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

Chapter 384 The endless woods

Zhao Yurui's words were quite shocking in ancient times.

If they didn't know who Zhao Yurui was, and everyone had worked with Zhao Yurui for many years, if it were another emperor, everyone would have knelt down and said they were guilty and would have said they were afraid.

Chen Daize immediately thought to himself, if I were the emperor, I would definitely not be able to do it now and leave it to the next emperor.

The Song Dynasty was flourishing under the rule of Zhao Yurui, and officials like Chen Dai very much hoped not to mess with it.

This kind of officer is very good in peacetime and can be reused, but what time is it now?
Mongolia is eyeing the enemy in the north and may move south at any time. Zhao Yurui hopes to improve his national power and fight against Mongolia, so he cannot do it without struggling.

Other officials only saw that regulating the Yellow River required a lot of labor and financial resources and consumed national power.

But Zhao Yurui is not short of money or people now. The court has money and there are people outside. (Because he planned to let the prisoners on the battlefield do these things in the future.)
You have to recruit civilians during peacetime, and you can use captives during war. Now Zhao Yurui has a large number of non-Han captives and civilians on hand, who can all be used as free labor.

It’s not necessary at this time. When there is no war during peacetime, and there is no source of labor, will we mobilize the people in the country again?

No one can guess the emperor's thoughts for the time being.

But after hearing what the emperor said, everyone remained silent for the first time, as if they were really thinking about what they would do if they were the emperor?
After a while, it was Wu Qian who spoke first: "I think we should first control the Huanghuai River Basin east of Li Gudu."

What Wu Qian is talking about is the sequelae of the god Du Chong's lack of embankments.

This is indeed one of the important rivers that caused headaches in the Song Dynasty and even in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties in the future, and it has influenced later generations for more than 700 years.

There was an uproar, and it was clear that many officials thought this was too difficult.

Otherwise, the Yuan and Ming dynasties would not have continued to develop.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty also put in a lot of effort.

Most of the officials at the scene seemed to be opposed to Wu Qian's idea. Xu Shiqi even bluntly said that we could start from a small place and go through the canal to the Huaihe River, and then to the Yellow River, and gradually work our way up. This idea seemed good, and many people at the scene expressed their support.

But who is Zhao Yurui? He is not afraid of taking big steps and immediately asked Wu Qian: "Go on and tell me your thoughts."

"I dare you." Wu Qian looked around and said solemnly: "Our dynasty has regained its homeland and also owns Ningxia (Western Xia). Lin'an City is no longer suitable to be the capital. With your Majesty's majesty and great strategy, we will definitely move the capital in the future. .”

Wu Qian's second sentence shocked everyone. Except for Zhao Yurui, everyone else was shocked.

Because of the matter of moving the capital, people started to write letters last year, and most people wanted to move back to Kaifeng. Zhao and Rui stayed in the middle, and the ministers didn't know the emperor's intention. However, there are still people writing letters about moving the capital from time to time.

Wu Qian believed that Emperor Zhao Yurui would definitely refute or even angrily rebuke anything he did that he was unhappy with. When he wanted to collect taxes and land from landlords, the officials strongly opposed it. What was the result?Kill directly.

Therefore, although the emperor remained silent on the matter of moving the capital, he did not refute it. The emperor was definitely considering it.

He obviously guessed correctly. Zhao Yurui didn't react at all to his words. He just looked at them and motioned for him to continue speaking.

At the same time, Zhao Yurui also secretly praised in his heart, look, what is a pattern? This is called a pattern.

Others only saw the management of the Yellow River, but Wu Qian had already thought of moving the capital from the management of the Yellow River.

At this time, Wu Qian was already looking higher than the others in Zhao Yurui's eyes.

"No matter where our capital is moved in the future, the canal will be used the most. The canal is responsible for the transportation of grain, silver, and military supplies, as well as various functions such as commercial exchanges and even the movement of officials, candidates, and envoys, maintaining the smooth flow of the canal. It can be said that it is the foundation of our country and the most important thing."

"Good." Zhao Yurui nodded, thinking that Wu Qian was very discerning and there was nothing wrong with what he said.

At this time, other ministers did not seem to object. The water post roads of the Song Dynasty were very important. Not to mention the grain supply, the Song Dynasty now relied on the water post roads for a large amount of military supplies and artillery.

