The 1200 stone boat, traveling in the Huai River, is still a little too big, if the two come from the opposite side, it will be very difficult to meet.

However, the current Huai River, even the entire Northern Song Dynasty, has more than 1,000 stone of big ships, almost none, so there is no need to worry about this, as for encountering other ships, 100 such a huge fleet, front and back, stretching for dozens of miles, you can see it from a distance, fishermen there dare to follow them, basically, see it from afar, and dock.

Of course, Zhao Xin is not the kind of high-flying and domineering, but of course ordinary people have the instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, seeing these obviously high-ranking and powerful people, how dare they put their fate on this illusory thing.

Compared with the Yangtze River, the Huai River is much more stable, especially in the middle and lower reaches, with the help of wind and pulp, slowly moving forward.

Unlike ordinary boats, where strong men paddle on both sides of the boat and the captain helps by the side, the power of these boats is replaced by transmissions and propellers.

More comfortable position, more excellent gear transmission, can save a lot of power, the current speed of the whole ship, is the bottom of the boat more than 20 strong men keep stepping on the cause, the speed is guaranteed, a bunch of boats, stable on the river on the road.

The cabin where Zhao Xin was, at the highest point of the entire ship, could see everything around through the windows on both sides, it was the middle of winter, and there was snow on both sides.

In later generations, the zero degree line, in fact, was on the line of the Qinling Huaihe River, but in the era of the Northern Song Dynasty, under the control of the climate of the Xiaoice River, the temperature was significantly lower, and the originally non-freezing area was full of snow.

Zhao Xin himself is also worried that the Bianhe River is frozen, as the Bianhe River connected to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, once he freezes, the transportation of the entire Bianliang will be cut off, and some of the ice will be frozen for a long time, and even affect the stability of the entire Bianliang, for a city of one million people, once there is a problem with food, it will even affect the overall stability.

Even the banks of the Huai River, are snow-capped, more north of Bianliang, is no exception, not enough, according to the intelligence, the current Bianhe River has not frozen, they will go on the road for about 10 days, the middle may be gradually frozen because of the low temperature, but the ice will not be too thick, Zhao Xin is also prepared icebreakers and some other means, compared to the Bianhe, the transfer on the road, in the world of ice and snow, it is really too difficult.

In 2 years, the wings of the butterfly are not small, but for the entire Northern Song Dynasty, the influence is not big, the Western Xia is given, the navy is one, and the others are just imperceptible, and even on both sides of the Huai River, in addition to more opportunities to work, disasters or something, there should still be.

Dinghai is located on Huainan East Road, and knows more about the two Huai, just last year, there are still more than 10 places affected, but better than in previous years, they don't have to flee the famine.

Because of the development of Hongze Lake, the development of several large ports such as Suqian has increased the number of ships passing through the Huai River to Hongze Lake, and many ports on the Huai River have received direct benefits, and more and more personnel are needed.

After the industrialization of the operation of the Dinghai Navy, the demand for manpower is simply increasing, to put it bluntly, really give a million, tens of millions of people, maybe now Zhao Xin is a little difficult, but there is no problem to raise, under the current development rate, it may take a year or two to be able to digest tens of millions of labor.

This digestion is still a simple designation of the navy, and now the area controlled by the navy is not only as simple as the navy, but also includes Hongze Lake.

Compared with the hundreds of square kilometers of islands in the Dinghai Navy, there is more land on this side of Hongze Lake.

Because of the end of the Huai River, it floods several times a year, and the 20-kilometer area around Hongze Lake, which is a disaster area, is flooded almost every year, unless it is those who can't survive, otherwise, no one will grow crops here.

These seemingly, there is no use at all land, but it has become a new construction land, Hongze Lake is not ordinarily large, dozens of kilometers in a radius, but also almost thousands of square kilometers, through certain means, in Huainan East Road and the center, after this area has been fixed, the Dinghai Navy has only changed slightly, and it has become a usable land.

The flooding of Hongze Lake is because of the water injection of the Huai River, if it is a normal time, it will grow slowly, but at the time of flooding, it is different, a large amount of water is injected, more than the lake barrier, and finally flooded, affecting the surroundings, which is also known as the source of the disaster of Hongze Lake.

The solution is very simple, once and for all, the solution is to build a 300-mile canal, so that the Huai River has an estuary, which can solve this problem.

This is the practice of long-term vision, a waterway connected to the sea, connecting the Dinghai Navy and Hongze Lake, for the development of the entire Dinghai Navy and Hongze Lake, has a huge role, can help better trade and trade.

It's just that a 300-mile canal is still the kind that can be linked by sea, which is not an ordinary difficulty, at least it can ensure the entry and exit of ships of more than 3,000 tons, which is very difficult for this era.

Besides, such a huge waterway, the amount of water injected into the sea every year, this also has an impact on the Huai River, Hongze Lake is gone, and the water volume of Hongze Lake will be reduced a lot, which is not conducive to agricultural production.

The best way is to do the same as Han Qi did in the northwest, to build a large farmland water conservancy artificially, and then let the flood-ridden Huaihe River Basin truly change from a flood-plagued place to a place of abundant production.

However, there is a problem, thousands of square kilometers along the shore of Hongze Lake, which is not a problem for Huainan East Road, in the eyes of local officials, it is a wasteland, and even needs annual relief, after it is handed over to the Ding Navy, they don't have to care about it, why not.

Zhao Xin wants these lands, but not for nothing, the rules, is what Zhao Xin has always advocated, only by talking about the rules, can you talk to anyone, and fix everything to prevent the order from changing.

For these lands, Zhao Xin paid a high price of 1 guan per mu, and the price of simple land purchase was as high as 6 million guan, which was an unexpected surprise for local officials around Hongze Lake.

