Chapter 151: Gods

It is said that the sand table first appeared in the last years of the Warring States period, and since then, it has been only circulated in the Jiangmen family and is not known to outsiders. After all, this is an era when the literacy rate is frighteningly low, and the vast majority of people are struggling to make ends meet, and they have to be happy for a long time to eat a meal of meat, and they really don't have the time and energy to play with something as tall as the sand table.

Therefore, the process of Chen Cheng leading people to make the sand table was not smooth, except for him having an idea of what he was going to make, everyone else didn't quite understand what he was going to make. However, what makes humans more advanced than animals is that they can think, and even if they have not seen something, they will have a vague concept after hearing the description of others.

It took four days, and after the failure of the first version of the sandbox, the second version of the sandbox began to be produced again. In order to figure out the topography of Hanyang County and the distance between various towns, Chen Cheng specially asked Yan Xing, who was learning the four mixed operations, to come over.

Even so, the production of the sand table is still very difficult, mainly because people in this era do not have the concept of contour and latitude and longitude, most of the maps are very abstract, can only roughly describe the location, when the real march, or rely on the guide to lead the way, or rely on the village and other things on the road as a mark.

Therefore, the sand table that took several days to make can only be said to be barely usable. On this simple sand table, the roads and main peaks in Longxian, Jieting, Shangtai, Jixian, Hanyang, Wangyuan, Xixian, Lixian and other places are marked, as well as Weishui and Hanyang counties.

Then, these people from the staff office deduced the battle between the officers and soldiers and Han Sui according to the rule book they had just made.

The charm of the game is very amazing, in this era of material and spiritual scarcity, Chen Cheng made this set of strategic games composed of sand tables and dice, as soon as it was born, everyone involved in the production was addicted to it. So much so that Chen Cheng had to order that everyone must leave the staff every day after the ya. Otherwise, these people might have had a blast all night long.

However, it is a pity that this set of wargames used for deduction still has many loopholes, and it is not very accurate to predict the direction of the battlefield situation. The results of the performances were not consistent with the military information transmitted from Hanyang, so everyone laughed at each other while trying to find a way to make the war games more elaborate and close to reality.

In Chen Cheng's view, this set of wargames is still very primitive, and it is more appropriate to say a set of table games than to deduce the battle situation. The only thing that he found useful was that this set of wargames had a positive effect on the promotion of simplified Chinese characters and "Primary School Mathematics". If you don't know some math, you can't play this kind of big board game.

The battle in Hanyang County continued, the officers and soldiers were divided into two routes, one was a small number of soldiers and horses led by Huangfu Song, as a partial division to Longxian, and the other road marched west along Weishui, successively breaking through Shangqi and Wangyuan, and the soldiers pointed directly at Ji County. Ji County is the county governance of Hanyang County, and it is the elite of the entire Hanyang County, and Han Sui's base camp was placed in Ji County before.

The rapid march of the officers and soldiers not only shocked Han Sui and Ma Teng and others, but also the civil and military generals here in Lian County. However, Chen Cheng, although he didn't pay much attention to the war in Hanyang County, but after hearing that the chief of the officers and soldiers on this road was Lu Bu, and he also brought Zhang Liao, Gaoshun and other generals, he predicted early on that Han Sui might suffer a big loss.

Now that the words are proverbial, Chen Cheng is not very happy. In addition to the war games of the General Staff, he was also involved in the mechanical design, site exploration and weapon design of the Ministry of Engineering, as well as the preparation of teaching materials for the night school. Other things, as long as they can be pushed, Chen Cheng has already pushed them to Yan Zhong, Xu Chao, Yang Qiu, Zhao Yun and others.

Only weapon design can do these things, others can do it, but the efficiency seems to him to be miserable, and it is better for him to do it himself. The two-level "engineering" is for doing things, and if you don't use it, wouldn't it be a waste?

The design of the spear is very simple, as long as the barrel is lengthened and the counterweight of the tail is properly adjusted. However, the horizontal knife had to be redesigned, and after lengthening both the blade and the handle, the counterweight ring at the tail was eliminated, and the blade was added. The horizontal knife is used to replace the ring head knife, and in addition to retaining the original self-defense function, it must also be suitable for immediate slashing.

Chen Cheng studied for a long time with the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, and finally came to the conclusion that with the current technology, the horizontal knife made only increased the attack distance to one meter, and if you want to grow again, you must improve the smelting technology. Only by smelting better steel can we make better and better horizontal knives.

In addition, a silver mine was discovered in Helan Mountain to the west, but there are not enough people to mine it now. Moreover, the silver mine is located in the deep mountains, and if you want to mine and smelt, you need to build a road connecting the silver mine and the river, which also requires Chen Cheng to go to the field to investigate, and then see when there will be manpower to develop.

All kinds of things made him so busy that his feet barely touched the ground. Just when Chen Cheng was busy in the dark, Xu Chao took a bag of bamboo slips to the state pastor's mansion. Chen Cheng knew that this was a doer, he didn't usually talk much, and he didn't give others a good look, so he came to the door so late today, there must be something important.

