Late at night, the lights are dim, the north wind is blowing, and the trees in the courtyard of Chongcheng Post House are whistling.
Zhang Yan frowned and sat under the lamp, with the Huaidong seawall construction draft spread out in front of him.
The young boy in Tsing Yi who was waiting next to him kept his eyes open, not daring to doze off. I don’t know what happened to the adults, but he took a stack of thirty or fifty pages of paper, came back in the afternoon, sat in front of the window, and never moved his feet. He kept repeating it.
I flipped through it repeatedly, wanting to pick out every word and read it in. My brows tightened, and I was silent for a long time.
"Go to the front and see if Liu Tingzhou is asleep?" Zhang Yan asked the young man in green clothes standing sideways.
The boy in green clothes thought to himself: It was almost dawn, how could he not fall asleep? He did not dare to reply, so he responded and walked out quickly.
In order to repair and defend the sea embankment, Lin Fu sent the salt and iron envoy to Sheyang. The inspectors from the two salt fields in Dafeng also summoned Chongzhou to discuss the matter. Zhang Yan felt relieved because he was afraid of Sheyang. The salt officials from Dafeng and the two places looked at
Not knowing what Lin Fu might be hiding, he surrendered his identity and went to Chongzhou in person to participate in the discussion.
This was Zhang Yan's third day in Chongzhou, and it was only this afternoon that he got a relatively complete draft of the sea wall construction plan, which indeed allowed him to see a lot of tricks in it.
The construction and defense of the sea wall in Huaidong involves the Huainan Salt Area, Hailing Prefecture, and Huai'an Prefecture.
Zhang Yan came, and Liu Tingzhou came; Liu Shidu had been in Chongzhou before, and he visited Jianling and Gaocheng counties before coming to Chongzhou.
Zhang Yan cannot trust Liu Shidu, but wants to communicate with Liu Tingzhou privately before tomorrow's decision, so as not to be isolated and without support during tomorrow's discussion.
The boy in green clothes turned around and walked back, reporting: "There are lights on in the yard ahead. After asking, I found out that Mr. Liu just sent someone to deliver supper, so he probably didn't sleep..."
Hearing what the boy said, Zhang Yan also felt hungry.
Although Zhang Yan is a fourth-rank salt and iron envoy, he and Liu Tingzhou do not belong to each other, and it is inconvenient to summon Liu Tingzhou to see him.
Afraid that Liu Tingzhou would fall asleep and not caring about his hunger, Zhang Yan picked up the herbs and walked to the front yard to see Liu Tingzhou.
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"Master Liu, what do you think of the herbs that protect the seawall?" Zhang Yan couldn't wait to ask Liu Tingzhou for his opinion before his servants could make tea and serve it.
"It's quite complete. The system commander must have been prepared for it a long time ago." Liu Tingzhou said.
Liu Tingzhou wrote to the imperial court that he wanted to use salt and silver to build a sea wall in Yandu, and Zhang Yan knew about it. Of course, Zhang Yan did not need to come forward for such a thing, and there was no way that Liu Tingzhou's information could enter the palace and be presented to the emperor.
It was not difficult for Zhang Yan to guess Liu Tingzhou's attitude towards repairing and defending the sea wall. However, in the later stages of the Huaisi War, Liu Tingzhou and Lin Fu had a serious quarrel. In this matter, he could only win Liu Tingzhou's support first.
"From Hecheng north to Qingjiang Punan, there are only four river gates built in the two hundred miles. There are only four rivers in the three counties that can pass through the embankment and connect to the sea. Once Huaidong is flooded, how can the four river gates have time to drain the water?" Zhang Yan said.
"Waterlogging, flooding, and tidal intrusion are all harm to Huaidong. However, the tide occupies nine points, and waterlogging only accounts for one point. Even if a river gate is not repaired and a sea dike is built, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages." Liu Tingzhou originally said.
He is a native of Baoying County and has been an official in Huai'an for a long time, so he knows the situation in Huaidong well.
Building a river sluice in those days was not a simple matter. A double or triple river sluice with a width of more than ten feet required driving piles, burying bricks, and setting up stones and melting iron. It had to be built extremely solidly to withstand the impact of the sea tide.
The river gate is equipped with a movable gate, and beams and bridges are built above it to connect with the causeway, which is even more wasteful than a fortified city.
