Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 610 Little Ice Age

In the second year of the Guanghe era of the Han Dynasty,
This was the twelfth year of Emperor Liu Hong's reign.

To celebrate his tenth year in office, he changed the era name from "Xiping" to "Guanghe".

But just like the previous "Yonghe",
The more a monarch desires peace and tranquility under his rule, the more turbulent and unstable the country becomes.

From the first year of Guanghe (868 AD)

The surrounding tribes of the Han Dynasty have never been at peace.

The Qiang people in the west,
After being recruited into the central government to serve as an official, the famous general Duan Jiong who had suppressed his rebellion rebelled again, causing great damage to the various prefectures of the Han Dynasty in the west.

The Xianbei in the north,
Because of the appearance of Khan Tanshihuai, the region was largely unified. After its strength increased, it began to stir up trouble on the borders of the Han Dynasty, showing signs of disloyalty.

Last year, the Han court sent troops to conquer it, but they were defeated by the Xianbei. Their troops also fled into the northern prefectures, taking away a large number of people, money and supplies.

Seeing this, the Murong Yan Kingdom, located on the Daxianbei Mountain, also stopped paying tribute to the Han Dynasty, became erratic, and conceived the idea of ​​taking advantage of the chaos to seize the Han Dynasty's Liaodong, Liaoyang, and Lelang prefectures.

In the southwest and southeast regions, etc.
The Yue people, who lived in the layered mountains of the south and relied on the shelter of the mountains and rivers, had never been purged and educated by the virtuous men of the Xia dynasty, and they did not stop rebelling.

From the time of Emperor Shun
Every few years, they would stir up trouble, rushing out of the mountains and forests like a mudslide, causing massive destruction.

The Han Dynasty's rule in the south was never as strong as that of the Central Plains, a region with a long history of development. Moreover, the nation's power was waning and the court was in turmoil.

We were powerless to do anything about these barbarians.

If you go further south, it extends all the way to Jiaozhou and Jiaozhi in Lingnan.

They did not live a peaceful and stable life because of the fact that "the emperor is far away" and the population was relatively small, but the water and heat provided them with sufficient resources.

The barbarians there also launched a rebellion.

In Jiaozhi, the Yue king even led his army along the valleys of the Changshan Mountains to the other side and burned down the local Han government offices.

This nobleman from Yue, following the family genealogy, also took away many Han Chinese seeds and planted them in his own land to further promote the assimilation of Han Chinese into the Central and Southern regions.

Aside from man-made disasters in various places

Natural disasters have not ceased.

The spirits and deities, who were enfeoffed in the mountains and rivers and were responsible for regulating the water vapor between heaven and earth, often reported that the cold air coming from the north was becoming increasingly heavy and terrifying.

Mountains that were previously insurmountable for the cold air have been repeatedly crossed in recent years, bringing cold and dryness to areas further south.

In charge of the desert and Liaodong,
The Northern Grand Commander, who could travel along the long Black River all the way to the Gobi Desert, also told He Bo:
"A thin layer of ice has also formed on the surface of the vast sea."

"I think if Huo Qubing wants to drink from the vast sea again, he'll probably freeze his tongue."

God heard about these "local customs" and summoned his men to compile statistics on rainfall, droughts, floods, and the changing seasons over the past ten years.

When those stacks of books were placed on the tables of the various departments of the underworld...
He Bo couldn't help but slap his forehead and sigh:
Has nature reached this point in its cycle?

"I've lived so long that I didn't even notice the changes happening all at once."

In recent years,

Aside from going around to parties and banquets with friends, and gossiping,

Most of the time, they just lie dormant on the plateau.

The thin, green grass was his bed.

The vast, blue sky is his blanket.

I accidentally slept for a year without even closing my eyes.

otherwise,

The decrease in rainfall and the drop in water levels
God should have realized it sooner—

but,

That won't be too long.

The drawbacks of longevity have become apparent over the past few hundred years of wind, frost, snow, and rain.

Nowadays, He Bo rarely does what he used to do: he would ride the current to a place, grab a lucky child, and force them to be his friend.

He prefers to hang out with some old friends.
They are no longer as sensitive to minor changes in the outside world as they used to be.

"If you could do everything yourself, you wouldn't have these feelings."

To this, Ximen Bao simply bowed and addressed God.

His face, ravaged by endless scrolls, was haggard and cold, making other dead ghosts tremble at the sight of him, yet it revealed an obvious resentment.

he knows,
God is not an ordinary person.

He will not fall ill due to the complexity of his affairs.
He could completely control the affairs of the entire land.

Unfortunately,

Lazy God chose to outsource various business operations layer by layer.

