Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 814 Roads and Events

"Tianjin Bridge still exists, but Luoyang has none..." Shao Shude stood at the head of the bridge, full of emotion.

There are four beams of stone pillars in the world, and one Luo Sanba.Luo Ze Tianjin, Yongji, Zhongqiao, Ba Ze Ba Bridge.

The Tianjin Bridge on the Luoshui River is the most famous bridge in the country. It is connected to the Duanmen of the Imperial City in the north, and Tianjie and Dingdingmen in the south.

In the Tang Dynasty, every time Luoshui surged, it would pose a huge threat to Tianjin Bridge.Once the bridge is damaged, it will be very inconvenient for officials to go to the imperial city to work.

This recognition strengthened Shao Shude's determination to build a reservoir outside Luoyang City.

"Zhengzhou, I have ordered it to be assigned to Dongdu Town." Before leaving Luoyang, Shao Shude and Feng Wei walked side by side and said.

Zhengzhou, the past 20 years have been full of disasters.The loss of Qin Zongquan in the two traps was the greatest, which greatly damaged the social order here.

After Cai thief was defeated, Zhengzhou got a respite.People who had fled to other places slowly came back, and their household registration was restored to a certain extent.But the good times didn't last long. After Shao Shude took Heyang, Zhengzhou never lived in peace again.

Although the consequences of the seven-year Xialiang War were not as severe as those of Qin Zongquan and Huang Chao, they also caused the local people to die and run away, and the population declined again.The seven counties of Zhengzhou now only have more than [-] people, which is less than when Qin Zongquan was raging. The countryside is vast and sparsely populated, and the people are exhausted.

Zhengzhou was assigned to the Eastern Capital purely because of political factors.To put it bluntly, it is to add a little outer barrier to the area centered on Luoyang. Ruzhou is for this function, and Zhengzhou is also for this function.

郑州划过来后，东都镇将拥有一府二州34县、10万9500余户、52万8000余口。

It can be seen from the data that there has been no development at all in the past few years, and it has even regressed.

In the era of Zhang Quanyi, there were about 30 people in Henan Prefecture and Ruzhou under his rule. At that time, the population of Zhengzhou was also more than 20, almost the same as it is now.

The destruction of war can be small or large, and the tug-of-war is probably the most terrifying one.

In contrast, there are more than 7 households and about 36 people in the ten counties of Heyang, and the population density is significantly higher.

"My lord, if Dongdu wants to develop, it needs people and livestock." Feng Wei reminded.

"Every one of you wants people..." Shao Shude sighed: "It's also fortunate that Guanzhong has been peaceful for 20 years, otherwise there would be so many people. In a land with one prefecture and two prefectures, focus on the development of Henan prefecture and Ruzhou. After they are almost the same, Rectify Zhengzhou again. Miyagi and Imperial City, don’t be in a hurry, there are not enough manpower now, there will be people in the future.”

"Where do people come from?" Feng Wei couldn't help asking.

"Weizhou!" Shao Shude laughed and rode his horse away.

After leaving Luoyang, he headed north all the way.After crossing the pontoon bridge, they arrived directly at Mengzhou City.

Li Renjun, the commander of the Huaizhou camp, received the order in advance and came to see him.

The meeting place was chosen on the outskirts of Mengzhou, and Shao Shude was inspecting a road under construction.This road leads to Huaizhou and is the main traffic artery between the two cities of Menghuai.

The original post road was really destroyed.Heavy rain, passing troops, heavily loaded carriages, etc., all had a fatal impact on it.

The newly built roads have not advanced much in technology.Asphalt or reinforced concrete doesn't exist, gravel roads are expensive, and a little sand would be nice.

The main advance along this path lies in the design.

The total width of the road is less than twenty steps, and Shao Shude estimates it to be about 26 meters.Among them, the roadway is five steps wide, which is more than 7 meters, and the effective width is more than 6 meters.

There are two or three meters of subgrade roads on both sides of the driveway for future widening.

Side ditches are attached to the outer side, and shade trees are planted on the outermost side, with seven steps (over 10 meters) between trees.

The side ditch is for road drainage, so the road surface is made with a certain curvature according to Shao Shude's requirements.He couldn't see it with the naked eye, but he estimated that it would not exceed 10 degrees, maybe six or seven degrees.

Shade trees have two functions. One is to define the boundaries of official and private land, that is, the area inside the street trees belongs to the government, and the area outside belongs to the people.Another natural thing is to increase the aesthetic feeling.On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month in the 28th year of Kaiyuan, Emperor Xuanzong "ordered the roads between the two capitals to be planted with fruit trees", that is, to plant fruit trees on both sides of the post road connecting Luoyang and Chang'an.

"Your Majesty, although this road has only been built for more than ten miles, it looks really good." Li Renjun looked at the Xinyi Road, which was in a state of suspension, and praised: "Such a spacious road was built to beat Li Keyong, right? "

Shao Shude laughed and said nothing, "Not yet."

If there is a choice, of course it is to kill the half-dead Zhu Quanzhong, and then eat the three towns of Yun, Yan, and Qing.At that time, what if all the heroes in the world will encircle me?
In history, Zhu Quanzhong was jointly targeted by Li Keyong, Li Maozhen, Yang Xingmi, Wang Jian and others, and it seemed to have played a role in the end, restraining Zhu Quanzhong.But the situation I faced was quite different.Starting from Kansai, and heading east step by step, this meeting actually only has enemies on three sides, which is better than Zhu Quanzhong's enemies on all sides.And after defeating Zhu Jin, Zhu Wei, and Wang Shifan, there are no enemies in the east, and the strategic situation is much stronger than Zhu Quanzhong in history.

