Li Xuan rode a horse and stood on a high slope, with the Yellow River flowing at great speed in front of him, and the river wind was fierce.

The water of the Yellow River rushed from the southwest, and then before the high slope, it made a sharp turn, and then suddenly turned and turned southeast.

"This section of the bank is very high from the river, and the boat has to dig up the rocks diagonally and dig a gentle slope to get the boat to the other side." Jiang Shi's face was a little ugly, and the bend of the river in front of him was everywhere above the Yellow River waterway.

"This still hasn't encountered a big flood in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, otherwise the Yellow River will be diverted and it will be more difficult to move forward." Xu Ling couldn't help but sigh lightly.

Several of them are responsible for the transportation of grain and grass and the protection of the grain road, and the general responsibility is Li Xuan, and the other two assist him.

"So, you can't make a fuss here." Li Xuan rode his horse, turned around, and slowly walked along the northwest bank of the downstream to another bend two miles away.

This one is much slower than the bend upstream, and the banks are much lower, making it easier to get ashore.

"Dig a slope here, go ashore, then level the road, use the boats, and carry the food and ordnance on it to the next river, and then go into the water." Li Xuan pointed to the position under his feet and said softly: "Although the water of the Yellow River is turbulent, as long as it is slightly blocked somewhere upstream, the water flow will immediately slow down. ”

There is a narrow road on the south bank of the Yellow River, although it can pass to transport grain, but it is too narrow, and there is no problem for people to pass, but if grain and ordnance have to pass, it is much more difficult, and the delay time is longer, so that we can consider using ships to speed up the speed of transporting grain.

"I heard that the prince often has magic, I don't know if I can advise." Jiang Qi looked at Li Xuan with some curiosity, he didn't have any taste of provocation, but more curiosity and dissatisfaction, which can be regarded as a common problem of technical officials.

A few years ago, when Li Xuan had not yet entered the office, Huang Rensu, the water supervisor, informed the water supervisor of the capital that a large number of restructured water wheels were found in Pengzhou, and the one who did this was the king of Nanchang.

"Don't hide it from Brother Jiang." Li Xuan looked at the turbulent Yellow River in front and back, and said calmly: "When this king was in Pengzhou, he did a lot of research on waterwheels. ”

Jiang Qi was slightly stunned, he had just thought of the waterwheel, and Li Xuan directly mentioned it, as if he knew what he was thinking.

Jiang Qi looked up and saw Li Xuan staring at him, with a reluctant smile on his face.

Li Xuan nodded lightly, and then said: "At the bend of the upstream and downstream rivers, two large waterwheels are built each, connected by a runner in the middle, supplemented by ropes, and the wheeled wheels can be quickly pulled across this section of the road." ”

"The prince means the rope ladder?" Jiang Qi raised his eyebrows, and immediately understood the meaning of Li Xuan's words.

Using the height of the waterwheel, the rope ladder rotates back and forth, the width is enough to accommodate the ship, the rope ladder is hooked from the top, pulled from the bottom to the top, and after the position, the ship is taken down, the rope ladder is untied, and it is stuck on the other side, so that the ship below does not affect the progress, and when it comes to the bottom, the rope ladder is pulled up again.

"Use a paragraph to pull a paragraph, and after reaching the end, unravel this paragraph, although it is a bit cumbersome, but the efficiency can be greatly improved." Jiang Qi can imagine the aspect of doing this, and it is indeed a good way.

