The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 324 The Yellow River and the Grand Canal

When Wang Lai heard Zhu Jianxuan's instructions, he took out a bound document with a smile:
"The student is ready. Your Majesty, please take a look when you are free."

Zhu Jianxuan also laughed:

"You actually carried it with you..."

Zhu Jianxuan took it in his hand, opened it and flipped through it briefly:
“You have already mentioned what we are going to do in the fourth phase in the overall plan, and I still remember it.

"Now I want to see if you have any new ideas over the years..."

The fourth phase plan for the North-to-South Water Diversion Project is to continue building the canal along the Taihang Mountains, extending it southward to Wushe County, Huaiqing Prefecture, Henan Province, where it meets the Yellow River.

The construction of the new Yellow River channel, as a semi-independent key water conservancy project, has actually started for several years.

The new channel of the Yellow River is diverted in Wushe County, flowing upstream along the channel of the Qin River, a tributary of the Yellow River, and then entering the original Wei River channel and flowing northeast.

It passes through Xinxiang, Weihui, and Junxian, and leaves the Wei River at Huilong Town in the west of Daming Prefecture, and flows northward to Cheng'an County via the newly built river channel.

It enters the Liuhe River in Cheng'an County, then passes through Feixiang County, and builds another canal near Quzhou County to connect to the Fuyang River.

Follow the Fuyang River northward into the Dalu Lake, penetrate the Dalu Lake from south to north, build a canal northward in Xinhe County, and enter the Zhulong River.

It flows into Baiyangdian through the Zhulong River, then flows eastward through Dongdian, merges with the Yongding River in Tianjin, and is filtered through the Yellow River Estuary Project before flowing into the Bohai Sea.

Daluze, Baiyangdian, Dongdian, and the low-lying areas around Tianjin are all relics of ancient swamps, and are basically the lowest places in the northern Zhili region.

By connecting them with the Yellow River channel, dams can be built in appropriate places to deposit the Yellow River silt there, gradually turning the swamp into flat land.

Of course, it is also possible to build a normal river channel, maintain the scouring effect of water flow on the river channel, and use more abundant river water to turn swamps into paddy fields.

At the same time, after the Taihang Canal meets the Yellow River in Wushe County, it will also split into two other tributaries here.

Through a specially designed integrated diversion system, the diversion direction of sediment and clean water can be roughly controlled.

In the future, the silt of the Yellow River will mainly flow along the newly constructed river channels, while other tributaries will mostly be kept as clean as possible.

The first tributary, which is the river that supplies the Grand Canal with gravity-flowing water, will continue to flow eastward along the original Yellow River channel in Wushe County.

A canal was built eastward between Lanyang and Kaocheng, passing through Heze and Yuncheng, and entering the Grand Canal at the highest point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal between Nanwang Lake and Anshan Lake.

The second tributary is the original Yellow River channel diverting to the Huai River. This river channel with a well-built embankment certainly cannot be wasted. With sufficient water resources, it can be used as a branch canal.

At the same time, we should also use the controllable water of Heilongjiang River to assist the Huaihe River in accelerating the flushing of silt deposited in the downstream river channel and gradually restore the normal channel of the Huaihe River into the sea.

The third tributary, or should we say the multiple tributaries of the third group, runs south of the old Yellow River channel between Zhengzhou east to Xuzhou, connecting to multiple canal waterways of the main tributaries of the Huai River.

It is connected to the Ying River through the Jialu River, to the Wo River through the Huiji River, to the Hui River through the Beisha River, and to the Ju River through the Baguo River.

At the same time, a new canal was dug in Shuanggouji to directly connect the middle and lower reaches of Ju Shui with the old channel of the Yellow River.

In the era when the Yellow River had just taken over the Huai River, many of the tributaries on the north side of the Huai River were occupied by the Yellow River, but that occupation was destructive.

After the Yellow River, which had little water and much sand, flowed into the Huai River, the Huai River basin, which had no major disasters for a thousand years, became a flood area.

Now we are taking the initiative to connect the old Yellow River channel with the Huai River again, which is an operation of transformation and restoration, using normal water sources from the Northeast to treat the Huai River.

