Chapter Twenty-Five: Sealing the Hutuo River God

After seeing the triangle lake and further west, it is the Daqing River that connects Baiyangdian and the triangle lake, and there are stone embankments on both sides, so I don't want to say it.

However, it is on the governance of Baiyangdian Lake, which is different from the Triangle Lake.

Yu Qian purely regarded Baiyangdian, which has been a depression near Baiyangdian, as a flood discharge area.

There's no way around it.

The imperial court's funds were also limited.

You can only focus on investment.

Along the way, Zhu Qizhen made the most sure discovery. Most of the rivers have embankments, but they are earthen embankments and have stone embankments. There are also water intake points along large and small rivers.

There are also canals lined up.

There is only one problem, that is, the water level of almost all rivers is very low, and it is impossible to let the water flow naturally into the canals, and at this time, there are large and small water wheels.

Some rely on wind power, some rely on animal power, but the most common one is still manpower.

There is a wooden chain connection, and two people pedal the water side by side. Hundreds of acres of land can be irrigated every day, depending on the water level.

As for the rest, there are more with the help of hydraulic machinery.

There are also so-called well-drilling machines. It is to use a lever to make a bamboo pole with an iron tip on the head of the bamboo pole. One end is pressed with a large stone, and two people sit on a lever.

With the weight adjusted, the iron tip was smashed into the soil one by one, as if it were a kowtow machine. If the land is loosened, it will be easier to dig.

Moreover, most of the groundwater in Hebei is very shallow, except for a few places, it is only one or two meters, or even less than one meter before the water comes out. Basically, a well can be drilled in a day or two.

It is also this kind of machinery that can spread wells all over Hebei in a few years, tens of thousands.

You know, before that, wells were not widespread at all, at most there were one or two in a village. Even at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the number of wells in a county was only more than 200.

This is also the reason why the map of Japan's invasion of China even has to mark the number of wells on the map.

Of course, none of the wells drilled in this way are deep wells, and if you really encounter a great drought year, it is estimated that the well water will not be able to escape if it runs dry.

But now, the water conservancy system of Hebei's five rivers and three lakes is combined with countless wells in the fields and fields, even if it forms a water conservancy network that covers most of the prefectures and counties.

This water conservancy network, which is extremely simple in modern times, is enough to carry too many ideas of Zhu Qizhen.

He hoped that one day when he was riding a horse-drawn carriage south from the gallop, he would see on both sides the fields of crops that would not change for hours as far as the eye could see.

Many people are accustomed to it, and even get tired of seeing the scenery, but they don't know how much sweat and blood they have soaked in their ancestors.

Zhu Qizhen inspected the Baiyangdian Lake of the Daqing River, and did not stay long. Soon came to the Hutuo River.

At this moment, the Hutuo River does not roar as it used to be, and a stone embankment more than 100 miles long has forcefully changed the direction of the Hutuo River from east to west to north and south.

After the Hutuo River flows into Ningjinbo, it is to open 12 canals, the longest of which is hundreds of miles, irrigating several counties, covering a large area, and it is definitely not under the water conservancy project of Zhengguo Canal, which is famous in history.

This is also the result of this flood control, in addition to the Baiyangdian irrigation area of the Daqing River in the triangle, that is, the Ningjin Bozhang River irrigation area, these two major irrigation areas account for 80 percent of the grain output of Zhili.

As for the water conservancy projects in other places, there are them, but they are not as good as these two places.

And Zhang Jing, the biggest contributor to this project, has passed away.

He died in the midst of the seven-year flood season of Orthodoxy.

Zhu Qizhen has heard the story of Zhang Jing even in the palace, especially the death of Zhang Jing, which has been deified by the people.

It is said that at that time, the embankment was precarious and could not be protected. The people fled in a hurry, Zhang Jing drew his sword, angrily rebuked the dragon king, jumped into the water, and was never seen again.

Dozens of miles along the river, Zhang Jing's body was not seen.

But it is rumored that Zhang Jing told the people a dream, saying: "The dragon king of the Hutuo River does not listen to the king's order, and has been punished for me, and from now on, the Hutuo River will not be chaotic." ”

The people liked this story, and naturally spread it all over Hebei within two years. Even the storytellers in Beijing like this base, and they have their own processing. Evolve into something different.