"The rope ladder is just one kind, the rope loop, the knot are all OK." Li Xuan then said a word, then looked around and said, "This method is okay here, but if it encounters deep mountains and canyons, the method is not so efficient." ”

Jiang Qi's face was a little happy just now, and then he looked at the river in front of him, and said with a wry smile: "This section of the waterway is called Bingling Gorge, the gorge is eight miles long, it is the first difficult way to enter the mountain, the shore is steep and narrow, the raft carrying goods, must be analyzed and irrigated, before it can go out of the gorge, and then eighty miles of waterway, relatively gentle, but eighty miles later, it is the big river family, next to the stone pass, the most dangerous, and seventy miles have Mengda Gorge, relatively gentle, and then eighty miles have Sala River, from Xunhua. ”

This section of the road is the most difficult, and now it is just the easiest section of the opening, and the Mengda Gorge and Sala River at the back are not as difficult, but compared to Dahejia and Jishi Pass, it is nothing.

The Yellow River, if it is really so easy, there are already thousands of ships and sails on it, where can the Tubo people be presumptuous.

"In that case, let's go up and have a look." Li Xuan's expression was indifferent, and then he urged the horse to go upstream.

He wants to see how dangerous this big river family and Jishi Pass are.

……

On top of the turbulent mountain, a small city towers over it, standing on the edge of the city, looking down, the river below is turbulent, and the cliffs are precipitous.

There is a name on the city gate, Jishi Town.

Li Xuan urged the horse to come to Jishi Town, and the captain of the city guard immediately came to greet him, Li Xuan waved his hand and directly led people to the cliff to observe the river.

Jiang Qi walked to Li Xuan's side and said in a clear voice: "When Dayu controlled the water, it was from Jishi Mountain, 'guiding the river and accumulating stones, as for Longmen, entering the sea'. In the Han Dynasty, Heguan County was set up here; During the Western Jin Dynasty, Imjin Pass was established in Imjin County; Western Qin built a national capital on the outskirts of Tan; When the Sui Dynasty set up Jishi Town, the Jishi Army was set up; Until now. ”

Li Xuan nodded, his gaze crossed over the middle of the long river, on the other side of the rolling mountains.

The cliffs on both sides seem to be completely connected.

From a distance, it looks as if the mountains that were once connected have been cut directly from them.

"Dayu's control of the water, is it to open the mountain and break the water?" Li Xuan couldn't help but sigh lightly.

Jishi Mountain, which stretches for dozens of miles, is cut into two sections by the Yellow River, and forms the Yellow River Gorge in the middle, which is fifty long, and becomes Jishi Gorge.

The cliffs on both sides of the canyon are steep, and it is dizzying to look at; Heavy rocks are stacked, majestic and rugged, covering the sky; The dangerous rocks and dangerous peaks come out of the sky, thrilling.

The Yellow River in the gorge is rushing and turbulent, the sound is like a huge thunder, the waves crash against the stone cliff, the clouds spit out the fog, the galloping roar, and the thousands of miles are poured for thousands of miles.

After walking through it, Li Xuan can roughly conclude that the difference between the upper and lower reaches of Jishi Gorge is nearly 200 meters, which is the reason for the surging water.

This also means that the problems faced here are daunting.

In modern times, Li Xuan could have built a hydroelectric power plant out of reinforced concrete, but here he can't even build a stone bridge.

"The terrain here is too steep, and if you want to cross the mountain, there is only a two-meter-wide mountain road on the south bank below, which can be crossed by mules and horses carrying grain." Jiang Qi looked at the terrain here, his brows furrowed, the situation was even worse than he expected.

This section is the most precipitous place in the entire Yellow River Hezhou section, and after here, whether it is upstream or downstream, it is much smoother.

King Nanchang's methods can be used, and going back and forth can save at least two days, but here, there is no way.

