Chapter 293 The Only Path to Choose (Part 9)
Liu Luo kept complaining about the traditional topic of "extroverted girls". Although she blamed Huo Chong, she still dared to blame her own daughter for completely disregarding the interests of the family and supporting Huo Chong's policy of nationalizing land.
Luo Xiucai couldn't bear to listen any longer, so he ordered his son and daughter who were sitting at the table, "You two get out first."
The two children ran away as if they had been pardoned. When the couple were left alone in the room, Luo Xiucai shouted, "You are courting death! How dare you speak ill of the prince?"
Liu Luo raised her eyebrows, "I didn't say the prince. I was talking about your daughter!"
Luo Xiucai saw his wife talking back, and wanted to criticize her but didn't have the courage. This was how he had been living for so many years. His wife's family was quite powerful and had helped Luo Xiucai, a poor scholar, a lot. But Luo Xiucai still mustered up his courage and asked, "How dare you talk like this to an official?"
Liu Luo was stunned and couldn't continue.
Luo Xiucai was about to say something else when his son ran in and said, "Dad, Uncle Ding is here."
In fact, Luo Xiucai did not have such a strong impulse to criticize his wife, and his son-in-law Huo Chong's actions were beyond Luo Xiucai's imagination. Now that he had an excuse, he got up and went to the door. As expected, he saw the matchmaker... It was the matchmaker Ding Xiucai at the door.
Seeing Mr. Luo coming out, Mr. Ding smiled and bowed, "Father Luo, I have something to ask you."
Luo Xiucai smiled bitterly, and sighed inwardly as he invited Mr. Ding in. If only he could be like the "father-in-law of the emperor" described in those storytellings.
Mr. Ding did not test the topic and directly stated the purpose of his trip, "I heard that the prince wants to establish a new country."
Luo Xiucai immediately became interested, "Your Majesty wants to be crowned emperor?"
"It's hard to say." Mr. Ding shook his head. "At present, the prince only has Shandong. There is no benefit in declaring himself emperor so soon."
Luo Xiucai couldn't understand what Mr. Ding meant. "What's wrong with the prince declaring himself emperor? At least it's very impressive."
When Mr. Ding heard this, he felt that he had come to the wrong place. Mr. Luo did not understand the problem. After a few more words, Mr. Ding left.
After leaving Luo Xiucai, Mr. Ding stood for a while and finally decided to go find those fellow scholars who had given up the fight and survived until now. It had been a while since I last met them.
After hiring a donkey and getting a pass, Mr. Ding set out on the road. Although it was early spring and the weather should have been chilly, it felt quite warm. Looking up at the bright sun, Mr. Ding actually felt the joy of going out for an outing.
The sun was not only shining brightly in Shandong, but also in Luanzhou, Zhili. The snow had melted, and the roads were slippery. When Old Fourteen learned that the road to the capital was now open to traffic, he felt like it was a dream. In the past month or so, Old Fourteen could not believe that he could survive until now.
First, typhoid and dysentery broke out, killing two to three thousand of the 70,000 people. Later, doctors from the capital brought medicine, and some Han soldiers transported the patients away. There were fewer people in the barracks, and some troops were sent out to build fortifications. Only then did they survive the first wave.
The second wave was the Shengjing rebels who took advantage of the heavy snow to attack, and almost succeeded in several sneak attacks. This made the fourteenth old man terrified, patrolling the camp every day, not daring to relax at all.
Suddenly, a southeast wind blew overnight and blew for several days. In the first month of the year, the ice and snow melted suddenly, and winter turned into spring. Even if Old Fourteen saw it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe his eyes. According to the past, the ice and snow would not completely melt until the end of February.
While he was still preparing, an imperial edict came from the capital, asking Lao Shisi to return to the capital immediately. Lao Shisi did not dare to refuse, and hurried back with his personal guards. Less than 20 miles away, he smelled a foul odor. This smell was very familiar to Lao Shisi, it was the temperature of a corpse in cold weather.
I thought it was just the smell of corpses left behind by a bloody battle, but after walking for a while, the smell not only did not disappear, but became even stronger.
At this time, the troops reached a high place. The guards of Old Fourteen looked at the scene below the slope and couldn't help covering their mouths.
The ground was full of corpses, and large piles of corpses were piled up in the farmland beside the road, as if there was no end in sight. From the appearance, these people were thrown here, and were once covered under thick snow. At this time, the snow melted, and the bodies buried under the snow were completely exposed. The stench came from this large pile of corpses.
