Zheng Lang was not involved in the affairs of the Northwest.

To put it in layman's terms, it is to leave things to someone who is an expert. There is Di Qing in the northwest, there is Wang Song, the trend of history has changed, and he has lost his golden finger, he is not as good as the two. Therefore, he only used the character of the Liang family in history and some things that might happen to discuss the general direction with Di Qing, and did not interfere.

The main thing is the Yellow River.

The reason for this year, there is another reason, next year the sixth Si (Henan Nanle Sixth Store area, the Song Dynasty built many embankments on the Yellow River, successively named the first Si, the second Si, or Shang Hu Si, etc., of which the sixth Si is a very large scale embankment) The river was broken, divided into two rivers, and later during the Xining period, the two rivers were officially repaired. This is the natural river nature that Ouyang Xiu said, it seems to rely on the river nature, but there is no human nature.

The more the Yellow River is divided, the slower the water potential, and the terrain of Hebei is all raised by the successive accumulation and flooding of the river, and finally all of them are squeezed into the Huai River.

Because of the huge scale of the Liuta River, it has once again formed a new river, and I don't know what impact it will have on the river next year, but we must take precautions.

Zhao Zhen's body can't wait for many years, and the new emperor will continue to trust himself when he succeeds to the throne?

Therefore, construction began this year.

Inspections in various places are only part of it, and they also have to find all kinds of materials from the Chinese book, and continue to refine their plans through these materials.

Ten days later, Di Qing returned to Yanzhou early, and the Western Xia envoy was also sent away by the Song Dynasty, and Fu Bi sent someone to call Zheng Lang over to discuss the matter.

It was a letter from Tian Yu and Cheng Shimeng, and the two worked together to recommend more than a dozen officials from Liangguang to the imperial court. Governing the river is also like war, you need a commander, a general, a soldier and a colonel. Zheng Lang has been away from Liangguang for a long time, and many officials have been transferred, some of them have been transferred to other places because of merit, and many have political achievements, and some officials are independent because there is no one to lead them. But it gradually disappeared from the crowd. The officials recommended by Tian Cheng and the others, including Zheng Lang, only knew that some of them were acted, and some officials were transferred to Liangguang in the later period.

Zheng Lang spread his hands and said: "The three ministers, the personnel transfer has nothing to do with me. ”

He, the ambassador of river governance, was an unprecedented official in the Song Dynasty, and the ministers did not know where his authority was, but he did not have the right to appoint personnel. Zheng Lang forcibly seized it, and no official dared to oppose it.

However, Zheng Lang was so annoyed that he had not been in Zhongshu for a long time, and he didn't know many official information, so he simply ignored it and returned the right to appoint personnel to Zhongshu.

"You're in Liangguang." Fu Bi Road.

"I have stayed in Liangguang, but I have been away from Liangguang for a long time, but Yanguo, you have to believe that these four ministers are all good officials of the first rank in my dynasty, whether it is Cheng Shimeng, or Zhou Xin, or Tian Yu. There are a few people on the list of people they recommend, I know, at least in this area. Relatively proficient. ”

"I see, but you see," Fu Bi pointed to two names, one named Huang Cheng and the other Wei Zhongguang.

"The two of them, it seems to be good."

"They're all barbarians."

"What about the barbarians, Nong Zhi is a thief with high ambitions, but the court is really not wrong? One is that it is too weak, so that the barbarians think that I can be bullied. Second, it is too isolated. Thinking that they are inferior and coarse makes them hateful. The former made them think that I was weak. The latter leads to hatred, Hikoku, do you say that the rebellion in the south will increase? Learn to be inclusive. ”

It just so happened that Zheng Lang was also tired, and since everyone got together, he simply talked about some wars in the West about religion. In the eyes of the outside world, the first mystery is the inner palace, and the second mystery is the Zhongshu, after all, it is the place with the greatest power in the Song Dynasty.

