The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Although only the first cycle was carried out, at this time both Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng had actually noticed that there was obvious accumulation of yellow sand in the river section near Huai'an downstream.

After Zhu Heng found out, he said: "This is what Chief Cen and his colleagues believe. Siltation in the middle and lower reaches will cause the slope of the river to lower, and the sediment will eventually be clogged near the downstream entrance to the sea.

If things continue like this, this place will be flooded all year round.

It was mainly caused by the decrease in water volume in the Huanghuai River due to the economic movement. If the canal was abandoned, the situation might improve. "

"According to you, if the imperial court no longer diverts water from the Huanghuai River to replenish the canal, the situation might be better?"

Zhang Juzheng asked.

"Indeed."

Zhu Heng pointed to the two water outlets representing the north and south of the canal and said: "Every time water is diverted here, there will be obvious sediment blockage. If things go on like this, it will inevitably have an impact on scouring.

The two mouths of the canal and the lower reaches are the main locations for sediment blockage.

Shipwrecks also happened frequently. If they wanted to avoid such things from happening, the imperial court could continue to dig new canals and switch to different river entrances. "

By this time, Zhang Juzheng didn't understand that the canal was actually the key problem in solving the Yellow River floods.

If the imperial court abandons the canal, although the Yellow River floods cannot be solved overnight, it can at least delay the frequency of Yellow River floods.

Thinking of this, Zhang Juzheng glanced at Wei Guangde next to him and thought: Maybe it was because he saw through the flood problem in the north that he insisted on abandoning the canal and switching to sea transportation.

The Yellow River flows from west to east. As long as we insist on river transportation, the canal will always intersect with the Yellow River. The management of the Yellow River will never avoid the problem of the canal.

But Zhang Juzheng also knew one thing very well, that is, if he really abandoned the river and went to the sea, although the court could alleviate the floods of the Yellow River, it would still face the problem of livelihood for millions of people on both sides of the canal.

Yes, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who rely on the canal for survival now, and they have their own families behind them, so the population affected is very large.

If Wei Guangde's suggestion is followed and the court abandons the canal to connect the north and the south, what will these people do for a living in the future?

For a dynasty, stability is the most important thing.

Faced with this problem, Zhang Juzheng actually had his own considerations in mind at this time.

Even if the flooding in the Yellow River cannot be solved, the canal cannot be stopped.

This is for the sake of the country and the peace of the world.

But Zhang Siwei said nothing at this time.

He actually has more connections with canal interest groups than Zhang Juzheng. After all, his family is a big businessman, and many of his family branches have gone to Yangzhou and other places. Most of their business relies on the canal to transport goods.

Wei Guangde supports shipping. In fact, this is not a secret in the court.

Even as early as the Jiajing period, Wei Guangde's strategy of shipping to Liao was supported.

Although the implementation did not last long, Emperor Longqing soon loosened the sea ban after he ascended the throne, and they all knew it.

However, there was no one like Xie Qian in the cabinet that dominated the imperial court at this time, so it was difficult to prevent the imperial court from officially implementing this policy.

Moreover, with the increase in ships coming and going, the tariffs at Yuegang are also rising. Emperor Nanku is not just talking about it casually.

The customs duties at Yuegang have grown from tens of thousands taels a year to a million taels now. It is a fiscal and taxation place that no emperor can give up.

Maritime transportation from Jiliao to Yuegang switch, and now Wei Guangde has always supported maritime transportation instead of water transportation. In fact, his political stance is very clear.

However, Zhang Siwei also knew that if Wei Guangde's plan came true, the wealthy families who purchased assets around the canal would suffer heavy losses.

Because most of these assets are built around the transport capacity of the Grand Canal.

Once the bustling commerce and trade along the Grand Canal ceases, all these investments will be nothing more than wasted.

The Zhang family naturally has assets in this area. One of the reasons why Zhang Siwei joined the cabinet is to prevent the issuance of such a policy.

However, what Zhang Siwei was curious about was that, according to his understanding, Wei Guangde also seemed to have purchased a lot of land in the new section of the canal, that is, near the Jia Canal.

Especially in several towns along the river, Wei Guangde also purchased a lot of assets.

Today, it is somewhat contradictory to show the harm of the canal to Huanghuai water control.

Isn't he worried that this will lead to losses in assets around the Canal?

But today at the Ministry of Industry, except for Zhu Heng who mentioned the dangers of diversion of water for transportation, no one talked about it, let alone the construction or destruction of the canal.

Everyone tacitly avoided this topic. After all, the Ministry of Industry has been looking for the so-called best of both worlds.

However, in fact, everyone has realized that nothing is perfect in this world. To control the Yellow River, it is necessary to abandon the canal.

