, today's first more delivered! , Nanzhili, Huai'an Fu, near Hongze Lake. The weather in early autumn and July is still a little hot and there is no wind. The trees on both sides of the canal, their branches and leaves, are hanging and listless. The water is sparkling and beautiful. However, if you look closely, you will see that the water is clear and has a dull yellow tinge, as if the flood has not yet subsided.

In the afternoon, a large fleet of boats slowly approached from the north side of the canal. In front of him were five huge boats. This type of boat, which travels exclusively on the canals, has a particularly wide hull in order to have sufficient benefits and reduce the depth of the draft. From a distance, it looks like a giant crab walking sideways.

Behind the boat, there is a gunboat and a cangshan boat. Behind the Cangshan boat, there are five large boats. Such a fleet combination is already very surprising, how can there be a gunboat sandwiched between the boats? It's the other way around! It is common sense for gunboats to escort boats in front and behind!

However, what is even more surprising is that there is more to it than that. What is even more surprising is that whether it is a boat or a gunboat, a red flag is hung on the top of the mast. Anyone who has seen this flag knows that this is the banner of the Tiger Army. And next to the flag of the Tiger Ben Army, there is a special triangular handsome flag with the big word "Zhang" written on it.

If you see such a banner and you can't guess who is coming, he must be an unqualified official. The military flag of the Tiger Ben Army, the handsome banner surnamed Zhang, "is about to inform the whole world of everything." That's right, "It's the Tiger Army here, it's Zhang Zhun, the boss of the Tiger Army, who is here."

At this moment, Zhang Zhun sat on the deck near the bow of the boat, "enjoying the scenery around the canal." He gives people the feeling that he has come to enjoy the mountains and rivers. However, the fierce artillery on the Cangshan ship, as well as the Tiger Ben soldiers who were waiting for the battle on the Cao boat, were silently telling everyone around them that Lord Du Du was not here to enjoy the mountains and rivers, but to find trouble. As for who to ask for trouble, everyone can guess for themselves.

Beside Zhang Zhun was a group of officials of Huai'an Mansion. Zhang Zhun was sitting, but they were standing in a proper manner. No matter how old they are, they stand in a proper manner. In such weather, it is indeed a painful thing to stand on the bare deck and enjoy the greetings of the sun. However, "no one dared to say anything."

What do you dare to say? Twelve gunboats, more than a thousand Tiger Ben soldiers, enough to put all your words back into your stomach. At this time, I touched Zhang Zhun's brow, I'm afraid I don't know how I died. No matter how powerful you are, "can you be so powerful as Huang Taiji?" Even Huang Taiji was beaten by Zhang Zhun and ran away with a blue nose and swollen face, and if you take the initiative to go up and be stabbed, Zhang Zhun will be able to destroy you by blowing casually.

There is no one who does not feel that Zhang Zhun is too strong, no one who does not feel that Zhang Zhun is too domineering, and no one who does not feel that Zhang Zhun is too lawless. In broad daylight, "without the emperor's edict, without the approval of the imperial court, with the army" with gunboats, and with his own concubines" swaggering into the territory of Nanzhili, what kind of behavior is this? In a normal year, it is enough to wipe out Zhang Zhun's family, and the graves of the ten generations of ancestors will be turned out and whipped.

But isn't this an abnormal year? In this era of war and chaos, the officials of the Ming Dynasty also had more knowledge. For Zhang Zhun and his troops to blatantly break into the boundary of Nanzhili, the eunuchs guarding Nanjing, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and other officials at all levels all turned a blind eye, as if nothing had happened. That's what it means above, and the officials below, where do you dare to say a word? It is serious to serve this master well.

"Well, what is it.........

Cao Wenheng sighed secretly in his heart, his face full of bitterness.

Zhang Zhun came to the land in the south of the Yangtze River with great momentum, where did the officials of Huai'an Mansion dare to slack off? Yang Yipeng, the governor of Caoyun and the governor of Fengyang, did not return in the capital, and the biggest official in Huai'an Mansion was Cao Wenheng, the governor of the river.

