A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 488
Autumn is high and fresh.

It was much easier to rush on the road, avoiding the scorching heat and extreme cold. After leaving Chang'an City, Wu Huaiyu and his party first walked out of Tongguan along the Weishui River, and then took the Weihan Ancient Road to Luoyang.

"We should go to Youzhou directly from Pujin Bridge to Hedong, and pass through Taiyuan to Jingxing to Youzhou faster." Cousin Wu Junya is a little fatter than before, and he will accompany him to Youzhou Governor's Mansion this time. State Sima.

"I'm going to Luoyang and Xingyang this time to do something."

Datang continued the post road system of the Sui Dynasty, with Chang'an as the center, and radiated seven post roads to the four directions of the world, namely leading to the Western Regions, Southwest, Lingnan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, Saishang Grassland, Hebei, Liaodong, and Shannan, Yunnan and Guizhou.

Jingbei Road leads to Liaodong, Hebei. This post road goes out of Chang'an, crosses the Yellow River from Pujin Pass, directly enters Hedong, arrives in Taiyuan, passes Jingxing to Youzhou, and then passes through Jipingying to reach Liaodong.

This is the shortest and smoothest road from Chang'an to Youzhou.

But Wu Huaiyu went out of Tongguan to Luoyang, taking Jingdong Road.

Fatty Wu, who has been living in Chang'an all these years, is waiting to inherit his father's title as Duke of Leng County. They arranged for him to go to Shenji Camp and enter Weiwei Temple,
Now he is recommended to be the Sima of Youzhou.

This Youzhou Sima is different from the Sima of the Youzhou Governor's Mansion. Although the Sima of the Zhongdu Governor's Mansion and the Sima of Shangzhou are both from the fifth rank, they are two yamen.Wu Huaiyu, the governor of Youzhou and the governor of Youzhou, is not one yamen with two brands.

It is the two yamen led by Wu Huaiyu, with two sets of officials. The Dudu Mansion belongs to the higher-level department of Youzhou, and manages the military administration of eight states including Youzhou.

Although Fatty added the word "inspection" to Sima Qian of Youzhou this time, which was a bit of a trial, but he came up directly after all.

He is still looking forward to this trip.

When Huaiyu said that he was going to Luoyang to do some business, he didn't ask, but showed off, "Do you know that there are three passages between Luoyang and Tongguan?"

"Oh?"

"The first one is called Zhouqin Ancient Road, commonly known as Nanwei Road. It goes out from Luoyang to the southwest, passes through Hancheng and Sanxiang in Yiyang, passes through Luoning and Shanzhou, leaves Hangu Pass, enters Tongguan through Taolin, This road was excavated the earliest.

The second is called the Caowei Ancient Road, also known as the Beiwei Road. It runs from Luoyang to Xin'an, exits Hangu Pass, passes through Yima and Mianchi, and coincides with the Zhou Qin Ancient Road. .

The third is the ancient water transport road along the Yellow River besides the land road, which is the most prosperous now, and it is a supplementary channel for the insufficient transport capacity of the ancient Xiaohan road on land. "

Wu Huaiyu studied the art of war with Li Jing and Qin Qiong every day, and did a lot of replays of classic battles arranged by them, so how could he not know this.

They are now taking the Nanwei Road, which has the longest history, the flattest terrain, and the traffic is busy. In the Sui Dynasty, the emperor used this road to travel between the east and the west. Therefore, there are many post houses and palaces scattered on this road.

This Xiaohangu Road is not only a traffic artery, but also the most important military battleground between several major plates. This narrow and long passage between Zhongtiao Mountain, the Yellow River, and the remaining veins of the Qinling Mountains is also the only one between Chang'an and Luoyang. direct channel.

If counting from Chang'an in the west to Luoyang in the east, the Xiaohan Valley Road in a broad sense is seven hundred miles long.

The northern foot of Zhongtiao Mountain to the north of Xiaohan Ancient Road is the Linfen Basin, the west end is the Guanzhong Plain, and the east end is the Heluo Basin.

