In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 383: Your Majesty, you cannot imitate Yang Guang

This businessman usually travels from Zhejiang to Fujian. Because Fujian has few fields and is short of grain, he often sells grain here to Fujian.

Now the 30 stone grain is only [-]% off, of course I am happy.

When he bought it, he didn't know that these people were stealing from the imperial court. He didn't know until the burning of the granary in Yangzhou that something serious was going on.

But the merchants had made money and sold their grain, so naturally they didn't dare to say anything. Anyway, there were officials in front of them.

There were a lot of people involved in this matter, and there was also a lot of foot power. The coachman took five nights and five moves before it was emptied.

It took two months to transport the grain, and we had to move it every once in a while.

Each person gets two coins per night.

Because there were so many people involved, many people wanted to report it afterwards, but the court only rewarded the first crew member to come.

In addition to 20 guan, the crew member received an additional 20 guan, which was half the price of the grain. On the day of the reward, the court organized a carriage to go to the street and asked him to stand on the carriage. Behind the carriage, [-] guan and Huizi were pulled, and they paraded all the way through the streets, giving They looked around the whole of Yangzhou, beating gongs and drums along the way, which shocked the city of Yangzhou. Then they went to various counties one after another, and they all paraded through the streets.

The crew member was also quite depressed, but there was nothing he could do. The court asked him to cover his face, so he was either not very afraid or wanted to run away with the money afterward.

Five of the other six families were arrested one after another. One of them was very smart and did not tell anyone where he was going. He took his family and flew away, and was given [-] guan of money. The court never caught him.

Afterwards, the court spent 40 guan, the crew 20 guan, and Qian Baoshan 20 guan, but there was no loss at all, and there was still blood profit.

Although the grain sold could not be recovered, the relevant officials Chang Wencai and others were executed and their property confiscated. The court probably recovered tens of thousands of blood from these people.

Then the family of the merchant who was responsible for collecting grain was executed. Only the relatives and crew members who reported him survived.

He was extremely unconvinced at the time, but Quan Yong asked him, why didn't you report it immediately when you knew it was food being stolen from the imperial court?If you report it, you have made a meritorious deed, and the businessman will be speechless.

The imperial court seized more than a dozen large ships, fields, mansions, etc. from this businessman's house, worth approximately 50 yuan.

In this way, more than 50 guans were recovered and more than [-] guans were earned.

Some of the important people involved were killed by the whole family. Qian Baoshan was promoted to a higher official level because of his meritorious service. He was promoted from a local official to a local county lieutenant, and from a local official to an official.

But he still served as an official in Guangling County, and people in the local officialdom despised him.

First he was greedy and silent, then he reported on his relatives and superior officials. Not only did he become rich all of a sudden, he also became an official.

But Qian Baoshan was so proud, so what, I am now rich and an official.

This incident made all officials in the Song Dynasty know one thing. Never make mistakes in the future. If you make a mistake, remember to report it as soon as possible. The first person to report it will definitely make a lot of money.

There were also a large number of footmen and horsemen who participated in transporting grain. All the money received by each person was returned, and they were reprimanded ten times, which was regarded as a light mercy.

Not long after the Yangzhou case was solved, and before the official news reached Guangdong, someone took the initiative to report the Guangzhou granary case.

The imperial court killed another group of relevant personnel.

Once these two cases were solved like this, no one in the Song Dynasty would dare to do this in the future.

Either he has extraordinary abilities and sells grain alone. If he brings two people together to do this, he has to worry about the other party reporting him back.

After the incident, one of the six households was never caught. Zhao Yurui began to prepare for the promotion of identity cards. In the future, when moving from one place to another, they must report to the Yamen of both places. Just attract talents.

At this stage, as a tool of the ruling class, control personnel are still necessary.

Quan Yong was also extremely dissatisfied with Qian Baoshan. This man was greedy first and reported later, even his relatives were not spared. However, he was promoted and made rich, which was simply unworthy of him.

