Chapter 139 Water Conservancy: A Rainbow Across the Long River
When Zhu Youchuan and his men arrived in the Northwest after a long journey, Hu Dazhu and his men had already successfully taken over the entire Northwest.
Zhu Youchuan took over administrative affairs and carried out sweeping reforms: first, he dealt with the local corrupt leadership, killing some and imprisoning others; second, he liberated the vast number of serfs, restoring their freedom and allocating land to them; then he organized the people to reclaim wasteland, cultivate the land, raise livestock, build roads, bridges, schools, and factories...
Just like other places under the goddess's rule, the Northwest region began a vigorous construction campaign.
Hu Dazhu recruited a group of new soldiers from the local area and trained them for several months.
After Zhu Youchuan arrived in the Northwest, Hu Dazhu and others left behind the garrison commanders and troops, and returned to Jinzhou with the rest of the soldiers.
But before they were even halfway there, they heard that the original leadership of the Northwest region had rebelled and wanted to overthrow the newly established administrative office and regain their original rule.
Before there was time to worry, Zhu Youchuan's message arrived by carrier pigeon, indicating that he had forcefully suppressed the rebels and had ruthlessly killed another group of rebels.
After that, he will gradually take full control of the Northwest region, telling everyone not to worry and to return to Jinzhou to report to the goddess.
Hu Dazhu, hands behind his back, clicked his tongue in disbelief. "We haven't even returned to Jinzhou yet, and they've already betrayed us?"
Gu Lanying laughed and said, "Otherwise, why would the Central Plains dynasties have managed the southwest and northwest for such a short period of time in history? It's because once the Central Plains dynasty weakened, the other side would immediately rebel, and it would be difficult to take it back later."
"In a place where rebellion could break out at any moment..." A military officer shook his head, unable to understand why the goddess insisted on attacking the northwest.
Gu Lanying explained in a kind tone, "Its strategic position is very important. If the Northwest becomes independent, the enemy can drive straight in, and the Central Plains will be in danger."
Xiang Yuesheng nodded, "The outcome of a war occurring in the Northwest is completely different from that of a war occurring in the Central Plains."
A map flashed through everyone's minds, and they considered what would happen if the border line included the northwest region...
"That's far too dangerous!"
The generals had already come up with several ways to attack and harass the Central Plains, and they couldn't help but shudder: if the Northwest were lost, they would never be able to sleep peacefully again.
The goddess truly lives up to her name; she has such foresight!
“But this has reminded me,” a military officer suddenly said. “The terrain is rugged and interlocking, so the entrances to the northwest and southwest should not be assigned to them, but to the neighboring prefectures and counties.”
Upon hearing this, another military officer burst into laughter, saying, "You were studying geography books before, and it seems you really learned a lot."
The military officer was very pleased with himself, saying, "Indeed, we should learn geography well when we march and fight."
Hu Dazhu also praised him, "That's right. If the goddess unifies the world in the future, and we set up provinces, we will naturally allocate some key entrances and barriers to other provinces." He paused, "But thinking about these things now is too early."
"That's true, we can't afford to mark the entrance off now."
“To cut off the entrance now would be like cutting off our own arm.”
“But it is possible to separate and disperse the large ethnic minorities,” Xiang Yuesheng suddenly said.
"What?"
Xiang Yuesheng: "Just like what we are doing now in the southwest region, we relocate some people of a certain ethnic group to other places, and then we relocate some people of another ethnic group here."
“Living together is indeed a good thing; it can prevent the people from becoming too united,” Gu Lanying said, stroking her chin.
Upon hearing this, one of the staff members looked surprised. "Huh? Why can't we unite the people? Aren't we calling on them to be united?"
How does that song go? "Unity is Strength," this strength is iron, this strength is steel...
Mei Leshu interjected, "If the people in a village are united, they are likely to only listen to the village chief and not the county leaders. But once they have money and power..." She deliberately paused, then gave a deliberately profound smile.
Staff member A suddenly realized, "So, in a sense, peace is achieved by having people with different dialects, lifestyles, and traditions live together, even if there are conflicts and struggles?"
"You're trying to say that the way of balance is right?" Staff member B found it very interesting.
Xiang Yuesheng said, "When there are many people and nothing is happening, trouble is likely to arise."
Staff member C clapped his hands and said, "That's right, that's right. But if we're not all one family, we might not be able to unite and resist the imperial court."
“The imperial court can’t go too far,” Hu Dazhu sighed. “If the people can survive, then the usual conflicts and disputes will prevent them from uniting as one. But if the imperial court oppresses the people too much and makes it impossible for them to survive, then all the scheming and plotting will be meaningless.”
A military general recalled the situation in his hometown before the goddess appeared. Why did the locals rise up in rebellion? Because they couldn't survive.
Armed with hoes, sickles, and wooden clubs, they stormed the county government office, and towards the officials, soldiers, wealthy merchants, and powerful families who oppressed them…
Mei Leshu said, "I really want to know what the future of this world will be like if the goddess gains control of the world in the future."
Her words immediately sparked everyone's imagination.
The goddess's grace and protection forcefully propelled the world's science and culture forward for centuries, and in the future...
Xiang Yuesheng smiled and said, "It will progress through twists and turns, and many years later, it may become like another world. But we won't be able to see it."
Jinzhou, Anling Prefecture, Yunhe County.