From Hecheng north to Punan of the Qingjiang River, the budget for defending the middle and northern sections of the sea wall for two hundred miles is 700,000 taels of silver, and a separate budget of 300,000 taels for the four Haihe River locks alone.
Every time a Haihe River lock is added, an additional 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver will be spent. No one can bear this pressure.
In Liu Tingzhou's previous plan to build a seawall in the east of Yandu County, he did not even plan to build a river gate. In the face of huge costs, he was forced to make a trade-off between waterlogging and sea intrusion.
"Jiangmen and Hecheng have actually fallen into Lin Fu's bag. The sea dike is built from Jiangmen and Hecheng to the north, crossing the eastern border of Huaidong," Zhang Yan said, "Master Liu, aren't you afraid that Lin Fu has other plans?"
Liu Tingzhou sighed slightly and said: "It was said that it was completed in two years. I don't think it will take three to five years to compete for merit. In three to five years, Chongzhou has continued to invest a lot of money in this. Even if there is a plan, it is still far away in three to five years."
Years from now...three to five years from now, inland water transport should resume."
Most of the world's grain transportation passes through Huai'an. The prefect of Huai'an has the responsibility of supervising water transportation. Liu Tingzhou is also quite familiar with water transportation matters. It is not difficult to guess that Lin Fu actually raised money and grain from the salt and silver grain guarantee and Jinhai grain roads to repair and defend the sea.
embankment.
Calculated based on the amount of grain transported, Chongzhou's silver from salt and silver grain protection is only four to five million taels per year.
Now that Lin Fu has invested all this money in building and defending the sea wall, this must be stopped. Should he force Lin Fu to use this money to build troops? Weigh the lesser of two evils. With such a simple principle, what can Liu Tingzhou do?
Can't figure it out?
Liu Tingzhou knew why Zhang Yan objected.
When Lin Fu wanted to build and defend the sea wall, he first proposed to protect the three counties of Yandu, Jianling, and Gaocheng from tide intrusion. After all, the Lianghuai salt area was not within Lin Fu's jurisdiction. But when the real plan was put forward, the entire
All seawalls must be built within the Huainan Salt Zone. Zhang Yan was afraid that Lin Fu would take this opportunity to covertly include the Huainan Salt Zone into the defense area under the jurisdiction of the Huaidong Zhiji Division.
Zhang Yan had already suffered a big loss on the Hecheng grassland, so it was no wonder he was wary at this time.
Liu Tingzhou secretly thought: The sea dikes are being built in the three counties of Yandu, Jianling and Gaocheng. Why should we worry about Lin Fu's forces infiltrating into these three counties? We cannot build the sea dikes into the sea.
In the three counties of Yandu, Jianling, and Gaocheng, the fields all have their own owners. The sea dikes are built in these three counties. Land acquisition is time-consuming and laborious. However, if they are built in the salt area, there will be no such trouble.
The more important thing is that the construction of the sea wall must have the dual function of protecting land and salt.
Every time a sea tide comes in, the ones who suffer the most are the salt households living on the seashore. They have nowhere to escape and no time to escape. Often their houses float into the sea and countless bodies drown. The salt households are severely affected, and the production in the salt area is also huge.
Affected.
The sea dike passes through the salt area, salt is boiled outside the dike, and salt households live inside the dike.
The plan also mentioned that a large number of tide-sheltering high piers should be built outside the embankment. If salt households encounter sea intrusion while cooking salt outside the embankment, they can also take temporary refuge on the nearby high piers.
God knows how eager the 100,000 salt people are to build such a sea-protecting embankment in the salt area!
Besides, Lin Fu took money from "Salt and Silver to Protect Food" to repair the salt, which makes perfect sense.
Zhang Yan was worried that Lin Fu would reach out to the Huainan salt area and covertly add the Huainan salt area to the defense area under the jurisdiction of the Huaidong Zhizhi District. This was entirely possible.
In the construction plan, the southern section of the embankment between Hecheng and Jiangmen will be built first, but seven posthouses will be built every thirty miles to the east of Yandu, Jianling and Gaocheng.
The purpose of repairing the posthouse was firstly to prepare for the construction of the embankment in the Ming Dynasty, and secondly to make the postfortress integrated with the embankment in the future.
The entire sea-defending embankment is also a large post road running through the eastern part of Huaidong. Posts separated by thirty miles can naturally be used as post stations. Four of the post stations coincide with the Haihe River Gate, which actually controls the entrance to the salt area.
Four main rivers.
