New Shun 1730

Before the fleet went south, Liu Yu's staff also wrote this year's "Tang Feng Storytelling" for the Japanese shogunate.

The trading company's committee can decide what goods to load and what routes to take, but some political matters are still strictly controlled.

Just like the "Tang Feng Storyteller" for the shogunate, if you want to trade, you must hand it over to Nagasaki.

Whatever is written in the Feng Shuo book has become the focus of the review, and trading companies cannot decide.

The staff followed Liu Yu's wishes and wrote about the fleet's move south this time.

The reason was enough to deceive: the imperial court had the intention to change water transportation to sea transportation. In order to prevent pirate robbery, it dispatched naval escorts, which may become the norm in the future.

The shogunate relied on Nagasaki as a window to understand the outside world. It would be easy to say if they were just Chinese maritime merchants. Those shipowners who had obtained trade letters alone dared to talk nonsense, reveal coastal defense secrets, etc., and they would be arrested. Liu Yu, the official, was not in vain. Right.

However, there are also the hateful Dutch. The Dutch visit Edo every year to tell stories and tell stories about the situation in Dashun. This matter cannot be hidden.

Since you can't hide it, you might as well write it out openly. Anyway, Japan doesn't know what's going on. Most of them will think that they really want to change water transportation to sea transportation.

…………

Jiangsu, Huai'an.

Tan Zhen, the Jiangsu Jiedushi envoy who proposed the trial of shipping rice from Suzhou to Song Dynasty, was inspecting this year's Yellow River section, accompanied by Huai'an Prefect and several river management officials.

Since the Yellow River changed its course in the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River has been diverting the Huaihe River from Jiangsu to the sea in recent years.

For hundreds of years, the once prosperous land, the once land of plenty, has now become a cancer in the waists of various dynasties, the legacy of Zhao and Song.

Like a piece of rotten flesh from the wound of a growing empire, it will never heal or be cured.

Tan Zhen proposed to trial the coastal transportation of rice from Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture. Now is not the time to transport rice. Floods in the Yellow River may come first this year.

The technocrat who managed the river sighed: "Master Jiedushi, as long as there is a canal, managing the river can only be a headache. The priority is to protect the canal transportation, and the second is to regulate the river. Putting the cart before the horse, putting the cart before the horse, we will wait. It’s not that they are stupid, it’s that many river control methods cannot be used on the premise of protecting water transportation first.”

"Nowadays, there is siltation, not to mention the Yellow and Huaihe rivers. Even Yangzhou may have floods because of its canal connection."

"Siltation is becoming more and more serious. If we don't step up efforts to control it now, in more than ten years or in a few decades, once the Yellow River bursts and changes its course to the north, the rich areas of the Yangtze and Huaihe River will be in danger."

"Where the Huaihe River enters the sea, there is a lot of silt. If the Yellow River changes its course in the future and it becomes difficult for the Huaihe River to enter the sea, it is very likely that the canal and the large lake will have to be diverted to the Yangtze River. Once there is a major flood, it will not only be the Yangtze and Huaihe River, but also the important financial and tax areas in the lower reaches of the river will be in danger. "

"If there is not enough water and insufficient flushing, the Huaihe River cannot enter the sea, and it has no choice but to go south to the Yangtze River. If the Yangtze River has one more water of the Huaihe River..."

In recent years, new measurement technologies have appeared, and the mathematical level and measurement level of river control engineers have also improved a lot, and the dangers in the future have been seen.

Of course, some people want to keep the water flowing smoothly and hope that the embankments will burst every year and there will be disasters every year. In this way, the court will have to spend a large sum of money to dredge the canals and regulate the rivers. Every year, even a little exchange can get tens of thousands of taels of silver.

But in the capital of Yao and the land of Shun, there were always a few people who believed in the idea of ​​​​making a living for the people.

There are always such "fools" in the world, and there has never been a shortage of such "fools" in China.

