Speaking of the Yellow River, there is a Yuan generation, which should be regarded as one of the most serious periods.

Since Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Mengyuan dynasty, to the present twenty-one years, in a short period of eighty or ninety years, there have been no less than sixty or seventy overflows, and on average, there will be a breach every two years, and there are two or three hundred breaches. The people along the Yellow River have suffered from flooding all year round.

The "Jialuzhi River" in the eleventh year of Zhizheng appeared in this context.

In May of the fourth year, heavy rain fell for more than 20 days, "the Yellow River overflowed, the horizontal depth was two zhang deep, and the north broke the white grass embankment." In June, the Golden Causeway broke in the north. Jining, Shanzhou, Yucheng, Dangshan, Jinxiang, Yutai, Fengxian, Peixian, Dingtao, Chuqiu, Chengwu and Caozhou, Dongming, Juye, Yuncheng, Jiaxiang, Wenshang, Rencheng and other places were flooded. The people are old and weak, and the strong are scattered. The water potential invades Anshan in the north, along the canal that enters the Huitong, extends between Jinan and the river, and will destroy the salt field of the two Caosi and hinder the country's weight. The provincial ministers heard it, and the court suffered from it".

This flood has really reached the point where it cannot be cured.

Therefore, Jia Lu, who was the "water supervisor of Xingdu" at that time, proposed to control the Yellow River by "following the river, inspecting the terrain, going back and forth for thousands of miles, preparing for the key points, and making two measures for the map". He proposed two strategies, one is to "build the north embankment", with this method, the Ministry of Labor; One is to "restore the old way", if this method is used, the work will be several times.

The so-called "construction of the north embankment" is actually not a construction, but an addition. Because the Mengyuan opened canals such as the Huitong River and the Tonghui River in the north of the Yellow River, the two banks of the Yellow River have always attached great importance to the north bank and the construction of the north embankment, so as to prevent the Yellow River from bursting and seizing the channels of the Huitong River and the Tonghui River. Relatively speaking, less attention is paid to the South Shore. Even, in order to reduce the pressure on the north bank, the south embankment is often not treated, and the Yellow River is allowed to go south. As a result, the course of the Yellow River shifted more and more southward.

And the so-called "restoring the old way". This "old road" refers to the "Guixu" river. That is, the waterway between Guide and Xuzhou. The Yuan Dynasty regarded this river channel as the old course of the Yellow River.

Although Jia Lu's opinion was raised, it was later discussed because he "moved to the right Shiro". It wasn't until the ninth year of Zhizheng that the matter of getting rid of the restoration and governing the river was raised again.

Tokhtar has the name of "virtuous appearance", and it is indeed a long-term vision. Not only did he see the necessity of harnessing the Yellow River, but he also wanted to make it "beneficial for a thousand years", so he quickly adopted Jialu's proposal and decided to adopt the second method he proposed, that is, "restore the old way". And appointed Jia Lu "with the Ministry of Industry Shangshu as the general river defense envoy", and officially began to govern the Yellow River in the 11th year of Zhizheng.

From the bottom of my heart, this is indeed a good thing, benefiting the country and the people.

However, it is just a pity that because of the expropriation and discrimination against the Han people since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the common people have long been unable to live under the long-term cruel exploitation and dark oppression. This time, 150,000 people from Bianliang and Daimyo's 13th Road were greatly distributed, and the people's grievances were naturally even worse.

Since ancient times, whenever the government is corrupt and the people are struggling to make a living, as long as the people have the opportunity to gather on such a large scale, there will be turmoil. This time was no exception, and the "Red Turban Army Uprising" kicked off.

Poor Totoku is ambitious, but unfortunately Jia Lu has great ambitions, and a good thing has become the fuse for the direct destruction of the Mengyuan regime.

However, having said that, this Jia Lu is indeed very capable, worthy of the evaluation of future generations, "The ancient good words of the river, such as the Jia Rang of the Han Dynasty, the Jia Lu of the Yuan", is indeed a well-deserved outstanding river minister, and he is still very good at water control.

