Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 51

Chapter 51 Parallel Rivers and Seas (Part [-])
Gao Wushi sighed, and said: "Because of Dayu's achievements in water control, his dredging method was regarded as the standard by later generations. The basic method of river control in the past dynasties was flood discharge, but they did not pay any attention to sediment silting. However, when Wang Mang ruled the country in the past, in the fourth year of the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, he called a group of ministers to seek opinions on river control and discuss the method of water control. At that time, Zhang Rong, the great Sima Shi, once proposed: "The nature of the water will flow down, and the disease will be scraped off to become empty and slightly deeper." The water in the river is very turbid, and it is known as one stone of water and six buckets of mud. Today, in the western counties and even the east of the capital, the people use water from the river and the Weishan Mountains to irrigate the fields. Spring and summer are dry, and when there is less water, the river is delayed and silted up. Slightly shallow. When the rain is heavy and the water is violent, it will overflow. However, the country is blocked by several dikes, and it is slightly higher than the flat land. It is like building a wall to live in the water. You can follow its own nature and do not re-irrigate. There is no benefit, there is no harm of excess.' Looking back now, it seems to be similar to what Pan Gong said."

The opinion of Zhang Rong mentioned by Gao Wushi is that the reason why the downstream is silted up is due to the opening of canals for irrigation in the upstream, which reduces the water in the river channel and slows down the flow rate.If several embankments are built high to keep the water in, and then the upstream irrigation is stopped, "all rivers will flow, the waterways will benefit themselves, and there will be no harm of overflow."This line of thinking is almost the same as Pan Jixun's proposition, and can be regarded as the earliest proponent of the theory of beaming water to attack sand.It is a pity that Wang Mang's new dynasty was a short-lived dynasty, so Zhang Rong's theory did not have time to be put into practice.After Zhang Rong, until Pan Jixun in the Ming Dynasty, this theory never attracted anyone's attention.

Gao Gong was very surprised, stretched out his finger and pointed at Gao Wushixu, and said: "You kid, although the books you read are a bit miscellaneous, it seems that they are not useless. Even the old man has never heard of this matter. You come to remind me." Then he paused for a while, and said decisively: "I don't think anyone has practiced this method, but the reason is not wrong... It's just that Weng Rushen is doing a good job at the moment, and he is also a famous river governor after all. If there is no reason, it is not easy to replace him."

As Gao Gong spoke, he slowly frowned.

Gao Yushi acted as a dog-headed military adviser again, offering advice: "Mr. Weng is in charge of any project now?"

"Of course there is." Gao Gong said: "He is the head of the river, and he must have projects on hand at any time. Right now, the more important projects in his hands are the chasm, the Jingshan, and the dredging of the Huaihe River, etc."

Gao Wushi laughed: "How long will it take for these projects to be completed?"

"I heard it's coming soon. Last time he made a prediction in the memorials, and it will probably be completed in the middle of this year. It will only take three or four months." Gao Gong is proficient in government affairs. After reading these memorials, he He has almost a photographic memory, so if he asks a question pragmatically, he can answer it immediately.

Gao Wushi laughed: "Isn't that easy to handle?" He blinked and said, "Weng Dali has been conserving the river for several years, he has made great achievements, and he has been promoted to be the minister of the Ministry of Industry in Beijing."

Gao Gong was startled, then laughed, then pointed at him and scolded with a smile: "You boy, who are you, the elder of the pavilion, who promised to be a servant of the Ministry of Industry without saying a word? This is not an official from Nanjing, but an official from Beijing. department!"

Infected by Gao Gong's attitude, Gao Yushi couldn't help but get carried away, and said triumphantly: "Of course I'm not Ge Lao, but it will always be a matter of time!"

Gao Gong paused when he heard the words, his speech slowed down, and he muttered: "You have such ambition... It's also a good thing, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. If you want to rule the world and criticize the world one day, you must do so now." You must study hard, how can you enter the cabinet if you are not serving the Imperial Academy?"

Gao Wushi hurriedly restrained his thoughts, cupped his hands and said, "Sanbo has taught you the right thing, and my nephew will definitely remember it." But the attitude is the attitude. After all, he was already in his early thirties before crossing, and he really didn't need to listen to Gao Gong's countless times emphasizing the title of the gold list This matter, so I immediately changed the topic: "But even if the river control strategy is implemented, my nephew still thinks that sea transportation is inevitable."

