I studied in modern times

Chapter 1067 The Canal (1)

The ninth day of the sixth month of the third year of the Yuan You era (June 15th).

In a side hall of the Jiying Hall, Zhao Xu looked at the sand table placed in the hall.

This is a model of Jingdong Road.

All the states of Jingdong are contained within it.

Mountains and rivers, prefectures and counties, cities and towns are scattered like stars.

In front of the sand table stood a civil official dressed in a scarlet robe.

This man was about forty years old, with a robust build, a square face, slightly thick lips, and dark skin. It was clear at a glance that he had been traveling for a long time.

Unlike those civil officials who sit in the government office, who are either fat men with big bellies or weak scholars who can't even kill a chicken.

Such capable, decisive, and practical civil officials as this person are not uncommon in the Song Dynasty's officialdom, but they are few and far between.

There are even fewer high-ranking civil servants!

That's how the Song Dynasty was.

The national policy of governing the country together with the scholar-officials certainly united the gentry and made the dynasty stable.

But it also exposed the flaws of almost all bureaucrats.

The most serious drawback was nepotism, with sons of high-ranking officials blocking the way.

A large number of sons of officials, relying on their privileges, occupied numerous key positions, blocking the upward mobility of scholars from poor families.

Every year when the Ministry of Personnel selects people for official appointments, at least five out of ten are second-generation officials with connections.

Even among the remaining five, some had risen to their positions by currying favor, flattering, or even serving as lackeys for the sons of high-ranking officials.

Even so, these were the results of the Qingli New Deal and the Xining Reform.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xu thought to himself, "The 'Ren' in Renmiao really is... benevolent!"

"Even now, scholars and officials still cherish those memories!"

To be honest, if possible, Zhao Xu would not want to take action against the bureaucratic group.

Maintaining the old ways, keeping everyone happy, isn't actually that bad.

Amazing! Let the common people suffer even more, and let the ministers Lü, Cai, and Zhang bear the infamy!
In any case, Emperor Zhao was honest and upright, and loved his people like his own children. He couldn't even eat when he heard that the people in the prefectures and counties were suffering from disasters.

After all, he lived in the palace.

Whether the people of the prefectures and counties were eating chaff and wild vegetables or exchanging children to eat, it didn't matter.

He can neither see nor empathize with them.

Unfortunately, whenever Zhao Xu wanted to lie down, he would think of the Jingkang Incident he had seen in modern history books—millions of Bianjing people were driven north like livestock, tied with ropes; imperial princesses and concubines were repeatedly humiliated; cries of agony filled the banks of the Yellow River; and white bones were exposed in the wilderness!
He would also recall that, according to historical records, his and his father's and grandfather's tombs were dug up by the Jin soldiers.

The coffin was opened by the Jin soldiers, and the remains were scattered everywhere, with wild dogs carrying the writings all over the place.

Therefore, the thought could no longer be resolved, and there was no longer any option to give up and abandon the situation.

We had no choice but to bite the bullet, muster our courage, and cautiously begin to implement reforms little by little.

With these thoughts in mind, Zhao Xu rallied.

"Minister Yang..." He stood up, walked to the sand table, and said, "I understand your meaning..."

"Dig a canal from Yunzhou westward to Linqing to connect with the imperial canal..."

Zhao Xu tapped lightly on the sand table.

This is a massive project!

Yunzhou, now called Dongping, and Linqing, which is located northwest of modern Liaoping, are connected by the Yuhe River.

The so-called Imperial Canal is the Baigou Canal of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Yongji Canal of the Sui Dynasty. To be precise, it should be the southern section of this ancient canal.

After the founding of the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River bore the heavy responsibility of transporting grain, armor, weapons, and troops to Hebei. When Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong launched their northern expeditions, they relied heavily on the Yellow River to transport grain, armor, and weapons.

Therefore, it was called the Imperial River.

However, in the eighth year of the Qingli era, the Yellow River breached its banks at Shanghukou, flowing northward towards Daming Prefecture and eventually emptying into the sea downstream of Daming Prefecture.

In the fifth year of the Jiayou era, the section of the Daming Prefecture River, which had just stabilized, breached its banks again.

