The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Cold floods in the Yellow River refer to the hydrological characteristics of the Yellow River where ice dams block the water flow, which is called cold floods.

In winter and spring, the lower reaches of the river at higher latitudes freeze first and thaw later. The water flow at lower latitudes continues to carry ice, and ice dams block the water flow, causing river flooding.

Cold floods mainly occur in the upper reaches of the Hetao section and the lower reaches of Shandong. They occur almost every year, but the difference is between major and minor disasters.

And this time it was urgently reported to the capital. Naturally, the flood was more serious, at least more serious than in previous years, which made the local officials feel uneasy.

The Yellow River breaks its banks not only during the rainy season. During the freezing flood period every year, a large number of ice dams block the river channel, and the Yellow River water surges in, causing great pressure on the Yellow River levee.

At this time, the Yellow River embankment will experience huge squeezing pressure, which can easily cause the embankment to break and cause flooding.

With mountains of ice and turbulent waters, those swept away by such a flood have little chance of survival.

Even if they don't drown, they will be frozen to death by the cold river water.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which ran from north to south, was the main artery that ensured the stability of the capital. However, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal relied on the Yellow River for water transportation. The conditions of the lower reaches of the Yellow River determined whether the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was smooth and whether grain could be transported to the capital.

The place where most freezing floods occur is precisely the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Zhu Heng thought of using the early spring to arrange for watercraft to go northward to avoid the rainy season on the Yellow River, thereby solving the risk of navigation interruption due to floods in the Yellow River. However, what he had to face was the severe floods that occurred in early spring.

The scale of the cold flood is not large, so it will naturally not affect shipping. However, the disaster is so great that the natural canals dare not open to shipping at this time.

We can only wait for the end of the cold flood season before the canal boats enter the water transport section of the Yellow River and then enter the canal to continue northward.

In fact, in later generations, when the water volume of the Yellow River decreased due to various reasons, the cold flood disaster that occurred every spring in the lower reaches of the Yellow River became so weak that it was almost insignificant.

However, in the upper reaches, because the Yellow River has abundant water, the annual cold flood is still a period that the water conservancy department needs to focus on monitoring.

For cold floods that may endanger dams in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, the army will usually be mobilized to use artillery for bombardment at the beginning, and the destructive power of the artillery will be used to break large floating blocks to alleviate the danger caused by cold floods.

When the artillery bombardment fails, fighter planes and even large bombers will be deployed to drop heavy aerial bombs to destroy the ice floe and solve the threat of freezing floods.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, there was no way to deal with Ling Xun. Apart from begging God for blessing, future generations would not be able to use these tricks.

In the early years, although there were floods in the Yellow River every year, the noise was not as big as this year.

Perhaps it was because of the sudden announcement by the imperial court at the end of last year that the prefectures and counties along the Yellow River were on heightened alert. In short, urgent reports were continuously sent to the capital and placed on the desks of cabinet ministers.

"Brother Uncle, after seeing the report, do you have any plans?"

Wei Guangde asked.

Ling flood was a natural disaster and there was no way to avoid it. Wei Guangde could only ask Zhang Juzheng what arrangements he had made.

"I asked someone to send a copy to the Ministry of Household Affairs so that they could make preparations in advance. In addition, Zhu Shinan happened to be there, preparing to report to the Ming Palace. Zhu Shangshu has full authority to decide on all matters related to the Yellow River."

Zhang Juzheng said.

Hearing this, Wei Guangde just frowned slightly, then returned to his original state.

"I just hope God will bless me. Last year, Lingxun was very small, but I didn't expect it to be this year."

Lu Tiaoyang sighed at this time and said.

"I hope that when we asked the local government to inspect the river work before, they did not take advantage of opportunities, but actually inspected along the river and took measures on the sections with omissions. As long as this time is passed, I plan to send out patrols at the end of each year in the future. The imperial censor inspected the rivers and embankments and made this a permanent rule."

After Zhang Juzheng said this, he looked at Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang, waiting for their attitudes.

"Can."

Wei Guangde didn't think much about it. In the past few years, the Yellow River floods were not a big threat, and they passed without much reporting to the local government.

But this year, it’s scary to see Shandong and South Zhili reporting severe flood warnings almost at the same time.

It would be a good idea to arrange for people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate to go down and have a look, it would be frightening to save.

"I also agree that it would be better to let more people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate go out for a walk, so that we can feel at ease."

Lu Tiaoyang said a few more words.

"Today I received a document from the Governor of the Water Transport King. Originally, there was a permanent quota of 120,000 kilograms of grain transportation per year. Because of the damage to the Fushan Island canal ship last year, he asked for more this year when he transferred ships from the Nanyang Navy. Some, it was originally planned to carry some on each ship, so that the risk of the ship traveling on the sea would be much smaller.

