That night, the lights in Funing Hall were brightly lit.

Zhao Xu rarely went to bed early, but accompanied by Song Yongchen, inspected the Hebei sand table that had just been made.

Song Yongchen was advising Zhao Xu on the side: "Everyone, since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the Yellow River has been continuously silting up in the Puyang section..."

"Because of the siltation of the Yellow River in the Puyang section, after the founding of our dynasty, the dangers of the Yellow River have changed from a decisive battle in the past ten or twenty years to a decisive battle in three to five years..."

Song Yongchen dutifully introduced to Zhao Xu the game with the Yellow River since the founding of the Song Dynasty.

To sum up, during the Taizu, Taizong, and Zhenmiao eras, the Yellow River was stabilized by planting trees and building a large number of embankments in Tanzhou and Huazhou.

However, since Zhenmiao, Liangyihuihe has made everything become what it is today.

Zhao Xu couldn't help but nod his head as he listened to Song Yongchen's introduction. Naturally, he knew these past events.

In his previous life, Zhang Dun had told him countless times.

He can carry it!

Staring at the sand table, the Yellow River flows from the north to the east and flows into the sea from different places.

The one that flows north still remains in modern times: Haihe River.

In order to control the Haihe River, modern industrial countries have spent decades.

As for the east stream...

After Zhao Xu came to power in his previous life, it gradually became clogged due to sedimentation. Finally, in the second year of Yuanfu, the embankment burst and the flow was completely cut off.

Thinking of the blocked east-flow river, Zhao Xu's heart felt a little clogged.

He stared at Dongliu Duan.

At present, the Yellow River is divided into two rivers. The north section has floods every day, but the east section has always been quiet.

This river flows eastward from Damingfu, passes through Tangyi, goes to Gaotang, passes through the entire Dezhou, and finally joins the sea at Shandong Peninsula.

This was originally an insurance policy for river defense in the Song Dynasty.

But...

In Zhao Xu's previous life, in the second year of Yuanfu, the river broke out at Neihuangkou and rushed north.

Ever since the east stream was cut off!

The dyke burst in the second year of Yuanfu was affected by the dyke burst in Xiaozhangkou this year.

Xiao Zhangkou burst its embankment, submerging almost half of Hebei East Road.

The number of people affected by the disaster was close to one million, and hundreds of thousands of hectares of fertile farmland were swallowed up.

Countless ancestral graves and mulberry fields were swallowed up by floods, and a large yellow flood area was formed.

In addition, the embankment burst in the second year of Yuanfu, which cut off the east flow channel, flooded several states, and affected more than five million people!

Zhao Xu let out a sigh of relief and waited for Song Yongchen to introduce the entire history of river management in the Song Dynasty. He sighed with emotion: "The nature of water is downward!"

“You can’t go against the will of heaven!”

Why did river governance in the Song Dynasty fail time and time again?

They just want to defy heaven!

In the court, there have always been two different strategies for river control.

Because of these two strategies, since Renmiao, the ministers of the government and the public have been divided into the Eastern School and the Northern School.

The Eastern School dreams of returning the Yellow River to its original path before the first year of Renmiao Jingyou's reign.

Representative figures are Wen Yanbo, Wang Anshi, An Tao...

The Northern School believes that the Yellow River is in good condition now, so just do a good job in river defense. Don't bother with it, you won't win.

The Northern School is represented by Ouyang Xiu, Sima Guang, Su Shi, Fan Zuyu, etc.

The two factions argued with each other and refused to compromise.

The Eastern style will always have the upper hand in special periods.

As a result, they gained the upper hand and returned to the river after two discussions.

Once the river broke through Shanghukou and rushed into the Liuta River.

Once the river broke through the Cao dike and took the Huai River into the sea.

During the two trips back to the river, the estimated death toll was over a million!

The Song Dynasty could still hold on under such circumstances. It can only be said that the zoo strategy of the Zhao officials is indeed effective!

Now, Zhao Xu is a firm believer in the Northern School!

He no longer has any undue thoughts about the Yellow River.

I only want to make repairs, maintain river embankments, plant trees and reduce sediment.

other things……

We can really only rely on the wisdom of future generations!

There must be cranes, large trucks, and all kinds of heavy equipment.

It is also necessary to build more than a dozen Xiaolangdi projects upstream.

At the same time, we have to rely on population increase, industrial development, and large amounts of water pumping to reduce the flow of the Yellow River.

Otherwise, just lie down.

The old man like the Yellow River can swing as much as he wants.

It doesn't matter even if it's placed within the Liao Kingdom.

Anyway, after the Song and Liao dynasties became Jiaozi, the Liao Kingdom would be satisfied in the next ten years.

Ten years later...

The Liao Kingdom will no longer be a threat.

Song Yongchen looked at the expressions of the officials in front of him, lowered his head, and asked: "Everyone, this time I have been ordered to go to Hebei..."

"I don't know if you have any instructions?"

Zhao Xu looked at the sand table, pointed at Daming Palace and Xiao Zhangkou, and said to Song Yongchen: "There are Han Wei and Zhang Dun in Daming Palace..."

"Zhaoxuan should focus on this!"

"If a small mouth opens its mouth, millions of people on the entire Hebei East Road will be affected by the disaster... Maybe it will be another disaster like the Hebei East Road!"

"When you arrive in Hebei, you will keep an eye on the Xiaozhangkou River section for me..."

"Yes!" Song Yongchen didn't understand why everyone cared so much about the small dike with an open mouth on the sand table.

But since everyone has made a will, he must obey it.

Zhao Xu clapped his hands, and Feng Jing, who had been waiting in the palace, came to Song Yongchen holding a gray object.

Song Yongchen looked at that thing suspiciously.

"This is something I designed..." Zhao Xu pointed at the thing: "It's a sack, made of thick hemp rope..."

"Can hold sand and stones in it!"

"I have ordered the Kaifeng Prefecture to publish a notice and publicly purchase this item in large quantities at the price of 60 sacks for one piece of silk...or the price of 20 sacks..."

"This material will be sent to various parts of Hebei in large quantities after purchase to replace the materials prepared on the embankment..."

Zhao Xu specially applied to the two palaces to use the money to seal the piles.

Of course not all of them are used as rewards.

Otherwise, why didn't he just take all the money?

This is the reason why I applied for one million pieces of silk cloth.

Increase the supply of goods in society and promote economic development.

At the same time, it is also for this time to take advantage of the opportunity of autumn flood control to set a precedent of this kind - large-scale national procurement!

Lay a solid foundation for further national procurement in the future.

At this time, Zhao Xu needs to thank Wang Anshi for his reform.

Wang Anshi's reform, the law of dismissal of errands and the system of departmental distribution.

It was replaced by the Law on Exemption from Service and the Law on Exemption from Work. Both of these laws have one thing in common - the abolition of the system of the state expropriating private labor and materials without compensation.

From then on, if the country wanted to carry out large-scale projects or purchase large quantities of materials, it had to spend real money.

For example, this time for river defense, Han Wei petitioned to hire 100,000 civilians.

In order to hire these civilian laborers, the daily wages are at least 20,000 guan!

Now, if Zhao Xu wanted to purchase sacks filled with sand and gravel, he would have to spend real money.

If it were his previous life, he would definitely be reluctant to part with it.
To be continued...