My aunt is Queen Ma

Chapter 30 Destiny

Empress Ma and others had already been attracted by Ma Yu's words. When they heard the Huai River, their eyes immediately turned to the line representing the Huai River.

The eunuchs standing by looked at Ma Yu even more eagerly.

He is really capable, no wonder the Empress wants to adopt him as her nephew.

I must curry favor with you in the future.

Ma Baye and Ma Ye in the corner were both very envious.

If only we were as talented.

But when they thought about following him in the future, they both became happy again.

Ma Ye was young and had a relatively simple mind.

Empress Ma handed them over to Ma Yu, so he became their backer.

Naturally, the more powerful the backer, the better.

Mr. Ma's mood was a little complicated.

He was used quietly and the legitimate prince was beaten. He was really scared.

Knowing his own strengths and weaknesses, he just wants to return to his hometown and live a peaceful life on his own land.

But on the other hand, he didn't want to escape back in such a mess.

Besides, he really enjoyed being praised by so many people in Yingtian.

Now that I have such a smart person protecting me, can I stay for a while and see what happens?
But they were not really familiar with Ma Yu and did not know his personality.

What if he is also a cunning fox and takes advantage of them?

So he was very conflicted inside.

But no one cared what he thought at this moment, everyone's attention was on Ma Yu.

Ma Yu placed his hand on the Huai River Basin and said:
"The Huai River system is a naturally generated, relatively independent, and complete system..."

At this time, Zhu Chong interrupted and asked, "What is a system?"

Ma Yu had no choice but to explain to them what the system was before continuing:

"The Huai River and its tributaries on both sides form a system for regulating water resources."

"When floods occur in some areas, the excess water will flow into the Huai River through its tributaries, alleviating the local flooding."

"The water flowing into the Huai River will not be wasted, but will be transported to other places by the Huai River."

"For example, moving to a water-scarce area to alleviate the local drought."

"In this way, both the flood problem and the drought situation will be alleviated at the same time."

"If there is any excess water, it will be discharged into the sea."

"The prosperity along the Huai River is largely due to the Huai River."

Zhu Di looked at the map and asked doubtfully:
“What if there’s a drought upstream?”

Ma Yu laughed and said, "That's nothing we can do. After all, the Huai River isn't omnipotent. Its effects are relative."

"It won't solve all problems, but without it, many problems will be completely unsolvable."

Zhu Di scratched his head and had only one feeling: awe-inspiring.

Ma Yu continued, "Now let's talk about what would happen if there were no Huai River, or if the Huai River system was damaged."

As he spoke, he placed his fingers on the lower reaches of the Yellow River and Huai River.

"The Yellow River usurps the Huai River's route into the sea, squeezing out the Huai River's course."

"The Yellow River's water volume is many times greater than the Huai River's. Such a massive influx of water would overwhelm the Huai River's embankments and flood the land on both sides."

"This is direct harm. It happened during the Southern Song Dynasty. I won't go into details."

"What I'm going to talk about next is the ongoing collateral damage."

"People don't feel the pain in the short term, and by the time they do, it's too late to recover."

The expressions of Queen Ma and others also became solemn.

Ma Yu didn't keep the question secret and said directly, "The root of the problem lies in the mud and sand."

"The Yellow River carries a huge amount of sediment, and there's a saying that for every dou of water there are six liters of sediment."

"As the Yellow River sediments, the lower reaches of the Huai River will gradually rise."

"How high is it? It's higher than the upper reaches of the river."

"This also means that the water in the upper reaches of the Huai River cannot be discharged."

Zhu Gang frowned slightly and said, "If I remember correctly, after the Yellow River took over the Huai River and flowed into the sea, the Huai River flowed through the Yangtze River and flowed into the sea."

"The problem you mentioned did not occur."

Empress Ma and Zhu Biao couldn't help but nod, as if it was indeed the case.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yellow River took over the Huai River to flow into the sea, and the Huai River flowed out to the sea via the Yangtze River.