When the Huaihe River basin is dry, water from the Three Lakes is used to replenish the Huaihe River, and the Huaihe River waterway is incorporated into the northern canal network.

After the completion of this Central Plains river network project, the three artificial lakes on the ground, Luomahu Lake, Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake, can all be retired.

On this basis, the channels of most natural rivers in Inner North China will be dredged and repaired to enhance the irrigation and shipping capacity of the entire water network.

Most of the rivers in the plains north of the Yellow River originate in the Taihang Mountains and flow from west to east or from southwest to northeast.

The main channel of the North-to-South Water Diversion Project runs all the way south along the Taihang Mountains, connecting all the upper reaches of the rivers that have just left the Taihang Mountains.

The newly constructed main channel of the Yellow River entering the sea will run through the middle of all these rivers from south to north.

The original Grand Canal waterway once again runs through the lower reaches of all rivers.

These three huge longitudinal artificial waterways intersect with all the natural transverse and inclined waterways at different stages.

This formed a huge river network covering most of the plain area.

The extremely large and stable water source of Sanjiangze Lake, combined with the dams and sluices on the three north-south canals, can regulate the water flow and water level of the entire water network.

All rivers can be used to share the summer floods, and the huge water source of Sanjiangze can be used to provide water during droughts.

Zhu Jianxuan thought that Wang Lai’s idea was very good, which was to expand the water resources dispatching system along the Yanshan Canal and apply it to the entire North China and even the Central Plains region.

Let the North China Plain completely get rid of drought, avoid floods to the greatest extent possible, and turn it into a truly fertile land.

The dividing line between the northern and southern parts of the North China Plain, and the watershed between the Huai River, the Yellow River and the rivers to the north, is roughly located in Kaifeng Prefecture and Caozhou Prefecture.

The Grand Canal water replenishment channel passes through here, as well as the river canal formed by the old Yellow River, connecting most of the rivers in the Central Plains. In the future, it will become the center of shipping business in the Central Plains.

There should be a great probability that Caozhou and Dingtao, which were prosperous before the Han Dynasty, and Kaifeng Prefecture, which was prosperous in the Tang and Song dynasties, will be revived again.

At the same time, this project will not only benefit North China.

The areas developed by the Ming Dynasty south of the Songhua River and in the Liaohe Plain were the earliest beneficiaries.

The precipitation in Northeast China is mainly concentrated in the eastern mountainous areas, and the precipitation in most inland areas is roughly the same as that in North China.

In the west, close to the Mongolian Plateau, the annual precipitation is naturally at the grassland level.

It’s just that the climate in Northeast China is relatively cold, and the evaporation is not as great as that in North China, so it does not seem to be so water-scarce.

The higher the latitude and the further north the location is, the colder the climate is, the lower the evaporation is, the more precipitation can be retained, and the local population is also relatively lower.

The population of the Northeast region is mainly concentrated in the south of the Songhua River, and the area around Sanjiangze is sparsely populated.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, the population of Northeast China was large and the industry was relatively developed in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. This was mainly due to historical factors and the result of interference from external forces.

After China completed industrialization on its own, the population in the Northeast region began to decline and its industry began to decline.

There is no other large city in the world with winter temperatures close to Harbin, and Harbin is the only city of a similar size.

Shenyang in the south is colder than Moscow, not to mention the Sanjiangze area further north.

In fact, if ordinary people could choose, they would not want to live in such a cold place.

Russians have been seeking warm coastlines for centuries.

It was based on this consideration that Zhu Jianxuan decided to launch the Sanjiangze Lake Project.

In that way, there would be no need for large-scale immigration to the local area, and it would be easier to control the surrounding land and curb the growth of indigenous forces.

The areas developed by the Ming Dynasty in the Northeast were similar to those of the previous Qing Dynasty. They were basically concentrated in the Songhua River Basin and to its south, and mainly in the Liaodong region.

The Songhua River Basin focused on developing large-scale farms and did not actively build large-scale cities.

