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One is the customs secretary of the Ministry of Finance. Because the Ministry of Finance assisted in the investigation, this guy received the news very early and quietly tipped the local government to make preparations.There is also a low-level clean government official. His elder brother works in the Shipping Department of Ningbo City, and he also secretly passed on the news.

The ransacking and fines are still in progress.

Especially fines, the imperial court ordered maritime merchants from all over the country to pay in full before February next year.If the time limit is exceeded and the penalty is not accepted, the government will take action and forcibly auction their fixed assets.

The coastal area is full of wailing, and there are many people with poor capital turnover. It is estimated that [-] to [-]% of maritime merchants are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Those private banks were extremely excited, Huizhou merchants, Jiangxi merchants, Western merchants, Lake merchants, and Sichuan merchants transported box after box of silver to the port.Not enough cash to pay the fine?We have money in our hands, and the loan interest rate is not much higher than usual. You maritime merchants use cargo ships and shops as collateral.

What's more, direct acquisition or shareholding, want to take the opportunity to participate in maritime trade.

Take the Longyou Merchant Gang in western Zhejiang as an example. They mostly do business in remote inland areas.Occasionally someone goes to sea, not by sea, but by opening a shop overseas, or buying local products overseas.Now it's cool, the opportunity has come, and if the money is not enough, many companies will raise funds, and we must open up the sea route of the Longyou Merchant Gang.

The semi-monopoly of coastal wealthy merchants over maritime trade was severely torn apart by the imperial court because of this corruption and tax evasion case.

Many wealthy businessmen in the Mainland have dug out all the silver hidden in the cellar!

Zhao Han did not continue to pay attention to the coast, because the Yellow River diversion project, which lasted more than ten years, will be completely completed by this winter.

Zhang Guowei specially sent a capable man back to explain his whole project to the emperor.

This person is called Zhai Maohua, and he is the head of the water department of the Ministry of Industry.

Pointing to the map, he said: "The dividing line of the Grand Canal is Nanwang in the north of Jining. The terrain here is the highest, which is the ridge between the north and the south. In the early Ming Dynasty, the water was controlled and Wenshui was diverted to Nanwang, which made the river diverge from north to south. It flows south to Xuzhou and Pizhou accounted for four tenths of the water, and six tenths flowed northward to Linqing. Gates were set up in sections along the way to store and release floodwater, and to lift ships. In the Guanjia Lake in the west of Huai'an City, [-] miles of canals were dug , for Qingjiang Pu, to guide the lake water into the Huaihe River, and build four gates to vent it from time to time."

Zhao Han seemed to understand, but also didn't seem to understand.

Zhai Maohua continued: "This time Zhang Shangshu governed the Yellow River. In order to solve the shipping of the Grand Canal, he also adopted the method in Huai'an in the early Ming Dynasty. All the residents in Anshan and Liangshan had to be relocated, because when the water from the Yellow River came, Anshan Lake The area may be expanded several times. In the north and south of Anshan Lake, six gates are set up in sections. The Yellow River does not flow directly into Anshan Lake, but a [-]-mile canal is dug to connect with Anshan Lake. When the Yellow River floods, it can flow Enter Anshan Lake for flood discharge. When the Yellow River is dry, the six gates release water to ensure the smooth flow of the canal.”

This time, Zhao Han understood that Anshan Lake was specially used for flood discharge, and its function was the same as that of Hongze Lake when the Huai River was taken into the sea.The current Anshan Town and Liangshanji will be submerged to the bottom of the lake in the future. In the long run, Anshan Lake will become a ghost like Hongze Lake.

Zhao Han asked: "The Yellow River brings a lot of sediment, will it silt Anshan Lake and Quhe in the future?"

"It will definitely," Zhai Maohua explained, "it is unavoidable. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River was treated for about 150 years. Qingjiangpu and Hongze Lake were silted up. Now some places are less than two feet deep. Zhang Shangshu The method is the same, it will be silted up in about 200-[-] years. The more serious the silt and silt, the larger the area of ​​Anshan Lake and the shallower the water of Anshan Lake.”

This is really helpless, the mother river has long been ruined.

After 25 years of Jiajing, what does the lower reaches of the Yellow River look like?

It can no longer flow directly into the Huaihe River, but seizes the river channel of Sishui, passes through Sishui and then flows into the Huaihe River.The section of the Yellow River from Dangshan to Xuzhou is often unable to flow through. It needs to go through the Zhuohe River and Qingou in the north to enter the canal, which caused the canal there to be blocked. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, water transportation could only go along the middle canal.