It has been more than two hundred years now, and there haven't been any major problems.

Ma Yu said calmly, "The water from the upper reaches of the Huai River can be used to go out to sea via the Yangtze River. What about the water from the middle and lower reaches?"

Zhu Gang thought for a moment and said, "Water from Huainan (southern Anhui) can also be drained into the Yangtze River, and water from Huaibei (northern Anhui) can be diverted into Hongze Lake."

(The following Huainan and Huaibei refer specifically to southern and northern Anhui.)
Empress Ma and Zhu Biao looked at the map and it seemed to be fine.

Ma Yu said with a heavy heart, "Now I want to talk about the second problem caused by the Yellow River diverting the Huai River into the sea."

“After the Yellow River takes over the Huai River, it first flows through Hongze Lake before merging into the sea.”

"When the Yellow River enters the vast Hongze Lake, its flow rate will slow down and a large amount of silt will settle."

"Over time, the bottom of Hongze Lake will rise and the water will overflow. What will we do then?"

Without hesitation, Zhu Gang replied, "Raise and reinforce the riverbank to keep the water firmly in the lake."

Ma Yu smiled bitterly: "Yes, the riverbank was raised and reinforced, but no one has ever thought about the consequences of doing so."

Zhu Gang frowned. What would be the consequences?
Just now, he would definitely think that Ma Yu was being mysterious, but now he no longer had such thoughts.

But will there be any bad consequences of doing this?

He really couldn't think of it.

Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and Zhu Chong were also puzzled. What was the problem?
Ma Yu said nothing, picked up the inkstone and placed it on the location of Hongze Lake on the map.

Then he looked at the three of them and said, "This is the consequence."

Zhu Biao, Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang were still confused, but Empress Ma's face suddenly turned ugly.

She said word by word, "A lake hanging on the ground."

Zhu Biao and his two brothers finally understood what it meant, and their faces changed drastically.

If silt can turn the lower reaches of the Huai River into a suspended river, it will naturally turn Hongze Lake into a suspended lake.

Just imagine how terrifying it would be to have a lake with a bottom higher than the surrounding terrain.

If the dam really breaks one day, immeasurable floods will sweep away everything around it.

By that time, in order to prevent the Hongze Lake from bursting its banks, the imperial court had no choice but to continuously raise and reinforce the lake embankment.

Then... it's a situation of drinking poison to quench thirst.

In the original world, no one realized this problem until the late Ming Dynasty.

But it was too late, and all the court could do was to continue reinforcing the river embankment.

During the Wanli period, the construction of the lake embankment with basalt stone blocks began, and the project was not officially completed until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.

The price paid during this period is immeasurable.

Scientific measurements in the 20th century showed that the bottom of Hongze Lake is about five meters higher than the surrounding plains.

But you thought it was over?

No, Hongze Lake is not only dangerous in itself, but also poses a huge threat to the upstream environment.

Ma Yu's eyes swept over Empress Ma, Zhu Biao, Zhu Chong, and Zhu Gang, finally stopping at Zhu Gang, and said:
"Now let's go back to the question you just mentioned."

"Excess water in Huainan (southern Anhui) can be discharged into the Yangtze River, but what about the excess water in Huaibei (northern Anhui)?"

Zhu Gang opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word.

Drain into Hongze Lake? Come on, the bottom of Hongze Lake is higher than the surrounding horizon. How do you drain it? Fly over it?

The lower reaches of the Huai River and Hongze Lake form an angle, which tightly clamps Huaibei.

The excess water cannot be drained away, and whenever it rains, it will cause flooding.

This vast area has become a de facto 'death zone'.

Ma Yu continued, "Water flows. The terrain in southern Henan and southern Shandong is higher than that in Huaibei."

"The rainfall in these two areas will also flow into Huaibei."

"Once there is heavy rainfall in these areas, the entire Huaibei region will become a land swamp."

