Inside the Panlong-engraved gold door, there are layers of bright yellow curtains hanging. Each curtain is a door leading to the innermost palace.
On the bed covered with bright yellow cushions, Zhao Zhen, an official from the Song Dynasty, was sitting. He was wearing a light blue casual robe and tied his hair with blue silk inlaid with jasper. He looked at the two pretenders sitting here with a smile.
.
Sitting on the brocade pier on the left is a gentle and elegant young man with a face like a crown jewel. He is wearing a purple official uniform and his face is full of concern.
Sitting on the brocade pier on the right is a young man with a Chinese character face and thick eyebrows. He is also wearing a purple official uniform, with a faint look of worry on his face.
These are the two children he watched grow up. The older one is called Zhao Zongshi, the thirteenth son of his cousin Zhao Yunrang, the king of Runan County. The younger one is called Zhao Zongji, the second son of his cousin Zhao Yunbi, the king of Beihai County. They are two years apart in age.
They were all raised in the palace.
Although he later sent them out, Zhao Zhen never stopped caring. Even their marriage was arranged by him and the queen. The two of them also treated them with fatherly courtesy and went to the palace regularly to pay respects. It can be said that they have always been in love.
Same father and son.
After hearing the two people's greetings, the official smiled and said: "My health is much better, you don't have to worry about me."
"Uncle, you still need to get more rest. The princes have to worry about state affairs and so on." Zhao Zongshi's voice was as gentle as his appearance: "This time he must be nursed back to health, and no roots can be left behind."
"Yes," Zhao Xu nodded and said warmly, "Is your elder brother's rash healed?"
"It was better the day before yesterday, and now he is alive and kicking again." When he mentioned his son, the smile on Zhao Zongshi's face finally became warmer. His eight-year-old eldest son Zhao Zhongzhen was born with a tiger's head and a tiger's brain. He was smart and smart, and was deeply loved by the officials.
"I haven't seen him for a while." Zhao Zhen blamed him: "Why didn't you bring him for me to see him?"
"I'm afraid he didn't act well and brought illness," Zhao Zongshi said warmly: "In two days, he will fully recover, and I will bring him to my uncle to pay my respects.""
"That's fine." Zhao Zhen nodded, then turned to Zhao Zongji and said, "Where is that boy of yours?"
"He eats and sleeps all day long." Zhao Zongji is not as vigorous as Zhao Zongshi. He got married at the age of fifteen and gave birth to a baby at the age of sixteen. His son was just one month old... It was also becoming a father that made him not want to pretend to be crazy or stupid, which would make his son
Disdainful: "There's nothing wrong with it."
"Don't be careless, children should be extra careful..." Zhao Zhen said with emotion, as if something was touched on his mind. He was silent for a long time before he regained his composure, looked at the two of them and said, "Have you done your homework?"
"It's done." They both nodded at the same time, each took out a book from their sleeves, and stood up at the same time.
Then a eunuch came forward, took it, and presented it to Zhao Zhen.
Zhao Zhen nodded, motioned for him to put it on the table, looked at the two of them and said, "Let's talk about it in general."
"We juniors have little talent and little knowledge. What do we know about major national affairs? Most of them just follow what others say. Occasionally we have our own ideas, which just make my uncle smile." Naturally, Zhao Zongshi came first. He said a few words modestly, and then talked eloquently: "I think,
In order to achieve the purpose of returning the river to the east, the most appropriate method is to open the Liuta River, so that the Yellow River water returns to the old river in the east of Jingdong and flows into the sea... Among the old Yellow River courses, this river course is relatively straight and the mileage from the sea is longer.
Short, and through measures such as dredging, cutting bends to straighten, and adding embankments..."
Balabala talked for a long time, but actually the central meaning was just one sentence, the Liuta River plan is good!
However, the official kept a listening attitude and listened patiently to what he had to say. Then he smiled and said: "Very good, you put a lot of thought into it."
"Uncle, you are so complimentary." Zhao Zongshi said humbly.
"Ji'er, where are you?" the official asked, looking at Zhao Zongji.
"Report to uncle." Zhao Zongji took a deep breath and said loudly: "My child thinks the Six Pagoda River Plan is a huge fallacy!"
"Oh..." The official said slightly surprised: "How?"
Zhao Zongshi's expression also changed slightly, and he immediately smiled and said nothing.
"The reason is very simple. If the old Henglong Road can be used, why will the Yellow River change its course?" Zhao Zongji said solemnly: "The Yellow River is originally three parts water and seven parts mud, and everything is silt. ("") And the sedimentation of silt is all
It starts from the slow flow of water downstream. The higher the siltation in the downstream, the slower the water flow. If the flow speed in the upstream is too fast, and the flow speed in the downstream is too slow, the dike will be lowered from the middle reaches. This is the normal trend."
"Haier specifically checked the hydrological data and found that since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the number of overflows in the lower reaches of this waterway has gradually increased. And in this dynasty, the old Jingdong Road has been overflowed again and again, and it has reached a fundamental level.
It is beyond control. What is the reason for this? Haier sent people to conduct on-the-spot investigation and interviewed hundreds of experienced old people. They learned that the Yellow River has been silted up from the east of Puyang, which is not like what Li Zhongchang and others said.
, only the area above Copper City is considered high ground.”
"Actually, the level above Tongcheng can be considered 'extremely high', and the riverbed gets higher and higher as you go east, and the difference between the highest point and Shanghukou is close to a hundred feet... Avoid high places and go low, from high to low, this is the nature of water, so everything
The river has been abandoned on the high ground, and its old course is difficult to restore. Even if it can be temporarily restored with force, it will not be long before it is lowered upstream, causing a new diversion, and the old course will remain the same after all. Liuta River
It cannot be opened, and the fundamental reason is here!”
