Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 422: Three Years in Henan, Three Years in Hebei

In Yifeng County, Kaifeng Prefecture, the Yellow River here is called "Tofu Waist". With all the sediment, the riverbed here gradually rises above the ground, so it is very easy to burst the dike every time there is a flood. The Yellow River also changes its course to the southeast from this area when it flows into the sea.

It is said that things change over time. But here, it can be said that it is three years in Henan and three years in Hebei.

The Yellow River, which has changed its course many times, has left countless new and old river channels here, thus resulting in the emergence of a large number of places called "Shatian".

These sandy fields are very large and are not easy to cultivate under today's conditions. As this situation continued to accumulate, the area even faced the problem of desertification in later generations. Later, it was associated with a name and a spirit, which is the story of "Lankao".

But today, this place still belongs to Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province.

"Master, did the old man serve as the magistrate here? It must have been hard for the old man!"

On the official road on the south bank of the Yellow River, a young servant sitting next to the driver in a carriage put his hand over his brow and looked into the distance. Behind him, an even younger face appeared in the curtain on the side of the carriage.

The young man had very fair skin and looked very thin. He also looked far to the north: "The man from Yifeng asked to see him, saying, 'When a gentleman comes here, I have never been denied an audience.' His followers saw him. He came out and said, 'Why are you worried about the loss? The world has been without virtue for a long time. Heaven will use you as a wooden bell.'"

The servant turned around and looked at him, his face helpless: "Master, I don't understand."

"It's from The Analects of Confucius." The young man smiled. "Although Yifeng is suffering from the Yellow River disaster now, it was quite famous in the past. My grandfather was promoted from the teacher of Changshu to the magistrate of Yifeng. The most laborious thing here was to manage the river. Although it was hard, it was also joyful."

"Oh! The young master's grandfather was the magistrate of our Yifen County? I wonder which one it was?" The coachman suddenly interrupted when he heard this.

The servant raised his head and said, "Did you know that our great master's surname is Lu?"

"Grandpa Lu? How could I not know?" the driver said immediately, "When I was a child, I ate the porridge that Grandpa Lu prepared!"

After that, he began to recount the story incessantly, his tone becoming more and more respectful.

The young man listened with a smile on his face, but his expression became serious later on.

"So, the dam almost broke again today?" he asked.

"That's right!" The driver sighed. "In July, the dragons were very strong! If this section of the riverbank had not been rebuilt in the 12th and 13th years of Taichang, it would have been very difficult this year! Also, if the officers and soldiers of Henan had not fought hard to protect the levee, it would have been a disaster! I heard that more than 300 officers and soldiers died, including those from the Henan camp and the Public Security Bureau."

"More than three hundred dead?" the young man exclaimed and stretched out a hand to grab the edge of the car.

"More than 300 people died!" The driver nodded solemnly, and then sighed, "Now the government troops are still in Kaifeng Prefecture, and they need disaster relief in winter. This matter has spread all over Kaifeng Prefecture. Before I went to the post station, I kowtowed to the camp. The villagers gave me umbrellas!"

The young man's hand gradually loosened, and he immediately sighed, "Your Majesty is wise, and only now are soldiers coming to help with disaster relief. I heard that disaster relief is rewarded as much as fighting in a war. Has the decree of reward arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture?"

"I haven't heard of that yet." The driver said, "Of course the emperor is wise! The reward will definitely not be small. Everyone knows that the court now has clear rewards and punishments. Young master, you are the grandson of old master Lu. What are you going to Yifeng for this time?"

"My eldest young master is only seventeen years old. He is going to Beijing to take the imperial examination. He will definitely pass the exam next year! He came to Yifeng just to travel around. Don't ask around!"

He seemed to be keeping alert on one hand, but on the other hand he couldn't help showing off.

The young man just smiled and then said, "I heard that the imperial court is going to build a big iron bridge in Zhengzhou to make both sides of the Yellow River accessible, so I wanted to come and take a look. I heard that the Kaifeng area has already started to dig and wash sand, and then transport it to Zhengzhou to make something called cement?"

"That's true! Young Master, what did you say... read... read..."

"Read thousands of books! Travel thousands of miles!" The servant started to brag again, and said proudly, "My eldest master is a man of both civil and military talents. Don't look at his thinness, he is very strong and skilled in martial arts! Although I am the only one accompanying the eldest master on his long journey, he is not afraid of bandits on the road!"

The young man didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Stop talking! How can there be so many bandits nowadays?"

"…It's hard to say. In recent years, there have been more and more disasters."

The carriage continued to move forward here. The master and servant in the carriage had come all the way from Yixing, Changzhou Prefecture.

Winter is indeed coming earlier and earlier nowadays. If someone like him who just passed this year's provincial examination wants to successfully reach the capital to take the imperial examination next year, the best option is to change to land transportation in Huaiyang Province or Shandong Province.

