspective.
.Purely a product of "political needs".
Zhu Yuanzhang established Nanjing as the capital of the Ming Dynasty instead of Beijing because of the consideration of "getting grain nearby", being close to the government's financial supply area and reducing transshipment costs.
Zhao Yingong analyzed the Ming Dynasty's water transport from both an economic and institutional perspective. The facts are clear and the arguments are sufficient. In addition, Zhang Pu cannot help but admire the textual research, summary and comments of Chinese and foreign historians since the 20th to 21st centuries.
Zhang Pu has long been aware of the shortcomings of water transportation - otherwise he would not have suggested that the imperial court change Taicang's water supply to allocate local food to the army. However, he has not comprehensively studied this issue. Now he listens to Zhao Yingong's eloquent explanation.
Clearly, I was secretly surprised. Although Mr. Zhao has four books and five classics, and his collection of classics and history is extremely sparse, he has a lot of troubles in his heart! When it comes to the study of "managing the world and applying it", there are really few people around him who can surpass this man.
It belongs to Mr. Zhao.
The more he listened, the more surprised he became. It wasn't until Zhao Yingong finished speaking that he slowly said: "Sir, you are a great talent!"
"Don't dare! It's just a little personal opinion." Zhao Yingong felt happy and comfortable: the person in front of him is not an ordinary Zhang San or Li Si, but the famous Zhang Pu! It is a bit embarrassing for such a person to praise himself as a "great talent"
People are in awe.
"Then Mr. Wang thinks that since the corruption of water transport is the root cause, how can we explain the suffering of the people in the field of rice?"
Zhao Yingong immediately said something he had planned for a long time.
"The only way is to destroy the river and change it into the sea!" Zhao Yingong said in a deep voice, "The water transport has already suffered from serious shortcomings, and we can't do it without starting anew!"
This statement is extremely shocking. Since the construction of the canal in the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty, the southeast has become the source of the dynasty's wealth, and water transportation has become the main artery that maintains the operation of the dynasty. Whether the continuous flow of water grains heading north every autumn is smooth or not can be said to be smooth.
Regarding the important matters of life and death of the dynasty.
Zhang Pu was a man of great learning, and he knew that it was not Zhao Yingong's first idea to transform rivers into seas. Someone had said this before, and water transportation in the Yuan Dynasty was by sea.
But most people are afraid of the sea - especially in traditional mainland countries like China. Except for coastal residents, most people think that going to sea by boat is a narrow escape, let alone carrying hundreds of thousands of stones of food floating on the sea.
Crossing the ocean! Just thinking about it makes me feel uneasy.
Zhang Pu was no exception. He had no intuitive understanding of shipping. He said: "The sea is unstable. I heard that a lot of the grain and wages transported by the imperial court from Dengzhou to Liaodong were lost halfway. This rice is the foundation of the country..."
Zhao Yingong thought to himself: This float is not so much for the Sea Dragon King as it is for a group of officials and generals - I am afraid that the successive governors of Denglai, Dongjiang generals, and household officials... are all lost here.
I have earned enough money to spend a lifetime. If not for everyone now thinking that foreign countries are "barbarian lands", my wife and children would have immigrated long ago.
"Shipwrecks are inevitable when sailing on the sea, but they are not always natural disasters." Zhao Yingong nodded, and then said, "Sir, please think about it: Although the Great Yuan Dynasty enjoyed a short period of time, it only lasted ninety-seven years. If the shipwrecks were like this, If there are too many, Dayuan may not even be able to survive for seven years."
The conversation with Zhang Pu lasted for almost several hours. The depth and breadth of Zhao Yingong's views on economic issues greatly impressed this literary leader in the late Ming Dynasty. It should be said that Fushe is not a group that talks about morality, rationality and Confucianism. , still attaches great importance to the method of "economical application".
Although Zhang Pu did not give Zhao Yingong a definite answer in the end, Zhao Yingong felt that the purpose of his trip had generally been achieved.
In the Qianqing Palace, the lights are still on late at night.
The drum tower in the palace has been beating three drums, but the people in front of the imperial palace are still quietly cutting candles. It seems that the emperor will stay up all night to review the memorials again today.
In the brightly lit Nuan Pavilion, piles of memorials and newspapers were neatly stacked on the imperial desk. These were all delivered from the General Affairs Department just in the afternoon. Almost half of the desk was filled with papers.
The emperor was sitting behind the imperial desk. His face was gloomy under the lamplight. This was the unique look of someone who had stayed up late for a long time and was exhausted mentally and physically. There were endless reports and endless government affairs to deal with every day. When it came to diligence, Chongzhen was not only better than his Father, brother, and grandfather are all diligent, and they are among the best in the entire Ming Dynasty.
However, just like a diligent student who always fails the exam, his diligence did not bring any improvement to the Ming Dynasty's national situation, but instead it became worse and worse.
