A total of 47 people were killed this time, including 32 officials, 9 businessmen, and 6 non-official and non-commercial civilians. These 6 people are all accomplices involved in the case, such as Du Xingxue in Shanghai, as well as those who killed their mouths with their own hands, and some absconded and disappeared.

There were even more exiles, with a total of 122 officials and 17 merchants being exiled. Counting their families, there were more than 1,600 exiles in total, and more than 800 in Tibet and Heilongjiang.

The so-called ghost in the case was interrogated and two were interrogated.

One is the customs secretary of the Ministry of Finance, because the Ministry of Finance assisted in the investigation, this guy received the news very early and quietly reported the message to the local government to prepare. There is also a low-level integrity officer, whose brother works in Ningbo City, and also secretly transmits news.

Raids and fines are still in progress.

In particular, the imperial court ordered maritime merchants from all over the country to pay the fines in full by February next year. If they do not admit punishment after the time limit, the government will take action and forcibly auction off their fixed assets.

In the coastal areas, there is a wail, and there are not a few people who have poor capital turnover, and it is estimated that one or two percent of the maritime merchants are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Those private money houses were extremely excited, and Hui merchants, Jiangxi merchants, Western merchants, lake merchants, and Sichuan merchants transported boxes of silver to the port. Not enough cash to pay the fine? We have silver in our hands, and the interest rate on the loan is not a few points higher than usual.

What's more, they directly acquire or buy shares, and want to take the opportunity to participate in maritime trade.

Take the Longyou merchant gang in western Zhejiang, for example, they mostly do business in remote inland areas. Occasionally, some people go to sea, not by sea, but by opening stores overseas, or buying local products overseas. Now it's cool, the opportunity has come, and if the money is not enough, many people will raise funds, and we must open up the sea route of the Longyou Business Gang.

The semi-monopoly of the rich coastal businessmen on the sea trade was violently torn open by the imperial court because of this corruption and tax evasion case.

Many wealthy merchants in the interior dug up all the silver hidden in the cellars!

Zhao Han did not continue to pay attention to the coast, because the Yellow River diversion project, which lasted more than ten years, will be completely completed by this winter.

Zhang Guowei specially sent a capable subordinate back to explain his entire project to the emperor.

This person's name is Zhai Maohua, and he is the director of the Water Division of the Ministry of Industry.

He pointed to the map and said: "The dividing line of the Grand Canal is in Nanwang, north of Jining. The terrain here is the highest, which is the ridge of the north and south. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the water was diverted to Nanwang, so that the river water was diverted from north to south. The water flowing south to Xuzhou and Pizhou accounted for four-tenths, and the northward flow to Linqing accounted for six-tenths. Gates are set up in sections along the way to store and discharge floodwater and lift ships. In the west of Huai'an City, the Guanjia Lake, digging a canal for 20 miles, is Qingjiangpu, guiding the lake water into Huai, building four gates to vent at the time. ”

Zhao Han seemed to understand, but he didn't seem to understand.

Zhai Maohua continued: "This time, Zhang Shangshu governed the Yellow River, and in order to solve the navigation of the Grand Canal, he also adopted the method in Huai'an in the early Ming Dynasty. All the residents in the Ansan and Yangsan areas will have to be relocated, because once the Yellow River comes in, the area of Ansan Lake may expand several times. In the north and south of Ansan Lake, six gates are set up in sections. The Yellow River does not flow directly into Ansan Lake, but it is connected with Ansan Lake by digging a canal for 20 miles. When the Yellow River is overflowing, it can flow into Ansan Lake to discharge floodwater. When the Yellow River dries up, six locks release water to ensure the smooth flow of the canal. “

Zhao Han understood this time that Ansan Lake was specially used for flood discharge, and its function was the same as that of Hongze Lake when it was seized into the sea. The current Ansan Town and Liangshanji will be submerged to the bottom of the lake in the future, and in the long run, Ansan Lake will become like a ghost like Hongze Lake.

