Early the next morning, 600 miles of expedited horses flew to the Jianghuai provinces to convey the urgent purpose of the imperial court to raise grain to the states, governments, provinces, and counties. Observation envoys and patrol envoys from all walks of life who returned to Beijing on official business or reported on their duties were also arrested and rushed to Jianghuai.

However, the brigade has not yet left Beijing, and many issues that need to be arranged in detail and resolved by the various departments of Bianliang in conjunction with the localities, especially those related to Caoyun, still need to be finalized. Zhao Dezhao, the king of Wei, personally presided over the meeting, and the Zhongshu and his subordinates made the final decision on the issue of Cao Yun together with the Privy Council, the Ministry of Industry and other yamen.

The officials of various departments expressed their opinions, and after a while, they were filled with the smell of gunsmoke.

"Ladies and gentlemen, to build a dam and sluice, it is generally necessary to seal the upstream water first, repair the dam and then release the water, and the place where the sluice is repaired must also be based on the geography of the reservoir to store water. Just by examining the geography in advance and selecting the sites where the dam and reservoir can be built, it is not a matter of one month or two months, and even if the Privy Council sends a large army to help, it cannot be completed so quickly, it is simply impossible! ”

Because of the urgency of the matter, all the personnel looked like they were burning their eyebrows, and they were cramming their feet temporarily, so that there were problems everywhere, and everyone was anxious, and they were all angry when they spoke. Now it is Chen Bannian, the director of the Ministry of Works, who is a water conservancy official, a bit of a nerd, the King of Wei is sitting on it, and at first he can still speak respectfully, but this hasty preparation for the dam is too embarrassing, the more he speaks, the more annoyed he becomes, and he loses his manners under forgetfulness, and the spit stars are splashed on the face of Zhao Dezhao, the king of Wei.

Fortunately, this young prince had a good temper, and he was very relieved to see that this master was so devoted, he quietly took out his handkerchief to wipe the saliva on his face, turned his head to look at Yang Hao, and asked gently, "What does Dean Yang think about this?" ”

Everyone has been talking about it for a long time, and Yang Hao was embarrassed by everyone's arrangement, and that one didn't work. He held the Caoyun map hanging on the wall, and said loudly: "Everyone, everyone, I repeat it again, one last time, don't consider the relevant engineering design according to common sense, what we have to do is to transport the grain that is enough to last until next year's Spring Festival transportation to Kaifeng before the ice and snow seal the river, for this purpose, whether we build a weir or a sluice, I don't expect it to be used for ten years or a hundred years, or even a thousand years like Dujiangyan, I just need it to last for a maximum of three months." Do you understand? Do you understand? ”

Yang Hao slammed the wall so loudly that the officials of the various ministries saw that he was a little crazy, and they all stopped making a sound, Yang Hao shouted: "Okay! Let's think about it along this lines. Director Chen, where there is a large drop in the river on this river, the front may not be suitable for enclosing the embankment to store water and build a reservoir, so what should I do? Is it the old way to use the old way, the ship docks, unloads, loads, transports to the downstream wharf, and then unloads the truck, loads the ship, and so on, and goes back and forth for a while? How much time do you have to delay on the road? ”

He didn't care how difficult it was to draw a map, so he grabbed a brush and dipped it in ink, and scribbled it on the map. "You see, this section of the upper reaches is a wide valley, and the outlet is narrow, so that the water can be intercepted and stored, and a double-decker dam can be built to accommodate ships, and a sluice gate can be placed in the middle, which can not only be used urgently, but also strengthened and repaired later, and can be preserved forever; Looking at this section again, there were sluices on both sides, which were originally used for irrigation, and there was a small river draining water outside the embankment, so the sluice gates could be opened, and the water could be diverted to both sides, and then the dam sluices were built. If the current is too strong, it is better to destroy a crop, and the court will compensate for the loss.

Looking at this section again, you can cut off the mouth of the river, and at the same time let the local government send laborers, and the Privy Council send an army to participate in the excavation, dig a temporary passage from the side, draw the water downstream, and then plug the gap when the sluice gate is built, and so on, so that the river can be smoothed as much as possible, and the grain ships can reach all the way without loading and unloading. Where it is too late to build a dam or a sluice, the loading and unloading is still carried out according to the old method, which is much faster. ”

Yang Hao said very clearly, everyone nodded after hearing this, and the official of the Ministry of Industry interjected: "In terms of ships, you can also think of a way, where the water is turbulent, there are more fibers on both sides, and there are fiber ropes on both sides, so that the ships can be kept stable and not easy to overturn." Although there is a lot of grain loaded on large ships, in the past, the sectional transshipment method was used.

This time the grain transport is very urgent, the section transshipment is not done, so the existing boats can be discarded as much as possible, more with flat bottom and wide surface ships, although these ships are less loaded, but suitable for different depths of river transportation, as long as the number is more, enough to make up for the lack of less loading, at the same time, with this kind of boat, our various weir sluice projects will be smaller, can be completed faster. ”

This meeting was held until noon before the preliminary plan was finalized, because the matter was urgent, and this preliminary plan became the final plan, and the specific problems could only be improved in the process.

For a time, the imperial court frequently issued orders, ordering the local government where the section of the river that needed to build embankments and dig ditches to immediately transfer civilian service, and the Privy Council also issued an order, ordering the Xiang army near the left to immediately rush to the scene to cooperate with the excavation, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry immediately left Beijing with the sketchy construction drawings drawn in a hurry.

