Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 518 Navigation
This canal is generally used to connect different water systems, and the water systems on both sides can basically sail.

In other words, the water systems connected by the canal have a lot of water.

In this case, the canal certainly cannot be dug directly from one end to the other.

If you dig in this way, once the water is poured in, people will not be able to go down to work.

Therefore, when digging a canal, dams must be reserved on both sides to block the water on both sides and prevent water from pouring into the channel being excavated.

After the river channel in the middle is dug, the dams on both sides will be removed.

If the canal is only a few feet wide and one to two feet deep, it is very simple to remove the dam. You just need to drop a few large stone grooves or nail down a few large wooden rafts on the side with water to block the water first, and wait for the dam to be dug. Then, just pull the stone trough ashore or float the raft.

However, these methods cannot be used for a channel as wide and deep as the Grand Canal.

Because it is impossible to have a stone trough that is hundreds of meters long and more than ten meters wide, even if there is, it cannot be pulled by humans.

As for the wooden raft, it is impossible to make it so big.

So, what to do?

This day was the day when the dam was removed. Early in the morning, Taichang led a group of civil servants and generals to the top of the new Tongzhou city, holding up his binoculars, and staring closely at the dam.

At this moment, a huge pit has been dug behind the water blocking dam, which is probably reserved for the fallen earth and rocks.

Deep holes were also excavated at the bottom and both sides of the water-blocking dam, and clay pots that could hold hundreds of catties of gunpowder were stuffed inside.

If the earthen pots were filled with real explosives, it would be a disaster. Just a few pots would probably blow this kind of earth dam into the air.

However, the black powder at this moment is not so powerful, even if it is compacted, its power is limited.

So, can this dam be blown?
Standing on the embankment behind the dam, Peng Bin watched the officers and soldiers of the Shenji Battalion on both sides and in the middle lead the lead wire wrapped in oil paper to the dam, and immediately ordered decisively: "Light on the fire, and everyone evacuates quickly."

"Zi", a row of green smoke rose, and the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion on the dam rushed to the river embankment behind.

The river embankment has been reinforced with cement and steel bars, so it is definitely impossible to collapse. Now it depends on whether the dam will collapse.

After a while, the clay pots under the dam were the first to explode.

"Boom boom boom", the ground shook for a while.

Hundreds of catties of compacted gunpowder, the crackling sound is comparable to the firing of tens of thousands or even one hundred thousand catties of artillery.

Of course, there is no such giant cannon at the moment.

And after the explosion, the water-blocking dam seemed to just shake and not collapse.

At this time, a row of huge pits several feet long appeared under the water-blocking dam, but there was no sign of the dam collapsing at all.

"Boom boom boom", the ground shook again.

The clay pots on both sides of the dam also exploded immediately.

After a burst of dust, the dam was still standing there, showing no sign of collapse.

This is a failure?
Taichang couldn't help putting down the binoculars, and said anxiously: "Chang Geng, what's going on?"

However, Song Yingxing held up the binoculars and said calmly: "Maybe the clay pot is still not big enough, and it didn't explode all at once, but it doesn't matter, judging by the speed of water seepage, some places should have been blown through, and it should be gone after a while." almost."

Wait a minute?

Taichang raised his binoculars to scan again, and sure enough, those huge pits with a radius of several feet began to leak water, and more and more water came out.

It seems that this dam should not be able to hold on anymore.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for many huge pits to spray water out. The water blocking dam shook for a while, and finally collapsed with a "boom", and the sea water rushed into the channel of the canal like a torrent.

"Oh!" Cheers erupted from both sides of the river almost simultaneously.

It worked!
The dam here can blow up, and the dam over there must be the same.

Now let's see if the dam below has been washed clean. If there is no big bulge, it can be navigated.

The officers and soldiers of Shenji Battalion and Shenwu Battalion on both sides of the river were already roaring with joy, and the civil servants and military generals on the city wall also began to high-five each other in celebration.

I don't know how long it will take for the sea water to fill the river that is more than a hundred miles long.

Taichang watched the crowd celebrating wildly, but began to think about how to reward Peng Bin in his mind.

