Xinshun 1730

Chapter 854 A penny stumps the emperor ([-])
Thinking about whether to continue to add a few "faithful words" to let the emperor settle down to govern Huanghuai.

However, after watching the running water in silence for a while, the emperor turned to the water conservancy official who dared to speak just now and said: "If I abandon the water transportation and use the sea transportation, I don't need to consider the ancestral tombs of the previous dynasty, nor the siltation of the water transportation. , do you have any method to really make the two Huai Rivers prosperous again in the Tang Dynasty?"

"There is no joke in front of you. At this time, it is about tens of millions of people. You have to think about it before you talk about it!"

The official immediately took a step forward, knelt on the ground, took out an album from his sleeve, and held it high with both hands.

The servant next to the emperor hurried over to pick up the album and handed it to the emperor.

The emperor took it, but didn't look at it. He weighed the thickness and weight of the album, nodded and said: "Since there is an album, it seems that you have put your heart into it. Can you tell me that it is possible to do it?"

The water conservancy official said seriously: "Your Majesty, since the Ming Dynasty, the biggest problem in water control has been the unclear purpose. Worrying about the ancestral mausoleum and water transportation, people's livelihood is not the first priority in water control."

"Everything must have a purpose, and then we can judge whether it is done well or not."

"I believe that if the purpose is to protect the ancestral mausoleum and water transportation, then the Ming people can be said to be first-class in water management."

"But if people's livelihood is the goal, the previous dynasty's flood control...is hard to say."

"Nowadays, Princess Xingguo advocates the development of the navy and seizes the South Seas. There is no need to consider the matter of water transportation, and it can be transported by sea. This dynasty can control the water, and the people's livelihood can be used as the goal."

This sounds like nothing wrong.Always look at the purpose first, and then you can evaluate whether you are doing well or not.

People call it painting lizards. After Kaka finished drawing the snake, he added four claws. This is obviously a very good painting.

But the purpose is to draw a snake. After Kaka finished drawing, I added four claws. This is obviously not a good drawing.

But the problem is that in the past dynasties, Dayu has always been inseparable from the pursuit of honoring the ancestors.What is the purpose of Dayu's flood control?At least it's not for protecting the ancestral mausoleum, nor for water transportation.

Furthermore, the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven, the Heavenly Dynasty, from the perspective of Confucian ideology, does it also aim at people's livelihood?

It is almost the default consensus of the whole world to draw snakes instead of lizards.

Is water control that does not take people's livelihood as the primary purpose good?Or is it not cured?

The water conservancy official was talking about the former dynasty, but in fact everything he said was Dashun.

There is no ancestral tomb in Dashun, but what was the purpose of flood control before Dashun?Is it people's livelihood first?

Which of the people present didn't know?
It's just hard to say that this dynasty is also the same, there is not much difference. As far as water control is concerned, the biggest difference is that Li Jiazu's tomb is in Shaanxi, so I use the previous dynasty to talk about it.

Let’s talk about the level of siltation in Hongze Lake and the Yellow River. Are these local officials and water conservancy officials not sure?How great is your ability to raise the water level of Hongze Lake, who is higher than the Yellow River that can rush out of a large piece of land?
It is getting higher and higher, just to wash away the sediment of the Yellow River and prevent the canal from being blocked by silting.The dam collapsed with a bang that day. Isn’t this a whole country from Huai’an to Jiangdu, Yangzhou?
The emperor didn't know that the official mentioned the previous dynasty, but every sentence was about the connotation of Dashun, and his heart was too conservative, otherwise it would be difficult to say today.

"Your words are true. If people's livelihood is the primary goal of water control, how should the water be controlled?"

The water conservancy official said: "The ministers and others came to the Yellow River several years ago, visited and surveyed everywhere. The ministers... really can't stand up to Dayu, and dare not say that the Yellow River will be governed once and for all."

"But if you can't control the Yellow River, can you also control the Huai River?"

"Now that Hongze Lake is getting higher and higher, this Hongze Lake is so high that the water in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River flows slowly. Once there is a heavy rain, problems in the lower reaches will also lead to floods in the upper reaches."

"Your Majesty, imagine that if there is a bottomless abyss in front of a river, the water behind it will naturally flow quickly. But if there is a lake in front of it that is as high as the upper reaches, the water will flow slowly. Once it rains, it will all be accumulated in the upper reaches. They couldn’t stay, so there were frequent floods in Anhui.”

Although the truth is not just such a truth, it involves a lot of physical principles theoretically, but if you don't know the principles, you may not know the concrete manifestations of some principles.

After explaining this truth, the emperor understood it relatively easily. He nodded and said, "I see. The frequent floods in Anhui these years have something to do with the downstream Hongze Lake?"

"Qing said that the lake is getting higher and higher, and the water upstream is difficult to walk down. So when it rains heavily, it is easy to break the embankment, isn't it?"

The official kowtowed and said: "I dare not say that this is the whole reason, but the relationship is indeed not small. The Yellow River itself is silted up, and the height of the river increases every year; and once the Yellow River floods, how can it be compared with Hongze Lake, which has been raised by manpower? At that time, it will be poured into the lake, the silt at the bottom of the lake will increase, and the lake will become higher."

"If the water flow is not smooth, disasters will easily occur upstream."

"As for the downstream Hongze Lake... Excuse me for speaking bluntly. Since the day when the previous dynasty chose water transportation, and the day when it chose to store the Huaihe River to prevent siltation, the catastrophe of the two Huaihe Rivers has been hanging over their heads. But, in the end When this disaster will fall, no one can say for sure."