The young man wanted to visit the place where his grandfather had worked, and also wanted to visit Zhengzhou where it was said that a large iron bridge over the Yellow River would be built. So he decided to take a detour, cross the Yellow River from Zhengzhou, and then take a straight road to Beijing.

His surname is Lu, and he is only seventeen years old now, so he is Lu Xiangsheng who was born in March of the twenty-eighth year of Wanli, the year when the current emperor ascended the throne.

His grandfather Lu Lizhi was a juren, and his father had only passed the exam to become a shengyuan. However, Lu Xiangsheng was talented, and he started studying when the school system and official schools began to change. He was more concerned about "the strategies of ancient generals and ministers, and the rules of military and national economy", and although he still went to Donglin Academy to study as before, Donglin Academy was different after the tenth year of Taichang, and became Donglin University under the Ministry of Culture and Education.

As the university with the most profound knowledge of the theory of "investigating things to gain knowledge" in Jiangnan, Lu Xiangsheng felt at home there. When he read the classics and history again, his perspective and vision were completely different, and many doubts were easily solved.

Coupled with the changes in Jiangnan over the years, especially the changes he witnessed in Changzhou, one of the five prefectures that originally paid the burden of white grain, Lu Xiangsheng had a deep admiration for the erudite emperor from the bottom of his heart.

He naturally didn't know that he had long been a figure in the emperor's heart, and even played a very important role in the story of the emperor's ascension to the throne.

The carriage he was riding in was traveling on the south side of the Yellow River, while the imperial envoy had just boarded a ship from Sunjiao Ferry in Zhengzhou Prefecture on the Yellow River.

Yuan Keli, the new Privy Councilor, came to Henan in person, and his face looked quite serious.

Standing at the bow, he looked at the sand boats going back and forth on the river and asked, "How effective is this sand dredging and sand washing in clearing the silt in this section of the Yellow River?"

"Prime Minister Yuan, as you can see, the best time of the year is the period after summer and before snow." The speaker was Zhang Jiude, one of the three deputy governors of the Governor's River Office. As deputy to Li Congxin, the Governor of Rivers, he was in charge of the section of the Yellow River from Sanmenxia before entering the Huai River. "This year, we achieved three goals at once. We not only supplied the needs of the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge, but also deepened the riverbed and provided relief through work."

Yuan Keli nodded and said, "I have asked His Majesty for permission. After the construction of the large iron bridge begins, the Henan section of the Yellow River will need to be safe in the next few years. The officers and soldiers of the Henan Military Region of the Central Military Governor's Office can meet the needs of river engineering and iron bridge engineering. Governor Li will discuss strategies with Governor Zhang at the River Channel Office."

"Thank you, Prime Minister Yuan!"

"The same goes for Councillor Zuo." Yuan Keli looked at Zuo Guangdou, who was now a councillor of the Henan Provincial Executive Yuan. "The Ministry of Industry and Information has also asked for permission from the Ministry of Transport. The Ministry of Transport will allocate special transport capacity to transport the coal, iron and cement needed by the Zhengzhou Heavy Industry Park. Councillor Zuo is in charge of this matter, and his primary responsibility is to ensure the needs of the iron bridge and river control projects."

"I will definitely get this done."

Yuan Keli smiled and said, "I am just delivering a message. Prime Minister Ye and Governor Xie will take care of all matters." "The Governor and the Provincial Governor are in the city to welcome Prime Minister Yuan."

Kaifeng Prefecture is the provincial capital of Henan Province, but once the Yellow River Bridge in Zhengzhou is completed, the provincial capital will probably have to be moved there in the future.

The reason why the Yellow River was not repaired in Kaifeng was, of course, the result of several years of investigation. At the site selected today, the Yellow River is narrower, the river channel is more stable, and the land on both sides is more solid.

In the Kaifeng area, there is too much sand on both sides of the Yellow River, which makes it very easy to sink. The erosion of the Yellow River water also causes the river channel to be unstable.

Once the Yellow River Bridge is completed, the straight road south from Beijing will be completely different, and it will certainly be more reasonable to move the provincial capital to Zhengzhou.

This time when Yuan Keli left Beijing, in addition to going to Kaifeng Prefecture to read the imperial edict and the Privy Council's commendation of the officers and soldiers who had participated in the disaster relief work in Henan, he also had a purpose of going to Nando.

In addition to the sea route, the Yellow River Bridge is also very important. Whether it can be successfully built will determine whether a Yangtze River Bridge will be built in Wuchang Prefecture in the future. In the future, the Ming Dynasty, with a larger territory, will also need to be able to reach the south more quickly by land.

So he first went to Zhengzhou Prefecture to see the preliminary preparations for the Yellow River Bridge. What he is doing now is, of course, the guarantee work for the subsequent major projects. Zhengzhou Prefecture also built a heavy industry park on the bank of the Yellow River to smelt steel nearby.

At the same time, the wharf should be able to transport cement fired in Zhending Prefecture, Hebei Province, and then mix it with river sand dredged and washed from the Yellow River to make concrete. These are the materials needed for the later construction of the bridge.