The surging Yellow River breached its banks in Weixian County, creating a new channel two hundred feet wide.

This is the origin of the Ergu River!
Both breaches caused the Yellow River to temporarily lose control of the Yuhe River channel.

Although the floodwaters receded later, the silt left behind altered the navigation capacity of the Yuhe River.

Since then, the navigation capacity of the Royal Canal has been greatly reduced.

By now, it has become very difficult for them to undertake large-scale military transport responsibilities.

The amount of grain, fodder, armor, and weapons that the imperial court transported to Hebei through the Imperial Canal each year was limited to one million shi (hu).

The imperial court repeatedly attempted to dredge the river, but to no avail; it could only barely maintain the existing state.

The reason for this is that the Yuhe River currently has only one source of water – Baiquan Water, located within the territory of Weizhou (now Weihui, Henan Province).

With little water in Baiquan, it is naturally unable to wash away the silt left in the riverbed when the Yellow River floods.

The only way to clear the water is by manpower during the dry season in winter each year.

However, after the Qingli era, the Song Dynasty's finances were on the verge of collapse, bandits were rampant throughout the land, and public order was in disarray. The emperor and his officials in Bianjing were overwhelmed with problems and couldn't even be bothered to deal with the Tangut people.

Where is there any empty space left for dredging the Imperial River?
Every year, just a token effort is enough to maintain the basic capacity of the canal.

After the Xining Reforms, with the national treasury becoming full, the government finally had the resources to dredge the silos.

But just as the plan was put on the agenda, the Yellow River breached its banks again in the tenth year of the Xining era. The raging floodwaters, carrying countless silt, flowed eastward into Juye. The Yellow River overflowed its banks to the north into Jizhou and to the south into Sishui. The raging floodwaters flowed eastward all the way to Xuzhou.

When the flood peak reached Xuzhou, the water was still 28 feet deep!

Su Shi almost became a martyr in the fight against floods in Xuzhou. At that time, he was the prefect of Xuzhou and he personally led the soldiers and civilians of Xuzhou to defend the Xuzhou dike for more than seventy days.

Afterwards, still shaken, Su Shi launched into a tirade against the imperial court.

The deadly phrase, "With your limited resources, you are waging an impossible campaign, driving innocent people into a place of certain death," was spoken at this time.

Ok……

It's understandable that the bearded man would curse like that.

Because the breach in the Yellow River's banks in the tenth year of the Xining era was entirely man-made. The Returning River faction insisted on challenging the Yellow River's authority.

As a result, Mother Yellow River gathered her strength and exerted herself, bestowing upon us her deepest maternal love, and thus [irrigated 45 counties and destroyed 300,000 hectares of farmland].

It almost made Su Shi a martyr in the fight against the flood.

If Zhao Xu were Su Shi, he would probably have scolded him too.

It might even sound worse; they might even blurt out "grass mud horse" (a vulgar expression).

After this incident, the dredging of the Imperial Canal was once again put on hold.

Until the fourth year of the Yuanfeng era, Jian Zhoufu was appointed as the Transport Commissioner of Hebei Circuit and the Supervisor of Hebei Grain Purchase Office.

Only then did they begin dredging the Imperial River.

However, Jian Zhoufu's actions during his tenure were mainly focused on building large warehouses.

He didn't really have any solutions for dredging the Imperial River.

The only option is to follow the old practice of hiring laborers and mobilizing the army to carry out dredging during the dry season in winter.

But they are all small in scale.

After all, Jian Zhoufu needed political achievements.

Dredging the imperial canal was a thankless and slow-to-result task.

What can compare to the large-scale renovation of storage facilities, a project that becomes a political achievement simply by being built?

Therefore, even today, the navigation capacity of the Imperial Canal is no different from that of the Zhiping and Xining periods.

The amount of goods that can be transported to the Hebei border each year is no more than one million shi (a unit of dry measure).

With such limited transport capacity, it's already very difficult to transport military supplies and rewards.

Moreover, with the Song-Liao trade flourishing and the demand and pressure for transporting goods to the north increasing, what about today?
Not to mention the Song Dynasty court, even the Liao people are very anxious now.

