Yang, north of Guangwu Mountain, an artificial canal waterway extends from northwest to southeast, and the river and the Yangtze River are connected into one gas. The rice grain ships in the southeast stretched up along this waterway to supply the Central Plains and Guanzhong. This waterway was famous during the Qin and Han dynasties, and its name can still be seen on the chess board to this day. This river is the Bianhe River, that is, the "chasm" that divided the Central Plains into the Chu River and the Han border more than a thousand years ago.

At this moment, at the confluence of the Yellow River and the Bianhe River, on the high slope uplifted by the erosion of the two major rivers, there is a group of people and two cars are slowly walking along the mouth of the river, walking in the middle of the two people, one of them is a man with a lofty spirit, and the other is a drooping old man with white hair, the two of them are walking slowly while talking trivially.

“…… The people are enough, but the materials on Li Xiang's side will always be insufficient, and to speed up the progress, it is not a way to rely on wooden shovels alone. Without iron guys, manpower would be wasted three to four times. The weather is freezing, and there is not enough medicine and wine, so I dare not urge the people to go down to the river to work, but if we do not step up, when the spring flood comes, the riverbed at this entrance will be at least three or four feet higher, and this winter's hard work will be in vain......"

The old man nodded again and again when he heard this, turned his head and thought about it, and said: "Digging mud and sand every year is a stupid method, open a diversion canal, and pass out more than a mile diagonally to the southeast, build up both sides of the entrance, dig down two to three zhang in one go, and you won't need to dredge every year in ten years......

The man smiled bitterly and said, "Ling Gong, you are not light. Such a big project, the cost of money and food is at least four or five times that of the current place, how can Li Xiang's porcelain rooster nod? ”

That old man was none other than Feng Dao, the prime minister of the dynasty, and this man was Yuan Shu, the former water department who was responsible for dredging the mouth of the Bianhe River.

Feng Dao listened to Yuan Shu's words, and was speechless for a long time, the imperial court was newly established, and the finances were stretched. What Yuan Shu said is not without cause. He also sighed secretly in his heart. But he didn't say anything more.

A dense sound of horses' hooves came from the west. The surrounding guards suddenly became vigilant.

Far away, along the embankment of the Yellow River, a group of more than 20 horsemen galloped in, all dressed in green clothes and leather armor, like an army.

The confluence of the Bianhe River and the Yellow River is the river defense inspection area, which belongs to the inspection scope of the Kyoto Right Chamber, and ordinary soldiers and civilians are not allowed to approach the ground. And the color of the clothes of this pedestrian is very different from that of the Kyoto Forbidden Army. The horses were tall and strong, and they were able to come here through the sentry posts set up by the officers and soldiers patrolling the river, obviously not ordinary passers-by, even Feng Dao couldn't help but be secretly surprised, not knowing who was sacred.

Li Wenge has also seen Feng Dao and others, and his ideas are also average, the river defense is important, and it is not idle people who can come in and wander around at will. The dress of these people is inconspicuous though. But there is a sense of delicacy in the simplicity, and most of the necklines are round necks, which shows that they all have official positions. By no means ordinary ordinary people.

He beat his horse forward, came to this group of people, reined in his horse's head and hugged his fists, and said: "Everyone, this is the confluence of the Bianhe River and the big river, right?" ”

He had no armor on his body, only a purple battle robe on the outside, a color that already indicated his identity.

Only those who are above the third grade can wear purple, and the foreign officials who are qualified to wear such clothes are only the thorn history or festival envoys of each state.

Feng Dao was an idle prime minister who was under the rule of "three days and one day to Zhongshumen", and he rarely paid attention to the situation in the local feudal towns, so he couldn't tell which way Li Wenge was an immortal for a while. didn't answer at the moment, only glanced at Yuan Shu with his eyes, Yuan Shu understood, hugged his fists and said: "Cheng Xiang asked Gu, this is the place!" ”

Li Wenge rode up the embankment, looked at the riverbed that had risen high, and frowned and pondered.