"When the sediment is silted up, the Gaojia Weir needs to be built; the Gaojia Weir is built again, and the water level rises; One day, nothing can be done."

"It may be three or five feet above the ground, which can be controlled; but if this continues, the day of ten, twenty, and thirty feet will always come."

"Don't talk about the future, just say that if Hongze Lake breaks its embankment, how many people in southern Jiangsu will survive?"

"My Dashun dynasty will last forever, and I can't learn from the past. If I feel that the embankment will not collapse in two or three hundred years, I don't have to worry about it. Your Majesty is wise and wise. My dynasty will last forever, and I should count it for a hundred years or a thousand years."

Li Gan secretly smiled in his heart, he thought that Lord Xingguo was full of wisdom and schemes, the last time he talked about worldly affairs, he always felt the sorrow of the universe, he had no way to do it, and he had no heart.How can there be eternal generations?
If it is really for thousands of years, how can I cultivate it?
If there is the 400-year national fortune of Yan Han, I would like to be enough.How dare you think about the fate of Da Zhou's eight hundred years?

If the fate of the country can be ruined, I still remember the achievements of the Taizu Juntian Yibing, Taizong protecting the world and expelling the Tartars, and the Huaihe River and the Western Regions of Nanyang and Annan County in the future. Extinguish, Bo Yue falls short, but it can also be passed down through the ages.

But now it is like the sword of Damocles in the western story, who knows that something big will happen one day?It's okay on weekdays, and it can be treated, but if it really happens when I conquer Annan, Burma, and counties and counties in North Korea, how can I make it happen?
And if I rule the Huaihe River today, it will change the dynasty and sacrifice to me.Like Yu Xia in the Yin Dynasty, wouldn't they offer sacrifices to Dayu?For example, in the Western Qin Dynasty in the Han Dynasty, did Li Bing worship Li Bing?

Thinking of this, Li Gan said: "As you said, how should the Huaihe River be treated? Hearing what you said, it seems that Hongze Lake should be destroyed?"

The water conservancy official hurriedly said: "I dare not have such an idea. But if your majesty uses the sea instead of the canal in the future, then there is no need to consider storing the Huai River to flush the Yellow River. This Hongze Lake has nothing to do with the canal, but only with the Huai River. "

"The minister has been investigating for several years, and all ideas are put into the album."

"Minister, please dare to rule the Huaihe River."

"Let the water of Huaihe River flow into the sea and [-]% into the river."

"From Hongze Lake to the east, build a river channel to lead the water of Hongze Lake east to the sea. Since the Yellow River has seized the way for the Huaihe River to enter the sea, it will not follow the old road, and it will not be able to go, unless Hongze Lake is continuously raised."

"Since this is the case, another waterway can be built. Firstly, it can discharge water, and secondly, it can also irrigate millions of farmlands, turning the dry land into irrigated fields, and northern Jiangsu can become a grain warehouse."

"This is a five-point strategy for entering the sea."

"The so-called five-point entry into the river is based on the old wisdom of the predecessors. From Xuyi, a river channel was excavated, straightened, and connected to Gaoyou Lake. This allows the Huaihe River to flow into the river without all entering Hongze Lake. Gates are added to adjust in real time."

"This ancient river course has existed since ancient times. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were excavations, but halfway through the excavation, there was a great chaos and it could not be completed. In the 29th year of Jiajing in the previous dynasty, in order to protect the ancestral mausoleum, it was also planned to be excavated, but it was only halfway through. Just give up."

"The manpower and wealth of this dynasty are not comparable to those of the previous dynasty. If His Majesty really wants to do it once and for all, he can do it!"

"In this way, over time, Hongze Lake will gradually disappear. How can it last long if the Huaihe River doesn't get in?"

"When the water level of Hongze Lake drops, the water flow in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River will no longer be blocked, and the floods in the upper reaches will be greatly reduced."

"In case of heavy rain, the Yellow River will rise sharply, and the Yellow River can also be used to flood Hongze Lake to store floodwater and share the danger of the embankment."

Just saying that, the officials immediately buzzed, how big a project is this?
Li Gan also had an indescribable feeling in his heart, thinking: This is not very auspicious.

Digging canals, confiscating Sifang, building new schools, adding new departments, and other similar ones, such as opening canals, conquering Goguryeo, opening imperial examinations, changing the official system... Donkey, this is a bit familiar.

Quickly shook out these unreasonable associations in my mind, and asked, "How much does it cost to do this?"

The official was silent for a moment, then slowly said: "If you use the method of recruiting labor and hire people to work, instead of expropriating labor labor like the Tyranny of the Qin and Sui Dynasty, it is calculated as two taels of silver per person per month. When the water is dry, it will be dried out to form a prototype, and it will be repaired in the future."

"That's right, based on the earthwork that each person undertakes every day, 1000 million taels of silver will be needed in the first year. In the future, it will also need 300 million taels a year, and it will take four years to achieve great success. In the future, it will be maintained constantly, and it will not cost so much every year. But in the early stage, ironware, utensils, stone materials, grains, etc. must also be converted into money. Therefore, in the first year, a total of 1300 million taels of silver rice utensils will be needed, and another 1200 million taels will be needed in the next four years."

"Total, 2500 million taels... And according to the usual practice, we have to consider embezzlement and corruption. It should be calculated as 3000 million taels, which can't be done without a civil uprising."

This money is roughly exactly the total fiscal revenue of the Dashun government for one year.On average, exactly one Liao salary per year, exactly five years... Pinghuai.

As soon as he finished speaking, some ministers ignored the etiquette in front of the emperor and exclaimed: "3000 million taels? Let's ask the household government, can they collect so much money a year? Is the famine all over?"

(End of this chapter)