Li Xuan looked at the turbulent river up and down, and said softly: "This king reads history, "Hou Han Shu Deng Xun Biography" contains, in the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Yongyuan, when Deng Xun was the captain of the Qiang Guard, all the Qiang returned to obedience, and the Tang Qiang chieftain was not satisfied, and retreated to the big and small elm valleys, so Deng Xun sent six cadres of the Huang soldiers to Guiyi City, which was blocked by the Yellow River, and then ordered the soldiers to 'sew leather for boats, put them on the barnyard to cross the river', and ordered them to 'count as grass boats'. ”

Jiang Qi immediately nodded and said: "The 'leather boat' mentioned by the prince is the shipping tool used by the Qiang people on the Yellow River - rafts. Sewn with sheepskin, blow and drum, form a leather ball, nine sheepskin balls hook together, it becomes a raft, not only the raft can be used, in fact, the raft can also be used, but when the water is large, the raft is more likely to overturn. ”

Li Xuan nodded, looked at the river in the canyon, and said in a low voice: "This section of the canyon is like being directly split by a giant with a giant axe, although the river is turbulent, it also has a great advantage, the river is relatively straighter." You see, there are places on both sides of the bank where you can stand on the river, and if you build a waterwheel there, lay out the cables, and then bring the grain into the parchment ball, and then tie it to the raft, and then pull it with ropes, you can quickly transport the grain across the river. ”

"But the cable is soaked in water and can easily break." Xu Ling calmly walked over and put forward the fatal point.

"Then soak the cable in tung oil, then dry it, and finally put it in water to use." Li Xuan glanced back at Xu Ling, and said calmly: "We are only used for transporting grain, once every ten days, and it is dried and repaired without using it halfway. ”

"Yes!" Jiang Qi immediately nodded in agreement and said, "In this way, the day of grain transportation can be reduced by three days, and five days can be done." ”

It took five days to be able to transport grain and grass from Bingling Lake to Kuozhou, which was definitely a great credit to them.

"Moreover, the loss of military food is greater along the Yellow River than the land bank, with the method of the prince, although there will be a risk of wetting, but the loss is definitely lower than expected, and after soaking, it can also be dried, it can be ground immediately, and the waterwheel grinds the powder, which is the right time." Jiang Qi quickly closed the last loophole.

A slight sneer flashed at the corner of Xu Ling's mouth, and then asked, "Dare to ask the prince, how long will it take to complete this section of the project?" ”

Li Xuan's breathing suddenly deepened, and he made a quick calculation in his mind, and then said calmly: "If it is fast, it will be two months, and if it is slow, it will be March, and if there is a rainy day in the middle, the construction period will be extended." ”

"So the front line, can it be delayed until that time?" Xu Ling shook his head slightly, if they could finish everything, the war would have already stopped.

Li Xuan smiled and said softly casually: "Young Eunuch Xu, you don't think that this year's battle is the last battle between our dynasty and Tubo." ”

Xu Ling was slightly stunned, then his face changed, and he hurriedly said, "Of course not, it's just ......"

"It's just that Xu Shaojian is not optimistic about the outcome of this battle, thinking that Datang will inevitably repeat the defeat of Dafeichuan, and as for the future, the comeback will be a few years later, so this time it is nothing more than a futile effort." Li Xuan saw through Xu Ling's true thoughts at a glance.

Even if he still has something to say, it is the emperor's body.

If this time the battle between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo is defeated again, then the emperor's body and mind will inevitably suffer heavy losses, and it will be Bintian before the next war.

This kind of taboo words, even if Li Xuan thought of it, he didn't dare to say more than half a word.

Xu Ling's face became very pale at this moment, Li Xuan shook his head slightly, and said: "Young Eunuch Xu, this king should not have heard or seen your matter, but this time, you must not be slack." ”

"Whoa!" Xu Ling immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Xuan looked at the rolling water below, and said softly: "This project, not to be decided by this king's word, needs to be agreed with Yan Guogong and Pei Shangshu of Lanzhou, after the agreement, a large number of craftsmen need to be mobilized, and if it is not good, it will be played to the center." ”

Li Xuan glanced back at Xu Ling, and said coldly: "If it is really successful this time, then Wuhai is far away, it will become an empty word, and the grain road will no longer be the real threat to my Tang Dynasty. ”

Between the words, Li Xuan's real plot revealed the tip of the iceberg at this moment.

(End of chapter)