Cao Wenheng is actually not an ordinary official, he once served as the governor of Jiliao, and he also commanded two or three hundred thousand soldiers and horses. However, his tenure was only a short year and a half, and it happened to be a chaotic period after Yuan Chonghuan was killed, so he did not make any major achievements. Since then, he has been the governor of the river and has made great contributions to the dredging of the canal.

Feeling that Zhang Zhun's comer was not good, Cao Wenheng hurriedly led people in person and came to Suqian to greet Zhang Zhun nearby. After receiving Zhang Zhun, he accompanied Zhang Zhun all the way south, whether it was etiquette or posture, he was quite upright. For this, Zhang Zhun is also impeccable.

Of course, the shelves still have to be placed. For some people, putting on a show still has some effect, especially under the premise of the protection of the army's imposing force. Zhang Zhun went south to Yangzhou this time, bringing with him twelve Cangshan ships and a battalion of tiger troops.

Now, the Qizi battalion led by Li Jiaxi is distributed on top of ten boats. In Yanzhou Mansion, the Minzi battalion was also ready to go south for reinforcements at any time. The boats all carried enough food and ammunition to hold out for quite a long time, even in the event of a large-scale battle.

"Master, are you going to participate in the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce, or are you going to attack Yangzhou Mansion?"

Seeing Zhang Zhun dispatched in such a big battle, Liu Ru asked suspiciously.

"Both."

Zhang Zhun replied indifferently.

The resistance that Shen Lingfei encountered in the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce would definitely not be able to break it by ordinary means, and the only way to do it was to use force. Zhang Zhun went to Yangzhou in person, just to show his force. If anyone dares to hit the muzzle of the gun, Zhang Zhun doesn't mind using him to open the knife.

In fact, from the bottom of his heart, Zhang Zhun really hoped that the big salt merchants in Yangzhou would pull up their families and fight against the Tiger Benjun for a while. The Tiger Army raided their home, enough to build more Dragon God Ships and even King Kong Ships. He didn't believe that the Ming Dynasty army in Jiangnan had the possibility of defeating the Tiger Army.

"Lord Governor, to the west of us is Hongze Lake."

Cao Wenheng suddenly said respectfully.

For Zhang Zhun, the plague god, Cao Wenheng's attitude is "very distinct", that is, not to offend as much as possible. Idiots know that Zhang Zhun has already taken control of Yanzhou Mansion, and the next step is to enter Huai'an Mansion. Even King Lu was expelled by him," and the court didn't say anything. As a river governor, can he still pretend to be a big-tailed wolf?

For Zhang Zhun to openly lead his troops from the mighty south of the canal this time, it is absolutely impossible to say that Cao Wenheng's heart is very calm. In fact, Cao Wenheng's heart was always uneasy, for fear that Zhang Zhun would find some trouble. However, he was not very afraid.

He himself has only one wife and seven sons, "he has no concubines, and the family does not have much land, which can fully meet the requirements of the Juntian Order." If Zhang Zhun raised the butcher's knife, he immediately responded to Juntian's call and distributed all the land under his name to his wife and children, so that he could avoid the baptism of the butcher's knife.

"Hongze Lake ......"

Zhang Zhun held a clairvoyant mirror and looked at the west side of the canal.

Indeed, "on the west side of the canal, there is a mighty surface of water, and there is no end in sight." The sea and sky are the same, but there is also a bit of beauty. It's just that the water surface of Hongze Lake "seems to be a little darker yellow than the water surface of the canal." This made Zhang Zhun feel very unhappy, and the clairvoyant mirror in his hand was very boring to put down.

Because, at present, the flood situation in Huai'an Mansion is quite serious. Once the Tiger Army takes over, "a large amount of money must be invested in the renovation of the water conservancy project." The Tiger Army demanded money everywhere, and once the heavy burden of water conservancy projects in Huai'an Province was added, "there were more places that needed huā money." However, money is not the most important thing.

The most fatal thing is that "the politics related to the flood in Huai'an Mansion is related to the entire Central Plains, and even the entire [China] country, and it can never be cured with the power of one government in Huai'an Province, or the power of one army of the Tiger Army." If we want to completely eradicate the floods in Huai'an Province, we must wait until the Tiger Ben Army unifies the whole country before it can be fully deployed. Until then, it will always be only a symptom but not a cure.

