As soon as the Spring Festival of the seventh year of Emperor Zhangwu of the Han Dynasty passed, the whole country became busy.
Officials' vacation days are very short, and they have to be on duty in shifts every year. On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, civil servants from all over the country officially start working.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month in Ruyang County, Runan County, Yuzhou, Henan, it was raining lightly. Early in the morning, Zhuge Liang, the magistrate of Ruyang County, went out.
It has been almost a year and a half since the fourth year of Zhangwu, when Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Yang Xiu, Chen Qun, Sima Yi, Xiang Lang, Kong Jian, Yao Bo, Huang Qi and others were released.
The design work of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was completed last year. From Chen Mu's preparation to the inspection and design of the river section, it took a total of two years, and the location was finally determined.
Chen Mu inspected Yangzhou and Xuzhou for half a year, and also visited Hebei, Henan and other places. For two years, he traveled all over the north and south of the Yangtze River to build canal lines without touching the ground.
He naturally remembers a rough map of our country, but the river map is definitely not clear. Moreover, the distribution of rivers during the Han Dynasty was completely different from the distribution of rivers two thousand years later. Many rivers that have disappeared still exist.
Therefore, Chen Mu had to measure it with his feet and inspect it personally.
Not only should we examine the condition of the river, we should also examine the upstream water sources to see if there will be problems such as water source depletion and soil erosion.
After determining the location of the river, as well as the geology and land conditions of the various routes along the way, Chen Mu would formally determine where to dig on the map and how wide and deep it would be appropriate.
The average width of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 20 meters, the average water depth is about 1.5 meters, and the tonnage of ships it can carry is about 40-100 tons.
But it was a wooden boat. Due to the slow flow of the canal, after the canal was dug in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was often hauled by manpower trackers. Therefore, the water depth was insufficient, so it could only be driven by manpower, which was very inefficient.
Chen Mu didn't know what the average width and water depth of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal were, but he knew that after possessing rubber, for at least a hundred years in the future, the ships that would use the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal would definitely be steamships.
Therefore, the width and water depth must meet the requirements of a steam ship, and the draft capacity must be above 200 tons.
In order to achieve this draft, according to experiments conducted by Chen Mu on rivers, the best water depth is between 3-4 meters.
The tonnage of a draft of 3-4 meters can reach 1,000-2,000 tons, and the average steam ship is approximately this tonnage when fully loaded.
Therefore, it was finally determined that the depth of canals excavated in various places should be 4 meters on average, and preferably 5 meters.
This is a very huge project.
The method adopted by the imperial court was division of labor and contracting. Each river section was handled by the local government, and the state was responsible for financial allocations.
Moreover, the local government borrowed the money from the state. After the canal is opened in the future, when cargo ships pass through the local government's river section, the government can collect tolls to repay the loan.
Even if big men are mining all over the world and have too much money to spend, they cannot directly subsidize local governments. The function of money circulation is to revitalize the economy. What is the difference between directly throwing money and the state giving money to the government and the people?
Therefore, although you are a local government under my rule, the accounts must be calculated clearly. In the future, the country can also recover funds in this way to prevent the emergence of inflation problems.
Ruyang County, where Zhuge Liang is located, is the most important link in the Henan Canal section, because according to Chen Mu's designation of the river section, it is located on the southwest bank of Yingshui River. To the west of Yingshui River, it can communicate with Ru River. There are flat-top mountains on Ru River, and there are tributaries flowing into it.
Nanyang, downstream is the Huai River.
The Huai River originates from Tongbai Mountain, and in Pingchun County, Jingzhou, which is later Xinyang City, you can dig all the way down from here to Yunmengze. You can connect the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to the upper reaches of the Huai River.
In this way, Wuhan can go directly north from the Huaihe River to Beijing. If you want to go to Luoyang or Chang'an, you can go north along the Hanjiang River, enter the Meihe River, then enter Rushui, and finally dig a canal between Yishui and Rushui.
Enter Luoyang, and then go to Chang'an from the Yellow River.