Emperor Zhao Yurui persuaded him loudly: "It has to be like this, so that everyone can see the danger of people's hearts, so that other people who want to be greedy will not dare to test people's hearts. Lao Zhu cannot cure corruption by killing people alone."

"We must incite the common people to fight against the common people and make them kill each other. There is no corruption that cannot be cured."

Quan Yong didn't know who Lao Zhu was, but what the emperor said must make sense. From now on, the Song Dynasty would not see any granaries being burned or stolen, and no one would dare to try again.

Of course, this time Quan Yong stayed outside for more than half a year and found many problems.

Such as wear and tear, and replacing the old with the new.

For example, in the Ming Dynasty, the official grain transported to the capital from various places was legitimate loss, "due to man-made and mildew, transportation and personal use, etc.". Therefore, local officials at that time brought blank account books with seals to the capital to collect the actual figures. When filling in the accounts, Lao Zhu believed that printing first and writing later was cheating the emperor. This was the famous empty seal case in the Ming Dynasty. Lao Zhu was so angry that he killed tens of thousands of officials, almost all the officials in the early Ming Dynasty. .

But it is useless to kill like this. In the late Ming Dynasty, more than half of the grain transportation was lost before leaving the capital, and the loss on the road was calculated as a quarter or even a third.

Therefore, officials of all dynasties, big and small, were very good at doing this kind of thing.

Nowadays, the grain transportation in the Song Dynasty certainly suffered losses.

The imperial court sometimes allocates grain. For example, if we transport 20 shi from Lin'an to Wenzhou, we will need thirty ships, and each ship will be allocated crew members according to its size.

Usually it is one hundred cents per person per day, plus two kilograms of grain.

Then there are tailwinds and headwinds along the way, and the slowest one from Lin'an to Wenzhou is fifteen days.

This loss is originally fixed.

You have a hundred crew members, and the amount of food they consume every day is fixed.

Moreover, before each departure, the imperial court would give each ship some meat and vegetables, which were fixed consumption.

But just like that, various accidents such as mildew, accidental falling into the water, etc. occurred in some places.

Then from one place to another, it must be the slowest number of days.

For example, the trip from Lin'an to Wenzhou might actually take five days, but he had to drive at the slowest speed to fifteen days.

So in December of the first year of Yuanzhen, the imperial court issued a new policy and carried out restructuring.

Assume that from Lin'an to Wenzhou, 20 shi of grain will be transported in the future. It will be 20 shi offshore and 20 shi on shore. Not a single stone should be missing. Mildew and falling into the water are all problems of the transport personnel. The transportation is contracted to private merchants.

Before the imperial court transported it to the ship, the contractor also inspected it on site and did a good job of waterproofing and mildew prevention. Unless the ship capsizes, it will definitely not fall into the water.

If the contractor is confident, he will accept it; if he is not sure, he will not accept it.

The imperial court gave wages ranging from [-] to [-] guan for every [-] dan according to the distance traveled.

At this time, according to the price of grain, 500 guan is just over 5.00 shi, which is equivalent to a maximum loss of [-]%.

That is, the court gives money to merchants, and merchants help with transportation. If the luck is not good, they will lose money.

But with good luck, you can make money.

The largest grain transport ship in the Song Dynasty could carry ten thousand stones. It was the first "ten thousand stone ship" produced during the Shenzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty. Later in the Southern Song and Yuan Dynasties, the maximum was eight thousand nine thousand stones, and the lowest was one or two thousand stones.

According to the "Haidao Jing" collected in Ningbo's "Tianyi Pavilion", in the Yuan Dynasty, "since Yanyou, sea ships have been jointly built, the big ones are eight or nine thousand shi of grain, and the small ones are [-] shi."

However, there are few large ships of this type. Zhao Yurui's Song Dynasty mainly used one or two thousand stones on the Neijiang River, and could reach three thousand or even five thousand stones on the sea.