Fortunately, the section of the Huaihe River from Hongze Lake to the sea can still be cured.Unlike in history, it has flowed for another two or three hundred years, making it impossible for the Huaihe River to enter the sea, and can only enter the sea through the Yangtze River.

Zhai Maohua continued: "For the new Yellow River, the dams need to be built year by year. There is also the Abandoned Yellow River, the river network is extremely complicated, and it may flood in the future. Both sides of the two Yellow Rivers must be continuously dredged and embanked to plant trees. Next In ten years, it may cost tens of millions of taels of silver."

"Don't talk about ten million taels of silver, even 3000 million or 5000 million taels should be paid." Zhao Han sighed.

……

Dry winter.

In the upper reaches of Kaocheng, tens of thousands of people are busy.

There was no corvee in the Datong New Dynasty, but Zhang Guowei also had no money to pay wages.In the prefectures and counties along the way to control the Yellow River, as long as there are two or more males in the family, one person will come to help.

For a family with no one to manage the river, one person works, ten mu of land is tax-free, and food and housing are included.

Counting the waived agricultural tax, Zhang Guowei definitely spent more than a few million taels of silver.

Zhang Guowei is standing on the embankment. He is 62 years old. He has been working hard for more than ten years, and his health is getting worse.

Now, I can finally take a break.

There are several dikes and dams in Huanglinggang, all of which were built by the Ming Dynasty.Now, it is being dug up one by one by workers.

There are no earth-shattering scenes. The Yellow River in the dry season is too shallow, and it can't even flow north by itself.Workers have to dig all the way to dig out a lower river channel for drainage.

This continued for more than ten days, and the dry and shallow Yellow River finally flowed northward.

Workers braved the severe cold to build embankments on the original river.First load the soil further upstream, build a simple dam to block the water, then remove the accumulated water behind the simple dam, and start building the first dam.

It is necessary to dig down several feet, dig under the yellow sand, and then pour compacted compound soil.

Although cement has been invented, it is not qualified for embankment construction.At critical times, the old method still works. This kind of composite soil is as firm as iron and stone after it is built.

The first dam is several miles long.

Then came the second, third, and fourth dams. In the future, the Yellow River will be slowed down by several dams, and will be completely blocked at the last dam.

Behind the dam, the Yellow River will be abandoned in the future.Don't even think about sailing, farming is too much, it can only be used for agricultural irrigation.Moreover, flood control has to be done, because there are other rivers pouring in, and if you don't pay attention, the embankment will burst again.

It only depends on whether the lower reaches of the Huaihe River can be rescued. After all, in this time and space, the Yellow River has not flowed for two or three hundred years, and the sedimentation is not so serious.

Looking at the dam that is gradually taking shape, Yue Xinmin couldn't help feeling: "The sword that has been hanging in Sizhou for hundreds of years will finally be lifted in the future, and the people of Sizhou can sleep peacefully."

"Sizhou still needs to be treated, and Gaojiayan is always a disaster." Zhang Guowei said.

"If the Yellow River doesn't go, Gaojiayan will be much easier to manage." Yue Xinmin said.

Yue Xinmin, the first Jinshi of the Datong New Dynasty, volunteered to come to control the Yellow River.Just because he is from Sizhou, the Yellow River is dead, and Sizhou is in trouble.

How dangerous is Sizhou?

The terrain is four meters lower than Hongze Lake!

Although Pan Jixun was No. 1 in the Mingzhi River, he was scolded miserably by the people of Sizhou.

Gaojiayan (Hongze Lake Embankment) is sixty miles long and one foot two feet high. It was used by Pan Jixun to store clear water and wash yellow.This is tantamount to artificially raising the water level of the Huaihe River. Once the flood floods, it will rush directly to Sizhou City.

At that time, Chang Sansheng, an official of Sizhou, published a letter "A Discussion on Flooding in Beijing's Yamen".Hearing the name of this memorial, one can know how angry Chang Sansheng was, criticizing the disadvantages of building Gaojiayan one by one, and then...he was dismissed from office.

In the Qing Dynasty, high dams continued to be built, and the area of ​​Hongze Lake continued to expand. Sizhou City was also swallowed by Hongze Lake, and hundreds of thousands of people in the city were buried in fish belly.

As a native of Sizhou, at this moment, Yue Xinmin wanted to cry.

He knows water conservancy. If the Yellow River does not change its course, Sizhou City will be submerged sooner or later.

