Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 638 Engineering Changes
Late April, the north bank of Sanmenxia.

Climbing to a high place near the river, more than a hundred shogunate officials looked down at the pillar in the river.

There are still remnants of plank roads built along the mountain during the Han Dynasty on both sides of the mountain, but very few of them have been preserved. Most of them have been destroyed by floods, leaving many holes.

The plank road was built to facilitate the passage of boats by trackers, so the mountain was rubbed by the thick ropes at the bends, forming grooves.

After two years of surveys, combined with accounts from nearby elderly people, we have been able to make an accurate estimate of the hydrological changes.

The black bear looked down at the upstream Human Gate close to the north bank, the middle one is God Gate, and the one close to the south bank is Ghost Gate. The water in Ghost Gate is the most turbulent, while the Human Gate on the north bank is relatively calm.

But during the dry season, the Human Gate on the north bank and the Ghost Gate on the south bank will dry up, and only the God Gate will have water.

The so-called digging the pillars means to destroy the two stone mountains between the three gates.

Compared with these two stone mountains, the Dizhu is actually a small project.

But after investigation, another engineering idea emerged.

That is to dig an artificial canal on the north bank, connecting to the upper reaches of Sanmenxia and bypassing Dizhu.

In order to reduce river operations, a three-meter-wide canal was dug on the land on the north bank.

Although the amount of excavation is large, it can be operated all year round and more manpower can be invested.

More than fifty years ago, Emperor Huan ordered the reconstruction of the Renmen plank road on the north bank to increase the transportation capacity for supplying Guanzhong, also for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion of the Eastern Qiang.

This is different from fighting a war. The winner takes all and can feed on the enemy and absorb and transform the enemy's strength.

This is a large-scale project that will take a long time. Black Bear can force Shuzhong to rebuild the plank road to consume Shuzhong's manpower and material resources to prevent these people from causing chaos.

Over the past three years, a series of changes have taken place in Shu around the Shu Road reconstruction project.

Including the manpower for supply and transportation, the Shu Road project occupied a population of 120,000 all year round, absorbing the idle manpower in Shu, and the officials had become accustomed to this project.

Now, after two years of investigation and calculation, when the project is put in front of them, Black Bear has no choice but to give up the original idea of ​​breaking through the rock in the river and choose the more feasible river canal plan.

There are rock walls on both sides here, and the terrain on the north bank is relatively lower.

Gan Ning saw that he was in trouble, and he also knew that Black Bear's original plan was to chisel away all obstacles in the river in one fell swoop.

This is really time-consuming and can only be done during the dry season in winter, and it cannot be chiseled cleanly.

Huge rocks sank to the bottom of the river. The river here is already becoming more turbulent as it narrows from wide. In addition, there are reefs on the riverbed and various reefs on both sides, so there are many turbulent undercurrents.

The undercurrent changes differently depending on the river water height.

But the slogan "chisel through the Dizhu" can be understood in different ways. It can be simply understood as chiseling away the Dizhu; it can also be understood as digging a canal that bypasses the Dizhu to achieve east-west navigation.

Gan Ning then stepped forward and pointed to the planned canal in the north: "Your Majesty, the three gates are strong and secure. If we dig a new gate, we will see results in three years."

The black bear turned his head to look to the north. There were red flags flying on the planned canal, which was connected from front to back and was about one mile long.

He looked down at the planning drawing, which had markings on it for the canal: 150 zhang long, 3 zhang wide, and 3 zhang deep.

Zhang Chang, Yang Xiu and other Hongnong people around looked on eagerly. Digging through the Dizhu was of great significance to Hongnong.

"not enough."

Black Bear looked at the blueprint and said, "The canal is three meters deep. If there is more water, it will be turbulent. If there is less water, it will dry up. The most difficult part is the initial digging. After the initial digging, it will be convenient and labor-saving to widen it on the left and right. This is a great undertaking for generations to come. How can we be so petty?"

It must be dug well in one go, otherwise it will not be satisfactory after the entire line is connected, and it can only be dug during the dry season.

Once your morale is low, your enthusiasm will decline.

The efficiency is not high when construction starts in winter every year.

Only by setting up the camp well and working hard can we achieve success in one go.

Gan Ning looked embarrassed. The depth was increased by ten feet, and the excavation volume almost doubled.

"I would rather not fight for ten or twenty years than dig through this place once and for all."

Black Bear rolled up the blueprint and handed it to Yang Xiu: "In winter, when there is water in Shenmen, we should use Shenmen as a reference. At the same time, the width of the channel cannot be less than eight zhang."

It is nearly 20 meters wide. After it is dug through, the water of Shenmen will be diverted in the dry season, so that more riverbed foundation stones of the old channel will be exposed. Even if the Xinmen River channel is turbulent and cannot be navigated when it is dug through... as long as the foundation stones of the old river channel are chiseled away, the water can be diverted to ensure the stability of the Xinmen River channel.