"At the beginning of the construction, Li Zhongchang and others said that the Liuta River could play a diversion role and reduce the pressure of floods on the Yellow River. But Ha'er learned that after the diversion, floods in the two states of Hebei and Hebei were still in danger.
The reduced water flowed downwards without returning, causing trouble to several prefectures such as Bin, Cang, De, Bo, and Qi. If all the water was allowed to return, the trouble would be several times greater than before. The five prefectures above are known as Fufu, Hebei
Along the way, the people of the Five Prefectures have been destroyed and their property has been destroyed. The losses are even more incalculable. It can be seen that the suggestion of opening six pagodas is really absurd.
To the extreme, it will cause endless harm and is completely undesirable!"
When Zhao Zongji made an impassioned speech, and when he was chatting with Zhao Zongshi just now, there seemed to be no difference in the official's expressions and movements. They were all listening patiently. Only those who are most familiar with him would notice something from a small movement.
different.
Just halfway through listening to the former, Zhao Zhen's ears began to twitch slightly, but after listening to the latter, the officials' ears remained stunned.
After a while, the official smiled and said: "Ji'er, do you know that if these words spread, they will offend others."
"But the boy is more afraid that his uncle's people will suffer unreasonable floods."
The word "Wuwang" stung Zhao Zhen. The official narrowed his slender eyes slightly and asked Zhao Zongshi again: "What do you think of Shi'er?"
"What my brother said seems to make sense." Zhao Zongshi smiled and said, "But I think that the three generations of water ministers of the Li family and Li Zhongchang's family background would never make such a low-level mistake, so I still believe in the two prime ministers.
judge."
"Hmm..." Zhao Zhen nodded after hearing this, as if he had the same idea.
"Uncle!" Zhao Zongji sighed secretly in his heart, stood up and clasped his fists: "The wealth and lives of hundreds of thousands of people of the Song Dynasty should not be taken at any risk!"
"Well..." Zhao Zhen nodded again, seeming to agree with this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After coming out of Funing Hall, the two brothers walked out side by side.
"Brother Xian, have you recovered from your illness?" Zhao Zongshi asked warmly.
"Brother, I'm not sick, I'm just bored and having fun." Zhao Zongji said with a smile.
"You are now a father, you have to act like an adult." Zhao Zongshi stretched out his hand, picked a dead leaf from his shoulder with a smile, and said with a smile: "You performed very well today."
"Thank you for the compliment, brother." Zhao Zongji smiled bitterly and said, "I'm just a straight person. If these words reach my father's ears, he will definitely be beaten."
"How could it be? It's too late for Uncle Wang to be happy." Zhao Zongshi shook his head and smiled: "By the way, I got a set of "The Great Wilderness Sutra", which is really interesting. When will you come over to appreciate it together?"
"My little brother is not short of time. If my brother is free one day, just send someone to call me. I will be there whenever you call me."
"Haha, okay." As he spoke, he walked to the palace gate. As soon as he left the palace gate, he saw the bustling street. The eunuch led the horse and took the reins. Zhao Zongshi smiled and said, "I'll see you another day."
"Send brother off." Zhao Zongji sang.
Watching Zhao Zongshi go away, he dropped his face and said with a wry smile: "Half of my body is freezing."
"Why didn't you tell me?" The person leading the horse turned out to be Chen Ke. He chuckled and said, "Half of his body is going to be burnt?" After all, the relationship between the two can no longer be hidden from anyone, so why bother to hide it?
"Haha..." Zhao Zongji laughed and said, "I don't know why I'm so angry."
"Just be angry," Chen Ke said with a smile, "Are you still afraid of him?"
"Don't say that," Zhao Zongji said worriedly, "He has twenty-seven brothers."
"Damn, his father is so capable of giving birth?" Chen Ke said with wide eyes.
"Being able to survive is also a skill," Zhao Zongji nodded and said, "If there are too many brothers, there will always be a few extremely vicious people... It is said that the eighth and sixth elders in his family have a deep relationship with the 'Wuyou Cave' and the 'Ghost Fan Tower'.
"
"Wuyou Cave, Ghost Fan Tower?" Chen Ke frowned slightly and said, "What is that?"
"After more than a hundred years of construction in Bianliang City, the underground ditches are extremely deep and wide," Zhao Zongji pointed at his feet and said: "There are many desperadoes hiding in them, calling themselves the 'Worry-free Cave'. It is said that the largest one among them is
It's the 'Ghost Tower' built by the beggar gang, specifically to plunder women from the ground and put them into prostitution and persecution."
"No way," Chen Ke looked at the prosperous Bianjing City and said in disbelief: "There are one shop for five miles and one battalion for each compartment in Bianjing City. How many soldiers and police are there? Why not wipe them out?"
"Why hasn't it been suppressed? It's not like Kaifeng's governors in the past have not sent people to suppress it." Zhao Zongji shook his head and said: "But, in Bianjing City, which has a population of one and a hundred thousand people, how many rogues are there among them? How many ruffians are produced every day? Suppress it.
Cutting off batch after batch, just like cutting leeks, it cannot be wiped out completely..." After a pause, he lowered his voice and said: "Besides, the gangs that can survive the crackdowns all have backgrounds.
Didn’t I just say that..."
"It turns out there is a protective umbrella..." Chen Ke suddenly realized.
"Anyway, you must be careful," Zhao Zongji said: "Among the beggars on the street, there are eighty percent of them. They don't dare to do anything to me, for fear that they will target you. I'll let Lao Qian and the others follow you.
."Old Qian is Zhao Zongji's chief of guard.
"That's fine." Chen Ke nodded, there was no need to act like a hero.