However, the imperial court could not really abandon the canal. It could only choose to treat the headaches and pains, dredge the canals wherever they were blocked, and seal the breaches, which they could barely maintain.

In fact, there is little need to continue the experiment at this time, but people from the Ministry of Industry are still pouring water to fully demonstrate the flooding of the Yellow River.

This may also help the cabinet ministers not to excessively hold the Ministry of Industry responsible when floods occur again in Huanghuai in the future.

After all, this flood is a natural disaster and is beyond human control.

After this kind of water injection and flushing, it was not until the eighth time that the Yellow River finally became silted up, completely blocking a section of the river. The sediment had blocked the eastward path of the Yellow River water.

Even if someone turns on the bluestone again to make the water flow larger and accelerate the erosion of sediment, the effect is very obvious and very bad.

"This is what the Ministry of Industry said. Although the method of beaming water to attack sand can alleviate it, it cannot fundamentally solve the problem of sediment blockage."

Zhang Juzheng asked.

"Indeed, Lord Chief Assistant should have noticed that the first two times were okay.

However, the sediment carried by the Yellow River will continue to accumulate. After many times, the scouring effect is greatly reduced by half.

In this case, the only way is to continuously increase the Qingkou weir and dam to allow Hongze Lake to store more water to flush the river.

However, this will definitely threaten the safety of Sizhou City by the lake and the nearby ancestral tombs. "

Zhu Heng not only explained the ineffectiveness of Pan Jixun's method, but also specifically explained the harm of this matter, which was related to the Mingzu Mausoleum.

"Maybe it won't be in danger in ten or twenty years, but in thirty or fifty years, the ancestral mausoleum will definitely be flooded."

Zhu Heng said very firmly.

Hearing Zhu Heng's words, Zhang Juzheng's expression suddenly became less calm.

This is a very serious political incident.

In fact, when it comes to water control in the north, ensuring the safety of Zing Zu's mausoleum has always been the first priority, followed by the canal, and finally the safety of the river.

Now the Ministry of Industry has made it clear that implementing Pan Jixun's method will endanger the Mingzu Mausoleum.

If he insists on taking this approach, if something goes wrong with the Mingzu Mausoleum, he, the chief minister, will inevitably bear the responsibility.

This is not something that happened before or after my death. When the time comes, even decades later, I am afraid that I will be held accountable by the court.

Posthumous reputation is actually very important to the scholar-bureaucrats of this era.

Why many people write books and commentaries is just to have a posthumous name so as not to be forgotten by future generations.

Zhang Juzheng was actually attracted by Pan Jixun's method at first because he thought it made sense.

Impounding water in Qingkou to wash away sediment from the Yellow River can solve the problem of siltation in the Yellow River.

But now he understands that there is poison behind it, and that is Hongze Lake.

"What if we build a dam between Hongze Lake and the Yellow River and only use the Huaihe River to flush it?"

Zhang Juzheng still asked without giving up.

"The original purpose of diverting the Yellow River into the lake was to divert the flow to kill its power. If the Yellow River water was allowed to flow down, dangers would probably occur every year in these places."

Zhu Heng was referring to the lower reaches of Xuzhou, where the Yellow River has several meandering channels.

When the imperial court dug canals to divert yellow water into Hongze Lake, it was actually to ensure the safety of the river and as a way to divert floods.

This is also the most commonly used method for water control in the past dynasties. For example, Dujiangyan is actually a water-dividing faucet that divides raging floods into two and alleviates the impact of floods on the main river.

"Moreover, if the Huaihe River is used only to flush the river, even though the Huaihe River has a large volume of water, it will be difficult to store such a large amount of water."

Zhu Heng added.

In fact, in ancient times, Chinese scholars already had their own methods of estimating water volume. They had mastered the method of calculating water volume based on flow rate and volume.

However, mathematics was generally considered a heretic in ancient China and was never as good as the Eight-Part Theory, so it was only spread among a few professional and technical officials.

Occasionally there are people who are interested in mathematics, that is, so-called mathematicians, but these are mostly due to interest, and there are very few people who focus on and promote mathematics.

By this time, there was actually no need to continue the experiment.

As the river becomes clogged, the water level of the Yellow River continues to rise and continues to spread out of the river.

But generally speaking, everyone already has an understanding of Pan Jixun's method of controlling water and sand, that is, it is effective in the early stage. The Yellow River may be relatively docile in the first few years, but floods will reappear after a few years.

The most important thing is that if it continues like this, it will be a vicious cycle. The only way is to continuously increase the Qingkou weir and dam, allowing Hongze Lake to accumulate more water for flushing, and then threaten Sizhou City and the Mingzu Mausoleum.