Zhao Han asked: "The Yellow River brings a lot of sediment, will it silt up Ansan Lake and Quhe River in the future?" ”

"Definitely," Zhai explained, "it is unavoidable, since in the early Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River was controlled for about 150 years, and Qingjiangpu and Hongze Lake were silted up, and now in some places the water is less than two feet deep." Zhang Shangshu's method is the same, it will be silted in about one or two hundred years. The more severe the sediment, the larger the area of Ansan Lake, and the shallower the lake. ”

This is really something that can't be helped, the mother river has long been rotten.

Twenty-five years after Jiajing, what did the lower reaches of the Yellow River look like?

It can no longer flow directly into the Huai River, but takes away the river channel of Surabaya, passes through Surabaya and flows into the Huai River. The section of the Yellow River from Dangshan to Xuzhou often cannot flow through, and it is necessary to take the turbid river and Qingou in the north to enter the canal, resulting in the canal being blocked there, and the Caoyun can only take the middle canal line at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, from Hongze Lake to the sea, that section of the Huai River can still be governed. Unlike in history, it flowed for another two or three hundred years, so that the Huai River could not enter the sea, so it could only enter the sea through the Yangtze River.

Zhai Maohua continued: "For the new Yellow River, the dikes need to be increased year by year. There is also the abandoned Yellow River, which has an extremely complex network and may flood in the future. On both sides of the two Yellow Rivers, it is necessary to continuously dredge, build embankments and plant trees. In the next ten years, it may cost tens of millions of taels of silver. ”

"Don't say 10 million taels of silver, even 30 million or 50 million should be paid." Zhao Han sighed.

……

Winter water dries.

In the upper reaches of Kaocheng, tens of thousands of people are busy.

The Datong New Dynasty did not have forced labor, but Zhang Guowei also had no money to pay his salary. In the prefectures and counties along the way to control the Yellow River, as long as there are more than two men in the family, one person must come to help.

A family that goes out to govern the river, one person works, ten acres of land are tax-free, and food and accommodation are included.

Counting the exempted agricultural tax, Zhang Guowei definitely used more than a few million taels of silver.

Zhang Guowei stands on the embankment, he is 62 years old, and his physical health is getting worse and worse after more than ten years of hard work.

Now, it's finally time to take a break.

There are several dikes in Huanglinggang, all of which were built by the Ming court. Now, it is being dug up by workers.

There was nothing earth-shattering, and the Yellow River was too shallow during the dry season to even flow north on its own. Workers had to dig all the way through the river to divert the water.

After more than ten days, the shallow Yellow River finally flowed north.

Workers braved the bitter cold to build a dam on the original river. First, the soil was carried further upstream, and a simple dam was built to block the water, and then the water behind the simple dam was removed, and the construction of the first dam began.

It is necessary to dig down several zhang, dig under the yellow sand, and then pour and tamp the triple soil.

Although cement has been invented, it is not qualified to be used to build embankments. At a critical time, the old method still works, and this kind of triple soil is as solid as iron and stone after it is built.

The first dam is several miles long.

Then there are the second, third, and fourth dams, and in the future, the Yellow River will rise and be slowed down by several dams, and it will be completely blocked at the last dam.

Behind the embankment, the Yellow River will be abandoned in the future. Don't think about boating, farming is enough, and it can only be used for agricultural irrigation. And it also has to be flooded, because there are other rivers flowing in, and if you are not careful, you will have to burst the embankment.

It only depends on whether the lower reaches of the Huai River can be rescued, after all, in this time and space, the Yellow River has been less flowing for two or three hundred years, and the sediment accumulation is not so serious.

Looking at the dam that was gradually taking shape, Yue Xinmin couldn't help but sigh: "The sword that has been hanging in Sizhou for hundreds of years will finally be lifted in the future, and the people of Sizhou can sleep well with peace of mind." ”

"Sizhou still has to be treated, and Gao Jiabu is always a disaster." Zhang Guowei said.