In the later Ming Dynasty, it was mainly five hundred to one thousand stones, but one stone in the Ming Dynasty was heavier than that in the Song Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, flat-bottomed sand boats, Zhejiang egg boats, and Sanbuxiang boats were mostly used to transport grain, and the larger ones could carry two to three thousand stones.

The size of grain ships in each dynasty varied, but losses were all calculated.

If Zhao Yurui doesn't do this now, I won't count your losses for you. If I transport 20 shi out of the capital for you, you'll still have to pay 20 shi when you get there.

In this way, businessmen have to calculate whether they can make money and whether they will lose money before deciding whether to do it.

The merchants used two thousand dan to transport it by ship, and only needed fifteen crew members. Ten thousand dan was equivalent to sixty crew members.

The journey in five days is [-] kilometers.

Each crew member has one hundred guan per day, and the expenditure for five days is only [-] guan.Including food expenses, about [-] guan.

Then the most important thing is the labor fee. The sixty crew members need to move 300 shi twice on average to unload the goods. More than 120 bags. According to the current charging rate in the Song Dynasty, each bag is ten cents, plus the loading labor fee. It will cost about [-] strings.

The merchant paid about 160 guan in total. For every 100 shi of grain transported, he could earn more than [-] guan.

So some businessmen can consider doing this kind of thing.

In addition, during the trip that lasts more than a month, the court will also discuss additional subsidies with the merchants. In short, the loss on Zhao Yurui's side is guaranteed to be less than [-]% no matter how far it is.

Their sea ship is now transported to Haisamwei. It takes more than two months to bypass Goryeo and transport 20 stone grains. The cost will not exceed the price of 20 stone grains, and they only pay money. The power is still [-] stone grain.

Moreover, after contracting in this way, the businessman also has a supervisory role.

When merchants receive 20 shi of grain in Lin'an, they have to sign and pledge it. You have to be like the Ming Dynasty. As soon as you come out of the warehouse, it becomes [-] shi when you arrive at the dock. The merchants won't accept it.

If this kind of person is transported to other places, he will be beheaded. If he is short of one hundred thousand dan, his whole house will not be searched.

Water transportation was a government-run operation in all dynasties. When Zhao and Rui entered the second year of Yuanzhen, they changed it to private contracted transportation. This saved the court trouble, money, and grain.

At the same time, in order to protect the interests of merchants and ensure that they could work in this business with peace of mind, the imperial court selected merchants who were willing to specialize in this business and signed contracts with them.

The minimum signing period is ten years, and there is no upper limit. If your family is willing, you can do this for 100 years.

As long as you do not collude with the enemy and judge the country, or rebel and cause chaos, the court cannot change merchants at will.

In this way, some businessmen are willing to buy fifty or thirty ships specifically for this purpose.Not to mention 100 years, at least Zhao Yurui has been in office for decades, and your family can continue to work.

Otherwise, if someone buys ten boats and only works for a year or two, and the court changes you, the loss will be heavy, and the boat will be sold at a discount.

These businessmen who specialized in doing business for the court would later be named imperial merchants, and the court would give them various preferential treatment and care to encourage the businessmen to take the initiative to help the court.

After the various regulations of the imperial court came out, there were many businessmen willing to contract, and they had to sign up to fight for them.

In fact, transporting 100 shi only earns more than 100 guan, and the profit is quite low. A ship that can transport [-] shi of grain can earn far more than [-] guan by transporting other goods. Most maritime merchants do not know how to do this kind of work.

However, because there are various other preferential treatment for transporting grain to the imperial court, the imperial court also promised to undertake other projects, including some non-military construction projects, and began to contract with merchants. The products sold by the imperial court are also open to merchants. After so many preferential treatment, Later, transporting grain for the imperial court became a good job. Even if you pay for it, you can make money in other ways.