For example, the Hongze Lake in front of us needs to be treated on a large scale, involving the two major river basins of the Yellow River and the Huai River, involving three provinces such as Shandong, Henan, and Nanzhili, with more than 20 prefectures and a population of more than 10 million. Such a vast project can only be completed with the strength of the whole country, and at present it is certainly more than enough to do so.

Zhang Zhun was silent for a long time, and said thoughtfully: "I heard from the Duke of Shan that the Governor has a complete strategy for recovering Huai, I don't know if you can explain one or two?" ”

Cao Wenheng said with a somewhat bitter face: "It's just some conjectures of the lower officials, and he is smiling and generous." ”

Zhang Zhun looked around and said slowly: "If you can really recover Huai, you will definitely be able to go down in history." It is best to seriously study and discuss your conjectures, and perhaps in three or five years, or maybe ten years from now, your conjectures may become reality. ”

Cao Wenheng's eyes suddenly had some strange looks. Zhang Zhun's words obviously moved him.

Seriously, having been in the position of governor of the river for several years, Cao Wenheng was quite eager to control the river. His ideal was to completely eradicate the floods in the two major river basins of the Yellow River and the Huai River before he entered the soil.

However, the current chaotic situation in the imperial court was clearly unable to support his ideals. Only after Zhang Zhun and Zhang Zhun unified the whole country could this ideal be realized. And Zhang Zhun's words unabashedly show his support for the management of the river. If he can really get Zhang Zhun's support and raise the strength of the whole country to thoroughly control the Yellow River and the Huai River, he Cao Wenheng can indeed leave his name in history forever.

It's just, Fuhuai, how easy it is to talk about! Even if it gets Zhang Zhun's full support, even if it has the power of the whole country, it is quite an easy thing. Cao Wenheng has been the governor of the river for five years, and he really knows too well the difficulty of controlling floods. In this position, it's easy to waste time, but it's really hard to really do things.

Just managing Hongze Lake in front of him has almost exhausted all of Cao Wenheng's efforts. Hongze Lake is just a node of the Huai River flood. It seems that there are at least twenty or thirty such nodes. Some nodes are even worse than Hongze Lake.

The biggest problem of Hongze Lake is that the water level is raised, which seriously exceeds the surrounding area, causing the evil consequences of the lake on the ground. Once the embankment is missing, the consequences are very serious. Some people have calculated that once Hongze Lake lacks embankments and floods pour out, it is enough to turn a radius of hundreds of miles, all of which are turned into a blank land, and even Huai'an Mansion cannot be lucky, but the cause of the flooding of Hongze Lake involves many aspects. In order to thoroughly control Hongze Lake, "it is necessary to take all aspects into account", and then take a multi-pronged approach to start from multiple aspects. If we only start from one or two aspects, we will not be able to eradicate the flood. Pressing down the gourd floated, without the slightest meaning. Among these reasons, the most critical is the Yellow River's seizure of the Huai into the sea.

The lower reaches of the Huai River are low and flat, the fields are fertile, and it is suitable for planting grains. In the Qin and Han dynasties, the Tianxia Tian was divided into nine classes, and the Jianghuai Tian was the upper middle (second class), which was unparalleled except for some areas of Guanzhong at that time. Geological surveys in Lianshui and other places have proved that the black silt layer that has been deeply hidden underground has been cultivated land at that time.

In ancient times, the working people took advantage of these superior natural conditions and worked hard, so that the Huaihe River valley once appeared prosperous and rich. Before Suzhou and Changzhou were developed, "Huai'an and Yangzhou were the land of fish and rice." "Jianghuai is ripe, and the world is full." "It's better to go on both sides of the Huai River." And so on proverbs are a vivid portrayal of this scene.

In the Song Dynasty, the grain production of the two Huai accounted for almost more than 30% of the country's grain output. The yield of rice per mu in Lianghuai has exceeded 300 catties. It can be seen that agriculture in the Lianghuai region is quite developed. However, since the arrival of an uninvited guest, the Yellow River, the agricultural production of the two Huai "has been seriously affected." The flooding of the Yellow River has brought great harm to both Huai'an and Yangzhou.

