Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 526 Wang Jing
Wang Jing

He was a descendant of one of the main proponents of the return of Lelang Commandery to the Han Dynasty.

Because of his merits, his father was summoned by the emperor and appointed as an official.

So, following the custom of scholars in the Central Plains, Wang Jing's father first feigned refusal, and then happily took his wife across the sea from Lelang County to Luoyang, the present-day capital of the Central Plains.

As a result, young Wang Jing followed his father from east to west and witnessed the flooding of the Yellow River and the flight of refugees.

The scene, which Wang Jing had never seen before in Lelang and which was so small and cramped that it was impossible for it to happen, greatly shocked him.

The young children showed a natural fear of the destructive power of nature, and because of the emaciated refugees, they developed the mistaken idea that "the Central Plains may not be as good as the East China Sea".

Fortunately,

The latter was quickly corrected.

After leaving the flooded lower reaches of the Yellow River, the prosperity of the Central Plains was revealed to the Wang family, making them clearly aware of its strength and wealth.

Once they enter Luoyang,
The crowds in the imperial capital further unsettled their minds.

Originally a powerful clan in Haidong,
In the presence of the powerful and influential in the Central Plains, they appeared extremely embarrassed and humble.

This left the Wang father and son somewhat disappointed.

But Wang Jing's father then happily said, "With the Han Dynasty flourishing, if I can become an official with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain), my family will surely prosper as well!"

by that time,
With their Wang clan from Haidong, their reputation could spread far and wide, and they would no longer be looked down upon as local tyrants from a small place!
Upon hearing this, Wang Jing cupped his face in his hands, looking forward to the wonderful life his father would enjoy after taking office.

unfortunately,

Things in the world are always unexpected.

Just before the imperial court had arranged his position and his father was about to take office, he suddenly fell seriously ill and soon passed away.

Subsequently, Wang Jing's mother also passed away, leaving young Wang Jing alone in the unfamiliar city of Luoyang.

He had no other relatives here, and his age was not enough to support him to travel back to Haidong from the Central Plains.

then,

Wang Jing lived a lonely life for a while until his grandmother, despite her advanced age, came from Lelang across the sea after hearing the news, which brought him warmth and comfort again.

that's it,
He settled down in Luoyang with his grandmother.

Wang Jing's grandmother doted on him and didn't even require him to study the profound classics, letting him do whatever he wanted.

Grandmother said:
"Your father came to Luoyang from Lelang in search of an official position, but he got nothing in return."

"If I had stayed in our hometown, how could I have left you, my only child, to stay by my side?"

"Therefore, there is no need to force those external things; just be natural and go with the flow."

Wang Jing was raised by her, and also influenced by the loss of his parents at a young age, so he developed a love for books on mathematics, the Book of Changes, and other practical subjects, unlike others who would spend their lives engrossed in a single classic text.

and at least years old,

Wang Jing began to travel and study in various places.

When he passed through the era of Wang Mang and blocked the impassable Jing River, he met Wang Yanshi, a koi carp swimming in the river.

Wang Jing was surprised to find a carp lingering in the silted-up Jing River, using its small mouth to pick up pebbles from the pile of stones blocking the river and carry them to the bank.

He asked the locals, "That carp is really fat, and it doesn't look very smart, so why doesn't anyone catch it?"

The locals said, "This is the embodiment of the river spirit; we must not offend it."

Wang Jing did not believe them.

He ran to the riverbank, attempting to ambush a passing koi, but the koi managed to break free.

at night,

An uninvited guest appeared in his dream.

The face was not visible.
I couldn't hear anything clearly either.

When Wang Jing woke up, his head was still fuzzy, but he vaguely remembered that the other person had used very foul language.

Upon hearing this, He Bo slammed his fist on the table and said, "According to the principle, the dead cannot arbitrarily invade the dreams of the living without permission."

"But your situation is special, so I can't disregard principles!"

"go with!"

"Give him a good scolding, let me hear it!"

After receiving God's permission

Wang Yanshi and Wang Jing became acquainted and formed a close friendship despite their age difference.

The former believed that the latter was clear-headed, steady in his work, and good at calculations, making him a promising candidate for managing the Yellow River.

The latter expressed great admiration for Wang Yanshi upon learning of his identity and aspirations.

just,

After hearing that Wang Yanshi wanted to entrust him with the important task of controlling the flooding Yellow River,

Wang Jing sighed and declined the invitation.

“I don’t have much energy, and managing the Yellow River is obviously a very arduous and time-consuming task… I don’t want to do that.”

Wang Yanshi was surprised by his choice.

As a high-quality ox or horse that worked itself to death on the job and whose thoughts were still on its work even in death, he could not understand why Wang Jing was unwilling to serve the world.

After hearing about it, He Bo also went over to secretly observe Wang Jing.

When he saw that Wang Jing had only traveled and studied around Chang'an and Luoyang for a short time before returning home to serve his elderly grandmother, he guessed why the other party had refused.

What could Wang Yanshi do about this?
"Family, country, and the world" is a series of progressively evolving concepts.

A family of three can already create pressure, let alone the "family" that follows.

