At the end of October, the entire Zhao State began to carry out large-scale mobilization.

By the beginning of November, 20,000 people from the three counties of Handan, Yiyang, and Xiangguo had already gathered on the banks of the Qilu River in the north of Handan and south of Xiangguo in accordance with the Shiwu organization carried out during the previous autumn harvest...... This is of course reasonable, because the people of these three counties are the direct beneficiaries of the water conservancy project;

And the powerful families of Zhao Guohao who are close to the left, have also established a large number of people's camps in accordance with Gongsun Xun's official orders according to their own manors to receive and resettle;

At the same time, Wang Xiu of Handan County and Dong Zhao, the magistrate of Xiangguo County, each took the county officials out of the nest and took on the management of the people on the north and south banks of the Qilu River;

Countless money, grain, fuel, salt and vinegar, and tools were also gathered into the hands of Wang and Dong from the government treasury, the county treasury, the dome warehouse and the cellar of Haoqiang's house;

In the two counties to the north, the strong men of Bairen County began to harvest reeds and polish stones on a large scale, and the people of Zhongqiu County also began to take on the transportation of materials...... Unlike the unpaid labor in the three southern counties, which only take care of food and do not pay for it, the labor in these two counties can be exchanged for some meager money and grain subsidies, which is more like a business for the poor who have nothing to do in winter;

Of course, a righteous servant of Gongsun Xun as the main backbone, mixed with a large number of county soldiers, and seconded almost all the troops of King Zhao's chariots and horses, also began to carry out orderly deployment and patrols in the territory of Zhao, and there was a regular military garrison on the bank of the Qilu River, where a large number of people were gathered...... In a backward agrarian society, this kind of large-scale labor always contains great instability and must be strictly guarded against.

However, facts have proved that water conservancy projects are water conservancy projects after all, and as a collection of political significance, economic significance, and popular projects in an agricultural society, from the most greedy and powerful to the most ignorant commoners, any non-hooligan class is still willing to cooperate with it...... Because almost every normal person understands that once the project is completed, they can benefit from it to a greater or lesser extent.

However, the premise of all this is that there must be a 'strong' person who gives everyone confidence that this project that costs a lot in the early stage can really be completed, and that this person will maintain a certain degree of justice before and after the whole project, from the pay to the benefit.

Do this, and things will fall into place.

In fact, Gongsun Xun's previous actions, from eliminating dissidents to cleaning up public order, from checking the acres of land and household registration to building a school and donating books, although they have their own significance, they are also brewing for this day. Or, when he has done so many things and has controlled Zhao Guo to such a point, it is a little unreasonable not to try to do a water conservancy project!

As for once the works are completed...... Since Dayu's water control, Zhengguo Canal, Dujiangyan, Shaobi, all kinds of famous water conservancy projects have always been a benchmark for an agricultural society, which represents theocracy, morality, merit, wealth, prestige...... If you can make a hydraulic project, it means that you have reached a certain level of 'domination' over a certain place.

Of course, a small Qilu River is just a tributary of the Zhanghe River, and it is a bit far away.

In fact, the treatment plan of the Qilu River does not even involve the high-end design of the reservoir...... After discussion and consultation, Gongsun Xun finally chose the 'Xiadi' offered by Fuzong.

The so-called Kasumi embankment is a kind of open embankment, that is, while building the embankment, take the initiative to open the embankment, and build a series of ditches diagonally parallel to the direction of the river, judging from the shape, it is as if the branches grow for the river.

The characteristics of this water conservancy facility lie in two points:

First of all, the flood control capacity is very strong, and the sudden flood will greatly reduce the pressure on the main embankments on both sides through the backfilling of the ditch, and after heavy rainfall, the waterlogging in the field can also be quickly eliminated through the ditch.

This is designed for the local geographical characteristics of the Zhao Kingdom, the Qilu River from west to east, pouring down from the Taihang Mountains, and soon coming to the plain area, the water level difference is very large, so a little rain in the mountains is easy to form a flood peak.

Secondly, from the perspective of engineering operation, it is simple and straightforward, that is, to renovate the river, build embankments, and then dig canals. In real operation, the progress of the project is almost visible to the naked eye, and every project participant can see the results of their efforts at any time, which helps to improve everyone's enthusiasm and is also convenient for managers to supervise and manage!