Adhering to the principle of "having oxen and horses to do the work, one can be a hands-off boss,"

God respects the fruits of his labor and reduces his interference in related matters.

no way,
For the sake of the dead men's employment,

God can only suffer himself.

Faced with his old friend's sarcastic remarks, He Bo simply waved his hand dismissively and said:
"When you're idle for too long, those melancholic thoughts naturally arise."

He chuckled twice, then raised his hand and patted the booklet that recorded the changes in rainfall and climate in various places:
"Unfortunately, there are very few people in the world who can be as carefree and leisurely as I am."

The energy flow between heaven and earth is changing.
A cycle even larger, longer, and more time-consuming than the four seasons is slowly approaching.

Just like the ebb and flow of the tide.

The fervor that has continued since the pre-Qin period is fading.

And a cold wind is blowing from the north.

"I remember there were elephants in the Central Plains back then?"

After writing "Read" in the booklet,

He Bo then brought the two old historians, Gan De and Shi Shen, back to the human world.

They traveled along the river, and then turned south at Yuancheng, where the dikes had been breached during the Former Han Dynasty, entering the Huai River basin.

It was winter at the time.
The main river has frozen over, and some of its tributaries north of the Huai River, which are close to it, have also shown signs of freezing.

This demonstrates the further southward movement of cold air.

Under the stimulation of the blast of cold air,
He Bo suddenly recalled the swamps and jungles along the Yangtze River hundreds of years ago, and then he thought of the Central Plains in an even more distant past.

The Central Plains were even hotter back then than during the Spring and Autumn Period, and the scenery was quite different from what it is now.

but,

At that time, the Central Plains was also small, and when placed on a map, it would appear naive and cute.

The descendants of Yan and Huang grew up in the still underdeveloped Central Plains.

"Yes, that's why the Central Plains is called 'Yu'."

The so-called "豫" means
A person leads an elephant.

Back then, in the Central Plains, it was still possible to lead men and ride elephants to charge into battle!

"Ugh!"

"Elephants still lived here during the Xia and Shang dynasties."

“Rhinoceroses still lived here during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.”

"Now... it's covered in frost."

He Bo picked up a stick and easily pierced the floating ice on the water.

A passing fish quickly poked its head out of the ice, opening its mouth wide to breathe in the fresh air.

Its northern counterparts are quite used to this kind of life.

However, the fish in the Yangtze and Huai River basins have little experience with frozen rivers. They almost suffocated underwater.

Shi Shen, who was standing next to him, scratched his head and said, "The celestial phenomena haven't shifted much, so why is the weather acting strangely?"

Over the years,

The old man's habit of stargazing has never changed.

After meeting famous figures from the Yin-Yang school, such as Zou Yan, after his death, he became extremely interested in matters like "observing the stars and divining the secrets of heaven."

of course,

Developing a harmless hobby after death is something that ghosts in the underworld often do.

Not to mention, "divination" has been one of the duties of historians since ancient times.

Based on the experience accumulated over the past few centuries...

Without consulting ghosts and spirits,

Based solely on his own calculations,

Shi Shen actually predicted the changes in wind and rain quite accurately several times.

This made the old man quite proud, and he often lamented that he had died too early, otherwise he would have shone brightly in the art of divination, become a legendary figure recorded in history books, and a guest of honor of the feudal lords of various countries.

However, this sense of triumph didn't last long.

The cold wave from north of the vast sea caused the old man's trembling beard and eyebrows to suddenly wilt.

Shi Shen couldn't understand.

Even though the stars remained obediently in their positions without moving, and their light did not flicker strangely,

Why is the world undergoing such changes?

To know,
Not only in the Central Plains, but also in other places!
The force varies.

The different reactions from various parties have resulted in varying degrees of damage from the natural disaster.

"I think it's related to the sun and moon."

Gander said:
"Since the stars haven't shifted, the sun and moon, which are always opposite me, should be observed and studied more thoroughly."

However, the sun is so dazzling that ordinary people often cannot look directly at its light.

Although the moon was gentle, it was far removed from their surroundings and hung in the dark night sky, making it difficult to observe closely.

"Yes, that's what I think too!"

Rare
Shi Shen didn't argue with Gan De, but deliberately said the opposite of what he meant.

He quickly agreed and even nodded seriously.

He Bo glanced at the two of them and knew exactly what the two old men were up to:
"You want to use me as a laborer to build an observatory for you two on the plateau?"

The plateau is extremely vast and empty.

Without God's protection, it would be difficult for other dead ghosts to go there, otherwise they would probably be grabbed and suppressed instantly by that extremely powerful terrain.

And if they wanted to transport supplies and build tall structures on the plateau, they would need He Bo's help even more.

"Humph!"

"It's really the opposite of Tian Gang!"

God had just finished inspecting the work of his oxen and horses when...