The two rivers heading north from Jingzhou are not aimless. There are theories. For example, the Kuaihe Canal connecting Luoyang was the Kuaisui Canal later built by Cao Cao. However, it was not built to Yingchuan, but the river was expanded to facilitate his transportation of grain and grass.
Attack Jingzhou.
Another canal connecting Yingshui, Rushui and Honggou water is called Tuolu Canal. It was built twenty years later by Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi in the sixth year of Huangchu, and connected it with Bian Canal, Wo River and Sui River.
Connected together.
Therefore, to a certain extent, whether it was the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal or the current canal dug by Chen Mu, they were dredging the original water system instead of creating a new river.
Moreover, many of the river sections have been connected during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, such as Bianqu, Honggou, Hangou, Yangqu, etc. They are already standing on the shoulders of their predecessors.
After the bumper grain harvests in the past few years and the people in the Central Plains have basically solved their food and clothing problems, the next step is naturally how to hide wealth among the people.
The country began to carry out a major canal project. In addition to storing the gold, silver and copper dug back from overseas, it was used to make as much as needed. Using copper-zinc alloy technology, the five-baht brass coin, which was almost impossible to imitate, became the mainstream currency.
The former five-baht coins were recycled by the court, including inferior five-baht coins and even iron coins originally produced by princes from various places, and were destroyed uniformly to redefine the currency system of the Han Dynasty.
In addition, the imperial court also created more valuable silver coins, using silver, copper, and tin alloys to smelt silver coins with the same proportions as Yuan Datou.
The production of alloys was a dimensionality reduction attack on the Eastern Han Dynasty's anti-counterfeiting. As long as the proportions and materials were not revealed, even if someone wanted to imitate them, the appearance of the products would be exactly the same, but the materials would be different. It would be clear by touching or using other methods.
Therefore, the entire monetary system of the Eastern Han Dynasty went from extremely chaotic to unified overnight, and the economy recovered very quickly.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After the financial allocation, counties and counties in charge of canals in various places will recruit a large number of civilians to dig river channels. Since the food problem has been solved, the people have all the young and strong people during their leisure time.
Almost everyone signed up to participate, and even people from counties and counties where the canal did not pass through would come all the way, so the progress of the project was guaranteed.
Zhuge Liang was responsible for the Tuolu Canal later dug by Cao Wei. This was the first month of the seventh year of Zhang Wu. After the winter snow melted a few days ago, the weather had not completely warmed up. It had been raining for several days. Today, the rain has become lighter.
, he decided to go to the canal section to have a look.
The county government also had some official business to deal with, but he did not return to Luoyang this year to celebrate the New Year. He took advantage of the New Year's Eve to finish some official business that should be handled.
For example, the appointment and dismissal of some township officials and personnel decisions, adjustments to agricultural development and economic planning in various parts of Ruyang County, and political suggestions to the superiors of Ruyang County, the prefect of Runan County, for officials at all levels in Ruyang County who are not capable of handling them.
and feedback.
It turns out that the Han Dynasty adopted a central appointment system. Basically, the appointments of county-level officials were often appointed by the central government, including county magistrates, county captains and the like. Nowadays, the Han Dynasty adopts a first-level trusteeship system.
County chiefs in each state are appointed by the central government, county-level chiefs are appointed by state government officials, and county-level officials at the second level are appointed by county-level officials in consultation with the Liyuan Yuan.
These may seem complicated, but in fact it can be understood that senior officials and mayors are directly appointed and dismissed by the central government. Senior county officials, county magistrates and deputy county magistrates are studied and decided by the provincial party committee. Lower-level officials such as county public security bureau directors and education bureau directors
The director is determined by the leadership team of the municipal party committee, the Organization Department and the corresponding departments.
For example, a county in Dahan now has a county magistrate and a county magistrate, who correspond to the senior county official and the county magistrate respectively. There is also a deputy county magistrate and two deputy county magistrates, who correspond to the deputy county magistrate and the two deputy county magistrates respectively. These people
The appointment and dismissal shall be decided by the leadership team of the state government.
As for the appointment and dismissal of the county magistrate at the lower level, the president of the Dali Yuan, the president of the Supervisory Yuan and the president of the People's Yuan, the county magistrate has the right to recommend, make suggestions and report. The county leadership team negotiates with the corresponding higher-level departments and the People's Court.
