At the family banquet, Li Yu and Zhao Kuangning talked about their three water conservancy projects.

After listening to Li Yu's explanation, Zhao Kuangning nodded and said: "Virtuous son-in-law, this is a great cause for the benefit of future generations, no matter what dynasty, the people remember that you are good to them." ”

"My father-in-law taught."

"Alas, actually, it's not easy for us to go south to Jiangling in Xiangyang. To get to Jiangxia and transfer to Jiangling, the road is long, the risk is high, and the important thing is that Jiangxia is the land of Huainan, and life and death are in the hands of others, which is unwise. ”

He shook his head and continued, "But what can be done? There is no waterway to connect it, so you can only take a detour. ”

"Father-in-law, isn't there a long way between Zhangshui and Hanshui?"

"Hehe, what, you also want to dig a waterway to communicate?"

Zhao Kuangning looked at Li Yu playfully.

This son-in-law is good at everything, but he is too bold.

"The longevity of Zhangshui from Changlin to the edge of the Han River is as much as one hundred and forty miles, although there are mostly plains, but there are mountains on both sides of the Han River, how can it be passed? If you rely on manual beating, I don't know when you can get through! ”

Zhao Kuangning shook his head helplessly after speaking.

This matter was too difficult, and he had already extinguished the idea of connecting the waterways.

When his father was alive, he put forward such an idea, but later it was not implemented.

I can't do that.

Li Yu knew that if Zhangshui and Hanshui were really connected, it would not only be a matter of Xiangyang and Jiangling, but a major event of the entire north-south connection.

From Nanyang all the way south, basically straight line, into the Jingjiang River, into Dongting, south to Hunan. Not to mention the economic benefits of connecting the north and the south, it is not worth mentioning this military value alone.

Directly connect Nanyang, Jingxiang, Jingnan, and Hunan together, and the army will go from north to south for more than ten days.

"Father-in-law, you can come to my river construction site tomorrow to have a look."

Li Yu wanted to let the old man see how he dealt with Stone Mountain.

On the second day, he followed Zhao Kuangning to the Xiangfang Canal construction site.

Most of this place is plain, but there is also a small stone mountain, which may be the remnant of Fangcheng Mountain.

At that time, when encountering this mountain, Zhou Kuan could only let people beat it with an iron hammer, and then burn it with fire, then water it, and use the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction to blast the stone open.

This method is effective, but it is too inefficient.

So Li Yu went out and went directly to gunpowder.

There were a few explosions, and the rocks cracked, splitting the stones that stood in the way.

When the carriage stopped in front of the stone mountain, Li Yu and Zhao Kuangming stepped out of the carriage together.

"Father-in-law, this is Stone Mountain."

As he was talking, Zhou Kuan ran over.

"Lord, but something?"

"I accompanied my father-in-law to see the scene, did you bury medicine in the stone?"

"The hole has been drilled, and the medicine is being administered, and it will be fine in a while."

The three of them stood in the distance and chatted.

Half an hour later, I heard someone blowing a whistle and someone standing in a key position waving a small red flag.

Zhou Kuan said: "Lord, His Royal Highness the King of Chu, please move, the cannon is about to be fired, this is too close to the stone mountain, too dangerous." ”

Li Yu knew the severity and walked out with Zhao Kuangning.

As soon as they stopped, they felt a shake under their feet.

A huge roar of the sky and the earth cracking made everyone present feel depressed and deaf.

In the distance, a huge cloud of smoke and dust rose from the stone mountain, and the rubble flew sideways, and the dust was high. The smoke and dust that rose up actually obscured the sky, and for a while, the sky became dark.

"This, this is gunpowder?"

Zhao Kuangning had seen Li Yu's secret weapon, and he also knew that the gunpowder in Li Yu's hand was powerful, and it was no longer the ignition in his warehouse.

"Yes. Father-in-law, with this, no matter how big the stone is, as long as the amount of medicine is enough, the stone can be blown apart. ”

"Let's go to the scene."

Zhou Kuang walked into the scene of the explosion with Li Yu and Zhao Kuangning.

The boulder, which was originally a whole piece, was now torn apart by the explosion of gunpowder, some of which were broken into powder, and some of which were the size of a millstone.

Looking at the mountains of rubble, Zhao Kuangning asked suspiciously: "These are all blown up?" ”

Zhou Kuan nodded.

"You can bury different amounts of gunpowder as needed, and you will get different effects."

While they were talking, a young man came up with tools, put the gravel into a basket, and carried it down the mountain.

Soon the rubble was picked up, and someone came up and jingled to punch holes in the stone, sweating like rain.

The three of them walked down the hill.

Stand in the distance and wait.

An hour later, the gunpowder began to be loaded, and after half an hour, the mountain shook again.

When I went up the mountain to see it again, the mountain was still full of gravel, and the young people were busy picking up stones and going down the mountain.

"Oh, that's good!"

Zhao Kuangning's face was excited.