He went down the river from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng. At that moment, the governor of Henan Province in the north of Kaifeng was Xie Tingzan, who had been promoted from the former Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner. The governor of Henan Province was Zhang Yicheng, the top scholar in the same class as Xu Guangqi.

The Kaifeng prefect and Kaifeng magistrate naturally had to stand back.

"Yuan is here for a blind date..."

Hearing the worried voice of the Kaifeng prefect, Xie Tingzan only said: "Prime Minister Yuan's visit has nothing to do with Henan's government affairs! The Privy Council does not involve civil affairs, what are you worried about?"

Xie Tingzan saw it very clearly, so he just gave the respect that was due.

As the chief official of a province, Xie Tingzan knew it very well.

At the major political meeting at the end of last year, all the important officials from various provinces went to Beijing in advance to attend the meeting.

In addition to the re-election of ministers, major military, political and civil affairs that need to be carried out in the five years starting from this year have also been decided.

Now that the Privy Councilor has left Beijing and headed south, it is likely that matters concerning Outer Yunnan and Southeast Asia will begin.

The Privy Council only needs to confirm the logistics support arrangements for food, military supplies and other resources in the provinces along the way.

Of course, since it is a matter of Outer Yunnan and Southeast Asia, Henan Province is not the focus. The two lakes, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou are the focus.

They were waiting here to welcome the imperial envoy, while Lu Xiangsheng had just entered Yifong County.

Yifeng County is located to the east of Kaifeng Prefecture, and is separated from Kaifeng Prefecture by Lanyang County.

Since his grandfather had been the magistrate here, he certainly had several old friends here, so Lu Xiangsheng's journey would not be lonely.

Later, he heard that the Privy Councilor was coming, and the county magistrate had already gone to the provincial capital to welcome him.

Lu Xiangsheng was naturally quite interested after hearing this, after all, he was more interested in military tactics. He also admired Yuan Keli, who had helped His Majesty and the court to stabilize the current situation in the northern border.

But now Yuan Keli is one of the eight ministers, and a very special military minister, so Lu Xiangsheng can't find any way to visit him.

But I still want to join in the fun.

So he ran to Kaifeng City early the next morning, without taking the time to recall the achievements of his grandfather here.

Along the way, we naturally saw more people digging and washing sand on the south bank of the Yellow River. Most of them were businesses organized by local big families and had obtained licenses from the River Office and the Industrial and Commercial Office.

"Isn't it about baking cement? Mix cement, sand and water, and when it dries it will be as hard as stone?" Lu Xiangsheng only now realized that what the coachman knew before was wrong.

The person driving the car to take him there now was a family member of an old friend of his grandfather.

"That's right. It really has the magical effect of turning decay into something magical. What you don't know is that cement is made from lime, and it is brought from Zhending Prefecture by truckloads. But you will see the miraculous effect of this material when you go from Zhending Prefecture to the capital. I heard that the straight road from Zhending Prefecture to the capital has been converted into this cement road for more than a hundred miles. It is more than twenty feet wide, just like a stone road!"

"Twenty miles away...more than a hundred miles..."

Lu Xiangsheng showed an expectant look on his face.

The so-called distance is the new measurement now. In the past, people used zhang, chi, and cun, but now many measurements are incremented by ten, which is said to be for daily convenience. In addition, the new silver coins and copper coins to be minted in the future will no longer be sixteen coins per liang as in the past.

It will probably take a long time for ordinary people to adapt, but those scholars who are preparing for the examinations must change first, after all, the new measurement system will be used in the examinations.

"Don't worry, my dear brother. After all, Henan is not too far from the capital, and many of the new candidates have not yet set off. There will definitely be many candidates in the city who will send letters to pay a visit. If the new candidates want to enter the Privy Council, they will have to take another test of strategy, and there will be people from each subject who will pay a visit to the civil officials of the Privy Council."

"So that's how it is." Lu Xiangsheng felt much more relieved.

Now that there are more government offices, the first step is very important. Although the Privy Council is a place where you can only enter but not leave, the competition will be much smaller. If you are good at military tactics, it will certainly be a good choice to enter the Privy Council. Even if you can't get a high position in the Privy Council, the local chief of the Administrative Council now only chooses civil officials from the Privy Council - the so-called only enter but not leave, it seems that the Administrative Council is also a part of the Privy Council, after all, it can also involve military power.

Even if the local security department does not have powerful firearms.

The ancient capital of Kaifeng suddenly became agitated. In the distant city of Beijing, Zhu Changluo looked at Wang An in astonishment: "What did you say?"

"It was presented by the imperial court, it is absolutely true. Last year, when His Royal Highness Prince Lu heard that the Empress Dowager had passed away, he was so grief-stricken that he fell ill and died after a year. Now, Governor Li has requested instructions. The Crown Prince is only seven years old. What should we do about the affairs of Korea?"

(End of this chapter)