In fact, it is very different from what the outside world people imagine, and sometimes they drink tea and chat.

will even say that some of the little daughters-in-law of the east family have a brute waist, and the little lady of the west family has the little feet of the golden lotus, but they are all learned people, and they talk extremely implicitly.

Zhongshu is a little better, almost all the rights of the six books of Shangshu have been cut, what else can you do besides drinking tea and chatting?

The Western world is too far away, but several prime ministers have heard of several "holy wars" in the Uighurs. I didn't pay much attention to it before, but now Zheng Lang focuses on these wars and persecutions that have gone crazy because of religion, and he is amazed one by one.

After finishing speaking, Zheng Lang said: "Why has there been no accident in my dynasty's religion, let alone a religion that even dares to interfere with the monarchy, at most it only caused some war of words, because the word tolerates and tolerates all kinds of religions, and religion has not become harmful." The reason why Confucianism developed faster in our dynasty than in the previous dynasty is also an inclusiveness, and many people have absorbed the good ideas of Taoism, law, soldiers, ink, and miscellaneous into Confucianism. So it gradually became a trend of a hundred flowers blooming again. But for the barbarians and the Tibetans, we must also learn this tolerance. ”

Then he looked at the list and said: "I know some of these two people, one came out of Guizhou, and the other is to appease the local barbarians, selected talents, I selected some excellent people to train when I was in Liangguang, and before they grew up, I went to Tanzhou." Specifically, since Tian Cheng and the others were selected from nearly two hundred barbarian officials, it would probably not be bad. Yes, these two are the sons of the chief of the great barbarian clan on the West Road of Guangnan, if we let go of the two Beijing officials, how much impact will it have on the south? ”

"Xingzhi, if you say so, we will agree."

"Yanguo, it's not that I have to agree as soon as I say it, whether I can agree or not, from the perspective of the country, letting people not avoid relatives and enemies is a model of an ancient gentleman. By the way, I also want to nominate two people, one is Sima Guang, the other is Wang Anshi, they went to Taiping Prefecture with me since they were young, and then they spent a period of time in Hangzhou, and they are very good at water conservancy. ”

Zheng Lang also has several students, Yan Rong's intelligence is not the best, but he has a gentle personality, is practical and diligent, and is low-key, probably because he is a businessman from a family, he is very proficient in business.

Bank supervision is very important, so Zheng Lang did not mention it.

Needless to say, the two brothers of the Fan family should not recommend them too much.

Lu Gongshu has been rewarded by Zhao Zhen many times for his knowledge of Tian Ren, awarded the Chongwen Museum to review the same judgment Taichang Temple, and then there is the background of the Lu family, it is a matter of time before he ascends to the top, and water conservancy management is not the director of Lu Gong's book, Zheng Lang also skipped not to talk about it.

There are also the Su brothers, who have only been in the Jinshi for a short time, and they lack the survey, even if they are ordered. The official position will not be very big, a small official, Zheng Lang can give the order himself, can Zhongshu dare to oppose it?

Pang Ji said: "Xingzhi, we have also thought about Sima Guang and Wang Anshi. ”

Whether he had thought about Wang Anshi was unknown, but he must have thought about Sima Guang.

The junior Pang Ji admired the most in his life was Sima Guang, who had been promoted many times, and he had a bit of a taste of wanting to grab this student with Zheng Lang.

Zheng Lang smiled. Then he said: "I don't know what kind of candidates Zhongshu has chosen?" ”

He didn't participate in the election of officials, which doesn't mean that he didn't ask, if all the officials in the middle of the book were 25, it would be miserable.

Fu Bi pulled out a thick list from the draw.

Zheng Lang opened it and looked at it, there were many officials he didn't know, and there were some officials he had heard of. Most of these officials who have heard of it are quite talented, after all, governing the river is the biggest thing in the internal governance of the Song Dynasty, and the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, several Chinese book bigwigs also dare not joke. But whether these officials are good at water conservancy, Zheng Lang is not very clear. But the above names made him pay attention.

First of all, the ambassador of the same right Zhizhihe changed from Bao Zheng to two, and the other was Ouyang Xiu.