Although the Red Turban Uprising occurred during the flood control period, it only took him seven months to successfully complete the water control by "completing the water and soil work,......, the river is the original road, converging in the south in Huai, and then entering the sea in the east". Although it is said that only two years later, the Yellow River began to overflow again, and until the death of the Yuan Dynasty, it broke almost every other year, but this responsibility did not lie with him. And it was all because of the dark rule of the officials at that time, and the corruption and incompetence of the officials of Mengyuan. No matter what it is, no matter how good it is, it also needs to be maintained. Nobody cares at all, certainly not.

All in all, after the "Jialu water control", the Yellow River can be regarded as returning to the "old way", although there are still floods from time to time, but in any case, it is still much better than before.

However, there is a sentence that needs to be made clear, "the river is the return of the old way", but it does not mean that the entire Yellow River is incorporated into the old way, and the entire Yellow River water flows into the sea according to this channel. The "river" of "the river is the way to return to the old road" is actually only the main stream of the Yellow River, the main river

After all, the Yellow River has been raging for many years, and as mentioned above, because the Mengyuan court attached importance to the north bank and did not pay attention to the south bank, the river "continued to move south", so in this process, there were many forks, especially in the north, there were more forks.

For example, in the nineteenth year of Zhizheng, that is, two years ago, there was a river break in the Yellow River, which did not appear on the line of Guide and Xuzhou, but appeared in Rencheng County, Jeju. Jeju, the city that was recently conquered by generals Qing Qianxing and Fu Youdeok, is in the southwest of Yanju.

The situation of the Yellow River in the Mengyuan era is roughly like this, so let's not talk about it for the time being.

It is only said that after Yang Wanhu and Hu Zhong joined forces with Gao Yanshi and Fu Youde, they crossed Chuqiu without entering, turned to the south, and marched rapidly for a long time, and before and after nightfall, they had already come to the north bank of the Yellow River.

When it was the height of summer, the rain was abundant, and a heavy rain just a few days ago, when I looked at the river from afar at night, I saw that it was mighty, surging, chaotic and fast, just like a long dragon, roaring south, rushing into the sea. The sound of the river slapping on both banks, accompanied by the sound of rushing water, is simply deafening.

Earlier, when Chang Yuchun led the Wu army north, the water was not so great. At that time, it was even possible to cross the water in shallow places, but now it is obviously not possible.

Although they met with Gao Yanshi and Fu Youde's troops, the marching sequence of the Yan army was still at the forefront of Hu Zhong's residence, and his troops came to the river first. There was a small mound not far to the east, and Hu Zhong ordered the battalions to rest on the spot, and at the same time took three or four men to run over and drive the horses to the heights.

When you look up close, the river is getting bigger and bigger.

It is no longer a single dragon that looks like a long dragon, but like a beast trapped in a cage, rushing from side to side, roaring wildly, the back wave pushing the front wave, and the front wave rushing into the distance. The river hit the embankment with a loud bang, and a splash of water spread far away. The small mound where Hu Zhong and the others were located was still about 100 steps away from the river bank, but the water could still fall on them from time to time.

After a day's journey, everyone was sweating. The mounts are also hot. The splash mixed with the smell of fishy and sandy water falls on the body, and I can't help but feel cool.

There are stars above him, and the river is rushing in front of him. Looking back, there is an endless stream of fire dragons composed of countless torches, all coming towards the north bank of the Yellow River. The sight is truly spectacular.

It's just that everyone doesn't have the heart to appreciate it.

One person said: "General, unexpectedly, the water potential of the Yellow River has become so huge! I think that Lord Zhao and Mr. Pan did not expect such a situation. Our army rushed south for a long time, and did not bring too much equipment to cross the river, how should these thousands of people cross the river? ”

Hu Zhong looked at the river, and was also secretly surprised, but in front of his subordinates, he didn't want to show it, raised his horsewhip, pointed forward, and said, "Do you see that place where the lights are shining?" ”

Everyone gathered to look, and saw that about a few hundred steps to the east, there were indeed a few lights shining. Someone said, "I see." I want to come to the fisherman's house by the water. ”

"Before Ben left the camp, my lord had a secret order, telling me to go to the river and ferry, just find a place with lights."

"But why?"