In the second year of Yuanzhen, Zhao Yurui summoned officials from the Ministry of Industry to consider the management of the Yellow River.

The management of the Yellow River has been a big problem in history. In the history of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was really no way. There were frequent wars. The Mongolian, Jin and Song Dynasties were so happy that no one had the time to control the Yellow River.

The Lianghuai River Basin close to the Yellow River was originally one of the areas with the most and best grain fields in the Song Dynasty. However, due to the lack of management of the Yellow River, problems were everywhere and a large number of high-quality grain fields were lost.

Not long after the New Year in the second year of Yuanzhen, Xu Yuan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, brought a group of officials from the Ministry of Industry to the Xuande Hall.

These officials have been observing the Yellow River for the past two years, looking for directions and means of governance. They have also done a lot of homework and will formally report to the emperor today.

Chen Dai, an official from the Ministry of Industry, reported to the emperor that the management of the Yellow River started from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, focusing on embankment construction. Before that, it was mainly about diversion. By the Han Dynasty, the Yellow River lacked many embankments, mainly due to the development of the main river channel at that time. and improper governance.

In the third year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Yellow River burst its banks at Huzikou and flooded sixteen counties. Emperor Wu sent 20 migrant workers to block it, but failed, and the floods continued for more than [-] years.

Until the second year of Yuanfeng, more than 20 years later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty refused to accept and made up his mind to deal with him again.

This time he mobilized tens of thousands of troops to do this, went to the scene personally, and ordered all officials and generals to take the lead (the officials also carried soil to fill ditches for civilian use). Hey, he finally got it done this time.

Zhao Yurui couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.

All Chinese people are like this. Whatever you do, you have to be led by the leader first, right?
For the first time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only sent a few officials and led [-] civilians into battle. It was a waste of money and the result was ineffective.

The second time, a large number of officials were sent to let the officials go first, and it actually happened.

He immediately interrupted Chen Dai: "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can learn this trick."

"Anyone who manages the Yellow River, relevant officials and local officials are all qualified. If the management is not good, no one should go home."

"Good governance is considered meritorious."

The officials from the Ministry of Industry smiled bitterly, but they had to think that the emperor's move might be useful.

Chen Dai went on to say that in the 12th year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court sent Wang Jing to control the Yellow River. This man was very good at water conservancy. This time, he sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers. This soldier may also mean to be a soldier, or he may mean to be a commoner. , but according to the experience of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the ones who might not be able to mobilize are the soldiers.

They did a good job this time. They first built a systematic embankment of the Yellow River, and then built a new river channel. They also renovated the Bianqu channel and built a new Bianqu water gate.The "river-bian diversion" will benefit from flood control, navigation and river stabilization.The Xinhe River separated from the old route in present-day Puyang City, passed through Fan County, Dong'a, Binhai, and finally entered the sea at Lijin.This river course was maintained until the first year of Jingyou reign of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (1034), and there was no major change of course in the past thousand years.

This repair has lasted for thousands of years, which shows that the wisdom and ability of the ancients are still quite strong. Just let professional people do professional things.

But their luck was not good after entering the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was an era when the Yellow River disaster occurred, far more than the previous dynasties.

At that time, because Kaifeng, the capital city, was located downstream of the Yellow River, the Northern Song Dynasty actually paid great attention to it, but it was useless to pay attention to it. Too many disasters occurred in the Yellow River.

In the eighth year of Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty (1048), the Yellow River burst at Shanghuxun in Chanzhou (now northeast of Puyang, Henan Province) and changed its course to the north, passing through Neihuang, Daming, Jinghai, and finally entering the sea in Tianjin, which was called "Beiliu".In the seventh year of Jiayou's reign (1062), the Yellow River burst again at Daming No. [-] (now west of Nanle County, Henan Province).

The Great Song Dynasty was in a state of distress and repairs were made everywhere. Later, when the Northern Song Dynasty fell, it would be difficult to do this.

