History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 840 Chai Rong Governs the Country 6
3. Infrastructure Maniac

The reason why Chai Rong was revered as the patron saint of kiln workers, miners and other occupations by later generations is closely related to the large-scale infrastructure construction during his reign. During the five and a half years of Chai Rong's reign, wars never stopped, anti-corruption efforts never stopped, and national infrastructure construction never stopped.

The "Battle of Gaoping" brought Chai Rong a lot of experience and lessons, one of which was the vital role of logistics support in war. Since then, Chai Rong has vigorously developed water conservancy projects and dredged rivers, which benefited him greatly in the subsequent "Three Expeditions to Huainan".

4.1 Water conservancy construction
At the end of the first year of Xian De (954), the Yellow River broke its banks in the western part of today's Shandong Province (Yunzhou), and the flood affected several states. Chai Rong ordered Prime Minister Li Gu to preside over the Yellow River water conservancy work and ordered more than men to fight the flood and provide disaster relief in days.

In April of the fourth year of Xian De (957), an imperial decree was issued to dredge the Bian River and the Wuzhang River, "so that boats from Qi and Lu could all reach Daliang."

In February of the sixth year of Xian De (959), the emperor ordered tens of thousands of men from Xu, Su, Song, Shan and other states to dredge the Bian River to connect the Qing and Yun water routes; and to dredge the Cai River to connect the Chen and Ying water routes.

At that time, water transport was equivalent to today's high-speed trains, and was the most efficient means of transporting materials and deploying troops. In the previous article, we have seen the convenience that water conservancy projects brought to war. For example, Chai Rong built a large number of "Qiyun warships" in Bianzhou, which were directly deployed to the Huaihe battlefield by water, greatly undermining the morale of the Southern Tang Dynasty; for example, when the Three Passes were conquered in the north, the reason why the Later Zhou Dynasty was able to quickly deploy troops to Hebei was also due to the well-connected waterways, which frightened the Khitan soldiers into surrendering.

In five years, Chai Rong built a huge water transportation network connecting Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu in the Central Plains with Bianzhou as the center.

In addition to providing convenience for military operations, water conservancy projects also facilitate agricultural irrigation and transportation, promote economic development and improve people's livelihood.

4.2 National Defense Infrastructure
4.2.1 “Water Great Wall” - Jing’an Military
In the first month of the second year of Xian De (955), at the suggestion of Zhang Cangying, the "filial son who avenged Zhang", the Hulu River in Hebei was dredged, and a city was built on both sides of the river at Li Yankou, miles north of Jizhou and miles south of Shenzhou, a military fortress was built, and troops were stationed there.

In March of the same year, the fortress at Li Yankou was upgraded to "Jing'an Army", becoming an important military fortress against the Khitan.

Previously, the Khitans often raided Hebei, which seriously threatened the lives and property of the people of Hebei and also seriously affected the economic development of Hebei. After the establishment of the "Jing'an Army", the Khitan cavalry could no longer penetrate deep into the area. "Since then, even if the enemy cavalry came, they dared not cross the river, and the border people were able to farm and graze a little."

The Hulu River defense line with the Jing'an Army as the core was also praised by later generations as the "Water Great Wall". It became the northern gate of the Northern Song Dynasty and was guarded until the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, some people also called Zhang Cangying "Zhang Xiaozi of Revenge" for guarding the Song Dynasty for 100 years.

4.2.2 Expansion of Bianzhou
In April of the second year of Xian De (955), Chai Rong issued an edict to expand the outer city of Bianzhou. This project was very humane. There was no forced demolition. Instead, the government first mapped and marked the red lines, and then told the people where the important government areas were, where random construction was not allowed, and where the free construction areas were. The construction date was also set in the winter when there was no farming work. It was also emphasized that if the construction was not completed this winter, it would continue in the next winter, so as not to delay the spring farming.

In the first month of the third year of Xian De (956), men from nearby counties were conscripted to build the outer city according to the plan. After the project was completed, the area of ​​Bianzhou City was four times its original size!
Later, the appearance of Bianzhou City was improved, with an emphasis on urban greening and river landscape belts.

After a series of transformations, Bianzhou, as the capital of the empire, not only greatly improved its military defense capabilities, but also gradually took on the appearance of an international metropolis. All of this laid the foundation for the prosperity of the "Tokyo Bianliang City" in the Song Dynasty, and led to the description of "Watching Lanterns in Tokyo" in "Water Margin".

4. Sharing Wealth with the People 5.1 Random Salt Mining
In October of the third year of Xian De (956), an imperial decree was issued: "All counties and prefectures north of the Zhang River are allowed to trade in salt, and those living in areas with alkaline and brine are expelled, allowing everyone to refine the salt."

The general idea is to relax trade policies and promote trade; the most crucial part is the second half of the sentence, which allows people to dig salt on their own in the salt mines.

Salt is an important national strategic material and has been strictly controlled by the imperial court since the Spring and Autumn Period. However, Chai Rong allowed the people to mine salt on their own in the salt mines on saline-alkali land, which benefited the people and kept the wealth for the people.

5.2 Random Gold Mining
In June of the fourth year of Xiande (957), Chang'an reported that gold dust had been found in the valley of Yiyang, and the common people were rushing to pan for it. Chai Rong replied: Don't stop them (the emperor ordered not to prohibit them).

Just like the "Jing people's bow", whether it is salt or gold, if the people of the Central Plains get it, it is equivalent to the Central Plains dynasty getting it. Why must we confiscate all the wealth to the government? Keeping wealth in the hands of the people is beneficial to the country and the people.

5. Establish a supervisory body to mint coins

On September 955, 9, the second year of Xian De, "an imperial decree was issued to ban copperware throughout the country, and the establishment of a supervisory body for minting coins was discussed."

Friends who like to collect ancient coins should be very familiar with this one, because the hotly discussed "Zhou Yuan Tong Bao" in the coin circle originated from here.

At that time, Chai Rong had just completed the measures to restrict Buddhism, and then began to imitate the "Kaiyuan Tongbao" of the Tang Dynasty and minted the "Zhou Yuan Tongbao". So, some people forcibly tied the two things together to create a gimmick, saying that Zhou Yuan Tongbao was "Buddhist-destroying money" and was made of the bronze Buddha at that time, so it could ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings, and so on.

First of all, not every Zhou Yuan Tong Bao coin is made from a bronze Buddha. They may be folk bronze ear scoops or bronze urinals.

Secondly, any copper coin in every dynasty could be made from a bronze Buddha. It was a common practice for the imperial court to collect copper and then cast copper coins.

Finally, even if it is really made of bronze Buddha, it will not have any magical effect. Businessmen are just looking for gimmicks, creating hot spots, and then hyping it up to make money.

Like many history enthusiasts, I also like to collect copper coins, but I never collect "Zhou Yuan Tong Bao" because they are annoying.

Coin minting is an important financial measure of the imperial court. Reasonable and standardized coin minting can effectively promote economic development and social stability.

(End of this chapter)