"Naturally, the adults have already arranged it." Hu Zhong replied succinctly, and then said, "So Ben will come to the river, and he will not do anything else, and the first thing he will do is to climb high and wait and see." He casually clicked on someone and ordered, "You go over immediately and see what is going on." ”

The man took the order to descend the mound and galloped away, and his figure faded into the night. After a while, he appeared out of the night again, and ran back to the hill, with a happy face, and with a happy face and a worried face, and shouted, "General! The adults were really clever, and it turned out that they had already prepared a boat to cross the river. ”

Those few lights were the people sent by Zhao Guo and Pan Xianer to collect boats by the river in advance. Time was pressing, and they were not able to collect too many boats, large and small, about two or three hundred, and more than ninety percent of them were fishing boats collected on the spot.

Fishing boats, as you can imagine, most of them will certainly not be too big.

A while ago, when Yang Wanhu and Monk Li crossed Shanyang Lake, they recruited a local fishing boat. However, the water potential of Shanyang Lake is not as good as that of the Yellow River; Second, at that time, Yang and Li were fighting on the beach, and the number of soldiers was small, and they were all lightly armed and forced, and they did not bring much large ordnance. Comparing the two times, although the number of fishing boats collected this time is far greater than the last time, because of the water potential of the Yellow River and the fact that the army brought a lot of large ordnance, and there are many soldiers, and there are cavalry, etc., the difficulty of crossing the river is self-evident, and it must still be very large.

That's why the man who came back to report the news was overjoyed and worried.

Hu Zhong looked up at the night and saw that there were a few stars in the night sky in the north, which were the Big Dipper. Because it is summer, it is "the bucket handle points south". Depending on their position in the starry sky, the time can be determined, which is also known as "stargazing".

In order to know astronomy and geography for generals, although Hu Zhong was a monk halfway, he was no stranger to this technique because he had listened to the lessons of the Luo Guoqi Officer Teaching Corps, and often listened to the staff explain military books in his spare time.

At that moment, he looked up at the celestial phenomena, pinched his fingers, and said, "The hour is not early, it is already correct." Spread the word to the battalions and prepare to cross the river immediately. He stopped the people who turned around and wanted to leave, and then ordered, "Send a few more people to the army of the generals Yang, Gao, and Fu, and say that the general has found the boat to cross the river." Ask them to be prepared to cross the river in the order they had set earlier. ”

In the summer, it gets dark early, so even though it's just nightfall, it's already eight o'clock in modern times.

"The order set earlier will cross the river in order" refers to the order of crossing the river set by Zhao Guo and Pan Xianer for each battalion before. "The major affairs of the country are in worship and Rong". Marching and fighting a war is a serious event, and all aspects should not be neglected, including a seemingly simple "river crossing".

So, what is the order of crossing the river set by Zhao Guo and Pan Xianer?

A portion of the cavalry crossed first, taking advantage of the speed of the cavalry and establishing a reconnaissance line on the other side of the river. And because the cavalry had horses, if most of them crossed the river, it must be very slow, so the main force of the foot soldiers was then sent over. With the foot soldiers as cover, the main force of the cavalry was finally ferried.

Soon after, the officers who had come to the river in advance to collect the boats also came to the mound. Both sides were acquaintances, but they still meticulously checked the military orders in accordance with military law. Then the officer had a smile on his face and said, "General Hu, you guys are really fast!" At the end of noon, the general received a military report from Shanzhou, saying that you had left the barracks in the morning; It's just nightfall, and you're at the river. It is really worthy of the praise of the lord, and he called the general 'Xiahou Yuan of my Haidong'. ”

Xiahou Yuan, a famous general of the Three Kingdoms, was known for his speed of marching. The Book of Wei said, "Yuan is a general, goes to emergencies, and often surprises the enemy, so the army says: 'Xiahou Yuan, the captain of the military academy, five hundred in three days, and one thousand in six days'." The phrase "Xiahou Yuan of Haidong" is a good thing to say by Deng She, but in fact, it is not just to praise Hu Zhong, but to refer to the cavalry troops in Haidong.

Hu Zhong smiled and said: "Lord Zhao's military orders are like mountains, and when he leaves the camp, the generals and others have issued military orders to ensure that they will be able to reach the river as soon as possible." It's early days! ”

"Where's General Yang?"

