Eighteen days later, Xu Youzhen rushed to Yanzhou with 3,000 soldiers from the Beijing battalion, and at this time, a large amount of relief money, grain and materials were on the way to be transported, and it was estimated that they would arrive in the disaster area one after another.

At this time, Hu Dexing, the deputy chief soldier of Shandong Town, was already waiting in Yanzhou City, and after seeing Xu Youzhen's disaster, Hu Dexing set up a banquet for him to catch the wind and wash the dust.

This time, before Xu Youzhen arrived, Liu Juntao had already sent a letter to Hu Dexing, asking him to touch Xu Youzhen's confidence, if Xu Youzhen is really talented and hardworking, he can take the local government to fight the flood and provide disaster relief, then Hu Dexing will lead the people of Shandong Town to fully cooperate.

If Xu Youzhen has a name, then Hu Dexing will have to keep a distance from him, and Xu Youzhen will not want to mobilize every soldier in Shandong Town without authorization!

Although Xu Youzhen has made meritorious contributions to the management of the Yellow River in history, Liu Juntao still has reservations about the authenticity of his talents in view of the fact that he has been contacted several times.

Xu Youzhen saw that Liu Juntao was still sitting in Jinan Mansion, but he only sent the deputy general army to sit in Yanzhou Mansion, and he didn't say anything but happily went to the banquet, and the team he brought was properly settled in the military camp in the city.

During the banquet, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun, the general of the trapping army, continued to toast diligently and complimented Xu Youzhen, who did not refuse to come, and did not mention the flood relief at all.

Seeing this situation, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun also frowned slightly, and both of them were a little unhappy in their hearts.

Although the expressions of the two were not obvious, Xu Youzhen also saw it in their eyes, but they just smiled slightly and did not break it.

At this time, Zhang Xiaojun said: "Lord Xu, now the floods in Yanzhou Mansion, Qingzhou Mansion and other places are raging, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, and the disaster is very serious, I don't know what Lord Xu's plans are?" ”

Xu Youzhen said with a smile: "This official believes that this flood is not so much a natural disaster as a man-made disaster!" ”

Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun were both taken aback and hurriedly asked.

Xu Youzhen said: "On the way here, the official has privately checked the situation in the disaster area, although the heavy rain these days is very heavy, but it will not break out such a serious flood, in the final analysis, it is all because of the serious siltation of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal, and the Yellow River embankment is in disrepair!" ”

Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun both nodded slightly when they heard this, obviously agreeing with what Xu Youzhen said.

Therefore, this disaster relief is only the first step, the official intends to distribute all the money, food and materials, and let the local governments do the disaster relief, and at the same time, they must also rely on the help of Shandong Town; The second step is the key point, the official is ready to vigorously control the water conservancy of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal! ”

Hu Dexing clenched his fists and said: "I'd like to hear about it!" ”

Xu Youzhen smiled and said, "Let's talk about this Grand Canal first!" ”

"Every year, the grain that passes through the Grand Canal to Gyeonggi is no less than millions of stones, not including those private freight and travelers from the south to the north! The importance of the canal has become increasingly prominent, and it can be said that it is the lifeline of the dynasty! ”

"Nowadays, the Grand Canal can be divided into three parts: between Qingkou and Yangzhou, with Baoying, Gaoyou and other lakes as the main body to form the Jianghuai Canal, this flood is not big here; Between Jining and Qingkou, borrowing the Yellow River for transportation and taking the Yellow River as the transportation channel, this section is the key area of this flood, and the final disaster of Shanxian County and Cao County are all around this section; The old road of the Huitong River between Jining and Tianjin, there is no disaster here, so don't mention it. ”

"The canal between Jining and Qingkou, with the Yellow River and the canal, is often silted up due to the Yellow River bursting its banks, and the problem of this section of the river channel has been plaguing the imperial court, and it is also the focus of this official's governance!"

Both Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun knew that what Xu Youzhen said was very right, and that the two largest executions of the Yellow River embankment in this flood were in the area of Zhangqiu and Shawan in Shanxian County, which also shows that Xu Youzhen's assertion is correct.

As for the management of this section of the Yellow River, the imperial court had already sent Shangshu Shipu of the Ministry of Works, Wang Yonghe, and Wang Wen of the Imperial History to control the river as early as a few years ago.

At this time, Hu Dexing saw that Xu Youzhen was talking about the Tao, so he asked Xu Youzhen how he planned to manage the water conservancy of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal.