He did not go to the mouth of the Bianhe River, and in the days when he lived, due to the construction of the Sanmenxia Reservoir, the main problem in the lower reaches of the Yellow River was not flooding, but the interruption of the flow. But at this moment, when he saw the silver and rushing water belt in the center of the wide and vast ice surface, and then looked at the riverbed where he stopped, the silt and sediment had accumulated, and finally realized the concept of the so-called "hanging river".

He turned his face to Yuan Shu and asked, "I don't know what to call this adult?" Any official now? ”

Yuan Shu looked at Feng Dao, Feng Dao bowed slightly, and he replied: "Under Yuan Shu, the current general sentence of Mengzhou and the sentence of Hecao, I don't know what to call the adult?" ”

Li Wenge hurriedly hugged his fists again, and said with a smile: "It's Yanzhou Festival Li Wenge, it's rude!" ”

It turned out to be this person...... Feng Dao was slightly startled in his heart.

Li Wenge had already read the news of Li Wenge's entry into Beijing to offer his majesty's majesty, but he didn't go straight to Beijing along the post road, and ran around the Yellow River to the Yellow River.

Yuan Shu bowed: "It's the lower official's rudeness, please forgive me!" ”

Li Wenge dismounted, waved his hand and said, "Lord Yuan is polite." In such a cold weather, the adults are still inspecting the river work, which is really admirable, and I know that the net worth and life of thousands of Li Shu downstream are all in the hands of adults! ”

This compliment warmed Yuan Shu's chest, and said with a smile: "What He Cao does is the river business, and his own job is too good!" ”

Li Wenge looked at Feng Dao, bowed down and said, "This old gentleman, how do you call it?" ”

Feng Dao smiled: "Shan Ye Villager, don't ask about it!" ”

He refused to say, and Li Wenge didn't want to ask again, but it seemed that the status of this old man was still above Yuan Shu. He looked back at the surface of the Yellow River, and said with some concern: "Lord Yuan, there are so many places in this riverbed, won't it break when the summer flood comes?" ”

Yuan Shu was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "The festival commander is too worried, although the water level of the big river is high in summer, it is diverted from Shanghu in Shanzhou more than two hundred miles downstream, and the water potential is divided into five, and finally converges into three roads into the sea. Five-way diversion, there will be no more accidents! ”

Five-way diversion? Li Wenge suddenly felt that his head was a little big.

The lower reaches of the Yellow River in this era seem to be very different from my own era.

He nodded and said, "I'm ashamed, I see! ”

Feng Dao glanced at him and asked with a smile: "What is the opinion of this section marshal, you might as well talk about it!" ”

Li Wenge looked at Feng Dao. He said respectfully: "Old man, the riverbed is too high, once the river is above the surface, the pressure on the embankment is too great, and it is prone to pipe surges, especially during the summer flood, if you catch up with the heavy rain for several days, the embankment will soak soft." Just a small hole. can cause a catastrophe for thousands of miles in Zeguo......"

Feng Dao let out an "oh" in some surprise. He was not surprised that Li Wenge's statement itself, these were originally common sense of the river defense area, and he was surprised that Li Wenge, a young border commander, was so familiar with the way of water control, which was indeed rare in the imperial court.

He didn't answer, and Yuan Shu on the side already agreed: "What the festival marshal said is that although there is some diversion in the downstream, the spring and autumn floods and the general summer floods are not big problems. I am afraid that during the summer flood, the rainstorm from Luoshui to Lanyuan will not stop. The water level rose to the limit, once the dam of Shanghu collapsed, the flood spread out in a fan-like shape, south to Huaishui, north to Yuyang, a radius of more than a million miles, and suddenly it was a world of fish and shrimp......"

Li Wenge nodded, sighed and said: "Governing the Yellow River is not a matter of one generation at a time. It is always necessary for the court to use the power of the whole country. It is necessary to allocate a large amount of money, food, and military strength. Just dredging every year, relying on some people to tinker with it, is not a serious way after all. After all, it is still up to the army to govern the river......"

