The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 323: The Miracle Project Begins to Take Effect
As a decision maker and leader, Zhu Jianxuan only determined the general direction and requirements.

It was sent to the Cabinet, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of War, asking them to make a detailed plan, which was then submitted to Zhu Jianxuan for review and confirmation. It could only be implemented after approval.

In addition to similar planning, Zhu Jianxuan's daily work also includes many ceremonial affairs.

On the morning of July 5, the fifteenth year of Tiangong, Zhu Jianxuan had breakfast, changed into casual clothes, got on his own special motor vehicle, and left the city under the escort of the Imperial Guards.

Zhu Jianxuan was the first emperor to use cars in his daily life, and his own guard troops also completed "motorization" at the same time.

The cavalry who originally rode on horseback to lead the way were replaced by cavalry riding two-wheeled motor vehicles, that is, motorcycle soldiers.

Behind the cavalry is the wheeled armored vehicle unit that can serve as the main force on the battlefield.

Finally, there are the infantrymen who are responsible for dealing with various complex situations. They all ride in open-top military vehicles and are equipped with submachine guns suitable for street fighting and special operations.

Zhu Jianxuan's motorcade passed through the West Garden and left the palace, went out of Fucheng Gate and passed through the West Outer City area, and continued westward along the asphalt road in the west of the city.

The convoy drove all the way to the Yongding River at the foot of Shijingshan Mountain in Wanping County.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, this place belonged to Shijingshan District, and after crossing the Yongding River it belongs to Mentougou District.

A huge dam has been built next to the current Shijingshan, and the former Mentougou urban area has now become a reservoir.

But the more important change is the Yongding River, which is divided into two right next to Shijingshan.

On the south side of Shijingshan is the original channel of the Yongding River, and on the north side an additional tributary is led out, extending toward the northeast.

The northern tributaries are wider than most rivers in the north.

The width of the river in the middle is at least two hundred meters, and there are river banks more than ten meters high more than one hundred meters away on both sides of the river.

On the inner side of the river channel and the inner side of the river embankment, there are reinforced concrete frames filled with gravel, which form a system to prevent embankment soil landslides.

However, there is no water in this river, which was obviously artificially built.

Zhu Jianxuan came out of the city to Shijingshan today specifically because of the opening of this newly built artificial river.

If it was an ordinary canal, there would be no need for Zhu Jianxuan, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to attend in person whether it was started, completed or opened.

But this new canal is very special. It is the last drainage channel of the third phase of the North-to-South Water Diversion Project, and it is also a new waterway for Shuntian Prefecture to directly enter the sea.

The canal starts from Shijingshan and flows northeast to the south side of the Summer Palace, then turns east to connect with the moat of the outer city of Shuntian Prefecture, leaves the moat in the southeast of Shuntian Prefecture and continues to flow into the sea in Tianjin.

This river channel will be officially opened today, and the third phase of the North-to-South Water Diversion Project has been completed.

If we only consider diverting the Heilongjiang River water to Beijing, without considering further diverting the Heilongjiang River southward to flush the Yellow River, the entire North-to-South Water Diversion Project would have been completed by now.

The next step is to wait for the water level of the Sanjiangze Lake to reach the standard, and then the entire Heilongjiang River system will flow upstream to Shuntian Prefecture and into the sea.

Therefore, the person in charge of the entire North-to-South Water Diversion Project, Wang Lai, a disciple of the emperor who had been traveling abroad for 18 years, wrote a report and asked Zhu Jianxuan whether to hold a celebration ceremony.

Zhu Jianxuan was also filled with emotion when reading the report.

This major project, which I have continuously supported and invested in for eighteen years, has finally achieved its most important goal.

Just wait a few more years and until the water level of Sanjiangze Lake reaches the standard, the entire Heilongjiang River system will flow south into Beijing.

By then, the water shortage problem in Shuntian Prefecture and northern Zhili will be solved.

Zhu Jianxuan felt that he needed to personally participate in this spectacular super project.

This also once again demonstrates our importance to this matter and is also an encouragement to all people involved in the project.

This kind of project, which has lasted for more than a decade and will continue in the future, will be difficult to sustain without the explicit support of decision makers.

Zhu Jianxuan's convoy stopped on the east side of Shijingshan Mountain.