These people hope to completely cure Huanghuai and cure the sore that separates the north from the south and lies in the heart of the country.

After Tan Zhen took office, some people started talking about the Yellow River, Huaihe River and canal with the idea of ​​"giving the new official a try".

The people who wrote the letter were a thorn in the eyes of successive officials. However, if they really had the ability, they had to use it.

Tan Zhen's trial of transporting rice to the sea was not necessarily based on the idea of ​​​​preserving water transportation first and then protecting floods, so that river management could not cure the root cause.

But in all things, the deeds do not matter the heart.

Whether you really want to make a living for the people, or you want to achieve political performance and promotion, you have to take such a step.

He and Liu Yu have never met, but he believes that this time the rice will be transported by sea, Liu Yu will definitely send a ship south to escort the first batch of rice transported by sea.

This tacit understanding stems from his knowing that Liu Yu supports the faction that abolished the canal and reformed the sea.

The first wave of rice this year is about to be shipped, but the Jianghuai River has received heavy rainfall this year, and flooding is likely to occur again. Before the canal was put into operation, he followed the river control official to the Yellow River to have a look. After listening to the river control official's introduction, he asked: "If the canal system is abolished and replaced by the sea in the future, will you be able to control the Yellow River?"

Several river management technocrats laughed.

"Master Jiedushi is joking, the Yellow River, unless Dayu is resurrected, otherwise who dares to say that the Yellow River can be controlled? We don't have this ability."

"It's just that if canals can be abolished and replaced by seas, then the first consideration in river management will be floods and droughts, rather than ensuring the smooth flow of canals. In this way, many methods that cannot be used now can be used."

"Not to mention that it can cure the root cause, even if it treats the symptoms, it is much easier to use than the current methods."

These few river management officials do not consider the food and clothing of millions of water workers, nor do they consider the risks of water and sea transportation. They are not so much officials as officials.

They don't think about politics, and they don't have a big picture or macro narrative perspective. They only consider things within their own professional scope.

They are not modest. Some people even think that even if Dayu is resurrected, he may not be able to heal the Yellow River.

There were fewer people then, but now there are more people. If the river is diverted, there will be hundreds of thousands of victims.

Who should be saved? Who should be abandoned?

People are not trees. If they are drowned, they cannot grow again.

However, the Yellow River bursts almost inevitably. A small wave will come every three years, and a big wave will come every few decades.

If we don’t make up our minds to divert and manage it ourselves, we can only wait for more deaths when natural disasters come.

If we delay it now for the sake of water transport, once the Yellow River bursts to the north and changes back to the Song Dynasty’s former river course, not only will the new Yellow River course suffer, but the Huai River will not be able to rush into the sea without the water of the Yellow River in the future, and it will be dangerous from Huai’an to Yangzhou.

"Sir Jiedushi, our dynasty has great advantages in managing the Yellow River."

"The imperial mausoleum of the previous dynasty Zhu Ming is in Fengyang. In addition to protecting the grain transport, we also have to consider protecting the mausoleum. In this way, we are inevitably restricted and many methods cannot be used. We can only maneuver in a small range."

"The ancestral mausoleum of our dynasty is in Tianbao Prefecture, so there is no need to consider these things. Protecting the mausoleum and protecting the grain transport, the only thing left is protecting the grain transport."

"If we can solve the problem of transporting grain transport to the north, we dare not say that the Yellow River flood will be eradicated, but at least there will be no major disasters."

The technical difficulties are that we have more than 2,000 years of experience in water control, which can be said to be the richest in the world at this time.

However, it is always easy to solve technical problems, and it is difficult to solve political problems. Dashun has no pressure to protect the imperial tomb from being flooded. In fact, Dashun’s ancestral tomb is not at risk of being flooded. If Dashun’s ancestral tomb is flooded...

Tan Zhen thought that this was indeed the case, so he said: "If this matter is to be solved, it is not you and me, but the East China Sea."

