When France was in full swing and connected with Western European countries, and wanted to overwhelm England in one fell swoop, Da Zhou was not idle.

With the official promulgation and implementation of the first five-year plan, the 18 provinces of the Great Monday have become a huge construction site.

Farmers who had finished their busy farming work left the village to work in nearby factories and construction sites.

And Zhang Lingyang was not idle, and after letting Zheng Yongji, the first assistant of the cabinet, stay in Luoyang to deal with the government affairs, he took the crown prince Zhao Hao, the second prince Zhao Han and the third prince Zhao Xu out of Beijing to investigate and investigate in various places.

Among the three princes, the eldest Zhao Hao is already twelve years old, and the youngest Zhao Xu is also ten years old, both of whom have reached the age of sensibility, so Zhang Lingyang took them with him and followed them to learn about the people's livelihood in various places.

First of all, Zhang Lingyang went to the Yellow River embankment located on the north side of Kaifeng Prefecture.

The Yellow River is the mother river of China, but over the years, the Yellow River has been flooding year after year, especially the Yellow River in the north of Kaifeng Prefecture, the riverbed has been three or four zhang high above the ground, and it is also the highest place where the Yellow River flows.

Therefore, as long as there is a heavy rainstorm, the embankment here will always burst one after another, and the people on both sides of the river can be said to have suffered a lot.

In Lankao, on the east side of Kaifeng Prefecture, because of the perennial ravages of the Yellow River, the original fertile fields have become saline-alkali land with no grass.

Standing on the embankment of the Yellow River, Zhang Lingyang looked at the busy crowd under the embankment and asked the prefect of Kaifeng: "According to the current progress, how long can the embankment be built this year?" ”

The prefect of Kaifeng replied: "If you go back to Your Majesty, according to the original plan, only a hundred miles of river embankment can be built this year. ”

Seeing Zhang Lingyang frowning, the Kaifeng prefect hurriedly explained: "The main thing is that the cement produced by the cement plant is simply not enough. ”

"How can it not be enough?" Hearing this, Zhang Lingyang was even more confused, "If I remember correctly, the cement factory in Zheng County has enough cement production to build at least 500 miles of river embankment in one year!" ”

"Enough indeed!" The prefect of Kaifeng said with a wry smile: "But the Zhengxian Cement Plant not only has to supply cement to us, but also meets the cement demand in Luoyang."

Now in Luoyang's expansion plan, the Zhengxian cement plant will provide at least half of its annual output. In addition, the official road from Luoyang to the east also needs a lot of cement, so the cement produced by the Zhengxian cement plant is simply not enough. ”

"Then you can transfer it from other cement factories!" Zhang Lingyang said, "If I remember correctly, the output of the cement factory in Ruzhou is not small. ”

"Your Majesty, the Ruzhou Cement Plant is worse than the Zhengxian Cement Factory. As far as Weichen knows, in addition to meeting local demand, the Ruzhou cement plant also needs to go to Luoyang. Nanyang, Chenzhou and other places supply cement, and there is no excess cement to supply us at all. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Lingyang was a little silent for a while.

It is said that there are not many cement factories in Dazhou, and they are enough to use, but that is only the usual time.

Now, because of the implementation of the Five-Year Plan, all parts of the country have become construction sites, and cement is needed everywhere, so there is a phenomenon that the supply exceeds the demand.

In particular, the Huanghuai Plain and the North China Plain on the north bank of the Yellow River are not mountainous areas, so there are no conditions for building cement factories at all, so they have to be transported from far away.

This has led to the current situation.

After thinking about it, Zhang Lingyang said: "No matter what, the construction plan of the river embankment cannot be stopped, and if necessary, the expansion plan of Luoyang can be slowed down." ”

God knows whether there will be a major flood in the Yellow River basin this year, and if there is a flood, hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the river will be affected again, so Zhang Lingyang immediately made a decision to suspend the expansion plan in Luoyang and ensure that the Yellow River embankment is built according to the original plan.

After leaving Kaifeng, Zhang Lingyang's Luan drove to Lankao in the east.

Because the land of the entire Lankao County is saline-alkali land, the people here live an extraordinarily hard life, compared with several nearby states and counties, it is simply a heaven and an underground.

Summoning Lankao Zhixian County, Zhang Lingyang asked: "Do you have a plan for how to control saline-alkali land?" ”

Lankao Zhixian replied: "Your Majesty, last year, Weichen invited experts and scholars from the Royal Academy to come to investigate, and they came to the conclusion that it would take at least five to ten years to renovate the entire Lankao land in order to completely control the salinity. ”

Zhang Lingyang nodded noncommittally, it is undeniable that what Lankao Zhixian said is a stupid method, but it is also a very effective method.

In this year, the development of science and technology, and its limitations, simply cannot provide more convenient and effective methods.

If it is said that after the second industrial revolution, with the assistance of excavators, tractors and other mechanical equipment, the efficiency may be several times higher.

But now there is no such machinery and equipment, that is, Zhang Lingyang wants to detonate the second industrial revolution and bring the world into the era of internal combustion engines and electricity, but because there is no accumulation of science and technology, it is just a delusion.

From the birth of the steam engine to the fourteenth year of Tai'an, the steam engine technology has been thoroughly matured after continuous improvement, and has been used in many fields, but in the end it is still very restricted, and many fields can not be involved.

In this regard, Zhang Lingyang, a person who can be called a novice in science and technology, has no good way.

After Lankao Zhixian left, Zhang Lingyang said to Zhao Hao, Zhao Han, and Zhao Xu: "You have also seen the situation in Kaifeng and Lankao, what are your thoughts and opinions on this?" ”

Zhao Xu, the third prince, was the first to speak: "Father, the sons think that the reason why Kaifeng and Lankao have such a situation is mainly because of the flooding of the Yellow River.

Now the riverbed in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is silted, so the opinion of the ministers is that the imperial court can build hundreds of sand panning boats to dig out all the sediment in the riverbed in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, and the problem here will naturally be solved. ”

The second prince, Zhao Han, shook his head and said: "Father, Erchen does not agree with the third brother's statement, before, Erchen had heard experts from the Royal Academy say that the sediment accumulation in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is mainly caused by the sediment loss in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, so if you want to completely control the problem of sediment accumulation, you must first solve the problem in the upper reaches of the Yellow River."

A few years ago, my father ordered to plant more plants in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, which is a good way. As long as the land in the upper reaches of the Yellow River is covered with vegetation, all problems will be solved. ”

The crown prince Zhao Hao said: "The two younger brothers' statements are good, but the only trouble now is that the upper reaches of the Yellow River are dry and rainless, and many vegetation are difficult to feed.

Last year, scholars from the Royal Academy visited the upper reaches of the Yellow River and found that the survival rate of vegetation planted in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in recent years was less than 20%.

Of the 20 percent of the vegetation that survived, more than 80 percent were drought-tolerant plants. So I think it's better to abandon other vegetation and plant drought-tolerant plants in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, which should solve some problems.

However, it will be very difficult to solve these problems completely. All we can do at present is to do our best and obey the destiny of God. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Lingyang nodded with satisfaction.

The problem of soil erosion in the upper reaches of the Yellow River has not been well solved in the 21st century, and Zhang Lingyang does not think that it can be solved now, so all he can do is to do his best and obey the destiny of heaven......