The engineering staff led by Wang Lai, as well as officials from the Cabinet, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Water Resources and other relevant departments, were already waiting in the square at the foot of the mountain.

The escort troops controlled the scene. Zhu Jianxuan got out of the car and looked around. Everyone around him bowed and saluted:
"See Your Majesty."

Zhu Jianxuan raised his hand slightly to indicate:
"My dear ministers, you have all worked hard. There is no need to be formal today."

As Zhu Jianxuan spoke, he scanned the crowd and found Wang Lai in the middle of the front row.

The young boy with a delicate appearance and lively personality has now become a strong, dark and steady middle-aged man.

However, his inner temperament doesn't seem to have changed much, he still has a sense of drive, and now he is very excited.

Zhu Jianxuan walked straight to Wang Lai, patted him on the shoulder, and asked him what he thought with a smile:
"Your original whimsical idea has now been completed for the most part. Do you have anything to say now?"

Wang Lai immediately said enthusiastically:

"I am very excited right now, and I am unable to control my emotions. I may be a little incoherent. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Zhu Jianxuan was also very happy, but he had been the emperor for so many years that he would not easily show exaggerated emotions, so he just kept smiling:

"I understand how you feel. I am your teacher, and I am happy that you have achieved what you have now."

Wang Lai immediately followed up:

“Without your Majesty’s consistent support, students would never have come this far, and no matter how many ideas they had, they would have no chance to realize them.

“Moreover, as these projects have progressed, I have come to understand more and more your majesty’s foresight, and I admire you very much.

“At first, I and other fellow students could not understand why Your Majesty wanted to divert the water from the Heilongjiang River to Shuntian Prefecture.

“But in recent years, we have all come to understand that His Majesty had already anticipated what would happen twenty years later.

"Based on the situation of industrial construction in North China, we estimated the future water demand for industrial construction and planned additional water sources in advance."

Zhu Jianxuan knew that what Wang Lai said was true, and that these disciples of his should be the people who admired him the most in the world.

They don’t know that they have experience from their past lives to refer to, and they all think they have planned everything in advance.

Over the past decade, the scale of industrial areas in the northern and eastern parts of Northern Zhili has continued to expand, and industrial water consumption has also increased accordingly.

As agricultural machinery became increasingly common on government-run farms, large-scale water pumping for irrigation became commonplace, and agricultural water consumption increased rapidly.

With the advent of fertilizers and agricultural machinery, the number of people the land could support at least doubled, and the population in North China began to rise rapidly again.

In the past decade, the population of the Northern Zhili region has increased by nearly 10 million.

Coupled with changes in lifestyle, the amount of water used for normal daily life by residents has doubled compared to 20 years ago.

Compared with the south of the Yangtze River, the water resources in North China are not abundant. The annual precipitation in most areas of northern Zhili is only 400 to 500 mm.

Shuntian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture to the east are influenced by Yanshan Mountain, and their annual precipitation is slightly higher than that in the central region of northern Zhili, but it only barely exceeds 600 mm.

There is not much water in the surface rivers, which is not enough for irrigation and drinking. Coupled with the needs of industrial construction, the local water resources are even more insufficient.

Factories and farmlands that are suffering from a large water shortage can only continue to dig wells to extract groundwater, and it is foreseeable that water consumption will continue to increase in the future.

The groundwater resources in North China are relatively abundant, but Zhu Jianxuan has already specifically reminded that excessive extraction of groundwater will lead to ground subsidence, and groundwater cannot be extracted freely.

In recent years, government and private enterprises, as well as construction sites in the prefectures and counties surrounding Shuntian Prefecture have been waiting for the implementation of the North-to-South Water Diversion Project to bring water from the Northeast.

Zhu Jianxuan asked Wang Lai to lead the way, and walked to Shijingshan Mountain, where the ceremony would be held, surrounded by other craftsmen and officials.

Shijingshan has become a hub for diverting the Yongding River, and a road leading up the mountain has long been built.

Zhu Jianxuan continued to talk to the craftsmen while walking:
“According to the report you gave me, although the overall project of diverting water from the north to the south has just been completed, the Sanjiangze Lake has not yet accumulated to the planned water level.

"But a large number of officials, civilians, factories, and farmlands in Shuntian and Yongping prefectures should have been able to use water from the Northeast in recent years, right?"