The whole plan is quite ingenious. These seven post forts are controlled by the Huaidong Army, and the Haidai Avenue runs through the Huainan Salt Area. It is not difficult to imagine Lin Fu's control and penetration of the Huainan Salt Area after the embankment is built.
.
Of course, Lin Fu promised at this time that he would hand over the embankment and the fort to the jurisdiction of the Salt and Iron Division after they were completed, but Zhang Yan really couldn't believe Lin Fu's character.
However, the role of defending the sea wall in protecting salt is very obvious and important. Zhang Yan wanted to object but could not find an excuse, so he wanted to come and test Liu Tingzhou's opinions. As long as Liu Tingzhou supported him, Zhang Yan gritted his teeth and insisted on defending the sea.
The embankment was moved twenty miles west to prevent Lin Fu from taking this opportunity to spread his hands all over the Huaidong salt area; but Liu Tingzhou pretended to be confused at this time.
Inland water transport resumed in 35 years, which naturally cut off Chongzhou's largest source of wealth. And Chongzhou had previously invested money in repairing the sea embankment, so Lin Fu didn't have many choices other than becoming a loyal minister of the Dai Viet Dynasty.
It is not a problem to be granted the title of Marquis or Duke.
What if inland water transport cannot be restored in three to five years? At that time, can the title of Marquis or Duke satisfy the ambition of the fledgling Lin Fu?
In Liu Tingzhou's opinion, it is better to build the sea dike entirely in the salt area than to build it at the boundary line between the three counties and the salt area.
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After failing to win the support of Liu Tingzhou, Liu Shidu expressed his support early, and Zhang Yan also knew that he was alone. Even Yue Lengqiu hoped that Chongzhou's money and food could be spent on building and defending the sea embankment, but he was the only one to oppose it.
When he arrived in Beijing, he would have disagreements with Zhang Xie and Hao Zongcheng. Li Zhuo had always supported the Huaidong Army.
Zhang Yan can only hope that the construction of the sea dike can be delayed for three to five years. He can only hope that the river and canal transportation can be restored in three to five years. The strategy of "salt and silver to protect grain" will naturally be invalid. Under the current situation, he has to agree to the entire sea dike.
The seawall runs through the Huainan salt area, which secretly delays the development.
In this way, by late November, the sea wall construction plan was basically finalized.
The southern section of the sea wall defense has entered the implementation stage first, and the conditions are the most mature.
The Huaidong Zhizhi envoy had already set up inspection departments in Hecheng and Jiangmen, built walled cities, and also built a highway between Jiangmen and Hecheng. In order to prevent the She family from sending troops to raid Chongzhou by sea, between Jiangmen and Hecheng
Three solid beacon towers were also built. After Lin Fu decided to build a sea embankment, Hecheng and Jiangmen built a large number of temporary military camps.
Chongzhou has the Yangtze River in the south and the Yanyan River in the north. The terrain is slightly higher than the Hudang Plain area in the north. There are no river gates between Jiangmen and Hecheng. At this time, as long as people are pulled up, they can be divided into four parts.
Duan immediately started building embankments.
As for the northern and middle sections, seven posthouses must be built every thirty miles, followed by the Haihe River Gate, and finally embankments must be built in sections to connect the posthouses and the river gate.
By the end of November, except for a small number of the refugee army Ding Zhuang and their families who were resettled in Shanyang, almost all the others moved from Huaisi to Chongzhou, mainly gathering along Hecheng and Jiangmen.
Of course, the initial investment is also huge.
The labor camp has a staff of 60,000, and the monthly investment in food and salary is 30,000 shi of rice and 20,000 taels of silver. This is not difficult to bear, after all, it is invested month by month.
Besides, so many people are the basic soldiers of the Huaidong Army and must be maintained strictly according to the battalion organization.
If the Huaidong Army had not built iron smelting and various craftsmanship workshops in Chongzhou, tens of thousands of iron tools would have been purchased immediately if there was money.
Whether embankment construction can improve efficiency, the investment of a large number of iron tools is essential.
When Lin Fu first came to Chongzhou, wooden shovels and shovels were mostly used to dig soil and pits in the countryside. Every time the county conscripted people to do work, they did not send out money and food for the conscripts, but asked the villagers to bring their own tools. How could the efficiency be high?
Of course, in addition to a large number of iron tools, a large number of mules, horses and vehicles also need to be invested; in this way, the construction period can be completed within two years as much as possible.