The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 843 Yellow River Flood
As expected, Yun Dingxing looked troubled and said after a long while, "To be honest, I don't know either. I still need to figure out how to make the rolling mill rolls. Only when the rolling mill rolls are as smooth as a mirror can we make good steel plates, and finally roll out good pipes. The most crucial thing is that we need a lot of excellent craftsmen. I need time."

Xiao Xia nodded, "I have no time limit. If one year is not enough, then ten years; if ten years is not enough, then twenty years. We will proceed step by step. I believe that in the end we will be able to produce a large number of high-quality steel pipes."

"Your Majesty, it won't take that long, at most one or two years. I've already mastered the method; the key issue is production volume."

"I'll be watching!"

At this moment, Chu Suiliang reported, "Your Majesty, Minister He has arrived!"

"Summon him to an audience!"

A moment later, He Chou, the Minister of Works, hurriedly entered, bowed, and said, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty!"

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Now that both of you have arrived, let's get straight to the point!"

The two nodded silently, listening patiently.

"Our straight road is now officially completed. Although it was just a repair, it still took two years and 1.2 million strings of cash. The next step is to figure out how to use this straight road. I'm considering using it to conduct some experiments. If the results are good, we can build more straight roads. What kind of experiments should we conduct? I've come up with a name for it: 'Deep Standardization of Wheels and Tracks.' My idea is not just about standardizing wheel tracks, but also about having all the craftsmen in the world make things according to the same dimensions, just like our military equipment."

He Chou seemed to realize something, "His Majesty's mention of standardized dimensions is just like our docks."

Xiao Xia gave a thumbs up and exclaimed, "Absolutely right!"

He Chou had hit Xiao Xia right on the mark. Their dock operations were exactly what Xiao Xia wanted: a deep integration of carts and tracks. With the concept of containers, standard boxes were lifted from the ship and placed directly onto donkey carts of the same size. One donkey cart would transport one box to the warehouse, and the donkeys would not need to be controlled by humans. They would obediently walk along the tracks, with the two wheels moving along the tracks all the way to the warehouse area. The warehouse area would then lead the donkeys to different warehouses according to the warehouse number on the box.

Xiao Xia originally wanted to use water power to drive the belt for transportation, but found that donkeys were actually quite good. They were docile and stubborn, and very suitable for taking fixed routes without human intervention. The main problem was that the Luo River would freeze in winter, so water power would not work in winter.

"This is only part of it. I am considering installing straight tracks on the straight road, so that horses can pull large carts on the tracks. Horses can be changed every hundred li. When the second batch of horses arrives, the horses in front will have rested enough, and then they can be replaced and continue running. With tracks, two horses can pull several large carts."

Xiao Xia learned about horse-drawn trains from a movie from later years. He didn't have the ability to invent a steam engine yet, but using horse-drawn rail trains wasn't out of the question.

In fact, horse-powered tractors had been widely used in the West for a long time, and Northern Ireland still had horse-drawn railcars until 1957.

He Chou and Yuan Dingxing looked at each other in bewilderment. After a long while, Yun Dingxing said, "Your Majesty, the straight road is 1,600 li long. We may not have that much iron!"

"I know this is just a long-term plan, but we can try it in Luoyang. We can lay a track between the east and west city gates. I will draw a diagram for you to see later. Once you understand it, we can test it."

Then there's the matter of 'standardizing the tracks for all carts.' Minister He, write a report for me based on your understanding. Try to think broadly. Not just carts, but ships too. All boxes, carts, and ships should be the same size, so that boxes full of goods can be quickly moved anywhere."

"Your Majesty understands. You are referring to all walks of life, just like the chips on the scales before."

"Completely correct."

Otherwise, how could He Chou have risen to the position of Minister of Works? He understood the Emperor's will! He knew what the Emperor was thinking.
Although he had never heard the word the emperor had used before, he could fully understand it: standardization.

This is nothing new. The Qin Dynasty's military industry strictly followed standardized operations, and the Sui Dynasty's military equipment bureau did the same. Without standardized management, the standard weapons produced were of different styles and weights, which caused problems.

The emperor actually wanted to standardize military production and promote it to the general public.

As for the horse-drawn railcar, he thought he'd look at the Emperor's blueprints first. There were some details he couldn't understand, but he was sure it would be different from the donkey-drawn railcars at the dock.