What will Hongze Lake look like in the future, Zhao Xin is very clear, it is a commercial zone with water and land linkage, one needs land secondary turnover, and one can be directly turned over by water and land, saving at least 2 times of transshipment time, and even, after improving the port layout and position, the efficiency will be higher.

A large-scale port is completely different from an ordinary port, or even a small port.

It's a pity that this territory can only be used in the eyes of Zhao Xin, and in the eyes of any official in the Northern Song Dynasty, it is not only not a good place, but a troublesome place.

In some troublesome places, the consistent price of one acre can be said to satisfy everyone, but when this price is placed on farmland, it is different.

The Huaihe River basin has not yet developed into the granary of later generations, but because of the climate and the proximity to the Huai River, the overall calculation is medium, and there is a large amount of irrigated land, on the basis of this, it is even more difficult to carry out farmland water conservancy construction than in the north, an acre of useless land is consistent, so what about an acre of cultivated land, paddy field?

These, in the construction of the railway, has been shown, the railway is only less than 300 miles, and after coming up with enough funds, it is finally solved, farmland water conservancy, this is a major involvement, where the canal goes, where is not there, the impact is huge, complex clan relations and local officials, these need to be solved.

Zhao Xin is only the privy envoy of the Dinghai Navy, not the transfer envoy of the Huainan East Road, a railway, which can also be said to connect the Dinghai Navy and Hongze Lake, and it does not occupy much land, and it does not affect anything, but a water conservancy project, this is already involved in the governance of local officials, and no aspiring official will let an outsider interfere in this thing.

Zhao Xin deeply understands this, unless it is like Ye Qingchen, the high-level in the system, or, only he can control it, this is too far away from him, even if he has more ways to change the entire Huaihe River Valley, or even make the development of the Ding Navy better, he can only suppress it, these are things in the future.

However, the area that Zhao Xin absolutely controls still makes him very satisfied, 1.2 million people a year, and after the Chinese New Year this year, it will attract more people, conservative is 500,000 laborers, these people, if they can stay, as long as a few months later, when all their immediate family members come over, it may increase to 1 million to 1.5 million people.

In two or three years, a huge city of nearly 3 million people, with the time and technology of the 11th century, can achieve this, which is very good.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xin's face couldn't help but show a smile, the current development speed is higher than his previous highest estimate, perhaps it is the rapid development of this industry that has caused him to have some regrets in his heart, for these regrets, he must have a clear understanding.

The Northern Song Dynasty, to what extent it will be influenced and developed, this is completely a fast lane, and it will develop to the extent that he can't even guess it.

No matter how much development there is, it can't affect Zhao Xin, the Dinghai Navy is the real foundation of Zhao Xin, the development of the Northern Song Dynasty may only be a superficial thing, without the changes and support of the Dinghai Navy, the development of the Northern Song Dynasty will become rootless water and cannot continue.

Any changes in the outside world are not as good as the development of the Ding Navy itself, starting from steel, to hot weapons such as gunpowder, even if there is only a projectile land, as long as the population is not in a weak position, the land area of these things, the impact on the Ding Navy is very small, just like the British beat the Qing Dynasty in the 19th century, an island country of only a few hundred thousand square kilometers, challenging the Qing Dynasty with a land area of 10 million and a population of 400 million, and winning the war.

Since there is no problem, then strengthening the present of the Northern Song Dynasty will also save the effort of the future, Zhao Xin's eyes have never been just the Northern Song Dynasty, his focus has expanded to the entire Pacific Ocean and the Americas, in this era of great exploration and geographical discoveries have not yet been carried out, the entire outside world, will be a delicacy, waiting for the Northern Song Dynasty to enjoy.

Under this premise, what is the significance of still being entangled in the small Huai River estuary, compared with the development of the navy, firearms, and even the future development of the ocean, the impact on the Ding Navy is already insignificant.

The sound of the long flute came, and for large fleets, using a whistle is the best way, otherwise, a ship is about 10 meters, and the distance in the middle is 50 meters, and 100 ships are at least 6 kilometers and 12 miles away.

Not to say that you can't see the front, but if you want to transmit information, it is very difficult, with shouting, with fast horses, with clippers and the like, are prone to problems, a simple treatment, with the steam impact of the whistle, enough to stretch for dozens of miles, through a simple arrangement, set some simple commands, such as docking.

Because there are auxiliary equipment, not all sails to push the fleet, walking relatively fast, at least 18 miles an hour, 6 hours a day, that is, almost 100 miles.

This kind of boating can be done during the day, but it is absolutely not possible at night, unlike the relatively straight and smooth channel on the canal, the natural waterway, there may be such and such problems, and the night is the biggest problem.

With the size of the fleet, as well as the size of each individual ship, only a considerable port can accommodate these fleets, and in the entire Huaihe River Basin, there are very few such ports, even from Hongze Lake to Bianliang, along the way, I am afraid that only Yingtianfu and Bianliang are counted, and the others may have two or three reluctantly, and the rest are not enough to accommodate this huge fleet.

Fortunately, on the premise of carrying enough supplies, the speed is also relatively fast, about 10 days, they will choose some sheltered harbors, dock, and anchor directly.

Such a place is not something that can be found casually, it is located in advance, and it will take a fixed distance every day, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later, and now, it is not dark yet, but it has reached the anchorage place, and the fleet must stop and then gather together for a rest.

For the boatman who was tired for a day, this was a relief, and for Zhao Xin, it was a step closer to Bianliang, which was already the third day of departure, and there were still seven days to go, and he would be able to reach Bianliang.

Bianliang, the core and capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, the most populous city in the world in the 11th century, has given up the first position because of his crossing, but most people don't know it.

For Bianliang, Zhao Xinxin's thoughts are very complicated, this is already a little vague in his memory, will it give him a different feeling.