As the saying goes, "Spring rain is as precious as oil", which describes the scarcity and preciousness of spring rain.

But there was a lot of rain in the third year of Longqing. Since the beginning of spring, it has been rainy from north to south and on both sides of the Yellow River, with no sunny days seen.

This caused considerable trouble to the Ming army and civilians who were repairing the river embankment.

But no matter how great the difficulties were, they could not stop the imperial court's determination to plug the breach as soon as possible, allow the Yellow River water to return to the river channel, and supply water to the Grand Canal.

Since the Yellow River burst its dikes in mid-February, under the strict supervision of the Ministry of Works, the River Administration, and the Grain Transport Governor's Office, laborers in more than a dozen counties and cities in the lower reaches of the Yellow River have been working day and night for two months.

Over the past two months, more than 30 local, river, and water transport officials have been dismissed for overdue progress, dereliction of duty, etc. More than a thousand civilians have died of exhaustion, drowning, or work-related injuries!

With the court's completely reckless investment and after paying a heavy price, 200,000 soldiers and civilians finally blocked all the more than 130 breaches of varying sizes from Pei County onwards before the Maihuang River arrived.

The unruly Yellow River finally stopped flowing freely and returned to the river channel before it broke its dam.

With the replenishment of water from upstream, the Qingou and Zhuohe Rivers, which had been blocked for months, finally began to rise. The muddy river water overflowed into the canal and rushed southward.

A day later, the water level at Huai'an Tianfei Gate, which had almost reached the bottom, finally began to rise after a lapse of two months.

When they saw the yellow river water finally reach the bottom mark on the gate stone, all the water transport officials at the gate cheered enthusiastically.

"The water is coming! Navigation is open!" Many civil and military officials were so excited that they even wiped away tears. The canal was their bread and butter. When their parents were ill and unable to work, it was reasonable for them to shed a few tears, right?

The white-haired Grand Canal Commander, Zhenyuan Marquis Gu Huan, also had a steel-like beard and laughed happily at Zhao Kongzhao beside him, "Yuquan, you see, there is always a way out, right?!"

Zhao Kongzhao had only had a good night's sleep in the past two months. He traveled all day long on the 600-mile river channel from Huai'an to Pei County, and also traveled day and night to the capital. He was almost exhausted.

But at this moment, he felt that all the hard work was worth it. He went to Beijing and successfully suppressed the opposition of the Canal Office, forcing the court to adopt the emergency plan of the Canal Office.

Now that the plan has been successfully implemented, the canal transportation can finally be restored! He also proved that he was right. The person who knows the most about river management is not the Minister of Industry, not the Prime Minister of Rivers, and not the non-staff member Pan Jixun, but him, the Governor of Canal Transportation!

~~

After watching the water coming from upstream, Gu Huan and Zhao Kongzhao left Tianfei Gate amid the cheers of civil and military officials and walked along the high embankment towards the government office.

"Finally, I can have a good sleep." The old marquis was the same age as Xu Jie, but he was much stronger. He patted Zhao Kongzhao on the shoulder and said, "Yuquan, you should also take a good rest for a few days. You must have been exhausted recently."

"Alas, it's not time to take a breath yet." Zhao Kongzhao shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I have to make arrangements quickly to get those 2,000 canal boats to the north as soon as possible."

Previously, the Yellow River burst its banks and the canal was blocked. The first 2,000 grain ships that set out this year were stuck in Huai'an and had been stuck on the river for two months.

"So urgent?" The old marquis was stunned.

"It has been raining continuously. If we don't ship the goods quickly, by the time we get to the capital, the goods will be moldy and unable to be stored in the warehouse," Zhao Kongzhao explained.

"That's true," Gu Huan nodded, then frowned and said, "But the water has just come from upstream, the water situation is still unclear, and the newly repaired levee is not yet solid. I think it's better to wait a few days until the wheat and yellow water passes before transporting."

"This year's rain fell in early spring, so how could there be any yellow water for wheat?" Zhao Kongzhao shook his head and said unconcernedly, "Besides, 200,000 civilians are still on the levee, so what danger can't be eliminated?"

I thought, I could also ask them to help pull the oars.

Seeing that Gu Huan still looked worried, Zhao Kongzhao lowered his voice and explained, "Old Marquis, we have to hurry up. Remember what I told you last time, about the Jiangnan Group shipping grain from Suzhou to Tianjin?"

"Yeah." Gu Huan nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"The day before yesterday, the Beiyunhe reported that they came again. This time, the number of ships doubled, and they transported a total of 30,000 shi." Zhao Kongzhao wiped the mud off his official boots and said worriedly, "And it only took nine days to reach Tianjin."

"It's so fast." Gu Huan took a breath. From the perspective of Zhenyuan Hou, he felt quite excited. But he was the general commander of the canal transport, and he instinctively resisted this matter and said, "That's just a drop in the bucket."

"Old Marquis is right. It was precisely because of the small scale that they succeeded twice by chance." Zhao Kongzhao snorted and said, "The sea is dangerous and the Japanese pirates are rampant. Once large-scale grain transportation is carried out, it will definitely lead to disaster. The loss will not outweigh the gain!"

"It's a shame that those greedy people from Jiangnan took advantage of our temporary predicament and advocated sea transportation in Beijing!" Zhao Kongzhao said in hatred, "In order to make a little dirty money, they disregarded the safety of the Ming Dynasty's grain transport and wanted to lead the court astray. They really deserve to be killed!"