Zhang Juzheng waved his hand to stop the water injection. He had already figured it out.

"It's still not enough to do nothing like this."

Zhang Juzheng finally said something. In fact, he had rejected the method of condensing water and attacking sand from the bottom of his heart.

Political mistakes cannot be made, Zhang Juzheng knew this very well.

However, floods in the Yellow River were imminent, and the court had to take action, otherwise the government and the people would be dissatisfied with the cabinet and the Ministry of Works.

Wei Guangde said nothing. If he proposed not to replenish the canal at this time, it would only be a relief, but it would actually have no effect on regulating the Yellow River.

Rather than saying that what they were discussing was about water control in the Yellow River, it was not that it was about sand control.

It is easy to control floods, but it is not so easy to control sand.

As science and technology become so advanced in later generations, there are still not many ways to control desertification. We can only rely on perseverance and slow progress.

Even if Wei Guangde just yesterday asked the court to issue a decree to increase afforestation in the Yellow River Basin in Shanxi and other places, in fact, for the current Yellow River, actual results should not be seen for at least fifty years.

It's just that Wei Guangde knows the future and knows that although this matter cannot be solved in a short time, at least if trees are planted in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, it will at least have a great effect on improving the climate and mitigating the situation there.

In fact, the reason why the Yellow River is like this is inseparable from the Loess Plateau.

Although everyone knows that the Yellow River carries silt because of soil erosion on the Loess Plateau, the root cause is actually more natural factors. Human factors have a certain influence, but they are definitely not fundamental.

According to modern people's exploration of ancient books, the Yellow River turned yellow mainly during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

It is said that the Yellow River was not turbid in the early days, but very clear. The water of the Yellow River in the Western Zhou Dynasty was still clear, such as the description of "the river is clear and rippling" in "Guofeng·Weifeng·Fadan".

And in "Zuo Zhuan·Xianggong Eight Years", it is recorded that "waiting for the river to be clear, how long will people live", which means that people's life is very short and it is impossible to wait for the Yellow River to become clear.

"Zuo Zhuan" was written by Zuo Qiuming, a historian of the State of Lu in the late Spring and Autumn Period, indicating that the Yellow River had begun to become turbid during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Many people therefore believe that with the use of iron tools and the increase in agricultural activities in the Spring and Autumn Period, the vegetation on the Loess Plateau was destroyed, resulting in soil erosion, and the water of the Yellow River began to gradually become turbid.

Especially during the Qin and Han dynasties, the emperors who established their capital in Guanzhong built palaces and mausoleums, and large-scale immigration and garrisoning to defend against the Xiongnu exacerbated the destruction of vegetation on the Loess Plateau.

The Yellow River was already very turbid during the Han Dynasty, and people called it the "turbid river".

In the "Book of Han·Geography" by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the word "Yellow River" first appeared to describe the turbidity of the Yellow River.

But in fact, the Loess Plateau has rugged terrain and thousands of gullies. This terrain feature makes the soil easily washed away by rainwater.

The local soil, that is, the loess, has a loose structure, multiple pores and vertical cracks, and many substances are easily soluble in water, which makes the soil more susceptible to erosion.

As for the low vegetation coverage rate of the Loess Plateau, poor protection of the ground, and inability to effectively fix the soil, whether this is caused by man-made or natural reasons is actually worth discussing.

The Loess Plateau is located in the monsoon climate zone, with concentrated precipitation and heavy rain in summer. This climatic condition makes the soil easy to be washed away. After the soil is washed away, the vegetation on it will naturally be destroyed.

Rather than saying that the vegetation on the Loess Plateau was cut down by the ancients, it is more credible to say that it was destroyed by precipitation.

After all, it is doubtful whether the population and productivity during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period could really destroy such a huge area of ​​vegetation.

"Go back, let's discuss it again, and the Ministry of Industry must also find a way."

Zhang Juzheng only said one sentence at the end, and took Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei back to the cabinet.

The officials of the Ministry of Industry stood around the Yellow River map, discussing this method in twos and threes.

The Ministry of Industry did not actually think of a way, but there was really no precedent for sand control.

Yes, perhaps this is the blind spot of ancient Chinese education. Everyone is accustomed to flipping through ancient books to find countermeasures.

There are relatively few innovative things.

Of course, it is not that there is no innovation at all. After all, sometimes there are outliers who come up with solutions, which are then recorded and applied by later generations.

"It is indeed as you said. Controlling the Yellow River is actually controlling sand, not water."

When leaving the Ministry of Works, Zhang Juzheng whispered to Wei Guangde.

Zhang Siwei beside him also nodded in agreement, supporting this statement. (End of this chapter)