Feng Dao silently watched Li Wenge and never spoke.

Li Wenge accosted Yuan Shu a few more words, and finally smiled: "I have to rush to Beijing at sunset, so I resigned, and I bothered Lord Yuan today, and if I have a chance in the future, I will ask my lord for the art of governing the river!" ”

Yuan Shulian said "don't dare", Li Wenge turned over and got on his horse, said goodbye to Feng Yuan and the others, and galloped away with his own soldiers.

"This is the Li Wenge in Yanzhou who overturned the Gao family by mutiny? It seems to be a little inconsistent with the rumored appearance...... "Seeing Li Wenge's team go away, Yuan Shu said to Feng Dao.

Feng Dao did not speak, he has witnessed no less than five major floods of the Yellow River in the later Tang Dynasty for more than 30 years, two of which forced the flood to the city of Bianliang, and the surrounding area of Jingshi became an ocean.

Listening to Yuan Shu's chatter and evaluation of Li Wenge, Feng Dao slowly spoke: "This person's character was taken by Li Bin, called 'Huairen', Li Wenzhi has been up and down in the northwest for decades, and his eyesight is not bad!" ”

Yuan Shu turned his head to look at him and asked, "What does Ling Gong mean by this?" ”

Feng Dao seemed to be a little tired, and gently stroked his forehead and asked, "If according to what this person said, the repair of the river is done by the army, how many troops do you estimate to move?" ”

"......" Yuan Shu was speechless.

……

It is difficult to be an official in troubled times, and the emperor Lao Tzu who serves may change people at some point, and he has to constantly change the court to sit firmly. In troubled times, he was promoted quickly, this is another reason, Taiping Shengshi relied on the Ming Jing Jinshi Flower Cluster of Articles and Verses High School Kuiyuan, but he just got a ticket to enter the official career, and he had to work hard to get the qualifications layer by layer, moving back and forth between different departments and ranks, be careful not to let the imperial historians catch the handle, and thank God for begging my parents to live a long life, and don't hang up at the critical moment of their careers - otherwise, once Ding is worried, he can't be an official for three years. When the original department and the original unit were reinstated, it was already a different situation.

Qi is a representative of the Taoist officials in troubled times, he is the leader of the three years of Qianyou in the Later Han Dynasty, the second place in the first class, and the champion of that year is Wang Pu. At that time, after the palace examination, the rules for awarding officials drawn up by the Ministry of Officials were the top three preferential treatment, and the second class and below were all assigned to the counties on the outskirts of Beijing to do miscellaneous work, starting from the nine rank officials.

So the edict was issued, Wang Pu was the school secretary, Qi was the author Zuolang, a straight history museum. Not long after, Wang Pu was hired by the privy envoy Yang Wei as a guest, and naturally immediately took on the issue and left the deserted idle place of the historian. Qi didn't have such good luck, he worked hard for a few months, and then made Li Ye, the uncle of the big man in the silver money movement, change to the author in advance, and move to the gold department member Wailang. Although the Jin Ministry's foreign minister is not a big official, he is a powerful position, and Qi Mao is ready to make a career.

Unexpectedly, the appointment of the place of the emperor had just come down, and before he took office, Guo Weidi's soldiers drove into the capital, Li Ye was killed, and all the officials he appointed were dismissed as a whole, Qi, the unlucky bastard, naturally had to be re-elected, this time he learned to be obedient, and he came and went in the official movement, no matter what, he had to let go of a foreign officer, even if he went out to be a county lieutenant, it was more comfortable than being an official in Beijing.

After tossing a few times, his little money had already spent seventy-seven eighty-eight, and he was finally selected, but he chose a subordinate main secretary Lingshi, or an idle official.

In the first year of Guangshun, Guo Wei was called the emperor, and all officials were added to the official level.

Since then, Qi followed Fan Qian, until Fan Qian, in August last year, he asked him to be the five products of the study of the people of the system, which was originally a good thing to ascend to the world, but was interspersed with the prime minister Wang Jun, who was at odds with Fan quality, was also promoted, and it was still the fifth product, but unfortunately it was not the fifth product in the book, but the door of the province was the fifth product to the matter, and the sentence was Honglu Temple.