"This year, we will try to transport the grain from Songjiang and Suzhou. If it goes smoothly this year, it will be possible to manage the Yellow River and Huai River in the future. If it does not go smoothly this year, I am afraid it will be difficult."

"I haven't touched the boat much. Before, I was either in the capital or in the southwest to suppress the rebellion. If it comes to the sea, I have to ask Ying Suobo."

"Since he has always wanted to abolish the grain transport and change to the sea, whether he can take this first step depends on his ability."

Although they have never met, Tan Zhen still believes in Liu Yu's ability and is full of confidence.

Songjiang has added a lot of strange government offices and some strange taxes in the past two years, but Songjiang has become more and more prosperous, and no one is shouting to compete with the people for profits, which is also a miracle.

These strange methods that he could not think of but are effective are the source of his confidence in Liu Yu.

"Water control is the responsibility of the governor of the river. This Jiedushi should not interfere. However, even if it is the governor of the river, as long as the issue of grain transport is not resolved, it is equivalent to working with shackles, which is difficult to think about."

"This matter of abolishing grain transport and changing to sea may not be successful, but everything is prepared for success and failure is inevitable. You should write some rules first."

"If the rice transportation goes smoothly this year, I will submit it to His Majesty when the Jiedushi comes to Beijing to report in winter."

There are many unspoken rules in officialdom.

Although he is the Jiedushi of Jiangsu, he is in charge of the Yellow River and the Huai River, and there is always the risk of floods, but it is always bad to bypass the governor of the river.

The two are not subordinate to each other, which seems to be a slap in the face of the governor of the river.

The most difficult thing about water control is the interpersonal relationship in the officialdom.

The fact that Tan Zhen can serve as the governor of Jiangsu shows the emperor's trust, but his official rank is still below the governor of the river.

The current governor of the river supports the canal faction. Whether it is because of real support, interest relationship, or considering the interest groups involved, he is always at odds with Tan Zhen who supports sea transportation.

The governor of the river's office is in Huai'an. The governor of Jiangsu went to Huai'an to inspect the flood. This is already a taboo. What does this mean for the governor of the river?

Thinking of these troubles, Tan Zhen could only sigh.

"Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!"

Facing the surging Yellow River, Tan Zhen sighed and thought that he had to do this thing after all, and he didn't ask to leave a name for future generations, but just to be worthy of his conscience.

Thinking about the current situation of Dashun, he was born in the southwest where the land reform was carried out, and he has his own understanding of the current situation.

Now that the Western Regions have been pacified, Mongolia has surrendered, and the Northwest has been relocated to cultivate the Hetao and Western Regions, the chaos in the Northwest has been temporarily stabilized.

The economy in the south is developed, the Southwest has been reformed, and the Northeast has been swept away by the predecessors, and the population of Shandong and Henan has been madly immigrated... In Tan Zhen's view, the internal troubles of Dashun in the future can only come from Huai.

This is a channel connecting the north and the south. Once a flood occurs, it will inevitably rot. This place is not a stable place in itself. Going south can directly threaten the economic center of Dashun, and the rot is more likely to spread to several provinces.

If the influence of external Western countries is not considered, if Dashun reappears in the situation of the last dynasty, Huai will probably become Shaanxi and Henan of the former Ming.

It seems that this is a reason for the emperor to make up his mind: while the emperor is truly in his prime, his prestige is booming, and the four directions are pacified, try to heal the scar that is most likely to rot in this world.

Thinking about the experience of the reform of the aboriginal system in the southwest, Tan Zhen hardened his heart and thought that if there were many refugees who could not make a living because of the abolition of the canal and the change to the sea, then... suppress them.

Military reform, military reform, so much money has been spent on military reform, and the external threats around have been resolved, so we can't just keep them for nothing. He was cruel and made the worst plan, but he didn't know if the emperor dared to make this decision.