Old Fourteen turned around and shouted, "Go! Go!" and ran away first. He knew what was going on with these people. The sick people who were dragged away before did not receive real treatment, but were sent here to fend for themselves. Although this cruel method was necessary, it was extremely tragic.
After returning to the capital, Lao Shisi was summoned by Hong Zhou. Lao Shisi saw a map on Hong Zhou's desk and was called over by Hong Zhou. Only then did he realize that it was a map of the Eight Gorges of Taihang Mountains.
Xing, pronounced xíng, means the place where the mountain range is interrupted. There are many east-west horizontal valleys (xing) in Taihang Mountains, the famous ones are Jundu Xing, Puyin Xing, Feihu Xing, Jingxing, Fukou Xing, Baixing, Taihang Xing, Chenguan Xing, etc., which were called the Eight Xings of Taihang in ancient times, that is, the eight throat passages through which the three provinces of Shanxi, Hebei and Henan communicated with each other through Taihang Mountains in ancient times, and were the important military passes on the borders of the three provinces.
The Taihang Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, with hundreds of ridges interconnected, thousands of peaks towering, and thousands of deep ravines. Many rivers in Shanxi cut through the Taihang Mountains. From south to north, there are: Qin River, Dan River, Zhang River, Hutuo River, Tang River, Sanggan River, etc., thus forming several canyons that cross the Taihang Mountains.
In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, Guo Yuansheng recorded in "Records of the Expedition":
Taihang Mountain starts from Henei, and from Henei to Youzhou in the north, there are eight passes: the first is Chenguan Pass, which is now in Jiyuan County, Henan Province, 11 miles west of the county seat; the second is Taihang Pass, the third is Baixing Pass, both of which are now in Henei; the fourth is Fukou Pass, facing the west of Ye; the fifth is Jingxing Pass; the sixth is Feihu Pass, also known as Wangdu Pass; the seventh is Puyin Pass, all three of which are in Zhongshan; the eighth is Jundu Pass, in Youzhou. Taihang Pass is three steps wide and forty miles long.
When the Fourteenth Emperor led his troops to the northwest, he took the Jundu Pass, one of the Eight Passes of Taihang Mountains. It was very close to the capital, and one could directly reach Shanxi from the capital.
Just as he was feeling nostalgic, he heard Hong Zhou ask, "Fourteenth Uncle, if I send you to Shanxi first, would you be willing?"
The Fourteenth Elder was stunned, "Your Majesty, why did you send me to Shanxi?"
Hong Zhou remained silent, quietly waiting for the Fourteenth Old Man to speak. The Fourteenth Old Man thought about it and still couldn't figure it out, so he could only ask again: "Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."
Hearing this, Hong Zhou couldn't help but sigh. For so many years, Hong Zhou couldn't understand why the Eighth Brother's faction was always suppressed when the nine sons competed for the throne. With such a good eye, how could he be entrusted with such an important task?
Of course, Hong Zhou did not dare to ask his father Yongzheng. With Yongzheng's temper, he would have dared to beat Hong Zhou to death.
Although the person involved was not around, Hong Zhou felt that he could see things more clearly. Eighth Uncle's method of sending patients to Old Fourteen's men to get sick was just a tactic that Mongolia and the Eight Banners had used decades ago. The Mongolian Eight Banners were the best at this. It was said that they had been doing this since the time of Genghis Khan.
However, Liu Tongxun gave advice and led the sick people out of the camp, and soon curbed the spread of the epidemic in the camp. After that, the fourteenth uncle was able to stop the Shengjing rebels led by the eighth uncle.
But the Fourteenth Uncle was only capable of this. At most, he had done some hard work. In terms of loyalty, the secret letter written by the Thirteenth Uncle before his death talked about the necessity of moving the capital. Huo Chong was treacherous and cunning. He cut off the canal transportation and killed all the officials from Henan to the southern part of Zhili. He did not seek to defeat the imperial court, but to cut off the food supply to the capital.
In addition to the 200,000 or 300,000 troops and officials, there were also hundreds of thousands of family members to support. With such a small territory as Zhili, it was simply not enough to support them. The capital city, which was extremely expensive, had become a dead end.
Staying here would only lead to its own collapse. Although moving the capital would be embarrassing, it was the only solution.
Not only did Uncle Thirteen see through it, Hong Zhou also privately found some young Han officials who were promoted by his father Yongzheng, and they actually figured it out as well.
However, the Fourteenth Uncle in front of him didn't seem to understand.