Of course, maybe the effect of building a reservoir may indeed be better, but it can't stand Gongsun Xun's lack of sufficient water conservancy talents...... In fact, even Fu Zong's plan was not made by himself, but said that their family used the advantage of their own land snake to recruit a person with experience in flood prevention of the Yellow River from Wei County, and the latter designed it, and even received the help of the judge family.

All in all, with the arrival of winter, the entire Zhao Kingdom began to boil.

However, an interesting thing is that when the entire Zhao country was working hard for this project, and even a waste like Cai Yong could lead a group of old men to pretend to be ghosts and make sacrifices to stabilize people's hearts, Gongsun Xun, the initiator, suddenly found that he had nothing to do.

What can he do?

What kind of methods such as segmenting and punishing the good and punishing the bad, it will be gone when the upper and lower mouths are touched, and after saying it, Wang Xiu and Dong Zhao will naturally implement it, and looking at their appearance, these methods are not new, it is more like saving face for themselves before pretending to nod yes; There is also anyone who is in disobedience, and the promised food has not been delivered, so let the judge pull down his face and lead a few knights away; Even if there are water bandits snooping on the downstream continent, it is enough for Han Dang, Zhao Zhao, and Yang Kai to deal with them......

However, even if you have nothing to do, everyone else is on the riverbank, you Gongsun Xun can't stay in Handan City all the time, right? Besides, Handan City also has Lu Fan in charge, and I don't need you?!

So, after thinking about it, Gongsun Xun did something that made people silent, he called all the unstable factors that Zhao Guo could think of, from those powerful and powerful family leaders, to idlers such as Zhao Ping, and even that Zhang Sheng, all of them were called to the river embankment, and then formed a team and moved stones together.

It's really moving stones!

From Gongsun Xun himself to Lang Zhongling Zhao Ping, stones had to be transported to the construction site three times a day, and then elderly people such as retired county Cheng Zhang Shu were responsible for boiling water and cooking......

No one raised any objections, after all, Mencius said, the so-called 'Dayu to control the water, eight years outside, three times through the door without entering', Li Bingxiu Dujiangyan was tired to death on the embankment, what are you, and pick and choose? !

Besides, isn't it just moving stones? Three trips a day, moving from the outside of the embankment to the inside, just making a show, purely as a physical exercise, is it going to kill you?! In the end, everyone also understands in their hearts, who doesn't know that Gongsun County Jun called you people together to make it easier to control, if you don't come, do you want to take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos?!

So, no one said anything!

And I have to admit that the power of the example is endless, it is said that not only the people on the construction site were greatly encouraged, but Cai Bojiao was ready to write a song to praise the matter after coming to see it twice......

"Prince!"

Probably because he was in a hurry, it was obviously winter, but Fu Zong, who had hurried from Handan City, was sweating profusely, but fortunately, he soon found Gongsun Xun's figure on the already neat river embankment. "Brother Ziheng asked me to tell Junhou that Gong Cai will accompany Uncle Fang over in the afternoon."

"It's time for the day to come." In the slight cold wind, Gongsun Xun had not yet spoken, but Lou Gui on the side rolled up his sleeves and said with a smile. "If you don't come again, the credit will be gone."

Fu Zong also laughed dryly, but did not refute...... It is not because Lou Gui is more respected by Gongsun Xun, but that what Lou Zibo said is the truth, and Liu Yan must have come to grab credit for this trip, and everyone knows about it.

As I said earlier, in the agricultural era, the significance of water conservancy projects cannot be overestimated, from the political merits of the presiding officers to the personal evaluation of society, from local economic interests to the morale of the people, almost all of them will bring significant improvements...... Therefore, it would be strange if Liu Yan didn't come to rub it!

And in all fairness, Gongsun Xun used Liu Junlang many times before, and used the name of the other party to make trouble, and now it is time for someone to come and collect interest, which can be regarded as a fair trade between you and me.

In fact, in addition to Liu Yan, this credit is destined to have Xiang Xu, Dong Zhao, and even King Zhao. It is even conceivable that after arriving at the center, Zhao Zhong will definitely add Zhao Ping's share, maybe Zhao Ping's guy will be able to directly become a two-thousand-stone Taishou after this incident.

