The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 486 This is called professionalism

Zeng Tongheng, the Minister of Works, was a Jinshi in the 38th year of the Jiajing reign. He had served in officialdom for more than 30 years and was now over 60 years old.

He was a veteran of three dynasties. Before Wanli, he had met two emperors.

He didn't know how many emperors' chronicles he had read throughout the dynasties.

However, he had never seen or heard of such a strange emperor as Wanli.

Although the late Emperor Jiajing was a bit eccentric, he was just obsessed with Taoism. If there were any major matters, he would still assign them to court officials to handle.

There were a few such emperors in history. It is not surprising that they wanted to live forever. Even Qin Shihuang wanted to live forever.

The late Emperor Longqing was not that weird. He was just obsessed with the harem and didn't want to take care of state affairs. He would only attend the morning court occasionally.

There are many such emperors in history.

The current Emperor Wanli is different. This Emperor seems to be incompatible with the civil officials. Why does he never greet them?

There has never been such an emperor in history.

He never expected that the current emperor would suddenly issue an order to summon him to the Nurgan Regional Military Commission.

What could this Nurgandusi have to do with him, the Minister of Works?
Although he was a little confused, he still followed the order and boarded the navy's speedboat and hurried to Nurgandusi.

He still respected the imperial edict, and he was not like those officials with ulterior motives who would be suspicious or even pretend to obey the edict in secret after receiving it.

Wanli summoned him and he went. Wanli's edict did not say what he was going to do, so he did not think much about it or ask many questions.

However, he was shocked along the way.

He really didn't expect that both sides of the Liao River had become fertile fields. This section of the Liao River main trunk is almost a thousand miles long. How many fertile fields are there?

Not only have these fertile fields been opened up, but there are people driving oxen to plow the fields!

The villages were scattered everywhere, and there were countless men, women, young and old in the villages.

How many people are there, and how many oxen are there?

When he arrived at the dock on the north bank of the Liaohe River, he was so shocked that his mouth was almost open.

The navy's speedboats and grain carts here are so densely packed that you can't see the end of them at a glance.

When did the Ming Dynasty Navy have so many fast ships?
There are also grain carts, which all have to be pulled by horses. How many horses are there?

Wanli really never informed the court officials about these military-related matters. Even he, the Minister of Works, had never received any news.

When he followed the Jinyiwei cavalry and arrived in front of the huge chariot formation, his jaw almost dropped in shock.

The array of armored vehicles has no end in sight on either side!

When he rode his horse into the camp, he almost felt numb. The densely packed tents were simply overwhelming, and he felt like he had entered a sea of ​​tents.

He had never seen such a spectacular scene.

The current Ming army is so terrifying!
The hundreds of light cavalrymen in their group ran a little faster than the more than 100,000 cavalrymen from the Shenwu Camp. It was not yet the hour of You when they arrived at the general's tent.

Wanli had already been standing in front of the map waiting for him.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli pointed to the map and said directly, "I want to build a canal to connect the main trunk of the Liao River and the Songhua River. Is that a problem?"

So you want to build a canal!
How do you say this?

Zeng Tongheng carefully examined the map and then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, are there any mountains here?"

You don't know anything about the terrain of Nurgandusi, right?
Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "No, there are no mountains on the map. This area is plain, with very few hills."

Oh, that's fine.

Zeng Tongheng roughly measured it with his fingers, then pointed to a few circles and said, "Your Majesty, these marks are lakes, right?"

Uh, this map is a bit sloppy.

Where is the round lake?

However, the circles on the map still represent lakes.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, these are all lakes, and they are relatively large lakes. The smaller ones have not yet been marked in detail."

That's about it.

Zeng Tongheng gritted his teeth and nodded, "If that's the case, there shouldn't be any problem building a canal here."

You really know how to build a canal.

Wanli simply picked up the fine brush beside him and handed it to him, testing him: "Mark the approximate route of the canal on the map."

This can't be drawn randomly.

Zeng Tongheng respectfully took the brush and said carefully, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I think it would be better to go to the scene to take a look before painting. If there is a problem with the terrain, it will be troublesome."

What could be wrong with the terrain here?
Wanli said without hesitation: "Just assume that the middle is flat. If it is not flat, I can order people to dig it for you. Besides, this map is not final once it is drawn. It can be changed in the future. I just want to see the general route of the canal."

Okay.

Zeng Tongheng stared at the map carefully again before picking up the pen and starting to draw on it.

The canal drawn by this guy was not a straight line, but was divided into sections. Some of them went directly around the lake, and some were connected with the tributaries of the Liaohe River.

Seeing this, Wanli was quite curious and asked, "Why don't you try to draw it straighter? Wouldn't it be easier to build it piece by piece?"

Uh, I'm afraid you don't know anything about canals.

Zeng Tongheng explained carefully: "Your Majesty, the straightness of the canal has little to do with whether it is easy to build.

The key is that the canal must have a water source, and the water level of the canal must be guaranteed by the rivers and lakes along the way. This is crucial.

If the water level in the canal is too low, it will be impossible to navigate. If the water level in the canal is too high, there will be a risk of flooding. It is not enough to rely solely on the regulation of rivers along the way. It is also necessary to connect to as many large lakes as possible.

For example, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal connects Weishan Lake, Luoma Lake, Hongze Lake, Gaoyou Lake, Taihu Lake, etc. Moreover, due to the terrain, the canal is likely to be silted up, making it impossible for ships to navigate.

Therefore, it would be best if the canal could be connected to more rivers, mainly to use the power of the river to wash away as much silt as possible, so that it would be easier to desilt later."

This is called professionalism.

This is what a real Minister of Works is.