Neither the Jin Kingdom nor the Southern Song Dynasty paid attention to the Yellow River. By the time the Jin Kingdom fell, there had been no fixed river channel in the lower reaches of the Yellow River for so many years.

What is the concept? When there is a flood, the river course changes.

After that, it was not until the reign of Emperor Yuan Shun that the Yuan Dynasty began to regulate the Yellow River. This was already more than 100 years later.

According to Chen Dai, the control of the Yellow River in the two Song Dynasties was concentrated in the Northern Song Dynasty, mainly three times, but all failed.

These three emperors were Song Renzong, Song Shenzong, and Song Zhezong. All three emperors wanted to do one thing, which was to change the course of the Yellow River, and then they all failed.

The person who did the worst was Song Shenzong, but Wang Anshi had to take the blame for this, because it was Wang Anshi who presided over it.

When Zhao Yurui heard this, he immediately interrupted Chen Dai: "Wang Anshi knows about water conservancy construction?"

The officials from the Ministry of Works looked at each other and did not dare to say anything.

The emperor often said, let professional people do professional things. Wang Anshi, you know Qibamao Water Conservancy.

Wang Anshi created a dike shortage in Cao Village. The consequences were quite serious. Not only did Cao Village collapse its dike, but it also flooded about 3000 million acres of fertile farmland, turning the once prosperous Huaihe River area into a "dead city" in an instant.

Zhao Yurui jumped up when he heard this.

He searched for grain fields everywhere. How difficult would it be to confiscate 3000 million acres of fields?The great master Wang Anshi flooded 3000 million acres in one fell swoop.

But later Song Zhezong said that I was not convinced. I must have done a good job and was wiser than the previous emperors.

The result was another failure.

Later generations of scholars also said that the reason why the Northern Song Dynasty perished was because of the management of the Yellow River.

Because of poor governance, a large area nearby suffered heavy disasters and displaced many people, seriously weakening the national power of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Speaking of this, Chen Dai and several other officials looked at Zhao Yurui cautiously. They probably meant that the Song Dynasty is now in great power. Your Majesty, do you want to wait a little longer?Your Majesty, can you not imitate Yang Guang?

Emperor Zhao Yurui, like Yang Guang, seemed to want to accomplish all the big things during his reign. He had just negotiated peace with Mongolia and had to regulate the Yellow River. Everyone was quite worried. If someone like Song Shenzong did something magical, It would be ridiculous if tens of millions of acres of farmland were submerged.

Of course, there are more than these bad things during the two Song Dynasties. "In the second year of Jianyan, Du Chong stayed in Tokyo. Hearing that there was a gold master, he cut the Yellow River into the Qinghe River to defeat the enemy. Naturally, the river disappeared."

The bastard Du Chong will also go down in history, but at that time Zhao Gou had just established the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty had to shoulder the blame.

Not long after Zhao Gou ascended the throne, the Jin soldiers arrived. Du Chong, who was staying in the east, looked at the local map and could not help but imagine opening a hole in the Yellow River. Then he saw many Jin soldiers being washed away by the river. After leaving, those who were not washed away could no longer walk in the mud.

I am Cao, I am too smart. Du Chong just did what he said without any hesitation, and immediately had people break the banks of the Yellow River.The place where the embankment burst was Ligudu in present-day Hua County.

Then there was no more, not a single Jin soldier was washed away, countless people of the Song Dynasty were washed away, and countless grain fields of the Song Dynasty were flooded.

Duchong's lack of dikes this time was the most serious event in history that caused the Yellow River to be opened up and caused the most serious losses. It had a greater impact than the flooding of 3000 million fertile fields by Shenzong and Wang Anshi.

He caused the Yellow River to flow southward in a sense, and it was not changed back until more than 700 years later, during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty.

Over the past 700 years, the Huanghuai River Basin has been plagued by floods. The river course has drifted and changed year by year, causing the people and dynasties to suffer.