"And the canal is connected and intertwined with the Huaihe River and the Yellow River. Their management is inseparable. It should be considered and planned in a unified way, centralized management, and multiple points should be taken into account. Even the Huanghuai estuary must be taken into consideration, and we should strive to use the least amount of time. Use human and financial resources to achieve the best results.”

It must be said that Wu Qian was quite powerful and had a particularly far-sighted vision. His statement was not proposed until nearly 300 years later, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, by Pan Jixun, a water conservancy expert in the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, everyone managed water conservancy. If there was a problem with the Yellow River today, we would do the Yellow River. If there was a problem with the Huaihe River tomorrow, we would do the Huaihe River. In a few days, if an official happened to be an official next to the canal, we would manage the canal. Everyone did their own thing.

Including Wu Qian in Qingyuan Prefecture and Wang Gang in Shaoxing Prefecture. Although everyone is in the same province, they work in different areas.

It was Pan Jixun of the Ming Dynasty who was the first person in history to propose unified management and plan the canal, Yellow River, Huaihe River and estuary together.

Now Wu Qian took the lead in proposing a unified plan and centralized management in front of Zhao and Rui. He first carefully surveyed all sections of the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and Canal, and then decided which side needed to be dredged, which side needed to be embanked, and which side needed to be raised. Which side needs to be blocked, with smooth planning and unified management, the effect will definitely be the best.

Moreover, Wu Qian said that many officials from the Ministry of Industry had done a lot of preliminary work, because the emperor had long wanted to manage the river, and officials from the Ministry of Industry had been running around in the past two years.

Wu Qian had read the information, but felt it was not complete enough. The Ministry of Works ran anywhere randomly, mainly based on previous experience. He needed to take people to run again. He had to run the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and canals in the Song Dynasty. Design on the fly, estimate costs and manpower, and finally submit the plan, and make decisions together with all the experts.

Wu Qian didn't even say that he wanted to ask the emperor for his opinion. He simply said that he would study and decide with the experts.

The other officials are a bit weird.

But of course Zhao Yurui didn't mind. He supported the case and said with a smile: "Professional matters must be handled by professional people. Wu Aiqing said it well. According to Aiqing, how many years is expected to take, how much money will be spent, and how many people will be needed?"

Wu Qian said: "The preliminary survey and design will take at least one to two years."

There was another uproar all around.

Because everyone has been working outside for two years, I didn't expect Wu Qian to work for another one or two years.

But this time Wu Qian wants to manage the Yellow River, Huaihe River, and canal together. One or two years is really not much.

"The entire governance will take at least three to five years, and if it takes longer, it will take eight, nine, or even more than ten years. Millions of people will be mobilized in various places, and tens of millions will be spent."

The ministers were amazed again. This is simply a huge project, which can be compared with Yang Guangkai Canal.

Zhao Yurui's expression remained unchanged: "The canal water post road is the top priority. I want the canal of the Song Dynasty to extend in all directions. We may also need to dredge and dig new river channels-"

Wu Qian said flatly: "This may take one or two generations or decades to do."

Of course, he said at the end, this must ensure that the country is peaceful and peaceful, there is no war, and it cannot be like Yang Guang's crazy overdraft of national power and people.

Wu Qian is also very courageous, and he directly said that he cannot be like Yang Guang.

Everyone was worried about him.

Zhao Yurui was very happy, and immediately decided to establish the Huanghuai Canal and Sea Access Engineering Bureau, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Industry but under the direct control of Emperor Zhao Yurui.

Wu Qian is the minister and director of the Ministry of Industry. He mobilized a large number of water conservancy experts from the Ministry of Industry and local governments, and allocated 100 million yuan in the first year, specifically for them to conduct field surveys, designs, and determine plans and areas that needed treatment.

Entering the second year of Yuanzhen, Zhao and Rui determined a major event in the next ten years, coordinating the management of the Huanghuai Canal and its estuary. This project, like the Yangguangkai Canal, has contemporary achievements and will benefit the future.

As long as you don't rush for quick success, take your time, and don't go crazy and overtax the national power and the people, you can still do it.