"Whether it's for Li Keyong or not, this road looks really good. It's time to continue repairing it. Why did it stop?" Li Renjun asked.

"Where are there so many people?" Shao Shude smiled wryly: "Around the winter solstice last year, young men from Heyang and Yangzhou went to the front to fight again, and also to control the river in Huaizhou. After finally taking a breath, the road construction corvee came one after another. This year Don’t confiscate Heyang Township and fight bravely, let them hurry up to build roads and dig rivers.”

What is corvee?This is called corvee.

For large-scale government projects, the main expenditure is the cost of materials, not even rations.Before the hardships, the imperial court built roads in Jinshang, "tens of thousands of slaves", because of the deadline, and in the mountains, more than half of the dead.In history, Zhang Quanyi rebuilt Luoyang and lived in it for Emperor Zhaozong who was visiting the east.

For the government, corvée is very comfortable to use, because the expenditure is not large, but a lot of things are done.But officials who know what to do know that they must work hard to restrain this impulse, so as not to provoke a popular uprising.

Shao Shude walked to the reserved road on both sides, looked at the grass and street trees outside the drainage ditch, and sighed in his heart: It would be great if there was a road roller. The gravel and sand are compacted, and this road is epoch-making.

Four horse-drawn carriages can be walked side by side on the main road, and one can be walked on each subgrade road, or people or horses.Outside the side ditch, inside the street trees, there is also a wide grassland, where people can also leave.

Compared with the width of Qin Chidao, it is much inferior, but for Heyang, it is enough.

Of course, in Shao Shude's plan, this road is only the middle of the future national road system, that is, the second-class national road, which connects the states.

The first-class national road connects major cities, commercial and military towns.

The third-class national highway connects the counties.

Under the three-level national highway system, there are also rural dirt roads as a supplement to the national transportation network system.

Regardless of ancient times or modern times, once a war breaks out, the dependence on and competition for roads will always be eternal.

The development of commerce depends on roads and waterways forever.

"Wei Bo hasn't moved much, has he?" Shao Shude wandered on the grass, looking at the pagoda tree beside the road, and asked.

"Wei Bo withdrew his troops, so he must have been afraid." Li Renjun replied, "Your Majesty, do you need to march to defend the state?"

"Be safe and don't be impatient." Shao Shude waved his hand and said, "I have to wait for news from other battlefields first. Weizhou can send envoys to inquire, and I will arrange this matter. Luo Hongxin is willing to give Zhu Quanzhong so much money and food, rather Won't you give it to me?"

To be honest, Luo Hongxin is worthy of Zhu Quanzhong, and he definitely deserves the "sixth brother" he called.

The army pressing down in Weizhou attracted tens of thousands of Xia troops. There were no major conflicts, and small-scale killings happened every three days, and the atmosphere was very tense.He also sent an additional one million dendrobium grains and beans, two to three thousand war horses, more than 20 coins and a large amount of silk to Bianzhou. With Wei Bo's wealth, this is not a small amount.

"The general understands." Li Renjun said.Whether or not to act against Wei Bo, and when to act, depended entirely on the results of other battlefields, which made him a little upset.

On the Puzhou battlefield, Liang Hanyong and Shao Lun were suppressed in Puzhou. The situation is not optimistic, and it is impossible to break the situation in a short time.

On the Bianzhou battlefield, the army moved northward and eastward successively, further squeezing the space for Liang people.

Zhe Zongben captured four of the seven counties in Bozhou, and is currently heading north to Songzhou to station troops in Zhecheng.

The Tiande army marched all the way east, and fought a battle with the Liang people in Zhongmou. They were slightly disadvantaged, but they did not retreat.

The Liang people in Weishi County resisted desperately, summoned a large number of village braves, and were besieged. It is said that Zhu Quanzhong intends to send troops to rescue Weishi.

But in general, the purpose of Zhezongben seems to be to occupy land mainly, and attack as a supplement.This should be related to the large number of repatriation of Master and Xiangyong, the lack of front-line troops and lack of supplies.After firmly controlling the states such as Bo, Song, Ying, Xu, and Su that Zhu Quanzhong has no time to take care of, and when there is sufficient money and food, more troops can be invested-by then, the armies that happened to return to Jinjiang will have almost rested.

"Your Majesty, there is news from Hebei." Yeli Kecheng walked over and handed over a military report.

Shao Shude took a look at it, and praised: "Brother Yi is still so brave in war."

After Li Ke put down the rebellion in Youzhou, no one dared to move near and far.So he took more than [-] troops from Jin, Yan, and Ding to march south. First, he defeated the coalition forces of Wang Rong and Lu Yanwei in Yingzhou, and then took advantage of the situation to occupy Jingzhou and encircle Cangzhou.

Unwilling to fail, Wang Rong mobilized his troops to fight again, defeated the Jin army in Zhangshui, and surrounded Jingzhou in turn.Li Ke used to break the siege of Cangzhou and defeated Zhao Bing by the Zhangshui River. Wang Rong retreated to Zhenzhou in a hurry.

And just when Li Keyong was planning to continue to besiege Cangzhou, he received news of the Henan Xialiang War, and immediately stopped fighting.

It is said that Li Keyong wanted to make peace with Wang Rong and Lu Yanwei and fight Shao Shude together.

"The situation in Hebei has changed a lot. Hezhong, Saibei, and Heyang have been full of troubles since then." General Shao Shude handed Li Renjun the newspaper for him to read.

Li Renjun was deep in thought after reading it.

"Weizhou, stop all provocative actions." Shao Shude said.

(End of this chapter)