After hearing so much about the management of the Yellow River, Zhao Yurui became a little panicked.

After all, he is not a water conservancy expert, so Chen Dai means that this matter cannot be rushed, let alone messed around with.

If you follow Shen Zong or Zhe Zong, you might end up doing great things.

After thinking for a while, he asked the officials: "I have summoned you all here to ask for advice. You can all express your opinions and talk about your own ideas. You are all the best water conservancy experts in the Song Dynasty and can speak freely. I will never blame——"

The ministers looked at each other, and some of them didn't recognize each other.

Today, the best water conservancy experts at this time in the Southern Song Dynasty are gathered here.

The most famous are Wang Gang and Wu Qian, the famous water conservancy officials, and Xu Shiqi, the grandson of Xu Kechang, a water conservancy expert in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Xu Kechang built the Yungang Weir in the northeast of Tinglin Town, Shanghai in later years. This water conservancy project was known as "one of the eighteen weirs to defend the seawall" in history.It blocked seawater intrusion, protected farmland farming, resisted waterlogging and salty water, made local people live and work in peace and contentment, and played a great role in promoting economic prosperity at that time.

Wang Gang is now in his 40s. He has served as the governor of Guiyang, Yiyang, Lanxi and other places. In the 14th year of Jiading, he was informed of Shaoxing Prefecture. When he was in Shaoxing, he found that the Xixing Canal was blocked in a large area, which seriously affected water transportation and private water transportation. .Wang Gang reported to the court and requested the dredging of the Xixing Canal. He spent only more than 1 yuan. This dredging project dredged more than 50 miles of the Xixing Canal waterway, making "the river smooth, the boats unobstructed, and everyone can use it conveniently."At the same time, he presided over the construction of a sluice at the mouth of the south bank of the Qiantang River to prevent silt from entering the embankment and prevent water from flowing out of the Xixing Canal, ensuring the smooth flow of the canal.

Later, because a typhoon affected people's fields, he rebuilt the seawall to withstand wind and waves, making great contributions to local water conservancy construction.

After Zhao Yurui came to power, most of the county officials across the country were replaced. At that time, Wang Gang was one of the few who had not been replaced. He went to Beijing the year before last and served as the minister of the Ministry of Industry, specifically responsible for water conservancy matters.

Wu Qian was more powerful than Wang Gang. He first passed the judgment on Jiaxing Prefecture under Zhao Yurui. Last year, he learned about Qingyuan Prefecture. This is where Emperor Zhao Yurui started his career. Wu Qianqian attached great importance to water conservancy in Qingyuan Prefecture, especially Dinghai. County Zhao and Rui stayed in a place with complete water conservancy facilities. He also specially investigated the local water conservancy and believed that water conservancy greatly affects agriculture.

Wu Qian is regarded as the most famous water conservancy expert in the Song Dynasty. He not only attached great importance to water conservancy construction, but also made many water conservancy inventions. Among them, he invented the unified "Shui Ze" (water level standard) sign for the whole city - the establishment of the "Shui Ze Pavilion" The water level in the pavilion is a monument, and the water level warning line with the word "flat" is engraved on the monument, which serves as the standard line for opening the gate to release water, and then calculating the standard line for closing the gate and closing the water, etc., which are all important inventions of water conservancy technology.

It can be said that Zhao Yurui's era was also quite good, because more than half of the most famous water conservancy experts in the Song Dynasty were in his era.

In particular, Wu Qian is an expert among experts and an absolute water conservancy talent.

After seeing Zhao Yurui speak, there was silence for a moment. Everyone was looking around, probably to see who would speak first.

After a while, Wu Qian spoke first.

"Your Majesty only plans to control the Yellow River first, or other waterways?"

Zhao Yurui asked back: "Don't ask me, just stand on your own side, what should you do?"

"You consider yourselves emperors."

"..." Everyone.

(End of this chapter)