At this moment, Hong Zhou hoped that his Fourteenth Uncle had not figured it out. If his Fourteenth Uncle had figured it out but didn't say it, then he was not stupid, but bad. Bad people are more hateful than stupid people.
"If Fourteenth Uncle doesn't want to go to Shanxi, he can stay in the capital and be responsible for its defense." Hong Zhou tried again.
Old Fourteen still didn’t understand and could only respond.
There was no point in talking further at this point, so Hong Zhou ended this negotiation, which was supposed to be very important.
In addition to asking the Fourteenth Prince to come back, Hong Zhou also sent Liu Tongxun to meet the real commander of the front line, Aixinjuelu Basai. Basai just listened to one sentence, let his men withdraw first, and asked in a low voice: "Is the emperor going to Taiyuan?"
Liu Tongxun didn't expect Basai to be so perceptive. He quickly shook his head and whispered, "The emperor is going to Xi'an."
"General Xi'an... is loyal." Basai made a judgment.
Seeing that Basai had understood, Liu Tongxun asked, "The emperor sent me to ask the general if I can lead 100,000 troops to cover the rear. Can these 100,000 troops be taken to Xi'an?"
Basai thought for a while, "In response to the emperor's question, I am only worried about food. I wonder if the governor of Shanxi can set up food stations along the way. As long as there is enough food, I can definitely lead 100,000 Han troops to Xi'an."
The two sides talked for a while, and Liu Tongxun got a satisfactory answer. He hurried back to the capital to report.
Hong Zhou had already made up his mind, but he couldn't say it. No matter how right it was to move the capital, it was also escaping. He had to leave because he couldn't stay there any longer. The capital was an important place in the world, and moving the capital was really a major event that would shake the foundation of the country.
Even if you don't care about these, you still have to save face. Hong Zhou has never felt such a strong sense of shame. Not only does his face feel like it's on fire, but his body feels the same way. Especially his internal organs, which feel like they're on fire.
Finally, Hong Zhou took out a Yongzheng Tongbao and threw it high up. The copper coin spun rapidly, like a ball, flashing with metallic luster. As the copper coin's speed slowed down, it also fell to the ground, bounced a few times, and stopped on the ground paved with gold bricks.
"Front or tail?" Hong Zhou asked.
The ministers did not know what Hong Zhou meant, and did not dare to say anything. The eunuchs hurried forward, knelt on the ground and looked.
"Front or tail?" Hong Zhou asked again.
The eunuch kowtowed quickly and said, "Your Majesty, it is the other way around."
Hong Zhou actually hoped for the front side. Because before throwing the coin , Hong Zhou decided that if the front side was facing up, he would think it was "Qian", Qian is Yang, and it is strong, so he would naturally fight Lao Ba again. If the back side was facing up, it would be "Kun", Kun is Yin, and it is soft, so he would retreat decisively to preserve his strength.
Hearing that it was the opposite, it was better to avoid it. Hong Zhou sighed and ordered, "Alas, escort the Empress Dowager to the west first."
Luanzhou was totally unprepared for the sudden warming weather. The climate was too abnormal. It seemed as if the cold winter that lasted for many years was fake.
Especially in Shengjing, the generals had already planned a plan to go around the capital to see whether the troops in the capital who were interested in surrendering would launch a surprise attack on the Tongzhou defenders as they boasted.
The key to this is that the weather must be as cold as in previous years, and it would be best if there is another snowfall. That way, the advantages of sledding can be better utilized.
But the wizards in the army did not have the ability to control the weather, and the generals in Shengjing could only say that the weather was so abnormal that there would probably be another cold snap in spring. It might even snow heavily by then.
Lao Ba was expecting this to happen, but he didn't quite believe it. Because the snow was melting not only in Hebei, but also on the roads outside Shanhaiguan. The weather was clear, not only was the sun shining warmly, but the southeast wind was blowing continuously. The thick snow melted in just one or two days. What if it snowed again?
The muddy land restricted marching more than before. Lao Ba couldn't even go into battle, let alone fight.
The warm weather continued for about ten days, and finally it was February. Good news came from all over Shandong. The melting snow was like watering the land for free, which was very beneficial for spring ploughing.
But Huo Chong was more concerned about another piece of news that no one had noticed. Because the snow melted too quickly, the spring flood of the Yellow River this year was quite severe.
Putting this news aside, Huo Chong called the committee members. Ever since he officially took the purely modern political concept as the core of the system and started to promote it, Huo Chong preferred the name of the committee, which made modern people feel very much.
