The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The Ming Dynasty was one of the dynasties with the most frequent disasters in the history of our country. It was slightly better in the early Ming Dynasty, but in the middle and late periods of the Ming Dynasty, disasters became more serious and the frequency of occurrence also accelerated.

Especially after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts and floods occurred across the country. However, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, especially floods, not only attracted great attention from the court, but also reflected the characteristics of flood disasters in the Ming Dynasty. and rules.

In the late Jiajing Dynasty, there would be floods almost every three years, and droughts broke out from time to time in various places, making it difficult for the court at that time to cope with disaster relief.

After the drought, production was restored, and after the flood, water control became a major project that required the court to invest a lot of manpower and material resources.

Someone once calculated that during the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, there were as many as one thousand and eleven disasters, which is an unprecedented record.

Among them, there were floods, a total of 196 times; droughts, a total of 174 times; earthquakes, a total of 156 times; hail disasters, a total of 12 times; and still more. There were ninety-seven disasters caused by winds and ninety-four disasters by locusts.

In addition, there were ninety-three famines; sixty-four epidemics; and sixteen frost and snow disasters.

Rather than saying that the Ming Dynasty sought death on its own, natural disasters also played an important role in the inaccessibility.

Regarding these, Wei Guangde was not aware of this at all before becoming an official.

Until he entered the early stage of his official career, he only felt that the disasters in various places were serious and how could there be so many.

And when he entered the cabinet and actually saw the disasters reported from various places, he had more insights. It was not easy for the Ming Dynasty to survive these disasters for more than two hundred years.

Regarding these, Wei Guangde was determined to use the knowledge of later generations to make some changes, but after thinking for a long time, he came to the conclusion that natural disasters could not be stopped at all, and there was nothing else he could do except do his best to deal with the aftermath.

Let’s take this flood as an example. In August of the third year of Longqing, the Yellow River flooded in Gengshen, and Xuyi was hit. In September, the Huaihe River overflowed, and the Gaojia Weir collapsed. The Huaihe River moved eastward, and the water in Xuyi was more than 5 feet deep.

The floods in the Huanghuai River Basin directly led to intermittent water transportation. Siltation occurred in many areas, making it difficult to sail ships.

Well, this is what the imperial court has to do. It must ensure that enough grain arrives in Beijing every year, otherwise there may be chaos in the north.

Move the capital?

When Wei Guangde was at his wits' end, he read countless Ming Dynasty novels and all mentioned a method.

If the capital moves southward and returns to Nanjing, water transportation from the north can be avoided.

However, the hidden dangers of moving the capital are also great, which may lead to the further weakening of the empire's control over the northern territories, and this does not take into account the huge financial and material resources required to move the capital.

Shipping?

Wei Guangde suddenly remembered the maritime transportation that Jia Yingchun had vigorously advocated. Although the final result was only the maritime transportation to Liao that had been maintained for several years, and now it has stopped again.

The floods are so severe this time, and a large number of canal ships are still blocked in the Huai'an area. This year's canal grain shipments will definitely not be able to meet the transshipment quota.

Of course, the imperial court will not immediately cause chaos because of the interruption of water transportation this year. Tongzhou Dacang still has a large amount of grain stored in it, which is enough to support the capital for more than two years.

Ming Dynasty has always been in the habit of storing large amounts of grain in Tongzhou and other places, and the minimum requirement is to store three years of grain. In fact, it is to foresee such things, and it is also to reserve grain for the war that may break out at any time in the north.

Therefore, although the imperial court was devastated by the flood, in fact it would not have much impact in a short period of time.

At this time, what everyone is thinking about is not how to alleviate the problem, but the headache of the money needed to control the water after the flood.

Wei Guangde proposed to Zhu Heng that Pan Jixun should be used to control the water again. One purpose was to remove Zhu Heng's possible impeachment for being mediocre, and the other was that at this time, the court always had to do something.

Which yamen need help to restart shipping?

In addition to the government government at the place of departure, there are also water transport yamen. Now in the Ming Dynasty, they are the only ones with ships, especially sand ships, which can be quickly transformed into sea ships.

In addition, assistance from the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works was needed. After all, the docks had to be built in a hurry, as well as the nautical charts from the Ministry of War.

When thinking of the place of departure, Wei Guangde immediately thought of Huai'an. A large number of canals are now congested there. It would not be easy to divert them to the sea. However, if other prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River were to adjust grain, they probably wouldn't be able to make up much.

After all, this year's taxes have been collected, local grain has been shipped, and there won't be much left in the treasury.

After thinking about it for a long time, Wei Guangde still felt that he was in a dilemma and had no choice.

At this moment, he was no longer interested in dealing with official documents, but got up and paced back and forth in the room.

Recalling the situation of maritime transportation in the Ming Dynasty in my memory, in fact, from Hongwu to Yongle, the imperial court did not give up maritime transportation. Even though Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing and vigorously dug canals, the Ming Dynasty still transported grain by sea, and it was finally completed in Yongle and Tianshun. Things in between.