Zhu Qizhen knew why Zhang Jing committed suicide by jumping into the river, because he had Zhang Jing's widow in his hand.

When the water was fierce, Zhang Jing folded the embankment in his arms, and after several days and nights, the embankment was crumbling, and the stone embankment was cracked with a palm-wide opening.

Zhang Jing exhausted all the methods he could think of, thinking that if the embankment broke like this, even if he survived, it would be useless, and he had said several times in front of Yu Qian that it would be a great humiliation for a gentleman to live and die with the river embankment and break his promise once, how could it be any more?

Therefore, when Zhang Jing was irretrievably on the embankment, he jumped into the Hutuo River.

Just after Zhang Jing jumped into the river, it was clear. Although the embankment of the Hutuo River was crumbling, it still persevered.

Zhu Qizhen also knew that the people didn't like to listen to this explanation.

And the people have spontaneously built a temple for Zhang Jing, which is the Zhang Gong Ancestral Hall.

Zhu Qizhen came this time, and by the way, he also issued an order to seal Zhang Jing as the god of the Hutuo River. The place is ordered to have a priest to sacrifice at four o'clock. to pot loyalty.

After seeing the two largest irrigation areas, continue south to the Zhanghe River Valley.

Here Zhu Qizhen saw a different scene, the water of the Zhanghe River is not used on both sides, Zhu Qizhen naturally asked.

Yu Qian immediately said: "The northern section of the canal is used by the Wei River. The water of the Zhanghe River flows into the Wei River, in order to prevent the canal from being shallow and blocking the transportation channel, so the lower reaches of the Zhanghe River are not allowed to irrigate, and the minister can do nothing. ”

Zhu Qizhen knew that Yu Qian gave the Caoyun system eye medicine, but he was not decided.

The canal and the local water competition has not been a day or two, and even since the establishment of the water transportation system, this has been the case. This is especially true the further north you go.

Because the farther north you go, the more precious the water becomes.

Now Zhu Qizhen is not Zhu Qizhen, who has just ascended the throne, he naturally feels that the canal is too problematic, occupies too many resources, and the maintenance cost is at the level of one million taels.

However, before the salt tax reform in Zhuqi Town, 23 million stone grain, hundreds of taels of silver, plus various taxes in kind such as iron and wood, were all converted into silver, which was about 14 million taels.

Not to mention, is the grain tax of 23 million stone collected by hand every year?

Zhu Qizhen understands too well that he will exempt one million stone of grain from the grain tax every year for one reason or another.

From a financial point of view, the system is simply incomprehensible.

In the position of governor of Jiangnan, Zhou Chen assisted Chen Xuan, the former Pingjiang Bo, to complete a series of reforms of Caoyun, and it stands to reason that he was a supporter of Caoyun, but on the contrary.

He was in the position of the head of the household department for more than a year, and he became a supporter of shipping.

Without him, the cost gap between the two is too great.

In fact, during the Yongle period, the cost of Cao Yun was not too much, and many expenses were borne by the locality, like the cost of labor in many places, which would not appear in the accounts of the imperial court.

And as Yu Qian planned, even Hebei's water conservancy system needs daily maintenance, and Yu Qian is passing on this obligation to the local people.

Because it is related to the vital interests of the people. The people were willing to help.

But the canal is different, first of all, the canal violates the water nature, the eastern section of the canal is the highest, and the ships are almost lifted up layer by layer by locks.

In this case, the longer it takes, the more work is required for maintenance.

The greater the investment before, the more the officials in charge of the Cao Yun could not give up their support, such as the Pingjiang Bo Chen family, which could never accept the abolition of the Cao Yun.

Because the abolition of Caoyun means that the entire Caoyun system will be abolished, and layoffs, whether ancient or modern, are big problems.

Not to mention, the canal is also beneficial. At least make the canals prosperous.

Under the entanglement of various interests, Zhu Qizhen felt extremely tricky at first glance.

Zhu Qizhen said: "Now the general soldier of Caoyun, Pingjiang Bo Chen Yu is not Mr.'s old subordinate, Mr. should endure it for the country." ”

However, Zhu Qizhen has already made a decision to abolish the canal.

As a result, the canal has only been in operation for decades, and the energy of the interest groups associated with the canal is not large. If it is left to future generations, it will be difficult to shake the decision.

It's just that all Zhu Qizhen can do now is take a small notebook and write down this matter.