Peng Bin led more than [-] soldiers to fight for more than [-] days, and built the Grand Canal that traverses the east and west.

He thought about it for a while, and then asked Song Yingxing at the side: "Chang Geng, how about making Yan Ru an earl?"

This meant that he was afraid that these old ministers who followed him would be overwhelmed.

After all, Peng Bin was their disciple, and they were all made earls, but they didn't have a title. If they were more thoughtful, they would probably be so angry.

Song Yingxing nodded again and again and said: "The emperor is wise, Yanru's achievements can be said to be the descendants of Zepi, and he should be promoted to a nobleman."

Well, why didn't you develop a lot of things from Zepi's later generations?

Taichang thought for a while, and couldn't help but patted Song Yingxing's shoulder and sighed: "Chang Geng, your achievements are also worthy of future generations. I have been fighting abroad all year round, and I have ignored your achievements. This time, after I return to the court, I will definitely add officials to you. Into the noble."

Oops, this is great.

These days, who doesn't want to be promoted to a noble.

To say that you don't want to is to pretend to be hypocritical.

Song Yingxing was not hypocritical, he cupped his hands excitedly and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

At this time, Peng Bin happened to come up the city wall.

He hurriedly walked up to Taichang, bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, it's a good thing that my humble minister did not disgrace his fate. The Grand Canal to the Sea has finally been completed."

Taichang nodded, and then said in a clear voice: "Cheng En, draw up the decree, promote Peng Bin to be the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and become the second-class Tong Haibo, hereditary."

Ah!
Hearing this, Peng Bin couldn't help but tremble all over.

He was stunned for a moment, then kowtowed vigorously on the ground and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

Taichang bent down to help him up, and then asked with a smile: "Yan Ru, I still have a question. How can I dive into the five-foot-deep water to check it? After all, most people can't hold their breath for too long."

He had really thought about this for a long time before he could figure it out.

Because there is no diving equipment at all these days, and most people can only hold their breath for tens of seconds at most. This time is not enough for people to dive into the water at a depth of more than ten meters.

There is not enough time to dive, so how can I check the situation below?

Hearing this, Peng Bin quickly explained: "Weichen has already prepared a sheepskin air bag, as long as you tie it on your body, and then sink it with a rock, it's not a problem to hold on to a cup of tea underwater."

It turned out to be a sheepskin airbag.

Taichang couldn't help but said with great interest: "Oh, you have someone show me an airbag."

Hearing this, Peng Bin hurriedly ran to the arrow stacks on the city wall to say hello.

After a while, a soldier of the Shenji Battalion came up with a sheepskin air bag.

Peng Bin whispered a few words to him, and the soldier of the Shenji Battalion quickly tied the sheepskin airbag in front of his body, and then blew vigorously into it until the sheepskin airbag swelled up, and then he stopped blowing it, and just bit it with his mouth. The opening of the airbag stood there motionless.

Uh, this one seems to need improvement.

The air blown in must have consumed part of the oxygen, and it was a bit of a hindrance to tie the airbag in front of the body.

Taichang thought for a while, and simply ordered someone to fetch a small steam piston, some rubber pipes and some copper pipes.

The steam piston itself has an air inlet and an air outlet, as long as it is connected with a hose, it is almost a primitive pump.

And the copper pipe is bent, and the sheepskin airbag can be tied to the opening of the sheepskin airbag to inhale.

Of course, this is not very safe.

What if a person doesn't know that the sheepskin airbag behind him is out of air, and what if he stays underwater and doesn't come up in time?

This problem is easy to solve, just tie a small flagon-like air bag around the waist, and it will be no problem to store a few breaths of life-saving air in it.

After such improvements, the most primitive diving equipment was born.

After the sheepskin airbag is filled with air, a person can last for nearly a quarter of an hour underwater!

In this way, not to mention going into the water to investigate, even digging underwater for a while will be fine.

With this set of primitive diving equipment, the inspection and cleaning of the embankments on both sides are much faster.

Originally, Peng Bin planned to spend four or five days exploring and cleaning up the underwater, but it took less than two days to clean up the underwater.

This time, the entire Grand Canal will be truly navigable.

(End of this chapter)