Of course, such a big country cannot only revolve around the emperor's family affairs. There are many, many other things happening in this spring.
First, after fierce quarrels, the big river engineering plan was finally finalized. Under the repeated emphasis of Zhao Zongji, Ouyang Xiu, Chen Ke and others, the ministers finally recognized that the reason why the Yellow River often bursts is due to the excessive sedimentation of sediment in the river.
In the river body, the river water becomes shallower and shallower, and the river bed becomes higher and higher. If the lower reaches of the Yellow River are allowed to divide into two streams, the north flow and the east flow, the flow speed of the two rivers will inevitably be slower, and the sedimentation of sediment will inevitably
The more there are, the more disaster will ensue.
Therefore, the most deceptive Ergu River plan was scrapped. However, the plan of the Yellow River flowing north that Zhao Zongji and his group insisted on was impossible to implement. First, it involved the defense of the Liao Kingdom, and the monarchs and ministers of the Song Dynasty did not dare to fight with the Khitan people no matter what.
There are natural dangers. Both of them, the northward flow of the Yellow River will also cause water shortage in the Bianhe River and endanger the water transportation of the capital. Therefore, in terms of river control, the most correct northward flow plan has also been rejected.
Therefore, blocking the north flow and dredging the east flow with all our strength became the only direction, but the specific method of construction still inevitably led to fierce debates.
At this time, Zhao Zongji's reinforcements arrived - the Jinshi scholars in the second year of Jiayou's reign finally ended their three-year term abroad, and a large number of officials returned to Beijing to serve... Some passed the government examinations, and some were directly transferred back to the capital to serve in various ministries.
The number of these officials who returned to Beijing is seventy-eight, a record high. The reason is that firstly, it was due to Ouyang Xiu's devaluation of the Taixue style, which indeed selected a large number of talents for the country. Secondly, it is the official and
Mr. Fu did it intentionally...
Most of these people come from Jiayou Academy. Although some of them follow the trend and fall into the arms of Zhao Zongshi, most of them still choose to support Zhao Zongji - this is naturally inseparable from the active contacts between Zhang Dun and others over the years.
Developed most of them into New Scholar Party members.
Chen Ke could only acquiesce to the fact that other people's crops grew on his own land. He was also a Jinshi in the second year of Jiayou's reign, so how could he be qualified to join him in the same year?
On the other hand, Wang Anshi was the examiner of Jiayou's second-year examination. Although the Song Dynasty strictly prohibited having disciples, he acted like a teacher. But who among Chen Ke and the others met him in private and were not allowed to respectfully call him "teacher"?
Moreover, Wang Anshi had been studying for many years, and it was time for him to accumulate a lot of experience. His new learning had not only been systematically improved, but he had also made great achievements in government affairs.
When he was in the local government, no matter where he was an official, he could manage a good harvest, never close his house at night, and boldly created good laws such as "green crop money" and "water conservancy law", which were grateful to the people and praised by the ministers. Every time he left
At any time, there will be a scene where all the people send each other to each other.
Only half a year after arriving at the Third Division, Wang Anshi persuaded the court to implement the tea law reform.
In the past, the imperial court adopted a tax package system for tea and sold the franchise to big tea merchants. The big tea merchants guaranteed the sales of the tea, regardless of the quality of the tea. Even if the tea was adulterated with grass leaves, there would be no worries about sales because the people would buy it from elsewhere.
If you don’t have tea, you will naturally have to buy tea at a high price.
The result was that the people were harmed, the court was scolded, and the big tea merchants were all benefited... Of course, it was also enriched by the officials.
Now, driven by Wang Anshi, the government abolished the law of selling tea. Instead, it levied tea taxes on tea farms, allowing people to travel from north to south and traffic tea freely. As a result, within six months, the price of tea fell by half, but the quality was better than before.
It was so much better that sales naturally increased.
The tea tax of the imperial court actually increased five times compared to the original tax package. It increased directly from 2 million guan to 9.8 million guan! This made the officials and ministers look at Wang Anshi with admiration!
Although officials accused him of exploiting tea farms too much, Zhao Zhen ordered people to visit tea farms in Gyeonggi and Hunan. Tea farm owners generally reported that the current burden was much lighter than before, which shows the necessity of tea tax reform.
Naturally, the big tea merchants wanted to skin him, and the officials who expected the tea merchants to show their filial piety were so angry that they cursed their mothers.
But the private tea sellers who were released from prison were grateful to Wang Anshi, and they spread the word everywhere that he was the reincarnation of a saint; the young officials even admired Wang Anshi, thinking that he had the heart to defy power and the power to turn things around. This made Zhang Dun's work
It is extremely simple and requires almost no effort to get those who were from the Jiayou Society in the same year to join the ranks of the new party and jointly create the great cause of ZTE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Of course, after all, Chen Ke is the founder of Jiayou Academy, the number one scholar in that subject, and the guy with the highest official position in the same year, who is so good that he and Zhao Zongji can wear the same pants, so everyone still takes his lead...for example, against
So for the same year, Wang Anshi was the teacher and he was the monitor.
However, Monitor Chen is not such an honest guy. He has many buddies in this class. In addition to a group of fellow villagers, there are also the Zeng brothers, Jia Quan and others. When there is a conflict between the teacher and the squad leader, they will help the monitor.
Beat up the teacher...
Okay, this is all off topic.
Back to the topic, Chen Ke recommended Jia Quan and others to Zhao Zongji. Jia Quan was a water conservancy genius and had been working as an official on Hebei Road for the past three years. He used his free time to conduct a detailed field investigation along the Ergu River.
, I have long been confident about how to build the river.