Eunuchs' children!

But Gongsun Xun didn't feel angry...... There is no need to be angry about this, and there should be no anger about this, because the people of Zhao and Hebei all know who built the river, and those smart people in the center must also know that his share is indispensable.

On the contrary, at this time, Gongsun Xun's heart was filled with a trace of indescribable emotion.

The embankment is not very high, but it looks like it is quite high-rise when you look at the riverbed, which is a little low due to the dry season in winter, especially when there are many dense working people.

Lou Gui and Fu Zongli chatted and laughed on the embankment for a while, and they also noticed Gongsun Xun's strangeness.

"Prince?" Lou Zibo asked tentatively.

"What?" Gongsun Xun only came back to his senses at this time.

"Uncle Fang is coming in the afternoon." Lou Gui reminded. "It's better to make a little gesture......"

Gongsun Xun bowed his head slowly: "In this case, Gongyu (Fuzongzi) go and greet it, and then bring all the heroes and idlers who are imprisoned here by me, and make a serious appearance." ”

"Won't the prince go?" Frustrated Zong was momentarily curious.

"I'm going to change my clothes and go down and move the rocks." Gongsun Xun calmly responded. "Do it yourself, this is the style of the ancient minister...... Uncle Fang will only praise me when he sees it. ”

Fu Zong also laughed for a while...... After getting along for a long time, he realized that although the gentleman he had temporarily defected to was terrible when he was angry, he was also an interesting person on weekdays. An obvious feature is that it is difficult for this gentleman to hide his inadvertent arrogance when facing almost all the 'big people', and he always inadvertently produces some respect for the 'little people' that does not fit his identity.

Moreover, this kind of arrogance is not based on any specific classification, but purely based on the status of the ...... In other words, at least it's comfortable to be a subordinate of this kind of person, because you can always get unexpected respect and reward.

At this point, the three of them turned around and walked down the outside of the embankment, and then Fu Zong went straight to find someone, while Gongsun Xun went along the embankment to the stone point. Lou Gui stood under the river embankment, twisted his beard and thought for a while, but he set off directly to catch up with his lord.

"Is Uncle Zi going to accompany me to transport stones?" Gongsun Xun said disapprerovitically.

"That's true." Lou Gui replied proudly. "It's cold in winter, and if you haven't moved for a long time, you should sweat ......"

Gongsun Xun didn't care, Wu Zi took off his outer straight jacket here, revealing his short dress, and then directly picked up his trouser legs, and went straight to lift a basket of stones of hundreds of catties with Lou Zibo.

In the Han system, four catties are one kilogram in later generations, and one hundred catties is less than thirty kilograms.

Well, I have to defend it here, it's not that Gongsun Xun is not strong, it's not that he's sincerely lazy, if he really works hard, Gongsun Xun can carry two hundred pounds of stone on the embankment alone, and he still walks like a fly...... It's just that he has to take care of the level of the powerful people in the country who are imprisoned by him! On weekdays, three times a day, these people don't dare to carry more than Gongsun Xun, but they don't dare to carry less than him, but they don't have too much effort to pamper them, which forced Gongsun Xun to cheat with them!

To put it bluntly, only one layer of gravel on the surface of the basket is rubble, and there are actually large pieces of broken soil underneath, and these baskets are prepared in advance and guarded by special personnel...... It's also a shame to do this show!

However, it was this basket of more than 100 pounds of stone, and the two young men, who were probably the tallest and strongest in this section of the riverbed, came to an abrupt end after only one trip.

"When I was on the embankment just now, I saw that the prince's expression was unswerving?" In the sheltered riverbed, just when Gongsun Xun finished pouring the stones, and then picked up the basket and prepared to transport it for the second trip, Lou Gui suddenly grabbed the rope on the basket and took the opportunity to ask. "Dare to ask the prince, is there anything wrong with the project, or is the other party a little dissatisfied?"

"Neither." When Gongsun Xun heard this, he simply put down the basket in his hand, and just shook his head with a wry smile while lifting the bar. "It's just that because this project is about to be completed, I think about it for a while, but I don't want to be seen clearly by Uncle Zi."