"If the Yellow River doesn't go, Gaojiabu will be much easier to govern." Yue Xinmin said.

Yue Xinmin, the first Jinshi of the Datong New Dynasty, took the initiative to invite Yingran to control the Yellow River. Just because he is a native of Sizhou, the Yellow River is not governed, and Sizhou is difficult to peace.

How dangerous is Sizhou?

The terrain is four meters lower than Hongze Lake!

Although Pan Jitao was the first person in the Great Meiji River, he was scolded miserably by the people of Sizhou.

Gaojiabu (Hongze Lake embankment) is sixty miles long, one zhang and two feet high, and it is used by Pan Jitao to store and clear the yellow. This is tantamount to artificially raising the water level of the Huai River, and once the flood floods, it will rush directly to the city of Sizhou.

At that time, Chang Sanxing, an official in Sizhou, wrote a letter to the Yamen in Beijing on the Flood Trouble. Listening to the name of this song, you can know how angry Chang San Province is, and refute the disadvantages of building Gaojiabu one by one, and then ...... He was dismissed.

In the Qing Dynasty, the construction of high embankments continued, the area of Hongze Lake continued to expand, and the city of Sizhou was also swallowed by Hongze Lake, and hundreds of thousands of people in the city died in the belly of the fish.

As a native of Sizhou, at this moment, Yue Xinmin wanted to cry.

He understands water conservancy, and if the Yellow River is not diverted, the city of Sizhou will be flooded sooner or later.

Zhang Guowei admired Yue Xinmin very much, and he encouraged: "You are the first science practitioner of the new dynasty, and you have the ability to control water, and the future is limitless." After the Yellow River is governed, I will enter the cabinet, which was promised by His Majesty at the beginning. The entire Huai Surabaya system must continue to be rectified. Whether it is a lead or a blockage, you must measure it yourself, and you must cure Huaisi. ”

"Remember, students!" Yue Xinmin bowed down.

When Zhao Han first started his army, Zhang Guowei was controlling the water, and the Jiangnan water network was subdued by him.

Yue Xinmin is the successor he selected, and he will definitely be the pillar of water control in the future.

Today's Hongze Lake is far less big than it was a few hundred years ago. Gaoyou Lake is not connected, it is a scattered Wudang Twelve Lakes. These lakes are all the results of the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to preserve the luck.

Yue Xinmin suddenly said: "Your Majesty, can you make a difference?" ”

"Yes." Zhang Guowei said with a smile.

Zhang Guowei's governance of the Yellow River is like Cameron filming "Titanic", asking for a supplementary budget while doing it.

Although the emperor allocated funds many times, he still overspent more than 800,000 taels.

A lot of engineering materials, the payment is still owed, and the merchant receives a bunch of white slips in his hand. The first thing Zhang Guowei did when he returned to Beijing was to ask the emperor to settle the payment, and it was not a matter of being in arrears with the merchants.

Fortunately, the reputation of the Datong Imperial Court is strong, otherwise those businessmen would not want to pay on credit when they were killed, and they had never heard of the imperial court arrears that could be taken back.

Winter.

Zhang Guowei came to Xuzhou and saw nearly 1,000 criminals outside the city, and he couldn't help asking: "Why are there so many prisoners?" ”

The accompanying officials gloated: "These are rich people, either city officials or big businessmen along the coast. This winter, he will be taken to Xuzhou for centralized care, and he will be sent to Heilongjiang in the spring of next year. ”

The reason why the exiles did not go directly to the sea was because Xuzhou had a special yamen.

All immigrants and exiles who go to the north must be registered in Xuzhou, which is equivalent to the big locust tree in the early Ming Dynasty.

After listening to the officials' narration, Zhang Guowei just sneered, he was tired and tired of managing the Yellow River, and this group of officials made a lot of money. Deserve!

(End of chapter)