It turns out that the reason why this guy is not very famous in history is because he just does his job well and is too lazy to fight for power or even form cliques for personal gain.

Very good, the person recommended by Shen Li is really good. The Ming Dynasty court needs such officials.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded in approval and said, "Well, that's right. You've thought it through very carefully. Let's dig. Do you think there's anything else we need to prepare? If not, we'll gather the men and start digging."

Uh, let’s start building!
Zeng Tongheng was stunned when he heard this, then he said carefully, "Your Majesty, I'm so bold as to ask you how wide and deep you plan to dig this canal?"

This is it.

Wanli pondered and said, "If possible, it would be best to dig a width of one hundred feet. As for how deep to dig, that is up to you.

I mainly want to use the 800-ton centipede boats and 400-ton octopus boats to transport grain. In the future, the plains here will be reclaimed into fertile fields. Without a canal, it will be difficult to transport grain to the capital and onto the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal."

Oh my god, one hundred feet!

Do you think this is the Grand Canal?

Upon hearing this, Zeng Tongheng quickly advised, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that the wider the canal, the better. The wider the canal, the more difficult it will be to dig.

The reason the Grand Canal was dug so wide was mainly because there were so many ships traveling there. If this was just for transporting grain, there would be no need to dig it so wide. I think a width of fifty zhang would be enough, and that would reduce our engineering workload by more than half."

That makes sense, you are indeed professional.

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, then dig fifty feet wide. As for the depth, how deep do you think it should be?"

How deep is this canal?
Zeng Tongheng pondered, "A centipede boat of eight hundred tons fully loaded would only have a draft of a little over ten feet but less than two feet. If we take into account the water level and the possibility of silt accumulation at the riverbed, I think the best depth for the canal would be three feet.

In addition, in order to prevent floods, we also need to build a dike that is about ten feet high and fifty feet wide. We can use the excess soil to fill the sand washed out by the rivers near the canal.

This kind of sandy land is generally low-lying and unsuitable for growing crops. If it can be filled with about ten feet of soil, then crops can be grown."

Well, not bad, not bad, it is indeed professional.

Wanli nodded slightly, then said decisively: "I give you full responsibility for this canal. I want to complete the construction of the canal this year. Just tell me how many people you need. Don't worry about the money and grain. I guarantee it will be no problem."

what?
You want to build such a long canal in one year?
No, a year here is not a year.

The ice period in Nurgandusi seems to be very long.

Zeng Tongheng thought about it carefully after hearing this, and then asked, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask when this place will be frozen and when it will be unfrozen."

This is indeed something we need to consider. The winter here can really freeze people to death, and if it is frozen, it will be impossible to dig.

Wanli recalled, "This place should have been frozen in November. As for the thawing, it was only completely unfrozen in the past few days."

This means that the canal can be built in just six or seven months a year at most!
How many people does that require?

The construction of Tonghui River is recorded in the most detailed way. It was started in the spring of the 29th year of Zhiyuan in the previous dynasty and was not completed until the autumn of the 30th year of Zhiyuan, which means it took one and a half years to dig.

However, the scale of Tonghui River cannot be compared with this canal at all, because the total length of Tonghui River is only more than 160 miles, and a lot of it borrowed natural river channels and moats. The actual excavated river channel is only more than 40 miles, and most places are only more than 10 or 20 feet wide. It took 20,000 to 30,000 craftsmen and soldiers and civilians 18 months to dig it.

The straight-line distance of this canal is more than 400 miles, and since it has to bypass rivers and lakes, it is estimated that the river channel that needs to be dug is more than 500 miles, and it has to be 50 meters wide.

The scale of this project is forty to fifty times that of Tonghui River.

Also, the construction time must be considered. The Emperor only gave him six or seven months. If the time spent on bringing people over is added, this time is only about 30% of the construction time of Tonghui River.

How many people are needed?
If calculated based on the engineering volume, one li is 300 zhang, and 500 li is 150,000 zhang.

Each person digs a pit of ten feet square, and it takes at least a month to dig it three feet deep. In six months, one person can only dig a pit of five feet long and one foot wide. Fifteen thousand feet long requires fifty thousand people, and fifty feet wide requires two and a half million people!

No matter how you calculate it, it must be over 2.5 million people.

Can His Majesty bring so many people here?

is it possible?

It took more than 20,000 people to build the Tonghui River.

Seeing Zeng Tongheng standing there as if frozen in place for a long while without saying a word, Wanli couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's wrong? Is it hard to estimate how many people are needed?"

This is not a difficult estimate.

Zeng Tongheng heard this and could only bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty, whether we count based on the records of the excavation of the Tonghui River in previous dynasties or the amount of work involved, if we want to complete this Grand Canal this year, we will need at least 2.5 million people, and they all have to be able-bodied laborers."

Oh, at least two and a half million, not much, not much.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, I will give you three million young men, and you must complete the construction of this canal this year."

what?
You can attract three million young and strong people!
Zeng Tongheng was secretly surprised when he heard this, and then asked, "Your Majesty, when can these young men be brought over?"

This should be soon.

Wanli estimated, "I have ordered the navy's fast ships to fetch them. They will probably be brought here in the next few days. At the latest, within a month, I will be able to gather three million young men for you.

If you need anything else, just let me know. Time is of the essence, so please get started as soon as possible."

I can't do it alone.

Zeng Tongheng pondered, "Your Majesty, this canal needs to be built in multiple sections at the same time. I cannot manage it all by myself. At least half of the officials from the Ministry of Works must be transferred here.

Also, some of the work involved in building the canal is beyond the capabilities of the average young and strong man, so I still need 10,000 stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and bricklayers."

These are no big deal.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, no problem. Just send the required personnel and I will approve it for you."

(End of this chapter)