The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 477 The World's Difficulty Lies in Henan
It is the twelfth lunar month again, and the freezing cold Xuzhou City (Xuchang) in Henan Province is unusually lively. Even though the snow on the streets has not been cleared yet, people have already called their friends to come to the restaurant, ordering some food and drinks to feast on.

However, most of the restaurant guests who were enjoying the beautiful scenery of Shangdong Shiliang River did not speak Central Plains Mandarin, but spoke Southwestern Mandarin with a northern Hubei accent.

And although they had wine and food, they didn't look very happy. There was a sense of desolation beneath the surface liveliness. Some people couldn't help but have tears in their eyes and whimper when the conversation reached a climax.

It turns out that they are not from Henan, but from Hubei.

After the battle of Zhongxiang in Anlu Prefecture, the backbone of the powerful people in the entire Hubei Province was broken. Even if the Dayu court came over to them and implemented equal distribution of land, most of these people did not dare to resist.

A small number of people accepted their fate, handed over their land but kept their accumulated wealth, and moved to the city to settle down and make use of their academic talents.

In fact, Dayu has been short of officials in recent years. After all, without the Manchus, many official positions have become vacant. As long as you are willing to study, the imperial examination will be much easier than before.

Most of the people were reluctant to leave Shancai, so they took the foolish militiamen who still obeyed their orders and ran to Henan.

After Dayu recaptured Nanjing, the Qing Dynasty's ruling power declined rapidly. Now they can only hold on to the two provinces of Hebei and Shanxi.

Oh, by the way, there is also Shaanxi's top scholar Wang Jie who assists the eighth prince Yong Xuan and dominates Shaanxi and Gansu.

As for the two provinces of Henan and Shandong in the middle, if Dayu had not carried out land reform in Huguang, they would probably have defected long ago.

But now they are frightened and are barely staying within the Qing system, refusing to listen to orders or announcements, and are in a Schrödinger state.

Before the Great Yu Dynasty launched the Northern Expedition and opened this box, no one was sure which side Henan and Shandong belonged to.

However, the situation in Henan is not very good now. The province, which already has a large population, limited land and food shortage, is now being drained by the Qing Dynasty which has lost the Grand Canal.

Now that so many people from Hubei have come here, prices have skyrocketed and life has become even more difficult for the lower-class people.

Nineteen-year-old Jiang Xiangchi sat in the seat closest to the window. He was from Tianmen County, Anlu Prefecture, Hubei Province. According to the region, they should have joined forces with their fellow townsman Li Huang from Anlu Prefecture to resist Chen Yanzu and surrender to Dayu with honor.

It's a pity that the Jiang family is one of the major landlords in Tianmen County, owning more than 50,000 acres of land. They would never follow a rich peasant's son like Li Huang to "make trouble."

However, at this time, Jiang Xiangchi still felt a little resentful towards his elders in his family, because in his opinion, as a man who was well-read and had raised a son who became the top scholar in history, the trend of the world was unstoppable.

It is not impossible to hand over the land, keep the money, and then continue to build the family through studying and taking the imperial examinations.

Depressed Jiang Xiangchi took a sip of wine and suddenly saw a group of people in black crossing the frozen Shiliang River in the snow in the distance and heading north.

Jiang Xiangchi immediately made a disgusted sound. Those people wearing strange black clothes were none other than the high-level members of the Hunyuan Sect centered in Xiangyang.

They also suffered heavy losses in the battle of Anlu Prefecture and were split into two branches, north and south, and even lost their old nest.

At present, Xiangyang has been captured by Dayu, and only Yunyang Prefecture, which is located in a remote area with high mountains and dense forests, is still in the hands of these believers.

However, those who engage in underground religions are naturally more secretive than simple local gentry. Therefore, there are still a large number of Hunyuan believers active in Xiangyang and even south of Xiangyang.

From clerks in government offices to peddlers and porters, they formed a relatively smooth network for obtaining information.

Therefore, many gentry who had fled turned to cooperate with the Hunyuan sect members. The gentry provided money to help the middle and high-level leaders of the Hunyuan sect improve their social status.

The Hunyuan Sect was used by them, and they quickly revealed their identities and became members of the upper class.

Wu Sanniang walked in front. She has now become one of the highest-ranking figures in Hunyuan Sect.

She rose to prominence so quickly not only because she could perform various magic tricks to confuse ignorant men and women, recruit people to join the sect, and had very strong martial arts skills, but also because she was from Kaocheng County, Weihui Prefecture, Henan Province.