Zhang Xinglong, the leading eldest brother of the Bianhe Gang, with his apprentice Zhen Zhu'er, and his daughter Zhang Huaisleeve, are waiting for him. Zhang Fuzhong, Kaifeng Sijiao with a group of cronies and brothers are gathered here, these big men on the rivers and lakes are rough and bold men, the whole hall is occupied by them, and the people are full of people for a while, which is a hundred times more lively than the lobby of the Ministry of Industry that has just quarreled.

Zhang Xinglong, the big boss of the Bianhe Gang, Chen Xiaofan, the big boss of the Caihe Gang, Xiao Muyu, the big boss of the Guangji Gang, and Liu Liu, the big boss of the Jinshui Gang, all received a sentence from the envoy of Kaifeng Mansion: "Immediately put down everything and obey Dean Yang's arrangement." ”

The four gangs are eating in Kaifeng Mansion, and they don't dare not bow down to Nanya's orders, but they give up all operations and fully cooperate with Yang Hao to transport grain, and the loss goes without saying.

But Zhang Xinglong has received Yang Hao's kindness, and this kind of heroic man on the rivers and lakes pays attention to the kindness that must be repaid, and a thousand gold. As for the real interests, in their eyes, they waited for it, so Zhang Xinglong spared no effort to open up, and the leaders of the other three major gangs married him with Jin Lan, who was originally a sibling brother, and the eldest brother spoke, and those losses had to be left alone, and they all personally led the team to come.

When Yang Hao arrived, Sayuri Fukuda was pouring tea and water for several sworn brothers of the officials in the hall, and when she saw Yang Hao arrive, Sayuri Fukuda was overjoyed, but she was shy by nature and didn't dare to come forward to answer, just smiled at him, and gave a nice blessing.

Futian Sayuri has now changed into Han clothes, the soft and tame taste is still a little exotic, in these days of the Zhang family, life is much better than the original, probably Zhang Xinglong did not give her less rain and dew moisturizing, the whole complexion is faintly revealing a crystal light, like a bride as rich and radiant.

Yang Hao saw her saluting to herself, and she only smiled, so he hugged his fists and entered, and said with a smile to the four giants of Bianhe Sijiao according to the etiquette of the rivers and lakes: "Thank you for waiting for a long time, Yang is busy with official business, one step late, forgive sins, forgive sins!" ”

The four gang leaders of Biancai Jinguang hurriedly got up to greet them, and they didn't dare to be a little rude to Yang Hao, a celebrity in Nanya. Futian Sayuri poured tea for Yang Hao and sent it up, Yang Hao thanked him and put the tea on the table, and then went straight to the point and talked about the lack of food in Kaifeng. In his statement, of course, he would not say that Kaifeng was short of food, and that it had reached the dilemma of not having a single inch of rice for a month or two.

Yang Hao said: "Where the capital of a country, the center of the country, the most important thing, at least when there are nine years of grain storage, throughout the ages, a big city and a big Fu in the face of a military disaster, only a besieged city can hold out for several years, it is because of the grain storage." However, our Great Song Dynasty has just been established for ten years, and these years it has been fighting in the south and the north, conquering the countries, although it is a great achievement, but the limited grain stock has also been used up, and there is a poor management of the Yamen, so far it has been discovered.

The official family was furious, and in order to ensure the stability of the society, it was decided to transport a large amount of grain and grass from the local government into Beijing, and at the same time, the eldest son of the emperor was an adult, and he should also be tempered, so he undertook this important responsibility. Yang was favored by the official family, and Xi was the deputy envoy, and went to Jianghuai to raise grain with His Royal Highness the King of Wei. If the grain is raised, it is not easy to rush to the capital before the ice and snow close the river, and it is difficult to complete it in time with the imperial court's transportation boats, so I thought of everyone. ”

Chen Xiaofan, the big boss of Cai He's gang, hugged his fist and said: "Dean Yang, I have received the orders of Nanya, and I have the instructions of Brother Xinglong, so it is not a problem to serve the adults and horses, but what does Dean Yang want us to do, how long will it take, please understand the instructions." Chen is a boat runner, tens of thousands of brothers, even with their parents, wives and children, are counting on this canal to eat, if it is delayed for too long, Xiaomin really can't afford it, this is the truth, and I ask the dean to forgive me. ”

Yang Hao said: "The country is in trouble, and if you use all the heroes, you will naturally not be allowed to pay in vain." This trip to transport grain does require a large number of manpower, ships, porters, and sailors must be as sufficient as possible, and the cost of transporting grain will be paid fairly by the imperial court, which everyone can rest assured.

Second, you don't need to stop all the business, some of the business you have already inherited, it's not good to refuse the guests again, not to mention that in addition to the grain, the oil and salt department stores in Kaifeng are also indispensable, these also need to be transported, and the Bianhe River needs to be dredged and repaired, and it will take a month to use you at the earliest. A month later, I need you to send out all the ships and manpower I need to arrive at the ports of Jianghuai in time, but this is not delayed. ”

"Third," Yang Hao stood up and said, "The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers, not only is this trip not to requisition the manpower and ships of the strong men and ships for free, and to give corresponding remuneration, but also ...... The king of Wei, Chitose, had asked the officials to give the four shipowners a privilege, but ...... You must listen clearly, if you accept this will, it will no longer be the people's official fortune, once you can't complete the mission delivered by the official, those who have meritorious service will be rewarded, and those who have done it will have a ...... It's going to be punished! ”