After the Yellow River seized the Huai River, "the water from the upper and middle reaches of the Huai River, under the support of the Yellow Water", the discharge was not smooth, and gradually accumulated between Xuyi and the ancient Huaiyin City, making the Lingtang and small lakes such as Poshengtang, Baishuitang, Fuling Lake, Nidun Lake, Wanjia Lake and so on connected together, expanding into the mighty Hongze Lake. Once the flood swelled, the Huang and Huai rivers merged, swallowing the prosperous ancient Sizhou City, the Ming Ancestral Mausoleum and many villages along the lake to the bottom of the lake.

Because the Yellow River is strong and weak, the Yellow River often flows into the lake. The sediment is silted, and the bottom of the lake is high day by day. In addition, in order to maintain the smooth flow of grain transportation in the north-south canal, the imperial court adopted the method of water control by storing and clearing the Yellow River and diverting the Huai River to help transport the Yellow River in the strategy of controlling the Yellow River, Huai River and transportation, so as to continuously extend and raise the Gaojiayan that originally defended against the flood of the Huai River, making it the current Hongze Lake embankment, and Hongze Lake became a famous "hanging lake".

"Gaojiayan fell, and Huaiyang didn't meet. This sentence is not a joke, the situation of Hongze Lake from a high position poses a serious threat to the entire Lixiahe area. In order to prevent the occurrence of large-scale sleeping, from the time of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, the river yamen actively dredged the passage between Gaona Lake and Shao Bo Lake to lead Huai into the river.

However, during the Zhengde period, the Huai River flood still broke through the Jiangba Hongze Lake embankment, seized the road into the river, and fixed the flow path of the Huai River from the three rivers to the river through Yangzhou.

In fact, the serious consequences of the Yellow River seizing the Huai into the sea are not limited to Hongze Lake. In the north of the Huai River, due to the Yellow River's seizure of Si and Huai, the Yishui and Surabaya intersected and gradually accumulated to form Lima Lake and Huangdun Lake. The Yi and Sihong floods lost their flow paths into the Huai, so they poured into the Liutang River below the Lima Lake and entered the sea through the mouth of the Guan River.

The lower reaches of the Mu River accumulate into a series of lake depressions such as Zhabu, Pingdun and Qingyi Lake, which diverge into the sea from the Rose River and Linhong River. The estuary of the original Huai River formed a new Yellow River Delta, and the coastline extended 60 kilometers eastward from the vicinity of the original Yunti Pass, becoming the current coastline.

Huai'an Mansion in the Ming Dynasty did not have today's Xiangshui, Binhai, Sheyang, Dafeng and other towns, and the coastline was close to today's Yancheng. It is precisely because the Yellow River seized the Huai River into the sea, bringing a large amount of sediment and siltation, gradually forming the land, and the coastline continued to expand to the east, and finally formed today's map. According to estimates, after the Ming Dynasty, because the Yellow River seized the Huai into the sea, the land area increased by at least 20,000 square kilometers.

After the Yellow River was seized, floods continued for many years, seriously damaging the development of the agricultural economy of the two rivers. Due to the high siltation of the riverbed in Surabaya and the lower reaches of the Huai River, the Yellow River has not been discharged smoothly, and it has burst and even diverted its course year after year. Yishui, Mushui, Surabaya, etc. also lost the way into the Huai and flowed everywhere, evolving into floods, which made the area of floods expand to Fengyang Mansion and other places.

"Speaking of Fengyang, singing Fengyang, Fengyang is a good place, since there was an Emperor Zhu, there have been nine years of famine in ten years." Behind the lyrics of this well-known Fengyang huā drum, there is actually a tragic scene caused by a large number of floods. In the area of Fengyang Prefecture, when there is a drought, there is no harvest of grain, and when it rains, there is a flood, and there is still no harvest.

The local people, who were repeatedly affected by drought and flood disasters, really couldn't go on, so they had to go out in large numbers to flee the famine, begging for food everywhere, and at the same time brought the lyrics of this Fengyang huā drum to the whole country. Because the government is not effective in managing the river, the people naturally blame all the sins on Zhu Yuanzhang's head.