"Xu Shangshu, please take a seat," Chen Cheng asked, "Is there something wrong?" ”

Xu Chaoxi smiled and said, "There is a great happy event, and I need to report it to the lord." ”

"Oh?" Chen Cheng became interested, all he heard in the past few days was that there were not enough people here, and more grain and grass needed to be allocated there, but he hadn't heard of a happy event for a long time, "There is a happy event, please come quickly!" ”

Xu Chao took out the six rolls of bamboo slips, put them on the table, and then said: "The minister has been busy cleaning up the river outside the south gate these days, and in his spare time, he has inspected up and down the Yellow River. ”

Chen Cheng smiled: "Xu Shangshu has worked hard. ”

He was very satisfied with Xu Chao in his heart, and he was also very satisfied with himself who promoted Xu Chao to the position of secretary of the Ministry of Industry. A person's time and energy are limited, and if you want to do great things, you need to gather the strength of many people. All problems are ultimately human problems. Only by putting the right people in the right places can you get twice the result with half the effort.

Xu Chao also smiled rarely, patted the bamboo slips on the table, and said: "The minister has investigated the terrain of the upper and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and recorded it here. ”

Chen Cheng said with a smile: "Yes, everything has to be done on the spot, and the control of the Yellow River is no exception....... Wait......."

The smile on his face gradually froze, and his brows gradually furrowed, "Xu Shangshu didn't just say that he was governing the Yellow River, right?" ”

Xu Chao nodded and said, "The lord is right, what the minister just said is to control the Yellow River." ”

This...... Was the Red Turban Army uprising just the result of controlling the Yellow River? The Yuan Dynasty had the wealth and manpower of the whole world, and when it was governing the Yellow River, it also made an uprising that swept the world, and it only occupied the territory of two or three counties, where did the manpower and material resources come from to do such a major thing as governing the Yellow River?

Of course, there were deeper and more complex reasons for the Red Turban uprising, but the immediate trigger was the control of the Yellow River.

Chen Cheng took a long breath of talk, squeezed out a bitter face, and said: "Xu Shangshu, you are in charge of the household department, and you know best how much grain is in the treasury, but you can tell me, do we have money and grain to control the Yellow River?" ”

Xu Chao said: "The minister naturally knows that there is no money and grain in the treasury, but the control of the Yellow River is a good thing that benefits the three counties, even if there are difficulties, can the lord not do it?" ”

Chen Cheng complained bitterly: "I really don't have any money, even if it's a good thing, I have to do what I can!" ”

Xu Chao said: "The minister knows that there is no money in the treasury, but the minister also knows that there is a large amount of money in the lord's inner family. Instead of keeping your money in a warehouse, spend it where you need it. We don't have to worry about the upstream rivers for the time being, and we don't have to worry about the downstream rivers. Let's just say that if the river can be dredged and the embankment can be strengthened, the fields on both sides of the bank can be increased by more than one million? This is a meritorious work in the present and a meritorious service for the future! ”

Hearing that Xu Chao was going to pay attention to his private money, Chen Cheng was originally a little angry, but when he saw that the other party said sincerely, and also moved out the reason that "the merit is in the present and the benefit is in the future", he couldn't help but be a little moved. Although Xu Chao is a bit utilitarian and sometimes not very close, he does chase a lot of good things for the people.

Chen Cheng sighed again and asked, "This is the great joy you told me?" ”

Xu Chao said: "Exactly! ”

"Where's the joy?" Chen Cheng said with a bitter face: "This is obviously to cut my flesh with a knife!" ”

Xu Chao said: "If it was Yang Qiuchengyi and the others, the minister would not mention this matter at all." However, the minister knew that the lord had a benevolent heart, and he was broad-minded and his eyes were like torches, so he naturally knew the necessity of governing the Yellow River, and also knew how much benefit it would be after the governance was successful. That's why I worked tirelessly to record the situation on both sides of the Yellow River. ”

Chen Cheng looked at Xu Chao's tired face, knowing that the other party had really worked hard during this time, he sighed in his heart, and then squeezed out a smile on his face, and said, "I know that Xu Shangshu wants to do something practical, but this matter is really beyond our ability." Yes, I do have some money to spare, but it is reserved for the silver mines in Helan Mountain. ”

Xu Chao was stunned for a moment and asked, "Is there a silver mine in Helan Mountain?" ”

Chen Cheng knew what Xu Chao was thinking at a glance, and said with a smile: "Qing don't want to fight the idea of silver mines, it's still a shadowless thing, I'm going to wait until next year to mine." The mined silver has also been arranged, and it is to change the clothes and pay the army, and Yang Qiu has long shouted that the military budget is not enough. ”

Xu Chao thought for a while and said, "Have you heard of Dujiangyan and Zheng Guoqu?" ”

The Dujiangyan built by Li Bing and his son, as well as some other water conservancy systems, irrigated the Chengdu Plain for thousands of years, and still played a huge role until the later Republic period. It is because of this exploit of thousands of years that the people of Shu built temples for Li Bing and his son after their deaths and respected them as gods. Indeed, their favor has lasted for thousands of years, and what god is better than them?

It was after the construction of the Dujiangyan system that the middle of the river was no longer flooded or drought, but became a country of abundance and a warehouse of rice and grain. Similarly, after the construction of the Zhengguo Canal, the Guanzhong Plain was irrigated and the national strength of the Qin State was strengthened. Xu Chao talked about Dujiangyan and Zheng Guoqu, how could Chen Cheng not know?

He said slowly: "I know what Qing meant, but this matter is too big, really, too big, this is much more than sending troops to fight." Even I couldn't have made that decision. Controlling the Yellow River not only requires too much manpower and material resources, but the difficulties are even more difficult than you might think. ”

"Even if we reclaim so much fertile land, we don't have enough people to cultivate it."

Chen Cheng stopped Xu Chao, who wanted to continue talking, and said, "Unless you can convince several important ministers in the mansion to agree, I will let you do it, otherwise, don't mention this matter again." ”