The place where the goddess first descended began to have many projects under construction from the day the Yunhe County Administrative Office was established. Among them, the construction of an irrigation project lasted for several years and was finally completed!
"There's nothing we can do about it!" The Minister of Works shielded his eyes with his right hand, gazing at the three streams merging into one before him, his face filled with pride.
“Initially, we only planned to build a reservoir in Yunhe County, but as we continued building, we conquered several surrounding counties, then obtained the entire Anling Prefecture, and then we obtained other prefectures.”
With the territory expanding, it's inevitable that people will have some other ideas.
Liu Manyue, who was in charge of building the reservoir, had a sudden inspiration. She spent a day in the library, and then took the water from the other world that was related to the Lingqu Canal, Dujiangyan Irrigation System, and the Three Gorges Dam to the goddess, proposing to build a water conservancy project that connects the East and West.
He Qinglan naturally had no objections.
However, she suggested, "I only need to talk, I don't need to do any physical work, but you all have so much to do. So, let's have a meeting to discuss this."
After the goddess spoke, the main members of the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Finance of each prefecture and county sat down together to discuss how to build an irrigation project covering the entire Jinzhou.
During the meeting, everyone actively expressed their opinions.
Worker A from the Ministry of Works spread out a map: "We need to connect this river, this river, this river, and this river."
A staff member from the Ministry of Agriculture, B, reached out his hand: "It's mainly this river and this river."
Ministry of Finance staff member C nodded: "This way, we can achieve both irrigation and transportation goals."
Ding, a staff member of the Ministry of Finance, turned to the people from the Ministry of Works and asked, "How's the cement research and development going? We're building dams here, here, and here. If we can use cement..."
The Ministry of Works staff member, Wu, shook his head regretfully, "It hasn't been successful yet."
The Ministry of Finance staff member seemed to be deep in thought. "How about we leave the dam for later?" She twitched her lips slightly. "Otherwise, it's very likely that we'll have just finished building the dam when cement will have already been developed."
Geng, a staff member from the Ministry of Agriculture, laughed. "Really?"
But after thinking about it, everyone realized it was actually quite possible.
Because things in this world are sometimes just so unreasonable.
The Minister of Works of Sifang County slapped the ground and said, "Then let's select the location, leave it empty for now, and build it in a few years."
In any case, water conservancy projects cannot be put into use without taking at least ten or eight years.
And so the matter was settled, and they moved on to discuss the next issue.
The meeting lasted for half a month because there were just too many topics to discuss.
Then came a great deal of preparatory work: personnel arrangements, staff transfers, preparation of materials and tools, negotiation of the land and farmland to be occupied, house demolition, ...
In fact, construction didn't begin until six months later.
A large number of people participated in the construction of this irrigation project.
As the territory under the goddess's rule expanded, the amount of manpower and resources invested in only increased.
Five years later, when the project was halfway completed, cement was successfully developed.
The Minister of Finance of Yuanxi County was overjoyed, saying, "If we had built the irrigation project and the dam at the same time, we would be regretting it to death now."
Cement is a fantastic material; it's perfect for building roads, bridges, and dams.
The finance minister of Songhua County nodded in agreement, saying, "It saved a lot of money."
Liu Manyue clapped her hands, "Alright, alright, let's get ready to hire people to repair the dam!"
Six years later, the entire water conservancy project was completed.
On the day the ship opened, a celebration ceremony was held, and the goddess was warmly invited to cut the ribbon.
He Qinglan stood on the longest stone bridge in Yunhe County, looking down at the flowing water below and at the jubilant crowd, and a rare smile appeared on her face.
She reached out, and a fish leaped from the river, landing in the dragon girl's misty palm. It wagged its tail and greeted the dragon girl affectionately.
"Oh, you like it too?" She leaned closer to the fish, her eyes gentle. "That's wonderful."
The fish wagged its tail happily in her palm.
Then, with a flick of its tail, it leaped up and rubbed against the dragon girl's cool, white cheek.
He Qinglan watched as the fish sank straight down and fell into the river.
She smiled slightly and said, "Goodbye."
The onlookers gazed at the water conservancy project with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.
Built through the efforts of countless people over more than a decade, it will now protect all the people of Jinzhou!
"It can store water normally, and can be used for irrigation during droughts."
"It can also transport goods from the east to the west at the fastest speed."
"It's beneficial for both planting and doing business."
The wind blew from the river, bringing with it moist air.
With his hands on his hips, looking down at the river, someone said, "Now that we have Shengzhou and the Southwest region, shouldn't we build a water conservancy project that connects the three places?"
The people around him: "Huh?"
The Minister of Works of Qingyang County shook his head. "Forget about linking the three places. However, we can build a water conservancy project that connects the north and south from Shengzhou to Liangzhou!"
The Minister of Works of Tianshui County glanced sideways and said, "Let me remind you of something: Liangzhou is not ours at the moment."
The Minister of Works of Baoshan County suddenly had a brilliant idea: "If we go to Sun Yannan to discuss this matter, will he agree? It would also benefit them if it were repaired."
Minister of Industry of Yunhe County: "..."
He looked up at the sky. "It's raining!"
This rain was specially summoned by He Qinglan using magic.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the dark clouds dispersed, the rain stopped, and a rainbow stretched across the long river.
-----------------------
Author's Note: I'm experiencing writer's block. I've written everything I wanted to write, but the female lead is still a long way from ascending to the throne _(:з」∠)_
I'll organize the outline for the next chapter QAQ
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