Wang Lai immediately responded and confirmed:
“Yes, Your Majesty, our water diversion project is not just about building a canal, but actually a series of large and small water conservancy projects along the entire project line.

"Among them, the largest one is the Songhua River flow control dam project.

"A large two-way sluice gate was built in the Bayanwei area in the middle reaches of the Songhua River, just before the river water enters the valley where Sanjiangze is located." When the sluice gate is opened normally, the water of the Songhua River will naturally continue to flow into the Sanjiangze Lake.

"When the dam is closed, the water from the Songhua River cannot enter the lake, but accumulates in the low-lying swamps in the middle reaches of the Songhua River.

“Then we went south along the canal we built and finally reached the water system around Shuntian Prefecture.

"So now North China can use the water from the Songhua River."

Zhu Jianxuan had an impression of this sluice project that blocked the Songhua River. It was probably located on the Songhua River northeast of Harbin in his previous life.

It seemed that there had been a reservoir there in the previous life, and that place was suitable for building a reservoir.

However, in the past, the Heilongjiang River Basin did not belong exclusively to China, and building reservoirs upstream would also cause complaints from the other side, so the development of the Heilongjiang River water resources was very cautious.

No one in this world can interfere with Ming's development of Northeast China's water resources:

"It takes time for the Sanjiang Lake to be filled, but the Songhua River diversion can be completed very quickly. The flow of the Songhua River alone can already catch up with that of the Huai River.

"But compared with the entire Heilongjiang River Basin, it's still a lot less, probably only one-fifth..."

Wang Lai immediately continued to explain:

“It is indeed only about one-fifth, but now Shuntian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture can use more than just the water from the Songhua River.

“The canal we are building now is not just a simple water transport canal, but also a complete large-scale water resource allocation system.

“The main canal channel for the North-to-South Water Diversion Project is essentially a dam built along the foot of the mountain, turning the space between the dam and the mountain into a waterway.

“But the mountains are not flat. There are valleys of different sizes in the mountains, and the valleys are usually where rainwater gathers to form rivers.

“The source of the main rivers in North China and Liaodong are basically in the valleys east and south of Yanshan Mountain.

“When the canal was built, it also sealed off the valleys through which the rivers flowed, forming small reservoirs in the valleys.

“The canal itself, as a long, narrow, low reservoir, can connect all these river reservoirs.

“At every point where a small reservoir meets a canal, at least three sluice gates were built.

“There is one lock upstream and downstream of the canal, and the third lock faces the original river channel outside the valley.

"All the rivers originating from the Yanshan Mountains can flow water from their source into the canal, and the downstream can also receive water replenishment from the canal.

"Through this network of reservoirs and rivers, we can regulate the seasonal and regional distribution of water resources throughout the region.

"If a flood occurs in one place, all the reservoirs connected in series can share the flood, or all the large and small rivers downstream can be used to release the flood separately.

“If a drought occurs in one area, the water resources of the entire network can be used to replenish the disaster relief.

"The southward flow of water from the Songhua River and the water resource allocation system have greatly alleviated the water shortage problem in the areas around Shuntian Prefecture.

"But to completely solve the problem, we still have to wait another six to eight years, until the water level of the Sanjiangze Lake reaches the standard and the water source of the entire Heilongjiang River basin flows south."

Zhu Jianxuan instructed and reminded as a matter of course:
“So now North China needs to save water as much as possible.

"Water resources cannot be wasted in the rivers of the entire canal system, and water from the Songhua River cannot be discharged directly into the sea until it is completely used up.

“We will continue to repair all the waterways connected by the canal, build enough locks and sluices, and manage the waterways as canals.

"In addition to preventing the backflow of seawater, we also need to ensure that we take as much as we need locally, and the Songhua River should flow into the Sanjiangze Lake as much as possible.

"At the same time, we must do a good job of sewage control and prohibit any factory from discharging sewage directly into the river connected to the canal. Pollution of water sources is the biggest waste."

Wang Lai and the surrounding craftsmen and officials immediately bowed and agreed.

When Wang Lai was building the canal, he was already repairing the rivers connected to the canal, but so far only the water system around Shuntian Prefecture has been completed.

The Yongding River has been widened and deepened, and new dams have been built.