The Sanjiangze Lake and the North-to-South Water Diversion Project have allowed the entire Heilongjiang River to flow upstream and southward, first passing through the Songhua River basin, so the local area can naturally use the water first.

Zhu Jianxuan was quite satisfied with most of the previous explanations. The prospect of turning North China into Jiangnan was truly wonderful.

But at the end, Wang Lai put aside the North-to-South Water Diversion Project and mentioned several other equally exaggerated, or even more exaggerated, engineering ideas.

One is the Congo River Dam. There is no problem with the dam itself. The Congo River is the river with the richest hydropower resources, so it is normal to build a dam to generate electricity.

But Wang Lai's idea is to store water on a large scale within the Congo Basin, turning this tropical rainforest into a huge lake. The second is the Linzhou Dajiang (Amazon River) Dam, which itself has problems and is too large.

Therefore, Wang Lai's idea was not extreme. He only planned to build a dam twenty to thirty meters high. The purpose was still to store water in the Amazon to form a lake.

The Amazon Plain has become the world's largest freshwater lake, covering an area of ​​millions of square kilometers.

The third is the Siberian Dam, which built dams on the middle reaches of the Yenisei River and the lower reaches of the Ob River to turn the West Siberian Basin into a huge artificial lake.

Then a canal was built in the Turgay lowlands to allow water from the Yenisei and Ob rivers to flow south and merge into the Aral Sea in Central Asia.

After the Aral Sea is filled, it continues to flow south, turns west at the foot of the Iranian Plateau, and flows into the Caspian Sea, the largest lake in the world.

According to Wang Lai's rough estimate, the amount of water that can flow into the Caspian Sea from the Ob River and the Yenisei River exceeds the evaporation rate, and if this continues, the Caspian Sea will be filled up sooner or later.

Then it will continue westward, flow into the Black Sea from the Sea of ​​Azov, and finally into the Mediterranean Sea.

These three projects are all very outrageous, and apparently no detailed plans have been made yet. They should be considered as fantastic ideas in the brainstorming stage.

But after watching it, Zhu Jianxuan couldn't help but sigh that Wang Laisi was addicted to the Sanjiangze Lake.

Now that I see a low plain with suitable terrain, I want to turn that place into a big lake. This is really a very imaginative idea.

He probably wanted to turn the Sichuan Basin into a lake, but probably thought that was simply impossible, so he didn't bring it up directly, and instead talked about overseas first.

Zhu Jianxuan had actually heard of similar plans in his previous life, and the most practical one was the third one.

During the Soviet era, the Soviet Union seriously considered using a similar method to collect cold rainwater from western Siberia to solve the drought problem in Central Asia.
Zhu Jianxuan roughly flipped through it and closed it:
"After I return, I will draft an edict to officially launch the fourth phase of the project."

Wang Lai immediately bowed and saluted:

"I accept my order..."

Then he asked carefully:

"Your Majesty, what about the three projects that the student mentioned at the end? They should also start as soon as possible, right?"

Zhu Jianxuan glanced at Wang Lai:
"Are you addicted to building super dams? What's the point of building a dam in a place like the Amazon River?"

The Amazon River has abundant water resources and is the river with the largest flow in the world, with an annual runoff of nearly 700 million cubic meters.

It is five times the size of the second-place Congo River and seven times the size of the third-place Yangtze River.

The combined runoff of all the other top ten rivers is less than that of the Amazon River.

The natural waterway conditions of the Amazon River are also unique, far exceeding those of other conventional rivers by an order of magnitude.

The Yangtze River, which has the third largest flow in the world, has a main downstream channel depth of only about seven meters under natural conditions. It was later artificially dredged to ten meters.

The water depth in the middle and lower reaches of the Amazon River is between 20 and 45 meters, which is the same level as the Strait of Malacca.

The river is more than ten meters deep in shallow places, and most of the river is more than ten kilometers wide, with the narrowest places being three kilometers wide.

At Iquitos, Peru, 3,700 kilometers away from the river mouth, the water depth of the Amazon River is still five to six meters, enough for 3,000-ton ships to pass.

But the Amazon Plain area is a virgin forest and there are very few people in the basin.

