As soon as the day of the Shangyuan Festival arrives, the whole capital becomes a sea of lanterns, at night, it is even more candlelight, people happily carry lanterns in the streets of the capital procession, stand at the highest place of the palace to watch, the whole capital is like dancing a dragon, such a prosperous scene, even Li Gang, who used to try his best to oppose the lantern tour, has to admit that it is indeed beautiful.

This lantern festival, the palace alone has paid thousands of dollars, plus the rich families in the capital, the people have contributed more than 10,000 yuan, but the excitement brought by this lantern tour is not until a few months later, it was mentioned and talked about, and the merchants and people who made lanterns also made a small fortune, and the more than 10,000 yuan of silver money was undoubtedly very worthwhile.

After the end of the lantern festival, the court began the normal early dynasty, and after the first morning dynasty, the emperor asked the inner chamberlain Yu Wenkai, He Qi, and Li Chun to be summoned into the palace.

"Ministers see the emperor, long live the emperor! Banzai! Hooray! ”

"The three Aiqing don't have to be polite, get up." Looking at the three of them, Yang Yong said with a smile on his face.

"Long live thanks!" The three of them got up and stood aside with their hands down, among the three, Yu Wenkai was the oldest, over fifty years old, and due to the transition of labor, his beard was already white. He Wei is the second, just over 35 years old, in the prime of life, and Li Chun is the youngest, just 30 years old.

Yu Wenkai has been responsible for the supervision of large-scale buildings, Daxing City, Renshou Palace, Luoyang City are all built by Yu Wenkai as a young supervisor, and from the east of Daxing City to Tongguan more than 300 miles of Guangtong Canal, it was also Yu Wenkai led the hydraulic engineering to dig the canal, leading the Wei water to the Yellow River. He is good at the construction of organs, over the years, he has created many practical tools, Li Chun is the bridge master, and the Zhaozhou Bridge, which has existed for more than 1,400 years in later generations, is still intact is Li Chun's masterpiece. These three people can be said to be the premier architects of the Great Sui and the masters of water conservancy.

"Do you know why I have summoned you to the palace today?"

The three of them looked at each other. There was a hint of fanaticism on their faces, the emperor summoned them to the palace just after the New Year, and the three of them were all experts in construction and water conservancy, so the meaning was naturally self-evident.

"Back to the emperor, but you want to build the Grand Canal?" Li Chun, the youngest, asked.

The idea of the Grand Canal did not start in the Sui Dynasty, but in the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Cao used troops to the north and dug a series of canals, from the Hailuan River water system, it can pass through the Yellow River, the Yanghe River, the Huai River, through the evil ditch to the Yangtze River, and after crossing the river, from the rivers in the south of the Yangtze River to Hangzhou, forming the early Beijing-Hangzhou waterway.

Wu and Wei fought for military affairs, and often used territorial waters and whirlpools to enter Huai. Through the Dongni River to Hefei. Then from the Nanxiang River, Chaohu Lake to the Yangtze River. The Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties have been renovated many times, and there are branches from Yangzhou to Yizheng. In the fourth year of Taihe (after 369), Huanwen went on a northern expedition and opened a Huangong ditch for more than 300 miles in the west of the water. Communication. Han and Ji three rivers into the Yellow River, between the Yangtze River and the Han River, the Western Jin Dynasty Du pre-opened the canal from the Han River to Jiangling, and the east to the Xiangjiang River. Although the opening of these canals can only meet the needs of local navigation, it has created a lot of convenient conditions for the Grand Canal that connects the whole country later. There were frequent wars in the north, and the construction of the canal was stopped.

In the early years of the emperor's reign, in the case of extremely difficult treasury, Emperor Wen of Sui still ordered the opening of the Guangtong Canal, which connected the capital with the Yellow River waterway. Therefore, it is also called the Fumin Canal.

It's just that this rich canal can only connect the products on both sides of the Yellow River with the capital at best, and the development to the present, because the economy of the south is becoming more and more prosperous, whether it is for economic or political considerations, a grand canal connecting the whole country has been imperative, however, because Emperor Wen of Sui has been strict economy, the amount of work to open up the national Grand Canal is too large, Emperor Wen of Sui has not been able to make up his mind, just desperately establish official warehouses along the way. Store grain for the construction of the Grand Canal.

Now the task of digging this Grand Canal has fallen to Yang Yong, Yang Yong is naturally the one who will not give in, hearing Li Chun's question, Yang Yong nodded: "Not bad." Today, the three Aiqing are coming. It was indeed for the construction of the Grand Canal, and I had decided. Since this year, the construction of the Grand Canal has begun, and I have selected the three Aiqing to be responsible, hoping that the three Aiqing will not disappoint my high expectations. ”

"The emperor can rest assured, if the Grand Canal is not completed, the ministers are willing to be punished by the emperor." The eyes of the three of them are a fanatical look, such a Grand Canal is an unprecedented feat, after digging the Guangtong Canal, Yu Wenkai is looking forward to the opportunity to continue to open the canal, but unfortunately the national strength of the Great Sui is not allowed, he can only put his talents on the construction of the palace of Daxing City and Renshou Palace, although these palaces are also considered a big project, but they can not be compared with the Grand Canal at all, the ancient city builders abound, but the Grand Canal that connects the north and the south can be said to be unprecedented.