"The project is about to be completed, but why do you have to think about it?" Lou Gui dragged the basket and looked around, also puzzled. "Of course, I don't understand water conservancy, but since the beginning of last month, nearly two months of hard work, now the embankment is gradually formed, the ditches are gradually dense, the people who come and go, whether they are people or magnates, have a lot of joy, and the swampy land to which Yiyang belonged has gradually emptied, and it can be seen with the naked eye that it has turned into fertile land...... Everyone said that if they come back to renovate it after the New Year, it seems to be done? ”

"It is precisely because everyone is happy and the swamp can be seen with the naked eye that it has turned into fertile land that I sigh at this project." Saying that, Gongsun Xun really sighed. "Uncle Zi, you don't have to hide anything between you and me, others don't know, you should know, what did I ask for when I came to Zhao to be an official? It is just the qualifications of the local people, and perhaps there is also the meaning of competing for the hearts and minds of the local people, but although the embankment repair is a matter of course, it suddenly feels a bit of a waste of people's resources. ”

"Junhou thinks too much, right?" Lou Gui's heart moved, but he suddenly reacted to the other party's meaning. "Water conservancy is not as good as others, but it is a thing that has been used for hundreds of years, and the Baigong Canal in the south of Handan City has been used for more than 100 years...... Even after a few years, there will be turmoil in the world, and the prince's hard work will not be in vain. ”

"I'm not worried that this Kasumi Causeway will be abandoned." Gongsun Xun shook his head and said. "I was on the embankment just now, and I saw the people who built the embankment with happy faces, and I was worried that these people who worked hard to build the canal would not be able to enjoy their hard work...... In a few years, if there is really chaos as you and I think, will these people really have the life to farm here? And where were you and me then? Maybe shelter the people here? ”

Lou Gui was silent for a while, and only after a long time did he slowly shake his head: "Junhou is still wrong!" ”

"Uncle Zi, please speak." Gongsun Xun is as honest as ever.

"Prince, the world is about to be in turmoil, you are worried that the people of Zhao State will not be able to stand alone, and no matter how hard you work today, it will come to naught in the future, right?"

"Not bad."

"But the prince, in front of the turmoil, the hard work of the people of Zhao may or may not be useful, not to mention, what's the use of sighing here like you?"

“……”

"With all due respect." Lou Zibo is rarely serious. "When I was a teenager, Lou Gui felt that the world was going to be chaotic, so I recruited outlaws there all day long, in order to make an industry, but why did I saddle up the horse and let the prince drive after seeing the prince? Isn't it because I think that the prince is the one who is more qualified to quell the turmoil than me? ”

Gongsun Xun was silent for a while.

"As for how to calm the turmoil." Lou Gui turned his head to look at the stabbing honor guard and a bunch of Zhao magnates and celebrities that suddenly appeared on the river embankment, but he was disdainful. "The prince holds the power of a county and builds a Xia embankment, so that the people of a county can live and work in peace and contentment, but there are hundreds of counties in the world, so they will worry about the local people...... However, if the prince can one day take charge of a hundred counties in the world, establish a hundred public schools, and build a hundred embankments, where will there be turmoil? ! ”

"I know what Uncle Zi means." Gongsun Xun thanked him. "On the other hand, if one county cannot be at peace today, how can it be qualified to give a hundred counties peace in the future?"

As for this, the two looked at each other and smiled, but they didn't say anything...... However, both of them knew in their hearts that if the world was not chaotic, how could a kid from a border county take charge of the power and responsibility of a hundred counties?

Did you emasculate yourself into the palace?!

—————I can resist the dividing line of 200 catties—————

"Taizu ordered Handan to build a Xia embankment in the north of Handan, and opened up 5,000 hectares of fertile land in three counties. It will be completed, and the uncle will serve the ancestor on the embankment, and when he sees that the people and the people are happy, he sighs: 'The world will be chaotic and I still don't know, the Xia embankment is solidified, and the fertile land is solid, how many days will there be peace and enjoy this fun?' Taizu didn't like it, and reprimanded: "Water conservancy for a hundred years, its people are not subject to this virtue, and their descendants are also affected!" And husband, if there are Xia embankments everywhere in the world, so that the cold people in the world are happy, how can there be chaos? The son retreated in shame. —The Book of Old Swallows. Volume Seventy. Biography XX