For this reason, Zhao Yurui decided that after winning the war in the future, they would kill as little as possible and use all the prisoners to manage the Yellow River and serve as civilian husbands. They could be free labor. At the same time, people from other countries could also be forcibly recruited as civilian husbands.
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The lowest temperature in Jingbo Lake in winter is around minus ten degrees Celsius.

Early this morning, Li Liang took Zhou Yong and Zheng Youcai to the lakeside and saw many children playing on the lake. The scene was still very lively.

In July and August of the previous year, Li Liang and others followed the Changchun Army of the Liaodong Capital Division and traveled thousands of miles across mountains and rivers to the Changchun City designated by Emperor Zhao Yurui to participate in the major event of city construction.

At that time, there were still 1 Korean people on site to help. Later, another [-] people came from the direction of Korea. From August of the year before last to January now, in one and a half years, more than [-] households have immigrated to the Song Dynasty. , Changchun City was built at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At present, Changchun City has not been completely built, because there are currently 1 garrison troops, more than 4 Han households, and more than [-] Koreans in the city, with a total population of close to [-].

The housing needed for 10 people was not fully completed on site, and the outer city wall was only three meters high, less than half of it.

The Changchun Army has one army and two generals, with a total of more than 6000 people, each with more than 3000 generals. Li Liang and his generals have been transferred to Haisan City, which is a hundred miles north of Haisanwei.

When he came this time, he and a few brothers took a group of savages to build the city. They happened to have a look at Jingpo Lake outside the city.

"Damn it, I haven't been here for more than half a year, but it has already changed a lot. I think it will be built in a year at most?" Zheng Youcai rubbed his hands and cursed.

He actually wore a pair of fur gloves on his hands, which were not cold, but he was used to rubbing his hands in winter.

"I'm afraid one year is not enough." Li Liang said: "Changchun City is a big city, much bigger than our Caizhou. There are still many facilities in the city that are not perfect. With the moat and so on, I think it will take at least two or three years."

The city now has a population of nearly [-], but only about half of the people involved in the construction of the city are now, and most of the old and young are unable to help.

So Li Liang said there would be no problem in two or three years.

"Why are most of them Korean children?" Zhou Yong said at this time.

There were many Korean children playing on the lake. The Korean people came here first, and later their family members also came here. Many Korean people seemed to want to immigrate to the territory of the Song Dynasty.

Nowadays, there are more and more Korean people, and the population is half and half that of the Song Dynasty people.

Of course, the imperial court is still continuing to immigrate, and everyone who can be supported by Goryeo has come, followed by family members. Next year, the population of Song people will definitely far exceed that of Goryeo.

"I think these Koreans may not want to go back after they have built the city," Zheng Youcai said.

"The imperial court doesn't want them to go back either." Li Liang said decisively: "Here they can be allocated fields, cattle, sheep and tools, and the taxes are low. I wouldn't want to go back if it were the case."

The people of the Song Dynasty first gave money and food to the powerful officials of Goryeo and asked them to send the most worthless people in the country to the Song Dynasty. Then they allocated fields to cattle and tools to lure them to live there.

Now basically all Koreans don’t want to return to China.

All the land in Goryeo belongs to the king. Even the land of the ministers is theoretically the king's. It's just that the court rewards them with their income. When officials are appointed or transferred, they must hand over the local land. Of course, now the powerful minister Lao Cui is in power. , the King of Goryeo couldn't do anything to him, but legally, all the land in Goryeo belonged to the king.

The common people could only rent crops, and the taxes were very heavy. Those who had no cattle had to spend extra money to rent cattle from the court for farming.Now that the Korean people can get grain fields and cattle in the Song Dynasty, and the taxes are lower than at home, of course they are willing to stay here.

Therefore, from the second half of last year to now, many Korean people have asked for leave from the Song people to go back and bring their families with them.

The people of the Song Dynasty also quickly approved, allowing a few people from each village to go back, and then bringing the whole village's family members with them. The people of the Song Dynasty also provided boats to help with transportation, which made more Korean people gather here.

"They will also become Song people in the future." Li Liang laughed and said, "Let's go home."

All the troops mounted their horses and turned towards Haisan City.

Haisan City was the capital of the former Eastern Xia Kingdom. Over the past year or so, Korean civilians have helped them renovate and build roads here.