If Hunyuan Sect wants to penetrate into the people on both sides of the Yellow River, it must rely on people like Wu Sanniang.

Not only did they have to rely on her to recruit believers, but they also had to rely on her to communicate and coordinate with local White Lotus branches in Henan, such as Shouyuan Sect, Bagua Sect, and Haohua Dao.

This time, Wu Sanniang left Xuzhou Prefecture under the pretext of returning to her hometown, Kaocheng County, to discuss a merger with the people of the Good Words Sect.

However, when Wu Sanniang reached Zhaopi Village, Lanyang County, Kaifeng Prefecture, just across the river from her hometown, she suddenly stopped.

Because this time she was actually ordered by the Jinyiwei Palace Front Division to come to Zhaopi Village to meet someone and provide cover for them in investigating a section of the Yellow River in Kaifeng Prefecture.

. . . .

Zhang Fu went up the Yellow River from Xuzhou. At that time, the Yellow River was still in the stage of flowing into the sea through the Huai River.

In other words, the Yellow River turned southwest in Lanyang County (Lankao) and went to Shangqiu and Xuzhou, and then flowed into the sea through the Huaihe River, instead of turning northeast to Jinan.

Therefore, at this time the Yellow River passed through the north of Xuzhou City, Jinan was not on the bank of the Yellow River, and the Yellow River basically did not pass through Shandong.

Zhang Fu went south with Qian Dazhao and Chen Qiuze as representatives of Jiangnan scholars.

Qian Dazhao was able to handle government affairs and took over Suzhou Prefecture without bloodshed. He is now the governor of Zhejiang.

Chen Qiuze was bold and ambitious, with a heroic spirit, and was both civil and military. He made great contributions in the battle of Hangzhou and was even awarded the title of Earl of Songjiang. He was promoted to the rank of Major General of the Army and held the high position of Commander-in-Chief of the military forces in Jiangbei, Xusi, and Huaihai.

Only Zhang Fu, a technical bureaucrat, held the title of Imperial Court Attendant Scholar, but actually served as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and the Director of the Capital Water Resources Department.

This time, he brought officials from the Du Shui Si and students from the Water Conservancy Engineering Colleges of the Guangzhou and Yingtian Imperial Universities upstream to investigate the problems of the Yellow River and collect information for the subsequent management of the Yellow River.

Of course, there is also the task of understanding the waterway conditions for the upcoming Northern Expedition.

However, the extreme poverty on both sides of the Yellow River along the way greatly shocked Zhang Fu.

He thought that the people in Xuzhou and Huai'an were living a miserable life, but when he entered Henan, it still had a huge impact on his outlook on life and the world.

Even in places like Chenliu and Kaifeng, which sound famous in history, the lives of the people are still on the edge of being able to distinguish only between humans and beasts.

Pushing open the gate of a small courtyard by the Yellow River in Lanyang (Lankao) County, the man, believing it was the imperial court coming to collect grain, hurriedly threw on a pair of tattered trousers and knelt on the cold ground. Shivering, he pleaded in the Mandarin dialect of the Central Plains, because his family didn't have enough food even to survive the winter.

A student from Yingtian University stretched his neck and looked into the room where the movement came from.

I saw a disheveled woman and a few children with slightly curious eyes, wrapped in a pile of tattered quilts, well, it should be a pile of tattered towels, shivering from the cold.

The only thing that was hot was a tiny stove with something stewed in a clay pot.

Zhang Fu walked over and opened it. Inside was a strange paste with gray-brown, green and a little yellow.

It didn't smell like something edible, but his instinct told him that this was the family's dinner.

"Grind the whitest layer of elm bark into powder, add some sorghum bran and a little sorghum rice, and the green ones should be wild vegetables dried in autumn, and boil them together.

When the water was almost boiled dry, everyone drank half a bowl, then huddled together to keep warm. The day was over, and they lived another day.

Seeing Zhang Fu's puzzled look, Wu Sanniang spoke lightly and without any emotion.

"How do you know?" Zhang Fu asked in shock.

A bitter smile finally appeared on Wu Sanniang's face, but it was quickly replaced by numbness.

"Of course I know. I've been eating this stuff for over ten years. Only after I learned juggling did I stop having to eat it so often."

Zhang Fu shook his head and bowed towards the south. "Your Majesty once said that the most difficult thing in the world is in Henan. It is indeed true."

After saying this, he called on the officials of the Du Shui Si and the students who came with him to donate some of the rations that had been donated several times and were now almost gone.