Zheng Lang looked at Fu Bi.

On paper, it's just a name. But every name has a story behind it.

In particular, Ouyang Xiufen took Bao Zheng and Quan Zhihezhi ambassadors, which was of great significance.

Not only is Bao Zheng and Ouyang Xiu at odds, on the contrary, Fu Bi and Ouyang Xiu have a very good relationship, and there is also a story, Bao Zheng's protégé Zhang Tian.

At the beginning, Ouyang Xiu and Bao Zheng did not have a holiday, and once Ouyang Xiu also recommended Zhang Tian and asked him to judge Guangxin Army. At that time, Xia Zhu and Yang Huaimin suggested a plan to increase the pond water of the seven counties in Hebei, but Zhang Tian disagreed. Although Yang Liulang increased the pond water. However, it is our responsibility not to worry about the people. The lakes formed by the original low-lying land dug large and small rivers and ponds to block the speed of the Khitan iron cavalry when it might go south. However, we should not attach too much importance to the role of Tangtian. If it is widely cultivated, it will damage the people's fertile land, invade the people's cemetery, and be inconvenient. So he degraded the tax of Yingzhou, and after a long time, he was sentenced to Yizhou again.

The inner servant Zhang Zongli made the county, drunk and self-indulgent, no one dared to speak, only Zhang Tian made his mistake, and the edict was sprinkled with Xiling. Bao Zheng, the envoy of the third division, recommended Zhang Tian, but Zhang Tian inherited some of Lao Bao's character and dared to speak, and because of Lao Bao's festival with the bigwigs of the two provinces, Ouyang Xiu's festival, and the festival of the Song Dynasty, his recommendation backfired, and the ministers of the two governments blamed him several times.

Zhang Tian was also angry, if he didn't agree, he wouldn't agree, why did you throw dirt on me, do you still have the bearing to be a ruler? The book said that Fu Bi was negligent in five things, and said that the public has been responsible for the world for decades, and now he is the first to be the ruler, and it is a pity that the measures are so.

You are not Xia Zhu, nor Jia Changchao, nor Li Shu, how can you do such a villainous thing?

Fu Bi didn't say anything, but one person stood up, Tang Jie.

Tang Jie and Bao Zheng were both direct ministers of the Zhao Zhen Dynasty, but because of Wen Yanbo's affairs, the two quarreled, and this feud was concluded, so he was angry and angry, saying that Zhang Tian "coerced treacherous intentions inside, boasted and dared to speak out, and attached to the eunuchs of the clan, did not dare to cut them, and carved the rest, so that the country was ungrateful and hurtful, and begged to be degraded!" ”

Ninety percent is nonsense, but Tang Jie used it again this time, and his name was important in the world, and he demoted Zhang Tian to Qizhou.

No one knows how much story happened behind Tang Jie's back.

But there is one point, if Ouyang Xiu and Bao Zheng are the ambassadors of the river control together, as the second-in-command of the river control project, Bao Zheng will be very sad. In terms of mouth and pen, or influence, Lao Bao is not Ouyang Xiu's opponent at all.

Fu Bi said: "Xingzhi, Ouyang Yongshu is quite proficient in water conservancy, at that time, the Liuta River failed, he was the first to attack, this is the amount of use." ”

Don't think about it, I don't have the whole thing to save me.

This is Ouyang Xiu, and in the following series of lists, one-third of the list has the inside story of such and such a story.

Whether Fu Bi is used by quantity, Zheng Lang closed the list, smiled, and said: "Okay, I haven't been in the book for a long time, many officials have just emerged, and I am not familiar with it, I believe you will use it only by measure." ”

Unafraid.

There are policies above, and there are countermeasures below.

Returning to the River Governance Division, Zheng Lang wrote a notebook.

Start by writing the general policy of river control.

For such a big project, there must be a sequence of construction, and if the Yellow River in Hebei cannot be diverted and blocked, there will be a big incident.