Can anyone think of,

He was immediately targeted by these two old men and was about to be dragged away to become a new beast of burden.

"This is a good thing that benefits all the people!"

Shi Shen, fearing God would refuse, grabbed his sleeve and said:
"If we could conduct a more in-depth study of the workings of the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars, then many things would be able to develop further!"

"Anyway, you'll just be sleeping, wandering around, and acting as a moving backscratcher for yaks and antelopes on the plateau!"

He Bo couldn't resist and could only groan in agreement.

And just as the timber and stones, carried by the magical currents of the rivers along their source to the plateau, were being shaped by spirits and deities into the form of civilization,
Cao Cao of Dunqiu
After clearing out the criminals in the county, they began to build various workshops.

He placed several people who had studied physics into the company and put them in charge of casting some important objects.

Elsewhere,
There were quite a few people who took similar approaches to Cao Cao.

The seed that was nurtured by Emperor He and then abandoned by Emperor An, took advantage of the wind that blew during the last glorious moment of the Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Shun, and continued its unfinished work among the people.

In contrast, even if ordinary people had some money, they were reluctant to send their children to community schools or private academies to study Confucian classics due to concerns about the future.

The study of investigating things received a more enthusiastic response.

In Hefei, a place with thriving commerce and convenient communication, Zhang Jiao, who had met people in this field and was familiar with the situation, said:
"That's normal."

"The study of things is essentially the rules that people summarize when doing things."

"Although it is not as profound as the principles of being a person as described by the sages, it is more in line with the lives of ordinary people."

No matter how well you study the classics,

Born into a commoner family, even worse off than those from humble backgrounds, how could they possibly qualify for a recommendation from the imperial court?
It's a waste of time to learn!

That money would be better saved to stockpile food and prevent hunger and disease.

But investigating things is different.

If you master the study of things, you can save effort and make many things more convenient.

For ordinary people,

This is closer to learning a skill.
It's just that the teachers had high expectations and talked a bit too much while teaching the craft.

However, the world is becoming chaotic.

Having a skill to learn is good enough.
What more could you ask for?

Until now,

Those seeds sown casually and growing over time have already acquired the ability to enter this turbulent era.

Those high-ranking nobles were happy to recruit such skilled craftsmen and mathematicians to their manors, so that they could contribute to their prosperity and stability.

The ducks are the first to know when the river warms in spring.
What changes have occurred in the country?
The closer a person is to the central nervous system, the more direct their perception becomes.

After all, many times,
Those who seize opportunities and make a fortune are often not the most capable, but rather those who are best at grasping the latest information.

Even the common people realized that the world was gradually declining, and the signs of the Han Dynasty's aging could no longer be concealed.
Always agile

How could a prominent family with rich experience in continuing its lineage and ensuring its long-term and stable inheritance not have a sense of this?
therefore,

When Emperor Huan instigated the first purge of the partisan factions, inciting conflict between eunuchs and powerful families...

The latter then secretly reinforced his own estate and amassed a private army within it.

If copper and iron mines can be found in the occupied area, then the outcome is self-evident—

The incident that Zhang Jiao and his companions encountered in Yuyang County is a typical example.

Humph,
Black market mining has started.
Are you afraid of them secretly hoarding armor or manufacturing swords?
To achieve even greater success, it is essential to recruit talented individuals specializing in scientific research.

Don't be fooled by the fact that it's in Luoyang; even in front of the emperor,
The officials from aristocratic families displayed extreme hostility and rejection towards the investigation of things, as if they could not breathe the same air as it. Allowing the investigation of things to exist was an act of betrayal against the sages and ancestors.

But in private,

They highly valued the study of things, which is a discipline for doing things.

Those who are truly dedicated to investigating things should not always dream of holding high positions in the court and obtaining things they are not entitled to. Instead, they should obediently bury themselves in their work as laborers who are subject to others' control.
Even aristocratic families wouldn't adopt such an attitude!
In the eyes of aristocratic families,
Their actions, targeting the study of things and stifling the achievements of educational reforms that began during the reign of Emperor He, were not acts of evil, but rather acts of good.
They were simply disciplining children like adults, or slapping the palms of juniors like teachers, using pain to make the late-developing, crude school of thought, Gewu, realize the path it should take and the things it should do.

State affairs, assisting the monarch,
Is this something that can be done through investigation of things?

Like now,
Many should flow into their manors to serve as clerks and craftsmen; this is what a true scholar should do.

that's it,
The era of light and harmony slowly passed by.
The emperor, high above the heavens, was unaware of the changes taking place behind the scenes.

He is currently...
They are still busy with the money needed for fighting wars, suppressing rebellions, and providing disaster relief in various places, and they are heartbroken!
(End of this chapter)