The Imperial Canal was ineffective, with too little transport capacity, forcing many goods to be transported by land, relying on carts, donkey carts, and mule carts.

It takes a long time, results in significant damage, and incurs high shipping costs.

The key was to limit the scale of trade between the Song and Liao dynasties!
Therefore, the merchants in Bianjing were also very anxious.

Therefore, the pressure was placed on the Dushuijian, which is in charge of water conservancy.

Since last year, pressure has been mounting on the Directorate of Waterways from both within and outside the government—"Shhh, are you up to the task? If not, replace him!"
The former Director of Water Conservancy, Li Shiliang, couldn't withstand the pressure and ran away under these circumstances.

It was under these circumstances that Zhao Xu reinstated the most powerful water conservancy official in the Song Dynasty at that time.

This is the person standing in front of Zhao Xu now—Yang Ji, a Grand Master of the Palace and Director of the Water Conservancy.

Initially, there was some dissent within the court.

So much so that when Zhao Xu reinstated Yang Ji, he provided a great deal of cover-up.

But now, there is little criticism of Yang Ji in the court.

Because, immediately after taking office, this water supervisor led the selected waterworkers and officials to inspect and visit Hebei and Jingdong.

For months, he and his men have trekked through mountains and rivers, enduring wind and rain, and braving the heat and cold.

He personally walked along the Imperial River and asked many elderly people, boatmen, and fishermen near the river.

In May, he went to Jingdong Road again and revisited the old course of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal.

Upon returning to the capital earlier this month, he immediately wrote a memorial and sent it to Zhao Xu's desk, detailing his plans.

In other words, this is the plan that is now presented to Zhao Xu.

An artificial canal was dug from the west of Yunzhou to connect Linqing in Daming Prefecture.

This canal is about 300 li long.

Once completed, this canal will not only draw water from the Wen River, Ji River, and other rivers in eastern Beijing into the Imperial Canal, increasing its water volume and improving its transportation capacity.

It also enabled the rapid transport of money, grain, and goods from Jingdong to Bianjing via the Imperial Canal, strengthening the waterway connection between Bianjing and Jingdong Road.

Crucially, it also allows Hebei's troops and weapons to quickly enter JD.com.

In this way, if the Liao people really do cross the sea in the future...

The Song Dynasty wouldn't have been in such a state of chaos.

Zhao Xu looked at the sand table in front of him and listened to Yang Ji's report, his eyes gleaming with an inexplicable light.

Because he always felt that this riverbed... was somewhat familiar.

I feel like I've seen this somewhere before?
He might even have been there?

He couldn't remember for a moment.

After Yang Ji finished his report, Zhao Xu asked, "Minister Yang, have you calculated how many people would be needed to complete such a canal?"

Yang Ji was a man of action; back when he followed Hou Shuxian, he was known for his expertise in general affairs.

Upon hearing this, he immediately replied, "Your Majesty, the Director of Water Conservancy believes that three million workers are sufficient!"

"Three million workers?" Zhao Xu quickly calculated in his mind.

The latest wage in Bianjing is 150 wen per day for young and strong men.

Based on this calculation, three million laborers would earn approximately six hundred thousand strings of cash in wages.

Of course, this only covers wages.

This doesn't even include the cost of materials, tools, and other expenses required for the project.

Generally speaking, these expenses are about two to three times the wages.

In other words, it would only take 1.8 million to 2.4 million strings of cash to dig a 300-mile canal.
The average cost per mile is six to eight thousand strings of cash.
Is it so cheap?

Zhao Xu looked at Yang Ji with some disbelief. At that moment, images of the HS2 train in Britain, the California high-speed rail in America, the Berlin International Airport in Germany, and the messy projects of his third brother's family flashed through his mind.

He couldn't help but suspect that Yang Ji was either making empty promises to him, wanting to become a special commissioner of the Song Dynasty and fleece him, the official, or that he was using the pretext of forcibly conscripting people without compensation, so that those who had paid exemption fees would still be working for the government for free.

Unfortunately, both of these kinds of things are commonplace in the Song Dynasty today.

(End of this chapter)