At this time, the road from Changchun City to Haisan City was much easier to walk. Along the way, they could see civilians building and expanding the road, mainly so that the carriages and artillery of the Song Dynasty could travel.

In order to build the road, a large amount of gunpowder was used to blast open a small hill last year, shortening the distance in between.

Haisan City is more than 500 miles away from Changchun City. The Song Army has built five garrison forts, or they can also be called inns, along the road.

Each garrison is backed by mountains or water, and covers an area of ​​dozens of acres. It has a garrison of more than 100 soldiers and horses, and a group of them is rotated every six months. The garrison will earn an additional amount of money every month.

People in the Changchun army like to be stationed in the fort, because there is no big deal and they can get more money. The biggest dissatisfaction here is that there are no women. However, Changchun City and Haisan City have a large number of Jurchen women captured when the Dongxia Kingdom was destroyed.

Some of these Jurchen women were married to single Korean men who came to build the city, some were given to soldiers of the Song Army, and some opened red houses in the local area.

In addition to the garrison, there are also more than 200 war horses in the fort. The fast horses inside can be used to send messages from Haisan City or Haisanwei to Changchun City.

If it is an expedited journey, we can change horses every [-] miles, and the distance of [-] miles can be run from Haisan City to Changchun City in one day.

Li Liang and the others returned to Haisan City early in the morning, and rested for a night in a certain fort. The next day, they changed their horses with those in the fort, continued on their way, and changed again when they arrived at the next fort. Ma, return to Haisan City before dark the next day.

After a good night's rest, early the next morning, Li Liang, who had been promoted to the head of the capital, went to Shangguan to report and held a short meeting.

When I got back, it was about eight o'clock in the morning.

It's much colder here than Jingbo Lake. It's now about minus [-] degrees in mid-January of the second year of Yuanzhen.

After all, most of the troops stationed on Li Liang's side are northerners, so they can bear it, but southerners will definitely not be able to bear it.

When Li Liang and others first arrived, they adapted to Jingpo Lake for more than half a year before being transferred here.

Moreover, the imperial court attached great importance to the warmth of the Song army. The cotton armor specially made for this place was thick, warm and protective. Everyone was also given hats and gloves made of fur, and the insides of the boots were all made of thick fur.

The barracks of the Song army all have braziers for burning charcoal, and the charcoal used here is made by the Koreans.

But the training of the Song army remained the same as before, and it was impossible to develop young master soldiers.

The Changchun Army here mainly trains as usual in spring and summer, but less in winter. What do they mainly do in winter?Go out hunting, explore maps, and catch savages to use as labor.

The location of Changchun City is the ancestral home of Nurhaci in later generations. The ancestors of the old slave are probably the savages in the surrounding area.

The Dongxia Kingdom would arrest them when they were there, so of course they will arrest the Song people now that they have arrived.

These savages don't come out much in spring and summer, so they can eat what they have in the mountains and forests. In winter, when they are short of food and can't hunt wild animals, they come out.

The Eastern Xia Kingdom and the former Jin Kingdom all went to capture them at this time. These savages drank the blood of Mao Ru, and were fierce and agile. After being trained and recruited, they were very brave. Later, in the age of Lao Nu, Hou Jin often went into the mountains to capture wild Jurchens as soldiers. .

It snowed for several days in a row some time ago, but now it has stopped for a day and the sun has come out. This is a good opportunity.

"Woo woo" followed by a blast of horns, the Song army from the brigade came out of the barracks.

Li Liang, Zhou Yong, and Zheng Youcai were wearing thick cotton armor and adjusting their helmets as they walked, all saying that it was a cold day.

But the cold has returned, and Song Jun still has to go out.

After a while, all 12 of them were gathered together.

Li Liang looked at the brothers and said loudly: "Look at the equipment again, don't miss anything--"

A few notes are mentioned.

The Song soldiers lowered their heads one after another, and then looked at each other.

They all had the same equipment when they went out. Half of them carried crossbows, and half carried bows. All of them had swords hanging on their left waists, and two javelins stuck in their backs. Ten of them carried shields, and all of them had them. Ten troops, so basically one troop with one shield.

The shields they use here are not the large rectangular shields used by the Song army in field battles with the Mongols, but the common small round shields.

After checking the equipment, he started to look for his war horse, brought other supplies, including food and grass, and gathered outside the barracks a quarter of an hour later.