Come to appoint and remove.
For example, the appointment and dismissal of county captains in a certain place is jointly discussed by the prefect, lieutenants of the county and officials, and is not directly under the long-arm jurisdiction of the emperor as in the past.
Since Zhuge Liang married Chen Feng, the couple has been living in Luoyang. At the end of last year, because Chen Mu had been out on inspections, the second son Chen Zhi was promoted to the county magistrate of Weijun the year before last. He has been assisting the prefect of Weijun to control the entire canal of Weijun.
During the excavation work, my parents had no one to look after me.
In addition, Chen Feng was already pregnant with her second child, so she returned to Qingzhou. It was a good thing to have Chen's father-in-law and mother-in-law to take care of her and to stay with the old man at the same time. Without his wife, it was impossible for him to return to Luoyang, so he spent the Chinese New Year this year.
I lived in Ruyang County.
There was light rain in the sky, and it was still dark when Zhuge Liang went out. The city streets paved with bluestones were sparsely populated. He was wearing a blue thick satin cotton coat, held an umbrella, and went out with only four followers beside him.
After getting on the carriage, the coachman raised his whip, and the carriage gurgled toward the north of the city. Leaving the north city gate, about five kilometers away, you will see the mighty and turbulent Yingshui River.
Yingshui is a large river, second only to the Yellow River, Yangtze River, Huaihe River and Jishui. It originates from the Songshan area of Yingchuan and is the second largest river in Runan County.
The construction period has been going on for nearly a year now. There are about more than 100,000 prime-age laborers involved in the construction of the river channel in nearby towns, villages and even neighboring counties. However, the new year has just passed and the river channel construction period has not started yet, so there is no one on the dug river channel.
.
The rain was pouring on the carriage shed. After arriving at the construction site, Zhuge Liang got out of the car and held an umbrella. As far as he could see, he saw a vast plain with extremely lush forest vegetation and a huge gap spreading all the way to the west.
The Ruyang River section is dug from Yingshui to Ruyang River and passes through the Ruyang City. Therefore, the early route planning and city planning must be done well. It cannot be too close to the city or too far from the city.
In the future, a dock will be built outside the city. If it is too close, the development of the dock and the city will be limited. If it is too far away, it will be inconvenient to transport goods.
Therefore, the final plan was determined, about five miles away from the city, and several villages in the middle will be merged into the Ruyang urban circle in the future.
Zhuge Liang looked around to check whether the width and depth of the river were as expected.
The river will not be connected to the river in the early stage of the river excavation work, but at this time the entire river has been soaked, and numerous large and small puddles have appeared in it.
Some of them were accumulated by recent rains, some were dug into groundwater, and some were caused by rains in the upper reaches of Yingshui River and rising water in the middle reaches, forming a shallow surface layer of water in the river channel, with a depth of about ten centimeters.
However, these will not affect the construction period. The focus of Zhuge Liang's observation is whether the quality of the river project is up to standard. The condition of the forest vegetation on both sides of the river will cause water and soil erosion, and whether it will prevent floods and disasters.
Because this river not only carries the function of a canal, but also carries the task of irrigation on both sides and water use for urban and rural residents. If the flood control capacity is poor, it may cause floods.
Zhuge Liang walked along and inspected the construction site, but found no quality problems. When he was satisfied, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a huge puddle not far away and had the wrong color.
The puddle was larger than ordinary small puddles, up to three feet deep, overflowing people's knees, covering hundreds of meters of surrounding rivers, and was almost black in color.
"How is this going?"
Zhuge Liang was surprised.
The attendant said: "Maybe it was stained black by the soil."
"Where can there be black soil in the hinterland of the Central Plains?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head and said, "Send someone to invite Zhou Xian Cheng, Dean Li, Supervisor Wang and others."
The three people he mentioned were the county magistrate Zhou An who was his partner, Li Zhen, the dean of the Transportation Institute, and Wang Ji, the chief engineer who was responsible for the overall design and excavation of the river.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! All three of them graduated from Taishan Academy. In theory, these three are his seniors. Zhuge Liang entered Taishan Academy in 187 AD and died at the age of 12 in 193 AD.