When it reaches the level of "country",
That would broaden the scope even further, and would bring heavy concerns to rulers at this level who still possess some conscience and sense of responsibility.

Even something as simple as "if there is famine in Hanoi, the people will be moved to Hedong" is not an easy task to coordinate.

but,

What do those distant people and events have to do with me, an ordinary person in a corner of the world?

What does it have to do with his family members hiding in the corner?

People are divided into those who are close and those who are distant.

Heaven and earth give birth to humankind, which further inclines their hearts toward one direction.
Since you didn't reach that level,

Since their eyes have not seen the suffering of the people,

Why bother with those external matters and people?

Moreover, the ancient concept of "all under heaven" must have a ruler to consider its importance;
The term "state" implies that there should be feudal lords to consider its importance.

In the historical records of the pre-Qin period, it was common for rulers to neglect their countries and for their ministers to flee to other countries and serve new rulers.

Few people cry out, "I want to give my life and everything for my country."

Therefore, during the third generation,

Acts of disobeying the monarch for the sake of family members are praised by some, who consider it natural "filial piety" and a choice to follow the natural order.

By the Warring States period,

Mencius also discussed the hypothesis that "Shun secretly carried him away and fled" with his disciples, and the final conclusion was still "abandon loyalty for filial piety".

This is one of the main reasons why Shi Que, who sacrificed his own family for the greater good during the Spring and Autumn Period, was able to amaze people at that time.

This is also why ministers who perished alongside their country throughout history have been praised and recorded.

As the monarch's power and influence grew, he placed greater emphasis on the loyalty of his subjects and promoted it more extensively, which led to "loyalty and filial piety" becoming common terms used interchangeably.

But for Wang Jing, who had only recently been crowned,
He has no desire to serve in government, and the current emperor is a ruler of great talent and strategy who has governed the country quite peacefully, so why should he worry about the country?
Taking care of his elderly grandmother is the most important thing!
The words, "Without my grandmother, I would not be where I am today. Without me, my grandmother would not be able to live out her remaining years,"

For Wang Jing, isn't this also a reflection of his life?

But Wang Yanshi still couldn't let go of his desire to control the floods.

He still tried to persuade Wang Jing.

……

"We can't let the floodwaters continue to overflow, can we?"

During the Xin Dynasty, floods raged and submerged the people's farmland.

Now that the Han Dynasty has been restored, floods can still wantonly inundate people's farmland.

Wasn't the Han Dynasty's revival in vain?

“The Yellow River flows through so many places, and countless families have been affected by it.” “From the time Wang Mang breached the dike in the third year of his reign to now, forty years have passed, affecting two or three generations.”

"How can we allow the mistakes of our predecessors to continue to harm people today?"

After failing to persuade Wang Jing again, Wang Yanshi and He Bo sat on the bank where the Luo River flows into the Yellow River, watching the foam created by the collision of the two rivers and sighing.

He cupped his face in his hands, looking as if he were still alive and concerned about the country and its people.

He Bo, the River God of the Yellow River, had no conscience at all, and only said to him, "Are you implying something to me?"

"But as you know, the flooding wasn't something I did on purpose."

If He Bo were to do so...
The Yellow River will flood more than just two prefectures.

It would have become a world-ending flood long ago!

What about Henan and Hebei?
Humph,
Go to the bottom of the river and simmer away!

Wang Yanshi did not refute his words, but only glanced in the direction of Chang'an and Luoyang. His old face, which was soaked with the water of the Yellow River, showed a touch of melancholy.

He Bo couldn't bear to see him so worried, so he transformed Wang Yanshi back into his familiar koi carp form, and holding him by the tail, said:
“It is certainly rare to find someone in the world who can manage rivers, but Wang Jing is definitely not the only one.”

"You lived through the end of the Former Han Dynasty and the Xin Dynasty. Don't you have any idea where the key to flood control lies?"

Such a large-scale project as controlling the Yellow River

Besides needing talent,
It also requires a huge investment of money and energy!

No money, no time
Who would be willing to carry sandbags on the riverbank?
In the tenth year of Jianwu,
The emperor then sent people to discuss the repair of the river embankment, but the matter was halted due to opposition from his ministers.

The reason for this is

This was because the country was not yet unified, the national treasury was not full, and the people's strength had not been restored.

As for why, even though it is now the 28th year of Jianwu, the emperor, whose national strength has accumulated to some extent, has not yet reconsidered the matter of repairing the river and building dikes.
This is because the direction of their struggle has changed.

Liu Xiu, who had only been emperor for ten years and was not yet forty, still had some of the passion and fighting spirit he had in his youth.

His ministers, under pressure to unify the country, were closely united around him, and few opposed his decisions.

Therefore, the failure to repair the river at that time was indeed due to a lack of funds.

The people suffered from the flood.

But with so much land in the world, there are bound to be places that the Yellow River cannot flood.

At the beginning of the war, the population was far less abundant than in the Former Han Dynasty, so there was no need to waste manpower to fight against the Yellow River, which had fallen into a frenzy.

As the ancients said, "A small stick can be used against a big stick."

The Central Plains are so vast, there must be places to cultivate.