That’s not all. He then picked up the pen and marked two place names in Huaibei (northern Anhui).

They are Haozhou and Suzhou respectively.

When they saw these two names, Empress Ma, Zhu Biao and others, whose faces were already solemn, had their hearts stop beating.

Because the former is Zhu Yuanzhang's hometown, and the latter is Empress Ma's hometown.

After a long while, Empress Ma asked in a hoarse voice:
"Is it really like this?" Ma Yu could understand her feelings, but still said with certainty:
“It was bound to happen.”

"This matter is actually not difficult to deduce. Even if you don't want to believe in reasoning, you can still investigate according to the direction I mentioned."

"From the Southern Song Dynasty to the present day, the Yellow River has been diverting water from the Huai River to the sea for over 200 years, and some problems have already emerged."

"Find a few people who know about water conservancy and they'll find out."

The hope in Queen Ma's heart was completely shattered, and her body couldn't help but shake a few times.

This made Zhu Biao and others very worried.

However, she quickly adjusted her mindset, stared at the map and began to recall everything Ma Yu had just said.

Seeing that she was fine, Zhu Biao and his two brothers turned their attention to the map.

Ma Yu sighed in his heart. He had done everything he could, hoping to change this tragedy.

It can be said that the damage caused by the Yellow River diverting its way into the Huai River and into the sea was devastating to the entire north.

Shandong, Hebei and Huaibei were completely paralyzed.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, these three places were where peasant uprisings occurred most frequently, with an average of once every ten years or so.

The bandits in Shandong and Hebei were particularly prominently recorded in history books.

The Qing Dynasty, in particular, simply defaulted to treating Huaibei as a flood discharge area.

At first, they provided some relief, but later they were too lazy to care about the lives of the local people.

Ma Junya, a scholar from Huaibei, wrote a book for his hometown, "The Sacrificed Parts".

The content is about how the imperial court during the Qing Dynasty sacrificed Huaibei under the guise of the overall situation.

Until the 21st century, the legacy of the Yellow River diverting the Huai River into the sea still exists.

What everyone remembers most is probably the heavy rain in Zhengzhou in 2001.

However, most people only see Zhengzhou, but few people know that most of the rainwater flows downstream to northern Anhui.

Eventually, the place turned into a swamp.

Anhui is a province, but northern Anhui and southern Anhui are two different worlds.

The economic situation in northern Anhui is very poor, and it is one of the most backward regions in the country.

Southern Anhui is one of the richest regions in the country.

There are many factors that have led to the huge economic gap between the two places, but the fundamental reason is the disaster brought about by the Yellow River diverting its way into the Huai River and flowing into the sea.

To be more precise, it is Hongze Lake.

Ma Yu also learned these things from the book "The Sacrificed Parts".

However, he only knew that the Yellow River had flowed into the sea through the Huai River since the Southern Song Dynasty, and he thought it had always been like this.

However, they did not know that the Yellow River burst its banks again in 1368, the first year of the Hongwu reign.

More than 50% of the water flows back into the Bohai Sea.

More than 40% of the water volume is divided into two small streams and flows southward, continuing along the Huai River into the sea.

The Northern Expedition led by Xu Da and Chang Yuchun was able to conquer the Yuan Dynasty so smoothly, thanks in large part to the help of the diverted Yellow River.

They dredged the river and diverted the Yellow River water into the Grand Canal.

The suspended Shandong section of the Grand Canal resumed navigation, allowing the enemy to directly reach Huanglong by water.

Faced with such a swift and fierce attack, the Mongols were unable to resist and were easily defeated.

However, in the eighth year of Hongwu, the Yellow River broke its dike again at Kaifeng, and eventually flowed all south to the Huai River and into the sea.

This formed the Yellow River of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

This is why so many human tragedies happened later.

That is why Ma Yu was so excited when he learned about the current situation of the Yellow River from Zhu Gang.

Although he didn't know what happened to the Yellow River later, he knew that the opportunity to turn the tide was right in front of him.