Perhaps because there was no snow in the Central Plains last winter, after April, it rained incessantly in the Central Plains. Light rain, heavy rain and torrential rain lasted for more than 20 days without clear skies. The Luo River overflowed its banks and flooded into the city. In low-lying areas, the water was already up to the knees.

This was a situation that hadn't occurred since the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang era. Not only were the emperor and his ministers anxious, but the common people were also extremely worried. In the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang era, the Yellow River breached its banks in Xingyang and Dongjun, flooding dozens of counties and drowning over two hundred thousand people. Inside the Hall of State Affairs, Xiao Xia and his high-ranking officials were discussing the final decision. They, of course, had more information than the ordinary people. Xiao Xia and his officials were not concerned about the Luo River issue, as it was managed by Luoyang Prefecture and Luoyang County. Their focus was on the Yellow River.

"The situation on the Yellow River is extremely serious. The water level has exceeded the warning line set in the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang era. We must immediately divert water to release floodwaters!"

Xiao Xia pointed to the southern part of Bohai County and said, "The Douzigang area is deserted and is most suitable for flood control. We need to relocate all the salt workers from Yangxin County, Shanghe County, Ban County, Yanci County, and Pingchang County. We must do this quickly. I will send troops to assist in the relocation."

Liu Wenjing said, "Your Majesty, I suggest that the people on the south bank also be temporarily relocated. I'm afraid that if the situation gets out of control, the south bank will also be breached, which would be dangerous!"

Xiao Xia looked at the map. The south bank mainly consists of five counties: Linyi County, Linji County, Zouping County, Gaoyuan County, and Putai County, with hundreds of thousands of people living there and so many wheat fields. If the south bank were flooded, the losses would be enormous.

Xiao Xia nodded. "I agree. Immediately notify the government on the south bank to relocate the people. Act swiftly!"

Eagle and pigeon messages were sent to downstream counties, and the government began to quickly organize the evacuation of the people. In fact, the government had already widely publicized the situation, requiring every household to prepare for evacuation, as everyone knew that there was a high probability of flooding this year.

Many large households began to evacuate ahead of time, and the evacuation was very fast.

On that day, a mass evacuation of people began along both banks of the Yellow River. On the official roads, the retreating crowds stretched as far as the eye could see. Some people drove large carts, fully loaded with their belongings and wives and children, while others carried loads on their shoulders with children sitting in baskets at both ends. They helped the elderly and carried the young as they slowly made their way along the official roads.

The hundreds of thousands of salt workers reacted the fastest, packing their belongings and quickly evacuating northwards.

Fifty thousand troops were also mobilized to help the more vulnerable people evacuate. The troops began to clear out the counties, searching house to house to ensure that no one was left in the county towns.

The situation was becoming increasingly critical, with the Yellow River overflowing its banks in many places. That night, on the Yellow River dike in Yanci County, the soldiers buried more than a dozen large iron fire mines. They tied the fuses together and lit them.

Dozens of soldiers turned around and rode off at breakneck speed, galloping hundreds of paces away, when they heard a violent explosion behind them.

The levee was breached, and the raging floodwaters instantly swept away other levees, quickly forming a three-mile-long breach. Huge waves roared and swept outwards from the levee.

The pressure of the Yellow River was too great, and the dikes kept breaching. The floodwaters quickly spread from three miles to more than thirty miles, and the Yellow River flooded Yanci County and Shang County in an instant. The entire county town was submerged, with only a few feet of city walls exposed.

The next day, just before dawn, the Yellow River flooded Yangxin County and continued its surging eastward toward the Bohai Sea.

Three days later, the water level of the Yellow River in Luoyang began to drop. It was still raining, but the rate of drop exceeded the rate of rise. By dusk, the water level of the Yellow River in Luoyang had finally dropped to a safe level.

The flood discharge was very effective, which relieved everyone.

Although the flood discharge was timely, not all people escaped the flood. Many people in remote villages and a few people living in Douzigang were drowned by the Yellow River because they could not escape in time, resulting in the deaths of thousands.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of acres of wheat fields were destroyed, tens of thousands of houses were flooded, and more than 200,000 people in five counties were affected by the disaster.

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