Jiechi, an important salt-producing area, is also in this area.

This [-]-mile-long corridor divides east and west with Sanmenxia as the boundary.

The ancient road to the east of Sanmenxia is divided into two to lead to Luoyang, which is the North and South Xiao Road.

Furthermore, the Yellow River below Sanmenxia slows down, allowing large ships to pass through it. Both freight and military transportation can rely on water transportation, but the river above Sanmenxia is turbulent, and there are three major reefs in the middle of the river: Ghost Gate, Shenmen Gate, and Renmen Gate. Known as the mainstay, extremely dangerous.

When the grain from the Kanto region was transported to Sanmenxia by water, it had to be transported by land and transshipped via the Weihan Valley Road.

Water transportation is ten times faster than land transportation, and a grain ship is equivalent to the transportation capacity of a hundred cattle, and the loss is still low.

Wu Huaiyu used to be a minister and was also in charge of grain transshipment. Faced with the increasing population of Chang'an and the growing food shortage in Guanzhong, the grain in the southeast was severely restricted in Sanmenxia. The countermeasure he proposed was to set up warehouses by the water and add grain directly. Transshipment warehouse, one-stop transshipment of grain.

It is no longer a one-stop delivery, but a sub-station delivery.

In particular, the section from Sanmenxia to Tongguan must be transported by land, so more warehouses will be built along the line, and relay transportation will be carried out in sections, which can greatly improve efficiency, especially reduce loss.

And he also has a plan to change the [-]-mile land transportation from Luoyang to Shanxi to dig mountains and open roads for [-] miles on the north bank of Sanmenxia. Transport by land to Xicang, and again by boat to avoid the danger of the three gates. This is the transfer method that breaks the old nest and replaces the traditional water transport method.

According to this method, 200 million stone grains can be transshipped a year, saving at least [-] yuan in shipping costs every year.

If conditions permit, Wu Huaiyu even has a better plan to dig an artificial canal directly on the left bank of Renmen, so that the tank boats can go directly from the mouth of the Sanmenxia River to Weikou to Chang'an.

However, the initial cost of digging canals is relatively high, but compared with the methods of dredging rivers and digging pillars in the Wei, Jin and Sui Dynasties, or even digging mountains along the river to build plank roads, it is obviously a once-and-for-all method, that is, the initial investment is large.

It can only be considered as a long-term plan.

However, the current water and land transfer method of separate warehouses is already good, and when the transfer method starts, it can improve a lot of efficiency.

The taxation, money and food in the southeast, especially the food from the Jianghuai River, can enter the customs quickly and at low cost, which is of great significance to Datang.

The decline of the Tang Dynasty began with the inability to control the Northwest Region, the Western Regions beyond the reach of the whip, the rapid rise of Tubo, and the later revival of the Eastern Turks, the rebellious Western Turks, and the tribes of Tuqishi, Ge Luolu, and Huihe. wait.

Guanzhong can't even supply food to Chang'an, let alone the more distant Western Regions, Hexi, Longyou, Qinghai, Saishang and other places.

If Guanzhong could receive a steady stream of food supplies from the central plains and southeast of the empire, then Datang would have stronger control over Western Xinjiang, and the decline of Datang would not be so fast.

Wu Huaiyu didn't go fast on this trip to Shangluo out of Tongguan. He inspected the military forts and villages, observed the postmen, the newly built transfer warehouses, and the servants who were constantly transporting back and forth on the road. ,oxen and horses.

They really work hard.

Wu Huaiyu even thought about whether it is possible to recruit craftsmen, give them a four-wheeled carriage and let them solve specific detailed technical problems, research this large carriage, and even study whether there are conditions for the most difficult valley road in these hundreds of miles. Repair the track?
Come directly to rail carriage transportation?

Just like in those mines.

Even with horse-drawn carts, if there are tracks, the capacity can be greatly increased.