The new moat of Shuntian Prefecture's outer city was also expanded to the same level as Shuntian Prefecture's sea channel.

One end of the moat of the North Outer City extends deep into the city, and the other end connects to the Grand Canal to the east. Now you can board a boat directly in Shuntian Prefecture City and enter the Grand Canal.

At the same time, in the Tongzhou area, the Grand Canal will be extended further northward and connected with the North-to-South Water Diversion Canal passing through the Miyun area.

Water from the Northeast can be used to replenish the Grand Canal, ensure the stability of the water level of the Grand Canal north of Tianjin, and improve the efficiency and scale of navigation.

Zhu Jianxuan, accompanied by a large group of officials and craftsmen, climbed up Shijingshan Mountain under the escort of the Imperial Guards infantry.

Standing on the square at the top of the mountain and looking down at the Yongding River at the foot of the mountain on the west side, you can see that the river channel to the west has been widened as a whole.

Additional embankments were built on both sides of the river, and the middle of the embankments was filled with water.

This northern river, which was originally not very large, now has an unprecedented amount of water stored in it.

From then on, the river channel above can no longer be considered the Yongding River, but has become part of the North-to-South Water Diversion Canal System.

In fact, the Yongding River channel in Mentougou area is not the most suitable place to build a canal in the western part of Shuntian Prefecture.

If only natural conditions are considered, the canal route should be between Xiangshan Hill and Yuquan Hill, passing through the north side of the Summer Palace and Old Summer Palace.

However, this construction idea was opportunistic as the canal itself was on the ground. Even if Zhu Jianxuan did not specifically request it, Wang Lai did not dare to place the river next to Yuquan Mountain and the Summer Palace.

Therefore, between Mentougou and Changping, a river channel was dug in a valley in Yanshan Mountain to divert the canal water into the Yongding River.

The length of the river channel that needs to be excavated is only six kilometers, but the average excavation depth is as high as thirty meters, and the maximum excavation depth is about sixty meters.

Moreover, the soil layer in the valley is not thick, so after digging the soil, we have to continue digging stones.

In the eighth year, Wang Lai asked the Ministry of Industry to cooperate and required all departments, companies, factories and people in Shuntian Prefecture and surrounding areas that needed stone to come here to get it.

The canal engineering team can provide them with machine assistance.

It took countless people more than five years to dig this 200-meter-wide mountain canal.

This project was planned and constructed separately, and did not affect the overall construction period of other parts of the canal itself. It also saved dozens of kilometers of canal embankments.

Zhu Jianxuan came to the high platform in the middle of the square and, under the guidance of the Imperial Observatory, held a simple sacrificial ceremony, and then formally ordered the gates to be opened.

"Open the gate—"

Zhu Jianxuan's order was issued, and chief engineer Wang Lai pressed the controller. The hydraulic press driven by the large steam engine started working, and the gate controlling the river slowly opened.

The accumulated river water in the Mentougou area of ​​the Yongding River rushed through the gates and poured into the prepared canal channel.

This canal will enter the moat of the outer city of Shuntian Prefecture. Of course, the water will not be allowed to flow freely. There are many sluices along the way to control the water flow speed.

Ensure that the water flows smoothly into the moat and does not flood Shuntian City.

Zhu Jianxuan stood on the top of the mountain, looked at the rushing river for a while, and then turned his gaze to other directions.

In the northwest direction of Shijingshan, you can see in the distance that there is actually another river channel, but only a short section of it has been repaired.

The Yongding River is actually divided into three parts here.

Zhu Jianxuan knew that this should be the starting point of the fourth phase of the North-to-South Water Diversion Project, which would flow southward along the Taihang Mountains and merge into the Yellow River, using the Heilongjiang River water to wash away the silt in the Yellow River.

While Zhu Jianxuan was thinking about this, Wang Lai came over with a few craftsmen:

“Your Majesty, the fourth phase of the project can begin. The difficulty of the project is lower than that of the third phase.

"The construction period is expected to be six to ten years, and it should be completed when the Sanjiangze reaches the planned water level."

Zhu Jianxuan exhaled lightly:
“The most difficult third phase has been completed, and the most effective fourth phase should indeed begin.

"You should have written a detailed plan. Have the Ministry of Public Security send it to the palace."

(End of this chapter)