In Jia Quan's view, the most correct plan is naturally for the river to flow north. If it has to flow eastward, there will be big problems... The reason why Chen Ke knows that the current river course flowing eastward is the old route of the Han Dynasty is that Jia Quan has researched it.
of.
However, river construction has never been a simple engineering problem. Now the river can only flow eastward. Naturally, Jia Gan must try his best to remedy the situation and make this plan barely feasible.
With Jia Quan's technical support, Zhao Zongji naturally appeared to be very skilled in the subsequent court discussions.
At that time, the mainstream opinion in the DPRK was to block the north flow immediately after repairing the east-flow dam, so that the Yellow River could flow eastward at full strength. The entire project would take half a year and require 300,000 civilians, which should not exceed the budget.
.
The most important thing is that it will be completed in the second half of the year, and it will not be a wedding dress for others.
As the spokesman for mainstream opinions, Zhao Zongshi fully supported this plan.
However, Zhao Zongji wrote six chapters in a row to advise him, saying: "I am worried that the officials are eager to achieve success and block the north flow suddenly, fearing that it will cost the people and money, and it will not be easy to succeed. Maybe luckily it can be blocked, because the east flow is shallow and narrow, and the embankments are not complete, which will inevitably lead to a decisive decision."
Overflowing. Although this will eliminate the trouble on the west road, it will harm the east road, which is not a strategy. It is better to focus on protecting the upper and second embankments... This is the 'gradual water increase method' proposed by Jia Quan.'
To put it bluntly, it is to build a dam to the west of the Ergu River... "Yue" is a dike... to reduce the amount of water flowing in the north and increase the amount of water flowing in the east. When the east flow becomes deeper and the north flow becomes shallower, that is, the north flow is blocked, before it is released.
Because the Yellow River flows north, it pours into the Yuhe River and the Hulu River to relieve the floods west of En, Ji, Shen, and Ying.
But don't be hasty, and plan it slowly. If the eastward flow stops adding two points this year, then the river's flow from the east will be two to three years in the near direction and four to five years in the distance. When it reaches eight points or more, the river's erosion will be wide.
, Cang, De's embankment has been solidified, and the natural flow from the north is decreasing day by day. If it can be blocked, both routes will be harmless.'
This method was certainly sound, but it took too long and was not favored by all the officials.
However, Zhao Zhen and Fu Bi still attached great importance to Zhao Zongji's words. They called him to the imperial hall and asked him personally: "If we don't take advantage of the east flow to block the north flow now, what will happen if the river changes direction in the future?"
Zhao Zongji replied: "If the upper covenant is solid, the eastward flow will increase day by day, and the northward flow will decrease day by day. Why worry about changing it? If the upper covenant is lost, the consequences will be disastrous. We should try our best to protect the upper covenant."
"How do you keep the promise?" Fu Bi asked.
"In previous years, it would have been difficult to guarantee the safety, but now we have cement and concrete, so we can pass through floods without risk. What's more, if we make an appointment by the river and let the river flow north, we are afraid of not being able to guarantee it; if we cross the river rashly, how can we guarantee it?"
Zhao Zhen nodded. He thought it made sense and asked: "But if the river water often divides into two streams, when will it be effective?"
"If the previous agreement remains, the eastward flow will increase and the northward flow will decrease. Even if it is divided into two flows, there will be no effect and there will be no harm to the country. Why? All the water from the northwest reaches Shandong, so the harm will be great, but if it is divided, it will do less harm.
Some people are eager to fortify Beiliu, all for their own sake, regardless of national strength and the suffering of the people!" Zhao Zongji said angrily.
"Would it be too expensive to defend two rivers?" Zhao Zhen then asked.
"When combined into one, the labor cost will naturally be doubled. If divided into two streams, the labor cost will be halved. Now, wouldn't it be enough to reduce Beiliu's financial resources by half to prepare for Eastward flow?" Zhao Zongji replied.
"That's right," Zhao Zhen nodded in approval: "I have been convinced by you." After that, he looked at Fu Bi and said, "Where is the Prime Minister?"
"Wei Chen also deeply agrees." Fu Bi said respectfully.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, with the support of Zhao Zhen and Fu Xianggong, the river engineering plan was finalized as follows: build an embankment of about 10 meters to the east flow, and wait until the east flow reaches 80%...it must be reached naturally, not man-made...and then block the north flow.
, causing the Yellow River to flow eastward.
Zhao Zongji was appointed to be the water supervisor of the capital, and Zhao Zongshi promoted two river workers, one to supervise and the other to supervise the river workers.
From the official's perspective, this ensures that the project proceeds smoothly and any problems can be reported in a timely manner, making it foolproof.
Zhao Zongshi didn't want to accept this appointment at first. River work has always been regarded as dirty work. Although he had great power, Confucian officials avoided it... To put it bluntly, scholar-bureaucrats are hardworking and can make decisions, but they want to be exposed.
Come and go in the rain, eat and live on the river embankment, there is no way.
Secondly, although the "Zhidu Water Supervisor" is an insignificant official, he can review and interfere with the river workers, which makes Zhao Zongshi feel like he is being ridden by Zhao Zongji.
But Meng Yang, a counselor left to him by his father, advised him that in extraordinary times, he should do extraordinary things. The more painful and tiring an official appointment is, the more he cannot refuse it. This is an excellent opportunity to cultivate himself to work tirelessly and dare to take on important tasks.
Furthermore, the Ergu River worker who is in charge of hundreds of thousands of people and millions of materials is the commander in chief of river management, while the Zhidu Water Supervisor is just a supervisor without real power. It is clear at a glance which one is more important.
