On the afternoon of April 13, Zhao Jun visited the most important project of the Yellow River control.

Shanghukou outside the east city of Puyang.

Shanghukou had actually burst its dike once in the first year of Jingyou, causing the Yellow River to change its course from its original course to the Henglong Road.

The so-called three changes of the river back to its original path was actually the process of changing the Yellow River from Henglong Road back to Shanghu Road. The Song Dynasty committed suicide three times and failed three times, allowing the Yellow River to cause disasters.

At this time at Shanghukou, you can see that the Yellow River splits again here, one path goes north along Henglong Road, and the other path goes east along the old course of Shanghukou. And it is obvious that the water flow along the old course is much greater than that going north.

"The river's course was changed, causing it to shift northward. Although it eventually flowed into the Bohai Sea, it caused huge damage to the people living along the coast."

Gao Chao said, "The court attached great importance to this. Prime Minister Jia visited the river mouth many times and proposed a method to control the flow and flush the sand. They built dams at Henglongdao and Helongkou to lock in the water. They also tightened the river channel at Shanghukou, allowing the water to impact the silt at the bottom of the riverbed. Ultimately, a lot of sand and mud were cleared from the old course, allowing the river to return to its original course."

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded slightly. "This three-pronged strategy is the best way to control the Yellow River. In your opinion, how long will it take for the river to completely return to its original course?"

"I think it's possible to completely move the river back to its original course, but it's hard to guarantee the river won't burst its banks again."

Gao Chao shook his head and said, "Although the method of concentrating water to flush out the sand is good, it is impossible to completely remove the silt accumulated at the riverbed. We can only flush away the thick layer on the surface, which will delay the flow of the river for decades."

"As the saying goes, you have to address the root cause before you can treat the symptoms. It seems these measures are only temporary solutions. If we really want to address the root cause, we still have to make the river clear."

Zhao Jun sighed.

No matter how you clean up the silt downstream or divert the Yellow River, as long as soil erosion continues upstream and a large amount of silt is washed down, the river channel downstream will always be blocked.

Once blocked, the riverbed will rise, and the riverbed will no longer be able to accommodate the amount of water it could originally accommodate. Once the flood season comes, the water will surge out and cause a flood.

So in essence, controlling the Yellow River and clearing silt can only be a means to delay the flooding of the Yellow River. If we really want to control the river, we still have to do a good job in environmental protection upstream.

However, at present, there is no possibility that the Yellow River will burst its banks, at least for a long time to come.

As long as we continue to maintain this trend, it will only be a matter of time before the silt in the old Yellow River course is washed away and the Yellow River is completely moved back from Henglong Road to Shanghu Road.

On April 14, after completing his inspection in Puyang, Zhao Jun set out again, heading west along the Yellow River and entering the middle reaches.

More than ten days later, he arrived in Luoyang to inspect the governance of Luoyang.

The middle reaches of the Yellow River have a relatively wide river channel and a relatively gentle flow, making it very suitable for building dams to control the flow of water downstream.

In fact, the Sanmenxia Dam and Xiaolangdi Dam were built in this area later, which perfectly regulated the flow of the Yellow River, thereby achieving multiple functions such as power generation, agriculture, and construction.

There have been basically no major disasters here, either in history or later. There are also large areas of Yellow River wetlands, which provide habitats for countless wild animals and are full of vitality.

Zhao Jun heard that in this area, there are not only various national protected animals in later generations, such as red-crowned cranes, great bustards, black storks, grey cranes, white spoonbills, swans, etc., but even giant pandas from the Qinling Mountains.

He disembarked at the Mengjin ferry and, under the guidance of local officials, visited the vast Luoyang wetlands, the towering Mang Mountains, and saw countless lush trees and beautiful wild animals.

It has to be said that in ancient times when there was no industrial pollution, such unique natural conditions and fresh air really made people feel a sense of comfort that penetrated into their hearts.

The terrain here was also recorded by the recorder on board the ship. If the industrial capacity becomes strong in the future, it may be possible to build dams and hydroelectric power stations here.

A few days later, Zhao Jun set out again, going west along the Yellow River and entering Shaanxi.

Since Han Qi defeated Li Yuanhao in October of the previous year, he was transferred back to the central government in June last year.

After all, he is the director of the Supervisory Yuan, and compared to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, he certainly cannot leave the court for a long time.

However, after he had been operating in the northwest for more than a year, governance in various places had basically been put on the right track, including planting trees and vegetation on both sides of the Wei River and Jing River.

When Zhao Jun's fleet arrived at Tongguan, Wang Yan, the transport envoy of Yongxingjun Road, Fan Xiang, the transport envoy of Qinfeng Road, and six generals came to meet him.

After the Northwest War broke out, the imperial court divided Shaanxi Road into two major routes for transport officials and five minor routes for generals, and appointed Fan Zhongyan as the general of Shaanxi Road, in charge of the military and political power of the entire Shaanxi Road.

Now the imperial court has taken over the Hehuang Valley and divided out a Hexi Road, so the entire Shaanxi is divided into two major roads and six minor roads. In the absence of a general in charge of the entire Shaanxi Road, it is basically headed by the Yongxingjun Road Transport Commissioner and the Qinfeng Road Transport Commissioner.

The original Qinfeng Road Transport Commissioner was Yang Xie, but Yang Xie was promoted for assisting Han Qi in defeating the Western Xia. He went to the central government to serve as a minister of a certain department. Now it is under the leadership of Wang Yan and Fan Xiang.

Below them were Jingtai, the governor of Hexi Road, Gao Jixuan, the governor of Jingyuan Road, and Liu Ping, the transport commissioner of Fuyan Road.

Although these people are local bosses, they should be protecting the people and guarding the border and protecting the local area.

But when Zhao Jun came, they did not come to greet him, just like when Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, the local governor did not come to serve him. It was obvious that he was dissatisfied with his own career.

"Zhiyuan!"

Many officials were waiting at Tongguan. As soon as Zhao Jun got off the boat, they all bowed and saluted.

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