Black Bear is not going to announce his complete plan. Not only will he dig the Xinmen River Canal, but he will also have to chisel away the main pillars after the canal is divided!
This is also the safest way to take action, but this water conservancy plan is too scary.

Dig the canal first to avoid interference from the river water; after the Xinmen canal is connected and diverted, more manpower can be invested in chiseling the pillars. Both projects can be said to be twice the result with half the effort and complement each other.

He looked at Gan Ning and said, "When Emperor Huan built the plank road, the rocks he dug fell into the river and flowed downstream to accumulate on both sides, causing reefs and rapids. We must put an end to this and transport the rocks we have collected to the north bank. Not only that, we will dig a new canal with all our strength in the summer, and during the dry season we will also destroy the reefs on both sides of the downstream."

Gan Ning was familiar with naval battles and naturally knew the dangers of hidden reefs on the shore.

Assigning Gan Ning the task of clearing the reefs was only to make him more vigilant in this regard to prevent the craftsmen from being lazy and throwing rocks into the river.

It is easy to invest, but it is difficult to salvage or destroy it.

"I will dispatch 30,000 people from Hancheng to assist in the excavation. Hongnong, Henei, Hedong, Taiyuan, and Shangdang counties will each send 3,000 people, Sanfu will send 10,000 people, and I will force Xiahou Dun to send 5,000 people. A total of 60,000 people, all under Xingba's command."

These 60,000 people were basically doing long-term corvée labor, with each county taking turns to replace the manpower.

Compared with before, the number of newly-supported workers who have truly left agricultural production is only 30,000.

Among these 30,000 people, at least half will be military officers, and the actual number of additional laborers will be 15,000.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Among them, 5,000 people were extorted from Xiahou Dun, and the actual reduction in the agricultural population was only 10,000.

After a pause, Black Bear continued, "All laborers will be paid 200 coins a month; prisoners in the mines will be paid 100 coins a month."

Just the 30,000 people transferred from the mine cost 3 million yuan per month; the other 30,000 people have a monthly expenditure of 6 million yuan. Taking into account the subsidies for the big and small bosses, Black Bear's bottom line is 10 million yuan per month.

This money is really just a small part of the cost. The shogunate needs to mobilize the food, meat, clothing, medicine, and tools needed every month.

Xiahou Dun is trying to recruit 5,000 people and pay them a million dollars a month. No matter how Xiahou Dun deals with this wages, it will continue to undermine the resistance will of the Heluo area.

If Xiahou Dun refused to give it to him, Black Bear would go and catch it himself.

The difference is that the 5,000 people provided by Xiahou Dun can be rotated after two or three months, and Xiahou Dun can provide another group of people.

Wei Kang stood behind the black bear and took notes.

It took 60,000 people to dig through the Dizhu. This project was not very large, only half the size of the Shu Road project.

But there are also differences. Two-thirds of the manpower in the Shu Road project was responsible for transportation, including food and firewood.

Here, with the benefit of water transportation from the upper Yellow River, basically 60,000 people will be involved in the excavation work.

"From now on, I will come to Shanjin on the Yuanshi in the middle of every month to supervise the progress of the canal excavation."

As Hei Xiong was speaking, he saw that the shogunate's attendants were looking at him eagerly, eager to be assigned a job as an overseer or something like that.

Black Bear pretended not to see it, stepped forward and patted Gan Ning's arm: "Trust the people you employ, and don't employ the people you doubt. I have fully entrusted Xingba with the task of drilling through the pillar."

"I will do my utmost to serve you!"

Gan Ning knelt on one knee and raised his head to express his stance.

He is not the kind of person who would take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of something. Taking sole responsibility is already a huge profit.

At this time, Zhang Chang could no longer bear it and stepped forward to say: "Your Majesty, digging through the Dizhu will benefit future generations and is a great achievement for the country. I beg you to reinstate me as the Chief Architect and have the Ministry of Works oversee the great cause of opening the thoroughfare."

Black Bear looked at the old man Zhang Chang and smiled: "If we want to accomplish this, we must use military law."

Zhang Chang turned to look at Yang Xiu, who stepped forward and bowed: "Your Majesty, I am willing to do my best."

"So do I, your servant!"

Zhang Chang bowed again, and then he saw some attendants coming out and also bowing deeply.

If you can't get a job as a supervisor, even if you stay at the construction site and work as a temporary clerk to keep accounts or record names, it will be an opportunity worth leaving your name for posterity!
After the Dizhu was drilled through, who would still remember these 60,000 people hundreds of years later?
And they will firmly nail their images here through family handwriting, stone tablets, poems and the like!
If someone good at writing books and history appears in the future, and can compose stories, although he cannot replace Gan Ning, he can at least steal the key position!

Looking at the thirty-odd people, Black Bear turned to look at Gan Ning and said, "Since you are so enthusiastic, Xingba must lead them well."

Gan Ning had no expression on his face and bowed again: "Yes."

(End of this chapter)