Xu Youzhen said: "In view of the failure of river control in the past, this official specially sought decision-making from Shangshu Wang Lai and Lord Wang before going south. After careful consideration by the official, it was decided to divide the water potential and find the water source as the key link. ”

"At present, it is approaching winter, Fang Dongyue, the water is soaring, so the official decided not to rush to start the construction, but to stop the work and rest, one to take the opportunity to inspect the water conservancy, the other to repair the river team, the official is expected to be in the spring next year, can draw up a river control plan. Of course, during this period, disaster relief matters still need to be implemented as soon as possible. ”

Hearing this, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun both agreed very much, and everyone talked about it until late at night.

The next day, Hu Dexing and Zhang Xiaojun jointly reported to Liu Juntao, explaining Xu Youzhen's words and deeds, as well as their recognition of Xu Youzhen.

Liu Juntao also nodded after receiving it, and ordered the soldiers of the trap army stationed in Yanzhou Mansion to fully cooperate with Xu Youzhen for disaster relief, and ordered Hu Dexing, the deputy commander-in-chief, to coordinate all departments of the shogunate and actively cooperate with Xu Youzhen.

Although Liu Juntao looks down on Xu Youzhen's personality very much, it cannot be denied that Xu Youzhen is still a practical talent, and he still has to work together in the face of the disaster.

In this way, in the process of being busy in various places, the New Year of Jingtai four years has quietly arrived.

Compared with the previous New Year's lanterns, this year's New Year in Shandong is very deserted, even a little miserable, full of displaced victims, many villages and towns have been washed away by floods, turned into a barren.

Fortunately, with the full cooperation of the imperial court, the local government, and the various ministries of Shandong Town, the disaster areas in Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Nanzhili and other places are basically stable.

Jingtai in February of the fourth year.

After several months of visits and investigations, Xu Youzhen finally figured out the situation of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal, and formulated a detailed management plan.

Xu Youzhen was very confident in the plan he formulated, and attached this plan to the back of the book to the imperial court, which is the famous "Three Strategies for Governing the River in Yanshawan" in the history of governing the Yellow River.

Liu Juntao, who heard the news, also knew, after all, this recital is very famous in history.

The specific plan is: to build a water gate, open a river, and raise a deep canal.

Xu Youzhen drew on the experience of controlling the Yellow River in history, adopted the principle of focusing on sparseness, improved the method of making sluices in Wang Jing of the Han Dynasty, and adopted the method of "placing the door on the water and solidifying the bottom, so that the height of the water is five feet", and controlled the flow of water according to the flow of the river, which not only ensured the water level required for the navigation of the canal, but also adjusted the problem of collapse caused by the large amount of water.

And the opening of the river is also based on dredging.

"The momentum of the Yellow River is large, so it is constantly rushing", "The potential of the canal is small, so it is always shallow".

In view of the contradiction between the water potential of the two rivers, Xu Youzhen adopted the method of "dividing the Yellow River into a canal", digging canals to open rivers and dredge the canals in the areas where the terrain and water potential of the Yellow River are more reasonable, and these sections are also mainly in the territory of Yanzhou and Qingzhou in Shandong.

At the same time, Xu Youzhen did not ignore the management of the Yellow River, opened a canal for the Yellow River to introduce it into the canal, and set up a source sluice to control the flow of water, turning the harm of the Yellow River's water potential into benefit.

In addition, Xu Youzhen also set up nine weirs on the basis of the river division to intercept the flow of water and consolidate the embankment. The management of the Yellow River should not only make use of and control the external environment, but also the internal canal management should not be neglected. The silting of river sand inside the canal has caused the canal channel to increase, resulting in "difficult to take water, easy to take water", Xu Youzhen according to this situation, took advantage of the situation to put forward the third river control strategy - to pick up the deep canal.

Xu Youzhen's three strategies for river control adopted the methods of dredging, plugging, and dredging at the same time, specifically diverting the Yellow River into the river, blocking the Shawan breach, and dredging the silt accumulated in the canal. Among them, the diversion of the Yellow River into the river is the most important part of the river control plan, which not only solves the problem of the Yellow River bursting, but also solves the problem of the canal's poor water transportation and hindering navigation.

To be honest, Liu Juntao still admires Xu Youzhen's talent in water conservancy, but when he thinks of his character, Liu Juntao secretly shakes his head.

"If only this person's character and talent matched!"

In this regard, Liu Juntao also sighed.