Zhang Guowei admired Yue Xinmin very much. He encouraged him: "You are the first scholar in the new dynasty, and you have made great achievements in water control. Your future is limitless. After the Yellow River is cured, I will join the cabinet. This is what His Majesty promised at the beginning. The entire Huaisi water system will continue to be rectified. Whether it is blocked or blocked, you can judge for yourself, and Huaisi must be cured."

"Students, remember!" Yue Xinmin bowed down.

When Zhao Han first joined the army, Zhang Guowei was already controlling the water, and the water network in the south of the Yangtze River was under his control.

Yue Xinmin is his chosen successor, and he will definitely be the pillar of water control in the future.

Today's Hongze Lake is not as big as it will be hundreds of years later.Gaoyou Lake is not connected into one piece, it is scattered Wudang Twelve Lakes.These lakes are all the result of the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to keep water transportation.

Yue Xinmin suddenly said: "Your Majesty, can you do business?"

"Yes." Zhang Guowei smiled.

Zhang Guowei's management of the Yellow River is like Cameron filming "Titanic", asking for an additional budget while working on it.

Although the emperor allocated funds many times, it still exceeds the budget by more than 80 taels.

There are a lot of engineering materials, the payment is still owed, and the merchants have received a bunch of IOUs.The first thing Zhang Guowei did when he returned to Beijing was to ask the emperor to settle the payment for the goods. It is not a problem to be in arrears with merchants all the time.

Fortunately, the Datong imperial court has a strong reputation, otherwise those merchants would not want to pay on credit if they were killed. I have never heard that the imperial court can get back their debts.

deep winter.

Zhang Guowei came to Xuzhou and saw nearly a thousand exiles outside the city. He couldn't help but ask, "Why are there so many prisoners?"

The accompanying officials gloated: "These are rich people, either officials from the Municipal Bureau of Shipping, or big merchants along the coast. This winter they will be sent to Xuzhou for centralized custody, and next spring they will be sent to Heilongjiang."

The exiles do not go directly by sea because Xuzhou has a special government office.

All immigrants and exiles going to the north must be registered in Xuzhou, which is equivalent to the big locust tree in the early Ming Dynasty.

After listening to the officials' narration, Zhang Guowei just sneered. He worked tirelessly to manage the Yellow River, and these officials made a lot of money.deserve it!

Chapter 929 [Pu Songling]

Just as Zhang Guowei was about to board the ship, a group of scholars also came to the pier.

They hang iron swords at their waists and wear square scarves on their heads. They look like they want to travel all over the world.This style of traveling was originally only popular among rich families, but now it has spread to ordinary wealthy families.

The scholars in front of them were not in a hurry when they arrived at the pier, but pointed around a group of exiles.

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old scholar smiled and pointed to the exile and said, "These are all big rats. We should spurn them." He walked over and spit out with a "Bah".

"I'm coming too!"

Immediately a scholar responded, still leaning his neck up, making a "heh" sound in his throat, and finally brewed a mouthful of thick phlegm and spit it out.

"Pooh!"

The scholars stepped forward one after another, with saliva and thick phlegm flying around, and the exiles couldn't stop them wearing shackles, so they had to turn around in shame and anger, and used their backs to catch the sputum.

The petty official who escorted the exile did not stop this, but watched the excitement with a smile.

Seeing this, Zhang Guowei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "They are all scholars who are about to reach the crown, but they are still like naughty children."

But one scholar didn't move, and others asked: "Brother Jianchen, why don't you take a bite?"

The scholar replied: "Everyone can beat a dog in the water, and I am not one of them. When I am admitted to Jinshi and take charge of one side, it will not be too late to beat the dog slowly."

"Jinshi is not easy to take the exam." Everyone laughed.

There are not many official ships in winter, and Zhang Guowei didn't bother to wait. This time he went south by private ship.

He boarded the boat with a few entourages, and those scholars followed, and someone recognized him: "But Zhang Shangshu, who governs the Yellow River, is in person?"

Zhang Guowei smiled and cupped his hands: "It's my humble servant."

The scholars who were still spitting randomly just now were suddenly in awe, and stepped forward to greet him one after another.These people are all Shandong scholars. Zhang Guowei has been in Shandong for more than ten years and has a high reputation among the people, because he not only manages the Yellow River, but also dredges the rivers in Shandong.

Zhang Guowei looked at the only scholar who didn't spit, and asked, "What's your name?"

The scholar replied: "Back to Zhang Shangshu, the student Pu Songling, named Jianchen. He graduated from Jinan University this summer and missed the spring general examination. He will have to wait another three years for the imperial examination. These are all classmates of Jinan University. We We are traveling together to increase our knowledge and knowledge.”