However, whether it is a four-wheeled carriage or a track, there are still many specific technical details in it, which need to be studied slowly. Even if there is a correct direction, many technologies are not so easy to solve.

Huaiyu took out a small notebook, took out a graphite pencil, and recorded these ideas in the notebook, which can be implemented in the future, as a temporary memorandum.

Wu Junya glanced at it, but couldn't understand anything. Those characters were as mysterious as symbols, and as novel as his pen.

"Is this a Taoist rune?"

Huaiyu shook his head, this is actually just Hanyu Pinyin, he uses this record, but he doesn't want others to know, he often writes down things in his notebook, using Pinyin is more confidential, no one in this world can understand it.

In fact, the same is true for practical English. The English he learned is also understood by no one in this era.

In Britain right now, the Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons occupies a dominant position, replacing the language of Roman Britain. There are four major dialects of Germanic Old English, but no matter which one is, it is almost completely different from the English that Wu Huaiyu learned. Influenced by a large number of Greek, Latin, and French words.

For seven hundred miles, Wu Huaiyu walked for a small month, stopping and going, anyway, he was not in a hurry.

When we arrived in Luoyang, it was already the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Huaiyu did not advance to Luoyang City, but went to Beiman Mountain. It is said that this mountain buried the most emperors and generals.

He specially went to the mountain to worship Qin Qiong's good brothers Luo Shixin and Pei Xingyan.

Luo Shixin is Qin Qiong's best brother. They fought side by side under Zhang Xutuo for many years, and later returned to Tang Dynasty. Snow, the reinforcements could not arrive as scheduled, and the isolated city held on for many days, and finally the city was broken and captured, and they would rather die than surrender and be killed.

Qin Qiong redeemed his good brother's body with a lot of money and buried it on Beiman Mountain. This little man who looked like a god of war was only 22 years old when he died.

On Beiman Mountain, Luo Shixin's tomb is next to Pei Renji and his son.

Nine-year-old Pei Xingjian came with him this time and knelt down in front of his father and brother. He had never met his father and brother, he was a posthumous child.

"General Luo and my adoptive father were both under the command of General Zhang in the early years. After the defeat of Dahai Temple, they joined General Pei and received his courtesy."

Later, Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong went to Wagang with Pei Renji and surrendered to Li Mi. Leng broke out of the siege.

Luo Shixin was rescued by Pei Xingyan who sacrificed his life.

So back then, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, Cheng Yaojin, and Pei Xingyan were all in friendship with Jinlan.Later, Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong Cheng Yaojin voted for the Tang Dynasty successively. Pei Renji and his son stayed in Luoyang and were killed because they failed to assassinate Wang Shichong. It is said that after death, he will also be buried here.

After Luo Shixin died in battle in Mingshui City, Qin Qiong paid a lot of money to redeem his body, and buried him next to Pei Renji and his son. When Huaiyu went to Youzhou this time, Qin Qiong asked him to go to Beiman Mountain to worship his old brothers on his behalf.

It even said that after his death in the future, he must be buried in Beimang Mountain to be with his brothers.

Su Lie stepped forward to offer incense to Luo Shixin.

He also participated in the battle of Mingshui City back then. At that time, each was the master, but he was also deeply impressed by Luo Shixin's bravery.

After many years, the memory is still deep.

After the worship ceremony, he went down the mountain and entered Luoyang City. Yang Gongren, the governor of Luozhou, came to greet him in person.

Huaiyu asked Pei Xingjian to rest in Luoyang for a few days before returning to Chang'an.

"No, I want to go to Youzhou with my teacher, I want to learn the art of war, and I want to be a general like my father and brother in the future." Nine-year-old Pei Xingjian was very determined.

"Let's talk about it in a few years, and go back to Chang'an to study first."

"General Luo was 14 years old when he was holding clothes for Zhang Shuai, and he had already put on double armor to fight against the enemy. Qin Xianggong was also a tent under Laigong's command at a very young age..."

Huaiyu interrupted him, "Let's talk about it when you are at least fourteen, five or six years old."

(End of this chapter)