In the middle of the book and the matter, one belongs to the book and the other belongs to the door, which is originally a position of opposites, in which the middle book is in charge of the draft, to the matter in charge of the country's refutation of the review, purely about power, it seems to be above the book in the matter. However, it was the old yellow calendar of the Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, from the beginning of the Tang Dynasty to the present, there were no less than 100 people who entered the cabinet to worship the prime minister, and there was no second person except Wei Wenzhen for the worship of the prime minister. Since the restructuring of the Tang Dynasty, the powers in the matter have been in vain, and there is simply an empty shelf. Nowadays, the scholar can accompany the king day and night, and he is a close minister of the Son of Heaven whose status is second only to the prime minister. However, the Honglu Temple can only manage the diplomatic and ceremonial affairs that basically have nothing to manage.

The five generations of Honglu Temple Qing is an honorary position, generally used as a title, and the real temple affairs are fully responsible for the judgment of the temple, so although it is a five-product, it can be regarded as a nine-year-old.

It's a pity that he has no real power, and he can only be tired of running errands.

This time, the affairs of welcoming the Eighth Route Army to bring Li Wenge into Beijing fell on his shoulders.

Qi was still serious about doing things, and received the orders of the ministers in the forbidden, and when he returned to the temple, he ordered his subordinates to make arrangements.

“…… are all careful, it is not the first time to be taken over by a foreign vassal festival, all of them are compared with the example of the previous family, and the etiquette can be slightly reduced by one point, and the rest of the supply should not be deducted as usual...... This is not a character to offend, if you provoke him, be careful of your life. In addition, the pavilion in Jiebei Lane was cleaned up, and there were many people who came this time, and more than 100 people were crowded in the temple and couldn't live. ”

Qi Zheng commanded, but saw an official from the Pawn Office outside the door probing his brain, and suddenly his chest lit up, and he pointed and asked, "...... In another hour, you will go out of the city to pick up people, and you are still there to be careless, and you will come in to report something, and go to prepare for nothing, but what is the thief and the thief doing? ”

The official hurriedly came in and reported with a wry smile: "Those two monks from the Western Regions are here again, or for the matter of building the Rusu Buddhist Temple, and the lower officials saw that the adults were busy, so they didn't dare to pass it!" ”

Qi frowned and thought for a long time, then he remembered that it was two Manichaeans who wanted to build a temple in Bianliang, and they had been here many times in a row, just hoping to get a note from themselves and take it to Kaifeng Mansion.

Although this thing is not big, it is not something that Qi can do. The great defense of the Huayi Rite Sect is a major matter of the imperial court, and the Honglu Temple has no right to approve cults other than the three religions to set up pavilions and temples in the capital without authorization.

"You go and tell them that the ministers of the Chinese book have no time to discuss such idle matters these days, and when they are free, they will naturally have to discuss the results, although this matter is not important, but it is not small, and the ministers will ask for a decree. Let them go back and wait well, don't rush! ”

The official said with a smile: "What they mean is to ask when they will have news, they have been waiting for half a month, and they come every day, and they are ...... to blame for their hard work."

Qi's eyes widened: "Aren't I working hard if they work hard?" In the first month, there are still military generals in the field, and on this cold day, isn't it beautiful to cook wine and drink around the fire at home? When there is news to be determined by the ministers, it depends on when the ministers can spare their efforts to deal with this matter, I am a five-grade judgment temple, where can I know? ”

"Yes! Be! The lower official then told them...... "The official wiped his sweat and retreated, Qi returned to the hall where he worked, rearranged his official uniform, and thought that he was tidy, then he turned around and came to the front of the main hall, and saw that the carriage and honor guard and other things outside had been prepared, he stepped into the car, waved his hand and ordered: "Go straight to the west, go out of Xinzheng Gate, and wait for ...... in Shili Pavilion."