Regarding the situation of Fengyang Mansion suffering disasters year after year, Cao Wenheng, as the governor of the river, is naturally very clear. According to the statistics of the river yamen, since Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, there have been more than 250 major floods in the Huaihe River valley, and on average, once a year.

The floods in the Yi, Mu, and Si valleys are also very serious, and there have been more than 100 major floods in the Ming generation. Wherever the flood went, it flooded farmland, devoured villages, and even destroyed cities. In the coastal counties such as Guannan and Lianshui today, sometimes the water depth of Pingchi is more than one zhang deep, and even the market can sail.

When the flood was flooding, the Lixiahe Plain area south of the Huai River, "since Zhengde, every time the Huai River is in full bloom, the west wind and waves, the white waves are like mountains, and the Huaiyang is hundreds of miles, the public and private are panicked, and those who dare not sleep will be hundreds of years." "It can be seen that the flood is serious.

The overflow of turbid water has not only caused agricultural harvests to fail year after year, and the vast number of people have lived in poverty, but also destroyed the previously superior natural conditions in this area. Many lakes and rivers that are rich in aquatic resources have been silted up to flat land, and large areas of fertile land have been hidden by quicksand and gravel. In Lianshui, the quicksand silted up in some places is more than two zhang deep. Due to the lack of drainage of many rivers caused by the seizure of the Yellow River, a large area of land has become salinized and turned into sand and brine red land.

After the Yellow River encroached on Surabaya and the lower reaches of the Huai River, the Cao Canal Road that went north from the two Huai (Huaiyin and Huai'an) actually went north from the Yellow River. The continuous overflow and diversion of the Yellow River has caused the Cao Canal to change continuously. The continuous siltation of the river body has led to the lack of water in the canal, and the bank is narrow and shallow, so it is not heavy-loaded. The river yamen has to spend a lot of manpower, material and financial resources every year to dredge the river, and the imperial court is naturally deeply embarrassed, and the people below are also bitter.

Money and grain are needed to dredge the river, and nothing can be done without grabbing grain. And the Ming court, what is most lacking at the moment is money and food. Moreover, to control the river, it is necessary to mobilize a large number of people. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered together, and it was a huge powder keg, which was in danger of exploding at any moment. If a spark falls into it, the world will be in chaos.

The rulers of the Ming Kingdom, of course, would not forget the bitter lessons of the late Yuan Dynasty, so they demanded that the number of people mobilized at a time should never exceed 50,000 people, so as not to cause uncontrollable turmoil. Of course, there is no such limit now. Shaanxi Liukou is often hundreds of thousands or even millions, what are the tens of thousands of people in the river?

Zhang Zhun asked quietly, "What is the basic concept of Lord Cao?" ”

Cao Wenheng replied cautiously: "To govern Huai, we must first govern the Soviet Union"

Zhang Zhun nodded thoughtfully, saying that it was indeed not wrong to agree with Cao Wenheng's idea of Li Yu Cao Wenheng, to dredge the canal, the first thing to do is to clean up the Yellow River. To eradicate the flooding of the Huai River, the yellow roaring dragon of the Yellow River must be suppressed. It's better to be blocked than to be sparse, and it has always been like this.

In the upper reaches of the Yellow River, efforts were made to plant trees and reduce the source of sediment, and it took huge manpower, material and financial resources to finally hold the Yellow River.

As long as the Yellow River is stopped, the Huai River itself is much easier. The Huai River itself does not have too much sediment, as long as appropriate measures are taken to wash away the sediment in the river, the Huaihe River basin can gradually restore its former richness. Without the accumulation of a large amount of sediment, Hongze Lake would not have become a hanging lake, and the threat to the surrounding area would have been lifted.

Zhang Zhun said cautiously: "What do you think about Lord Cao's treatment of Huang?" ”

Cao Wenheng said slowly: "Afforestation, returning farmland to forest, damming and silting, and building terraces, a four-pronged approach, a century-old plan." ”

Zhang Zhun frowned, and said slowly: "Then according to Lord Cao's intentions, how much silver is needed to completely control the Yellow River?" ”

Cao Wenheng said in a deep voice: "The initial investment is estimated to be no less than five million taels, and it will cost at least 500,000 taels per year in the future