He looked at Li Yu and asked, "Son-in-law, can you supply me with this gunpowder?" ”

"Of course, just keep it a secret."

"This is natural."

"Father-in-law thinks it's time to open up a waterway?"

"It's unthinkable to have this, hehe, with this thing, no matter how big the mountain rock is, there will be a time when it will be blown up!"

"Yes. As long as we can open up the waterway, we will have a direct waterway between the north and the south, and the transportation of materials and soldiers will be much faster, which is a great thing for the benefit of the people. ”

"Okay, I'll go back and find someone to plan this matter, and the virtuous son-in-law will help me then!"

"Don't worry, my father-in-law has left blessings for the people of Jingxiang and Jingnan, how can my son-in-law stand by and watch?"

However, it was said that Zhao Kuangning left Nanyang and returned to Xiangyang, packed up and soon went south with the bureaucracy's family.

He walked the Han River, went to Jiangxia and turned into the Jingjiang River, and came to Jiangling City against the current.

After settling the subordinates, the first thing was to ask the Jingnan water officials to survey the geography of the mountains and rivers between Zhangshui and Hanshui, and let them make river plans, and Jingxiang and Jingnan should dig rivers to connect Zhangshui and Hanshui.

One stone stirs up a thousand waves.

How easy was this grand plan?

Do you want to argue and argue well?

How could they understand Zhao Kuangning's thoughts.

You say you want to dominate the world? It's for the unwillingness also. Struggle for power? He is already a feudal official, a generation of princes.

Turf grabs? What about his land to his son-in-law? What's the use of grabbing?

His hobby in this life is collecting books, and the backyard of his Jiedu Mansion is a library.

Before leaving, he gave it to Li Yu at one time.

Nanyang has a public school, there are many students, and he needs to read books but can't, he only collects, and he doesn't have time to read, so it's better to give it to those who need it.

There are deeper thoughts. My grandson is growing up and has already been enlightened, and it is when I need books, isn't it good to leave it to my grandson?

These books were given away as gifts from Zhao Kuangning.

At this moment, the old man's heart was even more empty.

Hobbies are gone, can he not be empty?

He could only devote his energy to other things.

For example, river engineering.

When Jingnan Jiedu Mansion was busy planning water conservancy projects, Li Yu arranged for officials to take over Xiangzhou.

Originally, Li Yu asked for Gucheng from his father-in-law, but now not only Gucheng is his, but even the entire Xiangzhou is his.

The original Yingzhou and Fuzhou were under the jurisdiction of Jingxiang, and Li Yu felt that he was greedy and chewed too much, so he resolutely didn't want to, and let the old man take care of it himself.

Zhao Kuangning was comforted in his heart, and he was not reluctant.

His Jingnan Jiedu Prefecture governed Jingzhou, Yingzhou, Fuzhou, Xiazhou, and Guizhou.

Li Yu's Nanyang governed Tangzhou, Fangzhou, Xiangzhou, Deng, Nanyang, and Suiguo, and it was still three countries and three states, but the situation was not the same for a long time.

Originally, Zhou Kuan and others persuaded Li Yu to move the palace to Xiangyang first, after all, Xiangyang is a big city.

But Li Yu was unwilling.

Why, just because the conditions in Nanyang are better.

Nanyang is in the Nanyang Basin, and Xiangyang is out of the basin.

The population is not as large as that of Nanyang.

Nowadays, the development of Nanyang is better than that of Xiangyang.

It's just that from the perspective of strategic depth, Nanyang is on the front line of confrontation with Zhu Wen, while Xiangyang is in the mainland, which is safer.

In the face of such a suggestion, Li Yu instead said to the ministers: "After the beginning of spring, the Nanyang State Government can be moved to Xiangyang first, so that it is convenient to command the overall situation." ”

"As for the palace, half a year Xiangyang and half a year Nanyang, otherwise the title of Nanyang Country will not match the name~"

For such an arrangement, Zhou Kuan and others have no opinion.

Returning to Nanyang in the future will be equivalent to a vacation, so it's fine.

But said that the embroidery girl Biniang heard that she was going to move to Xiangyang, but she was reluctant in her heart.

Looking at this tattered county office, I have lived there for three years.

The familiar grass and trees made the sisters teary-eyed.

On this day, the embroidered girl Bi Niang deliberately took the child to the peach tree on the street, looking at the direction of the street corner, Bi Niang opened her mouth first.

"Sister, my husband came out of that side back then, and he stood here watching us."

"Yes, it's been three years in a flash, and Yang Er Jue'er is so old, I really don't want to leave."

"It's good to go back to Xiangyang, where our childhood home was."

This kind of two worries made the princesses difficult to give up.

For Li Yu, he doesn't care about the gains and losses of one city and one place, Nanyang is the key point to guard the entire basin, the basin, producing grain, there are mineral deposits, it is really a treasure land, he is not willing to let go easily.

It's good to live for half a year a year.