In addition to the committee, Gong Yu, who had proposed digging the Yellow River, also participated. Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard that the Yellow River should be returned to the north. Some people asked in confusion: "What does it mean that the governor wants the Yellow River to return to the north? Was the Yellow River in the north before?"
Huo Chong didn't know how to describe it for a moment when he heard this. For the people of New China, the Yellow River flowing south was incredible. Since Huo Chong first looked at a map when he was three or four years old, or when he was in junior high school and looked at a globe to consider the route to conquer the world, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River were two major rivers running east-west on the map of China.
The so-called Yellow River taking over the Huai River is not only a historical legend, but also a typical negative example of China's subsequent ecological disasters.
Although he didn't know how to make the best use of this matter, Huo Chong could only talk about history casually.
Before the Jin Dynasty, the Yellow River had burst its banks to the south several times, and floods invaded the Huaihe River basin. Since the Western Han Dynasty, the Huaihe River basin has been mostly invaded by the Yellow River, "mostly above Si (zhou) and Feng (yang)", "between Ying (shang), Bo (xian), and Huaiyuan", but the mainstream of the Yellow River has always flowed north and entered the sea in present-day Hebei and Shandong areas (the estuaries have often migrated).
Starting from the last years of Jin Shizong's reign, the ruling Jurchen nobles and the Han landlord class in the Central Plains were in collusion, and the government became increasingly corrupt. After Jin Shizong's death, the emperor's grandson Wanyan Jing (Jin Zhangzong) ascended the throne and appointed his own Jing Tong to manage government affairs. The Yellow River was lacking management, and Jin Zhangzong rejected the correct advice of Tian Li, the water supervisor. In the fifth year of Mingchang (1194), the Yellow River broke through the old dike in Yangwu, and the flood engulfed Fengqiu County, and went south to invade the Huaihe River below Huaiyang.
Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, "whenever the Huai River is high, the west wind stirs up waves, the white waves are as big as mountains, and the hundreds of miles of Huaiyang are in panic, and no one dares to sleep peacefully for hundreds of years." Pofutang, Baishuitang, Fuling Lake, Nidun Lake, Wanjia Lake and other ponds and small lakes are connected to form Hongze Lake. The Huai River no longer has an estuary for a long time, and instead merges into the Yangtze River at Sanjiangying.
Some generals of the Military Commission had only heard about Du Chong's excavation of the Yellow River in the Song Dynasty, but they did not know it so clearly. Huo Chong brought out the report of the History Research Society that had been established.
After the speech, some generals were furious. "The Manchus are nothing but Tungus barbarians. They are so shameless that they have to regard the Jin soldiers, who are also barbarians, as their ancestors. Look at what the Jin soldiers did. Is that what human beings do?"
After Gong Yu and the others finished cursing angrily, he said, "My lord, I wonder who wrote this?"
Huo Chong replied, "It was written by the latest group of people in the History Research Society. I don't want to kill them all, so I let some scholars who are too honest to be touched participate in these historical studies."
After hearing this, Gong Yu was stunned, but said nothing more.
Huo Chong pointed to the map. According to his rough memory, the Yellow River broke through the Tongwaxiang in Henan and changed its course. After that, it flowed into the sea roughly as the Jishui River in Shandong. The Jishui River at that time was the Daqing River in Shandong. However, the Daqing River in Shandong at that time was not the Daqing River in the new China era. This restored Huo Chong's understanding of geography.
After explaining his general idea, Huo Chong raised his own question, "This must be done. The question is whether to use the spring flood or the autumn flood."
The commander of the three armies, Qian Qing, frowned his beautiful brows and said, "Sir, what's the difference?"
"The difference is that after the spring flood, some land will definitely not be usable. If it is for disaster relief, we have to rush to plant and replant. As for the autumn flood, the Qing Dynasty was given several months. I am worried that the longer it takes, the more trouble it will cause."
Hearing this, Qian Qing answered decisively: "If that's the case, let's do it now."
It seems that the others have no idea about digging the Yellow River. When they heard Huo Chong's decision to dig the Yellow River and Qian Qing, who no one wanted to confront easily, supported Chun Xun, everyone agreed to Chun Xun's action.
Huo Chong looked at Gong Yu who made this suggestion, and saw that Gong Yu looked a little confused. After a while, Gong Yu asked unconfidently: "My lord, there is one thing we should think about before doing this. If there is no Yellow River, what should Hangyu do?"
If there is one benefit after the Yellow River took over the Huai River, it is the convenience of shipping. This is also the reason why no one wants the Yellow River to return to the south.