"Oh?" Gao Gong really didn't dare to underestimate his young nephew, and immediately asked, "What's the reason?"

Gao Wushi said: "Just now, Sanbo, you also said that you have paid nearly 2 taels of tax in one year in just one month of port. And you should pay attention, Yuegang is only a newly opened port, and the number of ships entering and leaving is very limited. In fact, the system of the imperial court is too strict, according to my nephew's judgment, the tax money that he will be able to collect in the future should be far more than it is now."

Gao Gong asked thoughtfully: "You mean... Tianjin's Dagu port is also open like a moon port?"

"If possible, of course it would be the best." Gao Yushi replied immediately.

But Gao Gong shook his head: "I'm afraid this matter is still difficult to handle. There are too many people in the court who object to it, and now the old man is also a heavenly official, and he is trying to solve the problem of overstaffed officials in the court. At the same time, he also needs to organize the frontier army... ...Qi Yuanjing had previously asked the imperial court to transfer all the troops from the nine sides to Jizhou for training one by one. The cabinet discussed this matter many times, but it still couldn't be done. This old man is also very difficult."

Gao Pragmatic is aware of the frontier army training issue. At the beginning of this matter, Tan Lun, a famous minister who has contributed to the suppression of Japanese pirates, proposed to let Qi Jiguang train the soldiers of the Jiliao generation. Later, the training was quite effective. The army went to Jizhou for training in rotation.

If this suggestion is seen by future generations, it is of course great—what kind of person is Qi Jiguang?That is the Ming army god who looked back on his life before he died and said, "I have fought more than a hundred battles in the north and south, land and water, and have not lost a single defeat" in the past 30 years!

A general who has achieved brilliant results in one battle is enough to be called a famous general, and there are quite a few such generals in China's thousands of years of history; but a general who has been fighting for decades, by From the south to the north, from the water to the land, but there is no record of "a small loss", all of them are victories, and almost all of them are big victories at a very small cost... If this kind of person is not As a military god, what kind of talent is worthy of being called a military god?
But Gao Wushi knew that it was not the time to discuss Qi Jiguang. After all, the road had to be walked step by step, and things had to be done one by one, and Qi Jiguang's backstage in the court was actually Zhang Juzheng, so Gao Wushi had to slowly plan for Qi Jiguang's appointment. , Push slowly.

He changed the topic back: "Sanbo, Tianjin can't be as open as Yuegang. We can find a better excuse: for example, open Tianjin as a port for grain transshipment and armament delivery."

This is the way of thinking step by step. First, it will be used as a transshipment of grain and military equipment to avoid being opposed by too many courtiers. When the port is built and expanded, and everything is ready in the future, Tianjin can directly open the port with just a word.

But Gao Gong was a little puzzled: "The grain transfer old man understands, what does this military equipment transfer mean?"

Gao Wushi explained: "In the 26th year of Jiajing, Dalai Xun Khan of the Chahar tribe was afraid of being merged by Alda, and led [-] troops to move southward, and moved to the southeastern half of the Daxing'an Mountains. Since then, the pressure on Jiliao has gradually increased. , the required armaments and food supplies are increasing day by day. Originally, these materials had to go to Liaoyang, and they had to travel through Shanhaiguan and Jinzhou to Liaoyang. The cost of land transportation was already huge, but this took a detour, which was even more wasteful. Money and food. If Tianjin Port is well utilized, the imperial court’s materials can arrive from Tianjin Port to Liangfangkou (Note: Yingkou for later generations), and then transfer from sea boats to river boats, go up the Sancha River and Taizi River, and reach Liaoyang! Not only can you save countless supplies and food, but you can also avoid being beaten up by Mongolian Tartars.”

Gao Gong listened, not only pondered, but after a while he said: "This matter is very important, I still need to think about it carefully." Then the topic changed: "By the way, the old man has already discussed with the Holy Spirit in secret about the 'playmate'. The Holy Majesty may start to do it soon, if you have any plans, you should hurry up."

Gao Wushi smiled slightly: "That's easy...my nephew will leave Beijing tomorrow, and I will go to my villa for a field trip first."

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(End of this chapter)

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