I entered Taishan Academy in 2011 and was already in the 10th class of students.
The county magistrate Zhou An is in the 6th class of the Confucian College of Taishan Academy, the dean of the School of Transportation Li Zhen is in the 7th class of the College of Science, and the engineer Wang Ji is in the 9th class of the College of Geology in Taishan Academy. They were all old when they entered
Over 20 years old, now like Zhou Andu, he is already in his early 40s.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang respected them more and used the word "please".
Nowadays, there are countless grassroots officials all over the world who came from Taishan Academy. These people often stick together for warmth, and there are many contacts between juniors and seniors. They are like an emerging political group in the Han Dynasty, like Donglin Academy in the Ming Dynasty.
In order to combat this situation, Chen Mu also seized the time to establish a new Imperial College, and at the same time, he wanted to build new universities in Chang'an, Xiangyang, Zhuoxian and other Western, Southern and Northern Capitals as soon as possible to compete with the Taishan Academy.
But before that, this situation still exists. At least for now, these officials' unity is conducive to local development, because they resolutely defend Chen Mu's ideas and do things according to Chen Mu's intentions without delay.
Soon Zhou An, Li Zhen and Wang Ji rushed over.
He was accompanied by other officials in charge of the river, more than twenty or thirty people cheering.
"Kong Ming, what happened?"
Zhou An came over in a hurry.
When he heard that something had happened to the river, he immediately summoned all the officials in charge of the river.
Because the river channel adopts an accountability system, whether there is any problem with the quality of the river channel or the process of digging the river channel, the responsible officials will be held accountable. Therefore, if something goes wrong, no one can run away and everyone must come to see the situation.
Zhuge Liang pointed to the puddles in the distance where black water was still gurgling and said: "Look over there, the ponds have already accumulated. It hasn't rained heavily recently, so there will definitely not be that much accumulated. There must be water gushing out from the ground.
"
"Why is this water still black?"
Li Zhen was surprised.
Wang Ji frowned deeply and said, "I'll go take a look."
As he spoke, he came to the river, and with the help of his entourage, he slid down the slope and walked to the puddle. He touched it with his finger, put it to the tip of his nose, smelled it, and then licked it.
"Supervisor, how about it?"
Zhuge Liang came over and asked.
"It's stone paint."
Wang Ji stood up, shook his head and said: "I didn't expect that we dug up stone lacquer in Ruyang."
"Shiqi?"
Zhuge Liang and Zhou An looked at each other, with expressions on their faces not knowing whether to cry or laugh.
Stone paint is petroleum. After research by the School of Chemistry, it has been found that it has many functions and is a very important strategic resource.
But the problem is that what they want is the river channel. To dig out the stone paint now, they can either change the river course later and turn this place into a stone paint mine, or they can bury the stone paint and ignore it.
But it is a strategic resource after all. If the stone paint mine can be dug out, it will be beneficial to local development, which is embarrassing for a while.
What they didn't know was that Ruyang County was located southwest of Zhoukou City in later generations, which was the area that later became Shangshui County. Shangshui County was rich in oil resources underground. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were many oil fields and mines here.
However, there are not many open-pit petroleum mines in Shangshui County, and the petroleum storage is basically in deep layers, so if they knew this, they would not worry about this problem.
But after all, they don't know yet, so after digging the oil, Zhuge Liang could only hesitate for a moment, hold a meeting with everyone, and decide to report it to the central government.
Zhuge Liang encountered problems here and dug out oil in Hebei, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou and Bingzhou.
Yang Xiu, Chen Qun, Sima Yi, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Lu Yi and others who were in charge of other river channels all achieved their own results.
Some people dug coal mines, some people dug iron mines, and some people dug copper mines.
Even Xu Shu, who served as the magistrate of Moling County in Moling, Yangzhou and dug the Jiangnan River, later dug out gold mines in the Zijin Mountain area of Nanjing, which is the Zijin Mountain Minerals.
For a while.
The whole seven years of Zhangwu.
Newly discovered minerals in various places are constantly reported to the central government.