But after reading this article, I thought, since Huai'an has excess transportation capacity, why not transport grain and grass directly to Liaodong as soon as possible.

Instead of waiting for the grain to be transferred from Tianjin or Deqing and other places later, it is better to let the Nanyang Navy directly send 300,000 shi of grain to Liaodong this time. "

Wei Guangde said so and handed Wang Zongmu's memorial to Zhang Juzheng and asked him to read it too.

"How many ships have come from the Nanyang Navy? Can they actually carry 300,000 stones of grain at a time?"

Although Zhang Juzheng accepted the memorial from Wei Guangde, he still asked in surprise.

"Hundreds of ships, probably. Yu Dayou probably brought all the ships from Zhejiang.

Of course, the naval warships alone cannot transport so much grain at one time. For the 300,000 stone, I considered using some of the grain ships. "

Wei Guangde said.

"Cattle boat."

Zhang Juzheng was obviously a little sensitive to using canals to travel by sea. When Wei Guangde said this, his expression immediately changed.

However, it took only a short time for him to change his face and return to normal. He even reached out and stroked his beard again to cover up his previous gaffe.

"If something goes wrong again when using the canal this time, I plan to ask Mr. Ge to investigate the matter thoroughly.

The last incident on Fukuyama Island, I heard that some of it seemed hard to understand. It was not like a natural disaster, but some of it seemed like a man-made disaster. "

Wei Guangde said.

He believed that what he said here should reach the ears of some people.

With his warning, there should be no trouble in this year's shipping.

In any case, the matter in Liaodong is not a trivial matter. There is a big war going on there. It is not an exaggeration to hold back at this time, and if it is found out, the house will be confiscated and beheaded.

Carrying Ge Shouli out was just to scare them.

"Although it's a little earlier than scheduled, it still has to be delivered sooner or later, so it doesn't matter. I agree with Shan Loi's intention. The water division warship will send 300,000 shi of grain to Liaodong."

Zhang Juzheng just lowered his head and thought briefly before expressing his stance. He only casually browsed the memorial in his hand before handing it to Lu Tiaoyang.

Just as the capital was discussing the advance reserve of military rations for the Liaodong military, Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, also received a document from Xianshanbao at the governor's office.

"This Li Chengliang sent troops without informing him in advance. What did he want to do?

Do you think that by following the path of Wang Daokun, the Minister of War, you will have a foundation in the capital? "

Zhang Xueyan's dissatisfaction with Li Chengliang was well-founded. Last time, he did not communicate with him in advance about the construction of Kuandian Six Forts. Instead, he directly brought the matter to Wang Daokun, who came to inspect Liaodong. He only found out about it after the fact.

Although it was also Li Chengliang who reported it, it was an afterthought after all.

First obtain Wang Daokun's approval, and then tell himself that he obviously intends to force the palace, forcing himself to accept his proposal.

Unexpectedly, Li Chengliang would take action again at this time, because he did not take him, the leader of Liaodong, seriously.

You must know that although military control is implemented in Liaodong, the governor has Shang Fang's sword to control military affairs in Liaodong. It is only because of the position of governor of Ji Liao that Liaodong has a governor instead of a governor.

Dissatisfaction was dissatisfaction, but Zhang Xueyan still knew what was right. At this juncture, he could not start a dispute with the Liaodong Commander-in-Chief.

The war is approaching, and if rumors of discord between the generals break out at this time, even if the court will not pursue it, changing generals before the battle will be a blow to one's reputation.

"well"

Thinking of this, Zhang Xueyan just sighed in his heart, and then he still didn't plan to do anything. He put national affairs first and waited until he won the battle.

However, in Zhang Xueyan's heart, there was still a trace of dissatisfaction.

It's just that he didn't bother to let him take action, and he just thought about it and came up with a solution.

Immediately, he wrote an official document and sent someone to deliver it to Liu Tai, the censor of Liaodong, asking him to go to Xianshan Fort to supervise the division.

The censors were extremely lethal to the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, because their memorials could be heard directly, and they were originally the people sent by the emperor to monitor the officials.

Li Chengliang was negligent towards the civil servants of Liaodong, so he just asked Liu Tai to touch him. When Li Chengliang offended Liu Tai, he just asked Liu Tai to impeach Li Chengliang, and he could stay out of the matter.

Of course, there was a deeper consideration when Zhang Xueyan sent Liu Tai, that is, the people behind Liu Tai were also very powerful in the court, and they could not be shaken by Li Chengliang.

If a conflict breaks out between Liu Tai and Li Chengliang, it will obviously be Li Chengliang who will be unlucky, and it will definitely not be Liu Tai.

Zhang Xueyan's plan was to make Li Chengliang uncomfortable and make him feel uncomfortable, so as to vent the bad anger in his chest.

