It’s all in the longevity!
On April 10, Zhao Jun went north along the Yellow River. He set off at seven in the morning and arrived in Huazhou, eighty kilometers away, at six in the afternoon.
It was evening, and the Yellow River was not particularly turbulent, with mud surging and yellow sand flowing.
They stayed in Huazhou for one night, and on the next day, April 11, accompanied by Zhu Xun, Liu Yi, the prefect and the county magistrate of Huazhou, they inspected the local water conservancy.
"Master, since the canal was opened, not only has transportation from Hebei to Henan become much more convenient, but the water flow in the river has also decreased significantly."
The Huazhou prefect smiled and said to Zhao Jun, "In the past, whenever there was a heavy rainstorm, the water level in the upper reaches would rise, and the lower reaches would definitely be flooded. Now, things are better. Last summer, the water level of the river rose sharply, but with the canal, the south bank was not flooded."
Although the canal was a project promulgated by the imperial court and not a local initiative, the sixth year of the Qingli period when the canal was built happened to be his term of office, which is undoubtedly his achievement.
Zhao Jun laughed and said, "This canal does have many benefits, but you haven't mentioned the most important point."
"Forehead"
The Huazhou prefect hurriedly said, "I am a foolish official. I would like to ask the prefect to help me solve my doubts."
Zhao Jun looked at the two sides of the canal outside the city.
Huazhou was originally just a lower state on the south bank of the Yellow River, with only three county towns: Huazhou, Zaocheng and Weicheng. It had a small area and little arable land.
The reason is that there are few rivers, including only one Da Gong River in later generations.
Now that the canal has been opened, a large number of drainage channels have been built from Huazhou to the south in the direction of Jingji Road, and even several canal tributaries have been branched out to irrigate the fields, adding a lot of farmland.
In addition to farmland, the villages and towns along the coast were also quite prosperous, providing overnight accommodation, meals and other services for passing ships, and gradually they developed businesses.
Zhao Jun said, "Once the canal was opened, the people here used the water to irrigate their farmland, and countless fields were reclaimed. The merchants who came and went needed accommodation at night, and how many shops and people were supported? You haven't even calculated all this."
"Yes, yes, yes."
The Huazhou prefect kept saying, "It was my own fault that I was confused."
Zhao Jun emphasized, "If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. This is not empty talk. Only with convenient transportation and transportation can we prosper. The state government must redouble its efforts and consider people's livelihood more."
"Yes, yes, yes."
The prefect of Huazhou kept nodding his head. Although Zhao Jun's words were not harsh and one could even sense a strained tone in his voice, he was already sweating profusely.
This young dean is said to be only 34 years old this year, but the aura of superiority and the sense of oppression he exudes are real. His every word and action is like a mountain pressing down on you.
Perhaps in the eyes of ordinary people, officials like prefects and county magistrates, who are high above and almost the highest-level officials that ordinary people can see, are nothing more than ants in the eyes of the prefectural court.
After inspecting Huazhou, Zhao Jun's fleet sailed east along the Yellow River for more than 50 kilometers and arrived in Puyang on April 12.
This is the central area for the entire Yellow River management, because in history the Yellow River broke its dike here. The Shanghukou dike east of Puyang broke, and the Yellow River, which originally flowed eastward, flowed north, flooding a large area of land in the lower reaches of Hebei, causing countless people to be displaced.
When Zhao Jun arrived in Puyang, the prefect of Chanzhou and the magistrate of Puyang came to greet him, and also came Gao Chao, who was entrusted with an important task by Jia Changchao and served as the chief engineer of the Yellow River Estuary.
Gao Chao was about forty years old. He was originally just an ordinary river repair worker, but he was valued by Jia Changchao because he proposed the three-section pressure sweeping method.
At this moment, Xiaowu Village, west of Puyang City, is the place where the Yellow River failed to return to the river for the second time in history, causing it to change its course again, from its original Henglongdong channel to its Beiliu channel.
It was this diversion that turned the lower reaches of Hebei into a swamp, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless and causing heavy casualties.
"Zhiyuan."
At the Xiaowu Village embankment, Gao Chao pointed to a Yellow River tributary flowing slowly northward in the distance and said, "Harnessing a major river is not an overnight task. Both blocking and dredging require subtle techniques. To repair this tributary, we mobilized over 300,000 laborers, connecting three major rivers—the Guangji Canal, the Zhangshui River, and the Hulu River—and over ten smaller streams. It took nearly two years, but we finally completed the project."
"Well, I don't know much about flood control. I only know there are two ways to control it: blocking the flow and draining the water. Strategies like using water to flush out sand are essentially about blocking the flow and then using the force of the water to flush the sand away."
Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Professional matters should be left to professionals. The court will not interfere in how you govern. However, I hope you will be cautious when deciding on a plan, because even professionals can make mistakes. And if they make a mistake, even just once, the harm caused will be enormous, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands or even millions homeless. Do you understand?"
"yes."
Gao Chao was startled and accepted it with a bow.
Zhao Jun then looked at the Beiliu River and the Nanfenliu River.
The current Yellow River management project is actually based on the method of diversion and water-flushing proposed by Zhao Jun.
The imperial court dug seven or eight rivers in Hebei and Henan, including a canal, spending more than 10 million strings of cash and mobilizing more than one million laborers. The cost was extremely high.
This is because Zhao Jun's reform measures in recent years have enriched the imperial treasury. Otherwise, according to the previous situation of the Song Dynasty court, a large amount of expenses would have to be spent on military affairs, and there would be no extra funds to control the Yellow River.
Judging from the current situation, although it is not the flood season of the Yellow River, Zhao Jun looked at the water flow of the Yellow River. The water flow has dropped a lot during the non-flood season. It can be said that the effect is significant.
Even during the summer and autumn flood seasons, with the diversion capacity of these rivers, I think they can handle such a large water flow and prevent the Yellow River from flooding.
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