Natural disasters from various places: droughts, floods, plagues, earthquakes, banditry... Memorials requesting reductions in grain taxes and relief came like a snowflake from all over the country. Even the southeastern region, which has always been prosperous and the center of national wealth, is also constantly suffering from disasters. It turns out that The already dire financial situation has reached an unsustainable level.
The military pressure is increasing day by day, which can be called internal and external difficulties: not only the rogue bandits in Shaanxi have gradually become a climate, but the invasion of Donglu, who had been wreaking havoc outside the pass, has given him a great shock.
As if the situation in the Ming Dynasty was not bad enough, just when the She'an Rebellion finally subsided, another group of giant sea pirates came from Guangdong. They once invaded Qiongzhou and even hit the city walls of Guangzhou. Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, sent troops to attack. As a result, He Rubin, the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, was defeated miserably in Qiongzhou, and the Guangdong official army was almost wiped out. Then came the huge bandits that were killing and plundering places in Guangdong like snowflakes.
Fortunately, the Kun thieves besieged Guangzhou City for several months and retreated to the sea. Although the Guangdong side reported heavy losses to the local area, they finally did not fall into the state capital. They also issued an edict to exempt several prefectures and counties in the affected areas from Xia Qiu Liang Fu. This somewhat relieved his mood: Guangdong is now the second source of wages after the southeastern region. If Guangdong continues to be corrupted, he really feels that he will not be able to support this situation.
When he received the report from Guangdong Governor Li Fengjie that the bandit Kun had withdrawn from Humen and his whereabouts were unknown, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew from the hesitant tone and flickering words in the memorial and the Tang newspaper that most of the local officers and soldiers After a number of defeats, the army lost troops and generals, and the local area was corrupted. In the end, they just "followed and escorted" the Kun thieves.
This ending is already a good one for him: the bandits have finally not become a problem, and the counties that fell in Qiongzhou Prefecture have been recovered. The Ming Dynasty has shed too much blood on the Donglu and rogue bandits, and it can no longer withstand it. There is a new Kun thief. Although the Guangdong side lost troops and generals, it finally left no future troubles. Just for this, he is already thankful.
However, there were not many memorials that comforted him. There was always endless bad news delivered to his court every day. In recent months, the Dengzhou soldiers had become the court affairs that bothered him the most.
Mutiny was not a big deal in the first place. Since the Tianqi period, the army has become increasingly domineering. It has become commonplace to fight against pay, mutiny, and beat civil servants and kill generals. Especially in Dongjiang, it has become more and more domineering since Mao Wenlong was beheaded.
There has never been peace. Unexpectedly, the Liao people from Dongjiang are now revolting in Dengzhou, openly occupying prefectures and counties, and killing officials.
Things got worse and worse, and there was a report that the rebels had captured seven cities in a row - especially the fall of Dengzhou, which shocked him. Dengzhou is an important coastal defense town on the Liaodong front. It not only connects Dongjiang and Shandong, but also plays an important role in
It served as a port of communication with North Korea. The imperial court had been operating there for many years - especially after Sun Yuanhua became the governor of Dengzhou. The imperial court spent 800,000 taels of military expenses in Dengzhou every year to train new troops and build cannons. Now it was all wiped out.
How not to make him feel sad.
In anger, he tried several times to dismiss Sun Yuanhua from his post and question him, but he failed to make up his mind every time.
After Sun Yuanhua escaped from Dengzhou, he is now arranging defense and attack matters in Laizhou. If he is captured, there will be no suitable candidates to take over for a while. Secondly, most of the troops in Denglai area were led by Sun Yuanhua
Yes, if a new governor is sent, the morale of the army may be unstable. If trouble occurs again, it will be even worse.
Moreover, two great scholars, Xu Guangqi and Zhou Yanru, tried their best to exonerate Sun Yuanhua and petitioned the emperor to let him serve his crime.
These two bachelors were highly respected and relied upon by the emperor, and their opinions could not be ignored.
At the moment, what troubles the emperor the most is the fierce debate that has resulted.
At the beginning, it was a fierce battle to suppress, but gradually it became a concentrated attack on Xiong Mingyu and Zhou Yanru. A snow-like pile of impeachment memorials filled his case.
Xiong Mingyu is just fine, Zhou Yanru is capable and capable. He is an indispensable figure in the cabinet who can share his worries as a director. Now because of Sun Yuanhua's relationship, the memorials are all pointing the finger at Zhou Yanru - Sun Yuanhua was able to become the governor of Denglai.
Zhou Yanru's operation, and Sun Yuanhua's gifts of mink skin, ginseng and other Liaodong specialties to Zhou Yanru, were no secret to the emperor who controlled Dongchang and Jinyiwei.
"The ministers and ministers said that they wanted to punish Sun Yuanhua for his crime, but they were just trying to get rid of Zhou Yusheng." He thought to himself. There was some doubt in his heart. Could it be that there was a party dispute? What the emperor was most taboo about was this "party dispute."
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However, the recent spate of impeachments against Zhou Yanru has gradually shaken his original trust in the chief minister.
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