This is quite surprising.

When Xie Mulin was in Huyin's hometown, he heard the Song family talk about the situation in Beiping. It is said that Beiping City was originally prepared by Emperor Taizong to be used as a new capital, so the planning was very careful, including the development of the Shicha sea system in the north of the city, as well as the plan to connect the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal with the canal, otherwise, how can this Grand Canal be called the "Beijing" Hangzhou Grand Canal?

It's just that Emperor Taizong died early, and his beloved son King Yan was only a vassal king, and was suspicious of the new monarch and the queen mother, with limited financial and material resources, although the planning of the entire city was barely completed, but there were still many places in the details that could not be done according to the plan, such as the Shichahai area, just did a good job of water conservancy, and the Tonghui River was built well because it had been used as the main waterway channel for transporting building materials for the construction of the imperial city, so it was built well at that time, but it was not further developed afterwards, but it was only used to carry large quantities of goods, and it was used for decades. Gradually, it accumulated badly, and finally it was abandoned.

Later generations of King Yan, whether it was the original family of King Yan or from the royal family, were either busy fighting wits and courage with the palace, the court and other forces, or they were worried about the enemy army that invaded from time to time in the north. During this period, there were also officials who served in Beiping, who were ambitious and wanted to do something for the people of Beiping, and had plans to desilt, but they never really dredged the entire Tonghui River to the point where a large number of ships could be navigated at will. Therefore, in the memory of the Song family, from the south along the canal to Beiping in the north, to Tongzhou, it is time to get off the shore and get on the car, and take the land route instead.

After Huang Yan went south, he went to visit the Song family, but he mentioned that Xie Pu was presiding over the dredging work of the Tonghui River, but when he set off from Beiping, he was on the dock outside Dongbianmen, it is said that for the time being, only the ships of the government can be berthed there, and the civilian ships and merchant ships still have to meet the fleet of the Yan Wangfu at the Tongzhou wharf, so the Song family did not think much about it, after all, they can only be regarded as official dependents, if the king of Yan is generous and willing to take Xie Pu's family to the Dongbianmen wharf, the Xie family will save a lot of things, but the king of Yan does not take the initiative to mention it, The women and children of the Xie family were also embarrassed to take the initiative to follow.

The Song family planned to ask Xie Huizhi to go to the people of the Yan Wangfu to resign, which was probably tempting.

Even if Xie Mulin had heard the Song family introduce the situation, it was impossible for him to guess that his cheap father had actually done such a big thing. That's definitely a great feat, isn't it? The one that can go down in history. Even in modern times, it's very handy!

Xie Mulin took his mother Wen's hand a little excitedly, and accompanied her to the boat in the second room to meet Song. Although Mrs. Xie may not be very happy, but the number of etiquette is like this, if Wen doesn't do this, he will be talked about, so he can only ignore Mrs. Xie's complaints.

Song was very happy to see Wen, and when he heard the news of the resumption of navigation of the Tonghui River, he was even more surprised and delighted: "Why haven't you heard anyone talk about it before?" You only mentioned in your letter at home that you were dredging, and Huang Ziheng also mentioned that the waterway outside Dongbian Gate can already lead to Tongzhou, but now you can take a boat all the way to Jishuitan, is this true? ! ”

"Nature is true!" Wen Shi hurriedly smiled, "This master has been busy for almost two years, but it has not been completed for a day, so it is not completed, where is it embarrassing to boast to others?" Previously, when the old man's three-year term of office expired, he was worried that the successor would not know if he could finish things well, and he felt that he had worked hard for so long, and if the credit was cheaper for the latecomer, he felt a little panicked. Fortunately, Lord Yan was sympathetic and persuaded the master to stay. The old man thought that he would have a good time in Beiping, and it would not hurt to stay for three more years, so he stayed and personally completed the mission of dredging the river and resuming the navigation of the Tonghui River.

"It's just that the autumn harvest was busy before, and many hired workers went home to collect grain, so the project was a little delayed, and the master was worried that it would not be completed within this year. At this time, he remembered that when the Yellow River flooded a few years ago, a group of displaced people fled to the vicinity of Beiping City, and most of them went back one after another in the past two years, but they still left hundreds of young and strong, all of whom were homeless and unemployed, and planned to stay in Beiping City to find work and earn more silver. The lord hired these people, and the wages were not much, but the work was very diligent, and in a short time, the delayed work was completed! ”

It is said that when King Yan left Beiping, the waterway outside Desheng Gate had not yet been completed, and the wharf had not been fully built, so he set off by boat from the wharf outside Dongbianmen. But the month he left was enough for Xie Pu to finish the construction of the wharf. Nowadays, the wharf facilities in the area of Deshengmen can basically be put into use, but the supporting facilities are not enough. At present, it has entered winter in Beiping, and the first heavy snow has fallen, and it is estimated that it will be impossible to carry out any major projects this year. But all shipping dealers, cargo dealers and large merchants have begun to fight openly and secretly in the enclosure of Deshengmen Wharf. It is estimated that one winter is enough for them to divide the winners and losers, and after the spring sowing is over next year, each family can start to build its own commercial houses, warehouses, warehouses and other buildings, and the shipping company can also start to open new routes to operate the waterway transportation between Beiping and Tongzhou.

It is said that when Cao Liang went north, Xie Pu advocated that Cao Liang take this waterway outside Desheng Gate, which greatly reduced the pressure on Dongbianmen Wharf, and the boat traveled smoothly all the way. After this trial voyage, now that King Yan has returned to Beiping City, how can he not experience it in person? In any case, without the support and funds of King Yan, Xie Pu would not have been able to complete this amazing work.

Song's eyes flashed when he heard this, and he couldn't wait to take a boat on the Tonghui River immediately: "When my father left Beiping City with my mother and me, he took a car to Tongzhou Wharf to change boats. My mother lamented that the waterway could not lead directly to Beiping, and my father said that one day he would find a way to write to the emperor, requesting that the river be cleared and the Tonghui River could be reopened. Unfortunately, his father's long-cherished wish could not be fulfilled, and he passed away. Now that he knows that his grandson did what he wanted, he would be very happy! ”

Xie Meijun said to the Song family happily: "Mother, don't be busy shedding tears, we are going to go to this Tonghui River in person soon." Shouldn't you be glad that you want to take a look at the river for your grandfather? ”

Song couldn't help laughing, lowered his head to wipe his tears, and said with a smile: "You're right." I wanted to cry now, but I cried too soon. What's there to cry about in such a thing? I should have been happy. ”

She said softly to Wen, "You don't have to worry about me, let's go and see your mother-in-law first." She has endured a lot of hardships along the way, and she can't stand the waterway for a long time. If you hear that you have to take a boat for half a day, you don't know how to complain. Hurry up and calm her down, and we'll continue on our way. ”