Zhang Guowei asked, "Which places have you traveled to?"

Pu Songling said: "I went to Liaoning in autumn, and I also went to Hetuala, the puppet capital of the Tartars. Now the name of Jianzhou has been restored. Just when General Hu (Hu Dinggui) sent troops to fight, we voluntarily joined the army and did that fortune. Mr. Liang Min, watched General Hu fight the Tartars from afar."

"Is there a war in the Northeast?" Zhang Guowei hasn't received the news yet.

Pu Songling said: "The puppet king of the Tartars died of illness, and Ninggu Pagoda was fighting endlessly. General Hu immediately seized the opportunity to send troops when he learned of the situation. With only three thousand soldiers, he defeated tens of thousands of Tartars in one fell swoop. Now Ninggu The pagoda has been recovered, and there is no Tartar infestation in the Northeast. All Tatar officials were arrested to work as miners, and the Tartar civilians were scattered and moved to the coast of Heilongjiang."

"It really is great news." Zhang Guowei said with a smile.

This civilian ship was transporting coal, and its destination was Yangzhou. It was not a real passenger ship.

Zhang Guowei naturally had a separate cabin, but those scholars were squeezed into the boatman's cabin.None of them are children from rich families, and they can save as much as they can along the way. Fortunately, food prices have been cheap in recent years, and they can’t spend too much money traveling around—there are some rich families, but they must be social and not too high-profile.

Pu Songling's father has retired, and the highest he has achieved is the magistrate, and his experience as an official is quite amazing.

Pu Pan was the only son of a big landlord. He married one wife and two concubines. He was over forty and had no heirs.When Zuo Liangyu ruled Shandong, there were locusts and plagues again, and countless local people died of illness and starvation.Pu Pan thought to himself, no matter how much property he owns, he has no heirs to inherit it, so he might as well give up all his property to help the people.

Therefore, Pupan took out all the stored grain, saved countless people, and exempted all the tenants from owed rent and silver.

Since then, things have turned around, and four sons have been born in succession.

Not only that, when the Datong army recovered Shandong and learned of Pupan's righteous deeds, they immediately appointed him as the acting county magistrate.After the land was divided, the acting county magistrate became a full-time official, and three years later he was promoted to magistrate in another place.

Fate is like a roller coaster ride. Pu Pan, who is in his 40s, has no son and his family wealth is gone.All of a sudden, sons were born one after another, and his career became prosperous.

When Pu Songling was a child, he always listened to his father nagging: people are doing it, and the sky is watching. As long as you do good deeds, you will be rewarded, and God will not disappoint the kind-hearted people.

Pu Songling in this time and space will definitely not write "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio" again.

In "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio", many stories have realistic metaphors.Soldier disasters, locust droughts, and plagues ravaged repeatedly, and Shandong was almost turned into a ghost. Under the sparse population, tenants could eat at the same table as the landlord.Pu Songling grew up in that environment and heard countless ghost stories.In many cases, he also wrote the atrocities of the Qing army in the story, which needs to be read in conjunction with the local county annals.

But now Pu Songling only thinks about becoming an official through the imperial examination, and has no interest in writing.

When the coal ship arrived in Yangzhou, everyone disembarked and went ashore, randomly found Datong bunk, and waited for the next southbound ship.

Yangzhou is becoming more and more prosperous, and the population is exploding.

Many jobless people in the city would rather hang around in Yangzhou than go to the north to make a living.Just like the migrant workers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, they are happy to struggle at the bottom of society, and they don't look down on other small places at all.

The outside of the city is already full. Last year, because of a fire, the government also cleaned up the shack area.

Xu Ying, the governor of Jiangsu, couldn't bear it, and refused to let the court pay. She used Jiangsu's finances to forcefully relocate the poor in the shanty towns to various counties in Hebei.

After staying in the Datong Inn for a few days, these Shandong scholars traveled around and wrote a lot of poems and articles.

"There's a boat, Xu Buzheng's official boat!"

Xu Ying is going back to Beijing to report on her duties. She will either be a minister or directly join the cabinet as a minister.

Zhang Guowei also boarded Xu Ying's official ship, and before it set sail, the group of scholars chased after him, explaining his intention of wanting to rub the boat.

"Let them come up." Xu Ying smiled.

The scholars were very happy, and rushed to see him on the boat.None of them have ever been to Nanjing. This time they want to spend the New Year in Nanjing and visit all the scenic spots.After experiencing the Lantern Festival in Nanjing, they went up the Yangtze River to travel in Sichuan, and some even wanted to visit Tibet.