But he himself didn't expect that what he did would almost ruin the Liaodong strategy.

The official documents from the governor's yamen were quickly delivered to Liu Tai, the censor of the governor, and he was also able to pack up his luggage and set off quickly, rushing to Xianshan Fort.

This time it involves the imperial court's expansion of territory, and the censor Liu Tai naturally wants to share the credit. When he has made achievements with his teacher, can he be transferred back to the capital or promoted to other places?

After all, Liaodong is a place that hates cold, and he is extremely unaccustomed to living here.

At this time, the Ming army starting from Xianshan Fort and Gushan Fort had arrived in various places in Kuandian and began to set up camp.

Because they had to stay in the wild for almost a year, the Ming army generals seemed very concerned about the defense of the camp.

Because Pei Chengzu, the guerrilla leader, led the garrison at Changdian Fort and Yongdian Fort alone, he was naturally even more cautious. He not only erected a strong fence for the camp, but also dug three trenches outside the fence. He also laid traps widely to prevent illegal encampments. .

Within the camp, preparations were also carried out in accordance with the Ming army's camping standards, striving to be foolproof.

But after all, the military strength was limited. He led more than a thousand soldiers and thousands of civilians and craftsmen to live in the camp. There was also a large amount of materials piled up, so the military camp inevitably occupied a huge area.

Under such circumstances, his perfect defense was not only not strong due to insufficient troops, but also had problems of varying degrees on all sides.

However, guerrilla general Pei Chengzu was not aware of this problem.

After arriving in Changdian, he did not arrange for the civilians to prepare for the construction of the fort, but only asked the craftsmen to make preliminary preparations for building the fort. He also asked the civilians to participate in the construction of the camp.

In fact, his arrangement was not wrong. At least it seemed that the entire Ming army camp had strong defenses, which frightened the Jurchen sentry who had been watching outside, so he urgently passed the news back to the ears of King Gao of Gule City.

"Come here, send someone to Hongli Village quickly, and order Lai Lihong to come to me with the assembled troops. Let him come directly first, and let others bring the troops over."

Wang Gao ordered the guards who came in.

The Wang Gao tribe is not only the strongest in the Jianzhou Jurchen tribe, but also in the entire Jurchen tribe. In addition to owning Gule City, it also owns Shaji City, Hongli Village and many other cities. It can easily recruit thousands of people. The Jurchen tribe went into battle.

Although it took some time, Wang Gao could actually mobilize more warriors, but he knew in his heart that even if all the clansmen in the tribe who could afford swords and guns were armed, they would not be a match for Ming Dynasty.

For the organized Ming Dynasty, the scattered Jurchen tribes seemed too insignificant. Except for taking advantage of the geographical advantages to confront the Ming army, the Jurchen tribe had no chance of winning.

This requires the support of other Jurchen tribes who can continuously provide him with support, including food, weapons, and even soldiers.

He and Daming took advantage of the mountains to delay the war, which made Daming tired of dealing with it and finally retreated on its own initiative.

If he had to fight Daming with a real sword or a real gun, it would definitely end in death but not life.

Therefore, in the past few years, he carried out vigorous construction of the cities under his command and strengthened the defense of the cities. To this end, he also crossed the border walls many times and robbed Han people to work for him.

Knowing that the Ming army had come out and started setting up camps throughout Kuandian, preparing to build castles, he naturally would not sit still and wait for death.

It was a small matter to lose a rich hunting ground, but having Akito put a dagger to his throat would make him feel restless.

One day later, when General Lihong arrived at Gule City, Wang Gao took him and quickly rushed to the vicinity of the Ming Army camp in Changdian under the protection of his guards, and began to observe.

In order to avoid being discovered by Ming army sentries, the guard was arranged to hide in the woods a little further away. He only took Lailihong and Dekele to sneak around the Ming army camp.

De Kohler gave them a detailed report on the construction of military camps by the Ming army a few days ago.

Needless to say, although Pei Chengzu's arrangement actually contained serious omissions, in the eyes of De Koller, it had a completely different effect.

In his story, the Ming army's camp had been arranged to be as impregnable as an iron barrel, and it would be difficult for them to break through the Ming army's camp.

Wang Gao's face darkened after hearing Dekler's story.

He had prepared thousands of warriors for this battle. Did he have to give up because the Ming army had perfect defense?

"Lai Lihong, do you have any idea how to deal with the Ming army's camp?"

Wang Gao turned his attention to his generals. Lailihong was one of the few people under his command who was both wise and brave, and was loyal to him, so Wang Gao also let him lead a city by himself, showing his full trust in him.

Lai Lihong observed the Ming army camp for a while, and then thought about the layout of the Ming army camp described by Kohler, and felt a headache. (End of chapter)