Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 454: Hanshui Project
At the first New Year's Eve banquet after the official establishment of the State of Chu, Bai Tu encouraged and rewarded the team that pioneered the land of Tanzhou, and then he routinely selected the outstanding government offices, outstanding groups, and outstanding individuals of the previous year...
On the 15th day of the first lunar month, after Bai Tu personally saw off the Tanzhou reclamation team, various government offices began to deploy annual plans for the new year.
After an "internship" in the Ministry of Works for a month, learning some new materials, and personally visiting and surveying the Wudang area with a group of hydrology and water conservancy scholars from the Ministry of Works, Li Yan formally gave Bai Tu a reply.
Six years.
"Fang Zheng, have you thought it through? If the investment fails halfway, it can't be solved by a military order." Bai Tu emphasized it again.
Li Yan did not think that this was a "questioning" of himself. After all, he was most clear about the investment in the Wudang Hanshui Weir. From digging diversion holes, dredging water sections, excavating foundation pits... to the actual completion of the construction, Li Yan estimated that it would take six years.
Moreover, during these six years, it is not just Wudang County that has to contribute, but the manpower and material resources of most of Nanyang are needed!
If the project really died halfway after the investment, Li Yan would not be able to relieve his hatred even if he died...
Of course, Li Yan is not the only one to bear the blame.
The preliminary plan designed by Li Yan had gone through three rounds of approval and defense in the Ministry of Industry. Each round was revised many times before it was finally approved.
In the end, it was Li Yan who was in charge of the overall situation, but it took several teams to come up with ideas and find and fill in the gaps!
"Don't worry, Your Majesty! Yan Ding will live up to your trust!" Li Yan said solemnly.
"We must make good plans and forecasts, especially assessments of the affected areas and risky areas... Then report to me where Hanzhong needs to cooperate, and notify the people living along the coast in the Hanzhong section to evacuate." Bai Tu emphasized.
Bai Tu didn't expect that the human and material resources he put into it would cause a flood...
In addition, Bai Tu also had to issue an early warning to Hanzhong to prevent the people living upstream of the Han River from suffering when the water level rose.
When the Hanshui Weir was first being built, Bai Tu had mentioned this to Zhang Lu's envoys, requesting that Hanzhong also bear part of the cost. After all, the improvement of the river channel would also be beneficial to the upper reaches of the Han River.
However, Hanzhong insisted that this was Chu's private behavior and had nothing to do with Hanzhong Tianshi Mansion...
Especially the previous contacts between Tianshi Mansion and Chu and Wei were not pleasant. Both Bai Tu and Cao Cao sneered at his idea of becoming a king... Now asking Hanzhong to pay? No way!
Anyway, for Zhang Lu, the Hanshui Weir was dispensable. If the Chu State built it, he would just take advantage of it. If the Chu State didn’t build it... then they wouldn’t build it at all.
However, Zhang Lu has recently thought it through and given up the unrealistic fantasy of being the "King of Hanning". He hopes that the Chu and Wei states will support him in being named "Marquis of Hanning", and more importantly... be granted the Nine Gifts!
Although everyone knows that Hanzhong is now a thorn in the eyes of the pro-Han forces, at least it can make Zhang Lu feel more secure before the internal situation is stabilized.
It is indeed in the interests of both Chu and Wei for Zhang Lu to keep Hanzhong, but no matter what, it is Zhang Lu who is asking for help from Chu and Wei, so... Bai Tu will naturally take the opportunity to let him reimburse part of the Hanshui Weir!
In fact, Bai Tu did not think highly of Hanzhong's mere gifts, but he was worried that if he took nothing, it would alert Zhang Lu and Hanzhong's advisers.
On the contrary, his appearance of being unwilling to suffer any loss made Zhang Lu believe that Bai Tu just wanted to develop water conservancy projects.
Now Bai Tu has also received a letter from Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. An envoy from Hanzhong will arrive soon...
And the one who came to Chu this time was Yang Song again - the Yang Song who had accepted a large amount of bribes from Chu before and had opened up channels specifically for his family caravan!
When Yang Song arrived in Chu, Li Yan had already handed over the assessment report on Hanzhong to Bai Tu.
After Bai Tu left Yang Song alone for three days with a bit of reserve, he met him at Jiangshan Garden.
Yang Song expressed, or could be said to be just the right amount of "panic" about this. Obviously, he also understood that Bai Tu was dissatisfied with Zhang Lu's previous attitude!
Thinking about all this did not pose any difficulty for Yang Song. When he saw Bai Tu, he flattered him and cried to him, but failed to convince Zhang Lu, so he conducted self-examination.
Bai Tu did not make things too difficult for Yang Song. After all... such a greedy envoy was sent by an outsider, which was the best thing.
Yang Song came here not only to win the support of the State of Chu, but also to purchase plate armor "on the way".
Before, because Zhang Lu did not have many cavalrymen, and there was no room for plate armor to be used when facing the cowardly Liu Zhang, he behaved very coldly.
However, Zhang Lu had apparently heard that other princes who came to purchase plate armor seemed to have gotten what they wanted, so it seemed that there would be nothing wrong in having an elite plate armor cavalryman in Hanzhong as a deterrent force!
Hanzhong was a rare peaceful place in the turbulent times, and with the support of the Tianshi Dao, the people were more thoroughly divided and became as wealthy as Yizhou. The government treasury was even as full as that of Wei, which had been at war for years, so there was no shortage of goods from trading plate armor.
After Bai Tu's persuasion, he did not reach any agreement with Yang Song, and Zhang Chunhua contacted him afterwards...
Sure enough, after money paved the way, Yang Song not only hinted at Zhang Lu's bottom line, but also revealed the reason why Zhang Lu suddenly became nervous!
Now in Liang Province, Ma Chao, the son of Yonghou Ma Teng, has been assisted by God in the past year. He has not only swept away the scattered warlords , but also made many Qiang tribes surrender.
Although there is a natural barrier between Hanzhong and Guanxi, which is not friendly to cavalry, Ma Chao's record in Liangzhou still puts a lot of pressure on Zhang Lu, who is worried that Ma Chao will come and kill him one day...
However, when Zhang Chunhua asked vaguely about the news of Tianshi Mansion, Yang Song evaded the question.
It seems that Yang Song also understands that Tianshi Mansion is his biggest "trump card". If it is gone, it will be worthless.
And when Zhang Chunhua hinted that she could give him a courtyard in Jinling and arrange for the young men of the Yang family to study in the university of Chu, Yang Song did not show much enthusiasm...
Zhang Chunhua didn't say much. After all, her goal had been achieved, so she returned to the Chu Palace and asked Bai Tu for instructions.
"It seems that Yang Song has no intention of completely surrendering." Bai Tu said with some regret.
Although he is a complete villain, at least when he is in the enemy camp, Bai Tu thinks he is cute.
"Those who are short-sighted naturally cannot see the king's ambition. People like Yang Song probably think that only Yong Hou and Shu Hou can threaten the Tianshi Mansion, so they will only wait for the price to rise for these two families...especially Yong Hou and the court behind him." Zhang Chunhua could also guess what Yang Song was thinking.
Faced with the complete attempt to win over the State of Chu, what supported Yang Song was not his moral integrity, but the weighing of the pros and cons!
Normally, if Chu wanted to take control of Hanzhong, it would either first conquer Guanzhong, break through Guanxi, and subdue Liangzhou, and then go south to Hanzhong, or first conquer Bashu and then go north to Hanzhong...
As for going directly from Jingzhou to Hanzhong? Is the huge Wushan Mountain just a decoration?