"Yeah." Gu Huan nodded, thinking that this damn scholar is good at putting accusations on others. The old marquis sneered and said, "But don't be too nervous. Every now and then, someone in the court will come out and say that they want to ship grain by sea, but every time it ends up in vain."

"This time is different, old marquis!" Zhao Kongzhao sighed, waved his hand, and asked the guards to go away. He held an umbrella and watched the thousands of raindrops hitting the yellow water.

"They persuaded Xishan Company to join forces and lobby everywhere. The impact was unprecedented." He lowered his voice and said, "I heard that many high-ranking officials in the ministry were persuaded. Even the Minister of Finance Ma Zhongyang privately said that he would give it a try."

"Oh, really?" After hearing Mason's attitude, Gu Huan finally changed his expression.

Although the Canal Transport Office was at the same level as the Ministry of Revenue, and neither of them had any control over the other, it ultimately served the Ministry of Revenue. Now that the canal transport had been cut off, the Minister of Revenue had every reason to find a new way to transport the grain to Taicang, so Mason's opinion was very important at this time.

Lord Gu finally understood why Zhao Kongzhao was so anxious.

"Yes." Zhao Kongzhao sighed and said, "So we have to hurry up and send out the grain. The sooner it arrives in Beijing, the sooner we can stop the scoundrels!"

"Yeah." Gu Huan smoothed his graying beard. The arrival of two thousand ships of grain in Beijing could indeed put an end to the discussion of shipping by sea. "Then let's do as Minister Zhao wishes."

"Okay." Zhao Kongzhao breathed a sigh of relief. If Gu Huan insisted on his own opinion, it would be difficult for him to deal with it.

~~

After returning to the yamen that day, Zhao Kongzhao issued an edict, ordering the 2,000 grain ships stranded in Huai'an to set off north as soon as possible!

In order to prevent the canal from running low on water and causing the grain ships to run aground, he also ordered officials from the Governor's Office to lead soldiers to carefully inspect each grain ship and unload all the contraband carried by the grain soldiers.

You don't know until you check. Once you check, you'll be shocked to find that the contraband carried by each ship for merchants weighs at least twice as much as the grain. In order to carry more contraband, some shippers made the ships taller and wider, and even increased the weight from 400 tons to 1,000 tons!

Looking at the various goods piled up on the dock, Zhao Kongzhao could not help but be stunned. No wonder one-tenth of the canal ships were stranded and damaged every year, and the locks and rivers were severely damaged. How could the canal and the canal ships withstand what these guys did?

But now was not the time to investigate, and he couldn't investigate. The transport office, the customs on the canal, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Revenue, the Censorate in Beijing, the eunuchs in the palace, the officials of the prefectures and counties along the way, and the merchants in the north and south all depended on these contraband goods for their livelihood.

He thought, with so many government offices and so many mouths, can the grain be transported by sea? Dream on!

Hearing the curses coming from the grain ships, Zhao Kongzhao ordered his subordinates to the side: "Tell the little ones that this is a critical moment. It is most important to transport the grain to Beijing as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, the brothers understand." The officials hurriedly agreed. "We have issued a strict order. All ships that exceed half of the waterline will not be allowed to pass!"

The canal boats were all manufactured by the Qingjiang Shipyard and had exactly the same specifications. There were markings painted on the sides of the boats. The deeper the load, the deeper the draft. If the draft did not exceed half of the waterline, the canal boat was probably half loaded.

A 400-ton ship could carry 300 dan of grain when fully loaded. In order to ensure that it could pass through dangerous sections of the river, a ship now carried 150 dan. It can be seen how much pressure the rumor of "transporting grain by sea" put on the grain transport office. Regardless of the cost, the grain had to be transported to Beijing as soon as possible to prove that the canal was still reliable!

"Go back and, in the name of the Governor-General's Office and the General's Office, send a letter to the counties along the coast to organize enough manpower to pull the boats. Anyone who delays will be fired!" Zhao Kongzhao ordered sternly, "Tell them that even if the water is knee-deep and the boats are stuck on the beach, they must be pulled across!"

"Understood!" All the officials accepted the order.

~~

Torches lit up the sky at the dock, and the grain transport office completed preparations for departure overnight in the rain.

The next morning, just after daybreak, the sound of firecrackers rang out at the Caoyun Wharf. When the firecrackers stopped, the horn sounded, and the boatmen shouted together: "Let the boat go!"

A row of half-loaded grain boats slowly left the dock, forming a long snake and winding northward.

The scene of two thousand canal boats setting out at the same time was truly spectacular. The front team had already left Tianfei Lock, while the rear team was still at the canal dock and had not yet untied the cables.

It was not until dark that all the canal boats were released. Zhao Kongzhao looked at the empty dock, but he did not relax at all. Instead, he became even more nervous.

Before, he just wanted to get the fleet off at all costs. Now that the fleet has really set off, he finally started to worry about the 600-li water journey from here to Pei County.

He had been on this section of the canal several times recently, and of course he knew that Gu Huan's concerns were very reasonable. The previous river water overflowed, causing the canal to be seriously blocked. According to the normal process, they should take the opportunity to dredge and clear the silt, clear the river to a state where ships can pass, and then restore water supply and resume canal transportation.

Now he skipped the dredging and went straight to restoring the water supply, which was actually a risk! If the ship got stuck in the silt during the voyage, would it have to rely entirely on manpower to pull it out 600 miles? Wouldn't that mean it would be a land cruise?

"Oh..." Zhao Kongzhao sighed to the sky and thought to himself, my life is really hard.

ps. This is the first of three consecutive updates. Please give me your monthly votes!