"My cavalry goes first, and he follows behind." Hu Zhong pointed to the distance and said, "The battalion with the most torches is General Yang's headquarters." ”

"Before the end of the day, I also made a military order to my lordship, promising not to delay the generals from crossing the river. So far, 321 boats of various colors have been collected, and a rope bridge has been built in the narrow part of the river. According to Mr. Pan's instructions, the boat could cross the cavalry first, and the rope bridge could float the foot soldiers at the same time. With such a two-pronged approach, although it is said that there are not too many ships collected, roughly calculated, it should be able to make all the generals cross the river in one night! ......, General Hu, let's cross the river, shall we? ”

"Good!"

The military acted very simply, and it was indeed time short. After a few words, he began to cross the river from Hu Zhong's cavalry.

Thousands of people gathered by the river, crossed in detachments, and it was night, and a large number of military horses accompanied them, which was inevitably noisy.

The sound alarmed the residents of Yanhe, and they were all panicked. There are those who are slightly bold and brave enough to sneak out to snoop, or some are discovered by the Yan army sentry. If it was the Yuan army, the army would cross the river and dare to snoop, and nine times out of ten it would be cut off. However, Yan Jun was strict in military discipline, but he only asked the origin of the snooper with a pleasant face, and let it go without any embarrassment.

This section of the Yellow River crossed by the Yan army is Jining Road on the north bank and Xuzhou on the south bank.

Both places are strategically important, and since the Red Turban Uprising, I don't know how many military disasters have been suffered over the years. First, there was detachment and encirclement and suppression of sesame plums, and then Tian Feng conquered Shandong. During this period, Zhang Shicheng and other local separatist forces infiltrated in, not to mention the large and small bandits everywhere. The people on both sides of the strait can be regarded as well-informed, but they have never seen any army as amiable as the Yan army.

The snoopers who were discovered, when they were first discovered, couldn't help but feel like they were dead, and they thought that they would not be able to escape death, but in the end they were let go peacefully, and the mood of ecstasy was over, and they were inevitably surprised and surprised. When they returned home, they talked to their families and neighbors, and everyone who heard about them couldn't help but be amazed.

As far as Yan Jun is concerned, the reason why he made such a move is, of course, because of his strict military discipline; But secondly, there are also reasons why Zhao Guo and Pan Xianer gave instructions in advance. And the reason why Zhao Guo and Pan Xian'er remembered to explain these things to the generals was because Deng She had specifically pointed out this in the military order he wrote to Zhao and Pan.

"This time our army went south, taking Xugu as the focus, but we must not forget to be friendly to the people along the way. Since the uprising of our army, this is the first time that we have crossed the Yellow River and entered the Huaisi and Jiangnan regions, and the first impression of the people is particularly important, and we must not be careless. Remember, remember. ”

With this special explanation, Zhao and Pan naturally strictly complied with it.

This is a small episode, which is omitted.

After arranging the head of the cavalry battalion to cross the river, Hu Zhong looked at the side for a while, saw that it was orderly, put his mind at ease, left a few deputies to continue to coordinate, turned the horse's head, and went to the front of the infantry team behind, looking for Yang Wanhu, and invited Gao Yanshi, Fu Youde, etc.

Several people talked a little and informed each other about the situation in each battalion.

Hu Zhong said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the time is very urgent, the forward of the general's department has already begun to cross the river, and the river crossing will be completed in about an hour. Next, let's ask General Yang to take over. He added, "If General Yang's headquarters is well prepared, in fact, it can start crossing the river now." The soldiers who came first built a roped bridge over the river, and the lightly armed soldiers could cross the rope. ”

"Rope bridge" means pulling a rope on both sides of the river, and the soldiers can drag the rope to float over. The waves of the Yellow River are very large, and it is a little dangerous to say that this is done, but as long as it is properly managed, it can still be done.

Counsel among them. On the one hand, some were transferred from the boats and cruising back and forth on both sides of the rope bridge, ready to assist the soldiers who had fallen into the water at any time, and on the other hand, Yang Wanhu chose the first batch of people to cross the river.

Everything went in an orderly manner. As batches of soldiers were thrown into crossing the river, the stars changed, and there were fewer and fewer people on the north bank of the river, and the bustle and noise gradually shifted to the south bank of the river.

By the time the first dawn appeared, more than ninety percent of the troops had moved to the south bank.

Under the command of generals Hu, Yang, Gao, and Fu, who also crossed the river, after a short rest, the battalions quickly lined up again, and the horse army was still in front and the infantry army was in the rear.