Qiming 1158

Chapter 631 Returning Farmland to Forest

During the dry season in November and December last year, Su Yonglin had already sent people to find the end of the Yellow River along the Yellow River from Kaifeng all the way.

They investigated the situation at the estuary of the Yellow River and the estuary of the Huai River at this time, and found that the two were too close.

Once the water volume of the Yellow River rises, it is easy to infringe the Huai River waterway, and then the Huai River will flood into a disaster, and everyone will make a living on both sides of the Huai River.

At present, many places in the Lianghuai land cannot survive for a long time. They are completely dead, and the fertile soil is blinded.

Right now, in the area of ​​the Yellow River and Huai Shui, no one dares to live there, and a few households can be found sporadically, all of which have provoked some people who cannot be provoked.

Compared with the prosperity in the early and middle period of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is really a lifeless scene now.

Therefore, the most important thing at the moment is to reroute the Yellow River back to its original path and break the development deadlock faced by the Lianghuai region.

And the amount of this project is too large. There are also the problems of dealing with the above-ground rivers and the problems of how to deal with the large amount of sediment carried by the Yellow River.

In this regard, Su Yonglin mobilized the energy of the emperor and the imperial court, and summoned all the capable people in water conservancy that could be found so far, and discussed with them the idea of ​​rushing water to wash the sand and building the outer embankment.

These are the methods that Pan Jixun, a man of the Ming Dynasty, came up with to control the excessive amount of sediment in the Yellow River and the insufficient flow. Su Yonglin knew a general idea, but did not know the specific operation, so he came up with this concept and discussed with the water conservancy experts.

As the name suggests, the sand flushing method is to tighten the river channel and speed up the water flow, so as to achieve the effect of letting the water flow impact the sedimentary sediment, thereby refreshing the river channel and lowering the river bed.

The construction of the outer embankment is to build another embankment in addition to the current Yellow River embankment to expand the capacity of the embankment, which is the second line of defense when the water volume of the Yellow River is rising.

These are the two concepts that Su Yonglin can currently propose to manage the Yellow River. He knows very little about the others, so he can only leave it to these water conservancy experts to diverge their thinking and come up with better ideas.

In addition, Su Yonglin proposed a solution to the problem from the source of the problem of the large amount of sediment carried by the Yellow River and the above-ground river in Kaifeng.

"Everyone knows that the Yellow River carries a lot of sediment. These sediments accumulate downstream and gradually raise the riverbed to form the above-ground rivers that we see today. So where did these sediments come from?"

Su Yonglin looked around and asked, "Has anyone thought about this issue? Where did all this sand come from?"

Water experts, look at me, I look at you, and someone raises their hand.

"Your Majesty, the sand naturally comes from upstream."

"Where is the upper reaches? Where can the Yellow River provide such a large amount of sediment? Why does this sediment continue to flow with the river until it reaches the downstream and then deposits downstream?"

Su Yonglin pointed to the Yellow River on the map: "Why is only the Yellow River carrying such a large amount of sediment? Why are other rivers not like this? Then again, there was no mention of the Yellow River in the historical data a long time ago. It is the river.

I read the Book of Poetry, and in the chapter of Wei Feng’s cutting of sandalwood, I read [Kankan cut the sandalwood, set the river dry, and the river water is clear and lianyi] This is the Yellow River today. It can be seen that in the pre-Qin Spring and Autumn Period, the Yellow River was Still clear water.

During the Warring States Period, the water of the Yellow River began to become turbid, and it became known as the turbid river. I read the "Zuo Zhuan", and in the eighth year of Xianggong, I read the sentence "The clearness of the river, the geometry of life." It can be seen that people at that time already thought that the Yellow River was. Even if the water waits to die, it will not become clear again.

By the time of the Han Dynasty, there was already a saying of the Yellow River, and this statement was generally used in the former Tang and Song dynasties. Up to now, the name of the Yellow River is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Few people remember that the Yellow River used to be just a big river with clear water. "

After finishing speaking, Su Yonglin asked, "Why? Why did the Yellow River change from clear to turbid? Who can explain it to me? I want to hear the specific reason. It must be detailed, reliable, and evidence-based."