Yu Wenkai had already prepared, he took out the drawings from his arms, and presented the Grand Canal that had already been constructed to the emperor: "Your Majesty, please see, this is the Ministry of Industry spent more than ten years making a map of the canal. ”

Yang Yong raised his eyes and looked at the picture, only to see the dense lines in the picture, during which the virtual and the real were intertwined, which made people dizzy at a glance, Yang Yong hurriedly said: "Yuwen Aiqing, I won't look at the picture, you can report the paragraphs you need to complete to me." ”

"Yes, back to the emperor, the minister to divide the Grand Canal into four main sections, the first section of the minister named it Tongji Canal, after the completion of the Tongji Canal, the boat between the Yellow River and the Huai River can be unimpeded, if the emperor intends to tour the south, you can go straight down to Yangzhou from the capital."

From the capital to Yangzhou, isn't that the route that Yang Guang took to the south of the Yangtze River in history? However, since this line can be used for the emperor to go down to the south of the Yangtze River, it can also make the logistics of the whole country smooth, after repairing, it is not impossible to use it to go down to the south of the Yangtze River, why the Hongli who claims to be a perfect old man in later generations can go down to the south of the Yangtze River many times to play, and also get the reputation of the merry son, but Yang Guang is considered to be a faint king. Yang Yong thought a little indignantly in his heart.

After a pause, Yang Yongcai asked, "How long is this canal, and how much manpower and material resources are needed?" ”

"Back to the emperor, the entire Guangtong Canal can be divided into three sections, in addition to the original river can be used, the total mileage is estimated to be 2,000 miles, if 400,000 people are used, it will take about three years to complete, and the court needs to spend 4 million pieces of silver and about 5 million grains."

"Need so much manpower?" Yang Yong was taken aback, money and food are not a problem, but 400,000 people are too manpower, not to mention that this is not all of the Grand Canal, last year's battle in Mayi was only more than 20,000 prisoners, unless the war of destruction of Goguryeo is carried out now, where to get so many slaves.

In fact, when Yang Guang repaired the canal in history, it took only half a year, the construction started in March of the first year of the Great Cause, and it was completed in August of the first year of the Great Cause, however, 2 million manpower was mobilized, and the price paid in order to rush the work was even more astonishing, and in just half a year, the number of tired people reached 400,000 to 500,000.

Of course, Yang Yong will not take this method of quick success, if it is also like the construction of Renshou Palace, Luoyang Palace and other high-paying river workers, the silver required will at least double, with the current financial resources of the court is not unaffordable, however, Yang Yong has to do more than just build a Grand Canal, if it is all put into the Grand Canal, then unless other things are not done.

"Back to the emperor, the Tongji Canal connects the Yellow River, the Huai River, and the Yangtze River, and the Ministry of Industry has formulated a river width standard of 20 zhang, and the depth can pass through the whole Wuya ship, 400,000 people, and three years must not be less." Yu Wenkai cut the road categorically.

Yang Yong thought about it for a while, temporarily vetoed the construction of the Jiqu first, and said, "Aiqing will talk about the remaining three sections." ”

"Yes, the second section of the minister named Yongji Canal, Yongji Canal is also Luoyang, north Tongzhuo County (now Beijing), the required canal is more than 1,900 li, roughly equivalent to Tongji Canal, however, due to the water relationship, the depth and width can not be compared with the Tongji Canal, the required manpower and material resources are roughly sixty percent of the Tongji Canal. The third section is the Shanyang Canal, starting from Hancheng in the south, going to Shanyang County in the north, from the Huai River to the Yangzi Ferry of the Yangtze River, this canal has the old canal available, only need to deepen and widen according to the standard of the Tongji Canal, after calculation, only 100,000 manpower, one year's work can be. The fourth section is the Jiangnan River Canal, from Jingkou to Yuhang, more than 800 miles, 200,000 manpower, three years of work. "The construction of the Grand Canal, I don't know how many years Yu Wenkai has been thinking about it, and all kinds of data are simply blurted out.

The sum of these four sections of the river has far exceeded the original 3,500 li as Yang Yong thought, but reached 5,000 li, and the manpower and material resources required naturally exceeded the original estimate. If it were to be completed in five years, more than 500,000 manpower would have to be used every year, and now the court had only more than 20,000 prisoners, and these captives were only enough to complete the simplest Shanyang canal in five years, which also required that not too many people would die in the five years of hard work.

"In this way, Yuwen Aiqing left the drawings, and after the three Aiqing returned, they first submitted the construction of the canal, and I handed it over to the various ministries for discussion, and then decided how to implement it."

"Yes, Wechen obeys." The emperor did not decide immediately, and the three of them were slightly disappointed, but the emperor should be cautious about such a major matter, and they could only go back and write the recital as soon as possible so that the construction of the Grand Canal could be implemented as soon as possible.

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