The most important thing in the first construction is the new canal, the canal is the most important part of the river control policy, and it is also the most huge part of the construction project. As soon as the canal was completed, when the flood peak of the Yellow River arrived, part of the flood water flowed into the Huai River basin from the east. Therefore, the management of the Huai River is also the first link.

The second is to dig deeper and widen the water, which must also be completed before the Yellow River water is injected, which is the second phase of the project, and at the same time start the upstream water binding project.

The third phase of the project is to divert the Yellow River into the economy and close the tributaries of Hebei.

The last phase of the project was the refurbishment of the northern waters.

The beginning was quite normal.

But in the end, Zheng Lang said one thing, because the project is huge, spanning more than a thousand miles, if you count it from the westernmost point. To the southeast of the Huai River, it will reach more than 2,000 miles. I am a human being, not a god, and I can't take care of both ends, so I must divide it into one project section.

Each section of the project has to have a specific responsible officer, of course. If the river is successfully controlled, the merit will be greater. There is nothing to lose if there is gain, and there is nothing to do with grabbing credit, but it is also necessary to assume its own duties, and the officials who are responsible for each project section must be responsible for the work of their project section. If something happens, it will be severely punished.

Zheng Lang came to a disguised responsibility contracting system.

is not afraid of grabbing credit, grabbing merit is grabbing political achievements, and few officials are noble enough to the point of Fan Zhongyan. Without this motivation, we will be lax in our commitment to engineering. But I want to rob you for this credit, but it's not so easy to grab! If something happens, you have to carry it around. Do you have the ability to measure your thighs.

Go up, accurately.

It's not a joke, more than 200 million yuan, can Zhao Zhen be cautious?

And he made this edict known to the world.

But even so, officials who wanted to enter the river control project still broke through the threshold.

It's not the South. There are barbarians. There is a cochin, there is a miasma. There is also a hot climate, far from the political center. The Yellow River has normal weather and belongs to the core area of the country, which is a Liuta River project, and its status in the hearts of officials is higher than that of the two Guangxi developments. It's just that Liutahe failed, otherwise Wen Yanbo, the prime minister, would not be able to fall down.

It's almost August.

Tian Yu and the four of them came to the capital first.

Zheng Lang was waiting for them.

If you talk about helpers, these four people are real helpers, they have the good skills of river governance, and they have been tempered by the development of the two Guangzhous, and they are the first-class river control masters in the Song Dynasty today.

And among the four people, only Zhou Xin is getting old, and the other three are only in their forties and fifties, which is the time when they are rich and strong.

Not only do they govern the river, but they also govern the people and are first-class good officials.

may not be able to serve as a ruler, but as a local official, it will be the four bright pearls of the Song Dynasty.

When the four of them arrived, Zheng Lang asked all the officials to report to the Water Control Department.

During this time, the Water Control Division has been empty, only Zheng Lang and a few people are miscellaneous.

It is not until today that the Department of Water Control has truly become a yamen.

Hearing the news, Zhao Zhen also came out of the inner palace and sat on the side to listen.

looked at many officials, especially Bao Zheng and Ouyang Xiu. Zheng Lang said: "Bao Zheng, the imperial court asked you to go down to govern the river with you, not to let you go down to govern the river in person, but to let you control the money and silk used to govern the river, so as not to be greedy for ink or waste for the officials below." ”

Bao Zheng nodded, the ambassador of Tongzhi River is his part-time job, and his main position is still the third envoy, and he can't spare much time to preside over the affairs of river governance. He could still take a look near the capital, but the eastern half of the entire project reached Cangzhou in the north and Chuyang in the south, and he couldn't go down to take a closer look.

Zheng Lang said heavily: "Finances are your right and your responsibility. ”

Bao Zheng nodded again.

This is what Zheng Lang deliberately said, not mentioning other aspects of Lao Bao, Zheng Lang absolutely believes in honesty. With him at the top level, at least one percent of waste or greed can be saved.

