Inside the Temple of Manna.

Li Zexuan said that, Li Er frowned, and suddenly fell into deep thought.

The five ministers in the hall no longer had the casual indifference when they first came in, they all lowered their heads, silently digesting Li Zexuan's words in their hearts. After a while, Xiao Yu stepped forward and said:

"Your Majesty, the words of the Marquis of Yong'an are extremely reasonable! If the riverbed of the Yellow River is raised in a few years, the downstream states and counties will spend thousands of dollars if they want to build river embankments! In comparison, the cost of afforestation is a drop in the bucket! Lao Chen suggested restoring the old system and resetting the positions of Shanyu and Lin Heng~! ”

The old system that Xiao Yu mentioned is the old system of the Zhou Dynasty. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court set up two positions, Shanyu and Lin Heng, which were dedicated to managing the country's mountains and forests. In the "Zhou Li", these two positions are clearly described:

"The decree of the mountains and forests of the mountains, the things are forbidden, the midwinter chops the yang wood, the midsummer chops the yin wood, all the servants, the season wood, the time to enter it, so that the people cut the wood, there is a period of time, where the state workers into the mountains and forests and the timber can not be forbidden, and those who steal the wood are punished." "Shanyu cuts timber at the right time, and Lin Heng is subject to the law in Shanyu, with strict precepts, and if there is injustice, he will be rewarded and punished for his merits."

In other words, Shanyu has a higher position, and is mainly responsible for formulating government decrees to protect mountain forest resources and making decisions on the planting and cutting down of trees. Lin Heng's position is relatively low, under the leadership of Shan Yu, and his main responsibilities are to patrol the mountains and forests, enforce bans, etc.

It can also be seen that the dynasties before the Qin and Han dynasties still attached great importance to the protection of the environment and forests.

However, the history of afforestation in China can be traced back at least 3,000 years ago. The Book of Rites says: "In the month of Meng Chun, Shengde is in the wood", which means that planting trees in spring is the greatest moral act. As early as the Yu Shun era in the late patrilineal clan society, an official "Yu Guan" was set up to be in charge of the mountains and forests. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Shanyu established by the imperial court was actually evolved from the Yu official, which was the earliest "Minister of Forestry" in the history of our country.

In the summer of Yu, there were also administrative regulations for the protection of forests, "Zhou Shu Da Ju" said: "Yu forbidden, spring and March, mountains and forests do not climb the axe, in order to become the length of grass and trees."

Therefore, the concept of protecting the environment and protecting mountains and forests was not first put forward by people in modern times, but our ancestors took this issue into account at the very beginning!

At this time, Xiao Yu proposed to restore the old system and reset the positions of Shanyu and Lin Heng, and everyone in the hall except Li Zexuan came back to their senses, since there was a precedent for planting trees and protecting mountains and forests, then the current implementation of Li Zexuan's Arbor Day would not seem so abrupt!

And although Datang does not currently have officials in charge of mountains and forests like the Western Zhou Dynasty, the people still have the consciousness of planting trees, but they are not planted on the edge of the Yellow River, but on the ridges of their own Yongye fields! In the Tang Dynasty, a certain number of Yongye fields would be planted around them, which was called a farmland shelterbelt!

"Yong'an Hou, have you estimated how much it will cost to build a shelterbelt in the Yellow River Basin~?"

Li Er stood up and paced two steps in front of the dragon case, then he looked at Li Zexuan and asked in a deep voice.

Obviously, Lao Li has been moved after a long trade-off!

Li Zexuan arched his hand and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the Yellow River is more than 5,000 miles long, but the real area with serious soil erosion is only 3,000 miles, and the minister thinks that building a shelterbelt on both sides of the Yellow River that is five miles wide and 3,000 miles long will be enough to resolve the crisis of the Yellow River becoming more sediment and the riverbed gradually rising and easy to burst the embankment in the future!"

Chen has estimated that about 300 million saplings are needed for this shelterbelt, and if you use poplar saplings that are easy to survive and inexpensive, no matter how expensive they are, they will only cost one or two pennies a plant, and the total cost of 300 million saplings will be at most 750,000 yuan! ”

Li Er's eyes were dark, and he almost fell to the ground, and he said angrily: "Seven hundred and fifty thousand? This is the cheapest means of controlling the Yellow River that you said~? ”

Xiao Yu and the others also widened their eyes, and secretly said that they shouldn't have helped Li Zexuan speak just now, because this expenditure is too huge, huge to the point that the current Tang Dynasty can't afford it!

Li Zexuan arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, the minister's estimate of 750,000 guan is to take into account the fact that the price of poplar saplings has skyrocketed in large quantities!" At present, the price of poplar saplings in Chang'an City is as low as two for a penny, and this kind of sapling can be obtained directly by cutting the branches of adult trees in the field, with low cost and fast reproduction, which can completely mobilize the people of various states and counties to cultivate their own saplings!

The imperial court can encourage the people of the states and counties along the Yellow River to plant trees to offset part of the taxes, and this shelterbelt will certainly not be completed in a year, and the minister conservatively estimates that it will take at least five years! In other words, in five years, the imperial court directly or indirectly spends money on building shelterbelts every year, at most 150,000 yuan!

And this part of the money may not be all from the imperial court, but the people can also contribute a part, such as the Nuan Tang Foundation! In this way, the imperial court spends a maximum of 70,000 or 80,000 yuan a year on the construction of shelterbelts, and the actual amount of money required will be much lower than that. ”

Li Er's face was a little pale, and he frowned and said, "Seventy or eighty thousand, this is not a small amount!" ”

Li Zexuan arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, a maximum of seventy or eighty thousand yuan per year, a total of five years, the five years of the imperial court's efforts, ideally, can solve the problem of flooding of the Yellow River once and for all, otherwise, the future Tang Dynasty will frequently face the risk of the Yellow River bursting!" Your Majesty, imagine that every time the Yellow River breaks its embankment, the imperial court needs to rebuild the embankment and open a warehouse for disaster relief.

It can be said that the losses brought to Datang by a large-scale flood are already worth the cost of building shelterbelts! Therefore, the minister believes that instead of frequently building river embankments and opening warehouses for disaster relief in the future, it is better to start building shelterbelts on both sides of the Yellow River now!

In addition, the imperial court can set up a certain day as Arbor Day, encouraging the people to plant trees on this day, and the strength of the number of people is great, which can relieve a lot of financial pressure for the imperial court! ”

When Li Er heard this, he closed his eyes and pondered for a long time, and finally spoke: "Okay! I believe in you this time! According to what you said, restore the old system, reset the duties of Shanyu and Lin Heng, build a shelter belt on both sides of the Yellow River, and March 20 every year will be the Tang Arbor Day! As for the positions of Shanyu and Lin Heng, there are suitable candidates in the hearts of several Aiqing~? ”

Everyone looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes to Li Zexuan, Li Zexuan was dumbfounded, he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Your Majesty, no!" No! The minister has a lot of affairs on weekdays, and he really doesn't have the energy to serve as Shanyu and Lin Heng! ”

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