All the troops dispersed in a hurry and went to find their horses.

Each person will bring two war horses out, and one of them will hold various supplies, including the crossbows, shields, and guns they currently carry, which will be hung on the horse's back.

There are more than 3000 troops stationed in Haisan City, and there are seven or eight thousand war horses, with two horses per person and many more. Most of them were left over from the former Eastern Xia Kingdom, and were also brought over by the Song Army.

Usually when they go to Changchun City, they have one person and one horse. They can change at the garrison. Now when they go hunting and catching people, they can bring two horses.

The twenty or thirty garrison troops all took turns to go out. This was the first time for Li Liang and the others to take their turn.

Everyone is very curious. After all, they have never been to the north since coming to Haisan City.

By the time the men and horses gathered outside the barracks with all supplies and equipment, it was already around nine in the morning, and more than 100 people in the army were riding towards the northeast.

There is a main road to the northeast of Haisan City. It was built by the Korean people last year, but it only lasted less than ten miles.

Because after ten miles there is a large area of ​​jungle.

This is the Anuchinsky District of the Far East in later generations. Even in later generations, there is often not a single person to be seen for dozens or hundreds of miles.

What's the most popular here?
Jungle and wildlife.

Ten miles after leaving Haisan City, because there were fewer pedestrians, the snow on the road became thicker, and there were more and more trees on the road. It was the first time for almost all Song soldiers, including Li Liang, to see so many trees. And they are all full of towering trees.

There are more trees as you go toward the northeast. The area of ​​​​the woods here is larger than the entire country of Goryeo.

So if you get lost there, you may still be in the jungle after walking for a year and a half.

"Damn it." After walking less than twenty miles, Li Liang and the others began to curse: "There are so many trees, can't they be burned every day?"

This scene was so shocking. There were trees ten miles away from the city, and they walked slowly for half an hour. There were trees all along the way, all kinds of trees.

In addition to the three thousand garrison troops in Haisan City, there are also thousands of people from the former Dongxia Kingdom and Korea, helping them burn charcoal and do fortifications and farming.

In the past, Li Liang was worried about not having enough wood. Now when he went to the northeast for the first time, he found that there seemed to be an endless amount of trees here. There were so many trees here.

Zhou Yong immediately said: "Last time in Changchun City, didn't the deputy general named Liu say that when Changchun City is built, he would build a factory here specifically for logging?"

"How long will it take to cut down such wood until I die?" Zheng Youcai thought for a while and couldn't help but said: "It's such a good place."

In fact, he didn't know what it was good about, but just looking at the trees and trees here, he knew it would be useful.

There was no such place in the Song Dynasty.

"Stop, stop, stop." At this moment, someone shouted.

Someone stopped in front, and everyone saw that a lot of bark had been peeled off a big tree, and marks were made on it. This was the place where the last batch of Song troops came, and marks were made.

There are also secret codes on the mark that specify the next direction.

Li Liang stepped forward to take a look, and waved his hand: "Stay northeast, go northeast."

At this time, the front and the road became narrower and narrower. After a while, the road was no longer visible. A piece of high ground appeared in front of them. Everyone carefully walked to the high ground and took a closer look. Hiss, everyone took a breath of air. The nature is so spectacular. The picture shocked them deeply.

About five hundred steps down from this high point, I saw a vast expanse of jungle. As far as the eye could see, it was endless, no one knew how deep it was, no one knew how long it was, and no one knew how wide it was.

It was the first time for all the Song troops to see such a large jungle, and they could not see the edge at all.

I had already seen trees all along the road just now, but now I am standing on a high place and looking at ten miles, even twenty miles, thirty miles, fifty miles, one hundred miles away. There are only trees within the distance that the naked eye can see. The ones that arrived were probably trees. This scene was really shocking.

This seems to be a world made up of trees. In all directions, as far as the eye can see, there are trees.

There is still snow on many trees. The world composed of black, brown and white is really shocking.

Of course, further afield, there are various low mountains deep in the woods.

The mountains here are not high, but they are hidden among the jungles, and there are countless beasts among them.

Song Jun stood at a high place for a while before he came back to his senses.

Li Liang was the first to react, turned around and asked, "What's the name here?"

(End of this chapter)