Such excellent shipping conditions were occupied by only a very small number of indigenous canoes and there was no way to make full use of them.

In its previous life, Brazil took advantage of tropical rainforest tourism and developed a large city, Manaus, deep in the rainforest.

This place is 1,500 kilometers away from the river mouth, but a 10,000-ton ocean cruise ship can go directly there.

When Wang Lai heard the question, he immediately explained:
“Students want to build dams in the Amazon and Congo River basins, but the direct purpose is not to store water in these two places and turn them into large lakes.

“Instead, we plan to improve the land in both places through sedimentation.

“Although the tropical rain forest seems to have abundant flora and fauna, the soil is unusually poor.

"Organic matter, which normally accumulates from plant decay and animal excretion and death, breaks down very quickly in the hot, humid rainforest.

“At the same time, there is continuous heavy rainfall throughout the year, and the surface runoff is very abundant, which takes away all the small amount of organic matter remaining in the soil.

“In an environment like a tropical rainforest, most of the organic matter is concentrated in the plants and animals in the rainforest.

“Because the soil is so poor, tropical rainforests are sometimes called green deserts.

“Now if we build a dam to store water, we don’t need to raise the water level too high, just 10 to 30 meters is enough.

“The dam can be made into an overflow dam, so the water can flow out normally, but the organic matter should be retained as much as possible.

“If this type of dam can last for decades or even hundreds of years, the rainforest land in the Amazon and Congo regions should become fertile.

"And the sooner you start doing this, the better, because the longer you have to accumulate, the better."

Wang Lai was telling the truth, and Zhu Jianxuan roughly understood it, but now he looked at Wang Lai doubtfully:
"Your real idea is probably to build a few more artificial lakes similar to Sanjiangze Lake, or even larger than Sanjiangze Lake."

Wang Lai opened his mouth, hesitated for a few seconds, and then bowed to Zhu Jianxuan seriously:
“I dare not hide it from Your Majesty. In my heart, I do want to continue to build a larger artificial lake, but my analysis and long-term goals are also true.

“Although the land resources in America are still abundant, the population is indeed sparse compared to the huge territory.

“But the population growth rate in prosperous times is also very fast. The existing abundant land will eventually be distributed, and more land should be reserved when there is spare capacity.

"Build dams in suitable places to turn the rainforests with the most rainfall and heat into swamps, and use the characteristics of swamps to slowly accumulate and store organic matter."

Zhu Jianxuan was quite satisfied with this answer, and then he sighed slightly and said:

“What you said does make sense, but our need for land is not urgent.

“The current population growth is actually only temporary and will hardly last more than 50 years.

“We may already have enough land suitable for cultivation.

“And the rainforest has the richest biological system.

"If we rashly change the natural environment of the rainforest on a million square kilometers basis, it could affect the climate of the entire world.

“So for now, let’s not destroy the two largest tropical rainforests in the world.

"As for the plan to bring cold water from Western Siberia southward to solve the drought in Central Asia, it is worth discussing it in more depth and seriously."

Wang Lai felt a little regretful after listening to what Zhu Jianxuan said before.

After hearing Zhu Jianxuan's last words, Wang Lai suddenly became excited again:

“Your Majesty is wise. Based on the information I have now, I believe that this project is indeed highly feasible.

“It should be possible to connect the North Sea (Lake Baikal), the Yenisei River, the Ob River, the Aral Sea, and the Caspian Sea through two dams and a canal of several hundred kilometers.

“If we build a canal from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, we will be able to reach the Mediterranean Sea by water from the North Sea.

"However, most of the areas along the route of this project either belong to Shun State or are controlled by Russia, so detailed exploration is impossible."

Zhu Jianxuan listened to Wang Lai's words without any expression, and finally did not make any direct comments:
"Put these things aside for now and concentrate on completing the fourth phase of the project."

Wang Lai knew that Zhu Jianxuan had a plan in mind, but as a craftsman, it was not his place to participate. He would just wait for the emperor and other civil and military officials to sort it out:

“Students understand.”

(End of this chapter)