Everyone at the scene was silent.

Because in the past, the management of the Yellow River was a headache and a foot pain.

Although people at that time had the concept of ecology, it was very simple and general, and it was not systematically organized and integrated with all aspects of social life, so it was difficult for people to realize the importance of environmental protection.

Although it is said that since the Qin Dynasty, the ancestors consciously put forward some environmental protection concepts and even legislated them, such as not catching birds in a certain period of time, not logging in a certain period of time, etc., but most of them belong to government orders and decrees, and they did not tell people about this. why.

Therefore, once the political subject implementing these decrees and decrees disappears, the environmental protection policy will collapse along with it, and will no longer have any effect, and the ecological environment will be greatly damaged due to extensive agricultural production.

The Yellow River is a direct product of a phenomenon.

But this time, Su Yonglin actually put forward a new opinion-why did the Yellow River turn yellow?

Water conservancy experts are really unprofessional.

They know how to build dams, how to block river water, and they dare to take on even dangerous diversion projects to challenge nature, but when asked them why the Yellow River turns yellow, they really haven't thought about it systematically.

Seeing that they didn't speak, Su Yonglin took out a thick stack of paper and put it on the table.

"This is the specific report I got after I called Su Haisheng, commander of the Qilu Corps, to go to the upper reaches of the Yellow River for an in-depth investigation. Let's take a look."

Su Yonglin asked people to distribute Su Haisheng's investigation report, so the officials at the meeting had five copies and began to read them.

Specifically, after the Qilu Corps conquered Guanzhong, Su Yonglin immediately ordered Su Haisheng to investigate the situation on both sides of the Yellow River Basin in Guanzhong, focusing on the soil, vegetation and production and living conditions in the surrounding areas.

Su Haisheng spent a month leading the army to conduct a painstaking investigation along the Yellow River. He found out everything Su Yonglin wanted to know, and wrote a five-page investigation report. It was given to Su Yonglin.

Just in time for Su Yonglin to hold a meeting to resolve the Yellow River issue.

"To put it bluntly, the reason why the water of the Yellow River becomes turbid and carries a large amount of sediment to the lower reaches is mainly because the previous dynasties and dynasties over-exploited the land of Guanzhong. They felled trees, destroyed the forests, and destroyed the vegetation on both sides of the Yellow River. exhausted.

The loess on both sides of the Yellow River is relatively loose, not like the soil in the south and north of the Yangtze River. If there are no trees to cover and protect the loess, the loess will be easily washed away and carried away by the river, all the way to the middle and lower reaches. The water flow slowed down, and the loess was deposited.

The Yellow River in the Guanzhong area has fast water flow and strong scouring force. Day after day, year after year, a large amount of sediment is continuously sent to the middle and lower reaches for deposition. The relationship between the two is not three to five years old. "

Su Yonglin saw that everyone had almost read Su Haisheng's investigation report, and made a concluding speech.

"Therefore, the previous dynasty's governance of the Yellow River was not a cure for the symptoms but not the root cause. Even if it was successful for a while, there would always be a time when floods would recur. In the governance of the Yellow River in our dynasty, we need to do something about the root cause. A decisive battle in the sand."

After reading the report, Zhao Zuoliang was deeply shocked, and after hearing Su Yonglin's words about the decisive battle, he quickly asked, "I dare to ask Your Majesty, what is the meaning of the decisive battle?"

"Four words, return farmland to forest."

Su Yonglin tapped the table and said these four words word by word.

The ministers were very surprised by this.

The words "returning farmland to forest" are very easy to understand. It means that the cultivated land is returned to the forest and returned to nature. This is easy to understand.

However, these four words are quite politically incorrect at the moment when we pay attention to agricultural production and food, and the person who proposed them is the Ming emperor who is politically correct.

Chen Jichang, the left servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, couldn't bear it any longer, and stood up and took the initiative to speak.

"Your Majesty, returning farmland to forest... This policy may be too shocking. If it is announced publicly, it may cause an uproar and be detrimental to the country. I ask Your Majesty to think twice before acting."

(End of this chapter)