It is difficult for the Yellow River, which flows southward as a whole, to change its course, but now the Yellow River has returned on its own.

The imperial court only needed to replan the river course and reinforce the river embankment.

Even with the productivity of ancient times, it was completely possible, and the cost would not be particularly high.

As for whether Zhu Yuanzhang would do so.

Ma Yu felt that there was no need to question this at all.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma's hometowns are both in Huaibei (northern Anhui).

Given the importance the Chinese people place on their homeland, they would never sit idly by and watch tragedy happen.

Even if it costs a certain price, the Yellow River will return to its original course.

In fact, it was just as he thought. Soon, Queen Ma woke up from her thoughts, looked at Ma Yu, and said in a serious tone:

"What should we do to avoid the situation you mentioned?"

She naturally knew that the root was in the Yellow River, but she still had to listen to the "experts" on such matters.

Now in her eyes, Ma Yu is undoubtedly the only expert.

Ma Yu said affirmatively: "Let the Yellow River return to its original course, and then reorganize the Huai River system."

No one was surprised by this answer.

but……

Zhu Biao said solemnly, "The Yuan Dynasty's Yellow River construction has attracted rebel forces everywhere. I'm afraid everyone will not agree to start a war."

Zhu Chong also said, "It wasn't long ago that the incident with the one-eyed stone man happened."

On the contrary, Zhu Gang said coldly, "It's not up to them to handle such a big matter."

"If you still refuse to listen after explaining first, you will be exiled to repair the Yellow River."

Queen Ma couldn't help but shake her head. This third son was too reckless.

Ma Yu naturally understood the concerns of Zhu Biao and others. Not everyone had such a long-term vision.

Don't overestimate the ethics of some people.

If the imperial court dared to propose changing the course of the Yellow River, many people would surely jump out to oppose it.

And the people will also have psychological trauma from this.

By then, those who hold the power of speech will spread rumors everywhere, and problems may really arise.

But the problem is not unsolvable, it is just a war of public opinion.

So, Ma Yu smiled and said, "Maybe things are not as complicated as you think."

Queen Ma's eyes lit up and she asked, "Do you have a solution?"

Ma Yu said: "First, the Ming Dynasty has not yet truly pacified the world, and it is far from the time to repair the Yellow River."

"What we can do now is to stabilize the three current river channels."

“It’s just about fixing the river course, and no one will object.”

Of course no one would object. In fact, if the imperial court did not do it, people all over the world would be unwilling.

If your Ming Dynasty doesn't protect the Yellow River, how can you conquer the world?

"According to my speculation, it will take the Ming Dynasty about four years to conquer the world."

"That means we have four years to prepare."

Queen Ma nodded again. This time was about the same as they had predicted.

Ma Yu continued, "During these four years, we need to do one thing."

"Let the world know the harm caused by the Yellow River diverting its way into the sea."

"And then tell them."

"Restoring the Yellow River to its original course would require a huge price to pay, and it could even be said to be almost impossible to accomplish."

Zhu Gang couldn't help but ask, "Why? Wouldn't this scare everyone away?"

Ma Yu smiled and said, "Because now that the Yellow River has returned on its own, the cost of repairing the Yellow River is much lower."

"The key point is that more than 50% of the Yellow River's water volume returned to its original course in the first year of the Hongwu reign."

Queen Ma's heart moved. Such a huge hidden danger was an almost unsolvable problem.

However, in the first year of Hongwu, the Yellow River solved most of the problems on its own.

The key point is the first year of Hongwu.

Why not earlier or later, but must it be in the first year of Hongwu?
There is only one explanation, and there must be only one explanation.

Destiny.

Zhu Biao and his two brothers also reacted one after another, and their expressions looked a little strange.

They didn't expect that the matter could be related to fate.

But...it's just such a coincidence.

It was such a coincidence that even those who did not really believe in fate had to believe that this might really be fate.

The destiny of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)