Zheng Lang said: "Then there is the Huai River, if you want to control the Huang, you must control the Huai, and the Huai River project is large and small, quite fragmented, and it must be presided over by competent officials." ”

glanced at everyone, and finally said, "Cheng Shimeng, let you go, can you?" ”

"The minister must live up to His Majesty's trust and Zheng Gong's trust."

He couldn't do it alone, and Zheng Lang read a long list of names, including Li Zhang and other officials.

Then he said: "Later, I will give you some plans and drawings that I have written, or the same as Lingnan, after you go down, carefully inspect it, supplement and improve my plan, and make sure that it is perfect." ”

"Whoa." Two dozen officials replied.

The power of one person is limited, and the strength of many people is strong, but there is a premise, these people must be able to twist into a rope.

Zheng Lang also gave full play to everyone's strength in the south, and made many revisions to the plan, and there was a precedent, but it was not a hypocrisy.

Then he looked at Tian Yu, Zhou Xin, and Yuan Qian and said: "Zhou Xin, you have been in the north for a long time, I asked you to take my plan to Hebei to inspect and improve it, as for the Jingdong Road, this piece will be handed over to Tian Yu, and the Jingxi Road and Hedong Road will be handed over to Yuan Juan, and the construction will not start this year, but the construction plan must be decided when it is received next summer." ”

"Oh," the three of them were not in a hurry, they were overjoyed to be able to share this cake.

Not only the three of them, Zheng Lang then named dozens of officials and accompanied them to various places to inspect.

Zheng Lang then stared at Ouyang Xiu and said: "In the case of Liutahe, you were the first to propose the unenforceable, and then successively wrote about the river, and several ministers praised you, Uncle Yong, the new canal will be handed over to you." ”

Zhao Zhen smiled slightly, this is the style of the ancients to use people, not to use people with good and evil, regardless of the relationship between the two, Zheng Lang actually handed over the most important project to Ouyang Xiu, it is not easy to do this.

Ouyang Xiu's eyebrows were twisted.

The new canal and the canal of the Yuan Dynasty are almost the same, there must be a difference, after all, the passage of time, there are changes in rivers, there are changes in mountains, changes in lakes, but in general, it is similar to start directly from the north of Yangzhou, through Chuzhou, Yanzhou, Jeju, Qingzhou, and the end point Cangzhou.

At this time, Youzhou is not so important, mainly hydrophobic, the more east the better, but the east is confined to the terrain but extremely inconvenient, especially Jingdong Road has the restriction of Mount Tai, and it is impossible to forcibly open up.

This project took ten years to repair in the Yuan Dynasty, and there were several reasons, the project was intermittent, the manpower was insufficient, the financial resources were insufficient, and for navigation, the bottom width reached at least 50 meters, and the shallowest depth reached more than 3 meters.

Zheng Lang's new canal is slightly smaller.

Just a little smaller, in the whole project, the amount of work will be much reduced.

However, Zheng Lang still plans to complete it in four years, but the section from the Yellow River to Yangzhou must be repaired in the first two years, and the Hebei section can be completed in the next two years. There is another worry, Zheng Langwei said, the Grand Canal has been repaired to Hebei, directly to Cangzhou, what will be the reaction of the Khitan people after hearing it?

The most difficult sections of the project are the Hebei section and the Jining section.

The advantage is that there will be more human and financial resources, after all, it is a commission system, the salary is okay, and there will be many poor people who will come to participate in the project spontaneously. But there is a shortcoming, the Yuan Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty did not treat the people as the same thing, and there were not many land disputes.

In the Song Dynasty, once such a long canal was built, there would be countless disputes. It is not possible to make a big bend in the canal in order to bypass the land estates of some of the big and powerful. In order to save the project and smooth navigation in the future, even if it is the grange of Empress Cao's family, it must be chiseled correctly. Unless Empress Cao's Zhuangzi is on Mount Tai, needless to say, she will bypass it by herself.

If you cultivate well, it will become Ouyang Xiu's greatest achievement in the officialdom, and if you don't cultivate well, Ouyang Xiu doesn't know how many businessmen and sovereigns will offend.

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