Shaking his head, Wei Guangde felt that these things couldn't just be thought about, he had to find a way to put them into practice. That was to send sea ships from near the Yangtze River estuary to explore along the old route and confirm the safety of the route. This was something that the Yuan Dynasty could do. There was no reason. The Ming Dynasty couldn't handle it.

If that doesn't work, set a standard for the canal transport yamen. Every year, a certain amount of canal grain will be left to be transported north to Beijing by sea. Even if the amount is smaller, tens of thousands of dan will do.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde walked back to the desk to collect the official documents, laid out the paper and prepared to write a memorial.

Wei Guangde's memorial started with maritime transportation in the early Ming Dynasty. It detailed the Chengyuan system in the early Ming Dynasty and implemented the water transportation method with parallel rivers and seas and mainly sea transportation. By the 13th year of Yongle, maritime transportation was abandoned and devoted to inland rivers, and the transportation pattern changed. major changes.

Maritime transportation in the early Ming Dynasty mainly served the needs of military expeditions and provided material support for the elimination of the remaining Yuan forces. Long-distance grain transportation was mostly carried out by sea. Its maritime transportation still followed the route of the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, water ships were delayed, grain was lost, and troops were transported. The conditions of drowning and other hardships in shipping are no different from those of previous generations.

In addition, in the early Ming Dynasty, shipping also faced harassment from Japanese pirates. Under such circumstances, the imperial court dismissed shipping twice and devoted itself to river transportation.

As early as the sixth year of Hongwu, some ministers suggested that farming should be established in the northern region to reduce the allocation of grain in response to the incident of the Liaoning shipwreck. The imperial court vigorously promoted farming from the following year, and "all the soldiers and civilians in the prefectures and counties of the world were engaged in reclamation." .

As the scale of farming expanded day by day, in the 27th year of Hongwu, the imperial court ordered the 21st Guards sergeants from Liaodong and Dingliao to realize self-sufficiency in farming from the following year, "to relieve the labor of shipping."

By the 30th year of Hongwu, there was a surplus in military pay in Liaodong, and the court no longer needed sea transportation to help Liao, so it stopped shipping grain to Liaodong. This was the first time that sea transportation was stopped.

Shortly after the suspension of maritime transportation, in March of the first year of Yongle, due to insufficient military reserves in Beijing, the imperial court decided to reopen maritime transportation, and ordered Ping Jiang Bo Chen Xuan and the governor Qian Shi to declare their trust in the general military officer to supervise shipping and be responsible for shipping to Liaodong and Beijing. Transport food and wages.

Regarding the reopening of maritime transport, ministers had different opinions and opinions, but in July of the same year, attempts were made to launch multiple shipping routes.

In August, Chen Xuan supervised the transportation of nearly 50,000 shi of grain and wages by sea to Beijing and Liaodong. This success inspired the court's determination to transport grain by sea.

It should be noted that the shipping route at that time was proposed by Yu Xin, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, by using the Wei River for water and land transportation, a transportation method of both river and sea. Two years later, shipping grain by sea was "commonplace" and was finally established.

However, there were three main water transport lines at that time: one was to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the north, amounting to 1 million shi per year, so in addition to building a million warehouses in Yin'erwan City, Zhigu at the north end, and "building mountains with earth and erecting buildings" in Qingpu, Jiading County at the south end. "堠means recognition".

The second is river transportation from the Huaihe River and the Yellow River to Yangwu, Henan, then to Shanxi and Dingfu, Henan, and 170 miles of land transportation to Weihui, where it enters the Weihe River, and finally reaches Tongzhou;

The third is to open up a transport route from Linqingcang to Beijing to transport corn from Henan and Shandong.

However, the latter two are both democratic movements, and are far less important than the official and military shipping in terms of volume and professionalism.

In short, from the early years of Hongwu to the founding of Beijing by Emperor Chengzu, although sea transportation was once abandoned, in general, the transportation method was still inherited from the Yuan Dynasty, and the transportation method of "both land and water, and sea transportation" was still implemented.

Maritime transportation still faces the risk of storms, but inland rivers are still unable to undertake large-scale water transportation tasks. The transportation method of parallel rivers and seas and mainly sea transportation is the best choice under the circumstances.

In the 10th year of Yongle, Shangshu Song Li pointed out the shortcomings of sea transportation and proposed to adjust the parallel water transportation method of rivers and seas, and to increase the proportion of grain transported by river. He suggested that sea transportation should be carried out twice every three years, and one million shi of grain should be allocated to Zhenjiang, Fengyang, Huai'an, Yangzhou and Yanzhou. From river to Beijing.

At this time, Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan succeeded in regulating the rivers between the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers.

After the large-scale river transportation was successfully carried out when the river transportation was unblocked, in March of the 13th year of Yongle, "sea transportation was stopped" and "sea and land transportation were stopped". Only the Zheyang general transportation of grain and wages from Liao and Ji was retained. Every year, it was carried out in Henan, Shandong, Xiaotan and other rivers. The second warehouse exchanged 300,000 shi of grain, part of which was transported to Tianjin, and most of which was transported to the sea from Zhigu to Beijing.