Wu Sanniang smiled with relief, "That's not bad. It seems that we in Henan have the worst life in the world. So, people in other places can still have no problem getting enough to eat."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fu looked at the White Lotus Sect witch with some surprise, and continued to lead the students to continue measuring along the Yellow River.

Wu Sanniang also followed, and this time it was her turn to look at these people strangely.

"The Yellow River has been relatively stable for over two hundred years since Pan Jixun invented the method of controlling water flow and flushing sand during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Although diverting the water from the Huai River to the sea has caused many incidents, it has generally remained stable and no major incidents have occurred.

It’s a pity that since Chen Huang took power during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, there has been almost no minor governance for almost a hundred years. The Tartar Emperor Qianlong was too derelict in his duty.

"From Zhaopi Village onwards, the river flows slowly, silt accumulates, and the riverbed rises. If a flood occurs, the Huai River and Huai River will be flooded, and if things go wrong, there will be devastating consequences."

Zhang Fu murmured that he was not exaggerating. Historically, starting from the late Qianlong period, the Yellow River would burst its banks on a large scale almost every five months or so.

By 1855, it simply changed its course again and flowed northward into the Bohai Sea, causing great disaster.

Wu Sanniang grew up by the Yellow River and naturally knew how serious it was when the Yellow River burst its banks. After hearing these words, she felt extremely uneasy.

She looked at Zhang Fu, and saw how they were performing various measurements, which seemed quite professional, and a little hope rose in her heart.

"Are you the official sent by the emperor to tame the Yellow River? Can the Yellow River be tamed?"

Zhang Fu nodded slowly, "Your Majesty once said that to solve the problem, we only need to control the water flow, flush the sand, and dredge the blocked area at the sea estuary.

To address the root cause, we need to start in northern Shaanxi and prevent soil...er, water and soil erosion. Ideally, we could restore the Yellow River's northward flow, taking its old route from Shandong to the Bohai Sea."

In fact, Zhang Fu didn't have much confidence, because he didn't quite understand the emperor's views on soil erosion and other issues.

However, he supported blocking the river at Zhaopi Village, Lanyang, to restore the Yellow River to its original course.

Wu Sanniang thought that the official and the emperor really had a way to control the Yellow River. He muttered to himself, "I didn't expect that what everyone said was right. Only our Han emperor would feel sorry for the Han people."

I haven't reported some of the intelligence I've learned in the past due to the brotherhood within the church. I need to find an opportunity to report it quickly so that the court can quickly recapture Henan.

At the same time, in Zhang Fu's team, a guy who looked like a Tai student studying water conservancy but was actually a spy from the Jinyiwei was recording at a rapid speed.

'The water level near Zhaopi Village is not too high. The Yellow River flows slowly in winter and is expected to freeze soon. It is the right time for the army to march north.

Even if the Qing Dynasty wanted to dig up the Yellow River, it would not succeed in a short time. Our army has enough time to avoid this tragedy.

. . . .

In Yingtian Prefecture, just as the preliminary work for the Northern Expedition was underway, Mo Zibu also received situation reports from Sichuan and Yunnan and Guizhou.

Since Hailancha in Sichuan has rebelled, we will first detain the bannermen in Chengdu. As for where to exile them, we have not decided yet.

At the same time, land reform in Sichuan must be carried out as quickly as possible to stabilize the province as quickly as possible.

In Yunnan, it is not enough to have Huang Zhongtong alone in charge, because the biggest task of being in charge of Yunnan is to win over the ethnic minorities and put pressure from the north to the south.

At least Upper Burma must be controlled in order to suppress the Burmese King Meng Yun when the imperial court is unable to devote much energy to the whole of Burma.

Let the eldest nephew Mo Gongbai go. Mo Zibu thought for a moment and realized that his children were still young. For such matters, he could only let his eldest nephew, who still had some ability, go.

Anyway, Mo Gongbo is proficient in Burmese and Khmer, so it would be much better to let him go than Huang Zhongtong.

In addition, Zhu Shedou and Wang Lian from Guizhou had already rebelled in Guiyang. They had participated in the Qing Dynasty's two campaigns against Burma and were familiar with the local area.

Let them take a few thousand Guizhou soldiers to northern Myanmar and give it a try. If the people of all ethnic groups in Guizhou can adapt to Myanmar, it would not be a bad idea to move some people there in the future.

By the way, it seems that Tong’s younger brother Chu Zhi has not been pacified yet. I will find a time to kill him so that those Thai people will not have any hope in them.

(End of this chapter)