Moreover, if people are not allowed to cultivate more land and harvest more grain, what will happen to the national treasury? What will happen to the logistics of war? What will happen to their wealth?
Although the Han dynasty is still the Han dynasty,
But we can't really do what the Former Han Dynasty did, where in order to fill the national treasury faster and better, the emperor and his officials rode in oxcarts and wore plain clothes, can we?
What was the identity of the person who founded the Former Han Dynasty?
What was the identity of the person who founded the Han Dynasty?
They certainly wouldn't want to follow the example of the former!

otherwise,

How can we demonstrate the progress of modern Chinese literature?
They are the heroes who restored peace to the world, how can they suffer additional hardships and toil?

But right now,
The world has been unified.
The power represented by the wealthy and powerful families of Hebei also rose rapidly.

With the pressure from the Yellow Turban Army gone, who would be willing to sacrifice their own interests?

Even though previous reforms have caused Hebei to lose a lot, its foundation still exists.

As long as there are distinctions of high and low, noble and base in the world,
Wealth will flow like a river in its predetermined direction.

The latter, from high to low,
The former is from bottom to top.

Therefore,
The emperor shelved the project to repair the river.

The struggle for the founding emperor of a dynasty is not yet over.
He hoped to leave his descendants a prosperous, stable, and lasting empire, rather than having its fruits seized by others after only two or three generations.

The lower reaches of the Yellow River have always been rich and open, but they are not very close to Luoyang, the central city of the country.

If it is repaired ahead of schedule
Those ministers, who had become unruly and arrogant by relying on their merits in founding the country, would then try to take over the unclaimed lands that had just been flooded and exposed to the sunlight.

They don't even need to seize it.

They just need to get to Hebei on the day the river is successfully tamed.

all in all,
For the current emperor,
The Yellow River definitely needs to be managed.

But it must be repaired slowly, gradually, and in an orderly manner.

To achieve a high level of skill and refinement.
We'll cultivate a life free from worry for hundreds of years!
Wang Yanshi remained silent in response.

He Bo continued, "The purpose of conquering the country is to maintain it; consolidating rule is far more important than seeking benefits for the people!"

Wang Yanshi asked He Bo, "Is the Yan state the same?"

The State of Yan had no monarch.

Naturally, there was no worry about leaving a beautiful land for future generations.

If a similar situation were encountered, I should be able to do better?
Although Cheng Tianrun was in the Yellow River, he had never been to Liaodong.

But Wang Yanshi still remembered that when he followed the overflowing river to Qilu, he saw the Yellow Turban Army trying to repair the water conservancy and fill the river embankment.

It's just a pity,

The matter of river management
You can never achieve your goals by governing those below but not those above.

If the festering wounds are not repaired and the scattered hearts of people are not brought together, then what is destined to overflow will continue to overflow.

Therefore, the Yellow Turban Army's efforts in the lower reaches of the Yellow River can only be described as having made an effort and showing an attitude.

"You can go and take a look!"

"Anyway, Wang Jing is still busy living with his grandmother, and Xiu'er hasn't finished her work of reforming the powerful clans yet."

The former has to take care of their own family.

The latter has to take care of their own country.

There's no time to deal with the people at the bottom right now.

Not to mention Wang Yanshi, that giant Yellow River carp.

"...That's fine."

"I've heard that there are many rivers in Liaodong, and managing them is very laborious. I can go and help!"

If it were during the lifetime,

As a subject of the Han Dynasty, Wang Yanshi could not arbitrarily "betray his country and aid the enemy."

But for the dead,
As long as it's a nation of China, they'll definitely go and lend a hand!
Many of the Qin people in western Thailand follow the Liu family.
Although Han and Yan are currently in a standoff...

However, no major war broke out, and the love-hate entanglements did not last as long as those of the Qin and Han dynasties.

What can't you go to?
"go Go!"

"Be careful not to get swallowed whole by the giant sturgeon inside!"

He Bo recalled the giant sturgeon living happily in the Liao River at this moment, and looking at the Yellow River carp in front of him, he couldn't help but utter a word of advice.

then,

Wang Yanshi ran to Wang Jing's house to say goodbye, and then followed the mountain path opened up by the gods and spirits, flowing into the Liao River.

Wang Jing breathed a sigh of relief at his departure.

He was not ignorant of the greater good; he had heard of the damage caused to the people of the Central Plains by the Yellow River's floods.

But the same principle still applies—

Human nature is inherently biased.

At only twenty years old,
His temperament was not yet stable, and his aspirations were not yet established.

Who could resolutely abandon their family and embark on a perilous path, with no guarantee of success in the future?
He admired Wang Yanshi.

But I don't want to become him.

"Jing, what are you daydreaming about?"

"Time to eat!"

Grandmother's voice called out.

Wang Jing said "Oh," and then helped his grandmother to enjoy today's meal.

During this time, Grandmother kept talking and talking about Wang Jing's recent life.

It's nothing more than that my grandson seems to have lost some weight, or whether he's been sleeping well these past few days.

In the palace,
The emperor and his successor were also sitting at their respective tables, eating and discussing the future.

(End of this chapter)