After writing this, Wei Guangde just wanted to let Emperor Longqing understand what was going on in the first place. It was the canal that first became a smooth river, so after several years of attempts, the court stopped shipping and focused on river transportation, instead of always focusing on river transportation.

Times have changed, and the situation of the canal is now very different from that of the past. Floods in the Huanghuai River are getting more and more serious, and traffic is often blocked, making it difficult for ships to sail. Under this predicament, the court might as well try to restore the old way of shipping and still use the original method, which is to spend several dollars every year. Wanshi's grain was sent to Beijing by sea instead.

In fact, the current situation is exactly the opposite of the situation at that time, that is, the canal is no longer able to guarantee large-scale river transportation.

There is an old saying, "Change leads to smoothness; change leads to blockage; change leads to prosperity; change leads to decline; change leads to survival; change leads to death."

Wei Guangde analyzed that it was time for the court to find the courage to change again, and that this example should be customized and no longer abandoned, so as to ensure that when the canal is in disrepair or floods block traffic, there will still be a continuous flow of grain arriving in Beijing.

I thought that if water transportation was cut off for two or three consecutive years, the bottom of the grain supply in the capital would inevitably lead to chaos. If the imperial court had water transportation arriving in Beijing by sea, it would definitely be able to stabilize the situation.

However, in his memorial, Wei Guangde still suggested that the court should focus on river transportation and sea transportation as a supplement. This was not because he did not know the future development, but to reduce resistance.

Only when the maritime route matures and its advantages are fully exerted, the ministers in the court, especially the officials in the Ministry of Household who deal with numbers every day, will find that sea transport is actually more economical than river transport. Even if they bear the risk of loss in sea transport, the comprehensive It seems the advantage is still huge.

Later in the writing, Wei Guangde wrote down the data that in the past ten years, the canal had been intruded by the Yellow River, causing grain to float and the Cao army to suffer heavy casualties.

Aren’t those who oppose maritime transport always talking about the safety of inland water transport? Wei Guangde also wrote out the risks of water transport in detail in his memorial. After reading it, people can understand that in fact, river transport and sea transport both have risks.

"The seaway is as diverse as the land. People on the sea travel across the sea, just as people on the land travel on the land. Walking along the tide does not cross the sea. Now that we step out of the seaway, we will not be as close as if we were floating. The sand will be sparse and the earth will collapse. There is no need to worry about the impermanence. also."

Wei Guangde also specifically pointed out that although shipping is extremely dangerous, Zhejiang and Fujian ships have always sailed to overseas trade.

It can be seen that the risks of shipping are actually controllable. Otherwise, how dare a sea-going ship engage in ocean trade like this? It would be the same as committing suicide.

This can be evidenced by the merchant ships in Yuegang. The Fujian merchants fought fiercely for the ship's pilot, and many officials in the capital were lobbied to participate in the fight.

In the first year of Longqing, why did the emperor delay and delay the opening of Yuegang for more than half a year after he made the decision to open the sea? In fact, it was because of these overt and covert struggles.

And because Wei Guangde had the habit of taking shares in trading houses, he also wrote down what he knew about the sand ships in Songjiang, Taicang, Tongzhou, Taizhou and other places, the sea carving ships in Huai'an, and the usual trade by sea to Penglai, Shandong. You know, this place is not far from Tianjin.

In the past, Wei Guangde had considered how to open up water transportation, allowing merchant ships to use canals, and converting grain transport to sea routes, so he collected a lot of data. This time, he felt like he couldn't stop as soon as he started writing, and he finished writing the memorial in one go.

After reading it carefully again, I felt that there was nothing worth revising, so I considered it final.

Some people may think that since they are determined to promote maritime transport, why should the Ministry of Industry ask Pan Jixun to control the water?

In fact, Wei Guangde knows one thing very well, that is, the river transportation cannot be interrupted yet.

When did river transport gradually decline in later generations? It was actually after the 1990s. With the large-scale construction of railways, the advantages of railways replaced river transport.

Moreover, the current economy on both sides of the Grand Canal still needs this artery to maintain, so the canal cannot be abandoned.

Wei Guangde took the memorial and thought about it, folded it and put it in his sleeve. He was not going to hand it over directly, but wanted to get a few allies to jointly submit the memorial.

The ones with the most say in the DPRK and good relations with him are Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen from the cabinet. In addition, Wei Guangde also plans to call Zhu Heng. Wei Guangde does not intend to contact officials from the other six ministries. With these three co-signers, That's enough.

"Lubu."

Wei Guangde shouted outside the house.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Bu's figure had already appeared outside the door of the duty room.

After the people came in, Wei Guangde said to him: "Go out and contact your family in the mansion and ask Zhang Ji to send a message to Mr. Zhu, Minister of the Ministry of Industry. I will set up a banquet to treat him to a drink tonight."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu agreed and went out to deliver the message, and Wei Guangde also got up and walked to Yin Shizhen's room. It would be better to go and invite Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen in person.